Fantasy World Japan, Real World Thailand

Have you ever wondered why most people – especially men – want to visit Japan? Perhaps you already know why Thailand is such a popular destination for men traveling alone, those of a certain age to be more precise. It has something to do with perceptions, as far as Japan is concerned, and a lot to do with poverty, reality and the need to earn a living, as far as Thailand is concerned.

Perceptions of Japan are completely different to the reality. Many people seem to imagine, because of the various festivals held there, that Japan is a free and easy society where anyone can find exactly the woman they want and, without a single thought, she’s going to jump between the sheets and do all those things only oriental women are capable of. It is a fantasy, nothing more than that. The reality in Thailand is that many women, especially in the major cities, are working to stay alive, to keep their families half-way healthy and clothed, and there is little else that they can do but sell themselves, the most marketable product available to them.

The truth of Thailand is clearly seen in the many images available of holiday destinations in the cities, of night clubs and bars, of women parading themselves in bikinis and sexy outfits. This, for the visitor and for the women involved, is the real world where they have to make a living, and where the male tourist coming to Thailand exclusively for sex, is a willing payer. Of course there is considerably more to Thailand than just the sex industry, than prostitutes and under-aged girls sent out to bring a morsel or two onto the family table, but the real world of the cities tends to overshadow the pleasures of the real holiday resorts.

Photo Source: webry

Japan, though, is more a world we have created within our own minds, of beautiful women who display themselves discreetly, of schoolgirls with short skirts and a land where the up-skirt photograph has made a home forever. The reality is completely different, mainly because of the many cultural differences. Japan is still a closed society, fascinating to view, but almost impossible to become a part of.

Photo Source: livedoor

Did you know, for example, that it is illegal to possess or use a camera or smart phone which doesn’t make a clear noise when taking a photograph? Or that there are signs in subway stations and elsewhere warning against the taking of up-skirt photographs?

Photo Source: naver

And the idea that all these women are free and easy? I have no idea where that came from, it certainly isn’t the same as in Thailand. Oh, there are places you can go, nightclubs and similar, but the culture is so different that it is impossible to match what some people believe, what these few clubs display and allow, with everyday life in Japan. Many in Japan prefer their own kind, and the mixing with foreigners is sill something which is not seen as being fully acceptable. Well, that is much the same as in any other country around the world; you get together with someone from a different country and people are going to look, ask questions, make comments. Part and parcel of our society, where different is fine, but not always something which should be allowed to mix in with every day life.

Photo Source: prcm

Japan is also, surprisingly enough, a very discreet society which still follows rules we find almost impossible to understand. Politeness is of the highest priority, not just in the business world but also in leisure activities, in shops and stores, throughout social interaction. People have their place within society and act accordingly.

And all the highly sexual images we get to see here in the West?

Photo Source: 22pq

Of course there is a growing industry for such images, such photography and for sex. There probably isn’t a single country in the world that doesn’t have some form of sexual imagery to excite those who wish it, no matter how strict or conservative that country may appear to be. And we, with our different ways, tend to lap it up and build all those fantasies around what we see, fantasies which, when you come right down to it, are similar to the fantasies created in Hollywood. What you see on the screen is not representative of real life, it is merely an image, nothing more than that. A Hollywood star, as we have all come to see through many, many exposés in various gutter-press papers and online ‘news’ sites, looks completely different in all the press photographs than when caught without make-up on the streets doing their daily shopping.

Photo Source: livedoor

Perhaps it is also this discretion, the covering up of certain things, which makes Japan, for erotic dreams, such an enthralling, enticing destination. The rule, for example, that a woman’s vagina cannot be shown in a photograph, it must be covered or painted out. Discretion in a strange form or, at least, strange to us.

All the same, the images and fantasies which we have are wonderful. There is no doubt that the Asian appearance, their beauty in many cases, excites the imagination more than many other forms of beauty. But perhaps we ought to leave it at that, and not imagine that traveling to Japan, we’re going to be able to jump between the sheets with the first (second, third) beautiful woman dressed in a school uniform that we meet.

• Viktoria Michaelis.

Tags: Erotica, Fantasy, Flirt, Japan, Life, News & Opinion, Thailand, Women