Travels With Matt Blog

What I Learned by Staying Longer in Japan

Most trips are built around highlights.

You arrive with a list, move quickly, and measure success by how much you managed to see before it was time to leave. That approach works, especially in a place like Japan where every city feels dense with experiences. But on my two-week trip in 2025, something different happened — not because I saw more, but because I stayed long enough for the country to stop feeling new.

I spent a full week in Osaka. Not hopping between cities. Not treating it as a base for day trips. Just staying. And that decision quietly changed everything.

Why Convenience in Japan Feels Thoughtful, Not Rushed

Convenience usually comes with a tradeoff. Speed over quality. Efficiency over care. Get in, get out, move on. In many places, convenience feels transactional — useful, but impersonal.

Japan somehow manages to do it differently.

A Neighborhood I Didn’t Plan to Love

Some places win you over immediately. Others do it quietly, without asking for attention. Yanaka-Ginza was the second kind.

I didn’t arrive there with expectations. It wasn’t high on any list, wasn’t framed as a must-see, wasn’t something I had been imagining before the trip. It was simply a stop along the way, a neighborhood I was passing through rather than aiming for. A tour to get away from Shibuya and the neon-light streets, a change of pace.

And maybe that’s why it stayed with me.

The First Night in Japan Still Feels Different

Every time I arrive in Japan, it’s in the afternoon or later. By the time the plane touches down, my body is already behind. I don’t sleep on flights — never have been able to — so I arrive carrying that familiar mix of exhaustion and adrenaline. The kind where your eyes feel heavy but your mind is wide open, taking everything in whether you want it to or not.

Jet lag hits fast, but I’ve learned not to fight it on that first night in Japan.

A Few Small Things I Miss About Japan

There are big reasons I love Japan — the cities, the culture, the history, the energy that seems to hum just beneath the surface. But the things I find myself missing most aren’t the landmarks or the moments people usually talk about.

They’re smaller than that.

A Train Ride in Japan I Still Think About

There’s one train ride from my last trip to Japan that I find myself returning to more than any other. It wasn’t my first time on the Shinkansen, and it wasn’t even the longest journey I took. But something about that ride — moving from Osaka back to Tokyo — has stayed with me in a quiet, persistent way.

How Japan Changed the Way I Move Through a City

Before traveling to Japan, I thought I knew how to navigate cities.

I knew how to plan routes, pin destinations, and optimize days so nothing was “wasted.” I moved through places with intent, but also with a quiet sense of urgency — always aware of what was next, what I might miss, and how much ground I could cover.

Japan changed that, all for the better.

What Japan Taught Me About Slowing Down

The end of the year has a way of making people rush.

Everyone starts talking about what’s next — goals, plans, resolutions, big ideas for the year ahead. But as I look toward 2026, I find myself moving in the opposite direction. Instead of speeding up, I keep thinking about slowing down. And once again, that instinct leads me back to Japan.

Japan Is on My Mind This Christmas

Christmas has a way of slowing everything down.

The year pauses for a moment. The noise fades a bit. There’s more quiet time — the kind that lets your mind wander whether you want it to or not. And this Christmas, no matter where my thoughts start, they keep ending up in Japan.

Japan Is the Place That Never Lets Me Go

Why Traveling to Japan Continues to Shape How I See the World

There are places you visit, places you enjoy, and places you remember fondly. And then there is Japan — the place that never really lets you leave.

Lost in the Middle of the Map

I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want this blog to be moving forward. Travel still excites me more than anything—packing a bag, stepping into a new place, wandering a city I’ve never seen before. But the act of blogging about it? Lately that feels a little less like an adventure and a little more like homework.

Thank you, Japan

I returned home a few weeks ago after spending two weeks in Japan, exploring Tokyo, Osaka, and several smaller towns along the way. It was one of most incredible trips I have ever had in my four visits to the Land of the Rising Sun.

The sites, the foods, the places I experienced and the people I met along the way will always hold a special place in my heart. Makiko, Kayoka, Ittaa, Yoshie, Yoshi, Hiro, Yumi, and so many more I can’t list all made my trip incredible. From the knowledge, the care, and stories each one shared along the way made the trip one of the best I have ever taken in my entire life.

My life has not been the same since I got back to the states, with my thoughts always on Japan and missing the world I was lucky enough to live in for two weeks. A piece of my heart is still in Japan and I miss it every day.