About 3 years ago I used an 8 hour layover to hoof around some Japanese temples. I was absolutely shocked at how I was treated by the people. I was coming back from Thailand where if you open a map people will openly walk up to you and ask not only 'Where are you going?' but can they help take you there. In Japan when I opened a map and approached them they would literally drop their eyes and turn around and walk away. Store owners would retreat into their shops. Years later when recounting this story to a friend more adept with the culture he filled me in. It wasn't because they were rude at all, but because they were so afraid that either 1. Their English wouldn't be good enough to talk to me or 2. They wouldn't know where I wanted to go, that they were too ashamed to even enter into a map imposed conversation with me.
This trip has definitely confirmed that explanation. Pui has made some friends with a few Tokyo natives through the climbing shop. These are people that have come to Chiang Mai once or twice and said casually 'Look me up if you ever come to Japan.' So we did, and I can't tell you how impressed I am. We emailed a friend she had met twice previously to let him know we would be coming. Here is how welcoming this guy was:
- He owns his own company, but took off a Wednesday to drive 2 hours from North of Tokyo to spend the day with us.
- He picked us up at our hotel and transferred us to our new hotel (an hour by car)
- He paid for everything all day, including memberships to the climbing gym for both Pui and myself, entry fees into temples, and food at some pretty sweet restaurants.
- Laid out an itinerary for us for our remaining time in Tokyo
I guess the point is that if you don't personally know someone over here, they aren't going to give you a warm fuzzy. However if you've got an in, they are the friendliest people I have ever met.
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