18 Fascinating Facts About Japan

Above, a nighttime view of the Asakusa section of Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

As Japan is about to open up again to foreign tourism (on June 10), except one has to be a part of an organized group tour to do so, it is worth taking a look at some interesting facts about the country.

This is from a Brit in an article in BuzzFeed who remembers a pre-COVID vacation to Japan. He brings up 18 fascinating facts about Japan that he observed.

He begins with:

Hi, I'm Sam, and I'm a Brit living in London. I love to travel, and I've ALWAYS wanted to go to Japan!

Back in early 2019, I FINALLY got to visit Tokyo, which was my last vacay before the world went to shit. While I was there, I noticed a ton of things that were either unusual, weirdly practical, or just plain amazing to me.

I've cast my mind back to my pre-Covid trip, and put together a list of casual observations about Japan/Tokyo that I thought were worth mentioning.

To read more, go here.

BuzzFeed: 18 Overrated Tourist Destinations In America

Above, described as "horrific", Las Vegas made the list. Photo by ArmandVaquer.

Travel is the prime method for seeing the rest of the country and places around the world (that is, if you can afford it) for yourself.

Like anything else, some tourist destinations are better than others. Some should be avoided at all costs.

That's what an article posted by BuzzFeed is about. They have listed 18 destinations that should be avoided. One in the list I would have to disagree with, and that is the Roswell International UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell, New Mexico. I actually enjoyed it. I visited it three years ago during the annual UFO Festival.

That aside, I don't have any other disagreements with their list. The first one listed is Hollywood Blvd. They titled it,  "Hollywood Boulevard. It's crowded and smells like pee." Yes, that is quite an accurate description!

They begin the list with:

The United States is one of the top-visited countries in the world. But are the popular tourist destinations that bring flocks of people — both internationally and domestically — worth the hype? Lets take a looksy at this Reddit thread started by u/EggsAndBeerKegs to find out! Here are 18 US tourist destinations people say you really shouldn't bother seeing:

To see the whole list, go here.