The Land of Colliding Cultures
When you arrive in Japan, your first impressions – based on how the airport looks - might be that it’s like any other country. When you step off the plane and make your way up the gangway, you are greeted by Narita or Haneda airport. Both look like any other modern airports in the world. The waiting areas are filled with people who don’t look particularly excited for their flight, the walls and floors are white, ticket counters lined the sides of the halls, TVs tell you what planes are arriving and what planes are leaving, and trains come in and out of the station below the main floor. It has everything you’d expect. Once you get your ticket and are on your designated train, head out and away from the airport, the sights quickly change, as does your impressions. As if you were stepping back in time, the large airport disappears behind you and you find yourself surrounded by traditional wooden houses with paper doors. Rice fields cover any land that is flat and even some that isn’t. Ro
