David Božičević

As soon as the opportunity presented itself, I didn't overthink it, and my wife didn't protest too much either. We went in February this year. We spent 14 days there and every place we visited was special in its own way. Tokyo is perhaps the most interesting because it is so huge that it offers everything for everyone. Every day you go to a new part of the city and every day you have a reason to say ‘Wow!’ Kinkakuji Temple in Kyoto was wonderful. It is a golden temple located on a small lake, so it is visually beautiful, and the absolutely tranquil gardens around it provide a real Zen atmosphere. Everything is very clean and there is order and peace everywhere. One can get used to it pretty quickly, and gets a bigger culture shock when they get back home. The food is really excellent and high quality. No matter what you try, you can see that it is well prepared using high-quality produce. The food is plentiful and very diverse. Their desserts are excellent and not very sweet, not full of sugar like in our country. In fact, it's funny that their desserts are actually made of beans (azuki bean paste), potatoes (sweet potatoes, similar but not the same as our sweet potatoes) and rice (mochi). There is a lot of street food everywhere, but you’re not allowed to eat in the street. They have very few coffee shops, and in some of them, when you order they give you a slip with your time slot for the table, which is how they avoid overcrowding. And everyone respects that. Also, there are many cafés where you can pet various animals, cats, dogs, owls, hedgehogs, snakes, capybaras. We were in a cafe with capybaras and it was an interesting experience. Every few meters on the street there are vending machines where you can buy cold and hot beverages. For instance, the same green tea can be bought cold or hot. You can also buy canned hot soup or ice cream from them.