The look on most people’s faces when we tell them that we spent ten weeks, not days, travelling through Japan is priceless. It’s part disbelief, part surprise, part curiosity. We get asked a lot if it cost us a fortune, if it was hard to navigate for that long, and finally… just why?! It’s a long time to be spending in one country for a ‘holiday’, I get that, but it really was my dream destination. I’ve wanted to visit Japan ever since I missed out of a school trip when I was twelve; it only took close to twenty years but when we finally arrived in the Land of the Rising Sun, my heart was bursting with excitement and apprehension. Would it live up to the lofty expectations I have held for it over the years? Friends, it did. We can both, hand on heart, without a single ounce of hesitation, say that Japan was our favourite of all the countries we visited during our stint away.
It’s so hard to succinctly explain the lure of Japan; it is a country of contrasts and contradictions. It is fabled for being overbearingly ordered and controlled, yet you will find pockets of disarray which challenge the norm. It is high tech and cutting edge, but painfully traditionally in so many aspects. The cities are big, bold and bright, while the countryside is overwhelmingly green and peaceful. In ten weeks we were able to explore the country at a slower pace than most, taking in all the beauty and quirks of this country, but even then, there’s still so much more we want to experience and are already plotting a return visit… hopefully I don’t have to wait so long next time. Here are a couple of lessons (trivial and otherwise) I learnt from those ten weeks in this incredible country…
