Japan = Oh so tempting
Moby | 20/9/2004I’ve been Japan crazy lately. Can’t get enough of the food or small amount of culture I can find.
I’m even dredging up my 3 & 4th form Japanese!
and the article doesnt even mention the masses of snow it gets.
hmmph.
I want to go go go!
—
From the second you land, the Japanese-ness assaults you: the cab doors that open and close by themselves, the obsession with hi-tech toilet seats, the rows of vending machines selling hot and cold drinks in the street.
Almost no one speaks English, and when you do see or hear it, it’s usually some fruity Japanese interpretation – jet rug, eyes cream, pot ato fu rai, or the little boy in the lobby of our hotel saying to his sister “talko to the hando”.
There are also many contradictions: the drunk salarymen sleeping in the street at 3am, the wonderful understanding of space and scale, the constant desire for novelty and change in a culture built on ritual and honour.
All this adds up to a culture which feels completely true to itself; one that, despite its place at the forefront of globalisation, somehow remains undiluted and unhomogenised.
