Japan - Yokohama, Kamakura, Tokyo, Kyoto & Kobe
Day 1
For my groups first day in Japan we originally planned on meeting a friend of mine but we had to scrap that plan and ended up wandering around the port and Yokohama. We found the Chinatown in Yokohama, which is one of the largest Chinatowns in the world outside of China itself! We shopped around for a bit and stumbled into an arcade that had photo booths where you can widen your eyes...those pictures we weird to say the least. We finally ended up meeting my friend and we went and got sushi for dinner. It was my first time eating sushi but I tried everything and absolutely loved it. The crazy thing about the sushi restaurant was that there was a fish tank, they would take the fish out, kill it, put a blow torch over it for 30 seconds and then it would be on the plate in front of you. We spent the night on the boat that night because a few people had field labs the next day.
Day 2
We got up early and headed out to the Kamakura Diabatsu, the second largest buddha in the world. I found out that the buddha is over 700 years old, I would never have believed it. The town the buddha was located in, Hase, was an extremely cute little town and fun to explore. We then headed back to Yokohama to pick up our friends and head into Tokyo for the night. We stopped at the largest and busiest intersection in the world and my friend Em took us to a famous ramen restaurant. To order there, you pushed a button with the type of ramen you wanted like a vending machine and it dispensed you a ticket which you handed to a person behind a screen at your seat and 10 minutes later they brought you your ramen. After dinner we headed to our hostel to check in which ended up being right next to an ancient temple in the historical district.
Day 3
I found at the beginning of the trip that my credit card was not being accepted by the ATMs (to any future SASer's reading this, don't trust that your card is going to work in every country, I recommend getting at least $50 in currency cause it will save your life if your card ends up not working) but I was able to find a bank that took my card and passport and withdrew money for me. We spent the day in Tokyo shopping in Shibuya and had some amazing Japanese curry for lunch. We explored the shopping district, Harajuku, where we got free stickers and other stuff from people as gifts. You find out really fast that if you're American many Japanese people will give you small gifts for free. We also received a bag of beans from an old man on the train. We then went to what is Japan's equivalent of Central Park, and saw the large temple in the center of it. We then headed to a night market and found a pet shop that was filled with puppies and kittens that we got to hold and play with. We went to Tokyo tower for the evening and saw the entire panoramic view of Tokyo. We ended up meeting with some of Em's friends who took us to an extremely local Japanese bar, we got a lot of looks because they don't normally get foreigners but it ended up being a blast. They ordered us chicken intestines and a few other weird things but they all ended up being amazing. We almost missed the last train back to our hostel but we made it on.
Day 4
We spent the majority of today wandering around Tokyo again. We got up fairly early to make it to the fish market but it ended up being completely finished by the time we got there and we didn't see anything. The local people also didn't appreciate us being there according to my friend who could understand what they were saying to us. From there we headed to Em's family's restaurant. We found out once we got there that it was a much nicer restaurant then we were expecting and her dad was a well known chef. He cooked us a 5 course meal and I had some of the most amazing food I have ever had. We then made our way back to the center of Tokyo to take an overnight bus from Tokyo to Kyoto which was an 8 hours long and no on slept but is was only $20 compared to the bullet train that was $135.
Day 5
We arrived in Kyoto at 5 am with no where to go and it was pouring rain. We ended up at a 24 hour restaurant and all had noodles for breakfast. It was an extremely rough and long day to say the least with all of us running on zero hours of sleep. We trekked around Kyoto in the pouring rain with our backpacks on looking at temples, took a quick break to eat some amazing green tea noodles then headed out to see one last shrine. Making it to Fushimi Inari Taisha, the last place on our list, made the entire day worth it. The shrine was absolutely breathtaking. There were thousands and thousands of torii arches that lined a path to the very top of the mountain. We ended up making it to the top for sunset which made up for our soaking clothes and sore backs. We then headed to the train station, said goodbye to Em who spent the last three days traveling with us and made our way to the boat in Kobe.
Day 6
I woke up pretty late today but ended up tagging along with some friends to a few Sake museums and spent the final bit of my yen on snacks for the boat. I ended up spending a total of $275 in Tokyo (including travel, sleep, entrance fees, food and souvenirs) which I'm extremely proud of. I then got back on the boat and we made our way out of port to China, which I will be at in less than 48 hours!
Day 1
For my groups first day in Japan we originally planned on meeting a friend of mine but we had to scrap that plan and ended up wandering around the port and Yokohama. We found the Chinatown in Yokohama, which is one of the largest Chinatowns in the world outside of China itself! We shopped around for a bit and stumbled into an arcade that had photo booths where you can widen your eyes...those pictures we weird to say the least. We finally ended up meeting my friend and we went and got sushi for dinner. It was my first time eating sushi but I tried everything and absolutely loved it. The crazy thing about the sushi restaurant was that there was a fish tank, they would take the fish out, kill it, put a blow torch over it for 30 seconds and then it would be on the plate in front of you. We spent the night on the boat that night because a few people had field labs the next day.
Day 2
We got up early and headed out to the Kamakura Diabatsu, the second largest buddha in the world. I found out that the buddha is over 700 years old, I would never have believed it. The town the buddha was located in, Hase, was an extremely cute little town and fun to explore. We then headed back to Yokohama to pick up our friends and head into Tokyo for the night. We stopped at the largest and busiest intersection in the world and my friend Em took us to a famous ramen restaurant. To order there, you pushed a button with the type of ramen you wanted like a vending machine and it dispensed you a ticket which you handed to a person behind a screen at your seat and 10 minutes later they brought you your ramen. After dinner we headed to our hostel to check in which ended up being right next to an ancient temple in the historical district.
Day 3
I found at the beginning of the trip that my credit card was not being accepted by the ATMs (to any future SASer's reading this, don't trust that your card is going to work in every country, I recommend getting at least $50 in currency cause it will save your life if your card ends up not working) but I was able to find a bank that took my card and passport and withdrew money for me. We spent the day in Tokyo shopping in Shibuya and had some amazing Japanese curry for lunch. We explored the shopping district, Harajuku, where we got free stickers and other stuff from people as gifts. You find out really fast that if you're American many Japanese people will give you small gifts for free. We also received a bag of beans from an old man on the train. We then went to what is Japan's equivalent of Central Park, and saw the large temple in the center of it. We then headed to a night market and found a pet shop that was filled with puppies and kittens that we got to hold and play with. We went to Tokyo tower for the evening and saw the entire panoramic view of Tokyo. We ended up meeting with some of Em's friends who took us to an extremely local Japanese bar, we got a lot of looks because they don't normally get foreigners but it ended up being a blast. They ordered us chicken intestines and a few other weird things but they all ended up being amazing. We almost missed the last train back to our hostel but we made it on.
Day 4
We spent the majority of today wandering around Tokyo again. We got up fairly early to make it to the fish market but it ended up being completely finished by the time we got there and we didn't see anything. The local people also didn't appreciate us being there according to my friend who could understand what they were saying to us. From there we headed to Em's family's restaurant. We found out once we got there that it was a much nicer restaurant then we were expecting and her dad was a well known chef. He cooked us a 5 course meal and I had some of the most amazing food I have ever had. We then made our way back to the center of Tokyo to take an overnight bus from Tokyo to Kyoto which was an 8 hours long and no on slept but is was only $20 compared to the bullet train that was $135.
Day 5
We arrived in Kyoto at 5 am with no where to go and it was pouring rain. We ended up at a 24 hour restaurant and all had noodles for breakfast. It was an extremely rough and long day to say the least with all of us running on zero hours of sleep. We trekked around Kyoto in the pouring rain with our backpacks on looking at temples, took a quick break to eat some amazing green tea noodles then headed out to see one last shrine. Making it to Fushimi Inari Taisha, the last place on our list, made the entire day worth it. The shrine was absolutely breathtaking. There were thousands and thousands of torii arches that lined a path to the very top of the mountain. We ended up making it to the top for sunset which made up for our soaking clothes and sore backs. We then headed to the train station, said goodbye to Em who spent the last three days traveling with us and made our way to the boat in Kobe.
Day 6
I woke up pretty late today but ended up tagging along with some friends to a few Sake museums and spent the final bit of my yen on snacks for the boat. I ended up spending a total of $275 in Tokyo (including travel, sleep, entrance fees, food and souvenirs) which I'm extremely proud of. I then got back on the boat and we made our way out of port to China, which I will be at in less than 48 hours!
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