Thank you for visiting the Japan Wander Bites blog.

I created this blog because I want more people to discover the wonderful charms of Japan that even Japanese people don't yet know about.

Since this is my first article, I'd like to share the background behind launching this blog and my thoughts.

What This Blog Aims to Be

By sharing the unseen sides of Japan, I hope to inspire people to actually visit these regions, have exciting experiences, and enrich the hearts of both visitors and local communities

I love traveling, and I make sure to take a trip every month.

When I travel, I always encounter scenery I've never seen before, delicious food, and wonderful people, and these experiences move my heart with emotion.

I'd love to share this excitement of travel with all of you, so I hope to share my experiences, modest as they may be.

Why I Travel

The trigger that made me start traveling actively was an experience in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture.

1. I Want to Revitalize Japan Even More

At the time, I was in charge of business planning for a certain service at a certain company.

When I visited Kanazawa Castle (Japanese: 金沢城), I was moved by the various mechanisms designed to protect the castle from attacks and the technology behind these mechanisms.

The restored Gojikken Nagaya (Japanese: 五十間長屋) was breathtakingly beautiful, and I was deeply impressed by the craftsmanship.

This Gojikken Nagaya was restored at a cost of 5 billion yen, and this 5 billion yen was the same scale as the advertising budget for the service I was involved with.

I was extremely shocked by this, and I felt that 5 billion yen spent on preserving Japanese culture and tradition like the Gojikken Nagaya was far more valuable than 5 billion yen spent by one service to increase its own profits, and that Japan should take more pride in its culture and work to protect and nurture it.

We Japanese have beautiful culture and traditions, but on the other hand, there are pessimistic aspects about the future of Japanese society.

I believe that Japan has so many wonderful cultures and traditions that "even many Japanese people don't yet know about," and that carefully protecting and nurturing them is what will allow Japan to continue living as Japan.

So, by sharing Japan's charms through this blog, I want to increase the number of people visiting various places in Japan and revitalize Japan even more.

If you read this blog and think "this place looks wonderful," please actually visit it.

After all, seeing and actually experiencing are completely different! I plan to include the actual routes I took so they can help with planning, so please do visit.

2. Japan Has Many Charms That Are Still Unknown

About an hour and a half by car from Kanazawa, in Gifu Prefecture (Japanese: 岐阜県), there's Shirakawa-go, a World Heritage site famous for its gassho-zukuri (Japanese: 合掌造り) houses.

I'm embarrassed to say I didn't know this until I actually went to Shirakawa-go, but people still actually live in the gassho-zukuri houses and carefully maintain and manage them.

When I went to visit, someone who actually lives there told me, "Houses quickly deteriorate if people don't live in them."

And the framework of these gassho-zukuri roofs is constructed without using any nails or metal at all.

Even as a Japanese person, I didn't know about this technology or how Shirakawa-go is currently being managed (though perhaps I'm just ignorant), but the technology and tradition are truly wonderful and something that more people should know about and pass down.

When you actually visit, you can discover various charms like these, so I highly recommend it.

3. Human Connections Enrich the Heart

For lunch, I went to a restaurant called Daikuni Sushi (Japanese: 大國鮨) near Omicho Market that a local person recommended.

The master was very kind and wonderful, and the sushi was delicious—it's a lovely restaurant, so I definitely want you to visit.

While we were eating, a couple from Korea came into the restaurant.

The master looked anxious, wondering what to do since he couldn't speak English, but the couple pointed to the guidebook they were holding and said in broken Japanese, "This restaurant, famous."

At that moment, the master's face lit up with a smile, and he warmly welcomed the two of them.

The instant I saw this scene, I strongly felt that human connections like this enrich the hearts of both parties.

There are so many other wonderful encounters that stir your heart when you travel—being moved by the food at restaurants you visit, becoming friends with people you happen to meet at a shop and wanting to return to that place again—encounters different from your everyday life that move your heart are waiting for you.

I hope you'll travel and have many moving experiences.

What I Keep in Mind When I Travel

1. Travel as if You're Living in That Place

I don't always manage to do this, but I try to not just sightsee, but if I can stay longer, I stay longer and travel as if I'm living in that place, touching the local culture and people and getting to know the region deeply.

Of course sightseeing is fine too, but I think sightseeing and living are completely different things. Even if you can't fully experience living there, I think you need to go fairly deep into a region to discover its charms and meet people. That's a completely different world from what you see as a tourist.

By traveling as if you're living in that place, you can see the good points and difficulties of living there, and you can better imagine things like why that culture was born. And you'll definitely want to return to places you've thought deeply about like this, and you'll come to love them even more.

I know it's not easy, but I'd be happy if you could be conscious of getting to know a place deeply!

You should be able to have a richer experience than your previous way of traveling!

2. Give Back to the Region with Money

This is something a teacher who took me traveling around the world said: "When you go to a place, make sure you spend money there."

I think this way of thinking is really important—to revitalize a region, it's essential to circulate money in that region's economy.

Of course it's important for local people to give back too, but money from outside is a plus for the people of that region.

I believe that giving back creates a positive cycle, and we can also have good experiences again.

So I'd be happy if you could travel with this awareness too.

3. When in Doubt, Choose What Makes Your Heart Leap

Travel is freedom. It's fine to plan everything carefully, and it's fine to do nothing.

Especially when traveling alone, there are many times when you wonder, "What should I do now?"

In those times, I try to choose what makes my heart leap. I think about what if it's A, what if it's B, and often choose whichever makes me more excited.

And when I make choices like this, I often have wonderful encounters.

When in doubt, choose what excites you.

4. Leave Some Margin and Room

It's fine to pack your schedule full, but I recommend leaving a little margin in your schedule and mindset, since there can be unexpected encounters.

And especially since I'm the type to pack my schedule—this is a common occurrence—there are many times when I can't get around to everything I planned, or a place I wanted to go happens to be closed and I can't go. In those times, I think "I'll have to come to this region again," leaving a little enjoyment for next time.

By doing this, it doesn't end with just one visit to a region—it becomes a place you want to visit many times, and the excitement continues.

And as you visit many times, it becomes a hometown of the heart.

Precisely because you've traveled, please savor the charm of margin and room.

5. Write Down All Recommendations and Don't Forget Them. And Always Go.

When you travel a lot, you get asked for recommendations, or conversely, you go to a region and ask for recommendations.

Receiving recommendations is easy, but the person giving recommendations is doing something very precious—giving you their experiences for free, tailored to your interests.

This way of thinking might be a bit heavy, but since it involves their time and money, I think you absolutely should go to the places people recommend as a responsibility of the person who asked.

Of course you can't go to everything, so it's not exactly like this, but since someone took the time to tell me, I carefully write it down and try to go as much as possible.

And when I go, I always tell the person who recommended it my thanks and impressions.

By doing this, the person who recommended it feels happy too, and you can have a wonderful experience thanks to that person.

I don't mean you absolutely must follow this, but I think it will probably be a good experience for you too, so please try being conscious of it.

6. Interact with Love

Though it's something natural as a human being, it's extremely important to interact with love toward the region, the people you meet, and the culture.

We are, after all, people who came from outside without knowing much about the region, and we're learning by actually experiencing various things.

It's absolutely necessary to interact with gratitude and respect for such an environment, and by interacting this way, that affection comes back to you.

I think it's really important to have a heart that's moved by seeing wonderful things, to speak a little more kindly than usual to people you meet, and to carefully express gratitude for what people do for you.

Please try traveling with a warm heart and love.

What I'll Share on This Blog

• I'll share what I felt at places I actually visited
• I'll also share the actual routes I took and the food I ate
• It's more like a diary than a summary article
• To make it easier to actually visit, I'll try to include links to sites, maps, and access information for those places
• I'll share places I was really glad I went to. I won't just post information or post information because I was asked to

Summary

When you travel, you encounter worlds you didn't know, and there are many heart-stirring encounters you never imagined.

You don't have to go far away suddenly—I think it's fine to start with regions near you. Please try traveling with your sensitivity antenna raised higher than usual, following your heart.

Solo travel is fun, and traveling with everyone has its own merits—both are very enjoyable. Going to meet people is good too.

I hope I can help, even in a small way, so that you can have heart-stirring experiences and wonderful travels.