Journey to Japan

When I wrote my last blog entry I would have never imagined that some months down the track I would go and visit Japan myself. Life flies by so fast and sometimes we cannot tell in advance where it will take us.
Sadly, there were no cherry blossoms left when I came to Japan, not even Fuji-san showed his so often pictured famous white crown. Instead, I was struck by heat, humidity and occasional rain ... and the kindness of Japanese people helping me to find my way around.

I spontaneously followed an invitation of a friend to visit her in Tokyo and prolonged my stay in Asia by ten days. I know, ten days is far too short to say anything about a country or even a city as big and varied as Tokyo. It is just enough to take a glimpse at the culture and people, look at some places and think to oneself: "I definitely want to come back." That phrase was going through my head nearly every hour or so when i discovered another new face of Tokyo. The feeling not to have enough time to get the best of it kept following me around and after returning to my home-country it hardened to the deep belief that this first trip to Japan was just a test journey that will be followed by many more.

Thinking of Japan, so many things popped up in my head: The old traditional culture with Kimonos, Geishas and Samurais; Cherry blossoms floating through the air in front of Fuji-san; Fukushima and the fear that still creeps around in Europe because of it; People weeping over the perfect bowl of Ramen; Office workers going to nomikai with their collegues and celebrating social life; Manga characters and cosplayers dressed like they came right out of a Manga; The beauty of the perfect cup of tea that can make one forget all the sorrows and hardship in life... There are so many images related  with Japan, I have to admit I didn't know what to expect after all.
Japan is immensly divers and going to Tokyo alone showed me that even in an array of small areas one can find so many different faces and cultures of Japan that it is impressive and way beyond anything I ever was able to imagine about this city. Although I was a little bit scared by the Japanese language, I managed to get along well by myself, even ordering food and minor necessities turned out to be possible with my few Japanese phrases and the help of some nice Japanese people.

As a follow up to this entry I will upload some pictures from my trip and try to reminiscate on my travels there, my favorite spots, etc. This might take some time as I took too many pictures and even just looking through them adds up to some hours. But I am sure I can pick out some nice ones to share and maybe inspire you to book your next flight to this amazing country. I am sure, no matter what your interests in life are, you can find them there.