Japan Trip 2019

Hi there,

This blog would be about my Japan trip with my 2 Swedish friends-Ludwig and Steven. I got to know them since I was in Sweden a couple of years ago. We planned this trip together from last year. It was almost a year ago actually as initially I planned to do it in December then we moved it to April instead. 

I arrived Tokyo on April 2 in the late morning. I went straight to the hotel to meet Ludwig in the afternoon. (He was already in Japan for his work.) While Steven was still on the plane, we spent the afternoon at Ueno Oshi Park and around Senso-ji Temple. When Steven arrived, we had dinner in a local ramen restaurant around the hotel. 

On the next day, we went to teamLab Borderless in Odaiba in the morning. Hopefully we didn’t get to wait in the long line because we were quite early even before the place opened. We were wrong. Many people were already there before us. So we waited like 30 minutes to get inside. The exhibition was extremely amazing. It was lights, sounds, arts, and science combined altogether. It was very interactive and immersive. We spend some hours there and went out to have lunch around the area. 

Then we went to the Imperial Palace. We didn’t know it was closed for some event so we didn’t go inside. We moved on to Meguro-gawa River where sakura trees blossomed at its peak. I wasn’t disappointed. The place was very beautiful and crowded. People were walking around taking photos of the flowers and having snacks. It was very lively. 

After that we went to Shibuya to visit the famous crossing. There were just hundreds of people crossing that big intersection. Nothing special with that. It was just a place I had to visit XD

Before we headed back to the hotel, we took another stop at Akihabara. It was quite late. Most stores had already closed. We did a little window shopping and had dinner there.

On April 4, we went back to Akihabara again in the morning because we didn’t see much enough last night. We spent the morning and had lunch there.

In the afternoon, we went to Shinjuku to take a bus to our next destination-Fujikawaguchiko. However, the bus was already full when we arrived. So we had to wait a couple of hours for another bus. We got some time to spend at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office building to see Tokyo from the top. It was a nice view. We were lucky that it was a sunny day and the sky was clear. 

It was late afternoon in Fujikawaguchiko. We didn’t do much but only searched for a nice yakiniku restaurant. Then we went to onsen to have some relaxing time at the hotel nearby. 

The next morning was super nice. The weather was just simply perfect. Not too cold, not too warm, sunny with a little cloud. We took a walk to the bridge across Kawaguchiko Lake to take photos of Mount Fuji. 

Our next destination was Kyoto, but from Fujikawaguchiko, we had to go back to Tokyo again to take Shinkansen because it was easier and faster. We arrived Kyoto in the afternoon, not so late. We went to Kiyamachi-dori street to walk along the canal with sakura trees. It was another nice spot walk by. It was quite crowded as it was full of cafes and restaurants. We had yakitori for dinner. I also went to sento (bathhouse) in the same neighborhood as our hotel.  

In the morning we visited a couple of temples and shrines. Starting at the area of Buddhist temple on Mount Otowa, there were a couple of temples and shrines around that area. The main corridor was closed for renovation though :/

We moved on to Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine, the place with thousands of the orange gates (torii). It was one of the most touristic places in Kyoto. There was a trail up to the top of the mountain along with the gates. Along the way, there were shrines, temples, cafes and restaurants. We didn’t make it to the top though. We were quite hungry and tired. We walked down the trail and had lunch at a tempura restaurant (very very good one). Then we took a train to Osaka in the late afternoon.

We arrived Osaka in the evening and went to Dotombori right away to take photos with the famous Glico sign. The day was done with okonomiyaki.

We spent one day in Osaka starting with the Osaka Castle as it was a must. I was surprised that the inside of the castle was renovated and rebuilt as a museum. It just looked totally new despite the age of the castle which was hundreds years old. In the afternoon we went to the longest shopping street in Japan-Tenjimbashisuji. I didn’t actually shop anything, but just some snacks along the way. In the late afternoon, we went up to Umeda Sky Building to see Osaka from the top until sunset. 

On the second last day-April 8, we took a day trip to Nara. There, there is a famous huge Nara Park where deer walk around and they let human feed and touch them. We met the deer and visited temples and museums around the area. One of them was Todaiji Temple where there was the Daibutsuden (Great Buddha Hall), one of the largest wooden structures in the world. 

We went back to Osaka to have dinner and took some rest before departure on the next day. For me, I took a little time off to Ten-nen Onsen for the last hot bath before going home.

On my last day, I left Japan in the afternoon and arrived Bangkok in the evening. This trip was just great. A little tiring as we walked a lot (more than a hundred kilometers in total). We were quite lucky with the weather since it was sunny almost everyday. Too bad I got a cold on the last day. Overall it was fun :)

Here are the team members :)

See you another time,
Best