Honor, respect, humility and direction is the forefront of Japanese culture. Of course I wasn't there for a long period of time so I could only get so much from the people but everything I encountered was beyond positive. Contradictions are aplenty, hilarious and nevertheless interesting but somehow it fixates so naturally in the society that it seems stylish, or for lack of better words: expected.
For anyone planning on visiting a metropolis like Tokyo has to realize that no guide book will tell you everything. No map will tell you everything you'll need to know or see. No documentary will tell the entire story or prepare you for what you will experience. Being a native New Yorker, I've experienced as much of gotham as depicted from movies to tales and (chauvinistically) I thought Tokyo would be just another city.
See, that's a problem. It's a city of cities.
It's like combining all the enormous state capitals in America, like New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and Las Vegas and somehow managing to fit it all into one area on map but tiny enough so that it only represents the American facade. It's beyond me how Tokyo works but hasn't collapsed on itself.
I wish I was talking out of my ass but I've witnessed an influx of culture, work, people and things that I'll never see come out of my homeland. Visiting Tokyo for the small time I could afford showed me how green, lush and voluptuous the grass is on the other side. The hundreds and hundreds of photos and hours of videos I've recorded can't even tell the entire story. And I could rant on for hours on every little aspect of Tokyo but it wouldn't matter.
I know there's more to Japan but this, this is more than a forefront. Consider this a new chapter. Fuck that.
Consider this a new book.