Japan in Red

Japan in Red

English philosopher Francis Bacon once said ‘Knowledge is Power’, a terse quote unlike the rest of his rather abstruse works. Although this quote has a degree of absolute truth in it, the methods to obtain knowledge are really personal. As an avid reader, I cannot deny there are many other ways other than reading that draws people nearer to facts and information. One way that I have a passion in is traveling. You can read about the red-tailed tropicbird in the National Geographic, but the experience of actually traveling to the tropic and observe the characteristics of these birds with naked eyes completely beats the reading experience. This is why traveling has been so important to me since childhood, when my parents often take me to exotic places on the globe when there are holidays.

One trip I will always remember is the trip to the ‘Land of the Rising Sun’ ' Japan. Greatly influenced by ancient Chinese culture, Japan is not a very distinctive country. It takes moderation in everything and its people admire western cultures very much, giving tourists a false impression that it is quite a dull place. Not so. Only when you have been to place yourself will you be able to appreciate the persistence and cordiality of the Japanese. I still remember how my sister and I got lost in a small village in Central Island. As we do not know Japanese and few of the local people speak English, we felt completely deserted in a foreign place. There was no hotel in the vicinity and it was getting late at night. Just as we were going to give up, we approached a girl of my age. She spoke English with us and allowed us to stay over at her house. After a good night’s sleep, Ishida guided us through the village’s farms, architectures and temples. Apart from tasting delicious Japanese cuisine, we also learned some Japanese traditions and words from her.

Another precious experience is when I visited the Mountain Huang in Anhui province in China.

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