It is not all about sakura

If someone ever comes to you, show you some photos they took with some cherry blossom trees in Ueno Koen (Ueno Park), and said they have been to Japan, challenge them further.

Japan is not all about Sakura (cherry blossom), Udon, and Disneyland/Disneysea. Take this blog for an example, I have (tried to) introduce Japan in such a manner that it not only shows it's diverse traditions and culture, but also how those traditions and culture help shape the modern society.

Therefore, in my opinion, tourism has definitely commodified cultures and traditions in Japan.

However, there are ways to stop this vicious cycle. I think that tourists or visitors should be recommended to visit places out of the common. Instead of always going to Disneyland and Universal studio, Fuji Q Highland may be a good place to visit. It is a family theme park over looking Mt Fuji, located beside lake Kawaguchi. Visitors may learn about these amazing sites while they are there.

The tour I went for did me a favor by bringing us to this Thai restaurant. Japan is not all about it's own culture too. Since the country open up to the world, many have visited and stayed in Japan.
This Thai restaurant offers a great variety of Thai food catered to the Japanese and the South East Asian visitors. It was the best meal I had in Japan after six days of Japanese cuisine. Nothing better than taste of home (or nearer to home).

The food is great, trust me on that. It was prepared by Thai people. I have thus decided to go back to Japan for the Thai food. I know, it's ridiculous, but that's how nice the food was.









I am hoping that more people will see the other side of Japan. It is really not all about electronics shopping and fashion clothings. Perhaps a visit to the Ainu village in Hokkaido prefecture will change the whole viewpoint of many people.