We say sayonara to our new favourite country of the trip, sorry Argentina. Both of us were worried that Japan would not meet our lofty expectations, but it may have even surpassed them. Nothing will beat the cultural juxtaposition of leaving the chaotic cacophony of Hanoi, and arriving to the pin-drop silence of Osaka. Each place we went, we imagined being able to come back to it multiple times over, to continue to explore each spot even more, and to experience across the seasons, something we do dearly miss of home. There’s many reasons everyone raves about Japan, and we would second all of them, and recommend everyone try out Japan at least once if their lives allow. Huge thanks to Karl and Lewis for really sorting us out with itineraries and recommendations that took a huge weight of our plates, and introduced us to some incredible places we would never have ventured near to otherwise.
We sincerely hope that the tourists giving westerners a bad name get some kind of conscience, and at the least their behaviours are demonitized, because right now we’re treading on a fine line of being welcommed or resented. This is a country where foreign tourism isn’t necessary for the country’s or people’s survival, where foreign tourism hasn’t overtaken the local culture with its own, that makes it even more special to be able to experience it, that ‘authenticity’ without guilt, with the power balance still firmly with the host country. Thank you Japan for all you do to welcome us bumbling foreigners and the hard work to retain your culture and customs despite them.
Ha-jimmy-mashtey.
Rule of Three
Highlights (Alex): Nintendo-world. Ghibli Park. Being out in seasonal nature so much, can easily imagine going back to the same spots multiple times to see the changing seasons.
Highlights (James): Nintendo-world living the dream, exploring Kyoto, Ryokan experience
Lowlights (Alex): the excessive use of plastic, everything in the supermarket at least 3 layers of the stuff, handed a plastic wrapped disposable towelette with every meal, chopsticks wrapped in plastic, and no recycling of the stuff anywhere. Our first few days WWOOFing were unsettling, chaotic, mentally, physically and emotionally exhausting. Losing the expensive travel pass before even using it.
Lowlights (James): The return of the schnuffleupagus. The chaos and lack of organisation at our WWOOFing stay.
Takeaways (Alex): On the one hand, being in Japan makes being mindful and considerate of others look easy, and I wish we had more of this in the Western world. On the other hand, not being able to eat or drink whilst walking around because you might spill on someone is an example of how too far gone this is. I think in the long-term, I’d find the lack of common sense oppressive, but sadly a lot of the Western population seems to lack basic common sense, and I’m not sure which I’d rather. Watching the precision, patience and intention of every movement of the tea ceremony and arts performances made me really appreciate just how much western ‘life’ encourages us to speed through life, moving and acting with speed and haste, not taking the care in our words, actions of attention. When we first sat down for the tea, I felt internally uncomfortable with how slow she was doing things. But as I took a breath, I became to appreciate not just the time she took for every movement, but the time taken leading up to that moment to share those perfect movements with us. I hope I can take more time to act with patience, intention, and care, and give myself the time to appreciate the beauty around us rather than rush through it. Other takeaways, I really like being able to manage my own time and tasks, and trusted to do so, I really don’t miss being a child. In Japanese culture you say ‘Itadakimasu’ before every meal, a bit like saying grace, it’s a word of appreciation for the nature and work behind every meal, without the religious connotations I hope to take this back with me to take a moment, stop, and be mindful and grateful for everything that has made having that meal in front of me possible.
Takeaways (James): Having wanted to visit Japan for such a long time it still lived up to high expectations. Its funny how people think it’s weird or unusual how polite and considerate ths Japanese are. How many times have you heard how ‘amazing’ it is that a Japanese sports team cleans their locker room after use or their fans clean up their section of the stadium… shouldn’t that be the norm rather than the exception? Wwoofing may not quite have been what we had expected but we still met some brilliant people and made the most of an odd situation. At this stage of the travel it’s getting harder to deal with setbacks but we’re still managing to push through.
Description (Alex): Ordered, naturally beautiful, bonkers
Description (James): fascinating culture, great for introverts, unique in all sorts of ways
Entertainment
TV & Film: Memoirs of a Geisha, Kiki’s Delivery Service?, Castle in the Sky, Clarkson’s Farm, Shogun, Mr&Mrs Smith, The Little Mermaid, No Country for Old Men, Akira (half), Captain Fantastic (highly recommend)
Books: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, The Wastelands (Dark Tower series book 3)
Podcasts: [the usual], Something Was Wrong
Where We Stayed
Osaka Airbnb: 4.5⭐️
The Knot (Hiroshima): 5 ⭐️
Base Hotel (Nara): 3 ⭐️
Ina House Gion (Kyoto): 4.5 ⭐️
Hotel Wing International Hotel (Nagoya): 2.5 ⭐️
Ryoso Tsukuyura (Hirayu): 4 ⭐️
Fukashiso (Matsumoto): 5 ⭐️
Tokyo Airbnb: 4.5 ⭐️
Bibaushi WWOOF: 2 ⭐️ futon-bed, bean-bag pillow, bright morning light, too hot/cold and no Wi-Fi made this an uncomfortable stay, but somewhat better than being trapped in the main house
Cutting Room Floor
- Little nudges everywhere to remind people to be decent
- The train guard popping out of the ticket machine
- No rubbish anywhere, but also no bins, where does all the rubbish go
- Toilet paper is the worst, everywhere
- Toilets everywhere, for free! No paying a random amount and being handed a single square of toilet paper
- Really well designed except for cyclists, seem an afterthought that cycle at you on pavements, too polite to use their bells
- The woman being chased by deer and her tossing her handbag as she ran off.
- A man letting off a big fart whilst walking and james and I laughing that it’s apparently taboo to blow your nose in public
- Awkward endless bowing from the Kyoto host as James needed to go downstairs to pay. How dare she.
- Weird coin system in hotel in Hiroshima that meant they got lower than they should Google Reviews, just because of their weird system to make a few more extra yen out of people
- Having a kitchen in Nara Hotel that had no cutlery or crockery. We had to wash out our pot noodle bowl to use for cereal
- The random man on his bike who stopped to make conversation, recommended us some temples, and yaksahashi food. Random.
- The caged bus stop on the motorway before leaving Kyoto. I almost booked to get the bus from here, glad I didn’t!
- People bowing to buses
- The hilarious endless bobbing up and down of bowing as people say goodbye and bid to be the last to bow
- The lack of benches
- The lack of bins
Photos
Some more Nintendo Snaps
Koyasan
Kyoto
Nagoya
Hirayu, Kamikochi, Matsumoto
Tokyo
Hokkaido
View from Hokkaido
Beautiful Flowers of Ritz
The Many Photos of Niji
Drain Covers
On the way around we noticed that the drain covers had some really nice designs on them that varied for each city. So here are some travels by drain cover…
Fun Translations
1 Comment
Oh my goodness! So much to take in from your visit to Japan! It is indeed a country of contrasts – their gentleness and love of all things quiet, their respect for others and their controlled living, perhaps was one of the reasons why the West was so shocked at the level of violence shown in the camps during WWII. However, I am so pleased that they have regained the respect from so many for all the positive things they bring to the world today. They are so brilliant at design: I wonder if they use this and their gardening as a form of free expression from that controlled living?
It was an extraordinary coincidence Alex that the Double Delight rose you pictured and mentioned for me, is precisely the same rose we have in the garden which was chosen by your Dad for me many years ago as it has the colours of the Peruvian flag and it smells amazing!
So happy that you have fulfilled your dream of going to Japan and visiting Ghibli studios.
If you get a cat when you are back, you may want to find one just like the cute one Goyo San had in her house! 😉
Wonderful blog.