The heart of the mantra

Zen is the main thing you’ll notice in Japan. During our sojourn to three cities, I didn’t hear a car horn sounded in rage and I don’t think I heard a voice raised in anger. People wait happily for pedestrian lights to turn green and they don’t push on the subway. The Japanese have nailed the art of calm and being respectful to each other.

Our itinerary took us from Tokyo to Kyoto and on to Hiroshima by way of Mount Fuji, mostly on the Shinkansen — the bullet train (from €106). The journey was akin to travelling at high speed in a dolphin-shaped jet but without getting airborne.

We stayed mostly in western-style hotels, although in Kyoto we rented an excellent machiya (Japan’s take on the self-catering apartment), which gave us a chance to decompress at our halfway point.

At Mount Fuji we spent a memorable evening in a ryokan — a traditional inn, like a B&B with futons. It was worth trying a ryokan not only for the old-fashioned evening meal served to our room but also for the relentless pummelling we enjoyed at the hands of two tiny elderly Japanese ladies who massaged us. We had bruises for weeks.

While sake, sushi and cultural surrealism are to be expected in Japan, a craft-beer scene is probably not. Nevertheless, each city we explored was well stocked with excellent craft-beer bars and a seemingly endless supply of top-notch ones from artisan Japanese breweries. We particularly liked the Craft Beer Market chain in Tokyo and Raku Beer in Hiroshima.

I’d love to see a Dublin bar mimic the delightful “sitting on the side of the street” roughness of Bungalow (bungalow.jp) or Beer Komachi (beerkomachi.com), both in Kyoto.

Let’s be frank: my main reason for heading to Japan was not the beer but the food — and lots of it. I was surprised to find that I ate little sushi — it’s everywhere, and there are so many options that it felt a shame to have the same thing twice.

When eating out, there’s no need to be afraid to venture into restaurants where the staff speak little or no English. Restaurant workers in Japan are polite, tolerant and often have
an English-language menu. They’ll even let you point at the pictures of the food, like a five-year-old, without laughing at you.

An Oktoberfest provided lighter moments for O’Shea

A few warnings for first-time visitors: some hotels, bars and restaurants are smoker-friendly, so specify a non-smoking room or table if you don’t partake. We neglected to do this during a busy weekend in Hiroshima, where every alternative had been booked. Once you’ve spent three days in a room smelling like granny’s lounge from the 1970s, you appreciate the wonder of using your lungs without wheezing like a consumptive Austen heroine.

For Irish travellers I have a more culturally specific warning: turn up early for buses, trains, undergrounds and ferries. When the timetable says the bus leaves at 10.04am, it will go before the clock hits 10.05am and waits for no man. Transport services in Japan are like finely worked Swiss timepieces — and they are awe-inspiring.

Visitors to Japan should also be prepared to be the only western face in many places. This isn’t usually an issue, as you’re ignored politely most of the time, but for some it may be a rattling experience.

Our trip had three unmissables, the first of which was the okonomiyaki (savoury pancakes) at Okonomimura (okonomimura.jp) in Hiroshima. It’s a food theme park with three floors of street-food outlets that make different versions of the dish.

The second was going to a sumo match (buysumotickets.com, from €40). An afternoon spent watching two giant men throwing salt in the ring, having it cleaned up, throwing salt again, and throwing each other out of a sandpit (as the audience goes crazy) was one of most enjoyable days out I’ve had.

The third unmissable is the temples and shrines of Kyoto, many of which are Unesco world heritage sites. Most are free to enter and those that charge ask only for about €2.50. Religion may not be your thing but Shinto isn’t strictly a religion; its followers don’t have gods, saints, statues or masses but simply a “be nice to people” message.

The perfect efficiency and beautiful elegance/weirdness of Japan never let up during our trip. As our homeward plane pulled away from the gate, we watched through the windows as the ground crew lined up on the tarmac, bowed at us in unison and waved us goodbye — 19 minutes after the boarding gate had opened. Oh Japan, why can’t we be more like you?

The brief
Fly to Japan with Turkish Airlines from €430 return or Aer Lingus/Japan Airlines from €555 return.

We used Unique Japan Tours (uniquejapantours.com, about €2,000 per person) for all the nuts and bolts of our trip. The agency managed the itinerary, airport and internal transfers, sumo tickets, rail passes, machiya, ryokan and hotel bookings. We would have been stressed if we hadn’t used the company.

Don’t underestimate what arriving jet-lagged in a country with a language you can’t read will do for your brain’s ability to function.

If you’re travelling between cities, the Japan Rail pass is great. It covers nearly all trips on bullet trains and has a tourist discount.

Places to stay
■ Hotel Niwa, Tokyo, doubles from €145, hotelniwa.jp
■Fujikawaguchiko Onsen Konanso, Mount Fuji, doubles from €160, agoda.com ■ Dozen machiya, Kyoto, doubles from €90 per night, mykyotomachiya.com ■ Oriental hotel, Hiroshima, doubles from €70, oriental-hiroshima.com