05-07-2018, 12:10 AM
We spent a week in Tokyo. Wonderful, gigantic, bright, clean, respectful, super-organized.
A week in Kyoto. Not quite as enjoyable - they have started pandering for tourists - but it is still the Old Japan.
(It was spared from being bombed in the war because a US military guy had spent his honeymoon there years before
)
Then our last week was in Fukuoka - a city way out of the way and rarely visited by Westerners - and we got what we wanted - a taste of 'real' Japan. Splendiferous.
We can't speak highly enough of the Japanese people we encountered.
And we saw no homelessness, no graffiti, no public drunkenness nor drugged-out youth, no raising voices (the most was the occasional raised eyebrow
).
I don't mean to make it sound 'sanitized' - it's quite the opposite - but we've never experienced such politeness and a willingness to 'get along together' anywhere else.
Absolutely fabulous. Highly recommended. And far less expensive than expected. And the food....oh, the food....
But don't expect anyone to speak English! You're in Japan, so you need to learn basic Japanese greetings, thankyous, etc.
Hmmm... perhaps I should continue this in the "Places you have or would like to visit" thread....
A week in Kyoto. Not quite as enjoyable - they have started pandering for tourists - but it is still the Old Japan.
(It was spared from being bombed in the war because a US military guy had spent his honeymoon there years before
) Then our last week was in Fukuoka - a city way out of the way and rarely visited by Westerners - and we got what we wanted - a taste of 'real' Japan. Splendiferous.
We can't speak highly enough of the Japanese people we encountered.
And we saw no homelessness, no graffiti, no public drunkenness nor drugged-out youth, no raising voices (the most was the occasional raised eyebrow
).I don't mean to make it sound 'sanitized' - it's quite the opposite - but we've never experienced such politeness and a willingness to 'get along together' anywhere else.
Absolutely fabulous. Highly recommended. And far less expensive than expected. And the food....oh, the food....
But don't expect anyone to speak English! You're in Japan, so you need to learn basic Japanese greetings, thankyous, etc.
Hmmm... perhaps I should continue this in the "Places you have or would like to visit" thread....
There's a difference between having an opinion and having an informed opinion.