Street-Strolling is High on the List in Japan, Boyé Lafayette De Mente
Street-strolling, an ancient tradition in Japan still enjoyed by millions of people, provides an in-depth view of the Japanese lifestyle, from their clothing, entertainment, and food to the arts and crafts of their culture.
Tokyo, (PRWEB) April 20, 2005 -- Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kula Lumpur, Singapore,
Seoul and a number of cities in China have areas that attract strollers, and
many Western cities from New Orleans and Paris to Casa Blanca are equally well
known for their strolling districts.
But few cities anywhere in the world
compare with Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, and hundreds of other cities throughout
Japan in the number and variety of districts and streets that are meccas for
strollers.
Strolling in the streets in the evenings and on weekends and
holidays has been a common practice in Japan for at least a thousand years, but
it was to become an institutionalized—and virtually ritualized—practice during
the Tokugawa Shogunate, which began in 1603.
During the last two centuries of this period the Japanese strolled not only
the streets of the cities, they strolled the highways of the country, going on
walks that lasted from weeks to months.
The
rationale of some of these long walks was to visit shrines and temples around
the country. Others did it just for the experience.
Among Japan’s most
famous walkers was the great haiku poet Basho, and the fictionalized Yajiro and
Kitahachi, two residents of Yedo, the Shogunate capital, who did it to get away
from carping wives and have fun on the road.
Other people who were
constantly on the road during the Tokugawa era were ronin (masterless samurai),
gamblers, sumo wrestlers, and fief lords with retinues of servants and warriors.
When Lord Maeda went to Yedo (Tokyo) every other year to take his turn at the
Shogun’s court he traveled with approximately 1,000 retainers.
In the
late 1800s the paving of the main street in Tokyo’s Ginza district and the
erection of gas lights along the street resulted in it becoming the top
strolling area in the country. Gin-bura (Geen-buu-rah), or “Strolling the
Ginza,” became virtually mandatory for every resident and visitor in the city—a
custom that continues today.
But the Ginza has actually been surpassed
as the most popular strolling area in the city and in the country—not by just a
few places but by thousands. In Tokyo alone there are several hundred districts
that regularly attract huge numbers of strollers.
Among these hundreds,
the largest and most popular include Asakusa, Akasaka, Akihabara, Aoyama,
Harajuku, Hibiya, Ikebukuro, Kabukicho, Odaiba, Omotesando, Roppongi, Shibuya,
Shinjuku, Ueno, and Yurakucho.
Every town and
city in Japan has its large and small shopping and entertainment districts that
regularly attract hundreds to hundreds of thousands of strollers.
Large
cities like Yokohama (with its China Town), Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Nagasaki,
Hiroshima and Kagoshima, not to mention Sendai, Aomori and Sapporo, have from
dozens to hundreds of districts that attract strollers.
Strolling
districts in Osaka rival those in Tokyo, with Shinsaibashi and Tenjinbashi,
being two of the largest and most famous—and in the eyes of many, both are far
more colorful and fascinating than their rivals in Tokyo.
Visitors to
Japan should put strolling high on their list of things to do—right below
sampling the amazing variety of gourmet quality national cuisines available in
the major cities.
Boyé Lafayette De Mente is the author of more than 30
pioneer and provocative books on Japan, ranging from Japanese Etiquette &
Ethics in Business and Japanese Secrets of Graceful Living to Mistress-Keeping
in Japan. See his personal website phoenixbookspublishers.com.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/4/prweb230525.htm