Matsue, Japan 2012

Matsue, Japan in September 2012

I had been wanting to visit Japan since I was in USA. When I was studying at undergraduate level in University of Iowa, I took an elective subject: Living Religions in the East. That was my first time exposed to the culture of Japan. I immediately fell in love with Japan - its culture and people. Since then, I had been wishing that one day I would go to Japan. 

That dream only came true in 2012 when my paper was accepted at an APCHI conference and I was required to come and present my paper in Matsue, Japan in September 2012.

Matsue is a small town in Japan but is rich with tradition and culture. We thought that we only needed to spend 3 days in this small town, but we were wrong. There were so much to see and experience here in Matsue. There is a castle, Matsue Castle, which is one of six castles in Japan that its originality is still in tact - meaning that the castle has not been reconstructed or renovated at all. 

The people here are so friendly and helpful, and their environment is so clean even at the back of their houses and shops. You can't find any rubbish on the street and don't even smell stingy odours at all. The roads are not dusty even in the summer, and the cars look clean. That's how clean Japan is.