Japan round-up

I am writing this while we are on a bumby ride to Busan, South Korea in a jet ferry. This thing is amazing, it's merely flying.

 

We've been in japan for 14 days and have seen a lot, I mean really a lot. We used, or better said abused, our rail passes to a maximum. From the alps in the north to the sea in the south. An amazing trip thus far.  The picture below describes roughly the places we've visited.

Our journey trough Japan, click to enlarge.

Our expressions of japan and the feelings it gave us are diverse. First of all, the Japanese are the nicest, most helpful people I've met on the road. Always willing to help you, asking others to help you and really like to chat of the country where you're from. The surroundings, buildings, culture and how this mixes with technology are stunning. The thought:" Why don't we have this in Europe" crossed my mind occasionally.  They accepted the technology of the west, but kept their costums. A thing the so called west could learn a thing of two from. A really great thing is that they really like that you visit Japan, a old man came up to us, which by the way amazes me that old people speak English well. He said: "Thank you for visiting Japan", the way he said it was touching and honest.

 

The food is simply amazing, unfortunately we did't have the budget to eat the Japanese food everyday. We tend to live on instant noodles from 7/11. That's the only downside I could find in Japan, the costs. We've spend "only" 55 euros per person a day in Japan" including traveling, hotels, food and drinks. While this is far over our daily budget we also need to live a little! Gotta live a little and it was well worth it!

The public transport is simply perfect, always on time. Yes NS and DB, on time, perhaps these two companies should also make a trip to Japan and research why it is possible here. I could honestly say that everyone who like to see a country in Asia but is a bit afraid of hygiene or whatever he reason is. Japan is the answer, it is cleaner and than any country in Europe.

Something weird to note up: the differences in costums related to man and woman are a lot different here, they seem to split the two sexes always. First we saw this at some hotels.later in public baths which was still oke, then one day while traveling we saw female only train coupe's, 

On a side note: there are a shitload of French people and brasseries etc. in Japan. I do not know why, only that there are a lot of French, for you to decide if that is a good or bad thing.

Thanks Japan for having us! I'll be back someday to eat your delicious food everyday. South Korea, here we come!