TOKYO 🇯🇵
August in Tokyo, with heavy rain forcing a relaxing day in this city of 37 million people.
Managed to at least find Godzilla.
Next day took the bullet train (Shinkansen) to Osaka. They are a marvel of engineering, hitting max speeds of 300 kmph / ~185 mph, allowing you to hop around Japan extremely easily.
I assumed they would run every hour or so, but during the day there’s one every ~7 (!!!) minutes. That’s more frequent than some NYC subway lines, and these trains are going 000s of KMs between stops, at speed! They’re also usually pretty full, with most seats taken.
For a travel nerd like it, it genuinely blew my mind to see.
NAGOYA 🇯🇵
Japan’s 3rd largest city, but it’s mainly an industrial place with not too much to see or do.
Checked out Nagoya castle, which has been rebuilt in various stages over the past ~500 years, but most of the restoration work has be completed since the US firebombed most of Japan in WWII.
The main castle itself was closed, so could only explore the grounds.
The main reason to visit Nagoya was for Legoland, which I’ve wanted to go to since I was a kid. Good silly fun.
There’s also a Shinkansen (Bullet train) Museum which was really cool. Japan is also working on a Maglev train, which they’re hoping to have open to the public in 2027. It will run at 500 KMPH / 315 MPH, connecting Tokyo + Osaka in ~65 mins, vs ~150 mins today. It’s going to be a crazy future!
OSAKA 🇯🇵
Japan’s #2 city, and overall just as crazy and overwhelming as Tokyo, but a little more concentrated and overall more likable.
The overload of senses walking around with so much aurual, visual, and smell sensations is incredibly overwhelming in a beautiful way.
Spent a day at Universal World theme park, but it was beyond packed.
Showed up at 9.30am, and all passes for both Nintendo World (i.e. Mario Kart VR rollercoaster) and Harry Potter World were already gone for the day 😭😭😭😭😭😭
HIROSHIMA 🇯🇵
Day trip to Hiroshima.
The museum is beyond harrowing. It’s gut-wrenching to see 000s of exhibits on how much damage was done by the US bombing.
The entire city basically burned for 4 days straight until everything was utterly broken, both people and buildings.
To go from seeing Oppenheimer last month in Paris, to being in Hiroshima a few weeks later was a bit of a mindfuck.
The Japanese perspective was basically nil in that movie, so I feel this visit helped give a broader idea of the entire clusterfuck that is Nuclear weapons.
FUKUOKA 🇯🇵
Final city in Japan, but a typhoon was floating around at the same time, so didn’t get to see too much.
BUSAN 🇰🇷
Took the 3.5 hour ferry from Fukuoka -> Busan, Korea which was extremely comfortable for a cross-country ferry.
I took a ~2 hour ferry from Argentina -> Uruguay in 2017 and it was such a frantic experience all around. This was a breeze in comparison.
Korea is country #18 on this trip (not counting repeat visits).
I’ve wanted to visit for years and had an absolute blast.
It’s a very friendly country where more people spoke English vs Japan (My Japanese is 0, so I am also the problem 🙃)
Busan felt like a mix of Dubai, Miami, Mediterranean Europe, mixed with Korean vibes.
Met some bikers who rode from Italy -> Japan via central Asia and just starting on their way back again. 9 months trip total for them. Lunatics.
Watched ‘Train to Busan’ a few days before arriving. It was surreal to be on the exact same Train leaving Busan, with zombie attacks still fresh in my brain.
~2 years of military service in Korea is also compulsory for all men once they turn 18, so you see a lot of uniformed men about.
SEOUL 🇰🇷
~Half the population of Korea / 25 million people live in the greater Seoul area, yet it never feels overly crowded or cramped like Hong Kong, Bangkok or Tokyo.
I randomly ended up at a parade for the National Liberation Day of Korea, which celebrates when the US and Russia liberated the Korean peninsula from Japanese rule. Lots of American flags which was very odd to see.
Also spotted a lone MAGA supporter.
DMZ 🇰🇷🇰🇵
Half day trip up to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which is a 4km / 2.5mile buffer zone around the actual border between North + South Korea.
The crossing where you can briefly step foot into North Korea is closed, after a US soldier ran across the border into North Korea a few weeks ago, for some insane reason.
It was cool to see the area and experience the very hostility hanging in the air, but the guide was making people from the North to be some strange species.
“Did you see the real-life North Korean man on his bicycle? Amazing right? It’s a real bicycle too! What about the North Koreans in the rice field? They are growing it to eat!!”
Huh? 🤔
We’re all humans on a shared planet. They’re not aliens.
Lots of ‘Mine’ signs around, as there’s ~1 million landmines still active in the DMZ, mainly planted by the US and South Korean armies.
Also got to go ~75m underground into one of the tunnels dug by the North Korean army into the South, but no phones were allowed so didn’t get any pics.
Leaving Korea, I flew Jin Air, who might have the punniest in-flight safety sheet going:
GUAM 🇺🇸🇬🇺
For US Green Card holders, if you leave for more than 6 months then US immigration have the right to potentially confiscate your Green Card when you try re-enter the US.
To play it safe after 4 months away, I headed to Guam, a US territory of ~190,000 people, to check the US Border entry box.
The island itself is beautiful, with lots of cool hikes, diving, and trails to check out. Most of the beaches were closed due to a recent Typhoon, but still managed to find some good spots to explore.
Despite Hawaii being an ~8 hour flight / California ~14 hours / NYC ~19 hours, this is very much America, including all your favorite chain stores and shitty food spots:
Kmart, Arby’s, Olive Garden, Ross Dress for Less, Chilli’s, California Pizza Kitchen, Taco Bell, Macys, IHOP, Outback Steakhouse, Dennys. Yee haw.
~1/3 of the island is controlled by the US military, with ~15,000 US troops stations there at any one point, all preparing for a potential conflict with China in the next few years.
Went out diving and our boat had to move midway through, as the US Navy were conducting live fire missle tests over the water where we were moored…
Uncle Sam is very much on display everywhere you go, alongside mainly Korean + Japanese beach tourists.
PHUKET 🇹🇭
Back to Southern Thailand for some boating, beaching, hiking, and digital nomading.
STATS
| Countries Visited | 4 |
| Flights Taken | 3 |
| KM travelled by Plane | 10,723 |
| Train Journies | 5 |
| Ferries Taken | 1 |
| Croissants Eaten | 1 |
| Photos Taken | 2,328 |
NOM
Lastly, some food I liked this month:
