We spent our last morning visiting the most iconic of Japanese sights: Shibuya Crossing. It seems bizarre to say that an intersection was a destination but this wasn't any intersection. It is an overwhelming blast of noise, lights and people. I wouldn't want to spend too much time there. It is an assault on the senses but, in many ways, it encapsulates what makes Japan so different from Australia and so unique.
As we are leaving, I naturally feel compelled to give my overall impressions of Japan. There has been so much that was fantastic and amazing and a little bit of challenge as well.
The pros: beautiful country, scenery unlike what we see in Australia (mountains rising up so close to the sea creates a very distinctive look to the towns and cities), incredibly welcoming, kind, generous, polite and helpful people (sometimes we had barely realized we had a problem before someone jumped in to fix it), heated toilet seats, no litter or graffiti, a great time spent with Frank and family (I really haven't seen a lot of him over the years), a culture and history unlike anything we have experienced before.
The cons: really tough to eat gluten free (increasingly so as we moved away from Tokyo), travelling with teens (last time I do it), hard beds (my soft Western body hasn't coped).
My favourite thing about travel is that it makes the rest of the world seem a whole lot closer to Australia. We are so far from everywhere that it is easy to forget other countries exist. I love coming here and understanding what it is like to live here and what the issues are for Japanese people. It makes me feel just a little bit Japanese.
Ciaran and Ronan both plan to come back and live here for a while. Clare, Ian and I are probably a bit more Europe oriented. For the moment (read 3-5 years), we will be staying home and enjoying what Australia has to offer.
Great trip thanks for sharing have loved following you through Japan. It was great seeing familiar places but also all the things we didn't see.
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