Japan
Where can I see your posts on Japan?
Click the see articles button on the right sidebar, or scroll to the bottom of the page for mobile.
When did you travel to Japan?
The posts on this blog are from the month that Fletch and I spent in the country in June, 2018. I have also been to Japan on three other occasions, one of which I spent as an exchange student in high school.
Which areas of Japan did you visit?
We traveled to Tokyo, Sendai, Sapporo, Hakone, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Himeji.
Why did you go to Japan?
The short answer: to show Fletch the places that I was always talking about. The longer answer goes all the way back to my freshman year of high school. I needed a class to fill first period and the only freshman-level class available was Japanese 1, so I figured, why not? The teacher was a Japanese native, and instilled in all of his students a love for the culture. At the end of each academic year he would bring his best and brightest on a trip to Japan. And so at the end of my sophomore year I visited the country for the first time and was enamored. I never quite got enough out of the trip, and so decided to study abroad there the summer after my junior year. I lived with a host family for the summer and went to an all-girls catholic school. Obviously that experience made an impact, and I talked about it frequently. So years later, Fletch said, “let’s visit Japan!” I finally got to show him all the places that I had been talking about, and to visit some new places that had still been on my bucket list.
How did you get to your final destination from the US?
We flew United Airlines from Denver (DEN) to Tokyo (NRT) (12h). Done.
To get around Japan, we utilized the trains which connect nearly every corner of the country.
Japan offers the Japan Rail Pass to tourists in increments of 7 days, 14 days, or 21 days, at prices that locals can only dream of. These rail passes will give you unlimited access to MOST of Japan’s railway system for the amount of time that you choose, so if you plan on traveling between cities more than a couple times, this is definitely the way to go. (A round trip ticket from Tokyo to Kyoto costs more than the 7-day pass). These must be purchased outside the country in advance, and can be purchased online here. You will receive a voucher in the mail, which you will exchange for your Rail Pass when you arrive in Japan, at a JR ticket office.
What advice do you have for someone visiting Japan?
A lot actually! Check out my blog post, 26 DAYS IN JAPAN – A COMPLETE ITINERARY. Not only do I share the itinerary we used to see the 8 cities listed above, but I go over transportation, apps to help you get around, accommodation, and most importantly, what to eat (spoiler alert, eat everything).
Basic Information:
→ Capital: Tokyo
→ Population: 126,317,000
→ Area: 145,936 square miles (377,973 square kilometers)
→ Currency: Japanese yen
→ Time Zone: UTC +9 (Japan Standard Time)
→ Official Languages: None
→ Religions: Folk Shinto / None (51.8%), Buddhism (34.9%), Shinto sects (4%), Christianity (2.3%), No answer (7%)
