If one had to choose a single word to describe Japan, it would surely be contrast. Japan is simultaneously ultra modern and uber traditional. A meal can consist of a quick cup of noodles from a vending machine, or 10 exquisite courses, each more elaborate than the one before. It’s possible to hurtle from Tokyo to Kyoto at 200 miles per hour on the bullet train, or to walk an 800 mile long ancient pilgrimage trail over 60 days. Sumo wrestlers share TV time with anime chara