One of my favorite things about traveling to Japan is the food. This was a delicious okonomiyaki (savory Japanese pancake) that I had during one of my trips in 2023.

Odawara (小田原市), Japan is 68 km south west of Tokyo and takes roughly an hour to travel to by train. This costal city has a population of about 190,000 people which gives it a smaller feel than Tokyo and makes a great day trip for a change of pace. My favorite thing to do there is to spend time visiting and exploring the samurai castle and the surrounding grounds. It's not as busy as other castles, such as the ones in Osaka or Himeji, which frequently have a lot of people and long lines to enter. Odawara's castle has a museum feel, and the the surrounding grounds are beautiful and peaceful.

In the city of Nara, there is a population of deer that live in the city. I enjoy visiting the area as much as I can, because it is an environment that I've never found anywhere else. I like to experience this environment and reflect on what make it different from more familiar environments This is also my first post for my new Skool community. This also is a new environment that I'm looking forward to exploring. I'm very excited to meet everyone in the days and weeks to come, and look forward to sharing my Nekokana journey with you. I hope you get as much out of your journey as I have out of mine, and perhaps some day we will both look at the deer in Nara together!