Japan. It’s a special place. It’s my idea of what most of tomorrow’s cities will become.It’s as urban and modern as it is old and steeped in tradition. Even down to the homeless(which are tough to find yet we managed to stumble upon on our second night walking back to the hotel) are a modern day flux of hyper-contrast – they’re strangely yet frankly the most cleanest, most organised bums i’ve ever seen, and still, in an era where there’s gameshows on telly about who could possibly pick up the phone the quickest (we seriously watched this one night in the hotel), people still live on the streets, under bridges and in playgrounds on the corner of most inner suburbs.
Despite this Tokyo is about as nice a place on the planet as they come. The formality, pride, manners and respect is abundant the minute you step off the plane. It’s a striking contrast to Australia. Even the most mundane of roles in Japan are met with great pride and civic responsibility, while in the land of the lucky, bogan pride is especially ripe in the air, with that ever-present whoft of self-entitlement and getting something for nothing going rampant.
But without ranting too far on that topic, you’ll definitely get the sense that the people in Japan as a whole are not individuals but rather a community of people living together. Whether this comes from a literal lack of land any real Western-sized land ownership over hundreds of years gnawing into the way society works and sharing what actual open public land is available freely and openly or something else entirely, i’m not sure, but it’s a privelege to be a guest to a society where people are actually willing return lost or stolen goods rather then being selfish. (more on that later).
Anyway, with that in mind, there were theme parks to be visited, rides to be ridden and cultural things to be ticked off on the list. The whole trip was jam packed – with a Nikon D90, a few lenses and a GoPro Hero 2 HD in hand we explored and adventured for a grand total of 12 amazing days. From Tokyo to Kyoto, this is Ben & Michelle’s 2012 Japan trip.
The video of our first few days is to come, but in the mean time here’s some photos.
After a bit of confusion with the cab driver, we arrived at APA Hotel in Nihonbashi, where I realised we had left my passport on the bus from Narita Airport!
Post missing Passport, our next issue was with our brand spanking new iPhone 5s. Apparently I ordered Micro-sims when I should’ve ordered Nano-sims and needed to get a Sim Card Trimmer to get them to fit. How hard could that be, right?
With some time to spare that evening we went to checkout Sega Joypolis in Tokyo Bay! Stay tuned for that update next!
