In my next life I want to be a Japanese tourist!
No kidding. Japanese tourists really have it down. I’m jealous.
Think about it: they’re everywhere. You could be in the middle of arctic Canada watching the Northern Lights or wandering the Beriloche region of Argentina, and, inevitably you will encounter a Japanese tour group. Usually led by a man in a suit carrying a little flag or an umbrella with cat ears on it, something so that he doesn’t get lost in the crowd. I don’t know if it’s a cultural thing, that the Japanese are culturally obligated to explore this world, or if it’s down to sheer population (there’s only so much room in Japan, so 30% of them must be on vacation at any given time? Yes, I’m kidding. Sort of), but they just seem to appear in more places all the time than any other culture.
It could also be that they’re easier to notice, too, as they tend to travel in large groups. This is a great idea. There’s nothing more fun then hanging out with a whole bunch of your friends in a cool corner of the planet, the memories you’ll share can last a lifetime. The only downside to large groups is that the logistics of arranging them are a royal pain, as, in my experience, as soon as you find a date that works for 80% of the group the other 20% will not be able to go/find it too hot at that time of the year/be called for jury duty, and then the group that was alright with the date in the first place won’t want to go without them, so you scrap the plans and start again. After three or four attempts at this, most groups just say screw it, divide into smaller two to six people groups and each get the vacation they want. The Japanese just seem to manage the group dynamic so much better. If there’s a secret, please share it with me, because I’m dying to know.
There’s another reason why I tend to notice Japanese tour groups, too: their fashion sense. It’s insane. In the best possible way. They just don’t play by the same fashion rules that us boring westerners do, and it rocks. I was walking downtown Vancouver the other day and was passed by a tour group entirely made up of Japanese students in their late teens/early twenties, and I had to stop and marvel. It was hot and sunny, and there was a girl in a floor length lace dress (housecoat?) with cowboy boots and a giant flowered hat, while her friend was in rainbow striped leggings and a floral blouse, and the guy behind them was wearing gangster baggy jeans, high-tops and a frilly tuxedo shirt. If I tried to wear any of that crap someone would ask me if I got dressed by grabbing random things from the bargain bin at Value Village and then probably ask me if I needed a lift to the halfway house, but on these uninhibited kids the looks worked. I’m gobsmacked. And totally envious. Because they looked so purely, truly happy.
And then there’s the photo thing. At any given moment there will be 400 Japanese tour groups around the world posing for photos. Every ten minutes they must stop and take a giggling, squealing “look where we are now!” photo. While flashing the “peace sign”. Anything can be the subject of the photo, as pretty much everything this world has to offer is cool enough to be commemorated in your digital camera. I work in a mall that, for all intents and purposes, looks exactly like every other mall on earth, and six months ago we had a tour group walk through the mall and they posed for group photos in front of our boring travel agency office window, the mall directory, the water fountain… and they had the same enthusiasm for that as they would if they were in front of Buckingham Palace or the Arc de Triumph. Photo finishing companies in Tokyo must be rolling in the cash! Now that’s how to make a buck, let me tell you.
I’m inspired. I want to travel the world while having a joyous, “I don’t care what anyone thinks” attitude and taking ten million photos. So if you’ll excuse me, I need to charge my digital camera, round up some friends, don my duck hat and see the world.
Peace sign.