And we are off!
13 de julio, Canadá ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
Our flight to Calgary doesn’t leave until noon and I have to say that getting up in a leisurely way is something I’d recommend. It seems as all our other travels start ridiculously early in the morning! We said goodbye to Evan and Walter and off we went.
Brad and I made it to the airport in plenty of time to enjoy a coffee, review the very little Japanese we’ve learned, and board our flight to Calgary. On the way to Japan, we upgraded to premium seating. While it isn’t the super-cool lay-flat seats, it’s still a step up from sitting three-across with little leg room.
We made it to Calgary without incident. We only have an hour and a half to wait until we board our flight to Japan, which is a 10.5 hour flight. We will be arriving in Tokyo at 4:30pm (Tuesday), but I will try to update when we get there!Leer más
No sleep till Tokyo!
14 de julio, Japón ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C
Brad and I started off strong by watching a movie while we had dinner on the plane. After dinner, they turned off the cabin lights and the plan was to sleep. However, despite the dark cabin, neither of us slept more than 30 minutes or so.
Other than not sleeping, the flight went well and was quite smooth. We deplaned and headed to get our luggage and get through customs. I think we had identity photos taken at least three times before we were able to leave the airport!
The next hurdle was getting train tickets, but Brad had it all figured out so it took no time at all. Then, we had about an hour train ride into the Taito prefecture of Tokyo, which is where we will spend the next few days.
Our hotel is lovely and we are figuring out the very futuristic Japanese toilets! Who knew the toilet seat should be warm?!
After cleaning ourselves up, we walked to a restaurant that Brad referred to as a “gamble” and a “deep cut.” Well, he wasn’t wrong. It was a 10-seat izakaya with one chef and no other staff. The menu was handwritten in Japanese and if it hadn’t been for the kind, lone Chinese man beside us, we would have been sunk! Anyway, with our new friend’s help, we ordered a couple draft beers, a plate of the house specialties (various items such as tofu, rice cake, daikon radish, beef tendon, and some other mystery items… featuring a regional tamari heavy soy sauce) and a plate of sashimi. The sashimi was great, but I’ll pass on the regional specialties next time!
We ventured into a few convenient stores just to check them out and then had to get to bed. It’s only 9:30pm here, but we have run out of steam. We are looking forward to our first full day tomorrow!Leer más
Jet lag, art, and a walking tour
15 de julio, Japón ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C
Well, we were awake around 4am this morning. Brad got up and toured our neighborhood for about an hour, while I tried (unsuccessfully) to go back to sleep. Brad returned with a smoothie and onigiri in hand, as well as some great early morning pictures. However, as soon as he entered the room, he also mentioned how hot and humid it was already!
Nothing really opens here until 9-9:30 (including coffee shops!) so we actually ate our onigiri and went back to sleep for another hour. Then it was time to hit the road. Our first stop was Muraski Coffee, where we had sweet red bean and purple sweet potato imagawayaki along with our iced matcha and latte. It was a nice start to the day! Everyone we’ve encountered here so far has been so lovely!
We ventured over to Ueno Park, which houses several museums and is a nice refuge of trees in an otherwise concrete jungle. We bought tickets at the National Museum of Western Art to see a special Rembrandt exhibit which featured his early etchings. We then visited the museum’s permanent collection.
As you might anticipate, their permanent collection had works from all the heavy hitters - Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet, Manet, Pollock, Gaughin, Matisse, etc. We didn’t see much fine art last summer, so it was good to be back in an art museum (plus, it was air conditioned!).
We were going to try and hit up the National Museum, but decided to head to a department store instead to find a few provisions (UV umbrella!). The department store’s food hall was where we spent the most time! Japanese craftsmanship is really on display everywhere you go. From the leather goods, baked goods, to the scores and scores of sushi and sashimi at the grocery store, it is really incredible to see! Even though we are going on a good-based walking tour, I couldn’t help but buy a croquette that was red crab and cheese inside. We shared it back at the hotel as we were doing a quick change before the food tour, and it was so, so good!
Our guide, Aki, met us at the Ueno Station and, to our luck, had the tour to ourselves! Our first stop on the food and drink tour was an izakaya where we ate a lot of sashimi, as well as dishes of fried tofu and eggplant. To drink, we had sochu mixed with Hoppy, a 0.8% “beer” that is classified, technically, as a soft drink in Japan. We had so much to eat, but it was really just our first stop…
The next place we went specialized in charcoal grilled meats, pork in particular. It was here that we had our first sake of the trip! Aki taught us all the customs around drinking sake, including taking the first drink by leaning forward and sipping. Then, we were brought a variety of pork-part grilled skewers and Aki asked us to guess what part of the pig we were eating. This sounds way more gross than it was, but in any case, we ate liver, trachea and esophagus, tongue, small intestine, and “skirt steak” or diaphragm. I have to say… it was all really good! We also tried pickled plums and fermented mung beans, which were quite the experience!
Our next stop was basically a dive bar where you just stand at counters and drink. Brad had a whiskey soda, which Aki kept calling a “skinny bitch” since it is “healthier” than sake, and I had a grapefruit, soda and whiskey cocktail that was just like a Fresca. The “bar” was mostly men and quite something to experience!
Last stop (thank goodness) was for ramen. Chicken broth-based ramen. The broth was made with chicken feet, so it was really silky from all the collagen. The noodles were so good! It was exceptional!
Very full and very tired, we said goodbye to Aki and went back to our hotel. It gets dark here before 7pm, so it keeps feeling much later than the clock suggests. We will do our best to stay awake, but jet lag is still kicking our butts a bit.
Tomorrow we are going to see more art and head to a baseball game!Leer más
Art, baseball, and wow, it’s hot!
16 de julio, Japón ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
Jet lag is still an ever-present force for us. Brad was up at 4am and I was up just after 5am. I’m sure we will get it sorted in the next day or two! Anyway, I had to attend my class at 7am (7:30 pm Newfoundland time!), so it worked out. While I attended my online lecture, Brad went and bought us breakfast. He returned from the kobini (convenient store) with the famous egg salad sandwich (so good!), green smoothie, iced coffee, and three onigiri (tuna, shrimp, and pickled plum). I am a big fan of the shrimp one! Pickled plum is an odd taste yo describe as it is simultaneously salty and pickled with almost no sweetness. We had one on its own last night, which was a hit to the tastebuds, but with the onigiri, the rice tempered the saltiness quite a bit.
After class, we hit the subway for the first time and travelled quite a way to another prefecture in Tokyo. We had timed entry to see a show by Ron Murek, who creates these realistic looking human figures. The scale of the pieces is really what makes them stunning to see in person, so I tried to include some people in the photos as well to give a sense of scale.
The show was really impressive and we were glad to have seen it! We tried to make our way out to the street, but it always seems like you end up in these very large department stores. Coming down the escalator, we saw a boulangerie by Joel Robuchon, so we had to go in. We came out with a curry bun (delicious!) and a brioche with custard (so good!) which we ate before making our way to the National Gallery to see a Picasso show.
The Picasso slow was curated by Paul Smith, a fashion designer, so each room was an experience that referenced the art. I tried to take photos to show the colorful rooms, but I’m not sure it’ll translate well. The show was very “Instagrammable” and people seemed to enjoy it,
It was getting to be lunch time and we’d been up for hours, so we took a cab to Amam Dacotan, a bakery we’d seen on a tv show about Japan. The sandwiches and baked goods were overwhelming! We settled on a shrimp sandwich with homemade tartare, a mortadella sandwich with nut sauce, and a pistachio cream bun for dessert. We inhaled the sandwiches, so there are no pictures, but we paused long enough to snap a shot of the cream bun. Everything was delicious!
Our goal was to keep cool before the baseball game at 6pm, so we ventured through a bougie shopping area (bougie = AC!), went to a hipster coffee shop for iced lattes, and then checked out Tokyo Brew Labs. We had some very fun pours including a dragon fruit smoothie beer and a matcha ice cream inspired beer.
Before the Swallows game, we went to the merch store which was so busy with fans! Brad got a Swallows cap and then we went on to the ballpark. The Swallows were playing the Tokyo Giants, but the Swallows were the home team. It was very hot and humid, so Brad got us two draft beers from the cute Japanese beer girls who carry coolers on their backs and pour beer from little hoses. They also gave out hand fans to everyone, so we used those throughout the game!
The atmosphere at the game was fascinating. Both teams had designated fan cheering sections that stood, sang, and chanted during their team’s at bat. It made a “go Jets go” chant sound pretty lame! Anyway, when the Swallows scored a run, all the fans took out little colourful umbrellas and did an umbrella dance! Crazy to see!
Of course we had to try some ballpark food, so we got some fried chicken bites (we wanted katsu sandwiches, but they were sold out!) and then tried an octopus ball “hot dog”! Both were very good!
After the 7th inning ended (Tokyo was winning 3-1), we decided we had enough of the heat and humidity and started our half hour subway ride back to Ueno. Definitely a busy day with lots of steps and lots of sweat!Leer más
Temples, rain, and meatballs
17 de julio, Japón ⋅ 🌧 29 °C
This morning we managed to sleep until 6am, so we are improving! We had breakfast from the konbini, but they were out of shrimp onigiri, so we had salmon and a spicy pollock roe onigiri instead. Then, it was on to the subway and off to Senso-ji Temple. We have managed to avoid a lot of tourist spots so far, but not today. The temple grounds were very busy with foreigners and lots of people dressed up for photo shoots.
We braved the crowd and checked out the gates and then got our fortunes. Mine was very ambiguous, but Brad’s was a good one! If you get a bad one, you are supposed to tie it up and so you leave your bad luck behind. So, if I have bad luck, blame Brad because he said I should keep my ambiguous fortune.
We then “bathed” ourselves in incense smoke to purify ourselves and heal any ailments before entering the temple. The most important statue in the Buddhist temple has been hidden from view since 630, so we did see where she is kept, but we did not see her. We checked out the rest of the grounds before traveling through a small souvenir street. One of my favourite moments from this morning was a mom yelling at her teenage sons that they needed to smile for a picture because the memories were for her and her husband as well! It was hilarious. I was happy to get out of the over-touristed area!
We then made our way to a matcha place for a quick drink. We stumbled across a ninja sneaker store where they make split toe “ninja” style runners out of discarded kimonos. They were gorgeous shoes! The young man who helped us studied at UBC for three years, so we chatted a bit about his experiences. He said there was another store that sold upcycled kimono products nearby, so we went over to it and I bought a lovely clutch bag.
The skies were getting quite dark, so we hurried over to the Asahi beer building and went to the sky bar on the 22nd floor to catch an overcast view of Tokyo while having an Asahi. A pretty nice way to wait out the rain!
After the downpour, it stopped, we headed towards the street of kitchenware. The street reminded us a lot of being in Vietnam, where streets would have to be dedicated to particular product. You would know this street was dedicated to kitchen items because of the big chef’s head and the tower of cups that appear at the start of the street. We’ve spent a bit time looking at Japanese knives, which, of course there are many to be seen! You didn’t make a purchase yet, but I think we’ll be back.
We need to grab a quick lunch on our way back to our hotel, so we decided to have some cold soba and udon noodles to tie us over until dinner.
After relaxing for a bit, we decided to go over to the Shibuya area of Tokyo. When you think of Tokyo, you think of Shibuya - crowded, bright lights, the iconic pedestrian crosswalk, tons of shopping, supped up cars. It had started to rain again, so everyone had their umbrellas out which made navigating the streets interesting. We looked in a few shops before heading to dinner. Brad had made us a reservation at a restaurant that only serves wagyu meatballs done on a charcoal grill. You get three meatballs, miso soup, unlimited rice, all sorts of fun sauces and spices, and a raw egg (you can dip your beef in raw yolk or mix your raw egg into your rice!). And that’s it. And it was outstanding! The wagyu just melted and all the drippings ran into the rice, which made it something special. It was a blink and you’ll miss it place, but we were so glad to have gone!
We were quite full after dinner, so we decided to go cross the Shibuya crossing on our way back to the train station. Up to 3000 people can be crossing it in all directions during a light change! It was organized chaos!
We leave Tokyo tomorrow and are taking the bullet train to the coastal city of Kanazawa. We have enjoyed our time in this enormous city, but are also looking forward to something a bit smaller!Leer más
Sayonara Tokyo (for now)
18 de julio, Japón ⋅ ☁️ 34 °C
We had our typical konbini breakfast (they are still sold out of shrimp onigiri!) and decided to walk to the little cafe we went to on our first day for a latte and more sweet potato imagawaykis! We kept waking to Ueno Park so that we could visit the National Museum before we had to check out of our hotel.
The Museum was quite big and we only got to see one of the collections, but it was so worth it! We got to see Buddhist statues, historical metalworks, ceramics, porcelain, and Brad’s favourite - swords! The craftsmanship of these hundreds of years old pieces was truly remarkable!
Upstairs, I ventured into the kimono wing to see examples of summer kimono from the 18th century. They were very gauzy, almost transparent, which makes sense given the hot and humid summers. I also really enjoy the historical “textbooks” that were hand painted. The animal images were beautiful! There were also stories told on very long scrolls that were equally impressive!
It was getting close to our check out time, so we had to hurry back through the park. We have really enjoyed staying in Ueno! The area is not very touristy, but there are tons of museums to visit and lots of great things to eat!
We took an Uber to Ueno Station to take our first Shinkansen (bullet train). We obviously had to get bento boxes for our two-hour train ride first, but then we were off to the train faster than a speeding bullet! Haha!
One of the towns we travelled through was Nagano. It is a beautiful little city surrounded by mountains. It was a stunningly green place!
In the end, we travelled about 455 kms online just over two hours. The train was incredibly clean and comfortable - a nice way to travel for sure!
Once we get to the train station, we took a cab to our hotel. The city immediately looks more western as there was more space for buildings and everything is not stacked on top of the other. We settled into our room, and Brad took a nap, while I ran a few errands like getting bus tickets and going to the konbini. We went down to the lounge for the free, happy hour, and made a plan for the evening. We decided to try Kanazawa Curry Company for dinner. It was a small 12 seat restaurant located in a market, and all they served was curry. You had a choice at three, and then you could choose between three different rice options, and then several different sides/toppings. We had the golden curry with the Nato pork katsu and the curry with chicken katsu. Both were so good and different than an Indian-style curry.
After our dinner, we attempted to take the lights on bus. The bus only runs on Saturday nights, and takes you to a number of sites that are lit up in the evening. Because the person at the tourist information centre told us the wrong meeting place (go figure), we missed the first round, but we managed to get on eventually. We took the bus over to the historical district geisha/tea house district with its narrow streets, wooden homes/buildings, and winding staircases. It was very cool to see it at night and we were basically the only people there!
We hopped back on the bus and headed back to our hotel. We are hoping to get an early start tomorrow morning to not only beat the heat, but also to see the gardens that open up early in the morning.Leer más
Gardens, a castle, and so much seafood
19 de julio, Japón ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
We were up early this morning and had a quick konbini breakfast (Brad went all the way to the 7-11 to find shrimp onigiri for me!) before setting off to Kenroku-en gardens. On the way there, we ended up going through the grounds for Oyama Shrine, which was this peaceful, green paradise just a block away from the current city center. We tried not to get too distracted (it's hard here!) and get to the gardens quickly and while it was still "cool."
Kenroku-en is considered one of the three most beautiful gardens in all of Japan, and for good reason! It is absolutely huge, thoughtfully planned, and just a pleasure to wander through. There are many water features with running water as well as a fountain that is naturally powered. The pictures will likely not do it justice, but nonetheless, we enjoyed our time there and appreciated how green everything is!
Then, we were off to Kanazawa Castle. The original castle burned down in 1602 as they made everything out of wood. There has been a huge effort to do restoration work after it was declared a national historic site in 2008. You can still go into the storehouse and see the huge cypress beams, the expert carpentry, and the details such as the "stone dropping windows" which allowed soldiers to drop stones on enemies trying to climb the walls!
It was getting even hotter, so we decided to head over to the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art. As it is Sunday, the Museum was busy, but it was also great to see so many families there to see contemporary art! We stopped into the cafe to grab some iced lattes and slice of strawberry cream cake before moving on to the galleries. We got tickets to the special exhibitions and enjoyed seeing a lot of pieces that are hard to explain in writing. I'm hopeful that some of the pictures will do the talking instead.
After seeing the galleries, we took the bus, as Kanazawa is a bus city as opposed to a subway or metro city, to the fish market to grab lunch. Japan has been dangerous for us as we love to eat and try new things. The food is so good (and safe to eat) everywhere that we get distracted constantly and want to try a million things! There were many fish vendors just selling things like oysters, shrimp, etc that you eat while standing at their booths. We came across a craft beer stand and stopped to have a sample. The beer is from Toyama, which is the stop on the bullet train before Kanazawa. It was very enjoyable! Gold is a big thing here in Kanazawa, so you could also get your beer covered in gold flake. While we didn't partake, several other people did!
We wound our way through the food stalls and looked at everything in awe. We stopped and had a small octopus, seaweed, and cucumber salad in the market before finally decided to sit down at a restaurant and eat bowls of rice topped with seafood. The shrimp is served raw here and is very different than the shrimp we are familiar with. Crab is also big here, so we had some sweet red crab, which was excellent. We also got to try "salt" cider. Cider is a soft drink, not an alcoholic beverage here. They add salt to the soft drink, so it tastes lightly of salt, but is also a bit sweet. I'm sure it'll help replace all our electrolytes as we've been sweating so much!
It was time to cool down, so we headed back to our hotel for some AC and respite.
We freshened up and went for our last happy hour here. Then, it was another bus adventure to get to dinner. Luckily, we managed to get on the right bus… or a bus that was going where we needed to go anyway!
Dinner tonight was at JinJin and we preordered the eight course nigiri menu. Nigiri is hand-shaped sushi rice with fish/seafood (usually raw) on top. We both started with Japanese gin cocktails. We were brought a steamed egg custard and miso soup to start. We added on a dish of boiled octopus (it tasted like the ocean!) before diving into our eight pieces of nigiri. I can’t remember all the names, but I do know that we had white shrimp, sweet shrimp, squid, pressed trout, mackerel, and the house special which was fried horse mackerel. Everything was beyond delicious and we were very happy!
We walked back to our hotel, but made a pit stop at Family Mart to buy the Insta-famous frozen creme brûlée. It’s famous for a good reason!
Tomorrow we head just outside Kanazawa to our ryoken!Leer más
Geisha, samurai, and ryokan
20 de julio, Japón ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C
We had some new konbini items for breakfast today which included a long sushi roll (salmon) and a cold noodle bowl along with a smoothie and yogurt. Ready to start the day, we took a bus to the Nishi Chaya District to see the tea houses. This area had been used as an entertainment district historically.
We walked to the Ohi Museum to see an exhibit about the history of pottery, but in particular, tea ceremony pottery and utensils. This is a craft that has a master and that master has been genealogically linked since the 17th century, with one deviation from the original family to an apprentice of the family. There is currently an 11th Ohi master living today and he has branched out into other types of art, but maintains the traditional of the historical kiln. We then had matcha in one of the vessels that was done in a particular historical manner.
Next, we took a cab over to the samurai district. Our cab driver spoke the best English out of anyone we have met so far! He was able to tell us about today being the national holiday called Marine Day, which also starts the summer holidays for school children. Marine Day celebrates the sea life and what it provides for the island. He also told us that in August, they celebrate Mountain Day. He said August is also a time to honour “Lose the War Day,” but I didn’t ask more about that one.
After leaving our lovely driver, we went into a traditional samurai home to explore. It was hard to take pictures, because the spaces are traditionally quite small, but hopefully you can see the tatami mats, the Buddha altar, and the beautiful green space that all the windows looked out onto. We also checked out the servants of a samurai’s lodgings. They would live right next to where the horses were stored in a barn-like structure. They would often have to share an outhouse, and there were very little comforts in the space.
It was time to get back to our hotel so that we could pack up and get checked out. At noon, we departed our hotel, but went back to the fish market for some lunch. Today, was less busy than yesterday, but I think that is because of the national holiday. We had octopus balls (takoyaki), crab legs, a little octopus, tentacle, and two croquettes, one was Kanazawa curry (amazing) and the other was a fish cake (very good). Of course, we had to wash that all down with Brad‘s new favourite beer from Tayoma!
We decided to shop a little bit before we could take a cab to our ryokan. This involved a curious stop at the capsule floor of a mall. We have seen these capsule machines all over Tokyo, so we finally had to put our coins in and check our luck. I got a punk rock, Frenchie, and Brad got a character from a well known Japanese artist. It was pretty fun! We also decided to share a gold leaf ice cream cone before leaving Kanazawa. It is definitely style over substance, but a fun idea to display the history of gold leaf in the city!
Our ryokan is located about 20 minutes outside of Kanazawa amongst farmers’ rice fields. A ryokan is a traditional Japanese “inn” - but it is more like a spa hotel than what I would I think of as an inn! You wear your traditional robe around the complex and traditional style meals are served. You can access the onsens, which are similar to a mineral pool or hot springs, at any time of day. We sprung for a deluxe room and it is the most beautiful place we have ever stayed! It is the length of three rooms with one room for beds, a sitting area and a fireplace; the middle room is like a screened porch with a view of a bamboo forest and waterfall; the third room is a huge vanity and shower, which leads out to your own private onsen. It’s bananas.
At 7, it was time for our keiseki dinner, which can be anywhere from 5-15 courses. We were seated in our own private room, much like those you’d see in a movie about geishas. We had SO much food and I won’t be able to remember the names of everything. Our appetizer spread featured a welcome drink, pumpkin soup, a nigiri wrapped in a bamboo leaf, octopus with okra, mochi, and a cube of compressed tomato. Second course was a soup with whitefish. The next course was a sashimi course with yellowfin tuna, sweet shrimp, squid, and two other fish, one might have been grouper? Then it was grilled river fish, which we ate whole. Next up was a corn fritter with a snow crab broth (one of our collective favourites!) followed by Noto beef with vegetables. The last savoury course was hot pot with eel, vegetables, miso soup, rice, and pickles. Dessert was an Earl Grey tea jelly with fresh peach and some fresh fruit. We basically had to roll out on the tatami mats!
It was nice to have this stop where all we had to do was relax! We are off to Kyoto tomorrow at noon and we keep hearing how over-touristed it is, so this break in a small town has been lovely.Leer más
Kyoto bound!
21 de julio, Japón ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
We got up at a very reasonable time today and used the onsen before going down for breakfast. We knew the spread would be large, but neither of us were prepared for all the food! We had yogurt, soft-boiled eggs, grilled fish, sashimi, pickled vegetables, salad, tofu and chicken meatball in chicken broth, and other things that I couldn’t tell you what they were! The ryokan has been such a fun experience and we were sad we had to leave the tranquil space and move along.
The ryokan arranged a taxi for us and we were off to Kanazawa Station to catch our Shinkansen to Kyoto. Despite not being the least bit hungry at the time, we grabbed some onigiri for later. This was not konbini onigiri, so there were more fillings to choose from! We got tempura shrimp, grilled salmon, and, for the last time, Kanazawa curry (it is really delicious!).
About two hours after leaving Kanazawa Station, we found ourselves in Kyoto! We quickly got a taxi and when our driver was stopped at lights, he made us an origami crane that could flap its wings. Pretty neat how fast he could fold! We got settled into our hotel, took a brief siesta, and then wandered over to see the shopping streets and the Yasaka-no-To Pagoda, which has been destroyed by fire and reconstructed several times. The current one was erected in 1440!
It was about 36c (and tons of humidity, so it feels way hotter) in Kyoto, so after the Pagoda stop as well as a few store stops, we dropped into a cute little place for a beer. One of the first things we noticed here was the English language signage everywhere, which we haven’t run into yet. And, the tourists are abundant here as well!
After a drink, we decided to try the Kyoto bus system to get to dinner. The Kyoto system is far more straightforward than the one in Kanazawa, so it was no problem! Dinner was at Teppanyaki Manyru, a restaurant that cooks everything on a flat-top, kind of like Ichiban but without the performance! We had okonomiyaki, which are like a big savory pancake made with cabbage and ours also had pork, shrimp and squid. In addition, we had fried garlic shrimp and omusoba, which had noodles and seafood on the bottom and a thin egg omelette on top. I also tried an icy sake! Everything was delicious and our counter seats allowed us to see how it was all made, so we enjoyed that as well!
It was 8:30pm, so we thought we’d try to go see the Fushimi Inari Taisha, or the 10 000 Tori gates that go up Mount Inari. We took the train, although we took the express line and missed our stop. Doubling back on the train, we finally reached our destination. The Tori gates are one of the most visited attractions here, but there was hardly anyone around when we visited! I think Brad took some great shots, even if it was dark. I’m also glad to have missed the crowds!
Now it’s off to bed. We plan to visit a few temples tomorrow and then we are eating lunch at a monastery!Leer más
Bamboo, a monastery, and art
22 de julio, Japón ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C
This morning we ate breakfast at the bakery in our hotel. We had bagel sandwiches and a mochi lemon donut - excellent! We took a taxi up the mountain to see a temple and it was about a 45 minute drive away. When we arrived, we discovered that, unfortunately, the temple is closed on Wednesdays! Lucky for us, we hadn’t left the taxi and so we just asked the driver to take us to the second temple we were going to see anyway.
The Adashino Temple used to be a graveyard, so there are some places you cannot take photos. It is now covered with many stone statues, and the ones in the shade have become covered in moss. There are also areas where you can pray to Buddha for different things like family safety, etc. There’s also a small bamboo forest you can hike through, which was really beautiful!
We started down the mountain so that we had time to get to our monastery lunch. We stopped at a cute cafe for a latte and chocolate mousse cake (delicious!) and to cool down. Onward, our path eventually took us past a beautiful lotus pond and then through the famous Arishiyana bamboo forest. Once through the forest, we went onto the monastery grounds, which featured meticulous gardens, and found the monastery. Lunch was served to us as we sat on the floor and the food was strictly vegetarian. We had cold potato soup, a warm broth soup, rice, a selection of pickled and raw vegetables, cucumber salad, mochi with red bean paste, eggplant with miso, melon, tofu with soy sauce, and probably other things that we weren’t sure what they were. It was a lovely lunch spread and a nice place to stop.
We then took a trolley and a bus back to the hotel to refresh ourselves and make an afternoon plan.
We decided to head to the Kyoto City Kocera Museum of Art. Once our bus got us there, we bought tickets to the Young British Artists and Beyond exhibit which featured works by Damien Hirst and others that were working prolifically in the 90s. It was organized thematically and featured a lot of timely (for the period) art pieces. After that show, we still had time until the museum closed, so we took in a show that displayed works by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, who was producing wood cuts in the 19th century. That show ended with an immersive video, which I will try to post a short snippet of!
After the museum closed, we wandered over to Kyoto Brewing and met some very nice guys from Ohio! One of the bartenders was from New Zealand, so we all shared some English-language conversation. Brad and I shared some fried squid with malt vinegar and that is definitely a winning combo!
Next, we popped in to a tiny eight seat taproom and had one quick beer while deciding what to do for dinner. Since we were in a shopping area, we decided to go to the food hall as it was almost 8. We picked a spot that served rice omelettes with curry sauce and it was really good comfort food. We then walked “home” for the night. Tomorrow we are taking a bus tour to Nara to see the bowing deer and then to Uji for a matcha making experience!Leer más
Nara and Uji
23 de julio, Japón ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C
We were up early today to get to our tour which was taking us to the former capital city of Nara, a World Heritage Site. We had a quick onigiri breakfast and hopped on the tour bus. Our guide, Tommy, shared a lot of interesting facts along the way. For example, we passed Fushimi Castle, which was built by a famous samurai in 1592 because the samurai class ruled Japan from the 12th century onward (it was ruled by emperors before that). Nara was built by emperors and they had a more elaborate style than the later-ruling samurais.
Our first stop was Kasuga Temple and it was built in 762. It is famous for its stone lanterns. It was seen as a place of protection for the Fujiwara family, a family that controlled politics. The Temple is protected by a deer-riding deity who is apparently very good at martial arts. The lanterns are lit every August 13th as that’s when Japanese people celebrate their version of Day of the Dead. Then we walked over to the famous deer park! Deer wander the town during the day, but they like to eat the grass at the park. You can buy a package of rice crackers to feed the deer, and if you bow to the deer, it will bow back. Anyone who has a dog will understand how this feeding of the deer can go wrong! The deer are smart and know when people have bought crackers, so they will absolutely swarm you. Having trained two dogs, Brad was quite good at keeping the hordes of deer at bay and I managed to get a cute video of a deer bowing with Brad!
Our last stop in Nara was Todaji Temple. It is one of the largest wooden buildings in the world and it houses a wooden Buddha that is 49 feet tall! We have seen a lot of Buddha statues, but this one made of wood was still really neat to see in person.
Back on the bus, we drove to Uji. We had lunch in Uji and enjoyed some tempura, tofu, rice, duck, and assorted things like tofu skin and the little egg omelette. It was a really nice group meal! We also got coupons for $1 off matcha ice cream, so obviously we also got a matcha ice cream cone! Uji is home to hand-picked matcha tea leaves and the UNESCO World Heritage site of Byodo-in Temple. It features the famous Phoenix Hall, which was constructed in 1053. If you could see an aerial view of the temple, it is in the shape of a phoenix! We were able to see a lot of artifacts and replicas in the temple’s museum, but we weren’t allowed to take any photos. This was such a bummer because the ornamentation was so incredible!
After the Temple, we walked to Uji’s oldest tea shop (allegedly dating back 500 years) and met with the 16th generation matcha maker. We also met his son (the 17th generation) who seemed a little less pumped about matcha than his 71-year old dad did! Anyway, we learned the tea ceremony rituals and then whisked our own matcha, which was way harder than it looked! We enjoyed our tea with a couple sweets before doing a bit of shopping in the area. It was finally time to head back to Kyoto, but we really enjoyed the entire day tour and our guide!
We were dropped off at Kyoto Station, so we were able to catch a bus to take us “home.” Feeling pretty worn out, we decided to grab a quick bite near our hotel. Lucky for us, there was a handmade udon noodle restaurant very close and they still had noodles left (they only make so many a day and then close when they run out). We shared a cold udon noodle dish with tempura chicken and a hot udon and beef curry dish. It was a tiny little shop with only two people working, but it was so delicious and the people working were lovely!
Tonight we need to do laundry and make a few bookings for meals and trains, so nothing more from today!Leer más
Gion Matsuri and sake
24 de julio, Japón ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C
This morning we had tickets to have front row seats for the second Gion Matsuri parade. We ate quickly at our hotel and then took a cab to our check-in point. It was already about 38c by 9am, so we were thankful that our reserved seats also got us a tote bag with water, a frozen electrolyte drink, fan, and commemorative scarf! The parade originally began in 869 as a way to rid the city of the plague. This was a popular strategy - if something bad was happening, either create a diversion or move cities. Anyway, apparently the plague did subside although it seems unrelated to the creation of this parade!
All the floats are built with wood and rope. There are no nails, screws, or glue used. They are all pulled on wooden wheels by men with large ropes. When they need to turn a corner, the entire structure is lifted and moved.
The parade began at 9:30 and the floats were incredible to see as we were so close to them. There were 11 floats in total and each one referenced history or mythology in some fashion. Although it was hot, we were so glad to have seen this special parade!
After the parade finished passing our seats, we went to the Kyoto Museum to see a show by Marimekko. I had always assumed she was Japanese, but today I learned that the artist/designer/architect was actually Finnish! Anyway, it was really neat to see the history of her print making, fabrics, clothing, and collaborations, which go back to the 1960s.
We thought the traffic snarl caused by the parade would be over, but we were wrong. We walked quite a ways before catching a bus to our hotel. We quickly dropped off some of our swag and tried to cool down. We grabbed a quick bite at the bakery and then were back in a taxi to head to Fushimi, the sake brewing area of Kyoto.
We were the only people on the tour, so we had our guide to ourselves! Our guide was a financial advisor, but he decided to do tours to improve his English instead. It should be noted his English was quite good, which is notable because most people do not speak any English here. Anyway, we started in the sake museum so we could learn about historical and modern sake production. Then, we tasted three of the largest and most historical brewery’s sakes. It was interesting how different they were from one another even though the appearance doesn’t change. Next, we walked to another sake brewery to see their products. We took our sake from the second brewery with us as souvenirs, as they were small bottles and we had an 18 sake tasting come up!
Our last stop was a complex that had 18 different sake brewery stands as well as food stands. Our guide got us the 18 tasting, but rest assured, we did not drink them dry! The idea was to try different ones to decide what type of sake you like. I, apparently, like low alcohol sakes. Brad liked the punchier ones. During our tasting, we had gyoza (delicious!), grilled edamame (good!), and the chef’s choice nigiri (the fish here is perfect!). The tour should have stopped there, but our guide wanted to buy us treats from a bake shop that he felt we needed to try. We were so full that we had to save them for later, but they look good!
We headed back to our hotel via subway and rested for a bit before deciding it was time to get supper. Brad found a place that specializes in unagi (eel) and so we attempted to catch a bus… that never came… and then we got on a different bus and headed to the main shopping corridor. It was PACKED with people. This is the busiest we’ve seen so far. Lucky for us, the restaurant was down a few winding side streets and away from the crowd.
We tried the “plain” unagi and the unagi with the house sauce. The eel was beautifully grilled and had a crispy skin. You got to add your own condiments to your unagi and rice, and we also had a soup and pickles. It was really good and the service here is amazing (even though there is a no-tipping culture).
Bellies full, we headed out and ran into an evening parade event! This weekend is full of various celebrations. It was not as big or elaborate as this morning, but it was cool to see nonetheless!Leer más
Golden Pavilion, market, and izakaya
25 de julio, Japón ⋅ ⛅ 36 °C
Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion) was on our must-see list this morning, but it required a 45 minute bus ride to get there. Kyoto looks small on a map, but it is very spread out and does not have a sufficient metro system to support it. Buses are often are only option, but as long as the bus shows up, they are easy to use!
We arrived and it wasn’t busy at all, which made it easier to see the beautiful Japanese gardens that surrounded the pavilion as well as the pavilion itself. The gold colour was really spectacular, so hopefully the pictures do it justice.
After exploring the pavilion, we got back on the bus and went to nishiki market. This market used to be shopping for locals, but has recently started catering to tourists more so. In any case, it still allowed us to try food from stalls, which we always enjoy! We had a whole pickled cucumber with lemon (very crunchy!), a red bean paste taiyaki (a fish shaped waffle that is eaten for good luck), and a melon bun (similar to a Mexican concha). In Japan, you cannot eat your food while walking around. So if you buy something, you have to stay at the stall and eat it while standing. We decided that we felt like a sitdown meal for lunch, so we went outside the market to a ramen restaurant.
At a lot of ramen restaurants, you have to order from a machine, which spits out tickets, and then you give the tickets to the staff. We tried the salt ramen, the light broth, and the soy ramen, the dark broth. Each one had different noodle thicknesses in it, and we enjoyed them very much! We also got onsen eggs, which were perfectly soft boiled. Feeling full, we decided to head back to our hotel to cool down and take a short nap.
Brad got us these great little vitamin C drinks to put the pep back in our step. They are sold at 7/11 and are really tasty (and allegedly good for your energy levels). We decided to get dressed up for our last night in Kyoto and then head to a cute, speakeasy cocktail bar, Grace Note, which was in the middle of a very residential area. The door was tiny and there were only 12 seats, but we had the place to ourselves for a bit! We ordered drinks - mine was a slushy drink with raspberry and wasabi and it was incredible! We also chatted with the bartender who learned English when he worked in Melbourne at bars.
Eventually, we needed to leave to make our reservation at Takasegawa. It is a small 6-seat restaurant where the chef cooks, cleans, and serves. Once again, we were the only people there, so we had impeccable service and had a chance to chat with the chef! We chose the chef’s choice menu, which meant he would serve us whatever he wanted.
We started with an array of appetizers - seaweed salad, salmon, eel, abalone, salmon roe, okra, and eggplant. Next course was a broth with poke followed by our sashimi course (mackerel- sooo good! and fatty tuna - always good!). The fourth course was the izikaya, so it was done on a small charcoal grill. We had chicken breast, chicken thighs, and chicken skin skewers - fantastic! Next was an unforgettable course of waygu beef. It was unbelievably delicious! Then, a sea bream soup and finally a creme brulee for dessert. It was an absolute feast and so beautifully prepared that we felt very lucky to have gone!
(I would also like to note that the chef complimented my Japanese pronunciation!)
Back at the hotel and being our last night in town, we went to the rooftop lounge for a final drink overlooking the city. Tomorrow we pack up and take the train to Hiroshima!Leer más
Sayonara Kyoto!
26 de julio, Japón ⋅ ⛅ 35 °C
After five days in Kyoto, it was time to pack our belongings and take the train to Hiroshima. We spent the morning packing our clothes and our new treasures before taking a taxi to Kyoto Station. At the station, we bought bento boxes for the train ride.
Our train arrived promptly at 12:25 and we boarded quickly. We enjoyed our bentos on the train and before we knew it, we had arrived. We navigated out of the station and found the taxi stand where we were confronted with a lengthy queue. Japanese people love a line and I’m here for how orderly everything is! It actually didn’t take too long to get a taxi and we arrived at our hotel about 15 minutes later.
We unpacked our things and got our bearings before going to the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Museum. The exhibit began with a wall mural of Hiroshima a few years before the atomic bomb was dropped. In the next room, the walls were covered with a view of the “city” after the bomb. There was almost nothing left. Then, you moved into room after room of personal stories and found objects after the bombing. The story of children being killed or losing their families were devastating and I could only stay and read so many. It reminded me of being confronted with the human stories of the Vietnam War in Saigon and how graphic the imagery they showed was. This was similar as you were subject to photographs of horribly, horribly burned people. It was truly awful, but I believe that’s the point. You should feel awful.
One of the remarkable things was how quickly Hiroshima rebuilt itself after the A-bomb. In just a few years, they had created a new city, but, that being said, so many people suffered grave consequences of being exposed to radiation including horrific injuries, ailments, and leukaemia. The exhibit was comprehensive and emotional, and I’m glad to have experienced it.
After the museum, we went to the cenotaph and burial mound close by. We also went to the building that “survived” the A-bomb and has been left standing as a reminder. A bit of a heavy afternoon, but an important reflection on how history is viewed in the West versus the East.
Feeling like we needed to get out of the heat, we went to a local brewery, Hiroshima Neighbourly Brewing, and tried some of their beers while eating fried oysters (with orange tartare sauce - citrus is very big here!) and edamame. We looked through some supper options online and decided to try to get into a place nearby but the line outside looked way too long, so we opted for a cute place two doors down.
We were glad we did! We had some of the best pan-sautéed oysters in the most beautiful sauce - they were epic! We also tried tempura octopus (a winner) and tempura corn (delightful!) as well as teriyaki eel on rice. It was a great dinner and, once again, the staff was so nice!
We walked back to our hotel along the river, which was really nice, and then went for our free rooftop cocktail before calling it a day.Leer más
Pancakes, gardens, and BBQ
27 de julio, Japón ⋅ ⛅ 35 °C
This morning, we decided we would go for the famous soufflé pancakes. The place we wanted to go did not open until 10 AM, so we did a bit of shopping once we got to the downtown area. At Cafe Soo, we sat down and Brad ordered the original soufflé pancakes while I got the strawberry soufflé pancakes. They take 15 to 20 minutes to make, probably because they are so thick but light and fluffy at the same time!
We took our first bites and we were not disappointed! They were so airy and I’m not even a fan of pancakes, but these were also not like any pancake I’ve ever had. Delicious!
After breakfast, we explored the department stores a little bit more before deciding to head to the gardens. We attempted to take the bus, but we could not find the place where the bus was supposed to be, so we finally decided to walk. I should mention it was 44°C here today with a UV index of 11, but nonetheless, we made it there.
The Shukkenien Garden was constructed in 1620. It features a pond in the middle, but also 10 islets. The stone bridges help you get from one area to another, and there are several small tea-cottage structures as well. The garden was destroyed by the a-bomb in 1945, but was reconstructed shortly after. We thought the garden was beautiful and was very much what one might think of when you think of a Japanese garden. The carp were also quite something to see!
Needing to cool off, we headed to the museum after the gardens. Although the museum was small, it had a number of interesting artworks and an exhibit about animals in art from A to Z. The showstopper was a huge Salvador Dali piece that he exhibited in 1939 in New York City as part of the World’s Fair.
Ready for a coffee, we headed to a little spot for a matcha before taking the bus to the central shopping area we visited yesterday. There, we went to a little bakery and deli for lunch and ate the most delicious tea sandwiches as well as a roast beef sandwich. We checked out some shops while we were there including a huge store that just sold stickers - they were very cool!
Back at our hotel, we had to take a few minutes to freshen up before heading out to our dinner reservation. Tonight, we were trying our hand at Japanese BBQ where they give you the meat and you grill it at your table.
We ordered a set menu, so we started with salad and a plate of two things that we can recognize as cuts of meat (both were excellent!) and then something that translated to “washing salt hormone” which we think was intestine (also really good!). Next was a barely seared beef nigiri. We also got kimchi and rice as sides for the meal. A plate of grey tripe was given to us and while this isn’t our first tripe experience, it also wasn’t our favorite tripe experience.
Then came the beautiful beef plate! It had skirt steak, waygu, and short rib. The short rib was our favorite! We thought that was a nice end to the meal… until they gave us one last plate of offal! The offal included liver (not big fans of it), stomach lining (we think! It was quite good!), and something we think was maybe diaphragm? The meal was really delicious, minus a couple things, and we felt we did a good job manning the BBQ!
On our way back, we stopped at a real grocery store to buy a few things for home. Then, it was time to do a bit of laundry and get ready for tomorrow!Leer más
Torii gates, soba, and okonomiyaki
28 de julio, Japón ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C
We were up at 6am to get started on our odyssey to Miyajima island. We had our typical konbini breakfast before getting on three subway trains and then a ferry. The journey took us over an hour, but as we approached the floating torii gates at Itsukushima Shrine, it seemed like our time had been well spent!
We planned our arrival for high tide so that the gate was submerged. You can obviously also go at low tide and almost walk out to the gate, but we wanted the full water effect. We got off the ferry and saw a few deer (it’s illegal to feed these ones, so there are no cute videos of bowing deer!) and wandered over to try and get some photos of the huge torii gates. We then visited the actual shrine, which is also perched above the water.
Next, we decided to walk to the aquarium as it was still early in the day and shops in Japan don’t open until 9 or 10. The aquarium was fantastic! We saw moray eels (we have been eating the smaller conger eel), finless porpoises, blowfish, rays, a ton of crazy fish species, an octopus, so many creepy beetles (like a rhinoceros beetle!), and also saw the penguins being fed. We liked that it featured a lot of local sea life!
After the aquarium, we walked back to the main shopping area in search of a few souvenirs - most importantly, a yakata for our niece (which we finally found!). It was so hot that we grabbed a quick beer at the island’s brewery and then headed back towards the ferry for our journey “home.”
Once we arrived back in Hiroshima, we went for soba noodles. The place we picked had a bit of a line, but moved quickly. There were no tourists in line either, so we felt that it must be a good local spot! We had the cold soba noodles and the duck broth (hot) soba noodles with tempura. Brad said the tempura shrimp was the best tempura shrimp he has ever had! The soba noodles were excellent and the meal did not disappoint!
We went back to the hotel to cool off and take a quick nap before setting out to see the art museum. There was a huge Miffy bunny exhibit on, but everything was in Japanese or Dutch, so we only got the gist of it. We also viewed their permanent collection which was just ok. We sat down for a matcha and a latte to decide what to do next.
Since we were in the area, we decided to just go for supper after we grabbed a few things at a kitchen store in the mall. The malls are so great here - they have everything! They are outdoor stores, but covered by a huge canopy so it’s sheltered but still open.
Hiroshima has their own style of okonomiyaki, which I wanted to try. We went to a floor in a high rise building where there were no less than five open restaurants serving okonomiyaki! Brad knew which one was best, so we got a seat at the counter of this super cute husband and wife team. She was a grill master! It was truly impressive to watch her cook so many okonomiyaki at once. Brad had the oyster one and I had a seafood one - both were delicious!
Bellies quite full, we walked back to our hotel. Tonight we need to pack up as we head back to Tokyo on the Shinkansen tomorrow for a few days to cap off our trip!Leer más
Sayonara Hiroshima!
29 de julio, Japón ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C
Just like that we are headed back to Tokyo! Our stay in Hiroshima has been memorable, but we had to pack up and take one last bullet train this morning. The ride from Hiroshima to Tokyo takes about four hours, but we are traveling over 800 kms, so the bullet train is the way to go! Of course we had to grab one last bento box for the train ride!
The ride itself was nothing to note except that our train moved exceptionally fast through the country! We enjoyed our bentos and relaxed until arriving at Tokyo Station. From there we grabbed a taxi and made our way to the Shinbashi prefecture of Tokyo, which is a different neighborhood than we stayed in at the start of the trip. We checked in to our very cute hotel and were pleased to see that it was very spacious - this is not really the case for most of our hotel rooms as space is at a premium. We got settled in and then decided to go to a new lifestyle concept where you can live, eat, and work, but they also have a lot of open public spaces.
First, we went to the food “lab” which is like a big modern food court, but more focused on the science of food. So, for example, there was a fermentation lab which brewed beer, but also made bread and pizzas. A chocolate lab tempered and made fancy chocolates. There was also a coffee lab where you could pick your beans based on different bean characteristics, etc. We got a table and I ordered an iced matcha while Brad had a black IPA. We also got a great little pizza to share. The whole environment was quite a chill vibe!
Next, we ventured to the Museum of Narratives. We paid to see an exhibit about the future and it was crazy. We went down into this subterranean level where we were asked to put on a headset. Then, we entered a room where an android was looking through a photo album, but the “memories” were projected onto a video screen. The android was very human-like and kept having emotional reactions to the memories being played (it would also make eye contact with you - crazy!). A robot led us through various rooms which unfolded a story about a grandmother who discovers (through use of a health-analysis mirror!) she is dying. Then, she has to decide if she is going to die naturally or if she wants her memories implanted into an android so that she can keep living! I won’t ruin the ending… but if you paid attention to the beginning of the narrative, you’ll know the answer. Anyway, it was like living through an episode of Black Mirror! It was intended to make us think about what makes a life and the future possibilities of continuing life. It all ended with a three-android performance and those androids were very lifelike as well!
Wild.
Anyway, you can also go to these “spaces” at the Museum where you can just chill. There’s a room filled with tatami mats; a room with bean bags; a room with a garden; outside you can go to a solar heated moat and put your feet in while looking at the Tokyo skyline. We’ve never seen anything like it! This futuristic vision of a micro-city was truly like peeking into the future.
Feeling the need to get back to the present, we took the subway back to our area and stopped into a very lively brewpub that used to be a print shop. We had a beer and shared edamame, chili fries, and shrimp and octopus in garlic oil. This may have been our least “Japanese” food day, but everything really hit the spot. It was a weird and wacky afternoon and evening in Tokyo!Leer más
Last full day in Tokyo
30 de julio, Japón ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
I had class this morning, so Brad went and got us breakfast while I was online. When the class wrapped up, we went for lattes at a place not far from our hotel. Brad also ordered us a honey butter toast, which was so good!
We decided to head to a ramen place that specializes in clam broth ramen. We took a bus and then the subway to get there. When we arrived there was already a line! Luckily, we got a spot when they opened at 11. I had clam and scallop ramen while Brad just had the clam ramen. Our next stop was the Ginza Lion Beer Hall, which has been around since 1934! It looks like a German-style beer hall and has a wheat motif with glass bricks and a huge mosaic above the bar. It was a very happening place!
Before leaving the Ginza area, we went on a mission to find a small bakery that specializes in cream puffs. It is located under the train tracks in a cool, semi- underground mall. They only fill your puff once you order it, so it doesn’t get soggy - and it was divine!
It was time to get back on the subway so we could return to the kitchenwares street as Brad was ready to make a decision about a Japanese knife! He had taken pictures of a few he liked, so we went back and tried them out and made our purchase. We also stopped in at a few other stores along the way.
We made one final stop at a street near a temple which sells souvenirs. We wanted to get a daruma and a few other small things to remember our time here!
It was late afternoon and time to head to our hotel to cool down and relax before getting ready for our fancy omakase dinner. Omakase is typically driven by fresh, raw fish and you are served whatever the chef bought at the market that day.
The omakase Brad picked out for us only had eight seats and you sat at the table while the chef cut all the fish and prepared each dish right in front of you! Our chef was so lovely, and he was a ninja with his knife skills - we were so impressed! We ate so many things that I can’t possibly recount them all, but some of our dishes included: dashi soup with vegetables, sea clam, lean tuna marinated in soy sauce, grouper with Parmesan, abalone and octopus with winter melon, shrimp, squid fin grilled but also served in tiny slices as sashimi, horse mackerel, bonito, tuna cheek, fatty tuna, baby sardines topped with roe, grilled eggplant with grilled fish, eel, egg omelette, miso soup (no picture), and green tea with shiso red leaf and green leaf granita. I’m certain I’ve missed some, but it was all so delicious! We had a great final dinner in Japan!
After we were done (I think we were there for two hours!), we took the subway “home.” Our flight tomorrow doesn’t leave until 6:30pm local time, so we still have part of our day tomorrow to enjoy!Leer más
Tokyo eats and delays
31 de julio, Japón ⋅ ☁️ 33 °C
We had our last konbini breakfast this morning and then Brad grabbed us lattes from around the corner so that we could enjoy them while packing (because no one enjoys packing). We took our time as checkout wasn’t until noon.
We left our luggage at the hotel and set out on the subway to head to a department store food hall to get a few different things for lunch. We settled on a sandwich sampler (egg salad, ham, and a fruit and whipped cream sandwich), a curry bun, and an Earl Grey scone. We went to the rooftop terrace to eat and then headed to grab some Japanese beauty products.
By chance (or not?), we ended up by the Ginza Beer Hall again. We had time, so we popped in. After we ordered beers, we discovered our flight had been delayed until 9:10pm! Suddenly we had a lot more time than we thought. While we were eager to start our journey home, we tried to make the best of it.
We took the subway to Shibuya where we could try the famous “i m donut?” - their spelling, not mine. We tried a chocolate matcha donut, a caramelized toffee donut, and a pistachio cream donut (the best one!). It was fairly close to Blue Bottle Coffee, where we had gone when we were first in Tokyo. We sat down there for a coffee and to chill before heading back to the hotel to grab our luggage.
We had to take two trains to get to the airport, which probably took over an hour. Check-in went smoothly and we spent some time checking out the mall at the airport (the love for malls is real here!). Once we got to our gate, we saw a family from Calgary that we had met in Kyoto! We chatted about their travels for a bit.
While we are sad to leave Japan (it’s so clean, so safe, everyone is so polite, and the food is incredible everywhere!), we are looking forward to being in our own, much softer bed and seeing our two boys again soon!Leer más
