Japan Trip (March 2001)

Index

• The Idea
• Leaving San Francisco
• Nine Days in Seoul
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The Idea

I am definitely a creature of habits, and taking trips to Korea annually is one of them. It's already has been more than 6 years since I came to the States, and except for the first year, I went back to Korea every winter. I used to have more fun from those trips in the earlier years. Most of my friends were "available for me", and the pressure for the ultimate Korean filial obligation was less. Also it is a country I spent most of my life, and in a year, hardly anything changes.

So for the past couple of the trips, I spent most of my time with my parents or visiting family elders and relatives or seeing only a handful of my friends. It was getting boring, but it is nice to be back in Seoul once in a while and to spend time with my parents occasionally. It's just that two weeks is a rather a long time to lounge between my parents' home and the arcades...

Then two realizations came to me, then a plan. One was something that I actually was quite surprised to realize at first: I have never been to any other countries in Asia other than Korea in my whole life! Well, this is partly because most of the Korean young males had severe restrictions on going abroad because of the mandatory military service, at least when I was at that age. So, unless you had some good reasons (e.g., studying abroad), it was pretty tough to get a passport. Even if you had good reasons, the whole process required a lot of paperworks. Actually, I did this for my France/Europe trip when I was a college sophomore.

The other was that I really don't have to spend the whole two weeks in Korea. I mean there was no reason for me to stay there for long. All I really wanted was to get away from work, to see my old playground, and to visit my parents and do what little filial obligation I had. I thought about a week would be enough for all those. Then what? I should do some travelling!

Ever since I came to the States, I have only visited one other country beside Korea. Canada. Vancouver and Victoria, to be precise. But as one of the songs from the South Park movie, it isn't a country anyway. :p

After realizing that I can take a trip to some other country while visiting Korea, a more long-term plan slowly came to me: I can make a habit of visiting some other countries when I plan for my next trips to Korea.

So where this time? Which country should I choose if I had to choose only one in Asia? Actually, it was a rather simple choice: Japan. Just like any other fans of the animation (anime) and comics (manga), Japan has been a constant interest to me. Not only that, it's very close to Korea (just across a strait) and it has had constant interaction with Korea all through out the history. Especially with the gloomier history between the two in the early 20th century, it's hard not to think about it.

Also, I had taken Japanese classes in a language school (i.e., HakWon) on and off for two years when I was in college. So, I wanted to see if my skills will work almost a decade later.

Indeed, this WAS the biggest concern to me. I knew that most Japanese didn't speak English, let alone Korean. It has been a while for me to travel to a country where I don't have a confidence in making myself understood to the locals (the only other time was in Europe).

So, I had a plan. Nine days in Korea and then five days in Japan. Then where in Japan? Five days isn't such a long time to visit many places and I didn't want to do a rushed sightseeing. I had to choose wisely. I bought a very helpful guide, which I carried in my hand all the time while in Japan, Gateway to Japan (Kodansha Guide).

I was hardly interested in big cities, such as Tokyo. I think I've seen enough before in Seoul, and it's really tough to have an exciting urban experience by yourself in a short time. I thought Kyoto (by the way, this city's name is pronounced in 2 syllables, not 3!!!), the old capital, and the surrounding area would be much more interesting for me with the given time.

Himeji-jo from Bunkakukan.

Leaving San Francisco

So, I left the San Francisco International on March 11th for Seoul. I initially wanted to go a week early, but I realized in time that I had to attend a very important wedding on the 10th. On a side note, Tom and Ann's wedding was at this small old beautiful church in Tiburon (just north of San Francisco) on the hill overlooking the water. My HanBok costume was officially shown in the States. :)

Anyway, I really like the new SF International terminal building. It definitely has more "open" feeling than the old crowded terminal. Later coming back from Tokyo, I found out that actually Narita International had the same checkin station layout.

I had to transfer a plane at Narita. The Narita airport was rather old. Especially the wing for Northwest (gate 40 through 47, I think) was terribly crowded and small. Interesting though, although it wasn't really a visit to Japan. :)

Nine Days in Seoul

My stay in Seoul was rather uneventful as I predicted. Most of my free time, I was playing at a local arcade (Ez2DJ 2nd, KeyboardMania, 3DDX, etc.). Yes, I still like games, comics and animations. And in-betweens, I visited some of my relatives and had dinner appointments with a few friends. And my aunt ambushed me at a lunch with a bride candidate (well, to be fair, she too was ambushed).

Overall, the nine days in Korea was relaxing, but also confirmed my feeling that it's getting more "unrelated" to me. I mean it's getting harder to get interested in the everyday life of the things in Korea such as what's on the back pages of the newspapers, what TV dramas are popular, where new hip places are, etc., etc... I don't know it might eventually change, but I feel more at home in NorCal.

Back to the trip ahead, I was getting more anxious about it. The uncertainty of my communication skills in Japan was the main cause of it. Also the feeling that I have not prepared myself well for the trip. Although I knew that one of the best things about travelling is unexpected encounters with the locals, my predisposition causes me some, if not huge, anxiety when there are "unknowns" that I am not comfortable with (a control freak?).

My 10:30 a.m. (A.M.! Jesus!) flight was to Narita. The plan was to stay in and around Kyoto mostly, so it might have been better to go through Kansai. But when I made the reservation, I still didn't have a concrete travel plan. Besides, I think I got a pretty good deal on the plane tickets (okay, thanks to Amy).

So, here we go.

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