Two countries I would really like to visit

I've traveled to a lot of countries and have been to all but one of the continents. This doesn't mean that I have been everywhere though and a few of the places I haven't been to are financially kind of out of my reach. I hope one day that I will make a bunch of money and be able to see them though because they are kind of on my "bucket list" of places that I think appear awesome and the people that I have spoken to that have been there have almost exclusively good things to say about them.

I have focused most of my travels on places that are affordable or even cheap, but that isn't going to be the case with either one of these.

Japan

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I admit that much of my fascination with Japan has to do with rather childish things such as the fact that I dig anime and video games even though I don't engage in either of these things very often. I have heard from other people that if you do travel to Japan that you don't necessarily have to break the bank as long as you avoid Tokyo. Since I am not a fan of really crowded places that would be just fine with me to skip that entirely. I have been in the airport once but I don't count airports as having visited a country.

Friends of mine that have been there have praised the ski resorts and how friendly the people are. I have heard zero bad things like getting ripped off or robbed or even experiencing any potential violence. The people of Japan that I have met are some of the most polite people I have ever encountered and while it is a small country, there are a lot of people there so being polite in crowds is really important to me. When I think about the "me first" attitude that exists in a lot of countries including and quite possibly especially my home country of USA, I think I would really appreciate a lack of crime, relative safety, and the fact that people are generally quite polite. Of course I am sure that someone that actually lives in Japan might have a different opinion but this is something I would like to prove with my own experiences rather than just take other people's words for it.

Iceland

Iceland is quite disconnected from the rest of the world and is a very unusual landmass so it is understandable why this place would be so expensive to travel to.

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I tend to avoid places that are really cold in my travels but I think I would make an exception for Iceland. While I am sure it would cost a pretty penny, I would absolutely love to sit in a place like the picture above in a hot tub overlooking some volcanic mountains. My friends who have been there rave about the hot springs and how much of a wonderful experience that was to be involved in. It is a rather large country with a very low population. Iceland has a national population of under 400,000 people and most of the cities that I have lived in have a higher population than this. I think it would be absolutely wonderful to be somewhere that is devoid of city noise for a while, even if I had to pay a lot to be there.

At the moment both of these and especially Iceland are well beyond my financial means for the time being but I hope that my luck will change and I will be able to see them before I die. I have been to almost all of the inexpensive countries in the world and if I want to experience something new I am afraid I will have to save up for the pleasure.

If you have any tips about either of these countries I would really like to hear about it. The problem with doing your own research online is that it is often a sales pitch rather than real information and I'm already sold, I just need some information.