Musings and Reflections – our journey in Japan

Japan

The country is very mountainous and almost every level area is either given over to towns, cities or farming and there are still rice paddies on the lower hills.  It is unusual to see animals on the farms – they are normally kept in barns.  The beef raised in many areas is of the premium wagyu type and some areas such as Hida and Kobe are famous for their beautiful succulent meat.  The bigger cities such as Tokyo and Kyoto are extremely busy and there seems to be a Shinto shrine or Buddhist temple in almost every street, many of them very beautiful.  Fishing, of course, is an important industry as fish and rice are the staple foods.

The People

If I could use one word to describe the people of Japan, it would be respectful.  Respect for self, other people, their environment, their heritage and the rule of law seems to be paramount.  They won’t cross the street against a red light even if there is no traffic at all.  Mobile phone use on the trains, buses and subway is discouraged out of respect for those around you, even though people seem to always have a smartphone in their hands, texting or game-playing. They are a gentle, polite and respectful people but the contrasts of their history and the frantic pace of their lives also allows them the opportunity to dress in traditional costume when the mood strikes, whilst texting on the latest electronic devices.  Many times in the streets, whilst trying to figure out our tourist map and our position, people would stop and help where they could – they are extremely friendly.   Every time we entered a restaurant or store, or passed staff in the market or passed by a stall in one of the food departments in the basement of a shopping centre, all the staff would shout – irasshaimase! – “welcome” and when leaving they would all thank us for coming – arigato gozaimasu!

Cleanliness

The whole country is spotless. The streets are clean, nobody drops rubbish- they take it with them and it seems to be a mark of the respect that they feel for others, themselves and the way they live, that they prefer it that way.  The buses, trains, the underground passages, the public areas as a whole, have few bins, but where they are installed, they are used assiduously.  There is not even a Mars Bar wrapper dropped in the street!  We have not encountered, wherever we’ve been, a cigarette butt or sweet wrapper, a McDonald’s bag or an icecream stick, anywhere, anytime!  Cigarette butts are almost never seen on the street (except in Osaka) and they even have designated smoking areas cordoned off on the busy city streets. 

Getting Around

Driving?  Why would you?  The public transport system is so efficient, so punctual, so clean and cheap that you shouldn’t need to venture onto the roads unless it was absolutely necessary.  A Japan Rail Pass purchased here prior to leaving, gives you access to all Japan Rail transport, including the Shinkansen, most above ground rail, some buses and some subway lines.  These passes last for 14 days and there is no extra charge.  However, if you use other subway lines or trains which are privately run, then a Suica Card loaded with a minimum 1000yen allows trips all over the cities.  An incredibly efficient and fast way to get around and most of the signs are sub-titled in English.

Food & Drink

People in Japan love their food and no wonder, since the variety of Japanese cuisine is incredible.  The most popular Japanese dishes are, of course, sushi, yakitori, tempura, soba, ramen, gyoza, sukiyaki, shabu-shabu and okonomiyaki.  I’m sure there is a restaurant for every person, be they on the street, in a convenient basement, in the top couple of floors of every shopping centre or in the concourses and basements of every railway station.  We ate almost every variety of food and the variations within categories are just as interesting as the types.  One evening we discovered a tiny restaurant not far from our hotel in Tokyo – no signs or clues as to what we were ordering, but it turned out to be a 10 course degustation of chicken, from the neck to the leg, including skin, liver, thigh, breast, gizzard and wing, all done yakitori style and absolutely delicious.  In a tiny restaurant, with only a dozen or so seats and virtually no English spoken, we had an absolute ball.   And everywhere we went, beer was the common drink and we enjoyed several different brands – sometimes it’s also available in the vending machines, yet we did not at any time, see anybody who was drunk.  Wine is available in the better restaurants and isn’t expensive but the local brew we tried wasn’t what we would choose to drink.

Communications

Everywhere we went throughout Honshu, we had phone signal, but little WiFi.  WiFi is rarely available throughout a hotel, usually only in the lobby, but many rooms had lan connections available.  We’re yet to receive a bill for phone use, but we didn’t call home at all and received a couple of calls, but quite a few texts.  Wait and see!

Toilets

The old style Japanese squat toilet is a disappearing species and mainly only seen at the older rail stations and public areas, mostly replaced by modern western style toilets.  However, many of these require a pilot’s licence to drive them.  With heated seats, bum wash, bidet function, adjustable water pressure and temperature and music or sound of rushing streams to cover other noises, it’s almost an experience in itself to go to the loo.  All-in-all the public toilets are readily available everywhere, scrupulously clean and well maintained.

Shopping

Whilst I tried to avoid this experience it was a source of constant joy for the Princess, who relished her forays into department store after department store.  Wherever we caught ourselves on the street, we seemed to be surrounded by multi-level stores which needed to be explored and almost all of them had at least one thing that was essential.  The only department store which attracted me was the Mitsukoshi store in Tokyo, which I referred to in an earlier post.  This was a very high-end store akin to David Jones but several levels above in class and the range of products was amazing, much of it produced in Japan.  There was a whole floor devoted to kimonos and the silks and embroideries used, including several artists at work on individual pieces.  Absolutely amazing!  In this store we bought hand-made and –painted chopsticks and the artist there engraved our names on each pair.  In the Nishiki Market in downtown Kyoto, we marvelled at the array of fresh foods and weird ingredients used in the food.  At the Eastern end of the market we headed for the Master Knife maker Aritsugu, who’s been making knives since 1560, when the founder was producing swords for the Imperial House of Japan.  We’d read of this store and came away with a couple of the most beautiful chef’s knives we’ve ever handled.

Money

Japan is certainly not the most expensive place we’ve been and food is better quality and cheaper and more plentiful than anywhere.  You can eat breakfast for less than $10 each, lunch for less than $15 to $20 and have a very good meal at dinner, including drinks, for $50 for 2.  Most smaller stores and restaurants don’t accept credit cards – Japan is essentially a cash-society, so cash is accessed on a credit or debit card – perfectly safely – via ATMs in 7Eleven stores and Post Offices and we found this the most convenient and cheapest method.  When converting our dollars to Yen, there is invariably a fee and a commission, but when drawing on the ATM, the bank here charges what appears to be 1% and you get today’s rate of exchange.

Accomodation

JTB Australia (Japan Travel) booked all of our accommodation except in KL where we treated ourselves to the Shangri-La Hotel and loved it.  Most of our hotels were with a few hundred metres of a major railway station and most would be classified as 3-star and perfectly adequate.  Only once did we request a change of rooms when we were very restricted for space.  There are a number of “business” hotel chains in Japan which (from what we heard) are comfortable, clean and affordable.

Guides
A couple of times we managed to contact free guides who helped us get some perspective on some cities or areas which may have been more difficult to get to or understand without assistance.  Google  - "Free guides in ----- " & whichever city you choose, there will often be guides available.  Our first, in Tokyo, was Sumiko, an English teacher who showed us areas of Tokyo which we probably wouldn't have found by ouselves and in Kyoto we found Senna, a university student studying English and Tourism.  Senna took us to the beautiful Arashiyama and the bamboo groves which would have been very difficult to find otherwise.