If it tells you enough of me going to Japan twice, I really loved it there. I visited the top three recommended cities which happened to be Tokyo, Kyoto, and Nara. Let’s start with Tokyo…but good God, where to start! When we first arrived in Tokyo, we got lost for crying out loud. This is where we faced the issue of the language barrier since there were barely any signs written in English at the subway stations of Japan. Eventually we did manage to find our way to the Shibuya station where our apartment was at. When I stepped out of the station, I was thrown back by the number of people I saw on the Shibuya Crossing. I have never in my life seen so many people in one area. We also walked in on the perfect time where people had the opportunity to cross the crossing so this was the first exposure I got to Tokyo’s hectic streets. After passing the Hachikō dog statue, we would finally make our way to the apartment to get some rest for the night. The next following days, I would see a drastic contrast of technology and national parks located in the huge city. Tokyo seemed to always be running with energy no matter what time of day it was. Our schedule ranged from the going to the beautiful parks to admire the sakura ( which we happened to visit during their blooming season) and going to something that seemed to be a bad drug trip, the Robot Restaurant. Even with the food not being excellent there, the show was hilariously cheesy but absolutely nothing I have ever seen before. There were way too many lights flashing, glitter everywhere, lasers shooting out from robots fighting, and loud music blasting for the show.
Spoiler 1: I absolutely loved every minute in that bizarre part of Tokyo.
Oh yeah, I also stopped by the Tokyo Pokemon Center and that was cool I guess.
Spoiler 2: I bought a bunch of things from there and totally freaked out because come on. I grew up with Pokemon for crying out loud. Don’t tell anyone!
To go outside of Tokyo’s futuristic fantasies coming to life, Kyoto and Nara were more traditional to older Japanese culture. In Kyoto, it felt like we traveled back in time to imperial times of Japan. There were Japanese styled homes and markets through the Kyoto streets and even people were dressed in traditional wear. This wasn’t even for touristic attraction, they just dressed that way because that is their way of life. I visited a couple temples there and got to wrap up the day by going to a traditional tea ceremony and theatrical experience. Finally, in Nara, I got to walk around in a gorgeous kimono while having deer casually walk up to me. Deer? Yeah, deer. We visited the deer worshipping temple which is also known as the Todaiji temple, so they were everywhere there. I took a beautiful photoshoot with the nature in Nara at the high peak of the sakura blooming season. I know this was a real quick summary of Japan and you might want to learn more, but there was just simply too much for me to cover. I literally loved everything about this country, its history, its hospitality, its food, its people, its diversity, all of it!
PS: I never ate raw fish before I finally visited the Tokyo fish market early in the morning. That was where I fell in love with eating real sushi and could not get enough it during my time in Japan (and home)!
