Rudyard Kipling was said to have facetiously suggested that Japan should be put under a glass case as it is too pretty to be part of the real world.  Now, about 100 years later, I feel the same about what I’ve seen of Japan- it seems too good to be true.

Throughout our journey, I’ve struggled with the authenticity of the tourist experience.  In so many places the experience of the tourists seems manufactured with cultural dress, performances and practices being on display with the tourist dollar front-of-mind.  As such, I’ve become a little cynical about the tourist experience in places like India’s Golden Triangle, where it ‘s obvious that the essence of the true culture is sometimes being abstracted and displayed in a way that cheapens and demeans it to a point that it becomes unreal or inauthentic.

In contrast, the daily experience in Japan serves as a full helping of culture that is free from the pretense of purely tourist displays.  For example, we are staying in a district of Tokyo called Monzen Nakacho which is far from the tourist trail and offers a true-to-life view of daily life in Japan- a view that, to me, seems authentically real but still unreal in a too-good-to-be-true sort of way. 

Just a block from our hotel is a street that leads to a beautiful Buddhist temple. Along this street are authentic Japanese restaurants and shops filled with Japanese locals, slurping their noodles and drinking their tea just as they do every day.  The street itself is stunning in it’s cleanliness and style, as if someone set out to create the quintessential Japanese street scene, complete with lanterns, cherry trees, friendly people and noodle shop owners rolling noodles from scratch right there on display. 

What is most striking to me is that this scene is, without a doubt, the real thing.  Tourists were not considered when this street became a reality.  It is simply a random street in a nice neighborhood of locals that came to being in an authentically Japanese way. 

Each evening when we go out, we invariably see women and sometimes men wearing the traditional kimono.  Like the shops above, these folks are not thinking of tourists, or making money, or anything but what they feel is the proper attire for their evening out. To the tourists, this is a treat- to see such an authentic and truly beautiful expression of culture in daily life. 

We’ve witnessed authentic local culture in many places and I don’t mean to sound like authenticity is hard to find.  In Tokyo though, it seems to take on a new level of uniqueness and in a environment that is perfectly clean and extremely well-cared for- and that is a big difference.

It’s no wonder I have a crush on Tokyo.  I"m excited to get out of the city and experience more of Japan.