Farewell Japan

I thought I'd reflect back on my time in Japan, mainly to remind myself for later on in life. It's a beautiful country with kind and patient people. They are always willing to help if you're lost and ensure you get to the correct location. You also hardly ever see the Japanese rushing. They take their time to cross roads, making everything seem so much calmer. 

However, I could never live in Japan. I'd always recommend it as somewhere to visit but the food is a big barrier that I can't get over. The sushi is great, and not too expensive, but I couldn't live off that alone. Ramen is nice but it's all the same. And quite salty and oily. The barbecued dishes I tried were delicious but you can get them anywhere in the world. Most of the food doesn't have a massive amount of flavour, comparing to other Asian cuisines like Indian for example. Maybe the Japanese prefer their food like that. I know I don't. 

I haven't mentioned the toilet situation since I've been in Japan. Everyone knows how the Japanese have these famous toilets that do lots of fancy things. They do but it's quite disconcerting pressing buttons and not knowing what might spray out at you from any angle. The heated seats are a genius idea though. Although, I'm pretty sure they must use quite a bit of electricity. 

Outside of Tokyo, most of the cities are surrounded by lush green hills which make each skyline look that bit more lovely. Don't get me wrong, Tokyo was quite amazing, but when we left the city and entered into the Fuji region the two area were massively contrasted. 

My favourite place was Kyoto. I knew before I went that I'd love it. It's a smaller city than others but still has so many things to see. It's somewhere I would consider visiting again. 

The rail pass that we purchased was a good buy. The initial price sounds a lot (just under £250) but we definitely used it well. If you want to travel across Japan, the fastest way is by train and it's always worth a ride on the Shinkansen to feel the speed. 

Two weeks was a perfect length of time for us. I'd say anybody could do it in that time and thinking about it, with flights and a rail pass, as well as spending money, it could cost around £1500. That's for everything. We obviously didn't see all of Japan, not even touching the north, but what we did see, on the most part, was a different world, one with many different views from the ones we're used to.