The land of the rising sun – Swindon Link editor goes to Japan

Japan is a strange and wonderful place.

It’s only half a day’s flight away but it’s like you’re travelling to an alien planet where every rule is turned on its head and life as you know it is a distant memory.

My trip took place at the end of March and the beginning of April timed perfectly for the Sakura season – the two weeks that the cherry blossoms bloom all over the country and the Japanese celebrate by having picnics everywhere.

It’s hard to sum up Japan. It’s traditional and regimented in some respects and completely bonkers to us westerners in others. The modern meets the ancient.

It’s a bold place unlike any other on earth and for a westerner it can make your head explode. But the people have respect and etiquette ingrained into them as part of the culture and that seeps through every aspect of Japan life. I love it.

During my trip I ventured through the heady lights of Tokyo, the business-like Osaka where thousands of company men all dress as if they’ve stepped off the set of Reservoir Dogs as they head off eerily silent to work and finally Kyoto where ancient Japanese culture seeps out of every corner.

It was definitely a land of contrasts, where you can experience a coffee surrounded by cats at one of their many cat cafes, or go on a day trip to Mount Fuji but never see it as the flirtatious beast never seemed to want to come out from behind cloud cover (I eventually saw it from the Shinkansen – the bullet train on my way back to Tokyo from Kyoto to catch my flight home.)

I definitely got a taste for Japan during my stay. And when I say taste I’m talking about the food. It’s flippin’ delicious (or oishi as the Japanese would say!)

I had this preconceived idea that it would just be raw fish. And although I like raw fish as much as the next guy, I was dreading being on a diet of just that for a fortnight.

And although I have had a bountiful amount of Sashimi (strips of delicious raw fish) and sushi there’s so much more here and I’ve only scratched the tasty surface.

Special mention goes to unagi – grilled eels on a bed of rice or ramen noodles – that is as far from the awful jellied eels we have in England as you can get as this actually tastes great and is edible.

Then there’s teppanyaki – various cuts of meat you cook yourself at the table. Pretty damn good.

And let’s not forget takoyaki – octopus served in a ball of tempura batter and smothered in sauce making it the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten.

One night in Osaka we ventured to the more expensive side of the Japanese palette with Kobe beef. Cooked in front of us by a Japanese chef and then served in strips with various veg and rice. The chef gave us instructions on how to eat each medium rare steak strip – one portion on its own with no sauce, one strip with wasabi (kind of Japanese horseradish) and soy sauce and one slice with salt and garlic. Oh and you eat the veg with miso sauce. It was like a party in my mouth.

Japan didn’t do my waistline any good.

In Kyoto The Golden Pavilion has definitely earnt its place as a world heritage site being all golden and that (I tried to forget that I wasn’t looking at the 800 year old pavilion that had been latterly used as a zen palace but at a 50 year old exact replica after the original burnt down in the fifties!)

It was a day of crowds though. You basically couldn’t move for people trying to take camera phone snaps of the pavilion from every angle. It’s surrounded by a permanent paparazzi scrum of tourists. It’s the Beyoncé of Japanese traditional attractions.

Next up was the Inari shrine famous for its almost never-ending red column entrances. Another beautiful site. Kimonos were everywhere and the whole site was awash with colour. You could almost believe that you were in ancient Japan if you squinted and ignored the iPhone wielding crowds that seemed to have followed us from the Golden Pavilion.

Tokyo itself was like a fever dream of neon and noise. There’s so many aspects of Japanese life crammed into everything. From anime and manga which was everywhere to karaoke being performed in every bar which I’m happy to say I went for in a big way after too much sake. There’s one bar in Shinjuku that will be talking about my rendition of ‘Let it Go’ for years to come.

I know that in my two weeks I had barely enough time to scratch the surface. It’s just all so amazing. I’ll definitely be heading back there one day. But for now I’ll just have to ‘Let it go’.