For Japanese people, Sri Lanka is a country that often comes to mind through a collection of strangely vivid images before the country itself does.
The most obvious one is tea.
In Japan, the name “Ceylon tea” has been familiar for a very long time.
But if you ask someone what “Ceylon” actually means, not everyone immediately connects it with the former name of Sri Lanka.
In a strange way, many Japanese people have encountered the country’s old name more often in everyday life than its current one — simply through tea.
And then there is a name that has somehow lodged itself in the Japanese memory:
Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte.
Even people who know very little about Sri Lanka may be able to say this one name.
In school geography or children’s quizzes, it was sometimes introduced as something like “the world’s longest capital name.”
Whether it really deserves that title is another question. The important part was that it was extremely long.
If you could say “Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte” all the way through without stumbling, it felt a little impressive.
But ask, “Then what exactly is Colombo?” and things suddenly become less certain.
Colombo is the better-known city name in Japan, so even people who remember Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte may hesitate and wonder whether Colombo is, or used to be, the capital.
The long capital name sticks in the memory perfectly, while the actual relationship between the country’s major cities remains vague.
It is an interesting example of how Sri Lanka is remembered in Japan.
Sri Lanka’s location on a map is surprisingly easy to remember.
It is the teardrop-shaped island just south of India.
Someone may know almost nothing about its cities or regions and still be able to point to roughly the right place when asked, “Where is Sri Lanka?”
We know where it is. But ask what is actually inside it, and the answer becomes much harder.
There are, however, places that many people may recognize from photographs.
Sigiriya Rock is one of them.
A huge rock rises out of the landscape, with ancient ruins on top.
Some Japanese people may not know the name “Sigiriya,” but they have seen that enormous rock before.
It is interesting that the cities may be unfamiliar while one giant rock remains so memorable.
There is also a person who connected Sri Lanka with Japan in a very different way.
Wicky-san, as he was known in Japan — Anton Wicky Ampalavanar.
He became famous through the morning television program Zoom In!! Asa! and its “One-Point English Conversation” segment, where he would suddenly approach people on the street and speak to them in English.
For some generations in Japan, his face may be the first one that comes to mind when they hear “Sri Lankan.”
Some people encountered a Sri Lankan person on television long before they knew much about Sri Lanka itself.
Travel images create another side of the country.
One particularly memorable image is a train running through the tea-growing highlands.
Green hills.
Tea fields stretching across the slopes.
A train making its way through them.
People may not know the place names, but they may still think, “Sri Lanka — that’s the country with the train running through the mountains.”
And then there are elephants.
Even without knowing much about Sri Lankan wildlife, some Japanese people associate the country with elephants.
Tea fields, trains, lush tropical greenery and elephants.
Together, these images form a vague but recognizable picture of Sri Lanka in the Japanese imagination.
Tea is still the strongest food-related association, but some people know Sri Lanka through curry as well.
For people interested in curry and spices, “Sri Lankan curry” can be a familiar term.
It is quite different from typical Japanese curry, and in Japan it is often introduced as a style in which several curries and side dishes are mixed together as you eat.
It is not something every Japanese person knows, but for curry enthusiasts it can become another doorway into Sri Lanka.
People interested in beauty and wellness may see yet another Sri Lanka.
Ayurveda.
Oil treatments, wellness stays and traditional therapies have helped create an association between Sri Lanka and Ayurveda among some people in Japan.
For those interested in gemstones, sapphires may also come to mind.
Sri Lanka is well known as a source of precious stones, particularly sapphires.
So the doorway into Sri Lanka can be completely different depending on the person.
And yet, when the question becomes what languages people speak in everyday life, what they usually eat, or what ordinary towns and neighborhoods are really like, the picture suddenly becomes much less clear.
For Japanese people, Sri Lanka may be a country made up of surprisingly familiar fragments that have not yet fully connected into one complete picture.
