Negative And Positive Impression From Japan

Did you know that every day over eight million people travels on a plane? It’s a massive statistic, but, in this day and age, it’s hardly surprising. Japan has an enormous population, with three major cities: Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. Around 19.7 million people visit Japan each year, and that number is only going to grow.

Japan has many things to do and sights to see. There are historical temples and grounds, loved by tourists and locals alike. The oldest temple in Japan, the Horyuji Temple in Ikaruga, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country.

Mark Rigoni, who has been travelling domestically and abroad regularly for over twenty years, and been to Japan more than once, has said that this was one of the best things about Japan. “The best thing was definitely exploring the history behind Japan and seeing all of the temples. The maps showed me around and pointed me towards things I wouldn’t have found on my own”.

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Other popular sites for tourists include scaling Mount Fuji, a very famous and beautiful UNESCO Heritage site, viewing cherry blossoms, called Sakura, and shopping at Takeshita Street. As for experiencing and appreciating Japanese culture, a lot differs between Eastern and Western cultures. In Eastern societies, more emphasis is placed on people and relationships, rather than events and time. If you need to meet your mother for lunch, but your friend who lives abroad spontaneously drops by, you don’t spend less time with your friend to get to lunch, trumping the event that was supposed to take place.

In Western cultures, the opposite is almost always true: We place more emphasis on time and events and would hurry up our friend’s visit, even though we might want to see them more because we made a commitment to meet our mother for lunch.

Japanese culture also places more significance on eating that Western cultures do. Japan is the world’s largest eater of seafood, ingesting about 17 million tonnes per year. This is a big difference in comparison to Western cultures, where families typically quickly whip up some two-minute noodles or go out and get fast-food at least once a week. In Japan, fast food is a rarity, as healthy food is accessible and very affordable, as it is part of life. “The food was excellent”, Mark says. “It was so fresh and ready to go. There were vending machines on every street corner where you could buy packaged sushi for really good prices”.

On paper, Japan sounds incredible. The history, emphasis on people and food culture are all enticing. However, there are certain things that prospective travellers should take into account before making the trip.

A big trouble in Japan is the language barrier. Many people can speak only Japanese, with a rare few bi-lingual. Mark notes, “With a decreasing population, Japan is becoming more and more insular”. In fact, a survey conducted by Hostelworld.com reaffirmed this point, concluding that 12% of people surveyed would visit Japan if the language wasn’t an issue. Most people in the hotel industry can speak English, but they are of little help on the streets. All the signs are in Japanese, which differs from Australia, where we have signs in many languages outside of banks and libraries. In Japan, expect none of this. It’s obvious who’s a tourist and who’s not, and it’s quite easy to take advantage of someone vulnerable, especially in such a large and overwhelming country. This is crucial information, something tourists should bear in mind when planning a trip.

Travellers should also take into consideration the transport network. On paper, everything sounds great. As Mark accurately sums up, “The train system is very advanced. The frequency of trains is unparalleled, everything runs on time and it is overall a very slick system”. While this sounds fantastic, problems are sure to arise. The scheduling system, while very frequent and helpful to daily commuters, can be very confusing to people who have never travelled there before. The stations are extremely confusing, with many levels, and, while there are maps inside the stations, most of them are in Japanese and the ones that aren’t are in other East Asian languages. With such hustle and bustle, it can be difficult to find where you’re going, find your train, find where you’re supposed to get off and then find your way out of the station. In peak hour, train stations even employ people called ‘packers’ to push commuters onto the trains just so they will all fit in. A tip for travellers? Plan your train trip in advance and ask the hotel staff.

Despite these negatives, Mark assures me that his overall impression of Japan is positive. “The food, the scenery and the cultural differences are all very attractive. It’s somewhere I would definitely go again”.