Saturday, July 12, 2008

2008 California Youth Symphony Japan Tour: Tokyo


It’s been two days since I returned from my 14 day long excursion to Japan with California Youth Symphony on our overseas tour. Senses dulled by jet lag, I still wake up every day expecting to have to wake up my lethargic roommate; and I’m still excited every time I see a trash can, but I’ll get to why that is later. As I go over what this tour to Japan has taught me, my mind seems to settle upon not the generalities, the prominent and famous locations we visited, but rather the small details I noticed and experienced – things like delicious food at small sushi bars, meeting and laughing with Japanese music students, even though we don’t share a common language, being able to drink tap water without fear of contamination, the small bows that often take the place of “thank you”, and other such relatively minor nuances. This has convinced me that these small nuances are actually what give Japan its character and make it an exhilaratingly different experience for me rather than the obvious difference in languages and other such superficial disparities.

We arrived in Narita International Airport on June 25 after a long 10+ hour flight and collapsed once we got to our hotels after a lengthy bus ride to Tokyo. During our six full days in Tokyo, we stayed at the Keio Plaza Hotel, a four star hotel close to a very active shopping area. My friends and I took advantage of this and went out nearly every night to explore Japanese stores and arcades. Almost immediately, I noticed that cleanliness was a defining factor of Japan, as there was essentially no trash on the ground at all. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how everyone managed to keep the streets and buildings everything so clean. But after several days, the cause revealed itself: there were no trash cans (not literally, of course, but they were so sparsely scattered about that it seemed like there were none). Every time we came upon a trash can, we felt like we had found the gold from a treasure hunt because we had to carry our garbage around otherwise.




Tokyo passed along altogether too quickly as I visited temples, shrines, schools, Tokyo Tower, Palette Town, and other such tourist attractions. And of course, not forgetting the purpose of our trip, I enjoyed our musical exchanges with Japanese youth orchestra members. We rehearsed and performed in the Meguro Persimmon Concert Hall, Suginami Kokaido Concert Hall, and in Higashiyama Elementary School as well with counterparts from the Tokyo Junior Orchestra Society and with students from the elementary school. During our exchange with the elementary school, our orchestra was overwhelmed by a thirty minute long welcoming performance by lower grade level students that was extremely complicated, full with marches and completely memorized. Their obvious dedication made me think back to my elementary school days and my obvious inability to perform at such a level when I was that young. This devotion demonstrated a difference in education systems; it showed that Japanese elementary schooling was significantly more rigorous than any that I had undergone. On the morning of the seventh day of our tour, we packed up and left for Hieizan Enryaku Temple, where we were to live for two days, promising to be an exotic cultural experience.


No comments: