Japan

The land of the rising sun, host to the world’s only Emperor, and possibly its oldest continues monarchy, Zen Buddhism, geisha girls, neon lights, manga, crazy humour, bonsai trees, sushi, and uber-dependable cars, is a modern nation rooted in deep and ancient traditions. Nowhere is the future so close to the past as in Japan. From neon-lit Tokyo to Kyoto’s temples and gardens, Japan can’t be captured in one neat little box. It is robotics combined with sake, it is sleeping in a capsule versus sleeping in a traditional wooden house on a hard floor with a paper wall for privacy, it’s anime and woodblock painting.

Let’s face it, Japan is different. There is something crazy about the place and its people. They can be as stiff as a corpse, but see them in a karaoke bar and you wouldn’t believe they belong to the same nation. Read a manga comic and you will wonder about their sanity, but then you wander into a Zen Buddhist ceremony and you are left contemplating why you ever doubted their sanity.

It is best to stop thinking and wondering and just immerse yourself in the experience that is Japan without any preconceived ideas or notions. Walk bustling Tokyo, visit the temples and gardens of Kyoto, climb Mount Fuji, ski around Sapporo in the north, drink sake with locals, eat sushi, visit Hiroshima, check out the cherry blossoms in one of the many parks, get meditative in a temple, test your patience with a bonsai tree, and sleep in a traditional home.

Satisfy your curiosity and visit this enigmatic country in the east!