On March 2nd, I embarked on my longest journey so far – a journey that took me through…
Times visited: 1 (2 weeks in 2016)
Cities visited: Tokyo, Sapporo, Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima, Fukuoka and Nagasaki
UNESCO sites visited: Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (Kyoto, Uji and Otsu Cities), Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome) and Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara
During my journey through Asia in 2016, I spent two weeks in intriguing Japan. I arrived on April 1st, just as the cherry blossoms were in full bloom in Tokyo. It had long been a dream of mine to see the cherry blossoms in Japan, so I felt really lucky, especially since my 21st birthday was just around the corner! I celebrated it in the world’s largest city with two friends from back home, which was a welcome break from my solo travels.
We said temporarily farewell as I flew to the far north of the country, to the wintery island of Hokkaido. There, I had a wonderful couchsurfing experience with a local host who showed me around the beautiful city of Sapporo and took me on a roadtrip to a mountain lake.
I then flew back to the mainland, this time to historic Kyoto where I met up with my friends again. We spent our time there chasing cherry blossoms, visiting remarkable shrines and temples, climbing a mountain in the middle of the city and going on a day trip to beautiful Nara where we met its hundreds of curious deer.
Then it was time to say goodbye as I headed south to the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both of which are incredibly important to visit and gain an understanding of so their gruesome history never repeats itself.
Unfortunately, my time in Japan ended rather tragically as I experienced two earthquakes while in Fukuoka. I was 110 km from the epicenter, but the shakings were strong enough to wake me up and scare me so much that I fled to South Korea the next morning!
