Well, when we landed back in Australia after our trip to Japan 3 months ago, we had grand plans of how many blog posts we could do about Japan. Unfortunately, we’ve settled back into not-traveling mode and have been slacking on blog posting. So, I’ll try to make this one epic.

All of our lodging in Japan was done via Airbnb and we picked places as a group and everyone was happy.  Unfortunately, Japan instituted new laws regarding short term holiday rentals 2 weeks prior to our arrival.  That caused both of our Tokyo rentals to be canceled at the last minute, including one on the day of check-in right before we got on the plane in Singapore. Chaos! In the end, it all worked out, but our lodging choices weren’t the perfect ones we had so painstakingly researched and chosen as a group.  The only good news was that in addition to refunding money for canceled reservations, Airbnb also gave us a credit equal to the amount of the reservation.  So we ended up spending maybe $300 for 6 nights of lodging for 4 adults in Tokyo!

So, upon arrival into Japan, Sara and I found an ATM and withdrew our first 25,000 yen.  Japan is still a bit of a cash based society, which goes against my nature.  I have trouble with Australian cash as there is a coin that is worth $2 and I’m always afraid of losing it.  Well, Japan as a 500 yen coin which is worth about $5.  Anyway, we took this cash and used it to buy a PASMO card – a stored value card used for the trains and metro all over Japan.  You can also use it to buy things from vending machines and convenience stores.  Hmmm… the Japanese appear to have invented a less convenient credit card.

Enough babbling, lets get into the highlights.

MarioKart

In an early email when planning the trip, Jen mentioned there wasn’t much she *had* to do, but the MarioKart adventure was one of them.  I was a bit skeptical of what to it would be like, but it exceeded my expectations and then some.  We got costumes, go carts and toured the streets of Tokyo for about an hour and half without being run over by anyone. People took pictures of us. We are now minor celebrities, possibly D list?  Jen even took GoPro video!

Baseball

I knew that the Japanese loved baseball, but I had  no idea what the experience at the game would be like.  We went to a game between the Tokyo Yakult Swallows and Hanshin Tigers which was sold out with half the stadium supporting each team.  The supporters of the team batting would be chanting and singing the entire time they were up.  The Swallows had a song and dance they would perform with mini-umbrellas whenever they scored.  Our friendly seat neighbor lent us an umbrella so we could participate and the Swallows were kind enough to score 4 times so each of us got to umbrella dance. The stadium experience also included super tiny seats and women walking around with mini-kegs in backpacks selling tap beer.  Unfortunately, the Swallows came up one run short and lost.

Bars

Unsurprisingly, there is no shortage of bars in Japan.  Mike is a big whiskey fan and I’ve been known to enjoy beer.  The craft beer scene isn’t very big in Japan, but the whiskey scene is, along with the tiny bar scene.  Our first night in Japan, we went to the Golden Gai and stopped at three bars that each could hold a total of about 5-10 people.  All were very different experiences and all very fun.  Everywhere we went, we managed to find neat little bars to pop into and have a drink.  When we were in Kyoto, we even found beer vending machines, which was one of my favorite things ever. Kanpai!

Temples

While we were in Kyoto, we managed to tour a few of the major temples and they were beautiful.  We thought we lucked out with only some light showers when we explored the shine gates at Fushimi-Inari Taisha.

Unfortunately, that was just the start of what turned out to be the remnants of a cyclone, causing flooding and landslides all over Japan.  It even killed an elderly women by blowing her over, seriously. We braved not so light showers and not so small crowds to see The Golden Pavilion Rokuon-Ji Temple.

We also got to experience Buddist chanting at the Obakusan Mampukuji, a Zen Buddist temple. We never would have come across this particular temple, but we took a tour with a local guide who brought us there and it was quite an interesting thing to witness.

Assorted Touring

In other touristing adventures, we wandered through the Rikugien Gardens, a peaceful pocket of green in the midst of Tokyo.

We also walked around the Tsukiji fish market area. There is a famous auction that you can watch if you are willing to get up at way too early o’clock. We were not willing so we just walked around the area once it opens to the public at the very normal hour of 11 am. By then things are winding down and there isn’t much activity, but it was interesting to see how massive the it is.

We also went to Odaiba which is an artificial island in Tokyo bay with great views of the city skyline.  Randomly there is a miniature (but still large) version of the Statue of Liberty there.  Not sure why.

Random Fun

There are so many arcades all over Tokyo. So. Many. We popped into a few and got to watch Mike tear up the dance floor.

Sara and Jen managed to decode enough of a Japanese photo booth to create these amazing photos.

I was entranced by a very serious man playing a train driver game while wearing a uniform and gloves. I am pretty sure it wasn’t an actual training simulator given it was in the middle of a random arcade, but why the uniform and gloves?

And while you are walking around Kyoto and working up a sweat, don’t worry, cold refreshing beer could be just around the next corner.

Trains

We took so many trains! There is one line that does a big circle around Tokyo and since most everything we did and both places we stayed were near this line, we took it all over.  At the least “peak” time, trains come every 4 minutes or so and are full! Regretfully, we were never shoved onto a train by a white gloved attendant – I had heard that was a thing.

The Crew

 

We had a smooth trip from Singapore to Tokyo and Jon’s exceptional navigation skills had us at our Airbnb in no time. We met up with Mike and Jen there and our Japan adventure began.

A big part of any trip is food. For better or worse, you have to abandon your eating norms when away from home. Luckily, in Japan food was for the better with convenience store dumplings/buns always nicely filling in gaps between meals.

We ate noodles. Lots and lots of noodles. On our first night in Tokyo, Mike found a place that claimed to be the originator of Taiwan-Mazesoba though a quick check on the interwebs indicates it’s actually from Nagoya. Oh well, originator or not, this place made a delicious version of spicy pork, noodles and some other stuff. Yum! But, before we could eat, we had to decipher the ordering process which involved buying a ticket from a vending machine with everything written in Japanese. We received much needed aid from the proprietor, obtained our tickets, and then watched as the proprietor proceeded to shout the order to the cooks. I guess the machine was a handy way to collect money? Or confuse the odd tourist who managed to find this tiny restaurant on a side street in a non-touristy neighborhood? I sense a conspiracy.

Other noodable experiences included some standard ramen, cold ramen (ordered unintentionally based on a picture – whoops), and Korean ramen with kimchi.

We relied on Mike A LOT to find us good places to eat. Jon and I would happily either eat at the first place we came upon that didn’t look dodgy or walk around in circles trying to decide where to eat until we were both ready to eat our own arms at which point happily might not be the right word. We were in better hands with Mike around. One night in Kyoto Mike found us a near by Izakaya to eat at, but it proved so popular that they were booked out for the night. He persevered and found us another place that ended up having a note in the door about being closed for a break. He kept going and found us yet another too popular place. We’d all about given up when we happened upon a Japanese BBQ place. In order to avoid the aforementioned arm eating scenario we decided to go for it and we were rewarded. We had delicious BBQed meats and a lovely chat with the husband and wife duo running the place that resulted in a hand drawn map to the hole in the wall place where we enjoyed the Korean ramen mentioned above.

While staying in Kyoto, we decided to have a fancy dinner in nearby Osaka as an excuse to explore another city. Mike found a place that looked great and made a call to try to make a booking. Luckily the person at the restaurant spoke English. Unluckily this was one of many restaurants in Japan where they make it extra hard by requiring a hotel concierge or other official person to make a reservation for you if you are a foreigner. This is the result of people being rude, making reservations and not showing up, so it’s understandable, but still annoying. Back to luckily, Jon emailed our Airbnb host and they quickly replied and make a booking for us. Woo. We got to enjoy a fabulous meal that included the best tuna sashimi I think I’ve ever had and whale bacon. Sadly we have no photos of our fanciest meal due to the restaurant’s rules.

Other meal highlights include:

• Tempura which came with a helpful guide on how to properly eat it and led to a fun souvenir of wasabi salt.

• Okonomiyaki, Japanese cabbage pancakes which we made ourselves.

• Street food a plenty

The only meal no-so-highlight was breakfast. We had a few decent bites, but for the most part breakfast didn’t seem to be a thing or maybe it was just that we weren’t always up and at ’em in time for breakfast. Who knows.

Many thanks to Jen and Mike for actually taking pictures of food which I usually don’t think to do until I’ve already eaten.