Japan is a country that has fascinated me for more than a decade. Ever since I was 11, after my 1st visit, I've fallen in love with this intriguing country. The very fact that I can "blend" into its society due to my looks & dressing makes me feel very much more than I should. I was once so enthralled with everything Japanese that I took Japanese Language as a full year humanity course in the university! This in turn has helped me tremendously in my solo travel to Japan since. And, there have been many such visits; more than 10X & I've since lost count! I've been there every seasons of the year & have yet got tired of this amazingly cosmopolitan & yet ritual-based society. It is certainly a country of contrasting images & ways.
Japan is a rich country & yet it has a certain vulnerability to it. It's often subjected to natural disasters like earthquakes, typhoons, tsunamis and volcanic activities. These factors have made me treasure my every visit to Japan. It's a case of you never know if you'll ever get a chance to see them again next time. The Kobe earthquake disaster a few years ago have so clearly highlighted this. Yes, we get on with life. Human beings always do. We lose them, we rebuilt something better. But, with each rebuilding, we do lose a sense of the nostalgia... of the old ways. Perhaps, it's better; perhaps it's not. It's up to the individual... but for me, Japan has combined both to the supreme. When you are in Japan, you experience both the old & the new magically interwoven within the confine of the same city. It's a continuum... here's where lies the success of the Japanese.
FUJI is the famous icon of Japan. It embodies sacredness, good luck & beauty to the Japanese. To truly enjoy Mt. Fuji, one has to understand a little about the landscape of Japan. Japan lies on the Ring of Fire. In other words, it sits on the intersection of 4 plates & is the world's most geologically active zone. When in Japan, you'll see sharply defined mountain ranges, smoking volcanoes & hot mineral waters that well up from the ground. Do you know that Japan has 60 or more active volcanoes? Now, has this hit home yet? Sakurajima is one such volcano that smokes & steams constantly. (You can check out on my Kagoshima page for this.) While Mt. Fuji is a dormant volcano. At 3776m (12390 ft) Mt. Fuji is Japan's highest peak. It has been dormant since 1707. And we women should be so lucky to be borned in this century. This mountain has been considered so sacred that only priest & pilgrims were allowed; women were not allowed until 1872!!!
Web Resources
Country Code 81
Yellow Pages: Itp.ne.jp
Newspaper: Japan Times
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