Japan Day 8: Osaka!

It was so sad leaving Kyoto - I think it was by far my favorite city. And as each day passes, we're feeling a bit more tired and worn, it's getting harder to post lol. 

We ended up waking up a bit late and traveling out to Osaka around noon. The ride was kind of crowded and so quick. I was literally jammed between 3 backpacks. It was the first time I actually felt claustrophobic and motion sickness. 

When we got off, we dropped off our bags at the hotel, got our new wifi device (Yes praise the Lord!) and were off to Dotonburi street to eat and shop. Dotonburi street is a gorgeous, crowded street filled with life! It was tons of shops and food! Its also home to Osakas favorites foods - takoyaki, yakitori, okonomiyaki and gyoza. One of Fel's favorite foods is takoyaki - or octopus balls so we decided to hit up as many placesto eat them. We tried regular balls, balls with egg and crispy balls (lol ayy) They were so tender, yet chewy - it's no wonder they are famous here! My fave was definitely the crispy one! The crunch gave it something so unique - its no wonder their line was so long!

After, we opted to go back to the room and take a nap since I didnt feel great still from the ride. Then when we woke up, it looked like dotonburi street had just woken up too. So we headed back out to hit up the arcades, drink some beers and have delicious sushi. 

Perfect way to cap off the evening! Cant wait to explore Osaka more!

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Japan Day 7: Bamboo forest and tea ceremonies

Kyoto has quickly become one of my favorite cities. Its richly filled with history, tradition and green tea (lol). Left and right people are dressed in gorgeous kimonos to keep the traditions alive. 

Because we were so exhausted from travel and heat, we had to choose between going to the bamboo forest in Arashiyama or to go see the Golden Pavilion. SO sad we missed the golden shrine because that looked SO amazing, but glad we opted to just do one. 

So we woke up early and headed over to the bamboo forest and it was so magical. I can't even put into words just how beautiful this place was. Walking down a huge long path with all these tall bamboo stalks and the sun just trying to peek through was such a gift to see. 

We walked in there for quite some time! We also passed a couple of shrines on the way!

After, we went to go try our first burnt miso ramen. I didnt really know what to expect! The broth had black bits of burnt in it that left this smoky after taste. It was such a unique taste - I'm glad I got to try it!! 

Then we walked through the Nishiki market again since we were in the area. This market is filled with so much life and fun - we got to explore new shops we didnt see the day before! I even found kyoto exclusive green tea kit kats! yum!

We then went to learn about traditional tea ceremonies. We learned a bit of the history of tea ceremonies and got to see how you traditionally make tea. Its such an intricate and calculated process. Each move she made was so purposeful! We then got to make it ourselves too!!! We got the water from the kettle and mixed the teas. We even got to enjoy little sweets before the bitter tea! It was a very worthwhile experience!!

Then we went to namco to play the arcade for felix. He won a couple pikachus pretty quickly but then realized they were bootlegged LOL... so we wont talk too much about that ha ha ha! 

Lastly, we wanted to enjoy the green tea in kyoto, so we went to this cafe that specialized in their matcha parfaits. It definitely hit the matcha spot!!! It was such a delightful mix of so many flavors nd textures - there was matcha cake, jelly, pudding, ice cream, crispies, chestnuts, rice balls and cream! 

needless to say, with all the sweets and tea.. I had quite some difficulty falling asleep.. lol! 

Were going to sleep in today (even though Im already up, but may nap again soon) and travel over to Osaka today! Excited to the fun eats on Dotonburi street!!! Until tomorrow...

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Japan Day 6: Shrines, Markets and Geishas!

We had a couple of set backs today, but God has been very good to us and has uberly blessed us! 

We started our day by packing up all our stuff in Tokyo and heading over to Kyoto. We took the bullet train but they didnt have any reserved seats left, so we had to sit in the unreserved section. Thankfully midway, two seats opened up next to each other!!! By the way, bullet trains are amazing! They cut the time of traveling by so much! Usually it takes 5 hrs driving for this commute but with the bullet train, its about half the time! 

Midway into our ride, our pocket wifi went out and we were stuck with no wifi. luckily, our hotel was right across from Kyoto Station so we were able to find it relatively quickly. We dropped off our luggage at the hotel since it wasnt check in time yet, and then we used their wifi to map out where we were going. 

Because Kyoto Station is known to be more than just a train station - it also has amazing restaurants, snack shops and shopping areas. We decided to grab a quick bite to eat at the conveyer belt sushi. You see sushi on plates along a conveyer belt in front of you and you just choose what you'd like to eat! Man.. sushi in Japan is too good. 

Then we went to Fushimi Inari Shrine. It was such a beautiful place thats famous for its beautiful bright red torii gates! There were endless amounts of them which made such a beautiful sight! 

Adjacent to it were all these small shops and snack stands that had cute little souvenirs and foods! We got our first (of many) matcha ice cream (which kyoto is famous for their matcha!) and it had just the right amount of bitterness and sweetness. So delicious! 

Then we went back to the hotel because my eyelids began to itch heavily from the heat and Felix wanted to call and sort out the wifi ordeal. When we arrived, they asked if we wanted to be upgraded into a better hotel room for $40/night... um YES! And we are glad for it because it is fantastical in here and one night costs more than double the amout we paid! Anyway the wifi thing didn't get fixed so they have to mail us a new one in Osaka when we arrive there tomorrow. 

After resting a bit, we went to Nishiki market which had so much delicious green tea snacks, food, and souvenirs! I ended up picking up some stuff and eating wayy too many green tea items (I'm not mad about it lol). LOL there's felix enjoying himself a huge fish cake!

Then it was time to go geisha hunting in the gion district. It was SO crowded with tourists (guilty). After waiting for a bit... legit I said to Fel, 'guess it wasnt meant to be!' LITERALLY right after I said that, a geisha came walking by the corner!!!!! I nearly keeled over as I tried to snapchat her (lol how unclassy of me). It was such an exhilarating moment!!!! 

Lastly, we went back to Kyoto station to shop around and explore all their goodies. I also went to LUSH to pick up a bath bomb to soak my feet. 

Was such a lovely day despite having no wifi. It was actually kinda nice to not have it and to just truly enjoy each others' company and explore on our own in hopes that we got it right from the map I just looked at lol! 

Another day quickly came and passed! Excited for more green tea goodness in Kyoto!!! 

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Japan Day 5: Sega, Namco + Weird Ice Cream!

So day five was made of Felix's dreams lol. We went to Ikebukuro to go explore the arcade scene. 

First stop, we went to some famous ramen place. It only holds like 12-15 people and the line was so long when we got there at 10:30am! Felix nearly fainted at how delicious it was... In fact, we both got a bowl of their special ramen and I could only eat 1/3 of it (too much!) and he finished the rest of mine! He's such a ramen head. 

As we continued on our journey, we ended up at an intersection with an arcade at one section, round 1 at another and The Sega store at another. Felix must've died and went to heaven multiple times today lol. We played some claw machine action for him! 

In between, I got my fix of sticker pictures. OMG. I thought they made you look weird in america, Japanese picture machines are on a whole other level!!!! Let me show you the pictures so you see what I mean LOL. 

I can't. We literally laughed for 10 minutes straight ha ha ha! We look like alien babies!

Later on, we ended up in Namco, where we got a bit adventurous and tried out some weird flavor ice creams. Wow were they weird.. Felix decided to get 6 'normal' flavors and I got 6 'weird' flavors. So glad we didn't do 12 weird flavors or I may be gagging still. I ended up getting the following flavors: miso noodle, indian curry, beef tongue, corn, eel, and wasabi. Some of them surprised me with how good they were - like indian curry was curry-ish but was surprisingly delightful with is savory + sweet + creaminess. Same with corn! Wasabi was interesting because it has such a strong wasabi kick! the rest I didnt like!! Miso was soo salty. Beef tongue had like huge chunks in it which it kinda tasted like jerky, and eel was so gross... it was SOOOO fishy!! All in all, it was a fun experience and we of course filmed it to share with you the craziness!

We then went to the Pokemon store and shopped for some japanese exclusive products. and of COURSE yes! I ended up with some pikachu ears to wear lol! 

The rest of the day was a blur. We shopped here and there, played lots of claws, and ate random goodies! 

It was a fun and tiring day.. but I left with my belly and heart full. Today was the last night in Tokyo for now (our very last day is also in Tokyo before we head back to NY).. Tomorrow we're traveling over to Kyoto! Excited to see all their sights with rich history, delicious matcha... and I hope to catch some GEISHAS! Lolol .. such a tourist...

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Japan Day 4: Zao Fox Village

Because of Felix's love for animals, we took a longarse trip over to the beloved fox village to hang out with some foxes running wild and free. 

It was quite a trek to get there, but totally made it worth it because we had the JR pass. Although you didnt need to reserve seats, I would recommend doing so because the unreserved seats fill up and get crowded really quickly! We kinda ran like crazy chickens not really knowing where to get on but they have train maps that tell you which are reserved and which arent. 

Because we had about an hour to kill, we went to this little bakery to have a bite to eat...but let's just admire these cute little piggy pastries!!!! 

Anywoo, it was our first ride on the Japan bullet train which took 110 minutes to get from Tokyo to Shiroshizao. If you drove from those two destinations, it would take almost 4 hours. Then we took a cab to the village. It cost a hefty $40 (it was like a 15 minute ride). 

When you got to the fox village, you can tell it's run by locals of the area. (Area was definitely more rural/countryside) None of them really spoke english, but they had English cue cards that told us all the info that we needed and they held it up for us to read haha. Most of it was dont pet the foxes and go in at your own risk lol. 

When you first go in, you see the caged animals first. There are foxes, rabbits, guinea pigs, ferrets, donkeys etc. Kinda like a stinky ghetto zoo. 

Then the main attraction was when you enter the fox village where the foxes run wild and free. They legit just roam around which to me is relatively frightening. Felix kept wanting me to get closer to them, but I was not having it hahah. Dude, when you put all those damn signs of 'be careful, foxes bite' .. you best know imma be careful! By the way, how gorgeous is this white fox!!!

You were also allowed to feed them, only from this platformed area.. which now I know why... because these foxes fight over the food like crazy wild animals (oh wait... lol) It was also really freaky because foxes howling and whimpering sounds like little children whining and screaming. ha ha!!! pretty crazy! And I didnt look this up, so I don't know for sure, but dang - foxes seem to have terrible eyesight! Felix or I would chuck food at them and literally it would hit them and fall on the floor or they would all go chasing after it, fighting one another but it was on the ground on the right not even near where they were haha! 

 

Also every hour they allow for fox holding.  It costs four dollars and they allow you to hold the fox for a minute. You have to wear this jacket just incase they try and bite or something! There were black, white and the orangy/red foxes to hold. Felix and I both got black ones - even though I really wanted to hold a white one! You have to hold it pretty tight in order to not make it move! Not sure how I felt about it... but I mean when would I ever get the chance to hold a fox? 

Then we went to the gift shop where they sold fox tails (from somewhere else).. seemed kinda classless... LOL. -___-

Then we shared a taxi back to the station with some lady so we were able to save some money whoohoo!

Overall, it was a pretty unique experience. It is a pretty long journey around 2.5 hours one way. However if you love animals and are willing to travel and spend the money (around 300+/pp without the JR pass - $200ish for train, $80 for taxi, $10 entrance fee), it is a pretty cool, smelly experience. Although I probably would never do it again, I was glad we were able to have this opportunity!!!

I can't believe were almost done with Tokyo!!! This trip is going by so quickly!!! Onto another day.. please pray for us.. because we're going to Felix's dream area... the arcade. YIKES. until tomorrow...

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Japan Day 3: Meiji Shrine, Harajuku, Shibuya Crossing

If there is one piece of advice I can give all my sweaty friends out there, do not go to Japan in the dead of summer like we did. We are literally outside for 4 hot seconds, and I'm dripping in sweat. Combine that with having to sightsee outdoors, damn - your girl can make an ocean with this sweat! LOL. 

So we started day 3 with Meiji Shrine - this was a Shinto shrine, and the first shrine we visited. It is a beautiful walk in... and I can't tell you how thankful I was for all the trees blocking the pathway we were walking. LOL. 

As you walk in, there is a cleansing water area where you can rinse your hands (and mouth) before you enter. The water was so cool and refreshing on a hot day. 

Then you can purchase a tablet or an 'Ema' to write your wishes, hopes, prayers to hang. Obviously, I was feeling a bit cheap so I didnt want to spend the five dollars on a piece of wood I would have to leave at the shrine. ha ha! It was a beautiful place - however we have complainer #1 (me) who cant stop sweating and complainer #2 (husband) that doesnt care too much about outdoor historical things while out in heat lol. 

Next up, we went to Harajuku where we went down the famously crowded Takeshita Dori Street. It's filled with crepes (that we didnt eat) and all kawaii fun. I even saw the CUTEST cotton candy! I wanted to get it but lets be honest, I don't really enjoy cotton candy and Japanese people hardly have trashcans on the street.. so I decided instead to take a pic of other people's sweet treat LOL. 

Then we went to Shibuya Crossing. At this point, my phone had completely overheated and was freaking out so I couldn't take any photos! However it was an awesome shopping area and we got to walk across the famous Shibuya Crossing! It's the most congested cross walk with the most people... I think.. in the world! It was pretty nuts! 

After my phone cooled, we ended up out at dinner. I knowww, no 7eleven dinner!!! LOL. We went to the famous Sushi Bar Yasuda. I will have to admit, it was pretty disappointing for me and seemed to be a pretty big tourist spot. I accidentally reserved us a spot at a table rather than the bar, but I think I preferred it. Although the chef was very outgoing and knowledgeable, forgive me for saying this.. but he had a very pompous, prideful air to him. He even said that he enjoys talking to his customers but no locals really know him because he keeps to himself. He also talked about how none of his assistants or people he taught were good enough and that all of them only care about money which is why he works alone lol.

 

The sushi though? Was pretty good. He caters your omakase to what you like so I got my fair share of fatty tuna and salmon and felix got his of uni. While the pieces of fish were delicious (and much smaller than all the other sushi places weve been), the rice was much more tart and vinegar-y than I liked. He also didnt put wasabi on anything and didnt put our soy sauce bc he said it was flavored already. 

The funniest part for me was when this NY-er guy got yelled at by him for putting ginger on his sushi. He said it was terrible etiquette and putting the ginger on basically negates the flavor of the fish. Ha Ha!! so embarrassing.. good thing I looked up all the sushi etiquette before I left lol. 

We left with an extremely large bill (although we did eat 21 pieces... so full. we tried to tell them we were full but they said just 3 more pieces! lol) and although it was an interesting experience, I probably wouldn't do it again. I think I wouldve rather gone to Sushi Dai again to wait for 3 hours! 

Needless to say, I was missing my 7eleven dinner (lol).. so we still took a stroll in and I picked up some hagen daaz white peach ice cream to make myself feel better lol. 

Another great day with new experiences... but now, we're were off an another adventure to the fox village -- will let you know how it goes tomorrow!! 

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Japan Day 2: Odaiba

This was one of the days Fel planned because there were definitely more 'him' activities! 

We went to Odaiba which was a beautiful area near the water! We were thinking to go there for the full day and stay until night time to see the Rainbow bridge in action, but alas, jetlag has struck us again lol!

It was still a beautiful sight to see during the day though!... although it was so humid! Hopefully you can see that little peek of the Rainbow bridge behind us!

We then went to the trick art museum. It was definitely a funny concept! It was a museum of different paintings that look 3d, so when u stand in a certain way, it looks like you are part of it! We had such a fun time trying to figure out how to get the best shots! 

This area had lots of shopping you could do. A lot was very western stores, but then you had a lot of fun vintage Japanese shops that were so fun to browse! 

Felix's fave (second fave to tomago) snack is takoyaki - octopus balls! So we stopped by the takoyaki museum to go try some of their famous balls (hehe). Oh they were delicious! They were so soft and tender inside with a huge piece of octopus! yum! 

Now that our appetite was wet, it was time to have our first RAMEN! I'll be honest, I followed along, so I have no clue where we were, but there was this cute little food court of Ramen shops. You ordered through a vending machine and got your ramen when you sat in the shop. Now I'm not a huge fan of Ramen.. but this was DELICIOUS! Felix got a regular bowl of ramen (of course with extra noods and egg) and I got the tsukamen ramen with thicker noodles that you dip. The noodles were so chewy and perfectly cooked.. and that egg was so soft, perfectly seasoned and delicious. I'm drooling a little thinking about it. Japanese people love a good meat to fat ratio, so anytime I tried to order a leaner meat, it always came with a sliver of fat with it... so needless to say, my bowl of soup had a ton of fat pieces floating on top lol. However, it was so delicious and Fel and I both slurped our noodles!

 

Then Fel and I went to his favorite place... the claw machine! In particular... Round 1! Yes we won, but I'll save that for a later post when we see the damage of all his toys at the end of our trip (praying it wont be too much lol) They have different scenarios kinda set up in how to win. Usually in America they just have one big toy u just gotta pick up and win. Here though, one of the most popular is a sticky bar with the toy dangling from it where you have to get it loose. And lucky for our wallets, its only 100yen to play once!! (about a dollar US) In Cali, it was like $3.50! 

Omg, writing this out makes me realize how much we actually did lol. So I became lamesauce and the bottoms of my feet started hurting, so Fel ran around finding a place to sit and lo and behold... Hello Kitty Cafe! It was so adorable and it had a huge beautiful crystal Hello Kitty to take a pic with! I also wanted to take a pic of a gorgeous table scape, but an annoying lady was sitting there for forever :/ Anyway, I totally got made fun of by fel for buying a 10 dollar ice cream parfait, but it was so pretty... so well worth LOL 

Last up, we went to leisureland to go on their ferris wheel. Anytime we go to a different city around the world, it's a tradition to always go on the ferris wheel! This felt like the slowest and safest ferris wheel I've ever been on.. HA. however it gave us a good moment to take in the view of Japan! It was gorgeous! 

Alas, we became too tired and couldnt last until night time, so we stuck with our routine of going home during rush hour (dude so crowded lol) and grabbing a quick bite from 7eleven to eat in our hotel room before we hit the sack before 9 lol. 

It was an eventful day - but excited to finally do some SHOPPING tomorrow!! woot!!!

 

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We made it to Japan!!

I thought rather than coming back home and having to post a million pictures of Japan, I would blog about our adventures while we were in Japan. I figured while I still have a bit of jetlag, it would be a productive use of time for the early morning!!! 

Yesterday was our first full day of Japan. Because of our jetlag, we opted to go to Sushi Dai which is a famous sushi restaurant in the Tsukiji fish market area. The restaurant opens at 5am, but the lines already begin forming before 3am! We left our hotel around 2:30am and took a taxi (no running metros at this time) to the area. Its dark and my phone maps did not do a fantastic job of leading us to the right place hahah. The drop point is correct, so you just kind of have to navigate yourself to get close to the destination point! And surprisingly at 2:45, there are a lot of people awake and already going to work, so asking someone where we were going wasnt too bad either. 

When we arrived around 3:10, we were #9 and #10 - mind you this restaurant only holds 12-13 people at one time. I was so excited to be in the first seating! the next three people arrived at 3:15, so any later than that you were already bumped to the next seating. 

(This was the line at around 4:30am as the sun was coming up!)

It was such a unique experience for me since I've never tried omakase before. He placed sushi after sushi in front of me. Many pieces I didnt need to dip in soy sauce because he carefully designed each piece to be bursting with flavor.  It was such a delicious first meal!! Sushi is such an art here and it was so awesome amd mesmerising to watch him create each piece of sushi for me to eat!

When we finished... it was 5:40am LOL. So early. So we walked around the market a bit, Fel got his tomagoyaki fix and then we went back to the hotel to take a nap before venturing out for the rest of the day. 

We went to explore Shinjuku, which was such a fun shopping area. We hit up at least 3 department stores, a little arcade and some shinjuku station shopping. We had lunch at some katsu place at the top of one of the department stores. Man their katsu is so crispy and airy here... and their miso soup is so good in Japan. Ay how will I ever eat Japanese food again in NY?? lol!

 In the department stores, I wanted to buy some highend beauty products that we could only get in Japan like Three, Addiction, and Suqqu. Was feeling a bit frugal and only ended up getting one item from Three. Maybe I'll feel more dangerous next time LOL. 

We even found the It's Demo x Pokemon collab and bought some pokemon cosmetics LOL... Fel convinced me I needed it because it was exclusive and Pokemon Go is so popular right now... haha! I'm definitely gonna go back to NY and be like why did I buy this hahah!

Then we got lost in Shinjuku station. By that time it was early evening, we were both exhausted and had already walked over 20,000 steps according to google health. There were just too many different things going on in Shinjuku Station: a bajillion different metro lines, shops, restaurants, etc. We had such a hard time navigating around. I was such a baby, feeling tired, grumpy and frustrated lol. Luckily Felix is amazing in situations like this, sensing my frustration, he navigated us back home pretty quickly.

 

(This doesnt do the beautiful station justice, but its huge and crowded!!! lol)

We arrived back near our hotel around 6, but since we were both so tired and spent.. and since we had two pretty lavish and expensive meals already during the day, we decided to just hit up 7 eleven to pick up a little dinner and head to bed. Asia's 7elevens are BOMB! Man I have to make a dedicated post to ode to the amazing 7elevens here so you'll just have to wait for that one LOL. 

Overall, it was a great, full first day! Japan has so mucb to offer... can't wait to explore more tomorrow!!!  

If you want to follow our adventures in Japan - come find us on snapchat @ jesslee422snaps ❤️

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