Impressions

As with all traveling experiences, I guess the biggest thing that sticks out for people is the differences. For me, there was no difference. I think it all started with the plane where English wasn't the 1st option, or even the 2rd, but the 3rd.

Finally English! After three screens of Chinese and Japanese only for it to be in... the metric system! This eventually changed as once we hit Narita, you get to add Korean to the mix. It does make for shortcuts if you know Kanji or Hangeul; otherwise you're stuck waiting for English to know where you are. Not a gripe, but was definitely the first sense of culture shock.

After that it was, 'Look at this! Look at that! It's so different!' I don't think it helped we stayed in a traditional looking inn for the first few nights either...

Either way, after the initial shock, the differences seem to give way to the similarities. Hopefully, as someone wiser advised me, that will help highlight what makes Japan so special.