Japan Trip

[GodisanAtheist]

Writing from the Shinkansen between Nagoya and Tokyo right now.

First week Kyoto as home base and day trips out to Myajima Island/Hiroshima/Himeji/Osaka/etc.

Then a couple days in Nakatsugawa to hike some portions of the Nakasendo trail.

Last few days will be in Tokyo for some food/shopping/Disney Sea etc.

First time in Japan, shocked if it will be my last.

Friend joked that Japan is where American exceptionalism goes to die and he's kinda right. Beautiful country, friendly polite people (despite their xenophobia), clean, prompt, cheap, safe, delicious food, fantastic snacks, incredible public transport...

 

[nisryus]

Writing from the Shinkansen between Nagoya and Tokyo right now.

First week Kyoto as home base and day trips out to Myajima Island/Hiroshima/Himeji/Osaka/etc.

Then a couple days in Nakatsugawa to hike some portions of the Nakasendo trail.

Last few days will be in Tokyo for some food/shopping/Disney Sea etc.

First time in Japan, shocked if it will be my last.

Friend joked that Japan is where American exceptionalism goes to die and he's kinda right. Beautiful country, friendly polite people (despite their xenophobia), clean, prompt, cheap, safe, delicious food, fantastic snacks, incredible public transport...

That's a good itinerary. Have fun and take more pics!

 

[nisryus]

Some more random pics.


The kid had joked.. why they have a floating poop on top of the building? XD





and yes, the kid sneak this in


From a place that was known for steamed eels.

 

[nisryus]

Someone said hi..


oh.. Monkey Park

 

[SteveGrabowski]

I had to look up what those meant lol...

Sadly, no. With the wife by my side 24/7, I couldn't even dare to take a peek at one of those girls (dressed like maids promoting their cafes) on the street!

Wonder if there are any maid cafes where the girls speak English. My 5 year old niece and 7 year old nephew would get a kick out of them bringing drinks that they say will turn them into a cat and then doing the nyan-nyan with the hands up in the air like cat paws. They'd probably really enjoy the cat cafes too. I really gotta go to Japan sometime. My mom is from Hachinohe and I can speak a bit of the language (though can read it much better). Can't lie, I would have to go to the Dragon Quest theme park too and pick up a metal slime lol.

 

[nisryus]

Wonder if there are any maid cafes where the girls speak English. My 5 year old niece and 7 year old nephew would get a kick out of them bringing drinks that they say will turn them into a cat and then doing the nyan-nyan with the hands up in the air like cat paws. They'd probably really enjoy the cat cafes too. I really gotta go to Japan sometime. My mom is from Hachinohe and I can speak a bit of the language (though can read it much better). Can't lie, I would have to go to the Dragon Quest theme park too and pick up a metal slime lol.

There were so many cat cafes, I simply lost count.... what's this obsession with cats?

About the DQ theme park, I heard about that but we didn't have the time to go. In fact, i wish I could have made this a three weeks trip...

 

[SteveGrabowski]

The kid had joked.. why they have a floating poop on top of the building? XD
View attachment 125651

Japan is weird when it comes to poop. My grandma used to call me unchi-boy when I was really little and unchi is this very kiddie way of saying poop in Japanese. Then one of my favorite book series I used to study kanji is called うんこ漢字ドリル, pronounced unko kanji doriru, eg Poop Kanji Drill. Unko is a slightly less kiddie way of saying poop (you can use kuso for shit, but it's not vulgar, in fact I can only think of two vulgar Japanese words). They're review books targeting Japanese kids. The example sentences are hilarious, like for 体 (loosely mean something like 'body') one of them is 「公園で体操しながらうんこをしてみよう。」 which is something like "Let's go try taking a poop while doing gymnastics in the park" and another is 「体育の先生がうんこをもらしたまま授業をつづけている。」which is like "Our PE teacher continues the class having pooped himself."

 

[igor_kavinski]

Japan is weird when it comes to poop.

I think China is same too. I was chatting with a Chinese girl once and suddenly she said, I will go take a poop hehe. No other girl ever in my life has said that to me in the middle of a chat.

My mom is from Hachinohe

She didn't miss it and didn't take you to visit?

 

[igor_kavinski]

Writing from the Shinkansen between Nagoya and Tokyo right now.

Was this pre-planned or did you see the pics in this thread and jump on a plane right away???

Going to visit any places like a techno park or something to see how they make console/PC games etc.?

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Was this pre-planned or did you see the pics in this thread and jump on a plane right away???

Going to visit any places like a techno park or something to see how they make console/PC games etc.?

-Been planned for a long time actually. Initially wanted to go in 2021 but Japan didn't reopen and we ended up in Egypt instead.

This year is wife's 40th and she really wanted to visit Japan so she planned the trip and here we are.

Some observations:

-Everyone here walks with purpose. There is no (very little) loitering, no talking on the phone and walking, no eating and walking. You leave your front door cause you have somewhere you need to be, apparently. It's really refreshing. Public spaces are refreshingly quiet. No assholes blasting music, no one having loud screamo conversations on their phones or just with other people in general. Silence is fucking golden, life is like an insane ASMR experience in many places.

-There are very few trash cans and only at hub locations like train stations and stuff. You sit, you eat, you pack your trash into a plastic bag or your pockets or somewhere, and then you throw it away when you get to a hub. There is very little litter and I have no doubt any litter I saw was likely from tourists.

-People don't sit down. It is really wild how few sitting areas there are here. You sit on the metro/train/bus. But there isn't a bench every 50 ft like we're used to in the US. You can go a whole ass 12 hour day touring here and literally never have your ass touch a seat the whole time . There are also very few fat Japanese people, everyone, including old people, are in good shape. Paging @BonzaiDuck re walking is the elixir of life.

-Shit is ON TIME. Like, no joke, if the train says it'll be there at 9:37am, it will be there. If it's leaving at 9:38, it will leave at that time. It is really shocking how prompt everything is. I get the impression wasting someone's time is the worse kind of disrespect in Japan and I'm here for it.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Some observations:

Sounds like you are on some other planet!

 

[GodisanAtheist]

To compliment the pics shared by @nisryus


-The complentary breakfast from our mid-tier hotel this morning. It tastes just as good as it looks.


- Run of the mill view and vibe from the Nakasendo trail between Magome and Tsumago.


-Smokey warm tavern on the Nakasendo trail that let travelers dry off from the rain and offered a nice hot cup of tea.


-Kisayki (traditional) lunch over a river at the end of our Mt. Kurama hike. The restaurant puts boards over the river and the water flows below you while you eat.


-Hiroshima Peace Park. This place was powerful and I don't normally get emotional but the weight of the place got to me. Wife's grandfather was in the initial invasion force that was supposed to attack the home Islands and got turned into a relief mission after the bombs dropped. He would have likely died if it wasn't for the bombs, but that so many people had to die for him to live made it feel like the devil's bargain.


-"Floating" Tori Gate at Miyajima Island.

 

[nisryus]

To compliment the pics shared by @nisryus

View attachment 125669
-The complentary breakfast from our mid-tier hotel this morning. It tastes just as good as it looks.

View attachment 125670
- Run of the mill view and vibe from the Nakasendo trail between Magome and Tsumago.

View attachment 125671
-Smokey warm tavern on the Nakasendo trail that let travelers dry off from the rain and offered a nice hot cup of tea.

View attachment 125673
-Kisayki (traditional) lunch over a river at the end of our Mt. Kurama hike. The restaurant puts boards over the river and the water flows below you while you eat.

View attachment 125674
-Hiroshima Peace Park. This place was powerful and I don't normally get emotional but the weight of the place got to me. Wife's grandfather was in the initial invasion force that was supposed to attack the home Islands and got turned into a relief mission after the bombs dropped. He would have likely died if it wasn't for the bombs, but that so many people had to die for him to live made it feel like the devil's bargain.

View attachment 125675
-"Floating" Tori Gate at Miyajima Island.

That breakfast looked super tasty.

I always want to see that floating tori gate too.

Yes, we noticed people in Japan carry bag to hold their trashes. We did the same and only threw them away when we stopped by a convenient store or in a train station. That maybe one reason why their streets are so clean, as no one litters.

If a train is late, they have announcements and which only happened twice during our stay in Tokyo. One time was due to accident with passenger... we wondered what happened... Another time was due one of the boarding gate malfunctioned at one of the station.

 

[nisryus]

Now that I have time to look (thanks to jetlag everyone in the family couldn't sleep until like 8am for a few hours since we returned to Texas), I found more pics.

Advice for GodisanAtheist, as soon as you board your flight home, start adjusting to the time zone of your destination/home. We couldn't' do it due to mechanical issue with the flight, and the subsequent rebooking mess, so we are having extremely difficult time now.

One of the breakfast buffet we tried.

These guys sang and danced their way around while we were in Tokyo Tower. The lead guy was probably an opera singer too.



Bento while on the shinkansen



Look who is here?! =]


So far only one placed we had lunch which was surprisingly bad, i forgot the name and Google map doesn't helps much. But the foods were salty and totally not looked like what they were on their front display. It was somewhere in Dotonbori near the Shogun Burger (initially we wanted to go there but the line was around the block...)

The pork buns from 551 Horai were very good. You must try them when you are in Osaka as they have fronts everywhere.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

@nisryus

We only day tripped to Osaka/Dotonbori area and it was a lot. I seem to thrive on that kind of frenetric alcohol fueled energy (and my son to a certain extent sans the alcohol) but the wife and kids have a really rough time with it and started burning out hard with the noise and smells and crowds and full spectrum sensory assault.

Ended up having some Omurice at Dearbros and it was stupid good Japanese "carney" food. A big scoop of rice, a soft scrambled egg poured over the top, then a huge scoop of teriyaki beef or fried chicken or whatever the hell scooped over the top of that with some dashi/seaweed seasoning etc.

Definitely going on the short list for final meals on this earth.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

I think China is same too. I was chatting with a Chinese girl once and suddenly she said, I will go take a poop hehe. No other girl ever in my life has said that to me in the middle of a chat.



She didn't miss it and didn't take you to visit?

Moved when she was either three or five, I forget.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Moved when she was either three or five, I forget.

Do you ever wonder if it's your destiny to move to Japan?

 

[SteveGrabowski]

View attachment 125674
-Hiroshima Peace Park. This place was powerful and I don't normally get emotional but the weight of the place got to me. Wife's grandfather was in the initial invasion force that was supposed to attack the home Islands and got turned into a relief mission after the bombs dropped. He would have likely died if it wasn't for the bombs, but that so many people had to die for him to live made it feel like the devil's bargain.

Mindblowing that Genbaku Dome survived when Little Boy exploded about 1000 feet directly above it. Ugh the war was hell. My great uncle starved to death after his dad died in the mines and my teenage grandmother married way down to a GI in the occupation force to survive the crushing poverty of postwar Japan. Grave of the Fireflies really fucked me up because it was pretty similar to the story of my grandmother and her little brother.

Tell me you got some Hirsoshima style okonomiyaki lol. Love making that stuff at home.

 

[nisryus]

Mindblowing that Genbaku Dome survived when Little Boy exploded about 1000 feet directly above it. Ugh the war was hell. My great uncle starved to death after his dad died in the mines and my teenage grandmother married way down to a GI in the occupation force to survive the crushing poverty of postwar Japan. Grave of the Fireflies really fucked me up because it was pretty similar to the story of my grandmother and her little brother.

Tell me you got some Hirsoshima style okonomiyaki lol. Love making that stuff at home.

Indeed war was hell.

My grand parents had similar experience. They watched the soldiers dragged and bayonet a group of kids just for fun, had their parents go pick up their bodies and then shot them, all the while laughing. Grandpa lost everything and couldn't recovered, died of a broken heart. Grandma sneaked down to Hong Kong with my father and uncle to escape.

That was the reason many still don't trust the Japanese government as to these days they still down played many of the acts that were committed during the war.

 

[nisryus]

anyway...

back to happier stuff.

Most people left Japan with suit cases of stuffs.... we didn't. I think the wife only spent like 80 bucks on those beauty face masks. The kid and I each bought a 40k figure, and before we left Japan two box of crackers!

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Mindblowing that Genbaku Dome survived when Little Boy exploded about 1000 feet directly above it. Ugh the war was hell. My great uncle starved to death after his dad died in the mines and my teenage grandmother married way down to a GI in the occupation force to survive the crushing poverty of postwar Japan. Grave of the Fireflies really fucked me up because it was pretty similar to the story of my grandmother and her little brother.

Tell me you got some Hirsoshima style okonomiyaki lol. Love making that stuff at home.

-Okonomiyaki is a staple at our house, but not the Hiroshima style with the noodz. We missed it this round but we'll make it at home a few times and then have it again on our next trip out here.

 

[nisryus]

-Okonomiyaki is a staple at our house, but not the Hiroshima style with the noodz. We missed it this round but we'll make it at home a few times and then have it again on our next trip out here.

This trip I didn't tasted any Okonomiyaki (the kid and the wife did because i ordered a curry dish.. I know i know, please don't judge me on this because i love curry!)

Can i make it myself with a frying pan, or do i really need a griddle?

 

[Brainonska511]

anyway...

back to happier stuff.

Most people left Japan with suit cases of stuffs.... we didn't. I think the wife only spent like 80 bucks on those beauty face masks. The kid and I each bought a 40k figure, and before we left Japan two box of crackers!

We hadn't been sure of what we were going to buy, so we just packed with room to spare: my wife and I packed carry-on sized rollers (that we checked), each had our standard backpack, and each had a duffel bag that was maybe half filled (with clothes and toiletries for a day or two in case of lost check bags); this left us with plenty of room to carry any gifts back.

But I can certainly see people picking up enough for fill another suitcase, especially if you buy a lot of clothes and stuff.

 

[sdifox]

This trip I didn't tasted any Okonomiyaki (the kid and the wife did because i ordered a curry dish.. I know i know, please don't judge me on this because i love curry!)

Can i make it myself with a frying pan, or do i really need a griddle?

nothing wrong with a frying pan as long as it is thick enough.

 

[nakedfrog]

anyway...

back to happier stuff.

Most people left Japan with suit cases of stuffs.... we didn't. I think the wife only spent like 80 bucks on those beauty face masks. The kid and I each bought a 40k figure, and before we left Japan two box of crackers!

I'm almost certain I'd be mailing myself stuff home from a Hard Off or two.