Jack in Japan
I recently went on holiday to Japan for two weeks with a few friends, and it’s safe to say an amazing time was had by all. In all honesty, I’d never thought about going to Japan. It wasn’t a country that stood out to me as a must-visit, but it did to my friends, and when they invited me along I thought why the heck not?
As you know, two weeks isn’t a great deal of time to see any country that has so much to offer, but it’s definitely enough time to see the main points of attraction. So, we split our time between Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka, before heading back to Tokyo to fly home.
We arrived in Tokyo early on a Sunday morning, jet-lagged beyond belief, but we powered on and headed out to Akihabara, the city’s renowned electric town. It gets its nickname from the array of vibrant, energetic lights that dominate the many buildings, bringing the town to life at night. Whilst here we also went to a maid cafe, another unique Japanese activity, which was a mixture of coffee, weird hats, and pop music, all served by somewhat scantily-dressed ‘maids’, hence the name. It was bizarre but funny nonetheless.
From Tokyo we went to Kyoto, where we spent two full days. We woke early on the first day, and boy what a day it was, easily the best of the trip. We started at Arishayama Bamboo Forest which is just incredible. Again, you need to see it to believe it, but I hope the photo I’ve posted on here justifies it a little. We then went to the golden temple, a shrine of which the name has escaped me but is known for its red stick-like structure, before finishing up at a pug cafe.
Yep, you read that right. A pug cafe. Whilst a foreign concept to us, animal cafes are a norm in Japan - cat cafes, dog cafes, and even owl cafes. But as someone who loves dogs, there was only one choice, and it was the best hour of my life (no, seriously). An hour of chilling and playing with dogs - what dreams are made of, right?
And then on our second day in Kyoto we went on a day trip to Hiroshima, the city which fell victim to the worlds first atomic bomb. It was a very humbling and surreal experience, similar to the 9/11 memorial in New York. What stood out to me was the country’s positive reaction to such an unbearably negative situation in the aftermath that followed; its attempt to discourage the use of such weapons and achieve peace worldwide. Inspirational.
Our last (proper) stop was Osaka. Osaka is fantastic for food and nightlife, but other than that we found that there isn’t a great deal to do, or at least not that was of interest to us, so the five days we spent there was a bit too much. We did, however, try some delicious foods and have some good nights out, so we can’t complain!
All in all, Japan is an amazing country. I’ve never been somewhere so clean, so punctual, and so safe. What a place to be.