Japan: An Enchanting Place To Retire

Rapid changes and breakthroughs that happened to Japan in the past three decades have rebuilt its image to become one of the best places retire. It is indeed the land of the rising sun for no other nation in the world that has gone through such extremes of expansion and contraction endured the way this famous country did.

Let us take a glance at possibly one of the best places to retire in the world – Japan.

More deliberately and efficaciously, Japan, though a modern and very progressive nation, remains to be full with warm, colorful, and very interesting ways of life. Its people especially are polite, good natured, honest, hard working, intelligent, progressive, family loving, good food loving, and highly respectable.

In terms of beauty and scenery, Japan as one of the best places to retire has a lot to offer including its famous and most visited mountain, the Mount Fujiyama. Also Japan has short rapid rivers, copious forests of pine, sandy beaches, lots of long stretches of rice paddies, and those known lakes and national parks. Of course there’s the divine taste of popular Japanese foods such as tempura, sushi, and other sea foods.

Though prices in Japan are relatively high, still it manages to offer visitors or tourists who wish to spend their retirement in this very hospitable country, the breathtaking natural beauty of the place.

The easiest and most accessible way to come to Japan is by air. From the west coast, you can reach Tokyo through Pan American and Canadian Pacific Airlines. If you want to go to Japan directly from New York, the price is considerably higher. Most likely, you would pass through Panama Canal on the way to the orient or if you go eastward, through the ports of Mediterranean or Africa.

But Japan has its own airlines, the JAL or Japanese Airlines Company, which connects not just all major cities in all the islands, but major cities or places in the world as well. Inter-island is mostly by ship. Considerable and dependable number of such lines with inter-island crafts in different sizes can be found in all sea ports of Japan.

Japan has many beautiful and highly recommended places for retirement, making it one of the best places to retire. Aside from the famous cities Tokyo, Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku, there’s the enchanting prefecture of Kochi. If you want a laid-back and relaxing retirement life, Kochi is the place for you.

Despite its being vulnerable to Pacific typhoons and isolation at the backside of Shikoko islands, this Southern prefecture of Japan is considered one of the best places to retire. It is a remarkable place for its unspoiled beauty, inspiring elegance and very rich history.

Tourists and Japanese living in the other end of the country go to Kochi for its rugged mountains, dazzling waters, rich marine life, and many natural treasures and cultural assets. Kochi is considered as one of the most beautiful and most popular prefectures in Japan, and of course, one of the best places to retire not only for Japanese but for foreigners as well.

Residents of Kochi attribute the enchanting beauty of Kochi with their majestic castles and temples; the most famous of which is the grand Otakasaka Temple, now commonly known as the Kochi Temple. It is only 20 minutes away from the main City of Kochi. From the Kochi Temple, you could see thick foliage of the castle grounds and a panoramic view of the whole city.

The castle was built in 1603 by Kazutoyo Yamanouchi and since then locals thank him for building that structure that seem to usher in prosperity for them. Also, because of this castle, Kochi has maintained its inimitable beauty despite development—beauty that contrasts Tokyo’s technologically advanced state.

Places like Kochi are still prevalent in Japan despite its massive development over the years, making it one of the best places to retire. Japan features the old and the new, the past and the present. Rich traditional Japanese values and culture are still strongly evident and yet modern western ideas are well integrated in Japan’s daily life.

Japan is free and democratic country and welcomes tourists and visitors in their country wholeheartedly. Since commerce and industry are very much alive in Japan, you are assured of experiencing the great comfort and convenience you have been used to. But Japan offers more than the security a modern city is able to afford its residents and visitors; places like Kochi provides tranquility, which makes it one of the most ideal and best places to retire abroad.

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