Introduction

 When it comes to travel, there's something absolutely captivating about exploring new destinations and immersing yourself in their unique vibes. Our wanderlust-filled souls find joy in every corner of the world, from ancient temples to bustling streets and serene landscapes. Japan offers all of them. 

The story of my Japan travel blog started three years back when my wife and I decided to take a driving tour to Japan in March 2020. The Covid forced the cancellation. The self-managed trip was launched again in relatively impromptu manner. The trip was exceptionally successful and gratifying in terms of sightseeing   scenic beauty, cuisine, culture, , history, education, and other aspects that make traveling fulfilling, here's what you might experience during your visit. I feel totally enamored many aspects of this trip, so I am sharing the travel experiences and some reflections of the great experience. This is basically a travel blog but does have few social observations, personal opinions and  commentaries based on my background and quest to learn more about Japan.

Background: People in my generation has gone through unique perceptions about Japan.  Japan has always been very fascinating grabbing lots of attention yet remain so elusive. So I need to analyze my mental lenses for Japan before I post the pictures of Japan through camera lenses. I do not when my fascination with Japan started. It could be well introduced to me in childhood through a very popular Bollywood song

मेरा जूता है जापानी, ये पतलून इङ्ग्लिस्तानी

सर पे लाल टोपी रूसी, फ़िर भी दिल है हिन्दुस्तानी

 I leaned the song verbatim “Mera Joota hai Japani” ( 1955, My shoes are Japanese ) even before my learning nursery rhymes.  The song also glorifies the nomadic freelance travel. Bollywood also had films like “Love in Tokyo” (1964) making the word ‘Sayonara’ as colloquial as  the Goodbye in English.

My High school principal was an accomplished poet in Gujarati, who introduced Haiku(1965), the Japanese poetic form to Gujarati and it became very popular.  Early Novels in Gujarati Novel has a backdrop of Japanese victory over Russia (1905). Many  in parent’s generations  cheered for Japan  during pre- WW-II era over British colonialists. Few Japanese  books  like  “Hidden Flower” ( Pearl Buck), “Thousand cranes” ( Yasunari Kawabata who won the Noble Prize in literature in 1968), became Popular. Even in Eurocentric culture and  the western dominance, Japan provided counter balance and has been always pride of Asia, and a role-model.

Then came the epic film “Tora! Tora! Tora!” about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the prophetic statement by the reluctant Japanese admiral.  That started my learning of history giving a different picture about the imperial past of Japan.

In the late 1980s, Japan appeared on the verge of an economic takeover of the world. The purchase of Columbia Pictures by Sony and the Rockefeller Center by Mitsubishi Real Estate at the time were two of the more dramatic examples of Japanese economic power. In Australia, residents of Queensland’s Gold Coast (with the notable exception of local real estate agents) protested the Japanese buy-up of prime real estate. The reaction in many parts of the world was fear. Movies such as "Rising Sun" intimated that there was a rather sinister plot by inscrutable kingpins to make Japan the next superpower by taking control of the global economy. My employer IBM exposed the Fujitsu and Hitachi which was believed to be the biggest industrial espionage case ever. Yet governments around the world at the time vied for investment from Japan,

Then in the late 1980s, Japan got stuck in recession. Japanese companies, too, which appeared unstoppable in the 1980s, are suddenly looking for international partners to help them out of their dire financial straits, hence the recent link-up between Nissan and the French automobile company Renault, preceded by the American company Ford’s massive purchase of Mazda shares.

Japan and Japanese society have been continuously subject of the headlines and scholarly analysis and debates. Is Japan Isolationist or expansionist?  Are they peace-loving or war-like?  Considerate of other cultures or arrogantly dismissive? Willing members of the international community or shy and fearful of engaging with others? Wildly successful or perched on the edge of economic ruin? Creators of stunningly beautiful art forms or destroyers of pristine natural environments

Japan also has a history of excessive nationalism, populism, and destructive xenophobia. Newspapers over the past few decades have provided all of these images!  Japan provides many important case studies and great examples of social changes like dealing with the aging population, urban development, and the nature of secular democracyand role of religion. More so for a developing nation like India also having the ancient civilization and burden of mythology and traditions vying to be a modern nation. 

Two weeks of trip and a set of cursory, anecdotal experiences cannot answer such complex issues. However, there are few observations that has reliable points.