Japan - beautifully raw
Always wanted to visit Japan, but not sure why.
(Probably something to do with a childhood craving to travel on a really fast train.)

Whatever the reason, here we are. Right from the moment the plane landed in the airport at Osaka it was clear Japan was aesthetically perfect, an almost surreal experience where everyone smiles, everyone is calm and all is well. No graffiti, nothing is rundown, everything is ultra-modern, my kind of place.

After some sushi and beer and a good nights sleep in a traditional Japanese hotel we visited the many sights of Kyoto.

Kyoto contains dozens of Unesco listed sights. We visited 3; the golden temple, a rock garden and a Buddhist shrine. Each of these areas were perfectly presented;

The golden temple shimmered in the bright sunshine, surrounded by picture perfect maples changing colour for the autumn, above a lake with a statuesque grey heron fishing for koi carp.

The rock garden, set out 500 years ago was magical. Apparently the longer you look the more you see, which all sounded a bit like fractals and mathematics to me, but no, this is Japanese philosophy. Perhaps this is why people are very quiet around us, they think if they stare long enough they will understand which zoo the unkempt apes have escaped from.

Final temple of the day contained many wooden structures, all above ground, with manicured rock gardens, ponds, statues and paper thin screens. Had to remove our boots, which was a pleasant experience for us, perhaps not such a pleasant experience for the attendant...

Tried Sushi again. Now I'm going to sound like an ignoramus, but why is it the Japanese don't cook their foods when the rest of the world do? Perhaps this accounts for their calm nature? Perhaps it also accounts for the fact that most of them are less than 5 foot tall, it stunts their growth! Susie claims it is good for you. Well, so it might be, but frankly I would rather die young than live a long life eating barely dead fish. They try hard to mask the taste with a concoction of red hot mustard and horse-radish paste, I'm sure this is why they use wooden chops sticks, this paste would probably remove plate from metal objects. Tried Sushi again in Tokyo, similar experience. Definitely an acquired taste that I've neither the time nor inclination to develop!

Caught the train from Kyoto to Tokyo aboard the Shinkansen Nosomi Super Express. In less than 2 hours 20 minutes we've traveled hundreds of kms in perfect luxury. Centre of one city to the centre of another. Caught a brief glimpse of mount Fuji as the train flew past, the mountain just appears from nowhere, as to be expected it is perfectly formed with a neat crust of snow. I wouldn't be surprised if they have snowmakers and people ensuring it stays this way using the cover of darkness, they are that obsessed with regularly.

Tokyo is less built up than we expected, again for such a vast place there is a real aura of calm. Traveled the city looking at gadgets, toys, played pachinko and shamefully dined in TGI Fridays. Guess we were prepared for the hustle and bustle, so are not bothered by it.

Overall Japan is a fantastic country to visit, the people are friendly and very polite, everything works, everything looks neat and tidy, my kind of place... (if only their food wasn't raw).

- posted by Adrian @ 2:09:00 AM