Springtime in Japan: Day 16 – Last Day in Tokyo (Again)

Last day in Japan it is. Despite how crowded it has been at times, I am so glad we could use the Easter holidays to maximize the time. We’ve certainly seen a lot and today is a continuation of that.

Breakfast was… a rather disappointing affair in Excelsior Coffee. So I am not going to dwell any further on that because we are in Shibuya and there are things to see.

Like the statue of Hachiko. The last time we were here, something political looking was going on, so we couldn’t get too close to the statue. This time, the square was surrounded by construction but at least we could see the statue and get a photo between other people’s selfies. The story of this dog still holds an awful lot of power, to the point of there being local buses and shops with versions of him on the front.

The original plan was for us to next go up the Shibuya Sky Building to get some final views and to see the Shibuya Scramble Crossing from on high. However, it turns out this is a ‘reserve in advance’ kind of thing and they already had the ‘no more tickets available’ signs up just a few minutes after opening. Little bit of a disappointment.

However, on the same floor as you buy the tickets, you can still get some good views of the surroundings. There’s an art gallery that no one was exactly paying attention to and they have floor to ceiling windows with the views you are wanting. Some of the buildings, but also a near bird’s-eye view of the crossing itself. In the end, I think it was better things turned out this way and we could just get on.

Before leaving Shibuya, we visited the local Parco as they have a floor with the geeky stores on it. This includes Capcom, Jump, Pokemon and one of two official Nintendo stores in the country (the other being one we saw in Osaka). Today is going to be a mix of seeing things and going shopping, so some official Animal Crossing and Legend of Zelda merchandise were acquired. A bit tame compared to others in the store, one of whom was trying to buy the literal store decorations by mistake.

Since it isn’t too far away, we walked from the Shibuya Parco to the Meiji Shrine area near Harajuku Station. Much like our last trip to Japan, this is the last place of worship that we’re going to be visiting. It’s a shrine dedicated to Emperor Meiji and his wife, deep in the heart of a large green space that was visible from the Government Building at night because of it being a black hole in the cityscape.

Going in you are greeted by massive wooden torii gates and the walk to the man shrine itself is a bit of way. All the while you are surrounded by super tall trees that make you feel that you are anyway but in the centre of the largest city on Earth.

This time, we actually went into the gardens. Something I don’t even remember being an option last time (I guess we just missed them). As if the surroundings couldn’t get more lovely, you are now in a set of lovingly landscaped gardens with a tea house, gazebos and a fishing pond. In a few months time the iris fields would be in bloom, which I can imagine being exceptional.

We didn’t exactly walk away empty handed though. The azaleas were in bloom and this part of the garden was awash with different shades of pink. At points it was almost like walking through a tunnel of these flowers. Our main day without sakura, but we are still getting beautiful spring flowers.

The main shrine wasn’t too far away. As shrines go, we’ve seen a number like this now. What makes it impressive are the grounds that it lays on. I’m sounding a bit blasé saying this, I know, as these are still impressive buildings. In the end, I am definitely here for the wholesale complex which remains one of the best I have seen in Japan. They also have one the most expressive sacred trees I have ever seen.

Seeing that we were in Harajuku, it only made sense to have lunch here. The question of what came down to what foods would we miss and we’d not had too much of. So I found an okonomiyaki place, which had one of the shorter queues… which was deceptive as two people in front of us were holding a space for their eight friends.

One pork and leek traditional okonomiyaki, a squid and shrimp modanyaki (okonomiyaki with noodles on top) and a pork yakisoba. All cooked right in front of us on the teppan. In a restaurant with seating for only 30, it was great to be at the counter to see everything being made. The food was pretty great and the perfect final larger meal for the trip.

Shopping in Harajuku was focused in the giant toy store Kiddyland. We came here before, but this time we were here to buy. Pretty much every major Japanese toy brand is here as are a massive selection of toys relating to popular characters, anime, films and video games. I finally found some plushies I was looking for in other store, which made this a very successful outing.

Final major stop of the day was Ikebukuro. Another revisit because this is the home of Sunshine City. Thinking on it, we really need to have more time to properly explore Sunshine City when the observatory is open again. I want to go through Namjatown again and visit the aquarium. In this visit, it was trips to the Ghibli Store, Pokemon Center and a Bandai Namco area. Compared to other Pokemon and Ghibli stores we’ve now seen, these feel a bit small – which makes me glad that I’ve just been buying as I go along. Still, it was nice to be back here for a small visit.

The other reason we were here was for the Kamen Rider Diner. We’d only seen this online a few days ago and it’s a themed restaurant for the Kamen Rider and Sentai (aka Power Rangers) franchises. It’s on the fourth floor of a building and it’s got walls covered in signed photos of different iterations of both seasons. It’s a bit obvious that this was the Kamen Rider place to begin with as there’s no Sentai merchandise for sale.

Still though, it was fun to be here and see something my husband enjoy so much and have the perfect opportunity to talk about it. I was also here for the themed drinks, although I made the big error of not mixing it a bit so ended up drinking straight melon flavoured syrup followed by a fair bit of soda water.

Then came our final meal of the trip (airports not counting) and as a nice bit of symmetry to the trip, we went back to Freshness Burger. As tempting as it was to have the avocado burger again, I instead thought I would try their Lemon Salt Chicken burger. Another hit and yet another burger chain that I wish we had in the UK. Don’t think I’ve had a bad burger in Japan and I’m pretty confident I won’t when we are next here.

So we end on packing which has been… something. We’ve never bought so many souvenirs on a trip and it shows. Maybe we should have bought an extra bag rather than just stuffing my rucksack with plushies and hoping that’s enough to cushion the plate and mugs we got from the Kirby cafe that had zero padding in the box. I am really nervous about everything making it back in tact.

That’s it for Japan though. Leaving just after 5am to make the flight home which is two hours earlier than booked so that they don’t fly over Russian airspace. We have plans for Japan v3 and I hope that will be sooner rather than later. For now, goodbye and if I have enough gas in the tank, maybe I’ll do a souvenirs post.

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Souvenir Round-Up

Big souvenir day today. Kiddytown got me the plush Pochita and little Spirited Away chick that I have been looking for during this entire trip. I was thrilled. I also managed to find a plush Sailor Mercury and a Patamon. So much of my childhood here… plus an adorable chainsaw demon.

Obviously there are so many more things here to talk about, but wow I have never bought this many souvenirs on a trip. I can only hope that we do get to go back to Japan soon. Maybe we won’t buy as much… or maybe we will. Japan is just that great.

Springtime in Japan: Day 15 – From Asakusa to Ginza

Penultimate day and this is one with a lot of repeats with something new near the end.

As will all good days, we start with a good breakfast. Today we were at a Doutor, a Japanese coffee chain that really is everywhere. I had an apple juice and one of their sandwiches. Now this sandwich somehow unlocked a memory of me being 10 and at Disney where I had a very similar sandwich and thought it just tasted super. Powerful memory sandwich, just more proof that things will jump at you sideways in Japan.

We began in Asakusa to do the things you do when in Asakusa: buy souvenirs and visit the temple. The Kaminarimon gate with its gigantic lantern remains as iconic and as clogged with visitors as it always is. Behind it, Nakamise-dori which really is one of the best places to get those last minute souvenirs. Thanks to this, I have my final keychain and magnet for the trip as well the a daruma doll to make sure I get back to Japan.

There was a bit more of a to-do at Senso-ji than I remember from last time, but it turns out that April 8th is recognised as being Buddha’s birthday. That would explain a lot and makes me think that maybe later in the day we could have seen something pretty cool… oh well too late now.

Last time I was here, this was more of a flying visit. However, I wanted to see a little bit more of the grounds and have a bit of a wander before leaving. They have a nice waterfall, bridge and set of koi fish that I don’t think I even noticed seven years ago. I guess sometimes it is good to have a revisit.

Next we were at the Skytree, we went via subway rather than walking this time. It was pretty busy throughout since it’s a Saturday, but we managed to get tickets and go straight up. Last time we only bought tickets to 350m up, this time we went for the tickets that get you as high as possible.

At 451.2m, narrowly beating out the observatory height at Taipei 101, this is probably the highest I am ever going to be without flying thanks to the two tallest buildings being in countries where you can face jail time for being gay. Not sure they’d be able to beat a view of Tokyo though, even on a cloudy day like we had.

Being able to see nearly all the places we’ve been in Tokyo so far is exactly why I like doing big viewing platforms near the end of a trip. It’s a real boost to be able to point and know what it’s like in a particular direction as the rain begins to scatter against the observatory windows.

Lunch was at a food court in the large set of Skytree shops. I copied my husband and had a beef bowl from the place that looked like a barbecue place. Turned out to be a bibimbap, so I ended up having Korean food whilst in Japan. Even a few years ago, that would feel like something a bit alien, but there’s a lot of Korean stuff starting to emerge here. It’s nice.

On the way out of the Skytree we grabbed some cake for later and made for Ginza. By this point the rain was just not stopping and really just stopped any chances from a bit of light exploring. I mean so did the fact that this is a more upper-class shopping area with Evian vending machines, but I would rather blame the rain than my disposable income.

We were here for the Art Aquarium, one of those things that I just saw in a number of videos about different things to see when in Tokyo and it really appealed. As part of the 8th floor of a very large department store, there is an exhibition space centred around goldfish. Live goldfish as living art in beautifully organised settings with specially designed tanks.

The number of goldfish in total is more than I could consider, but the number of different types of goldfish just blew my mind. I know from the goldfish section of Ocean Park that there are a lot of breeds out there, but the Art Aquarium had so much variation. Everything to your platonic ideal goldfish to ones that looked like Wall-E (or Roberto from Futurama depending on your pop culture references).

Showing off the actual goldfish, it got no better than the section where it’s just square tanks and you view them from above as they were originally before the invention of glass tanks. As an art piece, it’s hard to beat the large tank shaped like an origami lantern that has a backdrop of origami goldfish. The whole thing worked so well and honestly, the only downside was how many people lingered in the opening areas, it gave the feeling that this would end up being a cramped experience rather than the absolute joy it ended up being.

Given the rain, we went back to the hotel room and enjoyed some castella cake. This is something from my list of things I wanted to try whilst in Japan and I am so glad to have found some, even if I ended up buying a whole loaf of the stuff that we’re going to be eating over two days. What can I say, castella cake is a good cake and can imagine it being good with a coffee.

Before grabbing dinner, I wanted to go on a walk through Shinjuku to see an old friend by the name of Godzilla. We found him completely by accident last time, this time I had to use Google Maps to find the aptly named Godzilla Road. There it was though, still peaking over the cinema in Kabukicho.

Dinner was sushi and tempura. Both things that I already wish we’d had more of whilst in Japan because it just isn’t as good in the UK. I am also loving all these places where you can order from a tablet. Just means you can pace yourself and eat just the right amount – also means I can get delicious food without playing the pointing game. Man, am I going to miss this food.

We stopped by an arcade on the way back and had a sakura milk pudding from 7-11 as a dessert. Tomorrow’s all planned out so it’s just rest time for the last full day in Japan. On Easter Sunday. Not that you’d know it.

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Souvenir Round-Up

So whilst I was eating cake, my husband went for a solo return trip to Character Street to have another look for Sentai, Ultraman and Kamen Rider stuff. This meant I was able to have him buy me what would have ended up being my big souvenir regret of the trip – a Kiiroitori plush dressed as an old-timey Japanese advisor that is exclusive to the Character Street shop. I love him and this is one of the best things I have gotten on this trip.

I also got myself a mini goldfish plush and a papercraft goldfish from the Art Aquarium. Not sure when I will make it, but there’s sure to be many rainy Sundays back home in the UK.

Springtime in Japan: Day 14 – All Roads Lead to the Kirby Café

Well, I was enjoying being able to have simple titles for these posts, but it’s going to be a hit more hodgepodge for a while as we galivant around Tokyo. I was going to name this post after the rain that was ever-present (bar a few hours) but it looks like this may be it for a while.

Later start than previous days. 9am, what a luxury. It started with a coffee (milk tea for me) as we went from our hotel to Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. The original idea was a picnic, but the patchy rain meant it was more a case of find a dry bench and eat the sandwiches we got from a convenience store. Cannot believe I didn’t try them last time I was in Japan. These, especially the egg sandwiches, are so much better than the ones we get back home.

Before this holiday became utterly dominated by sakura, this trip to Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden was in the itinerary as a way for us to actually see some. Instead, this has become a full stop of what I believe will be the last time we will properly see them, so it was a bit of a farewell tour.

Being a weekday during cherry blossom season, we did not have to reserve a spot to get in. We just strolled on in and started taking all the pictures we could. It’s a truly wonderful garden and definitely worth the small fee to get in.

There are a number of areas you can go around and we mostly spent our time in the Japanese traditional garden and the vast landscape garden (at least if I read the map correctly). The whole park is more Western in style, so the Japanese traditional garden is still a bit removed from what we have been seeing elsewhere.

That being said, it was still impeccably landscaped with bridges, ponds, small buildings and still blooming cherry blossoms. There were even some turtles living in the water along the darkly coloured carp. This area seemed predominantly to have Western tourists going around and taking pictures. It weirdly became a prelude to being back in London, but that didn’t last too long.

We ventured a bit more and ended up in the specific cherry blossom area at the southern end of the gardens, which are also right next to the emerging azaleas. I tried to get a good shot of the cherry blossoms blowing away in some of the strong winds that we had but unless you have a real truckload, they are a bit too small. Hey ho, it was just nice to be in a park specially organized to have blossoms that emerge at different times so that the season is extra long. I suppose the sakura near Osaka Castle are mostly gone by now.

Hopping on the subway, we made it to Tokyo Tower – one of those incredibly iconic buildings that I still don’t quite understand how we didn’t make the time to see it in our original trip. I mean, I have seen it in so many movies and anime series over the years that it’s silly.

The tower is… a brilliant tower. A stunningly red take on the French Eiffel Tower that is so startlingly different from the surrounding architecture that it feels like it was planted in a game of SimCity. We didn’t go up the tower, instead going inside to buy a souvenir key chain and just enjoying the exterior.

There were also a lot of those carp windsocks on display at the tower’s entrance, which were especially active in today’s high winds. Some of them even appeared to be sponsored by Sesame Street. I guess they’re getting a bit of a start on Children’s Day or something, but it was lovely to see so many of them flying in the wild.

A short walk away is Zozo-Ji, a head temple for particular Buddhist sect and the place to go if you want the ultimate ‘old vs new’ photograph. I mean, the main temple building in the foreground and Tokyo Tower in the background, it doesn’t get much better than that.

There was a bit of a to do happening whilst we were there. Sections were barricaded off, the bell was being rung and the sermon inside the temple was being broadcast on loudspeakers. So we did what any normal person would do, purchase a stick of dango from a nearby vendor and just wait to see what was about to unfold.

What this seemed to be all about was one of the final events in a period of mourning days for an important figure in the early days of the particular sect this temple is part of. So we got to watch this long procession with music, chanting and singing resulting in some ritual involving what looked like a sword/dagger and a pot. No idea what was going on, but felt very privileged to have been able to be there.

Now for the big part of the day. At the beginning of March, my husband had succeeded where I had failed in getting us reservations for the one and only Kirby Cafe. Absolute bedlam, the reservations were practically all gone in minutes. But he prevailed so off we popped to the restaurant area of the Tokyo Skytree and waited for our time.

We got souvenir photos done at the door holding oversized cutlery and just settled into the beautifully decorated restaurant. Given the reservation-only nature of the cafe, it feels like it’s a little empty… so all the more reason to just get up and take photos of all the little Kirbys and Waddle Dees hidden about the place. I was so happy.

For food, we agreed on a menu that would give us great cafe-exclusive only souvenirs and we’d get a good meal out of it. In the end, this had us walking out with a darling Waddle Dee lunchbox, one souvenir plate, two mugs and two coasters. Kinda takes the sting out of the cost of the meal when you imagine half of it as being souvenir buying.

As a starter we shared a salmon, avocado and rice bowl so we could get the lunchbox. This was probably the tastiest thing we ate. The salmon and the seasoning was gorgeous and made for the perfect start.

I had the sleepy Waddle Dee omelette rice whilst my husband had the Waddle Dee burger which came with soup, pasta and some wedges. Both were beautifully presented, although I think mine wins when it comes to the theming.

Dessert… well we had to have cocoa drinks (with printed characters) as we ate the incredible looking Kirby Car cake. This was the weakest of the four plates in terms of the taste (I’m not a blancmange lover) but it just looked incredible. The little accouterments on the side were all great too, especially the filled choux balls.

Whilst paying for the bill, I got some extra Kirby stuff and then we made for the hotel to drop off the precious cargo that we will have to give extra padding to once we pack for the flight home.

Bit of a rest and out we went again to spend a few hours in Akihabara. By this time the rain was unrelenting and the heat made a lot of the shops start to feel a bit humid. With my mum resting back at the hotel, my husband and I were going in and out of multiple shops and browsing to our hearts content. Also got the reminder of the significant subsection of these fandoms that want their stuff to feature their favourite female characters with nothing on. Those were floors we skipped.

Compared to our time here many years ago, we had the confidence to just go into random stores and browse without there always being a specific store goal we had in mind. By the end of the evening, we walked away with some Pokemon Cards and some anime items before closing out some of the stores that closed later.

Dinner, which at this point was more a midnight snack, was made up of convenience store foods. It did mean that, alongside the rice balls and no bake cheesecake that were reduced because of the end of the day, we were able to have our first cup noodles whilst in Japan. Not a gourmet end to the day, but this was the day of Kirby so who even cares.

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Souvenir Round-Up

Because of the Kirby Café of it all, I am splitting this souvenir round-up in two. Honestly, given my love for Kirby, I consider this as me showing a fair bit of restraint. In addition to the souvenirs from the meal itself, I also got a notepad, keychain, fridge magnet, plush and some face towels. Given what else they had, I really could have gone a bit mad – but I love everything I got.

As for the rest of the day, there are some bits of geekdom from Akiba – including a little Pochita model because I have yet to see a plush of him below £30. There are also some good luck charms from Zozo-Ji. We’ve kept seeing them all over Japan and figured it was high time that we got one.

Springtime in Japan: Day 13 – Tokyo Disneysea

I’m going to just dive on in. Today saw us visit Tokyo DisneySea, the partner to Tokyo Disneyland that I visited the last time we were in Japan. At the time we didn’t know just how well regarded it was and opted to go to the original park. Had we known, I think there would have been a chance things would have been reversed.

Staying in Shinjuku makes it very easy to get to the Disney Parks, less than an hour door-to-door with a not too insignificant amount of time taken up by a walk across the immense Tokyo Station in order to make a connecting train.

As we had hoped, this was less busy than Universal Studios was last week thanks to college students being back in class. It was still pretty busy with us waiting in line for 40 minutes before even entering the park. Looking at some of the numbers online, this day was a medium-busy one and far from the insanity that can see one ride reaching 300 minutes of queue time.

The great thing about DisneySea is that this is a unique park with a large proportion of attractions not found outside of Japan. It is also the best themed Disney Park that I have ever been to, which is not something I take too lightly. In the end, the people behind DisneySea were able to start broadly from scratch with the only linking structure between the seven lands being a relation to water.

You enter the park via the Mediterranean Harbour, which is pretty much just Italian influenced. There are gondolas (we didn’t get to ride them) and a really lovely recreation of the Venetian canals and Italian style piazzas. You also get an immediate first look at Mount Prometheus, the fake volcano with scheduled fiery eruptions that is an emblem of the park.

Ignoring the first few crowded eateries, we had breakfast of a ‘long pizza’ from Zambini Brothers’. I forget that the food at Asian Disneys are just that much better than other Disney parks and are more reasonably priced. Great way to start as we were about to get in line.

The first rides we went on can both be found in the Mysterious Island area and are both modeled after works by Jules Verne. The area is vaguely steampunk and nestled into Mount Prometheus itself. Our first queue was also our longest, 100 minutes for a ride on Journey to the Centre of the Earth. The queue didn’t go below 95 minutes the whole day, so it made sense to get there first. It was a bit short, but otherwise great with good speed, a large drop and beautifully designed scenes along the way. Wish it had been like 90 seconds longer, but that’s picking holes.

We immediately went for the other ride in the area – 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. You go on a voyage in a mini steampunk submersible with the neat touch that you are able to control a spotlight at points using the joystick in front of you. This definitely made for a nice gentler, but still brilliantly themed ride as a contrast to the first.

Leaving Mysterious Island, we entered Mermaid Lagoon and purchased a rather lovely popcorn container that would accompany us for the rest of the day (photo in the souvenir section). This area is, somewhat obviously, modeled after The Little Mermaid and is more aimed at the younger park-goer. The majority of the area is inside in a part called Triton’s Kingdom – a place so amazingly done that I almost cried. This is one of my favourite Disney movies and the first I had on VHS, so this very special to me and this looked immaculate.

With no rides to go on, we left and crossed the bridge to the Arabian Coast – an area based on a mix of Aladdin and other Arabian Nights tales. Again, absolutely stunning stuff right down to where they hide the fire extinguishers.

For old time’s sake we went on the Caravan Carousel, a double decker carousel with some of the horses being swapped out for elephants, griffins, camels and Genies. Riding a camel on the top tier, you get some great views of the whole area. Not sure how long it’s been since I was on a carousel, but it was a real blast from the past.

We then rode on what would be in the running for best ride of the day, and I can’t believe I am saying that. Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage is a dark ride in the tradition of Pirates of the Caribbean or It’s a Small World. You are in a boat, going along a story with Sinbad as he gets into adventures and brings home treasure. Between the soundtrack and the best animatronics I have seen in my life, I had tears in my eyes at the end. This ride is better than it has any right to be and also piped in banana scents for the monkey island area. Absolutely brilliant.

Lunch was in the Lost River Delta area, based on Central and Southern American jungle ruins. It was a bit of an odd lunch from Yucatan Base Camp Grill as we got a side combo and one of the most beautiful drinks I’ve ever seen. The side combo was amazing value for money with potato wedges, beef jerky and two types of sausage. The drink was a tie-in with the recent Avatar movie with the herbs and flower sitting on top of a cocoa nibs soil. The taste was pretty nice once you got over how much ice was in the damn thing, but it really was more a bite for the eyes first.

We did our final ride of the day at the scientifically themed Port Discovery. The wind had picked up at this point and I was regretting my choice of only bringing a t-shirt. The Nemo & Friends SeaRider is a simulator in the tradition of Star Tours. A high capacity ride where we all move together as part of the simulation and we go on some kind of otherworldly journey. For this, it was being drunk in a submersible and being taken on an adventure with characters from the Finding Nemo films. It really was a lot of fun and managed to find a way to not make all the cameos of beloved characters feel too forced.

It was time to explore the final area: American Waterfront. This is a mix of influences and really has three distinct areas. First is the Cape Cod area which is so charming that I actually want to know what the real Cape Cod is like because it feels like a nice place to go on holiday. The largest section is New Yorkish with a massive boat being a focal point. At the back is Toyville Trolley Park – which is more like a beach front area with bright lights and games and theming to support the Toy Story shooting game.

By this point it was beginning to get dark and so the lights were coming on and making some of the areas look extra beautiful. This meant the need for another turn of the park once we’d finished our souvenir shopping. I think the Mediterranean and American areas probably did it the best, but all of the worlds looked beautiful in darkness.

For dinner we went back to the Cape Cod area to eat at the Cape Cod Cook Off. I got the ‘First Prize Set’ which was a cheese bread with shrimp, lettuce and pastrami. Other than the fact that this was definitely not any kind of pastrami I recognised, this was a really fantastic sandwich in a lovely venue to kill some time in before the first of the night shows… which was then canceled for weather issues (the ridiculous wind) as we’re the closing night fireworks (again, wind).

Since both of the evening shows were canceled due to the ridiculously high winds we’d had all day, we ended up leaving the park a bit earlier than expected. That was more than fine though, the shows are nice but we were here for all the other experiences that we got. Was this better than Tokyo Disneyland? Yes, and it is probably the best Disney park I have visited, period. This will end up ranking highly against all other theme parks I have been to. Seriously, believe the hype.

I was hoping this wouldn’t take too long to write as we are doing a preliminary packing test tonight to see if we need to buy an extra case to bring home. However, enough happened today to mean that this took longer than I wanted. Good thing it’s a later start tomorrow.

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Souvenir Round-Up

Obviously my favourite souvenir of the day is our Winnie the Pooh popcorn bucket. I mean, it’s just a perfectly cute piece of paraphernalia that I am sure we can find a bunch of uses for.

The collecting of spoons also continues. Like I can understand why some people may collect spoons, especially with a cool gold coloured one in the shape of Genie from Aladdin. I have also gotten a bunch of Baymax stuff – which surprised me too.

Springtime in Japan: Day 12 – Ueno

Ah Tokyo. Today is the first of five full days that I will be spending with you. Honestly, after the last time I was here, it wasn’t that I didn’t like you – it’s just that I wasn’t moved as I was expected. Seven years later, with other East Asian holidays under my belt, I feel that today I am finally getting to know and feel more comfortable here. Let’s see what the next four days will bring.

Most of today occurred in the Ueno area of Tokyo, which contains the area immediately around Ueno station and the lovely Ueno Park. This is not my first time in Ueno, I was here on my original trip where I went to the zoo and saw my very first set of pandas. Well, as I alluded to yesterday, today is going to be a day with some revisits and some new stuff.

First though, breakfast. We went to Andersen to get some baked goods for breakfast. Like on other holidays, my husband and I picked three things to split between us. On today’s list was the cheese pesto bread, the curry bun and a cheese and bacon crisp. The crisp was just fine, but the other two were great. The cheese pesto bread especially because it was made using some nice and crusty bread.

We went on to spend the morning at Ueno zoo. It isn’t the largest zoo and can easily be done in a morning if you are more selective about the animals you see and if some you wanted to see turned out to be indoors and not viewable (like the okapi were). It is also worth noting that, compared to a lot of other zoos I have been to, there is definite room for improvement with enclosures, but this is one of those problems you just see with older inner city zoos with no room to expand.

The zoo itself is bisected by a road and therefore split into an eastern and a western section. We entered at the main gate on the eastern side and got some good early time with the tiger and gorilla enclosures before queue barriers started to be put in. Also spent time with the tapirs… but it’s not like there is ever a queue near them.

This side also has all the non-panda bears (pandas seem to have recently relocated to the other section) with you being able to see a polar bear, sun bear and two species of bear native to Japan. I keep forgetting that there are bears in Japan, yet know that bear meat is eaten in some areas. Need to keep circling that square.

Over on the western side, we got in line to see the pandas. Not the 80 minute line to see the 2 year old panda twins. No, the 30 minute line to check in on the pandas I saw 7 years ago. My first pandas, which will always be that extra special. In typical panda fashion, one was on their back eating bamboo whilst the other was laying on their front looking like they were about to doze off. Truly, these are the zoo equivalents of a trophy wife/husband and we are all in line because we love pandas.

Finished off the western side with the (probably superior) red pandas followed by stops at the hippos, penguins and an attempt to see aye-aye island before seeing that it was shut. For £4 this is more than worth the money. Could have easily got some food here too because the chicken was smelling rather delicious, but we had other ideas.

Exiting on the western side, we ended up next to the Benzaiten temple which is also in Ueno Park. There was some street food on the way, including Doraemon cakes, but didn’t partake. The temple itself is in the middle of a pond, so you cross a bridge to access it. During the summer months, the lotuses would be out and I can only imagine how pretty that would be.

Before our afternoon’s activity, we had a slice of cake. Sadly this was not a cafe, so we had to take our slices of cake and eat them outside. Fine, but I almost lost mine to a gust of wind. We got the anime cake staple of a strawberry shortcake. Extremely pretty to look at with delicious strawberries and cream on top. I think I made mine better though… minus the quality of the strawberries as Japan really has the UK beaten on that front.

For the afternoon, we would be in the Tokyo National Museum. We figured half a day would be fine as some people online said this was a 1-2 hour activity. Those people are either wrong or don’t actually read a lot of the information. We ran out of time with one building left untouched – the one about art from other Asian countries, but as we were here for Japanese stuff, it wasn’t too much of a love lost.

The main building has two floors dedicated to Japanese art. The top floor is split by time-period and the bottom floor is split by the type of art. I am going to get this out of the way now before going further that I just do not get calligraphy. This is something that I think comes from not having a pictographic language, but since there’s a fair bit of calligraphy on show, I wanted to open with that disclaimer.

Of the two floors, my preference is more with the bottom genre-split floor because there is something about seeing a discipline put together. I think that, with museums in Taipei and Seoul in the back of my mind, I was more drawn to the things like the kimonos, screens, samurai outfits and woodblock prints. As bad as this sounds, the other two museums had better sections on ceramics and metalwork – so the selection here left me a bit cold.

My favourite section we went to was in the next building – centred around archeology. This housed most of my top pieces from this visit, the number one being the ancient dogu figurine from Aomori. It’s one of those things I have seen references to in the likes of Animal Crossing and Digimon, so actually seeing the real thing was pretty special.

Also in this section were a large collection of haniwa, clay sculptures that would be buried with the dead. Simple enough looking, but there’s something really interesting in just seeing a lot of different ones. It brings to mind the figurines that Ancient Egyptians would bury with their dead, same with China. However, these looked so other worldly that it was hard to not be drawn in by them.

Finally, we came to the Gallery of Horyuji Treasures wing that focused mainly on 7th century treasures from a specific temple and area. It’s a mixed bunch with the first two rooms really overshadowing the remaining two. The second room is where it is at though, 36 gilt depictions of Buddhist art arranged in a grid. Having them arranged in such an ordered way somehow lent them a real feeling of gravitas and was one of the few rooms where no one uttered a word.

As we only had 20 minutes before closing, we knew there was no reason to get through the final building. There may be a return visit one day to finish this off and to see how the rotation has changed the items in the main hall.

With no proper lunch, I was properly hungry so it was what I am going to call out ‘afternoon meal’. Since I messed up in Osaka, I was glad to get another go at eating at Ichiran Ramen at one of their outlets near Ueno station. I went with the ‘Special 5’ set which meant that I got an egg, mushrooms, seaweed and extra pork with my ramen. I love the level of customisation you got and immediately asked for all the garlic they would allow without charging me extra.

Well, this was the best ramen I have had since Kyoto 2015. Probably the second best bowl of ramen I have ever had, period. You also have the mildly surreal experience of eating in a booth with a curtain in front of you that closes after the chef has given you the order. Probably a good thing we did not have this in Osaka, else it would have been a revisit once we got to Tokyo.

That’s it for the Ueno section of the day as we got back to Shinjuku. The evening began with some browsing and buying at the large Tokyu Hands before making our way a bit across the ward towards the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building and their free observation deck.

45 floors high and the view you get of Tokyo at night is spectacular. You can make out Tokyo Skytree, Tokyo Tower and Yoyogi Park in the dark, with the rest being a beautiful light display. This is probably going to be the most aesthetically pleasing view we are going to get of Tokyo, but I will be more than happy to recant that before the holiday is out.

Then the evening ended with some time at the Shinjuku locations of Yodobashi Camera and Don Quijote before a late dinner at Lotteria. That’s the three burger chains I wanted to hit up whilst I was here and, once again, wish were in the UK. I think Lotteria Korea may still be better, but this was still a delicious peppery burger.

It’s Disney time tomorrow! Looks like kids are still on their holidays so… it’s going to be busy. Thought we’d get away with it, but nope. Hopefully we’ll be able to get on more than three rides this time… as that won’t do for a day in Disney.

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Souvenir Round-Up

So, a bunch of souvenirs today from the evening’s shopping at Tokyu Hands, Don Quijote and Yodobashi. I am going to need to find an excuse to have a bath so that I can use my new Kirby bathbomb and see what toy I get inside – then maybe try off with our new Gengar towel. Also need to use the cute luggage stickers at some point.

Springtime in Japan: Day 11 – Kamakura

The end of a JR Pass is such an interesting landmark when you are in Japan for a while. It’s like this big beacon that the time is coming to an end and that you have gone a bit over the halfway point. With our last day of the JR Pass, we are going to one of those places we just couldn’t fit in during our first time. Pretty much entirely because I want to see the large buddha, but more on that in a bit.

We arrived at Kamakura station just a bit before 10am. So without sharing why, I just frogmarched everyone to the nearby 5 Crossties because their breakfast deals would end at any moment. Well, we got there just before the server went out to take the sign in. Phew. A tea with some nice chunky toast and a little pot of yogurt, honey and fruit.

For some Google Maps was leading me a random way to the bus stop, but it was thanks to this we came face to face with Dankazura – an elevated walkway lined with cherry trees. To our amazement, they were still pretty much in full bloom. Keep thinking ‘this will be the last time’ and yet we see more. Maybe we’ll get lucky and see some more in Tokyo, but reports would seem to suggest otherwise.

A bus ride later and we arrived at the Hokokuji Temple. This is one of those places that, despite being fairly small, has a number of interesting features. The entrance has a beautiful moss garden and then you are faced with a cliff face whose caves contain centuries-old tombs next to a rather dense bamboo forest.

For a bit extra on the ticket price, you are able to sit in the teahouse overlooking the bamboo forest with some matcha and sweets that are basically pure sugar, but their whole point is to help take the edge off of the bitterness of the tea. Just one of those moments to sit and appreciate the beauty that’s in front of you and that you decided to only eat half a sugar cookie at a time because that cup is like 4-5 sips deep.

We walked to our next destination, partly along a canal where we were again greeted with a lovely gnarled looking cherry tree in bloom. Also fish. It’s easy to forget how clean some of these urban waterways are until you see them filled with gigantic carp.

The next stop was Tsugaoka Hachimangu – a very large and important Shinto shrine complex that’s at the end of the beautiful cherry blossom street I mentioned earlier. By the time we got there, it was pretty much lunchtime so we found a spot in the shade to eat some sandwiches we got from a FamilyMart. We also shared a bag of mini-castella cakes from one of the street food vendors on the shrine grounds.

I think because I’ve now seen a lot of these, I am beginning to see some of these complexes as being made as you would an area in a game like Two Point Campus. What I mean is that every shrine complex of a certain size has a set list of prerequisites, but after that you can add in extra things.

So this one had a wall with a large number of sake and beer barrels (and some chocolate) from local businesses – like the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo and the Atstuta Jingu in Nagoya. Then there’s some lovely bridges with extensive ponds. At the back, on a high point with steps and a number of torii gates, is an inari shrine. I’m not trying to downgrade centuries of religion to a computer game, but at this point it’s always nice to see which version of mix-and-match we’ll get.

Some souvenir and gift shopping occurred as we walked down the crowded Komachi Dori before we boarded the Enoden Train a few stations to Hase… where somehow more souvenir shopping occurred before we entered Hase Temple.

This temple has so many cool parts that I am so glad that we had more than enough time to explore. Firstly, this actually has a miniature cave system containing a number of carved statues of Buddhist deities, the largest belonging to a goddess of the sea. It’s a bit of a short person’s place to be, so I had to fold right on up in order to walk through most of the passages. Never quite seen something like this.

On the upper level you find a massive wooden statue to the goddess of Mercy – of course you aren’t allowed to photograph her, but it is awe-inspiring to see in person. Next to the temple, you can also climb a number of steps to get a stunning of Kamakura from on high, including the sea and the large stretch of beach. It starts to make sense why this place may be good for surfing (as many of the souvenirs had been telling me all day).

Now, the main reason I wanted to be here. The first image I ever saw of Buddha was at the Chessington World of Adventures theme park, who used to have a replica of the Kamakura Buddha as part of their Far East area. It’s one of those images that stuck we me and so the chance to see it in person was a must.

So we did and it is absolutely magnificent. It’s so weird to finally see something in the flesh that you’ve had living in your mind’s eye for near-on 30 years. Not only that, but actually be able to view it on all sides properly, take your time and even spend the equivalent of 30p to go inside. Some pieces of art are just unquestionably special and this large bronze buddha really is one of them.

That was it for Kamakura, so we headed back into Tokyo – specifically Tokyo Station. Dinner was tonkatsu since, last time, I had lost my sense of taste and smell for like 16 hours and so I could not taste that meal. Also, my mum hadn’t been with us at the time and I wanted to make sure she had it before we left.

We got it from a place specialising in black pork from Kagoshima and it was such a good meal. Now I have had it twice, I think I will be okay having other dinners until we leave. What made this meal extra special though is that they offered us the private room as spaces just want opening up in the restaurant. Talk about feeling special.

Finally, we went around Character Street – the place in Tokyo Station where if I had unlimited funds, I would end up spending unreal amounts of money on cute things. Pokemon, Ghibli, Rilakuma, TV Stations and a number of characters who I haven’t even heard of but knew I wanted their stuff. Do I have some non-buying regrets? Sure, but there are visits to Sunshine City and Tokyo Skytree to come that will make up for this.

Tomorrow is the first of five days spent in various places around Tokyo. These next days are going to be a mix of retreads and new things, and tomorrow in Ueno will see that mix exemplified.

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Souvenir Round-Up

So thank to the visit to Character Street and Tokyu Hands, there are a lot of extra souvenirs here including a Fuecoco plush, a train Kirby, a bunch of nanoblocks and a water bottle featuring the cat from Natsume Yuujinchou.

From Kamakura, we got some of the best votive tablets from the trip and found a little shop near Hase Temple that sold the cutest little figurines. The little yawning blue cat is my husband’s, whilst the frog bell with the umbrella belongs to me.

Springtime in Japan: Day 10 – Hakone

On this trip there are two days that have had to be organised with precision in order to see everything we wanted to in a limited time. Kyoto and our single day in the Hakone region. Because of all the moving parts and all the different connection types, this is one of those days where I ended up planning to the minute so we could make the specific bus, train and funicular timetables. Now I am writing about this at the end of the day, I am really stoked about having pulled it off.

So starting at our ridiculously luxurious hotel – it was an earlyish check-out at 0830 since it was a long walk into town where the pier was. Half of it was us walking on the edges of roads, the other a path along the beautiful lake. We’d already completed the opposite walk last night by the light of my phone’s torch, which made for a bit of contrast when…

… Fujisan themself peered out. This is one of those ridiculously clear spring days and I count us so lucky that at every potential opportunity to see Mount Fuji, there it was without the infamous cloud hat. The rest of the walk to the pier was pretty much us rubbernecking it to see if we’d get another glimpse. We went by the local floating tori gate, which looked a lot less ominous in daylight.

Breakfast had to be from a convenience store since all the cafes and bakeries weren’t open for another half hour. I finally got a chance to have my Japanese egg sando and it was exactly what I had hoped it would be. Really, we in the UK just accept the sandwiches we get when it good actually be as good as this. Loads of filling, delicious mayonnaise and the right amount of egg taste. I instantly regretted not having a second.

Post-breakfast, we went aboard the Hakone Sightseeing Cruise across Lake Ashi. For some reason, which I assume is for the lols, it is done up like a pirate ship. Makes for some great overhead pictures for the travel brochure and pictures to take home with you.

Despite staring at Mount Fuji whilst eating our sandwiches by the lake, we were still transfixed on this mountain as we stood in the best possible spot (without paying for First Class tickets) for gawking and photographs. Even when Fuji was not visible, it was still a stunning lake cruise. But we got exactly what we wanted.

After getting my key chain and magnet for the day, we were on the Hakone Ropeway to our next destination. Again, more chances to take photos of Mount Fuji, this time with a lot more of the mountain becoming visible as we went higher and higher. At the other end of the pod, there was more of a hint as to what was to come when we reached Owakudani.. although the smell did tip us off.

Given the tranquility of most of this region, it is easy to forget that it is highly volcanic (ergo all the hot springs). Owakudani has the sulfur smell in spades with a large number of very active vents spewing foul smelling gas into the air. This area does have a nature hike you can book on, but we were here for a flying visit to take a look and…

… so I could have the black ice cream. There are a number of black foods for sale here, the most ubiquitous being the black egg. But you can also get black curry and a black pork bun. This is just a good quality vanilla soft serve that has been dyed black, but the effect is on point. As are the black stains on everything it touches.

Fastforwarding now though some more transfers via the ropeway, funicular and a bus (see, this is why I had to get times down for this day) and we were at the Hakone Glass Forest – an area focused on Venetian glass. This was more of a visit for my mum as this is somewhere she has had her heart set on going, but wow if the area wasn’t beautiful.

 

Glass trees, glass rose garden, glass tunnel and with just the right amount of wind to get things sparkling. The only way to properly get the the effect is to have either been there or take some videos, photos just don’t capture it properly.

Before going around the museum parts, we stopped for some dessert and (for me) an iced tea. The main restaurant at the Glass Forest serves Italian food like pastas and caprese salad, but the dessert menu is where it is at. With my husband, we split an order of the mont blanc and the coffee jelly. I’ve been eyeing both as I have seen them so often in anime and just wanted to get a real taste. I think, weirdly for someone who doesn’t like coffee, I may have preferred the coffee jelly when mixed with the whipped cream and ice cream. Close run thing though, both were really great.

Next were the museums. The ‘modern glass art’ museum is more like an introduction to the extensive gift shop. The main museum bit is more interesting and the rooms themselves can feel like as much art as the actual pieces. Being an avid fan of Blown Away the mind just boggles all the more at the skill, artistry and patience required to make these stunning works.

After purchasing a small glass angel to hang on the Christmas tree, we still had some time before the bus. So we went to a smaller covered area that was serving up Margarita pizzas for 1000 yen to split between us. Well, those two slices I had were gorgeous and I could have had a whole pizza to myself.

Final stop of the day was the Hakone Open Air Museum. As the name suggests, it’s a large landscaped area with gorgeous views of the surrounding mountains that also has pieces of modern art on display. This also includes art done as sitting areas and even a giant child’s play zone with nets and balls.

The clear highlight for me was the Symphonic Sculpture – an 18 metre tall cylinder of stained glass where you can climb up inside via a spiral staircase. I can only imagine how this would look closer to midday when the sun is less angled, but even at 1530 it was something to behold. By climbing up, you get to see the upper parts of the piece before reaching an observation platform on the top that allows you to see all around the park.

We made our way back to Odawara via the Hakone Tozan Train. This was definitely one for my husband, but it made for a relaxed and scenic return. One of the slopes this train goes down is apparently the second steepest in the world, which was a bit trippy. Also of note was the multiple times the train had to switch back because of how steep this track can get.

Before we knew it, we were in Tokyo and stepping foot into Shinjuku. Immediately things clicked and it’s just such an electric place to stay. I will try to have a proper nose around again before we leave, if time allows. I think I just need a good go at the Tokyu Hands to be honest and then find some good new places to eat.

Speaking of eating, the final stop today was Kura Sushi. We tried a branch in Osaka, but it was too busy and we had a time commitment to maintain. Here we could wait it out and, wouldn’t you know, because so many people up and left it was less than an hour’s wait.

Kura Sushi is a conveyor belt sushi place where you can basically not interact with a human in your entire visit. The check-in, ordering and paying are all on touch screens. Plus they have a cool gatchapon gimmick where you get a chance to win a pod for every five plates you order (we played five times and won once).

Is this the best sushi in the world, no, but it is very good quality for the price you pay (most plates are under a pound) and it was such a fun experience to be able to share with my mum. I may have eaten a bit too much in order to get that second go at the game, but each plate was great – highlights being the tuna and pickle roll and the eel – so not really a complaint.

Tomorrow is the last day of the JR pass and so the last time we are going to be venturing outside of a city base. There’s going to be a lot of Tokyo, but there’s already a lot in Tokyo so we have more than enough to keep busy.

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Souvenir Round-Up

Two pictures here because, for a minute, we thought we had lost the glass angel we had bought from the Hakone Glass Forest. Then I remembered that I had used a pair of jeans as extra padding and all was right with the world. In addition, I also got a small doll-like toothpick holder with a bit of traditional Hakone wooden patchwork around the waist. Not sure if I’ll use her, but she’s really nice.

Springtime in Japan: Day 9 – Nagoya

Today is the first of two transfer days in a row. Tonight we are staying overnight in Hakone before spending the day there and then moving on to Tokyo. This meant having most of the morning and afternoon free to explore one of the cities on route, which is how I spent 4-5 hours in Nagoya. I am viewing this as a bit of an advance scouting trip for Japan 3.0 and I think Nagoya has passed muster.

The day started with us checking out of the hotel. In my last Japan trip, we took our bags with us on the shinkansen and really just hoped for the best. With such a short layover in Hakone, we decided to do something quite Japanese, pack a small bag and have the bigger ones sent ahead of us to the hotel in Tokyo. In the UK, this is unheard of and would end up costing whatever DHL would charge – for our three large bags it was about £35 and I am still floored by this and I hope this price point never changes.

Breakfast was ekiben again, but actually eating it on the train this time rather than buying it for the sake of Kirby. Translated into English it was the Black Pork Indulgence box and is one of those specialty boxes you can get that showcases another region’s cuisine. It made for a rather large and very delicious breakfast. I would have that again in a heartbeat and, despite it being on the more expensive end, is similar to a decent lunch in London.

Before getting to the castle, I had to make a stop in the station to find some cute dessert from Cafe Gentiane for one of their famous piyorins – purin (custard pudding) shaped like chicks (who make the sound ‘piyo’). They had already run out of the classic flavour and had one chocolate left, but luckily for us the one we wanted was the seasonal sakura piyorin. Honestly, this little guy was almost too cute to eat, which would have been fine if they weren’t so delicious with their sakura moose, purin and sponge.

Murder committed, we went into Nagoya Castle.

Of course, the cherry blossoms were out in full force yet again – although further along than in the Osaka area. Some of the trees were either completely bare or had bare patches. Most of them, however, still looked glorious and made for a beautiful setting for this copper roofed castle.

Being a Sunday there was a bit of a to-do on the castle grounds with stalls, live music and even your chance to have a photo taken with the ninja (or samurai) of the day. There was also an hour long line to get inside the palace (the castle tower itself was closed) so we didn’t do much more than venture around the grounds enjoying the castle and park.

Next was meant to be lunch to try a local speciality called Hitsumaboshi – a local eel dish that looks amazing. However, the places we looked had 2 hour waiting times and you can’t do that on a morning in a city. Crest-fallen we went onto the next place, vowing to have it when we stay here in the future.

Our final main stop was the Atsuta Jingu shrine. A very large and very important shrine that not too long ago celebrated 1900 years since its foundation. The only other shrine I have been to that has a similar layout – being in a large wooded area with multiple buildings, tall tori gates and barrels on display – has been the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo. It definitely evoked a lot of the same memories.

In retrospect, we probably could have gone to the treasury hall rather than go back into town a bit early to catch the only direct train to Odawara, but I ended up with a Chainsaw Man folder and that hall will still be there in a few years.

Lunch was basically skipped at this point, so we got a miso pork cutlet sandwich for the train and hoped that restaurants in the area may still be open (and okay with English-speaking clientele) when we arrive at our destination. Despite looking simple, this was a deceptively nice sandwich and at least this is something vaguely related to a Nagoya dish. So a big plus from me.

The journey from Odawara to the hotel was… a bit more than I had first expected when booking. Firstly, to get into Hakone by the lake, it was a 50 minute bus – by which time we were hungry and most of the places were closed (because, for whatever reason, everything opens late and close by 6pm). Thankfully, my husband found an izakaya still open that was brilliant.

We coordinated our orders so I had the cream croquette set whilst he had the deep fried oysters. Both plates were delicious and we have finally fulfilled a promise we made to ourselves on our first ever day in Japan back in 2015 – have deep-fried oysters again. The croquette was so good too – I can how they can get crowded when tourist season reaches a peak.

Then came the weirdest part of the day. I semi-unwittingly booked a pretty luxurious hotel for this single night. Pretty much all the facilities were closed when we rolled in, but to get there was a 35 minute walk from the izakaya. In the dark with phone torches on, which we will need to do the opposite of tomorrow. We saw the local floating shrine looking rather spooky though.

So I’m going to just take some time in my hotel pajamas to chill before a packed agenda tomorrow. Feeling proper cosy.

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Souvenir Round-Up

So the postcards we ended up sending came from Nagoya Castle and, to be honest, these were the better pictures to send. This Pochita file ended up being used for the rest of the holiday to keep our passports and itinerary in. By the end of the trip, I had accumulated a fair bit of Pochita merchandise … but what can I say, he is the perfect anime mascot.

Springtime in Japan: Day 8 – Kobe

So this is going to be one of the final day trips for this holiday and we’re off to Kobe. Only 13 minutes away by bullet train, it’s yet another big city in this fairly small region of Japan. The sun was out all day and we had a lovely temperature all day. Really continuing to be grateful for this incredible weather.

Arriving into Shin-Kobe station, there is immediately a very different vibe compared to Osaka that would perpetuate throughout the day. As cities go, Kobe is incredibly chill and just seems to have room to breathe where Osaka does not. Can totally see that if you are an Osakan, you’d come to Kobe on day trips and maybe do some shopping.

As it is right by the station, we went straight for the ropeway that would take us up to the Kobe Nunobiki Herb Gardens. It’s a five minute ride and you start to get some great views of the city and the bay. However, the best views really are at the top, but more on that later because it was time for breakfast.

A lovely thing about these gardens was just how many people were picnicking. Not to be away from the fun, I had a very special ekiben for breakfast that I picked up in Shin-Osaka station. I had seen a video about the Kirby bento box and was really hoping I would be able to find one. Well, I did and the journey was way too short to eat it. So in the shade at the top of the herb gardens, I cracked it open and ate the meatball, rice and other treats inside. I’ve already washed this up to bring back to the UK as this is one of those cool souvenirs that will really keep me happy.

When we planned for the first stop to be the Herb Gardens, we had no idea just how stunning they would be. In retrospect, I wonder if maybe we should have done them in the end and just spent as long as we wanted in the different areas. You could easily pack a lunch and just spend the whole day doing various things and just plain old chilling.

Whoever did the design of these gardens deserves some sort of award as there are delights to be seen everywhere, all of which are heightened by yet more cherry blossoms in bloom and the petals starting to be carried away by the wind. We plan to be back in Japan to see the 2025 World Expo and can see myself wanting to come back to these gardens to see what counts as a more autumnal display. Truly gorgeous.

We spent over two hours wandering through the gardens before getting back into the ropeway and descending to street level. Most of the remaining walks would be downhill towards the sea because that’s just how this city is built.

Whilst walking to Sannomiya, we took a detour into the Kitano area. This is where the foreigners were allowed to build houses when there was segregation. Now a lot of these remaining houses have been converted into wedding venues, museums or other attractions. The English House goes full hog with a Sherlock Holmes plaque and London Underground sign. It’s a real hodgepodge of architectural aesthetics and a really nice area to explore if you are in Kobe for a while.

Since we are in Kobe, we had to have some of their signature beef. When you get to Sannomiya, you cannot move for Kobe beef restaurants. Pretty much everyone is saying how they have the best cuts, so it gets a bit distracting as to where to go. We opted to go to Steakland because it is one of those places I have seen a bunch of people on YouTube and different blogs going for because of the reasonably priced lunch sets.

The queue was only half an hour and then we were at a teppanyaki table with the chef cooking our rich beef and some accompanying vegetables (not pictured because I wanted to get to the beef whilst it was hot). This experience is more about the texture and mouthfeel than the taste. This beef just melts. When we had it in a burger, I don’t think we quite got that, but you do with the steak with a little bit of sauce.

Post-lunch we paid a visit to the Ikuta Jinja shrine, one of the oldest Shinto shrines in Japan having been set up in the 3rd century. As we got there, a wedding was taking place meaning everything was in a bit of a flurry – especially one guy who was shooing unrelated people from blocking the path of the wedding party. It’s a lovely shrine to be so tucked into the middle of a city.

To finish off the trip to Kobe we went to the Harborfront area, which is absolutely massive. We started out in Merikan Park, just sitting looking at the sea and having whatever vending machine drinks were in the bag. Then we checked out the Kobe earthquake memorial, which has preserved a section of the destroyed park as it was after the event. Simple but a very effective way to commemorate the destruction.

Finally we ventured over to the Mosaic shopping area, which has a nice mix of the common stores and a bunch I haven’t seen yet. It also had the theming of a seaside town, which made for a nice change as we did some browsing.

Once back in Osaka, it was dinner time and after a bit of a struggle to find something that we were happy with, we ended up being ushered into a tonkatsu place. It was a nice meal with pieces of breaded pork and a shrimp croquette with way too much cabbage. Another thing ticked off the list for things to have whilst in Japan.

It’s our last day staying in Osaka, but this is only half way through the holiday. Tomorrow I’m going to try and send our bags ahead of us to Tokyo whilst staying for a single night in Hakone. It’ll be odd trusting our luggage into the hands of a delivery service, but wow I would not want to be lugging these around the bullet trains.

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Souvenir Round-Up

Of course the Kirby ekiben box is a major souvenir of the day. I was expecting to not find this, but wow it was super easy to buy one. I also got myself a lovely Animal Crossing kitchen timer from the Nintendo Store at Osaka station. It’s already on my fridge and gotten a good amount of use.

Springtime in Japan: Day 7 – Amanohashidate

Bit of a different day today as, until an hour or two before we left, I didn’t see a single Westerner. Some materialised at the end of the day, but for the most part we were the only ones and it sure felt great to do something that would be a bit off the beaten path. I guess that there won’t be too many setting their sights on seeing the three classical views of Japan, granted it has taken me an awfully long time to get back here.

The day started out on a bit of a low note. We tried to find some nice breakfast stuff in Osaka station given that this is a journey that takes two and a half hours in each direction. However, if you want that stuff you need to go to Shin-Osaka, by which I mean ekiben. Also most of the stores in the station seem to open after 10 unless it’s a 7/11 and I just wanted something a bit better than that.

The journey between Osaka and Amanohashidate cuts through some really beautiful countryside with more than the occasional river and mountains in every direction you look. The journey was one that we initially worried about, but actually ended up pretty painless with the connections on both sides being incredibly smooth. First we took a train from Osaka to Fukuchiyama and then changed to join a train from Kyoto that goes to Amanohashidate. It was surprisingly simple. Also, this travel time finally allowed me to catch up with my writings after being behind for the last week. Hopefully I can keep up to date now!

You go to Amanohashidate for one reason, the pine tree-covered sandbar. Specifically the view of this sandbar from the south when high up. This is such a thing that a small theme park is now up there, but more on that later.

There are viewing points on both sides and with six hours here, we were going to do both of them. So this meant walking along the slightly over 2km sandbar to the northern shore. Technically you are on the sea here, so the smell of the pine trees gets mixed with a faint salt smell from the nearby sea. Whilst you don’t have to go across, this is something that I really found to be worthwhile.

Since not a lot of people were around in the morning, there were long stretches of the walk where it was just my husband and I and the sounds of the various birds that call this area home. If we had been able to grab an ekiben and not eaten it on the train, one of the many beautiful beaches would have been the perfect place. Things being as they are, they made for the perfect place to stop for photographs and a slurp of peach water.

When on the other side, we checked in with a nearby shrine called the Motoise Kono Shrine. We saw a bunch of small shrines on the walk over, but it was nice to just pass through this local one. It also had a golden tori gate at one end, which I have not seen to often.

To get up to the northern viewpoint you have two options. Either you wait for the cablecar, or go by the constantly turning chairlifts. So obviously, despite my fear of heights, we went for the chairlifts. They didn’t exactly go too far off the ground, in fact for parts I kept having to hoist my legs as high as possible as these tracks are not built with 6’3” people and their legs in mind. Still worth it though.

The view from this side was breathtaking. This isn’t the official view, but the sandbar stretching out into the distance with mountains and the bay. So beautiful. There isn’t too much to do on this side, but it did have a nice gift shop with products featuring the local pine tree-headed mascot. So got a couple of things here.

To cross back to the south shore, we decided to use the boat. It’s substantially quicker and allows you to see the sandbar from sea level. It also allows you to go bird spotting if someone else on the boat has bought the seagull snacks and attracted a flock of black kites. Most of the trip, for me, ended up just watching the spectacle of around 10 black kites going nuts for shrimp crackers whilst catching them in mid air. Chalking that up to another weird unpredictable holiday moment.

Another chairlift (as the monorail is every 20 minutes and we’d just missed it) and we were up on the other side and viewing the sandbar as it is meant to be… from Amanohashidate Viewland. I mean, I get how they’ve made a small amusement park for kids up here. Means the adults can come for the view whilst the kids go on the little train or go-karts.

The view from up here is quite different as, from this side, you can actually see all the beaches. Since this is (when viewed upside down) meant to resemble a swimming dragon, those beaches would be the soft underbelly – which is believable given the repetitive round shapes. I didn’t do the through the legs view, but I got what I needed.

We ended up having lunch up here. We split the grilled and tempura versions of chikawa (a type of fish cake), the fried clams were mine (delicious and locally sourced) whilst the grilled rice balls belonged to my husband.

Dessert was another tick on the ‘to try’ list – a Japanese parfait. This one was a shiratama parfait, which contained two types of mochi, red bean paste, matcha ice cream, vanilla ice cream and frosted corn flakes. It was utterly delicious and I think I may need to find a strawberry (or other fruity) one before we leave Japan.

Time marched on. We took a final look at the view on the chairlift down and went to the station via another nearby temple. It was my turn at the window seat for the longer leg of the journey, so I got to appreciate the nature for myself and not over my husband’s shoulder.

Also, we wrote in a cool train carriage. The rest of the train was ordinary, so that was neat.

For dinner, my husband had found a place in Osaka station that did kushikatsu. It’s a chain that I have seen elsewhere already, but we knew an English menu was available… so no mocking us out of the restaurant this time. I’m sure I’ll get over this soon now that I have had it.

So what is kushikatsu? Well it’s as the photos show – breaded and deep fried meat and vegetables on sticks. For this, we decided on one of their sets whilst adding a cheese and kaarage skewer. The kaarage was… not great as it was not at all what I was expecting. The remaining 11 skewers were all pretty much great with the asparagus, tonkatsu and chicken meatball being the greats. In retrospect, I should have gone with the mozzarella rather than regular cheese – just for the fun of the stretch.

Earlier finish than normal, which means some attempt at a longer sleep to try and get over what… may actually be my first time with hayfever. Rather that than a bad cold, eh. Kobe tomorrow where I hope to have some more of that delicious beef.

 

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Souvenir Round-Up

From Amanohashidate itself, we got some of the regular souvenirs as well as a little candy tin with the local mascot on it (a pine cone fairy of unknowable age). Now I have set this to publish, I can open this candy tin and get at the goodness inside.

When we came back to Osaka, we also decided to do some extra looking around the department store at Osaka station and the nearby Yodobashi. My husband bought himself some Sentai stuff whilst I got a Togekiss plush from a nearby Pokémon Center store and a Scorpio Kirby magnet from Yodobashi.