Our Top 20 Favorite Things About Japan!

Bev, Zen and I have had countless wonderful travel experiences in many amazing, beautiful places: throughout Asia, India, France, Italy, Turkey, areas of Africa and Latin America. Notwithstanding this 5-star array of superlative destinations, Japan, alone remains our favorite. Japan is singular among other cultures in its unique ability to assimilate and synthesize foreign influences. The contrast between the orderly and balanced Shinto-Buddhist-centered culture and its forward-thinking technology makes Japan a compelling place. Despite our many travels to Japan, there always seems to be an impenetrable veil in truly understanding this inscrutable land. Almost every aspect of life in Japan, from the tea ceremony, to sumo wrestling to the wabi-sabi aesthetic, there is a feeling of something other than itself, beyond itself.

Please enjoy reading our Japan Top 20 Favorites - informative + entertaining!

1. No Pills, No Shots, No Visas!

This is Zen's proclamation when speaking of the ease of traveling to Japan. Unlike many other places we travel to, prepping for Japan is easy - no malaria pills nor special inoculations, and no visas. All you need is a valid U.S. passport and you are good to go!

2. Cleanliness

Japan's Shintoesque identity has made the country and its people the cleanest on earth. Wherever you travel in Japan, the natives are well-groomed and fastidiously clean. This cultural obsession extends to the streets, homes, offices, train stations, taxis and even the (sanitized) restrooms in Narita Airport! We include their currency - we love the crisp, clean Japanese yen (take a lesson, U.S. treasury!)

3. Geisha Culture

A private geisha dinner with a Geiko (geisha in Kyoto), Maiko (apprentice geiko), and Jikatu (instrument-playing geiko), is another worldly experience. While being served a scrumptious multi-course kaiseki dinner, you are serenaded with traditional Japanese song, dance and games. Separately, Zen feels a geisha "makeover" is among her most "awesome" experiences in Japan.

4. High-touch Luxury Ryokans

Amazingly, two of the most famous ryokans (Japanese Inns) in Kyoto are located directly across the alleyway from each other. It's difficult to distinguish Tawaraya from Hiiragiya - they both represent the very highest levels of high-touch service and family ownership trace back to the early 19th century.

The high costs of staying at one of these ryokans has no correlation to sleek, high tech amenities such as flat-screen TVs, spas or high-tech bathrooms. Rather it's due to the meticulous, sincere high-touch immersion into Japanese culture. This includes your own dedicated Japanese room attendant who individually serves your meals (including a multi-course Kaiseki dinner), prepares your bedding and provides a wabi-sabi centered service that is pure and real

5. Japan's Bathroom Culture

Toto's automated toilets/washlets make Japan's bathroom culture most unique, perhaps a further expression of Shinto cleanliness and hygiene. These toilets are amazing - all-spraying, all deoderizing, with oscillating heated massage! Bev, Zen and I agree that the Toto washlet is a fun, hands-free, spa-like bathroom experience, especially the updated ones in the Peninsula Tokyo and Hyatt Regency Kyoto! We are excited to hear that ANA (All Nippon Airways) have installed the Toto toilets in their new 787 Dreamliners. ANA's CEO proclaimed the carriers "will refresh the parts other airlines cannot reach!"

6. Japanese Food + Ramen Slurping!

Noodles whether ramen, soba or udon, are a Japanese national addiction, a cornerstone of the country's psyche. Japan's noodle culture embraces both high and low, from instant packs to the curious inventions of Michelin-starred restaurants. A big part of our noodle fixation is to devour the noodles noisily. The slurping sound (tsuru-tsuru) is most critical in expressing your joy for the noodles. Bravo Zen!

7. Japan's Railway System

Similar to so much of Japan, its railway/Shinkansen (bullet) transport system is meticulously efficient, immaculately clean, very fast, and completely reliable. If only we had Shinkansen in the states! We particularly love the First Class N700 Green Cars - ergonomic seating with unbelievably smooth ride! Yet another amazing feature of these trains is the “tilting” technology which you will experience on the route curves. Bento box lunches are a big plus!

8. Japan's Spiritual Walks

Japan has many spiritual walks particularly during the lovely April cherry blossoms/sakura season. Kyoto's "Philosopher's Walk" (1.2 miles) stone path follows a small canal which is lined by hundreds of cherry trees. With the cherry blossoms blooming in April, we feel this walk makes for one of Kyoto's most popular Hanami (cherry blossoms viewing). We also enjoy the more rigorous twilight trek (2.5 miles) up Fushimi shrine, our favorite shrine in Kyoto. For those seeking a more eerie macabre experience, Bev, Zen and I suggest a walk up Okunoin's cemetery in the sacred mountain of Koyasan - an idea setting for a Stephen King novel!

9. Tokyu Hands Department Store

Bev feels if you could go to just one department store in Japan, it would have to be Tokyu Hands, and its Shibuya flagship store. They sell EVERYTHING here from games, stationary, home and office supplies, art and paints materials, et. al. You may find goods here that are only available in Japan. The kawaii bento boxes and peculiar craft and stationary sections are much fun. Zen's favorite area is the party goods floor - such great stuff to bring back home!

10. Onsen (Natural Hot Springs)

Whether indoors or outdoors, Japan's ubiquitous hot springs are a national treasure, relaxing therapeutic, cathartic. Gora Kadan in Hakone and Kayotei in Yamanka are two of our favorites! The "AOI" suite at Gora Kadan is a spa in itself!

11. Wabi-Sabi Aesthetic

A big part of Japan's uniqueness is its wabi-sabi aesthetic. Wabi-sabi represents the Japanese worldview emphasizing simplicity and purity. You may think of wabi-sabi as a spiritual longing, the beauty of all things humble, unpretentious, ephemeral and imperfect. In contrast to our Western celebration of perfection, permanence, symmetry, and bravado, wabi-sabi exalts imperfection, impermanence, asymmetry and humility. Many in Japan refer to wabi-sabi as a feeling of hopeful sadness - nothing lasts, nothing is perfect, nothing is ever finished.

12. Incense from LISN in Kyoto

A "must-see" in Kyoto for all incense aficionados is a visit to the Lisn boutique incense shop. Lisn is a specialty brand of Shoyeido, Japan's famous 300-year-old incense company. You see more than 150 incense scents here, all of which are blended according to the ancient methods of Kyoto's Imperial Palace. Amazing smells here!

13. Sumo Wrestling

Bev, Zen and I very much enjoyed this unique, private experience at a local sumo stable (heya). Despite their girth, we were quite surprised to witness the amazing athleticism and endurance of the wrestlers. But the practice session is not for the faint of heart as the intensity of the wrestlers’ session produce waves of heavy sweat and odors permeating the relatively small area. The wrestlers live and train here, and practice each morning, followed by a large meal of chankonobe (meat of seafood stew). Yes a sport, but we consider this a most unique Shinto-centered cultural experience.

14. April Cherry Blossoms/Sakura

Traveling to Kyoto in April for the cherry blossoms is becoming somewhat of a tradition in the Lynch family. Cherry blossoms literally explode in the backdrop of all the wonderful temples and shrines, including Nijo Temple, Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavillion) andKiyomizu Temple. Perhaps our favorite setting for cherry blossoms is the Heian-jingju Shrine - the many weeping cherry trees in the gardens are heavenly - this is another beautiful, meditative walk in Kyoto. From March through May, the progress of the "cherry blossom front" is reported nightly on the weather reports as it makes its way through the archipelago. The local Japanese meteorologists always become animated when their regular weather reports move on to the "cherry blossom front".

15. Anime & Manga

Bev, Zen and I are big anime (Japanese animated film) fans, particularly as manifested in the Ghibli Museum, west of Tokyo in Mataka. Ghibli features the work of Academy award-winning filmmaker, Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo). Ghibli is a kid's animation wonderland!

16. AKB48!

Akihabara and the Japanese youth movement is best exemplified by AKB48, an all-girl pop group that includes a remarkable 92 members! The pop group broke world records not only by its number of members, but also by releasing the top 5 best-selling singles of Japan in 2011. AKB48’s music, as well as their act, has come to dominate Japan’s popular and commercial culture. We have finally relented to Zen’s request to see AKB48 in concert while in Japan this April.

17. Shinto Shrines & Buddhist Temples

Fushimi-inari (our favorite!) and Heian Jingu in Kyoto, and Meiji in Tokyo; Kiyomizudera ("Pure Water Temple"), Kinkakuji (Golden Pavillion), Nanzenji (Zen's favorite) in Kyoto, and of course, Todaiji in Nara.

19. Ippodo Tea Company in Kyoto

This is our favorite high-quality tea shop in Kyoto and our source for matcha tea! Drawing on nearly 300 years of expertise in blending, Ippodo is famous among its patrons for providing a high quality taste that is consistent not only throughout the year but from year to year. The teas here are the finest class, cultivated in the lush fields of Kyoto and the surrounding area. This region is renowned for producing the highest grade of green tea in Japan, thanks largley to its mild misty climate, mineral-rich soil and near-perfect balance of sunshine and rainfall.

20. Japanese Vending Machines

Japan is the vending machine epicenter of the world - clean, reliable and pervasive throughout the country. You can get just about anything in Japan's vending machines: food (including hot ramen), alcohol, soft drinks, and even fresh eggs, umbrellas and lingerie!

20. Kyoto

Enough said!