I'm proudly Canadian, and I accept the fact that a lot of people know very little about my country. A lot of people also seem to think cities like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver "define" Canada. Just to set it straight, while these are beautiful cities, they don't represent the whole of Canada.

Being such a quiet country, we often keep our secrets to ourselves... and often from ourselves. This is a list of 7 things you -- and maybe other Canadians -- don't know about Canada.

Editor's Note: if you liked this article, but want more than just seven items, here is my 150 Facts About Canada article.

The flight from Regina to Osaka was both incredibly boring, and incredibly interesting.

I sat with three different women from three different walks of life, on the three planes I took to get there. The first was a new mother, who was heading to Newfoundland for her sister's wedding. Her daughter was only a few months old, and didn't cry until we began to land in Toronto. The second woman was an American who was heading to meet up with her boyfriend in Kyoto during a confrence regarding heat transfer in skyscrapers and urban cities. The third was an old, tired woman, who has seen many things, and learned many more, but just longed to return home to Osaka to rest.

Besides the company, the flights themselves were very plain. I traveled from Regina to Toronto, Toronto to Tokyo and Tokyo to Osaka. We flew North from Toronto, up above Churchill, past Yellowknife, Whitehorse and Alaska. It was here I saw hundreds of miles of ice sheets covering the north Pacific Ocean -- although it was the middle of August! We then flew over the tail of Russia and down into Japan. 

The next morning I got up, Skyped home, and got ready for my first full day in the land of the Rising Sun.

I had a bit of a plan made up today, and it involved checking out some of the nearby temples, as well as just exploring Osaka in the daylight. Because my room was being switched, I had to checkout for the day and store my luggage at the front desk until that afternoon. It only cost me ¥1080 ($10.80). I then went down for breakfast.

While in the continental, buffet style cafeteria, I ran into a young woman named Freya. She's 19 years old and is from England, with this being her first ever solo international trip. I remembered my first time abroad so I helped her and kept her company during breakfast. It turns out she's also on the same tour as me! She had no idea what to do in Osaka, so at 9:30 we left together to go find some temples.