Ulysees at an Airport

by Pavel Ruzyak (Czech Republic)

A leap into the unknown Japan

First time in Japan. Just arrived after an immensely long flight from Europe. Airport. Everything in Japanese, no idea where to go. Japanese people, very polite and reserved at the same time, they don’t really speak English. Even if they study it hard (as I’ve learned later), they know English only theoretically. ‘Local transport can use you,’ is the advice of a Japanese lady at the airport, extremely respectful and bowing a couple of times during our conversation. Finally going to Tokyo centre, sleepy and excited. Looking out of the window of a super fast train (but far away from the fastest in Japan), the first thing I am struck with is how incredibly green the land is. Vegetation, healthy and abundant, is everywhere. I see the rice fields. Rice is everything here and so one rarely eats bread. The city centre, metro station. People everywhere. At the same time, it is incredible how organized Japanese people are – in a complete over-populated chaos, there is order. People wait for a train in a queue they form themselves, there is a complete discipline. Inside the trains, it is not allowed to talk on a phone or loudly. There is usually a complete silence, people in white shirts and black trousers going to work. People sleeping. Later on, I would sleep as well, because I will be completely tired from local working habits and a constant presence in a community of people that never let you be alone. But for now, everything is mystery, everything is exciting. Changing line, going further. Hopefully, in the right direction. Only now I realize that I haven’t seen a single foreigner on my journey through the city. All the same, people seem to ignore me and it is not strange for them to see me, someone so different. It is only in rural areas that foreigners are strange to people, but not in Tokyo anymore. ‘This drink give energy veeeery good,’ says one friendly Japanese man when I ask him to help me to buy a mineral water. Never know what to expect next. In the city centre, outside of the train station. High buildings, streets with no names. Delicious food everywhere. I try one of the restaurants for locals (as everything is basically just for locals here). If I thought that Japan is about sushi, I saw how wrong I was. Sushi, a drop in the ocean of immense variety of Japanese cuisine, is very simple, fresh and delicious. But all the other food – it is incredible how high the quality is everywhere. In Japan, the notion of bad quality, of not doing one’s best, of a product with a defect is almost unbelievable for Japanese people. Cheap never means bad, as everything is of a high standard. ‘One has to rethink how people produce things in Europe,’ I thought. ‘Thank you very much. Enjoy the food-o. Thank you.’ says a lady in the restaurant, polite almost like a robot. Getting keys for my shared apartment. Quick, professional, without much human contact. One has to learn many things here in terms of social behaviour. ‘You will clean the house with others together,’ says a Japanese man about the system of flat sharing, with a big smile. Yes, doing things together, that is when Japanese people are the happiest. At least this is how the society is set and will not change for a very long time. Setting off to my new journey to reach the apartment. One cannot stop in Japan – you have to go on, all the time. ‘Never stop. Anytime,’ says an advertisement for a vitamin-drink that promises to give you energy for 24 hours. In Japan, I even believe it. A lot of older people travel with me in a full train late afternoon, when everyone is at work. These people are retired and probably go to their sports lesson or a volunteer job. Ulyssean journey over, apartment finally reached. My own room – how happy I am to have a private space for a while! Everything is clean, proper, working. As always. My three-month working stay in Japan can begin. And it will be for sure a big leap into the unknown.