Japan ... will do a number on your head like nowhere else I've ever encountered.
It's a country with a language and written signage (I don't think you can call it an alphabet) based on totally non-Western concepts. It's not like going to France, or even Germany, where the language is based on Latin (which we can puzzle out) or Old Saxon (which I think English-speakers know in the marrow of our bones). Plus it's not a predominately Christian nation, which may not sound like a big deal, until you see a well-dressed businessman in an art museum, in the very modern city of Atami, clapping his hands three times in order to summon the gods while standing in front of a glassed-in ancient statue of the Lord Buddha.
And nobody bats an eye. Because it's normal, and real, and they believe this. In Shimoda we toured what's euphemistically referred to as the "sex museum" (here (http://www.marimari.com/cOnTENT/japan/popular_places/vicinity/izu_hanto.html), in the Choraku-ji Temple). Many of the exhibits were of prehistoric stone carvings of phalluses, and some of the exhibits had coins in front of them. Offerings, that people had left, to the gods.
The Japanese believe there are gods (kami) everywhere, most especially in places of solitude and/or places with deep historical significance. After a while you start to believe it yourself. It is a strange, beautiful country that will absolutely turn your head around.
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It's a country with a language and written signage (I don't think you can call it an alphabet) based on totally non-Western concepts. It's not like going to France, or even Germany, where the language is based on Latin (which we can puzzle out) or Old Saxon (which I think English-speakers know in the marrow of our bones). Plus it's not a predominately Christian nation, which may not sound like a big deal, until you see a well-dressed businessman in an art museum, in the very modern city of Atami, clapping his hands three times in order to summon the gods while standing in front of a glassed-in ancient statue of the Lord Buddha.
And nobody bats an eye. Because it's normal, and real, and they believe this. In Shimoda we toured what's euphemistically referred to as the "sex museum" (here (http://www.marimari.com/cOnTENT/japan/popular_places/vicinity/izu_hanto.html), in the Choraku-ji Temple). Many of the exhibits were of prehistoric stone carvings of phalluses, and some of the exhibits had coins in front of them. Offerings, that people had left, to the gods.
The Japanese believe there are gods (kami) everywhere, most especially in places of solitude and/or places with deep historical significance. After a while you start to believe it yourself. It is a strange, beautiful country that will absolutely turn your head around.
It is very easy to fall in love with Japan.