Monthly Archives: February 2016

Touchdown in Tokyo

We landed at Narita late afternoon today (Feb 14, Japan time).  By the time we finished a delicious nabe (Japanese hotpot) dinner and had time to roam around our hotel, it was already 9:30pm.

It’s awfully cheesy to say this but it definitely has not hit me yet that we’re in Japan.  I think it’s partly due to this strange suspended state I am in from being tired, and partly due to the fact that we have not encountered many people yet.

The area around our hotel, Shinyokohama, was very quiet.  Perhaps it’s because it’s between Tokyo and Yokohama and on the outskirts of both, or perhaps it’s because it’s a Sunday night.  I hope we find out tomorrow!

 

Pre-departure and Predictions

Hello!  ‘Twas the night before departure, and what better time than to lay out my initial expectations of what the week ahead with the Kakehashi Project has in store for me?

First, let me begin with what I know of Japan so far.  My experience with Japan began first as an interest in manga and anime throughout elementary and high school, but upon entering university I learnt more about its history and culture through literature and film (shout out to Dr. Stefania Burk and the fantastic courses she teaches at UBC – any course with her is a blast).

A few of my uni courses totally turned my understanding of Japanese culture on its head.  After those courses, I became more aware than ever my lack of knowledge and understanding of much of the world.  I’ve unknowingly adopted stereotypes and preconceptions as easy explanations to the things around me, which is somewhat understandable given my limited exposure and language abilities but definitely not healthy if it leads to harmful attitudes or if I perpetuate these misconceptions.

I’ve been studying Japan from afar for quite a while but have never been (except for brief layovers at Narita).  Thus, I hope that actually being in Japan will teach me more about its people and culture than textbooks and journal articles can tell me.

I thought it’d be quite fun if I listed a few predictions of what I might encounter in Japan and then reflect if these were really true at the end of my trip.  I’m looking forward to destroying most of these or heavily editing them in about a week.  Here we go!

  1. We will consume many, many bento boxes and very little fish or meat.
  2. People will be very polite, formal and reserved.  There will be a lot of bowing everywhere, even if we don’t really know the person.
  3. I imagine that the mix of cultural and historical landmarks amongst business in Tokyo will be reminiscent of London’s mixture of old and new.  Tokyo will be a high energy place and the commercial areas we’ll visit will feel quite similar to Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay or Tsim Sha Tsui.
  4. Sapporo will be the coldest place I’ve ever been (the coldest weather I’ve experienced so far has been up on Whistler, a ski resort two hours’ north of Vancouver, it was probably -5 at its lowest). It’ll be pretty dark and its tempo will be similar to Vancouver’s.

It’s time for me to turn in as tomorrow will be the start of a very fast-paced week.  More to come here once I’m in Japan!