The politeness of the people you told about is outstanding and I love how everything here is clean and organized. You really stand out from the crowd as a Westerner but you get help everywhere here if you ask for it. I also adore Washoku, Japanese food, espially tempura, maki and onigiri, that little rice balls with different flavours you get in every convenience market.

Yes, you´re right about the vending machines, you see them literally around every corner you go. It´s fun seeing them in the strangest places (I recently found one in a park in the middle of nowhere). I´m always wondering who´s always refilling them and how many people that have to be all over the country.

I just saw a little part of that what I wanna see in Japan, but I already fell in love with it.

I decided to write blog about my experiences in Japan and I hope that it will be one day as wonderful as yours.

Wish you the best,
Victoria

The bf/gf service is interesting to hear. When I was there I was not paid but given gifts to hang with a guy. Never knew it was an actual thing. I was told because it was cool to be with a black American who loved to party. Never tried anything sexual, just picked me up a few times a week and took me to different functions. I also got paid to be a club hopper. Basically, I brought people in the club and got them on the dance floor 100US a night for this back in 93.

I\’m sure the night life has changed and I won\’t get to take my family up Mt.Fuji during my visit but I\’m excited to go back. I wish I still had contact with the friends I made but I\’m sure I\’ll make new ones.

To say I fell in love with Japan would be a serious understatement.

I’m a bit older than most of your readers, and have visited over 60 countries in what has been collectively some 6 1/2 years of travel. After that first trip to Asia (Korea, Thailand, Japan) I decided to plan on a longer-term voyage: about a year. And much of it would center on Japan.

So, upon my return, I quickly enrolled in a local university’s Advanced & Accelerated Language program — in Japanese. I studied 3-6 hours a day, using recordings, films, and books. I contracted a Japanese friend from the gym for tutoring twice a week. When I returned, in ’94, I was actually conversant; I could carry on a rudimentary conversation, inquire about lodging or food, simply get around.

Every hour of study gave me a hundred-fold return on my investment. I usually hitch-hike when I travel (I even hitched across the Sahara),and Japan was no exception. Everyone picked me up: families, truckers, women. Twice I was treated to a hotel room; I ate countless meals, courtesy of my rides and people I’d met on the street, and at least a dozen times I was invited to stay with people in their homes — once for a week, and once for a month, courtesy of a Buddhist monk (and golf pro; Japan is a complicated place) I’d met, in all places, on a golf course in Kyushu.

My joys in travel are experiential: cities are interesting, but people rock. I spent much time just hitching around the southern islands, finding little minshuku (inns) when I needed a place to stay, eating at local places. And, while places like Mali, southern France, the west coast of Ireland and many others are memorable, few of my travels have been so utterly delightful as that long summer in Japan.