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Japan 2024
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sept. – oct. 2024

Japan 2024

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  • EattravelmoveJapan 2024Voyageur
    View from the hotel rooftop bar
    Karaage setFruit sandwichesRandom vending machine1Yep, an ice cream vending machine

    Hiroshima Day 2

    2 octobre 2024, Japon ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    It was much cooler outside today and our first rainy day of the trip. After breakfast, we decided it would be a day of embracing japanese culture. So we took a bus to Hiroshima outlet shopping mall 🤔 It was located on the outskirts of the city and was about 35 minutes by bus.

    It was one of those sprawling outdoor malls with heaps of brand names. We both bought ourselves presents, and now to work out how to fit them in our bags 😄 We shared some karaage and rice for lunch before heading back on the bus with all the pensioners.

    As it was raining, we took the opportunity to do some clothes washing - aah, the glamour of travelling 😉

    In the evening, we had a few drinks at the hotel rooftop bar and then went out to a Saizeriya restaurant for dinner - those ¥400 carafes of wine are quite alluring. Unfortunately, there are no robot waiters at this restaurant. We did sit next to the most annoying and loud japanese men - I think they were yakuza!

    Back to the hotel rooftop bar for a night cap. We chatted with a lovely French lady, Anais, who was visiting with friends.

    A bit more of a chilled day!    En savoir plus

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  • EattravelmoveJapan 2024Voyageur
    Urinal overlooking the streetPuppies

    Hiroshima Day 3

    3 octobre 2024, Japon ⋅ 🌧 23 °C

    It's overcast today and a cooler 19c, thank God. We had our Tullys breakfast - we went to the same store on the shopping street. We then put our rain jackets on and set off to do some sightseeing - you can't let a little rain get in your way.

    We took a streetcar to Hiroshima station and then walked from there to Shukkeien Gardens. It's a large japanese gardens and very well maintained. There were a lot of tourists wandering around, including some loud Australian bogans. It reminded me of Kath and Kim - "it's different, it's unusual."

    The Gardens were really beautiful, and we wondered around reading the little plaques. I read a plaque that outlined that the tree in front of us was the only original ginkgo tree in the garden, having miraculously survived the bomb. There was also a small timber shrine that had survived. It's these little reminders that the locals have retrieved and restored their heritage from the ashes.

    We then walked about 10 minutes to the site of Hiroshima castle. There is a reconstructed castle on the grounds of the ruins - it's a big area, so I can only imagine there would have been many other structures.

    It was now lunchtime, so we took the streetcar back to the Hondori area. We were aiming at okonomoyaki from the same place, Nagataya, we visited twice on our previous visit to Hiroshima. This place has become super popular, and the lineup was insane, so we decided to go elsewhere.

    We walked around the corner to try our luck at Number 3 steak restaurant, and we were lucky again. The chef remembered us from the other night! We ordered the lunch special, slices of tender beef on rice; it was magnificent.

    In the evening, we were in the mood for fish and chips and a cold beer. It's still a bit wet outside so we had our rain jackets with us. We went to Molly Malones Irish pub 😀 It was on the 4th floor of a building but looked exactly like every other Irish pub in the world on the inside. The food, the beer and the service were all good, so I am in no way guilty for eating fish and chips whilst in Japan 😆😅

    We wandered back to the hotel through the covered shopping street, stopping to look at puppies and unusual vending machines.    En savoir plus

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  • EattravelmoveJapan 2024Voyageur
    NagatayaNumber 32

    Hiroshima Day 4

    4 octobre 2024, Japon ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Our last day in Hiroshima and the skies have cleared. Today, we decided to go to the Atomic Bomb museum. It's a quite confronting museum, as you would imagine, with many images and fragments of what remained after the bomb. Personally, I found the stories of individual struggles, during and long afterwards, to be the most poignant. The museum was packed, a lot busier than the last time we visited in 2017.

    As we walked back towards the shopping street, we noticed that lineup outside our okonomoyaki restaurant, Nagataya, was very short. It was okonomoyaki for lunch today! We ordered our meals while we waited in line. The place was little changed from 2017, and the food was great. We sat in a booth but close to the front counter, so we could see all the food preparation action. We shared a seafood okonomoyaki, some gyoza, and some beers.

    In the evening, we went to our hotel rooftop bar, played some cards, and had a couple of drinks. We weren't sure what we'd do for dinner, so we went for a stroll around the shopping and dining precinct. On a whim, we checked out Number 3, the steak restaurant, and settled for our third meal there in 4 days. Three meals at Number 3 seemed only sensible. We ordered the same as the previous dinner but just 100g steak this time. Omg, this place is awesome; we're going to miss it.

    Back to the hotel rooftop bar for a night cap 😌    En savoir plus

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  • EattravelmoveJapan 2024Voyageur
    Yatai - lots of small food stalls - it was also really busyOrdering machineChef making our ramen, gyoza and rice2Hakata style ramenTenjin minami

    Fukuoka

    5 octobre 2024, Japon ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    We've reserved the 12.28 shinkansen from Hiroshima to Hakata station, Fukuoka. This gave us plenty of time to have breakfast and get ready before our 11 am check out from The Knot.

    It was our last shinkansen ride of this trip, and it took just over one hour to get to Hakata station - 300kms an hour! We arrived at Hakata station and got the subway to Tenjin minami, where we wandered to our apartment, the Virage. It was a mailbox key pick up, and we got in no problems. The apartment is compact, with a bedroom/living area, kitchen, and separate bathroom/laundry.

    We walked across the bridge to the large Canal City shopping centre, mainly to check out the food options for the future - there are quite a lot of restaurants but the place was teeming. We walked past the station to a supermarket to pick up some supplies for our stay. We're going to have our breakfasts at the apartment for the next few days. We also grabbed some beer, wine, and cheese.

    The area has heaps of food options, but it seems a little bit seedy. There's basically strip joints and brothels all around; it's pretty eye-opening. We played some cards and enjoyed some cheese and crackers.

    Then we headed out for dinner. After wandering around, we settled on a ramen place where we ordered using a vending machine! This was actually the first ramen of the trip, and it was a very tasty Hakata style ramen. Gayle had gyoza and fried rice.

    After dinner, we walked back to Canal city to a Saizeriya restaurant (its an Italian chain restaurant) for dessert and wine. We've visited these places quite a bit as they're smoke-free, you order using a QR reader, the wine is reasonable, and only ¥400 per half litre. It's a small bug bare I have in Japan: why do so many places still persist with smoking inside? Anyway, we had satisfied our appetites and now 'home' for some Netflix. After a week of no TV in English, we needed some mindless entertainment!    En savoir plus

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  • EattravelmoveJapan 2024Voyageur

    Fukuoka Day 2

    6 octobre 2024, Japon ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    We had breakfast at the apartment this morning, which was nice for a change. As there is rain forecast for the next few days, we headed out early for some sightseeing. We walked to the old castle ruins, about a 40-minute walk, and stumbled upon a fun run, with people all dressed up in funny costumes.

    The castle grounds were large, and we walked to the base of the old castle tower, where we got a bird's eye view of the grounds and the surrounding city. There's not too much left of the castle except the old walls and the moat.

    We walked back through the main shopping strip, stopping for lunch at a Mos Burger.

    In the afternoon, the rain started and remained pretty steady all night. We walked to Canal city and dined there as it was quick and easy. It was an early night of Netflix for us.    En savoir plus

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  • EattravelmoveJapan 2024Voyageur
    1Korean fried chicken
    Fancy clockDinner of championsAt least dinner was cheap

    Fukuoka Day 3 - the rains are here

    7 octobre 2024, Japon ⋅ 🌧 21 °C

    I'm not going to lie, we didn't do a lot today! It's pissing down rain, and it literally put a dampner on sightseeing activities 😄

    We decided that we'd go bowling and trundled the 20 minutes in the rain with our umbrellas. It was actually good fun and not busy as it's a Monday. We wandered to a nearby upmarket shopping centre where we spotted a Korean restaurant for lunch - it's good to eat something a bit different, even if it is only fried chicken. The kimchi and soju were also a good change.

    In the evening, it was still raining steadily, so we grabbed some dinner from our local 7/11. You can get so much stuff from japanese convenience stores. Gyoza, pasta carbonara, wine and chips - the dinner of champions 🏆    En savoir plus

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  • EattravelmoveJapan 2024Voyageur
    Bike Tour
    2Hakata ramenShrineCool building with step garden and it's a concert hallTempleYakitoriSake

    Fukuoka Day 4 - bike tour

    8 octobre 2024, Japon ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    We had booked to go on a half day bike tour of the city today. The company contacted me to delay the start time from 9 until 11.30 to avoid the rain.

    We took our rain jackets and met our bike guide, Mei. We started with a Hakata style ramen lunch on the nearby shopping street. It was good to learn a bit about the background of this popular ramen style, and it tasted really good.

    The rain had stopped, and we set off to visit a famous local shrine. Mei showed us how to cleanse ourselves and properly enter the shrine. There's plenty of photos as we had Mei taking photos of us - not just selfies. We then visited a temple with a very attractive pagoda and a huge wooden Buddha. We also learned about budhist heaven and hell.

    The rain was coming in batches but didn't last long. We rode to the castle ruins, visiting a cool archaeological dig, and then rode past Ohori Park to an old, covered shopping street. We stopped for a snack of Mochi.

    We also cycled along the seaside and back to a high school that also housed an old 12th century defensive wall - how cool, that they built the school around this site! We hit a bit more rain, and Gayle hit a pedestrian! No one was hurt, but that lady would think twice about jumping sideways in front of bikes in the future.

    Even with the rain, we had a really great day. Mei, who was a lady in her sixties, was so friendly and spoke amazing English. She had studied in Missouri, of course.

    In the evening, we walked to a small local restaurant where we ate yakitori and pizza - I also had some very good sake. We enjoyed our last day in Fukuoka!    En savoir plus

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  • EattravelmoveJapan 2024Voyageur
    View from our roomView from 27th floorRainbow BridgeLego giraffeYep, it's a mini statue of libertyOur hotel

    Tokyo - homeward bound

    9 octobre 2024, Japon ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    We set off from Nakasukawabata station (quite the mouthful) to Fukuoka airport for our midday flight to Haneda airport in Tokyo. The JAL flight was about 30 minutes late, and we arrived in Haneda at about 2.30.

    Our hotel, the Grand Nikko, was only a 15-minute taxi ride. We decided to stay pretty close to the airport from our early morning flight home on Friday. The hotel is located in Odaiba - it's on these artificial islands in Tokyo Bay and has become a shopping and entertainment spot of sorts. It's also near the airport, cruise terminal, and is a short train trip to Disney land.

    Our suite is big, and I coughed up for executive lounge access, so we get drinks and nibbles in the executive lounge and breakfast in the morning.

    Like the tight arsed travellers we are, we were at the lounge for drinks when it opened at 5pm. We enjoyed a few beverages before heading out to a Jonathon's restaurant for dinner. More robot waiters!    En savoir plus

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    Fin du voyage
    13 octobre 2024