Japan was the first oriental country we visited. They didn't know what to expect.
We could see the people's extreme kindness, education and incredible honesty, but also their closure to "foreigners" and their very little propensity for English.
The architecture of the places of worship, Shinto and Buddhist temples, is fully harmonized with the landscape, adapted to it as a whole. The big cities are all modern, without a historic center as we conceive it in Europe.