The most compelling reason to see another country is to be immersed in culture that is completely alien to you so you can grow as a person. Being in Japan as a 外人 (gijin, foreigner) was more alien than I could have expected. In fact, I expected to have no problem assimilating in Japan. I'm outgoing and friendly and I love talking to new people. I was used to traveling and I had even studied Japanese (although I wrongly assumed that English would be fine also). But the actual experience of being there was like reverting to infancy.
The first three days we were in Tokyo, staying in a hostel and making other gijin friends. It was nice having other people lead because the pressure to experience all there was to experience was crushing. I was so tired from the flight but we only had 3 days in Tokyo. (And my frontal lobe was aching from having to retrieve what little Japanese that I actually remembered in practice.) We went to the Tsukiji Fish Market where I badgered local fishermen to let me take pictures of them. I spoke like a baby but it seemed like people understood key phrases. Shassin mo ii deska? Picture is okay? ::hopeful face::
In fact, the most alienating thing about Japan was the language barrier. The inability to effectively communicate like I can in English left me feeling both terribly frustrated and stupid. Being forced to relay complex feelings with only a handful of phrases and facial expressions created a dynamic where I felt like a toddler. My Japanese improved as the trip went on but it would probably take years to reach the kind of proficiency that would allow me to adequately have a meaningful conversation without using any English.
Still, despite my basic level of Japanese, it seemed to be highly appreciated by the people in Japan.
I was idiotically in love with the textures of things and the people who live and work in Japan, so almost all the pictures I took focused on those two things.
This man was very nice because he allowed me to watch up close in his workshop as he made knives. It was fascinating.
I was really amazed at how young some of the men who worked there were. These guys were 17 and 18.
These guys were hilarious. One asked me a question about my outfit because well, I dress like a loon, I guess. And they all started yelling at him because he was へんたい！(a pervert) lol It was the most candid interaction I saw in Japan the whole time I was there. Most people are so polite you never see them joking around.
Bloodshot eyes riding the subway. I was seriously a mess here and trying to not look like straight trash.
The most interesting part of the fishmarket I wasn't allowed to photograph. Someone decided that if you're going to go to Tsukiji Market you must eat at sushi at the market when it's the freshest. It was not me. Let me begin by prefacing that there are about 20 sushi shops in the market, we picked one entirely at random. We waited in line for about an hour in the rain. The sushi places in the market are the size of a hallway and only 10 people can fit in at a time. It took forever standing in chattering crowds, but once we got inside it was as quite as a shrine. The chef prepared things quickly and put each sushi down on a large palm leaf in front of each guest. Most were approachable but one piece I had to talk myself through: hotaru ika, firefly squid. I didn't actually learn about them until much later in the trip but this is what they look like in the wild.
Pretty amazing, right? They're bioluminescent and only fished in the spring.
Unfortunately for these cute, little squid, they are fucking delicious. I ordered them at every chance I got after having them at the market secretly convinced they might give me bioluminescent super powers.
Sadly they did not.