Joshua Does Japan

It may come as a shock to some people, but it turns out that people from Japan are somewhat smaller than those in the West. I know, it's hard to believe, but it's not just height either. Whilst the average Japanese person is two or three inches shorter than the UK average, they also have a narrower build, and only a quarter of Japanese people are considered to be overweight or obese (as opposed to the roughly two-thirds of those in the UK). Unsurprisingly, at 6'3"-ish and weighing in at two regular Japanese people, there are times when I feel just a little bit too large for this country. Whilst I was definitely on the tall, wide and heavy side in the UK, it doesn't quite compare to what an outlier I am over here. I may have lost 70lbs or so prior to visiting Japan for the first time last February, but sometimes it feels like moving to Japan has cancelled that out. I can only imagine now much worse it would be if I hadn't… There a few telltal...

Golden Week, April 29th and May 3rd-5th of each year, is a number of national holidays in Japan that just so happen to fall when the weather is at its absolute zenith. Unsurprisingly in a country which averages the fewest vacation days taken, this is cause for a slight uptake in travel nationwide. Three days off work leading into a weekend was too good to resist, so like everyone else I planned to make the most of it. Things didn’t quite go to said plan. The week started as I had hoped. With the weather hitting a lavish 22 degrees celsius, myself and a few other ALTs from Nasushiobara headed to Nikko, where the famous Toshogu shrine is located alongside various other shrines, temples and lakes. An hour and a half by train via Utsunomiya, the ever increasingly cramped carriages betrayed the tourist appeal Nikko has. By the time we arrived it seemed half of Japan had done likewise. The river that runs between the town of Nikko and the shrines. We made our way the coupl...