It was a group tour, so all of the places and hotels were already booked for us for the most part. The tour focused on a lot of the Big Places, so we stayed in Tokyo for a few days (and had one day where we could roam around freely as we wanted), traveled to places with a clear view of Mt. Fuji, tourist-popular smaller cities, Kyoto for a couple of days, Nara, a couple of days in Osaka with a Hiroshima visit in between.
So the obvious benefit was that we did get to visit a lot of the well known locations, but due to the amount of travel and that a lot of these places are, and I can't stress this enough: H U G E, we never really had much time to truly absorb the surroundings. Even when we stayed in Tokyo for three days I still had trouble believing I even was in Japan, and that feeling didn't truly go away until the last few days.
One way that issue manifested was that I got myself a goshuin book (basically a calligraphy stamp obtainable from temples). While I did manage to squeeze in some time to get myself some goshuins, there were a handful of times where I couldn't get one due to time constraints/uncertainty when we had to leave.
Still, I can't complain too much. It was truly a privilege, and fortunate, that I manage to afford the visit and that the weather was mostly really good. We arrived during the cherry blossom season and most of the trees kept their pink coloring during our entire trip.
I have daily posts on my private instagram account where I go trough photos and events that happened. So I will keep it (......relatively) short with a dotted list about most of the areas.
General observations
- My IG algo completely changed within a day. Not that I complain though, I got served pretty good content.
- Dang they do have a lot of staff in nearly every place. And darn they are nice you.
- The otaku stores have a kind of "clean" feeling that really does make one say "yeah no my hobby is Cool, Actually".
- The castles and temples we visited? Also Cool, Actually.
- Everyone was fashionable and/or hot???? What's going on here.
- Despite their cusine being well know for using soybeans and tofu, those are usually additions to the food rather than the main protein source. They really love their meat. Kinda annoying for a vegan like me, but a boys gotta eat somehow.
- Sakura trees really do make everything prettier.
- There's a baseball player named Shohei Ohtani (who may be the greatest to have ever existed, and he's just 31) and his face is all over a bunch of advertisements. My instagram feed pointed that out and I couldn't not see notice him.
- Convienience stores are everywhere and the fact that you can buy cheap food and booze (up to like 9% alcohol) confuses my Swedish Sensibilities (but I will gladly take advantage of that, also according to my Swedish Sensibilities).
- Tried Matcha Latte for the first time in japan. They were absolutely delicious. A bit weird with all of the Matcha flavored products though.
- Highball is not all that great tbh.
- I need a Taiko no Tatsujin arcade in my home yesterday
- Oh and a japanese toilet too.
Tokyo
- JESUS CHRIST TOKYO IS FUCKING HUGE
- Due to concerns of luggage space and home-space as well, I told myself I shouldn't impulse-buy any figures and only buy one after thinking it througly... so on my very first day I was in Mandarake in Shibuya and saw one, lone box on the floor along with other stuff. It was a figure of Satan from Shin Megami Tensei (the blue freaky one). Picked it immediately. It's still in the box. Looking forward to open it up.
- On our first evening we went to a local, small park where people were eating and drinking under the sakura trees. It was honestly one of my favorite moments of the trip.
- Walked pass a Maid café. They are real. They do exist.
- Young women standing with signs to pick up men are real and I don't feel good about it. Especially for the one I saw who was wearing white fur jacket, high heels and a full-body bikini covered in holes.
- On our last day in Tokyo, my brother and I went to a dart bar (we did not play darts) and had some chatting with the bartender, a local (who seemed to be baffled over why we would visit Osaka) and a couple of american students who we chatted with quite a lot, about work and education systems in our countries. Honestly quite fun!
- I did buy a japanese wallet (from Don Quixote) that I primarily used as a coin case, very useful.
- DID I MENTION HOW DAMN BIG TOKYO IS. BOTH THE SIZE OF THE CITY/AREA/WHATEVER YOU CALL IT BUT ALSO THE BUILDINGS. NO WONDER SO MANY PEOPLE LIVE THERE
Mt. Fuji
- It is honestly far more beautiful and grander in real life than what photos can capture. I get why it's such a big deal. We were also lucky that the weather was crystal clear so we could see the thing all day.
- We also visited Hakone Open Air Museum on our way. It was real cool. For some reason they also had an outdoor foot bath, which uses the natural (real hot) water from the mountains. Feet turned pinkish when we had to go.
- At the insistence of the hotel owners, they asked us to wear their kimonos for their traditional dinner, which was really cool. They also had a big onsen bath (indoor and outdoor). It was a bit of a hidden gem considering it was a bit out of nowhere in terms of its placement (we were right next to a golf range, and no good walking paths in the area at all). Even our bedroom was enormous.
Kyoto
- Kyoto is just overall a very beautiful city. It's got a good mix of traditional and modern architecture so there's a lot to enjoy, without being as overwhelmingly Big as Tokyo.
- Spotted a purple haired girl in Kyoto station singing the intro song of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Hell yeah.
- Stumbled upon a couple of posters for How Tourist Should Behave which was very funny, if unnecessary, for me, the only good tourist.
Osaka/Hiroshima
- We got to travel with Shinkansen trains. I was pleasantly surprised how comfortable and spacious they are.
- The peace memorial museum and park was as (understandibly) upsetting as it sounds like.
- We got to eat their local okonomiyaki, we had a really lively and fun host. He accompanied with a female staff member who was also very nice and helpful (and... v-very cute). And the food was very good and surprisingly filling.
- Dotonobori, famous for its cool river and funky restaurant mascot statues, is C R O W D E D during the evening. It's even worse than Shibuya in Tokyo.
- Umeda Sky Building was overall cooler than Tokyo Skytree, since the elevator lets you see the outside while it's going up. The building being a lot closer to the rest makes them it feel more closely connected, and the scale of the view hits harder because of it.
- Visited multiple branded stores (Ghibli, Pokemon Center, Capcom, Godzilla) and bought NOTHING so good on me for showing restraint, even if it got tested quite a bit .
Other
- Kenrouken garden was beautiful, especially with the sakura trees. We got to participate in a tea ceremony in a building in the garden. It was so epic.
- Nara was the coolest place: Nice deers (the crackers for feeding them ran out sadly) and the Todaiji temple was an amazing sight. Even got a goshuin from there!!
