Everything in Japan feels unfamiliar: The enigmatic typeset dancing across signposts, billboards and menus; the lyrical dialect swirling about your ears; the bullet trains speeding towards their final destination and arriving unscathed and on time.
Despite its otherworldliness, this is a safe and easily navigable destination. There is an abiding culture of efficiency, deference and omotenashi (hospitality) – even when you’re communicating in gestures rather than a common tongue. So tuck a cherry blossom behind your ear and lose yourself – afresh or new
