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Japan

November 2022 - January 2023
My first real trip to Japan Read more
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  • TravelerJapan
    Day 50

    Flight home

    January 17, 2023 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C

    As I had grabbed what was available I was not able to get an extra legroom seat. I arrived early at the airport to ask if they were able to do anything but unfortunately there were no free seats. I asked if they could use the money I paid for extra leg room against luggage instead. I was 5kg over from my current allowance but they wanted to charge me over $100 for it. I tried to argue but they were not interested. I repacked so that I had 2 carry-ons and put everything heavy I could in the backpack. Most of it was solved by me taking my large jumper out and just pretending to wear that. I would have been over allocated on my cabin allowance but no-one checked it.
    I grabbed a Bento Box for the plane which luckily made it through.
    I went to watch a movie on the plane and didn't realise that everything was pay-to-watch. I had plenty on my laptop but noticed most around me also had the same sad realisation.
    I can imagine the next one will be charging to use the USB port.
    I mostly fit in the seat but doubt there would be any sleeping through this flight.    Read more

  • TravelerJapan
    Day 49

    Cup Noodle Museum

    January 16, 2023 in Japan ⋅ 🌧 8 °C

    I popped into the noodle museum to have a look around and found the art of it entertaining
    Grabbed a lunch in an Asian street looking area for only $2.5 which was a small ramen meal.
    It was raining when I left so I caught the gondola across back to catch the train home.Read more

  • TravelerJapan
    Day 49

    Gundam Factory

    January 16, 2023 in Japan ⋅ 🌧 8 °C

    It's been raining the last couple of days but I decided to head back home early so figured I should get out and make the most of the remaining day I have.
    I headed to Yokohama which was nicely disconnected from Tokyo but still part of it.
    I walked through some outdoor malls playing jazz music towards the Gundam Factory which you could see from a fair distance.
    I stayed for 2 of the 3 shows they had to offer where the Gundam moves to a degree but was still pretty cool. They even had an apology sign about how they wanted to make it move more but even with the multiple companies involved this was the best they could achieve.
    It was quite cool of a display and the scale of the robot was something to admire.
    There were little robots inside as well assembling small gundams which was fun to watch.    Read more

  • TravelerJapan
    11111
    Day 47

    Night out

    January 14, 2023 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Again I spent most of the day in bed, was probably 3/4pm by the time I left the hotel in search of some food.
    I headed to akihabara as I wanted to buy a otomotone and one of the people from music town said I could find one there.
    Had myself a curry for "lunch" and then Owen from board games the night before messaged and asked if I could come out as a drinking buddy in golden gai.
    We headed to the hub first which there are many of around Japan as a British drinking bar. Had a little food and drinks there but then headed on to golden gai. The first place Owen had been to before and was looking for a bartender but she was not working that night so we had a quick drink and moved on. The next place was a rock place which had a great vibe and we sung along to some songs for a couple of drinks. Ran into some Australians there who continued on with us to Sasuke which was one of the bars I went to on new years. Crazy enough I ran into the Canadian couple who I had seen on new years in the same pub again so had to get a photo with them. Turns out it was her birthday as well so had a couple more drinks in celebration.we then found a rock bar where we had a few more. Did a quick pop into aces and then somehow ended up in a kareoke girls bar where they were trying to get me to buy them drinks. There was also some other bar towards the end of the night which we met some Russians at while we were waiting for the trains to start up again. Around 6/7 we called it a night and I accidentally got on the wrong train and ran into the Russians again who helped me get back on the right train. They probably thought I was following them.
    I grabbed myself a can of soup once I had got back to my station and then crashed.    Read more

  • TravelerJapan
    Day 46

    Boardgame meetup

    January 13, 2023 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    I spent most of the day in the hotel just catching up on sleep and tv.
    In the afternoon I headed to music town for a quick look around. Was still keen on finding a travel ukulele but no-one seemed to have one. There were lots of places which had a decent selection though.
    After that I went along to a board game meetup which at first I felt like leaving as the owner/organiser was quite strict on the rules to the point of being rude. I caught up with a small group and played ticket to ride, the game and codewords. I was keen to find some games which Japanese people played but they were mostly non Japanese there.
    I caught up for a quick drink after with 2 of the people from the group and wrapped up the night there.    Read more

  • TravelerJapan
    Day 45

    Move hotel and resting

    January 12, 2023 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 7 °C

    I checked out of my cabin room and hung out in the lounge for a little bit while I figured out my next step as I had nothing planned at that point. Due to the last couple of late nights I was looking forward to a place where I could relax in a little bit and recharge.
    I decided to book a pop art themed hotel for a week as it was also centrally located and not too expensive although slightly over $100 a night still as that just seems to be Tokyo.
    I got to the hotel early so I stored my luggage in the automated storage which was quite useful compared to other places I had stayed. I then had myself a little sleep and rearranged a date for that night and got myself ready but she ended up being held up at work. So another rain check. I then just went downstairs to the family mart and got myself a dinner from there.    Read more

  • TravelerJapan
    Day 44

    Bowling

    January 11, 2023 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 3 °C

    I started talking to a girl on bumble who wanted to meet up for a date but after the late nights I needed to have a quiet one. I headed back to my room, put some washing on and fell asleep for a little bit, then continued to nod off while checking the drying. I was going to have an early night and popped down to the common area on the way to find some dinner after finishing my washing but a couple of the guys there asked if I wanted to go bowling and I figured why the hell not.
    We started out basic with myself doing terrible, had the second round a silly one with heavy, light, left hand, between legs, lying down, backwards and a whole lot more different styles. The last round was back on serious and I was able to do slightly better but still quite out of form.
    As the French guy didn't drink the rest of us didn't either but it still ended up a 2-3am night after the 3 games.    Read more

  • TravelerJapan
    1
    Day 44

    Go-cart

    January 11, 2023 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    I was still a little hungover so I had some neurophen, grabbed an onigiri from 7-11 with a red bull and headed to the meetup point.
    There were lots of outfits but they were all one size and I doubt any of them would have fitted, also they were quite dirty looking. I was happy wearing my hat though.
    We drove in order with the guide, me second, an English lady and then a Chinese guy bringing up the rear. Within the first 10 minutes the Chinese guy crashed into the English lady's cart and damaged the muffler, causing it to be much louder than it normally would be.
    The carts themselves had no play in the steering so I often found myself mucking around with little squiggles while going along. I tried to get them to drift out a little on the corners but had no luck as they were quite gutless.
    We drove for around 2 hours through a fair bit of Tokyo and by the end of it my legs were getting quite a bit of cramp.
    Well worth the fun though.    Read more

  • TravelerJapan
    111
    Day 43

    Golden gai night out

    January 10, 2023 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 4 °C

    I wasn't going to head out as was still a little tired and hungover from the night before but I popped down for a hair of the dog and there was another Pakistani Kiwi Eman with an American brother and sister team Matt and Molly, who wanted to see golden gai so we headed out for a quick dinner and drink.
    We went through the red light district first and everyone felt a little hungry so I tried to find a place. Google said there was one down a dark alley which they were all apprehensive about but I figured why not and was glad once we found the place. It was a kishiage place which had everything fried on a stick. I got an omakase option which gave me shrimp, octopus, baby corn, rice, cheese and pork.
    I ordered myself a large beer and that was a little larger than I expected but went down well.
    We then continued on to golden gai and popped into the first one that looked interesting. It was tiny with very little room to move but we sat at the bar with chandeliers and ordered a few drinks. They had a chilli gin which we shoted but it wasn't that hot.
    We then went onto another bar around the corner who originally said there was no room but allowed us the above bar room. It had very little headspace but we crammed in there for a few more drinks.
    It was funny when someone needed to go to the toilet though as that was behind all the finnish people.
    Some indian Canadian people showed up and joined for a few drinks.
    We then had to taxi back towards the cabin hotel as the trains had stopped at that time and they all felt a little hungry so we grabbed some ramen from ichiramen. Was a cool experience that you didn't really see the kitchen or wait staff and they just lifted the curtains to pass you food.
    Another 3am night so I went home and crashed.    Read more

  • TravelerJapan
    Day 43

    Ukulele Mania

    January 10, 2023 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 6 °C

    The guy was so nice, he invited me in for coffee and a little jam to try the different uke's.
    Offered me biscuits and gave me a pack of stickers to put on my ukelele.
    He had so many unique uke's, one he had was a cigar box uke which there are only 7 of in the world.
    To me it felt like being at olivanders but I was too nervous to properly play through them.    Read more

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