My brother, Scott, has lived in Japan for about 20 years. I have always planned on visiting him — someday. In the meantime, I’ve traveled to various destinations, but never to Japan. Asia was too far away. Tickets were too expensive. I wanted to visit places where I could practice Spanish. See Europe first. Save money, or spend money on other things.
Behind my excuses were fears. I haven’t spent much time with my brother and was worried about visiting when I didn’t know him well. The differences in language and culture also intimidated me. I wasn’t sure that I would like Japan.
But this is a year of changes. I’ve decided to take more risks and put more effort into connecting with family.
When I was hired to work in China for the month of May, I immediately started researching flights between Osaka and Beijing. This was the time to make travel to Japan happen.
My brother lives in a small neighborhood perched above the sea in the small town of Kada in the Wakayama Precture.
Osaka is about an hour and half away by train.
It was easy to see a lot of the surrounding area by train.
My brother also drove us to several beautiful spots that would be difficult or impossible to access with public transportation
In 5 short days, we visited:
The coastSmall townsMountainsNara, an ancient capital of JapanOsaka
The Coast
Towns
Every kind of paper lantern lined the streets in the historic town of Yuasa during the annual lantern festival.
I was happy to be a fairly clueless observer during my short time in Japan. I saw many things I did not understand. For example: a garden of cat sculptures at a shrine that was also filled with creepy dolls.
I am sure it is largely a product of my short time there, but Japan felt less familiar than any other place I have visited.
Mountains
Koyasan
A highlight of my trip was a mountaintop town where pagodas and an enormous cemetery lie below ancient cedars.
We arrived after sunset. Walking into the cemetery felt like entering another world.
Flying squirrels glided above our heads. Paths led between gravestones and lanterns and ended at legendary temples.
Nara
An ancient capital of Japan. A couple of hours by train from my brother’s house. We rented bikes to visit the many temples and historic sites situated around the massive city park.
Osaka
I didn’t get farther than eating delicious cheap noodles, drinking perfectly prepared coffee, and wandering the lively shopping arcades. Enough for me to go back for more. I can’t wait for my next visit.
The best thing about this visit was spending time with my brother. It has been weird having brothers who grew up and left the home when I was still little. I feel like we are getting to know each other for the first time and I am so grateful.
Getting from Bangkok to Osaka was an easy and cheap direct flight. From Osaka I flew directly to Beijing to start work as a facilitator on an experiential learning program located outside of Beijing.
On to China!
