Japan 2023: Oct 22 – Nov 5
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The Journey Begins
Getting ready for a long flight, 13+ hours! But at least the food was decent Behold: The land of public bidets (i.e not america), but they were always super clean. Safe arrival at our first hotel, we hit up the conbini (convenience store) for dinner that night, it was good. We had to stay up
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Strong Start
Hey look at that, a Denny’s right outside our hotel! Some urban greenery on our way to Tsukiji Cool van! Yeah, we don’t really have those… Tsukiji Fish Market! You know it’s good when there’s a line, this is a famous onigiri (rice balls with ingredients) stall. Everything is very fresh, they get fresh fish
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AKIHABARAAAAAA
Breakfast at the hotel, in Japan having rice, miso soup and proteins is what is normal. Stop by Salesforce, Japan (take that, Troy) ANIME (first thing you see getting off the train to Akihabara, we were luckily one stop away on the train from Akihabara from our hotel, made it a lot easier) ANIME EVERYWHERE
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Shopping Tokyo
Cute Halloween owls in Sunshine City, Toshima City, located in the north-east Tokyo metro. Pokemon Center MEGA Tokyo. Largest Pokemon center in Japan. They had an area for Pokemon Go, an area for Pokemon card battles and then the main shop. We got these two cute keychains for Matt and I. Took a photo for
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Travel to Fukushima
We traveled through the public trains to Tokyo station with these two huge suitcases, and Tokyo station is the biggest station in all of Japan. Got through and onto our Shinkansen, or the Bullet Train. It’s a train that goes super fast and it’s super smooth. You should reserve tickets in advance but not required,
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Learning to drift at Ebisu
Here is Matt mostly drifting. You start out on the baby pad where you learn just how to circle a cone and then go into figure eights and other harder patterns. Matt moved on to the School track. Our JZX100 Chariot. The steering wheel is on the right but it wasn’t actually that big of
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Relax, it’s an Onsen!
Takoyaki in town Scenic abandoned staircase. Had to get some model poses for fun. Checking out what’s up the beautiful staircase. Shrine overlooking the city. Quick lunch. Curry for Matt, this restaurant actually had it where you could sit at a table with your food and your feet in a hot springs bath. Took some
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Kyoto Bound
Shinkansen past Tokyo, then on to Kyoto. Got our second glimpse of Fuji. It was always in the clouds. We did a stop in Tokyo station and getting on the Shinkansen to Kyoto. Beautiful sky outside Kyoto Station. After a long exhausting climb up hills with luggage, we made it to Yoshida Sanso. This a
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Kyoto Botanical Gardens
Woke up to some beautiful colorful scenes. These were outside our room windows. Lovely and fancy breakfast. And the cutest ginger-snaps with coffee! One of the host’s wife makes them homemade and the were delicious and adorable. They had a tea/coffee house we could visit anytime. Kyoto Botanical Gardens. Caution: a flood of flower photos
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Kimono Temples
Riverside lunch from the conbini. Kimono! (Okay as you can tell, Im not smiling much. Let me say this. It was 75 out. It’s humid. Kimonos have 4-5 layers with the belt where it is so tight you can’t bend down at the waist. The shoes are massively uncomfortable. And then Matt got me to
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Arashiyama Forest
Breakfast at the Ryokan. Then we took a taxi to our hotel in Kyoto next to Kyoto station. WARNING! Outer edge of Arashiyama, the Bamboo Forest. Probably the most tourist thing we did so far. I have to admit, the most rude people we met while in Japan were… other tourists. Holy tourism crowding. Ditch
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Shopping!
In Kyoto, on the hunt for a Gigi plushy because we love black cats, we didn’t have much luck. Still, they had great shops. And so many hills/stairs. The most adorable Pikachu/ Pokemon Center Kyoto on the look out for the elusive Jigglypuff. Fantastic lunch in the basement of an office building, only $12 each.
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Nara
Train station fountain. Nara is famous for it’s deer, specifically if you have treats for them, they will bow to you for them. This is also the day we met up with our friends who were also in Japan but were doing there own thing. Chase, Vikki (on their honeymoon as well), Rian (third wheel),
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Osaka Day Trip
Osaka Castle Accidentally stumbled on on culture day festivities Neighborhood carts, they were battling on who was the fastest. They have people playing drums inside to keep the tempo and people on top the keep the energy up. Osaka Castle Osaka Castle in the foreground. We wanted to go in but Cultural day is a
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The Journey Home
Last shot of Fuji. Always covered in clouds. We stayed at a hotel right next to the airport so we didn’t have to worry. Familiar Rocky Mountains. HAUL. We got a lot. A good chunk of this are gifts for others. It was good to be home. We were up around 30+ hours. The cats