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Japan Dispatch #6
Jul. 2nd, 2008 12:38 pm(I'm back at this point, but hadn't gotten to posting this as of the 29th when I wrote it)
As I’ve mentioned before, I think I’m very much a Kansai person at heart. Yesterday and the first part of today in Yokohama very much reinforced that for me.
There’s a bit of a stereotype that Kansai people are much friendlier and more laid back than their Kanto counterparts, and all the evidence (with a few exceptions – see below) seems to reinforce that. The general atmosphere in Yokohama is a lot less friendly towards foreigners, and I just picked up a lot more suspicion and even dislike towards us that I did not feel in Kyoto. This is a bit ironic given that Yokohama was founded as a port for foreigners to enter (as one guide in a museum compared it to a newer, larger version of Dejima, the island where foreigners were kept during the Edo Period) but it may in fact be because of that history that the attitude exists.
I think the low point of this trip (as of our last night here) is going to be last night when we were looking for something to eat. The night before we’d gone to a Chinese place right down the street, and we’d spotted a noodle restaurant on our way back from visiting the cemetery. We figured we’d just go in, order, and all would be dandy like it had been back in another noodle restaurant in Kyoto were we’d gone our first night there.
( Read more... )
As I’ve mentioned before, I think I’m very much a Kansai person at heart. Yesterday and the first part of today in Yokohama very much reinforced that for me.
There’s a bit of a stereotype that Kansai people are much friendlier and more laid back than their Kanto counterparts, and all the evidence (with a few exceptions – see below) seems to reinforce that. The general atmosphere in Yokohama is a lot less friendly towards foreigners, and I just picked up a lot more suspicion and even dislike towards us that I did not feel in Kyoto. This is a bit ironic given that Yokohama was founded as a port for foreigners to enter (as one guide in a museum compared it to a newer, larger version of Dejima, the island where foreigners were kept during the Edo Period) but it may in fact be because of that history that the attitude exists.
I think the low point of this trip (as of our last night here) is going to be last night when we were looking for something to eat. The night before we’d gone to a Chinese place right down the street, and we’d spotted a noodle restaurant on our way back from visiting the cemetery. We figured we’d just go in, order, and all would be dandy like it had been back in another noodle restaurant in Kyoto were we’d gone our first night there.
( Read more... )
