At Sea, Japan

Today is a day at sea, so nothing too exciting to report. I thought that instead of talking about today I would talk about what we have learned and noticed so far about traveling in Japan.

We are enjoying our time here, but I don’t think we would come in the summer again. I was fairly warned before coming that it is hot and humid here in the summer. That was not overstated. Ever wondered why Japanese women are known for their fancy fans? It’s because it is so dang hot!!! We see many local men and women using fans and carrying a cool damp cloth to blot their faces. The Japanese women also try hard to avoid the sun so they use umbrellas, hats, and sleeves to cover their hands and arms (when wearing short sleeved shirts) to protect their skin. Umbrellas (mostly for shade) are a big thing here. I’ve seen many stores selling just various types of umbrellas.

Spring in Japan is known for the cherry blossoms and in the fall they apparently have some beautiful fall colors. We have been told that the fall is less busy for travel here than the spring.

Eating out is a challenge. Most of the restaurants we have looked at do not have an English menu. Even if they do it often does not have enough information to figure out what is actually in a dish, often having a one word or vague description like “fried course.” Some have picture menus, but those still don’t clarify types of meat and can be surprisingly unhelpful. If you’re adventurous in eating then you’ll do fine. If you’re a picky eater or actually want to know what kind of meat you are eating it is a big challenge. We have had good luck at 7-11 and other convenience stores where we can get sandwiches and pastries. They also are a quick option as we are trying to see as much as we can while here.

Japanese temples are Buddhist and have heavy, large wooden entrances. Japanese shrines are Shinto and have a less heavy entrance with two cross bars on top of two vertical beams. Many of the shrines and temples are up on hills and require climbing many stairs to enter.

The Japanese train system is great: clean and fast. It can be challenging to buy tickets as some stations don’t have English instructions at the kiosks. Buying from an actual ticket agent works well.

The streets in the Japanese cities are very clean. I don’t think I have seen any trash laying around. That said, I haven’t seen a trash can anywhere while walking around. The people are very polite and are often helpful if you look confused or lost. They do crowd and push lots of people into small spaces, like trains. The larger cities do have some English signage which help in getting around, but the smaller ones are exclusively in Japanese.

That’s a basic summary of my thoughts so far. We are enjoying Japan and already talking about returning…when it is cooler.

We will be disembarking tomorrow and will be spending a few more days in and around Tokyo.