About me and my website.
My name is Chris and I love Japan. There, I said it! :)
I first became interested in Japan back in the 80's, when both the American and Japanese economies were growing, and Japan made the best cars, motorcycles, guitars, cameras and watches for the money. I wondered about the people who could make such good products, especially so soon after rebuilding from a major war. Who were they? What were they like? What was their culture like? The more I learned, the more interested I became. Experiencing Japan first-hand has been the most amazing thing I've ever done (and I've done a lot of cool things!). To give you an idea, every single one of the pictures that appear on this website were taken during my trips to Japan.
Often, I meet people who say "I would LOVE to visit Japan! But..."
I was like that for years. Intimidated by the distance and expense. Intimidated by the difficult language. Shy about trying to speak what little Japanese I knew to native speakers. Finally, frustrated by missed opportunities, I took the plunge and stayed with friends I made through a job contact. I don't regret it a bit. And neither will you. My hope is that my little non-profit website will make it easier for you to make your own Japan dream come true. If it does, be sure to let me know!
Epilogue -
In January of 2014, I started this website to help others realize their dream of visiting Japan. Back then, the exchange rate wasn't great for tourists and the country was still recovering from the largest recorded earthquake in its history. Travis and Hiroshi soon joined this project and our following grew. Unfortunately, Hiroshi passed away in August of 2015. Eventually, Travis married and started raising a family. I was promoted to a management position at my regular job and soon had little time for anything else. And then, a new virus escaped from China and the whole world locked its doors. Japan finally reopened in late 2022, but by that time my regular job was experiencing record growth. To further complicate life, my parents were in their 80s and needed my help.
I've been back to Japan since the reopening, but spent all of my time catching up with friends. By the looks of the numbers in recent years, Japan doesn't need my help promoting tourism. ;) And that's okay. I'm glad for all those who visited this site and the social media accounts, and hope Hiroshi, Travis, and I were able to help in some small way.
またねー
I first became interested in Japan back in the 80's, when both the American and Japanese economies were growing, and Japan made the best cars, motorcycles, guitars, cameras and watches for the money. I wondered about the people who could make such good products, especially so soon after rebuilding from a major war. Who were they? What were they like? What was their culture like? The more I learned, the more interested I became. Experiencing Japan first-hand has been the most amazing thing I've ever done (and I've done a lot of cool things!). To give you an idea, every single one of the pictures that appear on this website were taken during my trips to Japan.
Often, I meet people who say "I would LOVE to visit Japan! But..."
- But it's expensive.
- But it takes a lot of flying to get there.
- But they don't know the language.
- But they don't know anybody there.
I was like that for years. Intimidated by the distance and expense. Intimidated by the difficult language. Shy about trying to speak what little Japanese I knew to native speakers. Finally, frustrated by missed opportunities, I took the plunge and stayed with friends I made through a job contact. I don't regret it a bit. And neither will you. My hope is that my little non-profit website will make it easier for you to make your own Japan dream come true. If it does, be sure to let me know!
Epilogue -
In January of 2014, I started this website to help others realize their dream of visiting Japan. Back then, the exchange rate wasn't great for tourists and the country was still recovering from the largest recorded earthquake in its history. Travis and Hiroshi soon joined this project and our following grew. Unfortunately, Hiroshi passed away in August of 2015. Eventually, Travis married and started raising a family. I was promoted to a management position at my regular job and soon had little time for anything else. And then, a new virus escaped from China and the whole world locked its doors. Japan finally reopened in late 2022, but by that time my regular job was experiencing record growth. To further complicate life, my parents were in their 80s and needed my help.
I've been back to Japan since the reopening, but spent all of my time catching up with friends. By the looks of the numbers in recent years, Japan doesn't need my help promoting tourism. ;) And that's okay. I'm glad for all those who visited this site and the social media accounts, and hope Hiroshi, Travis, and I were able to help in some small way.
またねー
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