A Chinese garden in Japan

While most of Okinawa seems like a giant tourist trap, there are several sights in Naha that are entirely free. (Also, Naha has neither a noteworthy beach nor snorkeling opportunities, making it much cheaper than everywhere else in the archipelago).

Harro! Can I interest you in some pineapple chocolate? diving? no?

Yesterday I went out to explore Naminoue Shrine, the most important Shinto shrine in Okinawa. Shintoism is an export from the Japanese mainland, and it seems, not a very popular one. The shrine was much smaller than I expected and I was the only visitor, apart from school class from Tokyo that kept shouting „Harro!“ at me incessantly. 

A short minute away though, I found Fukushu-en (福州園), an impressive Chinese style garden that was built in 1992 to commemorate the ties Okinawa has had with China (before the Japanese annexed the islands, the Ryukyu had strong trade ties to the Ming dynasty). 

 What's special about this garden is that Japan and Chinese don't exactly have the best relationship (well, let's be honest... who except maybe North Korea has a good relationship with China?) - yes, there are Chinatowns in several Japanese cities, but the general image Chinese people have here is not good. The Japanese are very open to just about any other culture, but Chinese are at the most seen as people who run mediocre restaurants. Let's not even examine the historical and military relationship between the two countries.

Maybe that explains why there weren't any Japanese visitors, I'm not sure...

Even though it wasn't raining for a change, I was one of the only visitors (apart from an American couple and, ironically, a tourist group from mainland China that trampled through the entire place within 3 minutes) and spent a relaxed afternoon... getting stung by mosquitoes. You can't have it all, I guess.

Okinawa for city girls: Shuri Castle, Naha

the promise of Okinawa

I'm back in Japan! More specifically, in Naha, the capital of Okinawa. I've dreamt of Okinawa since I first visited Japan, but until quite recently it was unfordable to travel there, with return flights costing at least $500 – from Tokyo, that is.
Luckily, in the last year or so, budget airlines have discovered the Japanese market (so much for the super fast and modern adaptability of the Japanese again...), so I booked a flight with Jetstar Japan, which we shall not speak of here. But I arrived after a 2 hr flight from Osaka, in one piece.

Was is the beaches that held my interest?

The diving?

The surfing?

The fact this archipelago between „mainland“ Japan, China and Taiwan has more centenarians than anywhere else?

Nope, because let's be honest, if you want beaches, you can go to Spain, and for diving, SE Asia's diving schools take a fraction of what they charge in Okinawa, which is like the Japanese version of Hawaii in many aspects.

It's the indeginous culture that interests me, even though there seems to be little of it left. Until the 17th century, Okinawa was known as the Ryukyu kingdom, which for centuries traded peacefully with Japan, Korea and China. Then, the Japanese decided to annex the kingdom, forced the locals to adapt their language, religion (Shintoism) and traditions. Whatever was left of the culture was destroyed by American forces towards the end of WWII. Little remains except the fact that Okinawans who still speak the local language are far and few and count as one of Japan's bewilderingly tiny minorities.

To be honest, I thought the Ryukyu kingdom consisted of nothing but a bunch of small tribes and fishermen, like Taiwan did before the Chinese tried to annex it, or HK or Singapore before the British. So, I didn't expect much when visiting the rebuilt castle complex, where since the late 80s, the Ryukyu palace and palace grounds are being rebuilt.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

Reminding more of Chinese than Japanese architecture, the three main buildings that were reconstructed alone are bigger than any of the palace grounds elsewhere in Japan – and to this day, only a fraction of the buildings and the area within the castle walls has been rebuilt. Unlike other Japanese castle, whose main feature always seems to be their complete emptyness, the buildings include a lot of information as well as original and rebuilt artifacts from the Ryukyu kingdom (taking pictures was not allowed in most sections, though).

A previous' royal mausoleum, Tamaudun, is located a short walk from the castle. Here too, conservation work is underway, but what you can see is already impressive. There's also a small museum (interesting, in spite of very little English information).

You can reach Shuri castle via a 15 min walk from Shuri monorail station (the final stop), and you'll come across many other interesting sights along the way (plus a few places that sell yakitori and pineapple ice cream – a match made in heaven).

Despite the terrible rain (it seems that with my flight, the rainy season arrived in Okinawa), I enjoyed the visit and definitely want to return one day when the whole complex has been rebuilt!

No culture shock?

Just some fish drying opposite the department store.

When I had only travelled in Europe, North Africa, Turkey and Japan, I used to say that I don't do „culture shock“. And 3 years and 30 more countries later, in a way, that is still true. I am not afraid of radically different cultures, food, religious or most social customs and can adapt very quickly.

That is, there is one thing I just can't do.

My first trip outside these countries lead me to South Korea, a country that these days is mostly known for its pretty boy bands, girls with plastic surgery and the fastest internet in the world (bus stop in the middle of the country side have free wifi hotspots!). However, it's also the country in the world that adheres most closely to traditional Confucian values. After 10 days, the way I was treated freaked me out so much I spent 3 entire days in my room in Seoul. Just like the Japanese tourists who dream of visiting Paris all their lives and then are utterly shocked that Paris is actually a shithole (I said it. I like Paris, but it still is a dank, smelly unsafe place).

Hang on. Rewind. So what exactly happened?

Confucius, the really smart old Chinese dude? Yeah, that's kind of his image in the West. Confucius revolutionize Chinese society (and with it, strengthen the emperor's and noble's role) by setting up an intricate social system. Depending on your age, gender, your job, your parent's job, your great-great-great-grandfathers job, your exact role in society was determined.

And in spite of about 50% of all the things (maybe 80% of everything in Seoul) in Korea is hyper modern, social dynamics still aren't. I've seen little boys in Busan's subway shout at a heavily pregnant women because she was “blocking” their seats – yes, even a little “man” seemed to be of more importance than a woman bringing new life into the world.

the friendly locals of South Korea

Wherever I stayed, the owners or staff, people just a few years older then me (or younger, but male) tried to tell me what to do at every moment of the waking hour. And the sleeping hours, too. What was good to wear, what I should eat. Who I should go out with. What I should say and how loudly I should say it. Even at the super alternative hostels aimed at foreigners, being there as a single woman was seen as a curiosity. I was asked where I was going or had come from even if I just went to the toilet. Controversially, much older people treated me like shit – obviously gossiped about me or mocked me and other travellers speaking English in public, kicked me out of souvenir shops (!) and restaurants (no solo dining in most traditional Korean restaurants).

I have a couple of Korean friends in Japan and London, and when I told them about my experience, they just smiled and said “I understand what you say, I have felt the same in other countries, but people just tried to take care of you”. Because I'm younger, because I'm a woman.

India did a similar thing to me, if maybe the other way around. Just because I was Western and rich by Indian standards, I encountered a submissiveness that was just ridiculous. But it didn't only apply to foreigners: rich Indians treated poor Indians like they were gods and the others vermin. Even though the caste system doesn't formally exist anymore, if you are born rich, it means that you had very good karma in your last life. The poor obviously did something deeply spiritually wrong.

I can't deal with people judging my by my supposed “background” and treating me according to my perceived “social status”. Being treated as a generic group instead of as a person.

I grew up in a culture that lacks any class system, at least officially. When I moved to the UK, I was shocked that people actually referred to themselves and others as “middle” or “working class”. Maybe because Germany has had such a stable welfare state (well, with a few decades of going backwards politically and economically) for the last 150 years, everybody knows they can make a decent living regardless of education, social status or the money/property they might inherit once.

I can use squat toilets and go to public baths with naked Japanese girls half or Arab ladies double my weight and not feel awkward. I'll say “I will be impolite” before entering a room in Japan, and “Excuse me, I was wondering if you maybe would have time to look into x” when asking for a service in England. I'm fine dressing conservatively in Muslim countries and even shutting up about the whole gay thing.

There isn't a custom that I can't adapt to. But bowing or commanding, or putting myself on a pedestal above others because some unwritten, ancient law says I'm superior or inferior?

Which cultural norms can't you adapt to?

(As much as I was interested in India, I now realised this ruined it for me. I will have another go with Korea in 2 months though!)