I was on a 2-week long trip in Japan!! Apologies if I promised you regular photo updates; I told a lot of people I would do that, but instead I decided it would be more convenient to wait ‘til the end to collect my favorites & blast them out to everyone at once.
I do have a bit of a complex when it comes to sharing photos, however, so these may not be comprehensive, mostly just the highlights.
Fukouka
I arrived quite early on a sleeper flight that I mostly slept in 1-hour bursts for. Getting outside and walking around helped a lot for adjusting to the new timezone.
There were a lot of bikes here! This is just some cool bike parking. I also liked how small the cars were, with their boxy shapes to fit into small parking spaces and thin tires because they were light. International-style cars looked bulky by comparison. I wasn’t really in any cities that didn’t have a great subway system, but I hear it’s like this in the rest of the country too.
Other Things In Fukouka
- Best ramen of my life (so far)
- Life-size Gundam in LaLaport (surprisingly hard to get a good picture of !)
- 7-11
Osaka
The train system really is excellent here. I did go on the Shinkansen (not pictured (they are a also bit tricky to photograph!)), and yeah it was just the best train I’ve ever ridden. The subway system is also probably the best, very comparable to London, tho the fact that they have all their signage/announcements in English (+ Chinese + Korean at times) tips Japan over the edge.
The big shrines/temples were very impressive indeed, but I also liked seeing all the smaller ones nestled all over the city. It is a very distinctive and cool-looking architecture genre.
Other Things In Osaka
- Osaka castle
- Tatio Station arcade
- Mister Donut
Kyoto
The Kyoto Railway Museum was definitely worth a visit. Didn’t have everything in English, but did have a lot, and plus it’s just really cool to see a bunch of trains, no matter what language you speak. The museum also overlooks a pretty busy train intersection, fun to do trainspotting from there too.
Saw this cool bird on a hike!
Also saw the deer at Nara park, because of course :) They were so so so cool, very friendly with humans, and the park itself with all the temples nearby is also very good. I loved watching other tourists get swarmed by deer when they bought Shika Senbei :)
Other Things In Kyoto
- Nijo Castle, with a bunch of cool sliding door art you can’t take pictures of
- Kyoto Tower
- Meat vending machine1
Tokyo
Shibuya (southwest of Imperial Palace) was such a cool area (I participated in The Scramble!). I also really liked Harajuku (just north of Shinjuku) and Akihabara (northeast of Imperial Palace). All very distinct vibes, but all very energetic. So many small businesses mixing with large ones. And the number of malls!!
Went to a Shiba cafe in Asakusa, in the giant shopping complex near Senso-ji. Excellent time, they are trained to, if you put your jacket on your lap, sit down on it and curl up for you to pet them. They’re so soft!!
Teamlab Planets Tokyo was amazing. Like, you read a normal art museum’s marketing material about how it’s a “full-body, immersive experience that challenges all the senses” and then the normal art museum will have a slightly larger painting. Whereas here, they are not kidding. Never before have I felt so transported, whisked away from this world into an all-encompasing, unfathomable alternate universe.
I promise you I’m not overhyping it. I only have this picture of the outside because the inside is just so hard to take pictures of, both because of the lighting and the fact that no picture (or even video!) can truly do it justice. It wasn’t my #1 thing (that would be the arcades) but I am so glad I went and would highly recommend you go to.
Other Things In Tokyo
- Meiji Jingu, with the large Torii and barrels of sake (Japanese) and wine (French)
- Fushimi Inari-Taisha
- Pokemon store
- Kappabashidogugai street, where you can buy any kitchen supply you can imagine
- So many arcades & crane games
- Vtuber advertisements
And that’s about it! So many stories, hope you liked what I’ve shared here. Japan in general was such a great place to be. Great food, great cities, great nature, affordable, just about everything one could want. Definitely want to go back someday. Not sold on living there just yet, maybe once I get better at Japanese tho…
Footnotes
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No, I’m not kidding. I know you won’t believe me, so here’s proof:
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