Making My Way In Japan
By Neil Melancon
La. Farm Bureau Federation
I’m excited not only to be back in Japan, but blogging again for the LSU Ag Leadership’s International Trip.
This is my third time in Japan, having visited on my own in 2003, 2017 and now. I have a vested interest in the country, having done Japanese martial arts my entire adult life. As such, I travelled out ahead of the group on some personal time and have been here 10 days. Bobby Soileau asked me earlier in the year to speak to the class to help them get ready for the trip.
My practices were on the weekends, but last week, I had the opportunity to travel around quite a bit since I got here. I recommend that if you’re on a tourist visa here and want to see the country, get a a JR Rail Pass. The Summer Olympics are in Tokyo this year and they’re getting ready by making some serious upgrades to the way the rail pass works. It won’t be in time for this trip, but you’ll soon be able to get everything you need online, including reserving seats on the shinkansen, the bullet train.
Japan can be intimidating. The Tokyo-Yokohama metro area is still the largest city in the world, clocking in at 38 million citizens, more than 25% of the country’s total population. There’s a complicated series of trains, subways and buses to get people around and they can be very crowded from early in the morning to late at night.
That said, the only place that Japanese hospitality could find an equal is in the American South. When you are a guest here, you are to be afforded considerations that normal citizens do not benefit from. Gifts are a common practice. In addition, while the Japanese people can seem closed off, the overwhelming reason for this is shyness. They don’t want to be a burden on their fellow man, so they keep quiet in order not to disturb others. You can be on a packed train with standing room only and no one will say a word.
One of the benefits of being a gaikokujin, a foreigner, is that you can cross social boundries, such as talking to a stranger, with impunity. With the help of Google Translate, you can make friends in no time and you will find that they are intensely curious about who you are, where you’re from and most importantly, what you think of Japan. Just last night, I walked into an izakaya, a bar and grill, and spent two-and-a-half hours chatting up the locals. One of them is now a pen pal and we’ve been chatting all morning.
Having people who know the scene really make for a better experience. For instance, my new friend told me the grave of Yamaoka Tesshu, a prominent figure in martial arts history, was a short train ride from my hotel. That’s important, as Japan is overflowing with cultural and historical sites and artifacts. Often, important places are down obscure roads and alleyways, so knowing the scene helps.
That’s what has always attracted me about this country—it’s depth. You can go back to the same city repeatedly and never hit the same place twice, although if you do, you’re bound to see some new aspect of it. I got the chance to see Kyoto once again, this time going to Arashiyama, a mountain of towering bamboo forest. I also went to the grave of Sakamoto Ryoma, a key figure in the Meiji revolution popularized in the movie The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise. If you turned around, the view from Kyoto was magnificent.
I also got to see the Nakasendo for the first time in a town near Gifu, Japan, which is itself close to Nagoya, the site of the last time Japan played host to the Olympics. IN feudal Japan, the Shogun of Japan forced the local warlords to either come to Tokyo in person or their families as hostage. In this way, he maintained control over the island nation for 250 years. By doing this, the country developed a system of roads, one of which was the Nakasendo, full of old post offices, inns and waystations, not terribly different from the Oregon Trail. Unlike us, many of these old buildings have been preserved and you can get a glimpse of the past in modern Japan.
In a couple days, the group is going to tour a facility in Kashima, a coastal town east of Tokyo. There is a shrine there called the Kashima Jingu, where legend states there’s a rock that keeps a giant catfish down. In ancient times, the catfish was believed to cause earthquakes, but one of their deities placed the stone there to stop the worst of them. The stone itself is mentioned in the national anthem of Japan and you can see it there.
As you can tell, the country just oozes history and tradition. I look forward to sharing more of this with everyone and this new class, even as they see what modern Japan has to offer trade, shipping and agriculture. Tomorrow, we get up very early to see the Toyosu, the fish market that brings in one of the country’s famous cuisines, sushi. We’ll see who’s up for some raw fish at 4:30 am… stay tuned!