S03 E11: Discovering Japan, One Journey at a time with Boyang
[Music] Uh that could potentially be Lebanon. Like I went there last year when it was literally in a war with Israel. You chose that venture, right? Uh it’s because I had a friend who was uh working for the UN and he’s based in. He literally told me like, “Are you sure you want to come?” Because there were drone attacks every now and then. People were told to leave and you’re going in. Oh my god. So I decided to go um anyways and I remember when I was entering the border the immigration officer literally told me like asked me why are you here and then I said I’m here for tourism and he literally said good luck because you don’t really hear that from a immigration officer like good luck you so Japan Rail offers what’s called the session Junhachib uh But it’s it it means youth 18 ticket. So originally it’s something that’s for students to return home after semester and they sell it at a really cheap price. Nice. As long as it’s within 5 days you can ride trains unlimited train rides within Japan. But wow. The thing is you can only take the slowest trains. You can’t take Shinkansen highspeed trains. Okay. But it’s unlimited and actually anybody can just go in. I was going to ask, do you need a student ID to get the ticket? Uh, you don’t need it. Anyone can get it. So, so you can stay young forever. Moral of the story was nice. You can stay young forever. I love it. You know, I was like 26 already for a couple years, but I was using that. Yeah. Yeah. When when I go to a bar and they ask for my ID, I I’m I’m very happy. I’m like, “Oh, yeah. Yeah. Please see my ID. I’m beyond 80. Thank you. It’s like that. Very nice. Today’s guest is what I’d call a professional collector of stories. Because honestly, how else you describe someone who has traveled to over 60 countries, lived in Colombia, worked in Switzerland, wandered through Italy, and yet despite all that, still insists that Japan is his true love. And that guest for you is the storyteller Buang. Welcome to this episode of Misadventures of a Sneaker. And I am your host Raati. So our guest today, Boyang, is someone who makes it a point to visit Japan at least once a year and explore a different part of it each time. He has biked across Japan, camped under the stars, taken the slowest of the slow trains to Hokkaido, chilled in the Japanese onsen, you know, the hot springs, hiked its mountains, and even studied Japanese at the very university where his favorite author Murakami once studied and wrote. Basically, if Japan had a loyalty program, Buang would be platinum for life. And the best part, he’s charming, he’s funny, and has stories after stories after stories. So, buckle up because this episode is going to feel like a bike ride across Japan. Scenic, unexpected, and full of surprises. But before that, let’s take a quick little break and then jump in. Hey, do you know we’ve recently launched a travel journal? A journal that’s perfect for everyone, no matter your age, where each page includes a fun prompt to spark creativity. Whether you’re writing, drawing, or sticking in little memorabilia, pick one for yourself or gift it to your friend or to a kid. It could be a keepsake where your favorite moments will live and where a silly sketch will bring back a whole story. You will find the link to order the journal in our show notes. Happy journaling and thank you. All right, so let’s welcome our guest. Hi Poang, welcome to my podcast. We are called the misadventures of a sneaker. It’s a travel podcast where I have a bunch of guests coming and talking about a lot of their experiences uh while traveling or traveling to a destination and things like that. So both of us have a common friend uh she’s Gayatri and um I met her sometime end of last year. I was talking to her about the podcast. Her husband’s been on the show earlier as well. Rahul fantastic stories about a trip to Sikkim and while she was hearing a lot about the stories that I was sharing uh with her she thought about you and she said oh my god I have this friend he’s never at one place so whenever I ping him it’s a standard question which place are you in and phenomenal story so I’m just going to try and connect you guys and I’m really thankful to Guyatri that she did this because just in the first call with you Bayang you told me so many of your travel stories So I’m really excited about this conversation with you. Thank you so much for coming to my podcast and welcome. Thank you Rati. It’s a pleasure to be here. Thanks for the invitation and uh um looking forward to the conversation today. Yes, there’s a a huge hype created around you. So you have very high expectations. No pressure at all. I didn’t say that. But I so uh we’ve been chatting and we’ve been speaking a lot over the last month month and a half too and the variety of stories and experiences that you told me was so fun. Uh so tell me tell me something about yourself. We’ve not met before and we’ve we’ve just been speaking over Zoom and WhatsApp and things like that. Tell me something about yourself. Where are you from? What do you do? Um you know all of it. Mhm. Sounds great. Uh so I’m Buan originally from China born and raised there and I think I lived in China for about 20 years and and then moved abroad mostly for the last 15 years and spent time in Japan, the US, Latin America, Singapore and up until now and from last year I’ve been Switzerland for and right now I’m working in an NGO focused on promoting public private partnership. to basically companies, governments across the world. Yep. Pleasure to to meet you and uh and your listeners. Oh, very excited and on behalf of listeners also very excited. Wonderful. So, you you just uh rattled away some names of countries that you said that you’ve stayed in. So, these are places you’ve stayed in when you said US, Singapore, Japan, of course, China is where you’ve lived for large part of your life. These are other places that you’ve lived in. Yeah, those are the places where I spend a significant amount of time either as a student or or work. Um, so this is apart from countries I’ve been to as a visitor. Wow. And then uh when we were talking earlier, you said you’ve traveled to what 60 plus countries. Uh so this is something that you do usually as a sbatical of sorts or between jobs or I mean how is it? 60 is a big number, right? It’s not like you can just go on a vacation and then do do that many. So, how do you usually plan um your travel? Yeah, I think I only started traveling abroad uh when I was like 19 or so. And I think initially I just went to places when there are meetings or events for students. And I think when I studied abroad in Colombia uh during my university, I traveled to to a few places and that’s kind of when I met a lot of people who are just backpacking around South America and I realized that’s also a way of life and so I think since then I kind of wanted to take some time off from you know my normal study or professional life and just explore the world. So between 2013 to 2015 I kind of took one and a half to two years of gap years and then that’s when I was I had sufficient time to explore many parts of the world um in Asia and Latin America and so on. Um and then since then it just kind of every year I try to take advantage of my vacations and just visit places. Beautiful. So very often you know when I when I meet someone who is who enjoys traveling we usually say that there’s a seed to all of this which is usually something that you’ve done when you were a child. It’s a habit that you get built or or it’s a curiosity that that gets built when you are a child. So do you have any such memories of traveling with family, traveling with your friends when you were in school um or early college when you were in China? Yeah, I had many of these trips. Um I remember my first ever trip abroad was um a trip to the United States for a model United Nations in Harvard and I went with friends from my college. Uh but I think I kind of clearly remember that from the beginning of the trip I really wanted to explore the country on my own. Oh. So I didn’t book any of the hosts with them. So I just stayed by myself. Uh although I you know from occasionally met with them for dinner and whatnot but I I think this appetite for solo trip um is just very acute in the beginning of my travel. I just kind of maintained that even until this day. Uh I mean occasionally I travel with friends but I think I especially for exploring new countries and countries that I think are adventurous solo travel is my preferred uh mode of traveling. Oh wow. Why solo versus with friends? You have a strong preference. Why is that? Like what’s your observation or opinion that you have between the two? The reason why I said when I visit new countries or countries that are adventurous or countries that I just have a strong preference for when I go there on my own I feel like I I have complete freedom and control over my time and how I want to explore the place and also I don’t like to aggressively plan when you travel because some people have a I don’t know like get down to like every single minute what you’ll be doing like I five things to see for five days, guys. So, I I like the freedom and just having the um the control over my agenda and just not having to go to places based on a routine because I think that also helps you to discover new things or unexpected things. Yeah. Uh but I would say I wouldn’t do that if I I go to Edge or Bali or Copenhagen as I spent last weekend with friends there. I think for these places it’s better to to go with friends. Yeah. Yeah. So places where um maybe you can chill for a larger part of your day. So when you go to Maldives, what adventure can you do except maybe go for great uh scuba dives there, right? So in some places like that, you know, chilling with friends or family etc. That’s a great idea. Where is places that you go hiking or you know through the forests and things that probably it’s a good point. It’s a good point. The flexibility is a big it’s a big plus point. Sure. So from your earlier travels and not necessarily when you were in school or college and things but from your earlier memories of one of the most crazy in quotes craziest uh experiences that you’ve had or countries that you’ve been what would you think of? Okay. Um I know you have a list in your head. Yeah. Um definitely have been on some kind of crazy adventurous trips. Uh I would say probably I I actually think my trip to India is one of those most memorable. Oh, I spent about I think 50 days in the country. So first I went to I flew to Chennai for an event. It’s the World University Debating Championship. And then I actually didn’t know I didn’t have a return flight. was a one-way flight. I didn’t know how long I would want to stay in the country because I was on my gap year. I really didn’t have to go back to work or anything. Uh and then just started exploring the country, just taking buses. It’s a fascinating country with vast differences between, you know, different regions. I went to places that are totally kind of out of this world. I remember going to Hampy. You see the, you know, geography there. I was just totally blown away. Then I went to Goa. It kind of feels like Macau. It’s just very different. And and then I went to all the way to Rajasthan in Raj like the golden city, the blue city, pink city. Like each city is just so different. It it’s something that comes out of a Jared Tolken novel for me. Um this it’s like you keep it really original. I think that’s really cool. Unlike in places in China for example, I think due to mass urban planning, we kind of have a sense that a lot of the cities lost a lot of originality. They want to keep things similar. Oh, that is true. Very true. I mean, go to places like Hampy and all. I love that place. I mean, I I almost say that my experience traveling across Hampy is very similar to how it is in um Cambodia when you go to Camre and Korwat. and all that I would place both in the same pedestal uh in terms of experience, in terms of stories that you get to hear there. Oh my, I’m I’m a huge fan of historical uh historically relevant places. It’s so beautiful to listen to the stories. Okay. So, India is coming India is one in one of your top numbers. Like why did it come under the crazy category when you when you thought of India? Because I think the first there are a lot of uncertainties like I at the time I knew very little about the country. I didn’t know how to navigate the public transportation because in media you always see all these crowded trains. So you you would be like how am I going to book a ticket and and I went all the way north in the mountains in Himalayas about two or three hours away from Shimla. It’s kind of close to the border with Tibet and it snowed heavily and so for three days I had like the road was blocked so I had to stay in the mountain and I lost my phone on the truck truck. Yeah, I think eventually had to take a truck to get to the town. So my eyes popped out when you said lost the phone and then my eyes double popped out when you said truck. Seriously, even I have never traveled a truck by the way. Okay. Yeah. I think because it snowed so heavily, the bus couldn’t get you to the village. So, I had to jump on a on a truck and somehow I think lost my phone and then I couldn’t contact my family. But eventually, because these villages are quite small and they’re kind of connected, so I just told my hotel manager that I lost my phone and they actually helped me to get back on the phone after 3 days. Uh oh. when when the road transportation was like recovered. So, it opened up. Yeah. Yeah. So, that was kind of like a fascinating story. Yes. Wow. Up in the north, this thing happens um quite frequently if you do go during the winters. I don’t know if you noticed this, you know, while traveling in the Himalayan parts of India, a lot of roads in the different Himalayan regions in India maintained by the border army forces. So they put up very interesting road signages across across a lot of these places. So this is all the way all the border areas between from uh you know uh Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and if you even go to the northeast a lot of the road signages you know travel carefully and don’t speed up and things that they are mostly put up by the border organization and they are known for having a sense of humor. So, they put up wacky road signs, you know, be gentle on my curves and, you know, it’s so funny. I’ve been dying to do a trip there and take pictures of, you know, all of because I remember all of this from a travel from multiple travels that happened many years ago, but then I never thought of of running a podcast. So, now I really am itching. I have to go back and take pictures and, you know, put it out to show people the kind of road signages they put up. They have got a really good sense of humor. Very nice. So you said that you spent time in Latin America as well, right? You said Colombia studying there and all. I am sure you must have had some crazy experiences in Colombia. So I have done a podcast I think two two episodes with folks who have done there was one who did a six-month sbatical trip across Latin America, multiple countries. He had a bunch of stories, you know, gun related ones, of course, drug related ones, uh, meeting drug lords and all that that I mean, these are like so exciting. You only see this in Narcos and all that, right? You don’t see this in real life. What was your experiences like and when you were, you know, traveling around that part of the of the world? Yeah, it seems that your friend had a fair share of his uh stories in the region despite, you know, just traveling around. Um, I would say if you go to places like Colombia, Colombia is definitely one of the more special places or countries for me in the region given that I’ve spent more time there. And when you talk to the locals, they would really appreciate foreigners who go there and they’re welcoming and friendly. And I think one thing you notice that it’s actually not Narcos like every day. Um, sometime Oh, no. I like the drama. Um, and uh, I think if you try to, you know, stay cautious and be street smart, most of the times you’re still fine as a traveler, you can get out of the country in one piece. Although I would say I’m probably not one of the uh, most street smart persons or unscrupulous. Uh, I’ve got myself into situations where it’s uh, a little bit undesirable. I like how you’re building up, you know, like introduction, body, conclusion. You said I’m I’m not the most. That was the introduction. So I’m now excited about what what actually happened to you. Yeah. I try to, you know, blade down myself, not the the country. Um yeah I remember last time when I was there I was uh during my last days there I made a trip to Medine and Beijing since the pandemic has grown into a city for digital nomads and it’s a beautiful city great weather um so I remember one night I was uh spending time in this bar area with a friend and then my friend had to go back so I decided to explore the region on my own and you At the time, I was going back to Singapore very soon. And while I’m in Colombia, I should take advantage of the opportunity, try to get myself fair share of marijuana, right? Of course. I’m not sure about its current status, but it’s kind of all over the place and it’s not difficult to get. So, I went to get a joint and then start to smoke the joint uh near the river a little bit away from the bars. And then I saw a couple who just walked over to me and said, “Um, can I borrow a lighter?” Usually in this instance, I would be a little bit careful, but I think because it’s guy and the girl, maybe they’re not as risky or dangerous. We started to have a conversation and they asked, “What are you doing here by yourself?” And so I just thought they’re friendly locals and and then they asked me about, you know, what are you smoking? And then they happily shared with me their joint, which seems to be a higher quality one, you know, and so the conversation continued and they they asked me if I wanted to grab a drink. Uh so we walked over to a bar. But when we sat down um and I realized that I I started to kind of lose my conscious a little bit and it was it was getting so bad that I actually found it a bit difficult to concentrate or focus on the menu. Um and then I realized, oh, probably this not a typical marijuana joint that they offered. Maybe it’s something else. And I think it’s only because that I read in the news uh just you know a few weeks earlier that some pointers are getting drugged in bars in Colombia by friendly locals. Okay. And then next day they would wake up in the middle of nowhere or some people have lost their lives. And then at it’s at that moment I realized that this is probably not just marijuana. It’s probably something stronger. And also because the guy kept mentioning that he’s gay and the girl is available and single. And I think oh the fact that they really focus on that fact um is probably leading somewhere else after this drink. Um so it is that the time I realized I probably in a dangerous situation. I told them I’m going to use the bathroom. So I went into the bar and I told the the bartenders what’s happening to me with my limited conscious at the time because I was literally almost not able to express myself fully. Oh my god. And language was not a barrier there. Right. So I actually m I didn’t mention this earlier but I actually majored in Spanish. So it’s fully fluid and that’s taken care of. Otherwise it could be another type of challenge as well. Um Okay. Okay. So you went and stole the bartender in whatever sense that you were in. Yeah. And they immediately got it and asked me to sit in the bar while they deal with the situation. So I I felt totally taken care of. And so I could remember uh they called the police and the police came like you 5 to 10 minutes and they were chasing after this couple. I saw them wow running uphill. And so after that I was just I was just feeling really bad. Um uh so I asked them to take me to the hospital and they Oh wow. recovered gradually since then. But I literally felt that uh I was totally going to pass out if I didn’t get out of that situation. Wow. And I’m quite impressed with the bartenders. Often you know these places they are very handin glove. So I mean there’s this couple would have taken you to a place where they are you know like friends with the bartenders and all that and they’ll all be handing glove into the in this whole thing. But I’m glad that at least you could get out of the whole thing safely. Oh my god. Wow. That was pretty close, too. You were like almost there. And this was in this was in 2022. Oh wow. But Medin is known for a lot of uh such kind of stories. I mean this again the the Naros kind of stories. This is very much that comes in that kind of category. But yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. I just kept reading later like in the Wall Street Journal I think in the same year but I think the title was like Americans went to Colombia for love instead they get killed by gangsters and I think one way that happens is that a lot of them would get matched on Tinder dating apps. Oh, and then that actually eventually led to their kills. Ouch. Harsh. So, yeah, definitely got to, you know, navigate and be careful. Yeah, don’t be gullible. Stick to your own joint. That’s all. That’s right. And maybe not do a lot of Tinder over there and and try and meet people in the bar or maybe something like that. But I really do not know. See, when people come and talk to you, I love talking to locals, you know, when they come and talk uh you know, chat up. You can get so many stories through that. I always say that especially when I’m in a bar, I love to sit by the bar and talk to the bartender and you know it’s a great conversation and then people around we always yap and it’s it’s a part of the whole experience and then here if you have to be so careful it’s like so yeah I would say the Colombia for me is a country of like vast um contrast. You meet some of the most friendly people you’ll ever meet in your life and at the same time you’re sometimes exposed to the you know the most precarious situations. It’s probably that actually happens in so many countries. This is a story that is I mean you can’t uh you have to be that careful when you’re in India. You have to be that careful when you’re in Italy, France, Spain. You have so many such stories everywhere. So that’s right that is that is there. Wow. My god that’s quite the story that I’ve gotten out of you. Wow. Oh god. And amidst all these place stories and places, you still chose to speak about Japan on this episode though. I mean I I love Japan. I this is the country that I went to this year for my vacation. So it’s actually closest in terms of timeline uh as well. Uh so I I love it that you chose the country, but uh oh my god, why Japan over all the other places that you’ve been to for this podcast? Uh great. Yeah, actually I when whenever people ask me, you know, among the 60 or 60 plus countries you’ve been to, which is your favorite travel destination? And I I just feel like Japan is probably not the coolest among all these 60 countries. It’s not the most adventurous, but I think if I just speak my mind without, you know, trying to create some kind of personality or um or image, I I would still stick with Japan. It’s just a country I would try to visit at least once a year. Um. Oh yeah. My first trip to Japan was in 2009. And I I think ever since then I I try to visit the country almost every year, you know, apart from the pandemic years. And um I I just like you’ll always have the best combination of experiences as well as the overall utility you get out of a travel experience like the food and the quality of accommodation places you get to explore is the aesthetics which I think is very important as well. Yeah, just Japan I think still stands out. Um wow. Yeah, there is something about the place I it’s difficult for me to pinpoint why uh you know I loved it so much. I mean there are a lot of reasons but there was something that made it extra special and I do not know what it is. Uh but there was one sentence that you just said now that it probably wasn’t one of the coolest or the most adventurous again in quotes kind. So which place would be would fall under the coolest or the most adventurous uh place that you’ve been to? Uh that could potentially be Lebanon. Like I went there last year when it was literally in a war with Israel. Um I went there. You chose that venture. Right. So I was actively looking for adventures when there uh it’s because I had a friend who was uh working for the UN and he’s based in he literally told me like are you sure you want to come? Because they were throwing attacks every now and then. people were told to leave and you’re going in. Oh my god. So, I decided to go um anyways and I remember when I was entering the border, the immigration officer literally told me like asked me why are you here and then I said I’m here for tourism and he literally said good luck because you don’t really hear that from a immigration officer like good luck. Ouch. Ouch. But I’m sure he meant well and so I just thought it was really interesting. Okay. So, the adventurous category is Lebanon then. What about the coolest category? Coolest category. Yeah. I was just I’m just wondering probably different people have different definitions for coolness. Um I guess Japan is actually really cool in many ways. Uh it’s just maybe not adventurous. I think a country that is really cool. Even I’m trying to break my head as to which country that I have been to would come under the coolest category for me. Yeah. What would be the coolest? Because I think pool has the connotation of not being mainstream as well. If a place is too mainstream, I wouldn’t say that’s like super cool. Um Jordan maybe for me. I mean if I think more there’ll be two more that will add that I will add but uh yeah. Yeah Jordan I I went there a couple of years ago and I mean Patcha has always been a place I really wanted to visit. Yes. I didn’t go to Wro. I actually really want to go back um to visit that place. Yes. But pro for me was was very kind of out of this world. Yes. Petro is out of the world. Floating on the Dead Sea out of the world. Jordan under all categories fall under an extremely cool vacation and I went with two of my very close friends. Uh so oh we had a great time across uh you know traveling the entire place. It was very nice. Yeah. Definitely have to find a time to go back there. Yeah. Yeah. When you rattle off names I’ll also feel get this whole jealousy and FOMO kind of thing. Oh amazing. So you said uh Japan is a trip that you went during your gap here. Right. Right. After university, I worked for two years in Venezuela and which is a another interesting experience of its own. Um, and I realized I that I needed a break. Um, I was working mostly in wilderness, rural area. Wow. So, I kind of missed civilization. Um, I missed Asia and Japan kind of has always been been there for me. I’ve I’ve been there as a student in university but only for a week and I was you know dying to explore the rest of the country and I would I was just thinking two weeks won’t do it justice. So I applied for a student visa like a language program in Tokyo. Lovely. My love affair with Japan started toward the end of my high school um when I started to read some Japanese novels by Haruki. Yeah. Yeah. And I started to listen to Japanese artists, J-pop basically. There’s one famous at the time called Aayumi. She she’s an artist. Um, so surprisingly, one of my walking tours in Japan was led by a girl called Aayumi. So probably it’s all the inspiration from uh from the singer. Her parents must have been fans as well. Could very much could be cuz uh she’s actually most popular in the ‘9s. Okay. Yeah. In the early 2000s. Yeah. Yeah. Probably. Okay. The love for J-pop, the love for books, you know, Japanese authors and all that is what brought you to choosing Japan for your gap year. Yeah. And also I went there as a student in university for a bioeththics debate. Okay. So, we were a group of students from different countries and all of us were inu university for a week just to talk about euthanasia. Wow. Euthanasia. Wow. So literally after one week we were we were all experts at the ethics of euthanasia and how it is done. But that’s also when um it’s my first trip to Japan and I had my firsthand experience with people and and I just remember coming back from that trip. I immediately bought like a dozen books about Japanese history and culture because it was just such a fast trip that kind of opened up a new world for me because previously it was just the manga with animation music. Yes. But then I I actually wanted to dive deeper into history and culture. So that planted the seed of the gap year. Oh. And uh I I think it must have totally lived up to all the hype that you must have built up in your head. Yeah, in many ways I think it did or even went beyond my expectations. Yeah. Yeah. You’ve been going back every year man. So naturally it is it’s gone above and beyond like how when we do appraisals we have one above and beyond category Japan has has done that uh for you. Yeah. So the history of Japan also is very interesting. So a lot of my walking tours they they first would talk a good hour an hour and a half into Japanese history. I on the other hand did not went on quite a blank slate when I went there. So I I know a little bit here and there but uh the amount of things that I that I learned know about the country about different term they’re very culturally rich as well and there a lot of their culture comes from their history and you know the period of isolation the samurai shogun all of those things I just enjoyed listening to all this the one thing that I had in my head is I had watched the shogun series before going there and shogun series is supposed to be all fantasy right it’s all it’s a fiction thing but the fiction is so connected to the reality. So a lot of the stories in fact a lot of the working tours folks told us have you watched the series the many who hadn’t in the tour so they they told us please go back and watch it because it’s based very well on the reality of course a lot of it’s heavily fictionized but please watch it you’ll get a lot of you know what happened those days in the 1700s 1800s all of that in Japan okay so we are doing touched on Japan right Bang now tell me tell me all about it so you’ve chosen Japan. I remember when you uh when you were talking about the country, you even quote unquote mentioned that you have a love affair with Japan. Yeah. So, I just remember at the time I definitely wanted to spend more than just two weeks uh you know traveling as a tourist. I I decided to go you know all in for half year to a year. I actually didn’t know how much time exactly I want to spend there also because at the time I was applying for graduate school. Okay. So that was also pretty much immediately actually after my trip to India. Mhm. I got a visa, flew to Japan, moved into a student dorm in the suburb of Tokyo. And also I think it was what one thing that made my experience a bit more uh different is that I chose to study Japanese in a university not in language school because uh I was in Wasa University. It’s actually the university attended by Murakami. It’s it’s his major. So everything he described in his novels kind of just came to life. So I remember in one of his novels an origin word. So the author is saying like the guy would be taken on a walk after class and you know to the streets of Shinjuku and he described all the night life there atmosphere and the noises. So it just literally came to life. That feels so good, right? Yeah, literally it’s like a a dream come true. I met this met this Chinese guy um who also studied in the US. I remember he him telling me he didn’t really feel that inspired by New York, San Francisco, but when he moved to Tokyo, that is when he realized this is the city. And so, so I think growing up I always had a huge fascination with the US, you know, watching Friends and other movies. Of course, all sitcoms, all movies are all based from somewhere there. Exactly. Yeah. So I think Tokyo actually just came to be like the best alternative if not better than most cities. Um so I would always just bike around the city and it’s just very easy to navigate and it’s just such a huge city and I spent a year exploring the city and there are always places that I haven’t seen. there was corners of the cities that will have some hidden secrets or history and it’s it’s so sophisticated and there’s so much culture history that you never run out of things to do there. Um and I think that’s something that was really fascinating. Yeah, that’s one thing that when I came back I said so uh Tokyo is really busy. It’s a very busy city. Everyone’s in a in a hurry. Everyone’s rushing. It’s all a hustle and chaos and everything. But there is such a method to the chaos. It’s so organized and it gives me great joy to see the you know that it’s so organized and uh I mean you go to bunch of places in India uh you know Bangalore Mumbai all of these places are also extremely busy extremely busy but there is a very big difference somehow between you know if you if you walk around the streets of say Mumbai or if you walk around the streets of of Tokyo there is the chaos and there is a beautiful method to the chaos and I I loved Tokyo for that and of course like you said you know you walk so when I was there. I stayed I made it a point to stay in three different areas in in Tokyo. And I did that because I thought that you know when you’re staying there you’ll get to know that area a little more. You can walk around the alleys little you know when you’re at at an off hour or when you come back at night from your dinner you can just walk around there and see. So I try to stay in three different places. Of course for me because it was my first trip it was all the touristiest kind of areas. So uh you know those still they’ll have these small shrines in the middle of somewhere and it’s beautiful to see it and even their u you know restaurants. So most restaurants at least you know from a lot of tourist places that we go to say in India, Europe, rest of Asia, US and all that you can sit there and you can lazy for a long time. You can sit and have an hour long dinner 2our long dinner. But that’s not the case with most restaurants in uh you know across Japan. It’s always you you you read you you order your order will come within the next 5 minutes you eat and you’re out. So you you rarely have a long conversation. Of course you I mean you do have restaurants where you can have long conversations not that way but I would say a majority of of one. So it’s a very different culture um you know that that that even I noticed when I was there. So maybe like this you know these small small small small things add up to the the reason why even I’m fascinated by by the country. But um so you’ve you’ve you’ve gone there as a student. So I I went there as a as a tourist. So you’ve actually lived there as a student. How was your uh you know life there as a student? How was it for you when you were there? Tell us more. Yeah. Well, I think when I before I moved to Japan, I had encountered some Japanese friends other through debating during my travels. And I think one thing I realized is that I really appreciate um how how polite Japanese people are when they meet you and and the kind of kindness they extend to strangers. Um I met a lot of Japanese people before going to Japan and I was able to reconnect with them and it was also really good to meet a bunch of people my classmates who are also interested in Japan who went there to study. Many of them actually are still there and some oh nice recent years when I went back to Tokyo I can still meet up with some of them and at the time um Japan was still expensive at the time. I think it’s less so in recent years because of the exchange rate back then it was more on the expensive side still especially if you’re a student. Um but I feel like there are ways to get around those things as a student as a resident. For example, uh if you go to student cafeterias, they they’re always, you know, not really pricey and you kind of know what places have the best deals. Yeah. And it’s always the mom and pop shops around the university where they have fantastic like bentos or lunch. And then I also enjoyed traveling around Japan during the summer holidays. And I think one of the most fascinating trips I took was bought a bike and I just bought a tent as well as like mattresses on Amazon. Also, I was trying to save as a student as I actually put them all at the back and the front of rolling bicycle and did a road trip to Yiza Peninsula. And you know, my bike is not well equipped. It’s not a professional mountain bike or anything. just what Japanese people call mama chai. It’s just the ordinary bike used for commuting. But I did that nonetheless during a week-l long holiday in Japan called Golden Week. Wow. Yeah. And it’s so initially I started with a friend from school and he kind of took me from Tokyo all the way to the suburb. We just spent like one night there and then he decided to Tokyo and so I decided to go go on on my own and to explore further. I I didn’t know you know where I would get to. I didn’t know I didn’t plan. So sometime would just sleep on the bridge and sometime just sleep in a park or sleep in a port. Uh and I remember this one time when I just slept in a shrine. So next to the temple that’s where I put my tent. So perfect. You’re sounding making it sound more and more perfect. Okay. On on a bridge, on a shrine, on the port. I don’t know how it must have actually felt while doing it, but it sounds really nice. Yeah. I think one thing is, you know, when you’re 26, you kind of just didn’t care too much about Yes. Way more. I agree. Like I don’t I don’t know if I can do that anymore. Like I know, but Yeah. Like comfort is just not the priority when you’re 25. That is Yeah. And um yeah, literally I I just I’m just riding every day like non-stop and scenery was absolutely beautiful along the coast and also this history. This is where the black ship of Perry first came to Japan 1800s. So you can kind of pass that area. Is that like a museum over there? There’s a museum and kind of like a replica of the ship. Oh, nice. Oh, that that’s that story is also a fascinating story, right? 200 years of of absolute isolation. And so I was one of our walking tours that the guides he told us that uh there was only one country that was allowed to trade very freely. Of course, there was small trades happening with China and Korea and all of that. But there was one main country that was allowed. Can you guess which one it was? I mean I we did not know but he said it was Dutch. So why is that? He said it’s as simple. Dutch care only about money. So primary the reason why they closed the country for the 200 odd years was because of religious reasons, conversion and uh uh and all of that. That was the prime reason that they say but there are other reasons and all that as well. And they said there is no way that Dutch will even worry or think about all of that. All they want is money. So they can’t trade whatever and go back. And these 200 years of of when the country was uh what were closed or isolated kinds was was the reason why uh women wear those elaborate kimonos with those very funky hairstyles and all that. A lot of that happened during this 200 years of isolation because when other countries were looking at western countries and US and Europe and all to see their fashion sense happening there these guys were not aware of a lot of those things. So that’s why the fashion sense, you know, at that time was so different in um in Japan versus other countries. I mean I found it very interesting to you know these aspects would not cross my mind unless someone tells me and you know I’m like oh yeah you’re right that’s probably why this happened and you know a lot of stories around the samurai and shogun and all of that came for all of this. Tell us more. So what when you were in this place um what more did you see the is this is peninsula the route is supposed to be very pretty like you have waterfalls and of course you’re going along the coast so there are a bit coastline and all of that tell us more how was it um yeah so during that trip I yeah you know I think one of the fascinating things I experienced was uh I remember one night I was just um sleeping in my tent in a park and the park actually has onsen or hotring that’s public and available for everybody. So, you can just dip your feet there and and it’s amazing. Um, and you don’t often get that like in other places. And I just the place is completely safe and even if you’re in the middle of nowhere where they don’t even have a convenience store, their vending machines. So these are things that you have to talk about but Japan’s vending machines, Japan’s toilets and their uh convenience stores and all these have to be spoken at length about. Yeah. I mean I also think one thing that’s fascinating about Japan is companies whether it’s domestic or foreign have to go aggressively at diversifying their product portfolio. For example, KitKat normally just a chocolate, you know, bar elsewhere, but in Japan they have like 50 flavors and they have flavors that are limited to certain refractures or cities and they’re just flavors that very unique like they have soy sauce flavor and wasabi flavor, sake flavor. And I think the the length to which companies have to to go in order to you know survive in that competitive consumer market for consumer goods is just makes it u really interesting and you don’t see that in most other that’s true very true my god those 50 flavors of KitKat even took me by I was like oh my god but and I I also feel that you know the quality of products of food in a Japanese convenience store is just way higher than most other stores. And and I feel like as if we can just bring one convenience store from Japan to uh Switzerland or somewhere, we our quality of life would be so much better. Oh my god. And you know what they say that you know even like you talk about brands and all of that. So you have packaging for example if it’s a a biscuit package, you’ll have the picture of the biscuit outside, right? Very often the picture of the biscuit is much larger than the actual biscuit in other countries. Whereas in Japan it’s not allowed. The size of the biscuit inside has to be the same size as on the packet. And this is across every single item that’s there in Japan. So if it’s a if it’s a wafer, if it’s a potato chip, if it’s a biscuit, whatever you’re picking up, whatever is a picture that’s there on the packet is the same size as what’s there inside. How crazy, right? That’s that’s a good that’s interesting. That’s the level of quality that they are looking at. So just imagine Yeah, I did didn’t know that. I guess there’s a strong focus on, you know, protecting consumers and not to fool them. Yeah. Yeah. So, back recycling trip story that you were saying, you mentioned wasabi KitKats. Then the the route that you took had has wasabi farms. What I’ve I’ve heard, right? The whole IU Peninsula and all of that, but you have some legendary wasabi stuff. Yeah, I there are places in Japan. I think they’re really focused on you making sure this product is well marketed and it’s known across the country. So this is one I think little county in Chisoka that’s famous for wasabi. So you have different products attached to that and there I remember during the road trip other places that’s famous for mandarins. It’s very fascinating uh to to have that I think and it really just gives you like more reasons to go to places like one thing that’s extra special. That’s true. Do you have any dietary restrictions like vegetarian, vegan, anything around that? I actually don’t have any of these restrictions. So for me that’s stay stay that way. Stay that way. So I am a vegetarian and uh during this during this trip I I kicked myself. There were so many times that I was like I wish I could have even this and you know things like that. M so I’m I’m very I’m like on the borderline anytime converting kind of borderline and whenever I actually make the switches I’ll definitely go back to Japan to have more of the you know the array of food like those bento boxes you know they look so lovely and I’m like oh man I can’t have it because veget is not fair. Yeah. Yeah. I do think whenever you you know buy things in Japan this is this is a very strong packaging culture that everything is almost overpackaged and they make sure and there’s such a strong focus on aesthetics that I always think Japanese people a lot of times prioritize aesthetics over functionality u and so to get to the product you have to tear all these layers of packages and just such a waste of time it’s you know waste of resources And and there are no garbage cans. So why do you throw this away? That’s right. Yeah. Yeah. One of the biggest shock culture shocks where I think a lot of choice is that how can they manage, you know, cities without any garbage cans. But I think the answer is the Japanese ways to deal with it. It’s kind of privatized, right? So everybody have to deal with their own garbage. Okay. One of those fascinating things for me, the fact that there were no garbage cans, but there’s no garbage on the road. It was like ah how how are people so disciplined? Yeah. Beautiful. So tell us more about your uh the bike trip that you were doing. You met any interesting people on the way things like that. Um uh one thing I actually think is that when you’re living in Tokyo, it’s full of people and you know everybody’s so busy. You it’s actually very hard for you to talk to him. Even though I was learning Japanese at the time, it’s hard to practice. Mhm. But when during my road trip in very small cities, I actually met Japanese people and they’re willing to talk to you cuz you know pace is much slower and they would be curious. Oh, this dude is biking with all his like tent and everything and they actually ask me about your trip and where you going. Nice. So you could even get your Japanese language practice too. Yeah. Um and one last thing uh I remember during the trip is that um this is more more of the adventurous part. So I rode around IU Peninsula and on the way back to Tokyo I was going downhill and it’s where you can see the Fuji Mountain but you know because going there is like uphill but going back is downhill and the brakes on my bikes were so worn out at the time that they were not functioning and I was going downhill all the way and I think u maybe an hour of the trip I had to break or slow down my bike with my shoes because you because my my brakes were just not working at the time. Um, so that made it a bit dangerous. So I think that’s something uh folks have to be aware of if they go on a road trip, bike trip and and and one of the things that at the time I actually didn’t have a SIM card in Japan because Japanese SIM cards are quite expensive. You get like subscription obviously now they’re SIM card for tourists which Yeah. By the time I didn’t have one. So I told my mother before my trip that I was going for four days. And then the trip was so good. I was so indulged in the beauty of the scenery. I decided to extend my trip by a day and a half. And so by the end of the fourth day, my mother was like going crazy because she wasn’t hearing anything from me. And and so it’s funny because um when I back in Tokyo, I immediately messaged her, but she was obviously very worried. She told my friends in Japan and China, they were literally half a day away from reporting to the police. I was missing her tickets to Tokyo were already booked. It was uh so when I went back to school next week, like I I’m kind of infamous already because Apparently in all these chat groups you were asking you seen boy. So you’re popular you know either being popular famous wise or probably maybe infamous. Yeah. Would meet me hear my name and say oh you’re that guy. So uh yeah never risk that with our mothers. If it’s four days it has to be four days. This is a usual trait for Indian mothers that they will have. I’m glad to know that even Chinese mothers as well have uh you know they need they need to know where their kids are all the time. Definitely. Yes. The clip take it and send it to mommy. Okay. My god. But this is not the time when there was Wi-Fi. Which year was this when you were traveling doing this whole thing? That was 2014. 2014. Okay. So not every place had Wi-Fi at that time. So now even the smallest uh BNB or uh you know any cafe would would have Wi-Fi where you can log in and just say uh mom I’m cool. Yeah. And and definitely there’s no Wi-Fi in my tent cuz I was traveling on the cheap and yeah tent is so cool. So you know so when you’re going from place to place and all that where do you actually refresh yourself? Where do you have a shower? Do you have such kind of facilities as you’re doing this kind of bike trip? So there are public facilities uh like some toilets, public bathrooms would have. Oh, very nice. Yeah, that’s something I guess not available everywhere, but in Japan it’s it’s possible. Oh. Uh you have campsites and all of that as well. Yeah, so there are designated campsites where you know you can you can go where they have showering facilities, right? And the other thing is in Japan there are um hotring or Oh yes, of course you’re there. Public bath everywhere. There’s an onset. Why bother about all this shower and all that? Oh, I completely forgot about that. Oh, how was the onsent for you? How was the experience? What isn’t this peninsula what has one legendary onsent town where it’s all a natural onset and all of it? Yeah, I think that would be Atami. That’s the most famous onen town in IU. But all around the peninsula, there are many onens. Oh, and these public ones, do they look like how it looks in the Shogun series and all that? Like literally, you’re in the middle of nature kites? I’ve been to some of those. U they’re not necessarily uh during this trip, but um I remember when I went to Nago, there’s a place with open air monsoons. And there’s also a monsoon where there are a lot of snow monkeys. Oh, yeah. That’s the most famous picture. The picture that’s that’s circular all around. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. So, I actually went there and, you know, found it that it’s real. It’s pretty amazing. It’s so crazy to see. Oh my god. They’ll be just sitting and chilling like vegetating and they’ll be like the the the the smoke from the water will be coming on them. Oh, so cute. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. One of the most unique and um special experiences you can get in Japan for sure. So, I think that everyone should uh give it a try. Although there are rumors or probably confirmed stories that people with any tattoos should not go to onen. Yeah. Yeah. Kicked out. Yeah. I have a tattoo. Oh. So then I u we had planned a weekend way to an onen town which is about say 3 hours from Tokyo and we were staying there overnight. Most gorgeous onsen I have seen in like I I I went through a lot of online reviews which one to go to and all. I went we picked up this particular one. The onsen is called the Takara Gava onen. I’ll put up the link in our show notes. It’s most beautiful. So this was in the month of April and there was still snow all around and you were in the onen. It’s supposed to one of the largest onens in Japan. So you you’re in the onen and you have snow all around you. Oh my god, it’s unbelievably beautiful. And there’s a gushing waterfall right there behind you. So they have like they have they have like made three different one is 40° one is 32° kind but it’s all natural is what they claim very pretty place very very simple very nice and we spend an entire day there so when I was uh looking at which ones to go there’s this again this a walking tour guide told to me told us a statement that once you go into an onen your life is changed so I was very excited as to what lifechanging experience I’m going to get okay life did not change but that day was one of the most memorable days in my life. That day has gone into the category of one of the most memorable days of my life. Like you have that movie right inside out where each time you make a core memory, you’ll have one core memory, it’ll go to that c one memory zone. So definitely the onsen went into that core memory zone. It was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Yeah. Well, I have to have definitely have to check out this place you mentioned. Seems really amazing. Oh yes. I I’ll send I’ll definitely send you a link. Um and uh you can also stay in this onsen. Unfortunately, we booked very last minute. So, we didn’t get to stay at this onen. So, how it works is that day trippers can only uh stay in this onsen till say I think 400 p.m. or something. So, the ones who stay there, they get exclusive access of the entire place once the day trippers leave. Okay. And uh the onen is open 24 hours. So there are gorgeous pictures of you know enjoy being in the onen under uh you know starlit sky and it’s it’s just gorgeous. I mean you you can’t take pictures there. Photography is not allowed and they keep your phones away and things like that but the photos that management um shares they are gorgeous you I I really want to do uh go to the same place at some point and stay over here and just think of you know sitting in that warm water and you know starlet sky above and you know what if there are snow around like how it was when we went and absolutely like perfect perfect oh sure you tell one sentence of your experience and I’m my stories are going from into paragraphs and paragraphs I I love this exchange of stories man it’s so fun. Yeah. What else? So this whole bike trip. So you came back, you said, “Mom, I’m fine. Your mom mom settled on.” Or did you get one barrage of um uh scoldings from mommy? Yeah. The scolding is definitely unavoidable. Um I I just think moms will never get used to it no matter how long you have been traveling like on your own. 60 countries is quite a big number. I thought she should now think that okay fine. Boy is not going to tell me every single time. They don’t give up. Yeah. Yeah. Cute. What else? So or how else was u you know your other other vacations that you took when you were in in Japan you know not just may not just be from this particular trip from other uh trips that you’ve been there. Tell us. There was a trip I took also during the same year. This is um not a bike trip but a road trip in trains. Uh but also I brought my tent to for camping. And so first I went to Nikico with my friends from school. It was really nice that this trip is like a you know boys trip. It was really fun. Nikico is about uh 3 hours from Tokyo. I spent two three days there in in traditional hostel there. And then next day I just left them and started my trip to Hokkaido. Oh. And I had to cross the entire Hoku regions the northeastern part of Japan. And also I passed um where they had the nuclear incident with the tsunami. And so a lot of people tend to avoid that region and that region is not no longer on the map for many tourists especially back then because um it was only a few years after the incident happened. Um so in Japan is actually this basically just really bad marketing for the place. So, so any products that’s coming out of that priced a lot lower because of the concerns over radiation. But regardless, uh, so I went there and spent at night village there. I think it’s called Shiraawa. And I got there really late into the night. So just I didn’t book any hotels. I just put out my tents kind of like in a field or on a farm. Mhm. Uh and next day I woke up to this Japanese farmer who opened well who you know knocked on my tent and had a conversation. I thought I was going to just get scolded and who are you? And he’s actually really kind of friendly. He asked me about you where you going, how’s your trip? And he shared with me his story. Did a similar thing to Hokkaido when he was much younger. and he gave me green tea and bread for breakfast. So it was really so sweet. Yeah, he was a really nice person. Something I didn’t expect. Oh, I love such kind of encounters that you have. Suddenly you meet someone really special and it’s been how many years? I mean more than 10 years and you still remember this conversation that you had and the bread and the green tea and all of it. Imagine. Yeah, I guess those are just the small things you just never forget. kindness from strangers and conversations to you get to have. Um, and the green tea. Yeah, I definitely think I mean these make the trips way more special than you know, oh, I saw a rugged peninsula and all that that you see rugged peninsulas everywhere and things. These conversations you’ll never forget. I love it. It makes it so nice. Love it. But did he tell you any any story about the whole nuclear event that happened and all of it? Um I guess we didn’t go to that go into that in details or my Japanese is not uh good enough describe a nuclear incident. That’s true. Yeah. The so the town that happened is called Fukushima. Mhm. Fukushima. Okay. And uh so this town is probably around two hours away from the the town that had the nuclear event. And so I continued my my trip after that. And uh one other interesting thing that happened during the trip is that um so there are two cities in Hokkaido apart from the biggest city Saporo. So the two is Hakodate and Otaro. And these two cities are quite similar in many ways. They’re both kind of like satellite cities in Saboro and they they’re both ports and they’re famous for warehouses converted into stores because they were also one of the two ports that were open up after and opening up policy. Saporo’s on the coast is it you’re saying it’s a it’s a naval port. So Sapurro is in the kind of like in the center of Hokkaido. And then these two, Hakodate and Otaru, they’re port cities, not too far away from Sapuro. So what what’s interesting is that when I got to Hakodate, I mixed the city with the other city. So I thought I booked a hostel in Hakodate, but when I got there, I realized I actually booked it in Otaro instead. So I I was there without an accommodation and so I had to find somewhere to to to stay. Fortunately I had my tent so I just set up my tent next to the port and I just remember next day when I woke up there’s a volcano that’s kind of start to erupt. Yeah. It happens every alternate day in Japan. It’s almost like that. So I woke up and realized it was like uh I don’t know. It is like the end of the world or what do you call it? It just you call it end of the world only. But you had ashes all around and things like that. Is it? Yeah. So I actually also took a picture. Um I’ll send it to you later. So it’s my tent the port and the background with the volcano erupting. Oh, and it’s actually lava or is it just the ashes so far? No. So there’s no lava. Okay. Okay. My god. Yeah. But I thought was like shing like waking up to the end of the world. Absolutely. I had a very similar experience in um Indonesia. So we were vacationing in Bali and uh for the weekend I think we went to this place called Gillit Travangan which is very nice island uh place for diving and all of it. And just as we were leaving Bali the Mount Aong was had just started erupting. All our luggage was entirely covered in ashes. was really crazy and there is a beautiful picture that I have you know you have those uh water swings across many places in Bali like you it’s just on the beach but inside the water you’ll have a swing so I’m sitting on one of the swings and I have and then the background I have the mount aong it was still not lava coming out was still a lot of ashes and smoke and all of it but you can actually see like it’s like smoke coming out and all of that was a beautiful picture but then that one because of that one thing all our plants went haywire. We had to change our flights. But I got a good picture and it was a beautiful thing to see the volcano actually erupting. Mhm. Yeah. I haven’t seen an erupting volcano with lava bucket list. So what did you have to abruptly end your trip when you did the Hokkaido thing and you had the volcano erupting or did you continue your Yeah, continued. It seems to be a really small eruption which I guess just happens from time to time and Japanese blah. Yeah, with I think with earthquake as well because this happens every now and then. I know. It’s crazy. Hokkaido is a actually a skiing destination, right? One of those skiing destinations. So, Hokkaido is really nice to visit in both summer and winter. Um, the winter turns into a huge ski destination. Which season was it when you went? I went in summer. Okay. So, in summer people usually are there to see the lavender. Oh, lavender fields. Wow, it’s a beautiful place. Um, and there there are actually a lot more to see there. Nice. And how did you do this this uh traveling between places in this trip? Uh, so there was a train trip and in Japan, so Japan rail offers what’s called the session Junhach Kibu. Uh, it’s it it means youth 18th ticket. So origtally it’s something that’s for students to return home after semester and they sell it at a really cheap price. Nice. And it’s valid for 5 days. Uh it doesn’t have to be consecutive as long as it’s within five days. You can ride trains unlimited train rides within Japan. Wow. Wow. The thing is you can only take the slowest trains. You can’t take Shinkansen highspeed trains. Mhm. So, it has to be the slowest. Uh, not even the express trains, but it’s unlimited and they only sell it at the end of the fall semester and the end of the spring semester. Oh, but actually anybody can just go. I was going to ask, do you need a student ID to get the ticket? Uh, you don’t need it. Anyone can get it. So, so you can stay young forever. Moral of the story was nice. You can stay young forever. I love it. You know, I was like 26, already worked for a couple of years, but I was using that. Yeah. Yeah. When when I go to a bar and they ask me for my ID, I I’m I’m very happy. I’m like, “Oh, yeah. Yeah, please see my I’m beyond 18. Thank you.” It’s like that. I definitely think youth has been extended for you many people in our generation cuz there used to be this thing called youth hostel. But now they just got rid of youth. just host these days cuz you know sometimes why am I stay still staying in a hostel your view has been extended I like it very nice how are the slow trains in Japan I’ve I’ve done shinkansen I’ve done express trains but I didn’t do slow train and a shinkansen not express train I mean they are phenomenally good but it’s like one of those um you know European trains or Indian trains uh it’s an AC1 you have comfortable seats and things that how are how are these slow trains in uh Japan, the solo trains, there are still many different types, but it just feels like it takes forever to get to places. But also, I think it’s interesting because whenever tourists travel around, they tend to jump on the highspeed train and just get to major places like Tokyo, Kyoto. And these trains actually don’t stop in the smaller cities of town. So, it is only when you take the soul trains, okay? go to rural Japan and visit the smaller cities where the pace of life is just completely different. Yeah. And also it actually affects how tourist revenue is distributed because the foreign tourists most of the money still go to bigger cities and major tourist destinations. I definitely like I mean I’m very of train travel on the whole but but in on this vacation express trains and shansen are the only ones that I use. Of course subways and all that are different within the city uh you know buses and all that is different but across like intercity travel was only through um shinkans or express trains maybe next time I’ll want to feel young again so I’ll take the slow train and generally I mean here in India you have these uh trains where you have something called toy trains which are this really old like UNESCO heritage kind of uh trains. Yeah, they’re really nice and there are some there are there across just three places in India. So there’s one close to Shimla, there is one close to uh Chennai and there is one close to Kolkata the West Bengal and they are just so good and they’ll go through really uh like forested regions or in case of Shimla it goes around the Himalayas and it tests your patience like no tomorrow because it crawls. It really crawls. But it stops in a dozen places station small stations. So I I would always say just just take the take it between station one and station three or station seven and station 9 and don’t take the whole route because you’ll just go crazy as to what is the speed. But uh it’s really nice to you know go on that route. It’ll keep once in a while hit the horn so and then you’ll hear it and so nice. It sounds amazing. Yes. Yes. Your next trip to India, I’ll plan out such kind of experiences for you. So, whenever you’re coming next, let me know. Definitely. Yeah. I’m a big fan of train travel as well. And in Japan, they actually like people just always fascinated about train travel and there are many different types of trains and they always make it super interesting whether it’s Hello Kitty or I was just going to say Hello Kitties as as that as well. Nostalgic trains, old trains, Hotring trains. Yeah. just constantly amazes me. Yeah. So, we were in Kyoto and this was just towards the end of your Sakura season and there is a love express. Okay. So there was this there were two folks in my walking tour who had taken that love express in the morning and they said that so the love express train apparently goes through a route which has uh you know sakuras like all over the train lines it’s supposed to be really beautiful but because it was towards the end of Sakura there was there were no flowers anymore or barely any they said it was so boring that on the way back we took a regular train and came back we didn’t want to go on that love express slow train it was so boring But they do have a lot of such themes like you’re saying like Hello Kitty and bunch of other things and I’ve seen so many even in the uh route towards Hakone and all of that there are bunch of these very very very themed train travels and all of that. Lovely. Tell me more about Japan. What about food? Like what what blew your mind when you were there? things that you tried which uh has almost become a part of your regular cuisine or regular palette kinds. Yeah, I definitely feel like the whole world is kind of fascinated with Japanese foods uh at the moment and like even in Europe sometimes you go to restaurants and they Japanese Yeah, Japanese food is in right now everywhere. Yeah. Yeah. But I definitely feel like Japanese food in Japan is uh just a different level and definitely a much better. And also one thing I feel like when I was living in Singapore, there are Japanese restaurants everywhere. But even if it’s just a Japanese chain made by Japanese chefs sometimes or you know other trained local chefs, it’s just not the same as your dining experience in Japan. Yeah. Um, my understanding is that whenever in Japan when you’re eating the food, it’s not just about the food. It’s it’s a whole package. It’s about the atmosphere. It’s about the service. It’s about the nashi or it’s the whole thing. You can’t simply, you know, move that food, that bowl of noodle, ramen to somewhere else and recreate the experience. Yeah. Yeah. So, the food is just like a small part of the experience. the whenever I’m not in Japan, I would rather hold back the food and go like get a ticket fly to Japan. I would just like eat everything in week or two. Oh my god. Yeah. I’m a big fan of many types of Japanese food, sushi and stuff. And I I think whenever you go to smaller cities in Japan, the on the coast, they usually have fishy market and that that’s where you get the best deal. Since I recently went to Japan, well, just prior to your trip, I went to a small city. It’s called Shim Shimanu next to Fukoka. Okay. And the fishing market is really really good. And um um so I think that’s that’s that’s one of the best places to to do that. So do you get food? If you’re going to fishing market, do they make you a dish and give it to you? Yeah. So early morning they would sell seafood uh like fish and whatever to restaurants to dealers. But if you go as a tourist because there are many like restaurants or shops that offer you sushi. Oh that’s like you know lovers of seafood or sushi as fresh as the word fresh can be. Exactly. Oh that’s really interesting. I thought because usually vegetable markets and fruit markets and fish markets and all that you won’t get a dish that you can eat. I mean you can buy fish and you can go home and cook it and things like that or you can buy vegetables and go home and cook it. Of course fruits you buy and just eat it but otherwise uh it’s interesting that there you can actually uh you know they’ll have a sauce or there something where you can just go there as fresh just just eat it. Oh very cool. Wow. Tell me so has there been any practice that you had that you’ve observed in Japan that has now become a part of you part of your life part of how you lead u daily life. Oh that’s a interesting question. Um I I do feel like there are certain things you get used to in Japan but that’s not available outside. Um, for instance, Japan is just very friendly for solo travelers in a way that nowhere else is even comparable. There are many places you can go to as a solo traveler and the place is actually just set up for you to have your own barbecue. So, there’s something called like one person barbecue in Japan. Really? So, yes. And um that’s just an option. You have your own room sometimes and it’s just you and your meat and and and nobody else. Wow. And there’s some ramen restaurants um in Japan like is when you go there, you don’t even see anyone. You just go there, pay for it, and you sit there and they’ll open a small window and a bowl of ramen appears in front of you to you. Yeah. You don’t see any anyone. You don’t see you don’t have to talk to anybody, just you and your food. Yeah. In in Korea, there’s this food I really like. I think it’s it’s called shran chicken. One of my favorite dishes there. But every time I go there, they’re like, “You have to have at least two people to eat here.” So, you just I’m turn away every time that I can’t go to on my own anymore. So, the quantity is that much, is it? Yeah. And they’re just not willing to tailor it for one person. Oh, yeah. I mean, maybe I should just go and tell them, can I have a two people portion? And I think I still get turned down. Oh, no. Even many of the karaoke places in Japan are like your own room karaoke kinds, right? Japan has that kind of culture of karaoke rooms. I’ve never seen it in any other country. Otherwise, it’s a part of an entire bar and you’ll have like a place where you can go karaoke sing and all that. Whereas Japan, you have your own room. Yeah. And I remember there are cafes in Tokyo that only allow people to sit alone. So if you’re with a group of friends or with another person, you cannot enter the cafe because you’re not supposed to talk at all. And even if you ask them, can we just go in without talking? They won’t allow it. So it’s just like cafes or one person’s. So it’s definitely a society that’s built for uh individuals who kind of want to be on their own, enjoy their personal space. is definitely unique in that way. Yeah. So unique. Yeah. I mean I I I also would say that you know when you’re on a train in Japan uh one of the subway metro uh equivalent things. The amount that people are on their phones is crazy. I mean everyone’s obsessed with the with their phones these days across the world but not like the Japanese. I think they they take it another level. And that’s probably because of they they you can’t talk on the train and um which is so difficult for me. I love talking. So I’m like I have like really old like no you don’t. Uh but yeah they they’re obsessed with their phones. So yeah, I think Japan is a very high pressure society uh especially in big urban areas and it’s just such high pressure for individuals to conform to the overall culture of maintaining space, staying quiet, don’t you know bring troubles to others. Yeah, that kind of mindset is very deeply rooted. Once you’re there, you’re kind of used to it. That’s true. Even foreigners after living there for a while, you start to like nod or bow to people unconsciously. Yeah, I love that. I love the fact that they all smile at you. They bow, you respect them back. Yeah. I also noticed that, you know, foreign travelers tend to enjoy traveling Japan and students normally tend to enjoy living in Japan as a student. Well, I think there’s also a huge contrast between their impression of Japan and people who decided to work in Japan. Um, I think most of my friends who are working in Japan, they tend to think that working Japan is not easy to navigate and Japanese clients and colleagues or managers are very difficult to deal with. So I once considered the possibility of building a life there, working there for for some reason I didn’t do much. But now I feel like maybe I just want to go back as a dumb tourist and that’s probably the best way to manage my relationship with Japan. That’s um it’s a it’s an observation that even I’ve heard about or I’ve read about and all of that. Also the fact that corporate life there um majority of them retire in the next seven years or five years. There was some study that came out. Yes. Okay, a small segue from this topic but still very much related to the plan that you said about living in Japan at some point. Buy I have a very interesting um you know work suggestion for you. So when I was there this the specific onen place that I went to I stayed in a BNB there uh very small very nice it’s there a coffee roastery I don’t recall the name but I’ll put in the show notes uh because it’s really nice. So this is run by an Australian um an Australian man and a and his Japanese wife. So he if I’m not mistaken used to live in Sydney has a corporate career. He still you know works in the corporate uh but then he fell in love with uh Japan when he visited uh on work and just thought he would stay back and make his life there. He learned Japanese and then slowly you know one after another bought a house converted that into a BNB bought a second place converted that into a coffee roastery. It’s very beautiful. So why I’m telling you all this is you know if you think of moving um and settling down in Japan this is also something that you can think of instead of you know entering a corporate life or corporate kind of career. You can also you’ll love meeting people and talking to people right what better than you know having a B&B where people can come and stay and talk to you. It’ll be so fun. This is this is almost like a rioken. So very small place like maybe five rooms, one large place where you can eat together and they had board games there and it was really nice when they had music playing and uh and he was very fluent in English so we could have a lot of lovely conversations with him otherwise there was there’s a slight trouble to have long conversations with the locals because they are not very wellversed with the language. So this was really nice and uh you know that language, you know this language, you know other languages and all that you should think of doing something like this. Yeah. Some sometime I think about Yeah. Like because I’ve been moving around uh places and you know eventually probably have to settle down somewhere and yeah where should that be? Japan is still like up there. So let’s see. That’s a good good idea. I’ll definitely um look into it. Yes. I I’ll get special preference. I’m telling you before itself definitely you’ll get platinum membership. Oh my god. late checkout, you know, per other perks. Oh god, this this this 10:30 a.m. check out and 12 and and 2:00 p.m. check drives me bad. Totally. Yeah, platinum members get 24-hour check in. Check out. Oh my god. For sure. Oh, man. Tell me. So, which other places in Japan did you uh did you visit during an entire You were there for a year, you said, right? So, we’ve gone to a bunch of other places. any other amazing highlights that you had? Yeah, because I also keep going back to Japan. Um, so if I look at the Japanese map, I’ve covered the vast majority of the prefectures. Um, and I think there are a few places that that stand out. I think Nagano in winter is exceptionally pretty with the mountains, the temples and the snow covered mountains. always a place. Nadano is kind of between Tokyo and the northern coast. Okay. So, it’s also where the so monkeys are. Oh, okay. Okay. That’s a landmark. Yeah. Uh so, so that entire region has a few places that are really awesome. I also feel that there are some hidden gems in Japan and underrated cities. I think it’s definitely whenever you go to a small place in Japan, the experience tend to be different, but also you want to avoid the crowds and discover some hidden gems. I recently went to a city in northern Japan. I think it’s a place I’ll never visit, but because I have a friend who’s working there, so she’s from China. I’ve known her for years. I have and she traveled around the world and ended up staying this place. It’s called Iwattate. Um, I Okay. She literally became a civil servant in a small town in Japan with 8,000 people and the population is decreasing every year. Uh so it it really shows you the contrast because like Tokyo is always vibrant, young people moving there. So she’s really there to kind of revive the economy with a focus on tourism. So you one of the biggest assets they have is um this place called Duseno Cave. Mhm. It’s a cave um with really dramatic formations and the coastline is also incredibly beautiful. It’s about an hour drive from the town. Um so there’s something called the bear nose cliff. So the cliff kind of looks like a bear’s nose. How cute. And I went there in in autumn and it was just like falling leaves during the entire journey. That was just really amazing. And then we got to the coast. Do you have the fall colors over there? Yes. Like yellow leaves and I think it’s I also have another friend who who just got really sick and tired of her corporate life in Tokyo and moved back to her hometown which is um next to this place also in northeastern part of Japan. Uh it’s initi and she inherited her grandmother’s old house turned into a hostel. So I think that’s really a kind of place a lot of tourists can consider with their second door trip in Japan. Just go there, meet the locals. Oh wow. You must share the link of this particular place. If someone’s going there, they would love to book a place and stay there or something. Yeah. So I think that’s yeah different way of exploring Japan. I mean I personally feel like because I almost go to Japan every year and in recent years there’s also a lot of coverage in media about the over tourism in Japan and um and I I personally also felt the decline in service quality in Japan despite the overall high quality but compared to perhaps a few years ago wow I noticed that there the service people in Japan are getting a little bit impatient because maybe they’re just too many foreigners sometimes. Wow. For me, what was A+ is for you was A. Is it between then and now? Wow. I’m wondering what what A+ would have been then. If you’re saying that this that what I experienced would have been like probably A or something phenomenal. Wow. Yeah. The there there was a lot of there were a lot of people when I was there. Again, because I’m coming from India, so this doesn’t overwhelm me. The crowds did not overwhelm me at all. U I was having a friend who was traveling maybe 3 weeks after me and she kept asking me is it is it like crazy like how we are seeing on Instagram and I said really no you’re not going to be overwhelmed so don’t worry uh it it really was very manageable and like I said the chaos is always there as a method to it so so somehow I’m noticing that all the places that you said were your favorites were towards the northern part of Japan you’re more of a mountain person is it? Yeah, I definitely like mountains and uh I think in the northeast uh it’s just less crowds and so you feel like it’s just you and the place and you kind of own own the place and that’s definitely a bit different compared to like Kai or something. Um and yeah, there’s still places I want to visit. I haven’t been to like southern part of Kyushu. I heard a lot of great things about it. Um, yeah. I think one thing fascinating about Japan is I keep going back more than once every year. It’s it still kind of maintains its charm because sometimes I feel like I’m feeling a bit jaded about certain places after visiting more than once, but Japan has managed to maintain its charm. It always delivers. I think it’s a place that that just can’t go wrong for most travelers. Wow. That is really like you know if you if you go for an appraisal and someone says something like this about you you would be like wow. So that’s that’s your review of Japan is just just going uh seriously above and beyond. Um what about southern places? So the popular Kyoto Saka Hiroshima Miaima you know those kind of places. My favorite city are definitely Tokyo and Kyoto. Um, and they’re vastly different obviously. I I try to go to Kyoto like as much as I can and there just so many great temples there. There a lot of them are worth visiting and the city just maintains its um its charm everywhere. Uh, and I think one thing about Kyoto is that um there are different ways to explore the cities and there are suburbs. So this the east mountains and the western mountains that I think great to visit and I think there’s just a lot of hidden restaurants and cafes you can also explore there. So I think that’s one great thing about Kyoto and and now I’ll try to go off the beaten track a little bit and explore the nearby towns like Mara. Yeah, there’s a place called Koasang was one to visit. So there’s a temple there. You can apparently stay there overnight with the monks. Oh, I’ve heard about this uh the place where you can stay with the monks here, but I’ve heard this place uh I don’t know if it’s the same one that both of us are talking about. There is one which is supposed to be really expensive. It could be but it’s a very unique experience to actually stay with them in the shrine and all of it. The the really mean was really expensive and I went somewhere I don’t remember what what was the amount but someone mentioned this when I was in again one of the walking tour things. I love taking walking tours. So wherever I go I take one. I get to meet a lot of people over there um you know other other co-t travelers I enjoy the guide very often the guide would be a a student who’s doing this in their spare spare time so I love such conversations that I that I have so I always do it when you know the first day when I’m in some particular city I’ll go and take a walking tour and then I start exploring it basis their recommendations and all of it so many of these stories that you know other travelers will share is from where I heard this spec specific one where you can stay at the shrine But the shrines in Kyoto are something altogether. It’s gorgeous. Each one of them. And you know, you hear of, you know, Japanese gardens. They’re supposed to be so pretty. Every shrine has a Japanese garden. And each one of them is so beautifully manicured. One small stream flowing through. The trees are so beautifully cut and you’ll have a pebble here and you’ll have a Buddha there. It’s very pretty, very cute. Yeah. Oh, Kyoto really has character. That’s one city that has just it’s beautiful. I mean for me the my first stop was Tokyo and then from there we came to Kyoto and I was there in Tokyo for maybe a week or so. So I thought I have nailed public transport and I can do everything now in Japan. Kyoto had no subway system. It was all buses and all of it as in main series. I’m like okay now I have to relearn uh you know the bus system over here. Of course you just need an IQ of single digits to figure out how to travel in Japan. It’s that beautifully intuitive. So every city was so different. And then from there we went to Osaka and Osaka is just like a metropolis and all the glitter and the glam and the buildings and I was like oh my god I I we had great shopping in Osaka. So I got all my tiger onsukas and my unique clothes and all those top things that I had to get. I got all of that from Osaka. Not cute. Kyoto was beautiful. I loved Kyoto. I mean for me uh Kyoto and Tokyo were like really very close. I cannot say this was one and this was two. Both were great. That was very nice. Yeah. Yeah. And I I also think that, you know, because Kyoto, you know, during its its its days, a lot of people say it was um much learned from the the Chinese city Chan and the Tan dynasty. So it was structured in that way and they share a lot of similarities in this architecture. But what happened is that in China the oldest wooden architecture can only be traced back to about 850 years. But in Japan those architecture and temples and monasteries remained, you know, there for 2,000 years or more. So I think that’s really pity that in some countries probably due to history and wars are not able to hold on to their heritage. But you know in Japan they remained intact. And this there’s another story that during the second world war when the US Pacific air force is trying to bomb Japan atomic bombs architect originally from China he advised the US government against bombing Kyoto. So that kind of saved the city. So so it’s great that we can still see all these great things but Yeah. Yeah. True. God and and your stories actually reminded me about um reminded me of Hiroshima and uh you know the the museum in Hiroshima it’s gorgeously well laid out and and the stories that they narrate really reminded me of you know what he just shared right now very beautiful very highly like one of the again uh my day in Hiroshima was fantastic we had a beautiful person who was telling us stories about the place and very moving and uh the most phenomenal thing that he said So when when the whole Hiroshima thing happened apparently within the with on the second day after the whole bombing happened the the city came back to life the the first tram they use tram services right the first tram ran within 48 hours of this whole thing happening. Wow. So they said that was that was as quick as the turnaround that that they did. Even now actually you know a lot of places when for example if you go to all these Nazi places around Germany and all of that when you go to those camps you really feel terrible at that day you will be the saddest you cannot have a beer at the at night you you feel so bad because you crazy atrocities Hiroshima what happened there was almost on the same level I would say but the way that they show the story somehow doesn’t invoke um a sad sentiment they try to present it like you know uh peace has won has won and uh they somehow bring out a very positive note out of it I don’t know which is better because what happened was really bad and you have to call a spade a spade kind of thing as well so it was a very interesting you know comparison that I felt when I was at Hiroshima interesting yeah I think all these sites about wars and people lost their lives in the wars are quite interesting Japan um so this is obviously one of those and there’s also the Yaskuni shrine where they kind of commemorate the death in the war Tokyo right yeah Tokyo has the main one and then I just think you know in a place like Hiroshima you go to the museum or Nagasaki I the one Nagasaki uh as I I realized that there’s not a lot of reflection about using atomic bombs and there’s not a lot of reflection on that I think because Japan is seen as the aggressor in the war and so it’s like the bomb that ended the war and then if you go to the museum in US comic bomb is celebrated as a heroic act in the war even though a lot of studies have proven that at the time Japan was already loose the movie openheime came out this year or the year before about the making of the atomic bomb openheimer oh what a movie Yeah. Yeah. I I think Openheimer kind of um wanted to talk about the use of atomic bombs in war, but you know, I think it was just not enough discussion. Yeah. Yeah. It’s interesting to see the narrative. Correct. Very true. It’s just it’s all the narrative this way or that way that they’re saying. But then the it’s amazing to see how the society has changed from uh then to now. And I know again all these things is not society. It’s all mainly political power and how they behave. It’s rarely, you know, trickles down to people and humans and all of that. But um yeah, now Bayang, if so, you’re going to continue going to Japan every year because now it’s become one of those, you know, I have to do it kind of thing. It’s a habit almost that’s that’s that started. But what are the other countries that are in contention for you? U you know, as your I’m going to settle down here again, settling down in quotes. What are the other countries in contention? Wow. Um, that’s a brilliant question for settling down probably. Yes. Or settling down, retirement, whichever. Yeah, I think after moving around a bit um around the world um definitely the question will come to mind or maybe just a false premises maybe we don’t have to set. We don’t need to actually we don’t need to but one place where which will be which you’ll probably stay in more than the others when you are maybe retired maybe 6 months here but one month everywhere else. So which is a six months here kind of place. Yeah I I definitely have given some thoughts about this question. I think Japan remains to be one of those um ideal places for me in many ways. Um, I think Europe, as much as I love it and traveling around Europe, I kind of think it’s probably not the destination for long term, I think it’s that I I love, you know, the cultures here and experience you can have, but I think maybe it’s the thing with aging. I just want to be somewhere that’s kind of closer to home. Okay. And also either live in a culture that’s kind of adjacent to my own culture or or somewhere that’s just kind of closer to heart. I mean I I love like French cuisine and pastry in Italy or whatever. But it’s just different when you just sit down in a tea house in Japan or somewhere in Asia. It just uh gives you it’s a different level of comfort both for appetite but also for your mindset. I just feel more at ease in Asia. Uh and I think Japan just is one of those places that kind of managed to be Asian but also very very modern. And I think they managed to combine Asian culture aesthetics with a like a postmodernist twist or approach that just combines very well for me. So you you you keep things very traditional in many ways, but you also have access. Yes. You have chaos for everything else for all the modern. That’s crazy good. So I think that’s probably a good u good balance. Yeah. I lived in Singapore for a couple of years. I think Singapore is a great place uh for many reasons. It unlocks a lot of great career opportunities. It’s a hub for a lot of companies in Apac. Tokyo is just not as international and I guess the the income level is not a part of some more international but I guess you just can’t get everything at the end of the day. Um you’re right. you kind of realize places like Switzerland and Singapore, they offer good competitive salary, good career opportunities, but they just don’t have a lot of culture or less options for adventures or exploration. And then you have other places like Egypt that have plenty of room for adventurous history and culture. Like I can I sometime I can I feel like I want to move to Egypt just for my Egyptian civilization. It just unlocks a lot of these things. Yeah. So, but again, this is going back to one of my episodes that I did on Egypt where the guest said that after Egypt, every other place seems so blah because this is Egypt history is the oldest history. Egypt is just crazy. Throw a stone and you’ll have one thing that is some BC level old and you know things that I I I love Egypt as well. Okay. I mean after along with Jordan maybe Egypt is also one of my u when I when I think of the most coolest places Egypt is also there. Oh nice. I like I like the things that are uncontention for you. So maybe um maybe settling down during during active working life would be either Singapore or something like that and maybe beyond that once you’re closer to retirement maybe Japan would come uh maybe maybe right possible. Yeah. Sans no and you do have friends in Japan as well. So for us I mean for uh the lack of social life and the thing that that you were talking about earlier would be a big challenge for people who have not um who do not have a a circle over there. You have that as well through you know through your studying over there and other friends circles that you’ve made up elsewhere. Yeah I definitely cherish those uh friendships and and and somehow you know we try to keep it alive still. I remember one thing that’s quite interesting is I met this guy in Wasida University back in 20 the end of 2014 early 2015 and it’s been like almost seven eight years and we didn’t talk at all and suddenly during the pandemic when we were all you know some kind of lockdown somewhere in the world I was in Singapore he was in Japan he reached out to me and said yeah I’m having this bilingual language exchange weekly on Zoom do you want to join and then I was like kind kind of dying to, you know, get back to Japan, Japanese culture. And so I kind of went on and I pretty much joined every single Zoom sessions. So he just brought these foreigners and Japanese to have a chat like every week. It was just amazing. Yeah. And then we we kept in touch and you know last time we were back to Tokyo, we also I think it’s amazing how these ties you know remain and u despite the distance. Yeah. So, I’m glad it’s it’s still open. Very interesting. So, how many languages are you fluent in? Well, I wouldn’t say I’m fluent in Japanese. Um, and I think it’s been deteriorating. Somewhere somewhere there. I would say five. Five. Okay. Which are these? Chinese, English, um, Spanish, Portuguese, and still have a lot of work to do for my French. I’ve been kind of procrastinating. Okay. Hopefully. So, that’s your next language in your um, list, right? Oh, hopefully. Nice. That’ll take care of most of your travel across Europe. If you know French, that’s and that’s it, right? There’s nothing. Is there anything else? Oh, of course you you I mean a little bit of Russian will help you in many of the other uh Yeah. Many of the other countries and all of that. Yeah. Or Arabic. Or Arabic. Yeah. Correct. That’s true. So, have you been to um you know countries like Kazakhstan and Kystan and Georgia and all of those as well? I slightly passed by Georgia and I was in Armenia for two three days because that was a spaniest trip. I just decided not to go to Turkey directly but from Iran. I took a detour and went to Armenia. So definitely I want to go back to Georgia and I haven’t been to Central Asia and that’s like top list for for me right now for the next year or two. Yeah. Uhhuh. Yeah. What what about you? What’s on your list? Central Asia is really top for me as well. So I haven’t done any of these things. So for me you know the whole Azarai John Kystan, Kazakhstan, Georgia all these places. So recently very recently a very close friend went um to Kazakhstan and uh she says it is just phenomenal that country is made is is designed for people to stay active. And she said it’s just I mean you close your eyes, you rub your eyes, you open your eyes, it’s gorgeous. Again you close it’s gorgeous. Every place is so pretty. So pretty and so cheap. Oh my god. She said we took a we took an Uber which was which had to do uh so we finished an entire hike and we were exhausted. So the last 10 kilometers something they had to take a shared Uber or something whatever it is some some vacation. It was just a,000 rupees. A,000 rupees is what like 10 £10. Mhm. Wow. It was so cheap. It’s not funny. The place is so cheap. just that it’s a big trouble for um vegetarians because other than camel meat and other meats you get nothing. She said we we had to only have bread and butter. Uh even it was really troublesome but uh I’m not a huge foodie so food does not um you know it’s not the main reason. Yeah. Design my vacation. I like eating good food. It’s not that I don’t. I mean I love the ramen and I loved you know lot of things that I had in Japan and every other place but it it does not design my um my vacation or a trip or something but yeah so definitely central Asia is very high up I have not done lot of Africa as well so I really want to do one of those Kenya uh definitely want to do one of those migration times and and and have that whole thing um so that’s that’s also something that’s very high up on my list. I want to Rwanda and go to one of those uh gorilla tracking things and I I’m nuts about animals. So, I really want one gorilla to go on my head and stand. I don’t know what will happen to me. These are all things I in my dreams. I love it. I love to I want to like go near a lion and and nonsense. I have such kind of stupid plans. Of course, not those zoo kind of lions, not that poor things. I really like wild ones. Never. It’ll never happen. But uh yeah, I have I have definitely like top of my list. Well, sounds like we’re very aligned in terms of our top of list travel destinations. We’ll make somewhere in between. Yeah, I’m sure. And and East Africa, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Lots of these places. Tell me one country that uh was when you visited you were not very uh or you didn’t have much of expectations from it, but after you were just blown away kinds. Okay. Oh, that’s also uh good question. What would that be? I think I would say some underrated cities in Europe just based on my recent uh travel experience. Uh because most people tend to focus on like Paris, Rome, of course. Yep. Yep. Yep. That’s true. And I kind of realized there’s some hidden gems under it. the city’s like uh terrain in Italy for me is you know is is a great place. It’s often not um is not super touristy, but it actually has one of the world’s probably the world’s one of the world’s oldest Egyptian museums. It’s in terrain. Okay. Wow. Um something I didn’t expect, but they have a huge collection very well protected mommies and Wow. Oh, I didn’t even know that there’s a connection. How or other why did it reach there? I think the Italians were the first ones to to have a love affair with Egypt. Um so they discover started during a Roman Empire and they started to already ship a lot of these oblisks from Egyptian to to Italy. So I later realized like Rome has 18 oblisks from Egypt. Wow. 18. Yeah. And so basically this Egyptian museum is celebrating its 200th year anniversary this year. So the love affair with Egyptianology has been there long time and I just discovered it last year. Um fascinating. These are some of the hidden gems. I went to Glasgow and it’s very much of a city that reflects the the hates of the British Empire, but it it kind of just stopped there in time. I mean, there’s some recent developments, but you can see the highlights there were all developed during the those days. Yeah, it’s a city I’m visited with like very little expectation, but actually I thought it was more interesting compared to Edinburgh. And since we were around Edinburgh, Sterling was one such place that also I I had no expectations. I just thought, “Oh, we just going to stay there for a night and go go ahead.” So I really really like Sterling. Sterling. Okay. The castle there is just gorgeous. And it’s also a very college uh town. So you can have fun. You can go you can go to the castle. You can have all your know tour of the place and you know love the history and all of it. and then you can come out and have a great time in the evening. So, it’s a very nice mix of old and new uh experiences that you can have. There’s another place like this that we went which was near Istanbul. I’m trying to remember the name. Oh, if I’m not mist of Turkey. Oh my god. And I we kicked ourselves for not staying there for longer. it. We were driving across um Turkey and Turkey like now with their new name. Bura was beautiful. It was again very old world charm and it was really really really nice. But closer to home for you, home as in now Switzerland for you is u we went I’m I’m really trying to remember the name but I’m not able to remember. It’s u it’s also one of those very college uh towns. It has a lot of breweries. Uh, you have the river flowing there and people jump into the river and they burn. Burn. Burn. Yes. Burn. Oh, thank you. Yes. I killed myself thinking what was it? What was it? What was it? We did it. Yes. Burn was so good. I mean, it was a day trip for us. And again, we were like, we kicked ourselves. Why don’t we stay longer? But I loved Burn. Burn is definitely Yeah. One of those places I also found to be super charming. Yeah. And Very charming. Yeah. Like a medieval town. And yes, just very different from Geneva where I’m based in. Yes. Yes, that’s true. Geneva’s uh it’s also pretty for as a tourist who comes and visits the place. But otherwise there’s not so much about the place. We also went to a very nice uh uh museum. There was there’s an Olympic museum somewhere not very far from Geneva. Right. Uh Losan. Losan. Yeah. We went there I think at some 12:00 or 11:00 or something in the afternoon and we came out because they had to drive us out at 5:30 or 6. Unbelievably good museum. We loved it. It’s like in one of my favorite museums of the world that I visited this Olympic museum is joining that level and I’m very fond of museums on the whole. And I’d definitely have to go. I haven’t been there. So one more thing to do in Switzerland. I’m telling you boy this this podcast is so difficult for me you know I have a lot of FOMO my husband keeps telling me I think you should take start taking therapy for take therapy for and then when I hear such stories I’m like oh man you narrating such lovely stories about this cycling trip and all that you did in Japan I’m like oh I want to do it I want to do it it’s getting at very my foremost at very unhealthy levels I tell you well I’m sure there are you know always great adventures just out there waiting for us. Yes. Yes. So, where next? Where have you planned your next uh vacation? Uh so, my next vacation would be in Europe, Bill Bao. I heard that’s also an underrated uh destination. I because I actually studied Spanish in university and my professor from Spain told me, you know, like this noval and there’s a little town next to called Caban. It’s like a really small town. They they have the best food in Spain. So it’s like they have like Michelin star restaurants and but also walk into any restaurant like they have really good tapas and wine and chill. You definitely wine is cheaper than water in most of Spain is what I’ve heard. I I guess it probably is. So you’ll have a happy vacation. Yeah. Thank you. Wonderful. Pang, I had such a nice time talking to you today and you know like I had told you once earlier uh this the number of stories that you have are so rich and so fun that we can actually do an entire season you know misadventures of a sneaker travel with Buang across the world kind of whole season. So maybe we should do this again sometime soon. Um and maybe explore another set of experiences that you’ve had or another uh country or city. I really love talking to you. Thank you so much Rati. It’s been a great conversation. I actually haven’t you know shared a lot of those stories with people. So it’s it’s great to have this uh nostalgic conversation about Yeah. Thanks again and wish you all the best and stay in touch. Oh definitely. We have to meet in one of these countries, right? So for sure. For sure. Yes, definitely. Thank you. Bye-bye. [Music] Thank you so much for joining me and sharing uh such wonderful stories, Buang. It honestly felt like we were cycling and camping and traveling right alongside you through the entire episode. You know, Japan has a way of capturing hearts. Uh and through your adventures, we’ve gotten a glimpse of why it keeps calling you back year after year. But honestly, this episode is a reminder that travel isn’t really about the places or the countries that we go to. It’s about the stories that we carry home. And thank you so much Bang for sharing some of your stories with us. To my dear listeners, if you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to follow the podcast for more travel adventures and misadventures. We are called Misadventures of a Sneaker on all platforms. Also, we’ve recently launched a travel journal, a journal that is perfect for everyone, no matter your age, where each page includes a fun prompt to spark creativity. Whether you’re writing, drawing, or sticking in little memorabilia, pick one for yourself or gift it to your friend or to a kid. It’ll be a keepsake where your favorite moments will live and where a silly sketch will bring back a whole story. You will find the link to order the journal in our show notes. Happy journaling and see you in the next episode. Bye-bye. [Music]
What makes a traveler who’s been to over 60 countries, keep returning to one place, year after year? For our guest today, Boyang Xue, the answer is simple: Japan.
In this episode, we dive into his unforgettable gap year in Japan—learning Japanese at the same university where Murakami once studied, biking for a week between Tokyo and Izu peninsula, camping under starlit skies, hopping slow trains all the way to Hokkaido, and hiking through landscapes that few tourists ever see.
Charming and full of stories, he shares not just adventures from Japan, but also tales from Colombia, Italy, Switzerland, and beyond. But no matter where he goes, Japan remains his true travel love.
Join us for an episode filled with adventures, mishaps, slow travel magic, and a whole lot of inspiration for anyone dreaming of exploring Japan differently.
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Follow Boyang on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/boyang-xue-32a71b14/)
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To pick up copies of our journal, click here (https://cronica-media.mojo.page/my-travel-journal)
Like our work? Follow, Like & Subscribe to our podcast from wherever you are listening in. We would also love to hear from you, so do write to us at:
Email: misadventuresofasneaker@gmail.com
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Blog: misadventuresofasneaker.substack.com (https://misadventuresofasneaker.substack.com/)
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00:00:00 Trailer
00:02:00 Episode & Guest intro
00:08:30 Early travel stories
00:11:30 A crazy trip to India
00:16:37 LATAM stories
00:25:05 What’s special about Japan
00:29:51 Spending a ‘gap’ year in Japan
00:40:37 Bike trip in Japan
00:54:01 Onsen experiences
00:59:04 Slow train trip in Japan
01:04:00 Volcano erupting during the trip
01:07:03 Train hack in Japan
01:12:56 Japanese food
01:16:03 Japanese culture imbibed
01:23:51 Lesser known places in Japan
01:37:45 Settling down – Japan?
01:47:23 Trip that went above and beyond
01:53:43 Toodles and see you again soon
AloJapan.com