Wanderlust Travel Magazine (UK)
The knowledge
Brett Plotz may come from a small town in the USA, but he’s never looked back from Japan’s bright lights. As 2019’s top tour leader, the Inside Japan guide shares his top secrets… USA, so I was used to it. There were no mountains
Top tour leader for 2019 Brett Plotz shares his travel secrets for Japan
My interest in Japan started early on.
My uncle used to go to Japan in the 80s and 90s and he’d send me packages of crazy candy. Being seven or eight, I’d be like, “What is this place?”
I also grew up with The Karate Kid and Nintendo, but it’s the history of the place that hooked me.
Living in rural Japan helped me.
When I moved to Japan in 2006, I lived in the country. I’m from the middle of nowhere in the in Iowa though, no oceans, no seas. One time, my boss invited me for dinner and he lived in the deep country, surrounded by mountains. We had tea, then he told me to put on my shoes, and we went outside to fish for our dinner! We hunted mushrooms and had a big pot of wild boar stew.
The Olympics is a hot topic.
You have to hope it’s going ahead [at some point].
Everyone’s really excited. Japan didn’t have to do much building; they’re still using venues from 1964. People do need to be wary about the heat, though, in summer – it’s going to be hot.
Vending machines are
Japan has about 5.6 million vending machines
– that’s more than the people in New Zealand.
There’s even one on top of Mount Fuji. They sell everything – I once bought a suit!
Japan has four major islands, but…
…I love Shikoku. It’s lesser-visited than Honshu
Hokkaido and Kyushu, but it’s like the Old West of
Japan. It’s mountainous and hard to get around, but that’s the charm, and there’s great hiking.
I love Naoshima, ‘Art Island’, too – there’s amazing architecture and Japanese and Western art. Rent an ebike – it’s a fun way to see outdoor exhibits.
Some guests stand out.
Once, I had a father and son in a group; the father was in his late 80s. He was of Japanese descent; his grandparents had emigrated to Canada and nobody could tell him why. He showed me his family’s koseki (family tree) and asked if I could help him translate it. At night, we sat together, and I translated it from the early 1700s. On the penultimate day, they went to the family shrine that they’d never visited. I was honoured to help.
Look up… and down.
Don’t be afraid to get off the ground floor – if you look straight, you’re going to miss 90% of the city. If you see stairs, go up or go down. Psychologically, most people do not; they think they’ll end up in somebody’s living room. But some izakayas (Japanese gastro-pubs) are on the top floors of a building. Certain parts of Tokyo have rows and rows of little bars that hold maybe six people. I like Nonbei Yokocho in
Shibuya – it means drunkard’s alley and holds so few people that you’re likely to talk to the person next to you. Maybe they speak English, maybe they don’t; either way, you’ll have a good time.
Japan is home.
My mom probably wants me to return to Iowa, because I have her grandchild!
But for my wife and me, this is the place to be.