First Impressions

" Japan is amazing.  And very different.  They say you get homesick whenever the newness of a country wears off.  Well, in that case, it will be a while before I get homesick." 

My first view of Japan was landing at the Narita Airport outside of Tokyo.  I remember seeing a few golf courses, a good number of rice paddies, and tons of pools.  Pools?  Well, I thought they were pools.  After all, I am used to seeing those little blue dots around buildings turn into pools as the plane gets closer and closer to the ground.  Surprise, surprise - things are different in Japan!  All those little blue dots turned out to be blue roof tiles.  Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.

"You wanted me to tell you about Japan.  Well, it is very different.  When we landed, all I could see was green and blue rooftops, power lines, a golf course or two, and endless amounts of rice patties.  It was amazing.  I can't wait till you get to experience it."

Once on the ground in the airport, there were even more signs that I was in a totally foreign place.  Things like the helpful English signs on the "Femail" bathroom... sushi shops all over the airport instead of hamburger joints...  and, of course, the fact that I could see over the heads of those in the crowd if I stoop up on my tip-toes.  Let me tell you, that had never happened anywhere else.

"Everything is different, from the way they sell groceries to the way they pick up trash, to the way they eat breakfast and to the way they have festivals.  It would take so long to explain it all.  You will have to come and see it.  Otherwise there will always be something I forgot to mention that you must know about."

There were a lot of thoughts and emotions going through my mind when I first got to Japan - and not just that the Japanese couldn't spell in English very well and that, for once, I was actually going to be considered "average height" instead of short.  Oh, and the "duh" moment about the blue roof tops kept popping in my mind, too.  But Japan was so foreign (go figure) from anything else I had ever experienced, it took me quite a while to get used to it.

"Japan is an ugly country at first glace.  Telephone and power lines are everywhere.  Buildings are close together and there is litter on the beach...But I have read that in Japan, you must look for beauty in small parts, not in the whole picture.  For example, there is a statue not too far from my house by car.  It is a giant Buddhist, standing about 20 stories high - she is made of white stone and is very beautiful.  But she is surrounded by telephone lines and streets.  There is even a McDonald's in front of it.  But it is still beautiful."  

- Excerpts from a letter to my parents sent August 22, 1996

On to Sendai City

Back to Japan '96 - '97