(pics to be added)
TOKYO
18 hours flight to Japan, via Hong Kong. Did I sleep? I did not. I did watch Wuthering Heights tho – lots of wafting about on misty moors in big frocks.
Arrived in Tokyo to find the reports of fancy toilets are accurate!!! An actual jet of water right on your bumholé! How do they know where to aim it? Are there sensors? Hidden cameras and a man with a joystick? I shall investigate further.
Also they drive on the left here. I cannot get my head around driving on the right when I go to Europe, but I could drive here! I’m absolutely not going to tho.
Staying right next to the Government Metropolitan Building in Shinjuku. Going to go out and explore Tokyo for the next couple of days, and eat my body weight in sashimi.
TOKYO
30 degrees in Tokyo. People here do NOT like the sun on them, and many use umbrellas as protection like modern day parasols. Everywhere you look are people with silver umbrellas.
First stop was the Meiji Jingu shrine, a huge peaceful retreat in the middle of the city. Tokyo has two main religions – Shintoism and Buddhism. These aren’t really followed as religious doctrine, more of a moral code and way of life. You are invited to rinse your hands and mouth at the entrance of the shrine as a means of purification.
Also saw the Tokyo Tower, a red and white tower based on the Eiffel Tower, built after the war as a memorial for peace.
After that we visited HamaRikyu Gardens – a massive beautiful peaceful garden in the bustling city that was once the hangout of shoguns, contrasting lush greenery with the city buildings where shogun used to hang out, drinking tea with their shogun mates in Tokyo, or Edo as it was called at the time.
Then on to the Buddhist Senso-Ji temple in Asakusa – fun fact, Asahi beer has its HQ here! (In Asakusa, not in the temple). Also had time to wander around the market, which was BRILLIANT, loads of exciting tat, like umbrellas with samurai sword handles, chopsticks, hair pins and kimonos for babies. Amazing.
Then moved on to Shibuya crossing, or Shibuya Scramble Square – the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world, with 3,000 people crossing at every light cycle – a million people crossing a day. Obviously I had drop split on the crossing, which means waiting for the countdown to the lights changing, then bombing out into the road before the hordes start crossing.
Had a quick visit to the observation deck of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, where you could see Tokyo stretching out into the distance, and in the evening we headed downtown to Omoide Yokocho food alley, which was just INCREDIBLE, a tiny alley filled with the sounds and smells from all the tiny food outlets and adorned with lanterns and cherry blossom and classic Japanese signage. Each restaurant only seats about 6-8 people but was lucky enough to find a space and sit at the counter as they cooked up wagyu, squid and chicken skin, and I had a beer! I do not even like beer, and haven’t had one since I was about 15 but it felt appropriate. Plus it was the only thing they served. Moved on to a tiny whisky bar for cocktails, before heading back to a light show on the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building outside my bedroom window. Just the most incredible experience to end the first full day of this adventure.
ODAWARA, HAKONE & LAKE ASHI
Took the train this morning to Odawara from Shinjuku station – officially recognised as the busiest railway station in the world. Getting out of it is sometimes described on social media as the world’s biggest escape room 🤣
The train line was called the Romance Car – how cute is that?! You can turn the seats round and make up a little bay of 4 with your mates. Speaking of which, we are a large group of nearly 40 and I’ve met some LOVELY people, really good fun, but I also get to have quiet time to myself so it’s PERFECT.
Railways stations are a huge thing here. It’s very normal to eat at stations, get dinner, there are shopping malls, it’s a whole way of life. I got a bento box at the station today – basically a lunchbox with amazing fresh food.
At Odawara we headed to Hakone and took the Hakone Ropeway (cable car) to the top of the mountain and as we crested over the top, we were treated to fantastic views of Mount Fuji. Truly a breathtaking moment.
A speciality delicacy are eggs boiled in the volcanic sulphur, which turns the outside of the eggs black, so we ate them with the view of Mount Fuji, before coming back down in the cable car to cross lake Ashi.
This is a big old spring water lake formed in the crater of a volcano. We crossed the lake to the hotel on a pirate ship. There is absolutely no reason for this, pirates are not traditionally known for doing their pirate thing on lakes (it’s a spring water lake so it doesn’t even connect to the ocean), they just decided (quite rightly) that a pirate ship is cool af.
What an incredible hotel room, with a view of Mount Fuji!!!! And the hotel has an onsen – a traditional spa with water from the hot springs, and with strict rules about participating – like, you have to be completely naked. I however was not allowed in the onsen because I have tattoos. Is it my fault I got Japanese lettering tattooed on me in the 90s??!! Blame the spice girls. Anyway the water in the hotel bathrooms is the same hot springs water and one of the other guests bought some of the mineral salts they use in the onsen, so I made my own onsen in the hotel bathroom.
Woke up to the most incredible view of Mount Fuji. Feeling very lucky indeed 🗻
MOUNT FUJI & OISHI PARK, LAKE KAWAGUCHIKO
Woke up at 5.45am to views over Lake Ashi of Mount Fuji, AKA the Big Fooj. I did not need to be up this early, I was just excited about the view.
Went up to the Mount Fuji 5th Station, roughly half way up the mountain (it’s 3776m, the height of 8 and a half Empire State Buildings ) obviously I got a coach, I did not climb up there.
Oh my god it’s amazing. Huge. Will you LOOK at this big fuck off mountain! Look at nature doing its thing! Amazing.
Mt Fuji is the national symbol of Japan. Why? Cos it’s BIG and it’s SYMMETRICAL af. It’s on the Japanese money and everything. Quite right too cos it’s stunning.
Guess what… the traffic vibes round here are Mt Fuji themed! Blue with white snow at the top. So fucking cute. Also you can buy bottled water which is the filtered water from the snow at the summit.
Fun fact: Japan doesn’t have an “army”. It has “self defence forces” which are the pretty much the same thing, and they train at the foot of Mt Fuji, which is nice for them.
On the way up and back down, they have these things called melody roads, where grooves are cut into the road so your tyres play a tune as you drive over them. So bloody cute.
We also went to a supermarket. What is it about supermarkets when you go overseas, they are so damn exciting! Was in there for ages! The food in supermarkets is incredible, puts our meal deals to SHAME. I bought a box of sashimi and some yakatori (meat skewers), and some matcha KitKats (flavoured KitKats are a THING here) and then we all headed to Oishi Park for a picnic. This is a beautiful spot on the shores of Lake Kawaguchiko with theeeeee most INCREDIBLE views of Mt Fuji. Obviously this means there are a million influences and people prancing about for photos (yes including me) and they provide selfie stands with grooves to stand your phone in to get pics at optimum spots 🤣 please enjoy these thousand photos of Mount Fuji on me💁🏼♀️
Also made an origami crane today!!!
In the evening we all headed into the mountains to the alpine town of Matsumoto.
Went for dinner in an authentic traditional Japanese tavern, where you had to take your shoes off and were sat in private wooden side rooms separated by blinds and wall hangings, and sat on sunken benches. It was a bit like the House of Blue Leaves tavern in Kill Bill. Had Wagyu steak you cooked yourself on a hot lava stone stove. They also served horse sushi, which is a traditional local dish (I didn’t have that tho)
Brilliant day overwhelmed by the massive Mt Fuji.
MATSUMOTO, TSUMAGO & MAGOME, NAGOYA
In contrast to the last few days, it’s been rainy today, for that authentic Japanese experience.
This was a day for travelling to Nagoya and stopping off at a few cool places along the way.
Had a cup of miso at a miso factory! Visited Matsumoto castle – one of only 45 castles in Japan – nicknamed Crow Castle because of its black exterior.
Stopped at a service station for some food – ramen and miso soup and tempura chicken, and we sat on the floor on tatami mats and had to take off our shoes, it was bloody brilliant.
Passed through Tsumago and Magome, a couple of traditional historic post towns on the Nakasendo route, before arriving in Nagoya.
Headed out in the early evening for a quick bit of shopping. By which I mean, went to the Onitsuka Tiger shop and Uniqlo. I’d heard nightmare stories about huge queues at the Onitsuka stores but we walked straight in, and I’d bagged myself a pair of Mexico 66s and was straight back out. Prob cos it was 7.15pm (I already have the Bruce Lee/Kill Bill yellow ones so I got metallic reds)
Had dinner in a restaurant in Nagoya station, which in keeping with Japanese culture is actually a huge complex of restaurants and bars.
On the way back we passed a security robot! I have no idea what it does or how it works but there it was, patrolling around, looking like something out of Blade Runner.
Fun fact of the day! There are 5 million vending machines in Japan! There are banks of them everywhere, mostly selling drinks, but you can get anything in them – seen one selling miniature trains, and we found a wine vending machine! You can apparently even buy underwear in them! Alas, I have not seen this.
HIMEJI, HIROSHIMA
Took the bullet train from Nagoya to Himeji. They are so fast! If one goes past you in the station it’s gone pretty much before you register it’s there! I had a wee on it because I wanted to wee at 186mph. The toilets were amazing! Really clean and spacious, more like you ere having a wee in a nice restaurant.
There were also luggage shelves, with bars you could move down in front of your bags with a combination lock, so you could lock your baggage in place. And they were completely free! And were not broken! And you didn’t even need to reserve them! Brilliant.
In Himeji, went to see Japan’s most famous castle. It’s called the White Heron Castle because its shape and colour are said to resemble a bird in flight.
One thing I LOVE is on the roof of castles and a lot of buildings are statues called shachi, with the body of a fish and the head of a tiger or dragon. They are meant to protect the building from fire. Legend has it that if the building catches fire, the shachi will spew water from its mouth to put out the flames.
Also visited Koko-En Garden – a traditional Japanese landscaped garden. This was BEAUTIFUL, with waterfalls and bridges and footpaths and ponds full of huge koi carp. Absolutely stunning.
Took another bullet train, from Himeji to Hiroshima, then got a bottle of wine from the 7-11. Convenience store life is a whole THING here, they are everywhere, especially 7-11 but also Lawson and Family Mart. Locals literally rely on them for everything.
Went out for dinner to a traditional Japanese barbecue restaurant where you cook your own Wagyu steak on a grill at your table. It was bloody brilliant. Best night out so far.
Fun fact of the day – baseball is HUGE in Japan!!! It’s their favourite sport! They have baseball themed bars and restaurants with baseball playing on the screen!
MIYAJIMA, ITSUKUSHIMA, HIROSHIMA
What an amazing day! Visitingd Itsukushima shrine on Miyajima Island. Seeing the red floating great torii gate was definitely a bucket list moment.
Originally the island was decreed as sacred, it was forbidden to dig into the land or alter it or clear any trees or plants etc to build, as it would upset the gods living in nature. So instead, they built the shrine on the water, with the shrine on stilts and the torii gate in the water. When the tide comes in the whole shrine appears to float.
It’s absolutely amazing!!! Went down into the water for a paddle and to dick about in front of the gate. Unlike a lot of tourist places it really wasn’t busy at all, so you had plenty of space just to hang out and enjoy the moment (as well as get photos, obv).
There are wild deer on Mirajima Island, just mooching about, hanging around outside shops, going up and down stairs and wandering into cafes. They are kind of a mascot of the island. As are maple leaves, as the island is covered in maple trees.
It’s a beautiful island to explore, with shops and restaurants as well as temples and shrines. We went up to the Daishoin temple which was BEAUTIFUL and really peaceful, with mists and chiming bells.
Had lots of street food including my first matcha! Also had lots of Miyajima island specialities – fried oyster dumplings, octopus balls, maple leaf cakes, and lemon cake, and also visited the Miyajima brewery for mini beer.
I LOVE the street food here – it’s delicious and cheap and just so so good. But guess what?? You aren’t allowed to eat in the street 🤣 in some places there are actual signs warning you not to eat in the street, and you can get fined. So where do you eat the street food, you may well ask? Well usually you have to stand inside in a little area for eating, or sometimes there’s a little bench or stool, SOMETIMES an outdoor area, but you are definitely not allowed to eat walking around. Also there are no rubbish bins! At ALL!!!!!! You MIGHT get lucky and find one near a vending machine somewhere, but generally you have to put your rubbish in a bag and carry it around with you and dispose of it at home. You’re also not allowed to smoke anywhere, except designated smoking rooms, even outside.
Hiroshima is world famous for its savoury pancake okonomiyaki, so in the evening we found an okonomiyaki restaurant where you sat at the counter watching the kitchen, then went up to the Orisu tower for cocktails with panoramic views of Hiroshima. Loved it here – no chairs and tables, you just found a spot and sat down, on the stairs or on the floor, and grabbed some cushions and a little table. It was like sitting in a park where you just have a lil drinks picnic.
Rounded off the night in a 5 storey arcade of games, arcade machines, video games, and a floor where you could pick an outfit and go in a little studio set up and have photos taken.
Absolutely loved today, and seeing the great torii gate is the absolute highlight of the trip so far for me.
HIROSHIMA
Visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial museum and park, and the A bomb dome. The dome is what is left of a building after the bomb destroyed Hiroshima in 1945. We also visited the spot where the bomb was exploded 600m above.
There’s a flame burning in the memorial park which was lit at one of the temples of Itsukushima and burns eternally.
Also saw the Hiroshima children’s peace monument, with millions of folded paper cranes.
The crane has become Hiroshima’s peace symbol primarily because of the story of Sadako Sasaki, a young girl who survived the atomic bomb but later died from leukemia caused by radiation. While hospitalized, Sadako began folding origami cranes inspired by the Japanese
legend that folding a thousand cranes grants the folder a wish – her wish was to recover and for world peace.
She did not survive, but to this day people fold origami cranes and bring them to Hiroshima.
There are millions of them, hung up in strings and groups of colours, cascading everywhere. The museum collects them and recycles them into products in the memorial shop.
I’ve also been collecting Eki stamps, which are stamps you find in local landmarks and stamp in your collector book. It’s a Japanese travel tradition that creates a visual map of your journey. It’s so addictive looking for them and finding them, it’s basically Pokémon Go with rubber stamps 🤣
KYOTO
Took the bullet train from Hiroshima to
Kyoto, and bought a lil picnic of sashimi and cake at the station to have on the train. There was pretty much a department store of food at the station! Amazing.
Cake is a HUGE thing here, also sweets and ice cream, Japan is sweet toothed. I bought a cake and they wrapped it and put it in a beautiful box with a pack of dry ice to keep it cool. All for about £3.50!!!
Arrived in Kyoto – apparently the water is really pure here which means the sake is really good 😉
Took a walking tour of the Gion district, which is one of the 5 districts in Kyoto where you will find what we call geishas, but here are called geiko, and maiko (young women in geiko training). Maiko live in houses in groups with a geiko house mother for training.
We saw a few of them wandering around but it’s not really acceptable to take photos.
When they are full geiko, an evening hosted by a geiko with food and entertainment costs about 300,000 yen for 3hrs (about £1500). The weight of the full kimono is about 20kg!!
Went to see a Performance at the Gion Corner Theatre for a show portraying traditional elements of Japanese culture – not gonna lie there was some confusing shiz going on, with tea making and comedy and flower arranging etc but the costumes and dance were beautiful and it I loved it.
Had dinner in Ponto-cho Alley, a lantern-lit street filled with authentic restaurants and shops, where we again cooked our own food on hot stones.
KYOTO, KINKAKU JI, NISHIKI, FUSHIMI INARI
Started the day visiting Ryozen Kannon temple for a traditional tea ceremony.
This is a really highly ritualised ceremony where you have to do things in a very precise way, like wipe stuff and lift it up and turn it in a certain way with a certain hand in a certain direction.
I’ve been fascinated by the tea ceremony for about 15 years so this was a bit of a highlight of the trip – and after a demo I got invited to come up and make the tea!!!! Exciting!!! It’s matcha green tea, which I’ve never had before, and probably will not again.
There’s a season of America’s Next Top Model where they go to Japan, and they where they take part in a tea ceremony and then have a challenge to recreate it, remembering all the details. What the fuck this has to do with modelling I do not know.
After that we visited Kinkaku-ji, a Zen Buddhist temple officially named Rokuon-ji and called the Golden Pavilion cos the top 2 floors are covered in gold leaf.
Moved on to the Nishiki fish market – I bloody LOVE a street food market! And Japan does them so well! The sights and sounds and smells and the LANTERNS!!!!! Here’s some of the amazing local delicacies I got to try at Nishiki – conger eel tempura, prawn tempura, grilled octopus, sweetcorn and pork gyoza.
There’s not a huge choice of alcoholic drinks in a lot of places here – it’s mostly beer or sake, sometimes there might be cocktails. But often in offer in Kyoto are lemon sours – vodka, soda and lemon juice. It was V HOT yesterday (yes I know it’s also v hot in the UK) so I might’ve had several gallons of lemon sours, then even more in Potoncho Alley so I was a bit sozzled before moving on to Fushimi Inari.
This is a shrine famous for its Senbon Trail, a passage of 10,000 red torii gates that trail up the 233 mtrs Mount Inari. Worshippers and Japanese companies have donated these gates as a prayer for success or in gratitude for their wishes coming true, forming a tunnel of red gates. It’s a proper Japan bucket list moment. And yes it’s well hot to climb a mountain when you’re a bit pissed, even if it’s a v small mountain.
We are on the last stretch now so all of us are flagging a bit. Headed back to the hotel in the evening, picked up snacks and wine from the 7-11, put on my hotel kimono robe, and had Japanese Girl Dinner on my bed 🤣
NARA DEER PARK, TODAI-JI TEMPLE, KYOTO TOWER
“Is she STILL in Japan?!” Yes I bloody well AM, but not for much longer, these are our last few days together as a group.
Headed to Nara to go to the deer park. More wild deer here, millions of them, wandering around, owning the place.
If you ever go to Nara deer park, do NOT buy the deer crackers to feed them. 20 deer will rush you and attack you and You WILL get bitten 🤣
Visited the Todai-ji Temple in the deer park which has a massive bronze statue of Buddha inside, and also 2 massive fierce looking wooden statues of temple guardians that are so fucking cool.
Had lunch in Kyoto of Wagyu beef shabushabu, which is a classic Japanese hotpot dish you cook yourself at the table, swishing vegetables and meat with your chopsticks in a boiling broth, it’s so much fun.
Also found a huge array of the famous Japan exclusive flavour KitKats! Wasabi KitKats, matcha KitKats, orange KitKats! The orange ones are bloody lovely.
Fun fact! Pedestrian crossings in Japan make different bird chirping noises when it’s time to cross – one noise for north/south and a different sound for east/west. This really helps you navigate around and know which direction you are going.
Went to a sake brewery for a mini tasting, because why the fuck not, then headed up the Kyoto Tower to the observation deck for a drink. One thing I love in Japan is there are these kind of baskets/magazine racks next to the table in bars and restaurants so you can put your bag and all your crap in it instead of putting it on the floor. It’s so simple but a genius idea.
Dinner was cooking more food on a hot stone bbq – more Wagyu steak (obv) and this time we had tongue!!!! It was delicious!!!! I hate cooking but turns out I enjoy it a lot more if I can do it sitting down and eat it straight off the grill.
ARASHIYAMA, DOTONBORI, OSAKA
Left Kyoto for Osaka, stopping at Sagano Bamboo forest trail in Arashiyama, a forest of huge tall bamboo. And then in stark contrast to the serenity of the forest we arrived in the bustling metropolis of Osaka.
Visited Osaka’s Umeda Sky Building, a floating observatory with views over Osaka. After the blistering hot sun (yes I know it’s been hot in the UK ) and clear blue skies of the past few days, as soon as we arrived here it’s started raining, for that perfect Osaka Blade Runner aesthetic.
Explored the Dotonbori district – an incredible area, crowded with restaurants, streetside food stalls and bars. If you’ve ever watched films like Blade Runner, anything futuristic moody and rain streaked and neon lit, that’s the vibe, and it was probably filmed here.
There’s also a famous sign, the Glico runner – which is exactly what it sounds like, a big sign of a bloke running, and people come to see it and recreate it on the bridge next to it.
Food I ate in Dotonburi:
Snow crab (x2), Wagyu steak on a stick, chicken yakitori, takoyaki balls, deep fried octopus, lemon sours. Someone also appears to have gone into my luggage, taken all my clothes, and replaced them with the same clothes but in a smaller size. A mystery.
Also went to Uniqlo – if you buy stuff, you just put your shopping basket on the counter and it knows what’s in your basket!!!! No scanning or anything!!!!! Amazing! I got a shirt thing cos all the Japanese women are wearing them and they look cool AF.
SHINSAIBASHI, OSAKA
Firstly, will you look at this mad service robot ferrying crockery about at breakfast???
Last morning in Japan so rounded the trip off with some shopping in the Shinsaibashi area of Osaka, where we saw the legendary long queues for the Onitsuka Tiger shop, and wandering around the Amerika-Mura disctrict – Osaka’s equivalent to Harajuku (or a bit like wandering around Camden). It’s the ultimate hub for youth fashion, streetwear, and vintage shops and where all the cool edgy people hang out.
There’s a season of America’s Next Top Model where they go to Japan, and they have a challenge where they have to recreate Japanese street style. A girl wins the challenge because she says she just found the most hideous clothes she could and then put them with other hideous clothes that did not go together at all. That was about 20 years ago and street fashion now is much less hideous 🤣
Last lunch of a bowl of ramen and miso soup, before saying goodbye to everyone and going our separate ways.
I’m not really a big group person, especially on holiday. I like to explore by myself and have time on my own, but I’ve honestly met some people I’d genuinely call friends and have really enjoyed exploring this incredible country with them.
It’s been an incredible mix of serene temples and shrines, forests and mountains, technology and bustling cities, food, drink, sights, sounds and smells.
And so my big Japan adventure comes to an end. I’ve written these posts largely as a way to remember what I’ve done and also because it’s nice when it pops up on my fb memories in years to come, but if you’ve read this far and enjoyed these posts, thank you for taking this journey with me. ARIGATO GOZAIMASU 🇯🇵🗻