| + fascinating | more than can possibly be described here - but see photos for first impressions |
| + well organised | can set clocks by trains, great signs, all 400.000 vending machines work |
| + passion for excellent food | especially seafood |
| + squeaky clean | and orderly people, streets, transport, bank notes, ... |
| + polite | 90 degree bowing and handing things with two hands |
| + safe | even for women at midnight in parks |
| + no tourists | not even Germans or Americans |
| + slim beautiful people | especially while young |
| + great air-con | not too cold, totally pervasive |
However there are some disadvantages
| - heat | and humdity (but see air-con above) |
| - distance | from Europe, within Tokyo |
| - expensive | but no worse than London |
| - no fruit | only as 10.000yen gifts |
The following rumours are not true
| you will never be invited to a japanese home | they even have an official home visit programme ! |
| earthquakes | pathetic. haven't felt a thing. "big" typhoon was rubbish too |
| language difficulty | everything very clearly signed in english and people very friendly and helpful - less problems travelling than in Munich's MVV |
| technophilia | hard to find internet access anywhere. mobile phones just used for talking and texting as in Europe. but very high-tech toilets. |
| manga | you can read these in internet cafes |
| have to take shoes off everywhere | no - only in temples, homes and ryokans |
| hold old traditions high | most Japanese think No theatre boring and don't know what netsuke is. Tea Ceremony is popular as a hobby, however |
| Mount Fuji | never seen - always in clouds |
| Godzilla | doesn't seem to exist either |
Puzzles:
- why does a nation so devoted to aesthetics have all their towns so incredibly ugly?
(Answer: Japan grew from 75 to 175 million in 100 years, Japanese are better at details than the grand schemes)
- where do the English habits of driving on the left, tucking sheets in, scones, .co.jp, admiration of transitory values, non-explictit communication, self-deprecation, complex social conventions and cucumber sandwiches come from?
(Speculation: from William Adams, the last foreign samurai in 17th century - originally from Cornwall - a Shogun adviser)
All in all an ichi-go ichi-e ("once in a lifetime") holiday
We ate a scorpion, dried fishes' heads, survived typhoons and earthquakes, were refused entry into china (and thus to our way home) and had an emergency root canal operation - but otherwise we had the most exciting holiday of our lives in Japan. Also outside Japan we had the nicest hotel (Mandarin Oriental Manila), nicest beach resort (Pearl Farm) and the best discount shopping (Peking) of our lives.