Japan

Adventures in Japan

The Land of the Rising Sun

We spent 27 days in Japan, February 16th to March 13th and loved it. Japan is so easy to travel through. Transportation is well organized, thought out, clean, and perfectly on-time (a huge change from our last few countries). Actually, it’s not just the transportation that could be described that way, it’s nearly everything – the food, the roads, the sidewalks, the restaurants, the tourist attractions, etc. Everything is done deliberately and with care. As a result everything is pretty easy and when it’s not there are lots of people who are happy to help. We were impressed by the sheer quantity of things to do in Japan, maybe even a little overwhelmed at first. We tried to sample a little bit of everything from big cities to museums to nature.

1. Go

Transportation in Japan is incredibly easy (not a surprise), but not cheap (a bit of a surprise). In order to keep costs down, we chose our locations carefully. We decided to limit our itinerary to Tokyo and Kyoto and their surrounding areas. We also found the best travel-hack of our trip so far, the “Seishun 18” train pass. Normally, train tickets from Tokyo to Kyoto are over $100 each, which wasn’t something we were too excited about. We read about the Seishun 18 pass that is only available three times a year and we just happened to be there for one of those times. The pass costs about $100 and has five day-passes on it. Each day-pass can be used by a different person and provides unlimited travel on local trains for a single day for an average cost of $20. We each used one ticket to get from Tokyo to Kyoto (which took 10 trains and 10 hours) and still had three tickets left. We used one to get to Osaka, and then the final two to get to the airport.

Total traveling distances:

Plane – 5,200 km
Bus – 40 km
Train – 995 km
Car – 60 km
Funicular – 1.5 km
Metro – 260 km
Boat – 10 km
Foot – 382,000 steps

2. See

We felt like we didn’t even scratch the surface of what Japan has to offer. Tokyo alone has enough to occupy someone for a year. We chose a few museums, a few nature sights, a few cities, and a few temples/shrines.

Favorite Cities:

Tokyo – Tokyo is massive and has anything and everything you could ever want. There are peaceful parks and quiet streets, museums and shows, clubs and shopping, you name it! It was a bit overwhelming deciding what to do, but we made it work by spending 10 days.

Japan – Tokyo – City View from Mori Art Museum

Favorite Museums:

National Museum, Tokyo – Perfect museum to introduce us to the history of Japan. The displays were well thought out and beautifully curated.

Japan – Tokyo – Tokyo National Museum – before the snuggy, there was this

Japan – Tokyo – Tokyo National Museum

Mori Art Museum, Tokyo – Just wow. We have never seen anything like the Takashi Murakami exhibit and doubt we ever will again. Not only that, but it was on the 52nd floor with amazing views of the city

Japan – Tokyo – Mori Art Museum featuring Takashi Murakami

Favorite Sights:

Nikko – The row of stone statues with bright red bibs and hats is as beautiful as it is surprising. It was very cold, but the leftover snow in the shade was pretty fun.

Japan – Nikko – Narabijizo

Favorite Shrine:

Fushimi Inari-taisha – How could you not love this place with it’s thousands of bright orange torii arcing over the hiking path.

Japan – Kyoto – Fushimi Inari-taisha

Favorite Outdoors:

Hakone – Not only is it beautiful, but part of the fun is taking five modes of transportation to see everything. Unfortunately, we did not get to see Mt Fuji, but it should be just left of center in the photo below.

Japan – Hakone – Lake Ashi

3. Eat

We were so excited about food in Japan. We were looking forward to sushi/sashimi, ramen, udon, and tempera, and we got plenty of that. What we didn’t expect was curry, onigiri, and strange desserts (like banana wrapped in a pancake).

Favorite Foods:

Sushi/Sashimi – Duh! How could this not be on the list. We had sushi everywhere – fish market, shopping mall, grocery store, rotating restaurant – and it was all delicious.
Ramen – Again, duh! We could not have enough of these steaming bowls of goodness.
Curry – Curry rice with fried pork cutlet is just about the best thing to eat on a cold rainy day.
Onigiri – We will miss these so much! They are the perfect grab and go food.

Japan – Osaka – Rotating sushi with the Yamamoto’s

Japan – Tokyo – Sashimi Breakfast at Tsukiji Fish Market

Japan – Kyoto – Ippudo ramen

Japan – Tokyo – Curry Rice

Japan – Hakone – Onigiri aka “triangles”

4. Drink

We wish Japan was a little more affordable so that we could have drank a bit more. In our previous countries, we got used to buying iced tea, but had to give that up in Japan because of the cost. The only thing we didn’t cut out was sake and Pocari Sweat (a terribly named sports drink).

Favorite Drinks:

Sake – We had no idea how diverse sake could be until we did our own little tasting. After that, we were hooked.

Japan – Osaka – Beer, sake, and shochu with Yamamoto-san

5. Sleep

We had some great accommodation in Japan. The hostels were very nice, clean, and quiet. Everything was well thought out for best use in a small space. We also had some great Airbnb experiences and had a homestay.

Favorite Sleeps:

Hostel K’s House, Hakone – Although we had to sleep in dorm beds, this place had it’s own onsen (Japanese hot spring).
Airbnb Apartment, Kyoto – We ended up staying here for ten nights and were sad to leave.
The Yamamoto’s Home – The Yamamoto’s generously opened their home to us and invited us to stay a night. It was a wonderful experience.

Japan – Hakone – Hostel Common room

Japan – Kyoto – Our AirBnB Apartment living and sleeping area

Japan – Osaka – Yamamoto Home

6. Move

We were so relieved to be in a country with sidewalks again! Oh, how we missed walking without the fear of being hit by a moped! Japan offers a plethora of wonderful walks, but even just strolling down the sidewalk in Tokyo in lovely.

Favorite walking/running/biking/kayaking spots:

Nikko – We spent the entire day hiking through the tall cedar trees visiting shrines and temples.
Hakone – On our final morning we woke to fresh snow which made for a picturesque but cold walk.
Arishiyama Bamboo Grove – Peaceful and so very green.
Fushimi Inari-taisha – ORANGE! Everywhere.
Yamamoto-san’s Town – Like walking through a Miyazaki film.

Japan – Nikko – Big tress on the way to Takino Shrine

Japan – Hakone – Cedar Road with fresh snow

Japan – Kyoto – Arishiyama Bamboo Grove

Japan – Kyoto – Fushimi Inari-taisha

Japan – Osaka – Morning walk with Yamamoto-san

7. Etcetera

As we’ve mentioned before, our rough budget for this trip is $100 a day (for two people). Our daily average in Japan was $100.12. We can’t believe it! We were very concerned about our budget in Japan and maybe that’s why it was so low. We did lots of research to find cheap but good accommodation and kept our train travel to a minimum. We didn’t eat out as much as we have in previous countries, taking advantage of grocery stores and convenience stores.

We loved Japan and were sad to leave. Our four weeks was not nearly enough to do this beautiful country justice. We will be back in the future, hopefully with a higher budget! The only drawback for us was that since everything was so orderly, we were constantly worried that we were in the wrong place or doing the wrong thing and would mess everything up. But the Japanese were so friendly and helpful that we always felt comfortable and welcome.

Check out all our photos from Japan on Flickr and our post, Colors of Japan.

Also, check out our weekly posts from Japan:

Colors of Japan

Nomadic Cadence - Header - Color - RAINBOW

Japan – Nikko – Narabijizo

Japan – Kyoto – Fushimi Inari-taisha

Japan – Tokyo – Mori Art Museum featuring Takashi Murakami

Japan – Kyoto – Arishiyama Bamboo Grove

Japan – Tokyo – Sky Tree and Plum Blossoms

Japan – Tokyo – Zojo-ji Temple

Japan – Tokyo – Statue and Blossoms at Soji-ji temple in Adachi

A collection of some of our favorite photos from Japan, one for each color of the rainbow. Click on the first photo to view a slideshow. Check out our Flickr page to see all our photos from Japan. Also, check out our photo collections by color.

BLACK & WHITE

Japan – Kyoto – Nijo Castle

Japan – Hakone – Cedar Road with fresh snow

Week 41 – Kyoto and Osaka, Japan

Our Final Week in the Land of the Rising Sun

Japan – Kyoto – Fushimi Inari-taisha

We had a pretty busy final week in Japan. We were still in Kyoto for the first part of the week spending time at Nijo Castle, the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, and Fushimi Inari-taisha. Then we headed to Osaka for a reunion with a Japanese couple we met in Laos on the Mekong River cruise. The Yamamoto’s were so excited that we were coming to Japan and insisted that we stay with them for a night. Despite the language barrier (he speaks very little English while she speaks none), we were able to make plans via email to meet up at Osaka station. The 78 year old, retired chocolate company accountant and his wife gave us a memorable glimpse of life in Japan. They took us to a rotating sushi restaurant for dinner, shared (and mimed) travel stories, looked at photos, drank beer/sake/shochu, had us sleep on futons on tatami mats, prepared a delicious breakfast, gave us a walking tour of the area, showed us how to pray for safe travel at a shrine, and guided us around Osaka Castle before dropping us off at our hotel in Osaka. We are so happy that we were able to visit them.

1. Go

Train – 140 km. We rode trains in and around Kyoto, then to Osaka and out to the Yamamoto’s house, and finally from Osaka to the airport hotel.
Car – 60 km. Yamamoto-san drove us around in his tiny car with zero headroom. His wife giggled at us the whole time.
Foot – 88,000 steps in 7 days (approx. 44 miles)

2. See

For our last few days in Kyoto, we made sure to visit Nijo Castle which we could see from our apartment. The grounds were just as impressive as the buildings. There were a few trees starting to bloom, but the most interesting tree by far was the sago palm tree wrapped with straw for protection in winter. It looked like something out of a cartoon. They were scattered throughout the grounds giving it a surreal look.

Japan – Kyoto – Nijo Castle

Japan – Kyoto – Nijo Castle – sago palm tree wrapped with straw

Japan – Kyoto – Nijo Castle

For our final two days in Kyoto, we decided to go on walks through some epic landscapes. The first was through the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove. It was very peaceful but we kept expecting ninja to fly above our heads.

Japan – Kyoto – Arishiyama Bamboo Grove

Japan – Kyoto – Arishiyama

Japan – Kyoto – Arishiyama Bamboo Grove

The second walk was at Fushimi Inari-taisha through thousands of vermillion torii (Shinto shrine gates). We hiked up the mountain behind the shrine for views of the city. It turned out to be more of a hike than we anticipated, but we were so mesmerized that we barely noticed the steps adding up.

Japan – Kyoto – Fushimi Inari-taisha

Yamamoto-san took us to see Osaka Castle before dropping us off at our hotel. It was a little crowded, but the views from the top are worth it. Each floor has a little museum with art and information about the castle and it’s occupants. We didn’t get to see most of it due to the crowds, but we saw enough to get a taste. The building itself was impressive and it turned out to be a beautiful day.

Japan – Osaka – View from Osaka Castle

Japan – Osaka – Osaka Castle

Japan – Osaka – Osaka Castle Park

For our one day in Osaka we chose to do a small walking tour from Dotonbori Street to Tennoji station. Dotonbori Street reminded us of parts of Taipei with all the street food and bright lights. We were there a little too early for lunch, but lines were already forming outside some places. We wandered down a manga shop road and through Shinsekai area in old town. We were surprised at how different Osaka felt compared to Tokyo and Kyoto. It felt a lot more run down and dirty, which is something we hadn’t really seen in Japan yet.

Japan – Osaka – Dotonbori

Japan – Osaka – Tsutenkaku Tower underside

3. Eat

At our Airbnb apartment in Kyoto, we continued to cook in most of the time. We even had frying pan, so we made pancakes twice – major comfort food for us. While out and about, we had ramen and sushi.

Japan – Kyoto – Rotating sushi damage

Japan – Kyoto – Pancakes!

Japan – Kyoto – Ramen

The Yamamoto’s fed us very well! We loaded up on snacks before we arrived because we were a little worried they wouldn’t feed us much, but we were very, very wrong. We arrived mid-afternoon and were treated to cake and tea while we got reacquainted. Then we went out for an early dinner at a rotating sushi restaurant where we tried lots of new types of sushi (we have no idea what they are called since there was no English). Then back at the house, we had edamame, fried chicken, and cheese strips to accompany our drinks. For breakfast, we had a huge spread with salmon, omelette, soup, rice, spinach, seaweed, juice, and tea. We had a small, early lunch of tako-yaki (battered octopus pieces) and toasted bread with tomato.

Japan – Osaka – Rotating sushi with the Yamamoto’s

Japan – Osaka – Breakfast at Yamamoto’s house

4. Drink

Not only did the Yamamoto’s feed us well, they served plenty of drinks. After returning from dinner, we started with a little beer, then moved on to warm sake, followed by a taste of shochu, and then more sake. We showed them some of our photos from Japan and a handful from earlier in the trip. They had been to New Zealand a few years ago, so they showed us some of their photos. We talked about our trips in Southeast Asia where we first met. They were on a month-long independent tour of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. Keep in mind that they are both under five feet tall and nearly 80 years old and they did that trip on their own!

Japan – Osaka – Beer, sake, and shochu with Yamamoto-san

5. Sleep

The Yamamoto’s have a beautiful traditional home. Like most Japanese homes, there is little insulation, so only a few key rooms are heated. They also had an automatic toilet, which they showed us how to work and were shocked when we told them that they are not common in the USA. The ceilings were surprisingly high, but the doors were only about six feet. They thought it was so funny that Pat had to duck going through the doors. They set up futons for us in their tradition living room. They were very concerned about the futon not being long enough (they weren’t), so they extended the length by adding pillows to the end. Our height was a constant source of amusement – we are probably the tallest people they’ve had visit their home. Yamamoto-san would often laugh and say, “we are the small couple, and you are the BIG couple” with lots of hand gestures to show just how big we are. 🙂 After leaving the Yamamoto’s we spent one night in Osaka at a really basic hostel, then one night at an airport hotel with a free shuttle to the airport in the morning.

Japan – Osaka – Yamamoto Home

Japan – Osaka – View of KIX airport from our hotel room

6. Move

We had a few great walks this week. The most strenuous was the hike through the torii up Inari Mountain. In all, the hike was 4 km. It probably took us longer than it should because we couldn’t stop taking pictures of all the stone foxes (actual foxes made of stone, not good-looking people) and orange torii.

Japan – Kyoto – Fushimi Inari-taisha

Yamamoto-san took us on a morning walking from his home. We stopped at a shrine where he showed us how to pray for safe travel. It was a bluebird morning and we couldn’t help but feel as if we had stepped into a Miyazaki film, which was only enhanced when we saw Totoro waiting for the bus.

Japan – Osaka – Morning walk with Yamamoto-san

7. Etcetera

We cannot thank the Yamamoto’s enough for generously opening their home to us. We loved learning about Japanese life and getting to know this outstanding couple. I only hope that we are still taking month-long adventures at nearly eighty years old.

Japan – Osaka – Lindsey and Mrs. Yamamoto

Japan – Osaka – Pat and Yamamoto-san

Japan – Osaka – Cade’s and Yamamoto’s

Check out our Flickr album to see all our photos from this week.

Week 40 – Kyoto, Japan

Finally Slowing Down

Japan – Kyoto – Higashi-Honganji Temple

We arrived in Kyoto this week after a very long day riding trains from Tokyo. Yes, trains – plural. Not just one or two, but ten. TEN trains to get from Tokyo to Kyoto. You’re probably thinking, “but guys, doesn’t Japan have those super fast bullet trains? Why don’t you take that?” The answer is yes, Japan does have super fast bullet trains that will get you from Tokyo to Kyoto in about two hours. We decided not to take it because tickets cost $120 each, which is a little steep for us. Instead, we got a pass with five tickets that cost about $100 total (only available three months per year and one of those is March). That means we would each use one ticket to get from Tokyo to Kyoto and still have three tickets for day trips. Worst case scenario is that we don’t use the remaining three tickets, so our trip cost $50 each, while best scenario is that we use the remaining three tickets and our trip only cost $20 each. The catch is that our pass can only be used on local trains which only go for short distance, resulting in a day full of local trains and hopping across platforms during our 4-14 minutes transfers. It seems like people do this all the time to save money because it was surprisingly easy and we read lots of articles about it. It took us close to ten hours, but we aren’t in a rush, so it was worth it. As a major bonus, we were able to see Mt Fuji along the way.

We quickly learned that Kyoto is a bike city and that as pedestrians, we need to keep our heads on swivels to avoid getting taken out. Kyoto isn’t quite as overwhelming as Tokyo and most of the sites are temples or shrines. We had grand visions of walking around every day and seeing lots of great stuff, but as luck would have it, Pat came down with a little illness that is making him feel weak. We decided to extend our stay in Kyoto through most of next week so that we don’t feel pressured to see everything and Pat can get his much needed rest. The extra time allowed us to do a little shopping, so Pat might be unrecognizable in his new shirts. 🙂

1. Go

Bus – 5 km. One ride across Kyoto.
Train – 525 km. In order to use our super discounted train pass, we could only ride local trains (no bullet train for us). This meant that for the trip from Tokyo to Kyoto we had to ride 10 different trains over the course of nearly 10 hours. Our transfers between trains ranged from 4 to 14 minutes. We had some great shots of Mt. Fuji from the train and some not so great shots.

Japan – Mt Fuji from the Train

Japan – Mt Fuji from the Train (blocked)

Foot – 88,000 steps in 7 days (approx. 44 miles)

2. See

Kyoto is all about temples, shrines, palaces/castles, and walking – so we did just that. We visited the Higashi-Honganji Temple, which has the largest wooden structure in the world, as well as the Nanzenji Temple, which has a serene setting in the foothills. We hit Yasaka Shrine at the same time as all the Japanese tourists, which made for a scenic visit since many of the young women dressed in kimonos to take pictures (there are tons of stores around renting kimonos along with makeup and hair service).

Japan – Kyoto – Higashi-Honganji Temple

Japan – Kyoto – Nanzenji Temple

Japan – Kyoto – Yasaka Shrine

Japan – Kyoto – iPhones and Kimonos at Yasaka Shrine

Kyoto is small enough to explore on foot as long as you are willing to put in some miles. While Pat was still feeling well we walked a ton, but eventually had to switch to taking the bus. We walked along the canal near our place to get into downtown nearly every day. We walked the Philosophers Path and attempted to have deep conversations to do it justice. We visiting the Kyoto Imperial Palace Park and strolled through the plum blossoms – Lindsey went back on her own because it was just so darn pretty.

Japan – Kyoto – Canal Path

Japan – Kyoto – Philosophers Path

Japan – Kyoto – Kyoto Imperial Palace Park

3. Eat

Food is half the reason to travel to Japan and Kyoto has some great foods. We enjoyed a ramen and gyoza lunch at Ippudo, which started in Japan and now has locations worldwide (including New York). Our new fun food of the week was okonomiyaki (okonomi = what you like, yaki = grilled). It’s basically a savory pancake made of rice batter, cabbage, and green onions. There may have been other ingredients, but we couldn’t identify them. One was topped with greens and mayonnaise, while the other was topped with a bbq-like sauce and katsuobushi (also called bonito flakes, which is dried, fermented, and smoked skipjack tuna). It’s cooked up and then placed on a hot grill on the table where it continues to cook. Oh, and there may have been some cute donuts along the way.

Japan – Kyoto – Ippudo ramen

Japan – Kyoto – Okonomiyaki (and Pat’s new shirt)

Japan – Kyoto – Okonomiyaki

Japan – Kyoto – Pig and Cat donuts

We’ve been eating in more this week since we have a full kitchen at our AirBnB apartment. Going to the grocery store has been a whole new adventure. We haven’t cooked for ourselves regularly since New Zealand in September/October. Everywhere we stayed in Asia and Southeast Asia did not have a full kitchen, so we’ve mostly eaten out or had instant foods (like oatmeal or ramen). Since none of the food in the Japanese grocery store has English directions, we are having to choose carefully. We try to find packages with pictures for directions or just buy whole foods that we already know how to cook. Also, the fresh fruits and vegetables are ridiculously expensive, so we have to be careful with the budget.

4. Drink

We tried some more sake this week, but weren’t as impressed as with our first round. Sake has easy to understand but complex system of ranking quality and flavors. The super basic level of understanding is that there are three grades of sake: Honjozo, Ginjo, and Daiginjo (from lowest to highest) – which has to do with the rice milling percent. On top of that, there are scales for acidity and sweetness and then the temperature at which it can/should be served. All this is listed on the labels, but – you guessed it – the labels are in Japanese. We did find a handful with English, but just learned the symbol for Ginjo and grabbed at random. Our first tasting round in Tokyo was very good (2 daiginjos and 1 ginjo), but this week we haven’t had as much luck (1 honjozo and 1 daigingo). Better luck next week?

5. Sleep

We found an apartment on AirBnB close to Nijo Castle that is a more traditional Japanese apartment. The bed is a futon on tatami mats, there’s a small table and chairs in the corner, and the bath/shower area is like those you find at an onsen – the shower nozzle is removable and there’s a stool to sit on while you shower with a mirror, the tub is deep but only about a meter long. It even has a mini washing machine – which we needed badly. Plus it’s quiet and has great internet.

Japan – Kyoto – Our AirBnB Apartment entry with kitchen on left, shower and toilet on right

Japan – Kyoto – Our AirBnB Apartment living and sleeping area

6. Move

We continued to walk a lot this week, but didn’t fit in any running. The weather is beautiful and there is a running path nearby, but Pat has been feeling a little under the weather. We are here until Friday, so hopefully he will get a chance to get out at least once. Since we have the whole apartment to ourselves and it’s large enough to move around in, Lindsey has started some circuits again. It’s just so hard to stay consistent on the road! We know we should be working out more, but we rationalize it by “saving energy for sightseeing.”

Check out Pat’s CADENCE Week 40 post (coming soon?) for details about this week.

7. Etcetera

We don’t often talk about the hard parts of travel because we try not to focus on it. But sometimes traveling is really hard. Japan is the first place in a while that we’ve had to worry about money, and it’s another stress that we have to deal with on a daily basis. Questions come up like, “is this museum really worth 1,000 yen?” or “is it really worth buying a banana for 100 yen when I could get a whole bag of baked goods for the same price?” It sounds silly, but it’s just one more thing to think about.

We’ve been trying to plan our final few months and so far only have flights to Barcelona at the end of March. From there, we are thinking of touring around Spain and Portugal before ending our trip with an epic four country safari for the month of May. Obviously, the safari is over our $100 a day (self-imposed) budget, but maybe that’s ok. It’s not that we are planning to completely blow all our savings in our final three months, and we saved enough to cover it. We don’t want striving for the lowest budget to prevent us from having some epic adventures, right? We’ll see which way the wind takes us in the next few weeks.

Check out our Flickr album to see all our photos from this week.

Week 39 – Nikko, Hakone, and Tokyo, Japan

Snow, Sashimi, Sake, and a Marathon

Japan – Nikko – Narabijizo

We had an incredibly busy week! We spent two nights north of Tokyo in Nikko, then two nights south of Tokyo in Hakone, then back to Tokyo for the rest of the week. Nikko is in the foothills and full of temples, one of which holds the original hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil monkeys. It was by far the coldest we have been since South America, but very picturesque. Hakone is a popular destination from Tokyo and it’s easy to see why. On a clear day, Mt Fuji is visible from the lake (we did not see it) and the typical tourist route includes at least five different kinds of transport – bus, boat, gondola, funicular, and train. Back in Tokyo, we spent most our time on the west side of the city and even got to watch the Tokyo Marathon!

1. Go

For some reason we thought that public transportation in Japan would be cheap… at least cheaper than it is. Even metro rides are usually a few dollars. There are many convenient passes that tourist can buy that make traveling much easier, but not really much cheaper. We bought the Hakone FreePass, which was about $50 each and included a round trip from Tokyo and all transportation around Hakone for three days. It allowed us to simply flash the pass and board any form of transport. The typical Hakone loop includes taking a bus from town to Lake Ashi, a boat across Lake Ashi, a gondola (which they called a ropeway) up the mountain, a funicular (which they call a cable car) down the other side of the mountain to Gora, and finally a train from Gora back to Hakone. Whew!

Japan – Hakone – Lake Ashi

Japan – Hakone – Monty Python Nav System

Japan – Hakone – Gondola

Japan – Hakone – Funicular

Japan – Hakone – Train

Train – 330 km. From Nikko through Tokyo to Hakone and back to Tokyo.
Bus – 35 km. From Hakone to Lake Ashi and from the gondola to the funicular.
Gondola – 2 km. Normally, the ride takes people all the way to the top of the mountain, but it was only open a third of the way due to poisonous fumes from all the volcanic activity.
Funicular – 1.5 km. Down the mountain to Gora.
Metro – 100 km. Around Tokyo.
Boat – 10 km. Across Lake Ashi. Not only was this a cool looking ship, they had a navigation system that looked like a Monty Python sketch.
Foot -108,000 steps in 7 days (approx. 54 miles)

2. See

Nikko is a World Heritage site known for its temples and shrines. Unfortunately, admission to the temples and shrines is really expensive, but there is plenty to see outside as well. We spent a blue bird day walking through the valley. Our most memorable places were Narabijizo and the Takino Shrine. Narabijizo is a long row of stone statues along the river, each wearing a little red hat and bib. Takino Shrine was up the hill behind the popular temples and we were nearly the only people there. There was a hole at the top of one of the gates that people throw stones at. If you make it through the hole, then you have good luck – Pat has luck and Lindsey does not.

Japan – Nikko – Narabijizo

Japan – Nikko – Toshogu Shrine

Japan – Nikko – Big tress on the way to Takino Shrine

Japan – Nikko – hiking in snow to Takino Shrine

Japan – Nikko – Takino Shrine

Japan – Nikko – Pat getting good luck by throwing a rock through the hole at Takino Shrine

Japan – Nikko – Takino Shrine

Hakone is a much more touristy place than Nikko, but for completely different reasons. It is closer to Tokyo and boasts a popular loop on which you must take five types of transportation – bus, boat, gondola, funicular, and train. It was pretty cold during both our days there, and as much as we hoped for a clear view of Mt. Fuji, we missed out. But at least we an onsen at our hostel and we got a fresh dusting of snow on our last morning. Of all the modes of transportation, the boat across Lake Ashi was probably our favorite. It’s a modern ferry made to look like 18th century French and Swedish navy ships.

Japan – Hakone – Cedar Road

Japan – Hakone – Cedar Road with fresh snow

Japan – Hakone

Japan – Hakone – Checkpoint

Japan – Hakone

Japan – Hakone – Lake Ashi

Japan – Hakone

Japan – Hakone – Fresh Snow!

Japan – Hakone – Souvenir shop

Japan – Hakone – Making Wood bookmarks

Japan – Hakone – Ekiden runners!

Japan – Hakone- Snowman at Lake Ashi

Back in Tokyo we spent two days walking through different neighborhoods. On the first, we walked across Shibuya crossing (the busiest pedestrian crossing), strolled down Takeshita Dori shopping street where the young come to see and be seen, and learned how to pray at Meiji Jingu shrine.

Japan – Tokyo – Shibuya Crossing

Japan – Tokyo – Pat at Shibuya Crossing

Japan – Tokyo – Takeshita Dori

Japan – Tokyo – Meiji Jingu

Japan – Tokyo

On the second day back in Tokyo, we started with a sashimi breakfast at Tsukiji fish market, then walked through Zojo-ji temple, on past Tokyo Tower where we saw Bowser, Mario, and Yoshi racing through the Roppongi hills (no joke). There we visited the Mori Art Museum featuring Takashi Murakami’s piece “The 500 Arhats.” The museum is on the 53rd floor with incredible views of the city. The art itself was colorful, wild, trippy, and unlike anything we’ve seen – really interesting. We finished the day with an at-home sake tasting.

Japan – Tokyo – Tsukiji Fish Market

Japan – Tokyo – Zojo-ji Temple

Japan – Tokyo – Mario Kart

Japan – Tokyo – City View from Mori Art Museum

Japan – Tokyo – Mori Art Museum featuring Takashi Murakami

On Sunday, we watched the Tokyo Marathon. We were lucky that we found an AirBnB very close to the starting line. We were blown away by the sheer number of people running and many were wearing costumes. Like everything else is Japan, it was surprisingly quiet. No one was clapping, but people were quietly cheering and one lady had some bells she was jingling to the rhythm of the runners. Lots of the spectators had flags and were wearing costumes as well. Despite the quiet atmosphere, it was still very festive and exciting. We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the footage on TV.

Japan – Tokyo – Vegeta, Goku, and Bulma running the Marathon

3. Eat

7-11 is the place to eat! If you’re thinking of stale potato chips and slurpees, you’ve never been to a 7-11 in Japan (or Taiwan for that matter). They have a large variety of fresh foods made daily. Our technique for selecting food is to see what other people are buying, or just grab something random. There is very little, if any, English so we usually have no idea what we are buying. We’ve discovered a few new favorites this way, but we’ve also had some things that we will never eat again (e.g., squid flavored chips). Two of our favorites include rice triangles and banana delight – both of these names are completely made up by us since we can’t read Japanese. Rice triangles (real name is onigiri) are a triangle shaped ball of rice wrapped in seaweed and filled with something, usually fish. Banana delight is a banana with creme wrapped inside a pancake. It comes in two flavors, vanilla and chocolate.

Japan – Hakone – Onigiri aka “triangles”

Japan – Hakone – Banana Delight

Our hostel in Nikko served us dinner and breakfast which was an excellent opportunity to try the local food. For dinner they served salad, rice, soup, and yuba sashimi. Yuba is a Nikko specialty and is a bit strange. It’s a by-product of the tofu making process. Tofu is made from soy milk and while the soy milk is boiling a skin forms on the surface which is removed. That is yuba – the skin removed during boiling. It’s served in many ways. The sashimi version is like a slimy tofu ribbon with soy sauce… weird but good. We also had it wrapped around azuki bean paste and deep fried which was delicious (obviously because anything that has azuki and is deep fried would be)!

We splurged in a major way this week by having a large sashimi breakfast at the Tsukiji fish market. It was so fresh! We arrived around 10:00am and nearly every place had a line out the door. Upon later reflection, this may have had something to do with being the Saturday before the largest marathon in the world. We got lucky and found a place with a break and were able to sit right away. When we left, the line was about twenty people deep. We had tuna, fatty tuna, white fish, salmon, squid, sea urchin, roe, shrimp, and crab. Pat’s favorite is still tuna, while Lindsey’s is still salmon. Our biggest surprises were the white fish and the squid. The skin was left on the white fish which gave it a different texture, while the squid had a bizarre mouth feel that neither of us could get over.

Japan – Tokyo

Japan – Tokyo – Sashimi Breakfast at Tsukiji Fish Market

4. Drink

We had sake twice this week. First, in Nikko we had hot sake which helped ward off the cold. Second, we did an at-home sake tasting after reading about different varieties online. We picked three different bottles with various levels of sweetness and acidity – all bought at 7-11… are you convinced yet that 7-11 in Japan is amazing? We were impressed by how different our three bottles tasted, but easily picked our favorites. We were glad the next morning that we were only watching the marathon and not running it.

5. Sleep

We had some wonderful and unique accommodation this week. In Nikko, we stayed at a hostel in a private double room, which was a tiny bed in a loft. Although it was small, it was very comfortable. The best thing about the hostel was that it included dinner and breakfast. In Hakone, we stayed at a hostel in dorm beds. There were eight beds in a room and each was in a cubby with a curtain, like a capsule. What made this hostel worth it was the onsen (a traditional Japanese style hot spring). They had both an indoor and an outdoor onsen – one for men and one for women (alternating). Our third accommodation was a tiny (the tiniest) AirBnB apartment in Tokyo. Although it was really, really small it was well organized and private. After spending many nights with shared bathrooms, it’s nice to have a whole place to ourselves.

Japan – Nikko Hostel loft room

Japan – Hakone – Hostel Common room

6. Move

Like last week, we spent a lot of time walking this week (our highest step count since Taiwan). The cool temperatures were mostly refreshing, but there were a few times in Nikko and Hakone when we got too cold. Pat was so inspired by watching the marathon that he went out and ran 11 miles on Sunday afternoon.

Check out Pat’s CADENCE Week 39 post (coming soon?) for details about this week.

7. Etcetera

Ok, can we just talk for a moment about the toilets in Japan? Never have we had so many surprises with something so seemingly mundane and ordinary. Most toilets – public and private – are automatic. Not only do they flush automatically, they have heated seats and a variety of bidet options (various pressure levels and temperature). Many also make “privacy sounds,” like the sound of a stream. There are lots of buttons that we can’t read, so there may be more options that we don’t know about yet.

Check out our Flickr album to see all our photos from this week.