Japan. Ancient country under the sun of the future

It is known that contrasts are in each country, but in most cases it is primarily contrasts between wealth and poverty. And there is little in the light of states, where the mysterious past and the sparkling future merge in the present, scaring and admiring at the same time. Japan – just such a country.

When you first find yourself in Tokyo, it creates the impression that you got into the fantastic city, transferred from the future car time. – a huge megalopolis of glass and concrete, as if arising overnight. Everywhere you see intricate labyrinths of streets, giant skyscrapers, sparkling shop windows and windows, numerous land overpass, for which cars and high-speed trains are rushed.

Participants of our group, among which were the leaders of leading Russian travel firms. who had seen many cities of the world, said that sometimes it seems that there is no old in Tokyo and there can be no old. Especially unexpected for us to see the Imperial Palace. Actually, the palace itself is surrounded by a huge park, which is being revealed by simple mortals, and can be admired only a small part of this building built in the old Japanese style. But even this turned out to be quite enough so that we felt an unforgettable contrast: as if we saw a strange aliens from the past in the huge city of the future.

And this impression did not disappear even after we learned that the palace building is quite modern and built in 1968, since the old palace was destroyed by bombing during World War II.

Genuine antiquity in Tokyo almost never left. Buddhist and Shinto temples destroyed the earthquake and war many times, although most of them have always restored the hardworking Japanese. So we could admire, for example, restored for the last time in 1923 by the temple of Asakus Cannon. who has been more than a thousand years old – another island of antiquity in a huge metropolis.

However, Tokyo is remembered primarily not an old. Little in the world of cities, where the main impression you get from our time, which is a little crazy, but at the same time still beautiful and even fantastic. Impressions are becoming especially bright when the evening comes and the city turns into an endless sea of ​​sparkling neon lights.

After visiting Tokyo, it is difficult to imagine that Japan has a past at all. So when superexpress "Sinkansen". Running with a speed greater than this 200 km / h, left behind the huge Tokyo metropolis, it became for us that we got at all in another state – the country of the majestic rocks and picturesque valleys.

And most of all we were struck by the beauty and the greatness of Volcano Fujiima. When we saw this mountain of the right conical shape, it was surrounded by a ring of clouds, over which a huge snow-white vertex rushed, and it created an amazing illusion that the mountain boil over the earth.

In general, the Honea volcanic activity area is very beautiful, and I can not even believe that these gloomy valleys of geysers, the chains of the mountain lakes and the surrounding forests are located in Japan – an advanced industrial power. Here you begin to understand that this is the ancient land of the Samurai warriors, the pagan gods and Buddhism, who keeps their secrets.

And the heart of this sacred land is Kyoto – the ancient capital of Japan, the city of old temples and palaces. There are few skyscrapers, but there are labyrinths of old streets with small, pushing to each other with houses. Numerous ancient buildings, drowning in green gardens. famous for their beauty Buddhist and Shinto temples Kammez, Heyan, Cistendo, Mibudar.

This is not a small town, but unlike Tokyo, where the antiques are small, modern quarters in Kyoto are adjacent to the ancient buildings. When you wander through the streets of this ancient city, there is a feeling of mixing different eras, and the past and the present does not enter into a contradiction here, and amazingly harmonize with each other. How it is impossible to imagine Tokyo without his skyscrapers and wonders of technology. so impossible to imagine Kyoto without ancient temples and palaces. From the height of the temple of Kammez. standing on the slope of the mountain and surrounded by a park where sakura and maple grow, a magnificent panorama of the city opens. Below – the ancient palaces of the rulers of Japanisian. Mysterious garden of stones Reandi and the Golden Temple of Kinkakuji.

Harmony of times symbolizes annually celebrating in Kyoto Holiday Dzidai Matsouri. During this holiday, a procession of people dressed in costumes of various eras and depicting rulers, commander, poets, characters of myths and legends. This is a completely unusual colorful spectacle, and all. Who saw Him. converge in the opinion that it is impossible to forget it.

All this, probably, creates an amazing feeling of silence, which intensified an hour from the hour during our stay in Kyoto. It became special when we saw the famous Golden Temple-Pavilion Kinkakuji.

It was built back in 1394 as a country villa for the mighty sagus of the asicates rightly, and later became the Buddhist temple. This is the embodiment of the sophisticated Japanese aristocracy. An elegant three-storey house covered with gravestone gold, stands in a beautiful garden on the shore of the pond and reflects in his mirror stroit. There is an illusion of incredible lightness, even weightlessness, as if you see not a real house, and the beautiful ghost, which was from the depths of centuries, which is about to dissolve in the pure transparent air of the Japanese garden.

The story knows the cases when this temple, sneezing by many poets, his beauty brought people to madness, and some madmen tried to destroy him. In 1950, the Golden Temple was almost destroyed by fire, but then restored. In total, Kyoto has 1660 Buddhist and 273 Shinto temples.

The feeling of silence and dive into the past reaches its apogee in the mysterious garden of Zen’s stones 15 huge stones are located on a small sandy platform under the ancient Buddhist temple so that only 14 of them are always visible, but never all immediately. For more than 500 years, people are trying to solve the meaning of a strange drawing. Some argue that the stones personify the highest mountain peaks of the world, others talk about milestones of human history. Third argument that a certain formula of the universe is encrypted here, which mankind has not yet come to learn.

Japan’s solaric antiquity is also Nara, the oldest capital of this country, located not far from Kyoto. There are also many ancient temples and palaces here, and many more deer. Not at all afraid of people, hundreds of these animals are walking around the parks and streets of Nara, cheekingly defining treats from numerous tourists.

As for the monuments of the antiquity, the most interesting in this ancient city seemed to us a huge statue of Buddha in the temple of Todaji, who experienced a lot for his centuries-old history and once even had an awesome head.

In Japan, there is another no less famous statue of Buddha Buddha in Kamakura, a small picturesque town near Tokyo on the shore of the Pacific Ocean. Thousands of tourists are visited daily.

However, despite the large number of temples, it is impossible to say that the Japanese are especially religious. As guides told us, many Japanese consider themselves adherents of several religions at once, without seeing special contradictions. Externally, the Japanese society is very westernized. This is especially noticeable by youth, dressed in Euro-American fashion and almost stabbing hair in red and panic tone, which produces a somewhat strange impression. By the way, during the journey we happened to make sure that young Japanese for growth almost do not differ from Europeans. The acceleration process here is in full swing. It seems that the Japanese seek to overtake the whole world not only in science and technology.

However, the westernization in Japan largely has only external forms and for the most part does not affect the inner world of the Japanese. Japanese society still remains closed, typically Asian, and foreigners who lived in Japan for many years, admit that to penetrate the inhabitants of these islands for Europeans – the case is almost hopeless.

In the Japanese priority system, the work in the first place, the family is only on the second. Workolism converts here to a greater problem, and Japan is perhaps the only country in the world where doctors often put an official diagnosis "Overwork at work". The natural consequence of this is that on weekends, many Japanese do not mind hard to drink in a funny company.

Because of the chronic lack of land of the apartment, the Japanese has very small (and their cost can reach 500 thousand. Doll. and higher). Therefore, it is not customary to visit each other, and the Japanese meet, as a rule, in a cafe, restaurants. Many are sent for the weekend to the Recans – small hotels in traditional Japanese style that have nothing to do with European.

Here only the national dishes are served, the floors in the rooms are set by the straw mats-tatami, they sleep in the recoances at once several people in the same room, and not on the beds that the Japanese do not use practically, but on the cotton bed, the futon unfolded right on the floor.

It is customary to relax well here. Including with the help of the famous sake, as well as in Onene – a large bath, where water from hot geyser sources comes. By the way, they say that the Russian, coming to Japan, especially like swimming in the in winter in the winter in the open sky.

The opinion is widespread that Sake is a Japanese analogue of Russian vodka. In fact, it is heated rice wine fortress no more than 18 degrees, and it is different, depending on temperature.

However, this is the Japanese exotic, most of the hotels in Japan meet European standards. In general, the quality of service in this country does not cause any complaints. Here, in principle, it can not be to be inflated at least one yen. here it is impossible to face rudeness.

Being in Japan, you quickly understand. what to fear here especially nothing, in particular because there is practically no crime here. Walking along the Tokyo Stone Jungle You can though no night, even drinking pretty, because Japanese has a traditionally reverent attitude to drunk.

The path to Japan is not unclear, flight from Moscow to Tokyo takes 9-10 hours. Mr. Masaesa Fusida, who took us in Japan, many years dealing with Russian-Japanese contacts, said that the best time to visit Japan – Spring, in particular, April-May – Sakura flowering time. And autumn – the time of the bugger maples. But it should be prepared for a trip to Japan, because a visa takes a month. However, the Japanese are not picky in the issue of issuing visas for those. Who wants to get acquainted with their history and culture, and already a month after submitting documents, you can start to get acquainted with this amazing country, where the past and the future fantastically merged in the present.