Japan: Fast Trains, Fish Food, and Filled Schedules
Months ago, my cousin Michael asked Emily (my sister) and I if we wanted to go to Japan after his graduation. We said yes...and then didn't speak about it for months. Then, some time had passed. We finally started making arrangements, like booking a flight, hotels, and developing an itinerary, in a series of Discord calls. We also invited Emily's best friend, Christine, who had been to Japan a few times in the past. They could help be our guide, plus, we decided it would be more fun to travel in a group of 4.
July 1
On Sunday, Michael flew in to SFO from Houston, and spent the night with Emily and I at our parents' house. The following day, Christine was dropped off and we left at 7:00 AM...for our after noon flight.
We boarded the large plane, a Boeing 787, and we had a row of 4 seats together. The flight went very smoothly and we played Mario kart together and completely obliterated the AI players. After that, I tried (and failed) to sleep, and listened to Explosions in the Sky, read some more of my book, and then watched The Office. We were served 2 small meals. Maybe my taste buds are failing me, but the food didn't taste horrible this time.
July 2
When we landed in Japan (one day later) we were greeted with murals of the Mario universe and then waited about an hour in border control. When we got through, we were completely lost on how to get train tickets or where to go, but Christine majorly helped us here. Eventually we got on the right train and headed for the hotel, and were all shocked from the heat and humidity.
The first hotel in Tokyo was small but very nice. We reserved 1 room with 4 individual beds that were pushed together. The bathroom was separate from the shower room, plus there was a mini fridge and washer/dryer! The toilet also had a bidet, which I of course had to try, and was very, very surprised.
We met our family friends, Alain, Eric, and Yoko for dinner at a sit down (literally on the floor) restaurant and had way too much to eat and drink, including steak, raw fish, tempura, and different kinds of sake.
July 3
I got about 3 hours of sleep that night and the next day was even busier. I bought us meal tickets for the hotel buffet and we ate a delicious breakfast there. Michael went on a tour at the imperial palace while the rest of us got Tokyo Metro passes, then we walked a bit on the outside of the palace grounds. Then, Michael and I split off to go see a sword museum in Akihabara. Michael and I ate some taiyaki and explored a department store while waiting for Emily and Christine to return from a maid cafe.
When we regrouped, we took the train to the final hotel we'd be staying at, where there was a Pokemon cafe. We each had "dessert burgers" which were bizarre. The buns were a sweet brioche bread and it was filled with ice cream. I didn't like it very much, but it was definitely interesting to try.
Leaving there, we moved on to Shibuya and went to Tower Records - literally a a massive towering 8-story record store, where I bought a physical copy of Once Twice Melody by Beach House. Lastly, we went to Blue Note, which is an upscale jazz venue with fancy cuisine. We ate onion soup, pork, and some kind of kiwi mousse.
July 4
The following day, we grabbed breakfast at no other than 7-11 on our way to get picked up on a tour bus to see Mt. Fuji. I really liked our tour guide, it was really funny how she emphasized certain words. For breakfast, I ate a sandwich and onigiri (rice triangle), which I soon discovered was my favorite snack in Japan. We rode to Fujiyoshida for some hiking and some excellent viewpoints of Mt. Fuji. We walked past Arakura Shrine where I payed my respects and walked up over 400 steps in the blazing heat but the views were beautiful. Unfortunately, there was a thick layer of clouds blocking the view of the top of the mountain. After walking back down, we grabbed lunch in town and then headed for Katsuyama where we got to walk in a beautiful garden around Lake Kawaguchi and also do some shopping in town. We got our dinner at the Lawson and ate at the hotel.
July 5
On Friday, we took the metro to visit Miraikan which is a science museum in Odaiba. On the way to the museum, we all took photos in front of a giant mech suit from an anime I don't know called Gundam. The exhibits in the museum were all about space, robotics, and the environment. I played a game to avoid natural disasters but my Earth only lived to the year 2036.
After the museum, we split into 2 groups again, where Emily and Christine went to a Love Live cafe and Michael and I went to Aqua City Odaiba, a 7-story mall right on the Tokyo Bay. We went to a vending machine (gacha) store and I bought way too many souvenirs there.
After a while, we regrouped back at the hotel and headed for the Shinkansen (bullet train.) Emily and Christine were very upset to discover that there were no elevators or escalators so Michael and I had to carry their luggage up and down the stairs. After all that workout, we did get on the train which zipped by the countryside. It was super cool, but there was a large group of tourists in the same train car as us that were extremely loud and annoying- but they offered Michael and I some dried peaches which were pretty good. I got a ton more reading done on the train too, despite the distractions.
July 6
The hotel in Osaka was very nice and had breakfast included. I ate some eggs and several types of baked items and everything was great, but a little rushed since we had to leave early in the morning for Himeji. We took the local metro and then hopped on the Shinkansen to Himeji.
It was a much shorter and quieter ride this time, but I didn't bring my book to read. When we arrived in Himeji, we took a bus to Otamon Gate. I'm glad we did, since it was super hot that day and I'd heard we would walk up many more flights of stairs. Looking back, this was for sure the hottest day of our trip. We met our tour guides, Mickey and Yoko, who were very excited to teach us about the history of the castle. It was easy to see even before we entered the outer gate, since it was at the top of a hill. Turns out, the castle was entirely made out of wood, with a little bit of plaster and iron, and it was built to serve as the first line of defense for East Japan from West Japan after its Civil War. Everything was built with defense in mind, from confusing passage ways, stratrgically placed holes in the walls and floors for shooting, secret rooms, and other tactics. We walked up 6 floors plus one extra secret floor. At the top floor, someone (not from our group) actually passed out, presumably from heat exhaustion, and paramedics had to carry them down!
After we walked down, we walked through Koko-en gardens with our tour guides and went to a traditional Japanese tea house. We sat on the floor and they served us green tea and a sweet called a morning glory, which was basically red bean paste inside mochi. We were all immediately obsessed and asked our guides where we could buy more. After walking around the rest of the gardens, we went back into Himeji city to look for dinner. We went to Yippee, which was a Vietnamese restaurant. I ordered pho and it has been the best thing I ate so far, and super cheap! After leaving the restaurant, we stopped at a music store and then a bakery that sold the morning glories and we each got one more. It was getting late and we had plans back in Osaka, so we headed back on the train. For dinner, we had a reservation at a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure-themed cafe. We all ate ramen there. I watch very little anime, and I know absolutely nothing about JoJo's Bizzare Adventure, so I didn't get any of the references. I was actually a little uncomfortable there, the entire cafe was completely filled with posters, cards, figures, and other toys from the show. Not only that, but episodes were playing on the TV, and the cook was doing impressions on presumably some of the main characters the whole time. It was definitely an immersive experience.
However, after the cafe, we went to a gaming bar next door called Sunny, and ordered drinks and played Super Smash Bros Ultimate on the Nintendo Switch. It was basically only us in the bar so it was nice and private. The drinks were more expensive than the meal we had just eaten, though. After getting back to the hotel, the 4 of us ate the morning glories we bought earlier and played a card game called VC which was super fun.
July 7
Today we planned to visit Kaiyukan, which is a famous aquarium in Osaka, due to the fact it is one of the few in the world with whale sharks. Emily, Christine, and I bought tickets to a private viewing of whale shark feeding. It was super cool, but I'm sad I didn't get to personally throw any fish at them to eat. The rest of the aquarium was awesome and we spent so much time there. It was designed in such an interesting way, where after entering you take an escalator up several floors. To go through the aquarium, you slowly spiral down circling the main tank in the middle of the aquarium, which contained the whale sharks. All the other exhibits were on the outer walls of the aquarium. The seals, penguins, and otters were adorable.
For lunch, we ate okonomiyaki in a restaurant in a nearby mall. It was like a pancake with cabbage dough, and mine had beef and some kind of Japanese barbecue sauce on it. It was a bit weird, but certainly interesting to try.
Later that evening, I met up with Michael and we visited the Osaka Museum of History. It was a massive 10 story building with incredible views of the city. The museum taught us all about the history and culture of Osaka city and displayed some beautiful art and old artifacts.
After we were finished with the museum, we walked over to Osaka castle. Sadly, it was already closed for tours, but we walked around outside. It was similar to Himeji castle, but with more colors. It had been rebuilt throughout history.
At night, I rejoined Emily and Christine and we went to Dotonbori, an area in downtown Osaka with plenty of places to eat, shop, and play. It was incredibly crowded there! We ate takoyaki (fried balls of octopus) for dinner. Blehh, it was not my favorite. Thankfully we all wanted ice cream after so we all got vanilla ice cream with oreos, which to me was some of the best ice cream I've ever had.
July 8
Long before this trip, Emily and Christine worked tirelessly to get us a reservation for the Pokémon Cafe. Our original idea was to go to the one in Tokyo, but it kept filling up too fast before they could score tickets. Luckily, there was another one in Osaka which they were able to get tickets for. Surprisingly, the food was delicious. I ate rice (shaped like Pikachu), curry, and vegetables, and it was all Pokémon themed. There was also a Pokémon center next door where we went and I bought Pokémon cards, which I haven't opened yet. While the girls stayed to shop some more, Michael and I explored the joining mall, and I bought a mystery gacha and we saw a mini (and free) art exhibit within the mall.
Soon it was time to get back on the bullet train to Hiroshima. It was about a 2-hour trip, with several stops in between, so the train was moving extremely fast. We unloaded at the hotel (the lobby was on the top floor!) and ate dinner at a tiny restaurant called Pop Hot. I ate pork and eggs. Another delicious meal. While we were eating, Emily gave us a very detailed explanation of her favorite game and show called Love Live. After dinner, Michael and I walked over to Hiroshima castle, it was already dark at this point (so no tours) but the castle was all lit up and was spectacular to see at night.
July 9
We had an all-day tour planned with our guide, Aki. She was nice to meet us at the hotel where we left to board the metro to the port of Hiroshima. We got on the ferry to go to Miyajima island. I'm so glad Aki was there with us, because there would be no way we figured out the transportation on our own. Miyajima island was so interesting- there were tons of deer just wandering around and coming right up to people. They were so friendly too! I got to pet several deer and even got to touch the horns of a buck. They were smooth like polished wood. At Miyajima island, we walked about 3 miles and visited some Buddhist and Shinto temples and shrines.
We took a separate ferry back to Hiroshima, which took us directly to the Peace Memorial Park. We ate lunch first, okonomiyaki again except it was made in a different style, and we got to cook it ourselves! This style was much tastier than the ones we ate in Osaka. After lunch, we walked over to the Peace Park. It was a very serious and respectful place. I learned a lot from going through the Peace Museum, details I will not write here. However, I think this is something that anyone going into the defense industry should see before starting to work. It was a tragedy that should never happen again.
On a brighter note, for dinner we went to some place that Michael has been dying to go. It was a style of meal called omakase, where the chef designs the menu every day. It was a very fancy and small restaurant, where we ate fish and sushi. The sushi was not rolled but instead was made in nagiri style. Even though some of the things I didn't like, like the octopus, the food was made perfectly and Michael got a signed copy of the menu.
July 10
We checked out of Hotel Intergate early to hop on the Shinkansen to go to a small town called Numazu, at the request of Emily and Christine. We had a 10-minute connection in Kobe, but luckily the next train arrived on the same platform that we got off! So it was very easy to transfer. In total, we were in the Shinkansen for about 5 hours. I ate a small breakfast/brunch I had bought the night before.
The second Shinkansen dropped us off at Mishima and we had to take a local train to Numazu. We dropped off our luggage at a sushi restaurant that offered luggage storing services and split up. Emily and Christine visited some things related to their favorite franchise called Love Live, while Michael and I went to the Deep Sea Aquarium, one of the few places to see real-life (well, they were dead) coelacanths, which are prehistoric fish thought to be long extinct. After that, we visited a fish market, the watchtower bridge, and some shops on the way back to Numazu station. We were running a bit late to Mishima, because I actually forgot that we had taken the local train to Numazu. Luckily, we got to the Shinkansen just in time to head back to Tokyo, our final destination of this trip!
We headed straight for our hotel after arriving in Tokyo. It was extremely fancy and the hotel staff took our bags up to the rooms. We reserved Pokémon themed rooms but unfortunately they left a bit to be desired. We were supposed to also get souvenirs along with it but they didn't have enough for all of us. We got ourselves situated and then Michael and I soon headed out for our reservation at a 1-Michelin-star restaurant called Hashimoto's that serves a specific type of eel. We ordered some appetizers; eel fins and eel bone, which I never thought I would try in my life. The eel bone was interesting and tasted more like chips than anything fishy. I wasn't a huge fan of the eel, but I ordered a meal with chicken, eggs, rice, and vegetables which was absolutely delicious. Before leaving the restaurant, Michael and I both thanked the chef and got signed copies of the menu.
On our way back to the hotel, we decided to stop at Tokyo Tower. Turns out, it was built just 2 meters taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris. We bought tickets to visit the observation deck 150 meters in the air, and took a very rapid elevator up. We had an excellent view of the city at night and the observation deck itself was very cool. On the top floor, lights were projected along some of the viewing windows (to look like comets, fireworks, and other things) and on the lower floor, there was some glass tile to walk on and look down. It was a bit scary at first but it was really cool. It reminded me a bit of the Space Needle. There was also a shop to buy souvenirs, and even a small shrine. Going back down, we had to walk through a maze of more gift shops to exit the Tokyo Tower building.
July 11
I ate a delicous and obscenely large breakfast at the hotel buffet consisting of eggs, hash browns, potatoes, curry, and various bakery items. The hotel staff were concerningly quick to pick up dirty dishes. After I was very full, they brought us more food! Pokémon themed pancakes. But, they weren't regular pancakes, they were thicker, more crusty on the outside and spongy on the inside, and were some of the best I've ever had.
Now uncomfortably full of food, we all leave the hotel to head out to the Studio Ghibli Museum. There was a long line outside but luckily we had a reservation. We got our tickets, which were clips of film reel! The museum was smaller than I expected, and we explored the museum for about an hour and a half. Unfortunately, photography was prohibited, but I snuck in a few pictures anyway. (I hope the Japanese government doesn't come after me now.) We also got to watch a short, adorable film called Koro's Big Day Out about a dog that gets lost but finds a way back home.
Then, Michael and I got boba and headed to Shinjuku, to see a museum about an author that Michael really likes. I don't have an interest in exploring the museum, so I spent the time walking through the town and playing a bit of Pokémon Go.
We regroup and then head to Jimbocho, a town full of bookstores. I walked through approximately 10 bookstores that day and didn't understand a single word. It started to get late so we had to get to Shibuya for our dinner plans with Alain, Eric, and Yoko. We ate some more traditional Japanese food which was all tasty but the restaurant was extremely loud and crowded.
Walking home, we actually went the wrong way for about 10 minutes before realizing and turning around. When we finally get back to the hotel around 10 or 11, the 4 of us have an "unboxing ceremony" to show off all the things we bought during the trip. I finally went to bed around 2:00 AM.
July 12
The next morning, I ate another obscenely large breakfast (with the intention of skipping lunch) and we then checked out of the hotel. I must have forgotten about the price when we planned it, because the hotel was a lot more expensive than I expected. Oh well, this trip was supposed to be a treat anyway. After a bit of confusion recharging our transit passes, we hopped on the train back to the airport. Everything went smoothly at the airport and I converted the rest of my yen back into dollars. I'm a little scared to total up all that I spent on this trip, but it doesn't matter. I got to see so much in the last 2 weeks and we got so lucky with the weather. Plus, we thought it was going to rain about half the time, but it only rained today, the day we leave. What great luck! On the flight home, I tried to get some sleep, and organized my photos. Turns out, I took over 800 pictures on this trip. In addition, I caught over 200 Pokemon, consumed at least 10 new kinds of seafood, probably spent at least 20 hours on the trains, and visited around 10 cities (plus several unique areas within Tokyo.) This vacation was so action packed, I need a vacation!