Why Japan Now?

Editorial by Sheri Leigh

"World Haiku Review" cover art

The safest places these days are those destinations where would-be terrorists can’t easily meld into the culture and attack from within. With that thought in mind, a natural destination for American travelers looking for great new experiences would be a journey across the Pacific to Asia.

As we mentioned last month, Asia’s economies and their currencies are tied closely to America’s. With a relatively strong dollar and Asians’ genuine love of American travelers, the reception there is sure to be warm. Some destinations, like China, have dropped prices due to last year’s SARS fears, while in other places like Cambodia and Vietnam, which are very new destinations for western tourists, tourism has not yet driven up local prices, so the values are even greater.

Japan, one of America’s closest allies, has had a bad rap for years regarding prices. But while a $50 McDonalds burger may have been available in the inflated 1980’s, why on earth would you even want one? Recently I had the pleasure of a very short visit to Tokyo, Japan, and found prices there to be surprisingly affordable.

For instance, my quick bite at a maguro shop for a bowl of rice and the freshest tuna sashimi I have ever had, was under $4. A similar meal in the U.S. would have been closer to $15. The corner noodle shop, the Japanese equivalent of a pizza stop in New York, was even less expensive. The majority of places I ate were geared to the locals, but isn’t that the point of going somewhere new, to get away from the familiar?

Even a sit-down lunch, meaning mats on the floor, in a traditional downtown Tokyo restaurant was only about $7. It was delightfully tucked away on a side street near a tiny temple, where I was lucky enough to view a once-a-year festival, but I will admit that I would have never found this restaurant on my own. Dining with my local business associates, who took me there, I have no idea what we ate – but I remember the experience was one of best of my trip!

I stayed just a few blocks from Ueno Park station, Tokyo’s second largest train station and a major subway stop. A single in a local businessman’s hotel, which by western standards would be a small room, was priced at about $75. The room, while compact, was perfectly comfortable and the high-tech toilet made for a great bit of amusement, putting European bidets to shame.

Ueno Park is host to a number of Tokyo’s museums, including a calligraphy museum, Tokyo’s National Museum, the National Museum for Western Art, and, of course, Tokyo’s world famous zoo. Like most American’s I have a very Eurocentric view of the world, so I was unprepared for the amazing artwork of 15^th-century Japan. There was a special exhibition celebrating the 500th anniversary of the death of Sesshu (a Buddhist priest who was Japan’s acknowledged master of ink painting), which opened my eyes to the delicacy of the period’s style and naturalism.

Sesshu, trained in Zen doctrine and painting both in Japan and on his travels through China, expressed a tranquility that moved the soul. Pencil fine brush strokes with just the slightest hint of color reminded me of the cartoon drawings of the European masters – but  here the delicate sketches were the masterpieces themselves. Nowhere were the huge luminous oils of the Europeans, but, instead, naturalism in simplicity.

Having focused on Renaissance art and philosophy in college, it was a great experience for me to compare Sesshu and his students, the Japanese masters of this period, to their European contemporaries. The Japanese reverence for ancestors, and the essence of their entire culture, emanated from these great works.

This same respect, for elders, nature and all other people and possessions permeate the society and go a long way to assure safety, security and courtesy for travelers. Even in one of the world’s most congested cities, the crime rate is almost nil. As a woman alone, I felt no fear walking through the streets, even in the evening. The culture has instilled the values of community – to steal would be to lose face for not only the criminal, but for his family and neighbors as well.

Travelers seeking a deeper understanding into eastern philosophy and culture must leave the city and explore the “other Japan.” Unfortunately, my brief stay did not allow for such pleasures, but the experiences described to me by two of my staff members here, as well as my having worked some years ago for an agency that specialized in walking tours of Kyoto, leave me determined to visit Japan again and explore their inspiring culture in greater depth.. 

You may be familiar with Japan’s pastoral landscapes from such movies as The Last Samurai, but it is Kyoto, a World Heritage City, that will really open your eyes to the cultural significance of Japan.

With temples and shrines spanning over 1,000 years, and ancient burial mounds older again by half, this city is a living history experience spanning the development of Japan as a unified country. Kyoto was in fact the country's first capitol (factually, it was nearby Nara for a short period). It is home as well to more than 20 universities – the present constantly meets the past in this wonderful setting of temples, shrines, creek side walks (including Philosopher's Walk) right alongside the modern, like Kyoto's easily accessible train station which sees the world's original high-speed trains passing through (called Shinkonsen, which make the the trip from Tokyo in less than an hour - alternatively, you can get to Kyoto in twenty minutes from Osaka if you enter Japan through its brilliantly conceived and executed Kansai Airport).

A dear friend once said that his most moving experience in Japan was his stroll down Philosophers Walk. This two-kilometer walk runs along the Sosui canal from Nyakuoji-shrine to Ginkakuji-temple. This friend told me that after visiting Japan for over 20 years, it was while stopping for tea along this path with his business partner that he realized what a life altering experience cross-cultural exchange truly is.

In the end, unfettered travel is a matter of making the world a safer place: The better we all know one another, the less likely we will be to see one another as implacable adversaries. Travelers bring news of the world and other places to those of us who cannot leave where we are.

In an era tainted by terrorism, travelers often take on a brave face, a role we laud them for. But in the case of Japan, we can safely say that travel there does not have to be complicated by fears about terror or politics. In fact, maybe the hardest part of travel there is accepting why it is taxi drivers know how to reach destinations. Addresses in Japan aren't based on a house's location up or down a street in relation to other houses or buildings, but on when it was built: ancestral reverence at work. It could work for you, too.

More Editorials