High: It’s really great to experience a different culture with some additional time as compared to a normal “vacation”; a guided visit of a temple and shrine in Kyoto; and the calm in lesser-visited areas.

Low:  Would love to sample some of the items in food halls but if it’s not close to where you’re staying – there’s no way to eat it! It’s considered rude to eat in public in a non-designated area. We also experienced much higher than average temperatures, but luckily we had a lot of time to recover from the heat.

Surprise: The cities are surprisingly quiet! We knew we would need to be quiet on trains but it’s interesting how little noise there is outside on the street.