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...The final leg of my tour is accompanied by an amalgamation of indiscernible emotions. I sat with a larger than life frown in Hong Kong International Airport as the tourism official ploughed on with her inquisition despite my obvious disinterest. Truth be told, I suppose I was glad for the distraction for I was more than reluctant to be leaving people and a country that had hosted me so well. Yes, Nick you can take that as a personal compliment! I flew, Hong Kong to Singapore, having no time to exploit the free internet and other services at Changi Airport before being swiftly hauled onto a connecting flight that would bring me here: to the home of bullet trains, technological advance, strange foods and shinto temples, where beneath the concrete jungle of buildings, lurks a scurry of life steeped in cultural traditions and a way that is, authentically Japanese. In fact, so Japanese that after seven months of solo travel across the globe, I am experiencing the most extensive cultural shock suffered thus far. At the moment I am in the big T - the capital city of Tokyo, which, I had presumed to be relatively international.

Final Leg of RTW tour

Asha Patel
2006-10-05 21:04:50

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of social cohesion, where the atoms are stuck together forming the molecules of Japanese society - something solid, and seemingly impenetrable. I am grateful to have a friend - Yuichiro, here to guide me around and act as interpretor in my endeavours. Though, our friendship is not without its own communication problems. We are acquainted from our time spent living in France, three years ago, since which time
neither of us have used our French extensively nor daily. Given that our only common language is French, the pair of us end each day with brain-ache from all the vocabulary searching through the linguistic voids of our minds...aie... So, as I say, I am incommunicado in more ways than one, and as you may have discovered, my cell phone does not function out here either. After a lengthy and confusing three-way conversation in an electronics store yesterday, I eventually decided not to purchase a local phone.

...I arrived in Ginza early for my rendez-vous with Yu, and spent time walking the sparkling clean malls looking at clothing whose buttons I could barely afford, let alone the actual garments. As the haute-couture clad, fashion conscious Japanese strode past me sporting dark suits, crisp shirts, high heels, designer bags or embroidered kimono, tottering about in those famous wooden slippers, I felt somewhat out of place... I took to the streets to browse some of the bakeries and sweet stores (Aleem - enough said). Impressive as some of the displays were, as I have mentioned before, nobody does desserts like the Europeans. Eastern desserts all seem to be either gloopy and
sticky piles of mess, and/or bear the luminous colours of poisonous animals that the Orientals seem to think make foods aesthetically pleasing. Hm. I am inlclined to disagree, and apologise if I am offending anyone who happens to be a fan of such foods. Once Yu arrived, he bought three sweet bean paste filled buns (bright purple and vivid green of course), insisting that I ...