Really didnt expect to have such a range of emotion on my first solo trip - Japan
Hey all,
So I recently got back from my first solo trip to Japan. While this isnt the first time I have been to Japan (actually my 6th), this is the first time I have really traveled by myself, and with no real itinerary (been super busy at work and home.) I booked hotels in Tokyo and Kyoto, and ordered the rail pass, but had no real plans. So for my entire stay, I decided what city I wanted to see the day before (that was reasonably close by train), and traveled to it on a whim. From there, I would pick a few things on the map, and just walk the entire city; discovering places, food, and people as I go. It was an amazing experience.
My trip was only about 9 days, but I kinda crammed them. I visited Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Kamakura, and Enoshima; with the exception of Tokyo and Kyoto, walking most of them (over 175 miles walked or hiked total.)
Some of the highlights:
- Celebrating a shared birthday with a bunch of Japanese salarymen (Golden Gai.) This was actually pretty funny as the guy whose birthday I shared keep switching between being low and high energy, while his co-workers worked to keep him leveled. They were all pretty cool and funny though.
- Hopped into a random bar (Golden Gai), and shared some conversation with these random dudes traveling from Hiroshima. We ended up talking for a few hours and before leaving, they came over and thanked me for talking to them and told me how I had made their evening. It was really touching.
- Hopped into a bar (Golden Gai), where the bartender had to remove one of the overly drunk guys. In the US, this typically means physically throwing someone out, but it seemed like they both were trying to remain polite to each other (and the other bar patrons) while almost wrestling with one another (you could see the physical exertions on their faces.) This actually became my go-to spot to drink while waiting for the train to open up at 430AM. One evening, I ended up sticking around, and getting invited to karaoke with them after the bar closed til 10am.
- Hopped into a random jazz bar (Golden Gai.) One of the bar's patrons came over and asked me about what kind of music I was into and then we proceeded to share music back and forth for hours. I was really surprised by the stuff she was into.
- Hopped into a bar (Golden Gai) with an older guy, a transgendered woman, and a young couple on their first date. We had the craziest conversations about life, relationships, love, and American slang for hours. They were all so nice.
- Drunkenly dropping my glasses into a bowl of ramen at 5AM. I still need to get them professionally cleaned.
- Chatting with the owner of a jazz bar in Kyoto who introduced me to Crazy Ken Band and some other Japanese jazz and soul bands.
- All the random conversations with random strangers in random bars.
It was such an amazing trip, and despite all of the cities and sites I visited, I miss all the conversations with complete strangers the most. It really allowed me to get into my own headspace, and really force myself to step out of my normal bounds (I'm kinda an introvert.) In the beginning of the trip, I felt kind of lonely, but by the end I could understand the meaning of one finding solace in solitude. It was an amazing experience. Leaving really felt bittersweet.
Submitted March 20, 2019 at 08:16PM by Randmness https://ift.tt/2TY2X8s
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