I truly hope you were able to keep up with my trip to Japan! It was a beautiful mess of an adventure, but I *think* I've finally figured out why...
When you go to a different countries/continents, you can "see" the differences. When I was in Morocco, Slovakia, or Uganda, you could "feel" the differences of those countries, as opposed to the US; everything from the dress, the shapes of the land, the buildings in the cities, etc... But when I stepped off the train I entered New York City, no... Tokyo! It felt like these cities were SO similar, BUT they were also so different! (However, I CAN say Tokyo was much cleaner.)
My first "experience" of Tokyo was when I exited my train exactly where Shibuya Crossings is! (That's the Times Square of Tokyo.)
Practically no one speaks English and asking for directions is quite a chore. I tried to translate my words but they were always off. But STILL, all of the billboards were in English, people had English words designed all over their clothes, everyone is wearing Nikes, it's absolutely ridiculous. On top of that, coffee shops weren't open until 10:00 am so every morning I went on a desperate search for caffeine! But truly, I loved my time there!
Here are a few more images of the countryside, amazing coffee shops, "perfect" records and whisk-y bars, Tokyo's famous AND tallest Skytree; with a few views of the city and Mt. Fuji peeking out over the evening clouds.
In the middle of the "work" part of my trip, my fixer/guide Toshio and I drove north toward Tōhoku and the Fukushima nuclear power plant. We toured multiple holy locations (temples, shrines, sanctuaries) and drove across massive amounts of land that were STILL completely destroyed by the tsunami in 2011. We passed acres and acres of trash that were covered in, what looked like, Hefty garbage bags. They were actually storing radioactive dirt that couldn't be taken anywhere, so they were doomed to sit there for the next 30 years. 😬
But of course, cheers to my new best friend/fixer/guide, Toshio, and to the food... LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU BOTH!!!