As the title suggests, I have exciting adventures around the corner. At the beginning of October, I’m going to Japan for three months to work in a guest house. I’ve been fascinated by the country and its culture from a young age and have wanted to visit since I was about 14, so I’m thrilled to be able to finally go.
I posted on twitter recently asking if anyone would be interested in reading blog posts about my time over there, and the overwhelming response was yes, people would. So with that in mind, I’m going to start a sub-category on this blog for my posts about Japan.
This doesn’t mean I’m going to be posting any less about books though! I’ll still be posting all my bookish updates, but I’ll also be posting about what I’m getting up to while I’m over there. So basically, I’m giving myself more posts to write and the challenge of maintaining regular updates on both aspects of the blog. No pressure. 
For the most part, I’m going to try and blog about book-related Japanese things, for instance Japanese bookstores, manga and graphic novels, what the book culture is like over there, but I’ll also post about the cities and the culture.
I’m about to find out shortly which city I’ll be staying in, but I know it will either be Osaka or Kyoto. I really can’t decide which I’d rather be in, so it’s a good job that they’re only about 40 minutes away from one another; that means no matter which one I stay in I’ll still get to go to the other pretty often. 
I’m going to Japan on my own, which is something I’ve never done before, but the prospect kind of thrills me. I can’t wait to meet new people, sample a new culture, and spend time in the country I’ve always wanted to visit. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little daunted, but as my sister once wrote on the kitchen whiteboard in our family home ‘If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough’, and I think she might be right. Though there are things that worry me, there’s so much more that exhilarates me, and I’m not sure I’ve ever been as excited about anything as I am about this.
OK, that got unintentionally existential! The long and short of it is that I wanted to share what I’m going to be doing with you all and am planning on doing some blogging about Japan while I’m there.
Let me know if any of you have been to Japan before and if you’ve got any advice or tips!
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Japanese culture is interesting to me. Congrats on being able to spend some time there! I’m looking forward to seeing some posts on your journey!
Aww thanks so much! And yes it seems fascinating, I’m so excited to learn more about the country and explore various cities while I’m there! 🙂
Congratulations to you. This is major. New country, new job and on your own. Cheers to all the new adventures. I look forward to your posts about your time there.
Thank you! Yeah, I’m very excited to go! And the job is more like volunteering, in a sense, as I don’t get paid for it, but I get to stay in the guesthouse for free which is pretty great! Thanks, can’t wait to start writing about my time there – it’s actually two weeks today until I go!
I can’t wait to read about your Japan book adventures and what the book culture is like 🙂 I’ve never been out of Australia but I think travelling alone would be daunting but such a great experience.
I hope you have an amazing time!
Aww thanks! Yeah, I think it will be slightly daunting because their culture is very different from ours over here in the UK, but I’m far more excited than I am nervous at the moment. I’ve been abroad to places like France, Germany, the USA, and Portugal, but definitely never as far away as this! Thank you, I’m sure I will!