So... What Did You Think?

Overall, our Japan adventure was great. We had fantastic weather for the entire two weeks, got to see a fair bit of the country, albeit the tourist areas (but then they are tourist areas for a reason – there is stuff to see there!) and left most places with a feeling that we could have filled a bit more time there, so never got bored anywhere.

Despite travelling around quite a bit, the efficiency of the transport system, the honesty of the taxi drivers, and the good organisation of Audley Travel meant we were never stressed out. Train journeys were really easy and comfortable, the ability to forward our luggage enabled us to enjoy journeys rather than struggle through them, and to stop off en route on occasion too.

Japan wasn’t the culture shock that some things we had read led us to believe it would be, but then we are fairly well travelled, so used to different language, culture, alphabets, food etc. We also both know, and love, London, which meant even the busy parts of Tokyo never felt too busy. But despite some level of familiarity, there were enough differences in the places, the history, the people and the culture to make things really interesting, and we felt we were discovering new things each day. We saw enough to feel we managed to get an idea about Japan in our two weeks there, but not enough for us to think we had it completely sussed – there is plenty more to discover on future trips!

Being vegetarian causes us some problems in many countries that we visit, but Japan was probably the most challenging. They don’t seem to understand the concept, so even if they understand when you tell them you don’t eat meat or fish, they still struggle to come up with options. Except of course in the hotels where they knew in advance we were vegetarian and obviously are used to coping with weirdos like us. Given the variety of food in Japan, and the exotic nature of their food (to us, at any rate), it was a shame that we often had to resort to pizza or pasta to get by. But that is our issue not theirs, and to be honest, when we did get traditional Japanese food that was vegetarian, such as in the ryokans, it wasn’t always all that nice! Maybe over time more places will offer more vegetarian food.

The Japanese people were very friendly and very respectful. It was nice. The country was very efficient and very clean. It was nice. We liked it there. It’s easy to forget that Japan is not very nice towards animals – whales and dolphins being a typical example, though there were no stray dogs or cats wandering the streets (which could indicate that they are responsible pet owners, or could indicate they soon ‘dispose’ of strays – I don’t know which!) and even the pet shops that had dogs and cats for sale (though the dog breeds were so small that it was difficult to tell which were puppies and which were kittens!) seemed to be very clean and the pets healthy. Overall Japan was a lovely place to visit and to spend a bit of time there. I don’t think I could live there though. At least, not until they find a way of making tofu taste interesting.