What's of Japan is in fact Chinese

On Wednesday we had a team hui. I caught up quickly with the coolest colleague W. who is going to Japan for the first time during the holiday season - the very time I would like to visit Japan for once.
I was so excited for her and at the same time super jealous.
I asked her what time of the year did they purchase the tickets, 
because the price I look at now is around $4600 to fly from NZ.
She shared that they got the tickets really early,
back when the border shut on them which led them to change the tickets with AirNZ.

This colleague of mine was someone who I found agreeable the first time we sat next to each other in our 1st ever big team hui.
I liked her straightaway.
She’s just got 2nd grade for her blackbelt as well.
Next year once she passes, she’ll be able to get her name sown on the black belt. 
It would be a huge honour.

It was very endearing when she said to me,
“We don’t practise the Japanese Karate,  it’s the Chinese one.”
Our sensei is able to trace his lineage all the way back to Shaolin Temple.
I leaned towards her and pushed her shoulder with mine with a smile.

Then again, what isn’t from China 
We laughed and said to each other. Not everything, 
But almost everything that are so famously recognized as Japanese 
ALL actually came from China  -
they were all things had long been crafted wide-spread and consumed by Chinese first:

Tea ceremony, Matcha,  Kombucha, 
Umeshu, Sake, Amazake,
Zen garden, Zen Buddhism, 
Etiquettes, Kimono aka gofuku
Natto, Ramen, Udon,
Dango, Daifuku, Mochi, 
Pottery, Kanji, Karate...

But the change of dynasties and political turmoils took away all of these beautiful heritage,
and took people away from maintaining these timeless traditions.
China kept changing in drastic ways.
But it is Japan that preserves all that was the best from Tang Dynasty,
the most prosperous and stable dynasty in Chinese history.

So remember that whenever I so passionately rave about everything in Japan,
I’m also in fact raving about ancient China.
The China I know has been gradually revived with peace & prosperity that we have been endowed with in the last few decades.
The Beautiful and Profound China I am so damn proud of.

I cannot wait for China’s border to open, 
to show the world
the mindblowing amazingness of my motherland .

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