Podcast Episode: “Seeing Japan Differently, with Junko & James”

0:02

I feel like I'm a tourist too.

The point that he's very like a curious about.

That's actually interesting for me too.

I was so excited to be going to Japan for the first time, a country that I had always wanted to see.

But also going and meeting Junko's family made me nervous, especially because of the language gap.

0:21

Japan is a really cool place to visit.

We really want you to experience very different side of Japan.

Thanks for checking in.

0:39

This is the Japan Travel Pros podcast.

Each week we bring you stories and fresh perspectives about the people and places that make Japan so interesting.

Along the way, you'll hear practical advice for planning your own trip.

In this episode, we're joined by an international couple whose story I think you're really going to enjoy.

1:00

Junko Song grew up in Osaka and now lives in Canada with her husband James.

So far, they've made three trips to Japan together, each one different from the last.

We talk about James's first impressions of Japan, the trip that led to their wedding, and how their travels have gradually expanded beyond the familiar first time stops.

1:21

You'll also hear how James experiences Japan through Junko's perspective and vice versa.

Let's get started.

I'm Junko from Osaka, Japan.

1:38

I've been living in Canada for four years and the first time I came to Canada was when I was university student during winter time.

So it was so quiet, not many people.

I was shocked, but at the same time I felt the air was so clean.

1:57

Yeah, I like just nature.

And then speaking English was fun for me.

At the moment.

I definitely felt like, oh, I want to come back here again.

Then I met my husband, James.

And that's where I come in.

2:12

Yes.

We fell head over heels in love with each other in Ottawa.

Been such an amazing four years now.

We've been with each other.

James, what did you know about Japan prior to meeting?

And then what?

What did you start to learn even before coming to Japan?

I would say that I probably always had a real appreciation and admired Japanese culture might be the word.

2:34

Like there is many parts of Japanese culture that I absolutely adore.

The food, the architecture, the art, anime, things like that.

I just, I just absolutely loved about Japan.

So those are some of the things that I I really like.

But then after meeting Juneco, you know, learning way more about the culture, right?

2:53

Why things are the way they are, certain cultural nuances, etiquette, things like that.

It was super interesting to have someone like Juneco teach me more about Japan.

You know the language slowly but surely still learning how.

Long is it after the time that you meet, before you start planning that well, return trip to Japan for Junko San, but first trip to Japan for James.

3:18

Just over a year of us being together for Junko would have been a natural kind of time period had passed where she hadn't seen her family.

She started planning this trip and we had been together for over a year, so very naturally it was just like we're going together right in the middle of hot season.

3:34

Osaka's famous fireworks show is very close to my hometown.

I think because of that, I love the fireworks show, so I really want you to experience that.

And of course, to meet your family.

3:50

Yes, yes, yeah.

Did you do the thing where you dress up in a yukata and go see the fireworks, or did did you not go all in on that one?

We didn't wear, but actually my family gave Jimbe to James.

Well, yeah, it was a departing gift from Junco's family.

4:08

They gave me this lovely Jimbe a house coat almost for like wearing at home.

Yeah, like old days.

Like people.

Yeah, we're at home too.

Yeah, but circle back to the the yukata.

We did get to wear one on that first trip, which was very cool.

4:26

We were at.

Kyomi.

Zedera and we we did the yukata there's and you know, we were in Kyoto and it was lovely.

We got to That was very, very cool experience for me to wear the traditional yukata and walk around such a traditional setting.

4:43

You know, the area around the temple is just beautiful.

You were in the ancient historical area of Kyoto, Ninanzaka San Thenzaka, the hills leading up to the famous Kyo Mizodara temple.

And what time of day did you go there?

It was.

4:59

Late morning, I want to say, was when we went to the fitting place and then we walked around for a good couple hours and it was hot.

Yes, it was.

I imagine you were sweating it out by the end of that experience.

Even like a yukata we have like Elleus, Yeah, not not that much like kimono, but still.

5:18

It's a bit cumbersome, but I'm sure you got some great photos out of it and it's a highly memorable experience.

Being James's first trip to Japan, yes.

Absolutely, yeah.

Absolutely.

So we were talking a little about your, about your first trip, but let's talk about the anticipation.

So you've, you've got the trip booked, you've got what, some weeks or maybe even months ahead.

5:37

And now you start to do the planning and the research and of course the algorithm figures out that hey James, looks like you're planning a trip to Japan.

We're going to give you non-stop 24/7, 100% Japan content, right?

Absolutely yeah TikTok was my I guess weapon of choice for pre Japan travel and it wasn't before long before my little Japan folder was just filled with hundreds of things to see, do places to eat.

6:04

Mainly food.

Yeah, 90% of it was food.

Guilty.

Yes, for sure.

It was hard to narrow it down though to the places we wanted to start with and whatnot.

OK, Speaking of narrowing it down, at what point did you tell yourselves, OK, we're not going to be able to do it all, so let's just focus on some key experiences and we'll let the rest just happen or is that how it even went that?

6:24

First trip Junko was so nice for me.

She asked me what places in Japan I really wanted to see.

I just knew about the main tourist destinations, really the places I had seen online.

So I said, oh, it's my first time going to Japan.

6:41

I want to see Tokyo.

I want to see Osaka, obviously where your family is.

I want to see Kyoto.

If we can fit Mount Fuji in there, then please, let's find a way.

I wanted to see the giant Gundam statue in Yokohama, so I was throwing stuff like that at Junco.

6:58

And she did 99% of the planning outside of that though, but I think, you know, her being a local, I think she, she did such an amazing job and I was so grateful to have Junko there.

Did you get to see Fuji?

Saw it on on the first trip.

Yes, we did.

We were able to to fit that in for a couple days.

7:16

Junko actually got a surprise me.

She didn't even tell me that she had found a hotel that had a beautiful view of Fuji and she didn't tell me.

We just walked into the room and it was just like perfect view centered from the the hotel.

7:33

It was it was very special.

June could It was wonderful.

It was very close to the famous Lawsons where people take the photo.

It was walking distance from there.

Fujika, go.

That's right, Lawson.

Now what we have to say as a caveat for our listeners is fortunately James and Junkosan were quite lucky to see Mount Fuji, especially in the summer time.

7:54

It doesn't often make an appearance.

So even if you do book a hotel there or even if you go there for a day trip, you might see it, you might not.

There are different times a year we can get a better of you, but you guys were lucky.

Yeah.

Yes, we were.

We went to one of the destination vistas of Fuji where we did a little bit of a hike into into the mountains where there was a nice lookout.

8:17

And I remember there was just this stubborn cloud blocking like half of Fuji.

And everyone was just like, get out here, just like keep moving to the cloud.

And it just stayed there for a while, but it was still beautiful.

That's such a normal day at Mount Fuji, isn't it?

So wake up early.

8:33

It's going to increase your chances to see it.

That's just a little a little hack right there for you.

I mean, you know that, but for the listener, so you got to see this is good.

So again, stepping back a few steps to the planning part of it, the anticipation is building.

You got the tickets, you got your hotels.

Of course, you're staying with Junko Suns family in the Osaka area, so the anticipation is building.

8:54

James has sort of double or triple.

You're reading up a little bit on etiquette and what things to do and not to do.

And then the triple part of it is the meet the family situation going on.

Absolutely.

It was both very exciting times for me, but also very nervous, very, you know, nerve wracking at the same time because I was so excited to be going to Japan for the first time.

9:16

You know, a country that I had always wanted to see.

But also going and meeting Junko's family made me made me nervous, especially because of the language gap.

But yes, reading up on etiquette, reading up on certain things, watching, watching videos, you listen to some podcast, first experiences in Japan.

9:33

Just trying to get myself as as best prepared as I possibly could to be going to a country like Japan for the first time.

I had never really traveled to a different part the world.

I'd only been to England a couple times, the United States a couple times, but I had never gone that far away from home or to an area of the world like that where there was such a large cultural and language gap.

9:59

So it was super exciting, but also, like I said, super kind of nerve wracking.

10:19

Fast forward to departure day.

It's a long flight, well from Ottawa.

It's a series of flights and again, the anticipation is building.

I imagine you probably didn't sleep much, if at all, on the flight over.

Very accurate.

All right, the first time I didn't sleep at all, but that was my plan because whenever I do a long flight, I'm always like, I'm going to make sure I don't sleep because especially I knew we were going to be landing in the after for noon sometime in Japan.

10:44

So I was just like I was like evening almost when we landed finally.

But I on purpose was drinking Red Bull on the plane and coffee on the plane, making sure that when I landed I was nice and tired and ready to sleep.

But I stayed up the whole 14 hour flight.

Yeah, Junco I think was fast asleep.

11:01

You get to Tokyo, you're kind of you're running on Red Bull and fumes at that point.

And then was that the trip where you had to, you basically made a connection and you arrived in Osaka at night time and.

Then Junko's family picked us up.

Your dad picked us up from the airport.

Yeah.

So that's the moment like you're, you're, you're already at the end of your 24 hour plus travel day and no pressure time to meet the parents.

11:26

Yes, he was so nice, both, both parents.

But yes, the first impression was the Junko's father, Keo son picked us up from the airport.

He was just the sweetest.

He was so nice to me.

He was just so, so polite.

We got in the car and then we had to drive back on the highway and then we got back to your, your, your folks place and that's where I met your mom.

11:47

Junko was wonderful.

I was so nervous.

Obviously I didn't speak the language well, but Junko's father actually through through years of business developed some, you know, some English, some skills with English.

So he was able to speak and communicate with me a little bit.

But if it weren't for Junco over here, you know, being an incredible translator.

12:07

Is it the next day or onward where you start to explore Osaka and introduce James to Japan?

Obviously you've introduced the family, but I mean to to greater Japan calling it that.

We went to Osaka Castle.

Osaka Joe Yeah.

And then exploring like Osaka Station, which James was like the Oh my God.

12:26

Absolutely, Absolutely.

He was just standing in the middle of station and then like, what's this like?

Is this station like it's so big And then like a lot of stores, shops like in the station?

12:41

One of the many.

Oh my gosh, moments that I had in the first couple days of being in Japan where I was just, I had never seen anything.

And there was several occasions like that.

Osaka.

There was a few big moments there and Umida Osaka station was definitely one of them.

12:59

A big metropolis, if you want to call it that.

And that's, that's definitely some culture shock going on there, James.

Yeah, absolutely.

But it was, it was beautiful.

The infrastructure, the architecture of Umida.

Great times.

Yeah.

For sure.

So you get to Osaka Castle, you're looking around.

13:16

Osaka Castle was pretty cool.

It's a reconstruction, but as those go, that's a pretty cool one.

It's almost 100 years old.

Yeah, it was beautiful walking up to it.

Yeah, the architecture, I didn't even think at the time we'd be able to go into it and explore it as much as we were able to, you know, But it was we, we, we got there and we got the tickets.

13:34

It was really cool to to be able to go in there and, and walk around beautiful grounds around it.

And it was a great first experience, you know, being in Japan and then right away Pyranian sing something that's so traditional and had so much history, so many plaques around it that are that are talking about the samurai and the different, you know, time periods that were going on, what was going on around the castle.

13:55

It was just super, super cool to experience as a first day one or day 2 of being in Japan.

It is.

And here you are in this traditional castle in the grounds around at Osaka, Osaka Jo Co and Osaka Castle Park, which is great.

And then immediately beyond that is the skyline of Osaka.

14:12

You've got planes landing thing overhead.

It's like it's that image of old and new just going on right there.

Yeah.

Yeah, both worlds.

It's very cool.

And you got to see that when you were landing as well, because we talk about planes, planes landing.

I think you looked out the window and and saw at that time didn't.

You we did and it was actually, it was, it's one of my favorite photos actually that I took from our first trip to Japan was actually when we were landing in Osaka at night time and I was just like, Oh my gosh, it was so lit up.

14:43

Landing in Osaka and just seeing that amount of light as far as the eye could see.

I was just like, Oh my gosh, how big is this city?

Yeah, it's it's impressive landing at Itami airport is exactly as James described it, non-stop lights if you if you're coming in at night.

14:58

But just the this wide again, the metropolis, there's a new skyline, there's Osaka Castle.

Yeah, Osaka Castle and then you're right, we did.

USJ thought we had to do that right away, which was awesome.

Roller coasters was so hot that day.

I think that was my our first like over 20,000 step day in Japan, you know, and and it didn't take long for me being in Japan on that first trip to look over at June Cohen say I'm going to need some better shoes.

15:26

I'm going to need to get some real shoes.

And we did all it was like day two or three.

We had to find a proper sports outlet to upgrade James's shoes.

But yeah, we did USJ.

That's vital for a Japan trip because you're going to do so much walking, right?

15:42

Yeah, I should have considered that prior to the trip.

Yeah, day two or three we upgraded the shoes and then I was fine and it really was worth it to have a good pair of shoes.

And was that a consistent walking range?

20,000 steps, 20K thereabouts it.

Was although we definitely hit some ridiculous numbers like there was certainly days where my you know, Apple Watch was saying, you know, 30,000 only a few, but I would say that 2025 thousand was probably the average, but definitely a few days in there where we had hit over over 30,000.

16:13

Yeah, and you're doing this on a degree of difficulty that Jungkosan could sort of anticipate.

And James, you'd only heard about it in terms of heat and humidity, but nothing can quite prepare you for it, right?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

I had the salt stains on my on my black T-shirt.

16:29

I'd like literally.

And then we had bought the fans that go around your neck, the necklace fans.

Yeah, we had all the gear.

I must have had.

That the fans.

Oh, for sure.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

We had the ones that were the necklace and just like blowing up at you the whole time.

It was, yeah, so worth it.

16:51

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Should you stay here or there at another city or slow down?

17:08

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That's where a lot of folks turn to Japan Travel Pros.

We help you sort through the choices, make better decisions and feel more confident.

17:26

Before you touchdown in Tokyo or land in Osaka, go to japantravelpros.com/plan to schedule a consultation.

Let's talk about food a little bit, James.

What was your background in Japanese food, let's say prior to meeting Jungkosan?

17:45

And then what has she made for you at home?

And then what was it like coming to Japan experiencing?

Wow, Ari, this might be my favorite topic that we're going to discuss.

I absolutely have always adored Japanese food, even from a young age.

18:01

I think I was very grateful that my parents were very it was important to them to educate us kids on different foods of the world.

And so I grew up knowing about all sorts of different Japanese foods and sushi, certain types of, you know, sushi and ramen even before meeting Junko would have been especially probably mainly sushi would have been one of my top food choices hands down, right.

18:26

Always a favorite food of mine.

And then meeting Junko, meeting Junko and, and then my, my palate was, you know, opened up to a whole different world of foods.

And I felt very, very lucky to have Junco making such amazing dishes, things I had never experienced before, vegetables, literally, that I didn't know existed, methods of cooking, things that I had never seen or known about.

18:51

And she introduced me to a whole nother world of new favorite foods.

And, you know, there's things now like karage, which is people ask me what my favorite food is.

Karage, you know, makes the list now.

James's top five or top 10, Karage is on that list.

19:08

Yeah.

So it was super special.

Karage, Japanese fried chicken and it's it's good stuff.

You can experience it in different ways, shapes and forms in restaurants, on the street, and probably the the best of it is homemade.

And I've gotten quite good at it.

Even Junko says.

That's one of the many Japanese dishes that I cook at home now that I've learned watch Junko enough times.

19:27

I do love cooking though, so I do enjoy it.

Since you're cooking Japanese food at home in Canada, where do you where do you shop?

Where do you buy?

What do you source your ingredients?

We usually go to TNT or OK Mart which is Korean supermarket.

Mainly, yeah, the big TNT, big Asian supermarket.

19:46

What do we, when we go there?

What what do we get the most of?

Dankon.

Sorry.

Lotus, Lotus.

Lotus Fruit.

We love Ranko.

We do, but that's one of the ones that I was not, you know, I didn't know much about.

And now it seems to be something that we cook with somewhat regularly.

20:05

Yeah, and then definitely Japanese rice.

Japanese, yes, we go through a lot of that.

Yeah.

And then especially you, James.

Pork belly.

Yes.

To make Kakuni.

Another thing I've gotten quite good at, if I do say so myself.

20:21

Great, Explain what that is?

It's my slow cooked pork belly and it is super good.

You put it, you put it on some nice sticky rice, green onions on top, and it's really good.

Green onions on top explain the importance of that either only maybe Junko's on talk about the Kato Negi, right?

20:38

Like just I mean great if you can make it at home, but every supermarket sells as well.

And between that and cabbage, like the every meal has some of that going on, right?

Yes, like those small things actually I miss because like, yeah, it's Japan like already like Katenegi, like we can get from like everywhere, like even like a kombini, you know.

21:02

And then it's like because the Japanese food is very important, how it looks beautiful.

So like a little accent is very important for dishes.

Those things I miss like many times I feel like I wanted something green on top, a little bit like yellow, for example, yuzu on top or something like that, yeah.

21:25

Going in then you've had this background, James, in dining Japanese or Japanese adjacent in Canada and you meet Junko San, you have some Japanese food at home.

Now you get to Japan and it's kind of a whole other world then, isn't it?

Oh, absolutely it was.

It was like a dream come true.

21:43

No, it really, it really was though.

Our first meal together in Japan was ramen and 15 or $16.00, right?

And I assume I'm like, oh each, that's not bad.

No $15 total or something like that, right.

That was just like blown away because the price of the bowl of ramen was it was like 6 bucks or $7.00 each and then and then the no tipping culture, which I was also like wait what?

22:09

In Ottawa they would have wanted an extra like 5 bucks on top of that, you know, which I don't mind.

I'm a good tipper, I promise.

But love, love the no tipping thing in Japan.

And again, just for just for our listeners, you're talking about Canadian dollars, you know, 15 Canadians.

Like what a buck and a half?

You asked.

No, I'm just kidding.

I really enjoyed the food, the food culture.

22:28

It was probably the thing I saved the most because I knew we'd be looking for it three times a day, four times a day.

I did definitely save, you know, different restaurants the most and knew I wanted to try real authentic versions of of certain types of food that I had come to love in Canada.

22:46

I wanted to experience the real thing over over in Japan, obviously.

So this is good because I think this is a pretty typical first trip for a lot of people is that you have the versions of what you're familiar with, but the the real deal or what you want to call it in Japan.

And then you also mix in some new things that maybe you've never tried before.

23:03

Absolutely.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we sure did.

What had I not tried NATO?

I'd never tried NATO before.

And what did you think of that?

I didn't mind it but I enjoy pretty much everything.

There's only there's a few types of foods bell Peppers that I can't eat, but outside of bell Peppers I'll try just about anything.

23:20

Nacho didn't bother me at all, but what was the one that I had a hard time with?

Mechaboo.

Mechaboo and it wasn't the taste, it was the consistency.

It was the, you know, the the kind of it was a slimy.

I forgot Junco.

What is it?

Type of a cow.

It's a type of cow.

Yeah, yeah, it looks like he, James said.

23:39

Like a taste is OK, like how it looks because it's like a very sticky and then it looks like saliva, he said.

Saliva.

Yeah, a little bit, yeah.

Yeah, so that's why like, yeah, I think you said that only the thing like a little bit, he said.

23:57

So, and backing up not though, we're talking about fermented soybeans and even in Japan, even among Japanese people, that can be a love or hate type of deal.

So having at least a neutral to maybe positive reaction for James, that's not bad.

You're doing all right.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Japanese foods certainly eating at home especially is very seasonal.

24:15

So if you come in the summer, summer greens, summer vegetables and summer gets a lot of it.

I think we talked about this during during that trip and we met up with you is there's a lot of foods in Japanese that they called niba.

Nibaad has this texture of a little slimy a little bit, but it's supposed to be good for you to to keep that to beat the heat.

24:33

Very interesting.

That's super cool.

Japanese okra, for example, in in different things.

Yeah, that'll that'll appear a lot.

And then something else else that you had on that trip I remember is you went for Unagi, yes.

Yes, we did.

24:49

That was in Nara.

That was an amazing experience.

Nara was another one of those places that Junko secretly kept certain details from me on purpose, which I was ever so grateful for because it made arriving at that location that much more special.

25:07

She had certainly withheld the the deers, the amount of deers in Nara.

So I knew we were doing a day trip to Nara.

Obviously I knew Nara a little bit.

I knew that there was deers, but I didn't know really what to expect.

We took this beautiful deer themed train from Osaka to Nara where everything on the inside of this train, it wasn't even on just on the inside.

25:31

It was the inside and the outside was just like all deer themed.

Even the handles for people standing, the little handle was actually like a little deer face with antlers.

It was every detail.

The cushions on the seats were spotted like a deer.

25:47

It was so it was, it was an amazing experience.

Then we get off this train in Nara Junko's like OK, we're here.

We're going to go walk around a bit before we go to one of the temples.

We walk up the stairs of the train station and I kid you not, Ari, there must have been within like one or two minutes.

26:06

We were surrounded by easily, I want to say it was over 100, a hundred to 200 deer were just everywhere, right?

And it was just such an and it was like right beside the street, you're like, there's a street, there's buses, there's cars, there's people on bikes, and then there's 200 deer all around you.

26:26

It was incredible.

I saw people selling the cookies.

So I like, look at June come like, give me some.

Yeah, give me some, give me, give me some coins.

I want to go buy some.

And then we fed the deer.

Nara was beautiful.

Because then after that, you know, we we we played with the deer for a bit.

26:42

What was that first temple you brought?

You brought us to Todaji.

Todaji.

Yes.

That was incredible.

And your, your father.

It was really special, really quite fun though.

Junko's.

Junko's dad would always get so excited before we went to visit somewhere and he would be playing videos on YouTube of certain places before we would go.

27:05

So he'd be like, oh, you guys are going to Nara?

OK.

You know, in the morning we're drinking coffee and Kyo son is playing videos of the the cleaning of the Todaji statue.

And it's like the one once a month cleaning.

He was showing us them on the ladder, like hanging, kind of, you know, cleaning.

27:23

But so we did the temples that day.

That's an impressive temple.

It's the UNESCO World Heritage site, as is a lot of the the Nada park there in general.

Largest seated Buddha in the world I believe and the largest wooden structure in the world, which is super impressive when you consider they built it with technology of a few 100 years ago.

27:41

Wow, Yeah, it's a very impressive structure.

It is a very everything that whole grounds was was super impressive for me.

And then obviously walking up to it and then seeing this ginormous.

And then there's there's a few of the statues.

And then in in the middle of that day with, with the deer in the temples and the shrines up in the hills and everything else and a hot day at that, he went for lunch.

28:04

And that was pretty special.

Yes, yes.

I was looking for the restaurant for Nara trip.

I didn't even know the place, but apparently like a very popular and famous, I love unagi.

And then one of the food, like I really had to eat when I was in Japan, like a real unagi.

28:26

So I was like, OK, let's go there.

And then I took James there.

The restaurant like another only like quality of unagi, like how the restaurant looks, everything, hospitality, the Staffs of hospitalities and then like building itself there.

28:45

Like it's not the only unagi like a whole like experience.

Yeah, it's just like, amazing.

Yeah.

So this is a restaurant called Unagigu.

It's across the street pretty much from not a park even just walking in, right, James, at this point you're just, you're blown away.

29:00

Like, Oh my God, you're just like your camera roll at that point is going to.

Absolutely.

Because it was so like traditional.

The outside, there's the the white kind of clothes that are hanging down like in this like gate that have like the logo of it.

You're walking on this like cobblestone pathway where there's like bonsai's to your left.

29:21

Every detail, like Junko said, is just like, it made the whole experience super nice.

You go inside, it's so traditional, you know, the sliding wooden doors, the padded floors, you know, that kind of image you have.

You know, if you're not from Japan, that image you have from certain like Japanese movies where you see those traditional kind of rooms and houses and buildings, you know, and you're, you're in that, you're in that.

29:45

And then they take you to your cute little table.

And then they gave us a really nice table where we like, we're able to open up the sliding door right beside our table.

And then it was just like this beautiful view of this pond.

And then, yes, probably still to this day, probably one of the top Unagi's I've had, right, was that.

30:02

And then the other one was actually where I went with you.

All right.

And on our third trip.

That was that was a good one and unagi is great.

Now we're talking about freshwater eel to distinguish that between Amago, which is which is saltwater eel and James had you had unagi in Canada prior to visit in Japan?

30:18

Yes, I had, but usually only it would have only been in at sushi restaurants where I just would have gotten like unagi Andy giri, which isn't quite the same.

So to get to experience the real authentic unagi was super special for me.

It is.

30:34

And definitely Unagi is one of those things in Japan that and Japan's this way a lot.

Price point makes a difference.

And if you're going to have it once, you might want to have it again.

But definitely, if you're going to have it once, go to a place like Unagiku in Nada, for example, go to the place that we went in Unagi from Japan.

30:49

That's really the stuff you want.

It might be from IG Prefecture, for example.

But there are, there are a few different, different sources of it, but that's the real deal.

And yeah, go up in price a little bit to experience it that way.

And the atmosphere and the ambience in which you experienced it as well.

That was pretty cool.

Yeah.

Yeah, it was.

31:20

So the first trip went pretty well, obviously, because we know, we know cutting to the chase, you, you end up getting married.

So you, you had the blessing there.

Yeah, it was important to me to ask for permission from Junko's parents after I got to know them a bit.

The night before I asked I I stayed up and I was writing a letter, a handwritten letter in Was it kanji?

31:41

Like you mixed everything.

Yeah, so I wrote it out and it was so cute 'cause it was.

The first top of the letter was a thank you letter to them for such an amazing experience, welcoming me into their home, treating me like family.

31:57

You know, it made the trip so special to be able to see the family side of it.

You know, we did the touristy stuff.

We did the vacation or it felt like a vacation for some of it, but it also felt like so much more than that because we were able to stay with your family.

But yeah, so the first top of the letter was thank you.

32:13

And then the second-half was when I asked for permission to marry their daughter.

And it was so funny because I gave the letter to them and they both got to that part of the letter at the same time.

So they were both smiling and they were both like, oh, this is so nice.

32:31

And then it was like, and they both just like zoom in on the page at the at the exact same time.

And then Juniko's tearing up and her.

It was a very special moment.

They obviously said yes and the rest is history.

That led to the planning, I guess almost immediately we come back to Ottawa and then the planning of the return trip to Japan begins for the wedding.

32:55

Post Japan trip Blues usually hit pretty hard, but you've already got a purpose going because you know you're coming back and it's going to be a wedding.

Almost immediately we started to think about what we wanted for the wedding and the planning location.

33:11

So that was all.

Quite special talk a little bit about what a Japanese wedding is like.

There's different components to it.

We picked the location.

In Nara, Nora has a special significance in June Coast family because Junko's mother is from Nara, was born and raised in Nara.

33:28

Junko had quickly found Omiwa Jinja, regarded as one of the oldest shrines in Japan, I believe.

And it was lovely.

But yeah, I spent the the months leading up to it try to memorize my wedding vows as best I could.

He nailed it.

Thank you.

And then you've gone to a Shinto shrine, in this case Omiwa Jinja Omiya Shrine in It's in Nata, but it's not in the touristy area of Nata.

33:48

South of the the main touristy area found a nice hotel that had a beautiful hill view, new countryside like farm fields, which was beautiful.

That was one of my favorite vistas or views seeing in Japan or anywhere for that matter.

But waking up and there's like mist in the hills, right?

34:05

And it's just like farm fields with these beautiful lines.

And then there's just this, like in the morning, that's just like, beautiful mist just hanging, clinging onto things.

And it's just especially if there's like old buildings, like beautiful old buildings, and then there's mist in there.

It's just like, oh, my gosh, this is going to be my, you know, desktop wallpaper, this photo.

34:25

But yeah, Omiwa Shrine.

Yeah, it was lovely.

So you have a ceremony there.

And even as a Japanese local, there's usually a limit.

When you go to a shrine, you do the prayer.

There's a main altar.

You might go to some of the side altars and do the prayers, but there's a little, you know, do not enter Conquisha only area.

34:43

But that day you were the Conquisha.

You got to go to the central part of the the shrine.

That must been pretty cool.

Yes, it was.

I've never been like entered the the area.

So like, I was like, Oh my God, yeah, that's a really cool experience.

34:58

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, it really was.

James, your family was also visiting, So what did you do afterwards?

Yeah, my dad and one of my two sisters was able to make it very, very special.

I'm super glad that they were able to come.

We had a wonderful experience.

But yeah, so we had a lovely, we had a lovely wedding ceremony and then afterwards we did some photography.

35:19

It was during cherry blossom season, so we had a wedding planner who was wonderful.

The cherry blossoms, the sakura were late blooming that year, so there weren't as many as we had hoped in bloom in the majority of areas.

35:36

But thankfully our wedding planner had made his phone calls and knew enough about the area that he was like, listen, there's cherry blossoms, we just have to drive a little bit.

So he he went out of his way to drive us to this street that they had all bloomed fully open right.

35:52

So it was very special that we were still able to get our our nice wedding photos with the with the sakura in in blossom there's.

A good travel tip there is that wherever you happen to be, if you're lucky enough to come to Japan during cherry blossom season, every year is a little bit different, but also every every locale is a little bit different.

36:09

Climate can can make a difference, wind, shade, things like that.

If you happen to be a place that that it's not in full bloom, check it out.

There might be some full bloom pretty close by.

It was not even that far of a drive.

It was like 20 minutes.

Yeah, we were super grateful.

And so for your sister Kathleen, for example, this is your second trip, it's her first trip.

36:28

Would you could sort of watch her go through those phases as well?

How was that?

It was a lot of fun for me to see Kathleen's reaction and her overall experience, the country and the culture at the food.

Kathleen is quite a wilderness explorer, you could say, so I was not surprised at all when she told me that she was planning like a four day hiking adventure.

36:51

Through what?

Wakayama.

Wakayama.

Kumanakodo.

Yeah, Kumanakodo.

So she had an extra special, you know, finale to her trip in Japan cuz she, you know, was doing her favorite thing in the world, which was hiking.

But she was hiking through this, you know, region that was totally new to her, totally different terrain, totally different climate.

37:12

Yeah, she had an unbelievable experience.

She said it was a, you know, a once in a lifetime experience for her.

It is absolutely there.

There there is a spiritual component.

It is the pilgrimage called the Kumano Kodo.

You can stay in stops along the way.

It's like every time we get back, we already start kind of thinking and planning the next trip because we know we're going to be coming back not next year, but the year after.

37:34

So we're already starting to think about that trip.

And then maybe next time, or at least some some subsequent trip, you'd love to come back in in the fall as well.

See those colors in the autumn?

Yes.

Absolute dream next time it's fall, we know it.

Junko San having this local perspective not only in the Kansai area, but on on Japan and general, it allows you to kind of work in multiple levels.

37:54

There's places that you've seen before and there's things that you take for granted having grown up in Japan, but now you get to see it through a fresh set of eyes, experiencing it through James.

What's that been like?

I feel like I'm a tourist too.

Yeah, sometimes like, oh, I never seen this point.

38:11

You know, the point that he's very like a curious about.

That's actually interesting for me to benefit for me to to know like something like a new things and then learn new things.

He feels like this way or like see like this one very different angles, so that's really interesting.

38:32

Yeah, I felt very fortunate to have someone like Junko who knew knew the culture and knew the places.

Even some of the insider tips, especially on that first trip, we were so lucky a few times, like waking up, she's like tomorrow we got to wake up early.

Trust me, right?

You'll thank me later.

And we wake up early and we go to the bamboo forest 1st and we are there and we are taking photos.

38:53

And I don't even have an appreciation really in the moment of being able to take photos with no one behind us.

It's just these beautiful photos.

No one's behind us, just these beautiful narrow passageway of the bamboo.

And then later on TikTok, I'm seeing what that place is like at like 11:00 or noon.

39:09

And it's just like very helpful for me to have Jinko's like insider knowledge and perspective about certain things on the trip.

So especially Osaka, like underground is very developed.

So like you need to learn like a underground map very well.

39:26

Then like you don't have to like a walk outside.

You usually go through like a shortcut that's actually like one benefit you travel with me.

There are also show Tangai which are shopping streets.

Long shopping streets tend to be covered and Osaka has some great ones.

39:41

Right?

June goes on.

Yes, yeah, long arcade and then there's actually good like a lot small, like the shops and then we can buy many different things.

When I first came back after my first trip, people would ask me, James, what are some of the things like that really stood out?

39:59

There are some of the obvious like landmarks or tourist destinations that I had seen on the trip.

But there was a few things that I wouldn't have expected to have such an impact on me as remembering.

And one of them was, like we talked about earlier, the sheer size of some of the stations.

40:15

But the other one.

Was these underground like malls almost that seem to be endless where it was just like, and we're still going, we're still and there's really nice shops, there's really nice restaurants and it's just like we're just walking downtown like underground in this maze.

40:34

Like it's literally like a maze trying to explain that to people.

It's like it's a bigger mall than any mall we have in Ottawa, you know?

And it's underground and people are just like friends of mine that hadn't been to Japan were just like, what?

Really.

Like that's crazy cool.

Yeah, it is pretty cool that you can.

40:50

You can definitely get lost in there.

In fact, maybe you should.

Maybe you want to get lost in one of those places.

That's kind of half the fun of it, isn't it?

That that would be another thing that kind of made the list of just like cool things that I, I wasn't used to seeing back home restaurants built into like these concrete buildings under under bridges and stuff.

41:10

So I was like, they're really maximizing the space here.

Like that is so cool that that's just like there's there's restaurants under this passive.

We just don't see that here.

If you're in an eatery and you hear that the trains going overhead, you're probably in a good place, yeah.

41:40

You got out to some other islands.

Japan has four main islands.

Honshu is the main one, and a lot of people never get out of it, and that's OK.

That's Honshu is the island that Osaka is on and Tokyo is on and Kyoto is on.

So yeah, a lot of folks don't leave, but you've been able to do that in the last couple of trips in particular.

41:55

Yes, we went to Hokkaido and then first day it was in Sapporo, right?

And then we went to Mount Yote.

Well.

The first day we were in Sapporo, we did Nijo market, we did the market, did the fish market again and we ate some amazing, wonderful food.

42:12

But then the most exciting part is later that day James and Junco rent a car for the first time in Japan and James drives in a foreign country for the first time on the wrong side of the road.

Just for the listener now, you had to get an IDP, right, International driving permit to augment that with your Canadian license.

42:31

Then you were able to rent the car in Japan, correct?

Correct.

Yeah.

But there is funny story about the James driving in Japan.

Everything is like opposite side.

So every time when he wanted to turn the corner.

The indicator.

Indicator instead of indicator, Yes.

42:49

What did you do?

Every time I wanted to do the indicator, I'd hit the windshield wiper instead.

Like without fail for the first day or two, probably 100 times in total.

It's a reflex for you driving in Canton, you know what I mean?

It's just like, I've been driving for 20 years.

So it's like I hit the windshield wiper and then I'm just like.

43:06

So I had a few frustrations.

It's part of the ritual.

Junko son, you were kind of the the copilot in this situation navigating the streets and and because there is English signage, but you're also telling him, OK, person in the crosswalk here.

You might not have said it in such a nice voice, but person in the crosswalk here or Oh my God we're going to die or that sign says this right it.

43:25

Was fun and a little bit of dangerous.

That was probably some of my favorite parts of the third trip that we didn't do on the 1st 2 trips was seeing the countryside.

The mountain is so beautiful like for me like same as maybe same as Fuji.

43:41

Honestly, some of the photos we got from Yote were much nicer.

The parks around Yote that we found, it was really special.

Yeah, also like a how close?

Having a car changed everything for us when we were when we were in Hokkaido and Kochi.

43:57

You followed it the right way.

You did some of the more touristy things and some of the more bigger obvious areas.

And then now you can you can dig deeper each time.

And having a car is a big plus because it turns out the Shinkans and the bullet train doesn't go everywhere.

You might have to take a local train or a bus or hey, rent a car.

44:15

Yeah, also freedom.

We don't need to worry about the time.

Time.

Yeah.

And then we can hope like anywhere we want to go to.

That word freedom is going to resonate with a lot of our listeners.

We, we know this because, yeah, North American audience in particular, European as well, hearing freedom, like, Oh yeah, yeah.

44:31

I'm not on someone else's schedule.

I'm on, I'm on my own schedule.

So if you're going to be doing Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka only on your first trip to Japan, bullet train and public transportation covers that really well.

But to get out to some of the areas we're talking about here, a car starts to make sense.

Coach, you really stood out because of Hugo's birthday present.

44:48

For me, this here, which was probably one of the best, if not the best birthday present I've ever gotten.

But Junko bought me a one day Japanese chef knife making course way out in the country, the forest of Kochi, learning from a few master blacksmiths.

45:08

And I got to make my own knife and it was amazing because I really wanted to buy another knife while in Japan on that trip, but I wasn't expecting I get to make my own, which was just so surreal.

It was a full day.

We drove out, they were super nice.

45:23

They even let Junco stick around for the day.

We did it together and it was, it was just a great moment.

You know, it was a great experience.

We made a beautiful knife together.

We got to pick up our engraving.

We put Ichigo Ichi it on it.

Explain what that means.

45:39

The direct translation would be one time, one meeting and it's a saying I love.

It's from a Japanese tea ceremony philosophy, isn't it?

That's what I remember reading that that that that it comes from like a Japanese tea ceremony like, but it means no, no encounter can ever be repeated, even if you meet with the same person the next day.

45:59

We us three have the same meeting podcast tomorrow.

We're at different places in our lives, right?

It's a different moment.

It can never be repeated, right?

So cherish the moment felt appropriate given the circumstances of being way out in this country region, doing something as cool as that.

46:17

That you'll have a keepsake for a lifetime that that you make, which is.

Really cool.

Exactly.

Yeah, Yeah.

What's on the radar for return trips to Japan?

The wish list is, I assume, getting getting bigger, not smaller.

Kyushu is something that we've talked about.

Yeah, yeah, I would love to go skiing in Nagano.

46:34

I love skiing and I've seen, I've seen some of the, the, the beautiful traditional towns in, in Japan, like photography of some of the traditional town streets and what that looks like in winter time.

And it just looks absolutely, it's just so pretty, right?

46:51

But I think it's more likely that we do fall for the next trip.

And maybe if it works out, we do the Kyushu area and maybe Okinawa.

I'd love to see those beaches.

Yeah, you've got options coming back full circle on this.

What would you say to somebody who's First off, somebody who's planning their first trip to Japan and then then to the folks who are planning maybe a second trip or another return visit?

47:14

Going to those tourist places, those touristy places you know on a first trip.

I have 0 regrets though.

The tourist places for a reason and they're popular for a reason.

If I could go back to my first trip again, like I said, I wouldn't change a thing.

47:31

I would I those places were incredible.

I really liked seeing them.

It was definitely worth waking up early.

That would be a key.

A key piece of advice is is you know, wake up a bit early.

You know it is going to get busy.

Just wake up a little bit early and go our go later.

47:47

Some of those places are absolutely beautiful at night time.

That would definitely.

Be feel like, because even like a restaurants, cafes, like when we want to go to like a popular once, then like we have to take a be in the line.

So like especially like we went summertime.

48:05

It was so hot under the sun.

There is no fan or anything.

You want to go somewhere like a popular place and then already kind of know like there is huge line but still want to try.

Then you need to like a prepare well like get drinks and then pan.

48:25

That's a really good point, Junko, because we saw that how happened on the last trip, which was, you know, kind of disappointing because we, we had planned the morning so well.

And then we're like, oh, we'll go here, we'll go here and then we'll go to this cafe and we'll get a matcha ice match, a drink before we head to this spot.

48:42

But we didn't factor in, you know, that cafe and how popular it was.

And we turned the corner and it was just like apparently very popular.

So we, we stood in line for maybe 20 minutes, thirty minutes, but it didn't move fast enough.

48:57

So we were just like, OK, we have to go to the train station if we're gonna make it to our next spot.

So planning well, because things do get busy.

That would be really good.

That's a really good piece of advice is to just make sure you're factoring things like that in because in North America we don't really have that kind of demand or line lines.

49:16

It's kind of A2 sided coin.

For example, you want to plan some anchor experiences and things that you go, hey, I just, I really feel compelled to do this.

Then either make a reservation.

If they take reservations, great.

Otherwise figure it out.

Like what's their system?

Do you need to go early?

49:32

Do you need to go late?

What's the best thing you can do?

And cuz sometimes you'll find yourself standing at a place in Japan, this is pretty typical.

And you're going, OK, this is probably an hour long line.

What's that hour worth to me?

Is it hot?

Is it a rainy day?

Is this just a one off experience?

And then you can ask yourself the question and only you know the answer to what's it worth?

49:51

Is it worth it?

Should you go somewhere else?

Even, like if you like, have to give up, but like, it's Japan.

So like, there are lots cafes and restaurants there you go 5 minutes, like away.

Yeah.

Don't get me started on the convenience.

50:08

Great.

So sometimes like even giving up like you got you, Yeah, you maybe find like something.

Better around the corner.

I've never had probably y'all as well.

I've never had a bad meal in Japan.

Yeah, some of them better than others, but never had a bad one.

50:24

Yep.

Same.

Yeah, maybe like a try one or two like a local restaurants or cafes.

Yeah, that would be great experience.

Like I think then you can communicate with more like a local people and then they might give you like tips or like, you know, like somewhere they recommend or like, yeah, because local people are very like friendly, friendly.

50:53

So when we the first trip when we went to like Tokyo, Osaka, we barely speak like a spark, like a people, local people.

But the when we went to Kochi Kanazah, we yeah, had to communicate with local people more.

51:11

They actually like a so nice kind and then like told us like, oh, which restaurant?

Like you recommend us?

Like we want to eat something local then like they teach us.

Yeah, that's a really important point.

51:26

And probably depending on where you're coming from, you may have experienced this in your own city or your own country as well.

For example, in in Canada, Toronto, the big city has a certain reputation for not being the friendliest place in the world, right, Even amongst Canadians or especially for for Canadians, New York, for example, in the States.

51:43

But you know, when you go to smaller regions and smaller towns, folks are a lot friendlier.

That's kind of a universal thing, isn't it?

Absolutely.

We definitely notice that you know, on this third trip more so.

Because they are local people.

So like, even me, like, as Japanese didn't know something.

51:59

And they're like, Oh my gosh, really cool.

And then like, oh, let's try this one.

Yeah, definitely worth it.

I think.

I really recommend that.

Yeah, especially for somebody making a second trip or third, you know, return trip to Japan and now you've got more time and more, more bandwidth, if you will.

52:15

You've now you can really do the the deep dive, right?

Exactly.

The thing that really blew me away from this third trip would just be driving around different parts of the countryside of Japan was just an unbelievable experience for me.

52:31

Driving through the mountains, these rows that just turned and these deep canyons of, you know, these cliffs, these areas of Kochi, even around Kanazawa, some of the driving we did, the terrain is unlike anywhere in Canada.

Like yes, we have the Rockies, but the Rockies are not the same as some of these volcanic like mountains or what's going on with the mountains in Japan.

52:55

But it is just on a whole nother level.

I'll never forget it.

I'll never forget those, those mountains and driving through, you know, those regions.

I'll remember it forever.

Japan's really of course, like a cool place to visit.

53:11

We really want you to experience like very different side of Japan.

Like we said, like a tourist spot, rural area.

I feel like I know many things like Japanese things like amazed from like living in Canada, but like many things are also simple.

53:35

I feel they appreciate small things.

I feel maybe like when you go there, you can feel the way like even small thing like a people very like taking care of kind of to other people, something like that.

53:51

So maybe you can feel like people's like warmness.

And I can't wait to go back and do it again.

Big thank you to James and to Junko San for joining us and sharing so much from their trips together.

I really like hearing how their relationship with Japan has changed over time.

54:09

You know, their first trip included a lot of the places that first time visitors naturally want to see.

But think about how James saw those and how Junko saw those.

And since then, well, they came back for their wedding.

And then on another trip, they drove through Hokkaido, up north, they drove through Kochi Prefecture, which really not a lot of folks get there.

54:29

So that's amazing.

And you know what?

They keep finding more and more opportunities to meet people and to experience different sides of Japan.

If you're planning a first trip to Japan, or a return trip for that matter, you don't need to skip the famous places.

54:46

You don't need to prove that you've somehow discovered the real Japan.

Start with what genuinely interests you, then understand what to expect, and Oh yeah, leave a little room along the way for the trip to develop organically.

If you want more information about this episode, you can find that in the show notes.

55:05

And if you like what you heard, why not share this podcast with a friend?

Thanks for listening all the way to the end.

Until next time, safe travels.