Awaiting the dawn of Japan's cryptocurrency industry: What are the challenges of national onboarding?　Crypto Journey Special Edition

The summer in Dubai exceeds 40 degrees. To avoid the scorching heat, many people travel to their home countries or summer resorts in the summer. Therefore, airports are more crowded than usual in July. I am one of those people who returned to Japan for the first time in a long period in search of coolness. My impression immediately after returning home was "Isn't Japan hot enough?" The physical sensation is not much different.

Looking at the maximum temperature, it is probably about +5 degrees, but just as the temperature range of a sauna is about 5 degrees, the human body probably feels the same when the temperature exceeds a certain level. The other day, I pre-ordered a book and bought it. "Gourmet Culture: What the World's Greatest Gourmet Knows" is a book written by Takefumi Hamada. Hamada's career is interesting. He is a crazy person who has traveled to 127 countries and regions around the world, from Antarctica to North Korea, and visits the world's 50 best restaurants and Michelin restaurants around the world every year.

I don't know if I can call myself a foodie, but I am undoubtedly one of those people who travel for food. It's a funny story now, but when I went to Fukuoka for my university entrance exam, I took a gourmet book instead of a reference book and went around to B-grade gourmet restaurants and ramen shops. There were more sticky notes on the gourmet book than on the reference book, and I enjoyed reading the book more. In the past, I had a slight experience where I had a big fight with a girl I was dating because there was a restaurant I really wanted to go to while traveling, and we waited for 8 hours for the restaurant.

As an adult who has had experience in cultural exchange through food, mainly in Europe, through various connections, I think that Hamada's book dissects the definition of gourmet food in a very easy-to-understand way, and also beautifully puts into words the ineffable feelings that many gourmets probably feel, making it a book that can be called a philosophy of food.

Looking back on this year, I have already visited 10 countries. In July, I was touring various Asian countries every week. Now that the yen is at its peak of strength, I feel nostalgic, but until just a month ago, the yen was weak, and it was especially difficult when I visited Europe. I think it is very rare for ordinary people to travel abroad so much during such a weak yen.

Recently, I visited Hong Kong and had lunch and dinner at a Michelin restaurant. Both courses included a whole sea cucumber, which I'm not very good at. It was quite a challenge. I shiver when I think about eating two whole sea cucumbers in one day. I was also served bird legs that I didn't know how to eat, strange shellfish, and mysterious fruits. Being welcomed through food in a place I visit is the easiest way to communicate, but it can also upset your stomach. Cultural exchange through food is surprisingly hard, and you would not be able to endure it without intellectual curiosity. It also made me keenly aware that my stomach is a limited asset.