Mr. Roboto, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Being Dead Weight

There comes a point in a prolonged vacation where you simply begin to feel like a stowaway in someone else's culture. Where you recognize that you don't understand the language, don't understand the rules, and simply just don't belong there at all. No, I'm not speaking of Korea, thankfully. I'm talking about my week away in Japan.

To write my expectations of Japan in detail after the fact of the matter would be inaccurate and pointless, but I will say this: I never thought it could be so different than the culture next door. I mean, Japan borrowed language, culture, religion, writing style, even architectural style from Korea (who in turn had borrowed all that from China). Both countries are Confucian, both countries have a very ocean-oriented livelihood. How could so much be so backwards to me??

In that same train of thought, let's talk about the first shocking thing to happen. Sitting on the bus, riding to the university where I was to meet my friend and tour guide for the week David, listening to my iPod, softly starting to doze for the hour trip, when the recognition that I'm on the left side of the road shakes me out of my complacency. They drive like England over there! Somewhere in the back of my head I knew it was something I've learned, but something so trivial gets filed away with pop culture tidbits and African history. When you are actually sitting in a vehicle, waiting to make a right turn at the light, waiting for the bus on the wrong side of the road, feeling confused which way to look when crossing, it really drives the nail home. Not only cars, mind you, but all traffic obeys this backwards principle. Walking on sidewalks, stairs, and escalators is always on the left side. Even the subways and trains run on the left side of the track! So confusing. I never quite got used to it all week. (익숙해지지 않았어요)

As for activities in Japan, there was plenty to keep me occupied. For starters, there was an entire new food culture to dive into. I finally had real Japanese sushi, and realized that it wasn't that much different from what I'd been eating in Korea or even the States. On the unique side, however, I did try something that can only be served in Japan. Though I never got my jaws around the ever-so-deadly blowfish sushi, I did snag a bite of whale meat, a delicacy that has been internationally restricted to only the Japanese islands ("Takeshima" not included). I also got a melt in your mouth taste of the most delicious sushi in the world, the fatty tuna (O-toro, if you will). Though I have had this in the states before, there is something magic about eating it surrounded by Japanese that really brings the whole experience home.

My largest observation about Japanese cuisine, after having tasted everything I wanted to, is that they lack any food which is remotely spicy. Sure, they have wasabi, but that's not "spicy" per se. I'm talking about real, Mexican food, burning your mouth not your nose spicy, like just about everything in Korea winds up being. The funny thing was that the Japanese people continuously attempted to serve me "spicy" things, further solidifying the truth that they didn't have even a remote concept of how to pick spicy food out of a line up, much less cook it. I was served a dish which was reportedly "so spicy you will die," and to my surprise I couldn't taste the slightest hint of heat. If we ever need to beat Japan in war again, I advise saving the nukes and sticking with Tabasco, because those kids can't handle mild sauce.

Though David's university is in Yokohama, I spent very little of my time there. We did see the city's famous China town district, but aside from that Yokohama was largely un-toured. The best part of my trip started with Shinkansen (the bullet train) and lasted through the duration of my time in Kyoto. Seat of the early empires, Kyoto can be compared to Korea's GyeongJu in that all the ancient cultural sights can be found there. The number of temples and palaces in Kyoto could not be toured in a week, much less two days, but we hit the big spots. As Chiasa suggested, we toured a Japanese castle (Nijo-Jo), but unfortunately a sign every ten yards reminded us that no photography or sketching was allowed inside the building. Most of the wall paintings were still preserved, and they were really impressive, but I couldn't draw them for you guys. We also toured the largest wooden structure in the world, Hongwan temple. Aside from the massive portion, the temple has many smaller buildings scattered into an east and west plot of land. The most impressive sights were the Silver and Gold temples. Though the Silver temple is silver only in name, it was still an impressive structure and the Buddhist sand garden was particularly awesome. It had just rained the night before, so the sand had been freshly reformed. It was a mind boggling series of patterns swirling around a Mt. Fuji shaped mound. The Gold temple was in fact actually gold. The three story temple was set beside a lake, which rendered a particularly nice reflection of it's top two, completely gilded stories. Other Kyoto sides included a bamboo forest, the Geisha district briefly, and Kosho temple.

After Kyoto we spent some time in Tokyo, which is lately nothing but businesses and businessmen. I did get to see the famed Harajuku district and all it's weirdness. Though it was after dark and most of the freaks had gone home, we did catch a glimpse of a few of Harajuku's famed fashionistas and all their wacky outfits. David and I also made the huge mistake of going to Tokyo tower. Probably the biggest tourist trap I've ever been caught by, Tokyo tower is nothing but an hour line to pay 8 dollars to stand in a forty-five minute line to take the elevator to snap four pictures of buildings and then wait thirty minutes to take an elevator back down to the shopping area. The brochure did make a big deal about how the tower is taller and lighter than the Eiffel Tour, whom they shamelessly copied and strove to outdo.

Despite being a week of constant run around, I was totally relaxed the duration of my stay in Japan. At first, it's disconcerting to be completely dependent on another human being to communicate even your most basic desires. I was suddenly thrust into 100% illiteracy, muteness, deafness, and cultural stupidity. I could no longer order food or even read menus, I had not one yen to buy anything, I didn't know where anything was, and if I had I couldn't have used the subway or bus system. After I overcame the initial fear of dependency, however, I learned that it is no curse to be dead weight. I finally didn't have to think about anything. I didn't know the first thing, but wasn't expected to! I was allowed to be stupid and lost. Better yet, I was no longer ashamed of being touristy. In Korea, where I'm working on understanding and fitting into the general culture, I feel bad carrying around a camera or asking directions, even going to the area tourist traps. In Japan though I had no expectation or desire to fit in. It was liberating to be allowed to spend all my tourist energy unabashedly.

On that note, the last day in Japan was spent in Tokyo Disneyland. Though it's not very Japanese, it is quite cultural. The cutesy, childish, pink-hued side of Japan comes out of the shadows when mice in dresses and bows are around. David, his Yokohama friends, and I had a great time running around an Asian Disney environment, as lame as all the rides really were. I leave you with a photo montage of our adventures in Disneyland, as well as some of our more goofy and strange photos from the whole trip. Next time: my responsibilities resume as I take the tour guide reins and lead David around Korea.