There are two types of people in the world. Those who love Japan, and those who don’t. It was December 2007, Samantha and myself were back in Australia, and we desperately wanted to be back in Japan. As I said in my last blog, I had always wanted to live there. Samantha had become smitten with the country. It was really quite shocking just how much we missed a country we had only been in for 4 weeks.
We sort of had a plan, we had some money coming. Our options, depending on the amount we got, boiled down to this. We either bought a house for ourselves or sold our house here in Moonta to invest in properties OR we invested in property and bought a house for ourselves with the proceeds of selling our home here. It was enough of a plan to begin researching moving. What we needed to do for visas. How to get medical help, what area’s we might want to live in and so on. We started learning to read Japanese and I must say that the language is a huge change from English/Latin based language!!!! We are still making progress, but I doubt I even know enough Japanese to order a meal or get directions!
Anyway, it was enough of a decision to start telling friends and family that this was our next step. It was Japan or bust.
What initially struck me were the attitudes I faced. Admittedly our move to Japan isn’t the usual “moving for work” tale people are familiar with. We are simply going to get over there on whatever visa we can legitimately qualify for and see what turns up. I am a huge believer in letting your fate play itself out.
Invariably 90% of people’s response to our blanket statement “we are moving to Japan” was…
“WHY Japan”??!
I had no real answer for this. Why not Japan? How can you explain to someone the feeling you get in Japan. I can’t describe it now, there is no way. If you are a japanophile you understand what I mean, if you aren’t, you never will. I was also shocked by the open racism I experienced.
It’s no wonder the Tokugawa kept westerners isolated to Nagasaki. Who would want that attitude seeping into society? I was shocked that in this modern era of globalisation and anti racist sentiment, that so many people could be openly racist towards anyone. I mean it’s not like us whiteys are any better. In Australia, the aboriginal is still a second class citizen. They could even be bothered making up a name for the indigenous inhabitants of this country. Well not official ones like “red Indians” or such. Just derogatory ones I won’t mention here.
We found ourselves stoping on anything Japanese to feel closer. The multicultural TV channel SBS here in Australia plays Japanese news daily (twice on digital!!). NHK! I understand about 1 in 10 words but it makes me feel better to hear the language spoken. Anime and video games, even in English often contain glimpses of Japanese countryside, or vistas of Japanese mountains.
When we found anyone else who had been to Japan we would spend hours chatting and comparing notes. What I didn’t like was people who did a few days stopover somewhere like Tokyo and would say “I didn’t like Japan”. First up let me say, if you go to Japan and only visit Tokyo you aren’t really visiting Japan. It’s more like a Japanese interpretation of a western city. I loved Tokyo; driving in one of the biggest cities in the word, getting stuck in traffic on the rainbow bridge and getting lost because our navi couldn’t work when we were on a 3 tiered expressway!! Heheh awesome, but I digress. Even the four weeks we stayed was only a glimpse of Japan. Not enough to say with any certainty anything about the country. Certainly no one who does a stopover can make any judgement calls. Better to say that you had a bad time than blame the country. I must admit I am biased. I have always loved Japan. As long as I can remember. I am sure there will be things I can’t stand, but that’s the whole point of doing something different.
Well, people sure couldn’t understand selling everything to move to a country where you can’t speak the language. So many westerners only want to see western things. That’s all well and good. There is a lot of western history I am interested in too. However we covered most of that in history at school. The only things in school we were taught about Japan were “the war”.
I understand the Japanese don’t really discuss the war. That makes sense. Failure is a great loss of face. What irks me is that in school we never discussed the atomic bombs as an atrocity. Its hypocrisy. We didn’t learn about the Japanese builders who built castles without mortar. With stones the size of my car! Or about the amazing mountains that hide shrines and temples until you are right in front of them. Or about the people, who are so understanding of us stupid western tourists. And believe me, once you are a tourist in non English country, you become stupid.
A great example is stupid people who think that yelling something in English is going to get their point across more than trying to use a phrasebook. I personally found it hilarious watching someone ask for something, get a blank stare, then say it louder and slower, but still in English! Classic!
What can you say…? “Why Japan”. I suppose, why Australia, why anywhere. I mean, it’s been quoted a million times, but, no matter where you go, there you are. I think a lot of the attitude of people is probably more about them. I can’t really understand why they wouldn’t want to go live somewhere new for a while. How can you be content only experiencing the world via TV or newspaper?
A photograph can never do justice to any of the world’s great sceneries. And while I haven’t travelled extensively, I can assure you the three dimensional view, and superior high definition of your eye will put any recording device to shame. Light, colour and emotion can never truly be sensed in a photo or video.
So what is it my ramblings are trying to express? I guess I’m just trying to get across the idea that no matter where you want to go, if it’s not a holiday, be prepared for people who can never understand you.
Especially about Japan.
