I'm Brazilian Japanese and last January I went to Japan with the family (father, younger brother, an aunt and grandmother) for a 20-day trip that definitely lived up to my expectations. We stayed at my aunt's house at Chiba and visited Tokyo, Yokohama, Hiroshima,
Kyoto, Kobe, Kamakura and Kagoshima. The Japan Rail Pass was really handy and economical.
I loved all places, especially Tokyo, Kyoto and Kamakura, but I was particulary thrilled to visit Bounotsu, in Kagoshima, which is the village where my greatgrandparents and grandmother on my father's side came from. We met old relatives there and no words can describe the experience of going back to the place my greatgrandparents and grandmother left decades ago in search of prosperity overseas and to which they couldn't manage to return as World War II broke out and life took a different path.
Oh, and in Japan I saw the snow for the first time and it certainly is one of the coolest things I've ever seen, literally! Especially when it was falling at Kiyomizu, in Kyoto... that was a magnificent view.
I really thank god for having had the chance to do such a wonderful trip and hope to go back to Japan someday not only for tourism, but also to improve my Japanese in some language course and maybe do postgraduate studies on international cooperation.