Maybe a better question might be – Is there much to do or see or experience in Japan? Because, I haven’t met anyone yet who hasn’t either wanted to stay longer or wants to come back again. I know I do and I’ve visited Japan 20 times now, each time a little more than the last. I find it fascinating in so many ways. It’s truly an incredible place and somewhere you’re going to want to explore.
When I was a boy, growing up in the Eastern suburbs of Sydney, I was fascinated with Ninjas and Samurai and all of my friends and pretty much the entire school, spent their spare time pretending we too were ninjas, all thanks to an obscure black and white dubbed TV show called The Samurai. Australia was unusual in that for some strange reason the show just resonated with my generation and it was one of the only countries in the world that broadcasted the show.
Weekends were always spent making star knives (yes actual star knives from metal ice cream containers) and throwing them at trees and fences and garage doors (sorry neighbours) and pretending we were ninjas. We’d jump out of trees and off the garage roof (amazing that there were no broken bones). I still vividly remember the cuts and knick in my hands because we’d cut them using tin snips and it always left a bur somewhere on the star knife. So when you’d go to flick them like a ninja you’d usually cut yourself – a different time altogether. Anyway, it wasn’t just the characters that had an influence because the show was set in an ancient time period and we were exposed to some of the Japanese culture even though we didn’t know it was happening.
So as I grew up, I’d had some exposure to Japan, but I wanted to see more and so when Susan & I decided to get married the obvious choice for our honeymoon was to head to Japan (she spent several years living in Japan going to school in Tokyo, so she was already keen to return, more on this from her in another post to come). On our first trip we stayed for about 10 days and we created a jam packed military precision itinerary and to be honest, we would have had a much better trip had we slowed it down a little and spent a bit more time exploring and touristing less.
So let’s get back to the question I opened up with – How long do I need to see Japan? Simple answer is a lifetime, there truly is so much to see and experience you’d never do it all in one lifetime. Unfortunately, for so many of us our travelling is restricted to our work vacation schedule and so you need to fit into the time available. I think most of us probably look at about 1 to 2 weeks on a trip so can you see Japan in two weeks? Yes, but you’re going to compromise on a few things too. Remember there are clearly 4 seasons throughout Japan, which will restrict some of the things you may want to do or see e.g. Sumo or Baseball have very strict dates that they are available, they are not on all year round, Cherry Blossom season is short and extremely busy and usually more expensive.
Hot Tip – If you’ve never been to Japan, consider just visiting Tokyo. This city is so large, so interesting and probably so different to where you currently live I know you’ll find plenty to see, do, experience to make a truly fantastic holiday. In fact, I probably should write an article purely on just coming to Tokyo. More on that to come.
Here’s a link to Wikipedia’s page on The Samurai if you’re interested to know more.