I strongly believe that Japan Tour had benefited me in every way I could have hoped for (and asked for in my application) – and in many ways more, which I could not have foretold before arriving in Tokyo. As I had predicted in my application, the benefits of the trip can be categorized into roughly two groups: the artistic and the personal, with the cultural serving as a bridge between the two.
I had come to Tokyo with the hope of discovering a whole new world of art, different from any I had known before and yet so similar in its humanity, and with visible mutual ties between it and the Western art I had grown up with. I discovered just that, in ways which would not have been possible had I come to Japan on my own. Some of my favorite parts of Japan Tour had to do with art: the evening at the kabuki theater, the outdoor architectural museum, Tokyo National Museum, the various temples of Tokyo and Kamakura... As an ukiyo-e enthusiast, I was enthralled by our time at the kabuki theatre (a visit which would not have been possible for me if not for Japan Tour), which was described by the audio guide we were given as “moving ukiyo-e”. Indeed, kabuki, like much of Japanese art, seems to me to be the quintessence of everything I love about artistic endeavors – it concentrates on the individual actor and on the aesthetics of the scenery rather than on complicated story. I found the carefully choreographed movements of the actors, symbolizing fights with only a metaphorical indication of physical contact extremely powerful. I found kabuki, for all its novelty, fully and beautifully human.
When we visited the open-air architectural museum and various Buddhist temples, I fell in love with Japanese architecture and gardens. I cannot fully describe the effect the minimalism of some of the houses in the architectural museum had on me. After the hustle and bustle of industrial Tokyo, the peace to be found in Japanese gardens was a blessing indeed. I shall never forget how gates, stone paths, streams and moss formed a composition full of perfect harmony.
I found the same peace and simplicity in the Buddhist ink drawings in Tokyo National Museum. Overall, I found in Japanese art the novelty I had been searching for, but at the same time I found it easier to understand, more natural and appealing than I had expected. The same could be said about my experiences with the Japanese people – I was intrigued and excited by cultural differences but also came to appreciate how slim these were in comparison with the traits we all share in virtue of being human.
We were treated with incredible hospitality, and I will forever see the Japanese as a hospitable, open and friendly people. One situation stands out in my memory particularly clearly – we were given some free time at Asakusa together with a few of the Technos students. I decided to take this opportunity to visit a kite museum I had read about in a guide book. I didn’t know the address or name of the museum, but the two students I was walking with immediately found it for me on their mobile internet. As if this wasn’t enough help, they offered to accompany me there – despite admitting to not being especially interested in the museum! It took a lot of persuasion to explain that I would really be perfectly fine with them spending their time in the Asakusa shops instead. When I finally managed to persuade them, they insisted on writing out very specific directions on getting to the museum for me and at least leading me all the way to the entrance to the right underground line. I have travelled much, but I do not know of a country full of such hospitality.
This was only one story in many. The welcoming ceremony Technos Week students receive is legendary; the never-ending enthusiasm and willingness to help of Technos students is incredible. I have told all my friends about my stay in Japan, and whenever I do, my story is full of the warmest reminiscences about its people. Thanks to Japan Week, I have become a lifelong fan of the Japanese.
In my application I mentioned that when I first moved to the US, I had heard many stereotypes about its people and it was only when I returned that I found what nonsense they had been. The same had happened to me in Japan; never again will I listen to any negative stereotypes concerning the Japanese without speaking up in an angry voice. Thanks to Japan Tour, Japan has found in me an avid fan and defender – of its incredible, millennia-old culture as well as of its hospitable, wonderful people.
