First.
Why is the title of the blog "First"? Well, it is literally my very first blog; therefore, I titled it "First". However, I find that this is a great opportunity to talk about the idea of first, first-time, first-glance, first-impression, all of which create a feeling that could be ingrained in our memory or be forgotten as soon as we change our focus. This is my first-time being in Japan, first-glance at the culture, and the first-impression of it's beauty. Just a quick side note, I am studying abroad in Asia with the USC School of Architecture, and we're currently in Tokyo, Japan. It has been one month that the semester started for us. We traveled to many cities in Japan, flew to Hong Kong, and flew back to Tokyo.
So, to make it simple and easy, my first impression of Japan and it's culture was pretty much speechless in a sense that everything here is so amazing. There is one thing that I can say definitely, and it is that the Japanese people have figured out and have solutions for almost everything. Lets name it, extensive public transportation, vending machines everywhere, 7-11's with quality foods, automated bike parking, automated car parking, change-machine on buses, baby holster in the toilet stalls, toilet bidet, restaurants on the train platforms, development under the highway overpass or train track over pass, extremely clean streets, people actually do not litter, and the people are freakishly POLITE and NICE!
All of this brings us to the question of why is Japan the way it is? I honestly do not have an answer, and I still ask that question everyday that I am here. However, there is definitely an unspoken rules and morality that the Japanese people obey by. I think it is the sense of pride as the citizens of Japan is a governing factor in the Japanese cultural identity that makes it so unique. Everyday I observe and try to understand the culture that is so different than anywhere else in the world. I may come to a conclusion or I may not at the end of this trip, but one thing that I know for sure is that any living person on this earth should come and experience Japan for themselves. There is no photograph, video, or written texts that could describe what's happening here in Japan.