At the moment I'm preparing materials for the coming semester. I'm taking CLIL (content language integrated learning) type classes including one that's focused on tourism in Japan. Lesson one - to get into the groove... do they know where Japan's prefectures actually are. And what is something "famous" about each prefecture. And, how many have they been to. I have no difficulty identifying the locations of the 47 prefecures, but I have been to only slightly over half*:
1) Hokkaido, 2) Aomori 3) Iwate, 4)Miyagi, 5) Akita, 6)Yamagata, 7)Fukushima (note it's a very large prefecture, much bigger than a nuclear plant) 8) Ibaragi, 9)Tochigi, 10)Gunma, 11)Saitama, 12) Chiba, 13) Tokyo, 14) Kanagawa, 15) Niigata, 16)Toyama, 17. Ishikawa, 19) Yamanashi, 20) Nagano, 21) Gifu, 22) Shizuoka, 23)Aichi, 25) Shiga, 26) Kyoto, 28) Hyogo, 29)Nara, 34, Hiroshima.
Which means I still haven't been to
18) Fukui, 24) Mie, 27) Osaka, 30)Wakayama, 31)Shimane, 32) Tottori, 33 Okayama, 35) Yamaguchi, 36 Tokushima, 37 Kagawa, 38) Ehime, 39)Kochi, 40.)Fukuoka, 41) Saga, 42) Nagasaki, 43) Kumamoto, 44)Oita, 45) Miyazaki, 46.) Kagoshima, 47). Okinawa.
*Going to means going somewhere there walking around, not just passing through on the train.
At the moment, the political situation in Okinawa is very interesting... very tense. I think that's the highest priority of the places I have yet to visit.
2 comments:
That's an interesting way of looking at it - made me took a look at my own travel in Japan:
VISITED (walked around at least one town/area) - 37:
1. Hokkaido, 2. Aomori, 3. Iwate, 5. Akita, 8. Ibaraki, 9. Tochigi, 10. Gunma, 11. Saitama, 12. Chiba, 13. Tokyo, 14. Kanagawa, 16. Toyama, 17. Ishikawa, 19. Yamanashi, 20. Nagano, 21. Gifu, 22. Shizuoka, 23. Aichi, 24. Mie, 25. Shiga, 26. Kyoto, 27. Osaka, 28. Hyogo, 29. Nara, 31. Shimane, 32. Tottori, 33. Okayama, 34. Hiroshima, 35. Yamaguchi, 37. Kagawa, 38. Ehima, 39. Kochi, 40. Fukuoka, 42. Nagasaki, 43. Kumamoto, 44. Oita, 46. Kagoshima
PASSED THROUGH (in a train) - 7:
4. Miyagi, 6. Yamagata, 7. Fukushima, 15. Niigata, 18. Fukui, 36. Tokushima, 41. Saga
NEVER VISITED -
30. Wakayama, 45. Miyazaki, 47. Okinawa
And hopefully I pick off number 30 in April.
Which goes to show the wonders that are the Japanese railway system and the JR Pass.
Immpressive! Very!
I am sure there are few Japanese let alone foreigners who could beat that for a list!
If you have the benefit of a JR East pass, I really recommend the Rikuu Sai sen from Shinjo to Sakata.
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