Japan has long held the top spot on my travel destination shortlist, but because of the distance I have not really found the opportunity to go. Until last month. As a longterm anime fan and lover of Japanese cuisine, I went - like many others - with an unusually large amount of preconceived notions of what the country will be like. Here are my thoughts on some of the interesting observations from my trip.

Japan has preserved their history and tradition very well, despite being a highly modernized, westernized, developed economy. And here I mean more in terms of the intangible, cultural aspect.

In terms of physical preservation, I think Japan hasn’t done as well as, say, Europe. Many of the temples, shrines, and castles I visited are modern reconstructions (Himeji Castle is the famous exception, but unfortunately I missed it). My guess is that this is in part due to the building materials used. European castles and cathedrals are generally stone-based, much more resilient to damage, particularly fire damage. Historic Japanese buildings are almost entirely wooden, so even though they are more capable of withstanding earthquakes, they are very vulnerable to fire. Some temples were repeatedly destroyed by fires and rebuilt. But very importantly, they were rebuilt, which illustrates the strong will of the Japanese people to maintain continuity with their ancestral traditions.

This exceptional preservation of cultural history seeps from almost every facet of their way of life.

The days of the week in Japanese are named after the classical elements, earth, water, fire, etc… In contrast, the days of the week in Chinese are boringly numbered “week day one” (for Monday), “week day two” (for Tuesday), etc…

The well known politeness towards customers has been maintained despite the increased pressure for a faster pace in the modern life. Regardless of whether it’s a fancy luxury store or a small mom-and-pop shop, people do bow when you pay or leave, and they are very attentively focused on the person that they are serving at the moment. Everything you buy will be carefully packaged and wrapped, regardless of its size and price. In North America I often get the feeling that service workers are multitasking, like their attention is divided between dealing with me and something else, but not at all in Japan.

Ryokans, which are traditional Japanese inns (often operated by a family), are everywhere and extremely popular. Many of them have maintained the traditional tatami flooring, with no beds, even though mattresses are obviously, objectively more comfortable. You’d think that in 2023, with such a developed, globalized economy, large westernized hotel chains would have driven these ryokans to extinction. Yet far from being a novelty, ryokans are thriving.

Moving on from their tradition, Japan as whole is extremely clean, and felt very safe. The cleanliness honestly can be quite a cultural shock on its own for North Americans and Europeans, the most noticeable being the lack of garbage bins in public. I’ve had to, on more than one occasion, hold onto empty drink cups or cans for hours while walking around in a town. Starbucks became associated in my mind with trash cans, because it is one of the only places where you can throw away garbage. I don’t know if it’s despite of or because of this, but the cities are all very clean. There are no weird smells or littered trash anywhere, and almost no homeless people or panhandlers, even in the largest metropolises like Tokyo. And the toilets… Let me just say that for a few days after coming home, I had to get used to my toilet seat not raising and lowering automatically.

The prevalence of vending machines, particularly for drinks like coffee, is exactly as I expected, which is to say next level. I feel like you are never more than 2-3 minutes away from a tasty beverage dispenser, even in the most anti-modern areas such as a traditional garden or shrine.

Comparing to other east Asian cultures, particularly China, I feel that Japan cares a lot more about form and aesthetics. China, from my personal experience, is quite utilitarian, very much function over form. As long as something works, most Chinese people won’t really care too much about what it looks like. Not so in Japan. Manhole covers in various cities are beautifully decorated with the famous attractions of the region. Things that appear out of place aesthetically, such as the external condenser unit of an air conditioner for an otherwise traditional wooden house, will be hidden in a style-matching cover. In this regard, it is not unlike the many fake buildings we have in North America, built to hide the otherwise ugly and out of place infrastructure.

Food-wise, there isn’t much to say really, except that everything has met or exceeded my already inflated expectations. Prior to the trip, I have come to know the Japanese attitude of taking things extremely seriously, practicing simple techniques for years until mastery, and the immaculate attention to detail. And after visiting, I can confidently say that it is all very much true. It’s very rare for something this hyped up in my mind to live up to the hype. Provided you actually eat Japanese food of course, and not American or Italian.