Surreal Escapes

I’ve been back home in America for six weeks now, and it’s taken almost that long for it to feel like home again. The culture shock was worse with this transition. Going to Japan, I was expecting everthing to be different and I was mentally prepared for the changes so it was easy to adjust. Returning home though, I found that the familiar was no longer familiar. I noticed that everything seemed so wide open and empty; grass, trees, and endless fields replacing enveloping buildings and mountains. Subsequent drives to visit my family, especially those at night, were painfully lonely. The world seemed dead. I wasn’t tavelling the same route as hundreds of other people on a train, I was driving on a road with few passing travellers who were nothing but blinding lights to me. The radio and its familiar rock songs were my only company, but even then there was an unfamiliarity when new music from the past six months was playing.

The people here are different too. There’s a larger variety of people, and they all speak English. It took me a few days to break the habit of carrying my denshijisho everywhere. It’s a little disappointing not to be learning and using new words every day. It’s strange not being surrounded by Asians constantly. Now I feel like I’m surrounded by fat people. It was rare to see someone overweight in Japan, and America’s overweight population is even more apparent to me now. There are more than just physical differences. I already miss the kindness of Japanese people in general, and the helpfulness of customer service.

There are other little differences too. Eating with a knife and fork feels awkward. Walking on the right doesn’t feel natural anymore. I spend coins. Meals don’t seem complete without rice, miso, and green tea. I think I’ve gained a slight bow when meeting people. The other day I found myself thinking I’d go into Kyoto over the weekend, then realized it’s not just a short train ride away any more. People are loud, and talk on their cell phones instead of text.

I’m sure nothing actually changed while I was gone. I just have new eyes, and I need to get more comfortable seeing with them.

I had a bit of an unusual vacation this last weekend. One of the travel agencies here in Japan was offering a great package deal on the new civilian space flight program. I tossed the idea around for a while, debating if it was worth the money…and worrying about the safety. Eventually I decided to put my faith in the Japanese space program and bought a round trip ticket to Mars, with a stopover on the moon.

It was surreal being on the moon, peering off into the endless black sky even in broad daylight. Sadly our stay was short, just long enough for the ship to refuel, and we had to leave just before the Earthrise. Too bad, as I’ve heard it is beautiful.

We arrived on Mars in the early morning hours and the long shadows only added to the somber feeling of the planet. One of the few sites to visit were the rover tracks, which you can see in the photo. Other than that, there was nothing but barren rock beneath the dusty brown sky, and it made me eager to leave. While it was interesting to visit these foreign worlds, it is nice to be back among the familiar.

So, where did I really go to take these photos? (more…)

I’ve returned safely and have lived to tell about my journey to the mountains. Okay, there probably wasn’t much chance of me actually dying, but I’m afraid of heights so it certainly seemed like there was to me. Yeah..I neglected that fact when I decided to go climb big tall 3000m+ mountains. Aside from a little stress, the trip was excellent. I had beautiful weather and great views. The following is the story of my journey… (more…)

I’ve been keeping quite busy over the last few weeks. Every time I go somewhere new, my love for Japan grows. My language skills have vastly improved and I feel like I’m getting to know my co-workers better as a result. I can hold more intelligent conversations, make jokes, and just understand more in general. I still have over a month left, but I can already feel my time here in Japan running out. I don’t think I’ll be ready to leave when the time comes, but at the same time there is much that I miss from back home. I have a lot planned yet, starting with a trip to the Northern Japan Alps which I am leaving for tonight. In the remaining weekends I plan to climb Fuji-san, visit Amanohashidate on the coast of the Sea of Japan, climb to the top of a nearby mountain to view Lake Biwa, and see a few more sites in Kyoto. My final week here I get to spend with my girlfriend, traveling to Hiroshima, Himeji-jo, my favorite spots in Kyoto, and Tokyo. I’ve made lots of memories, but there are still quite a few left to make. Thanks to my trusty camera, I’ve captured a lot on film…er, flash card. Here are a few recent ones. (more…)

Take a moment to think about the following things related to Japan.

• How many famous Japanese people can you name?
• What about important dates?
• Can you name and locate any prominent geographical features?
• What about cities? Prefectures?

I had a recent conversation with some of my Japanese friends, and it made me realize just how little I knew about Japan. Most of what I know now, I have only learned while being here. I think a lot of Americans are the same, in that they know only a little about Japan. On the contrary, the Japanese seem to know quite a bit about the U.S. My friends knew presidents, even had at least some idea of when they were president. Washington was 1st, Lincoln 16th, Franklin Roosevelt during WWII, Kennedy in the 60’s, Nixon and Watergate, Reagan, Bush is the current president’s father, Clinton, Bush. They recognized Carter and Jefferson when I mentioned them. They knew Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Einstein (wait, he’s not American). They knew 1776 was when we signed the Declaration of Independence. 1861, the Civil War. I drew a rough map of the U.S. and they could name and locate the Rockies, the Appalachians, the Mississippi, the Great Lakes (not individually), Niagara Falls, California, Texas, Florida, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Houston, New Orleans, New York City. They recognized San Francisco, Las vegas, Chicago, Indianapolis, Detroit (and said, oh yeah, cars), Boston, Baltimore. They even knew many of the cities’ baseball teams.

Now, this was just one conversation with two people, and I am sure there are many people who know only a fraction of the above, but there are probably many others who know more. It’s hard to say without doing a proper study. As such, I am left with just a hypothesis waiting to be proved or debunked. Using what I have gathered from observations and conversations here in Japan combined with what I know from experience at home in America, I would say that on the whole, Japanese know far more about America than Americans know about Japan. If that is true, it is interesting to ask why. (more…)

American moms are still fighting the good fight, but here in Japan I think they gave up long ago. Rarely does anyone untie their shoes before taking them off, nor do they untie them before cramming their feet back into them. It makes perfect sense though. The sheer number of times the Japanese change shoes in a day is astonishing. Outdoor shoes are not worn in homes, many restaurants, some businesses, and even a few stores. Slippers are generally worn indoors, but must be taken off in tatami rooms. Also, they must be changed for a pair of often gaudy looking slippers when entering a bathroom.

The root of this tradition comes from the rather practical matter of cleanliness, but I think it has taken on a subtler meaning as well. Not only is physical dirt left in the entryway, but so too is the unclean world left behind before entering the sanctity of one’s home. While it has taken some time to break in my shoes, and taken some practice to maintain my balance while stepping up from my shoes to the raised floor of the interior without touching the dirty floor, I have come to enjoy this aspect of Japanese life. Particularly because I no longer have to worry about smelly feet or being the odd one at work when I take my shoes off to let my feet breathe.

Recently I was organizing my photo album and came across pictures from cherry blossom season. It’s hard to believe that just over a month ago the now unassumingly green-leafed sakura were ablaze with subtle shades of pink. The trees are everywhere, growing naturally in the mountains, planted in people’s yards, and being cultivated along city streets and in public gardens. I spent a day in Kyoto admiring their beauty and of the places I visited, Heian Shrine was the most stunning. Its grove of fully blooming and radiant cherry trees formed a canopy on which I could nearly picture angels dancing. The famous Philosopher’s Path was a peaceful walk along a small canal lined with the flowering trees, whose petals gently fluttered down to softly land on the water’s surface, whereupon they would slowly float away. I also glimpsed a less alluring, but perhaps no less enjoyable side of sakura season. I walked through a park which is a popular spot for hanami and the remnants of the week’s festivities could be seen in the empty tarps lining the ground, the many empty food and souvenier stalls, and the worn out look of the cherry trees, already beginning to lose their petals.

Hanami is the Japanese celebration of the blossoming trees, and it literally means “flower viewing.” Each year, people gather under the trees for picnics and barbeques while drinking sake and enjoying the company of friends and family. While partying I don’t think they spend much time actually ‘viewing’ the flowers, but they make time for that too, as hundreds of people flocked to the same places I did to enjoy the beauty. The cherry blossom tradition is an ancient one, beginning with the samurai. They felt a similitude to the trees, aspiring for a moment of resplendence before their brief lives ended. Today sakura still symbolize the ephemeral beauty of life and are a wonderful way to be reminded of the simple elegance of nature.