A Taste of Japanese Culture
After a summer filled with rainy weather, college applications, and other disheartening occurrences, I was ready for a much-deserved break. My break came in the form of a plane ticket—courtesy of my parents—to a land far, far away, even by airline standards. The 15-hour flight from Boston to Japan really forces a person to think about her impending trip. What is the weather like in Tokyo? What time is it there? How do the Japanese live differently than the Americans? Will they be able to tell from first glance that I am not native? The overload of questions lulled me to sleep, and I was happily dreaming of sushi, udon soup, and my neighbor Totoro as the plane gently landed in the Narita Airport.
Life changed immediately when I exited Terminal 2. Unlike in the States, there was no one on the other side of the banister to greet my family. Rather, we followed the crowd of Japanese men and women returning home from business trips or vacations and discovered the pride of Japanese technology: the train network. Most Japanese railways belong to the Japan Railways (JR) companies, a set of six companies started in 1987 when the Japanese National Railway was privatized. Because the railways are fast, convenient, and always on time, the Japanese prefer the train to the car as their mode of transportation. Since we were staying in Japan for about a week and would be using the JR quite frequently, my father purchased Japan Rail Passes (passes valid for a week that would let us board any JR train for no additional fee) for 28,300 yen, or a little more than $300. These passes enabled us to board both the ordinary trains and the Shinkansen, or bullet trains. The Shinkansen trains can run up to 300 kilometers per hour (about 187 mph), and only stop at major stations to maintain efficiency.
From the inside out, the Shinkansen looks sleek and polished. It is the picture of luxury. The seats rival first-class airplane seats, with significant leg room, plushy cushions, and adjustable backrests. The service within the Shinkansen is also superb. A well-dressed attendant pushes a trolley loaded with duty-free snacks and drinks, conjuring an image of the Hogwarts Express trolley lady. When the trains are virtually empty, hired workers walk through the cabins, cleaning debris and sanitizing the seats to keep the train pristine and fresh. The entire Shinkansen system is a culmination of the Japanese ideals of hospitality, cleanliness, and efficiency.
The train system is one of many marks of Japanese efficiency. For the commuter’s convenience, major train stations house a variety of stores, including obento vendors for the perfect rice box, snack booths for a little boost of energy, and clothing stores!
I was most amazed by the size of Japanese department stores. These stores are huge, multi-level buildings with themed floors. The bottom two levels always consist of expensive edible delicacies and convenient supermarkets. A visit to those floors reveals the Japanese enthusiasm for cuisine and emphasis on aesthetics. Every single pastry, whether displayed sans wrapper, or presented in a gift box, is picture-perfect. The curl of the whipped cream, the rigid slice of pie, the color contrast of two candies lying side by side—everything fits together. Whereas Americans usually use glass boxes to display expensive jewelry, the Japanese frame their expensive edible artwork and other expensive foods to emphasize the cleanliness and value of their cuisine.
Who can blame them? Japanese cuisine is amazing. Just like every other aspect of their culture, Japanese food reflects their careful attention to detail and the efficiency with which they attend to their duties. I had the privilege of eating out almost every day, giving my taste buds a true dose of the Japanese lifestyle. Although I shrunk from trying some of the more exotic foods (such as raw horse meat), I maintained an open mind, and came to enjoy the typical Japanese palate.
Every city has its own specialty dish. In Hiroshima, my family visited the very top of a department store that hosted a huge array of okonomiyaki stations. Okonomiyaki is a Japanese pancake fried on a large flat metal stove right in front of the customer. The customer can choose ingredients ranging between udon, soba noodles, eggs, and onions. Once again, the speed at which okonomiyaki chefs cook food without sacrificing taste is incredible and speaks to the value of Japanese efficiency. In Okayama, I ate at a kaiten zushi restaurant, known in the US as a “revolving sushi counter.” The sushi served here is inexpensive (about 120 yen per plate of two) and delicious, making kaiten zushi a hot spot for young couples.
In addition to excellent food and transportation, Japanese history is very personal. I experienced its Buddhist and Shinto roots at the Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto and the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo, respectively. The two religions stress the importance of humility, satisfaction with self, and serenity. These traits are very prevalent in Japanese society. When I visited Sounzan, a city near Mount Fuji, to bathe in the hot springs, I observed the Japanese people’s acceptance of self. The natural hot springs are exactly what they sound like—pools of hot water near mountain ranges that remain naturally heated throughout the year. The Japanese use these hot springs as part of a full spa experience, stripping stark naked to bathe. Though this practice seems strange to the U.S. ideals of privacy, the ritual actually highlights the values of Japanese culture. Unlike the American practice of showing off one’s “perfect” body, the Japanese embrace their sizes and shapes. Even though most Japanese women are fairly thin, the more rounded women also make their way to the hot springs in a culmination of true Japanese culture. The Japanese accept their bodies as homes for their souls, and delight in the chance to reconnect with nature.
I was most impacted by the history of Hiroshima. My knowledge of the atomic bomb dropping over this area was limited to the American perspective that I learned in U.S. history. I was unaware of its huge emotional effect on the people of Hiroshima and the legacy that the bombing left. Before touring the city, I met an old woman on the island of Miyajima who had lived near Hiroshima during the bombing. Although my fluency in Japanese is questionable, there was an indisputable tone of anger in the woman’s voice when she spoke of the bombing. When asked to describe her experiences, the woman shook her head, and told us that it was impossible for us to fully understand the pain and emotion that the Japanese endured. She described the corridors of her school being used as a safe place to lay dead bodies so that family members could find their loved ones. She stressed that this tragedy should never have happened.
On this grave note, I made my way to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, a museum dedicated to the victims of the bombing. One of the most moving images within the museum was a huge wall of letters written in protest of nuclear testing. Every time a country tests a nuclear bomb, the present mayor of Hiroshima sends a letter to that country and asks for a peaceful practice of governing. On the annual anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, the mayor also issues a new Peace Declaration. In the 2009 Peace Declaration, mayor Tadatoshi Akiba heavily quoted President Obama. He concluded the declaration with the following words: “We have the power. We have the responsibility… Together, we can abolish nuclear weapons. Yes, we can.” So strongly was Japan affected by the atomic bombing that it renounced its right to declare war after World War II.
However victimized the people of Hiroshima felt by the bomb, they still acknowledged Japan’s acts of aggression that instigated the dropping. The opening display of the Hiroshima Peace Museum is not an abundance of victims’ paraphernalia, but rather a timeline following Sino-Japanese tension and the gradual build of Japan’s military aggression. By beginning the museum tour with something so critical from their own history, the Japanese showed their humility and willingness to move from the past into a brighter future.
Nevertheless, the Hiroshima Peace Museum still gives a gut-wrenching account of reality. The rest of the museum displayed victims’ watches that stopped at the exact moment of the dropping, ragged clothing found on victims’ bodies, pictures of disfigurations and burns, and even the original cartridge of the atomic bomb. The message was clear: the attack was morally wrong and should never happen again.
Outside the museum, the Children’s Peace Memorial stands as a beacon of color. The memorial was built in memory of Sadako, a young girl who contracted cancer as a result of the bomb radiation. In accordance with an old village tale, Sadako folded thousands of paper cranes in hopes that her wish of recovery would come true. She tragically met her death after folding over 2,000 cranes. Today, the schoolchildren of Japan, along with various organizations, donate threads of paper cranes annually in hopes of achieving world peace. The cranes are hung in the glass boxes that surround the Children’s Peace Memorial, and provide a burst of color and joy for those who were affected by the bomb.
My visit to Japan was a truly eye-opening one. Not only did I improve my language skills and eat good food, I experienced culture and gained a better understanding of world affairs. Japan is a living, pulsing country that is full of culture and innovation, and I am so lucky to have been able to visit.
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