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The East on the Exotic East
If the Japanese are at all aware of the Shangri-la image of the Himalayan countries, in all likelihood they got it from the West.
"We are also from the Orient, which the West sees as exotic. We don't have the same romantic idea of Nepal," said Takashi Miyahara, a Japanese who has lived in Nepal for 24 years. He first came to climb in 1962, then returned four years later to work as a consultant, and is presently chairman of a hotel in Kathmandu, the famous Everestview Hotel up in Khumbu, and a trekking agency.