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Both works are not the typical Japanese travel guidebook. While Four Seasons of Japan is a 396-page novel with deep emotional tone and beautiful language, Journey to Japan is full of real-life experiences about life in a country with one of the world's leading diverse cultures.
Find purpose in life
Author Nick Bradley tells the interesting journey of Flo Dunthorpe, a female translator with a passion for literature in Four Seasons of Japan. Flo accidentally finds a book by an unknown writer with the pen name Hibiki left on the subway. Stuck in life, Flo decides to find strange things related to the characters of the two grandmothers Ayako - Kyo, the cat Coltrane and many interesting details in the book, through which she feels sympathy and begins to restore her confidence and joy of life.
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Japan has four seasons: spring - summer - autumn - winter, rotating like the months and years of human life, both gentle and demanding that people adapt to the joys and sorrows of life. If after the events, the grandmother and granddaughter Ayako and Kyo reconciled with each other in a touching way (in Hibiki's story), then Flo herself also learned many valuable lessons about the purpose of life, family love, humanity, the beauty of nostalgia and the responsibility of "making decisions about her life and future".
The author concluded: “Living in Japan has challenged me every day to become a stronger, more resilient, and more open person.”
Japanese Spirit
In Journey to Japan, author Chris Broad invites readers to experience 10 years of living in Japan with him through humorous narration and many interesting stories from all regions from urban to rural areas, meeting many different elements of society from movie stars to Tokyo waitresses.
The author reflects on concerns about earthquakes and tourist overload in places like the ancient capital of Kyoto, communication difficulties due to cultural differences requiring “when in Rome, do as the Romans do”, unique experiences such as bathing in hot springs naked, attractive cuisine with sushi, ramen noodles, okonomiyaki pancakes, karaage fried chicken…
One of the most touching stories may be when the author meets Mrs. Ichiyo, the owner of the Tsunami Inn in Tohoku - whose fisherman husband, daughter and son-in-law died in a boat capsize at sea.
What happened in life caused Ichiyo too much suffering, but she said: “The secret to overcoming pain is not to look back… I don’t want to be immersed in the past or expect too much from the future. If I can still go on, if I can still live in the present, then I will continue to move forward” (page 352).
Despite the losses, Ms. Ichiyo is one of the kind, positive Japanese people who always aims to bring joy to everyone and "show that the human spirit can conquer all" - the author of Journey to Japan wrote, expressing his emotions and being inspired by Ms. Ichiyo.
The above examples helped Chris Broad overcome the "arduous" filming and production process to turn his channel Journey Through Japan into the most viewed Japanese travel series on YouTube (over 400 million views).
Long Khanh
Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/dong-nai-cuoi-tuan/202507/chu-du-tim-hieu-bon-mua-nhat-ban-8c21ce5/
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