While many westerns would be enjoying a traditional Christmas of turkey dinners, snowmen, Santa and Christmas carols, many JETs decide to forgo these pleasures and head instead for the heat of Thailand. Thoughts of escaping a Japan of rapidly declining temperatures and minimal indoor heating have appealed to many, ever since the onset of winter. Vying for the top Xmas exodus location are back home (wherever that may be) and Thailand.

Ignoring originality, the wishes of your parents, and foreign office terrorist warnings, we board the planes for Bangkok.

Carrying light rucksacks but loaded down with advice, warnings and friendly tips we prepare ourselves for upside down, double reverse culture shock. Needless to say, on arrival in Bangkok we aren’t greeted by a welcoming committee of lady boys, drugged out hippies and corrupt gun-toting policemen but the usual clinical airport atmosphere.

Spouting unintelligible Japanese, to baffled and amused Thais, we explore Bangkok, often before heading south to Thailand’s legendary beaches and Muslim villages.

Being that this is the first trip for many outside the bubble existence of Japan, it affords us the initially subconscious opportunity to make comparisons between these two great Asian countries. Japanese preconceptions that we had encountered before our trip are as varied as those of our friends and family back home. However, almost all the Japanese you had spoken to had praised the Thais for there ’sunny disposition.’ From the outset of our trip, this generalization appears to be accurate. Whether in Bangkok, or a small village, you are always greeted with a smile and rarely gawked at. You probable won’t feel as if you’re an object of curiosity, or prejudged regarding our knowledge of Thai culture and cuisine. This experience brings home just how homogeneous Japanese society truly is.

In Thailand, the tourist boom has resulted in much of Thailand becoming exposed to foreign cultures. Much of Japan still has yet to experience this. However, both languages contain a term for ‘a westerner’ that is extensively used; farang in Thai and, of course, gaijin in Japanese.

Leaving Thailand with your liver and bank account requiring life support, you might be surprised just how much the trip had altered your view of Japan. Arrive home happy to be once again in Japan and looking forward to the challenges that await you.

Adapted from the original article written by Paul Cross that first appeared in the Tombo Times, February 2004.