Day 14: Meiji Shrine, Harajuku, Akihabara

by scukras7· November 02, 2018· in Japan (2018)· 0 comments
Today was our last day in Tokyo before returning back to the States.  We had a tentative plan on what we wanted to do based on some things we didn’t have time for earlier in the trip and some things we had planned before we even left for Japan. First, we went into Yodobashi-Akiba, which is a gigantic electronics store it also has some regular clothing and house goods section as well.  It’s a cool store to walk around in and we saw they had a Uniqlo store inside, which is like Japan’s H&M, although H&M’s are there as well.  Sara was looking for an overcoat for the evening when we were to head to our anniversary dinner.  The weather was really pleasant but was due to be slightly chilly in the evening time. Here’s Yodobashi: Unfortunately, the Uniqlo we went to was very small and limited in its selection so we headed over to the one in Shinjuku, which was huge. Sara was able to find a nice overcoat for the evening and we got some other stuff to bring home as well from there. Afterwards, we jumped on the train and headed down to Harajuku.  We first went […]
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Day 12 and 13: Fake Food, Osaka Castle, Dotonbori

by scukras7· October 12, 2018· in Japan (2018)· 0 comments
Yesterday we were out late so I didn’t have time to blog also we had to get up early to catch our train back to Tokyo. So, yesterday…  due to rain from the first day we jumbled up our schedule a bit in Osaka and we decided to drop the experience of the ramen museum, where you can try lots of different ramen over the years apparently, for making fake food.  What is fake food you may wonder?  Well, in Japan outside of store fronts, as you’ve seen in some posts before, are usually displays of fake food showing what meals and food items are available at the restaurant.  It’s like a 3D menu and the food is incredibly realistic.  We searched the night before to find if there was a place to make fake food in Osaka and we found one, but much to our dismay it was by reservation only.  We decided however to just go there and ask if we could get squeezed in. Design Pocket (fake food): We got up early, had breakfast and then headed to the fake food store, which was called “Design Pocket”.  It was the perfect opportunity to try out some new […]
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Day 11: Nambayasaka Shrine, Shitennoji, Tsutenkaku, Osaka Aquarium

by scukras7· October 10, 2018· in Japan (2018)· 0 comments
Today, was our first full day in Osaka.  When we woke up we had breakfast and then started out to our first destination today.  The forecast was calling for rain, but we were hopeful it would be light and scattered. Nambayasaka Shrine: Our first stop was the Shinto shrine Nambayasaka Shrine, which was only a few minutes walk from Namba Station.  The shrine is famous for its modern architecture infused on the grounds of a traditional shrine.  The new part is used for spiritual performances and is believed that the open mouth swallows evil spirits, thus promoting good fortune and luck: If you look carefully in the center of the mouth you will see a golden object.  During prayer, it is believed spirits will come down to the shrine and be embodied in this object whilst one prays. After we walked around the shrine a bit we headed to our next stop. Shitennoji Temple: Shitennoji is a Buddhist temple and a beautiful sight to see.  It even included a five-story pagoda you could enter and climb: We have never been in a pagoda before and wondered what was in it.  Inside there was a spiral stairway we could enter, after […]
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Day 10: Fushimi Inari, Tofukuji, Kyoto Tower

by scukras7· October 09, 2018· in Japan (2018)· 0 comments
Today was our last day in Kyoto before heading to Osaka.  We filled the day with visiting a few sites from our last trip as well as some new ones. Fushimi Inari Shrine:  This site is one we visited from our last trip to Japan, but we ran out of time to explore it all.  This time we were determined to make it all the way to the top of Mt. Inari.  It took several hours to walk the 2.5 mile trail which at some parts were fairly steep.  The further up we went the fewer and fewer people there were, but at the base of the shrine it was extremely crowded.  The walking trails are covered with over 10000 tori and the earliest is from 711 A.D.  The tori are donated by japanese businesses for good fortune and prosperity.  Throughout the trails, there are various sub-shrines and what seem to be graves.  From my search on the internet there are various graves laid out over Mt. Inari and they look like this: We walked and walked and finally reached a branching point in the path.  We decided to head right as it appeared to go up the mountain and […]
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Day 9: Arashiyama, Monkey Park, Tea Ceremony

by scukras7· October 08, 2018· in Japan (2018)· 0 comments
Today was our full day in Kyoto and we had a lot to do.  By the end of the day we would walk over 11 miles.  Our first stop was Arashiyama. Arashiyama: The first time we were in Japan, and Kyoto for the matter, we intended to go to Arashiyama, but between a mixture of losing daylight, misunderstanding the subway map and the threat of rain, we decided to save it for our return trip, which we made sure to hit this time around.  To get to Arashiyama we started out taking the subway from Kawaramachi Station to Uzumasa Tenjingawa Station, followed by a brief walk to Randen Tenjingawa Station which we then boarded a single-car train to Arashiyama Station.  During the ride we meandered through very narrow thoroughfares surrounded by Kyoto city where the buildings came right up to the edges of the tracks.  Once we arrived in Arashiyama we were amidst vast crowds of travelers both japanese and international.  The streets, on either side were overflowing from the amount of people, but we found our way through them and with them to the bamboo forest for which Arashiyama is well known.  We’ve seen many pictures of the forest […]
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Day 8: Traveling to Kyoto

by scukras7· October 07, 2018· in Japan (2018)· 0 comments
Today we woke up and met our friend at a Starbucks at Kanayama Station before he left back to Korea.  We had just gotten our breakfasts and sat down and were talking for a few minutes when the whole building and ground shook!  Everyone in the building was looking around to see what just happened since all the tables and chairs shook since it came from nowhere.  It was Sara’s and my first earthquake.  It was a 4.8 magnitude 7.5 miles from Nagoya: Our friend said, “Now you’ve experienced it all in Japan… typhoons… earthquakes…”  It only lasted a few seconds, but felt like the ground rolled on itself, lifted and then set back in place.  Everyone just went right on where they left off when it finished. After we finished eating we said goodbye to our friend and we made our way to Osu Mall and the Osu Kannon Shrine near it.  We had a few hours to kill before our train took us to Kyoto.  The mall was a covered, open air mall with various shops and restaurants in it.  We purchased a magnet, representing our visit to Nagoya.  We then stopped at the shrine which was extremely […]
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Day 6 & 7: Nagoya

by scukras7· October 06, 2018· in Japan (2018)· 0 comments
I’m combining days 6 and 7 of our trip into one post here since we’ve mostly been hanging out with my friend who flew in from Korea, who we’ve not seen since he left the US 2 years ago.  However, here’s what we’ve been up to the past two days. Arriving in Nagoya: October 5th we left Shinjuku to Nagoya by bullet train, which was about 1 hour 45 minutes, once we got to Nagoya station we made a quick transfer to a subway line and to our local station in Kanayama.  We had a little time to burn before our room would be ready to check into so we grabbed lunch in the nearby area.  We both had gyumeshi, which was a shredded beef on rice which was very good.  By this time it was very apparent Nagoya does not receive as many visitors as Tokyo due to the very noticeable lack of english signage and use thereof, which made for more use of our japanese. Nagoya Science Museum: We then checked in and set out to explore Nagoya before our friend arrived from Korea.  We first set out to go to the Nagoya Science Museum, since it has […]
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Day 5: Hie Shrine, Diet Building, Harajuku

by scukras7· October 04, 2018· in Japan (2018)· 1 comments
Today is the end of the first part of our trip before heading to Nagoya tomorrow late morning.  With that  said we had to take care of a few things before going out and exploring some more. Before we took care of the necessities, we had breakfast and today there were two elderly gentlemen sitting next to us and they asked where we came from.  When we said the states, one then told us he had spent a year there.  He asked us to guess how many miles he drove in that year on his motorcycle.  The answer… over 22000 miles.  He drove the four corners of the US and Canada from Alaska to San Diego, to Key West to Nova Scotia.  We then got to tell him where we had been in Japan and where we were headed this trip too.  He gave us some recommendations for our next trip here and all this provided more opportunities to try out more japanese.  At the end he had told us he traveled to the US in the 1970s and now he is 71 years old.  We thanked him for sharing his stories with us and when we left breakfast he […]
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Day 4: Asakusa, Tokyo Skytree, Ueno Park, Akihabara

by scukras7· October 03, 2018· in Japan (2018)· 0 comments
Today, we set out again to see many more sights.  We even revisited a few from our last trip to Japan since it was raining a lot the last time here. Asakusa, Senso-ji: Senso-ji is a buddhist temple that lies right in the middle of Tokyo.  The bustling city streets reach right up to its perimeter and within that there are a myriad of shops and food vendors.  Here’s a picture from in front of the temple gateway: On our way up to the gate Sara decided to get an omikuji (fortune).  To retrieve the fortune one tithes a 100円 (yen) piece and then shakes a metal box with a small hole on top.  Inside the box, which is sealed other than the hole, are many wooden sticks and when you finally manage to get one out by shaking the box you will find it has a number on it.   You then take that number and find it on a wall of little drawers.  Once you find your drawer with the matching number you open it up to get the fortune.  Sara’s fortune was terrible, calling for disease and misfortune for the next year.  In the case you get a […]
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Day 3: Nikko, Lake Chuzenji, Kegon Falls

by scukras7· October 02, 2018· in Japan (2018)· 0 comments
Today, we signed up for a full day tour of Nikko, Lake Chuzenji and Kegon Falls.  Our first time in Japan we intended to go on this tour but decided not to and to save it for our return trip.  We loved it and it turned out to be really awesome. Nikko: Today we got up early to head over to Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku to get on our tour bus.  We left with spare time, since Shinjuku, or Tokyo in general, can be tricky to navigate from time-to-time.  On our way to the hotel our GPS switched the final destination on us from the previous night when we looked it up so we actually had to walk a bit further than intended.  Due to this we were running late, but we made it to the hotel in time to get signed in.  We boarded our tour bus with about 16 other people and headed out to Nikko.  Nikko is a small city situated in the mountains north of Tokyo and is famously known for Toshogu, which is the mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who founded the Tokugawa Shogunate.  Toshogu was built in the 1600s and is a very famous […]
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