97 Japan Travel Quotes

Travel has always been a source of inspiration, and few places capture the imagination quite like Japan. With its blend of ancient traditions and cutting-edge modernity, breathtaking landscapes, and rich cultural heritage, Japan offers a travel experience unlike any other. Whether you're planning your first trip to the Land of the Rising Sun or are a seasoned visitor, these top 97 Japan travel quotes are sure to ignite your wanderlust, evoke fond memories, and provide a glimpse into the wonder that awaits in this fascinating country.

1. “What a strange thing!to be alivebeneath cherry blossoms.” - Kobayashi Issa

2. “...I was not prepared for the feel of the noodles in my mouth, or the purity of the taste. I had been in Japan for almost a month, but I had never experiences anything like this. The noodles quivered as if they were alive, and leapt into my mouth where they vibrated as if playing inaudible music.” - Ruth Reichl

3. “From theme song of the show: Boken Desho Desho, boken de ga.......its a good song” - Nagaru Tanigawa

4. “I've never really wanted to go to Japan. Simply because I don’t like eating fish. And I know that's very popular out there in Africa.” - Britney Spears

5. “Oh I'm sure you're right," Auntie said. "Probably she's just as you say. But she looks to me like a very clever girl, and adaptable; you can see that from the shape of her ears.” - Arthur Golden

6. “Japan likewise put her hopes of victory on a different basis from that prevalent in the United States. (...) Even when she was winning, her civilian statesmen, her High Command, and her soldiers repeated that this was no contest between armaments; it was pitting of our faith in things against their faith in spirit.” - Ruth Benedict

7. “Many Buddhist temple priests regard their parishioners as possessions and fear their departure as a diminishing of assets.” - Kentetsu Takamori

8. “What each of us believes in is up to us, but life is impossible without believing in something.” - Kentetsu Takamori

9. “Living in a world such as this is like dancing on a live volcano.” - Kentetsu Takamori

10. “It’s clear that if we use the mind attentively, mental power is increased, and if we concentrate the mind in the moment, it is easier to coordinate mind and body. But in terms of mind and body unity, is there something we can concentrate on that will reliably aid us in discovering this state of coordination? In Japan, and to some degree other Asian countries, people have historically focused mental strength in the hara (abdomen) as a way of realizing their full potential. Japan has traditionally viewed the hara as the vital center of humanity in a manner not dissimilar to the Western view of the heart or brain. I once read that years ago Japanese children were asked to point to the origin of thoughts and feelings. They inevitably pointed toward the abdominal region. When the same question was asked of American children, most pointed at their heads or hearts. Likewise, Japan and the West have commonly held differing views of what is physical power or physical health, with Japan emphasizing the strength of the waist and lower body and Western people admiring upper body power. (Consider the ideal of the sumo wrestler versus the V-shaped Western bodybuilder with a narrow waist and broad shoulders.)However, East and West also hold similar viewpoints regarding the hara, and we’re perhaps not as dissimilar as some might imagine. For instance, hara ga nai hito describes a cowardly person, “a person with no hara.” Sounds similar to our saying that so-and-so “has no guts,” doesn’t it?” - H.E. Davey

11. “It's a saying they have, that a man has a false heart in his mouth for the world to see, another in his breast to show to his special friends and his family, and the real one, the true one, the secret one, which is never known to anyone except to himself alone, hidden only God knows where.” - James Clavell

12. “Of course, my Christmas is (so much more) gorgeous and romantic (than Germany's)!! And unlike the rest of the world, we leave wine behind for Santa Claus!""So Santa-san is delivering gifts to children while driving under the influence . . . ?” - Hidekaz Himaruya

13. “Why has pachinko swept Japan? It can hardly be the excitement of gambling, since the risks and rewards are so small. During the hours spent in front of a pachinko machine, there is an almost total lack of stimulation other than the occasional rush of ball bearings. There is no thought, no movement; you have no control over the flow of balls, apart from holding a little lever which shoots them up to the top of the machine; you sit there enveloped in a cloud of heavy cigarette smoke, semi-dazed by the racket of millions of ball bearings falling through machines around you. Pachinko verges on sensory deprivation. It is the ultimate mental numbing, the final victory of the educational system." - Lost Japan, Eng. vers., 1996” - Alex Kerr

14. “By almost every account he's a fine young man. I'm simply trying to figure out why I should care that he's three centimeters taller than he was in May.” - John Burnham Schwartz

15. “Even in former days, Korea was known as the 'hermit kingdom' for its stubborn resistance to outsiders. And if you wanted to create a totally isolated and hermetic society, northern Korea in the years after the 1953 'armistice' would have been the place to start. It was bounded on two sides by the sea, and to the south by the impregnable and uncrossable DMZ, which divided it from South Korea. Its northern frontier consisted of a long stretch of China and a short stretch of Siberia; in other words its only contiguous neighbors were Mao and Stalin. (The next-nearest neighbor was Japan, historic enemy of the Koreans and the cruel colonial occupier until 1945.) Add to that the fact that almost every work of man had been reduced to shards by the Korean War. Air-force general Curtis LeMay later boasted that 'we burned down every town in North Korea,' and that he grounded his bombers only when there were no more targets to hit anywhere north of the 38th parallel. Pyongyang was an ashen moonscape. It was Year Zero. Kim Il Sung could create a laboratory, with controlled conditions, where he alone would be the engineer of the human soul.” - Christopher Hitchens

16. “Yet for the first time in three days, I want something. I want the forest lord to turn me into a cedar. The very oldest islanders say that if you are in the interior mountains on the night when the forest lord counts his trees, he includes you in the number and turns you into a tree.” - David Mitchell

17. “Every once in a while she'll get worked up and cry like that. But that's ok. She's letting her feelings out. The scary thing is not being able to do that. Then your feelings build up and harden and die inside. That's when you're in big trouble.” - Haruki Murakami

18. “Count Ayakura’s abstraction persisted. He believed that only a vulgar mentality was willing to acknowledge the possibility of catastrophe. He felt that taking naps was much more beneficial than confronting catastrophes. However precipitous the future might seem, he learned from the game of kemari that the ball must always come down. There was no call for consternation. Grief and rage, along with other outbursts of passion, were mistakes easily committed by a mind lacking in refinement. And the Count was certainly not a man who lacked refinement.Just let matters slide. How much better to accept each sweet drop of the honey that was Time, than to stoop to the vulgarity latent in every decision. However grave the matter at hand might be, if one neglected it for long enough, the act of neglect itself would begin to affect the situation, and someone else would emerge as an ally. Such was Count Ayakura’s version of political theory.” - Yukio Mishima

19. “The only other white people we saw during the three days we stayed there were a German couple intent on taking pictures of their stuffed sheep in a variety of locations around the world.” - Tynan

20. “When he adopted Western methods, it was in a purely utilitarian spirit. He gave no thought to the principles on which our civilisation is based. It was the finished product he was after and not the process.” - Homer B. Hulbert

21. “It is the experience of those who have had to do with the various peoples of the Far East that it is easier to understand the Korean and get close to him than it is to understand either the Japanese or the Chinese.” - Homer B. Hulbert

22. “The rain that fell on the city runs down the dark gutters and empties into the sea without even soaking the ground” - Haruki Murakami

23. “Thingschanging, failing apart, fading, another year, a few moremoves, a hard person who doesn't give a fuck, a boredom somonumental it humbles, arrangements so fleeting made bypeople you don't even know that it requires you to lose anysense of reality you might have once acquired, expectationsso unreasonable you become superstitious about evermatching them.” - Bret Easton Ellis

24. “There, in the tin factory, in the first moment of the atomic age, a human being was crushed by books.” - John Hersey

25. “Purification in Shinto lifts the burden from the shoulders of the individual and washes it away.” - Stuart D. B. Picken

26. “Japan is the first nation in the world to accord 'comic books'--originally a 'humorous' form of entertainment mainly for young people--nearly the same social status as novels and films.” - frederik l. schodt

27. “You`ll wondering why aren`t you born in Japan if you think you`re an Otaku” - Otaku Quotes

28. “When someone who's starved of love is shown something that looks like sincere affection, is it any wonder that she jumps at it and clings to it?” - Sayo Masuda

29. “I don't remember who spoke first, but I do recall the first words between us: "How often we meet among old books!"This was the start of our friendship.” - Ōgai Mori

30. “I am a lonely man,' Sensei said. 'And so I am glad that you come to see me. But I am also a melancholy man, and so I asked you why you should wish to visit me so often.” - Natsume Soseki

31. “From then on, my thesis hung over me like a curse, and with bloodshot eyes, I worked like a madman.” - Natsume Soseki

32. “An obstacle which would frighten discreet men is nothing to determined women. They dare what men avoid, and sometimes they achieve an unusual success.” - Ōgai Mori

33. “He felt so lost, he said later, that the familiar studio felt like a haunted valley deep in the mountains, with the smell of rotting leaves, the spray of a waterfall, the sour fumes of fruit stashed away by a monkey; even the dim glow of the master's oil lamp on its tripod looked to him like misty moonlight in the hills.” - Ryunosuke Akutagawa

34. “He was said to have survived starvation by eating human flesh, after which he had the strength to tear out the antlers of a living stag with his bare hands.” - Ryunosuke Akutagawa

35. “Chained inside the carriage is a sinful woman. When we set the carriage afire, her flesh will be roasted, her bones will be charred: she will die an agonizing death. Never again will you have such a perfect model for the screen. Do not fail to watch as her snow-white flesh erupts in flames. See and remember her long black hair dancing in a whirl of sparks!” - Ryunosuke Akutagawa

36. “Still more horrible was the color of the flames that licked the latticed cabin vents before shooting skyward, as though - might I say? - the sun itself had crashed to earth, spewing its heavenly fire in all directions.” - Ryunosuke Akutagawa

37. “The pale whiteness of her upturned face as she choked on the smoke; the tangled length of her hair as she tried to shake the flames from it; the beauty of her cherry-blossom robe as it burst into flame: it was all so cruel, so terrible!” - Ryunosuke Akutagawa

38. “I could have sworn that the man's eyes were no longer watching his daughter dying in agony, that instead the gorgeous colors of flames and the sight of a woman suffering in them were giving him joy beyond measure.” - Ryunosuke Akutagawa

39. “Directly beneath the Lotus Pond of Paradise lay the lower depths of Hell, and as He peered through the crystalline waters, He could see the River of Three Crossings and the Mountain of Needles as clearly as if He were viewing pictures in a peep-box.” - Ryunosuke Akutagawa

40. “Great robber though he was, Kandata could only trash about like a dying frog as he choked on the blood of the pond.” - Ryunosuke Akutagawa

41. “As you can imagine, those who had fallen this far had been so worn down by their tortures in the seven other hells that they no longer had the strength to cry out.” - Ryunosuke Akutagawa

42. “And so I told him how living in Japan would give him a leisure no mere tourist has, to know the rhythms of the place, a land of tiny poems.” - Donna George Storey

43. “You know Americans...Self-improvement. No matter who or what we are, we're always working on ways to become somebody else.” - Alan Brown

44. “The Professor noted two nymphs with strawberries on their heads, a DayGlo Amish lady, a mustachioed man in a rainbow apron. He wrote Saturday Night Fever, then crossed it out and wrote Drag Ball + Bollywood and underlined it twice.” - La Carmina

45. “Peace is not just a desired state of being for people, but also enables the flourishing of nature as well as human-created landscapes.” - Norris Brock Johnson

46. “The peace within and flowing from sacred spaces and architecture places is clothed in forgiveness, renunciation, and reconciliation.” - Norris Brock Johnson

47. “I had never thought of haiku, or any kind of poetry for that matter, as a social activity.” - Abigail Friedman

48. “For the casual viewer, Kurosawa’s films can be an exercise in endurance.” - Jerry White

49. “Even if there are no new Mighty Atom manga or films created, the Mighty Atom character has become a permanent fixture of both Japanese and global pop culture.” - frederik l. schodt

50. “Gift giving is part of the culture no matter where you are and no matter how long you stay.” - Christalyn Brannen

51. “Out of the ugliness of the ironworks lepers will eat, children will be born, their parents will grow old.” - Helen McCarthy

52. “Kon’s films present a fractured, multifaceted world in which everyone has their own different reality.” - Andrew Osmond

53. “Luna Sea’s music moves quickly but intelligibly, with a darkly frenetic, creative energy.” - Josephine Yun

54. “When a zashiki warashi came to live with you, good fortune smiled upon the whole house.” - Holly Thompson

55. “One warm morning in July, a ghost came to our breakfast table.” - Holly Thompson

56. “As much as any contemporary writer, Murakami grasps the bewildering fluidity of commoditized life.” - The Japan Foundation

57. “Poverty and loneliness could be seen as a liberation from strivings to become rich and popular.” - Donald Richie

58. “The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings.” - Kakuzo Okakura

59. “He did not care about titles and was proud to be a farmer beyond all else.” - Tsuneichi Miyamoto

60. “Tokyo is a very safe city. At night it becomes quiet the way New York never does.” - Rick Kennedy

61. “To the woman in the restaurant today, the doll in her arms was the real child who still lived in her memories.” - Shogo Oketani

62. “While the characters drive the epic story of Robotech, it’s the robotic mecha that capture the imagination.” - Tommy Yune

63. “My Japanese isn’t much better today, but at least now I appreciate my duality more than when I was a punk kid.” - Gil Asakawa

64. “In Japanese swordsmanship, it is not uncommon to speak of a unity of mind, body, and sword.” - H.E. Davey

65. “In spite of what most assume, it is surprisingly tough to make the mind and body work together as a unit.” - H.E. Davey

66. “Comics are drawings, not photographs, and as such they present a subjective view of reality.” - frederik l. schodt

67. “The secret to making yourself stronger is to absorb the strength of the people around you—energy begets energy.” - Adachi Zenko

68. “Truly a good horse, good ground to gallop on, and sunshine, make up the sum of enjoyable travelling.” - Isabella L. Bird

69. “One very good way to invite stares of disapproval in Japan is to walk and eat at the same time.” - Andrew Horvat

70. “The new fans of Japan won’t be Orientalists, but they will be anime-savvy.” - Morinosuke Kawaguchi

71. “Integrating the beauty of seasonal change into the residence was a concept that remains true even today even in the more cramped, inner city machiya.” - Judith Clancy

72. “Japanese had never seen a Western-style circus, and most of them had probably never seen foreigners, either.” - frederik l. schodt

73. “The pond garden is an intricate phenomenon coalescing the intent and will of various people of influence living at various times.” - Norris Brock Johnson

74. “In pursuing a ‘way,’ Japanese typically move beyond an interest in craftsmanship to a kind of sacred search for the ultimate.” - Morinosuke Kawaguchi

75. “Girly’ products can spur Japan’s growth in this century every bit as much as, if not more than, the ‘manly’ technologies.” - Morinosuke Kawaguchi

76. “In Japan, so many emoticons have been created that it’s reasonable to assume Japanese appreciate their convenience more than anyone else.” - Morinosuke Kawaguchi

77. “From New Year's Eve through the third of January, the streets of Tokyo grew quiet, as if all the people had disappeared.” - Shogo Oketani

78. “What comes from the heart will go to the heart” - Renae Lucas-Hall

79. “In most collectivist cultures, direct confrontation of another person is considered rude and undesirable. The word no is seldom used, because saying “no” is a confrontation; “you may be right” and “we will think about it” are examples of polite ways of turning down a request. In the same vein, the word yes should not necessarily be inferred as an approval, since it is used to maintain the line of communication: “yes, I heard you” is the meaning it has in Japan.” - Geert Hofstede

80. “He invited me to his apartment in the wee hours one morning and pulled out a set of children's building blocks. It seems he used to ride around and around on the Yamanote Line with them, building castles on the floor of the train.” - Ryu Murakami

81. “When you're in an extreme situation you tend to avoid facing it by getting caught up in little details. Like a guy who's decided to commit suicide and boards a train only to become obsessed with whether he remembered to lock the door when he left home.” - Ryu Murakami

82. “Lady #1, Maki, had never once given any thought to what was really right for her in her life, simply believing that if she surrounded herself with super-exclusive things, she'd become a super-exclusive person.” - Ryu Murakami

83. “When you're a kid, getting lost isn't just an event or a situation, it's like a career move. You get this thrill of anxiety and fear and a feeling that you've done something that can never be undone.” - Ryu Murakami

84. “They needed a reason why a little kid would commit murder, someone or something to point the finger at, and I think they were relieved when they hit upon horror movies as the culprit. But there's no reason a child commits murder, just as there's no reason a child gets lost. What would it be - because his parents weren't watching him? That's not a reason, it's just a step in the process.” - Ryu Murakami

85. “From the way of Go the beauty of Japan and the Orient had fled. Everything had become science and regulation.” - Yasunari Kawabata

86. “They have taken the idea of nonharming, of gentleness toward the earth, to a very radical level. Even the weeds are not enemies.” - Andy Couturier

87. “Why is it that so many people start to value money so much that they trade in most of the hours and years of their life in order to get it?” - Andy Couturier

88. “What art should do, I think, is advance the generation into the next era. It should be one step ahead of the ordinary, ahead of what is already known. Art is what pulls on the next age. I’m not saying that my art is that, but that it would be good if it could be.” - Andy Couturier

89. “I thought I should make a place to bring light down into this world. All things that become realities start in that place of someone imagining them.” - Andy Couturier

90. “Time is what we have in this life, and how we use it determines what our life is.” - Andy Couturier

91. “Often I'll go outside and just place my hands on the soil, even if there's no work to do on it. When I am filled with worries, I do that and I can feel the energy of the mountains and of the trees.” - Andy Couturier

92. “Sometimes just to touch the ground is enough for me, even if not a single thing grows from what I plant.” - Andy Couturier

93. “I think all people want freedom, but they've got this idea inserted into their head about money.” - Andy Couturier

94. “If you don't have a whole lot of unsatisfied people, the economy stops dead, doesn't it?” - Andy Couturier

95. “I finally understood that I couldn’t avoid working to provide for myself, but that can also be a wonderfulthing, a beautiful thing.” - Andy Couturier

96. “When I got home, I took a bat and examined my back in detail in the bathroom mirror. This tattoo would be for myself and no-one else. It wasn’t just because I was about to end my relationship with Iro, it was because I wanted to make some serious changes deep down inside me… My torso - my back and front – and my shoulders, breasts, and upper arms were decorated with a vibrantly coloured work of art. I knew it had been the right thing to do… When I looked at that beautifully crafted tattoo, I was filled with a sense of total contentment I had never experienced before. I felt as though I had been set free.” - Shoko Tendo

97. “I loved the quiet places in Kyoto, the places that held the world within a windless moment. Inside the temples, Nature held her breath. All longing was put to sleep in the stillness, and all was distilled into a clean simplicity.The smell of woodsmoke, the drift of incense; a procession of monks in black-and-gold robes, one of them giggling in a voice yet unbroken; a touch of autumn in the air, a sense of gathering rain.” - Pico Iyer