Seven things I loved (the most) doing in Japan

Alright, fellow travellers and curious souls, buckle up cause I'm about to spill the matcha on our trip to Japan in April'2023! Lovely country, lovely people, great food (if you can eat whatever walks, runs, flies, swims or crawls – vegetarians prepare well). 

Here are the top highlights that I will remember for life…

1. Public Transport:  Super efficient and timely. Tokyo has 3.7m people. I come from Mumbai which as 2.5m and it is BIG. And Tokyo is 50% bigger and YET there were no traffic snarls or jam. At least wherever we went during the five days we were in Tokyo. This was so so impressive. And of course the Bullet trains that are never late! 300kmph which now is not that unique as China and Europe have them too but Japan was the first. And in-case I forget to mention, they are working on a track that aims to achieve 500kmph. So while they do that and some of you may travel to space, us Aucklanders will be lucky to get a train to the Airport.

2. Obsessive Cleanliness (Am a misfit): Cleanliness is like a national sport in Japan, and they're winning gold medals. And guys we live in New Zealand which is quite clean but busy streets in Japan were cleaner than my mom’s kitchen (Mom won’t like reading this). One could perhaps perform a surgical procedure inside a train without a hitch. If my house (and my wardrobe) was half as clean, I'd throw a parade.

Arigato Gozaimas

3. Politeness Overloaded: I wish we (all of humanity starting with the often rude me) were as humble as the Japanese. Konnichiwa (Hello), Sumimasen (excuse me), Arigato Gozaimas (Thank you very much) is all over the place. In fact Arigato Gozaimas is used so often and so everywhere, we named a super cute soft toy we bought in Japan after that. Lots of bows and smiles and soft spoken-ness. Sweet polite lovely people.

4. Luckily to see Mt Fuji… of course. You see, you can only see Mt. Fuji for say 70-80 days a year. And so if you are in Tokyo for only five days, you pray that you will be lucky enough to get a view. And what a view it was. Reminded me of Majestic Icecream… used to be a brand of cheap ice-creams I grew up on… no I mean the conical shape of the mountain is majestic and that reminded me of ice-cream. Errr bad analogy. Anyways, a couple of hours from Tokyo, it’s worth the view alone. But on my next trip I want to hike it.

Super lucky to see Mt. Fuji

Random encounter at an Izakaya

5. Izakayas: Where Itamae meets Maharaj: Izakayas are small eateries with 5-10 seats in a small room. Across the bar, the chef (Itamae) serves selective delicacies (actually chakana if you are from Mumbai/India) like a maharaj will serve you in rich Indian households. Drinks are the main fare though. Here I found random people willing to indulge with me speaking broken English. We spoke about work life, food, travel tips etc. I tried sakes (of course), shochu, umeshu and honestly few more things that I can’t remember. Great place to find reasonably priced food, drinks and priceless conversations.

Wrestlers lucky to get a pic with me 

6. Sumo practice – only Japan experience. We went when there were no Sumo championships but after some reading we found Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo where we could watch wrestlers practice in the morning from outside a glass window. Later, depending on how the mood of the wrestler is, they may oblige you with pictures. This sport is quite fascinating. While super hierarchical, unlike many combat sports, sumo has no weight classes. And I was amazed to know that during competitions, a typical sumo wrestler could be consuming more than 10000 calories a day.

But the winner is….Japanese Toilets…Imagine this: you're in the middle of answering nature's call, and suddenly, there's music. No, you're not hallucinating – Japan's toilets play tunes to keep things discreet and classy. And hold up, the bidet action? With warm water. Warm seats. It's like a spa day for your nether regions. My toilet visits and time spent both increased in Japan. Was so impressed and inspired that we went ahead and installed one in our Auckland home.

We chose Japan as we wanted to experience a new culture and we were handsomely rewarded. We went in spring which was awesome. Though we had not planned, we missed the cherry blossoms by a week. No regrets. Its overrated to my mind and overcrowded during that week. 

I don't say that for most countries I have been to, but I will visit Japan again. In a different season. It seems Japan is lovely in all seasons…