Quote:
Originally Posted by koputai
Well done Paul.
I love Japan, it's my favourite country in the world. I lived there for a year and was very sad to leave.
A mate and I were stranded near Takayama in 2004 when there was a typhoon coming through, then the big earthquake hit. The roads and train lines were all out. We were taking a bus from Takayama to Matsumoto and the 90 minute trip ended up taking six hours due to hold ups. We were the only foreigners on the bus, with about six Japanese. One was a school girl who did some basic translation for us with the other passengers and driver, we were all good friends by the time we got there.
Anyhow, it was 11pm when we got to Matsumoto, and because of all the disruptions, there was absolutely nowhere with a vacancy. We even tried crashing in a hotel foyer, but that just wasn't on. We ended up going to Matsumoto railway station to sleep there, and it was full of others with the same idea. We bumped in to the school girl again, and she said her parents were coming to pick her up and take her home (2Hr drive). She said "You stay at my place, my parents won't mind". So, her parents and brother arrived around 1am, and they were so nice and friendly, and insisted that we go to their place for the night. We all had a quick bite to eat, then drove back to their house, getting there about 3:30am. Bed time we thought. WRONG! The mother made us some hot snacks, and the father asked her to bring us some beers as well. The father was a doctor, and had a huge guitar collection on the walls of his sitting room (they had a pretty big house, in a bushy setting).
The next morning they asked us what we had previously planned for the day, so we told them the village we were intending to visit. They all took the day off and took us out there! We bought them lunch, they bought us presents, we bought them presents, there was lots of bowing.......
At the end of the day they drove us to a main line railway station so we could get on our way. About a week later a box arrived at our place in Ropponghi with a lovely letter and more gifts!
It was a couple of days I will never forget.
Sorry, that turned out a bit longer than I had expected, but it's worth telling. People see whaling and such on the tele and paint all Japanese people with the same brush, but the vast majority are truly wonderful people.
Cheers,
Jason.
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Hi Jason, Thanks for that, it's great to hear about other peoples experiences in this country. Yep, that sounds like the Japan I know and love. Everyone is so welcoming and kind hearted. I've visited other countries in my time but no other country matches the hospitality of the Japanese.
Oh, I forgot to mention before about the beer, it's really good, and a HUGE variety. Last time I was here in 2002 there were not so many types of beers or styles, now Japan has had a beer explosion. I have tried 23 different beers in the last 12 days and still not even half way through the selection, it's all good, Aussies will love it here.