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2016 was the first time since 2012 that I didn't leave Calgary to travel elsewhere. Wanting to save money for a house, it was a choice I soon came to regret for Summer 2016 was one of my worst summers in a long time. It didn't help that there was rain throughout most of the summer. I didn't feel ready to start work again back in August 2016.
Fast forward to around March of this year. I knew I had to travel somewhere, anywhere to be honest. With the goal of a house still in mind, I thought of taking a short week trip in Canada (either Vancouver or Toronto/Ottawa). Deep down though, however, I wanted to travel overseas, so my brother and I thought of a two week trip to South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
With certain events going throughout the world, I was hesitant on travelling to countries that I had on my list, thus falling back to my initial plan of Canada 2017. Lo and behold though, come middle of May while I was bored at home, I found a seat sale to Osaka for around $800. Excited, I started playing around with dates to see what would work for my brother and I. After meddling with it for a couple days, and having a friend come join us, I realized that there was an 11 hour layover in Vancouver on the way home. Not wanting to spend all that time in Vancouver, I wondered what it would be like for a direct flight to Narita.
Long story short, flying to Narita was about $1250, which was considerably cheaper than what I've paid in 2014 and 2015. With tickets booked at the beginning of June, I started planning for our trip. We initially had plans to visit the Tohoku region of Japan, along with Okinawa, but the distance between the two didn't make it plausible. Therefore, we stuck with Okinawa and Kyushu for a week, while heading to Okayama for a couple of days before returning back to the Kanto (Tokyo really for us) region.
Being that it was the third time back to Japan in four years time, I have to admit that it has lost most of it's novelty for me. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy going to Japan, and if I had money, I would do it yearly. Despite going to different regions for most of the trip, there weren't too many surprises. At times, I was confused to whether I was on vacation, or that Japan was where I normally lived. The big thing that reminded me that I was on vacation was the fact that I still cannot speak Japanese fluently, nor even conversational. As a side note, I swore that I'll learn basic-conversational Japanese after Japan 2015 before returning back to Japan... which obviously didn't happen in this case!
In any case, despite being to Japan five times over the course of my life, I have learned some new things this time around. This reflection blog will focus mostly on what I learned, rather than a recap since I believe that my daily blog posts are in more detail than what they used to be before.
1) Get up early and get stuff done
Japan 2017 was 17 days in total (including flight to and back to Calgary). Japan 2015 was 34 days in total. Coincidence? Perhaps...
Despite this trip being half the time as the last trip, it felt almost as long. The secret was in waking up early daily to get things done. On average, I believe we got up before 8 AM and left our hotels by 9. True, many stores aren't open at this time, but this is one way to avoid the onrush of tourist. For example, we got to Okayama Castle right when it opened, meaning that we essentially had the castle and gardens to ourselves.
Not flocked with tourists as you can see
2) Supermarket meals are amazing... same with the bakeries!
For the last three days of our trip, we went to a supermarket located five minutes away to purchase dinner. Just like the T&T here in Calgary, many foods that have a short shelf life go on sale in the evening. We would usually go around 7 PM to grab prepared meals with at least 10% off from their regular price. True, selection is not as good late at night, but the taste is as good as most of the restaurants we went to. If I were to live in Japan, it would probably be cheaper and more efficient to go eat supermarket food than to prepare food myself. Convenience store food is amazing in itself, but supermarket food tends to be cheaper. Also, there tends to be more to pick from, both in drinks and food.
The Japanese may not be as famous as the French for their bread, but they make some delicious buns in my opinion. We managed to go to a couple bakeries this time around (around Kyushu and in Chiba), and each time I wasn't disappointed with what I got. Definitely something to try when you're there!
This wasn't discounted, but it was a really cheap dinner
3) Spend at least a night in a ryokan.
I'm not sure why I never done this earlier. One reason could be price, for we paid over $300 CAD at Yamamizuki for the night. However, when you look at the price, it includes a humongous dinner and breakfast meal plan, which I would easily value the meals to be at least half of the price we paid (when comparing it to what I predict a restaurant would charge). Another reason could be the onsens themselves. Initially, I was wary of the idea of bathing nude in public, since that is not the norm in western society. You soon come to realize though, that it's not as bad as it seems. I was self conscious back in 2015, but I didn't feel that bad this time around. Keep in mind, you always have a towel with you, one that is just the right size to cover your private parts.
Onsen Tamago. So simple, yet so delicious. I would do it here if I weren't scared of our raw eggs.
Those are the three things that I learned throughout the trip this year, in which I recommend you give it a try. Now onto my list of things that I hope I'll be able to accomplish or try next time around!
1) Learn More Japanese
First thing that popped into my mind. True, I'm better now when compared to myself in 2014, but I still have a long long way to go. Duolingo has helped me tremendously in learning basic Japanese phrases, and I have started reading Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese ebook to supplement my learning. It would definitely help in more rural areas where English speakers are not as common.
2) Take a walk super early in the morning
That was my goal this time around, to get up at like 4 AM, when the sun starts to rise, and walk around a busy city (ie: Tokyo) and see what it's like. Lo and behold, that never came to fruit for some reasons...
3) Third time's a charm for Mt Fuji
Climbed to the summit in 2014, but failed in 2015. Little did I know, that the summit we reached in 2014 wasn't the highest peak for Fuji. There's actually a higher point that takes around 40 minutes to get to. Also, I didn't walk around the summit because I was too cold in 2014. NEXT TIME!
Japan 2018? We'll see what the future holds in store for me. I'm guessing most likely not... but it may turn out to be an another late planned trip like this years.
