Florijan Matanović

As an honest, regular student, who normally doesn't engage in puerile shenanigans, I felt the need to do something for myself, to reward myself with something that would mean a lot to me now, and maybe in the future, when I would recount my youth as an old man. And so there I was in the winter of 2022/2023 researching options to fulfil my dream of travelling to Japan. Research led to a plan and at the end of February 2023 I bought a plane ticket and found a place to stay. But some of my family members decided to go along and thus my adventurer’s fate was sealed. Prior to the trip, I had spent a year and a half getting acquainted with the culture of Japan and even learned to read two of their three scripts: hiragana and katakana. Kanji is the third, derived from the Chinese alphabet, where each character can mean one or more words, depending on the context. I learned the kanji characters for the men's and women's toilets. I mostly stayed in a small town called Okayama, where a friend I had met online shared all the tips and tricks for travelling around Japan. I loved it there. I had a good room, and my friend pointed me to great Japanese food. She took me to a restaurant where I had a very tasty, sweet and savoury dish called Gyūdon served in a soup with chunks of roast beef and vegetables, a bowl of rice and extra spices and toppings. I couldn't eat it all, there was too much rice.
The Shinkansen is one of the fastest trains in the world, and I've been lucky enough to ride many of them to Osaka and Tokyo. Osaka is a city of entertainment. People are good-natured and ready to help all over Japan, but people in Osaka simply oozed warmth. Whoever I asked for directions, they would help with no exceptions. In Osaka, I visited the Tombori River, took a boat ride under the river channel and learned about the small spatula they use for eating the traditional Okonomiyaki dish. I bought one such spatula in the Dotombori streets next to the Tombori River, and tasted that fantastic dish. Okonomiyaki is made like a pancake, but with vegetables, cheese, and soft mochi added to the batter, and at the last moment before the dish is ready on a hot plate in front of you, the chef smothers it with a hot or savoury sauce of your choice. After that, it is covered with a metal lid and you wait 15-20 minutes before you cut and scoop it with a spatula and savour it rich taste. I also tried the soft cheese and raisin cake. I accidentally ordered two thinking I was ordering a medium size, so I gave the other one to a homeless man sitting on the bridge on Dotonbori Street. He was very grateful. The day after I went for a ride on the merry-go-round and on my way there I grabbed a new dish - Takoyaki. Served with a toothpick, you get several balls similar to fritters, but they are very salty and filled with small pieces of octopus and topped with different sauces and sprinkled with Katsuobushi flakes made from thin pieces of dried fish. Very tasty. I spent the penultimate day with my family in Dotombora where I showed them everything I had seen and learned. I didn't feel any "culture shock" because I had watched many videos before going to Japan. When you are polite, people will be happy to help you. Even if they don't know how to explain, they will walk with you to set you on the right path. A gentleman almost missed his train when he got out of his way to show me which train I should board. If this text somehow finds its way to that gentleman, I’m taking this opportunity to thank you very much for your kind eagerness to help and your sacrifice.