It really is a major difference. When I was a child, probably about six or so and later eight or so, I didn’t fully comprehend where I was. The world was already this strange place and I just felt like going to Japan was a regular thing at some point around the second trip. My mother is half-Japanese and her parents live there.

So when I made my flight on December 21st, 2012, there was just something so strange about it all. Going through subways, I’d find vendors everywhere trying to sell stuff to people, but it wasn’t like some strange bazaar. It was like going through a small mall while making my way to get on a train. Course, I think the train station I was frequenting was close to or connected to a mall. So that might explain it.

But I think the most important thing was an understanding of where. No longer did it feel like some place, it was a place. A beautiful place. And since I was there in December, I was also there for two grand events. The Emperors birthday and New Years. I still remember the sound of the bells echoing in the distance as the New Year was being welcomed.

It’s hard for me to think about what a person from any foreign country would think of my town. I live in Jacksonville, but around the sorta outskirts. To get downtown, it’s a fifty mile drive or something like that just to get there. So just around me in walking distance, there’s really not much. A movie theatre, a couple burger joints, some restaurants, little shops around for cellphones, pizzas and the like, then at least three supermarkets: Wal-Mart, Target, and Publix. It really isn’t all the interesting, and for me to walk there would actually take about thirty minutes just to walk. Actually maybe more, I’m thinking of a bicycle ride possibly.

Just from the perspective of a Japanese person from Tokyo, I’d say my little area is just dreadfully boring and inconvenient in comparison to the fact that you can pretty much get anywhere in that city on foot with barely an issue. But then it might not be all bad, to a degree. The social rules are most definitely completely different, and I would imagine a Japanese person would find themselves highly uncomfortable in certain situations.

It is an entertaining thought, but it only makes me dislike my little neighborhood more and the American Public Transport systems more. Curse you Ford.