Japan Summer 2019
Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo
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9:00- Breakfast near hotel
Sadly, this was the last day of our trip. Once again, we had trouble finding an actual breakfast place open early in the morning, but we refused to eat breakfast at a convenience store again. We walked around and decided to eat at a little cafe, Brazil-Kan. The food was decent, and I had a lettuce and cheese sandwich. They required us to order a drink, which I found was really weird, and the cafe was also filled with a smoky smell. 10:00-10:30 Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building We walked to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building to get a nice view of the city. We rode an elevator to one of the higher floors, and best of all, the admission was free. On the observation floor, there was a piano for anyone to play on. It was kind of cloudy the day we went, but we were able to see greenery (I believe it was Meiji Jingu) surrounded by the hundreds of tall, gray buildings of the city. 14:00- Departed hotel for Narita Airport From our hotel, they offered a free shuttle to Shinjuku Station, which made it really easy for us, especially because we had our luggage. We bought lunch at Shinjuku Station at a musubi place and our train tickets. We rode the Narita Express train, which was about an hour long train ride, directly from our hotel to our terminal. 16:00- Arrived at Narita Airport When we arrived at the airport, I bought a croquette for lunch and Royce chocolate and coolish to take back home. We flew on Delta going back home, and the food was really flavorful for airplane food. 10:00-12:30 TeamLab Borderless
Right when we arrived at TeamLab, we purchased tickets through a machine inside, just in case they sold out. After purchasing our tickets, we ate a quick breakfast at Wendy’s right next door. For breakfast, I had fries and an underwhelming mango boba, which was mainly milk and barely any mango flavor. After eating our breakfast, we headed over to TeamLab. At first, I was a little bit hesitant about spending around $30 for a museum just to see an exhibit that is posted all over the internet, but TeamLab Borderless definitely exceeded my expectations. TeamLab is a digital art museum with a handful of different zones, which all had different elements. To be honest, we got a little bit lost since it's pretty dark inside, but the lights were amazing to see in person. We got to bounce on a trampoline and draw a picture on paper, which was later animated onto a screen. In one of the zones, the lights were synced to music. All the details in this museum were absolutely stunning, and it definitely took us much longer than expected to take in everything the museum had to offer. Next to the museum, there was the Toyota museum, and we wanted to test drive one of the cars. However, there was a long wait and we didn’t have an international license. 13:30-15:00 Shibuya We rode the train to Shibuya, took a picture with the famous Hachiko dog, and walked through Shibuya Crossing, the world's busiest crosswalk. We ate mediocre Italian food for lunch at a random restaurant we found in one of the alleyways. We spent a good amount of time at Chacott for Raina’s pointe shoes and also looked inside a Disney store. We found snacks for omiyage at Don Quijote, and I bought a clear lime coke, which didn’t taste drastically different from regular coke. 16:00-22:30 Harajuku We rode the train from Shibuya to Harajuku and wanted to find a place to rest our feet. We walked around for a little bit and found a rooftop terrace area in the Tokyu Plaza, which had a pretty nice view. It was crowded up there, but we were lucky enough to find a seat and were able to enjoy the candy we bought from Don Quijote. After we rested, we briefly went to sing karaoke and bought crepes from a stand along Harajuku’s famous Takeshita Street. We went back to the same karaoke place to sign for a couple hours with our classmates. The karaoke place didn’t seem expensive, but they did require us to buy food and drinks, which added up. 9:30- Breakfast in Ueno Station
We decided to eat breakfast in Ueno Station, and we were actually able to find a place other than a convenience store open in the morning. I ate berry pancakes with whipped cream, which were delicious, but sadly, half the restaurant had designated smoking seats. Even though we sat in non-smoking seats, the smell of the smoke traveled throughout the entire restaurant. 10:00-11:30 Ueno Zoo This was my second time to Ueno Zoo, and the previous time I went, it was the baby pandas first birthday. I thought that the birthday was the cause of the four hour long wait to view the panda. However, this year, there was nothing special for the panda, but there was still a couple hour wait. My friends and I decided that it was not worth the wait, and decided to view the other parts of the zoo. Ueno Zoo is probably one of my favorite zoos because it has so many different animals and environments in one place. My favorite animal there was probably the polar bear! There were a handful of schools taking field trips while we were there. 11:45-12:15 Lunch at Ichiran Because there was an Ichiran in the Ueno area, we decided that today was the day we would try the famous ramen shop. Ichiran is known for their ramen and being able to eat in a booth all alone. There were a handful of people lined up to go into the store, but it moved pretty quickly. You order and pay with a machine and choose what size and toppings you would like. The machine dispenses a ticket, which you take to the individual booth. Once you arrive in the booth, you fill out a paper and build your bowl by choosing the saltiness and firmness of your noodles. Once you are done filling out the paper, you press a button on the table and the waiter will come. Included in your booth is also your own water station. Ichiran was a super cool experience because it's a really solitary lunch, and you barely have any interaction with the waiters. 12:30-13:00 Shopping around Ameyoko We shopped around on Ameyoko street, which was filled with food and clothing shops. I went to my favorite store called Niki no Kashi. This store has literally every japanese snack or candy that you can think of at a reasonable price. Also, if you spend a certain amount and bring your passport, you can buy omiyage tax free! This store is so large that it has an upstairs and extends to the other side of the street. 13:30-15:00 Akihabara From Ameyoko, we walked to Akihabara. At the station, there was a Cremia stand, and I really wanted to try their milky ice cream in a cookie cone. I’ve seen Cremia shops all around Japan, and I was so happy that I finally got to try their ice cream, which was probably one of the richest ice creams I’ve ever had! We shopped at Yodobashi and ate a quick snack at a rotating sushi place on the 8th floor of the store. 15:30-16:00 Ginza From Akihabara, we rode the train to Ginza. We went to the multiple storied Uniqlo store and Nissan Crossing, where we played with a VR headset. Ginza is known for high end department stores and glass buildings, so there weren’t many stores or attractions that interested us. We headed back to our hotel to rest for a few hours. 19:30-22:00 Harajuku We rode the train to Harajuku, explored the famous street, and ate dinner at Seiko-en, which was highly recommended by Keli’s dad. Seiko-en was an all you can eat yakiniku restaurant, so I ate until I was stuffed. We got a little lost on our way back to the hotel and stopped at a convenience store to pick up desserts. 8:00- Depart hotel
We left our hotels rather early, but little did we realize that it would be rush hour for all the locals. This was our first time experiencing an overly crowded train; we even had to wait for the following train because we weren’t comfortable squeezing on. 9:45- Breakfast in Kamakura The train ride down to Kamakura was a little over an hour, and when we arrived, there was really nowhere open to eat breakfast, even though it wasn’t that early. We bought shiroikoibito cookies from a vending machine and stopped at Lawsons for more substantial breakfast foods. I bought a sandwich filled with fruit and whipped cream and an ume musubi. It is rude to walk and eat in Japan, so we sat on a tiny table inside the store to enjoy our food. 10:15-11:00 Kamakura Buddha After eating breakfast, we walked to the famous Kamakura Buddha. We went inside the buddha, which was hollow and even witnessed monks praying. Off to the side of the Buddha, there is a shop where you can purchase fortunes and charms to take back as omiyage; each charm has its own meaning. 12:15-15:00 Cup Noodle Museum Yokohama We made reservations for the Cup Noodle Museum online and picked up the tickets at a Lawson a few days before. Since we were coming from Kamakura and ended up in Yokohama way before our reservation, we made a quick stop in Yokohama Chinatown to drink boba. From the outside, the Cup Noodle Museum does not look like much, but the inside had a super modern design. My favorite part of the museum was the wall of the various types of cup noodles; I was awed by the evolution and vast variety of the instant food. We also made our own cup noodles to take back home and were able to decorate the container and choose a combination of toppings. Like any other exit of a museum, there was a gift shop with bizarre cup noodles themed items. Right across the street from the museum, there was the shopping mall, Yokohama World Porters. On the ground level, there was a Hawaii Town, which featured Hawaii’s most iconic brands, such as Matsumoto Shave Ice. There was even a Leonard’s Malasada shop and places selling Loco Moco. It felt just like one of Hawaii’s tourist traps. 17:00-21:00 Tokyo Dome Tokyo Dome is often used for indoor baseball games, but it also has rides, shopping, and eating places in the surrounding area. You can buy tickets for an individual ride or get a pass for the entire day/night. We decided to only ride on Thunder Dolphin, which is one of the larger attractions. It was an extremely scary ride, but very worth it. I think we paid around $10 just to ride it once. We were able to meet up with a group of our classmates and ate dinner with them at a restaurant around the area. I tried doria for the first time, which is basically a really cheesy rice served in a thick pan. 8:30 Breakfast at Sukiya
Sadly, this was our last day in Osaka. I was really craving a gyudon, which is a soft beef and rice bowl, from Sukiya. There are actually a bunch of Sukiyas located in Japan, but we still had to ride a train to the closest one to our hotel. This was probably our first real breakfast on the trip, and it was a cheap and delicious one. 10:00-11:00 Osaka Castle For our last stop in Osaka, we decided to visit the historical Osaka Castle. We walked around the base of the castle and had Keli be our tour guide by reading off Google. As we were leaving, there were people dressed up as samurai. We didn’t know why they were there, but we got a selfie with them! 13:15-16:00 Bullet train Nozomi Line from Shin Osaka to Tokyo We bought our shinkansen tickets from the train station a few days in advance in order to get seats next to each other. We got to the station super early because in Japan, they will not wait for you if you are running late. We killed time by eating ramen at a shop in the station. It was difficult maneuvering through the train station with all our luggage, but we still managed to make it to Tokyo! The shinkansen ride was only a few hours because the train only stopped in Kyoto and Nagoya. Sadly, on our train ride, they were not selling bentos or any type of food. Once we arrived at Tokyo Station, I insisted on finding the Bake Cheese Tart store, and after about twenty minutes of listening to contradicting directions from locals, I found the store I was looking for! Bake Cheese Tart is so delicious, and aside from the original flavor, they also sell a rotating unique flavor, such as matcha. When we arrived at our Airbnb near Tokyo Skytree, we couldn't find the key to our room, and ultimately found the place to be really sketchy. We ended up staying at the Hilton in Shinjuku, which ended up being really convenient. 10:00-13:30 Osaka Aquarium
We purchased tickets online a couple hours before we arrived at the aquarium, which was a smart move. When we got there a little before 10am, there was a large mass of people in front of the ticket booth. When you first enter the aquarium, you ride an elevator directly to the eighth floor. You walk down a ramp viewing animals until you reach the bottom floor. If you look on their website, there are feeding shows at certain exhibits and times. We were lucky and were able to see the feeding for the fish in the Pacific Ocean. 13:30-15:00 Tempozan Market When we finished viewing all the fish at the aquarium, there was a show going on in the open area between the aquarium and market of a man playing with fire. He was doing complex acrobatic tricks while incorporating fire. Right next to the aquarium, there is the Tempozan Market, which has lots of shops and restaurants. There is a Yokocho, which is a Japanese style alleyway mainly with places to eat. At one of the stores, there was a guy giving samples of different flavors of warabi mochi which was very good, so we decided to buy some for omiyage. We shopped around a little, and there was a dollar shop, Seria, which we spent a lot of time in. We found lunch at a tonkatsu restaurant on the top floor. 17:00-20:00 Shopping around the area We headed back to the hotel, and after we were well rested, we shopped around the hotel area and found a cheap candy store in the station nearby. I bought lots of jagariko (potato sticks), apollo strawberry chocolate, and meiji chocolate. We spent a lot of time at LOFT, a store which sells nearly every household item you could think of. For dinner, we bought bentos from the basement of a department store near our hotel. 8:30-21:00 USJ
Again, we had trouble finding breakfast this early in the morning. We found a bakery inside the station near our hotel and picked up little snacks from there and enjoyed our food at a random bench in the station. We rode the train to USJ and there was a large group of foreign students on it as well. We had one time fastpasses to certain rides like the Flight of the Hippogriff and an unlimited fastpass to Hollywood Dream. The rides were fun, but I was honestly so confused because everything was in Japanese! I also got to try butterbeer for the first time. I don’t really know how to describe the taste of it. I also met Elmo, a minion, and my troll look-alike. Food is kind of overpriced inside the park, but you cannot reenter or bring outside food, so we were forced to eat the mediocre food served in the park. We were really looking forward to watching the parade, but it got cancelled due to the rain. Before heading back to our hotel, we stopped at McDonald’s which was located along the strip of shops located right outside the park. There were absolutely no seats left inside the store, so we ended up squatting and eating our ice cream outside the store. 8:30-13:30 Arashiyama
Because we were jetlagged, we woke up way earlier than needed and decided to get a head start on our day. It was a pretty long train ride from our hotel to Arashiyama, but the view along the way was filled with rice patties and traditional Japanese houses. Once we arrived in Arashiyama, we were on a hunt to find breakfast. We roamed around the area and took pictures in Arashiyama Park, which was absolutely beautiful, especially since the area was not jam packed with tourists early in the morning. We walked across the Togetsukyo Bridge, still on our hunt to find breakfast. There was nowhere open to eat breakfast besides at Lawson’s. We grabbed a quick breakfast from there; luckily, convenience store breakfasts in Japan are so delicious and cheap! After eating breakfast, we found a bike rental place near Arashiyama Station. Using our bikes, we decided to bike through the Bamboo Forest. It was difficult riding our bikes through the Bamboo Forest, since there were so many schools taking a field trip there. The Bamboo Forest was unreal; I’ve seen the place numerous times in pictures on the internet but seeing it in person is so much better. I was awed by the abundance of bamboo trees. We stopped at the Tenryuji Garden while we were biking around the forest, and there was a place to leave our bikes. This garden was very well landscaped, with lots of colorful flowers. When it was time to return our bikes, we headed back to Arashiyama Station. I bought myself a watermelon ice cream bar to treat myself after all the biking we did. Included with our bike rental was a ticket to use a foot bath. Under a little hut, there is a small hot tub where you can soak your feet, which was super relaxing after biking for a few hours. After our foot bath, we walked to Arashiyama Monkey Park. It is about a 30 minute hike going up, which was very exhausting. However, the view of Kyoto is amazing, and the monkeys are so cute! While we were up there, they had a food show for the monkeys. It is definitely worth seeing! We were also able to feed the monkeys! We headed back to Arashiyama Station and rode the train for Gion. 14:30-17:30 Gion When we arrived at Gion, we picked up snacks from the department store at the station. Typically, the basement of the major department stores in Japan have nicely packaged snacks and bentos. I had the best warabi mochi I’ve ever had. Gion is known for its traditional Japanese style buildings lining the streets. We found a place to dress up in kimonos for a reasonable price and walked to Yasaka Shrine to take pictures. I’ve visited Yasaka Shrine on a previous trip to Japan, but this time, I was able to explore more around the garden. After, we stopped at a Starbucks and sat for a little while because our feet were sore from walking in the geta. 18:30-20:00 Kyoto Station I have been to Kyoto Station many times before, and every time I visit, the size and architecture of the building never fail to impress me. All the train stations in Japan are so much more than just train stations; they are like entire shopping malls. We were all craving okonomiyaki and found a place on the restaurant floor of the Yodobashi next to the station. I had the cheese potato okonomiyaki with noodles on it. I ate until I was very stuffed. After we were done eating, we walked to the Observation Deck in Kyoto Station. There are beautiful views of the city and Kyoto Tower. The stairs leading up to the Observation Deck are made up of LED lights, which created a number of different images. 14:00- Arrive at Kansai International Airport
At the airport, we bought our Icoca cards, which we used during our time in Osaka for riding the trains. The worker at the train station said that you are only allowed to use Icoca cards in the west part of Japan, but I did see people using Suica cards (the type of card we used during the Tokyo part of our trip). From the airport, we rode the train to our hotel conveniently located in Osaka Station. The train was very convenient and easy to find if you pay attention to the signs in the airport. 16:15- Check into hotel 17:00-18:00 Tenjinbashisuji Shopping Street This shopping street is definitely worth visiting, even if you don’t enjoy shopping. This is a long and narrow street filled with shops of all sorts, including food, clothing, and entertainment. The street seemed to never end! We stopped at a place for Japan’s famous melon-pan, aka melon bread. After our legs were getting tired, we took a short train ride to Dotonbori. 18:30-20:00 Dotonbori From the train station to the actual Dotonbori street, we got a little lost. Dotonbori is a very famous street in Japan known for its food and eye-catching signs. A lot of the food shops specialize in one item, and they often have a very large sculpture of that item. We ate dinner at a ramen shop. At this ramen shop, you order from a machine and present the ticket to one of the workers. You can add your own toppings on the ramen for free. This restaurant is located right along the river in which tourists are taking boat ride tours. After dinner, we walked along the river and found the famous Glico Man sign. On our way back to the station, we stopped at Baskin-Robbins. I had the popping shower ice cream, which had little pop-rocks inside the ice cream. |