Well, in my two years in Japan, although I didn't cover all the prefectures like my colleague, I managed to cover all the regions, it is no small feat, I think. From north to south of Japan, I can see that every places have their own unique points, language and culture. Even though I can understand a bit of Kyushu Japanese (Kumamoto-ben), the Osaka dialect and many other dialects baffled me. Luckily, most of the time I traveled with my friends who are very fluent in Japanese, so the trips normally went on smoothly.
In my first day in Japan, I met with the 311 earthquakes, and it really scared the hell out of me, it was the first earthquake I experienced. Then, the second day, all the TV programs were about the meltdown of nuclear reactors. I didn't get a good start in Japan, however as days went by, I started to like the country, although it is a very natural disasters prone country, the safety feature is quite strong. I wouldn't say that all Japanese are good people, but most people are kind, crimes at very low level and I had no fear when I went out at the middle of the night. The public transport in Japan are very punctual, so people can actually rely on the public transport to go almost anywhere, except the remote area. I cherished and appreciated the two years experience there, working and traveling around, had my first taste of raw food, missing nasi lemak, etc.
Now that I am back to my home, Malaysia, I can eat nasi lemak whenever I wanted to. lol!
 |
| regions in Japan (photo edited from wikipedia) |
The places I have been to
