Japan

Japan is an amazing country. It is very clean and organized non like many other places I have been here. I do feel lucky that I was able to experience Japan before leaving Asia. I am also glad I saved it til the end. It has given me a much better impression of Asia as a continent. People are patient here, they stop at cross walks, and don't spit or put cigarettes on the ground. After living in Korea for over a year, I appreciate all these things.

I feel lucky with the timing if my trip, if I had been a few weeks later, things may not have gone so smoothly. The tsunami and earthquakes have caused a lot of damage this week, and as I am glad I am back to Korea safe.

The airport efficiency had me impressed from the start, so I could tell it was going to be a good vacation. Everything seems to run so smoothly in Japan. There was no waiting for luggage, customs, immigration, or trains. The airport is also high tech with finger print scanning, and identification. We started our adventures in Osaka. We only spent one night in Osaka, in a part called Mikuni. Mikuni is a nice quiet part of the city. It has a very small village feel with street markets, bikes, cafes, and restaurants. It almost reminded me of the valley; everyone knows everyone in this part of town. There were not many foreigners around, but we did run into a guy named Patrick. He is definitely a known foreign local, and he was able to give us lots of help and advice. We didn't have much time in Osaka, but we got a chance to walk around and enjoy a couple pubs, and restaurants here. We stayed at the Caminoro guesthouse here, and I have to give it an excellent review. Clean, spacious, great location, and the owners are very friendly. They also have an adorable baby girl. I would recommend this place to anyone in who is in that area.

The next day we got up early to take a bus to Hiroshima. This was the part of the trip I had been looking forward to the most, and it did not disappoint. Hiroshima is a beautiful city with many rivers running through the main part of town. The Peace Memorial Park, and A Bomb Dome are very well persevered and maintained. I found the A bomb museum extremely interesting, and eerie. Some of the artifacts such as the watch which stopped at 8:15am when the bomb hit, and paintings done by the survivors in the museum were very disturbing. It gave me a much better picture of the threat of nuclear weapons. This also made me a little uneasy, seeing as I currently live in a country that is in constant disagreement with North Korea, who have an undetermined amount of nuclear weapons. The museum is very tastefully done, and highly educational. One thought that ran through my mind a number of times while reading and looking at different things, was I am happy to not be American. I would have felt very guilty being there as an American.

Following the museum and park we tried some of the local food. Okonomiyako which is "pizza," they make it using lettuce, pork, egg, and a tortilla. Since pizza is my favorite food, I will not call it pizza, but it wasn't bad. The guy even let us help make it. We also had momiji, which is a small leaf shaped cookie. Inside it is filled with custard, red bean, green tea, chocolate or some other fillings. I had the custard one which wasn't too bad either. In the evening we had a try of shochu, which is traditional Japanese liquor. They drink it mixed with water or ice. It is not delicious but much better than something like vodka or rum.

The next day we went to Miyajima island. It is not far from Hiroshima, and it is very easy to get to by train and ferry. At first we were not so sure if we would waste a day going, but once we got there we were happy we did. The island is small and most famous for the Torri Gate (aka the floating gate). That was the main attraction we went to see, but once we got there we enjoyed the nature and small island vibe much better. It is a very touristy location, but the locals, houses and history is very preserved. We rented bikes and did a bit of an island tour. The weather was beautiful, and we got to see the gate during high tide. The island also has hundreds of wild, but very tame deer. They will come right up to you and take food, or paper right from your hand. Here I got to try eel and oysters which are the famous food of choice. Eel was not for me, but the oysters were much better than I thought they would be.

That night we took an overnight bus to Tokyo. We wanted to fit in all of Japans highlights while there, so we flew to Osaka and home from Tokyo. Japan is not a very large country land mass wise, but it is very long. 14 hours from Hiroshima to Tokyo by bus, but it wasn't as bad as it sounds. They make many stops, and once you get comfortable enough to sleep it is ok. We arrived in Tokyo early in the morning, and decided to cover a lot of ground in one day. We did Tokyo Tower, Government Buildings, Sony Building, Hachico Station, and the Shibuya intersection. I got to have some delicious sushi, and hit up a couple of clubs in Tokyo which was really fun. We were in Tokyo during the weekend, which if you are looking for night life I recommend. For being the largest city in the world, it was very easy to get around, clean, organized, and nice. It is massive, and when you are looking from the observation deck 50 floors up you can see that, but they all do an amazing job in making it work. Even the subway during rush hour is organized, and people wait in lines. While we were there, the Tokyo marathon was taking place. If I had of known I would of loved to run in it. To run in a marathon with 35,000 people from all over the world would of been an amazing experience, the course is also fairly flat. Next year I will have to keep it in mind.

Our last day in Japan we took a day trip to Mt Fuji. It is very pretty, and the weather was beautiful. It was a clear day so we were able to see the peak. It is still snow covered at the peak, and climbing season does not start until summer so we didn't get to hike it. We also went to an onsen while there. This is a natural outdoor hot spring. There are indoor baths as well which are similar to the Korean bath houses, but the outdoor hot spring is so relaxing. You can sit outside in a warm rock bath, with Mt Fuji in the background and fresh air. After getting over the fact you are naked with many strangers it is very relaxing. The Japanese are much more modest than Koreans, so walking with a towel in front of you is ok. After spending a few hours soaking in tubs and cleaning I felt like a million dollars.

Japan is a beautiful country. I would highly recommend it to anyone. It is some what expensive to travel throughout the country, but it's worth it. I would not have skipped any of the locations we covered, or omitted any sights or activities. If I had to choose one city to visit I would say Hiroshima was my favorite. I loved Japan and could defiantly see myself living there.