Part 1
I have been lucky enough to get an opportunity to visit Japan,the land of rising sun,as part of a student exchange program organised by the Japanese government.Instead of a report,i intend to share a few insights of the experience.
The world knows Japan as a leading industrial nation-a global power.Yet i have had an opportunity to visit its rather less known side-of its social and natural setting.The trip included 4 days at Tokyo,the capital city,and 6 days at Kobe,the largest port in Japan.
THE CAREFREE LIFE
The best part of the experience was getting to know real people on the other side of the world.The greatest gift of the trip for me was to be able to establish friendships with a number of Indian and Japanese people whom i have never met before.We felt so carefree throughout the trip-as if we were free to be ourselves and we talked to strangers on the road with absolutely no concern at all.To me,it was some way of escaping the clutches of social code of not talking to strangers etc. that very well prevails in our society.We even took photos with people we met along the way-kids,students,a lady with a dog,an old lady with whom we shared a seat on the train...I felt that i had got back that innocent and uncomplicated lives as kids.
That was probably the best experience for me.I did things i would probably not do here back in my world,since our society doesn't expect us to be nice to people with whom we have no blood relation.
The one thing that troubled us(and excited us even more) was the fact that most Japanese knew little English.How would that excite us? It was so fun to communicate with a stranger using sign language,trust me! But it moved us to see some people actually so upset that they couldn't help us due to language barriers.
Now you are wondering whether we were on our own back then.Not exactly.Every night after we return from a day full of activities and sight seeing,we had a couple of hours to ourselves,we could go out to see the city until the curfew time,which was 10:00 pm. Besides,during our home stay I got lucky to get a day out with friends.It was so much fun!
I have been lucky enough to get an opportunity to visit Japan,the land of rising sun,as part of a student exchange program organised by the Japanese government.Instead of a report,i intend to share a few insights of the experience.
The world knows Japan as a leading industrial nation-a global power.Yet i have had an opportunity to visit its rather less known side-of its social and natural setting.The trip included 4 days at Tokyo,the capital city,and 6 days at Kobe,the largest port in Japan.
THE CAREFREE LIFE
The best part of the experience was getting to know real people on the other side of the world.The greatest gift of the trip for me was to be able to establish friendships with a number of Indian and Japanese people whom i have never met before.We felt so carefree throughout the trip-as if we were free to be ourselves and we talked to strangers on the road with absolutely no concern at all.To me,it was some way of escaping the clutches of social code of not talking to strangers etc. that very well prevails in our society.We even took photos with people we met along the way-kids,students,a lady with a dog,an old lady with whom we shared a seat on the train...I felt that i had got back that innocent and uncomplicated lives as kids.
That was probably the best experience for me.I did things i would probably not do here back in my world,since our society doesn't expect us to be nice to people with whom we have no blood relation.
The one thing that troubled us(and excited us even more) was the fact that most Japanese knew little English.How would that excite us? It was so fun to communicate with a stranger using sign language,trust me! But it moved us to see some people actually so upset that they couldn't help us due to language barriers.
Now you are wondering whether we were on our own back then.Not exactly.Every night after we return from a day full of activities and sight seeing,we had a couple of hours to ourselves,we could go out to see the city until the curfew time,which was 10:00 pm. Besides,during our home stay I got lucky to get a day out with friends.It was so much fun!
