Why not Japan?

In 2025, a group of us spent a little over two weeks traveling around Japan. It was my first time ever being that far from home, and it turned into one of those trips we will be talking about forever.

We climbed the stairs up Tokyo Tower, rode bullet trains across the country, stayed at an onsen hotel in Hakone, ate the egg that is supposed to add seven years to your life, bowed to deer in Nara, went to an otter cafe, saw temples and shrines that were hundreds of years old, walked through the thousands of red torii gates at Fushimi Inari in the rain, explored Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe and Yokohama, sang karaoke, spent Halloween in Golden Gai, ate Kobe beef and an omakase dinner, and pretty much tried whatever food came our way — sometimes without even knowing what it was until after. We met people from all over the world and really just tried to stay open minded and say yes to whatever came up.

This was definitely a trip that could have been pushed off another year, or another five, and turned into a “maybe someday” trip. But why not do it now?

A lot of the best parts ended up being things we never could have planned. Japan was one of those trips we’ll be talking about for the rest of our lives.