In the Land of the Rising Sun

by Chloe Ellis (United Kingdom (Great Britain))

I didn't expect to find Japan

The first few days I spent in Japan felt like a bad omen. We’d flown straight through a Typhoon, endured long periods of turbulence and arrived to be faced with monsoon-like downpour! Miraculously by morning the weather had changed. The Shinjuku sky was bright and blue and vast, without a cloud in the sky. The ground had dried overnight and it was so hot I had to use a hand fan to cool down. On the second morning I woke to the room tremoring with the shocks of an earthquake. Surprisingly I was the only one in the shared room to wake up. I understand the Japanese people are used to this on a regular basis; an earthquake further in the Pacific had been so powerful that tremors were felt in Tokyo. Despite the environmental setbacks I really enjoyed immersing myself in Japanese culture and spoke as much Japanese as I could to the locals; I noticed the Japanese are very conscious of good manners and respect for the environment and those around them. I really respected this and I didn’t want to be just another tourist, I wanted to make an effort. After a few days of exploring Shinto Shrines, Buddhist Temples and taking a cable car up one of the many volcanoes around Hakone, the tour group began to notice that I could speak some Japanese and had some knowledge of the places we were visiting, they started asking me questions on Japanese culture when our Tour Guide was off duty-and I was more than happy to oblige! I was able to tell the group about the Japanese Imperial family, the oldest reigning monarchy in the world, although largely a symbolic rather than political power these days. The three-imperial regalia are said to have been given by the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu, to her mortal descendants thousands of years ago, and identify the imperial family as directly related to the Deity. There are many other ancient mythologies still deeply embedded in modern Japanese daily life, and we enjoyed discussing them late into the evening. The Hiroshima Peace Museum doesn’t need an introduction, the impact of war shouldn’t be taken lightly. The way the people of Hiroshima & Nagasaki, in fact the whole of Japan, emerged from the war to become one of the most powerful countries in the world, is incredibly humbling. I cried for an hour after leaving the museum, the whole group stunned into solemnity. The Japanese have found a way to own what happened, learn from it, and strive for peace. You will notice Japanese castles aren’t like European castles, they weren’t typically used for housing, they were strongholds for a general’s army during the warring state periods. But the shining castle of Osaka isn’t why I loved the city. Before the Edo (Tokyo) period, the capital was Kyoto, but the farmers, foot soldiers, housewives and even some highly regarded samurai considered Osaka the “rebels’ capital”. I felt most at home exploring the hilariously quirky city of Osaka, where I didn’t stand out so much with my bright pink hair amongst the artsy cool kids that hang out there. Whilst wandering the streets looking for food, I discovered a record shop stocking my Grandfathers record. I knew he’d been fond of Japan and enjoyed his tours there, but I didn’t expect to find the man from Studio One in the Land of the Rising Sun. With a smile I showed the record to the owner, trying to translate that this was my grandfathers record. He understood, smiling at me widely and giving me a discount saying, ‘sugoi’, the word for amazing in Japanese and grabbing his phone to take my picture! There are many reasons why I loved my 2 week trip to Japan, these are just a few, I could write about it forever. I would absolutely love to go back to this amazing country.