Changing Impressions

Looking back trough my blog posts, remembering my first impressions when I arrived in Japan and the Impressions I have gotten throughout my semester here there are things that have changed and things I have realized along the way.

One of my main impressions now is not an early impression that has changed as much as it is something I was not really aware of before. This is how there in Japan and it's culture seem to be a lot of contradictions. In class we have talked about the "Shy Japan/Sexy Japan" and how many Japanese are non-religious but still take part in, and practice different Shintoist and Buddhist ceremonies.

An impression that has changed is how I, in the beginning of my stay in Japan, felt somewhat distanced from the Japanese because I felt bad for not speaking the language and because of that, I found it hard to talk to people who did not know a lot of English (most people outside the University) and I also was not sure how to approach people outside of school. One of the many things I had heard before I came here is that many Japanese  is reserved and the last thing I wanted  to do was to come of as impolite. 

But as time went by and I started to learn some Japanese I realized that a smile and putting some effort into trying to talk Japanese often will make things easier than I thought. Even though I am just a Level 1 student of Japanese, people would appreciate my trying and this has many times lead to relatively long, and very rewarding conversations. 

I think that realizing this is the big reason (besides the fact that I really enjoy learning the language) I have decided to keep studying Japanese In Sweden. I do not know when I will be back in Japan the next time but I know that I will be better prepared, and talk to a lot more people.

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Saru, one of the many interesting people I have met and talked to in Japan.

I also think about all the things I expected Japan to be before I got here, because Japan really is one of those countries that you have a certain picture of before you get here. And I think that Japan is a lot of the things I expected, but different. Therefore I want to sum up my experiences with a picture I took in Shibuya.

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I think Shibuya Square is one of the things that really comes to peoples minds when they think about Japan, and it was one of the places I knew I wanted to see before I got here. From movies and pictures we all recognize it as a crowded place with a lot of people in motion. It was what I had expected, but it was raining, all the people had umbrellas which made it look very different from the mental image I had in my head. It was what I had expected, but different.

Nankinmachi

Nankinmachi, The Chinatown of Kobe is, after the one in Yokohama, the second largest Chinatown in all of Japan. Originally, it was a residential area for Chinese who arrived after the port of Kobe opened for foreign trade, and today, more than 10 000 people of Chinese origin lives here.


As you walk the lively streets of Nankinmachi, you see some things that seem somewhat authentic. There are small stores for herbal medicine, countless small wagons where different kinds of Chinese food and snacks are sold and small grocery stores where everything needed for Chinese cuisine can be found.

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Termites and Ginseng at a Chinese pharmacy, genuinely Chinese or not?

But there are even more things that makes the place look like a tourist trap, souvenir shops where everything from yellow jumpsuits like the one worn by Bruce Lee to dumpling keyrings and plastic Buddhas. There were also stereotypical symbols for China everywhere, pandas, dragons and Bruce Lees are looking at you from everywhere.

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Coca-Cola: The Chinese version

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Bruce Lee sourrounded by all kinds of not very authentic looking things.

For me it was very interesting to see this representation of another culture in Japan, with things that actually seemed, and in many ways might have been, authentic right next to the cheap looking things part of the constructed image that might give people what they are expecting when they go sightseeing in Chinatown.


This constructed image of China made me think about "The Japanese Version" which we watched in class. But instead of the "longing" for things American described in the movie, I think that the constructed China in Nankinmachi is something that let's the Japanese (or citizens of whatever country a Chinatown might be located in) tourist in their own country.


I think that since there are people who are ethnically Chinese living here, it is bound to be at least some amount of "genuine" Chinese culture to be found. At the same time, if the constructed image of China is what sells, you will see a lot of things like that around.