Japanese with anime voice: episode92
Hello, I’m Sachi.
July 9 is ジェットコースター (Jet Coaster) Day. I thought that ジェットコースター (Jet Coaster) was an English word, but it is actually roller coaster in English. If that’s the case, where did the katakana word “ジェット (jet)” come from? Katakana English really confuses English.
There is an amusement park in Tokyo called Korakuen Amusement Park, where Japan’s first full-scale roller coaster was installed on this day in 1955. They established the anniversary day in honor of it.
This amusement park was called Korakuen when I was in high school. Nowadays, it seems to have been repeatedly renovated, and has become a large complex with other facilities. It has a Tokyo Dome, a shopping center, an event space, and a bathing facility called Sparacoor, which is now called Tokyo Dome City Attractions. Wow, that’s Tokyo. I’m not uninterested, but if you think about it, it’s just a place to play, shop, and take a bath, not something you can only do there. When you think about it, it’s no different from a nearby shopping mall.
Recently, I’ve been thinking that I’m not really interested in tourist attractions. I have been feeling this way for some time. There was one time when I felt it most strongly. When I was living in Tokyo, my mom came to Japan alone for some reason. I don’t remember what it was. Maybe it was when I was graduating from college, or maybe it was when she came to help me with my failure. You may wonder what I mean by helping my failure, but let’s leave it at that. At that time, I decided to take her sightseeing somewhere. I took her to Kaminarimon (Kaminari Gate), but my mom’s reaction was not so good. When I asked her why she didn’t enjoy the tour, she replied that there were too many people. I thought that was true. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy it, it was simply that she wasn’t interested in tourist attractions at all. And I wasn’t really interested either.
I went to Asakusa on a school excursion when I was in junior high school, and it was much more exciting. Even then, there were many people. The reason I was excited was because I was going on a school excursion when I was a student. It was a different everyday life. And it didn’t have to be in Tokyo. I am sure. I also thought about it when I saw my mom’s reaction. I thought to myself, “What’s the point of visiting the Kaminarimon? There are temples all over Japan. No matter where you go, what you do is the same. You just visit them. Sensoji Temple just happens to be famous, but the scenery is much the same everywhere. There are a lot of stalls, but anyway, there are too many people to look around slowly. It’s hard to get to the stalls, and it’s hard to get out of them. I guess that’s when I started to realize. What is a tourist spot? What is there to do? I thought.
And even when I travel abroad, I have no interest in famous tourist spots. Also, I have no interest in sports that can be reserved in travel plans. Just going abroad is an extraordinary experience, and it’s fun enough just to wander around. The buildings are totally different. Also, it’s a hassle to go from one place to another, tied down by time. Well, in short, I want to enjoy the extraordinary, but everything is a hassle, isn’t it?
It was fun to go to Bali with my childhood friend. My friend was a backpacker and had friends there. Every day we would walk around the area doing nothing, relaxing on the beach with a beer, or going to the supermarket to buy dinner. It was fun to blend in with the locals like that.
At one time, there were people who liked to travel, and they took me to various places in Japan. But even when I went there, I ended up going to local malls and souvenir shops, and did a lot of shopping. I found some stylish candles at a souvenir shop and bought them, but if you think about it, you can buy such things anywhere without going there. Besides, in this day and age, there is online shopping. I was taken from place to place, but I was really just being led along. It was the same feeling I had when I went to the Kaminarimon, and I was not really impressed by the tourist attractions.
Even now, I still go on trips, but it is always with my partner, and that makes it fun. Last year, we went to the longest bench in Japan in Ishikawa Prefecture. It was a sightseeing plan he came up with. When we arrived there, he said to me, “Well, it’s just this, isn’t it?” He has the same sense as I do. But it would be fun to visit a local museum or archive. Last year, we visited a museum called “Karakuri Ningyokan,” which was interesting to learn about Japanese technology.
Right now, if I were to go abroad, I would like to go to the U.S., Argentina, and Mexico, but I want to go there because I have friends there. I want to go to see my friends. And I don’t need them to take me to special places. I just want to spend time with my friends in their daily lives. Maybe go to a restaurant they frequent, take a walk around their house, or share an everyday meal with them. I think that would make the trip more meaningful. Anyway, even within Japan, the climate of each place is completely different, so I think it is better to feel and find the goodness of the place itself rather than just the famous places.
