2 minute read
TRAVEL
Japan
A COUNTRY, PEOPLE, AND CULTURE LIKE NONE OTHER
My wife Noreen and I recently enjoyed a 2-week Trafalgar Tour to Japan that included 24 people from Australia, New Zealand, the US, Zimbabwe, and Canada.
Our exceptional tour director learned her English as a 10-year-old at Helena, Montana. The timing of the trip was perfect, April 23 to May 5. We witnessed the cherry blossoms blooming! The temperature was 18° to 25° C and we had only about one-and-a-half hours of rain.
We saw the highlights of Japan. We spent four days seeing the sights in Tokyo before travelling on by bus to the Five Lakes District to view the spectacular countryside including Mt. Fuji, Matsumoto, Nagano, Takayama, Gokayama, and Kanazawa. The bullet train (Shinkansen) took us to Kyoto, the old capital, where we visited many of the unique historical sights, then it took us to Kotohira, Hiroshima, and Osaka to begin our journey home. The train can travel 320 km/hr.
Japan is a remarkable country about the size of Texas with a population of approximately 150 million. It has virtually no natural resources to speak of, with only small mountain valleys for gardens and rice paddies and almost unlimited clean drinking water. Japan is the world’s third-largest economy.
How can that be?
The people are highly educated and the workforce is dedicated and loyal. Expectation to perform is high. The people are generally very respectful of one another and their honesty and cleanliness are all part of their culture. Bikes are left everywhere, unlocked. There is no drug problem or street/homeless people. Japan’s welfare system works very well. There is some alcoholism but it is not visible to the tourist.
But Japan is not perfect. The shaming of single mothers with children is not uncommon.
The highlight of the trip was our visit to Hiroshima, to the site where the atom bomb named Little Boy was dropped on the city on August 6, 1945, creating the horror of heat exceeding 5000° F, winds as strong as the speed of light, and incredible radiation. I hope there will never again be atom or hydrogen bombs exploded anywhere in the world.
A museum near the hypocentre outlines the history of the making of the bomb, called The Manhattan Project, to the dropping of the device and the devastation it caused. A plaque installed by the Government of Japan states, “We the Japanese people have agreed to forgive our adversaries and move on with our lives.” That’s remarkable when you think of the current situation in the Middle East.
And for a really delightful Japanese adventure, a koshu yokujo or public bath is a must-do!
If you intend to visit Japan, I highly recommend hiring a good travel agent and tour company. It will save you time and you will be able to enjoy the many highlights Japan has to offer. s El Fedewich is a retired BC Notary. elnorwr@gmail.com
