Japan will be my 69th country – and my 18th Asian country. (After Brunei, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Laos, Macau, Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam).

I have been fascinated with Japan since studying it in my High School Modern History class. From the Edo Period with 260 years of stability and isolation ending in 1912 before the country slid into militarism culminating sadly in World War Two. Then came the last 60 years with its massive economic and technological growth.

Home to 127 million with 35 million people in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area alone, Japan has around 6,800 islands!  The country is also home to 1500 earthquakes a year. I look forward to making this country my home for a week next month.

Flying into Tokyo Narita, I will take JAL (my first Japan Airlines flight) from Tokyo Haneda to Hiroshima before taking the famed bullet train up to Kyoto and Osaka. JAL will be my 97th airline. I also get to fly on Cathay Pacific’s new Airbus 350 (my 3rd 350).

We are staying at a Western hotel, Japanese style hotel and an AriBNB.

Any fans of Japan here?

 

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