I traveled to four cities in Japan: Nara, Tokyo, Osaka and Kobe. On the way to Nara, I met a woman who spoke a little bit of English. She told us that she had been born in Nara, and that there were beautiful temples to see in that city. Nara was indeed beautiful...from the temples to the natural scenery with a gorgeous backdrop of the mountains and an open deer park that I described already, where many people feed and pet the deer. Osaka was foodie heaven. On every block there were huge neon signs and streets full of restaurants and shops. Tokyo resembled New York City, with smaller boroughs surrounding the center. Kobe was a small city but had lush parks, city buildings, and it was surrounded by water.
At this point in my journey, I traveled from San Diego to Hawaii to Japan by ship.
I walked over 20,000 steps on multiple days in Japan, and one day I climbed 46 flights (according to the health data on my phone). One of my friends pointed out how difficult it would be to have a physical disability in a busy city like Tokyo, Osaka or Kyoto. I was shocked because when I began to think about it, I had never seen anyone in a wheel chair or with a walking cane in Japan. In some areas, there were simply no elevators.
