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Japan 2026!
  • Shalee Gherbaz
  • Shalee Gherbaz

Japan 2026!

One month in Japan doing Shalee's customised "Golden Figure 8 Loop" Japan itinerary of the central island of Japan. Read more
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  • Shalee GherbazJapan 2026!Traveler
    1

    Senso-ji Temple, Asakusa... At night!

    February 21 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 11 °C

    We had to get the subway to Asakusa, which is one stop down from our local subway, so we figured we would go down and explore Senso-ji temple complex tonight instead of during the day tomorrow afternoon, which will free Michael up to do some Shinjuku exploring for camera stuff and for me to have some chill time to myself.

    Such a good idea. It was awesome at night! About a 90% reduction in tourists, moments where you can make it look like the whole complex is empty, and it's beautifully lit up. Not to mention all the gorgeous lanterns being lit up at night. Such a wonderful way to explore the complex!    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazJapan 2026!Traveler

    Bag delivery service and matcha!

    February 22 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    We have said goodbye to our luggage, which is now en route to our hotel in Kanazawa, skipping our quick 2 day stopover in Nagano coming up. We sent our bags with Yamamoto Transport, and it was such an easy process! We are doing this throughout our trip, but our hotels are organising on our behalf for the rest of the trip. This was the only one we had to do ourself, so I was a bit nervous but it went super well! And only $26 per suitcase. A very convenient service for travellers!

    I wanted to grab a proper iced matcha and there was a place that was only a short detour from the subway we need to take to get to the Tokyo Creative Museum, and boy am I glad we did. This was hands down the best iced matcha I've ever had. I went for the slurpee version as I had one in Melbourne that I LOVED, and this topped it. Seriously yum! And the eye candy in the store also helped 🤣🤣🤣 there are some gorgeously pretty Japanese men and women here in Tokyo. Michael just laughed at me hahahaha!    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazJapan 2026!Traveler

    Capcom Dreams: Creative Tokyo Museum

    February 22 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    Another great rec by our friend Erin. This exhibition was super cool. It explored the history of Capcom, the making of various game franchises (including resident evil which is Michaels absolute favourite), interactive exhibits where you used motion capture, behind the scenes of the making of, and all sorts of other stuff! It was really enjoyable to explore and Michael was stoked and was able to get a heap of merch. He's going to outspend me 10 to 1 at this point 🤭🫣🤣🤣🤣Read more

  • Shalee GherbazJapan 2026!Traveler

    Amazing Ramen at Tsujita Kyobashi

    February 22 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    We queued up with the locals for a good 20 minutes to grab some ramen from a 12 seater ramen place around the corner from the Creative Museum and it was so worth it! We both had their special pork broth ramen, except Michaels came with cold noodles you dunk in the boiling broth and mine came all mixed together. It was SO GOOD!!! Probs my fave ramen ever. Broth was crazy tasty, noodles extra soft and slurpy, and the pork was melt in your mouth. Big thumbs up!!!Read more

  • Shalee GherbazJapan 2026!Traveler

    Shopping in Shinjuku and chill time!

    February 22 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    We ducked out to Shinjuku for the afternoon to go check out a book off store. Book off is like a secondhand shop but for nerds, so it's got like, 4 floors of used electronics, DVDs, video games and anime stuff. I am keeping an eye out for Serena stuff and came across all the glass protected Pokemon cards. I thought I was done for, as I finally found her but she was over $100 for a single card (apparently it was a rare kind and they only had 1), but then I discovered an area with thousands of them all just free and scrambled. I absolutely dug through the trenches of thousands of Pokemon cards but eventually I found her and managed to Clemont and Shauna as well (for anyone unaffiliated, these are characters out of a specific series of Pokemon aka the best series), and I got Serena's Pokemon Fennekin in a soft toy for $9 (a score given any new Pokemon plushie merch is like $40-60). I'm thinking I'll keep an eye out anytime we go to nerd shops to see if I can find as many of the characters as I can.

    Then I headed back for some downtime whilst Michael continued to shop looking for specific niche camera gear stuff, before I headed out for some dinner locally. It was so funny because Michael ended up getting dinner out on his way home, and when we exchanged pics, we were eating a similar vibe meal bahahahahahaha! Great minds or something like that. I had pork katsudon as a half serve and with a prawn as well. Michael ended up having gyukatsu, which is crumbed like my pork but it's rare beef that you then cook at the table. He said it was scrumptious, as was my food!

    The food here... When it hits, it really hits. It's all in the little details. Like, the mayo for the prawns had a little extra unique flavour to it, the crumb was fresh and crisp, and the pork oozed juices so it melted in the mouth.

    I also had a delicious matcha ice cream with a half serve of canele in pistachio and salted caramel and again... So good! Strong matcha flavour, and the caramelisation and crunch on the outside of the canele... My god!

    We have had a great time in Tokyo and now it's time to say goodbye until the end of our trip, with us heading off into the coldest part of our trip... Nagano!    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazJapan 2026!Traveler

    Bullet train to Nagano

    February 23 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    We managed to get all of our gear in our carry on bags to commute to Ueno station so that we can get the Shinkansen 🚅🚅🚅 to Nagano. Left two minutes late, but there's loads of space in our reserved area for our carry on bags, lots of legroom, and an overall super comfy train (it's almost designed like a plane!) Will take just over an hour to get to Nagano, and we expect to be 🥶❄️☃️ the snow has held out so it looks like we will be doing the snow monkey park and Togakushi shrine in the snow!

    We also got some cute banana caramel cakes for a quite bite of breakfast. Super yum!    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazJapan 2026!Traveler

    Curry for lunch!

    February 23 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    So it turns out today is the emperor's birthday or something, so it's a national holiday and a lot of the shops and restaurants are closed. We wandered about to find a curry shop on Google maps that said it was open, but it was closed. We realised KFC was around the corner so figured that's what we would have to have ... And then in a tiny alley on the way there was another curry shop that was actually open!

    What a find! It was themed! Super cute, had loads of curry options and reasonably priced. Michael ended up having pork curry that had amazing, melt in your mouth pork, and I had a soybean curry bun and the bacon and potato curry with egg omelette. Everything tasted great and hit the spot, plus it came with free yoghurt ice cream!

    Love experiencing funny little discoveries to find some good grub for lunch!    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazJapan 2026!Traveler

    Zenko-ji Temple Complex

    February 23 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    We headed up to the Zenko-Ji Temple Complex to wander about and explore Nagano City's most famous spot. It's a beautiful complex with lots of temples and statues, gorgeous bonsai trees, loads of shops and eateries, and has an overall traditional vibe. We loved wandering around here, and even enjoyed some nibbles and drinks on our way back to the hotel.Read more

  • Shalee GherbazJapan 2026!Traveler

    Funny retro shop!

    February 23 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    On the way back home we came across this super random retro shop that had a bunch of random left of field stuff. Michael had been looking for stickers for his Japan journal at the temple but they were all rubbish or super expensive (like 1700 yen for one sticker). Then we get here, and there's a bunch of cool stickers for 100 yen each. Score! Plus, we saw Michael's old motorbike on the street, some cool houses, a military shop and a super cool temple.Read more

  • Shalee GherbazJapan 2026!Traveler

    Chisun Grande Nagano

    February 23 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C

    We dropped off our bags as soon as we arrived but we arrived early so didn't get back to our room until about 4.30pm. We've got room 711 which is so perfect and easy to remember given we are swimming in 7/11s here!

    The room is great for $135 a night. Has everything you need, super smart use of space, the single beds are king singles so they're extra wide, they come with little pyjama dressing gowns, and there are a range of smart features that make it a great find of a 3 star hotel.    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazJapan 2026!Traveler

    Saizeriya Italian Bistro for dinner

    February 23 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

    Tonight we've opted for some super cheap, Italian comfort food as we just had to wander about until we found open places and this one was pumping with locals. Not gonna lie, it hit the spot. Simple, super basic food with unlimited drinks refills all for like $20 between us. No complaints! Now to have a relaxing night in before a big day tomorrow!Read more

  • Shalee GherbazJapan 2026!Traveler
    1

    Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park: The trek!

    February 24 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    Today we are on a private tour to explore the mountainsides around Nagano with two key locations in mind: the Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park, and Togakushi Shrine.

    Our tour guide and driver today is Dai, and we have a very comfy van to get around in. Dai has lots of great knowledge about the area, and will come along with us to take snaps for us and give us tips and information about the places we are visiting. He is also organising our lunch based on our preference of "must have meat!" I will break down each section of trip for our photos as one part, and Dai's photos as another part, because we got so many amazing snaps!

    We have also completely lucked in weather wise. Central Japan has had an unexpected heat wave during their winter, and Nagano is also impacted. Which means that, instead of doing this park at anywhere between -5 degrees and 2 degrees like we anticipated, we are sitting around 10 degrees, which means only two layers of tops for me! The shrine in the afternoon is even better, reaching a whopping max of 15 degrees! Yet the snow still well and truly stands! Sure, it's melted in spots, but who cares! It's snow haha!

    Once we arrived at the entrance, it was a 1.6km trek to the actual monkey park. Michael bought us crampons to attach to our boots before we got to Japan, and boy oh boy was this a smart move! People were slipping, it was wet, it was muddy, and we didn't have to stress at all because we were cramping onto the ground and moving with ease!

    However... People suck at etiquette. We are on slim pathways that have inches of snow with people going in and out of the area, and you have couples hand holding and blocking up the road, idiots on phone calls in the centre walking in zig zags, or groups who can't get any handle on single file walking systems. It's like cars... Get out of the right hand lane, you slow, spatially unaware bozo! Pffft!

    Apart from that, the walk to the park itself was gorgeous. Especially with the light peppering of snow. I haven't been in the snow since I was very young so this was super exciting for me to see the snow! And paired with the green trees... So nice! Plus, we could see the onsen and ryoken that are here as well, and even a geyser going full pelt! Plus, I got to wear my beanie that I got from Petite Mura back in Kichijochi in Tokyo and my big coat from the Shimokitazawa Flea Market, so I looked extra cute and ready to spot the monkeys!    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazJapan 2026!Traveler

    Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park: The Monkeys

    February 24 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Monkeys bathing, monkeys playing, monkeys chilling, monkeys being cute! All the monkey things!

    As you'd expect, the park smells like sulphur and monkey poops. Who cares when you can be a metre away from two monkeys having a play fight in a hot spring. Not this gal! Not hubby! We were wandering about, checking out the monkeys, taking snaps, watching all the drama unfold. Michael got some amazing footage that I can't wait to get once we get home. And whilst it was busy, it wasn't anything outrageous, like, you could get a front row look with a bit of patience and smart maneuvering.

    But yes, we really enjoyed seeing the monkeys in the hot springs in the snow!    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazJapan 2026!Traveler

    Soba for lunch!

    February 24 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Dai took us to a soba place that is run by family friends of his and have owned this soba restaurant for four generations in a town that we have no idea of, but that is about 10 minutes from the top part of Togakushi Shrine. It was one of those traditional places where you sit on the low tables to eat. Soba is a buckwheat noodle that is designed to be both filling but light.

    Dai explained the history of soba, the restaurant, deep dived into the menu for us, and explained the current regional and seasonal specialty soba. Luckily for us, two of the speciality soba were right up our alley: the pork soba with pork broth, and the smoked duck and caramelised spring onion soba with duck broth. Dai and I got the duck, and Michael got the pork. Michael also opted for a blueberry beer that was brewed locally.

    Everything was divine... Except the mushrooms hahahaha. The flavours, the size, the texture of the noodles... So, so good. Michael even enjoyed the beer! And I drank all the buckwheat tea! Even the pickled veg was nice! So filling and delicious.    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazJapan 2026!Traveler

    Togakushi Okusha Shrine

    February 24 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Our final stop for the day was Togakushi Shrine. The shrine complex actually spans the entire mountain over seven shrines, and we were heading to the one at the very top.

    The weather was sublime. Didn't even need a coat! And the snow... The snow! It was well and truly there. Dai explained that we were actually walking along snow that was well over a metre compacted in.

    This was a 2km walk up to the gate and cedar trees. It was stunning. Tourists and visitors, but honestly, very minimal in the grand scheme of themes. So much so that you had huge chunks of empty footpath to play with for photos.

    Unfortunately, disrespectful tourists did poo poos (literally) in the shrine complex at the top as well as other feral shenanigans so the Japanese government was like, stuff you all, no shrine or cedar trees for anyone. So you could only go up to the main gate and about eight metres into the very base of the area. In saying that... It was gorgeous. The contrasts of the bare trees with the cedar trees and the snow and the gate... So stunning!

    Very grateful for our crampons here, as the snow was punchy!    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazJapan 2026!Traveler

    The Snow! Mt Togakushi

    February 24 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Despite not being able to walk through the cedar trees, all the rest of the open Forrest area is up for exploring, so we did a pivot with Dai and basically got the whole Forrest area to ourselves! There were snowmen, amazing mountain views, DEEP snow to our ankles, amazing views of trees, and it was just so much fun to play around in the snow!

    We've had such a great day today. The drive home was beautiful as well, as we could see all the mountains around us with their varying degrees of snow as well as a full birds eye view of Nagano City (it's WAY bigger than we thought) and how it's completely surrounded by mountains! It's hard to snap pics in the car so we just enjoyed the views. We even did a crazy section of road where it was zig zagging down the mountain. It was so intense that that section of the road has an anime about it from the 90s or something and it's caged! Crazy! What a day! Once we get the snaps of Dai's back, I'll add additional steps (as they are the ones Michael and I together and a bunch of candids). Definitely worth the $600!!!

    Also, super random and cute, but when we got back to the hotel, room service had made up our rooms... And tucked my Fennekin Pokemon into the bed with my eye beanbag as it's pillow 🤣🥰🤣🥰😻😻😻😻 kawaii!    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazJapan 2026!Traveler

    Nan and pop shop: tempura for dinner

    February 24 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    We were planning on trying to get Yakiniku for dinner, but all three places near us were fully booked or didn't take customers who didn't speak Japanese (as they spoke no English and they were 1-2 worker places), so we wandered about until we came across a tempura place. It was one of the 12 seater shops where you order your food from the vending machine and then they cook it in front of you and serve over the countertop.

    It took us a while to work out that you needed to put the money in first before selecting items, and a translation mishap on Michael's phone led to me getting eggplant instead of sweet potato, but apart from that, everything else went smoothly and we now know how to order at these places. This one was solely different types of tempura (items fried in light batter). Michael got a set and I picked out a bunch of individual items.

    The shop was run by an efficient elderly pair who smashed through the orders, and the food was delicious. Amazing prawns! The batter is so light and not even the slightest bit oily! Plus I was down to have some veg, so this got in me some yam, pumpkin and broccoli. Michael loved his tempura egg all mixed in with his serve of rice and miso.

    When back in our hotel lobby, we realised they have this great station of free stuff, like shavers and facial creams and little free nibbles and a coffee and tea station, so we decided to have hot chocolates for dessert. Whilst there, we got chatting to an American couple and their nephew about a wide range of things about Japan. When we asked them how long they were here and what their planning was, we found out the craziest story.

    The nephew and their son had just turned 18, and had come to Japan for a month with money they'd saved up from working part time jobs to celebrate finishing high school. Their plan was two weeks on the slopes to ski board and then two weeks of sightseeing around Japan. On day 8, the son went a bit too hard on the slopes... And fractured five vertebrae in his spine.

    So mum and dad had to fly over, the son is in the Nagano hospital recovering after having a bunch of screws put in his back, and his parents, whilst they hate that their son fractured his back, are very relieved he fractured it here in Japan where they only have to pay $18k for his surgery instead of $200k back in the states. Plus, the second best spinal surgeon in the world works at this very hospital (probably because too many people keep having snowboarding and skiing injuries) and their son has had the best treatment he could have gotten. Alas, he's out on Sunday, and they all fly back to the states, and then will most likely fly back over here when/if he needs the pins in his spine removed, and then they can have the vacation the boys had originally planned.

    Absolutely wild turn of events. The things you learn over a hot chocolate with strangers playing cards by saying hello.    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazJapan 2026!Traveler

    The bullet train to Kanazawa

    February 25 in Japan ⋅ 🌧 7 °C

    We said goodbye to Nagano and caught the bullet train out to Kanazawa on the eastern side of Japan. The scenery was absolutely beautiful because it was snow and villages and mountains and rice paddies all mixing and changing for a good chunk of it! But it's "blink and you'll miss it" as there are all these rails put up and you go through the mountains, so it's kind of just better to take the scenery and enjoy it as it comes, but we did try to take a few snaps, particularly with my kindle as I was able to rest it up against the window so I could read when we were in tunnels and look when we weren't!

    Also, how cute are our snow monkey souvenirs we got from the snow monkey park! Their hands have magnets in them so you can wrap them around anything!    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazJapan 2026!Traveler

    Bakery Breakfast at Pan Brother's

    February 25 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    We quickly dropped off our excess bags at the hotel we are staying at for three nights here in Kanazawa. Our suitcases had arrived without issue, which was great. Moving forward, all our hotels will organise our luggage forwarding so long as we provide our luggage by the deadlines, which is awesome!

    Our hotel also provided us with umbrellas, as it's been raining all morning here in Kanazawa, which was super handy. We had a few good hours to kill before we can check in so we are going to check out a few places on my key itinerary, and we have added on an idea of Michael's for later, so it should be a great day.

    On the way to our first destination, we headed to Pan Brothers, which is a bakery I found online that was between our hotel and our destination, to get some yummy baked treats for breakfast. It reminded us of the breadtop chain back home, but with very different items to ours! But the tray and tong style of ordering is exactly how we are used to doing things back home.

    Michael got a banana bread, a curry bread, and a sausage bread. I got a chocolate sandwich, curry bread, and, of all things, a mugwort cake. Which, given I'm cramping like a she-demon, was karmic support at its finest.

    All of it was delicious, and we enjoyed it on undercover seating in a chill park area. I only ate half my choccie bread and mugwort, as I'm gonna need the herbal support!    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazJapan 2026!Traveler

    Kanazawa Castle Complex

    February 25 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    The rain managed to hold off for us today, which meant we got to explore the lovely Kanazawa Castle complex with the prettiness of rainy skies but none of the drops! No complaints there!

    The Castle is currently under major renovations in one particular spot, but the rest was explorable and super cool! There were all sorts of buildings and also a beautiful garden that people weren't allowed to enter, which meant the pictures were so gorgeous! We really enjoyed exploring around here.Read more

  • Shalee GherbazJapan 2026!Traveler

    Kenrokuen Park

    February 25 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    These are the gardens opposite the Castle complex, and my god they are stunning! The colours, the shapes, the variety, the design, everything was just beautiful everywhere you looked! I'll let Michael's amazing pictures speak for themselves on this one!Read more

  • Shalee GherbazJapan 2026!Traveler

    Higashi-Chaya Street

    February 25 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    We had a quick snoop around Higashi Chiya District, which is the traditional geisha district of Kanazawa. It's very pretty, but a lot of it is more high end in terms of the shops and restaurants. Very tourist designed. We snooped around areas slightly outside of it that were residential and empty and just as interesting!Read more

  • Shalee GherbazJapan 2026!Traveler

    Wagyu Burgers at Shonen Burger

    February 25 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    A bit of a pricier lunch today, but given where we were the options were limited and we were very hungry!

    Alas, no regrets. The burgers were delicious, and it turns out this restaurant has won awards for their Wagyu patties! Michael was rapt with his burger, I mean, check out the amount of wagyu patty there is!!! Yummo.Read more

  • Shalee GherbazJapan 2026!Traveler

    Kanazawa Eco Town: Op shopping on crack

    February 25 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Michael suggested we check out rural Book Offs and Hard Offs to see how they differ compared to Tokyo in price and variety, so we caught a go taxi out into the sticks to explore the Book Off and Hard Off. These chains are kind of like our cash converters mixed with our op shops in Australia, as everything is second hand.

    It was a very wise decision indeed. Prices were outrageously cheaper than Tokyo, and yet, the variety was just... Insane. Crazy stuff. Not only that, but the Hard Off ended up being an Eco Town, which is where a bunch of the chains all combine into one. So we had Hard Off (hardware and electronics), Hobby Off (every knick knack under the sun) and Off House (clothing and homewares) all in one large building!

    Michael got himself a 16mm camera lens for $70AUD (score, also, the pic of his current lens shows the size different in how much lighter this lens he bought is), and two original Donkey Kong Game Boy/Game Boy Colour games for around $6 each! Then I got myself five knick knacks for 330 yen (like, $3 AUD, so 60 cents a piece) that consisted of two sensory toy plushies, a coin purse for Michael as his wallet doesn't have one and Japan is loaded with coins, a portable black lace shopping bag, and a cute Kirby shopping bag. I also found a fluffy bumbag for $3AUD, a handbag that I'll use for days where we don't need the backpack for $10AUD, and a Pokemon keychain for $3.

    What I unfortunately did not get was the amazing Serena figurine that I found. I couldn't believe it. A Serena figurine- score! Just what I wanted... Until I saw the price. 34 THOUSAND yen (around $300 Australian dollars). Yikes! I looked it up and this particular figurine is extremely rare and sells online for about $450 AUD. So, like, bargain, but also, I'm not spending $300 on a figurine. I have limits. $20 is about the limit bahahaha! And I thought the $130 Serena Pokemon card I found at the last Book Off was expensive... Why girl! Why are you expensive? I know why (it's because she's the best poke girl) but still!

    Oh well, I will keep on the hunt for a Serena plushie or a keychain of some sort. We have plenty of Hard Offs to explore. Hopefully something within the price range shows up.

    Below are some things we saw that blew him away.

    - Zelda A Link To The Past in its original box for just under $30 AUD (a super nintendo game from 1991)
    - Actual Super Nintendo consoles in their original boxes for $50 AUD
    - Boxed copies of Super Mario All-stars, Super Mario RPG, all under $20 AUD
    - large electronic pianos for $150 AUD
    - A large Dragonite plushie (that was not going to fit in my suitcase) for 110 yen (basically just over 1 Australian dollar)
    - every gaming console under the sun, some super random deep cuts and special editions, all at super cheap pricing
    - old school MP3 players for $20 AUD
    - large, high quality suitcases for under $40 AUD

    We will definitely be keeping our eyes out for these stores through out the trip!    Read more

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