“Thoughts While Walking in Thailand” Part 0 | Into a Journey Mixed with “Questions”
🧭 Part 0 | Into a Journey Mixed with “Questions”
The word “travel” has an exciting ring to it.
Beautiful scenery, delicious food, people coming and going in the streets, and extraordinary experiences.
However, as I have grown older, my travels have gradually become mixed with “questions.”
“Why do these cultures and customs exist?”
This series is about “the questions I personally held and my own answers to them,” which are rarely found in tourist guidebooks.
🇯🇵 “Being Japanese” is not neutral
Walking through Thailand, I often hear the phrase “pro-Japanese country.”
Japanese cars and Japanese restaurants are everywhere in the city, and there are many young people who love anime and manga.
However, is it enough to just conclude that “Japan is liked”?
The relationship between Japan and Thailand during the war, the background of economic expansion, the behavior of Japanese companies—
I feel that if you travel without knowing the context that isn't touched upon in history textbooks, there are things you will not see.
“Being Japanese” can sometimes be a “source of security,” and at other times, it can be a “liability.”
We often say, “Let’s learn about the culture of that country,” but
culture does not just “pop” into existence from the events right in front of us.
Behind it lies a complex “structure” of history, religion, politics, systems, wealth and poverty, and foreign relations.
When I feel that “Thai people are kind,”
if I dig down to the question of “why is kindness rooted in this society,”
I see a completely different landscape.
🧍♂️ An overwhelming minority when traveling
In a foreign country, Japanese people are a “minority” and, at the same time, become something like “representatives of Japan.”
This might be a bit of a heavy way to put it, but
the behavior of just one person can lead to the impression that “this is what Japanese people are like.”
That is precisely why, for example—
Not getting frustrated when Japanese is not understood
Not dismissing local common sense as “strange”
Not unconsciously imposing the norms of one's own country
…such small attitudes can greatly change the quality of a trip.
✍️ What I want to write about in this series
In this series, I would like to use the “sense of discomfort” and “surprise” I felt while traveling in Thailand as a starting point to slowly unravel the “structure” behind them.
For example—
Why is it so difficult to walk even though the roads are well-maintained?
Why is gender diversity accepted so naturally there?
Why are the scents and spatial design so sophisticated?
Why is beer available so cheaply?
Why is “hospitality” practiced so naturally?
Behind these questions, there is always a “system” at work.
Perhaps a journey is not about going to an unknown land, but rather
about rediscovering the “contours of oneself.”
#TravelAndStructure #ThailandTrip #CrossCulturalUnderstanding #SocialStructure #JourneyOfAwareness #ThoughtsAbroad #MinorityPerspective #FacingHistory #TravelingAsAJapanese #CultureShock #TravelEssay #ThaiSociety #CulturalDifferences #Hospitality #GlobalMindset #LocalReality #RediscoveringDailyLife #JourneyToKnowMyself #JourneyStartingWithQuestions #ObserverOfStructures