jehan

Lost In Translation

Posted by jehan | 29th August 2007

The first thing you notice about Tokyo is the humidity, the second... oh, I've done that line already. OK it's cooler now, so I can stop whinging and shower less. About 20 years ago a friend of mine complained that he could not practice his Japanese in Japan, because everyone he met wanted to practice their English. These people have moved away since then. I am a stranger in a strange land. The strange thing is that there is English all around, in advertising, on T shirts, in restaurants, it's just that hardly anyone speaks or understands it. Luckily the Japanese seem a friendly and tolerant people, and so far I have got by with pointing and miming. I am also surprised by the lack of foreign tourists here. Walking down a busy street, or on a crowded train, I am often the only caucasian face in the crowd. It is only when you go to a really touristy place that you will find a few more westerners. The plus side of all this is that Japan hasn't had it's culture destroyed by globalisation.

Continued | Dissociative Fugue

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