Day: March 1, 2020

I’m still trying to grapple with Japan and put everything into words. Not really for y’all – to be honest, who wants to read about someone else’s vacation? It’s the dreaded Slideshow, after all. No, this is for me. The better I can write everything down, the better I can remember it and keep it forever. But there’s so much, I’m having a hard time.

This is something I wrote for another place. After I finished, I thought it might also be appreciated here, as sort of a glimpse as to what I’m dealing with:

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You asked me how Japan was. I will attempt to answer: Japan was…everything I wanted it to be and more. It’s impossible to fully describe my trip, so let me instead describe one moment for y’all and let it stand for all:

So I bought a JR Rail Pass, which for two weeks grants me unlimited rides on essentially the entire Japanese rail network, from the mighty shinkansen bullet train all the way down to little municipal trains that roam around rural provinces. I could go wherever I wanted, when I wanted, which I used to the fullest extent, exploring the whole length of the country between Hakata port and Tokyo. 

By Wednesday, I’ve been in the country nearly a week, and I’m on the shinkansen. It’s an intimidating thing, when I first tried it – the shinkansen station in every city is massive, with tens of thousands of people hurrying everywhere, a hundred different shops packed in, video advertisements, posters, signs pointing to trains every which way – for a Midwestern boy like me it was all a bit overwhelming. When you reach the platform, the roar of trains coming and going is constant, and the air is filled with announcements in Japanese and English, and people talking to each, too, so it’s an intense experience. Then the train comes barrelling down into the station and between the noise and the speed of it you can just feel the power of this machine. I loved it. But once you board the shinkansen, things change totally – the ride is smooth, the cars are spacious, luxurious, and quiet. The seats are wide and soft, smiling women roam up and down the aisle with drink and snack carts, and unless you look out the window you can hardl tell you’re moving at all. 

So I’m snug in my seat Wednesday afternoon, racing towards evening. Behind me is Kyushu, Hiroshima, Himeji, Osaka, Kyoto – but yet to come is Tokyo. I’m tired from everything I’ve already done – a hundred adventures already – but I’m also excited for my first glimpse of Tokyo, the largest city in the world. Still ready to see some of those iconic Japanese sights like the scramble crossing or Tokyo tower. And the train comes around a bend, and my jaw just drops – in the distance, glowing in the sunset, dozens of miles across a wide valley, I get my first glimpse of Mt. Fuji. 

Now, I’ve heard of Mt. Fuji, of course, and seen the pictures. I thought I was prepared for it. Fellas, let me tell you – I was not prepared. The snow on the volcano flared golden in the sunlight. Clouds skirted along its foothills. The intervening valley between us lay mostly in shadow, except for the lights of Fuji town, just now starting to twinkle in the advancing evening. I just kind of stared, slack-jawed for a while, then dove for my phone – the train is racing along at hundreds of miles an hour and I have bare minutes. It’s not the greatest photo in the world, but it’s all I had time for:

Now that is a natural wonder of the world. 

My trip was filled with moments like that. I drank sake with a dozen strangers on our hotel roof for Chinese New Year. Didn’t learn their names – no one shared and no one asked. Waded in the tide at Itsukushima Shrine. Got kidnapped by some elderly women in Hiroshima and dragged to a traditional tea ceremony. Toured the Imperial Palace. Met American contractors in a tiny dongatsu joint in Osaka, who were building animatronic robots for a theme park (one guy did Gringotts, in Orlando!). Chased by wild boars at Fushimi Shrine in Kyoto. Had my best gin and tonic ever in the shadow of Tokyo Tower. 

Have you ever had a perfect day? A day where you would change absolutely nothing, because even the smallest alteration would mar the rest? Picture a string of days like that – every day in succession was more perfect than the last. That was Japan.

So yeah, good trip.