30.1.11

THE 'REAL' JAPAN


This series of photos actually remind me of something I read long ago. A book called 'Wrong about Japan' by Peter Carey. I didn't agree with everything he said about Japan, but it makes for a very entertaining read if you're not digging deeper.

The author takes a trip with his friend Frementle Jack to Tokyo years back for the first time, and he was in a car driving towards the city, awe-struck by the beauty of the 'concrete ribbon' that is the Ikebukurosen highway and later the 'perfect Elvises in Harajuku', when his friend Frementle Jack turned to him, visibly upset.

“It’s so American,” said Jack. “I didn’t come all this way for this.”
“Well, what do you want?”
“I want to see the Real Japan.”

I want to laugh out loud everytime I read it. It's funny the misconceptions we can have of people and places. In this highly connected world of ours today, I still get asked sometimes if Singapore is part of China when I travel, especially to more far-flung places.

4 comments:

  1. I'd love to visit japan one day even if it looks like america :))) Lovely blog.

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  2. Hi Karen, yeap I hope you do =) Thanks for dropping by, I enjoyed your photos too.

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  3. hello shirley, that part about the real japan reminded me of what I feel about china (or perhaps more broadly, how tourists feel about cities they visit for the first time).

    everyone wants to see the real china (even myself), until after a bit of traveling I was left questioning perhaps the real china doesn't quite so exist anymore. http://chopchopcurrypok.com/?page_id=630

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  4. Hi Wee Ling, to be honest I haven't been to China in ages, but I think it's especially hard to put 'what is China' in words due to the vastness of its lands and how varied the people are. It's mind-boggling to me just thinking about it, but all the best in your search for it =)

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