La musique est une histoire sans fin

Here is a first report about my trip in Japan, written in the A380 back from Narita Airport to Paris. I try, by focusing on some points, to tell about Japan, both as a tourist and as a possible resident. I have to say this is the first time I’m sad to leave a country and get back home
Top 5 reasons I could live in Japan
1. Food
As I was saying in a previous similar post about San Francisco, for sure I couldn’t live in the US for long as they are missing many of our milk and pastries specialties and don’t really care about the food (except that everything has to be low fat … means also “low taste”). As I’m both a gourmet and a “chef” this really matters for me. Japan seems to share the same principles as France about food being an important thing and has to be a pleasure in everyday’s life. And are they fat ? I don’t think so. Of course there is genetics involved but still. They care about origin, they have many “Fresh and vegetables” supermarkets. Many (most don’t exist out of Japan) French sounding brands replicate our “boulangeries patisseries”, usually with the most famous products (baguette, pain au chocolat, croissant… up to Breton Kouign Amann) and some other more exotic (that I have yet to appreciate though). Of course they have many fishes and eat seafood several times a week, something I’m also fond of. I also had a taste of their (expensive) Yamagata beef, and I think this is the best meat I’ve ever had. Couldn’t say if it came from the meat itself or from the cooking (Teppan Yaki) though. Guess next time I come I will invite Ryoko at such place and will dress better

2. people
it seems difficult to make the first contact (more on this in the second part), but when you get to know Japanese people, they’re always nice to you, ready to help. This is true in public (or private such as their tremendous rail systems) services, as with personal relations. They always care, something we couldn’t say about french people especially towards foreigners/tourist. Even if I hardly know a few so far so this is maybe too early to judge, they also seem well educated, with a wide knowledge and a thirst to learn about other people (even if they don’t always have the means to)

3. women
I would not have said that before landing to Japan, as I’m a big fan of clear blue eyes, but I quickly changed my mind, especially when I met my local Twitter contact, which easily seduced me (how idiot I’ve been to dress casual I thought :p). Japanese are probably the cutest women of Asia. Besides, they surely are the most feminine women in the world, they are thin (maybe too much sometimes), they are often classy, eccentric sometimes but in the end I think this is just a pleasure to see women not trying to replicate men in clothes, and see them in naked legs, anywhere any time

4. Going out
I was really surprised by the number of strip clubs, and adult entertainment venues, which are not restricted to a red lights district. And I guess (at least that’s what I experienced in Shibuya) that men don’t come back early home not only for work. Still on for the late night activities, it’s really convenient to be able to walk the streets with your smartphone on hand without risking to get it stolen, to find a Kombini anywhere at anytime, to buy anything, and not having girls to be afraid to walk the streets alone, even wearing a skirt. I “only” tried 3 music clubs (Warehouse 702 and Air in Tokyo, Metro in Kyoto), one of them last night, and if entrance is quite pricey (around 30/40 euros), they are well arranged, with nice sound and crowd. so for sure this is something I liked, especially as electronic music becomes more and more popular (don’t think I could stand J-pop, didn’t try karaoke)

5. They like France
Fashion (accessories and perfume mainly), food, flowers, many retail stores show the taste for France (if not French) by Japanese people. I don’t know however if this “passion” goes beyond commerce

Top 5 reasons I couldn’t live in Japan
1. Communication/language
This is by far, the biggest issue when you come to Japan and only speak a few words of Japanese. Sociability is not the main quality of Japanese people, and English is spoken as much as it is in France (so basically not outside of business environment). Eye contact seems even non existing, so that doesn’t help a shy guy like me talk to the locals. As in France, speaking native is mandatory, but contrary to France it won’t be enough. In Tokyo, most places have English or romaji (Latin characters), but this is something you will see much less often outside

2. Japanese work and carreers
Commitment at work is high for Japanese people. They usually stay within the same company their whole carrier, without really changing their job. They often work late (but are not more productive than us) and take short holidays. They all dress in (kind of) suits. Of course these things are not familiar to French people, and especially to me. Already had 3 different works, like to work late only for my own (small) company rather than for my boss, and do whatever I like, so many things related to music, which can hardly be considered as office work. For sure I couldn’t adapt and would have to work for a western company

3. Food
Why is food repeated here ? For 2 reasons. the first one would be that I couldn’t anymore go to this high quality but affordable (less than 20€) restaurant as we have so many in France, where you can have wine and foie gras for example.
Second reason is that I would miss my kitchen, my wine cellar, and the cakes I cook as this couldn’t be feasible in a Japanese flat.

4. Comfort
What about the flat amenities ? large table to invite some friends, real bath tub, queen size bed and garden ? Proximity of countryside, beach ? I think I would have to forget all of these.

5. Isolation
For geographical and political reasons, Japan is quite isolated, so holidays abroad are not as easy as in Europe.

So to sum up, Japan could be a country where I could live for a while (as long as I learn Japanese), but certainly not my lifetime

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