Quote:
Originally Posted by Umihito
Sorry for leaving this thread for a while, so I'll answer now! 
It seems like this may be better answered by someone who's stayed here long term, but I'll give it a shot :L
It's quite hard to say... When I first touched down, I was very excited from all the new writing and language around me. Plus, it was the first time I stayed in a city so big. After thew first day, the excitement wore down quite a lot, and I began planning of all the things I was going to do. This mood basically stayed with me the entire trip... I mean, I'd be scared if I was that excited every day :L
Near the end of the trip, I had an AWFULLY bad back (from the futon for 2 weeks...) and chaffed thighs from walking non stop, all day, every day. This did put a bit of a downer on me near the end of the trip, because they were both EXTREMELY painful... and I couldn't walk more than a few shops before needing to sit down, stretch my back and give my thighs a rest.
When I left, it was good to be home, but then I did start craving to come back again... and I'm here right now ^^
My perceptions near the end of the trip certainly changed how I feel about the country, some ways better and some ways worse. Being here a second time, I'm definitely a lot more toned down, and now the country just seems really... different to me.
Heh, I hope I helped! It's really hard putting my thoughts to words with this topic. :L |
Ah, sorry it's taken me so long to read your reply, my main computer is shot to hell
It's interesting to compare the initial experience to the latter experience; in a way it's kind of what I'd expected people to feel, because as you said it's kind of hard to feel pure excitement each and every day. I imagine it's kind of like visiting any other country, where at the end of the trip there's a longing to be both home and to stay longer, like pros and cons? I guess the futon trouble would count as a con, lol. Out of curiosity, what were some of your perceptions of the country that changed? I guess your experience was a good one, else you wouldn't have returned, but was there any negative sides that you discovered in your time there?
Sorry for the questions, I guess I'm just rather curious. There's so many people whose initial reactions are of intense excitment, but like with any country there's so much good and bad, so it's just interesting to see how these experiences change. I wonder what people's perceptions are of the 'real' Japan. I suppose at the end of the trip one might feel either jaded or optimistic, so it's just interesting really . . . anyways, thanks for replying
