Back in Germany - Culture Shock in Reverse

I heard a lot about people experiencing culture shocks in reverse when they return to their home countries. Well, I had the opportunity of gathering some first-hand experience on my return. Here are some of the things I noticed.

Toilet paper

I first noticed in the plane that the toilet paper was a lot narrower than I was used to. Half asleep, I thought, "interesting, they even have smaller toilet paper to save space in the plane." Then, at the airport in Frankfurt, I noticed it again and thought, "hmm, Lufthansa must have a pretty good deal for this narrow toilet paper so they put it all over the airport too." And then I got home... and my mom also has narrow toilet paper. And then, finally, it occurred to me that maybe German toilet paper has a different size than Japanese toilet paper. Funny how I failed to notice that when I came to Japan!

Greenery

One thing that really struck me - especially during the first few days - is how green everything was. Everything was violently green, and what wasn't was dotted with white and yellow flowers. Sure, I came back in spring, the very best time for greenery. And sure, I went from living in a multi-million city to a rural village, so the amount of greenery is naturally different. But I guess I had never really noticed before that the landscape in Germany can actually be quite beautiful.

Multi-million city vs. rural village

Maybe the biggest change of all is that I went from living in my own apartment in a multi-million city to living with my family in a rural village with precisely 516 (now 517) inhabitants. Let me tell you something: villages suck. Or, more precisely, they still suck, because I had arrived at that conclusion when I originally moved out... many years ago.

Staring

While in Japan, I heard from several other foreigners that they thought Japanese people stared at them. I never really noticed people staring at me, and I think I now know the reason why: Germans stare. Big time. Especially if you carry oversize luggage, or a backpack, or have an unusual haircut or piece of jewellery, or wear unusual clothing. Or for any other reason. People will stare at others for no apparent reason at all. And many don't look away if you stare back. In comparison to that, the Japanese people are very modest stare-wise - at least they look away quickly if you make eye contact. I think that's why I never thought I was stared at by the Japanese. I was already used to being stared at...

Saying Goodbye

On my last day in Japan, I went to the city again to buy some last souvenirs. Before I went, it occurred to me that I had neglected to take pictures of everyday things - such as my apartment, the campus, trains, shopping streets, etc. So I took my camera and took a picture almost every other step.

Somewhere along the way it occurred to me that taking pictures of everyday things and places made it a lot easier for me to say goodbye to Osaka. Maybe it's the same reason why we take pictures of sights (and people, for that matter): to make sure we have some way to remember them because we know we might not see them again?

So, with this thought, here is my visual goodbye to Osaka:

The last of the three doors was "my" door.

Just down the hill from my apartment was Shibahara monorail station. The monorail sure looks futuristic, doesn't it?

Hotarugaike station on the Hankyu railway. Hotarugaike and Ishibashi were the two closest train stations for trains to the city.

Ticket gates in Umeda station. Umeda is pretty much the center of northern Osaka, and I went there often.

Doguyasuji, the street with shops for everything needed to run a restaurant. Including knife shops. Luckily, everyone can shop there :-)

Shopping arcade in Namba, pretty much the center of southern Osaka

The display of plastic food models in restaurant windows is extremely popular in Japan - and convenient for the visitor :)

Recreational artists in Tennoji park

Shopping street in Ishibashi, very close to my apartment. My gym was on the other end of this street - so I was here quite often.

Entrance to the university campus. Notice the sign that says no bicycles allowed from 7am to 8pm. There was a way around, of course, but much longer than this one...

On campus. (no, I have no idea who the statues represent ;-))

Waste separation... I always wondered (and never really figured out) whether I was supposed to put plastic wraps in with the combustibles or not...

Bus stop for the shuttle busses connecting the three campuses of Osaka University. To the left is the Cybermedia center (where I could work when there were no shuttle busses), and to the right you can see the library.

Kyoto, part 5

After the crowds on the previous day, I was expecting pretty much the same when I set out for Kyoto in the morning. The first place I visited - Daitoku-ji - was therefore a very pleasant surprise: there was virtually noone there! I only went inside one of the 23 temples in the compound, and otherwise enjoyed strolling through the grounds and admiring the entrance gates.

Gorgeous entrance to one of the temples in Daitoku-ji

After that, I wanted to take a little break from visiting temples and headed for two shrines instead: first Kamigamo-jinja, and then Shimogamo-jinja, both designated as World Heritage Sites by the UNESCO.

The white strips you can see on this fence are fortunes that you can buy at shrines. If I understood correctly, it works like this: if the fortune is good, you take it home with you; if it is bad, you leave it at the shrine, in the hope that the bad fortune does not catch up with you. So the white strips are all the bad fortunes left behind by visitors to this shrine.

Entrance to Shimogamo-jinja

Some kind of ceremony that involved lots of men in traditional clothing was taking place at Shimogamo-jinja - maybe because of the public holiday that day?

Spring at its very best :-)

After lunch, I headed for the last temple visit of my stay in Japan: the World Heritage site of To-ji. To-ji is a gorgeous temple (just have a look at the pictures below), and it displays a great collection of golden Buddha statues.

To-ji temple, seen from the flower garden - beautiful, isn't it?

Turtles piling up on a stone to enjoy the spring warmth in To-ji temple garden

Famous wooden five-story pagoda on the To-ji grounds

Entrance to a small temple just off the To-ji grounds. Isn't this the perfect picturesque Japanese temple?

My last stop for the day - and my last stop in Kyoto - was Nijo-jo (Nijo castle). I arrived just in time to be admitted to Ninomaru palace before it closed for the day. The palace really is a grand place. Very "golden", but beautiful. Unfortunately, photography wasn't allowed inside the palace.

One very impressive detail in the palace were the Nightingale floors. These are basically wooden floors with a security feature: they chirp whenever someone walks over them. And unlike regular wooden floors that may creak or not depending how lightly you tread, there is no way you can avoid the chirping of a Nightingale floor. Check out wikipedia on Nightingale floors, because they have a sound recording available!

Ninomaru palace

Entrance gate to Ninomaru palace

This was my last day of sight-seeing in Japan, and it really was a perfect day. Crowds, weather, timing, all went flawlessly. Plus, I had saved some of the really impressive sights for the end :-)

Kyoto, part 4

At the end of my stay in Japan, I had two days left to visit all the places in Kyoto that I had neglected or put off until spring. Too bad that these two days had to be right in Golden Week, a series of public holidays that many Japanese take as an opportunity to travel.

So everyone I talked to before made me expect crowds, and big ones at that. The first of my two days fully lived up to my expectations. There were long queues everywhere, and public transportation was packed as well. I didn't really get a lot "done" in terms of sight-seeing.

My first stop was Nishiki market which is basically a very long, very narrow shopping street where all kinds of wares are sold. The market is very colorful, but was a little too crowded for my tastes.

Next, I went to see Kinkaku-ji, the famous temple with the golden pavillon. The crowds here weren't that bad - the only places I really had to queue up were the usual photo spots. After all, everyone wants to take that shot with the golden temple reflecting in the pond - me too of course.

 

 The next temple on my list was Ginkaku-ji - the famous temple with the silver pavillon ;-) The crowds here basically formed one long queue from way before the entrance all the way to the exit.

These are coins that people tried to throw onto a small rock. Must bring luck, or something (for the few that hit, at least ;-))

The silver pavillon from above. The view from up there was really great - especially the view of the queue winding through the temple grounds...

After that, I just had time for one more stop before the opening hours ended: the National Museum of Modern Art Kyoto. They had an awesome exhibit on Paul Klee, focusing on the techniques he used to create his work. This is something you don't get to see every day, and I found it really fascinating! A funny detail was that, Paul Klee being a German/Swiss artist, many of the descriptions were available in German and Japanese, but not English - so I didn't have to get the English audio guide to understand the exhibition :-)

Kanazawa

 I arrived in Kanazawa, still slightly drunk from the Sake tasting earlier that day, only to find out that it was pouring. So I hid beneath my umbrella and went to check into my hostel. After chatting with the hostel owner for a while, I decided to brave the rain and go out again - only to find out that the weather had become gorgeous in the meantime: no more rain, and a really great warm wind that lasted for my entire stay in Kanazawa.

The first sight I checked out was Kanazawa castle. The castle is a recent reconstruction, but the interesting thing about it is that it is not made from concrete, but using traditional techniques. They also have a few cross sections on display showing how the castle walls are actually constructed.

Kanazawa castle

Ever wondered how the interior of a castle wall looks like?

My next stop was the contemporary art museum. They had an exhibit called 360° which was all about changing perspectives. Some of the pieces were awesome to look at, and some really made me think - all you can hope for in any museum, right?

This cool exhibit - located in front of the museum's entrance - lets you play with color mixing

Kanazawa's train station has a fountain displaying the current time. The other side of the panel said "Welcome", if I remember correctly

 The next day, I went to see the so-called ninja temple with a bunch of really nice and funny Americans I had met in the hostel the night before. The temple is officially called Myoryu-ji, but earned its nickname from all the hidden stairs, doors and trapdoors inside. It even has a dedicated room for committing Seppuku (ritual suicide). It is basically a tiny cell with a revolving door. You can open it from the outside, go in, and close it - but there is no handle on the inside. So no way of changing your mind about the Seppuku once you're inside...

In front of the ninja temple

There's definitely some truth in this statement, don't you think?

Beautiful traditional houses in Kanazawa's samurai district

Awesome painted sliding doors inside one of the samurai houses

... and this is why coins need a hole in the middle! Who needs a purse if there are coins like these?

Another highlight in Kanazawa was Kenroku-en garden. It is cited as one of the best gardens in Japan, and you can see why when you look at the pictures below. What I didn't expect, however, was its size - it is huge! I would have gone there earlier if I'd known... because when I finally got to the tea house, it was already closed ;-)

Huge old and gnarly tree in Kenroku-en

The museum of Kanazawa traditional crafts is on one side of Kenroku-en, so I paid it a short visit when I passed. My first thought on this exhibit was - wait a second, they build bombs here?!? But they're fireworks, not bombs, of course. Interesting to see, nevertheless ;-)

Just before I got on the train to head back to Osaka, I went to check out Omicho fish market. It is not as huge as Tsukiji in Tokyo, of course, but the selection of fresh fish is varied enough to make any market in Germany pale with envy.

Takayama

I arrived in Takayama at about 10pm, coming from a beautiful spring day in Hakone. So when I stepped off the train, I wasn't really prepared for the freezing temperatures awaiting me in Takayama.

Takayama is one of the gateway towns for visits to the Japan Alps, so I could have been prepared that it would still be pretty cold in April. Well, I wasn't, so I put on all the layers of clothing I brought and tried not to think about the cold ;-)

My first stop the next morning was Hida-no-sato folk village. This is basically an open air museum where typical houses from the region are preserved. Due to heavy snows in this area, the architecture is quite different from houses in other regions of Japan, featuring very steep shingled roofs.

Hida-no-sato folk village

Interior of one of the houses - notice that there's a real fire burning! Apparently, this is done to keep the temperature and humidity in the houses at optimal levels for preservation.

A shingle-maker was at work inside one of the houses. He first heated the wood over a fire and then split the blocks into shingles. The finer points of his work were explained in Japanese, so I didn't get any of it of course ;)

Shingled roof seen from below

Models of shingled roofs in different variants and states of repair

After the folk village, I went to check out the city center. The city center is special because several of the streets have been preserved in the original Japanese style. When you enter one of these streets, it feels like you have just been plucked from the modern world with all its skyscrapers and convenience stores and sent back a few centuries into old Japan.

Traditional street in Takayama's city center

Even the store fronts have been carefully preserved. This one is all about sake: the store is in the front of the building, and the brewery in the back.

You can also enter some of the houses. This shows the inside of Yoshijima Heritage House. The entrance fee included a hot cup of traditional Japanese tea - made of some kind of mushroom (maybe Shiitake?). A taste I definitely wouldn't have expected from a cup of tea, but not bad at all!

Takayama is famous for the huge festival that is held twice a year, in spring and autumn. The floats used during the festival are exhibited in a museum for the rest of the year. The museum has a wonderful DIY audio guide in English: an ancient portable cassette recorder! I hadn't seen one of those for ages, but I guess it's a good low-cost option for such a small museum :)

Exhibition of festival floats

Right next door to the festival floats exhibition is another museum, the Sakurayama Nikkokan. This museum has a 1:10 model of the huge shrine in Nikko. I was particularly happy to see this model because I had originally planned to visit Nikko, but cancelled it due to the nuclear situation.

Model of Nikko in Sakurayama Nikkokan - magnificent, isn't it?

The next museum on my tour was Shishi Kaikan. They exhibit a couple hundred lion masks, but the main attraction for me was the Karakuri puppet show! They demonstrated several types of mechanical Karakuri puppets, including one serving tea and an acrobat. The puppets are of course dressed up in a very traditional way, but I thought their interior with all the mechanisms was really really geeky :)

Karakuri puppets in Shishi Kaikan museum

Just down the street from Shishi Kaikan, and my last museum for the day, was Showa Hall. This is a museum exhibiting stuff from the Showa period, i.e. the period of emperor Showa's reign. This was actually quite a long time, from 1926 to 1989. The museum seems to concentrate mainly on the 1960s, and it is stuffed full of products and advertisements from that time.

Showa Hall - very colorful and interesting!

On the next day I wanted to travel on to Kanazawa - but before that, I thought I'd check out the morning markets in Takayama. And guess what I found? A shop offering free sake tasting! It's not every day you get drunk before 9am...

Sake tasting at 8:30am