Japan
Buckle up, this is a long one. Clocking in at over 14 days total and our longest trip yet, I planned and re-planned for six whole months between booking the plane tickets and finally leaving on September 3rd. I've loved sushi since I was a kid, and most of my family's holidays end up at hibachi restaurants so I salivated over all the different foods we'd get to try over the two week trip. I didn't know until about a month before that while Brendan and I travel well together, we travel for very different reasons. I go where my stomach leads, and he's more interested in the sights and the actual places we're going. It's a nice balance.
Because of the length, I'll hotlink some of the highlights: a cooking class in Shinjuku, hiking at the Jogasaki Coast, an interactive digital art museum visit, a traditional ryokan stay in Takayama, and feeding deer in Nara.
一日
Our trip began bright and early on Tuesday as Brendan's mom drove us to the airport around 5:30AM (thanks, Sheila!), where our first flight to Chicago was delayed almost up to missing our connection about half an hour before boarding. Having learned from our trip to Italy, Brendan immediately went to find a United help-desk and was able to rebook us on another set of flights boarding in ten minutes through San Francisco!
We both had middle seats, and were in for an extra three hours of flight time (17 total instead of 14 in the air) but we made it on the plane and I was finally able to stop worrying about Chicago's unpredictable weather.
Six hours later, we touched down in SFO around 10:30am local (well past lunchtime EST) and stopped for a bite to eat at the food court before continuing on to Tokyo!
二日
Eleven hours after leaving San Francisco, we were in Narita, about an hour outside of Tokyo by train. We exchanged our vouchers for Japan Rail Passes and hopped on the Narita Express bound for Shinjuku by 4:15PM JST.
We checked in to our first hotel, Yuen Shinjuku, and decided we were too exhausted to actually find dinner so we walked across the street to 7-11. We both grabbed some instant ramen and a couple of snacks before I journeyed up to the rooftop onsen, or public bath.
The view of Tokyo at night was breathtaking, and the outdoor bath was the perfect temperature to stay warm from the wind. As a bonus, the hotel provided popsicles to cool you down after the bath!
三日
I was up bright and early at 5am (or 4pm EST) and took another bath on the rooftop before Brendan woke up. We stopped at 7-11 again for onigiri (stuffed rice balls) for breakfast, savoring the fact that all we had to do to pay was touch our metro cards to the pad.
We had been tired enough the day before to put off buying our first set of train tickets for Friday to the Ito Penninsula and had plenty of time before our cooking class at 9am, so we set off for Shinjuku Station, the busiest train station in the world.
Morning rush hour at Shinjuku Station is nothing to be trifled with! Brendan and I weaved through large throngs of people, all knowing exactly where they were going as we got turned around several times before finding the Odakyu tourist kiosk to buy our passes.
Next up was our kaiseki (traditional multi-course meal) cooking class, and we walked about half an hour towards Shinjuku Park to a tiny residential area. We still had some time after arriving, so we wandered around the neighborhood, running into one very friendly old man who was convinced we were lost and kept pointing us back towards the main street and left. Not wanting to offend him, we took his advice, eventually realizing he was trying to get us to the closest subway station.
We traversed back to the cooking class, carefully avoiding going back the same way we came and buzzed up to Cooking Sun Tokyo, delighted to discover that we were the only ones who had signed up for the session. Our teacher, Miki, was bubbly and energetic and led us through nine different recipes (including one with wagyu beef). We had a lot of fun failing to cook with chopsticks, steadily improving until it was time to enjoy all of our dishes. My favorite was eggplant pan-fried in a dashi-shoyu sauce and Brendan really enjoyed both the rolled omelette and wagyu beef simmered in a similar broth.
After savoring our hard-earned food, we hopped on the metro to Asakusa, the historical sector of Tokyo. I'm still in love with the Tokyo metro system -- everything is laid out exactly how you need it, with intuitive transfers between lines.
Our first stop in Asakusa was Senso-ji, a large Buddhist temple surrounded by a lively shopping street called Nakamise. Brendan bought an 'ice cream hamburger', ice cream enclosed in a rice-cracker shell, and we wandered around the stalls to kill time until 4pm.
We found a small shop off the main street that rented out kimono and yukata (summer kimono) and were ushered up three sets of stairs to a tiny room filled with different robes. Brendan chose his first, a traditional looking navy yukata with a dark green obi (belt), before we went up another set of stairs to pick mine, icy blue with yellow flowers and a purple obi.
We were taken to different changing rooms with bags to put our clothes in. I was given a small white robe to put on before a short woman came in to dress me the rest of the way. She started by wrapping a tea-towel around my waist, using cloth belts to keep it in place before adding a thin piece of cardboard and more belts followed by the yukata, more cloth belts, and finally, the obi. She tied the obi in a beautiful bow and led me back downstairs to tie my hair into a braided bun.
Brendan was dressed faster than me, and we were able to traipse back down stairs in the wooden shoes provided to us. We took some pictures in a small garden not too far from the shop, but I had way too many layers on to stay cool in the heavy Tokyo heat so we returned the costumes a little over an hour later.
Our next stop was Mokuhankan, a small print shop a little ways from the temple. Run by Dave Bull, a Canadian who had come to Tokyo in the 80s to learn the traditional wooden-block print style called ukiyo-e, Mokuhankan was highly recommended to us for their one-hour workshops introducing block prints. There was one other student with us from California, and we learned how to spread pigment and glue across the carved wood, place our papers properly, and use a paddle to transfer the ink to the paper.
We finished off the day with dinner from the depachika (basement food floor) of Isetan, a large upscale department store in Shinjuku. I got a beautiful assortment of sashimi on sushi rice (called chirashi) for about $5 and Brendan picked up some gyoza (dumplings). We made a quick stop at 7-11 for drinks and desserts - something that would become a ritual reminiscent of our Italian croissant-and-hot drink breakfasts before going back to the hotel to enjoy our spoils.
四日
On Friday, we tested out our train skills after another onigiri breakfast, headed for the Ito peninsula -- a jagged piece of mountainous land southwest of Tokyo. We hopped on the wrong train twice before finding the right color and destination, lucky that Japanese train tickets are only checked when you enter or leave the station and not the train.
We made it first to Odawara station, where we transferred from the Odakyu line to the Japan Rail line to Atami station, jumping on the sightseeing train bound for Ito.
In Ito, we stopped for a quick lunch at a tiny, smoke-filled restaurant on the main street, using google translate for the menu to order chicken curry and rice. It was delicious! Unlike most Indian curries, Japanese curry isn't spicy or beautiful but it still warms the soul.
From there, we took the local bus to Izu-Kogen, arriving at our ryokan (traditional inn) right at 3pm for check-in. Hanafubuki was a little off the beaten path, nestled in a grove of trees a ten minute walk from the train station. They had five or six small guesthouses, and we ended up on the second floor of the centrally-located one.
Unlike our last hotel, Hanafubuki also offered seven different onsens that were private instead of split by gender. After checking in and enjoying our welcome tea and sweets, Brendan and I went off to explore a hiking trail marked on our info sheet. The paved trail followed along a small creek for about ten minutes before splitting off into several dirt paths.
We explored the rightmost trail first, which led us down a rocky cliff to an area with tidal pools to swim in and basalt columns similar to Iceland and Ireland. The sun was just starting to set over the cliffs and we stood still for a few moments, breathing in the sea breeze and listening to waves crash against the rocks before heading back up the cliff and crossing a small suspension bridge.
Wanting to get back to the ryokan before dark, we retraced our steps, happy to find that the closest onsen to our room was unoccupied. We soaked our sore muscles for as long as we could in the scalding hot-spring water before venturing out again to find dinner.
My researching skills had failed me after we opted not to reserve dinner at Hanafubuki at booking time, and only one restaurant was open close to the hotel, イタリアンカフェボスコ (Italian Cafe Bosco). We were both a little skeptical of eating Italian food in rural Japan, but after getting past the original language barrier with the chef (it was just us and him in the restaurant), I had ordered linguine with tomatoes and mozzarella and Brendan ended up with a margherita pizza. Both were garlicky and delicious, and honestly better than most of the food I remember eating in Italy!
After a quick trip to 7-11 for some sake to enjoy, we made it back to Hanafubuki and enjoyed another of the seven baths before turning in for the night.
五日
Of course, I was up at 5am again, when our breakfast wasn't scheduled until 9am. We went for our third soak of the day, before putting on our indoor yukata robes (thankfully much easier to wear than the outdoor ones we had rented in Asakusa with just one belt each) and heading to breakfast.
We were given three choices: grilled fish, brown rice porridge, or western-style omelet. Brendan, feeling adventurous, chose the grilled fish and I opted for the brown rice porridge after seeing that it came with 9 different side dishes so I'd get to try a taste of everything!
I loved absolutely everything about my breakfast, all the different vegetables and marinated pieces of fish and the hearty porridge. Brendan, unfortunately, was not prepared for his grilled fish to still have a head and be staring directly at him. Wide-eyed, he stared at me for a few seconds trying to figure out how to eat the meal as I giggled quietly at his predicament.
Ultimately, he fought the fish and won! I think he got most of the meat off the bones, and was able to get over the giant eyes gleaming at him. After breakfast, we checked out and hiked uphill for about half an hour to a different bus stop to get back to the train station. We managed to get on the correct trains this time, and were soon back in Tokyo.
We checked in to the next hotel, Tsuki, near the old Tsukiji fish market and were once again welcomed with tea and a small lunar cake (traditionally Chinese since the hotel owner was from Hong Kong) before we set off to find dinner.
My friend, Kaitlyn, had been in Tokyo the year before and swore that Ichiran had the best ramen she'd ever tasted. So naturally, we needed to test out that theory and took the metro to the closest restaurant in the chain, Ichiran Shinbashi.
We each ordered from a vending machine up front, and were then led to individual stalls where we filled out a small survey of noodle firmness, spice level, garlic additions, and a few other customizations before a curtain opened to our waiter's torso and he took the vending machine ticket and survey sheet.
Our ramen was out in no time at all, and the curtain closed again for us to enjoy our food. This was Brendan's favorite ramen of the trip, but I was disappointed in the soft-boiled eggs. Ajitsuke (marinated soft-boiled eggs) and broth are what make or break ramen for me.
We slurped down the noodles and hot soup before continuing on to our next destination -- Tokyo's last fireworks show of the summer! About an hour outside of the main ring of cities in Tokyo on the Yamanote Line, Chofu City is a 'smaller' district of the metropolis on the Tama River. The train became more packed with each stop we made, and I enjoyed seeing the various forms of traditional dress that one in every five people wore until we finally all unloaded at the last stop before the festival grounds.
The entire crowd traipsed along, directed by police officers, for about twenty minutes before we ended up at a large park already filled with people just as the fireworks started. There were two twenty-five minute shows with a ten minute break in between (so parents with young kids could get them home), and while the first was on par with fireworks shows here in the US, the second was mesmerizing. A single explosion might be three different color with two moving elements, reminiscent of Saturn with spinning rings, or a 3-dimensional smiley face or heart.
After the show, we walked back to the train station -- which was apparently only a five minute walk, and we were rerouted the extra fifteen earlier as a method of crowd control -- and headed back to Tokyo. Unfortunately, we got the news that our Tokyo Bay dinner cruise for the next night had been cancelled due to the impending typhoon. I think I was slightly more disappointed than Brendan that I wouldn't get to eat fancy food on a boat, but we managed to find an escape room in Asakusa to do instead.
六日
Tokyo is a city of late-risers, as we discovered the next morning trying to find an open cafe for breakfast around 7am. We finally settled on Hoshino Coffee, and settled into cozy leather armchairs on the second floor, with floor-to-ceiling windows displaying a sleepy intersection in Ginza. Sunlight streamed in, heating up the room as we ordered coffee, hot tea, and some of Japan's famous souffle pancakes, cooked to order over the next 20 minutes.
The pancakes were delectably fluffy and melted in our mouths, a perfect accompaniment to the bold house coffee blend. We savored our breakfast before hopping on the train to the main event of the day -- teamLab Borderless, an interactive digital arts museum out on the man-made island of Odaiba in Tokyo Bay.
Taking advice from online to arrive early, we were the first ones in line in front of the door at 9am. Others quickly followed, until the small waiting area became crowded with people. Luckily, they opened earlier than their stated 10am slot, and we were able to be one of the first groups into the museum!
Brendan and I wandered around and admired the artwork, trailing our hands on the walls to watch the effect it had. Flower petals scattered under our fingertips, bamboo stalks rustled with an invisible breeze. The building was created as a collaborative effort between scores of programmers and artists, and contained nearly 500 projectors and plenty of sensors to go along with it. There was no map of the exhibits, and we were encouraged to freely wander along until we found all of the ones we had researched earlier.
After the main room with flowers and a large waterfall ripe for instagram-ability, we stumbled along a dark hallway that was studded with billowing black curtains leading to other exhibits. We discovered a room with mirrors on the ceilings and floors, covered entirely with beaded crystal strands except for a small path I really had to focus on to not walk into the art. Next we followed a cartoonish band marching down one of the hallway walls to a room filled with holographic animals playing various Japanese instruments, coming together to create a beautiful cacophany of sounds.
There were rooms with strobe lights that followed your hand as you moved it, floating lanterns that changed color when anyone got near, a giant net that we could sit in and watch a two-minute light show, a trampoline that created planets when you jumped straight up and stars when you moved.
Last but not least, we waited in line for the tea house to open at 11am. After selecting our teas, we were each given a small container of tea leaves to smell as we were walked to seats at a long black table in a darkened room. The staff took our leaves and came back a few minutes later with tea cups and teapots, pouring the liquid into the cups with a flourish. As they finished pouring, projected flowers began growing in each of our bowls -- different flowers for the different types of tea we had selected. My cold green yuzu tea sprouted pink five-pointed blossoms, and Brendan's hot chamomile latte produced spiky orange tendrils. When we picked the bowls up to drink, the petals scattered to the wind, spreading themselves across the table. When we put them down again, a new bud would grow in its place. We had a lot of fun playing with the projection, and the tea was equally as delicious!
Around lunchtime, we left the museum in search of food, wandering around the VenusFort mall next door. Slightly mistranslated, VenusFort should actually be VeniceFort, with sky-painted arched ceilings and hallways lined with columned shops. Brendan and I wandered around until we chanced upon a tiny ramen shop with a vending machine similar to Ichiran's. The ramen here was much prettier than Ichiran's, but the lack of flavor made sure we didn't forget that it was still mall food.
We hopped back on the train to complete a full circle around Odaiba, catching a glimpse of the rainbow bridge and shipping crane 'giraffes' before heading back to Tsukiji. Next up on the agenda was Akihabara, land of manga and electronics. It took us a couple of wrong turns to find the main part of the neighborhood from the train station, but soon we were surrounded by manga shops, arcades, and vending machines that spat out tiny anime figurines. We wandered around for a bit before heading back to Asakusa for the main event of our evening -- an escape room!
Escape Room Nazobako was on the fifth floor, up a hidden elevator off a side street in Asakusa, so our first test was being able to find the building. We ended up being the only ones who signed up for our time slot, so we began the game as soon as we arrived -- solving the mystery of a runaway bride. We made it out in under 40 minutes! The company's record was 15 minutes for a team of four to escape. We never did find where the bride ran off to, though.
Dinner was at another depachika, Matusya Ginza. Luckily, we were there within an hour of closing so all the prepared food was discounted! I picked up a selection of tuna sushi and Brendan walked away with a bento made of four or five different types of meat.
Around 3am, Typhoon Faxai hit Tokyo, flooding the metro and sounding like a train passing outside the window of our seventh-floor room every five minutes from the gusting winds. We were fortunate we weren't still in Ito, where the storm hit full strength before being torn apart on the mountainous peninsula on its way to Tokyo.
七日
On Monday, our adventures outside of Tokyo officially began. The metro was still experiencing delays from the storm the night before, so we opted to walk to Tokyo Station, passing trees every so often that had split or fallen from the force of the winds.
We bought bento at Ekibenya Matsuo, a large shop with different bento from all over Japan, before getting on our shinkansen (bullet train) to Kanazawa. On the train, we ate our lunch as we watched the Japanese countryside whiz by. Mine had three different types of pressed sushi paired with a craft beer from Karuizawa, and Brendan's was a magical self-heating box with beef and rice.
In Kanazawa, we checked into the oldest still-running ryokan, Sumiyoshiya, before setting off to the historic district of Higashiyama-chaya. We picked up a beautiful green and gold teapot at a ceramics shop, and wandered around looking at all the gilded souvenirs. Each locality in Japan is famous for something, and Kanazawa's specialty has been gold since ancient times.
We got dinner at a small sushi shop that fit about fifteen people total, called Kourin, that you almost always need a reservation to get into. We were lucky, though, and were able to get in by arriving just as they opened. Brendan tried sushi for the first time, and admitted it wasn't disgusting! I'll call that a win.
八日
Up at the crack of dawn, we walked through Kanazawa Castle's grounds on our way to the famous garden Kenroku-en, one of the Three Great Gardens in Japan. The scenery was beautiful and relaxing, and because we were there so early, there were very few other people around (and entrance was free!).
We wandered around the garden for a while, but weren't able to see everything before we had to be back at Sumiyoshiya for breakfast. We were the first ones in the inn to come down for breakfast, so the dining room was tranquil as we sipped our green tea and ate heartily for the day ahead. I've always landed on the sweeter side of breakfast -- waffles, donuts, yogurt, etc -- and I feel sick if I eat heavy savory things, but surprisingly I really loved Japanese-style breakfasts, mostly consisting of pickled vegetables, grilled fish, miso soup, and rice.
After breakfast, we were off again to our next destination: Takayama. We picked up bento at Kanazawa Station before taking the shinkansen to Toyama Station, transferring to a local express train to Takayama Station. Near the mountains, Takayama is a smaller town with charming Edo-period buildings and at least eight different sake breweries, famed for the pureness of the mountain-spring water in the area.
We checked in to Oyado Yamakyu, a large ryokan on the edge of town, over two rivers and up a few hills towards the mountains. After dropping our ever-heavier packs thanks to souvenirs, we set off towards Sanmachi-suji, a set of beautifully preserved streets filled with shops, restaurants, and sake tasting rooms.
First, we did a sake tasting at Harada Brewery, where we were each given a cup for Y300 ($3) and pointed to a refrigerated display case with 12 different types of sake to try. I liked most of them, Brendan powered through all but one. I picked my favorite to carry back home for my friend Ethan, and we continued down the street, slightly tipsy.
We continued on down the street, stopping here or there in search of more souvenirs. I picked up some pretty earrings that match one of my favorite dresses, and we also found more region-specific snacks to take back for family and coworkers!
Our ryokan stay at Oyado Yamakyu included dinner, so we traipsed back to the inn and were led to our assigned table. There were four or five different small dishes already laid out when we arrived, including several types of pickled vegetables, cooked vegetables, and fried breaded chicken. There was also a larger cast-iron dish with a grill underneath that the staff lit when we sat down, containing Hida beef (similar to Kobe) and more vegetables. Over the next five minutes, several more dishes were brought out -- sashimi, salad, french onion soup, clear dashi soup, tempura shrimp and vegetables, grilled salmon, and rice.
We ate until we couldn't anymore, and it seemed like the food would never end. There was still so much food on the table, and I felt guilty over how much would be wasted. As we stood up to leave, the staff ushered us back with apologies for taking so long, and brought out dessert.
九日
Thankfully, breakfast was a slightly smaller affair than dinner and we were able to enjoy a few more delicacies of the region before setting off to find a spot on google maps called 'Takayama Castle Ruins'.
The street leading to the ruins was up a steep hill, and the early morning sun and humidity meant we were sweating before even starting out. Once we arrived at a site called Ninomaru (outer citadel), the street ended and we followed signs for Honmaru (inner citadel). Unfortunately, when we arrived at the site halfway up the mountain, only the foundation remained. Slightly disappointed, we still drunk in views of Takayama from above before heading back down to the ryokan to pack our bags.
We got back on the limited express from the day before towards Nagoya, opting not to buy bento before getting on the train because we had eaten so much for breakfast. The mountains rolled by slowly compared to the shinkansen, and a light rain trickled down the window.
About an hour into our journey, the train stopped at a station. The same announcement was made in Japanese every ten minutes, but it seemed we were stuck. After another half hour, the Japanese was followed by a short statement in English: "The train has been suspended due to heavy rain." The two statements were repeated every ten minutes for the next two hours, our stomachs growling by the time the train finally started moving again.
We reached Nagoya Station two hours late, but were able to reschedule our shinkansen reservations to Kyoto easily before grabbing a bento each and scarfing them down at the station. I tried something new, inarizushi, which is sushi rice wrapped in an egg crepe and soaked in a sweet soy sauce with pickled toppings. Delicious!
We arrived in Kyoto near 7pm, and tried in vain to find the right bus stop to get to our hotel in the Sanjo neighborhood before resigning ourselves to a half-hour walk in the rain. We managed to hop on a packed bus with all of our luggage about halfway through the journey.
After checking in to Cross Hotel Kyoto, we wandered around Sanjo trying to find a 7-11 that was supposedly within 0.1 miles from us. We gave up after circling the block and ended up at a FamilyMart for Brendan to grab some ramen instead, testing our brand loyalty to konbini. At least there were different types of desserts! I ended up with a matcha daifuku (whipped-cream stuffed mochi) and a lime mojito in a can. I already miss not having my ID scrutinized for buying alcohol.
十日
Our first stop of the day was Fushimi-Inari shrine, land of the bright red torii gates. We took the subway to south Kyoto after a bit of deliberation on which train to take -- Kyoto's public transportation is nowhere near as intuitive as Tokyo's -- and arrived just as all the vendors started to set up their tables around 7:30am.
After proceeding past the main gates, we were lucky enough to have several sections of the trails to ourselves (plus a few stray cats roaming around), and we wandered up to the start of the mountain path before turning back and looking for breakfast.
We found a small spot called Cafe Goo, the closest place open before 9am, and tried their version of the giant pancakes. Where Hoshino's were cooked on the spot and more of a souffle, Goo's pancakes were more bread-like and probably just warmed up. We were too hungry to care.
We had some time left before our tea ceremony at 10am, so we left our luggage at the hotel when we checked out and walked down to Gion, most popular for the geisha and maiko that can still be spotted every now and then.
Our tea ceremony was held at Maiko-ya Kyoto, and included a wagashi (sweets) making class. Brendan and I donned gender-specific aprons (always red for women and blue for men in Japan) and sat down with our instructor, a ball of white bean paste and flour, and food coloring. We spent half an hour making two tiny sweets, one flower and one animal (I went with a bear, and Brendan made a monkey) that we could then take with us to eat at the ceremony. I was a little disappointed the class wasn't anything more than 'squish food coloring into paste and shape it', but they still tasted good!
Our tea ceremony was the two of us and eight others, who had opted for full kimono dress instead of the sweets making class like us. Our host worked her way through the tea ceremony, pausing every now and then to teach us new tidbits of information before silently purifying the tea-making instruments. Then, we got to eat our sweets and mix our own tea, delighting in the harsh bitterness after the cloying sweetness of the wagashi.
Next up was shopping! We both wanted a yukata to take home as a souvenir, and ended up at Fu-uta Kimono near Gion. A small shop that makes and sells their own yukata, we were both able to find a beautifully patterned robe and obi to take home.
We headed for Nishiki Market next, a giant covered street market with every type of Japanese food imaginable! I picked up some delectable tuna sashimi and Brendan found yakitori (meat on a stick) to eat while we walked to our next destination, Nijo Castle.
Nijo Castle, built in 1603 for the first Shogun of the Edo period, has anti-ninja nightingale floors that chirp no matter how quietly you try to walk down them. The castle is also home to several reproductions of beautiful gold-leaf artworks and a serene garden to wander around in. We spent almost an hour walking through the grounds and palace before heading on to our second cooking class of the trip.
We went with the same company -- Cooking Sun -- for our izakaya (pub) food cooking class in Kyoto, and we were happy to share the time with another couple from Switzerland. Our instructor, Maia, had lived in England for a while and had traveled pretty much everywhere else so the conversation was lively between us as we pan-fried chicken meatballs, eggplants, and other vegetables.
After a delicious late lunch/early dinner, we grabbed our bags and jumped on the train to Nara, where deer roam free. We checked in to Oak Hostel Nara (and hopefully dispelled Brendan's 'no more hostels' rule after Dublin) and settled in for the night, ready for the next adventure.
十一日
It was raining when we got up but we set out to find breakfast with high hopes, opting for donuts at Mister Donut, a restaurant we'd passed in several cities since Shinjuku that smelled amazing. Not the best donuts I've ever had -- nothing has beaten Krispy Kreme for me -- but the coffee did the trick and we set out to find the deer, ignoring the light drizzle that made my hair stand on end.
As we neared the park, Brendan stopped to marvel at the first pack of deer we saw huddled under trees to stay dry. Every now and then along the path we'd see one or two, but the deer didn't outnumber people until we approached the enormous temple Todai-ji where groups of school-children would feed the deer a vendor-approved cracker before running screaming away from them.
Brendan couldn't resist, and bought himself some deer food to hand out. As soon as the money changed hands, he was swarmed with four does, all vying for one of the ten crackers in his hand. One brave one nipped him in the butt a few times as I stood to the side, laughing. He quickly surrendered all of the snacks in under a minute and held up his hands to show the deer he didn't have any more. The deer scattered, completely disinterested without the incentive of peanut-butter rice cakes.
I fed the deer next, and unfortunately caught the attention of a small stag with antlers that decided to nudge (stab) me until I fed him. Soon, all my cookies were gone too, and we walked around the park a bit more before heading on to Harushika Sake Brewery, since Nara is the birthplace of commercial sake.
At 10am, we did a sake tasting with six different types and actually managed to find two that Brendan liked! My favorite was an unfiltered, or nigiri, naturally carbonated sake and Brendan's was a light, fruity sparkling sake. We picked up one 720ml of their best-seller dry sake for Sean and two half bottles of our favorites -- that came with dire warnings to drink them before we got back on an airplane, or the carbonation would make them shatter!
Before Brendan could spend all of his money on deer cookies, we used our rail passes to catch the next train to Osaka and spent the afternoon walking down Shinsaibashi, a covered street mall with an impressive mix of American and Japanese brand stores.
We checked in to our next hotel, Bali An, at 3pm and took a nap until the neon lights of Dotonbori, the famous food street, turned on after sunset. For dinner, we went to a small shop recommended to us by our Osaka-native cooking class instructor, Maia, called Hozenji-yokocho Yakizen. They specialized in a type of okonomiyaki (cabbage pancake) that included yakisoba noodles, squid, and pork called Moba-okonomiyaki. I ordered it with the stipulation that Brendan would be adventurous and help me out, and he got a good-sized serving of yakisoba for himself.
While waiting for our food, we each ordered a new drink -- Imo Shochu (sweet potato liquor) for me, and Umeshu (plum wine) for Brendan -- to sip while watching the chefs prepare our food. Both were scrumptious, and I wrote down the names to try to find as souvenirs. When our food was placed in front of us, sizzling, on mini griddles I didn't even take a picture it looked and smelled so delicious. Brendan took a few bites, but I didn't actually need his help finishing off the large okonomiyaki, which paired well with the smooth bite of the shochu.
After dinner, we walked around Dotonbori, delighting in the neon and crowds, breathing in the scent of all types of freshly-cooked foods. I wish I had the stomach space to try takoyaki (batter-fried octopus), the other delicacy of Osaka, but I settled for melon-pan for dessert instead, a light and fluffy sweet bun that was shaped like a cut cantaloupe. The whole reason we made a stop in Osaka was to eat at Dotonbori, and I didn't leave disappointed!
十二日
Breakfast the next day was Krispy Kreme, to see if the brand held up overseas (and because it was the only one open). Brendan enjoyed the glazed, but I took a risk with a pumpkin kreme that was mostly flavorless and my typical chocolate-covered custard which was slightly closer to normal.
We struck out for Shin-Osaka, the shinkansen train station, and bought bento for our train ride back to the Kanto area. We took the shinkansen from Osaka to Shinagawa, Tokyo, then switched to a local train to Fujisawa before finally hopping on the Enoden, Enoshima Electric Rail to Koshigoe.
Our second-to-last hotel was a small ryokan with a restaurant attached, called Kakiya. A block inland from the beach, and fifteen minutes from the bridged island of Enoshima, the accommodation was sparse but the location was great! Dinner was included in our residence, and we once again found ourselves with an entire empty dining room with way too much food. The specialty of the Enoshima/Kamakura area is a small type of sardine, which was served with every. single. plate. Sometimes raw, sometimes boiled, sometimes fried, the hundreds of eyes always stared up at you.
I ate as many of the sardines as I could (and took a few bites of Brendan's, since he's a wimp but didn't want to be rude) before we walked to the closest konbini (convenience store) and got umeshu and desserts to wash the taste and texture of the memories of eating tiny almost-skeletal fish.
十三日
More sardines adorned breakfast on Sunday. Luckily, there was also grilled fish, rice, and miso soup to balance them out (and a bonus croissant and yogurt). We escaped without eating the sardines, and set out to explore the island of Enoshima.
The island was chock-full of temples and tiny shops (none of which were open yet) and we explored for almost an hour, Brendan cursing me the entire way back after we discovered it wasn't a loop and we had to climb all the way up the stairs we had come down.
We reversed our tracks back to Tokyo, and were able to check into Super Hotel LOHAS Akasaka around noon. We walked around Akasaka until we found a ramen shop called Haruki (it wasn't far) and punched in our orders to the vending machine, slurping up tonkotsu and spicy shoyu ramen.
We spent the afternoon in Shibuya, stumbling upon a festival in progress with groups of teenagers hoisting small floats and chanting as they marched down the streets. We were able to buy most of our souvenirs at Don Quijote, a charming and chaotic store that sells anything and everything (and we made sure to pick up an extra suitcase since our bags were getting difficult to carry).
十四日
We had plans to climb Mt. Takao on our last full day in Japan, but a steady rain killed that plan in favor of visiting Kawagoe, an Edo-period town on the outskirts of Tokyo.
Breakfast was french toast and coffee at Excelsior Cafe before we hopped on the train towards Ikebukuro. We walked twenty minutes from Kawagoe Station to the tourist area, and were slightly dismayed after the beautiful villas of Takayama and Gion to find a tiny area with a few shops.
We wandered around for an hour, trying their specialty sweet potato steamed buns and walking up and down 'Candy Alley' to grab more snacks to take home before heading back to Akasaka for lunch at Hidakaya (my favorite ramen place by the flavor of their eggs). After lunch, we packed everything up, ready and not to head home.
Wanting to catch one last glimpse of the Tokyo skyline at night, we hopped on the metro for Shinjuku's Metropolitan Building, but were pressed for time and ended up only walking past it on the way to Kabukicho for a game at Tokyo Mystery Circus.
A unique take on an escape room, we were given an ipad and laser-tag vests and told we had to steal a gem and make it out of the museum before time ran out, and without being seen by the guards. Super cool in theory, but there were twenty people at each station and the ipads were slightly finicky in which positions they'd accept for gathering intel. We still had fun, but didn't complete our mission, and opted to do a logic-based 'mailbox' puzzle before finding dinner (and we did complete that successfully!)
Our last dinner was a compromise, since I wanted sushi and Brendan wanted 'any kind of meat', so we ended up in a small restaurant in Shinjuku Station where I could order a tuna rice bowl and Brendan got a similar chicken-and-egg. Neither of us loved the meal, but we both got the food we were craving.
十五日
Our plane didn't take off until almost six, so we had most of Tuesday in Tokyo before heading to Narita Airport. We started off the day trying to find pancakes and ending up walking twenty minutes to the closest Denny's, open 24 hours in a very residential area. We managed to order with our limited Japanese and our waitresses limited English before walking the twenty minutes back to our hotel to check out.
We wandered around Akasaka for a few hours, checking out Hie shrine (and seeing more torii gates) before heading to Tokyo station to pick up one last bento. We took the Narita Express back to the airport, sad to see the Tokyo skyline fly past, and boarded just as the sun was setting. As we went east, the sun went west, and we were met with the second sun rise of September 17th as we passed over Washington state, landing in Chicago at 2pm. We took off from Chicago as the sun set again, and were back at RDU by 9, concluding our 31 hour day.
If I could figure out how to live in Tokyo with Brendan and my job, I'd leave in a heartbeat. I've never been to a place that felt as much like home, as right, as Tokyo. Until then, I'll settle for having layovers there any time I'm in Asia!