The One Place I’d Keep Going Back To
“If you could visit anywhere, where would you go?”
It’s one of those first-meeting(s) questions that sounds simple, but actually says a lot about a person. If you are ever wondering, the answer has never really changed for me.
Japan.
Not just once. It is not just a quick and simple trip to cross it off a bucket list. If I had the budget, the time, and the freedom to choose, I would go back to Japan again and again, for as long as I possibly could (maybe a layover in other East Asia countries along the way to Japan).
Three Visits In, and I have Barely Scratched the Surface
I have been fortunate to be there three times so far for only a few days each time, and every time I left Japan, I had a longer list of things I have yet to do there than I did when I first arrived. This is not to complain but is actually one of the things I like best about Japan. Japan has this subtle way of opening up to you the more you observe. That’s why I was glad that I had the opportunity to visit Japan Canadian Culture Centre here in Toronto during their open house event to get more cultural exposure and document my experience after my third visit to Japan along the way (in my main blog).
Anyways, from where I currently reside in Ontario, Canada, the time difference alone makes Japan feel like a different world altogether. At the same time, aside from the time difference and the unfortunately getting jet lag, Japan actually changes with the seasons. Spring has the blossoms, summer has the humidity and the energy, autumn has the beautiful colours of the changing leaves, and in the winter, there is the quiet beauty of the snow. This means there is no bad time to visit Japan.
Japan Is Bigger Than It Looks on a Map
When people say, “but there are so many other places to see in the world,” I hear them. I really do. However here’s the thing: Japan is much bigger than it seems at first glance, and each region deserves real time, not just a rushed stopover.
Hokkaido in the winter for skiing to Okinawa in the summer for Hawaii-like environment, and any place in the country during cherry blossoms or autumn season. Honestly, anywhere in the country during those times would be stunning. While a month may seem like a considerable amount of time, as you begin to think about it, it seems like it’s not quite enough when you come back from travelling.
It’s less about returning to the same place and more about slowly uncovering a country that keeps surprising me.
Learning Japanese, One Word at a Time
One of the things that I’ve quietly been working on is learning how to speak Japanese. Not that I’m going to ever even come close to fluency or anywhere close to sounding like a native speaker of the language. Just enough to get by a little better each time I go back like to read a sign here and there, to have a small exchange with people, without relying so much on translation app.
It’s a slow process, but it’s a fun one. Every time I go back, I hope that it’s just a little bit more rich than the last time. Japan is drawing me back again, and honestly, I don’t see that changing anytime in the near future. Hoping to make Japan where I can call "home away from home". 🌸