HotForBot

It bothers me that Japan has become something of a glamour queen, but in many realms, Hearn’s observations still hold true. This is because a special reverence for traditional crafts pervades Japanese aesthetics. Amid the clamor of technological and economic success, a respect for age, custom, and tradition still endures.

After the war, and subsequent defeat of Japan, they closed themself off from the world around them hoping for nothing from the outside world, but this wouldn’t last for long. The influence of the west was to dominate the entire future of Japan and influence some of the greatest decisions made in Japan for decades to come. The determination of the Japanese people to thrive after having been beaten down was amazing. They literally trannsformmed their entire defeat into a technology producing mechanism that would dominate the world. If you’ve ever visited Japan you would know this. The technological epicenter of the world seems to be in Asia, and much of the stems from Okinawa Japan.

Japan’s early political system was patterned after that of China, but power gradually shifted from the Emperor to the shoguns. Determined to maintain the status quo, in 1639, the great Tokugawa shogunate closed the country to the outside world and plunged Japan into 200 years of isolation. But for travelers to Japan today, that isolation has long from ended, and Japan has opened itself to the world. In just 150 years, Japan has transformed itself from an isolated feudal state into one of the greatest industrial societies on earth, a nation whose current gross national product is second only to the U.S. Yet, with all its 21st century vitality and fervent adoption of contemporary modes, Japan remains resolutely Japanese.

When Commodore Matthew C. Perry arrived on the shores of Japan accompanied by some 300 troops armed with modern weapons, bearing a missive to the Emperor of Japan from U.S. President Millard Fillmore, he also lit the fuse that was to propel Japan into the modern world.

Really though, it’s hard for Japan to not embrace the world with their looming population crisis. Is Japan worth visiting? You betcha, just be sure to book your tickets in advance!