Letters from Japan – Fall 2020

Good morning/afternoon/evening,

It has been nearly a year since one of these newsletters went out, and what a year it has been. While I am note sure if travel blogs/newsletters are what we all need nowadays, I assumed that some fall colors would not hurt.

I hope that you are all doing well in these “unprecedented times”. I feel fortunate to be living in a country where the Covid-19 situation has been relatively under control and with easy access to almost free healthcare. I also feel fortunate that my family and friends are doing well in Turkey even though the uncertainty about the timing of next reunion feels unsettling at times. If anything, this has sure been a time to reflect on privileges and what those actually amount to including access to healthcare and ability to work from home.

This post is just to provide updates about recent travels in Japan. Japan has been quite strict about border controls with nearly all non-residents being banned from entering the country but they have been promoting domestic tourism relying on relatively low number of cases within the country. Everyone including primarily travel service providers are mindful of Covid-19 and the procedures are closely and strictly followed to mitigate the risk of spread. As a result, I have also been lucky to take one long and one very short trip since August.

Fall in Japan

My most recent trip was one night trip to Nikko – 2 hours north of Tokyo for some photography and easy hiking through what I call golden/rainbow forests during this mesmerizing fall season. I put up my first fall post on my website – Fall in Japan, and will be updating the same post through the fall season to include – hopefully – my new fall outings.

Long Summer Stay in Yakushima

I spent nearly a month in one of my favorite places in Japan this August. It was my third trip to the island but shamefully first time that I engaged in overnight hikes to discover the peaks of the island. I finally put together a gallery dedicated to Yakushima on my website – Yakushima Gallery. Yakushima is also a topic that I am currently covering in my thesis focusing on public-private partnerships in tourism investments. It is an island home to UNESCO Heritage Site and qualifies as one of the “hiking paradises” of Japan, as guidebooks like to put it. It offers a lot of unique case studies on how the public bodies and private service providers interact with each other and how their interaction affects the overall touristic appeal of the island and sustainability of its nature assets.

Ramblings

Some of the other recent posts include my journey back to my ten year old camera after saying goodbye to the mirrorless Fuji world, which is usually highly praised but never worked for me. Another post aims to provide some tips for my favorite due of Okinawa islands, Kerama Islands including Tokashiki and Zamami.

As always I hope that you have time to tell me about your news. Until next time, and I hope you stay content and healthy. 

Love,
Burcu

P.S: You can follow this link for more Letters from Japan.