Japan and Brazil through the traveler's Eye.

JAPAN AND BRAZIL THROUGH A TRAVELER’S EYE

Introduction: Travel writing is about writing ones experience of travelling and visiting alien places. The writer, George Mikes, writes about his travelling experiences of Japan and Brazil in his work ‘The Rising of the Yen’ and ‘How To Tango’.

Japanese Manner: The writer is impressed by exquisitely well – mannered people of Japan. Though they live in a small over crowded Island, they respect others’ privacy. They don’t over hear the others conversation. So courtesy has a double function as it is courtesy and it is substitute for privacy. They conduct their confidential business transactions, intimate love quarrels in public in perfect privacy. A man’s telephone – receiver is his castle.


Bowing: Japanese bow to each other with a ceremonious and dignified way, yet with a great deal of natural grace. Bowing is a mania. Bowing is quainter, formal and oriental and infectious too. Japanese have a complicated hierarchy in bowing: who bows to whom, how deeply and for how long. The most complicated is if two Japanese bow, neither has to straighten up before the other stands erect in front of him. In some cases there are clear-cut differences in position. For e.g.: The basic rules inside the family like wife bows to her husband, the child bows to his father and so on. Even, when the mother carrier the babies in a little saddles, bows from the majestic height when mother bows.
Japanese stores employ bowing girls whose only duty is to bow to each and everyone.
The writer pen down the incidents of Nara, where he met a deer, which bowed ceremoniously but jumped at him and snatched the little bag of food. He compares then to Japanese, despite of their courteous bow they act like savage when they see the bus.

Eating soup: Has more dangers than anything else. One must make a fearful noise while eating soup as it is the sign of appreciation. If one makes a disgusting noise then its considered as ill-mannered lout.


Traffic Brazil: Brazilians are leisurely characters. They spend their time in decorating pavements with mosaic. If they get a steering wheel in their hands no speed is fast enough. Though the motor cars are extremely expensive in Brazil, motor vehicles are growing by leaps and bounds. Thus the life of pedestrians is hazardous.
The drivers are on the lookout for pedestrian, as they notice a pedestrian step off the pavement they take it as a game; aim at him and accelerates. He jumps, leas and runs for dear life. The war between the driver and pedestrian are compared to hunter and prey. They smile at each other with a notion “I win today you will win tomorrow”. Though the war between drivers are murderous but good tempered. They commit all heinous crime of the road, with no hostility or anger.
The worst place of Brazil is Avenida Presidents vargas. One cannot cross the road and need to contemplate for hours, without a ray of hope of an auspicious crossing. He exemplifiers it, as one man suddenly catches the sight of a friend on the other side and starts waving with a mystified look: “How on earth did you get over there?’ where the other yells, ‘How? I was born on this side?”

Audio link  :https://youtube.com/@momtokidsbymom544