Before I move on to our time in New Zealand, I wanted to take a moment to write a bit more about Japan. I know I have mentioned how much we all loved Japan–the cleanliness, the organisation, the natural beauty, the delicious food, the unique activities and, most of all, the kindness of the people we met. It was truly a wonderful month, and we are all eager to go back one day.

I thought I would include here a few of the things that stood out to us as unusual and incredible. Most notably, the public transportation was phenomenal. We did rent a car but used the trains/buses/subway in Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo and all were on time, clean, and easy to use. The riders were quiet and respectful, making every ride feel safe no matter the type of transportation or time of day. The stations were easy to navigate with everything clearly labeled, including where to stand while waiting and how to board and plenty of safety features. And to top it off, some trains are even beautiful!

They take lining up seriously and we often saw lines like this for the bus. Quiet, calm and very orderly.

Of course, all that order comes from a lot of spoken and unspoken rules. Occasionally, we would spot some surprising signs.

We relied a lot on convenience stores for breakfast, snacks or lunch while on the go. They had a ton of fresh food plus smoothies, pastries and sushi, along with all the usual cookies, candy and chips that keep us going. There are three different chains in Japan, and by the end of the month, we had favorites that were available at each place.

There were a lot of other things that were very convenient in Japan, such as these baskets under every chair in a restaurant for your purse/scarf/purchases, a towel vending machine at the public foot baths, a workspace booth in the middle of the train station and robot servers at restaurants.

If you are on the fence about taking a trip to Japan, just do it!