why travel?

I would consider myself rather knowledgeable in regards to world history, culture, philosophy & theology. But prior to coming to Japan I had no real idea of what to expect, I knew a minimal amount of information regarding the Japanese Empire, Zen Buddhism & Shinto beliefs but beyond this I knew very little. Growing up I had never ate sushi because my family didn't eat raw meat, I never ate ramen because virtually all ramen restaurants include pork, I had/have no interest in manga and often when people would ask me "so why are you visiting Japan?",  it would be hard for me to come up with an exact answer like I often heard "to eat lots of sushi!". Often my answers were like "well I have a deep interest in world history & Japan is a land of deep rooted culture, tradition & history". But as I stated earlier, my knowledge with regards to Ideology & history in Japan was very minimal.

This all changed once I visited my first Shinto shrine and observed the reverence which people had for this shrine, this tradition and the silence, calmness and serenity I felt there compared to the beautiful chaos of the nearby city. I believe it was at that moment that my interest & intent for travel was sparked. 

Often when I travel, I travel to regions which I already am quite passionate about or have a lot of knowledge on. I typically travel for the sole purpose of learning & attaining knowledge, not to relax or be comfortable. Also, another personal characteristic trait I have is that when others know something which I don't know, it becomes rather quite upsetting for me and I feel ignorant and it gives me a huge and passionate incentive to learn. As I stated earlier, that moment when I visited the Shinto Shrine & observed the practices there, I felt a large degree of confusion because I knew virtually nothing about the practices and I came to the sudden realization of my purpose to travel to Japan in the first place. 

Perhaps travel doesn't always have to be to places you know a whole lot about, perhaps the purpose of travel is to go where you know nothing and attain a profound something. I realized that was my purpose all along of going to Japan, to visit a nation and a people which I'm not knowledgeable about and to become knowledgeable through first hand experience - one of the best teachers, better than reading any textbook or wikipedia page. 

& I have a learned quite a lot. 

to be continued...

But why think about that when all the golden land's ahead of you and all kinds of unforeseen events wait lurking to surprise you and make you glad you're alive to see? - Jack Kerouac, On The Road (1957)