Japan: Lost in Translation

JAPAN FOREVER!!!! A wonderful trip!!!!!! Among the best!! Temples as beautiful as the Chinese ones... but more refined.. the colours of white and dark wood dominate... zen atmospheres... essential... veryyy mystical!! Tokyo, a space-age city, motorways and underpasses everywhere cutting through the city, 15 metro lines plus more than 10 commuter rail ones running to the second, Manhattan-style skyscrapers and a great Asian atmosphere everywhere, Swiss-style cleanliness.... not a scrap of paper on the ground, not a cigarette butt, polite and very clean people.... and then,.......guys, it's not true that it's expensive!!!!!!!!!!!!! Would you compare it with cities like London???!!!! Tokyo, if you don't play the western fool who absolutely has to eat in the Italian restaurant, costs nothing compared with cities like London or Milan (where I actually live).

Kyoto is really ugly as a city in itself. but it sits at the foot of the hills and on their slopes are the most beautiful temples in all of Japan... a marvel!!! I went from one temple to another by taxi and I assure you that in total I must have spent only about 70 euros, whereas with the various organised tours I was spending much more to see half the temples I actually ended up visiting. I'd absolutely recommend at least a couple of nights in traditional Japanese inns, the “Ryokan”; it's really great fun to experience Japanese traditions on your own skin (some are also very funny......), book with the typical dinner included... it'll be a real culinary experience....!!!!!!! In Tokyo you then can't miss a drink at the “New York” bar of the Park Hyatt Hotel (5-star super luxury); it has the most beautiful night view of a city I've ever seen,...

flashing red lights as far as the eye can see on the skyscrapers, and beams of light springing up everywhere...breathtaking,...and then a black jazz singer,....a super refined setting,..... dimmed lights, 2 glasses of champagne and then......a bill of 90 euros!!!!!!!!!!! But it's so worth it, you feel like you're in the film “Lost in Translation”, and in Japan that's really how you are, lost in a sea of lights and signs in incomprehensible characters, lost in the vain attempt to find your way in that delirium, but happy to finally be somewhere different from mass-tourism destinations and fascinated by the character and manners of a people we too often underestimate. Great Japan!! LOST IN TRANSLATION!! Max