Call me a creature of habit, but I have this complacent, almost romantic idea about travelling the world. I indulge myself in consistent, predictable travel quite unlike a adventure junkie with eyes pouring with wanderlust.
Two weeks ago though, I felt a change in this attitude when, ditching the usual Uber called 45 minutes in advance, I stepped out of my house and hitched a rickshaw ride to the airport. While the aircraft was taxiing the runway, my fingers refused to search for my take-off song ("Bed" by Jahzzar). Instead, I surprised myself by just listening to whatever the iPod god decided I should hear then.
15 days later I'm sat at the boarding gate for a flight that will take me home just overwhelmed and grateful for all I've had the opportunity to enjoy in the Land of the Rising Sun.
Harshita, my sister who lives in Australia, was my companion for this wonderful holiday and thanks to her diligent notekeeping, I've decided to do compile it all together for this blog post.
So here we go! This is from Harshita's daywise + citywise journal only slightly edited and embellished with some photos :)
3 Days in Tokyo
DAY 1
Got breakfast at a local bakery just around the corner from the hotel where we were staying. The bakery was called Cattlea on KiyoSumi Dori. I had a bun that had some sort of bean jam inside. Got the train to Asakusa and walked to Buddhist Senso-ji Temple. It is Tokyo's oldest temple built in 628 AD. On the way to Senso-ji we stumbled upon an owl cafe where there were many owls and other animals like capybara, parrots, and squirrels.
 |
| whatchu lookin' at! |
Kamna then got a caricature at a place opposite the owl cafe and we continued on to the temple. It was very crowded with tourists. At the entrance of the temple there was a massive red paper lantern. We got some matcha ice cream at a shop near the temple. The ice cream was amazing and perfect time to enjoy it under the shade on a hot 30 degree day.
Then we walked about 2 KMs to Tokyo National Museum. The museum was huge full of art and antiques of ancient Japan. But Kamna and I were bored so we just walked around for a bit and left.
Then we headed to KFC in Takadanobaba for unlimited happy hour booze. It was quite a struggle trying to order and ask for the happy hour deal. It ended up costing us a fair amount of money. Afterwards we got the JR line back to the hotel and hung out at the terrace before going to bed.
DAY 2
Woke up early at 6 to get sumo tickets at Ryokugu. Waited in line until about 8.30 and got two tickets. Walked back to the hotel and got breakfast at Ono Cafe right next to the hostel. Got some amazing thick Japanese pancakes and a cold iced coffee. One thing we quickly noticed while walking through the streets was that a lot of people use bicycles to get around. They can ride on the wide pedestrian walk ways. It's so convenient and good for environment and traffic congestion. There are whole parking lots dedicated to bikes and even train stations have their own dedicated parking lots for bikes. Another thing we noticed was that there was virtually no obesity in the country. Everyone looked so fit and healthy.
Napped for a little while then headed to lunch at Tonkatsu Ichikatsu just next to the Ryogoku station. We had battered pork with rice, miso soup with mini clams, shredded cabbage salad and cold tea. Tonkatsu is the name of the dish. The food and experience was authentic with people sitting around the small kitchen on bar stools.
 |
| "did u see that ludicrous display last night?" |
Then we headed to sumo wrestling at Ryogoku Kokugikan just in time for the senior sumo competition and tuned into the commentary radio. It's an interesting sport with a lot of theatrics, intimidation and build up to the actual fight that lasts less than 10 seconds. It was entertaining to watch.
After sumo we went to Harajuku shopping precinct where we walked down the main Takeshita Street. It was bizarre and enthralling. We went to a weird selfie/photoshop shop full of photo booths and weird young Japanese girls posing for photos. Then we went to the cat cafe that had about 20 cute little purrfect kitties. It was unbearably cute. It was like a little cat fairy tale. We got tickets to spend 30 minutes with the cats. At the entrance there was a slipper dispensing machine so we could change into them before entering the cat room.
After lots of cat photos, we continued to walk down Takeshita Street and saw some interesting shops like Crepe Dessert shops, jewelry and clothing stores. Really wanted to get the flower lipstick but it was too expensive (2000 yen). We also stopped by a nice accessories shop and window shopped for a while.
Then we went to Shibuya crossing and posed with the Hachiko dog statue. Hachiko was an Akita known for his loyalty. He would meet his owner Ueno at Shibuya station every day after work until one day his owner died and did not return. But Hachiko waited at the same spot everyday for 9 years. What a heart touching story. We walked through the famous busy Shibuya Crossing. The place was so busy. We walked into Don Quijote mega store which pretty much had all sorts of goods but we mainly looked at the confectionery section with all kinds of sweets. Kamna bought some carrots and what looked like 'giga puddi' (caramel custard). They also had a whole bunch of interesting Kit Kat flavours.
Then we had dinner at Doutor Cafe, just some pork rolls after which we walked around Shibuya for a bit before heading back to the hostel.
DAY 3
We started the day with a trip to Bunkyo Civic Centre where we got an amazing Tokyo City view. The observation floor was on the 25th floor. We you a good city view without having to pay which is what you would need to do at the Tokyo Sky Tree.
 |
| paper done right |
Bunkyo is a residential and educational Ward in Tokyo. We then made our way to LaQua which was essentially a mall with a roller coaster. Did some window shopping there and really liked the red framed glasses worth 9000 yen, then headed to Ochanomizu Origami Kaikan which is the world's first Origami centre. Over there I bought some artwork for home. The origami was interesting and beautiful delicate artwork. There was a room full of origami demons.
We then headed to Tsukiji to see the fish market only to realise that it was closed since it was about 5.30pm by then. We walked through Shimbashi suburb which seemed like a very high class business district. There was a new local subway station called Shiodome station that looked so clean and fancy. We got the subway from Shiodome to Shimbashi (1 stop).
After that we headed to a Ramen restaurant in Shimbashi and had a spicy pork Ramen and some dumplings. We then walked into what looked like a pokies arcade type of place but it was full of middle aged men playing "Goldstorm". It's called Panchiko slots and looks like pinball. The players were collecting little metal balls in large containers. Not sure how the game works but on googling it the aim of the game is essentially to collect as many steel balls as you can to exchange for a prize at the arcade. Gambling for cash is illegal in Japan so players can't get cash at the arcade but can sell the prize for cash.
After that we headed back to the hostel then and planned our transport for the next day.
Accommodation
Oak Hotel Edo close to Morishita Subway and 1.5 km to the closest JR station: Ryogoku
2 Days in Kiso Valley
DAY 1
Checked out of the hotel and got some more medicine for a fever. Headed to Sakashita station via Nagoya and Nakatsugawa. The Shinkansen from Tokyo to Nagoya took about 1.5 hours and was so fast and clean and comfortable. It was about a 4.5 hour journey to Sakashita.
 |
| a welcome well done |
We were greeted by a cat on our way from the station to our AirBnB. The room we got to stay in had a typical sliding door entry and wooden floors with a low wooden ceiling. The house itself came with wooden ceilings and floors and old vintage furniture collected from old houses being renovated in the area. The bathroom had a deep stainless steel tub.
We dropped our stuff in our room and walked to a nearby grocery store to buy some food. We then walked back and had some cup noodles and called it an early night since I still wasn't feeling too well.
DAY 2
In the morning we made our way to Tsumago via Sakashita and Nagiso station. Tsumago was the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen. The cute little Japanese shops and homes were wonderful. There was a beautiful cafe with huge Japanese fish in a pond at the entrance. There was also a chestnut sweet shop where they served warm green tea to go with the sweets. It was so decadent.
 |
| bibbity bobbity boo |
We continued walking down to the famous photogenic Terashita area and took lots of photos. I bought some postcards and a fridge magnet from a souvenir shop and Kamna bought some Sake from an alcohol vendor. Then we headed back to the bus stop and took a scenic route up the hill to Magome.
At Magome we walked down a hill and on the way stopped at a cafe with an amazing view. We had a stuffed mixed veggie bread (I think it's called anpan) and pancakes with banana and strawberries. We also saw a couple of Ryokan that looked really nice on the outside. I wish we'd known about them so we could stay there instead. We walked past the village water wheel that generates electricity for the entire village. When we hit the bottom of the hill we climbed back up and half way through visited the village temple.
We continued walking further up the hill to a look out point. The clock struck 5 and the village played some very cute music reminiscent of the Japanese anime Heidi. In fact they played this music at a few key times in the day - morning at 7, noon and evening.
Then we caught the bus to Nakatsugawa and the train to Sakashita and walked back home. The weather was horrible that night with a typhoon in the area. Windows rattling made it very hard to sleep.
Accommodation
The AirBnB was owned by Misaki who lived there with her infant Leo and husband Keiki. The house was a 150 year old traditional Japanese house a 5 minute walk from the Nagiso station.
4 Days in Kyoto
DAY 1
 |
| serenity = parallel lines |
We got some souvenirs from Misaki and were on our way to Kyoto via Nagoya. It was roughly a 3 hour journey. Kyoto station was gigantic. Impressive to say the least. Lots of shops and 33 platforms including JR and subway lines. Our hostel was only a few hundred metres from the station. The hostel was nice. We got there early so left our bags and got some lunch at a nearby restaurant. We had to order our lunch from our table with a tablet device.
We checked in, left our bags and headed to the Fushima Inari shrine. Then we headed to Pontocho area that is by the Kamo River. It was a lane full of restaurants by the river. Kamna tried some takoyaki - octopus dumplings. I thought they were too salty. The restaurants there were quite pricey so we ate at Mr Young Men where I had Okonomiyaki.
Then we walked around and saw some shops before we headed back to the hostel.
DAY 2
 |
| pugggggieeeee |
We started the day in Arashiyama west of Kyoto. We went to the bamboo forest there. Then we headed to Katsuragawa station and did a long walk for the pug cafe where they had about 11 pugs. I thought they were quite stinky and catlike but Kamna loved them. Her dream come true. We spent an hour there and then headed back to Kyoto station building. We had dinner at a French looking restaurant called Mollete, like an anagram of omlette, where I had a paella type dish with egg and mushrooms. The restaurant was on the 11th floor of the Kyoto station building.
On our way back we took the escalators down and saw a light display on the stairs celebrating the building's 20th anniversary.
We then walked to the city centre which was right outside the station and saw the Kyoto tower. We walked down a street with some pubs and saw one pub with 6 Pomeranians stationed outside. They were all so cute and friendly and well behaved. We then had a couple of beers at the British pub called Hub before heading back to the hostel.
DAY 3
We started our day at Nara Park where there were lots of deer. It was lovely. They were so cute roaming about freely. People could buy what looked like crackers for deer food for 150 yen but there was enough going around anyway so we decided not to buy any.
 |
| dat ass tho |
We played with the deer for a while then headed to Todai-ji temple. The deer were roaming about freely there too. The entrance gate was impressive, gigantic devil looking statues stood on either side. They must have been guardians of the temple. It was a Buddhist temple. We decided not to go inside having seen so many temples already.
Then we had lunch at a kamameshi place which was a place that serves iron pot rice where the rice on the side is slightly burned called okoge. There was quite a long line up outside the restaurant which is what made us want to try it. We had the Nara speciality which was served with eel, crab and shrimp along with miso soup and pickles.
Then we headed back to the hostel and on the way stopped at Avanti mall where we checked out the Don Quijote shop which was essentially an everything shop where they sold clothing, electronics, make up, etc. We then rested at the hostel for a bit before heading out again for dinner at a sushi train restaurant called Sushi no Musashi. It was in the Kyoto station building. The sushi place was awesome. The biggest sushi train I've ever seen and there was reticulated drinking hot water so you could make your own green tea. We had about 7 plates of sushi where we tried salmon, fish eggs, crab and tuna. Delicious.
DAY 4
 |
| the reflection is strong in this one |
We started our day at Nijo castle. It's a castle that was built in 1603 and world heritage site. Around the castle is a large moat and there is another smaller inner moat within the outer moat. The Castle was spectacular. It was so well preserved and really did give you the feeling of being in old Japan during the samurai rule. The trees and gigantic stony rocks there were beautiful.
We then headed to Kinkaku-ji temple which is a temple where the top two levels are gold plated. The temple is situated within a small pond which makes it look out of a painting.
We then headed to Arashiyama again to see the monkeys but got there half hour too late since they close at 4.30. We had to walk across the Katsura River and we could see we were surrounded by lush green mountains and the river was so beautiful.
Back in Kyoto we had pizza at an Italian restaurant. It was good to eat some food we were familiar with for a change.
Accommodation
The Lower East Nine Hostel about 5 minutes walking from Kyoto station. Very comfortable stay with free breakfast and cool lounging areas.
2 Days in Hiroshima
DAY 1
First thing in the morning we took the Shinkansen to Shinkobe on the way to Hiroshima.
At Hiroshima we transferred onto the Sanyo Red line towards Iwakuni and got off at Nishi-Hiroshima where our hostel was. The worst hostel so far. Dirty to say the least. But we weren't going to spend much time in the hostel anyway. We left our bags there and headed to Yamato maritime museum.
 |
| I like big boats and I cannot lie |
The museum was centred around how the town of Kure developed into an important shipping industry during the world war. This is where the battleship Yamato was built. We spent some time walking around the small museum then headed back to the hostel, checked in and headed out again for dinner.
We ate at Okonomiyaki Nagata-ya which was a Hiroshima style okonomiyaki place. On the way there we walked past ground zero where the A-bomb first hit in 1945. At the restaurant they had some stools along the kitchen where there was a huge cooktop along the seating area. There were also cooktops at individual tables. I got the kimchi and bacon okonomiyaki and Kamna had the deluxe okonomiyaki and a Hiroshima special lemon shochu. I also had a carp drink which I think was some sort of spirit and soda.
We walked down Hon Dori Street past all the restaurants and the shops. We saw a Japanese busker singing popular pop songs and Kamna joined him to sing along to "If I ain't got you." We bought his CD with like 4 songs on it too. We then headed back to the hostel.
DAY 2
We started the day off with breakfast at a cafe in Hiroshima station. Then we got the JR tour bus to A Bomb dome. The building was used as a convention sort of building before it was hit by the A-bomb on Aug 6 1945. The bomb exploded 600m in the sky about 200m away from the building. The bomb actually exploded above a hospital killing all the people in it.
 |
| still standing with purpose |
The target was actually a 3 way bridge not far from the hospital. After many years of oposition, the people of Hiroshima finally decided to preserve the A-bomb dome building as a reminder of the importance of peace.
We then continued walking towards the peace memorial Park and on the way read through the history of the world war in some booklets that were set up by an in-utero survivor Mito Kosei. He said that the information in the museum is not fully accurate and he spent 5 years putting together this booklet. It was very informative. Interestingly, the A-bomb was not necessarily what ended the war and forced Japan to surrender. Japan had already suffered many casualties before the A-bomb and was at the brink of surrendering. The only condition they had was that the emperor would need to remain as head of state but unfortunately negotiations did not go as planned and the US decided to bomb Japan. It may have also been to justify spending 2 billion USD on the Manhattan project.
We made our way to the peace memorial park where there was a fire that is lit forever and we could see it through the cepotaph which had a clear line of sight of the A bomb dome. We then visited the peace memorial museum and learned more about the war, nuclear weapons and their destruction.
After that we headed back to Hiroshima station and got the train to Miyajima station. From there we took the ferry to Miyajima island where the Great Torii and Itsukushima shrine are located. There were also freely roaming wild deer on the island.
After seeing the Torii gate we walked down the restaurants and shops alleyway and had an amazing deep fried cake with custard and cheese filling called Agemomiji. We also had one that wasn't deep fried with chocolate filling. So delicious. Then we had a banana milkshake and walked back to the ferry.
Once back on the main island we waited for the JR tour bus to go to Namiki Dori which was a high fashion shopping area. We had dinner at a pub sort of place called the Hiroshima Diner then headed back to the hostel and planned for the next day.
Accommodation
Guest House Carpe about 5 minutes walking from nishi-Hiroshima station. Terribly unclean. Not recommended.
Day Trip in Kobe & Night in Osaka
First we made our way to our hostel in Osaka to drop our bags off. Once we did that we headed back to Osaka station and found the Baked cheese tart place in the basement of Hanshin building opposite the station. The basement was a "food hall" full of amazing food stalls with desserts, cheese, fish and fresh produce. Everything just looked so delicious. We got a lemon and cheese tart and a plain cheese tart. It's the fluffiest cream cheese I've ever had. It tasted like a cheesecake tart. Exceptional.
We went back to the south gate of the Osaka JR station and saw a water fountain clock that was very cool. The South gate was essentially a mall building and we went to the Pokemon centre and Tokyu Hands shop.
 |
| blissful hot spring |
After that we headed to Arima Onsen (Kobe) about an hour and a half from Osaka. Arima Onsen was a little Hill station type of town with a beautiful river and cute little shops. We first went to Gin No Yu Onsen which was so relaxing. We had to wash ourselves properly before entering the natural hot spring. Ginsen hot spring is created by channeling water from tansan source and combining it with a radium spring. The waters are clear and this is a traditional hot spring.
We spent about 30 minutes there then headed to Kin No Yu Onsen which is the third oldest hot spring in Japan built in the 1800s. The water here is golden rich in iron and sodium chloride. There were two golden baths - one at 42 degrees Celsius and the other at 44. The 44 felt significantly hotter and we had to ease our way into it and could only spend a maximum of 2 minutes in it at a time.
We felt so refreshed and rejuvenated after the hot spring. We then walked to a nearby okonomiyaki/tepaniyaki restaurant called Ikkyu where we had tepaniyaki chicken gizzard, bacon and egg, Kobe beef and gyoza. The beef was so tender melts in your mouth. It was 3000 yen for about 13 pieces of beef. The beef comes from Waygu cows in Kobe. Kobe beef is one of the three top brands of beef. We also had some Sake along with our dinner which I think was 50% alcohol.
After that we headed back to our hostel.
Accommodation
Sun Village Tamatsukuri is 5 minutes walking from Tamatsukuri station. Very comfortable stay and clean too.
Last Day & Night in Tokyo
The next day we headed back to Tokyo which was a 3 hour journey from Osaka. We had sandwiches from 7/11 for breakfast and lunch since we were running out of yen. When we got to Tokyo we headed to a capsule hotel to check in. The hotel was just amazing. There was a locker room on the first floor, showers on the second floor and capsules on floors 3 to 7.
 |
| captivating capsule cocoon |
The lockers were operated by QR codes on the key card provided by the reception. The shower had a pillar of water flowing through the middle which was supposed to simulate the feeling of being in a relaxing bath. The capsule was cozy and comfortable like sleeping within a cocoon.
After leaving our bags at the hotel we went to Shibuya to the Don Quijote store to buy Kit Kats. We walked around Shibuya for a bit. It was crazy that it was so busy on Monday afternoon even. Then we headed to Harajuku to buy some accessories we saw before. Kamna got a ring and I got some earrings.
Then we headed to Shinjuku and walked down Omoide Yokocho which was an alleyway with lots of cute restaurants. We ate at a gyoza place and then headed back to the hotel. On the way back we saw lots of bustling restaurants in Kanda near our hotel. There was one which could only occupy 6 people standing around a small table.
When we got to the hotel we had the most amazing shower and called it a night.
Accommodation
9h Ninehours Woman 5 minutes walking from Kanda station. Absolute highlight in terms of stay! Highly recommended.
_____
That's all folks! My hope is that these notes will help those who want to visit better plan their trip. Pro tips: Get the JR Pass and book your flight tickets at least 3 months before your dates.
