Why visit

 I hope you will go to Japan soon and will love it as much as we do. We visited Japan three times. Each visit was memorable.

If you are curious about where all the fish in Japan is coming from – go to Tsukiji Fish Market early in the morning. You will see the giant frozen tuna being sliced like a stick of butter by a very sharp knife.

You will be disgusted, but fascinated seeing huge toads sitting in a bucket, ready to be sold and prepared for lunch. Other buckets might have black worms. You will hear the auction workers rattle off prices of the night catch to the owners of restaurants and stores.

Please be careful: there will be many speeding mopeds which zigzag around the market: everyone is in a hurry to deliver a fish, a message, or money.

Even if you have just a few days, make sure that in addition to Tokyo you will see Kyoto, the former capital of Japan. Kyoto itself is worth several days of sightseeing. It has many famous temples and palaces.

We rented bicycles from the owner of our ryokan and rode for the whole day, stopping at the fascinating places of Kyoto.

Take a train to Nikko. At the Nikko train station, hop on a bus going to the Nikko National Park for a day of wandering among the temples, shrines, and massive cedar trees.

The Mount Fuji area is relatively close to Tokyo and can be visited in two or three days. It is even possible to join a tour group to climb that mountain. We did not dare to do it after our daughter (she worked in Japan at that time) told us how hard it was.

One of the highlights of visiting Japan was soaking the aches and pains in the onsens – the traditional Japanese baths. There is at least one public onsen in every town. Some of the onsens are modern, some are centuries old. Read the rules about using onsen in the guidebook before your first visit. Don’t forget to pack a swimsuit if you want to swim in the pool after your invigorating bath.

What to eat in Japan

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