Getting to Japan has only opened my senses again. Finally (After crossing Russia) I see order and cleanliness. Addition, I like to drive around. My only problem is not to mislead me, since it is driven on the left.
Enter the first ferry that transported me from the Russian island of Shepherm To the Japanese island of Hokkaido It was an experience. For the first time I bruised and lived the feeling of stepping on a real tatami. It is delicious to put the socks on a semi -rigid surface, fresh and clean. Bamboo mats with which tatamis are made are a foot joy. The touch is activated, The view enlarges: Everything is soft and linear. Long live Japanese horizontality!
For the first time I bruised and lived the feeling of stepping on a real tatami
The trip lasts about eight hours on the Tatami floor, With a soft immaculate blanket and a small square pillow lined in leather. The extreme education of the Japanese clashes with the rough way of being of the Russians, so close and yet so far. Life philosophy is different.
Formerly, The Russians wanted to conquer these Japanese islands. They tried again and again, But they always failed. It was impossible for them to cross the sea of ??Japan; They were not able to build light but strong ships and their ships sank without seeing even the land on the other side. A time came when they gave up. They did well.
The extreme education of the Japanese clashes with the rough way of being of the Russians
In Japan everything is different. The plants, the trees, the ways and the ways. Colors and flavors, customs, the physique of people and even animals. The most difficult thing about everything different is writing (In addition to the language, clear). You never know where things are, unless they are clear for a western one and that, in Japan, it's complicated. So the first of the adventures when there is no 3G connection (And it is impossible, There are almost no open wifis and our phone system is also different and incompatible) is to observe.
The food is easy, The places where it is served are located at the right hours. One enters the head (mandatory due to fabrics that hang from the frame) And he sits. Then they bring you the letter and inside it gives you laughter, You don't know what to ask for. Notice: to the next table, The tray that leaves the kitchen, The soup that sorb the opposite ... with your finger you point and end up serving you.
I ate it, I was hungry and bad was not. Several days later I discovered that it was semen of marine animal
Sometimes the thing goes well and sometimes too, although then you find out what you have eaten, How did it happen to me in a small town where I asked "Nabi". It is a bowl like a metal bowl that is put on the fire with soup. One throws different foods, Depending: fish, vegetables, Tofú O Meat. They brought it to me. I saw the one to the side eating clams, But he had much more inside: GELATINOSOSA PARTS OF PESCADO WITH THIS, something that seemed to me with a big fish, vegetables… I ate it, I was hungry and bad was not. Several days later I discovered, By teaching a photo of what I had eaten, that what I thought of large fish was actually semen of marine animal. I was rich.
Sleep if you get to the cities at night is even more complicated , But asking you get to Rome and how I like Japanese hotels (Tatami is much more comfortable than it seems) I don't mind risking. And again, The surprise, For something more than 11.000 yen, At the shore of a lake and at night, I find a "cafeteria" that turns out to be a hotel. Saved, I. The room was a tatami of some 20 meters in which I have to make my bed (The Futon). The owner tells me that my bath is ready and, again, The senses wake up. A green water tub with tea smell. A shower in the same space, With a small sweep to throw the hot water through the body before the bathroom. Great. Relax to the Japanese.
The owner tells me that my bath is ready and, again, The senses wake up. A green water tub with tea smell
After the shower-base, I dress with the usual kimono in the hotels and let me know for dinner. This is the glory! Finely cut meat in a “nabi” with onion, to the fire. Miso soup (Now I know it's essential), Frito lake fish and various pieces of tubers in vinegar or seasoned. The new flavors take over my palate, Active taste. Eat with chopsticks activate my sense of balance. Everything revolves around a table with ceramic and colored foods. In the morning another surprise awaits me, Japanese breakfast is served.
And so, Little by little and day by day I get to Kyoto, A Japanese city 100% With a huge traditional load. Women with kimono are mixed with the most modern, Taxi drivers drive with white gloves and their cars are always unpolluted. There are no bins. There is no garbage on the ground. Everyone is responsible for their waste. Addition, After the attack with Sarín gas, have been eliminated from public places. Greetings and reverences are mandatory by courtesy. And foreigners are treated in another way. We are out of that strict but pleasant horizontal society.
There are no bins. There is no garbage on the ground. Everyone is responsible for their waste
Kyoto has channels, traffic, high buildings and a lot of small alleys that serve as neighborhood courtyards, houses glued to houses that keep treasures in the form of garden inside. Roofed streets that hide markets and restaurants in their crossings. Silence for their hybrid vehicles. No one touches the horn on the street. Everything is order and concert. The most classic and the most modern coexist in tranquility.
The Japanese move very quickly in services, They serve you, They bring food, They serve gasoline, They run down the hotel hall with short steps, quietly, fear of bothering the least. Greet a thousand and one times. Nod. They laugh.
I like Japan, so far in everything. But so close that activates my senses.
