Japan and Korea

A friend and I had been discussing what was at the top of our travel lists and we had both discovered that our number one choice for our next destination was Japan! The following question was “Is this just a coincidence and something to dream about or could we make it happen?” "It isn’t the cheapest destination", was one argument not to go and "We’ll need to take a large amount of time off work" was another, but there are always ways of making it happen and it didn’t seem like anything was going to get in the way of making this trip take place.

When the opportunity to include a short stop off in Seoul arose, we just had to include that too!

This was in a time before 'Gangnam Style' had taken the world by storm but Seoul had appealed in a similar way to Japan, it is a somewhat undiscovered country from a leisure traveller’s perspective, but the business travellers among us are probably aware of some of what it has to offer already.

We arrived to Seoul knowing there is a language barrier to some degree, but with everything being so modern and running smoothly we were soon at our hotel. We explored our local area and discovered that shopping and entertainment are major attractions, and that Seoul is a pleasant mix of the modern world with skyscrapers and convenient underground systems, with a hint of the ancient world with palaces and temples. We enjoyed visits to a palace, the Seoul Tower and the World Cup stadium amongst other things, but we were particularly impressed with a day visit to the DMZ and a tentative few steps into the even more unknown world of North Korea. We had seen a lot and learnt a lot from our all too brief visit to Seoul, but Japan was next and our tour wasn’t going to wait for us.

We arrived in Tokyo and were immediately impressed with how polite everyone is, bearing in mind this is one of the biggest and busiest cities in the world. Nearly everyone will try to help you if you look like you need to find your way. Again, the blend between the futuristic and the ancient is something to behold, with streets of neon and the biggest names in electronics dominating the tucked away shrines and temples. Some highlights of Tokyo were the famous Shibuya crossing, busy Shinjuku and a visit to the Senso-Ji temple in Asakusa, whilst still adjusting to a world where vending machines selling just about anything and everything is normal. We were being surprised by every experience, including a 5am visit to the Tsukiji Fish Market and a glimpse into another world full of Elvis and Edwardiana in Harajuku.

The next part of the trip was up to Takayama in the mountains. It was summertime, so the weather was refreshingly cooler than the city and less busy, with some peaceful walks and the opportunity to try the highly regarded Hida beef. Part of the journey to Takayama had been on the bullet train, and this exciting mode of transport would be taking us onwards to Himeji to see the spectacular Japanese castle followed by Kyoto.

Kyoto was the biggest surprise to me, having had little expectation of it before arriving and then to discover what an incredible place it is. Initially you disembark at a futuristic train station that is a riot of enormous escalators amongst a huge, almost hangar like atrium. You then venture out into what first appears to be a very non-descript city. Everything appears to be ordinary here until you scratch beneath the surface to find first of all the ring of shrines, and temples that are more interesting and more individual than any you have come across before. One temple has Torii gates as far as you can see, another has an atmospheric bamboo forest, another a golden temple. I could go on, but there are many to discover of your own. Secondly, Kyoto’s secretive world of Geisha and Maiko(apprentices) are a particular curiosity, and wandering around the Gion district of an evening you may just get a glimpse of one.

Kyoto was quickly followed by the incredibly moving cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which both need no introduction for what they are known for, but both are incredible in their recovery and the feeling of hope and looking forward rather than backward that you have when you leave.

The ‘floating’ Torii gate at Miyajima was another highlight and a practice climb of the double peaked Yufu mixed with some enjoyable onsen hopping set us up for the big event of climbing Mt Fuji. The season for climbing the volcano is the summer and even then, the weather can change very rapidly. The majority of people will instead visit Hakone to try to get a view of the picture-perfect cone. A short stop back in Tokyo and a visit to the World Cup final stadium in Yokohama, one last bullet train back to the airport and our whirlwind adventure was coming to an end.

Japan really is unlike anywhere else. We had enjoyed the trip from beginning to end and seen what for us is completely out of the ordinary. Now to find a way of making it happen again – one day!

If you would like to find out more about a trip to Japan and/or Korea, don't hesitate to contact me for further details.