Goodbye Tokyo, Hello Osaka

Day 5 : Friday, 16 July 2010

by Alan Yeo

 

Love it or hate it, Tokyo can be a city of contradictions. From Shibuya to Shinjuku, the Japanese we saw on the streets appeared to be constantly on the rush adrenaline and uptight. However, Nelvin and his team saw a different side of the Japanese at Disney Sea. They were relaxed and knew fully how to enjoy. They sang, they jumped and were full of life. And they were not referring to the kids but adults.

 

 

An Ran and Regina who had their lunch at the Tsukiji’s fish market, described the diners there as cold and aloof. An Ran shared that she tried to make contact with a family by playing with their kid but throughout the entire meal, the father didn’t bother to make any eye contact with them and most diners would simply finished their meal quietly without much interaction.

 

Joanne Lee shared that when she shouted to get the attention of Soo Fun on the streets, people would just turn around and stare at her as if she had broken the unspoken rule about not shouting, laughing or talking loudly in public.

 

We also had interesting insights from Jamie Lim who visited a Japanese family whom she knew in Singapore. The couple had worked in Singapore for some time but were suddenly recalled to return to Tokyo.  And it was a culture shock for them to be back in Tokyo, having enjoyed much family time in Singapore and now to readjust to living in an expensive and small apartment unit coupled with late hours and sacrifice of family time for work in Tokyo City.

 

Today, we left Tokyo for Osaka via Shinkansen (Japanese Bullet Train) that runs at 200km per hour to 300km per hour and we certainly look forward to what God has in store for us in Osaka.