Japan – Ling’s favourite country for holiday
Sights
Japan offers a wide range of sights and places of interest for everyone. Be it city life, countryside, nature, technology, history or culture, there will be something that meets your interests.
If you want to experience the Japanese culture, consider a visit to Kyoto or to the many temples and shrines across Japan. Tired of the glitzy neon city lights and crowd? Hop on a train and you’ll be within nature in an hour’s time.
Need kid friendly places to visit? There’s Disneyland, Universal Studios, and many Japanese characters theme places, aquariums and of course Pokemon Centres. I’ve brought my family to Mitsubishi and Toyota car factory visits, something different and interesting to all.
I’ve travelled across all 47 prefectures in Japan, and each prefecture has its beauty and offerings. With good transportation network and a rental car, one is never too far from something interesting. I’ve been to Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto more than 5 times each; yet on each new visit, I could still discover new places and experiences.
One could never get tired of Japan as the country is big with much to offer. I enjoyed discovering new places to explore every time I visited. Friends who have visited Japan many times, have started exploring outside the main cities as well.
Shopping
Now, this is a word that appeals to some but not to all. We tend to think of shopping as shopping for clothes, shoes and cosmetics. There is more to that especially in Japan. It doesn’t matter if you’re male or female, you’ll be able to find something that interest you enough to open your wallets.
For those who are interested in electronics or anime, there’s Akihabara, a mecca for Otakus, BIC Camera and Yodobashi Camera. One can easily spend a couple of hours browsing through the shops. Those interested in cooking, could check out Kappabashi Street in Tokyo or Sennichimae Doguyasuji Shopping Street in Osaka. For high fashion, there’s glitzy Ginza in Tokyo and Umeda in Osaka. If you like cute stuff, there’s Harajuku Street for shopping and the many Tokyo Hands and The Loft stores around Japan.
I’m not much for shopping myself, but when it comes to Japan, there is always something that appeals. When I first visited Japan, we bought a lot of their popular confectioneries such as Tokyo Banana as gifts and for consumption. Over the years, my shopping needs in Japan changed. I like visiting the 100yen and 300yen shops, big chain drug stores and supermarkets in Japan. Those are my must visit places to stock up on my wants. In the last few years, I started collecting Temple/Shrine Omiyage Charms and Goshuin Stamps.
Many of my friends blew their first Japan trip budget because of shopping. There were just too many interesting things to buy. I believe over time that would change and their shopping would be more targeted just like mine.
Service
To most of us tourists, Japanese are a very polite group of people. The service they provide is top notched and done with a sense of pride.
On my brother’s first visit to Japan, he tried to tip the hotel staff. However, the staff declined and said he was just doing his job. I remembered my brother was so impressed by the service and the dedication of the hotel staff.
On another occasion, my friend and I were looking for the information counter at a departmental and had asked a staff for directions. In most countries, they would just point out the directions and you figure out your way base on the directions given. In this instance, the staff not only gave us directions, she walked us to the information counter. This level of service is not known anywhere else, at least I’ve not experienced it anywhere else.
I’ve always enjoyed the hospitality provided during my Japan trips, which helped make the trips enjoyable. Of course, there were times when the service might fall a little short due to some having a bad day, but those were not frequent. If you’re polite and kind to the service staff, you’d generally get good service in return.
