Japan!

Alright this post is a recap of the wonderful week in Japan and an attempt to compare China and Japan.

First for what we did in Japan:

We stayed in Tokyo the entire time, and while in Tokyo we stayed in Asakusa district. Asakusa is a more traditional part of Tokyo with a temple and old market of sorts. We stayed in a cheap youth hostel. The first couple of days we went to many different districts. We visited Shinjuku, Harajuku (where the girls all dress up strangely), Shibuya (love-hotel hill, etc.), Rippongi (lots of clubs for us foreigners), Ueno, Akihabara (electronics and Anime and a nice Maid Cafe)... And I also took a half day trip to Kamakura and saw a Big Buddha! We went out a lot and saw everything there was to see... even penguins in Tokyo.

China and Japan are very different. The people and cultures might have similarities, and particularities that relate and share a common history, but if you go back far enough we all do to an extent (we both have two eyes... etc.).

But China was much dirtier than Japan because of lower emission standards and their industry and everything in Japan looked new and so clean! I felt that Japanese people were not nearly as expressive as Chinese people, but the Confucian values (which I will write about in my paper) were present in both countries...

Here are some photos from the trip:


Newly found Tokyo residents!

Lovely Penguins... I think they eat 'em!

Me and a big buddhar