Discover Japan, the land of contrast and rich culture
I booked my flight to Japan a week prior to the departure on 22 July and thereafter, started planning and booking accommodations. To explore more cities, I flew into NRT (Narita Intl Airport) and flew out of KIX (Osaka Intl Airport). I had 6 nights to immerse myself as much as possible.
How did I plan my Itinerary? I had intentions to cover Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka over the 6 nights and had read blogs, reddit review and watched multiple vlogs before pinning the exact locations. As this was a solo trip, I used Google Calendar to pre-plan the days with reminders and remember to input the location of your destinations on Google calendar invites. I received reminders on my iPhone as to what is the best time to leave to get to my next destination taking into account the traffic and never had to worry about figuring out what’s next on my list.
Need some ideas to plan your itinerary for your Tokyo, Kyoto or Osaka trips? You can find it in my upcoming posts here on the places you could visit and my thoughts on it as well.
Here is a snapshot of the itinerary I had built for myself for the entire trip.
Final thoughts on the 6 nights in Japan? I should have stayed a little longer – perhaps a day or two. Perhaps I should have visited in October instead of doing a last minute trip. I would have seen a few more things in Tokyo or Kyoto and be fully present instead of rushing to the next destination. Perhaps it was the excitement or the Zen atmosphere of Kyoto that got me hooked.
As a solo traveler I met fellow solo travelers or strangers at the hotel rooftops or random cafes. Often the question I encountered was “What brings you to Japan” and I find myself answering, “I don’t know it was a random last minute trip”. Many share their passion for Japanese culture, food or the anime which amazed me as these individuals came from disparate countries but they could speak Japanese with intermediate proficiency.
Although I couldn’t speak Japanese, learning a couple of phrases before the trip helped and the staff at the restaurants get excited to help you out more when you try. That was the real charm of Japan. A developed country. Modern infrastructure, technology but English isn’t commonly spoken till today.