Japan: You must go there!

The 5767Km between Bali and Japan turned to be the less notorious fact when it comes to compare these two countries. We (me and my 23kg bag) move to a much developed country with all kind of facilities that you can't find in Bali. Of course the language, the culture and other things make them different, but you can find the same kind people in both places always trying to help you.

I land in Tokyo with less than 3h to find the overnight bus that will take me to Kyoto. Most of the Japanese people don't speak English and of course i can't read Japanese, so after 1h trying to find my bus i started freaking out (as usual). Luckily, a girl comes to me and asks me if I have any problem. Apparently she saw me 1h ago and she offered me to use her computer so we could find the place! Isn't it amazing? That would never happen in Barcelona!

Tokyo city
During my first night in Tokyo everything seems so different to me from what i know, I feel amazingly lucky to be here! The streets are full of lights, cars and people with suits going out from work. just how i would have imagine it! After succeeding finding the bus stop I reward myself with some amazing sushi! Every time that a costumer enters the restaurant all the employers shout together “Irashaimaseeeeeee” (Welcome)! At the end you get used to it, but at the beginning you don’t know if they are saying “Fire, fire” or “You don’t have to pay today!” Anyway I enjoyed so much that dinner.

A tipical Restaurant in Japan
Kyoto is much quite compared to Tokyo. I spent 7 days assisting to the International Primatology Conference running from one talk about social behavior to another of conservation! It is such a great opportunity to meet other people working in the field with the same interests! At the end of the conference I just managed to give 1 business card as I didn’t feel confidence enough to just introduce myself to people who I don’t know.

Jane Goodal at IPS
In Kyoto I stayed with Marie, Susan, Richard and Danica, all primatologists working with different species. We sleep in a Japanese stile small room but big enough for us to sleep! We spent such great days together in Japan! The only bad thing from this country is that everything is SO expensive that I couldn’t enjoy myself as much as I would have liked.

You just have to walk 15 minutes from central Station to find the most beautiful temples! If you go just little bit farther you can visit mazing Shrines hidden between the most amazing forests. I visited Kiyomizu from where you can see all Kyoto and feel like you have Kyoto under your feet! I also went to Gion where most of the geishas can be found. You can feel how strong the Japanese culture is.

From my trip to japan, apart from the big opportunity to be closet o the most important primatologist, i realized how different people all over the world are! Aren’t we lucky about that? I think that everyone should visit Japan, at least once! (ok, ok I’ll pay for the ticket when I’ll become a famous and rich primatologist! haha)

Some of the amazing people I met in Japan!

Next stop--> New Zealand!


La de los monos