Japan Trip, First day in Tokyo

Hey guys! So here is the long promised post ! I couldn’t post earlier because my dorm in Japan didn’t have internet until today >.< Yes, you read that right, my dorm in Japan! A bit more than a week ago I arrived in Japan and since then life has been chaos. A fun chaos. So I will use this blog as a kind of diary and way to keep my family and friends back home up to date. In between I will also continue to write about my previous travels. So I hope to see you around! And now for the story…

After a lovely week or so it was time to leave Kansai and head to Tokyo. We went by one of the slow bullet trains, which takes about four hours from Kyoto. I was a little bit sad to say goodbye to wonderful Kyoto. I really fell in love with this city. But going to Tokyo was also very exciting. When we arrived at Tokyo Station the chaos began. We had to go to Ikebukuro, a ward in Tokyo, but had no idea where to take the train. After a while we found while navigating our heavy luggage through the crowds. Arriving at Ikebukuro the crowds were still there, but it felt slightly less chaotic. It was a little bit difficult to find our hotel, but we found it eventually. We were quite worn out by then. Osaka and Kyoto are big cities too, but nothing really quite prepares you for the overwhelming mass of people and size of Tokyo.

Ikebukuro is quite a lovely ward to stay in. It isn’t as crowded as Shibuya, Shinjuku and Harujuku. But there is still a lot of shops and restaurants. There is also a nerd town like Akihabara in Ikebukuro, but more catered to girls, mainly focusing on boyxboy stuff. I didn’t know that while we stayed there and didn’t come across those shops, so I can’t tell you much about it. But for those interested in those kind of things, now you know! Basically, Ikebukuro has all the perks of a big city without being as overwhelming as some of the other places in Tokyo, and there is variety even within this ward.

It was around afternoon when we were done checking in and putting our luggage in the room, so we wanted to go somewhere. We were so excited to go to Kiddy Land, a big toy store in Omotesando, to buy cute Rilakkuma and San-X goodies, so we made a plan to go to Harajuku and adjoining Omotesando. I don’t know how we did it, but we managed to get off at the wrong stop and had to walk a while from who knows where to Harajuku. But lucky for us; our good sense of direction led us to Harajuku eventually! Again we were overwhelmed by all the shops and people and colors. It was very nice to see but we were so dumbstruck that we didn’t even enter a single shop. At the end of the street we debated whether to eat something. I said ‘We are in Harajuku so we should try a Harajuku crêpe don’t you think?’ and that’s what we did. I have no regrets. It might not be actual Japanese food but they are damn good and it’s just something that you should eat when visiting Harajuku. I had a crêpe with whipped cream, cheesecake (yes, a slice of it!) and chocolate sauce.

We then moved on to Omotesando, full with brands that we can’t really afford, but it’s nice to see. And the street is beautifully lined up trees. It is also very bright and the stores are pretty and not just tall grey buildings. So it is very different from most of Tokyo. In Cat Street, which is also a cute little street, was the temporary Kiddy Land Store. There are also many fashion shops in this street, so it is worth checking out. But we just went wild in Kiddy Land over all the Alpaca plushies, Mamegoma notebooks and Rilakkuma stickers. But prices are steep and this was another case of being overwhelmed by all the choices, so we each bought a notebook and decided to come back another day when we were more calmed down. For those interested in Kiddy Land, it is back on Omotesando Street now.

This is a pretty short post because half of our day was spent on the train. Also, I didn’t really take many photos in Tokyo. It just felt kind of weird taking photos in the middle of busy shopping streets. I didn’t really like all the grey buildings of Tokyo anyway, and photos of shops didn’t really interest me either haha. Looking back now I should have taken more pictures! But the few I had got lost anyway, so sorry for the lack of photos this time. If my friend sends her photos of Japan to me I will look for photos that I can include in this post 🙂

Notes;

Shinkansen travels fast and pretty comfortable
Try to take as little luggage with you as possible when traveling around by public transportation. We learned that the hard way.
The bullet trains don’t have a lot of space for suitcases. We left them in the front of the cabin.
Ikebukuro is a nice base on Tokyo
Go to Harajuku for fashion and fun shops
Harujuku is almost always crowded though!
Give Cat Street a try also.
Omotesando is upscale and beautiful, but with all the high end shops you will probably end up just window shopping
Kiddy Land is heaven for character goods! Their new store just opened so check it out for all the cute stuff of characters like Rilakkuma, Mamegoma en Sumikkogurashi.
Eat Harajuku crêpes! Even though it’s originally a French food, they are pretty damn good in Harajuku too.
If you like purikura this is the place to go. There are special shops (usually in the basement) full of purikura machines.

101 Things to Do in Japan

So it’s your first time going to Japan, but you don’t really know what you can do in Japan. Or it’s your 5th trip to Japan, but after visiting Kiyomizu-dera and Tokyo Tower you just don’t have any inspiration anymore. Then this is list is for you! It is inspired by my first trip to Japan, my future exchange year in Fukuoka and my never ending bucket list.

General places

(Après) ski (Party) in Hokkaido
Exotic getaway in Okinawa
Exploring temples in Kyoto
And especially make sure to visit Fushimi Inari Taisha in Fushimi
Get your Chinese fix in China Town of Yokohama
Crawl through the huge Buddha of Kamakura
Shopping in Tokyo
Eating lots in Osaka
Go to historic Nara
Enjoy the multicultural Nagasaki
Visit Japan’s most beautiful castle in Himeji
Enter the Buddhist world of Koyasan
Be amazed by the black castle of Matsumoto
Relive days gone by in traditional Takayama
Learn about the unique architecture of Shirakawa houses

Traditional entertainment

16. Attend a tea ceremony
17. See a maiko or geisha dance
18. Attend a Hanami party (cherry blossimg viewing party)
19. Try Ikebana
20. Relax in an Onsen (hot spring bath)
21. Transform into a geisha
22. Go on the 88 Temple Pilgrimage
23. Indulgence for a Kabuki performance
24. … and Sumo of course

Modern entertainment

25. Sing karaoke
26. Try your luck with a UFO-game at one of the game arcades
28. Get creative with purikura, cute photo stickers
29. Get your light sticks out for a Concert
30. All-you-can-drink party at an izakaya, Japanese bar
31. Drop your jaws at the extravagant musicals of Takarazuka
32. Eat Korean hotteok pancakes in Korea Town, Shin-Okubo
33. Take a river cruise in Osaka or Odaiba, Tokyo
34. Go to the 7/11 at 3AM
35. A night out at a Host- or Hostess Club
36. Fashionista time in Harajuku. Or eat crepes.
37. Go deaf at a Pachinko parlor

Enjoy nature

38. Photograph the gorgeous colors of koyo, autumn foliage
39. Catch some glowing fireflies or screeching cicadas
40. Light up by watching the Firefly Squid
41. Smell the lovely lavender of Furano in summer
42. Explore the Gyokusendo Caves in Okinawa
43. Gaze up at the Wisterias of Kawachi Fuji Garden
44. Bathe with monkeys in the hot springs of Yamanouchi
45. Climb to the top of Mount Fuji
46. Search for princess Mononoke in Yakushima
47. Dive the wonderful underwater world of Okinawa
48. Enjoy the view of terraced paddy fields

Special places to eat

49. Pet cute animals at a cat- dog- or owl cafe
50. Feel like a true geek at a a geek cafe
51. Nomming at a yatai, food stall
52. Live a Japanese fairy tale in the theme cafe of the Bamboo Cutter
53. Become a true Princess at the Princess theme cafe
54. Catch your own fish at Zauo cafe
55. Mysterious ninja restaurant, Ninja Akasaka
56. Find your dream robot girl at Kabukicho Robot Restaurant

Festivals

57. Watch stars on Tanabata Star Festival
58. Play at a matsuri (Summer Festival)
59. Enjoy students’ creativity at a bunkasai, a cutural festival
60. Be amazed by the snow statues of Sapporo Snow Festival
61. Party with demons at the Oni Fireworks Festival in Hokkaido
62. Stroll through fields of Sunflowers at Akeno Sunflower Festival
63. See the historical parade of Jidai Matsuri
64. Dance with the Awa Odori Dancers during Obon Matsuri

Famous sites

65. Appreciate Japanese gardens, like Ritsurin Garden
66. Pose in front of the Golden Pavilion, Kinkakuji
67. And visit the Silver Pavilion As Well
68. Drink your portion of wisdom, health or longevity at Kiyomizudera
69. Buy souvenirs at touristy Asakusa
70. Calm down at the zen garden of Ryoanji
71. Admire Osaka Castle
72. Tokyo Imperial Palace
73. Remember how lucky we are at Hiroshima Peace Memorial
74. The largest wooden building in the world, Todaiji
75. Oase of peace in Tokyo, Meiji Shrine
76. Eiffel Tower’s red sister, Tokyo Tower.

Amusement parks

77. Visit Disney Sea Land, the only one worldwide
78. Feel like a ninja or geisha in Edo Wonderland
79. Get sick in one of the crazy rollercoasters of Fuji-Q Land
80. Watch fishies at Kaiyukan Aquarium
81. Become dizzy by the height of Tokyo Sky Tree
82. Act like a kid at Sanrio Puroland
83. Play in the first Universal Studios of Asia
84. Step into the Netherlands at Huis Ten Bosch
85. Water fun at Spa Resorts Hawaiian

Unusual places

86. Paradise for cat lovers, Tashinojima
87. Naoshima, island of art
88. Eerie times at the deserted island of Hashima
89. Site of Reversible Destiny, Yoro Park
90. Yunessun Spa, refresh yourself in a hot bath of wine, tea or Ramen soup.
91. Yum, Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum!
92. Farming at Pasona02, an underground farm
93. Creepie doll city Nagoro
94. Meguro Parasitological Museum, for people with strong stomachs

Accomodations

95. Release your inner monk during a temple stay
96. Get cosy and cramped in a capsule hotel
97. Feel the allure of traditional Japan while staying in a machiya
98. Treat yourself and stay at a ryokan. With private Onsen, just because you can.
99. You don’t need to be in love to enjoy the quirky love hotels
100. Go on the Cheap and spend a night in a Manga/Internet Cafe
101. Chilly stay at the Alpha Resort-Tomamu ice village

Japan trip, Osaka Castle and History Museum

On our second full day in Osaka we decided to visit the famous Osaka castle. But before that we had to visit an internet cafe. At that time we didn’t have any fancy iPhones or iPads and we didn’t bring our laptop, so we were dependent on computers at our hotel or internet cafe. Since our hotel in Osaka didn’t have a computer (at least, not that we knew of) we went looking for an internet cafe. Luckily we found one soon because we were situated in the touristic area of Dotonbori Street. I didn’t take any pictures inside but I took one of the futuristic looking hallway to the elevator. Very fancy. Inside the cafe there were some simple computers at desks, but there were also private cubicles and even some private cubicle with something that was a crossing between a couch and a bed. Very luxurious but I am not sure if I’d like to sit on it. And there was a massive collection of manga comic books available. I understand now why the internet cafe scene is big in Japan.

Then we made our way to Osaka castle. It is surrounded by parks and castle moats so it is quite the stroll before you arrive at the castle, but very enjoyable. During this stroll I saw one manhole cover with a carving of the castle which was very pretty. The Japanese like to make artworks of their manhole covers. At the moat there was a man who was fishing so we took a little break to watch him and take pictures of the surroundings. There we also saw a man jogging backwards, very peculiar… the funny thing was that the other Japanese people didn’t even look at the backwards jogging guy but were intensely staring and turning their heads when they saw us…

Osaka castle itself is gorgeous, I love the combination of the light blue roof tiles with the golden decorations. In combination with the moats, castle walls and parks it as a nice scene. The inside of the castle is now a museum. Not the best I’ve seen so far, but it was good to learn a little bit about the history of the castle and we saw some awesome war outfits of Japanese generals. But walking this much every day took a toll on our feet so we couldn’t wait to finish the museum and sit down.

We sat down on a bench in front of the castle to give our feet a little bit of rest. There we had a chat with a Japanese old man, who surprisingly new a three words of Dutch (Yes, the second person!). After he left something weird happened. A guy on a bicycle passed us by and stared at us, which happens often so no problem, but then he turned around , rode a circle around us and took a photo of us, and left… Creepy. By then we realized that it was already 3PM and had to move on. We also wanted to visit the History Museum of Osaka nearby the castle so we started to walk through the park making our way to the museum.

Some cute turtles

Because we arrived late we were afraid that we wouldn’t be able to enter but that was no problem. A sad thing is that all the information plaques were in Japanese so it was not catered at foreigners at all. But the museum was so cool! Instead of just artifacts there was even a replica of an Osakan street a hundred years back in time, complete with sounds and mannequins. And there was a smaal replica of an ancient shrine, a collection of traditional costumes and a bridge from the Edo-period. In my opinion the best museum I have visited. A downside was that the permanent collection is only 4 flours big and that the other 7-ish floors were closed, maybe because there were no temporary exhibitions at the time, but we don’t know. But our feet were thankful for the few floors.

The Osaka Museum of History

When you say Osaka, you say Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki. Since we both dislike seafood we didn’t want to try Takoyaki, but Okonomiyaki was definitely a must try for us! And so our quest for Okonomiyaki begin. After wandering for a while we found a restaurant specialized in Okonomiyaki and se we headed in. Immediately we knew we made the right choice. The staff was young and friendly, and funny too. We took our seat at the counter where the food was made right in front of us. We ordered a non-seafood one. I have to say, since then I tried more original ones with a bit of seafood and they are equally nice, despite me hating seafood normally.
The young guy who was preparing our Okonomiyaki and made a small artwork out of the toppings. He was happy when my friend took photos of the cooking proces and offered to take our picture, so it was our first picture together.
It took a long time for us to eat the huge portion and couldn’t finish it in the end. But it was the best and most fun dinner we’d had in Japan.

Back in our rooms we watched tv again. Japanese tv is so funny, especially the commercials.
As you can see in the next pictures; a man talking to a toilet. I have no idea what this ad was about.
And an ad with a super cute dog. The dog appears to be really famous and is usually used in the commercials for this brand (though I forgot which brand). And the last picture is the view from our room at night. It is not the most beautiful view, but I like it because there was always a lot of activity with people and cars and a small park. I liked watching the normal Japanese life go on. And at night it was mesmerizing with all the lights.

Notes :3

Internet cafes are great in Japan
Japanese castles are pretty
Manhole covers in Japan are beautifully decorated, they are some new kind of art
Staff in restaurants will greet you and say goodbye in unison, gotta love it.
Osaka Museum of History is a must visit for history lovers
Okonomiyaki is the best dish you will eat in Osaka
You will get questioned by students at a Japanese tourist site. Prepare for questions like ‘Hello, how are you?’, ‘Do you like sushi?’ and ‘Can I get your signature?’. Students usually get a list of things they need to say to foreigners when on a school trip to practice their English. Or they will just ask you for a photo.

Japan Trip Day Two, Kaiyukan Aquarium Osaka

Our first full day in Osaka was spent at the Kaiyukan aquarium and in the Umeda district.
I just love visiting zoos and aquariums! And Kaiyukan was no exception. The place is divided in the different seas of the world and the animals living there. The great thing is that it wasn’t limited to fish but there were also some cute penguins and mammals like monkeys and capybara which are cute huge hamsters. But Kaiyukan is most famous for the whale sharks. When I saw them is was amazed, they are huge and beautiful. It’s a pity they are stuck in a tank. But it is a few stories high, so that’s a good thing. And the design of the building is great because all the floors are centered around the tank with the whale sharks so you can view them from different places. The exterior of the building is horribly ugly though. But at least you can’t miss it.

I don’t know how I was able to take this picture, but it looks cool right? Like the turtle is flying in front of me.

So Japan is known for the cute culture right? The Japanese name for this is ‘kawaii’ and there are many different kinds of kawaii but you can bet ya that almost anything in Japan is related to kawaii in some way. Kaiyukan couldn’t miss out on this surely, so there was a ‘kawaii collection’ at the aquarium. It seemed like a temporary collection of fishes, but I am not sure. Basically it was a collection of small and colorful fishes, and yes, they were cute indeed.

I loved this little one. He would pop out his head from his home once in a while.

After the aquarium we did little bit of shopping at a nearby small shopping mall with a great clothing shop and a 100-yen shop (so many cheap things!). And we took our first purikura, a cute photo sticker. I really miss purikura and can’t wait to take them again this September. Not only is it kawaii, it is also fun to do and you can let out your creative side. Plus it is a great commemorative! You can even give yourself fake make-up, a new hair color or you can put on some cartoonish eyes and bunny ears. At some point during our trip we started making really weird purikura, but those are the best kind 🙂

Our next stop was Umeda for HEP Five. It is a big Japanese shopping mall with a whole bunch of girly clothing shops. This is when something interesting happened. One of my friend wanted to try on some clothes in on of the shops. They usually sell one-size clothing and for us western girls we really don’t trust them, because one size doesn’t fit all. But the shop staff girl was making a fuss and was saying all kinds of things in Japanese and we just didn’t understand. Then she pulled out this big card with pictures on it and English descriptions and a list of sentences. She pointed at a sentence and we understood that we couldn’t fit the clothes because make-up could get on it. I was just amazed by the fact that they have a card like that and it’s the first time I ever saw it. And I haven’t seen it since.

There are not just shops in HEP Five, on top of the building there’s also a Ferris Wheel. I imagined the view would be amazing and wanted to ride it. It was a little bit scary but cool. The view would have been amazing if it hadn’t rained and wasn’t as cloudy. But the rain on the windows added some charm to the pictures in my opinion.

Photo not by me

Shopping this much makes you hungry, so after you have made your way up the building through all the shops there are conveniently placed restaurant in the top floor. We were also hungry at this point and it was time for dinner. We chose a family restaurant on the top floor where we had tonkatsu-don with kimchi. This portion was so big that we thought we had ordered for two, but it turned out it was for one person. But we shared anyway. And it was delicious! After that day tonkatsu turned into my favorite Japanese food (together with okonomiyaki later) and is a great combination with curry.

Back in our room our beds were already made for us, heavenly! But first we enjoyed some tea and snacks (they refilled our snack box for us, it doesn’t get any better than this), while checking our buys of the day and writing in our dairies. We both like to keep a travel diary, so we are great travel buddies. Instead of partying or going out we like to take a rest in the evening and watch some tv or chat while writing our diaries.

Our hotel was next to Dotonbori street, a nice are to explore before heading back to our hotel.

Notes;

Japan has a lack of public benches and trash cans.
Japan does everything cute, even their fishes (see kawaii collection at Kaiyukan)
Foreigners are still very ‘foreign’ in Osaka despite being a huge city and we got stared at a lot. Sometimes to the point where we felt very uncomfortable (because of people turning their heads or taking photos of us).
Fitting clothes in Japan is not as common as back home and is a huge fuss
Japanese shops are opened until late (in comparison to the Netherlands)
Purikura is awesome
Tourist traps in Japan come in the form if obligatory photos at famous places. Before you enter or after you exit they will take a picture of you (usually forcibly) and try to sell it to you. This was the only tourist trap we encountered though.

Japan trip, My first day in Osaka

This trip was a few years ago, but before I went to Japan I just loved reading blogs about other travelers’ trips to Japan. Actually, I always love reading blogs about the destinations I will visit soon. That’s why I thought it would be nice to post my story about Japan, for others out there still planning to go or enjoying post-travel-reads 😉

In June 2011 I travelled with a friend of mine to Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo.
Our first stop was Osaka to which we flew directly from Amsterdam.
The fun started as soon as we landed. We had to go through a baggage check but to our surprise the guy who checked our bags came behind from his counter just to lift our bags on the counter, neatly checked and packed our bags again and then popped from his counter to take our bags from the counter for us, all while staying extremely friendly and polite. It was our first encounter with Japanese friendliness and politeness, and set the tone for the rest of our trip.

View from the plane

After a sleepy trip with the subway through a nice sneery of Japanese homes and rice paddies we arrived in the centre of Osaka.
When we stepped out of the station we were met with massive tv screens on buildings (something we’d never really seen), traffic that rode on the left side of the road and a lot of noises and sounds everywhere. It was a little bit overwhelming but not in a bad way. We dropped our stuff at our hotel and went sightseeing because we still had a full day ahead of us.

typical Japanese street with many neon signs

going on a boat ride!

Our first stop in Osaka was a river cruise. It seemed like a nice way to make ourselves familiar with the sights of Osaka. We didn’t see much of the cruise though….. because we were beleaguered by a big group of Japanese students. When you go to Japan this will happen from time to time, but this was a whole different level ! It was great! The kids were sitting behind us in the boat and were about 12ish years old. Their English wasn’t smashing, but the best we encountered during our whole trip (to our surprise). With my few words of Japanese and a lot of sign language we had a very very amusing hourlong boat ride. One of their teachers asked us for a group picture which we obviously accepted and we asked for our own too.

After this memorable moment we stopped by at the 7/11 for food and drinks because we weren’t hungry or energetic enough to go somewhere for dinner.
In the hotel a girl dressed in a kimono showed us our room and made us some tea. I really love this Japanese attentiveness. And the room was just amazing! From the outside the hotel doesn’t look impressive but the rooms are in traditional Japanese style with modern conveniences and it’s just the right mix of old en new. While we enjoyed the tea and snacks that were also provided an old man knocked on our door and asked us when we would like our beds to be prepared. Japanese style futon beds need to be unfolded and put on the tatami floor and the lovely staff does this for you. We talked with the old man for a while and he knew some Dutch words which was really cute.

Since the man would be in our room at 7PM to prepare we decided to go out and explore the area. We had been in Japan only for a few hours and already we encountered a tv crew interviewing us, the problem was they spoke zero English and I spoke almost no Japanese so we didn’t understand why they were interviewing us or about what …. It was really awkward but funny.
After that we went to a place with many girly clothing shops and it was like clothes heaven! (Even though I don’t fit most of it, it is still nice for style inspiration). The girls working in the shops are really fashionable and everything from nails to hair to makeup matches their style. Some are snobby but there ware also many girls of the staff trying to chat with us despite their limited English and were really sweet. But the jetlag and tiredness really started to kick in and we both felt unwell so we headed back early.
Sleeping in the futons took some getting used to, but it was very comfy and I loved the traditional experience.

Some notes;

Japanese people are so helpful, like the counter-guy at the airport or when we were looking for our hotel and within seconds a guy came up to us to help (even though he didn’t know English haha)
7/11’s are awesome and the Netherlands need to build them too.
Japanese kids are cute and wear cute matching hats when on excursion
Traditional style Japanese rooms are a must try!! Futons are comfortable 🙂
Clothes shops in Japan are gorgeous (decoration, staff, the clothes) but not plus-size friendly
Shop staff will welcome you with a heartily ‘Irasshaimase’ and make you feel like a king/queen
The metro and trains are scary (at first) but incredibly convenient and punctual