Post Japan 2014, initial reflections on an amazing experience

I've always considered visiting Japan.  Even before I decided to teach English in Korea, I imagined I'd at least drop into Tokyo see the sights and check it off my bucket list.  Though Tokyo still remains to be seen, I have had the chance to check off a city much higher on my "must see" list, Kyoto!

Though my detailed experiences will come later, I feel compelled to begin with my initial impressions of Japan after being in the country a few days.

WOW!

Since Korea is the first nation I've visited in Asia, I tend to compare other countries against it's feats and faults.  It has molded my expectations and shaped biases as I hop from country to country.  After learning some of the close and tumultuous history between Japan and Korea I expected them to be similar.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

Japan and Korea are practically night and day.  I was jaw droppingly stunned at what I saw and was able to do while in Japan.  I was never anything other than impressed, excited, even awed by even the smallest things.  Here a few key differences between Japan and Korea that pleasantly surprised me:

-Cleanliness:  Japan is remarkably clean!  Traveling in Osaka and Kyoto there were hardly any scraps of litter to be found.  In Korea, public trashcans don't exist, so littering is necessary to dispose trash.  Unless one lives in a large apartment complex, one is forced to deposit trash on any street corner and eventually public services will pick it up.  Yet, that doesn't prevent people from littering constantly.  Japan had none of these issues.  Every street I went through was incredibly clean!

-People obey traffic laws:  This is one that took me wildly by surprise.  Every other Asian country I've visited has had some wild drivers.  Not Japan, cars stay in their lanes and drive considerately.  More importantly, scooters (the bane of my existence) also obey traffic laws and STAY ON THE ROAD!  In Korea, scooters will drive ANYWHERE: in lane, between lanes, sidewalks, driveways, shoulders, anywhere!  Just to get where they are going as quickly as possible.  It doesn't matter if they mow you down along the way.  However, Japan didn't exhibit this issue!  Scooters were more rare in Japan, and those I did saw possessed considerate drivers who managed to follow traffic and mind pedestrians.  

-Politeness in general:  One of my greatest frustrations in Korea is being bumped.  We expats joke that the only way to say "excuse me" in Korean is with your elbows.  Old people are especially notorious for rudely shoving past people in public, ignoring lines and other peoples' personal space to get where they are going.  Japan was not this way at all.  People minded each other, did not bump into one another and often said "shimasen" (excuse me) when in public.  Perhaps this is because the Japanese locations I visited possessed fewer people in a small location (as is often the case in Korea), or perhaps I only encountered decent folks.  In either case, I adored having my personal space respected in a way that is impossible to find in Korea.

I've greatly enjoyed my life in Korea.  Korea is an easy place to become an expat and live a comfortable lifestyle.  For all it's quirks and qualms I've enjoyed it.  Yet, visiting Japan has allowed me a long overdue repreave from those little things that drive you mad about being in a foreign country.  Japan is everything I'd heard of and hoped for, and yet more!  I look forward to writing about it more here and on my other website: http://octavrianpress.wordpress.com/ 

Doing Dalmaji Hill.... drunk....

The weekend is always a wonderful time to get out and explore the city.  With the warm weather of summer finally upon us, my girlfriend and I took it upon ourselves to explore.  So several weekends ago, we went in search of Dalmaji Hill.

Dalmaji Hill is a scenic walk near Haeundae beach.  Known for spectacular views of the sea and the moon, the sidewalks here are wider and more accomodating to foot traffic.  A pleasant change to most streets in Korea.  On the weekends, Dalmaji Hill is the site of a logcal arts market, where local craftsmen peddle their wares in the open air.
Intrigued by this prospect, my girlfriend Carrie and I resolved to find this market.

The following account is our ridiculous experience:

Our journey began on a Saturday (the arts market is only open Saturday and Sunday 2-6 pm) a poor choice as Carrie and I are not known for our ambitious approach to Saturdays.

Cantankerous Carrie demands to know why she's awake at 11am

However, we managed to rally ourselves and clamber onto the subway towards Dalmaji Hill.  The hill is most easily accessed by taking the Green line past Haeundae to Jung-Dong subway stop.  From there we left Exit 5 and walked directly out of the exit and down the street.  It leads straight to the hill.  The walk to the hill isn't far, maybe 15-20 minutes before one begins to walk on the wider promenade the artsy hill provides.  Along the way Cantankerous Carrie and I armed ourselves with some soju tonics and snacks from a local 7-11 and set out on our search for artsy things!

The climb isn't difficult, and is no more strenuous that other hills in Korea.  We ambled our way up, enjoying the views on the coast and beach below, laughing, talking and drinking our soju.

Cantankerous Carrie enjoys a nearby garden overlooking the beach.  See how happy she is?

The weather in late May is hot, but not incredibly smothering like later in the summer.  The breeze is always strong near the coast so we were able to enjoy being outside without sweating through our clothes.  The climb was relaxing and we easily wound our way up to the top of Dalmaji Hill.

Upon reaching the top of the hill, we found this small plaza with local arts.  It was certainly less extensive than we'd anticipated, but by this time the soju was working is menacing magic and we pressed on for more sights on our Saturday afternoon.

Merry Michael is clearly more of a morning person

There are lots of fine restaurants and shops here on Dalmaji Hill, as well as unique hotels overlooking the sea.  Rumor has it, Dalmaji also possesses a large open air amphitheater that local thespians use to perform Shakespeare in the summer.  We never found the theater but amused ourselves with taking funny photos with the local sculpture:

EAT ALL THE GUMMY BEARS!!!!

My own attempt at devouring gummy sculpture via forced perspective failed miserably.  I merely look like a laughing cartoon villain! Though local Koreans were amused at us attempting this shot! 

Unsatisfied with the arts we found, we clambered back down the hill and down to the beach.  Though it was still too cold to swim we enjoyed walking in the surf and laughing at ourselves.  It wasn't much of an adventure, but it was enough to remind us how lucky we are to live in a great city with silly things to do on Saturdays.

Add ocean to Cantankerous Carrie to induce elated smiles!

It's that Holi time of year!

This last weekend was a flurry of activity and excitement!

My best friend James was in town for his birthday.

St. Patty's Day was celebrated on Saturday with tremendous excitement!

Sunday was Holi Hai on Haeundae Beach!

Exciting, exausting, incredibly fun!

Holi Hai, the Indian festival of colors, is by far one of my favorite holidays.  It's a celebration that often coencides with the coming of spring, and we were blessed to find that spring arrived just in time for Holi!  Sunday was bright, sunny, and warmer than it has been in weeks!  I'm once again hopeful that it may be warm and stay warm at long last!
I love the spirit of Holi as it turns a group of strangers in white to a massive of friends covered in bright colors and brighter smiles.  There is dancing and drinking and a fundamental loss of the quiet anxiety that often keeps us from speaking to strangers.  But in the festival everyone can be family and dance and throw color on people.  It's a fantastic time to enjoy life and remember that life is a joyful experience and its too rare that we get to come together and just enjoy ourselves for its own sake.

Here are some snapshots of this year's Holi festival on the beach!  What and awesome time!

Yes, I am that classy

Colors everywhere!

Beach and a random swimmer in the background

in the midst of the fun!