What is your most memorable experience in Japan - as a tourist, expat, or permanent resident? Can be positive or negative, although I believe all experiences can be positive if we are able to learn and gain some wisdom from our negative experiences.
Here's mine, from my first solo visit to Japan almost 10 years ago, as an American woman of SE Asian descent:
I wanted to visit the Arashiyama area by public transportation, but did not know how to speak Japanese nor read Kanji. All I had was a guide book and a tourist map. Nearing the presumed bus stop from my guesthouse, I asked some elderly women ( 60s-70s or older) waiting at a bus stop for confirmation that I was waiting at the correct location, using sign language and pointing to the destination on the map. One of the women took me across the street and led me to the correct stop. To my surprise, she left her friends and not only waited with me, but boarded the bus with me when it arrived. Turned out my destination required several bus changes, and she accompanied me every step of the way!
We ended up spending the entire day together touring Arashiyama, including hiking up to Iwatayama Monkey Park, having lunch together ( I shared with her some delicious food I had bought at a convenience store earlier in the day) along along the banks of the Katsura river, and visiting a Buddhist temple. And when the day ended, she rode the bus with me all the way back to the local house/inn where I was staying, before departing for her own destination. It was a truly enjoyable, touching, and memorable day.
Without any knowledge of Japanese, I was able to gather that she was from the northern part of Japan, was a grandmother, and visiting the area on holiday. I so wish I could have better communIcated with her. But I could not speak Japanese, so all these questions I was dying to ask about her (surely fascinating) life experiences remained unanswered.
But it was certainly my most memorable experience in Japan!
Here's mine, from my first solo visit to Japan almost 10 years ago, as an American woman of SE Asian descent:
I wanted to visit the Arashiyama area by public transportation, but did not know how to speak Japanese nor read Kanji. All I had was a guide book and a tourist map. Nearing the presumed bus stop from my guesthouse, I asked some elderly women ( 60s-70s or older) waiting at a bus stop for confirmation that I was waiting at the correct location, using sign language and pointing to the destination on the map. One of the women took me across the street and led me to the correct stop. To my surprise, she left her friends and not only waited with me, but boarded the bus with me when it arrived. Turned out my destination required several bus changes, and she accompanied me every step of the way!
We ended up spending the entire day together touring Arashiyama, including hiking up to Iwatayama Monkey Park, having lunch together ( I shared with her some delicious food I had bought at a convenience store earlier in the day) along along the banks of the Katsura river, and visiting a Buddhist temple. And when the day ended, she rode the bus with me all the way back to the local house/inn where I was staying, before departing for her own destination. It was a truly enjoyable, touching, and memorable day.
Without any knowledge of Japanese, I was able to gather that she was from the northern part of Japan, was a grandmother, and visiting the area on holiday. I so wish I could have better communIcated with her. But I could not speak Japanese, so all these questions I was dying to ask about her (surely fascinating) life experiences remained unanswered.
But it was certainly my most memorable experience in Japan!