I’m going to Japan in less than four years. That’s the plan. And it’s going to happen!
I found out about Japan Blog Matsuri through Justin’s post in Organization Anti-Social. He really is an expert in discovering new blogs and stuff. I’ve been meaning to write a post on this topic but kept procrastinating. It is hosted by A Modern Girl. When I saw Kuuki and Nopy have it up on their blogs, I know I should type away my own post A.S.A.P.
My reasons are largely influenced by my hobbies I suppose. Not all, but most. =) The most important thing for me is to experience and see firsthand the things I see around the Internet. The list of reasons below is not sorted in any particular order, just whichever that came first to mind.
1. Wonder Festival a.k.a WonFes
The only reason I don’t have as many figures as I wanted is cuz I don’t have the money for it. T.T But that doesn’t mean I’m not crazy about figures. I just want to attend one (or maybe more) Wonder Festival and drool over the lovely figures. I think it’s one of those events figure collectors would like to attend.
2. Akihabara
It’s a must on my list. When I visit Japan, this is a place I must go. I must see it for myself all the hobby shops that are there. It’s said to be the place for anime fans/gamers/ manga readers and whatnot. I reckon I’ll spend whole day browsing through the stores. Or maybe whole week.
3. Celebrate Hanami
Lovely. It can be in any place – Tokyo, Kyoto or Hokkaido. I imagine it’d be an enchanting experience.
4. Celebrate New Year’s Eve at any temple
In anime, the characters usually spend cold New Year’s Eve nights at the temple, welcoming the New Year. I’d like to try that. I’ll ring the bell, drink some amazake and draw my fortune to see if I’ll be having good or bad luck in the coming year.
5. Food
Of course I’d like to try genuine Japanese dishes like sushi and ramen. I’d to know if they taste the same as the local ones. Haha. I’m starving already.
6. 1:1 Life-size Gundam
I can only hope it’s there when I’m there.
So there you have it. My reasons for visiting Japan. Care to share with me yours?
World of Yamaguchi Hoshiko 
Good reason there.
Never plan to stay there and have a new life?
Would love to actually, but it’s not a strong desire. Currently self-studying Japanese and see how I do from there. However, I have strong desire to visit Japan.
By the way, care to share how you self-studying Japanese?
I want to start my own Japanese lesson too but I just don’t know where to start. :3
I started by learning all the Hiragana and Katakana through smart.fm. It was free back then. I think it has a really good method of teaching cuz it constantly test you of the stuff you’ve learned and limits the number of new items you can learn each day. Now, I’m using the cheat sheet here – http://nihonshock.com/2010/02/japanese-cheat-sheet-2/ – to refer back. I still list down all the Hiragana and Katakana every now and then so that I’ll remember. At this moment, I can read them (except for Kanji) but don’t understand a single thing unless they are words we hear frequently from anime >.<
After mastering both Hiragana and Katakana, I'm currently trying to learn the verbs and sentence structure. I bought a book for this. It's a random book I picked from a local book store. I chose it cuz it's easy to understand for me. "Japanese Verbs & Essentials of Grammar". Hope I can master this as well.
So yeah, that's what I've been doing. Hope it helps.
Ah, thanks.
I already got some thing to start with…
You’re welcome =)
Ack. I know I said that it didn’t have to be a list of reasons, but dang, looks like I started a trend!
Anyways, japanese food has proven to be good in America. I can’t wait to try it in Japan…if I ever go there^^ BTW, I guess I’m glad I got you started on this!
Yeah, you did. 😉
The Japanese food in Malaysia is good too, just curious to know if there are any difference with all the localization trend going on.
Ramen already taste differently in each store you’re going to, should be even better in Japan.
And I’m totally going to WonFes with you! Every time it happens I spend hours just looking at pictures and wondering when it’ll be out and how much it’ll cost and then cry because I’ll never get to even see them for real.
I want to see the Gundam as well! One of my first fandom was Gundam Wing, back in the days when the internet didn’t exist
That’s true, but the question is is the taste authentic.
I do the same too! Every WonFes I always visit different blogs and gaze at those beautiful figures and wished that I can have it all.
There’s so much I’d like to try in Japan, but somehow I’ve never been all that interested in going. Maybe if I could speak Japanese, but I’ve always been bad at that.
It’s good that you’re making a plan, though. I know a few people who went to Japan for a while, and they all liked it.
It is harder if language barrier exists. I’ll be lying if I said I’m not worried about it. When I see the pictures of Japan – the places, the streets, I don’t think there are a lot of English words? I think I’ll have hard time ordering food at McD. That was one of my thoughts, seriously. But hopefully, I can overcome this one way or another. =)
I also want to visit Japan someday, specifically to Hokkaido and Tokyo. Also just like you, I want to go there to see the festivals, taste authentic Japanese foods, cheery blossoms, anime stuff, and culture.
I know it’s very very early to say but good luck on your trip, hopefully you’ll blog about your experience. ^^
LOL. I’ll be sure to blog about it…about four years from now.
Great plan you got there. I will take this as reference if I have opportunity to go to Japan someday. =)
Haha. You think these are good enough?
I think this should be good enough, or maybe I just add some more… Any suggestion?
Not currently though. These are the main reasons I have for going to Japan. Perhaps I’ll have some more as time goes on.
Am I the only one with little to zero interest in actually going to Japan? :O
I mean, it would be just as any vacations, nothing special…maybe I’m strange…:O
For me, I love traveling and Japan happens to be one of the countries in my top 10.
It doesn’t make you strange just cuz you have no or little interest in going to Japan, that’s for sure =)
That hanami photo sure looks lovely. ^^
On top of all your reasons, I’d also like to visit Asakusa, Harajuku, and most parts of Tokyo, I guess. I’d like to see Kyoto and Hokkaido too. I’ve been to Japan but only at Narita Airport (stopover on my way to LA) OTL
That photo made me wanna go to see hanami for myself even more =)
Apart from Tokyo, Kyoto and Hokkaido, I’d like to go to Okinawa too. And maybe even Osaka. Well, that’s better than me. I’ve never even been to the airport. =(
You’re going to have to stay in Japan for several months to cover all of those reasons, but good luck! Personally, I found authentic Japanese ramen to be really salty, which didn’t suit my tastes. I’m sure you’ll have fun in Akiba, I spent most of my nights there since I was staying in a place nearby.
That’s right, given the time some of the events take place I’ll have to stay for a while or I could always make multiple trips to Japan. Ahh..I can’t wait to taste the ramen for myself and have tons of fun in Akiba!
Pingback: September 2011 Japan Blog Matsuri: Reasons to Visit Japan | A Modern Girl / モダンガール
The results of the September Japan Blog Matsuri are now up! Check out your post and others at:
http://wp.me/pDEya-ow
If you’d like to share this link on your blog, Twitter, etc., I’m sure all of your fellow contributors would appreciate it. Thanks for participating!
Pingback: Hoshiko’s Short Visit To Japan | World of Yamaguchi Hoshiko
And you did it! 🙂
Yes I did! =)