Three weeks ago, I got to go to Tokyo with my dad. I didn’t think I’d be back in Japan for years, but the opportunity presented itself, and how could I say no?
This time around, I wanted to do a few of the things I didn’t get to last year, starting with the Studio Ghibli Museum. While volunteering one day in New York, I met a guy who had just been to Tokyo and gave me a heads up, saying you can only buy tickets to the museum in advance. Good to know. So, about three weeks before my trip, I went to the Japanese travel agency in Midtown to buy tickets, but I was three months too late. According to the travel agent, if you want to score tickets, you have to purchase them at the beginning of each season, no matter when you’re traveling.
Japanese travel agency off of 34th.
So, I didn’t get to the Ghibli Museum, but here’s what we did do:
(Aside, I didn’t bring my camera, so these are all phone pics.)
Day One:
One of my best friends just happened to be visiting Tokyo with her family at the same time as my dad and me, so after we landed, we met up with them at our hotel, the Grand Hyatt Tokyo, then walked to Ippudo for dinner. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and called it a night. The hotel was really nice given its location in Roppongi Hills. It had a great view of Tokyo Tower, but honestly, for the price, I’d say the Tokyu Stay around the corner that I stayed at my first time in Tokyo was just as nice.
Day Two:
On Monday, it was a bit rainy. We went over to Shibuya and walked around the shops. My dad was very impressed by the famous crossing and the general cleanliness of the city. Before heading back to the hotel, of course I had to pick up a Pablo cheese tart. *fire emojis*
Day Three:
The next day was pretty full. We spent some time walking around the famous Tsukiji Market, the world’s largest fish market. We tagged along with a group of Aussies who quickly befriended us, and together wove through the aisles looking at the varieties of catch as well as jumping out of the path of speeding trollies. We opted not to show up at 2:30am in order to get tickets for the tuna auction, but even in the latter morning when we arrived, the market was still pretty cool. It’s relocating soon, so it was nice to get to see the original space.
entrance
carving tuna
puffer fish
ink
After the market, we subwayed over to the Meji Shrine. Very majestic. It was refreshing to be surrounded by green and hear the wind through the leaves. In the main clearing of the shrine, there was a giant tree where visitors could hang prayers.
prayers and wishes.
From there, we strolled through some of the shops around the Omotesando subway stop and then over to Harajuku, which felt very touristy but was enjoyable nonetheless.
On Wednesday, we took a tour of the Imperial Palace Gardens. Fun history stuff. The palace itself no longer exists, but it was still cool to see the gardens around it.
green tea
old meets new
We then toured Rikugian Gardens. The Rikugien Gardens felt more vast and also more wild than the Imperial Palace Gardens. There was a big lake in the center, beside which was a tea house where we had matcha.
That night, I took my dad to see Asakusa. We had some barbecue, then went over to the SkyTree. In the base of the SkyTree is a mall with tons of shops and restaurants. Who knew? Hidden outside is a small Studio Ghibli store.
ghibli store
ghibli store
Day Five:
On our last full day, I had the morning to myself, so I visited a stationary store, something I wouldn’t make my dad suffer through.
When we met up in the afternoon, we walked around Roppongi Hills. A chill end to the trip.
I love Tokyo. The next time I visit — who knows when that’ll be — I’d love to get to the Ghibli Museum, trek down to Mount Fuji, and up to Nikko, but even if that never happens, I’m very thankful to have had the opportunity to experience this beautiful city twice.
The hagwon I work at gives us two weeks of vacation — one in winter, one in summer. Last week was the summer vacation. Originally, I wanted to go to Thailand, but for a number of reasons, the timing wasn’t ideal, so I went to Osaka for a few days with two of my co-workers instead. It was a great decision. Here’s what happened.
Day One:
We landed at Kansai International Airport on Saturday evening. My two coworkers and I were all on separate flights, and I was staying at a different hotel, so after failing to find them in the airport, I decided to go check into my hotel and meet them later for dinner. I wasn’t sure how this would work out, but I made it no problem — after pushing about every button on the train pass vending machine trying to figure out how to buy a ticket. (Hint, there’s a button in the upper left hand corner that says “English.”) I was low-key proud of myself for making it all the way to the hotel without a problem (praise God).
I stayed at the APA Villa Hotel Yodoyabashi. It’s in a great location, one block from a main subway line, but not in a super touristy area, so it’s quiet at night. The room I had wasn’t as luxurious as the Tokyu Stay one I had in Tokyo, but it was clean and comfortable. Plus, the service was great, and it had a delicious bakery on the first floor (and an onsen in the basement, if you like those).
The hotel my coworkers stayed at was almost 30 mins from the central part of the city, so by the time they actually checked into their place, everyone was too tired and hungry to meet up. Instead, we all grabbed food from convenience stores and made plans to find each other in the morning.
dinner, night one. (i was really excited about having blue corn chips, but they were too peppery for me.)
Day Two:
On Sunday, I met my coworkers at Umeda Station. Despite being one of the most-travelled stations in Japan, I casually ended up running into them in a crowd (again, praise God), so we had no problem finding each other. We decided to have a chill day, walking around with no real plans.
Our first stop was a nearby Namco arcade with plenty of gambling stations as well as DDR, this drumming game that looked mad intense, and some other classic video games like Tekken (Tekken 3 on the Playstation was my childhood). We decided to play a round of Mario Kart, which I almost won. Not salty… It was fun.
We then went out in search of food. It was still pretty early so the only place we could find was this dark, smokey shop where the menu was entirely in Japanese, and there was only one person working the shop, an old man running between the main kitchen, serving-line, and customers. He was a bau$ and super-friendly. Anyway, after struggling to order for about 20 mins (the old man was so nice to us, despite our rough Japanese), we finally ended up with bowls of deliiiiiicios ramen. If you know me, you know eating good food is high on my vacation priority list (and general life priority list), so after this, I was good for the day.
With full stomachs, we went to check out the Pokemon Center in Umeda Station– mainly just a gift shop, then had a snack at Beard Papa.
arcade.
noodle shop.
Pokemon pasta.
Pokemon seaweed.
the Pokemon Center.
Beard Papa cream puffs.
From Umeda, we went down to”Den Den Town,” an electronics and anime district. It took us a long time to find it, but once we got there, we were greeted by stall after stall of Best Buy-type stores. After walking for a bit, we had dinner at the McDonalds of Japan, Yoshinoya, famous for their three dollar beef and rice bowls.
We ended the day in Namba, a pretty touristy area with a lot of shops and restaurants. After navigating through a shopping plaza and locating the famous Glico sign, we strolled along the canal to enjoy the breeze on the water (it was beautiful) and had some takoyaki (a popular octopus street food). After that, we called it a night.
famous Glico man.
Namba.
canal.
cooking takoyaki.
takoyaki.
Day Three:
On Monday, we went to the tourism center in Umeda Station to pick up these “Osaka Amazing Passes” my coworker found out about online. Gold. The pass was about $23 and gave us unlimited subway access for the day, plus access to almost all of the major tourist attractions in the area and discounts at restaurants. It was a great deal and allowed for us to see a lot in a short period of time. The only thing was that many attractions were closed on Mondays, so if you plan to buy a pass, take that into consideration. Here’s where we ended up going:
pass and guide book with great maps, directions, and other info inside.
list of attractions available.
Shitennoji Temple — pretty paintings on the walls of the temple, you can climb the stairs to the top of the tall pagoda
Shitennoji Temple.
on the way to temple.
Tsutenkaku Tower — very nostalgic, makes you feel like you’re at a World’s Fair from some bygone era when the women of Japan wore their beautiful kimono’s daily…, you can take the elevator up to 360º panoramic viewing floors, there’s also a nice little museum and ice cream parlor inside
view of zoo.
takoyaki Hello Kitty inside.
zoo advert.
Osaka Castle — amazing, humbling really, maybe my favorite part of the entire trip, great museum inside the castle and beautiful castle grounds you can explore
Osaka Castle.
view from the top.
kids’ martial arts class on the castle grounds.
there were so many people on casual runs around the castle. i mean, if i had a castle in my backyard, i’d probably do my cardio there too…
snack break. (it was sooooo hot)
two giant moats around the castle. each stone about 5ft^3. how on earth did they build those without machines???
Tambori River Cruise — boat ride on the canal, relaxing
Since we ended the day back in the Namba area, we stopped for dessert at Pablo. Now, I remember seeing huge queues at these shops in Tokyo and was curious as to what the fuss was about. We soon found out that Pablo chefs delicious Japanese cheesecake. More like a custard tart in my opinion, but lets not get into semantics. Heavenly culinary goodness is heavenly culinary goodness.
the crown jewel.
A beyond solid day.
Day Four:
For my last full day in Japan (my coworkers stayed on after me), we actually headed out of Osaka to Kyoto. I can’t hear the word “Kyoto” without thinking of this cover:
Good, right? Anyway, we used a second train pass we bought at the Umeda Tourism Center to get to Kyoto. The train ride took maybe 45ish minutes, and after the train we had to take the 205 bus to our first stop, the famous Kinkaku-ji Temple. It was crazy to be in the presence of a sight I’d previously only seen in pictures, like it didn’t feel real. We went around the golden temple (the layout is designed for a quick walk through, to keep traffic moving), then had some ice cream because it was mad hot.
from the trail.
After that, we went on to live out our Memoirs of a Geishaand Princess Mononoke dreams at the Fushimi Inari Shrine. It was insane as well. The gates were gorgeous, and there were thousands of them. I had no idea. You can easily make a three-hour hiking trip of the trails under the gates if you wanted. We only did about 45 minutes of that — up to a little pond.
the gates.
guardian foxes.
trinkets and souvenirs past the first set of gates.
pond.
entryway.
Needless to say, Kyoto was well worth the train trip. I’d recommend checking out both temples.
We went back to Osaka for dinner and then walked around for a bit. To my mega surprise, we stumbled upon a Café du Monde. After flipping out and voicing my doubt concerning whether or not it was a certified establishment, I whisked my coworkers inside to introduce them to beignets. Café du Monde is a famous chain of coffee shops in New Orleans known for their French doughnuts. I lived in NOLA for a while as a kid and hadn’t had the treat since then. I hypothesized an apocryphal story — which ended up actually being true, haha — about a Japanese businessman visiting New Orleans and falling in love with the dessert to the point he opened a shop in Japan. So, apparently, Café du Monde is nowhere in the world except New Orleans and Japan. I certainly was not complaining.
Café du Monde
Day Five:
So, technically, my trip was four days, and I flew out on the fifth, but my flight was in the late afternoon, so I asked my hotel to hold my suitcase for me after I checked out, which they most graciously did. Then I headed back to Umeda Station to go shopping. I really wasn’t planning on it, buuuuut, Japan is so stylish, and unlike Korea, they let you try clothes on before you buy them. So, I went shopping in the Hankyu Department Store and the awesome HEP Five building across the street. Claps for Osaka fashion. What was on day four an extremely affordable trip turned into a maxed budget one pretty quickly.
Overall, the trip was amazing. I’m still kind of in awe and can’t really think of the proper words to describe all the sights. Even the flight back to Korea had me speechless.
leaving Japan.
Some of you know my actual working experience in Korea hasn’t exactly been ideal. There have definitely been “lows”, but being able to do things like this has certainly helped balance out my time in Asia. I feel really blessed to have had this experience.
Just before the play I was working on kicked into full gear, we had a long weekend because of Buddha’s Birthday and Children’s Day, both national holidays in Korea. In Japan, the same holidays make up what is known as “Golden Week:” April 29th – Shōwa Day, May 3rd – Constitution Memorial Day, May 4th – Greenery Day, and May 5th – Children’s Day. Taking advantage of this break, my friend and I decided to take a trip to Tokyo. It was one of the best trips I’ve taken in years, so let me start from the beginning:
Saturday, May 3rd
We touched down at Haneda on Saturday evening. We chose Haneda over Narita because Narita is like an hour cab ride away from central Tokyo, and we didn’t want too much extra travel time. We easily took the airport bus straight from Haneda to Shibuya, and a cab from Shibuya to our hotel, the Tokyu Stay Aoyama Premier.
We decided on a hotel rather than a hostel because, well, “treat yo self;” it’s vacation. During our trip to Hong Kong we stayed in a hostel, and while it got the job done as a place to sleep, it was cramped, dirty, and way expensive for what we got.
The Tokyu Stay Aoyama Premier was just the opposite. Primarily for business travelers, the hotel’s single-occupancy rooms were all that was left when we booked, but it was cool. The rooms were a great size, clean, and offered a stellar view of Tokyo. The bathroom had a full tub, and the bedroom area had a desk, TV, fridge, and memory foam mattress. If you have a Korean rock bed like I do, then the hotel is worth it just for the mattress.
After checking into the hotel, my friend and I decided to explore the area a bit. We soon learnt we were in the perfect location, somewhere like East 5th Avenue, walking distance from everything.
Despite our flight only being two hours long, Asiana still fed us (take note US airlines), so we weren’t too hungry when we arrived, but after a while walking, we decided to have dinner. We stopped for ramen at this place called Soba Combo Watanabe. It was probably a chain, but shoooot, dat ramen was bangin’. Here, we also learnt that knowing no Japanese was not a problem. We were preparing to order using our “Basic Japanese for Dummies” app, but the waitstaff was so incredibly accommodating, they just spoke to us in English with no condescension about it.
Once our food had digested a bit, we walked down to this underground bar my friend wanted to check out called Muse. They carded us at the door — which has never happened in Korea — and then gestured for us to enter. We went down to the bar, which looked a bit like a beach resort’s poolside grotto, and quickly realized the guy to girl ration was very much skewed left… Behind the bar, there was a second room that felt like a secret layer, where a DJ mixed from a booth while a small group of people danced on the dance floor. Dancing is illegal in Tokyo unless in a certified nightclub, and even then, I think it has to stop at a certain time. #footloose
After Muse, we went across the street to meet a friend of mine at Gonpachi, a famous izakaya — kind of like a Japanese tapas house. Supposedly, Gonpachi is respected both by locals and tourists alike. While foreigners are drawn to the doors because the restaurant served as a shooting location for “Kill Bill,” Tokyo natives still like to eat there as well. Prices are a bit steep, but the food doesn’t disappoint.
When done catching up with my friend, we called it a night and headed back to our hotel. So after only about eight hours in Tokyo, we were fans.
Sunday May 4th
On Sunday, we started off the morning with our hotel’s continental breakfast. Nice spread. Then, we headed to the subway. The subway was super easy to navigate and not nearly as intimidating as we were expecting it to be given the rumors.
also had pancakes, eggs, porridge…
We took the train to Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens. Because it was Greenery Day, entry was free, so we walked around for a bit and enjoyed the sights.
For lunch, we headed back to the area our hotel was located in to check out 246 Common, an open-air food cart plot that’s open everyday for lunch, dinner, and drinks. It reminded me a lot of Smorgasburg in Brooklyn. I had a sausage from Schmatz. ‘Twas very good. A few blocks down from there, we stopped for dessert at Berry Cafe. Twas also very good. Tokyo continued to wrack up points in my book…
That night, we chilled in Roppongi Hills, an upscale area for shopping and restaurants that also houses the Mori Art Museum and a movie theatre. From the plaza of the museum, there’s a great view of Tokyo Tower. Originally we were planning on taking in a view of the skyline from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, which allows tourists free access to viewing areas on the upper floors, but we decided to pay for the Tokyo Tower experience instead. So, we took the train over there and in no time, were looking down at the beautiful city.
Tokyo Tower from Roppongi.
Elle Cafe in Roppongi. spiced green tea and macarons. yum.
view form Tokyo Tower.
Roppongi.
Monday May 5th
We woke up a few hours earlier than planned on Monday because there was an earthquake. Slightly terrifying, but it got our adreniline pumping for our last day in Tokyo. After another continental breakfast and ice cream at a Lindt shoppe, we met up with one of my friend’s friends who was going to take us to hang out in Shibuya.
He took us to the famous crossing, a ramen place where you place your order using a vending machine, a department store called Loft, and an arcade with a ton of Japanese photo booths with various effects. The one we ended up in gave us all lipstick, huge eyes, and “egg-shaped” faces. Crazy, technology these days.
Shibuya Crossing.
vending machine ramen.
Loft.
photo booth.
From there, he took us to east Tokyo, where he and his friends usually hang out, away from all the crowds. We enjoyed the sights on the water, then went to see a temple.
Our last meal in Tokyo was shared in unintentional silence; it was just so delicious, none of us stopped eating to talk. After dinner, we headed back to our hotel to enjoy our memory foam beds one last time before our early morning flight.
I loved Tokyo. It reminded me a lot of New York. And we all know how much I love New York… Wouldn’t mind going back one day (especially since I didn’t get to go to the Tsukiji Fish Market or Ghibli Museum).
After 1220 