My First Trip to Japan
For several years, I had been wanting to take a trip to Japan (probably ever since I started studying the language, five or six years ago). And finally, after a couple of years of paying off bills, a year of saving and 6 months of planning, I was finally able to go in April, 2003. Being interested in the Japanese culture (including the music, pop culture, and entertainment), I was really looking forward to this trip. My goal in the 3 weeks I was going to be there was to do several things.
1.) I really wanted to see a lot of the typical sight-seeing places such as Tokyo Tower, the Memorial Peace Park in Hiroshima, Himeji castle and so on
2.) I wanted to, if possible, to be able to go to one Japanese concert while I was there. (One of my biggest interests right now is Japanese music, so this, to me would be a lot of fun)
3.) I wanted to be able to meet a few people that I knew were living there
4.) I wanted to see if my Japanese studying actually was working ^_^
5.) I wanted to try and see some smaller out-of-the-way type places. The kind of places
that "typical" tourists don't normally see
Luckily for me, I was able to basically accomplish all the goals I set out on this trip. I got to see all the major sights that I had planned on seeing. I met a few different people during my stay there. I stayed at a traditional Japanese ryokan, complete with outdoor hot springs and public bath. And, I gained a lot of self-confidence in my Japanese as well. (but at the same time, I realized I still need to study a lot more too. ^_^). And finally, I was able to go to not one, but TWO different concerts while I was there. Overall, I'm not sure I could've asked for a much better vacation. Minus a few hiccups here and there, everything went about as well as it could've been expected. I can't even put into words how wonderful of a time that I had.
While I was in Japan, I tried to keep a diary of where we went, what we saw, etc. This was done
as much for my own benefit as well as being able to do this page. What you'll see is both a
combination of my journal entries as well as afterthoughts I've put in for each day. Enjoy.