The Private Islander

Some of you may be wondering about the lack of updates at The Private Islander over the last week. There’s no need to worry, as I have been in Japan and unable to update the blog for some time. I spent a week in Japan seeing the sights and studying the culture of this island country, and as a special treat to my readers here at The Private Islander, have made this post all about Japan. Read about the amazing places I visited, and see some amazing photos of Japan in this 8-page feature.

Of the eight or so days I spent away from home, only six were spent in Japan. Flying from the United States to Japan is absolutely brutal; traveling each way took up an entire day. I went to three cities in Japan: Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka.

The first two days were spent in Tokyo. Tokyo itself is one of 43 prefectures of Japan, containing more than 12 million people. The city of Tokyo itself is made up of 23 wards which are home to more than 8 million people collectively. It is not only the world’s most expensive city, but one of the most amazing.

Though the sun may set every night, darkness never reaches Tokyo. Every part of the city lights up, creating a myriad of colors not even a rainbow can compete with. Surprisingly, Tokyo really isn’t that noisy by night or day for such a large city. The Japanese government has very strict laws regulation noise pollution. The above photo was taken from my 7th story hotel room window. It’s unfortunate that the window did not open, so I had to deal with glare from the window pane.

Though all major cities are built up to an extent, Tokyo is especially so. Being accustomed to the large open spaces of America, I quickly got used to being surrounded by large crowds. Though many people were not out and about because of the New Years holiday, there are still quite a few people in the city. Japan is not a good place to live if you are claustrophobic or simply dislike large crowds. Elevators are almost always filled to their weight limit, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a seat on the train.

One of the first places I visited was Harajuku, a district of Tokyo popularized by the unique dress of the many young people who reside there. Some stores in this district have rather interesting names.

The next day was just as wonderful as the first…

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This entry was posted on Saturday, January 12th, 2008 at 5:08 pm and is filed under Features . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.