Dates: May11-25, 2016. When we came back, everyone asked us, what is your favourite country you have visited, even though, it is a tricky/hard question to answer, as there is no single country, we would've skipped or disliked, the answer would be Japan, as the coolest modern country we've ever seen .
Tokyo, from all perspectives, is the most unique, developed, energetic, clean, polite and interesting city we have ever seen. This city is so strategically organized that even though, it looks complicated, it is very easy to travel in it. Their MTR system is getting anywhere you need, without a need for a taxi. Also, the city has endless neighbourhoods that are popular to visit, and each area, is crazier than other. If you see one area, you may think, this is the only crazy place in Tokyo, because it is so busy that you can't believe that there is another one like this. The craziest neighbourhood is the famous street, Shibuya. It is known for its madness intersection. Large number of people crossing at the same time, from all the corners. It's something else to witness. The best part is that no one is bumping into you or touching you. I call it, an "organized madness." Other than that, this area is full of restaurants, pubs, cafes, bars, nightlife, shopping, etc. At night, it is all lighten up, and the vibe becomes even crazier. Despite this insane atmosphere, most of the neighbourhoods in Tokyo, are like that, perhaps, slightly less, and each one of them, has a different theme or personality. You can spend lots of weeks to cover the highlights and secrets areas of Tokyo.
Osaka is 10 hours away from tokyo by a bus transportation. We decided to reduce 10 hours to 2 hours, by taking a bullet train. It goes up to 350KM an hour, felt pretty fast;) I consider Osaka as the mini version of Tokyo. It has lots of crazy neighbourhoods, but because it is a much smaller city, you can cover Osaka, within 3-4 days. It is an amazing and live city. A bit less modern than Tokyo, you can tell it by the way people dressed, talk and behave.
Kyoto is the most authentic city in Japan. It is full of temples and pagodas. It has the Edo style, like 100 years ago. Especially when you visit the old neighbourhood, Gion. Another popular thing to see there is geishas. You can locate them in Gion area, but it is extremelly difficult to find them, almost impossible, as they move in late nights from one place to another, through secret/hidden paths. We were lucky enough, to see and film one of them, as she just received the honour to become geisha.
Before, we left Japan, we decided to visit quickly the famous Mountain Fuji. It usually has large amount of snow on the top of the mountain, but due to its summer season, there was very little of it. It was still worth to see it, since it is the largest mountain in Japan.
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