100 posts and counting!

Hi everyone.  I thought I would do a little celebration post as we have now hit the 100 post milestone!  I never would have guessed when I started this that I would be here 100 posts later and I would still be going, and still loving doing this.  I would have thought that after maybe 30 or 40 posts my motivation would have waned and I would have stopped.

Motivation is still high and finding new and interesting places to visit still makes life interesting.  I thought I would do a short post here and share some of the statistics about the blog that can see through this website.

First of all I would like to share with you the most popular posts.

1. Shinatatsu ramen street with 4,905 pageviews

2. Shimokitazawa with 4,221 pageviews

3. Koenji with 1,976 pageviews

4. Togoshi Ginza shopping street with 1,668 pageviews

5. Banking in Japan and my favourite Okonomiyaki restaurant with 1,560 pageviews

6. Shibuya at night with 1,558 pageviews

7. Ameyoko-cho with 957 pageviews

8. Japanese Imperial Palace and my friend Yasunari's shop in Jiyugaoka with 915 pageviews

9. Gourmet tour of Tokyo with my friend and food writer Eriko with 843 pageviews

10. Shinbashi after dark with 826 pageviews.

This also interests me a lot as I find out what other people are interested in Japan.  Some of these numbers are high enough that a google search will show the blog page on the first page of results, some of them even in the top 3 search results, so thank you for that!

Secondly, I thought I would share information about the countries that people are viewing the blog from, and the top 10 are:

1. Japan with 24,764 pageviews

2. The USA with 22,498 pageviews

3. Australia with 5,792 pageviews

4. Ukraine with 4,849 pageviews

5. France with 1,751 pageviews

6. Russia with 1,573 pageviews

7. China with 1,568 pageviews

8. Singapore with 1,330 pageviews

9. Moldova with 622 pageviews

10. Germany with 620 pageviews

Seeing these numbers is always interesting for me and it continues to amaze me that so many people from so many countries are reading.  I guess that just shows you how many people are interested in Japan.  While I am sure that a lot of the views from Japan are foreign tourists who are in Japan and maybe found my blog before coming, I know I do have a lot of Japanese readers too.  Some of them have told me that they are curious to see Japan through a non-Japanese person's eyes.  They want to know what I find special about Japan.  But thank you to everyone who reads this blog, it is also a big part of what keeps me motivated.

Finally, I thought I would list a few of my favourite places.  Anyone who reads this blog often enough knows that I love old places, and they are among some of my favourite places I have visited.  So, in no particular order, here are some of my favourites.

Kawagoe (posts here and here)

Narai juku in a beautiful old town in Nagano (post is here)

Matsumoto castle, my first Japanese castle (post is here)

Hida Takayama, very impressive preserved area in this city! (post is here)

Shirakawago, unique style buildings in this World Heritage listed village (post is here)

Hiroshima, okonomiyaki and the nuclear dome and the museum (posts are here and here)

Tsumago, another old village in Nagano (posts are here and here)

and the Meiji Tunnel and the old Tokaido near Shizuoka city (post is here).

But, all of the places I have visited have given me great memories!

Well, I'll finish this one here.  Thanks again, and as always for reading.  It is because of you, that I continue to write and visit places.  Please, leave a comment below and sign upon the right side of the screen  to receive email updates when I upload a new post.  Also, if you know someone who might be interested in reading, please share the blog with them.  See you soon.