I should have started this trip on December but there were a few reasons to postpone it.
While visiting Lanzarote in December I noticed the following 
writing on the back of a bus seat (see the pic), the said belongs to the cuban poet “José Martí” : “If you don´t know where to go, there won´t be any way that lead you at a certain place” (“si no sabes a donde ir, no habrá camino que te conduzca a lugar alguno”).
That sounded to me close.
At that moment I was hesitating between several countries for before arriving Okinawa, the only destination I had decided since the beginning.
Places I have thought were the Philippines, Vietnam, India or Dubai, but why to visit them now? So finally I have focused in Japan, on my eleventh trip to this country, since the first I did in 1989 and also visit Korea the country I have become more interested due to its viccinity with Japan and the info I have received from koreans friends while walking “el camino de Santiago” from Roncesvalles to Santiago with them in two periods during the last two years.
I will visit Japan most southern point, Okinawa and also as always for sure I will become fascinated by the atmosphere and the people, the monuments and the gardens, the landscape and the modernity, including the Naha aquarium :) . But I will keep on intrigued for some inviolable distances that are also part of the assemble. Genotypes, fenotypes, CULTURE always play their role on civilization and its performing behaviour. Only challenging wills can go through or at least fight against this cultural distances. I try to do it.
Nevertheless I feel confortable in Japan and I appreciate how polite are their citizens, I guess the same for Korea although I have not visited before.
Korea has followed the steps Japan begun on the sixties obtaining a succesful development nowadays going even further than Japan in some industries.
Korea, historically was the bridge to the continent for Japan since Yayoi time 1000 years BC. I will do now this narrow Korea strait in only 3 hours and a half with the “beetle” JR hydrofoil.
Japan although year 2010 is ending this march, so not finished yet, seems to be recover weakly from long stagnation but this country is also focused in other intangible but not less interesting subjects.
Last week I attended to a conference in Casa Asia-Madrid where the spanish expert in Japaneese culture, Federico Lanzaco and some friends talked about many aspects of today´s Japan, one of them was the commitment Japan has now of just “be considered as an attractive country”. This purpose is longtime achieved in my case but I see in recent years how more and more spanish friends and people in general like to visit Japan, and how it appears on magazines often than before, always giving its very personal style, mark. So also I have noticed in recent trips more tourists there from other countries from Europe than in my previous trips during the eighties and nineties.
A few days ago I contacted Naha port authorities to ask a question, the personalized answer I received in consecutive mails ended in the last one as follow :
“Helping people is always my pleasure.
Please contact us anytime if you need help”.
It sounded good. No need to ask more questions due to the friendly IT systems and the most friendly help of japaneese friends I have.
Note:
Why the african boys of the picture ? Africa is also amid Lanzarote and Okinawa trip. I was in South Sudan August 2010, not so far, never will forget.
writing on the back of a bus seat (see the pic), the said belongs to the cuban poet “José Martí” : “If you don´t know where to go, there won´t be any way that lead you at a certain place” (“si no sabes a donde ir, no habrá camino que te conduzca a lugar alguno”).That sounded to me close.
At that moment I was hesitating between several countries for before arriving Okinawa, the only destination I had decided since the beginning.
Places I have thought were the Philippines, Vietnam, India or Dubai, but why to visit them now? So finally I have focused in Japan, on my eleventh trip to this country, since the first I did in 1989 and also visit Korea the country I have become more interested due to its viccinity with Japan and the info I have received from koreans friends while walking “el camino de Santiago” from Roncesvalles to Santiago with them in two periods during the last two years.
I will visit Japan most southern point, Okinawa and also as always for sure I will become fascinated by the atmosphere and the people, the monuments and the gardens, the landscape and the modernity, including the Naha aquarium :) . But I will keep on intrigued for some inviolable distances that are also part of the assemble. Genotypes, fenotypes, CULTURE always play their role on civilization and its performing behaviour. Only challenging wills can go through or at least fight against this cultural distances. I try to do it.
Nevertheless I feel confortable in Japan and I appreciate how polite are their citizens, I guess the same for Korea although I have not visited before.
Korea has followed the steps Japan begun on the sixties obtaining a succesful development nowadays going even further than Japan in some industries.
Korea, historically was the bridge to the continent for Japan since Yayoi time 1000 years BC. I will do now this narrow Korea strait in only 3 hours and a half with the “beetle” JR hydrofoil.
Japan although year 2010 is ending this march, so not finished yet, seems to be recover weakly from long stagnation but this country is also focused in other intangible but not less interesting subjects.
Last week I attended to a conference in Casa Asia-Madrid where the spanish expert in Japaneese culture, Federico Lanzaco and some friends talked about many aspects of today´s Japan, one of them was the commitment Japan has now of just “be considered as an attractive country”. This purpose is longtime achieved in my case but I see in recent years how more and more spanish friends and people in general like to visit Japan, and how it appears on magazines often than before, always giving its very personal style, mark. So also I have noticed in recent trips more tourists there from other countries from Europe than in my previous trips during the eighties and nineties.
A few days ago I contacted Naha port authorities to ask a question, the personalized answer I received in consecutive mails ended in the last one as follow :
“Helping people is always my pleasure.
Please contact us anytime if you need help”.
It sounded good. No need to ask more questions due to the friendly IT systems and the most friendly help of japaneese friends I have.
Note:
Why the african boys of the picture ? Africa is also amid Lanzarote and Okinawa trip. I was in South Sudan August 2010, not so far, never will forget.
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