The Highly Awaited Japan Trip

I finally decide to just post this draft as is. This trip was undertaken 2019, one of my last before covid stuck. I have been procrastinating on working with this particular blog post for god nows how long. After starting a job it has become harder to find time to work on blogging. I guess I will just put it out in the dilapidated state and get over with it. Let’s go back to 2019.

I finally decided that it is now or never time to plan a trip to Japan. Unfortunately, I was unable to find someone willing to accompany me on the trip. But I decided to go ahead with my plan anyway. Hence I ended up making a one-week solo trip to Japan.

But I was already late for the trip as I wanted to plan the trip for the first week of October, but it was already mid-September when I decided to go for the journey. So I had to make the bookings/planning and get the visa in 10 days. It was easier since I already had an idea of what I wanted to do in Japan. I wanted to experience the otaku culture that I have been watching in anime for the past couple of years.

Day 1: Land in Narita airport at 21:40

• I took the Kisei main line to Ueno station, where I was staying. Due to coming from Korea, I was not fighting with jetlag. After checking in, I went to a nearby konbini (convenience store) to grab something to eat and roam around the Ueno area at night.
• I had booked a bed in a mixed dormitory, but the hostel staff had booked me in the female dorm due to some error in the reservation system. So they had to adjust me in other rooms due to this. Since they had no empty bed in the dorms for my last night, I ended up getting a private room ^_^.

Day 2: Asakusa, Akihabara, Shibuya

• I started my day at 9:30 with some bread from the konbini as breakfast. I decided to start my day from the Asakusa neighbourhood which had the Sensoji temple. I made the right decision to head over to the nearby tourist center before going to the temple itself. I was able to join a free tour of the temple. The guide took us around the temple telling us stories about the temple and the gods and about the nakamise shopping street. After this I went to the top floor of the tourist center building which offered a nice view of the surrounding area including the Tokyo skytree.
• After the tour I joined some of my friends for lunch in Akihabara. We had some curry with rice. After seeing the curry rice in the anime for so many times I was finally able to taste some. After that we went to maid cafe, one of the most popular activities to do in akihabara. We went to @home cafe but it turned out to be nothing special. I would recommend it as a one time activity.
• Afterwards we headed to Kanda Myoujin shrine on the recomendation of one of our maids. It was just a normal shrine with a nice path to get to the shrine. After seeing a few shrines they became routine for me.
• After this we started going to random shops. My friends didn’t shared the love of anime that I had but they were still interested in finding an english manga. The shops only had a few english mangas at a steep price so I only got one. The one I brought was ‘Let me eat your pancreas’ for $27.
• Then we headed to the Meiji jingu shrine which was half hour walk from our location. After reaching there we realized that it was already closed. Here we learnt an important lesson for the rest of our trip that all temples close early evening at around 5. We just relaxed in the nearby park till the night dawned in and street lights started lighting up.
• The next stop was an Indian restaurant for dinner. Afterwards I went to Tokyo metropolitan building observatory which turned out to be the highlight of the day for me. It has great views with lesser crowds than other places and its free. I would recommend it over the Tokyo skytree specially during the night time.

Day 3: Odaiba, Ueno, Yanaka

• I had a morning reservation for Teamlab planets. It turned out to be good, I’ll definitely recommend to try it once. But I think one time is enough and I didn’t feel the need to visit the teamlab borderless after disscussing my friend’s experience there which turned out to be similar as mine.
• The next activity on my itinerary was walking along the Rainbow bridge from Odaiba to the Tokyo side. And it turned out to be more fun than I had thought. With the strong winds blowing onto my face and the scene of Tokyo tower among the Tokyo skyline was fascinating to say the least. This has to be the highlight of the day.
• I left Odaiba to head over to Ueno, but soon realized that I had forgotten my earphones at the Rainbow bridge entrance (on the Tokyo side). Since I had heard so much about the low crime rate of Japan I assumed that earphones would still be lying there and headed back to the entrance to collect. But my earphones were nowhere to be found. Then I asked the guard at the entrance to see if he knows anything. After struggling with him for sometime I concluded that either he was suggesting me to check nearby police box or that someone told him that they are submitting the earphones at the police box. My earphones were not all that costly and losing them won’t be that big of a trouble but was I fascinated with the idea of the interacting with the police and decide to go to the nearest police box. I told the officer about my lost earphones and then he made a call to someone and he looked happy. I assumed that someone is bringing my earphones. What I didn’t realize is that the earphones were already there in the police box but they were waiting for an office who can speak english with the hope that he will be able to talk with me and get me to file an FIR. It took roughly 45 minutes before I could get my hands on my earphones. But I had truly earned them this time. In this process I also got to know about the rewards law of japan which states that if a person has found lost belongings and submits it to the police and the owner claims the beloning then the owner is entitled to pay between 5-20% of the value of the belonging to the person as a reward if he demands it. I had to sign a declaration that I am willing to accept the terms of the rewards law. But the person who found my earphones didn’t ask for any reward. What a nice anonymous guy!!
• After that I headed to the Ueno Park and had vegan ramen there. No offense to the restaurant but it will be the most horrible lunch that I had on the entire trip. I was hungry and I had a lot of expectation so that might be the reason for the extreme reaction as well. After the lunch I headed to the Ueno park where I relaxed for an hour after the hectic day.
• I had read a lot about the old neighbourhood of Tokyo besides Ueno station called Yanaka. And I must say it didn’t disappoint. There was not a lot to do here but the feel of walking around the neighbourhood was a fantastic one. It’s must do for people looking to explore the old Tokyo.
• After this I had my dinner at an indian restaurant with another friend who was on a trip to japan with his family.

Day 4: Tokyo National Museum, Yanaka Ginza, Suginami Animation Museum, Nakano

• I started the day with heavy breakfast and a visit to Tokyo national museum. It was pretty much an normal museum with a ton of old artifacts but nothing extraordinary.
• I was interested in seeing traditional houses, the ones that we see in Shinchan and Doraemon but didn’t know where to look. After searching the internet for a bit I was able to find the former residence of Kusuo Yasuda which somewhat fitted the description of the place I wanted to see. On my way there I crossed through Yanaka Ginza which was a lit shopping street and it was pretty fun. I was lucky that I found it by mistake. It just had that nice feeling which would make you smile after passing through. After searching for a bit I was able to find the house I was looking but unfortunately it was closed for public viewing during the october month. Frustrated, I headed back to the Yanaka Ginza street and had a pan cake at a cafe there. After calming myself I headed to the suginami animation museum which was the best decision that I took that day. The museum is must do for an animation fan. Although it is a bit far away from the city center but you can combine your visit here with some shopping at nakano broadway which has really cheap anime goodies. Although you need to roam around the shops a bit to find the gems that you are looking for. Nakano broadway has shops for all kinds of collectible and is not only limited to anime goodies. After that I had my dinner at another Indian restaurant (Maybe I should try some Japanese food since I am in Japan of all places!!)
• After the hectic day, I was able to relax peacefully in bed as I had got an private room for my last day at Tokyo :)

Day 5: Shinkansen, Osaka, Twilight cruise

• I bid my farewell to Tokyo in the morning at 7 and took the Shinkansen to Osaka from the Tokyo station. The Shinkansen is really expensive not really worth the money if you are not in a hurry. But since I only had a single day in osaka I wanted to maximize the time that I spent there hence I decided to take the Shinkansen. Nothing really stood out during the journey expect the high speed at which the train is running but nothing special. You do get to see the Mt. Fuji on your way but if you are someone like me, you might just doze off and end up missing it altogether.
• I reached Osaka at around 10 and went straight to the tourist center to get my Amazing Osaka pass for a day. Looking back I think it was well worth the money. After getting my pass I went to my hostel to drop off my luggage and get some breakfast. All in all I started my day in Osaka at 11.
• I decided to start my day with the most famous place in Osaka, the magnifiecint Osaka Castle!! and it didn’t disappoint. The castle is a replica of the original one which also acts as a museum. The castle itself is amazing in all its glory but I was surprised to see that the museum was pretty interesting as well. One of the museum floors was dedicated to Hideyoshi Toyotomi the creater of the castle. I really liked the floor as it was biography of the guy in context of his unification of Japan.
• After the castle I went to catch the aqualiner cruise which goes around osaka in about 1 hour. I just missed my 2pm cruise and had to wait another 1 hour for the next. But in the hindsight it turned out to be a good thing as I went to a nearby Italian restaurant and had some really nice food. After that I went on the cruise but decided to get off midway as it was round trip and they would have covered the same route again.
• Then I decided to go to another cruise which was the “Santa Maria twilight cruise”. It was a nice experience watching the sun setting from a cruise. I went to the restaurant on the cruise and grabbed the window seat and enjoyed some music with the nice views. It was a nice experience watching the sun setting from a cruise. Then I went to a ferris wheel because a trip to japan can’t be complete without going on a ferris wheel (as seen from countless animes).
• After this I went back to my hostel to checkin and then went for the last activity of the day which was Japan walking tour. I just made in time for the last tour, the tour guides were all packed and were about to leave. Interestingly I was the only one taking the tour that day. The tour gave me some information about Osaka and its culture and how people of Osaka enjoy good humor. The tour guide told me about the Dotonbori shopping area and the places where I can find cheap goods. He also gave me tips for some restaurants where I can osaka foods in their vegetarian version. Because of him I got to try oknomiyaki and yakisoba. Since it had already been a long day for me, I decided to head back to hostel after the tour.

Day 6: Nara, Dotonbori

• After the tiring last day I decided to take it easy and went to Nara instead of Kyoto as I had already planned. I started from Osaka at 10 and reached Nara at about 11. When going to Nara use the Kintetsu line because Kintetsu Nara station is at a walking distance from the major tourist site as compared to the JR Nara station which tends to be farther away.
• After walking for a couple of minutes from the Nara station I started seeing the famous nara deers walking on the streets among the pedestrians. There were numerous people children being the majority, feeding these deers. After that I went to Kofkuji which honestly was nothing special other than deers ofcourse.
• The next stop was the main attraction of Nara, the Todaiji temple and I have to say that it didn’t disappoint in the least. The scale of the temple was magnificent and even bigger was the broze sculpture of the Buddha. Well worth the entrance fee. I had my lunch at a restaurant near the main hall of Todaiji and it was just fine. I was happy enough to be getting a vegetarian meal this easily.
• After the lunch I was just lazying around in the deer park without bothering the deers and just observing people feeding the deers. And after a while I got bored with all the deers and the smell of deer dung started bothering me. I decided to head back to osaka at around 3. After reaching Osaka I just decided to take a nap in my hostel.
• I again went to the Dotonbori area in the evening to utilize all the information that I got from tour guide last night. I went to various shops and explored the Dotonbori area. Some shops were already closed as it was already late. I really liked the book off store but before I could buy things from there, it was their closing time.
• I then decided to try out one of the restaurant recommended by my tour guide. And it turned out pretty good. I was able to have vegetarian oknomiyaki and yakisoba. And both of them were delicious. The restaurant was one of the cheaper and hidden restaurant that only the locals knew about. The staff even billed me less for their dishes because I asked to remove the meat. I decided to head in early as I had to plan my next day in Kyoto and I knew that it was going to be a hectic one. I had only allocated one day for Kyoto and I knew that it demanded more time but I was on a time crunch.

Day 7: Kyoto, Dotonbori

• I could have done a better job of scheduling my day in Kyoto as it was raining the day I went to Kyoto. But neverthless little drizzles are not something that could scare me off. I started my day early but wasn’t able to reach Kyoto before 9:30am. The first thing that I had to figure out after reaching there was my mode of transportation, among bus, JR, and the local subway. And also figure out if it is worth to take any of the one day passes. I finally decided on a one day bus pass which cost me 6$.
• I started my day with the nearest location from the Kyoto station, Tofukuji. And I have to say that I started my day with a disappointment. The path that google map showed me was closed due to construction. After following the some tourists around I was finally able to find the temple. There was nothing special about the temple and drizzle was not helping it. The temple also consisted of gardens but they had a separate entrance fees for the garden. I decided to skip them.
• To get over my disasppointing start I decided to head to one of the famous spots of Kyoto, Fushimi Inari Taisha aka Endless orange gates. I thought it is better to go there first before it gets crowded with people. And so I took the bus with drizzle still continuing in the background. And the verdict after reaching there was meh. Maybe I was too overhyped about it but it was not as great as I had imagined it. All the people with umbrella where not helping it. The orange gates form a path which leads to the top of the Inari mountain. After reaching about half through the mountain I started sweating, I definitely wanted to avoid bathing in sweat and hence decided to come down from that point.
• The Fushimi Inari shrine is sort of on the other end of Kyoto and all other major destinations are located on the other side of Kyoto. It was already afternoon and at this point I was afraid of missing out on some locations due to them closing down (a lot of them close at 5pm). And hence I was running on a shoe string time budget. I quickly looked at the buses and decided the order in which I was to see the locations. For the first time on my trip, I was able to plan better with the bus schedule chart that I got at Kyoto station as compared to google maps.
• The next stop was kiyomizu-dera which was under construction during my visit. But I have to say it turned out to be much better than what I had expected. The temple is situated on a high ground and provided excellent views of the surrounding area. The temple also had a lot of trees which gave it a calming atmosphere. But the most important factor that contributed may have been the absence of the drizzle which had plagued my trip since morning. After spending about 45 minutes here I took off for my next destination, Ginkakau-ji aka the silver pavilion.
• At this point I barely had 2 hrs left before everything closes and I had to cover 2 important landmarks, Ginakaku-ji and Kinkaku-ji. But I could barely spare 30 minutes to each. I was even afraid that I might miss Kinakaku-ji. But I made it in the end. I think it is unfair of me to talk about these 2 important landmarks when I barely had the time to explore them properly. But even so I liked the Ginakaku-ji better. Sure the Golden Pavilion had a temple made of Gold but the area surrounding the silver pavilion was more serene and calming.
• All the major spots in Kyoto are closed after 5pm, so I decided to just walk along the streets of Kyoto. And I sort of got lost and and this also happened to be the time when I had used all of my mobile data. And so I was walking along the streets trying to find wifi so I can find my way back to the Kyoto station. However throught the day I had learned how to use the bus schedule chart. I was to able to find a bus stop somehow and the caught the last bus (I was lucky) to the Kyoto station.
• I reached Osaka at around 8 and decided to head over to Dotonbori for dinner and futher exploration. I did some shopping around the area and called it a night at 11pm.

Day 8: Osaka museum, Dotonbori, Fly back to Gimpo at 7:35pm

• I started my day at the Osaka museum of history. I had high expectations from it after the osaka castle museum. It wasn’t as great as the osaka castle museum but still much better than Tokyo national museum.
• After that I did some more shopping in Dotonbori. I took the 3pm JR Kansai Airport Rapid Line to reach the Kansai Airport at 4:30pm. I took the 7:35pm flight to reach Korea at 9:20pm.