Misocutlet's Traveler Profile
- Username
- Misocutlet
- Hometown
- Nagoya,
Japan
- Member Since
- May 9, 2008
- Currently
- Offline
About Misocutlet
- Profession
- Vagabonder
- Favourite music
- The Beatles
- Birthplace
- Japan
- Favourite movie
- The Last Emperor, Stand By Me, Big Fish, Dead Poet Society, Slumdog Millionaire, Roman Holiday, Schindler's List, Mary Poppins, Whale Rider, Life Is Beautiful, A Beautiful Mind, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, The Departures, and much, much more
- Languages
- Japanese, English
- Favourite quote
- If you can dream it, you can do it. - Walt Disney, The man that goes the furthest is generally the one willing to do and dare. The "sure-thing" boat never gets far from the shore. - Dale Carnegie
- Interests and hobbies
- Martial Arts, Movies, Outdoor Activities
- One thing I want to do before I die
- Dreamy travel as in "Big Fish"
- Favourite book
- The Selfish Gene, How to Win Friends ..., Men Are from Mars...
- My friends describe me as
- The Black Sheep of the Family, A Man of Individuality
- The most amazing moment in my life so far
- Top 5 most amazing places I have ever visited: 1. Plitivice Lakes National Park, Croatia 2. Angkor Wat, Cambodia 3. Luang Prabang, Laos 4. The Great Wall, China 5. Auschwiz, Poland
According to a Japanese Foreign Ministry statistics, there are 193 countries in the world as of Jan 2009. (There are 192 members of the United Nations and Vatican City is not a UN member.) I have visited only 30 countries and counting in Asia, Oceania, Middle East, North America, and Europe. To tell you the truth, I couldn't enjoy travelling in some countries of them. However, that is not because the countries are boring, but because I was not well-prepared for the trips to those countries. There should be no boring countries in the world and even in our own counties, we can find a lot of attractions, as long as we try to do.
Come to think of the memorable countries I have ever visited, I prefer countries where I had a great experience especially like meeting someone to countries where I saw great natures or architectures. It proves that the important thing in my travelling is encounters with people, which means I can enjoy any countries of the world, because some countries may have nothing to see, but all the countries definitely have people.
It is true that travels cost much, even though I am a backpacker travelling on a shoestring, but still I have to travel to enjoy my life or rather to make it prosperous. I have lived over 30 years. I am not sure how many memorable days I can remember in my life. In fact, however, all the days in my travels are memorable and precious. In that meaning, travelling is an activity to make my life prosperous and worth spending money on, that is to say I am buying happy days. Therefore, I keep travelling as long as I live, although I don't have much money. On the other hand, I realized the fact that even good memories from the travels disappear as time passes. That's why I started taking a lot of pictures and blogging on Travelpod to support my bad memory.
Thanks to the other's travelogues, I had always got good information before I visited the destinations and even now I check out the real experiences in any destination before I visit. Of course, travel guides are helpful and essential to visit any country as an individual traveller, but the information from the guidebooks are objective and very limited. Besides, it includes a lot of information about the destinations which I don't visit. In that meaning, traveller's experiences in a specific place are really meaningful. I am not sure if my travelogue contributes to other travellers, but I hope so and keep blogging.
One of the most interesting things in travelling is to identify Japan and Japanese. It is a contradiction that I am Japanese, but I don't realize what Japan is like. When I look to a foreign country, I can identify Japan. For example, in Japan, sumo is said to be a national sport of Japan, but we may find out that Mongolia and Korea have their sumo wrestling. That means sumo may be a sport of "Asia". Then we have to give up the notion that sumo is a Japanese sport. In another case, it seems that a lot of people don't take a bath for life and they just bathe in the river or pond. On the other hand, Japanese take a bath almost every day and we are likely to think that is the norm of the world, but it's not. While I was in Australia, an Iranian friend asked me the question, "Are personal computers cheap in Japan?" The question was tricky and I couldn't answer the question at the time, although I had lived in Japan for about 30 years. I knew about the price range of PCs in Japan, but I didn't know the PCs were cheap, compared with those of "foreign countries". In fact, he was thinking about buying a PC and looking for the country offering the best deal. I realized that I should know more about foreign countries in order to know about Japan.The bottom line is travelling is a way to identify my country and national characters.
These days, I sometimes wonder why people travel. Usually, people travel out of curiosity, but curiosity varies from person to person. That is, some people are interested in a tourist attraction, but others may not even pay attention to it at all. However, it may just mean others don't know its attractiveness. Of course, I also have an interest in some field, but I may have a chance to get interested in other fields in travelling. I don't want to give up the possibility. So when I travel, I make it a rule to discard prejudices and to try new things so as to push the frontiers of my interest. I firmly believe that I shouldn't say, "I won't eat it, because it looks bad.", "I won't go there, because it looks boring,", or "I won't do it, because it looks difficult."
Come to think of the memorable countries I have ever visited, I prefer countries where I had a great experience especially like meeting someone to countries where I saw great natures or architectures. It proves that the important thing in my travelling is encounters with people, which means I can enjoy any countries of the world, because some countries may have nothing to see, but all the countries definitely have people.
It is true that travels cost much, even though I am a backpacker travelling on a shoestring, but still I have to travel to enjoy my life or rather to make it prosperous. I have lived over 30 years. I am not sure how many memorable days I can remember in my life. In fact, however, all the days in my travels are memorable and precious. In that meaning, travelling is an activity to make my life prosperous and worth spending money on, that is to say I am buying happy days. Therefore, I keep travelling as long as I live, although I don't have much money. On the other hand, I realized the fact that even good memories from the travels disappear as time passes. That's why I started taking a lot of pictures and blogging on Travelpod to support my bad memory.
Thanks to the other's travelogues, I had always got good information before I visited the destinations and even now I check out the real experiences in any destination before I visit. Of course, travel guides are helpful and essential to visit any country as an individual traveller, but the information from the guidebooks are objective and very limited. Besides, it includes a lot of information about the destinations which I don't visit. In that meaning, traveller's experiences in a specific place are really meaningful. I am not sure if my travelogue contributes to other travellers, but I hope so and keep blogging.
One of the most interesting things in travelling is to identify Japan and Japanese. It is a contradiction that I am Japanese, but I don't realize what Japan is like. When I look to a foreign country, I can identify Japan. For example, in Japan, sumo is said to be a national sport of Japan, but we may find out that Mongolia and Korea have their sumo wrestling. That means sumo may be a sport of "Asia". Then we have to give up the notion that sumo is a Japanese sport. In another case, it seems that a lot of people don't take a bath for life and they just bathe in the river or pond. On the other hand, Japanese take a bath almost every day and we are likely to think that is the norm of the world, but it's not. While I was in Australia, an Iranian friend asked me the question, "Are personal computers cheap in Japan?" The question was tricky and I couldn't answer the question at the time, although I had lived in Japan for about 30 years. I knew about the price range of PCs in Japan, but I didn't know the PCs were cheap, compared with those of "foreign countries". In fact, he was thinking about buying a PC and looking for the country offering the best deal. I realized that I should know more about foreign countries in order to know about Japan.The bottom line is travelling is a way to identify my country and national characters.
These days, I sometimes wonder why people travel. Usually, people travel out of curiosity, but curiosity varies from person to person. That is, some people are interested in a tourist attraction, but others may not even pay attention to it at all. However, it may just mean others don't know its attractiveness. Of course, I also have an interest in some field, but I may have a chance to get interested in other fields in travelling. I don't want to give up the possibility. So when I travel, I make it a rule to discard prejudices and to try new things so as to push the frontiers of my interest. I firmly believe that I shouldn't say, "I won't eat it, because it looks bad.", "I won't go there, because it looks boring,", or "I won't do it, because it looks difficult."
Travel Blogs by Misocutlet
-
Central Japan, My Neighborhood
Jul 26, 2008 to May 17, 2013 47 entries 1014 pictures
-
Memorable Thai Massage School
Sep 02, 2005 to Sep 17, 2005 10 entries 17 pictures
