Introduction: Postscript

Before I start with actual journal entries, it might help to explain how exactly I decided to travel.

As some of you might know, Japan is one of the most expensive countries to tour.  I have known people to spend in excess of $1000 CAD within four days on only food and lodging.  I didn't quite want that, so I researched alternatives.  One was to stay at hostels, but those still would have set me back around 35 dollars a night and I preferred that money to go towards touring.  Another was to camp out in rural areas between cities, but proper campsites and accessible facilities were few and far between.  I was quickly running out of ideas.

Then I happened upon CouchSurfing.  The basic idea is that people should not have to pay for a safe - and comfortable - place to lay their head while visiting a country with which they are not familiar.  So hospitable hosts create profiles on the site and advertise their couch as a free place to spend a night or three.  Hosts are graded in relation to security, generosity, and overall personality.

Using Couchsurfing, I was able to spend a month in Japan for roughly $2000 CAD.  I was also exposed to lesser-known customs through my various hosts and taught new things concerning Japanese history and tradition.  For instance, I learned that locals still dressed in kimonos and yukatas for special occasions.  It was a sight to behold!

Staying at a CouchSurfer's home is like having your own tourism bureau - they have suggestions, give advice on train/bus schedules, and provide relevant literature to your interests.   The girl I stayed with in Kyoto had books on tea ceremonies and Shogunate architecture, as well as a brief history of Japanese art movements.

Not only do you save money, but you also make friends.  That's a win-win situation if ever there was one.

Introduction

If you're reading this, chances are you've been linked from my "father" blog, To See the World.  At first I thought to use TSW as the vehicle to relay my tales of Japan, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized a trip of this magnitude - one I had been contemplating since its inception in grade ten - deserves its own space.  Never mind the roughly forty pages of chronicling over the course of the month and the effect such history-heavy content would have on the disinterested.  No, I thought it best to keep this as a separate blog where only the truly interested can browse.

To reiterate what has already been said, Japanese culture had always been an interest.  I mean, what society can boast such intense discipline as to push something as simple as making tea into the realms of spirituality?  Nothing is without purpose.  Each move is calculated, each thought predetermined, each word considered and spoken and reflected upon.  Western culture, by comparison, is relativistic and carefree.  We do not accept the consequences of our actions or benefit from our own hard work.  We instead rely on the tawdry offerings of our government.  Do I appreciate Japan because it rewards the resourceful and ignores the lazy?  Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!

Rant ended.

Japan is steeped in history, as you will soon see through my journal entries transcribed here.  Mind you, by the time they hit your eyes, they will have been edited and expanded to include my own musings.  By musings, I of course mean delving into historical records.  Just so you're forewarned.

Enjoy!