She was interested in seeing the concert too, plus I got a place to stay in and as the concert was on a public holiday - I had a little trip down to Saitama for a few days! This blog entry should be quite an informative one for you on various cultural aspects of Japan! I shall bullet point a few important details should you ever visit Japan:
1). Be wary of the drink 'Shochu'!!! - 'Shochu' is a Japanese spirit, a bit like vodka, I think made of potato (potato wine?). The Japanese like to drink it with water, although you can drink it with any flavour you like (a cocktail called a 'Chu Hai'). It has a very very subtle sweet taste and is quite strong. The Japanese CLAIM it doesn't give you a hangover....however, the night before I was going down to Saitama, I got invited to a little reunion enkai of Marie's past extra English school students. We started drinking beer and later was offered Shochu to drink, something I don't normally accept that much. I didn't drink a lot but for some reason the morning after, I had a considerable hangover and didn't properly recover until the afternoon when I arrived in Saitama (having almost missed the Shinkansen I needed to get!). So a warning to you: be wary of Shochu (and try not to confused 'water and shochu' with 'water'!!! Trust me, it's quite an easy thing to do at first.....!)
2). Don't mess with train times in Japan - There have been quite a few occaisions when I have been annoyed, frustrated and/or angry with the train times in Japan (especially if you come from England!). It is not there fault, but they are EFFICIENT. More efficient than the most efficent thing you can think of, and then add a bit more efficiency on top. They don't wait around for anyone, they arrive on time, and leave on time. So if I set off to the train station with my English 'ahh luckily it'll be a few minutes late anyway' mentality, then I will arrive seeing the train setting off.
Now, I have been conditioned to fear the trains. To constantly fear missing a train, to constantly fear missing the right stop (they don't stop for long before they set off again). The thing is, up in the more remote and smaller areas of Japan, for example, my home - trains are rare. If you miss one train, then you'll likely have to wait another hour for the next. Also, if you need to go somewhere than requires a transfer, you most likely have to wait at least 30 minutes for the next train to set off. Another thing is, trains are not 24 hours. The timetable begins at 6.30am and ends at about 11.30pm - sometimes earlier.
Anway, rant aside, luckily I'm generally good at catching the trains I want, but I do notice that I get considerably anxious whilst waiting for them or on my way to catch them, or getting off them at the stop I need. This point coincides with my next point.
3). The countryside is very different to the urban jungle in Japan - Saitama is considered part of 'greater Tokyo', which means that it is bigger, has more facilities and more shops, better public transport (trains every few minutes, convenient and efficent bus services) and is within 30 minutes train ride of Tokyo. No longer did I really have to fear missing train times, the difficulty of finding foreign foods and decent tasting bread decreased - I was almost in another world!
My friend Tiffany who I met lives in the biggest city in Saitama, Omiya (alternatively known as Saitama City) . With a population of 1.1 million people, it pales in comparison to Nanyo's 34,000 people. It is basically a commuter's place of residence - where they live and travel from to get to their work in Tokyo. We had a pretty interesting discussion about the difference between living in the city, and living in the countryside.
Whilst people are often more relaxed, laid-back and friendly up in Yamagata - where one of the biggest industries is agriculture and farming, people in Saitama are typically seen in business suits, always looking like they have somewhere to go to. Because they spend a lot of time in Tokyo, they are more familiar to seeing foreigners around them, so they can treat foreign residents a little different, perhaps not quite being as helpful or friendly to them (this is not a rule of course). Because communities and populations are typically bigger, it is harder to integrate and form relationships with neighbours.
My visit to Saitama was really interesting and allowed me to glimpse a little bit of what it would have been like had I lived in a bigger city. Personally, I'm glad I live where I am, as I never lived in a big city before I came to Japan so my way of living now is very similiar (in a way!) to what I had before.
The view from Tiffany's house, I wouldn't say is really a 'deal-clincher' in the estate agency world.
The concert was in the city's arts centre. It was amazing! The performance was nigh-on perfect. We got some fantastic seats on the second row and heard some beautiful music. All the soloists were excellent and the interpretation of the passion by conductor Masaaki Suzuki was really interest and well-executed! The counter-tenor soloist had such a beautiful voice.
It seems I didn't do too well on the photography front with that trip, so here is a little clip from youtube - of the same choir, but different singers, and St Johns Passion instead of St Matthews Passion - but you get the idea!!!
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