Our first stop in Japan came in Tokyo, and it is like no other city I have ever been to. It’s an amazing mixture of modern and traditional, jammed together in a vast sprawling metropolis. We had a packed few days here, taking in a huge variety of sights, sounds and smells of the city. I am not sure I fully appreciated Tokyo’s size (population of c.30 million), until we stood looking out off the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building on our first morning there. This was a good first port of call, as it gave us a great view of the skyline, which stretches out as far as the eye can see and we could also look down onto some of the sights and districts we would be exploring over the days ahead.
On our first day, we explored the Imperial Palace, the pretty Koshikawa Korakuen Gardens and the stunning Meiji Shrine. For dinner we went to the Standing Sushi Bar in Shinjuku, where we had some of the best sushi I have ever tasted. It was just so fresh and tasty and our particular highlights were the ‘partially broiled’ eel and crab dishes and the ‘broiled shrimp.’ The next morning was spent on Kappabashi Dori, a street renowned as the best place in Japan to purchase kitchen knives. Here there are a multitude of knife specialist shops and the displays were so beautiful, they were more like an art-form than kitchenware stores. After looking through the amazing array of options in these shops, we managed to pick out two beautifully crafted kitchen knives, which we got engraved in Japanese script- something I really wanted to do whilst in Japan! That afternoon we wandered round Ueno Park and Zoo, where Zo decided that I had quite the likeness to the Aye-Aye (relative of a Possum) on our ticket. We then finished the afternoon, going to the peaceful Nezu Shrine, which had lines of beautiful red bamboo arches with caligraphy inscriptions on their sides. For dinner that night, we tried out the Golden Gai area- a charming, slightly scruffy part of the otherwise modern Shinjuku district, reminicent (we’re told!) of Japan’s Edo era. Here you find hundreds of small restaurants and bars (usually seating no more than 10 people), offering a plethora of different food and drink options; the best way to sample all this area has to offer is to food/bar hop around the establishments- which is exactly what we did! The best two we found were a deep fried skewer restaurant called Dongara Gassyan and the quirky Bar Albatross where we had some great cocktails and a free shot of surprisingly good plum tequila!
On our last day in Tokyo we started it at the Tokyo National Museum, which as well as displaying a beautiful selection of Japanese art and crafts (the Samurai exhibition being my favourite), gave a good historical background to the cities founding and expansion. We then checked out the Itoya store, which for any die hard stationery fan (like Zo) is a must see… This shop has a wonderful selection of every imaginable type of stationery and it’s all beautifully displayed; you certainly could not be in a better place to find that perfect stapler! 😉 We then had one of our best lunches so far, at the Ichiran Ramen restaurant. This Ramen resturant (a kind of noodle broth) felt like a kind of Japanese take on fast food (except delicious and healthy!) First we queued up at a vending machine to pay for our ramen, then circled our flavouring and topping choices on a paper sheet, and finally we were served by barmen (at pace!) in individual bamboo booths; it was excellent ramen and a fun and different experience. Every trip has a few poor decisions, and our next stop at the Robot Restaurant show- really well reviewed on TripAdvisor and recommended by a few of our friends, proved for us, to be one of these. After arriving and queuing in multiple queues for 30 minutes to get our pre-reserved tickets, we then were held in a pre show room (more like a pen) for an hour which did not have enough seats for the number of people there (we ended up sitting on the floor, pretty tired after a morning of walking all over Tokyo). The whole set up is a real money making scheme, with a constant bombardment to buy their products and so contrasting with the whole Japanese culture we had experienced so far, which had been extremely courteous, friendly and non-pushy. The show itself was basically a loud, tacky dance show, which did not involve any robots or at least not in the two acts we witnessed, before we left at half time! This minor blip aside, I absolutely loved Tokyo. I think I might put it down as my favourite city I have ever travelled to. We came here with pretty high expectations and they were surpassed by the amazing food, vibrant atmosphere and welcoming people.
We then headed to nearby Hakone, which is a peaceful spa retreat just outside of Tokyo. It’s famous for two things – it’s views of Mount Fuji and it’s Onsen (Japanese hot spring baths), both of which we would experience during our visit there. We stayed at two contrasting but great hostels: the first- Guesthouse Azito, had cute tree-house capsule rooms and had a very welcoming, homely atmosphere. They gave us a free Japanese drink at their bar (Zo had plum wine and soda and I had a beer), clearly they knew the way to our hearts! The second was the almost hotel-like, Emblem Flow Hostel where we had a spacious room and an Onsen on-site. For those of you who haven’t experienced Onsen before, they are communal thermal baths. However, they have a couple of cultural rules that you have to keep to in order to use them- they are all separated same sex baths and you have to be fully naked to get in one. Once you get over this slight awkwardness, they are pretty relaxing and I really enjoyed the complimentary one in our Hostel.
On our second day, we took a cable car to see the imperious Mount Fuji in all its glory. This snow capped sloping mountain is one of the most iconic views in Japan and is often seen as the country’s symbol. After we took the cable car up, we also went for a nice hike up to and around Lake Ashino-ko, which was beautiful. Later that night we had a great dinner out at a Japanese curry house, Coco-Hakone, where we had a dish which very much resembled the famous Wagamama Katsu Curry, but was even more tasty! On our last morning, we went to the Hakone Open Air Museum, which had a lovely collection of art, displayed in beautiful grounds, ranging from a Picasso exhibition to Greco sculptures. We then took our first bullet – Shinkansen train of the trip. These trains go at speeds of up to 200mph, and do this with surprising comfort and boasting seats more roomy than any flight I have taken!
We then had a one night stop off in Osaka to break up the long journey to Kyushu, Japan’s most western region. Despite the short stay, we did still manage to try out a regional speciality for dinner, Okonomyiaki- a delicious, thick, savoury pancake filled with a mix of shredded cabbage, pork, shrimp and noodles. We also had a great brunch of fluffy pancakes the next morning at Micasedeco & Cafe, before pancaked out we got another bullet train down to the city of Karatsu.
We spent the next two days in the beautiful Yoyokaku Ryokan. Ryokan are a type of accommodation where you feel like you are staying in a traditional Japanese home- and the architecture, rooms and service are all authentically Japanese; you sleep on Tatami – which are mattresses on the floor, and are given kimono to wear around the ryokan. Here we tried out so many exciting new dishes, the highlight being a multiple course feast we had one evening, including amazing sashimi and a delicately cooked beef stew called Shabu Shabu. We also got used to speaking a bit more Japanese, as our hosts’ English was a little limited. On our full day in Kuratsu, we had a nice wander around some of the sights. We checked out the local castle, perched on the top of a hill, looking out over the rest of the city. From the top, we nearly came face to face with some rather large birds of pray, circling for food, who at one point (slightly scarily) swooped very close to us- it definitely could have done us some serious damage!
From Kuratsu we headed to nearby Fukuoka, which is still in Western Japan. Zo made a good comparison of Fukuoka to Bristol- both much smaller cities compared to their capitals, but both possessing a unique lively energy, and filled with independent bars, coffee shops and green space. On our first day we checked out the pretty Ohori Park, walked through the old castle ruins and strolled down the underground Tenjin shopping centre, which had Christmas decorations already up. Fukuoka, traditionally known as Hakata, is famed as being one of the founding cities where ramen was first made. We therefore had our second ramen dinner of the trip at a restaurant called Ippudo and I would say this delicious pork noodle soup, was even better than the first!
On day two, Zo had booked us tickets to see a Sumo tournament- something quintessentially Japanese we were both really looking forward to experiencing. It’s an incredible sport to watch, seeing these absolutely massive men flinging themselves at each other with surprising speed, agility and power. We were struck by the huge contrast in size to the typical Japanese people, who as a nation are generally small, slim and extremely healthy, which makes their love of this sport and encouragement of this physique, an even more unusual spectacle. That evening we went to an amazing cocktail bar, called Citadel. It served a huge array of unique cocktails, created with homemade infused liquors by the (incredibly friendly) owner. We tried a out a few, including an orange gin espresso martini and a sesame rum based drink- they were all excellent.
We arrived in Kyoto, with high expectations- as it’s the place touted as many people’s favourite city in Japan; thankfully it lived up to the hype! On arriving, we dropped our rucksacks and headed out to the Kinkaku-Ji Temple ‘Golden Pavilion’, which was a beautiful (if a little over-crowded) first sight. That evening we had the best gyozas (fried dumplings) I have ever tasted at Chao Chao Gyoza. We had a sharing platter, trying out a range of pork and beef gyozas, followed by a couple of dessert ones to finish (apple pie and chocolate with ice cream 😋). Kyoto is often described as the cultural capital of Japan and is a Mecca for Japanese temples and shrines! On our first full day we checked out a couple of these, including the stunning, red Kiyomizu-dera. That afternoon Zo booked us in for a tea ceremony, learning how to make and drink green tea properly, as well as how to behave in a traditional tea ceremony, which are taken very seriously in Japan. That evening we went to another amazing cocktail bar called Nokishita711 Gin, recommended by a couple we met in Tokyo. This cocktail bar is a real one man show, where the barman makes unique gin- based creations which are more like works of art than drinks!
The next morning we explored the western district of Arashiyama, visiting a couple more temples and a bamboo forest. We were then joined by Sarah (Zoe’s Mum) and her partner David, and we all stayed in the absolutely beautiful Nazuna Ryokan. The rooms there came with your our own personal onsen in a little private garden, which became a highlight of every afternoon- the perfect way to relax after a day of exploring the city! The wide variety of Japanese cuisine has continued to impress us, the highlights being the wonderful breakfasts at our Ryokan and a great Kasieki (Japanese haute cuisine). We went to an incredible Kasieki restaurant, called Tategami where we enjoyed an eight course extravaganza, showcasing a variety of delicious types of fish.
Over the subsequent days we went to a wide variety of sites; we explored Fushimi-Inari the temple complex with a vast number of orange/red arches, marvelled at the range of display at the Nishiki Market, wandered down the Philosopher’s Path with beautiful overhanging autumn leaves and saw both the Imperial Palace and Nijo-Jo Castle. I particularly enjoyed the beautiful Zen gardens at Ryoan-Ji with its famous ‘rock perspective garden’ as well as the serene Jisho-Ji temple and garden.
thereandbackagainaslumdogtale 