1. WELCOME TO JAPAN ようこそ日本 “ NİHON” or “NİPPON” are the Japanese words for Japan. The Japanese language mainly uses Kanji. Kanji is the alphabet of Chinese characters and each character has a meaning. NIHON is written with Kanji as “ 日本 ” The first character shows the sun and the second character shows the origin. NIHON means the sun’s origin in Japanese language

2. CURRENCY: The local currency is the “Japanese Yen” ( 円 ). You can easily exchange USA Dollars and Euro at the post offices from 8:30 to 15:30.

3. AIRPORTS: The two busiest international airports are “Narita Airport” at Tokyo and “Kansai Airport” at Osaka. You can easily go to the city centres by train from these airports. RAILWAYS “Shinkansen” ( 新幹線 ) is the High-Speed Rail in Japan. It is very convenient and goes from North of Japan to South of Japan. The tickets are sold at the stations and online from the web sites.

4. HOTELS: In many cities of Japan there are both Western –style and the Japanese hotels. The Japanese style hotels are traditional rooms with “Tatami” on the floor which is a mat made of rush grass. There are no beds and “Futons” are laid on the Tatami floor for sleeping.

5. FOOD: Maybe the most famous Japanese food is “Sushi” ( 寿司 ) which is many types of raw fish with rice. There are many restaurants with low prices for sushi in all over the cities. The Japan has also very delicious and different types of noodles. There are many Italian, French, Chinese and Korean restaurants in many big cities of Japan.

6. CHERRY BLOSSOMS “Cherry blossoms” called “Sakura” is one of the best sightseeing options for many tourists. In April and May you can see and walk by the very beautiful and pink trees of cherry blossoms in many cities of Japan.

7. TOKYO ( 東京 ) The total population of Japan is around 130 million and 35 million lives in Tokyo which is the capital of Japan. It is one of the largest cities in the world. Tokyo is the most international Japanese city for business and tourism. Restaurants, shopping areas, high buildings and wonderful night views with lights attract tourists’ interest. Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Skytree - world’s tallest broadcasting tower (634 meter) are very famous tourist areas.

8. TOKYO ( 東京 ) Tokyo has a very wide subway and rail system and very big stations. The rail map looks very difficult but there are English maps, signs and guides at many stations. You can buy “Suica” the pre-paid card to use at trains, subways and buses in Tokyo.

9. KYOTO ( 京都 ) Kyoto is the most famous traditional KINKAKUJI city with many historical temples. The two very famous temples are: “ Kiyomizudera Temple”: It means pure water temple in Japanese and it is on the list of UNESCO world’s heritage site. “Kinkakuji”: Kin means gold and the temple is covered with cold and is in the middle of a pond. There are many other temples and you need two or three days to visit all these very beautiful temples. The city is very flat and has many buses. You can get one-day-pass ticket for buses and use as many buses as you can in one day. The tourists who like cycling can also rent bicycles for sightseeing.

10. HIROSHIMA ( 広島 ) The city of Hiroshima is another attractive city for the tourists but has a very sad history. It is the city where the atomic bomb is dropped and the city was completely destroyed at that time. The only building which was not completely destroyed is still standing in the “Peace Park”. Peace Park is made for the memory of the people who died because of the atomic bomb. The park is very green with a river and there is also a very big museum. Thousands of Japanese students come from all over the country to visit this big museum. The city has a very good tramline and bus system which is also easy to use for the tourists.

11. Resources: Interview with a Turkish lady (Miss Pelin Alpkokin) who has stayed in Japan for six years Japan official tourist web sites and guidebooks Most of the photographs are taken by Miss Pelin Alpkökin during her stay in Japan