Travel blog: Japan

This is a little off the topic of Photography - but there will be photos!

On the 11th September my fiancé and I started our long awaited trip to Japan.

The trip ‘started’ on the Tuesday night, when we were laying in bed together, bags packed and ready to leave late Wednesday night.  I turned to Connor and said, half laughing-half baffled “the next time we’re going to be sleeping in a bed again is going to be Friday…and it’s Tuesday, our Wednesday is going to feel 3 days long…” and we preceded to have a mental breakdown at the ridiculousness of the reality of it. 

But here it was. The trip we’d waited all year for. 

We went to work Wednesday, and stayed up to catch our coach to Heathrow at 1am. Due to the flight length and time difference, we essentially lost a day - but we landed safely and excited for the next two weeks at 7am Japan time on the Friday morning.

Yes, the direct flight was looong but it meant we didn't have to mess around with lay overs mid-way, so seemed like the least stressful option (which it was). 

But, after 13 hours in the air, we were in Tokyo! We’d both pre-bought and loaded our e-sims and Suica cards (similar to the Oyster card in London but it’s accepted on most transport options in Japan!) and headed to the Shinkansen to travel to Kyoto. 

We jumped straight to getting stuck into the traditions by getting an Ekiben for the Shinkansen journey. Connor picked up a cold chicken and rice one as they’d run out of the self-heating ones. 

I think it’s fair to say we had our reservations when we first laid eyes on the chicken. I’m a bit of a nervous diner when I don’t know the food hygiene scores in the UK, and my anxiety goes up when there’s a risk of food poisoning as I HATE being sick. So when the chicken looked a little slimy and didn’t look like the standard chicken breast we were used to I was a bit apprehensive. But the Japanese take their food service extremely seriously and all Ekibens are supplied from established providers, so we said “fuck it” and dove in. And I’m glad we did as it was tasty! And every meal we had on the holiday only got better.

(Our very early impression of Tokyo was that everything was so clean and efficient- it’s no lie when they say the public transport is on time. I think we had maybe one late bus and metro in the entirety of the two weeks we were there. Plus, the public transport is super easy to navigate if you use Google maps. A little bit of research beforehand about the way the lines and platforms are broken down and you’ll find getting from A to B a piece of cake.)

We arrived in Kyoto about 2pm and checked into our hotel soon after. We stayed in the Rinn Horikawa Gojo which was about a 10 minute bus ride away from Kyoto station. Check in was a breeze and the reception staff were so lovely. They even let us check in early when a quick exploration up the road turned damp after we didn’t take umbrellas with us and forgot that it was still rainy season. 

So, Kyoto:

Kyoto was probably my favourite week out of the two on reflection. I just vibed with the city so much easier. However, it was so different from what we were expecting…

Online, you mostly see just the old parts of Kyoto (think the Gion district with the old traditional houses, Gieshas, Arashiyama bamboo forest, Nara park etc). So that’s what we were expecting. But in fact, the city is HUGE and built up - although still spacious, with wide roads and walk ways. It was incredible to walk around high rise buildings alongside main roads and then stumble across old shrines and temples dotted about. For instance, on our first night we wandered back down to Kyoto station as there were lots of shops and places to eat, and on the way back we came across a local night market with food stalls and street entertainment popped up outside a massive temple! 

Kyoto definitely seemed like a calm city, even though there was lots going on. There’s lots of space to get your bearings, and with every road being in a grid pattern it was easy to explore and feel safe while doing so. Local buses ran pretty much every 10 minutes with a flat rate fare of  ¥230 (about £1.15) so you didn’t have to faff about with the driver to buy specific tickets - it’s such a smoother process to get around in comparison to the UK. 

Some things we noticed pretty much straight away in the city: 

⁃ Bikes were left unlocked in many parts of the more residential side of Kyoto. 

⁃ There was no litter!

⁃ There weren’t (or we didn’t see) any homeless or street drinkers causing a ruckus (a common sight in Cardiff)

⁃ Unlike what we saw online - we didn’t have a single seating charge when we ate out for lunch/ dinner. Maybe we were just lucky but we ate out every night, and didn’t see any signs stating a consuming charge.

⁃ There were yellow bumpy lines  running through all pavements (like there are at the edges of crossings in the UK) but they went down every street to help the visually impaired get around, which we both found incredible and inclusive.

⁃ There were far more bins available to throw away your rubbish in convenience stores than we were led to believe online. 

⁃ Loud people on public transport are, indeed, annoying. 

⁃ There is no such thing as the ‘Gaijin seat’ on buses/ trains. Locals sat next to us plenty of times. 

⁃ Kyoto is HOT. As it’s encased by mountains and is inland, all the heat and moisture gets trapped there, making it a little oven. I have never sweated more in my life- they said it gets humid in Japan and good lord they weren’t wrong.

So all in all our first experience exceeded our expectations. We spent on average about  ¥200-300 (£1.50 ish) each on breakfast,  ¥1500 (£7.50 ish) together on lunch and about  ¥2500-3000 (£12.50 - £15) together on dinner. And we had some tastyyy food. I think our most expensive meal in the first week was at a Wagyu restaurant for our anniversary but even then the bill came to the equivalent of £30 including drinks! We also didn’t pre-book anywhere we ate, I think we were just really lucky in where we found places to eat. 

Best drink of the week: a home made ginger ale from a tequila bar we stumbled across in Nara. Let me tell you- this has RUINED all other ginger beers/ ales for me. 

Best meal of the week: difficult to choose but top two contenders were the Wagyu beef we had for our anniversary or the set menu I had in Arashiyama with Wagyu (again I know but when in Japan), rice, miso soup and an egg to mix into the rice (I have always hated egg but this wasn’t bad!) 

Key experiences or places we visited: 

• Nara park - it was funny watching the deers harass people after they taunted them with the crackers. I think people may sometimes forget that the deers are animals and not a source of entertainment like something at Disneyland. The reason they bow is because the Japanese show them respect by bowing, so over the years it’s become a learnt behavior. But I feel like it’s kind of become an amusement to tourists so we didn’t feed them any crackers. They were still cute though. (Just to clarify - I don’t think there's an issue feeding the deer crackers as long as you don't tease or taunt them with it.)

  
  

• Arashiyama bamboo forest: was so beautiful! We managed to get the timing right where not many other tourists were there so we could really appreciate the beauty. It was a bit smaller than we were anticipating so there may have been other options to visit in different areas of Kyoto. The surrounding area and town were also so serene, we tried a few traditional desserts/ sweets which made it an all-round cutsie day.

  
  

• Sagano romantic train (Arashiyama pt.2): this was on the top of my ‘must do’ list. We got off half way as there was a river in a valley that I wanted to see and I’m so glad we got off there rather than following the line to the end. The view was so beautiful I cried, like if heaven came to earth, kind of beautiful. We saw some massive butterflies and people jumping into the river for a swim from rocks below. It was just so peaceful and calm we could have stayed there longer, if it weren't from our depleting water supply and the scorching temperatures.

• Samurai museum: a fave, just because the tour group we were with had such good energy. The tour guide was really engaging and we learnt lots about Samurai history (like women could also be Samurais - iconic). We also got to throw ninja stars! Connor was far better at landing the throws than I was, but there was a little competition the tour guide held and the winner got to keep their star (plastic). The guy that won gracefully accepted his prize and got us all laughing when he said “I’m heading to China next so I’m not sure if this will make it through customs… so if you don’t see me again, it’s been nice meeting you all.” 

  
  

• Traditional tea ceremony: we went to what we believe was a family’s home for a tea ceremony in a group with 4 other people. The Tea Master explained the history of the ceremony and the importance of each step. She made us a cup each to try before we gave it a go ourselves. I don’t mean to toot my own horn but she complimented my whisking technique 💅. The matcha was nothing like we’d had in the UK, it was so smooth and wasn't bitter or overly earthy at all, even Connor enjoyed it, and it complimented nicely with traditional Japanese sweets served with the tea. 

  
  

• Nishiki market: all hail Nishiki Market. I’d go back tomorrow if I could. It was the prime location to try some street food, find artisan souvenirs and get a feel for a different side of the city. It was bustling but still felt safe. Oh and that’s another thing! No walking and drinking/ eating in Japan which I low-key loved as a girl who can't drink and walk to save her life. So you have to find a place on the side of the street to enjoy your snacks. I think this took the distraction away and you appreciated what you were drinking/ eating more for sure. 

  
  

• Karaoke. Another iconic thing about Japan is their love for Karaoke- a space for salary men, or anyone for that matter, to let loose and sing their hearts out. We found a little international karaoke bar with cheap drinks and free, group karaoke. I, for one, cannot sing. Connor on the other hand, can. So this was his moment. We ordered some drinks while a group of Japanese men were singing and the bar man bought us over the song request tablet. We each put in a song and the wait began. The talent was.. varied, but everyone was having a great time and a good laugh and soon enough our turns came. Connor got the crowd cheering and dancing and so I thrust the microphone back to him when it was my turn to sing. Which, in my eyes, was definitely the better choice. And also in the eyes of the bar man, as after we ordered another drink he swiftly came up to us and put the tablet back in Connor’s hands and said “you sing well, choose another.” And the night went on as different tables joined together in chorus and by the end, the whole bar was singing along together.

  
  

• Gion Geisha district: It was lovely to walk though during golden hour, the streets were quiet so it was perfect to take a few photos of the architecture. However, with some streets being closed to the public/ tourists (and rightly so because some people don't know how to be respectful apparently.. sigh) the area seemed a lot smaller than we imagined, and also a little theme-parky- like the streets you could go down were spruced up especially for tourists. It felt like you were getting a taste of the Geiko/ Maiko side of Japanese culture rather than the real authentic thing. At the end of the day, being a Geisha is a hard-earned job and not a theatrical tourist attraction to satisfy visitors. Maybe we didn't explore enough or perhaps we went at the wrong time of day to really get the full feel of the area, but it is somewhere I would like to re-visit if we go back.

  
  

• Osaka: The Las Vegas of Japan, or so we thought at least. There were bright lights and loud sounds and large crowds everywhere. Being the go-to place for street food in Japan we had to go and visit, and to be fair we did have some tasty plates. But we felt so overwhelmed going from the semi-calm Kyoto, to the flashing and signing city that was Osaka. It definitely was an experience but we’re not sure if we’d necessarily go back to the centre of the city. Perhaps if we had done two days and explored the wider area our opinions might be different. I feel like you either vibe with Osaka or you don’t, it just wasn’t the best area for us on the trip out of all the places we visited.

  
  

• Arashiyama: 1000 Tori Gates: THE VIEW HALF WAY UP IS FAR BETTER THAN THE ONE AT THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN, Sincerely someone who made it to the top and regretted the long walk back down when her legs started to feel like little wet noodles. Seeing all the gates was absolutely incredible (and kind of terrifying when I saw a sign that said to watch out for wild bores) and I’m so glad we visited when we did - I’m not sure if we just had incredible luck but again, there weren't many other people about at there were stints of the hike where we were the only tourists around.

So it’s fair to say that our first week was jam-packed. Were we tired? Yes. But we paid for this trip so we were going to make every minute count. So on to Tokyo we went. 

Friday morning came round way too fast and before we knew it we were hauling our suitcases back to Kyoto station to catch our second Shinkasen back to Tokyo for our second week. As we had an earlier train we opted not to get an Ekiben, but instead decided to save ourselves until we arrived in the city. 

Both times we booked seats to be Fuji facing, and BOTH times, we only saw the base because of the cloud cover (forgetting the mountain is only visible for 80 days of a year) so we were questioning whether to cancel the group tour we had booked (we did end up cancelling the trip as we weren’t going to pay £35 each to go and see some clouds…) 

We missed Tokyo rush hour, thank lord, when we arrived and caught the subway to Akasaka where we stayed at the Via Inn. Again, lovely hotel, but this time it was very much a Tokyo sized hotel room. Unbeknownst to me, I was going to be transported back to my first year of uni as our room had the exact.same.layout of my hall's bedroom. After the flashback faded we got to unpacking what we could in the tight space without knocking heads, or tripping each other up, and headed for the Imperial Palace… Or so we thought. 

Little did we know that: A) There were two Imperial Palaces in Tokyo not too far from one another and I (the trusty navigator of the trip) was taking us to the wrong one (only realising after almost having a mini-meltdown as I was convinced we were going the right way, and Connor was convinced we, in fact, were not), and B) The Imperial palace we wanted to go to was closed that day anyway. 

Tokyo- 1. Beth and Connor- 0. 

So off to a bar we went, realising that maybe Tokyo was going to be a little harder to navigate than Kyoto. 

The week carried on a lot smoother luckily, also filled to the brim with wonderful experiences and more amazing food. 

There was definitely a considerable difference in restaurant and drink prices in Tokyo as we expected, and most places charged a seating/ consumer fee (which was only about 300 ish Yen and you usually got some sort of appetiser). 

Best drink of the week: not so much about the drink, but we found a cool little bar in Ueno market with a range of different craft beers and spirits that we went back to a few times. The manager was really nice and gave us some souvenir stickers to take away with us. 

Best meal of the week: we have two contenders. 1st) we found a ramen place on Akasaka on our first night where we had tempura chicken ramen and some Katsu chicken & rice as a side to share (which was UNREAL). 2nd) The steak sandwich to end all steak sandwiches at Churmside in Harijuku (and well worth the 1 hour wait for our slot to experience such a sandwich). 

Key experiences and places we visited: 

• On our first night in Akasaka we left our hotel and were met with the sound of drums and chanting, and quickly realised a large crowd was heading in our direction. What preceded was such a nice surprise of something to witness, which was the Hikawa Festival Parade. Paraders were in traditional dress, singing and either drumming or surrounding historical floats or portable shrines. It was amazing to witness, and we also came across a street market for the event with some live singers which we stayed to watch. 

  
  

• Harajuku: One thing we learnt in Tokyo, many shops / cafes don't open until 10 or 11 am during the week. We got up early to make the journey down to Cat Street - known for being a hub for trendy fashion brands and designers - but all the shops were shut! We still enjoyed meandering through the streets, taking a look at independent brands that we wouldn't have been able to afford anyway. We then made our way to Harajuku which, when it got busy, was a little seedy with touts standing at the street edges. But, it definitely was a cool place to visit. 

  
  

• Shibuya- chaotic but not as chaotic as we thought it was going to be. Half way across the crossing you realise you are just literally crossing a road - that’s all. It was funny to go up to the Starbucks overlooking the crossing to witness people running to the center to get ‘the pic’. When we were feeling a little parched, we stumbled across an outside beer bar - just a trailer and stall with some picnic tables and chairs- which was a nice rest bite whilst you watched the city fall into dusk. We did our main shopping this day, got overwhelmed in Don Quijote (for those who aren't familiar with Don Quijote- imagine if Temu and Home Bargains had a baby, and fed, that said baby, crack. Imagine 7 floors of everything your heart desires but nothing you actually need.) and explored our very first Uniqlo. 

  
  

• Shinjuku- fair to say wasn't our favourite place to visit. I imagine if you’re big into the party scene or went to that area on a stag do, it would be a fun place to go. However we found the area quite overwhelming and after seeing reports online of tourists being drugged in bars and had their possessions held for ransom, or forced to pay £100+ for a drink, we didn’t stay long in the area. Seeing the 3D cat billboard was cool, but once we’d seen that and the lines and lines of touts the closer we got to Kabukicho - we’d seen enough.

  
  

• Ueno- We loved Ueno. So much so, when we had a free day we went back again. We initially visited Ueno to go to the National Museum where there was a Phillipino food festival in Ueno park. Connor and I found it super interesting in the National Museum, seeing different parts to Asian history that you’re not really taught about. Plus it was incredible to see statues and sculptures dating back to 100 AD, looking like they were carved yesterday (also not displayed behind glass panels which I found wild, so you really could get up close - without touching, of course). On the way back to the station we came across Ueno market, which looks unassuming from the outside but massive within like the tardis. I’m so glad we went back a second time to explore as we missed so much the first time we visited, Ueno market was streets upon streets of Izakiyas and small shops. Less busy than Nishiki Market but wayyy bigger, with less street food but more restaurants.

  
  

• Asakusa & Sensoji Temple: Sensoji Temple was probably one of the grandest temple grounds we went to in my opinion. The lead up to the temple was a busy sea of people and street food vendors, where we tried a sweet-potato cake (sweet potato is massive in Japan). After seeing the temple, Connor and I decided to have a go at pulling a fortune each which, I thought was great but Connor… not so much. Let’s just say his fortune got tied up on the ‘Bad Fortune’ wall and was very much left in Japan. Not that we’re superstitious or anything.

  
  

• Sumida/ Asahi Hq/ Tokyo sky tree: Between the two view points of Japan, both Asahi HQ and the Tokyo Sky Tree were great in their own way. The Asahi HQ was a great alternative to the Sky Tree as you had an amazing view of the city still, and you could enjoy it whilst sipping on a pint. We weren’t planning on going up the Sky Tree but decided to on our last evening and I’m so glad we did as it was incredible to see the city at night and pick out the places we’d visited in the week we’d been in Tokyo.

• Team labs: I’d wanted to visit Team Labs since I first came across it on social media when I was in uni, and it was a surreal experience. We visited Planets and Borderless and between the two, we both preferred the latter. They were both multi-sensory immersive installations that blended art with clever, interactive programming. Both provided nice escapes from reality and gave you the opportunity to tap into your child-like wonder to let you ‘just be’. 

  
  

• The imperial palace pt2: So, after pre-planning our route to the CORRECT Imperial Palace, we finally made it to the historical site. It was well worth the wait as the grounds were beautiful. 

  
  

• Hokusai gallery: A bit of a last minute thing we decided to do but so glad we went. It was really interesting learning more about the artist behind the ‘Great Wave’ and the other pieces he created. After studying art since highschool, I found it enlightening to learn about an artist that, although known world wide, you never really got taught much about. You learn about the different art movements through Europe but not really any further than that. So to learn that Hokusai influenced and inspired not only the Impressionism movement, but also modern day manga and animation, was really eye-opening and we both left feeling like we learnt something new about the world. 

Japan was an absolutely incredible place to visit, and it’s safe to say that Connor and I have both gone through the holiday blues since returning. There’s definitely a few things the UK could learn from the country, and it was a bit of a culture shock to come back to Cardiff after two weeks of calm- in comparison. We researched cultural norms and practices before going out there, such as the correct greetings to use, not talking (or talking loudly) on public transport, slurping ramen to show appreciation to the chef, not leaving chopsticks in rice etc etc, which got us by pretty well I think. 

As long as you show you’re trying, the locals will help you out if you get stuck, and the culture is so much more polite in general. For some examples: we noticed on the Shinkansen that the train guard would walk through each carriage and before exiting he would turn round and bow to the passengers before leaving; the custom of bowing to anyone for different social exchanges; giving money over with two hands gave more of a sense of appreciation of what you were buying in my eyes; the bus driver said thank you to every single person that left the bus at the end of their journey; the automatic green tea on the table with pretty much every meal; lines on the subway and at bus stops for people to queue on so getting on/ off the mode of transport was as smooth as possible… I could go on. 

Don’t get me wrong, we know the country has its issues and we definitely experienced an underlying feeling of sadness/ depression in areas: the sound of birds being played in each subway station had this sort of dystopian feel; sometimes the politeness felt forced or exhaustive; stickers alerting people on escalators to beware of upskirting; women only carriages on the subway at peak hours; even how everything is SO convenient made you question as a tourist if the convenience was to make life easier, or if it was because people don't have enough time in the day to do everything they need to without the convenience- if that makes sense; the amount of tourist-focused ‘keep out’ or ‘do not touch’ signs due to the level of disrespect the country has received from visitors in recent years.

As a tourist, visiting Japan, it's a wonderful place to go and might seem perfect from the outside. But with every country, there are issues that it would be silly to turn a blind eye to. Would we go back? Absolutely. There was so much we still didn’t get to see, like Hiroshima or the tropical islands at the south of the country. And I definitely miss the customs of the country that were so easy to get used to. If anyone is thinking of going, I say do it. 

Just do your research and be a respectful tourist. 

Lots of love 

Beth and Connor. 

More photos can be found on my instagram page: Beth Kimber | Cardiff Photographer (@pics.from.beth) • Instagram photos and videos