C is for cookie, that's good enough for me

When we first boarded the bus upon arriving at Narita Airport, the 2 hour ride provided our tour guide, Laura, an opportunity to tell us a few things about Japan and Tokyo in particular. The first thing she said was that Japan is not only the "Land of the Rising Sun" but also the "Land of the Rising Yen" which I thought was pretty clever. Another thing she told us was that Japan is composed of 5 C's (I've forgotten the exact ones that she mentioned, so I'm just ad libbing and adding my own about Tokyo in general):
1) concrete--the first thing I noticed about Japan was the vast amounts of concrete! There is alot of green too, but the concrete definitely takes over.
2) construction--and speaking of concrete, there is construction everywhere, with buldings and skyscrapers going up everywhere you look
3) congestion--of course it's crowded, but not as I expected. Very few people have cars, which makes the train/subway crowded at rush hour, as it would in any large city.
4) confusion--most streets in Tokyo do not have names which I'm sure wreaks havoc on the postman. They also drive and walk on the LEFT side of the street and road, which confused me all the time. It's hard to train yourself to look the opposite way, or walk on the opposite side of the street. Needless to say, Japan can be confusing for not only the gaijins (foreigners) but it seems that there are many things that confuse even the Japanese. There are rules for everything that I will get into in later posts.
5) contradiction--there is a Japan that exists now and there is a traditional Japan, which are very distinct yet blend at the same time. A Shinto Shrine may be nestled in between two buildings or my favorite example is this picture of a modern hotel that was built around a traditional garden. The Japanese do a great job of preserving tradition while embracing modernity...kind of like the contrast in the toilets!