Japan, the Second Time Around

I left Korea again with a heavy heart and headed to Japan. This is my second time to go there and the first time I went there was one of the best experiences I had in my life. This time would prove to be different. I came to Japan previously to attend a month long intensive Japanese course in Kyoto at Ritsumeikan University. I was there with some other Americans and Canadians and I befriended a few of them along with a bunch of Japanese. It was my first trip to East Asia and really was an important time for me to develop my skill in Japanese. It was really a fascinating trip for me because I had studied Japanese culture and history for a couple years before I arrived so I used to trip to verify and disprove my preconceived notions. That trip was fun and enjoyable in every way. I remember when I came home my dad told me that the second time I go it won't be as amazing as the first. I sort of blew him off at the time but now I see he had a point.

Japan has lost its mystique for me. The streets that I thought were impeccably clean seemed dirty. The overwhelming politeness of people in 7/11 annoyed me. The expansive temples and quaint shrines felt commonplace. Also, everything seemed (and actually was) so much more expensive for me. I think coming from the extremely affordable Philippines along with the fact that a $US is now worth only 80 Yen now made me feel like I was bleeding money constantly.

I spent the first two nights in Kyoto where I met with some old friends both from my previous visit and a girl I volunteered with in the Philippines. It was good to see them and catch up a bit but they didn't have the spare time to have much more than a meal.

I had one day to kill in Kyoto and as nice and attractive as Kyoto is I lived there for a month and I have been to pretty much been to every famous place in that city. I spent my time over on the small street where I used to live. I thought I could revisit my old feelings if I returned to the place where my experiences were had but I felt almost nothing as I walked through my memories. I realized that my special attachment to Kyoto was subjective to that time and the people I was with. Times have changed and I am not the same guy I was back then. I spent the day reading a book about the history of Manila in a coffee shop full of old Japanese guys smoking cigarettes.

The next day I headed up to Nagoya via Hikone which is in Shiga Prefecture. I met my old roommate from the Philippines in Hikone. He was also a volunteer at an NGO that I was loosely connected to. Hikone is a very nice, quiet, and livable town. Most Japanese probably have never heard of it but I enjoyed my time there and it was good to see my friend again. He's a good guy and even if we come from almost completely different walks of life we have a solid friendship.

I continued up to Nagoya where I met another friend in the train station. Nagoya was not as big as I thought it was going to be. We went out one night and they toured me around the next day. Honestly, Nagoya is not extremely interesting place to visit but it is well known for its food. They make some really good wings and they are obsessed with miso and put it on everything.

We visited Nagoya castle which is pretty much the only tourist attraction in the city. It is quite big but I have to say that if you are interested in seeing castles in Japan than the best one is in Himeji. I'm pretty sure it is the biggest in Japan and more importantly it has never been demolished since it was constructed four hundred years ago.

We toured Nagoya castle and its grounds which had a surprising number of weirdos wearing various costumes. The castle was destroyed in World War 2 and has been rebuilt with all the modern amenities and there was a corner of the castle devoted to its destruction. There was a picture hanging that I couldn't discern at first.

 I looked at it carefully and I finally figured out that it was a depiction of the castle burning down after it had been bombed. I was moved by the picture and I tried to picture myself as a local citizen at that time. The Japanese people prior to and during the Second World War were constantly fed propaganda that they were the strongest Asian civilization and they had supreme power. Children were indoctrinated in this belief and still the Japanese have a strong sense of national pride even if it is quite different today than it was at the time. The castle must have been a symbol of the power and prestige of the Japanese military and the Japanese cultural dominance. How would a Japanese person feel watching that symbol be destroyed and incinerated and how did they cope with the reality that followed? Japan was literally reborn in the ashes of that war. With most of the major cities destroyed by Allied bombing and of course the two atomic bombs there wasn't much left of the power and empire that the Japanese people had so much in pride in. The prestige and perceived cultural dominance was unceremoniously shattered and would never recover. Some people would say that the Japanese deserved this for the crimes their military committed all across Asia. I believe the people in the Japanese government and military should be held responsible for the atrocities but I am more interested in the human level; the view of the average Japanese. I can't imagine how it would feel if everything I knew and respected was desecrated before my eyes. Anyway, Nagoya girls are hot. I saw more attractive women in Nagoya per capita then any other Japanese city I was in. I really believe that Japan has some of the most attractive women in the world. They have a fashion sense which sometimes I think is too much but I can appreciate it. Japanese are not only physically attractive but they have a manner which I really enjoy. I'm generalizing now but when you flirt with Japanese girl they have a perfect balance of shyness and flirtatiousness which makes them irresistible. Tokyo also had some very beautiful women but I have to say Nagoya has a higher concentration considering the much smaller population.

Following the castle and a few other sites I headed up to Tokyo on a night bus. The bus was actually surprisingly comfortable and I slept well. I arrived in Tokyo in the early morning and a friend of mine met me at a train station in Saitama which is about 45 minutes outside Tokyo. He had offered to have me stay at his house with his family. Actually Saitama is a place I have wanted to go for a long time. It is sister cities with Pittsburgh for whatever reason. I walked around the city a bit and I'm not sure if I really got that Pittsburgh feel...

I spent the day touring around Tokyo by myself. I checked out Asakusa which is a very touristy place famous for some temples and special foods.

I went to Akihabara which is the Mecca of anime and Japanese comic book nerds. It also has a wide array of stores with cheap electronics and tons of Maid Cafés were the waitresses all dress up in French maid outfits and play silly games with you and talk in weirdly high pitched voices. I actually went to one of these places in Osaka the last time I was in Japan but I wasn't about to go to one alone. That's just kind of weird. I was disappointed with the girls on the street since none of them let me take a picture so I snapped some secretly.

After this I went to what I think was the fashion capital of Tokyo, Shibuya. People there wore the strangest clothes. Some of the women wore very sexy outfits but some of them just looked kind of weird. Guys, both Japanese and foreigners also sported some high douche bag fashion. I could tell I was in an affluent area because there were so many tool bags. I trekked a long time through these streets before I came to solemn and quiet Meiji Shrine. It seemed to be the Central Park of Tokyo. It was very quiet and once you go inside you could almost forget that you are actually in the heart of Tokyo. The shrine itself is hardly ornamented at all and compared to other shrines I've been to was not all that interesting. What I did find interesting was just how undecorated the place was. Meiji was the emperor that brought Japan into the era of modernization and under his reign Edo was renamed Tokyo. I made an analysis of the place but I think only people interested in Japanese history would like to read about that.

After walking around for awhile I found a quiet bench and took a nap. I needed to relax since I'd been walking the whole day on limited sleep. Upon returning back to the house of friend his family was already preparing a sort of welcome party for me. We had some delicious meats and other Japanese food. My friend had to finish two reports that night so he was indisposed for most of the evening but I spent most of the time discussing with his father. Our discussion was a little bit hindered by the fact he apparently had tracheotomy and could not speak at all so I was speaking Japanese and he was writing out English sentences on small white board to communicate. We drank and discussed various things. We drank a lot. It was good. We had a fruitful discussion.

The next day I met a good friend of mine who volunteered with me at the same NGO in the Philippines. She is a very sweet girl and I've always had a soft spot for her which allowed me to tolerate the fact she was an hour and a half late. I know she lived in the Philippines for a couple months where punctuality is not so important but even Filipinos aren't usually that late. We visited Waseda University where she is studying and we also went to a museum about the history of Tokyo. My time with her was cut a bit short since I had promised my friend's family that we would got to an onsen together that evening.

 I do really enjoy the Japanese style onsen which traditionally should be a natural hot spring but they are able now to manufacture a similar effect.

The next day I headed to Osaka by bus since my flight was the day after that from the airport nearby. In the usual stupidity of air travel I headed back to Osaka to take a flight back to Tokyo from which I would leave to go to Vancouver. I was surprised at the airport by a Japanese girl that had come to my house in Pittsburgh a couple times. She was fresh from building latrines in Zambia. She is a very interesting lady and I am really had not expected to see her. It was good to discuss with her even if it was only for an hour or so.

Overall I enjoyed my stay in Japan but mainly for the people I met there. I was reluctant to visit Tokyo the last time I was in Japan but I have developed a liking for the massive metropolis except for how god damn expensive it is. Now I head to Vancouver to visit some friends from college and it is the last step of my journey back home to Pittsburgh.

Philippine Withdrawal and Seoul Shock Therapy

It was with great sadness that I left the Philippines and it was not until I had finally got on the airplane and I saw Manila from the sky that it really sank in that this chapter of my life was really over. The passage of time has a way of embedding a sense of home which once was torn from me was a painful experience. The life I've chosen will force me to call a lot of places home but the Philippines will always have a special place in my heart. I found real beauty in those islands and my experiences there were priceless.

I arrived in Seoul with a heavy feeling in my stomach but I think it was fitting that I met my friend Daniel at the airport. He was one of the first people I met in the Philippines and we were roommates for 5 months or so. He was the first person to help me orient myself in Manila and we became great friends. And so he carried on guiding me but this time in his own country. I only stayed four days and five nights in Korea and so Daniel arranged my trip with my other Korean friends who had stayed in my house in Pittsburgh in the summer of last year. Each day a different person guided me somewhere new. I really have to thank my Korean friends again because I was really treated like a king there. I was treated for practically every meal and I hardly spent any money. I felt bad about this but they kept insisting that this is Korean culture.

Seoul really is a massive city and the place can be a bit intimidating at first. The subway map seems like I giant web but under closer examination it is actually not difficult to understand.

 The first night Daniel and I had some good Korean food along with some Solju which is like Korean wine. I actually really like Solju. It's very cheap and a bit strong. Exactly what I like in alcohol. Korean food is also very sophisticated and delicious. They have a culture of side dishes so with every meal you will have several side dishes accompanying whatever your main course. At restaurants these are refillable to an unlimited amount. Korean food is full of strong flavors, a lot of vegetables, and Koreans are keen on spicy food. I've always loved spicy food so this fits well with me but I have to admit by the time I'm writing this, I have become a bit sick of Kimchi. It is delicious but they really eat it with every meal so I got sort of saturated with it.

After dinner we stayed in a sauna for the night. I guess this is a part of Korean culture because I don't think we have this kind of accommodation in the States. You pay only $8 or so and you can enter and enjoy a sauna, shower, and hot bath. Korean style is that everyone is naked. After you shower, you can hang out in a common area where there is food and TV and you can acquire a small mat and pillow and sleep for the night. The men and women shower sections are separate but everyone sleeps in the same room. It was an interesting experience and if anyone is backpacking through Korea then I recommend they look into this since you can save a lot of money.

The next day I met up with my friend Jake who is one of the three Koreans that lived in my house last summer. Jake lives about three hours from Seoul but he made the trip and met up with a friend of his who has a car. His friend John who was an older guy that lives about an hour from Seoul. I was very surprised because I had never met his friend before but not only did he drive Jake into Seoul but he toured us around the city for the whole day. He was very kind and I really appreciate what he did. We visited a lot of different parts of the Seoul. We checked out Namsan tower which gives you a panoramic view of Seoul. 

We checked out Itaewon where all the foreigners hang out. We checked out a very old palace for the old kings of Korea but I kept forgetting the name. I think it's Kyeonbokgun. It is a very spectacular place. 

I visited another palace near this place with my Daniel the next day and they are quite similar. 

The blue building is the "White House" of Korea which Daniel told me to call it since I kept forgetting the Korean name. The place even has police on roller blades who according to them are on roller blades to quickly to respond to any threat on the president!

These palaces are really in the middle of Seoul which makes them feel a bit surreal. A quiet historical oasis in a sea of busybody modernity. I tried to examine the Korean style and compare it to what I saw when I was in Japan and they definitely have similar influences which you would assume originates from China but my other Korean friend in the Philippines would dispute this. He told me that really the Chinese had copied everything from the idea of Yin and Yang to Confucius from Korea. I don't know if that is really true and anyway we are speculating about ideas originating over 2,000 years ago so I think it is impossible to really classify people back then as really Korean or Chinese by our conventional standards. However, I think it is interesting that if you ask a Korean, Chinese, or Japanese about history they all seem to have a different interpretation but I believe as usual the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Anyway, Korea does definitely have a distinct style from Japan but I only spent time in Seoul and I was not able to check out the country more thoroughly like I could with Japan. Honestly, as I walked around the old palace of the old king of Korea I was less enamored then I was when I was in Japan at similar locations. It isn't because the Japanese palaces are so much better but I feel like I've been a bit saturated with these historical landmarks in this part of the world. The fact that the king of olden times had a massive palace built by just so he enjoy his many wives seems a bit ridiculous more than praiseworthy. That being said Korea does definitely have a some beautiful places and next time I go to Korea I will check out more historical places outside of Seoul. Daniel and I also went to palace similar to the one Jake took me to and he showed me a inner sanctum of the palace where the Korean Empress Myeongseong was gruesomely murdered by Japanese assassins shortly before Japan officially annexed Korea as a part of the Japanese empire back in the early 20^th cenutry. She was supposedly the last obstacle for Japan to fully annex Korea. It is clear to me that there is still resentment among Koreans for how they were treated during the Japanese occupation. This is one aspect of history which I only superficially considered but it is by no means something that should be overlooked as a collateral damage of Japanese expansionism. My take on the situation is that throughout history there have always been rough parts which are hard to forget and WW2 being one of the most severe. I think it is too early to say that the Europeans have all reconciled Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union as mere memories but I think that Germans have made progress reintegrating themselves as a part of the European community. Japan and Korea have a different relationship now than France and Germany even if they share a somewhat similar historical relationship. I believe Japanese and Koreans can be friends and love each other on a human level but there appears to be a deep rooted cultural conflict. From my experience the Japanese have been the ones more hesitant to engage and fully discuss the history and I do think the Koreans are in the right in this debate. I'm not saying that Japanese in general disregard this part of their history and just try to forget it but I feel like a lot more can be done by the Japanese government to try to make amends but I don't know...it's been over 60 years. And really who really cares what the government says or doesn't say, what is important what individual people communicate to each other.

Anyway, that day was also a day of protests and there were hundreds of riot police in the main square in front of the palace. 

The only protest I saw was one of some disabled people which consisted of three people in wheelchairs and some guy holding a sign. Over by the Myeondong cathedral there were about 30 students hanging out and halfheartedly complaining about tuition fees. The police presence seemed more than necessary.

The next day, Daniel visited the palace that I mentioned and a museum of Korean history which was decently interesting. That night we ate dog for dinner.

 I really wanted to try it since it is illegal in the States and really hard to find in the Philippines. It is an interesting meat. At first I felt kind of sick eating it but I was able to overcome the gut feeling and I tried to enjoy the food without thinking about the animal it came from. The meat is very soft and the soup that it was in was tasty. I drank a bottle of Solju while we ate and I have to say that the meat had an interesting effect on my body. My heart quickened, my body felt hotter, and I just felt more powerful. An older Korean guy told me on my last night in Seoul that they sometimes use it as an aphrodisiac which I understand now. The meat was interesting but it did have a tyrannical effect on my digestive system. It's hard to explain because I've never felt that way before but it was far different than any normal indigestion that I've experienced before. After that Dan and I checked out an amusement park in the middle of Seoul which was as enjoyable as amusement parks are.

The next day I woke up in an estranged mood. I felt desperately hungry and needed caffeine badly. Somehow I was unable to locate the usually easy to find 50 meter path to the subway station and I got lost wandering around small streets and alleyways in Seoul. I felt so bizarre and I was more disoriented than any hangover from any substance I've taken before. Finally after some coffee and a sandwich I regained my senses and met up with my friend Amy who had stayed in my house in the summer of last year. I had a good time with her and it was good to discuss with her for such a long time. She took me to some Korean markets where I got to try some street foods and she helped me shop for decent Korean souvenirs to take back to the States. I also met her boyfriend, Julio, who is a Korean guy but since his Spanish was better than his English the first time he left Korea decided to reject the convention of choosing of an English name that Koreans usually do when they leave their country. He's a real nice guy.

I spent my last day in Korea with my friend Noah who is a sweet girl studying at Seoul University which is considered the university in the country even though she would never admit that. I wanted her to show me the school because I wanted to see where the Korean elite come from. Korea is an incredibly competitive country. For example, my friend Daniel that I mentioned before is looking to transfer to Korea University but he told me there are 2,000 people applying for only 6 spots. He said he failed the first time he tried but he was confident he could succeed next year. I have no idea how he could be confident with odds like that but good luck to him. Anyway, the campus is nice and I had a good time with her. We went out to dinner with her older sister and her sister's boss. Her sister works at a company that imports hay from the States and sells it in Korea. I found it hard to believe that that could be a lucrative business since I always thought hay was just dried up grass and can't possibly be worth much but according to Noah they are pretty successful and making a lot of money, so what do I know? Noahs sisters boss and I engaged in some political conversation which I think bored Noah's sister a bit because her English was kind of limited but Noah has a sharp intellect which added depth to the discussion. Another aspect of Koreans that I like is that they are more likely to engage in political discussions then Japanese or Chinese. I know some politically active Chinese, like my old roommate in Vancouver but most of the Chinese I have met are not so keen to discuss Chinese politics with non-Chinese and it is very rare that I meet a Japanese that has an interest in politics.

I stayed the night with Noah's family who were extremely sweet and accommodating.

 My whole experience was extremely enjoyable and I have to say that I do look at Korea with a different perspective now. I do recommend other people to visit Korea but I have to say that having good friends there made all the difference and if I had gone there with out knowing anyone than I would have been completely lost.