My summer trip to Japan

This summer I went to Tokyo, Japan with my friend Qiyan. The trip was very impressive, because this was a self-guided tour; we need to do all the preparation by ourselves. Although it was very complicated and energy-consuming, we had a better opportunity to get involved in Japanese daily life.

After the first day in Tokyo, I was deeply impressed by Japanese politeness. Japanese people is also known as Yamato people(大和民族), Yamato means be polite and kind to each other. Prince Shōtoku (聖徳太子), one of the most famous price in Japanese history, he announced the Seventeen-article constitution (十七条憲法), the first constitution is “Harmony is to be valued, and the avoidance of wanton opposition to be honored. ”(一曰、以和爲貴、無忤爲宗。人皆有黨。亦少達者。以是、或不順君父。乍違于隣里。然上和下睦、諧於論事、則事理自通。何事不成。) it combines the spirit of Confucianism and Buddhism imported from China. This constitution becomes the basis of Japanese life attitude and mode of thinking. Most importantly, this tradition is not a thing of past, it goes down until now. For example, in the rush hour underground, although the cable is full of people, no one is chatting or answering phone, not to mention eating breakfast or arguing. There are exceptions though: in the underground headed to residential district, most people in the cable are neighbors and know each other well, and they were having some chats. However in Shanghai, the circumstance is different. It is warm and lively. People are free to answering phones, talking with each other, and laughing aloud. If you do not have time to eat breakfast in the morning, you can take it in the underground. There is a survey showing that most people don’t mind having foods if it does not has dense smell.

The most significant similarity is language. Although the pronunciation is totally different, many Japanese words have exact the same characters and meanings as traditional Chinese. Therefore even a Chinese tourist doesn’t know any Japanese will find it very easy finding transportation or reading menus and maps. The next thing surprised me is in the restroom located in Narita International Airport. This instruction briefly introduced the usage of Japanese style toilet, it is very necessary for westerners. However the fun thing is that this kind of toilet is popular in China, even much more popular than it in Japan. It is unnecessary to have a Chinese translation. I bet all the Chinese know how to use it.

At last I will talk about foods in Japan. Like America, many foods in Japan are raw and cold, Sushi is a typical example. However in China, we prefer hot and cooked food. I even like to drink hot tea in summer. So cold Japanese dishes are not very attractive to me. But Japanese beef hotpot and roast meat are very delicious, I like them very much. Cold soba noodle also fits well in hot weather. Although Japanese and Chinese both have white rice as principle food, Chinese seldom have white rice at breakfast; instead we prefer porridge rice which is softer or other local snacks.

Japan and China are very close to each other geographically. However, after this trip I am surprised that we have so many differences. It is very interesting to discover commons and differences. I wish I could have a chance living in Tokyo for a few months.