Published January 2012

When people imagine Japan a variety of images spring to mind: kimono clad geisha shuffling down paved streets; ancient temples hidden in forests; raw and dangerous seafood; overcrowded rush hour trains; bright neon signs. Well, all that is there. I have brushed past a geisha in the older streets in Kyoto; I ate the infamous fugu or blowfish, known to be deadly if prepared incorrectly; I packed myself onto a train with a tiny schoolgirl on one side of me and a profusely sweating business man to the other; I took many pictures of the bright neon lights of Osaka's entertainment districts.

However, Japan has so much more to it than these stereotypical images and certainly should not be thought of solely in terms of the disaster that befell the north-east of the country in March 2011. The cleanliness of Japan, even in the big metropolises, impressed me. On one occasion I was sitting on a beach watching a summer firework festival display. It's one of the biggest displays in the area and there were thousands of people attending. After the fireworks finished I was amazed to see people picking up rubbish that was not their own as they left. The following morning I passed the beach and it was impossible to see any trace of the previous night's festivities.

In my city recycling is taken very seriously. Glass, cans, tins, plastics, PET bottles and general burnable kitchen waste are all meant to be separated into different colour-coded plastic bags and set out for collection on different days. These collections are weekly, apart from the burnable kitchen waste, which is twice weekly.

This amazing Japanese efficiency extends to many areas of life, not least the impressive timekeeping of the rail system. Japanese trains, be they the high-speed bullet train connecting the major cities or the small local trains that wind their way through the mountains, are rarely delayed. It can be said; “In Japan, if the train is late then your watch is wrong!” On the rare occasions when they are it is most likely due to a suicide attempt. Probably Japanese businessmen cracking under the immense bureaucracy surrounding this legendary efficiency.

The Japanese have a close relationship with water. This is not surprising bearing in mind they are an island nation and naturally their consumption of so much raw fish in sushi and sashimi demands that the fish in markets and even supermarkets is extremely fresh. A visit to a fish market in the early hours of the morning is an unforgettable experience. Giant tuna fish, octopus with their tentacles still moving, fish roe of all sizes and colours. A trip to any aquarium in Japan will almost certainly be punctuated by shouts of "oiishii!" from the Japanese children around you. “Oiishii” sadly does not mean “Beautiful” as you would hope in an awe-inspiring aquarium, it means “Delicious” as chances are the children have tried the majority of the fish on offer... I mean, on display!

Of course, their main staple food of rice requires wet fields for its growth also. A trip by train through the Japanese countryside affords beautiful views of lush green rice paddies with the shoots protruding from the water in uniform straight rows. Herons standing proud among the rice are such a common sight; I have seen more herons during two years in Japan than I did in twenty-six years in England.

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I was struck by the contrasts in Japan. Modern office tower blocks yards away from old temples. Teenagers wearing traditional kimono for the summer festivals and then eating a McDonalds. Impossibly steep mountains towering over flat expanses of rice paddies. 24 hour hot drink vending machines but ATMs that have longer weekends than me!

But despite the fact that the Land of the Rising Sun is geographically and culturally so far from England, life there was easy to settle into and it became a place I was able to call my “Asian home.”