Japan trip

We got back from Japan about a week ago and we're still talking about what a great trip it was! 

Japan has never been super high on my places to visit but for a lot of reasons (I've never been, it's clean, it's safe, it's different) we took the plunge and booked it as our summer vacation this year. It helped that our friends, the Wongs, went last year, raved about it and loved it so much they were going again and we were able to coordinate so that some of our trip overlapped with theirs. It helped even more that the yen is at a 10-year low (maybe all time low?) against the dollar, which, aside from airfare, made everything quite affordable. 

Look how low the yen is! We lucked out that it kept falling after we booked our tix in Dec.

Since this was our first big overseas trip since COVID and with kids (or, lets face it, SINCE kids), I dove into prepping for our trip - including trying to keep up my Duolingo streak of learning Japanese for at least a few minutes everyday for the past 6 months! Planning is so different vs 10+ years ago in that there are countless facebook groups and other forums to get tips, and you can literally SEE what to do through various youtube videos. It is pretty amazing how prepped you can be and while it can maybe take the fun out of discovering new things it also helped put my mind at ease to know what to expect. I was frustrated at travel books because I couldn't find a good asian equivalent for Rick Steves (Fodors and Lonely Planet don't cut it for me), so the online messages boards and videos really helped me. 

And while I say I prepped a lot, we basically flew over with a general itinerary of doing the Tokyo-Fuji-Kyoto-Kanazawa-Tokyo loop since we need to book hotels in advance. plus had 1 museum ticket reserved, and then just a list of ideas on things to do within each city. No train tickets, restaurant reservations or any other tours booked.  About a week before we left, we made a last minute decision to switch which place to stay in the Mt Fuji area and scrambled to book a new hotel and rent a car so that we can explore on our own.

Here's a quick summary of highlights. If you want to see all of our pictures, you can look at our Photo Album. 

Tokyo:
- We started and ended our trip in Tokyo and even after 5 days here, I feel like we only scratched the surface. SO MUCH to see and do! Lots and lots of food options and shopping.
- We spent our first night in Shinjuku, which is known to be a super busy shopping area similar to Times Square. It was pretty fun to see the bright lights of Tokyo.
- The second part of the stay was in the neighborhood between Ueno and Asakusa, which is clear across the other side of the city from Shinjuku and a totally different vibe. It's a much older area but our hotel was terrific and new, and about a 10 min walk from a major train station but in a pretty quiet neighborhood. It was fun to see locals out and about and there were still plenty of konbinis (convenience stores) and restaurants nearby, but we all agreed that next time, we'd stay in someplace that was more happening.
- The only museum we booked was Teamlab Borderless which is heavily featured all over social media because it's an interactive digital exhibit. It was super fun, very similar to the Van Gogh exhibit was saw in Seattle last year. 
- We neglected to book tickets to see the Imperial Palace so instead just walked around the gardens outside. We also walked through some of the main shrines in Tokyo. But, in general, I would spend my time doing city stuff the next time I'm here - like more shopping and eating.

Shinjuku at night. Classic Tokyo scene!

First dinner in Tokyo was Ichiran Ramen.

Five storied pagoda next to Senso-ji

One of the rooms in the Teamlab Borderless museum

Cat cafe!

Subway+people+buildings in Akihabara

Riding the subway

Mt Fuji area:
- We changed itinerary last minute and I was a little hesitant on staying in this little town of Kawaguchiko because it was a bit out of the way (2 hrs by bus from Tokyo, but then a 2 hr bus+2 hr train to Kyoto) but I'm really glad we did this! Bonus that we were able to rent a car and explore around on our own. Scott rates renting a car and exploring as his fav thing we did on our trip.
- Kawaguchiko is part of the "Fuji Five Lakes" area and one of the main tourist spots for Fuji because of the main bus terminal there. That said, most people come in for a day trip from Tokyo so the town still felt very sleepy and quiet. Our hotel was right on one of the "Fuji Five Lakes" and we had a nice view of the water.
- I was worried about crowds everywhere in Japan but the only area that I truly felt it was at Oshino Hakkai, a small village known for very clear ponds with water that come in from Fuji. We went during lunchtime so that might have been part of the issue but you really couldn't enjoy the scenery because of all the people. It was also mainly asian tourists. =(

Our hotel in Kanazawa was a traditional Japanese room where we got to sleep on mats on the floor. It was surprisingly comfy!

We happened by a food/wine festival so we got some dinner and sake and hung out by the lake.

We went to the gorgeous Shiraito falls.

We rented this cute car for 2 days!

Fuji-san behind Lawsons

We checked out the Narasawa ice caves, which was essentially a really cold lava tube.

We visited a traditional village where the houses all have thatch roofs.

The crew waiting to board the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto!

Kyoto:
- Everyone seems to love Kyoto, and now I see why! It reminded me very much of Rome (a city I love and have been to multiple times) because there are so many hidden spots all around the city. Everywhere you turn, you see a beautiful garden or temple right next to more modern buildings. It was fun to explore.
- We had a few days of pouring rain and used these days to do shopping. Shopping in Kyoto was Evie's pick for fav activity of our trip. There were lots of covered shopping arcades with fun and interesting shops to duck into. There were also lots of food stalls, and Nora rated these waffle cakes we got as a snack as her favorite food on the entire trip!
- We explored lots of temples and shrines in Kyoto and it's hard to pick a favorite. We went to Heian-Jingu shrine, Ryoan-ji, Kinkaju-ji, Yasaka-jinja, Kiyomizu-dera and Fushima Inari.
- The Gion (geisha) district is reknown for it's Edo period buildings and the fact that there are still geishas today that live/work in the neighborhood. Recently, Japan has instituted a photo ban in certain areas of Gion because tourists were essentially harrassing geishas for photos. We didn't see any bad behavior while were there and we did happen across several geishas walking in the evening.

Nijo Castle

Exploring Fushima Inari

Kikaju temple really is gold! 

One of my fav meals was at this chicken yakitori restaurant.

Kanazawa riverwalk at night

Exploring the Sannenzaka neighborhood 

Kanazawa:
- I picked this city as a midway point to spend a few days on our way back to Tokyo from Kyoto and I'm glad we did it. It is a smaller city for sure and definitely not nearly as crowded with tourists as Tokyo or Kyoto. What surprised me the most is how much modern art was in the city! We passed many sculptures while walking around.
- Our hotel had an onsen, which we took advantage of. I made Nora try it out with me and it was an experience we won't forget.
- We visited Keroukan gardens, which is considered one of the best gardens in Japan. It was indeed nice and also large, but there were also lots of other very beautiful smaller gardens that we saw such as the ones outside the Castle Ruins.
- Kanazawa has a big samurai culture, including a samurai district that we explored. On a related note, the most interesting temple by far that we visited was the "Ninja temple", which isn't actually a temple for ninjas. It is nicknamed that but is actually a buddhist temple with a lot of trap doors and secret passageways. It was a fun tour and Nora was the only kid that joined Scott and I for the tour (everyone else was tired and didn't think it looked good), and Nora rated this as the most fun activity of our trip.
- With the Google Translate app, a knowledge of some very general phrases and lots of gesturing, we had no problems with communicating with locals in Japan. Everyone was super friendly, and I think the folks in Kanazawa might have been the friendliest! 

The hotels give you free amenities, and sometimes PJs too!

Nijo Castle

Kenroukan gardens was very pretty.

Trying our hand at throwing ninja stars at the Samurai and Ninja weapons museum.

Walking thru the geisha district. The one in Kanazawa is not as big as Gion in Kyoto but was still picturesque

Bullet train back to Tokyo!

Food:
- How can I not have a section about food?!We didn't do too much planning aside from looking up on google maps what are nearby restaurants that get good reviews. We didn't go to anything fancy (which seems like a miss in retrospect), but that's ok because we were rarely disappointed with the food. We could each tell you our least favorite or most favorite meals and they would all be different! 
- We tried a lot of things, and the one that's sticks out as most interesting to me is a stingray fin dish we had at an izakaya in Kyoto. I did see horse meat on several menus but didn't get the courage to try it.
- The food discovery that Scott can't stop thinking about is soup curry! This is apparently a Hokkaido/Sapporo regional dish and it is exactly what it sounds like - curry that is is so thin, it's essentially soup. They serve it with a side of rice that you can dip into the curry, and it was so delicious! We came upon the soup curry place randomly and we liked it so much that the next time we saw a place serving soup curry, we went in. 
- Sake was good, cheap and plentiful! We went to a sake brewery in Kanazawa for a tasting, and that was fun.
- What was not cheap and plentiful was fruits and veggies. This is surprising to me considering how green the country it. 
- Everyone raves about the food at 7-11 and we are here for it! It's not 4-star but for the convenience and price, it really can't be beat. My favorite was getting fresh smoothies for ~$2 - they have cups of frozen fruit that you bring to a machine that blends it right on the spot for you. It was a great way to get fresh fruit and veggies into our diet every day.

We tried a cook-your-own okonomiyaki place in Harajuku.

Supermarket sashimi for breakfast! yes!

Takoyaki

We got a LOT of smoothies at 7-11

Nora wanted to try these wheat gluten things. 

We often did breakfast in our room - we were happy to gorge on onigiri or fluffy Japanese bread. Bonus was that 2 of our hotels even had the fancy Balmuda toasters!

The kids treated themselves to drinks and shave ice while the adults walked thru some gardens.

Cold soba was refreshing

Lots of street stalls selling various things, including rolled omelettes

and fresh uni!

We had lunch at a buddhist temple and I tried their udon with fresh yuba (tofu skin). It was really good.

I looooove chawamushi!

This was an interesting dish - tofu pizza! The dough was actually tofu, and this was surprisingly good.

Some of the izakayas let you pick your own sake cup.

The kids stayed in for dinner on a few occasions, so us adults went out!

I tried ochazuke for the first time and am hooked! Its essentially tea/broth + rice + toppings. Like a watery jook. I liked the various toppings like salted plum, mustard geens, shiso leaf or salmon.

We didn't go to any fancy sushi places, but definitely tried sashimi platters like this which were sooooo good.

The japanese have perfected egg sandos. So fluffy!

We devoured this plum and black sesame gelato.

One night, we went to a udon hot pot restaurant where we each got our own pot. It was really good.

My ekiben (train bento set) to eat on the train ride.

Sapporo style duck soup curry. So tasty.

Strawberry mochi

Handmade duck dipping soba. VERY oishi (tasty)!

This eggplant looks so elegant, doesn't it?

Soupless ramen. I prefer with broth.

We can go on and on about Japan and have pictures to match (see our full album with photo descriptions). The bottom line is - its a beautiful country with so much culture, friendly people, mouth-watering food, so much shopping and everything is so clean and efficient. With such a favorable exchange rate, what are you waiting for? Book your tickets and go!