Japan pt.5

Posted on June 3, 2024 Posted in TravelTagged japan, kyoto, nara, osaka, TravelLeave a comment

Osaka, March 22:

This was our last day in Japan before we headed back to Tokyo on the 23 to go back to America.

The first thing we were led to was a cute deer park, a park filled with deer where you can interact, feed, and admire the beauty of deer. I found this part of Osaka super cute and cool, and surprisingly the roads are clear from deer feces. So it’s an easy walk down the roads of the park without worrying of messing up your shoe game. I also realized that these deer are super polite, I dropped my phone and when I went to pick it up the deer interpreted it as bowing and it bowed back. Now at first, I was confused, I thought I was seeing things. Then I went up to another deer and bowed purposely resulting in the deer bowing back. Now I was shocked on how trained these deer were, or if they just picked it up from being around people for so long.

Afterwards, we approached a temple, Todai-ji in Nara, Japan. The history behind the temple was super inspiring, it was originally made in 700 AD but it’s been burnt from wars several times. The last time it was built was during the 1600s according to my tour guide. Which is super cool to think that the huge bronze Buddha statue inside has survived all of these years and through all of these fires. The pathway walking into the Todai-ji was a road built from other countries, some stone from China, Japan, Korea, to even India.

Inside, I lit a candle for Buddha, in doing so you are able to make a wish. I wished for a healthy life full of success and love. It’s interesting to see how Buddhism has some same concepts like Hinduism such as karma, dharma, and reincarnation. Walking around this huge statue may crane your neck because it is really tall, I was exploring and found a pillar inside the temple. People were going through this small hole on the bottom of the pillar. I looked towards my tour guide and he said that going through that hole brings good luck. Which is cool unless you’re not tiny. My sister had no trouble going through the hole, I also got through pretty easily, however some of my friends had some trouble.

Afterwards the tour continued on to the Osaka palace. The Osaka palace is so beautiful, the blue/green roof compared to the white building makes it look so magical. I didn’t go inside the Osaka palace but just looking and admiring its beauty from the outside was enough for me. I stopped by a restaurant nearby where I got myself some ramen and fries as well as a Sakura ice cream, which tastes just like vanilla but sweeter and heavier for some reason. THE ICE CREAM LOOKS SO CUTE.

Licking the dried up ice cream off my hands, don’t judge, our next destination is one of the most known in Osaka. I forgot the name of what the shopping street is called, but do you know that famous street with the billboard of a man running with two hands up and one leg off the ground as if he’s running? That’s where I was. I was looking around for some Sushi, but with my dismay, I couldn’t find anything. WHICH IS CRAZY. Maybe I wasn’t looking too hard or maybe something happened but I couldn’t find anything. I did however find some nice shoes at this one trendy street wear store called Atmos. As well as a Starbucks, I got a Matcha tea because believe it or not the last day of Japan is when I got a matcha tea drink. It was so smooth and there was no gritty matcha bits at the bottom like in America. Believe it or not, everything is Matcha flavored in Japan. They love it. Which I understand. My friend who tagged along with me to get Starbucks got a Vanilla Frappe.

Airport day, March 23:

It was time to leave and I finally got my sushi at an airport restaurant while waiting to board. I’m sad to say goodbye to Japan but what can I say. It was a fun experience and I always know there will be more travel time for me later. I’m going to get ready for Australia in a few weeks!

Thank you so much for tuning in!

Japan pt.4

Posted on June 2, 2024June 3, 2024 Posted in TravelTagged food, japan, TravelLeave a comment

Kyoto, March 21:

I woke up, but I had a really weird sleep. First off, my sister and I were watching Young Sheldon in our hotel room but I fell asleep with my glasses on and woke up to 4:00 am to see clearly and my sister talking to her friend back in the States.

Our first place to go in our Kyoto agenda was a famous bamboo park. In this bamboo park there were many things to see and many things to eat as well. We got many pictures of the trees and I ate these yam balls dipped in sweet soy sauce, now it was a very interesting taste. I’m not saying I hate it, I just wasn’t used to eating something super sweet like that and being punched in the throat afterwards with what tasted like salt.

Afterwards, our guide took us to another park where the Kinkakuji (translates to Golden Pavilion) is located. I really enjoyed this park, there were many traditional places and foods there. It was also an hour long hike to explore the whole area that surrounded the Kinkakuji. The golden temple is absolutely stunning, when the sun shone on it, it glistened. The park had other things to look at as well, there were many places such as small ponds that were used for tea ceremonies. Or statutes in ponds that represent something.

It really was such a nice hike though, I remember getting some free samples as well along the way. Like matcha and cherry blossom rice balls, (which are super good). On our walk we found some food and ice cream to eat during the free time given to us from our tour guide. We found a small cafe selling these cheese dogs? It’s literally cheese with melted cheese inside, or maybe it was some sort of bread or starch? Whatever it was, it was pretty tasty. We also got ourselves some fried chicken, and I didn’t realize this about Japan but they really love fried chicken there. In fact, it was easier to get fried chicken than sushi for us. We had a pretty hard time in Japan finding a sushi restaurant close to us or not with a bar. Anyway back to our lunch, I also got a white peach and strawberry sorbet, it was really good but I’m not really a fan of sorbets. We ordered some fries as well to share, and they were noodle flavor, which I didn’t know was a flavor but hey it was good.

You won’t believe it but after this hike and lunch we headed towards another temple in downtown Kyoto. There we would be able to shop for some time and find some things that we wanted to take home. Other than that, we had a chill day and we started to head towards Osaka which was like an hour or something away. We reached our hotel pretty late, and by then I was so tired I fell asleep and forgot to eat dinner.

Our day in Osaka was really fun, we went to one of the most famous marketplaces or mall out there! Stay tuned.

Japan pt.3

Posted on May 30, 2024June 3, 2024 Posted in TravelTagged japan, TravelLeave a comment

I again apologize to the readers who actually look at my blog, I’ve been busy with AP Exams and Finals, but school is over now!

Tokyo, March 20th: This was our last breakfast in Tokyo, after this we were taking our adventurous manners to a place more traditional. We were trekking towards Kyoto, but of course we needed to furl ourselves with our hotels complementary breakfast. I got myself a very protein based breakfast with my plate filled with: sausage and bacon, rice mixed with egg and chicken, chocolate croissant, rolled egg, chicken with radish, and fruits. Coming back, that was a lot of food to consume. I guess what they say about swimmers is true, we eat a lot and then we work out a lot.

Also I finally found out how to make my images a little more clear!

After breakfast our tour guide took us on a 2 hour bus ride to where Mount Fuji was located, now we weren’t climbing or go near Mount Fuji but more like going to a village right next to it. I picked up some Melon bread on the way which is such a soft and delicate tasting bread. It tasted like a sweet cantaloupe. While we were visiting this said village it started snowing on us, but it was such pretty snow that I didn’t care how cold I was. It was thick but when it fell on you it didn’t break. So at the end of the day my hair had thick pieces of snow in it. I got some serene photos from the village!

Afterwards we took a little detour to Kyoto and stopped yet again by another small village next to Mount Fuji, except this time we were closer. We were planning to jump onto a boat ride and gondola ride here. But first, because it’s Japan, I had to try Matcha ice cream despite the cold weather disagreeing with me. I will never get tired of how creamy and rich the matcha is in Japan, every time I order anything Matcha in America, it will never be the same. The boat ride went so well, we rid in such a fancy boat, it looked so beautiful. The water also looked very welcoming as well, it was so blue. Except when the sun was covered by clouds. Afterwards when the boat ride led us to the center where we would take the gondola ride, I realized how high we were actually going to go up. I have to admit though, the gondola was not my favorite part; partially because of the smell of sulfur the whole time coming from the volcanoes. Yes, I forgot to mention, the boat ride took us right to an active volcano.

Once the gondola took us up, we got a great view of Mount Fuji, and also up there are many cafes, restaurants, and souvenir shops. My little sister begged the heck out of me to get one of the face masks. So guess who had a spa day when she got back to her hotel. I should have never given it to her, she didn’t go to sleep until 4:00 am because she was having a spa day and calling her friends back in America. We stopped by one cafe up there, I remember one was selling black eggs, the contact behind these black eggs is that they boil these eggs in the little opening the volcanoes have that release sulfur. That’s why they’re completely black because they were literally boiled to a crisp, but the inside is just a boiled egg and tastes the exact same except it’s really high in iron. I got myself like this “hot dog” it’s more of a chicken cutlet stuffed into a hot dog bun and fried on the side as well as a black curry bread. Which is literally curry cooked inside of black bread.

Afterwards our tour guide informed us that we would be going onto the bullet train and heading to Kyoto, and later when we were leaving Osaka to go to the Tokyo airport where our connection flight to Chicago was I became really confused. My sister informed me that Osaka was 8 hours away from Tokyo, but HOW DID WE DO THAT? Then I remembered the train which goes so fast. While waiting for our bullet train in the station I went to 7/11 to pick up snacks because we were most likely arrive at night time and I would grow hungry. I got Japanese rice balls with some sort of chicken filling inside and then wrapped with seaweed. As well as a sandwich from Starbucks. The bullet train comes every once in a while and I remember when other peoples trains passed over the station the station literally shook. The train really goes fast though. I was up there and speaking with my friend about how fast these trains were and then out of nowhere it sped past us.

So that was today’s little update, tomorrow I will be talking about our last two days, but alas, don’t worry. I can’t stay away from culture exposure and I’m heading to Australia this July!

Japan pt.2

Posted on April 21, 2024May 30, 2024 Posted in TravelTagged food, japan, tokyo, TravelLeave a comment

Tokyo, March 19th: After eating a hearty breakfast of chicken with sesame oil, rice with chicken and scrambled eggs, tofu, and a rolled egg as well as fruit. The chicken with scrambled eggs are so good, the eggs are juicy and with the rice it created a great flavor. Soon after that, our tour started again. The first destination was the emperors palace, as in the descendant of the emperor of Tokyo. the architecture of the house is super surreal, you see NOTHING like it in America. Our tour guide was telling us how samurais are no longer and thing and vanished because of the modernization of Japan back in the 19th Century.

Chicken with sesame oil, rice with chicken and scrambled eggs, tofu, and eggs

After 20 minutes of admiring the view and the house, we went to Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. This place is bustling with plants, we did go in a colder weather, so there weren’t as much Sakura trees. However, there was a greenhouse next to the park and that had a humid climate for many plants that couldn’t survive in the cold. There were some Sakura trees, but most of them bloom in April. It kind of reminded me of the butterfly palace that is up in Branson Missouri. Some many different types of plants were in the greenhouse, even cactuses which was a surprise to see in Japan. Sort of like seeing a palm tree in Japan. I highly recommend to come to this garden though, especially in the right time where there are many Sakura trees. Super Instagrammable and super pretty to just chill and have a picnic, which is what a lot of people were doing.

Seeing all of these people eating food and looking at the view also made me hungry. We headed towards Ahikabara (which is the section known for electronic stores and anime) and went inside the biggest electronic store, Yodobashi, which was 10 stories high filled from head to toe in TVs, fridges, iPhones, etc. The only downside were the amount of escalators you had to go up if you wanted to go to the top, which housed all of the restaurants in the store. The things about escalators here are people all stand on the left side and give people in a rush to have the open right side. Which I personally thought was super clever. We got some lunch at Soba Dining Rinya, (I hope that’s right) where I got myself some chicken karaage, that I shared with my little sister. (If I hadn’t explained before, I traveled with family and family friends). I got myself tempura rice (because I love my shrimp) and it came with a side of ramen, and my sister just got some ramen. After eating dinner and leaving the huge department store, after my little sister found a clothing store on the 9th floor and had a little shopping spree, we explored the grounds next to the store. There was a doughnut shop called Jack in the doughnuts that sold the cutest doughnuts in the world. I got a doughnut that had a layer of white chocolate over it that was mixed in blue food dye to create a marble effect.

I was stuffed after lunch and the sun was slowly setting into evening. Afterwards we found the Statue of Liberty when we were exploring a little bit more of Tokyo and that was a little bit of a surprise to me.

Realizing we were getting late for our appointment at Team Labs, which is this interactive museum to one’s wildest imaginations. I loved this museum. It was super fun and it was such a great place for photos with my sister, because honestly I don’t have ANY good photos of my sister. For this experience you have to be barefoot (no socks including) and if you want to come, be advice not to wear a skirt because some of the rooms have mirrored floors as well as long pants. Otherwise you would have to rent some shorts, that are free, but if you want good pictures those shorts would ruin the whole thing. The first thing you’re welcomed to is a hallway lit with blue lights. It slowly leads to an upward hill of rushing water. Which is why socks are not allowed. The hill slowly levels up to a floor with water, which is not that high barely surpassing your toes.

Afterwards there is a room filled with towels to wipe your feet with once you’re done. Later on when you keep walking there’s a room, we will call it Bean Bag room, that is a huge room filled with a fluffy pillow like floor, it seems as if you’re walking over a huge bean bag, hence the name of the room. Next you’re introduced to the Led lights that look like stars room. This room was one of my favorites for the room was head to toe filled with LED Lights that changed colors and created a little maze for you to find the next room. The room was surrounded by mirrors, which is probably why it looked like a huge maze when really it’s only a few paths to walk on.

After exiting this room there is a hallway that has different textures of carpets on the floor for your feet to have a little fiesta. This hallway leads to a room, fish room, FILLED with water up to your knees, that have fish and flowers projected onto the water to make it seem like a pond. This was one of my favorite rooms because of how warm the water was and how calming it was to see these projected fish swim past you. There were two doorframes, one leading to the next room and the towel room to wipe your feet and legs dry as well as another doorframe that lead to a room with water that looked like lasers.

Next up is the bubble room, a room completely filled with big bubbles to have fun and kick around. But don’t actually kick them around you could hurt someone. The whole room changes colors and when the room changes, the big bubbles change as well. It was nice to come down and prep for the next room, because this room was nothing to miss. In fact this room was so peaceful I laid there for a good 20 minutes. The next room is flowers falling in space towards you. It’s this room of flowers falling into your face as if you’re floating through space and time, honestly, it reminded me so much of the Artechouse in New York City.

Then you’re lead out and back into the locker rooms where you put your shoes away. However, it’s not over yet because there are two sides of the building, one leads to everything that I have described, and the other leads to another hallway that shows two other rooms. One of those rooms is the nice and cool mossy room that is located outside. The last room is a room filled with flowers that are hanging from the ceiling. There is this mechanism that moves the flowers up and down to make it seem like they’re swaying and when you first enter you have to crawl under the flowers and lay there and wait until the mechanism lifts the flowers up for you to stand.

After all the fun photos we took at Lap Planets, it was time to head back and eat some food. Again, there was a mall right next to our hotel, so we found a ramen place called Golden Ramen and ate there. It was some of the best ramen ever. Soon after that I fell right asleep in my hotel room and waited for tomorrow’s exciting morning when we would be heading towards Kyoto.

Japan pt.1

Posted on April 6, 2024January 14, 2025 Posted in TravelTagged japan, sakura, tokyo, TravelLeave a comment

Hi! Spring break was a very fun time for me, I went over to Japan with some friends and had such a fun experience. I loved every sight we saw, and I loved the experience of everything. From walking on the street to the clean bathrooms with HEATED toilet seats and nature sounds provided if not comfortable using the bathroom in public.

Tokyo, March 17th: The plane to Tokyo, Japan was a nice and relaxing fight. We landed in Japan at a really late time however, around 7 or 8 pm. We checked into our hotel Mitsui Garden, it’s a very classy and nice looking hotel. At this time, I was starving, so we did some research on where to eat, with our dismay, we gave up and just went on a walk. However, to our enlightenment we found a mall right next to our hotel and inside that mall was a whole floor of restaurants. There was one restaurant that caught my interest called Beer Cafe, now I can’t drink, but it was an Italian restaurant and I know you may think, “you’re in Japan, try Japanese food.” Don’t worry, I did eat A LOT of Japanese food. It’s just with jet lag and tiredness we found the first restaurant we could find that wasn’t busy, because it was a Sunday night. We ordered Chicken Spicy Frit, Pizza, and Risotto.

After the very hefty meal it was time to walk it off as well, there was also a 7/11 next to our hotel as well. Since I heard a lot about Japan’s 7/11s I knew I had to get somethings. I did buy something for my friends back home in America who wanted snacks, and I bought myself a dessert. Sakura (cherry blossom) pudding. It was so delicate and not sugary at all. I love that about Japan, the sugar proportions are just right for my taste.

Tokyo, March 18th:

The bed was so comfy I didn’t want to wake up. I woke up at 6:30 am and went down for breakfast at 7:40am. The breakfast is really good there, with everything on small plates to put on the tray. I got myself pasta, chicken in sesame sauce, fish cake, salmon, and fruit. I also got myself some bread, and the bread is so beautifully baked. It’s shiny golden and crispy on the top and so soft on the inside. There’s also a Starbucks that my friend went to while I was eating breakfast, they got a matcha scone for me to try because they know I love my matcha.

Chicken with sesame sauce, fish cake, fruit, salmon, and pasta

We were going on a tour through out Tokyo, we had a tour guide with a guy named Mizuma San, and he would be our tour guide the whole trip through out our Japanese experience. After finishing up with breakfast, I headed outside to see how cold it was, and I must say, I’ve never felt a windier city than Chicago until Tokyo. I stumbled some many times because of the wind. Also, the thing about Japan separating it from so many other cities I’ve been to is that it’s freakishly clean. I never believed it possible to have a city with millions of people living in to be so spotless of litter and trash.

We first went to Ueno Park, greeted by a huge statue of a whale, we were expecting to see some cherry blossoms, we did find some. End of March and beginning of April is when most of the cherry blossom trees bloom, since we came mid-March there were only a couple of trees. We explored the beautiful park to take pictures of the serenity of the nature and we found a monkey. It was next to its human, but I wasn’t expecting a monkey in the middle of Japan. I highly recommend coming here though, there are plenty of beautiful pathways to walk, there are multiple shrines, and a playground for kids. I did have a lot of fun on the swing set and the slide, it unleashed the inner child in me. Swinging and looking at the pond was very calming. Sure the lake was full of dead reeds, but those reeds are apparently lotus plants, so when it gets more warmer in Japan the lake would look so beautiful.

After hanging out at Ueno Park for some time, we thought it was best to explore more historical parts of Japan, such as the pagodas and temples. On our way there I couldn’t help but notice how cute the alleyways are in Japan, all alleyways are packed with shops and restaurants and look super photogenic. Our second stop was the Senso-ji, the Buddhist Temple in Tokyo. When I tell you it was breathtaking, it was breathtaking. It was super photogenic, and the many girls and guys wearing traditional Japanese clothing such as Kimonos making the vibes of the whole place an amazing time. You can also rent these Kimonos if interested, I just didn’t want to get out of my nice coat as it was pretty cold outside. Also, everyone is super kind, they don’t get upset if your Japanese isn’t as great, they seem happy that you tried to speak Japanese then actually doing it right. Sucks for me I only knew Konichiwa and Arigato and some short sentences like good morning, good night, and nice to meet you.

Growing hungry I quickly ran towards the NUMEROUS tents selling street food, I found those candied strawberries and was going to get one but they ran out of all the strawberry ones. I found a stall selling noodles and right next to it there was a tent selling fried chicken. And of course, you can’t be in Japan without trying some Japanese desserts, thankfully there were many shops selling things. I got myself a matcha ice cream sandwich (matcha ice cream squished between this sort of ice cream cone wafer of some sort) and a sweet potato cake. This little cake soon started my sweet potato craze when I got back to the States. The cake was so delicate and not that sugary, and it literally melted in the mouth.

After eating lunch and exploring the temple and what it has to offer a bit more, we headed over to the super crowded Tokyo Sky Tower, it took an hour just to get to the elevator to exit the building once we where done. It was very hectic, everyone was mad at everyone. People wouldn’t stop pushing, and I remember some lady snapping at my friend because they were being pushed up against her backpack. Needless to say, I think everyone calmed down once they finally went down and felt the cool air and not the humid people air.

It was getting pretty late and the sun was starting to set when we reached the last destination of the day, it was a temple in a beautiful forestry park. The forest was so beautiful to walk in I just took a moment to walk around the trees and feel connected with nature again. School has been pretty hard so this was a nice snap back to reality that not everything in life should just be work. You need to let yourself take a break before burn out.

Afterwards, it was dinner time. However, I was WAY to jet lagged to care about eating, I just wanted to go straight to bed and catch up on rest before waking up early again for the next part of the tour. On our way back to the hotel, we did stop by the famous road in Japan that you always see in movies or on Youtube, the one where HUNDREDS of people are walking on. We did find an outside bakery displaying the most delicate looking desserts I’ve ever laid eyes on, so I didn’t eat dinner but I ate dessert.

That was Day 1 and 2 of being in Japan, it was so fun to explore such a beautiful country, stay tuned for day 3 and 4 as well.

Travels Around the World

Tag: japan