Japan at 47: My FirstSolo Trip and WhyI'll Never Stop
I was terrified. I didn't speak the language. I had never traveled alone for more than a weekend. I went anyway. Japan cracked me open in the best possible way — and I came home a different woman.
Sandra Kim
Travel writer & solo adventure advocate
The idea came to me at 3am on a Tuesday, the way most life-changing decisions do. I was lying awake, scrolling through photos of Kyoto temples, and I thought: why am I looking at pictures when I could actually be there? I had been saying "someday" about Japan for fifteen years. I was 47. Someday was running out.
The voice in my head said I was too old, too inexperienced, too alone. I booked the flight before it could finish the sentence.
The Fear Is Part of It
I want to be honest with you: I was scared. Not in a vague, abstract way — in a very specific, stomach-dropping way. I had never navigated a foreign transit system alone. I don't speak Japanese. I had no one to turn to if something went wrong. And I was going for three weeks.
What I didn't know then is that the fear is actually the point. It's the signal that you're about to do something that matters. Every woman I've spoken to since — and I've spoken to dozens — says the same thing: the fear was there, and they went anyway, and it changed them.
What Japan Does to You
Japan is not a gentle destination. It is precise, layered, and quietly demanding. The trains run to the second. The food is an art form. The temples ask something of you — a slowing down, a paying attention — that our daily lives have trained us to resist.
I arrived in Tokyo jet-lagged and overwhelmed. By day three, I had found my rhythm. By day seven, I had stopped checking my phone every ten minutes. By day fourteen, I was sitting in a bamboo grove in Arashiyama, completely alone, completely at peace, and I thought: I have been waiting my whole life to feel this.
Solo travel doesn't mean lonely. It means free. Free to linger. Free to change your plans. Free to discover who you are when no one is watching.
The Practical Stuff That Made It Work
A few things that made Japan manageable as a first-time solo traveler:
- Get a pocket WiFi or SIM card at the airport. Japan's transit system is extraordinary but complex — you need Google Maps.
- Stay in a mix of hotels and ryokans. The traditional inn experience — the futon, the yukata, the multi-course kaiseki dinner — is not optional. Do it.
- Learn ten phrases. "Sumimasen" (excuse me), "arigatou gozaimasu" (thank you), and pointing go a very long way.
- Build in slow days. Japan rewards wandering. Some of my best moments happened when I had nowhere to be.
- Go in spring or fall. Cherry blossom season is everything the photos promise. So is autumn foliage.
What I Brought Home
I came home with a suitcase full of ceramics, a deep appreciation for matcha, and something harder to name. A confidence, maybe. A proof of concept. Evidence that I could navigate the unknown alone and come out the other side not just intact but expanded.
I also came home with a list. Destinations I want to go next. Portugal. Vietnam. New Zealand. The list keeps growing. That's what Japan did to me — it turned "someday" into "next year."
You don't need a travel companion to have a great trip. You just need a passport and the willingness to be a little uncomfortable. The rest takes care of itself.