Japan: A Summary of Things

• Having a SIM card is so useful. We used this service where we also got our JR Passes and it worked beautifully.
• The heat is no joke. I got heat exhaustion partway through the trip. Definitely have an umbrella to block out the sun, a hat, or wear long-sleeved clothing to prevent direct sun.
• Mosquitoes are savage. That, with the heat, it's no wonder the fashion trend in Japan is long, loose, and flowy clothing. They definitely cover up there. 
• Osaka is full of music. 
• Don't eat in Dotonbori. See it, but for food, head over to Shinsekai. 
• Shinjuku Golden Gai is so fun A++ recommend. 
• The JR Pass does not cover Nozomi trains. 
• Rush hour is intense, try to avoid as much as possible especially if you're like us and don't like squeezing in to trains. 
• There are a lot of tourists in Kyoto, and they come in large tour bus groups. Pick areas you REALLY want to see, and go early. Nara Park, Fushimi Inari Shrine, and Arashiyama without tourists are gorgeous locations. Around 9am, people start pouring in in packs. We did Fushimi Inari for 5am, and it was empty. 
• Konbinis are the best things ever for food but if you need pharmacy related things like bug cream, insect repellant, or medication, look for a pharmacy. There are these shops with people hanging out fliers because for some reason they're always discounted.
• Look down at the manhole covers because they're different per city and beautifully designed. 
• Get a goshuin. The temple seals range from about 300 - 500.
• Look up Airbnb experiences because those were some of my favourite moments of the trip, and experiences in general fill out the parts between shrine and sight seeing. 
• The Japanese people are almost always happy to help out if you ask (or even if you look lost). Even with the language barrier, we had 0 problem and simple words and gestures were enough. 
• Look for a hotel or Airbnb near a convenient subway stop. It may seem like common sense, but prioritizing the distance to a stop is pretty important. 
• Walk places! Set a max walk time before taking transit. If Google told us that walking there would be 25-30 minutes, we'd just walk, and walking got us off the main streets to find some good, reasonably priced food (and lovely side street photos). 
• The Kyoto buses are 230 yen a ride.
• SUICA is great. Transit, and vending machines! We loaded 1000 yen at a time because it's easier to just reload at the stations than to figure out how to get your return for it at the airport. 
• Amazake is an acquired taste. 
• Watch out for the red vs blue labels on vending machines. Red obviously is for hot, blue is for cold but when you've been poking at buttons for days, sometimes you can just miss it.
• Dont eat or drink while walking. Well, you can, but you get "Ugh, silly foreigner" looks. And the shopkeepers may tell you to stop.
• Crossing Shibuya Crossing sucks because people are constantly stopping in the middle to take a photo. The Starbucks above to view it is also packed. 
• We one-bagged, and the coin lockers allow for overnight storage. They seem to reset every midnight though, so even if it hasn't been 24 hours, if midnight happened, it'll count as two days. 
• Libera chocolate is great. 
• Not common, but sometimes public toilets will only have the squatting toilets.
• Ekiben are expensive. For one time to experience it is great, but might be better to stick with konbini bentos.
• Accessibility may be a problem if you're not able-bodied, or you have children. We came across areas (like Fushimi Inari or Arashiyama Monkey Park) with a lot of stairs without ramps or lifts, and families with young children who were very tired and grumpy. In general, the terrain coupled with the amount of tourists (especially in Kyoto) may not be wheelchair or stroller friendly.

Japan Day 12: Ryokan breakfast, Akihabara, Venice Beach, Back Home

Last day in Japan. The sadness was so real. We had our final breakfast at our Ryokan. Yummy egg rolls, miso soup, Kyoto pickles, and toast. On the ride to Tokyo, I sat next to a lady who tried her best to explain that Fuji-san didn't have snow yet, and she saw my wallpaper with my dog, and we talked about how he's a good boy, and how she loves dogs. She then gave me a treat. Omiyage from her children. 

Japan Day 11: Uji, Uji Bashi Bridge, Byodo-in, Tea Room, Luck You Ryokan

This day, we went to Uji, to experience all the matcha. We walked along a street towards Byodo-in, and had some matcha Takoyaki and matcha Gyoza. We didn't realize matcha could come in salt form. We we got to Byodo-in, we were excited by how beautiful it was. There was a museum inside where we learned a little about the boddhisatva on the clouds guiding people.

Japan Day 10: Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, Yokai Street, Shinkyogoku, Sake Insider Tasting

Because of how awful I felt the previous night, we decided to take it easy, first visiting Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, and walking along Yokai Street to hunt for Yokai. They were very cute. Each Yokai represented the shop and what it sold. One of the shopkeepers explained to us that a festival was going to happen on October 19th where people dress up as Yokai and parade down that street. Too bad we were going to miss it.

Japan Day 9: Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, Arashiyama Monkey Park, Conveyor Belt Sushi, Kinkaku-ji

Arashiyama is so beautiful. So lush, with lots of water. Our first stop was the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove which didn't have as many people as we thought. The bamboo forest was so pretty -so tall, and enveloping. Afterwards, we went to see the monkeys, and was definitely not prepared for another hike in the heat. I wondered to myself how differently-abled people would be able to access the Arashiyama Monkey Park.

Japan Day 8: Fushimi Inari Shrine, Nanzenji Temple, Okonomiyaki with Fu, Okazaki-Jinja, Ginkaku-ji

We woke up early (5:00am) to see Fushimi Inari without the crazy amount of tourists. The hike was definitely more than we bargained for. The heat was pretty intense. We walked up many stairs, and prayed at every shrine that the Gods take our souls. We also walked up alongside a group of businessmen, and bowed to them when we'd all stop at a shrine. Props to them for having done this hike in long-sleeved button ups and slacks. There were many shrines. It was hot. It was moquito-central. But there were no tourists, and the view from the crossroads was something else. Along the way down Mt. Fushimi Inari, we passed by a cool shrine with all the zodiac animals, and we prayed to the Rooster, as our birth year zodiac, and to the Pig for this year's animal.

Japan Day 7: Mt. Kurama, Kurama Onsen, Ramen Factory Kyoto to Make Ramen

We began the day with breakfast, and a lovely travel to Mount Kurama where one of the trains we rode had seats facing the window. Had we gone to Japan a little later, I'm sure the foliage would've made for a beautiful train show.

When we got to Kurama Station, we knew the truth: it was freakin' hot, and humid.

Getting to the mountain was easy peasy, but getting up the mountain made me want to die. Eventually we got to the main temple, patted ourselves on the back, and decided we needed to reward ourselves by going to Kurama Onsen, so we took the cable car down and saw the devastation of what I'm assuming was from the recent typhoon.

Japan Day 6: Nara Deer Park, Kasuga Taisha Shrine, Todai-ji, Dotonbori, Namba Yasaka, Osaka Castle, Shinsekai

We travelled to Nara, early morning, and walked across the giant forest park to Kasuga Taisha shrine (and was not prepared to climb up stairs again), and met (and were screamed at) by many deer along the way. We fed them cookies, and prompty ran away when we didn't have any more to give them because they definitely do eat any dangling straps or clothing. When they ask for cookies though, they're very polite, and they bow at you!

We passed by what seemed to be the central area, as there were a ridiculous amount of tourists running around harrassing deer, and being harrassed by deer. Good on you, deer. It's good that the deer can defend themselves. We saw different kids of deer. Cute, spotted, female ones. Teenage bucks play fighting. The younger ones don't seem as used to humans quite yet, and Moose got head-butted by what seemed to be the Boss Deer.

Japan Day 5: Fushimi Inari Food Street and Base, Pontocho Alley, Yasaka Shrine, Sousei's Kimono Class, Yasaka Koshindo, Yasaka No Tou, Ninenzaka, Entoku-In, Kodai-ji, Ichibei Koji, Fushimi Inari at Night

We woke up early after a much needed long sleep, so we decided to walk down towards Fushimi Inari to check out the food stalls. On the way, we passed by Cafe Goo and decided to try out fluffy pancakes. It was A++ will recommend, and the coffee gives you better energy than that of vending machine coffee for sure.

When we got to Fushimi Inari food street after first breakfast, we found the stalls were still setting up so we explored the Fushimi Inari base, watched shrine priests do their morning rituals and chats, and scoffed at tourists so unashamedly taking photos in front of No-Photo signs.

Japan Day 4: Journey To Kyoto, Fushimi Inari Shopping Street, Amazake, Kyoto Imperial Palace, Nishiki Market

We rode the Shinkansen to Kyoto and made the mistake of getting on the Nozomi train, which our JR Pass doesn't cover. We only heard the announcement 30 seconds before the train departed, so we got off at the next stop, and then got on the Shinkansen Hikari instead. I like that the train we were on, on one side, there was a gentleman reading manga, and on the other, a gentleman watching anime.

Japan Day 3: Nikko

On this day, we went to Nikko and rode our first Shinkansen. We decided to try ekiben (train bento). While delicious, it was definitely way more expensive than getting a bento from the konbini. We also got a box of kakinoha (sushi wrapped in persimmon leaves).

Japan Day 2: Gotokuji Temple, Meiji Jingu, Imperial Palace, Nezu Shrine, Shinjuku Golden Gai, Omoide Yokocho

Another early day for us. We head off to see Gotokuji Temple. The area with the little lucky cat statues are off to the side. We learned from a shopkeeper at Nakamise-dori that a lucky cat with its left paw up is waving for money, and right paw up is for happiness. Unfortunately, the lucky cats didn't give us much luck, as we ended up being devoured by mosquitoes. The area surrounding Gotokuji Temple is quiet and residential, like the backdrop of anime we watch. As we walked along the streets, we bowed to the people sweeping the front of their house.

Japan Day 1: Asakusa Temple, Kanda Myojin Shrine, Akihabara, Harajuku, Shibuya

We begin our adventure to Japan. We flew Singapore Airlines, and I really hyped them up to Moose because I knew they had amazing food and service. We had Japanese meals on the flight! Curry and soba noodles!

We landed in Narita Airport at around 7, activated our JR Passes and took the JR line to the nearest station to our hostel, Bakurochou Station. The train floors are so clean. We stayed at Planetyze Hostel. Very cool AirBnb. They have events going on on the main floor. One night was movie night and they were showing Howl's Moving Castle (in English!)