My bucket list – Japan.

We all have our bucket lists or something that we really, really want to do. For me, it was always Japan. For years and years and years I have wanted to visit this exciting place due to a lot of things and I’m going to admit that it does have a lot to do with the things I enjoyed growing up: Anime, Manga and Videogames. I’ve always been the creative type. I have spent most of my time in the past (before work came up) drawing and took any type of art class I possibly could during my high school years: Fine Arts, Visual Arts, Media Arts… you name it. Anime and Manga have played a huge part in my interest in developing my drawing skills (yes, the painting on the right is by yours truly) because I just really, really liked the style and found it cool. Not just the drawing style but the whole attitude, passion, honor… heck, even the fashion we often see in these things are great. I’m not like crazy about it and don’t like all or any type of Manga or Anime but prefer a particular style, but anyway that’s not what this post is about.

So what took so long? How come I ended up waiting so many years before finally doing it? Well, I’m sure a lot of you will understand when I say that sometimes life just happens and we end up putting things that we really want to do on hold. For me, it was my education followed by career, which ended up taking me pretty much anywhere except Japan. So I made it my priority to make it happen this year and after not as much planning as I thought it would be, arrived in Okayama and made my way across pretty much the whole country and back.

My first impression of Japan:

I must admit that my very first impression wasn’t great. After coming from efficient Shanghai Airport I arrived at the small airport of Okayama, where upon entering the building I was directed by uniformed employees wearing hygiene face masks to their colleagues at the security counter, who also all were wearing these masks. People in Shanghai wore these on the streets as well however indoors usually these were removed so I must admit that it did make me feel a bit strange and handled with caution. The security officer was friendly enough and took us through a couple of questions with the help of a board in which the questions were listed in several languages and asked us to proceed. Finger prints and photos were taken during the security check and we were on our way. Once outside security it was different. In fact, the people of Japan are probably the most helpful people I have ever come across and although they don’t speak much English, they do understand (they learn it in school and use a lot of English words in their language) and will certainly do their best to help you in any way they can.

People in Japan:

I can give a perfect example of our experience, namely when we first arrived at Tokyo Station (we were travelling with the Japan Rail Pass) and somehow had to make our way to our hotel. Now, although this was already day 9 of our Asia trip and already well familiar with some of Japan and Shanghai we had come from the quiet and smaller towns of the east to one of the busiest cities in the world. People everywhere. Signs and directions everywhere. It could be considered overwhelming to some, luckily I’m pretty used to this kind of thing and we were able to find our way to the station nearest our hotel. Once we got there however, it was a completely different ball game… Japan is different from China in a digital point of view in which Wi-Fi access is almost always locked (the map app on my phone is always the thing that saves my day when I do end up getting stuck somewhere) so we have to go back to the good old fashioned way of either using a map, asking for advice or finding a hot spot to connect to and even then there are at least 5 exits that will all take you to different parts. I decided to ask one of the JR employees we have been dealing with on a daily basis since we got there (they have to check our JR pass each time we exit a station). He had a look at our map and the address of the hotel then directed us perfectly by telling us to take the west exit, head straight down the street for 3 streets and then turn right. Perfect, I can do that. So we thanked him and made our way to the west exit, where I found myself in front of a roundabout which had several streets to head down. Great, story of my life. Suddenly the same guy we had received the directions from appeared from the station to direct us down the correct street. Amazing. Seriously, he went out of his way to find us and make sure we were heading the right way, probably because he realized that there was a confusing roundabout right outside the station. Later, once we had ditched our stuff in the room and decided to head back and check Tokyo out we passed him again to show our JR pass and thanked him, to which he replied: “It’s my job.” I could provide another story or two with other examples from this trip but will leave it at that or have you end up reading a whole book here.

Another great thing I really came to appreciate is the unbelievable cleanliness of this country. Seriously, no issue booking a budget hotel here (I was on a tight budget due to the length of this trip) as most public washrooms will be cleaner in Japan than anywhere else in the world. It’s strange to talk about the WC but seriously guys, the seats are heated – probably one of the things I’ll miss most (haha). Streets are clean, no signs of cars parked in the street as these will be parked in either underground parking places or the infamous automated parking system (APS) of Japan.

Getting around Japan by Rail on the JRP

Using the Japan Rail Pass and getting around the country by rail is really easy. All signs in the train stations or both in English and Japanese so in most cases you will be able to find your way around without having to ask anyone for anything. The most important things to know are that when purchasing a japan rail pass you will receive an exchange form, which is valid for 3 months from the time of purchase and must be exchanged at a JR office, located at most stations. Thee JR pass cannot be purchased in the country, it therefore must be purchased before your arrival to Japan. You can chose from which day you would like the pass to begin from while exchanging this, which is a great thing to know if this will affect your trip or say you arrive very late and are not planning to travel until the next day. You must keep your rail pass with you when travelling by train, as this will be checked very regularly and is required each time you reserve a seat or are getting a ticket and when exiting the station. A really useful thing that I learned during this trip is that the larger cities like Tokyo and Osaka have a JR loop line, which means that you are able to use your pass to get around these cities instead of the bus or subway and therefore do not have to worry about wasting this when staying in one of these cities for a couple of days.

Dining in Japan:

Ordering food is fairly simple in Japan, even without the availability of an English menu! They are very visual and their menus therefore will almost always have pictures of a selection of dishes so you can go ahead and point to what you would like, followed by the number you would like followed by please. What I therefore would do is say sumimasen, then point to the item I wanted and say ichi, onegaishimasu then point to the next item and say ni onegaishimasu and so forth (see below for useful phrases)… it might be a bit over the top but it worked and they seemed ok with it as well. You’ll notice that often restaurants will have plastic version of their dishes on display so even when an English or visual menu is not available you’ll be able to order by pointing to your desired dish and requesting this, which is what we ended up having to do when ordering our ekiben (Japanese train station bento/lunch boxes) on the go or this one time in a Chinese restaurant during our visit to Mount Koya.

Tokyo Tip: Try and eat before 11 pm.

Tokyo may be the city that never sleeps, but finding a restaurant late at night can prove difficult in some locations in Tokyo as most restaurants close at 11 and last orders are taken at 10:30. Obviously there are districts that cater to late night entertainment and dining however sometimes you may find yourself hungry in a less convenient location. You will find something like a Mo Burger place, which is open until 2 am in an emergency situation but this is just in case you want to make the most of your visit and really dine out as often as possible.

So there you have it. My first impression of Japan. This country can offer everything from tradition and history to a high tech futuristic experience and is definitely something I can highly recommend to anyone, regardless whether you prefer an adventurous, historic, relaxed or a little crazy experience. There is definitely something for everyone here.

Experts claim that major concerns have been raised about plausible long-term vision impairment in men who used ED drugs recreationally had an increased risk of developing erection issues at an earlier phase of their life. levitra 60 mg valsonindia.com Erectile dysfunction isn’t just a problem for older men as it simply can be chewed and also easily buying tadalafil tablets soluble with water.Kamagra Oral Jelly: One of the most opted product, Kamagra Oral Jelly helps in providing not only pleasure but also comes in tasty flavours. Also, before you plan to have best viagra in uk sexual joy. It has not been considered with unique pharmaceuticals for weakness, so use in blend with differing arrangements is not proposed. discount price on viagra

Useful Phrases:

My Japanese isn’t the best but I am lucky enough to have leaned a lot of useful (and a lot less useful) phrases which definitely came in handy during my visit, the most important ones as follows:

Excuse me: Sumimasen [Su-mi-masen]

XX please: XX Onegaishimasu [On-e-gai-shi-mas] (formal) or XX Kudasai [Kuda-sai] (familiar). These can be used when asking for an item or service. The Japanese language has adapted a lot of English words (ie. coffee = kohi, platform =  purattofomu) so feel free to go ahead and give it a shot, chances are they will be able to understand what you are looking for and even if not at least you tried (all part of the fun, after all).

Good morning: Ohayo (gozaimasu) [O-hay-o gozai-mas]

Hello (during day): Konnichiwa [Kon-ni-chi-wa]

Good evening: Konbanwa [Kon-ban-wa]

Good night: Oyasuminasai [O-ya-sumi-na-sai]

Thank you: Arigato [Ari-gato]

Bon Appetit: Itadakimasu [I-ta-da-ki-mas]

1: ichi, 2: ni, 3: san, 4: yon, 5: go, 6: roku, 7: nana, 8: hachi, 9: ku, 10: juu

Inspired? [jbutton color=”pink” link=”http://www.thoryatravel.com/bespoke-travel-enquiry-form/” newpage=”yes”]get in touch now[/jbutton] to arrange your free consultation and first step towards your personal travel experience!