With just a little forward knowledge of where I’m coming from, Japan for me is the closest to a feeling of nirvana as I have even felt. Maybe that’s too much, especially in this day and age, of a description for people to wrap their heads around. Is it an impossible way to feel? Not at all! But I may travel a bit differently than allot of people in the sense that when I do go to a place, especially a place I’ve never been to before, I do everything in my power to feel everything. Sites, smells, tastes and interactions with locals just to name the general vibes. I try my best to feel the history, and there is an enormous amount in Japan, and what life might have been like centuries ago. My feelings of Japan are deep and meaningful and I am so looking forward to when my wife and I can go back and see and experience more of the land of the rising sun.

Alright my friends, that does it for me! I will be back next time with more stories from Japan. But before I high-tail it out of here, let me ease a concern you might have about Japan. My wife and I were in Japan for almost a month. My wife has a high school friend that moved there thirty plus years ago and the two of them have stayed in touch. So when we decided Japan is on our radar to visit, we were fortunate to stay with her and her husband for two weeks and we couldn’t have had a better guide and interpreter! We saw places and things that we would not have known about had we rented a car and went ourselves. Now, my wife and I were on our own for about a week to go do our own thing. Communication breakdown can happen if you’re not prepared with a working knowledge of the Japanese language, which neither my wife or I had, but we had help. While in Kyoto, we had to go to lunch as we were starving from all the walking we did. We popped into this restaurant and were cared for by staff that spoke no English. We spoke no Japanese. What helped, you might ask? Google Translate, that’s what! We communicated with our server, via our phones, and had no issues. It was wonderful! You can go nearly anywhere in the world and effectively communicate with the locals, wherever you may be. So if Japan wasn’t on your adventure radar because you don’t think you can communicate with anyone…now you can. Google Translate will even read signage to you. Shoot a photo of the signage and Google Translate will give you the sign in English. Man, I love technology…to a point, and this is a good one.

Until next week, happy traveling! Leave me a comment or visit me on FB, thenoadiclensman.