Saturday, May 01, 2010

April

was the month
- I made my first ever trip to Japan.

I find its people fascinating, totally different from my expectations which I admit are built on Hollywood's take of the land and its people.

Where I expected the Japanese to be intense, either in a serious or cartoon-y way, I quickly realised how gracious and civic-minded they are. Everyone I approached for help would go out of his/her way to steer me back on course and see me off with the warmest smile.


Where I expected only the extremes of the weary formally attired salarymen vs the fun-loving colourful kawaii boys and girls, I found a spectrum of very tasteful styles.


I resisted going to Japan because I was so sure the country and its people are, simply, too foreign.
I have been so ignorant and wrong.

It is a country where its people will show you that you - the foreign tourist - have a place in their ever gracious land.

11 comments:

dancingbunny said...

I am very appreciative of their civic mindedness
After I was there, I came back and suddenly everyone in singapore felt 3x ruder!

wildgoose said...

They are very gracious and helpful. One would find it hard not to feel welcomed.
By the way, the pix was taken in Japan?

sinlady said...

bunny - no comparison between their and our level of civic mindedness...

wildgoose - yes, pix taken in japan. one of those rare times you see me in spring colours :)

zewt said...

language is still a big problem i heard.

sinlady said...

zewt - that's the thing that surprised me: they use and understand english a lot more than you would think!

LuLu said...

Are those tattoo arm gloves? Cool :)

sinlady said...

lulu - yes :)

zewt said...

interesting...

tattoo arm gloves? i tot you tattoo-ed your arms hah!

sinlady said...

zewt - heheh

eatdrinkplayjunkie said...

that was a nice picture :)

im glad that u love japan, it is indeed one of our favorites too.

sinlady said...

edpj - i am happily surprised and very impressed with Japan !