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. Rolling hills give way to mountains, and then back again to rice fields. With a snap of your fingers, the train pulls into a big, bustling city with a never-ending sea of skyscrapers and neon lights, and you’re back to the modern feel you might be used to.

Welcome to Japan. It’s a country full of wonderful surprises and paradoxes. A land known for its technological advancements and economic power, and yet it is shrouded in mystery and rich with tradition. With the earliest records dating back about two thousand years, the answers regarding its formation and origins of its people come from myths. Early influences from China helped shape Japan’s early years, long before any recorded history of the Americas. It is a country where the East meets the West, old meets new, tradition meets technology. Even when walking through the most famous cities, you will often find shrines and temples nestled into the corners of the concrete jungles. Going down the wrong street may take you out of the Western world and fully immerse you in the East, with shops and restaurants all selling handmade and family made products. Among a vast sea of Western-style clothing, you can see the bright patterns of kimonos and yukatas shining through.

The questions as to why Japan is this way can easily be answered upon looking at any history book. Times of isolation and turmoil marked the beginning of modern Japan, but the story starts around 1543 when the Japanese first came into contact with the West. Portuguese merchants and sailors came to Japan (followed close behind by missionaries) and were the first to introduce firearms to them. At first, these strangers were welcomed by the Japanese, especially by one of their leaders, Oda Nobunaga. He enjoyed learning about them, talking with them, and even trying on their clothes. But after Oda Nobunaga's death, the tune quickly began to change. As more foreigners began coming to Japan to trade and spread religion, the Japanese felt that their way of life was being threatened. After a decisive battle in Osaka in 1615, the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu assumed power, and after expelling all foreigners he could, he installed a "closed door policy", or Sakoku. This became known in the history books as the Tokugawa Era. During this era, except for the Dutch (who were confined to their own tiny, man-made island on the tip of Kyushu), Japan had no contact with the Western world for about two hundred and fifty years. This true isolation gave Japanese culture the time it needed to flourish. With no influences from Western countries and minimal interactions with surrounding countries, a truly unique culture not seen in the rest of the world could be cultivated.  

The beginning of the end of this isolation came in 1853 when Japan was shown a glimpse of what the West had been doing those two hundred years. Giant, black steamships made their way into Edo Bay (Edo is the old name for Tokyo) and American Commodore Matthew Perry stepped off into the unsuspecting and terrified city with a letter from the American president requesting to trade with Japan. As history books and professors will tell you, Perry's approach to delivering this message was not the subtlest, and Japan’s leaders were more than inclined to oblige to the president’s request. By 1868, the new emperor declared that it was time for Japan to open back up to the world. The world came running and the Japanese began exploring. They learned all they could about the advancements, styles, cultures, and customs of other countries and brought their knowledge back home, where the country began adapting. Railways for trains, which is something Japan is now famous for, began popping up and connecting cities across the country. Cities began expanding. Kimonos and yukatas began to disappear and Victorian style dresses and suits (complete with top hats) began appearing. 

Although Japan was becoming a rapidly advancing nation, the life and culture that had grown during the Tokugawa Era had taken hold, and it wasn't going to let go completely. When these changes first started being made in the country, many were not willing to accept the presence of foreigners and foreign ideas in Japan. Out of protest, some foreigners were killed, and the Japanese found themselves fighting each other over whether the decision to end Sakoku was the right one. A little over a decade later, the final decision was made; Japan would modernize. In keeping with the ways of the past, many continued to wear their traditional clothes and followed their respective customs. As the years went on and the times changed, so did Japan. Pre- and post-WWI they became a powerful Asian nation. They rebuilt themselves after WWII and rose to become one of the strongest economic powers in the world until the 1980s, but still are going strong to this day. The word "Japan" has become almost synonymous with futuristic technology not yet seen or used in the rest of the world. Through all of this, they haven't forgotten their roots. Nowadays, people will usually only wear yukatas and kimonos and go to temples and shrines for festivals or special events. But this doesn’t mean that this is all that’s left of the culture. Far from it. They take pride in their history, in their origins. You can see it in how people live their everyday life.

Me and Sakura in 2015

Being in Japan and having the chance to see it all in person and experience it was fantastic. To see how two different ways of life and styles can come together and create one of the most unique places on the globe. Japan is not just a land of colliding cultures, it’s a land of shared cultures. A place where they're more than happy to teach you and help you experience all that Japanese culture has to offer, as well as enthusiastically asking and learning about your own. It's all about learning and adapting, and Japan excels in both. 

(This picture is of me and my friend Sakura, who I stayed with the last two weeks I was in Japan. It is one of my favorite photos from the trip. Her mother bought me the yukata for my birthday ((for which I am forever grateful)) and took this picture after we had come home from a local festival.)