Some photos of more traditional Japan, as seen from a whizzing bullet train.

What It’s Like At The World’s Busiest Intersection in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, Japan.

(Tokyo, Japan) Since I left Iowa in August of 2006 to circle the globe, I’ve slept on numerous types of beds, couches, cots, futons, and other sleeping amenities, but so far Japan has offered the must memorable: a capsule hotel. Spread throughout Japan, capsule hotels offer small, clean, efficient and cheap places to stay (about $US40/night).The actual sleeping part isn’t much to write home about, but the most memorable part of my stay happened well before I nestled into the bristly hotel sheets, as I paraded around stark naked with a half dozen fat, hairy Japanese business men pampering myself with oils, shampoos and UV sanitized hair combs.

“To the uninitiated, harajuku style can look like what might happen if a 5-year-old girl jacked up on liquor and goofballs decided to become a stylist.” It’s possible there were some goofballs and liquor in one of the about half dozen crepes I ate when I visited Harajuku, but I loved the whole scene.

(Tokyo, Japan) How can one of the world’s smartest countries use such terrible English? Some insight into the sometime irreverent, sometimes puzzling, and always funny world of Engrish that we found in traveling through Japan.

There are many surprising and fascinating things about Japan that I was not expecting upon arrival. One of the things I had the most fun with was the vending machines. The Japanese Vending Machine Manufactures Association (I am not making that up) reports that there is somewhere in the realm of 5.5 million vending machines in all of Japan, roughly 1 per 23 citizens of Japan–or that means 1 roughly every 2 feet in Tokyo.

In each country I’ve traveled, I always try to read a book or two in addition to a guidebook about the country in which I am exploring. My favorite read in Japan was a travel book entitled Hitching Rides With Buddha (previously titled Hokkaido Highway Blues). Written by Canadian, Will Ferguson who hitchhiked his way from the southern tip to the northern tip of Japan following the blossuming of the Sakura (cherry blossoms) after teaching English through the JET Program.

Travel constantly reminds me that we must always have a sense of humor. To help provide you a few laughs, may I present the first of an ongoing series, called “Things That Make Me Laugh.” Here is the Japan edition.

In traveling, sometimes the simplest things offer a window of insight into the way a culture thinks and can offer some reflection on one’s own culture. In the case of Japan, they don’t have public trashcans.

In the land that invented it, a quest for The Best Sushi In The World. The question is, is it really what I want?