It was an early morning on my last day. I had booked my final bullet train ride from Osaka to Fukuoka 600 km away. The rush from the train and finally making my way to the ferry terminal, It took until I was sat on the ferry ride back to Busan that I finally had time to stop and actually process the previous 8 days I’d spent in Japan. I’d managed to go from Tokyo, Fuji, Kyoto, Osaka and Koyasan, in a little over a week.

I’d wanted to visit the island ever since I was a kid watching anime cartoons and being fascinated by robots. I, like a lot of people had built an idea of what Japan was like in my head. I left feeling content and that it was a solid trip, but was reminded of something I first realized when I had visited Europe, again with Korea, and now with Japan; that the idea of a country in your head is rarely completely in-line with what it is in reality.

For Japan, it wasn’t in a bad or disappointing way, in more of a fresh way in fact. Parts of Tokyo were definitely dated, but Kyoto felt unexpectedly cosy. Osaka left a little more to be desired, but Koyasan was an amazing last minute addition. If it’d turned out to be how I expected it to be, I wouldn’t be disappointed on some levels, but I wouldn’t be much surprised either, and Japan certainly surprised me, and Korea, even after 5 months as I write this, is still surprising me as often as it can.

After 3 hours of literally flying across the surface of the sea, we pulled into Busan. I lugged my pack over my back for one last hike to my Hostel for the night.  Thinking that was it for my vacation and adventure, the hostel owner grabbed a bunch of us and took us out to a proper hole in the wall restaurant by Haeundae beach. What I expected to be an early and quiet night turned into the perfect night cap for my vacation, joined by a Brit, an American, a pair of Germans and an Austrian, the night turned from dinner, to Norebang to bar hoping across town.

Whether it was the smell of BBQ, the sea air, or the Bavarian rendition of  99 Luftballons, I realized being back in Korea, I felt home, even if it’s just home for now. It was a great trip, one for the books indeed, but none the less, good to be back.