Stats for nerds
2recommend
4mentions
4people
2015–2025years
50% recommend50% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I visited Japan in 2019 and Shikoku was the highlight. The Iya valley has beautiful nature. Kochi amazing food.
Read Alex Kerr's Lost Japan to get a good perspective on the Iya valley and Japan in general.
- You're right, that does sound exhaustive.
Anyway, I just wanted to share my unique perspective and experiences without getting down voted, and I've already lost 2 karma on this discussion.
If you have an interest in the country's culture more than its military history (or modern military history) you might enjoy some of Alex Kerr's writing, either Lost Japan or Dogs and Demons.
- I used to live in Japan in 1999-2001, and I was just there again for a month this summer.
Anyway, I disagree with you: Japan is still a miracle in terms of the quality and service you get for the money. I saw this many times over.
Perhaps not in Kyoto, or in the most touristed areas of Tokyo. Or in whatever random place got featured in some anime, or whatnot.
The article mentions Yamaguchi, Toyama, Morioka, etc., and I definitely agree -- there are tons of places off the tourist beaten-track, and any of them is worth a visit.
On my recent trip I was in Kobe, which unlike Yamaguchi etc. I expect the average HN reader has heard of. But even there, there was little trace of overtourism.
Alex Kerr lamented all the way back in 1993 (in his book Lost Japan) that Kyoto had essentially lost its soul. And if you go to the areas most commonly seen on Instagram and TikTok, that's probably partially true. But even in Kyoto, go off the beaten path a little, and you will find much to delight you!
- In his first book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Kerr_(Japanologist) explained that ancient Japanese works, once restored to the original looks, often would look bright and garish to modern taste, no matter if you were Japanese or coming from a Western culture.
In his opinion, the choice of colors was a consequence of poor light conditions inside ancient building. Not just because at night you had only oil lamps or similar sources, but because glass windows were not available either, so wall openings were smaller, and ofter protected by blinds or paper screens to mitigate the humid warm climate.
I suppose same applies to ancient buildings in other parts of the world, too.
