September 12th, 2008 by A World Vacationer

From our Win a Trip Contest
A travel story by - Patrick M.

This past Spring I had the opportunity to visit my niece who is working with the JET program in Japan as a teacher. She invited her mother (my middle sister) and anyone in the family that wanted to for a visit. I was accompanied by my oldest sister, so the three of us who not gone farther than Canada, Mexico, or the Carribbean in our lives, set out for the long flight to Japan.

Amazingly, we all made it in, I met up with my oldest sister in Tokyo airport, and we caught 3 trains in the middle of the night to Kanazawa. We all enjoyed 9 days there, seeing Tokyo, Kanazawa, Kobe, Hiroshima, and sites all around those areas. The Cherry Blossoms were at their PEAK the week that we were there, it was amazing.

We visited parks, ate some items that we weren’t real sure about, but it was all good, though smaller portions than us Americans are used to. It was an experience that I highly recommend, even though we knew only a few ‘get you by’ words of Japanese, there were many that spoke English to some degree, and if they did not they were always so polite and courteous to try and help you, or find someone that could.

A Taxi driver turned off his meter after we got lost, it was our fault, but he wouldn’t hear of it, and even gave us little gifts at the end. The expenses were comparable to what we would pay vacationing here in the states, so if you are up for the flight I would put it on your to do list of places to go. Get out of the larger cities though, enjoy the country (literally).

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