JAPANIntroWhen I was seven years old (in 2008), my dad lost his job as an airline pilot. Osaka, Japan was the best place he found in order to keep doing what he loves and get paid enough to support his family. So we packed our bags and moved from Maricopa, AZ to Osaka, Japan. We spent the next five years there, and it changed my life. Spending a majority of your awkward-phase in a world surrounded by people who are different than you isn't always easy, but I wouldn't change it for anything. The experiences I had and the people I met shaped me into the person I am today, and I am so grateful for that. So I hope I can spread some of my love for Japan to you when you read this article. (featured below is me, my dad,my younger sister Emma, and my even younger brother Hudson) Places To Go & Things To SeeJapan has some incredible things to see. From the busy cities to the beautifully structured temples, there is never a dull moment. Japan is only 145,932 square miles, which is slightly smaller than California. In order to fit in housing for all the Japanese citizens, most of the housing consists of very tall apartment complexes. This helps with spacing, but the cities are still very cluttered with buildings. One of the most beautiful and unique things about Japan are the Buddhist temples. The architecture on these buildings is stunning, and the designs are unique and beautiful. Buddhism is the primary religion in Japan, and these temples are used as a place of worship. They are considered to represent the pure environment of a Buddha. The Japanese word for Buddhist temple is tera (寺). A Shinto shrine (神社) can often be found outside of these temples. These shrines are used for the safe keeping of sacred objects, not for worship. These temples and shrines are a very big part of Japanese culture, and if you ever travel to Japan I highly suggest you visit at least one of these exquisite buildings. (featured below is me, my dad, Emma, and Hudson) Another unique thing about Japan is their flowers called "cherry blossoms" or in Japanese, "sakura"(桜). These flowers bloom in the spring, and only stay on the trees for about a week before falling of and littering the ground with thousands of tiny, pink petals. They are truly a spectacular sight. One of the most fun cities in Japan to visit is Nara. Nara is known for two things, its large amount of Buddhist temples and the deer that roam Nara Park. Yes that's right. Deer roam Nara Park, and can be found lying in front of temples, running through the grass, even crossing the busy streets! There are many tourist shops at this park, and they sell large, flat cookies (which pretty much look like flat pancakes) that you can feed the deer. The deee are not at all aggressive, although they might chase after you if they think you have food! It's such a fun place to visit because you can pet and feed the deer, look at the beautiful temples, and shop at the vast amount tourist shops around the park. Going to the beach in Japan was something that we did not do often, because we lived far from it. However we had loads of fun when we did go. If you're planning a trip to a beach in Japan, I suggest that you pick the right one. We only went to a few beaches, some of them were lovely and others not so much. I would not recommend Suma beach, it was littered with so much trash; not well kept at all. But not every beach we went to was like, so make sure to look up the beach you plan to go to, to make sure that it isn't dirty. One of the perks of living in Osaka was that it was such a big and populated city, that there was so much to do and so many things to see. One of the most popular sights in Osaka is the Osaka Castle. The castle grounds cover roughly 15 acres (60,000 square meters). It contains 13 structures which are very important cultural assets of Japan. It was built in 1586 as a display of power by the ruler of Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The castle was rebuilt several times after being destroyed in several battles. Today, it is recognized as a "Special Historic Site" by the Japanese government. (featured below is my dad, his sister (my aunt), and Hudson) Remember what I said earlier about Japan being slightly smaller than California, so most people live in very tall apartment complexes? Well apartment complexes are the only things built very tall, Japan also has several skyscrapers. One of them is known as Umeda Sky Building. It is 567 ft tall (173m). You can go to the very top of the building and look out the huge circular windows and see the city. It's definitely one of the must-see places in Japan! (featured below is me, my aunt, and Emma) The final place I suggest you go explore is a city called Kyoto. Once the capital of Japan, Kyoto is known for its numerous temples, shrines, gardens, imperial palaces, and of course tourist shopping. It's a beautiful city and a very cultural experience. (featured below is me, my mom and dad, Emma, and Hudson) FoodWhen someone says 'Japanese food', people generally think of sushi, as it is the most popular Japanese food. But there are a lot more typical Japanese foods that people don't know about. My family and I did not eat a lot of sushi when we lived in Japan, mostly because the thought of raw fish wrapped in seaweed wasn't exactly appealing to us. But we ate a lot of other yummy Japanese foods. One of our favorite foods to eat was ramen. Ramen is served at most restaurants in Japan. It is served hot and fresh, with noodles, a few pieces of meat (either chicken or pork), vegetables, and often a hard-boiled egg cut in half and placed on top. Personally, Japanese ramen is one of my absolute favorite Japanese foods, it's always super delicious! Although it did not originate in Japan, curry can often be found in the kids menu at Japanese restaurants. It is served on the side of white sticky rice, as well as red ginger. Curry is also one of my favorite foods to eat in Japan, although I never eat the ginger! Takoyaki is another very popular Japanese food. It is a ball shaped snack made of a wheat flour based batter. It is filled with minced or diced octopus, pickled ginger, and green onion. It is coated in Takoyaki sauce (which is similar to Worcestershire sauce) and sprinkled with green laver and and shavings of dried bonito. I personally never enjoyed this dish, but I would suggest trying it because it is a very popular food in Japan. (I did not have a picture of the takoyaki we ate that wasn't too blurry so I had to find one on Google images) Watermelons can be found all over the globe and are not at all unique to Japan. Unless of course, they are square. In Japan, some watermelons are grown in boxes, in order to make them square-shaped. This is so they are easier to stack and so they don't roll out of your refrigerator! However, they are sold at 10,000¥ which is approximately $100! Dessert time! Although crepes did not originate from Japan, they are often served at dessert stands/shops in Japan. Crepes are basically bigger, flatter pancakes, which are rolled up and can be stuffed with any assortment of sweets. Often it's strawberries or bananas with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. Super sweet and delicious! CultureJapan has a very unique and beautiful culture. It's differences from the rest of the world make it such a special place to go. It brings me joy to be able to spread the knowledge of this culture to my readers, so I really hope you enjoy it! A big part of Japanese culture is based off of Buddhism. One of these things is the big festivals they have called Matsuri (祭). These festivals are sponsored by nearby temples. They hang lanterns on nearby buildings and set up big, beautiful floats. They serve food and have small games for kids you can pay to play. People typically wear the traditional Japanese kimonos (着物) with wooden sandals when attending these festivals. These festivals are so much fun to go to, and another great cultural experience. Growing up in Japan means that we did lots of things you can't do in the US. Purikura (プリクラ) is one of those things. Purikura is more of young people culture in Japan, all the kids and teens love it. It is basically a photo booth, but you can add colorful backgrounds and cute filters. You take the pictures, then go to the other side of the booth where you add the filters and decorate the pictures with stickers and drawings. When you're all done, you can select how many copies you want, so you and your friends can have them. They are printed onto sticker paper, and so people typically have purikura sticker books to put them in. It's loads of fun and can always be found in malls. (featured below is pictures of my purikura book with pictures me and my friends took in it) Thanks For Reading!!Thank you guys so much for reading my blog! I hope you had as much fun reading it as I did making it!
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