My plans for the summer changed quite drastically recently. It all started in Chengde. As Arthur and I were sitting in our hotel room flipping through seemingly endless terrible Chinese TV shows, we came upon the sports channel, which happened to be showing the French Open. Watching the French really just made me want to play tennis, and since the sport is still in its nascence in China, I decided to look elsewhere for some tournaments to play. This brings me to where I am now, which is Karuizawa, Japan. There are four tournaments in Japan this June; the first of which is held in Karuizawa. I spent Wednesday and Thursday figuring out what I would take with me, what to mail home, buying cheap knock-offs from a couple different markets, and then yesterday morning I flew from Beijing to Tokyo. I didn’t have time to hang out in Tokyo because I had a train to catch but from what I can tell it seems to be a very well-organized, clean, and, of course, huge city. I had to take one train into the city and another to Karuizawa, both of which left and arrived perfectly on time. The people were walking rather than running to the trains and then actually queued as they waited in line instead of making a mad rush for the first opportunity to get on board. I saw none of these things in China. Although the train experience in Japan is more convenient and comfortable, that of China is, if anything, interesting and I ended up meeting and talking to a lot of Chinese people on the trains who just wanted to talk with a foreigner.
As for Karuizawa, it’s basically my hometown of Banner Elk except it’s in Japan. There’s a ski resort somewhere around here, lots of golf and tennis, and hiking. Coming here has made me realize just how nice it is to be able to speak the language of the foreign country that you’re visiting. In China finding things and understanding people was, for the most part, relatively easy. Here, it’s been difficult. Luckily, tons of people here can at least speak some English. I had some trouble getting to the hotel where I’m staying but eventually made it here after I got in touch with the tournament director. He speaks very good English and gave me a ride to a small hotel that’s cheaper than the one recommended by the tournament. When we entered the hotel and walked up to the front desk there was a woman in her 60’s working behind the desk. Upon seeing me she had the most terrified look on her face, for what reason I do not know. She then rushed around the desk and hurried up the stairs to show me my room, which is nice, although clearly not designed for people taller than six feet.
Since Karuizawa is a small town, the restaurants and other stores close relatively early and so I had some trouble finding a place to grab some dinner. I went inside a small office where a middle-aged man was working behind a desk to ask him if he knew of any restaurants in the area that were still open. Instead of simply telling me where to go, he turned off his computer, closed the office, and took me over to a small restaurant that from the outside appeared to be closed. We ate what was basically Japanese barbecue and tried to exchange a few words, however, our conversation was extremely limited as he only knew little English and I know no Japanese. The food was very good and I was especially glad to have a good meal after what’s been a long day of travel.
After I returned to the hotel, the woman behind the desk came out and said something to me. She speaks no English and so I had no idea what she was saying. Finally, she simply started pointing at the dining area on the opposite side of the room and put up 8 fingers, which I assumed meant she was telling me breakfast would be at 8 in the morning. We got that resolved and then as I was leaving she said something and bowed, which I took to mean as goodnight. I then said it as well and bowed, then she said it again and bowed, so I did the same, thinking this was customary. But after I said whatever it was I said and bowed she then did the same again. I figured two or three was plenty so I then headed back to the room rather than continuing with what could be a never-ending cycle of saying goodnight (if that’s what it was we were saying) and bowing.
Everyone I’ve talked to, from the ticket salespeople to the people in Karuizawa, has been very friendly and helpful. Traveling has been easy so far, especially given that I don’t know any Japanese, and the countryside is very pretty. Overall, I have to say I like Japan very much.
