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/