Japan 08

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In October of this year I will have the pleasure of fulfilling a long sought after dream of traveling to the land of Japan! Since I was a child Japan has always held a special place in my heart. It seemed a magical land of ninjas and samurai and really cool swords. Now Japan is still a magical place, with a history that stretches back seemingly forever. Not a day goes by where I don’t learn something new about its past or its wonderful people. A year ago I set out on a path that would take me to Japan on way or another. After a long hard road I have finally reached my goal and I will finally get to see Japan for myself!

Japan is almost always in a constant state of transition. From old to new, from rustic beauty to modern neon, Japan and its people have been quick to modernize while holding onto their beliefs and traditions with a dogged determination. Nowhere else in the world can one experience a culture that is so split between these to dichotomies and with good reason. Japans history is long and cherished one, stretching back thousands of years and surviving through the invasions, World Wars and modernization that have seen many other countries overrun, dismantled and forgotten to the past. Japan has always been Japan for better or worse and today it is one of the most ethnocentric cultures on the planet. Highly homogeneous and nationalistic the Japanese culture is one that is very different from our own in the US. Yet it seeks to imitate Western culture on the outside and a passing glance at Japan appears to be like any other highly modernized western society. However upon closer inspection you can see that the Japanese are, well...Japanese.

My trip will be a scant 8 day whirlwind tour taking me from the capital of Tokyo to the cultural heart of Japan in Kyoto. Along the way I will get to see some of the famous landmarks and monuments that until now were just distant images in a book or on TV. Now I will get to taste, smell and feel this ancient and diverse land for myself. I will get to see MT. Fuji with my own eyes, climb Tokyo Tower and walk through the famous and ancient palaces and shines in Kyoto.

For the next eight days I will be updating this site with photos and journal entries as I travel throughout Japan. It is my way of bringing you along with me and hopefully my journey will enlighten or inspire you, even if it just a little bit. The path to reach this destination has been a long one, one I thought I would never reach. Now that I have finally reached my goal I can look back and see that every drop of sweat and every tear was worth it!