Archivi tag: Japan

Tokyo, the city of cities – Part VI

Clean, orderly, and civilized like Switzerland. Vast, colorful, and lively like New York City. Filled with history, traditions, and great food like Italy. The perfect blend, Tokyo is intense. Each district or ‘special ward’ has so much to offer one would need to spend weeks in each one in order to experience it all. Tokyo is not just another ‘cool’ city; it is the city, and the most interesting, intriguing and stupefying I have ever visited in my life, not to mention my favorite.

Tokyo

View of Tokyo with Mount Fuji in the back

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Miyajima island, a truly enchanting place – Part V

Another splendid day in Japan: the Seto Inland Sea and the breathtaking Great Torii welcome you from afar. This is Miyajima island, an enchanting place we visited before heading back to Tokyo for our last days in the amazing Land of the Rising Sun.

The Great Torii Continua a leggere

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Hiroshima, the city of hope – Part IV

When planning our honeymoon, we were hesitant about visiting Hiroshima. We were both intrigued by it but didn’t know if it was really worth the visit, considering we didn’t have much time. So I asked a dear Japanese friend of mine who encouraged us to go by saying that, and I’m paraphrasing here, it is important to see the scars Japan still has not only on its people but also on its land. The word scar struck me at first, but of course she was right. Japan is the first and only country in the world that has been atomic bombed, and although this is no reason to be proud, I believe its outcome has greatly contributed to uplifting the Japanese spirit I so much admire and felt in this city of hope.

Dome Hiroshima

“War is the work of man. War is destruction of human life. War is death. To remember the past is to commit oneself to the future. To remember Hiroshima is to abhor nuclear war. To remember Hiroshima is to commit oneself to peace”, His Holiness the Pope John Paul II on February 25, 1981 at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.

I think the best adjective to describe Hiroshima is bittersweet. This is exactly how I felt when I laid my eyes on its people, its, streets, its monuments, the A-bomb Dome. Continua a leggere

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Nara and the deer – Part III

Although a less renowned Japanese city, Nara was once the capital of the Land of the Rising Sun and today is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. These facts alone should attract tourists, yet we decided to visit it for three main reasons.

One, it’s got more than a thousand deer that walk freely in the city park and we couldn’t miss these messengers of the Gods. Two, it’s got a 15-meter tall Buddha (one of the biggest in the country). Three, it’s less than an hour away from Kyoto and since we had the Japan Rail Pass, it was worth the ride.

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Kyoto, city of temples – Part II

Kyoto is a magnificent Japanese city that holds hundreds of temples, some of which are of unimaginable beauty. As I think about our time here, flashes of cute streets and shops, beautiful geishas walking around Gion (a popular neighborhood, not to mention my favorite), great street food, and an amazing train station come to my mind.

Japanese hand fan

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Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun – Part I

As the customs officer stamped my passport I thought This is it: I’m officially in Japan, and I couldn’t refrain from smiling with excitement. This was no business trip. This was my honeymoon and all I had to do was enjoy every second of it. My husband and I were entering for the first time in our lives the Land of the Rising Sun not yet knowing that ten days later, leaving was going to be heartbreaking.

Japan does this to you. It makes you fall in love with vending machines and neon lights. It makes you want to stay forever to watch Japanese fashion and its crowded streets. It makes your time spent on the toilet a quite pleasant one (I’m not kidding, bathrooms are super clean even on metro stations), and when it is time to go back home, well…it breaks your heart to leave.

Japanese vending machine

Vending machine products

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