Japan Pictures
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The gate to the Kiyomizudera temple complex, Kyoto.
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Japan is a fascinating enigma. The size of the Great Britain but with only one third of the land usable due to mountains, this is still the world's second largest economy - in spite of being embedded in a long term recession - with a GDP that equals Britain, France and Germany.
The country is dedicated to high technology, but also loves and maintains
ancient traditions, a contradiction that is far more interesting to
a visitor than the regular sights of Tokyo and Kyoto. Blue-suited, gold-rimmed
salarymen [office workers] step out of their Blade Runner office buildings
after work and stoop into dark little akachochin bars where the staff
all shout 'irrashaimase!' [welcome!] and knock up another batch of fried
grasshoppers or whale sashimi to go with the Asahi Dry.
After getting totally and acceptably plastered the salarymen will return
to their tiny apartments by train, taking off their shoes before venturing
onto the tatami mats. The wives will be waiting up late with a pretty
porcelain cup of green tea, before heading for the futon [mattress]
on the floor. There but for the grace of God...
Tokyo is the traveller's number one target, a huge, congested city, with a deliberately confusing road system designed to prevent invaders from reaching the Imperial Palace, and consequently no effective centre, so a tourist just has to get used to the superb underground train system in order to get from the Ginza, to Asakusa, Shibuya, to Shinjuku, to Roppongi and wherever else.
Thus Tokyo is a city that needs a lot of walking and watching if you
are to find the charming contradictions and pictures that lurk along
the busy streets. And don't forget to walk on the left of the pavement!
Not joking!
The other great draw is Kyoto/Nara, south of Tokyo, but that's a more
traditional sightseeing experience, with ancient gold and red temples,
tea houses, Zen gardens and the rest.
Irrashaimase!
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