Japan & Asia Travel Advice
As I live in Tokyo and have frequent business trips around Asia, I have recently been providing travel advice to my family who are planning a trip to Japan and possibly other places in Asia. I’ve been telling them all along about Japan of course but also a lot about the interesting places I’ve been visiting lately especially in the South East Asia region and in particular areas in and around Singapore and Indonesia.
They must be catching on to it all because they are actually considering a trip to Japan, Singapore and even Batam Island where I most recently visited. However I told them that a trip to Asia shouldn’t be taken to multiple countries all in one trip because it would just be too much. I think it would be much more enjoyable to visit one country at a time or two countries at the most. And while Singapore, Indonesia and Batam are interesting places, these places along with most of the rest of Asia outside of Japan have extremely hot subtropical weather conditions.
Japan also has four distinct seasons and is also extremely hot and humid in the summer and extremely cold in the winter but absolutely stunning in every way during spring and autumn. The rest of Asia is not as humid as Japan is during summer but nevertheless it is extremely hot throughout the year in mostly every Asian country including all major cities in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong and most of the rest of China as well.
Aside from the heat, most of Asia features an abundant array of extraordinarily inexpensive food, shopping, accommodations and attractions galore! The best places to visit for westerners are Hong Kong, Singapore and parts of the Philippines because everyone speaks perfect English there because these places were English Colonies up until recently. Most other Asian countries also speak English but not as fluently. Anyway, my recommendation is to visit one or two countries to fully explore what makes it interesting. Asia is a huge region with so many interesting places to see, it would take more than a year just to start.
If your coming to Japan, I recommend visiting Tokyo and its nearby hot spring resorts of Hakone and the Izu Peninsula as well as Nikko, Kamakura and the Mount Fuji area. Outside of Tokyo; Osaka, Kyoto, Nara and of course all of Hokkaido are a must! Actually if you’re a foreigner, you can buy a JR “Japan Rail” discount rail pass for less than $200 US, from any travel agent outside of Japan, which allows for unlimited travel on all JR trains including the Shinkansen Bullet Trains covering the entire nation. This is a great value because normal rates for a roundtrip ticket on a Shinkansen is about the $200 alone! 
If you do chose a second destination in Asia after visiting Japan, I would suggest somewhere a little closer than Singapore or Indonesia, possibly somewhere in Korea, Northeastern China, Philippines, Taiwan or Hong Kong.
Actress and model Junko Fukuda is blowing bubbles at a park in Nagoya, Japan. This kind of tube that comes with a thin bottle is a common variety of soap bubble toy in Asia. I had it with me. I knew I would be meeting some new people that day. One of them was this beautiful young lady. She saw I had the bubble toy. She gave me an expression that seemed to say that since I was not using the bubble toy, she would be glad to use it. Then I saw her talent about it. Her style was: first one bubble would emerge from the wand and grow bigger and bigger. It would become her biggest bubble. Then it would be pushed loose by a long stream of many bubbles. She was relaxing on the lawn, and she did this again. And again. I realized the film in my camera had already come to the end, before I gave her the bottle and tube. But although I wanted to take a photo of her like this, I did not want to miss seeing her blowing bubbles as I changed the film. Then she got a kind expression that seemed to say, "I will do it more for you after you change your film." I understood. Another photographer had seen what she was doing, and he photographed her blowing bubbles as I changed the film. When she saw I was ready, she was silent as she dipped the tube again. She brought the tube to her lips as they parted. Then she did this. :-)
Actress and model Junko Fukuda is blowing bubbles at a park in Nagoya, Japan. This kind of tube that comes with a thin bottle is a common variety of soap bubble toy in Asia. I had it with me. I knew I would be meeting some new people that day. One of them was this beautiful young lady. She saw I had the bubble toy. She gave me an expression that seemed to say that since I was not using the bubble toy, she would be glad to use it. Then I saw her talent about it. Her style was: first one bubble would emerge from the wand and grow bigger and bigger. It would become her biggest bubble. Then it would be pushed loose by a long stream of many bubbles. She was relaxing on the lawn, and she did this again. And again. I realized the film in my camera had already come to the end, before I gave her the bottle and tube. But although I wanted to take a photo of her like this, I did not want to miss seeing her blowing bubbles as I changed the film. Then she got a kind expression that seemed to say, "I will do it more for you after you change your film." I understood. Another photographer had seen what she was doing, and he photographed her blowing bubbles as I changed the film. When she saw I was ready, she was silent as she dipped the tube again. She brought the tube to her lips as they parted. Then she did this. :-)
Apparently, before Starbucks arrived in Japan, the price of coffee was
fairly high. Since Starbucks keeps their prices relatively consistent,
the recent arrive of the franchise then brought the price of coffee in
Japan down to a reasonable price.
This was the only Starbucks we stopped in throughout our whole visit
mount Fuji on a clear spring day,
Mount Fuji (Fujisan) is with 3776 meters Japan's highest mountain. It
is not surprising that the nearly perfectly shaped volcano has been
worshipped as a sacred mountain and experienced big popularity among
artists and common people.
Mount Fuji is a dormant volcano, which most recently erupted in 1708.
It stands on the border between Yamanashi and Shizuoka Prefectures and
can be seen from Tokyo and Yokohama on clear days
since coffee at almost every place in Japan is freaking AWESOME!
34°49' 19" N, 135°30' 30" E
Japan is not as full as some argue.
Kumano-san-zan of Kii Mountain Range, Koyasan, Yoshino, and Omine is a unique example of sacred sites of the Shinto and Buddhist deities remaining widely in very good condition forming various beliefs such as Shintoism based on the nature worship, Buddhism which has been descended from China and showed original deployment in Japan, and Shugendo which has the origin of the connection of both with pilgrimage routes such as Omine Okugake-michi, Kumano pilgrimage route, and Koyasan-choishi-michi. Moreover, they are very precious also in the point of having still rooted among people.
Kumano-san-zan of Kii Mountain Range, Koyasan, Yoshino, and Omine is a unique example of sacred sites of the Shinto and Buddhist deities remaining widely in very good condition forming various beliefs such as Shintoism based on the nature worship, Buddhism which has been descended from China and showed original deployment in Japan, and Shugendo which has the origin of the connection of both with pilgrimage routes such as Omine Okugake-michi, Kumano pilgrimage route, and Koyasan-choishi-michi. Moreover, they are very precious also in the point of having still rooted among people.
@Japan by Xian/
