Dōmo arigatō, a Japanese experience never to forget - The Wandering Writer

In this nice spring day, I am going to tell you something about a journey that literally shocked my life:

JAPAN

The land of Samurais, of the cherry blossoms, Geishas, high technology and ancient traditions.
A land that is able to find a sort of equilibrium between a very old cultural heritage and a fast-growing technology.
Our destination and landmark was Osaka, and already as we arrived at the airport, we understood how that would have been a very different kind of holiday.
The organization of the tourist service is very efficient and, on the other hand, everybody seems very eager to help a foreigner, which much probably will find a bit lost.
We could opt for a rail pass, which gave us the possibility to use the train for the entire length of our stay without any restriction. This is something that I highly recommend, because with the train you can go travel the whole country without any problem, saving a lot of time and visiting most of the places.
Be prepared for a cultural shock that will slap your face like a bullet train, and the first thing you will have to face is the language. Regardless the eagerness of the common people to help you if you are lost, it is not said that they will be able to help you in your language, so get ready for an improvised sign communication, and a lot of laughs.
Another thing that might impress you is the pedestrian traffic.

Even the narrowest streets, seem to be crowded, even without people walking through. There is this sense of hurry, perhaps given by the big signs of the shops, that might make you uncomfortable at first, but curious to discover more.

 The city is crammed not just by people, but with everything that can fit, and the pedestrian traffic is something that requires some initial acquaintance. However, after the first two days of roaming around discovering the city, we realized the power of our train pass, and we decided to move around not only throughout the city but outside of it.
Something strange that happened to us was that we were not even able to exchange a single word during the day, and only as soon as we reached the hotel, we finally could take out everything that happened during the day. It was like our brains were too busy to record everything and make a sense out of the apparent chaos made of people, lights, sounds, cars and really whatever else.
One thing I remember quite well was the weather. I have no idea whether that was the normal summer there, but it was very hot. Nevertheless, we didn't let this particular to stop us, and even in the warmest hours of the day, we moved to discover everything possible, so the first stop was to visit the Himeji Castle, located at the top hill of the Himeji town.
The difference between this small city and Osaka was clear, and we were glad to see how more relaxed people looked like.
The Himeji Castle was first built in 1333, but dismantled and rebuilt again in 1346, to be significantly remodeled in 1581, and this to tell you that when Japanese people are not satisfied with the result of whatever they are building, they are ready to tear it apart to rebuild it from the beginning.

The castle can be considered a state of the art in terms of defense, and it was very much advanced for being constructed during the feudal period. On the other hand, the creativity and higher technological evolution of the Japanese people are renowned and this castle is just one of the many examples of it.
Going on, we could not avoid but reach also the lovely city of Kyoto, known for the environmental treaty.
However, as we were arriving by train we were attracted by a tall building close by (or what we thought it was so because by walk it took like forever).
We had no idea what it was because we didn't bring with us any sort of map, but we felt immediately attracted. We found out later that it was the Shōren-in, a Buddhist temple, also known as the Awata Palace.

The first impression we had in that torrid day, after a long walk to reach the temple, was a relieving sense of inner peace. It felt like there was no more hurry in that chaos, everything was as calm as the water of the lily pond.
I felt soothed by the slight movement of the water and enchanted by the many animals living in the temple, and I felt invited to sit down and meditate about the meaning of life and how to reach that peace in my everyday life.
All the rest seemed meaningless, like being transported to another planet, another dimension made of peace and calm.

I am not telling you a lie, when I say that we spent most of the day in silence just admiring the surroundings, enjoying that rare moment of inner discovery.

Regretfully leaving the temple, we headed for another "must visit" in Japan, and that is Hiroshima and the memorial museum.
Hiroshima is located in one of the many islands, but reaching it by train you will never guess you are crossing the sea to reach it.
I will leave the historical facts aside, because just like the rest of the country, its history is quite complex, and I might risk boring the reader who is more interested to know what sort of place is Japan from the tourist point of view.
NEVER!!
Therefore, I will just tell you something about the impressions I had as a tourist as I arrived there.
The city was certainly able to heal its scars, yet keeping the memory alive. It seemed clear to me that only by doing so you can finally get over the most traumatic experiences in life. Perhaps this is a good way to remember what we did wrong once and keep in our mind that things like this should never happen again.
As I always believed, history is like our extended memory, and we should learn from every single mistake in the past, what is right and what is wrong.
Unfortunately, this is not always possible, and devastating mistakes are done year after year without learning anything from them.

However, something that will always remain with me about what I saw there at the memorial museum was the reconstruction about the before and after the nuclear bombing in 1945.
That powerful image is something that everybody should stick in their mind, as a reminder of how humanity can fail.

That is the before the bombing and after the bombing, not counting the consequences for all the future generations caused by the radiations. Definitely one of the saddest chapters in human history, and I cried.
Once and for all I wanted to be back to the temple in Kyoto, which felt so far from everything that can be destructive.
The positive thing is, as I mentioned before the ability of the population to get over the past and look at the future, hoping never to commit the same mistake again.

Of course, we could not leave the Mt. Fuji unexplored, and with the bullet train:

 we left Hiroshima on our shoulders and headed towards the northern part of the country, and at 100 km from Tokio, we reached one of the three sacred mountains in Japan.
Call it a mountain is, however, incorrect, as it is a volcano, but since it is considered inactive, (the last eruption has been recorded in 1707) it can be easily included into the definition of "mountain."
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The trip with the bullet train was a real experience, the train reached the speed of 300 km/h and it felt like sitting in my home couch.
The vibrations are very minimal, therefore, when I looked at the display and realized that we were traveling at that speed, it made me wonder.
And of course, it didn't take that much to reach the destination (Honshu island) from where we were supposed to take the bus to reach the mountain.
Now, something people might understand is that the weather is not always on your side, and perhaps you are going to visit the Fuji-san hoping to get great sceneries, and amazing pictures to show, or to look back at, and instead, all you get is this:

Yes, I know it was quite frustrating to find a thick curtain of fog, instead of the great clear images, and stunning sceneries, we saw from the tourist brochure.
As a tourist, you might feel a bit scammed, but bad weather is something to consider whenever going for a trip, and so, we got contented to be there.

As it was the time to say goodbye to Japan, we took a look at Osaka from one of the best vantage points, the Tempozan Ferry wheel:

The wheel is 112 m tall, so it really gives you a great vantage point and one of the best views of the city:

And finally, a real goodbye until the next time, and to all of you, I wish a pleasant weekend, wherever you might be or whatever you might do.