Tomorrow I’ll leave for Japan. It will be a 7 days trip followed by a two days stop in New Zealand. I always wanted to go to Japan. As a teenager I was fascinated by martial arts, by the samurai life code – bushido – and by the Japanese culture all together. As a student I started to learn hiragana and katakana by my own although my chances to go to Japan were nearly zero at that time.
Despite the fact that I had this deep wish to go to Japan, something always seemed to interfere and I had to postpone this. I postponed it so much that I barely thought I will always step foot over there. But one month ago I decided it’s time to do it. No more delays, no more excuses no more nothing: just buy the tickets, book the hotel and go. As part of my goals for 2009 this trip was suddenly simply unavoidable.
The main reason for going to Japan, apart from my all life wish, is to stretch myself, to pursue my personal development path. If you’re new here you may want to check out a full post I wrote about travel as a personal development tool. After I got back from the trip to Thailand I was so dismantled, so puzzled yet so refreshed and energized that I just couldn’t avoid to travel anymore. It’s part of my lifestyle now.
What To Do In Japan
I don’t plan my trips. I usually book the plane tickets and the hotel and this is basically all I know for sure in advance. Sometimes I take one or two guided tours just to get a glimpse of what they can offer. In Thailand, for instance, I booked a guided tour for the Floating Market in Damnoen Saeduk and I was pretty happy with it. In Japan I will only have a one day guided tour to mount Fuji, the rest is at my will. I will stay in Tokyo for the most part although I don’t exclude some one night stops in other cities, especially Kyoto.
I would really like to get some of the sakura zensen feeling (the cherry blossom celebration) but it seems I will be a little on the edge with that, from my information the climax of this was last week. Sakura zensen is one of the most interesting things to see in Japan, both from what I read and from what I heard from other people who were already there.
I will definitely visit everything would raise my interest and I won’t limit myself only to Tokyo, although I have this feeling that Tokyo itself will be really overwhelming.
My Raw Food Diet
From my information it would be quite difficult to keep a 100% raw food diet in Tokyo, although it would not be impossible. But as I already have a feeling of overwhelming I decided to lower a little the standards during the trip to Japan and include some light cooked food. I will have 3 transcontinental flights longer than 9 hours each and last time I checked there wasn’t any airline to provide raw food on board.
I already tested my cooked food tolerance this week – I ate some pastry the other day – and I’m doing fine. Well, I do experience the same cooked food symptoms as usual, like a little bit of fatigue and numbness, but not drastic changes in my metabolism. I guess I’m at the point where I can easily have a 80% raw – 20% cooked diet without any major changes in my lifestyle.
I do intend to switch to 100% raw vegan when I’m back but it’s good to know that I can adapt my eating habits to whatever I feel the need to. I have been talking a lot during the last few weeks with a lot of people about my raw food habit. Some of them are thinking I’m an extremist, some of them are envious and some of them don’t give a nickle on it. The main point in all of these conversations about being a raw foodist is that nobody knows what happens in the long run if you keep an exclusive raw vegan diet. There isn’t enough mainstream information on that. But mainstream is not always equal real.
I still think that switching to raw veganism was one of the best thing I’ve done in years. I have no intention to switch back whatsoever. But I do ponder the idea of including in my eating habits some of the things that are allegedly important like B12 vitamin. For those of you not aware of that, by being a raw foodist you expose yourself to a potential danger of running out of B12 vitamin, a very important component in your brain functionality. B12 is a variety of vitamin B found only in meat, although it can be synthesized. A lack in B12 can lead to serious – although reversible – forms of anemia. I decided to incorporate some foods which are B12 enhanced, since I already have more than 6 months of being an orthodox raw vegan.
What To Do While I’m In Japan
Well, that applies to you, the reader of eDragonu. I don’t know what posting speed I would be able to keep, I don’t know when I will be able to write here again during the next week, so you might have anything from 2 to 10 days in which you won’t know for sure if there’s any new content here. So, in order to keep my readers busy and to share some of my places of interest in the blogosphere, I complied a list of resources that should really get your attention.
Advanced Life Skills
My friend Jonathan writes about personal development, life hacks and he often shares from his personal experience. Be sure to check out his book.
Jay Frawley
Jay is a “dream master”, he writes a lot about how to decyphre the messages you receive from your “inner noodle” while dreaming.
Attraction Mind Map
Evely Lim writes about how you can attract things you want into your life by changing your mindset. Especially liked the series about negative money beliefs.
Embrace Living
Celestine writes about her experiences acter leaving a fortune 500 companies to fulfill the dreams of here life. If you’re in Singapore you may check out her life coaching offer.
Mike King writes about leadership, creativity and productivity. One of the best blogs in its niche.
A personal development blog with very interesting resources. Steve writes very clean and on topic.
Nutuba
This is one funny yet extremely knowledgeable guy. Be sure to check his series on learning grammar with Aunt Ruth, one of the funniest things I’ve read in years.
Quantum Learning
My friend Ian Peatey writes about nonviolent communication and he does that in a very easy and digestible way. A must read.
The Rat Race Trap
Stephen authors one of the most recent personal development blogs I read and he does this with a powerful voice and strong commitment. Highly motivational reading.
Bunny got Blog
A fine reading about business, family and success from a feminine perspective.
Kristi writes about the art of blogging and she usually fill her blog with loads of interesting resources. Informative.
Of course, you are free to read them after I’m back from Japan.
In fact I’m highly encouraging you to subscribe to all of those blogs. 🙂
I hope you enjoy your trip, and thanks for including me in your things to read when you’re gone. Japan is on our travel list as well… my hubby has always wanted to go, and so have I. I’ll be looking forward to a nice selection of pictures when you return. 🙂
~ Kristi
Kikolani’s last blog post..Twitter Lingo & Tips For New Twitter & Facebook Users
Thanks for the link love. How exciting!! I’ve not been to Tokyo myself although I did a stopover there (which is hardly counted). My trip to Hokkaido last year was a first for me.
You’d love it! Japan culture is unique and different from Thailand. It won’t be easy sticking to your diet. In Japan, there is so much food to try!! You’ll be missing an important part if you don’t sample their delicacies. You also wouldn’t want to leave without trying their hot spring baths, temples and parks!
I wish you a safe and happy trip!!
Evelyn
Evelyn Lim’s last blog post..The Masquerade Play Of Life
@Mike King Thanks for your nice words and I’m glad I can give you some more fresh insights and links.
@Stephen thanks for the nice words, I just checked in and I’m overwhelmed. Everything is so different 🙂
Dragos, I’m surprised (OK, maybe impressed or jealous really) you have another trip so soon after Tailand, but it sounds great! I hope you make the experience everything you’ve always hoped for in visiting and experiencing Japan. It’s not a place on my travel list, but there are a lot of places, we can’t visit them all obviously!
Thanks for recommending my site as well! I concur with your other picks on this page and have 2 new ones to check out now. I know if its in your list, it will be worth reading, thanks and have a great trip!
Mike King’s last blog post..The Imaginative Mind: Social Creativity
WOW! I am jealous. 🙂
Have fun and I’m glad you are following your dreams and doing what you want. Life doesn’t give you a do-over so go for it!
Stephen – Rat Race Trap’s last blog post..Review: 7 Simple Steps – Life Transformation Guide
@smashill thanks for the nice words and never give up hope: if you really want to go on a longer vacation, act like you’re already living it 🙂 Oh, and I liked BOTH Ninja and Samurai 😉
Have a good time and enjoy it, and over all have a save flight! I love to travel, but it always bugs my mind a bit to spend so much time in an airliner.
Reading this article, I just hope I’ll have the money to go on a longer vacation somewhere around the middle of this year… I finally want to go surfing again 🙂 and Japan is a country I always wanted to visit when I was younger, but more for the Ninja’s than for the Samurai 😉