Hong Kong baby!: Kawaii [Cute] Japan!

To me, Japan has always been this beautiful place shrouded in mystery, lying across the ocean. It was perpetually inaccessible. Until I lived in Asia, that is.

Back in February I emailed this old friend of my mother's named Akemi. My mother knew her in Brazil, and even taught her some English (runs in the family I guess...) In any case, I corresponded with Akemi and we began to arrange for me to visit her in Japan. Japan was becoming more than just a dream destination.

On June 5, 2008, my friend from college, Megan, and I got on a flight to Kansai Airport in Osaka, Japan. Akemi and her husband, Shojiro, came and picked us up from the airport. They explained that they lived in Nishinomiya City, a "bedtown" which is a Japanese-English word roughly translating to suburb (people work in the bigger cities of Kyoto or Osaka and sleep in nearby "bedtowns"). Upon arriving at her house, I couldn't help but notice that she had labeled everything in the house with big letters so I wouldn't get confused by the Japanese! She also brought to our attention the high tech Japanese toilets with buttons determining the direction you wanted water to be sprayed (behind or bidet style)!

I quickly realized that Japan is not only extremely high tech (with no natural resources to speak of, technology is their only real money maker), it has a very specific aesthetic. This aesthetic is encompassed by the word "kawaii" which means "small and cute." Everything in Japan was kawaii!!! See for yourself in the pictures taken while I was out and about in the Kansai area (Kyoto, Osaka, Nara):

Cactus arrangements ready to buy

Decorated store fronts

Ubiquitous Hello Kitty

Of course, it is also impossible to overstate the prevalence of and reverence for historical Japan. Hello Kittys notwithstanding, Japan is teeming with temples and relics of its proud past:

Himeji Castle (shogun fortress) near Kobe