Japan // Tokyo → Hiroshima → Osaka → Kyoto → Fuji
TOKYO:
You’ve probably heard at least one of these five things:
People are kind.
Trains are fast.
The city is clean.
Sushi is on another level.
People don’t like to stand out.
I can confirm it’s true, and it all happens in a very harmonious way.
__
However, you do get the feeling that it would be very tough to conform if you were to move there. For some reason.
People leave bikes untied anywhere they go. And the city counts what… 12M people?
Imagine that in NYC. You’re more likely to see single bike tires barely locked to street lamps than whole, proper bicycles.
__
Chiara and I had the most amazing Sushi at the Fish Market and stayed in Shinjuku.
We did a lot of things, including visiting parks, Uniqlo (of course), ramen, sushi, markets, mini markets, sushi, cat cafes, the SkyTree, the Tokyo Tower, shopping in Shibuya, Shibuya crossing, temples, sushi, bookstores…
Another mind blowing thing to see was the design of anything, anywhere you go.
The attention to detail.
The use of light and space.
A few pictures (I even got to play some soccer)
HIROSHIMA:
We took the Shinkansen! 🚄
And of course, got our Bento box before boarding.
It was a fast and silent ride considering the amount of space we covered (see map above).
A bus takes you around the city once you get there. There are about 10 stops, which are all tourist attractions, including, of course, the museum.
Which was… well, immersive to say the least.
Trying hard to explain what it must have felt like.
OSAKA:
A half-day stop on our way to Kyoto. 🚄
Chiara and I researched some cool coffee places and found some great ones.
The city is known for shopping and nightlife.
People look more relaxed than in Tokyo here.
It looks like things are not as… standard here. It’s more human.
The streets were so cool too.
KYOTO:
Despite Kyoto being an anagram of Tokyo…
(this caused confusion, including almost buying the wrong train tickets…)
the two are completely different cities.
Kyoto is more historically and culturally rich than Tokyo, at least from the eyes of an almost clueless tourist like me. Chiara, on the other hand, studied Lonely Planet’s Japan Travel Guide before coming; which made things a bit more interesting for her.
Anyway, Kyoto.
One of the main attractions is Fushimi Inari Shrine, a temple located just outside of Kyoto that features thousands of gates ⛩️ around it.
You have to climb up quite a bit, but the walk is magic and the path is nested in the middle of a wonderful forest. 🌳
But of course, there are a lot of other things to do in Kyoto.
We went to the Bamboo Forest (discovered a beautiful river stretching around it), visited other temples, walked around the city center, and had some more sushi.
(have I mentioned “sushi” already?)
We then found one of the most beautiful coffee shops.
Isolated and hidden from all the main streets.
(That was another thing in Japan. There are no neighborhoods left untouched or abandoned. Things are well kept and are given high consideration, regardless of how far away you are from the center).
The owner was super kind and looked almost worried at all the compliments Chiara and I gave him. We took a lot of pictures and gave him an instant 5-star review.
I read somewhere online that one of the best things to do is to attend the Tea Ceremony.
We went inside a typical old Japanese house, wore a Kimono (that took longer than expected), and a guide gave us a tour.
This turned out to be the funniest experience of the trip.
Chiara and I couldn’t stop laughing for some reason, even though it wasn’t really the best circumstance to do so. I don’t think I’ll ever forget how painful that was.
FUJI:
Fuji was magic.
It didn’t look real at first.
The train ride transports you in the middle of the greenest of forests, and suddenly this huge mountain fills up the entire train’s window… out of the blue.
There is a small town underneath it full of locals minding their business.
I got there at around 8 AM (6:20 from Tokyo, Shinjuku station) - not many tourists then.
(Chiara couldn’t join me for this one as she was on her way to Seoul)
But just look at this!
