I like to travel internationally once every other year at least, and recently I went on a 11-day trip to Japan in the second half of April! My friend Chuck had been living there for the past year working for Raytheon on a contract with Mitsubishi. I figured now was a good time to see the country while he was still there, as you know I like traveling for friend-seeing more than sight-seeing.
The trip was scheduled several months in advance, with lots of planning to make sure I got to see as much of Japan as I wished to see. The round-trip flight to Japan via Japan Airlines was $1300. My friend Jen had been wanting to go, as well as a couple of Chuck's friends (Josh and James), so that made a nice party of 5 for this trip!
Friday, April 17 - Land in Osaka:
After about an 11-hour flight from LAX, we landed in Osaka (Kansai International Airport) and took a bus to Namba, where we would be staying at a Capsule Hotel for the night (more on this later)! Immediately when we started walking around Namba I was amazed by the bright and colorful lights of the city. We eventually had Okonomiyaki (or Japanese pancakes) for dinner.
The nightlife in Japan is great and we eventually made our way to Space Station, an Australian owned bar with old school gaming consoles you can play while you drink. We didn't stay out too late this night, which was hard with 1) jetlag and 2) it's fucking Japan, we wanted to see everything on the first night lol. We had to take a morning flight to Okinawa, which is an island west of Japan and close to Taiwan. For the first night, Jen really wanted to try staying at a Capsule Hotel, where you literally sleep in a capsule. It's like sleeping in a coffin, but for $25 a night, I couldn't really complain. I wouldn't stay in one of these again, but I'm happy I can say I experienced it.
Since it was hard to get good sleep in the capsule, a few of us got up pretty early and wandered around from some food. Strangely enough, not many places are open early on weekend mornings in Japan. However, we were able to find a ramen counter on the street where you order at a vending machine, which prints a ticket to give to the cook, and the result is some delicious ramen noodle soup. A nice find before we set off for Okinawa!
Saturday-Sunday, April 18-19 - Hashing in Okinawa:
If you've never been "hashing" before, I don't recommend it. While the concept of getting some exercise in while drinking beer sounds great, the traditions of hashers mixed with American obnoxiousness makes for some pretty cultist-like experiences, which will make most outsiders feel quite uncomfortable. Think of "hashing" like an adult frat party...who knows, maybe you're into that kind of stuff. Anyway, Chuck is a big hasher and there was an Okinawa hash he really wanted to be a part of. It was a beautiful route that went along the beaches, through some shrines, and the mountains, so for that reason alone it was totally worth it. That and it was probably the only time one would actually get some real exercise on this trip. The other good news is that you can have open containers on the streets of Japan (like Vegas). :D
After hashing most of the day Sunday, we hit the bars with the fellow hashers. This was something I couldn't really stand, but if you knew how loud and obnoxious some hashers get, you'd understand. The next morning, Jen and I grabbed breakfast while the others slept in. The great thing about Jen is that she is as adventurous as I am when it comes to trying new food. We ordered a bit much for just the two of us - that "eat with your eyes" problem, but for me, eating the local food is a MUST when traveling and probably the #1 reason I like to travel anyway. You'll be seeing a lot of food pictures in this entry.
Not pictured above is squid ink soup, but you'll find a bowl of clams, some pork belly, and tripe and noodle soup. Okinawa was one of my favorite places to visit in Japan, mostly because of the atmosphere. For example, the fish market featured some really colorful and exotic creatures.
Later in the day on Sunday, it was time to get some
*yawn* sight-seeing
*yawn* in. We visited one of the castles which I don't even remember the name of. You can tell I'm just not into sight-seeing. It's all about lifestyle and culture for me! Pictured below is me in front of some temple/castle looking thing.
After a dinner of trying "tacorice", which is a literally what it sounds like but is apparently popular in Okinawa, we found our way to a karaoke bar, which are huge in Japan. This is not like your American karaoke bars however. Instead, you rent out a private room with its own karaoke machine and you can get all-you-can-drink for as long as you ready to pay for it.
We ended up singing very late into the night, which was good because I had to play StarCraft league from Japan at 4am. Usually StarCraft league is at 12pm PST in the U.S. and it was important for me to play since it was also playoffs. ATrain was pretty drunk at 4am that night, but he was able to sloppily defend a 2-gate in PvP and win the game, helping team IBM sweep Palantir in the first round of the playoffs!
Monday, April 20 - Dinner in Fukuoka:
The next day we would fly into Fukuoka, which is on the western part of Japan. My friend Chuck wanted to take us to this restaurant that featured a "live squid" dish, but it wasn't open yet when we arrived. We killed some time by looking at the various shrines in the city, which you'll find pictured below.
Dinner time finally rolled around and it was well worth the wait! $40 would get us an 8-course meal, with the main feature being "live squids"! Inside the restaurant, everyone sits around a pod of live squid. The chefs then catch one and slice it apart before our very eyes, then serve it to you on a plate as it is still dying. Perhaps it sounds inhumane, but some of us are carnivores and it's just the truth of the matter. Anyway, I was especially stoked to see the squid's tentacles still moving whenever I touched them, then proceeded to eat the body while it stared at me.
After the body is consumed, they throw the tentacles into the deep fryer and bring them back out for you to eat, tempura style. So it's a little misleading that you're eating "live squid". Nonetheless, I thought it was a pretty cool experience!
Tuesday, April 21 - Hiroshima, Roadtrip to Maizuru & Nagoya:
We arrived in Hiroshomia late Monday night via bullet train, which was exciting 'cause it was the first time I got to ride one. I must say that the efficiency of the "shinkansen" is quite impressive and the trains reach speeds of 170mph+. Most of the gang was beat and didn't want to go out, but Jen and James were game and we took a cab to Nagarekawa, which was nightlife district
I had developed a couple traveling philosophies by this time:
1) Whenever you get an opportunity to shower, do so, because you don't know when you'll get to again.
2) Whenever you get an opportunity to eat, do so, because you must try everything!
So while wandering Nagarekawa, we ended up eating at multiple places. One happened to be owned by Taiwanese, which was cool 'cause I could actually communicate in Mandarin with them. I ended up ordering a bowl of noodle soup, which would be a consistent dish throughout this trip. :)
The next day, we spent some time looking at the memorials around Hiroshima. This included the A-Bomb Dome and a bombing museum. Kind of depressing to look at honestly.
Around the early afternoon, Chuck needed to go to Maizuru to get his car and return it to an agency in Nagoya. He didn't want to travel alone, so I volunteered to go with him while the others remained in Hiroshima until they were scheduled to take the train to Kyoto later that evening. The plan was to spend the day riding with Chuck and meet up with the gang in Kyoto, but I learned that when you're with Chuck, nothing ever goes according to plan. :P We soon arrived in Maizuru and I got to see Chuck's apartment for the last year.
The car ride from Maizuru to Nagoya was a few hours, so Chuck and I got to catch up and get some extra bonding time in. When we arrived in Nagoya, he had some hashing friends he wanted to meet up with, so we ended up hanging out and staying with them overnight in Nagoya, instead of making it to Kyoto. I was okay with this, as it gave me more opportunity to see different parts of Japan. By this time, I had already hit 6 cities in just 5 days, lol.
Wednesday, April 22- Getting Kicked Out of Clubs in Kyoto:
Chuck and I finally arrived in Kyoto, just in time for lunch. We had revolving sushi, similar to Teharu in Phoenix. The sushi was exquisite and only about a dollar for a couple pieces of nigiri! I definitely ate the most out of the group and the most peculiar item I tried was "sashimi horse meat".
Next on the day's agenda was visiting the monkey park! It was a 20-minute hike through the mountains to get there, but the park is really cool because the monkeys just roam around freely with the humans. You aren't allowed to pet or throw your feces at them, as they may retaliate, but there was a feeding cage and as one would expect, monkeys are quite smart. So no giving them empty peanut shells or anything; they'll swat that shit out of your hand.
Later in the evening, it was time to go out drinking...again. In fact, I think I drank all but 1 out of the 11 days I was there in Japan. :O I started to develop another traveling philosophy:
3) Always get 2 drinks at each convenient mart if you want to drink continuously since you don't know when you'll get to the next one.
This proved to be a very dangerous philosophy that I would not continue. I was hammered by the time we had Korean BBQ (this is becoming popular in Japan).
And because I was so full from dinner, I would begin to pass out at the club we would eventually end up at later in the night. The bouncers asked me politely to leave, but I resisted and Asshole Andy would end up heckling the bouncers who were trying to get me to just wait outside for 15 minutes before I could go back in. Apparently this was too unreasonable to Severely Intoxicated Andy, who flipped them the bird as he walked away and wandered the streets of Kyoto alone. I guess being drunk and passing out on the streets of Japan is pretty common, lol. And so I got kicked out a the club in Kyoto.
The next day, we explored Kyoto and did some sight-seeing around the imperial palace. This was the one time I got to see the cherry blossoms, which were nearing the end of their season. After Kyoto, it was on to the main event: Tokyo!
Thursday-Sunday, April 23-26 - Too Much Time in Tokyo?:
We arrived in Tokyo on Thursday night and hit the town hard. One of my friends from college, Bliss, lives in Tokyo now so she met up with us and helped show us around. So now it was like having two tour guides in Japan. :)
Tokyo is a pretty crazy city and is the definition of "bustling". The clubs are open until 8am, and it was common for us to be out until 6am partying and drinking all night. There were times that I felt like all we did was party and eventually it would burn me out. But, I will say that there were some highlights during our time in Tokyo
The Tsukiji fish market is quite famous and known for being an area that one can try whale. Whale was pretty interesting since the meat is red and extremely tender, since whale is basically a zero-gravity mammal.
Visiting the Akihabara electronics district was especially fun for me as I loved seeing all the technology the place had to offer. One touristy thing I would definitely recommend for anyone is to check out Robot Restaurant in Shinjuku. This place offers a 90-minute show with elaborately constructed robots on stage and it's like watching Japanese anime come to life before your eyes. I really enjoyed the show and for $45 a ticket, it's totally worth it in my opinion.
We also had Shabu-Shabu in Shibuya, which is basically hotpot. They bring out raw meats and you cook them in a boiling pot in front of you, sort of like Korean BBQ. This restaurant featured All-You-Can-Eat-and-Drink in 90 minutes for about $40, which we definitely took advantage of. :)
Contrary to what I was expecting, Tokyo wasn't as great, but perhaps we just partied too much. I actually enjoyed Okinawa, Kyoto, and Osaka more than Tokyo.
Monday-Tuesday, April 25-27 - Last Days in Osaka:
Following Tokyo, all that remained was to wrap up a few things left to do and see in Osaka. First, we still had to try blowfish, properly prepared by a licensed chef. Josh refused to try it, so we joked that he would be the lone survivor if we all died in a couple days.
Next was the deer park in Nara. Similar to the monkey park, the deer roam around freely with everyone else. There'd be deer walking across the street and cars would have to slow down for them to pass by. One can purchase crackers that the deer LOVE to eat, but be forewarned, they can get a little aggressive when they know you have food. They'll bite at your shirt or headbutt you until you surrender all the crackers, lol.
We also had to try playing pachinko. I didn't really understand how to play it since everything was in Japanese and there were a bunch of bright and colorful cartoons on the screen, but one thing I am certain, I didn't win squat. I dumped about $20 into a pachinko machine and the goal seems to pinball the tiny metal balls into the hole in the middle. This happened maybe 1 out of every 10 times and didn't pay out very well. Occasionally there'd be a slot machine on the screen, but that never hit either.
The last thing on my personal list of to-do's was to find a cat cafe! I had heard about them residing in Osaka, but most were closed on Monday. This left Tuesday as the last opportunity to get to a cat cafe since our flight left later that evening. Fortunately, I found a great one and Jen accompanied me to do some cat petting for an hour. :D
And so concluded a long yet epic trip to Japan. I will say that by around the 10th day, I was ready to go home. In my opinion, Japan is about the same regardless what city you are in; I don't think you can really go wrong with anywhere you choose to go. There were a couple things we didn't get to do, such as see Mt. Fuji or eat Kobe beef in Kobe, but I was completely satisfied by the entire vacation. I think it goes down as Top 5 out of trips I've been on, and definitely #1 on the international list (although San Carlos is a close 2nd). If you're considering visiting Japan, I highly recommend it! For costs, it was about $2000 total for transportation, then another $2000 for food and drink, shelter, and activities. Also, if you've never heard of or tried Airbnb, I also recommend it for your travels; we stayed at apartments (most had a laundry machine) and got a more natural experience in each city.
