I'm over on the Inside Japan website today, talking about why I love Japan.

Posted on May 10, 2019 by Guest Blogger Amanda Huggins

Fuji - Copyright M Wharton

After becoming interested in Japan as a child, award-winning short story and travel writer Amanda Huggins fell hook, line and sinker for the country as an adult. But what is it about Japan that captured her imagination?

Japan: Where it all began

Kanazawa - Copyright A Huggins

Whenever I return to Japan it feels like an emotional homecoming, and I’m both relieved and excited to be back. Yet I’ve always struggled to explain or define this strong connection, or to pin down exactly why I love the country so much. Perhaps the words remain elusive because the reasons are more spiritual than tangible.

Kobe - Copyright A Huggins

I learnt my first word of Japanese when I was a child. The word – which I couldn’t pronounce correctly – was yurushite, meaning ‘I beg your forgiveness’, and it appeared on the box lid of my Sorry! game – a souped-up form of Ludo. The board itself was decorated with elegant Japanese gardens: cherry blossom, stone lanterns, autumn maple trees, waterfalls and distant mountains. The beautiful board, and the evocative description of Japan as ‘the land of politeness’, were enough to instil a faint yearning that I didn’t understand, a yearning that was cemented by the amateur production of The Mikado that my mother took me to see. The white makeup and scarlet lips, the intricate hair decorations, the beautiful colours and patterns of the kimonos, all seemed magical.

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