Trip 2008 (5)

Having been in Japan for about a week now, I have made the following observations about the Japanese:

1. Japan is all about convenience. Toilets are fitted with heatable seats, and water can be used to flush your ass after you finish. You can get anything at convenient stores and vending machines, and the food they sell there is actually quite nice. For example, sushi rolls sold in convenient stores are wrapped in a way that separates the rice from the seaweed which is aimed to retain the crunchiness of the seaweed. It is so much better than the sushi roll being sold in Australia, where the seaweed is already soggy from the rice. I have been having this for breakfast for a few days now, and they are always nice and fresh.

2. Japanese people are polite and friendly. They will bow to you and say sorry when they bump into you. However, beyond this, they are like other Asians, who are only concerned about themselves. I have seen many young Japanese people on trains and buses not giving seats to eldery people even though they are seating in priority seats.

3. Japanese people seem to be more cultured than we expect. I went to the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo today and they had a special exihibition of works deplicting Venus, the goddess of love, which have been sourced from all over the world, including Florence and Naples. Even though its a week day, there were many Japanese people there, and it was quite packed inside. The normal exhibitions in the museum was quite small in comparison with the Art Gallery in Sydney, but their section of works from Impressionist artists were very impression, with a few works from Monet (including a painting of the famed Water Lillies) and other artists such as Manet and Renoir. There is even a painting by Vincent van Gogh there.

So far, I do not really like Tokyo. Such a big busy city and people do not seem as warm as those in smaller cities like Kyoto. We went to a tour of the Imperial Palace grounds today which we had to pre-book. In the afternoon, I split up with my travel buddy and I went to the National Museum fo Western Art (as described above). Last night was spent in Shinjuku, where we went to a restaurant and you had to fish your own fish and lobsters and they cook it for you on the spot. It was really fun and we are planning to go there again tonight. My other travel buddy is arriving today (he was sick so did not arrive earlier) so hopefully we will have more fun in the next few days.