Japan and Korea

0:00Alright, welcome, we continue. And this morning, Shalabi crossing over to Fuzana Muhammad, we're talking about Korea in Japan. Now, Japan in Korea set close enough geographically that a combined tropist is natural, yet different enough culturally, both at contrast and rich as both. And regarding this, they both have the dynamic cities, natural beauty, rich heritage, and both destinations offer travelers an unforgettable mix of history and culture. And in Shalabi's morning, we're going to be crossing over to sister Fuzana. A lawyer and a lawyer and compliance professional was also passionate and highly-travel experience traveler. Currently based in Abu Dhabi, she's lived in work in South Africa, East Africa and Europe, having visited more than 100 countries across all seven continents. She considers herself a dark tourist, drawn to less-known unusual destinations.

1:00Sister Fuzana, Salam alaykum, Rahmatullahi, Babarakatuhu. Salam, Rahmatullahi, Babarakatuh. How are you, brother? Alhamdulillah, how are you doing? Fuzana, I hope you're well as well. It's a pleasure for you time. Great pleasure. It's a thank you for having me on the show. Gee, Fuzana, having visited so many countries, what first drew you to Japan in Korea and what were the highlights of your trip? So I enjoy visiting countries that have totally different cultures and traditions as you mentioned earlier. And I'm also attracted to dark history. I wanted to always visit Hiroshima and also North Korea in Korea. And this allowed me to experience this. But actually the main reason was my brother was staying in Korea at that stage. And my father was passed away recently.

2:03Unfortunately, my alakangatim at that stage is a general wanted to visit him. I mean. I'm in. So I took this opportunity, as you say, it's close enough. So I took this opportunity to go to Korea to see my brother and to see Korea and then to visit Japan because it was so close. In Korea, they've got, it's a mix of very modern places, but also very traditional. So you've got your palaces. There's one that I really like toward the Chunggyong, sorry, I'm not saying it right. It had a secret garden. There's these street markets. You can go to Gangnam. You know, there's a song about that. And but my standout experience in Korea was I was able to go to the joint security area. And there's a conference room there

3:05where the North Koreans and South Koreans meet to discuss food stocks. And when you in that conference room on the one side, you're in South Korea on the other side, you're in North Korea. So I can say I stepped foot in North Korea. But unfortunately, these tours have now been suspended because I think there was a silly American guy on one of the tours that ran across to North Korea. So they've stopped it. But they still tours to the DMZ, the DM militarized zone. This is a zone between North and South Korea. And you can enter a tunnel that the North Koreans pulled to infiltrate South Korea. So I'd highly recommend, you know, if you go to Seoul, that you do a date to the DMZ. And then in Korea, there's also, we took a train from Seoul to Busan.

4:05And this is a coastal area. They've got this lovely village, very colorful. I call it Boa Cup on steroids because it's colorful, but it moves. So that was also an interesting place to see. In Japan, as I said, I went to Hiroshima. You know, I wanted to go to Hiroshima, which was very interesting. There's a peace park and there's also this atomic dome that's still standing from the bomb. Yeah. And there's a lovely little island that you can take a ferry with, called Miyajima. And there's this temple and there's a gate. These Japanese gates, you know, these orange, these big gates. And when the tide comes in, it looks like the temple and this gate is floating. So that was really nice. And there's this deer that are there, that are very tame, that you could feed. I'm a cute temple with these baby buddhas.

5:06So I really enjoyed Miyajima. But the place that I like the most was Kyoto. That's got many, if you, you know, if you were planning a trip, I'd say spend a bit more time in Kyoto because it's got a lot of temples, traditional things to see. There's this Kyoto Fukushima inari shrine with like a thousand gates that you can walk through. And Mount Fuji. But Mount Fuji just need to make sure that it's the right time of the year if you want to climb it. But they've got also this bamboo forest, et cetera, in Tokyo. I mean, this is, the city is, it's crazy, it's amazing. You can go to a robot show, you can go to a samurai museum. I learned how to use a samurai sword. And then you have to do this crossing, a pedestrian crossing called Shibuya crossing. It's just like five different pedestrians crossing

6:08at the same time. So that was fun. But yes, there's a lot to do and a lot to see in both countries. Okay, Mashallah. What types of accommodation would you recommend in Japan and Korea and what should travelers, you know, consider when choosing where to stay for Zana? Yeah, so this is not just in, you know, it's generally when I travel, I prefer using public transport where they have, and both in Korea and Japan, the public transport systems are amazing. So when you prioritizing location, I'd say try to stay, you know, within a short walk from either a major train or subway station. In Japan, I would actually suggest staying at least one night in a traditional Ryokan. You sleep on foot tons, and it's usually in a very, you know, scenic, they usually, these Ryokans in very scenic places,

7:14which might have a natural spring or sample. So I definitely suggest a Ryokan. But in both the big cities, Tokyo, Kyoto, even in Korea, I'd suggest you stay in Miyong-dong, in Sedong-Oganum, because they were connected neighborhoods and you can reach the main sites easily from these places. How much of a challenge is the language barrier? I didn't actually experience that much of a barrier, and nowadays we so spoiled with these translation apps, but I would suggest that, you know, if you do need help and we did many times, we needed help with directions, you find someone who's young, because I find generally the younger generation, you know, they making an effort, either they have to learn English in school

8:14or they're making an effort to, you know, to learn English. So just find, and they love it, you know, because they want to practice their English. So, you know, sometimes we couldn't get rid of them. I think they wanted to speak to us in English. Just one quick thing regarding apps in Japan, Google Maps works, but in Korea, there's an app called Navy Maps, Navy Maps that I would suggest using. Okay, okay. What about the time of the year? When is the best time of the year to visit Japan and Korea taking into consideration, you know, the weather, the scenery, the crowds, and overall cost? Yeah, so cost wise, the most expensive would be around Cherry Blossom time, which is early April spring. I think the hotels even double in prices, but it's beautiful. I think it's a spectacle to observe, you know,

9:15all these cherry blossoms. Also October, November is when it's autumn day, and you know, all the foliage changes colors. So it's beautiful during those times, but if you also want to include a ski holiday, you could go in winter. But the rest of the time, yeah, it's less expensive. It's just the peak seasons, I mean, the peak times, like Cherry Blossom season or the autumn season, there could be a bit more expensive than the rest of the year. Okay, final question for Zana regarding the Muslims. Tell us about Islam and the Muslims in Japan and Korea. I won't be able to tell you about the Muslims, but I can tell you, you know, which areas to visit, especially Korea because my brother lived there. So he mentioned it I won.

10:17And it's got a soul's landmark mosque is in it I won. Okay. And there's an abundance of halal restaurants, you know, right along the main road and Turkey, Indonesian, Indian, Korean, even halal, Korean cuisine. Yeah. Insadong also has, you know, it's got a traditional Korean vibe in this tea houses there that you can visit as well as a few halal dining options. Also, Myeongdong has the street food vibe. And you'll see clearly marked halal seafood and vegetarian options if you can't find halal meat. In Busan, it's a coastal town. So a lot of fresh seafood options. In Japan, if I recall correctly, you know, obviously the sushi, but both in Tokyo and Kyoto,

11:21we found many halal certified ramen shops. Oh, also they were certified halal. What do you be or vegetarian friendly options? All right. But then just like that so much for telling us and lightening our small Korean as well as Japan, JazakAllah. No, awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you. Salam. Salam. Thank you. Salam.