Japan

Now that I have returned from my travels, I am finally going to do a little overview of each country I visited and the amazing people that I met that really made my journey so special. During my 8 months in South East Asia I immersed myself in beautiful cultures, ate some spurious and scrum my foods and worked with some incredible kids, not forgetting the inspiring textiles and craft that I picked up along the way....

And to begin. Japan.

My plan in Japan was to purely travel for 3 weeks, and that's what I did. Using the Shinkansen as my transport to take me around Central and Southern Japan, I encountered so much wealth in tradition and respect within their history and culture. Such a distinct and unusual country, I fell in love with matcha ice cream, silk kimonos and Shibori tie-dye. Whilst walking through the mountain treks and getting lost in the busy cities, Japan identified itself as such an alien country yet in most areas was so humble. I started my journey visiting my friend in Osaka, then venturing to Nagoya, onto the history of Kyoto and big electric city of Tokyo. Horishima was steeped in sadness and Naoshima was a little island of pure artistic and architectural pleasure, finally heading back up north to Matsumoto with its incredible craft history and ceramics.