This question could get very different answers depending on who you are asking to. As for someone who came from a distance of more of ten thousand kilometers in the west, the most expected reaction when landing would probably be one of surprise and excitement for getting into a new culture. Books, history and the peoples themselves have always divided the world into East and West as the opposite, and most people on both sides do believe in this distinction, picturing the other side as something exotic or even bizarre. Is this distinction real or not? Who knows, again it depends on the point of view.
Somehow I believed in this difference, and I expected to be shocked by it in some way, but my very first impression of Japan was that I was not as impressed as I thought I would be. Is true that the differences between Japan and my country are evident: signals written in kanji, futon instead of bed, chopsticks instead of forks, bikes everywhere… But I realized that people do the same things everywhere, in a different way, but the same things after all.
Neither flying cars nor giant robots around, just a crowded train station
If you find that you are not particularly moved by the way Japan resembles the west now, try heading out to the countryside. In really rural parts of Japan, they do things like the west did... 30 years ago! It's like traveling back in time! You might want to take someone who's really good at Japanese, though, as there is very little English out there.
@Joe Thanks! I'll have to try that someday :D I have much Japan to see yet, though.
I think you are off to a good start here - sharp blog layout, really nice photos and interesting text. You might want to consider who your audience is as some might not get your yamabushi reference. You might hotlink the term to another web page if you don't want to get bogged down with explaining it yourself.
As I said, I really like the pictures but I have some concerns as well. Did you get parental permission to take the picture of the young boy? Is it appropriate to take pictures in the crowed public area where it is nearly impossible to get permission from everyone (do we even need permission in such situations?)? These are issues we will will begin to consider more deeply in class on Monday. How can we protect the people we study/photograph and still be able to offer honest cultural descriptions in our photographs? While the former is paramount, I still don't want to stifle the creativity of talented photographers like you.
I look forward to your insights in these matters and others.
Thanks for your comment Steven, it is very helpful.
First of all I fixed the yamabushi issue by adding a link to a refference, I hope that this makes the picture comment easier to understand for a widest range of readers.
About the pictures, as we saw in class, it is a complicated issue. While snapshots are visually and in terms of information more valuable, it is sometimes very hard to know if taking and posting them are correct actions or not. I really like to take (and watch) snapshots, so from my personal understanding I don't see a great deal on it as long it is done with respect. On the other hand I understand that in some fields, where the pictures can have serious repercussions (like commercial uses, subject of studies, etc.) one have to take more cautions. Having told that, I can say that I'll take more precautions in my next posts so I don't skip any rule that could bring to conflict.
As for the particular picture of the young boy, it was really an accidental picture. It was taken in my second or third day in Japan, and I took a general view of the park. It was later, when I checked my pictures on the PC that I noticed the young boy sitting in this kind of meditation pose. I just found it very interesting and cropped this part of the picture, since I thought that it was worth to be seen.
About taking pictures of crowds, I don't think there would have to be much problem. Privacy is of course very important, but taking it to this point seems a bit paranoid to me. We are actually been filmed everyday by dozens of security cameras in all kind of places without permission and it doesn't look illegal... So well, this is a big topic to discuss.
And well, I think I'm taking that too long, so I'll stop here. Thanks again for your observations, I'll keep them in mind for my next posts.