A Country I Would Like to Visit: Japan

Hi there!

Today we´re going to talk about a country, in my case it will be Japan.

Why Japan? because a lot of reasons:
Like China or Korea, Japan is a country with a milenarium culture, a culture rich in lots of aspects, like the languaje, the gastronomy, the archtecture, the music, the painting, the traditional theatre, a very devoted religion (with beautiful temples), a very interesting mithology, and one of the most proud and rich military tradition and theory: The Bushido and the Samurais (but today I´m not going to talk about they, because I already did it in another post)

-They say Japan was made by a sword. They say the old gods dipped a coral blade into the ocean, and when they pulled it out four perfect drops fell back into the sea, and those drops became the islands of Japan. I say, Japan was made by a handful of brave men. Warriors, willing to give their lives for what seems to have become a forgotten word: honor. Introductory narration of "The Last Samurai"

The japanise languaje (Nihongo) is one of the most dificult for us on the west side of the world, because we used the roman characters, and the Japanise people use a variation of the original Chinese Kanji. Aditional to that, they create two different alfabet, the "Hiragana" and "Katagana", one used to name japanese words, and the other to name foreing words.

In the food, they are expert in the preparation of different dishes with fish, and specialy rice. Crabs and octopuces are part of their gastronomy too.

The traditional archtecture is world recogniced. Like the Chinese and Korean buildings, they used lots of wood (bamboo) and paper (made of rice) in their constructions. It´s no so difficult to find overwhelming feudal castles or temples. The extensive use of the wood is maybe the signature of their constructions.

The arts, like the music, paintings and theatre are unique. The extensive use of a local Flute (called Fue), Drums, harps, and a banjo with three strings, called "shamisen". In the painting they represented the mithology and current culture of every moment of their history. In the Theatre they have the "Kabuki Mascs Theatre" known by their big mask and the human shaped animal or spirits represented.

In their mythology, they embrace the shinto and Buddhist tradition. They have a uncountable number of spirits (called "Kami")Another interest aspect is the myth origin of the imperial family, assigned with godhood. The japanise emperor is called "Tenno", and means "heavenly emperor".

There I would go to the Buddhist monasteries and temples. Even today monks meditate and pray everyday, with a particular way known as "matra"
The old Castles of the shogunato era (the feudal age of Japan, that last until 1867, when the imperial rule is reestablished, with the defeat of the Tokugawa rule) The shoguns were warlords, rules of great extentions of territory, like the feudal lords in Europe. The special castle that I want to see is the Kumamoto Castle, that was the one under siege on the Satsuma Samurai´s rebellion, and the one that saw the last battle, of the real last samurais, agains the new imperial army.

The Fuji Volcano is another special place that I want to see. Called "Fuji-sama" (or "Great Fuji")is a very beautiful place not only for japan, for the world too I believe.

I´m sure that if train a bit of kendo there, I´ll be destroyed with very few hits, I only fought two japanise "kenshis" (fencers) not counting my master, and they were very high skilled and very fast swordmans. They defeated me very quick. But I believe that I could learn a lot there, in the origin root of this art. Would be a very interesting experience.

The differences with Chile are obvious, the buildings are very different, but the biggest differece is the people: very disciplinated, obedient, and devoted to their pursuits. Usually very reservated, and closed with their feelings. No one says what thinks, and often they answer without saying a oppinion.