”Soon” turned out to be over a year later 🙂 As you may have inferred, I don’t earn my income from this blog. In my defence, I was surviving a pandemic and charting a new career course. Since I live in Quebec, that involves communicating in French about 90% of the time. To keep my second-language abilities sharp, I continually work at it. I grow my vocabulary and keep my brain running like a well-oiled machine. If you don’t use it, you lose it, and I feel the rust when it sets in. That’s why I don’t allow this to happen.
My first night in Japan (Friday April 26, 2019), was characterised by wandering around the Asakusa neighbourhood near Sensoji Temple. Sensoji Temple is the oldest Buddhist Shrine in Tokyo, and a symbol of the city. It was established in 645 AD, but rebuilt after being destroyed during World War II. It was after 10 PM and the streets were very quiet. There were a few restaurants and bars open, but the stores were closed. Normally, the area looks like this during the day.
I had dinner in one of the resto-bars on this street. I had Asahi beer for the first time, fried chicken and another accompanying dish. (Most likely noodles).
I am fairly certain that it was Paolo fromTOKYO who alerted me to street-food etiquette in Japan: There would be prescribed areas for eating, to ensure order and cleanliness. Japan has a population of 125.8 million people, and it is an extraordinarily clean country. This is what happens when people follow the rules and show consideration for one another. My free-thinking spirit sometimes acknowledges that ”Rules are for Fools”, but in Japan my attitude was, ”GIVE ME THE RULES!” Having travelled to India where life was more chaotic (with over 10 times the population), I appreciated the cleanliness, organisation and good manners of Japanese people.
Paolo fromTOKYO also shared a video about appropriate behaviour in Japanese shrines. He demystified the cleansing rituals, bowing, money, clapping and praying. I was grateful to know the rituals beforehand, so I did not look like a baffled, disrespectful foreigner.
It was not all positive, that first night. I stumbled upon the area where homeless people slept, while ambling through the streets. The storefronts were secured with roll-up steel doors. In front of those doors, very precisely folded, were make-shift cardboard tents. I did not need to see human beings, to deduce that they were housing people. Later on in the Shinjuku area, I saw similar structures with their human inhabitants next to them. I was struck by how carefully folded their blankets were, and how neatly arranged all the belongings were. In their indigence, they still possessed dignity, and subscribed to some notions of order.
Being from the Caribbean, this put a smile on my face. Jamaica, in Japan?!?! Bless Bob Marley and reggae music, for spreading the message of one love, peace and building bridges between people. I vowed I would go have a drink there, before I left the area.