Before moving to Asia, I honestly couldn't have told you the difference between China and Japan. Well, let me be the first to tell you they are two completely different worlds!! After the novelty of Shanghai begins to wear off, most expats have their moments of frustration with the crowds, pollution, less-than-polite people, squatty potties, and other quirks of the country. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Shanghai and the majority of the time I appreciate these nuances, and the perks definitely outweigh them, but it was literally a breath of fresh air to spend a week in Japan! The skies are clear and typically include a view of a temple,castle, or Mt. Fuji, everything from the sidewalk to the subway is meticulously clean, and the people offer to help you before you even have a chance to open your map.
Our crew consisted of me and Aaron, my sweet new Floridian friend Lauren (who has graciously showed me the ropes of expat-life in Shanghai), and Cheryl, a cool Michigander chic that moved over around the same time as us and works with Aaron! We started our journey in Osaka and stayed at a funky (in a good way) lil hostel called Ten Hostel. Decorated with antiques, art, graffiti, and rubber duckies, this place was one gigantic piece of art... not to mention the local guy in the lounge playing the ukulele and insisting we all sing along to "Lean On Me". While we only stayed in Osaka about 24 hours, we hit the major sights: Osaka Castle, Dotomburi Arcade, and we ate our fair share of octopus balls, their specialty.
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| Osaka Castle |
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| Dotonburi Arcade |
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| View from the top of Osaka Castle |
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| Octopus Balls - a Japanese specialty! |
After a short train ride, we were in Kyoto, where we spent the majority of our time. We stayed at K's Hostel, which was nicer than many hotels I've stayed in! It was a great spot to come home to each night and close to the train station for all of our day trips! Our first night there, we wove through Fushimi Inari shrine, a magical tunnel of red shrines that goes on forever! Then we ate at Musashi - a cool joint where you grab sushi from a conveyor belt as it passes in front of your seat! The next day, we had one of those couldn't-have-planned-it-this-way awesome days where everything just fell into place! We started with our daily stop at the seven-eleven for coffee and snacks (which doesn't sound too thrilling, but their convenient stores are amazing - full of cheap, unique, delicious treats!). Then we headed to the nearby town of Arashiyama, known for its Bamboo forest. It was a perfectly quaint, mountain-esque, little town with shops, streams, cafes, and BAMBOO! Oh, and rather than horse-drawn carriage rides, you could take a buff Japanese man-drawn carriage ride!
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| Golden Temple |
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| Fushimi Inari Shrine | | | | |
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| Kyoto Tower |
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| Musashi Sushi |
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| GEISHA SPOTTING!!! |
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| Arashiyama Bamboo Forest |
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| Arashiyama |
The highlight of Arashiyama was the moon-view traditional Japanese style boat ride. We were serenaded by a man playing the flute as our boat lined with white lanterns cruised along the river and we enjoyed the postcard-worthy scenery (and sake!). Once we were back near our hostel, we took a recommendation for a great ramen noodle joint, and it did not disappoint! Finally, literally a block from K's, we stumbled upon Isa's bar. The sign only read "Sake Beer", and as we chatted outside the door deciding if we would go in, Isa popped her head out and lured us into her little 5-stool bar full of snacks, Karaoke, and of course, sake and beer! I have some priceless footage of our performances of "Living on a Prayer" and "Don't Stop Believing"... but I swore they would never go viral. The pictures tell enough.
It was the perfect end to a perfect day!
Our final day in Kyoto we went to Nara, an area known for it's freely roaming friendly deer, not to mention the biggest Buddha in the world! While the rain definitely slowed us down a bit, it didn't stop us from petting the deer, trying to rub Buddha's belly, and eating some more delicious food!
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| RAMEN! |
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| Isa's Sake bar... with KARAOKE! |
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| Nara's friendly deer (and my hidden camera buddha belly!) |
Next stop - Hakone, a small mountain town near Mt. Fuji. It just so happened that Lauren's friend, Shin, who lives in Shanghai, is from Hakone and was back visiting his family at the same time we were there! He picked us up from the train station and literally zigged and zagged up and down the mountains for the next 24 hours. He was such a gracious tour guide (and being a DJ, had an awesome playlist for the road trip too!) We saw Mt. Fuji from every angle, tranquil temples, and two different beaches. For our one night in Hakone, we decided to splurge and stay at one of the resort Ryokans (hotels) that have in and outdoor onsen, or hot springs. It was surrounded by waterfalls and trails and we were offered our choice of kimono upon arrival! When we found out that the onsen were gender segregated, we thought perhaps Aaron could borrow Lauren's pink wig to sneak in... until we learned the Japanese wear their birthday suits!
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| Hakone = Heaven |
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| Mt. Fuji- hiding behind the clouds! |
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| At Tenesien Ryokan - Kimono-in it up! |
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| Sexy with sexy! |
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| Shin, tour-guide extraordinare |
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| MT. FUJI!!! |
Lauren and Cheryl headed back to Shanghai from Hakone, but Aaron and I made one more stop... in TOKYO!! With only 2 nights there and TONS to see, we put it in high gear and covered some ground!
There is definitely a different vibe in Tokyo than any of the other cities we visited. It is fashion-forward, fast-paced, and FABULOUS! The highlight was the Tsukiji Fish Market. An auction starts there every morning at 5am, but we snoozed a little too late and got there for the market sales are 9am. The place is HUGE and sells just about everything you can imagine that swims! And just around the corner is the freshest sushi you can imagine - caught yesterday and sold at the market that morning! We jumped in line, thinking we might have to wait an hour. Two and half hours later, we ate our sushi, but honestly it was WORTH THE WAIT! And we met some cool Aussie chics that we hung out with in line! After a busy morning, we spent the rest of our day strolling through some of the major districts (in the rain). Akihabara is the electronics district, Harajuku where all the funky fashion and doll-like girls parade around, and Shibuya Crossing, the busiest pedestrian intersection where some odd million people cross every hour! We topped off our day with a delish yakitori dinner and a Japanese karaoke bar! There is SO much more to see that we missed, but it was a great sneak peek! DOMO ARIGATO TOKYO... WE WILL BE BACK!!
