Highlights from Two Weeks in Japan

(Warning, lots of pictures ahead.)

Ah, Japan. The land of next-level toilets, superior vending machines, and pristine public areas. (But seriously, where are the trash cans?) After two weeks in Japan, I understand why it’s such a popular tourist destination. There are plenty of beautiful places to visit and things to experience, and the bullet train system is remarkable. I felt safe the entire time and am in awe of how clean, organized, and well-developed everything is. Just one example: every sidewalk contains textured yellow lines that blind people can use to get around the city, subway station, bus stop, everywhere! Also, if you order an iced latte at the train station, you’re handed a cup filled with ice and frozen milk balls, then you press the only button on the coffee machine and it tastes just like a latte. Boom. Magic.

I plan to write a recap of each country we visit on this year-long journey. I do not intend for these to be an exact itinerary with every single detail of our trip (though if you have questions please comment!). I plan to post experiences that stood out the most, favorite places we stayed, the best (and maybe worst?) things I ate, plus other noteworthy discoveries.

Without further ado, here are the highlights from Japan!

First stop: Tokyo

I spent quite a few days exploring the different areas of Tokyo. There’s so much to see! Akihabara (electronics shops, all things gaming, and maid cafes) and Harajuku (all things pop culture) are definitely interesting and great for people watching.

Eats from around Tokyo:

So many soups! My very first breakfast there was a bowl of soba soup. At most food joints, you have to order from a vending machine. It’s actually quite fun! Pick out what you want (hopefully there are food props to help!), pay for it at the vending machine, then take your ticket and walk inside to get your food.

Favorite place we stayed in Tokyo: Nui Hostel

I’m incredibly impressed with all of the hostels in Japan. We stayed at a hotel our first few nights, and the hostels were way nicer. Nui Hostel was beautiful and spotless, perfectly located (good food AND a running trail along the river=I am so happy), and had two nice areas to hang out and socialize. If I come back to Tokyo I would 100% stay here again.

Favorite experience in Tokyo:

My favorite part of Tokyo was visiting the Tsukiji Market first thing in the morning. It’s the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world, and it is bustling! So many sights, smells, colors, and people! While the inside (where tuna auctions are held) is closed off to tourists, the outside is still fun to walk around and eat incredible seafood (for breakfast).

Here are a few of my photos from around the market:

Next stop: Kanazawa

After a quick three hours on the bullet train, we hopped off in Kanazawa. The region used to be Japan’s richest (due to rice production), and beautifully preserved samurai and geisha districts still remain. Kanazawa didn’t connect to Japan via bullet train until 2015, and it was nice to explore a beautiful city and some shrines without hordes of other tourists. My favorite part of Kanazawa was exploring Kenroku-en, which is considered to be one of the top three gardens in Japan.

If you go, we stayed at Emblem Stay which is a top notch hostel with incredibly comfortable beds, and ate breakfast each day at Curio Espresso. (Best coffee in all of Japan.)

Kyoto, and the surrounding region

Kyoto is home to many of the most famous sights in Japan. Unfortunately this also means that it is the destination for tons of tourists. Most famous sights were so busy that it was tough to enjoy them, but the Fushimi Inari Shrine was definitely worth battling thousands of tourists and their umbrellas. In Kyoto we stayed at the Kyoto Morris Hostel which I highly recommend. It had a perfect location for exploring (and running along the river!), beautiful kitchen and hangout area, full breakfast, and free bikes for you to use. (We rode to the bamboo forest before breakfast one morning.) Warning: this hostel is located next to the factory for a fancy local bakery. It smells like fresh bread all the time, so just consider yourself warned.

While staying in Kyoto, we took a day trip (using our 7 day JR pass) to visit Hiroshima and Miyajima Island. I highly recommend visiting both places, and next time I would do an overnight so I could spend an entire day exploring each. Miyajima Island was my favorite place in all of Japan. It’s absolutely beautiful, has a fun energy, huge red torii gate, friendly deer, street eats for days, and that’s all just 10 minutes from the ferry station. Next time I want to have more time and hike in Momijidani Park (which has colorful maple leaves!).

Osaka

Osaka is a dream city for people who love food. The two best meals of our trip were in Osaka, and I’m still dreaming about them both. Just walk around the Dotonbori region at night (it’s like a carnival) and let your nose tell you where to go.

Pork rib ramen from Hanamaruken Ramen is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever encountered. It has SO MUCH flavor. The noodles themselves are the best I’ve ever had in ramen, the rib is so tender it falls apart, the bamboo is extra flavorful, and the pork broth is so amazingly rich. I have never said “oh my god” so many times while demolishing a bowl of soup. I had this ramen twice because it had to be my last meal in Japan.

My other favorite food discovery while in Osaka is Okonomiyaki. It’s a savory pancake with cabbage and batter as the base, but a variety of proteins can be added, green onions or sprouts, and usually a Worcestershire-like sauce goes on top. It’s often cooked right in front of you, and it’s so delicious! My favorite one contained seafood and green onions, was grilled until crispy, and then topped with lots of sprouts!

Lessons learned during our first two weeks:

1. When I book our accommodations, I’m going to pay more attention to whether breakfast is offered, or if there are options nearby. Our first hotel in Tokyo was located in a sleepy neighborhood, so sometimes we didn’t eat breakfast until 11 am. This is not something I want to repeat very often.
2. I need to pay more attention to entrance, exit, and visa requirements for every country. When I checked in for our flight to Tokyo, they alerted me that we needed an exit ticket from Japan before we could board the flight. This sent me into a scramble to try to figure out our next destination, before even knowing what our plans were while in Japan.

Fitness:

It was pretty easy to work out during our entire trip in Japan! Many locals seem to be health-conscious, and the rivers in big cities had paths full of people running, walking, and biking. We went running a few times, rented bikes from our hostel one day, and even made up mini workouts in the park.

For one of my workouts I intended to run to the park, do a workout with 5 rounds (pushups, jumps on a bench, mountain climbers, etc.) but after 4 rounds I realized the mosquitos had discovered my existence so I called it quits and booked it back to the hostel. Sometimes you’ve got to take what you can get. Ha!

Lastly: This is the winner for our smallest room so far.

And that’s a wrap! Next stop: Hong Kong!