Firstly, Ohayou Gozaimasu (good morning), Louis here. I hope you've all enjoyed keeping up with our travels so far, its certainly been enjoyable to live them.
After going through the previous posts trying to decide what to write about, I thought that rather than doing a play-by-play of the last day or so (which realistically has just been a lot of skiing), I'd offer my own personal take on Japan. The people, the culture and the food (of course).
I'd like to start this section by addressing my cousin Nick - who has desperately been begging me to send him photos of my experiences in an attempt to convince the rest of his family to make the next family trip one to Japan.
I hate to say it Nick, but I don't think Japan is the sort of place your family (especially your dad and brothers) would really take to. This notion acts as a tidy segue to my opinions on the culture.
The Japanese culture is worlds away from what you find in Australia or, for that matter, any western country. After having travelled through Western Europe and across the vast expanse of the USA, I can confidently say that Japan is the country where I've experienced the most culture shock, but almost all in a positive way.
First and foremost, you have to put aside any attachments you have to the comforts of home.
While parts of Japan have adapted to cater to foreigners, most of it is in a reluctant fashion, done purely to ease travellers into the bread and butter of Japanese culture.
In truth though, you wouldn't really want it to be too Westernised, because it would completely ruin the charm that Japan holds. For example, our accomodation in Osaka (puzzlingly named the Swissotel (Swiss hotel?)) was about as western as anyplace we've seen so far - save for the incredible electronic toilets with the heated seats. I didn't know how much I needed a heated toilet seat until I came here.
Despite the creature comforts offered by a western hotel, take a step outside the front door and you are transported to a different world. For every main road bustling with traffic are six or seven small alleyways, barely wide enough to fit a car, and yet commonly used as traffic thoroughfares.
These alleyways are populated with everything from restaurants to apartments, cafes to massage houses, and even something called a sex machine...which looked innocuous enough, but which none of us were game to find out any more about.
The Japanese are masters of space management. What we back home would call a large walk in closet, they would class as a medium sized restaurant. I'm exaggerating a little bit there, but not as much as you might think. Restaurants are small and cramped, dingy but not dirty, stale...but not lacking in charm. Menus are often a decade old sheet of paper in stained and yellowing laminate, written in nikko pen with poor english translations (mashuroom curry anyone?). Although somehow, this doesn't dissuade from eating there - and that's mainly for two reasons:
1. It's the norm. Most restaurants are like this.
2. The food is incredible.
It's quite incredible the sort of food that can be produced by one man working in a kitchen the size of a broom closet. And quite often that's all it was. Last night we ventured into an Okonomiyaki restaurant here in Nozawa (Okonomiyaki is an omelette/pancake type food with noodles and meats mixed in), and it was quite literally one chef taking orders, pouring drinks, taking money for bills AND cooking all himself...over the course of the night he would have helped around 30-40 people. There were other staff there, but they were mainly doing prep rather than helping him cook.
However, I digress slightly, getting back to my original point...is that if you're looking for the super polished, perfectly arranged, plentifully spaced food outlets like you get back home, you're going to be disappointed. That is, of course, until you take the dive and try out a tiny Japanese restaurant...because you won't be let down.
Speaking of not being let down - Japanese service is legendary. We've cheated a little bit in that one of the members of our party is fluent in Japanese, so we aren't having the translation issues that we might have if we were travelling alone, but the Japanese are incredibly friendly people with an endless desire to bend over backwards to ensure that you're comfortable.
The Japanese people in general are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet, and I can't even understand them. Bowing is big here, and it is everywhere. As an example, on the way up to the ski fields from where we're staying here is a moving walkway (elevator type contraption). At the bottom of it is an office where resort staff monitor the comings and goings of visitors, and they will literally say good morning and bow to every. single. person. We're talking hundreds of people per day, both going up and coming back. It really is quite incredible how dedicated to being genuinely welcoming they are.
So I've covered the culture, covered the people and so that leaves me with food. Well, what can I say? The food here is great. Cheap, explosive flavours await you in any restaurant. And I do mean CHEAP. A huge bowl of ramen soup or a katsu curry will set you back anywhere between 650-1000 yen ($6.50-$10), and you can get these staples almost everywhere. Another big thing with food here are the regions. People in different regions will encourage you to try food that is especially good where they are - oysters on the island of Mijayima for example, or a curry with soba noodles here in Nozawa.
Those of you who I spoke to before coming to Japan will know that I was especially keen on eating ridiculously amounts of sushi...and I have encountered a strange oddity in that regard.
In Australia sushi is everywhere. Rolls are available in supermarkets and 7-11s, and Sushi Train provides everyone with a taste of Japan. Things are a little different here though.
As of my telling this story, I have been in Japan a total of 10 days, and I've eaten sushi twice. That's not for lack of trying.
Sushi here is a lot more of a formal meal than what it is anywhere else. Sushi trains don't really exist, but there are a lot of sushi bars. All sushi is made to order, and doesn't sit on trays for any extended period of time before someone chooses it.
And I hate to break it to you to all you gaijin (non-Japanese folk), but Japanese sushi is exclusively high quality fish. You won't find any chicken and avocado here. Tuna, salmon, whitefish, crab, fish roe and squid are all commonly seen, and they'll most likely give you a range of sauces that compliment different fish, instead of just drowning everything in soy sauce (which is frowned upon...the point of sushi is to taste the quality of the fish, so the sushi 'rolls' which you find in Australia wrapped in seaweed aren't seen...ever, and soy sauce should be used to compliment the taste of the fish, not drown it out).
All that said, 2 nights ago we ventured into a sushi bar here in Nozawa called Hamacho, where a very entertaining sushi chef prepared for us the best sushi I've ever tasted. Picture attached!
Well, I've probably rambled on long enough. Apologies if its taken you a while to read my entry, it's hard to fit everything about this incredible country into a concise block.
Below I've added some shots that I took a few days ago while skiing, some awesome views for you to all enjoy. I've also added a photo of a dish of raw horse meat which I just had to try a few nights ago...which turned out to taste just like beef.
Sayonara to arigatogozaimashita (goodbye, and thank you).
Louis-san.
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