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Since I was in my early 20s, I’ve dreamt of traveling to Japan. The Japanese women who studied abroad at my college — sharing dorm rooms, a table in the dining hall and nights at Chicago dance clubs with me and my American friends — first introduced me to their culture, very different than my suburban-Chicago upbringing.
When I finally got to Japan this past autumn, three decades after graduating from college, I hadn’t considered how difficult it would be to manage the culture, language and train schedules. But by the end of the trip, on a bullet train to Nasu’s countryside, as I ate lunch out of a bento box scored from Tokyo Station, using chopsticks just like my fellow passengers as we whizzed by farmland, those worries were left behind. Like any foreign culture, after you assimilate for a few days, it becomes easier.
Because I wanted to diversify my time in Japan, I chose three regions to explore, all within three hours of Tokyo: the Ishikawa prefecture, Tokyo and the Nasu prefecture.
I checked off many must-dos, including a geisha performance at an 18th-generation ryokan in Kaga, with its private hot springs, called onsens, in each room. Meals are included and it’s in a walkable village. There, I surprised myself by showing signs of rhythm using a drum when our group joined the women on stage. Breakfast the next morning was like being in a curiosity shop with so many offerings. I ate it all, ranging from poached eggs and salmon to the more unfamiliar dried seaweed strips and chopped, pickled vegetables.
Another immersive experience hit closer to home. A college friend who moved back to Japan met up with me one Saturday in Tokyo’s Shibuya ward. We walked the world’s busiest pedestrian crossing, strolled Meiji Jingu’s grounds (we even saw a wedding in progress!), and browsed stalls at a farmers’ market and antiques market (my favorite weekend activity at home). Like me, she surrounds herself with strong female friends who call themselves “the dream team” as they empower each other to pursue big goals. Despite being oceans apart, we lead parallel lives, which is a discovery that never ceases to amaze me while traveling.
The rest of the time, other than a five-day group tour in Ishikawa’s prefecture, I was on my own. Traveling on an organized tour, however, allowed me to experience that region’s rich history of crafts like woodturning (for lacquerware) and gold-leaf making, and also meditate with a monk at his temple, practice samurai instruction, and undergo a purification ritual called misogi in cold water with a Japanese priest a Shirayama Hime-jinja, a 2,100-year-old shrine.
While English-speaking proficiency is increasing in Japan, it was a rarity to be able to communicate in my language. Despite this barrier, I learned through polite non-verbal interchanges, so typical of Japanese culture, or make a gold leaf from a master artist using century-old equipment and properly don a kimono for meals at ryokans, which are traditional Japanese hotels. In train stations, no one refused to help. Even if it meant pointing in the right direction or holding up the right number of fingers, we were able to communicate. One Japanese man, with a guitar slung over his shoulder, helped me understand my route and gave parting advice in English (“Don’t worry”) when he exited a stop before me on the same train.
There’s never been a better time to visit Japan, considered among the world’s safest and cleanest countries. The exchange rate is the best it’s ever been against the U.S. dollar. I bought sushi to-go from grocery stores for the equivalent of $2.
With a little bit of planning, Japan is as doable and comfortable as jetting off to a European city. It helps to have an updated smart phone. First, consider downloading the Google Translate, Google Maps apps or similar apps on your smartphone. Next, ensure you can use data outside of Wi-Fi, such as through an additional monthly fee to your carrier, your carrier’s free international plan, or a SIM card installed into your smartphone. With Google Translate, hold your phone up to signs and the translation pops up within seconds. Similarly, Google Maps provides walking and transit directions, even telling you what platform your train is on — a blessing in bustling Tokyo Station.
It's also important to brush up on local customs—including packing a tote bag, backpack or large purse. Trash cans are few and far between and the Japanese simply hold onto their trash for the day and dispose at their home or office. You should also bow when meeting someone, as a form of politeness, and it’s considered rude to eat and drink while walking, a habit I quickly learned to quash. And do not talk on your cell phone, or to anyone, on the trains. These are quiet sanctuaries, which at first felt jarring but I later came to love.
One mistake I made is to pick my Tokyo hotel on impulse, a flashy, new property designed around vintage Americana but later I learned it was quite a haul from the rest of the city. My advice is to book one of the many well-located rental homes so you can have a kitchen, take fewer train rides and easily be able to go back to your room to rest.
The last two nights of my trip were in a setting that fully reminded me of the countryside in my home state. As Japan’s first agritourism hotel (Risonare Nasu), the surrounding region is, like Wisconsin, rife with cheesemakers and dairy farmers. As I picked edamame in the resort’s farm fields with Japanese families also staying at the resort, each of us clutching a small basket, this became clear: Even without a shared language, on different sides of the world, our global family shares a lot of important traits — love of friends, family and food!
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Have you ever been to Japan? Would you like to go? Let us know in the comments below.
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