8 Nights in Japan

My second trip in Asia during my exchange semester went to Japan. This time I did not go by myself but with a group of 9 people, mostly M-house people and some I-House girls. We had been planing this trip for a really long time, which cities to go to, how long to stay in each city, what to do in each city. I had got a lot of help from my Japanese flatmate's regarding on where to go, what to eat and how to get there. One big problem we had before going was that almost whole of Kyoto was fully booked and we were not able to find any accommodation. First we found one but the guy that paid it did not get it confirmed by Airbnb and thus we had to find another one. And with only a couple of days left I was able to find another house that I booked. I convinced her that we would be quite because we would arrive really late in the night, and we had one guy that was coming before so he could pick up the keys. So that was lucky. Apparently there are so many tourists in Kyoto in the Automn because they go there to look at the leaves change color.

with When traveling in such a big group you notice that some people prefer to plan some stuff ahead, while some want to be more spontaneous, some cherish more just to be in the town and walk around, while others want to try and see all the big sites etc. 

In the beginning we stuck together and tried to decide together what we were going to do but we soon found out that we could not really continue like that because we ended up not doing anything at all. So we started to split up in smaller groups depending on what people wanted to do in order to actually do stuff.

The trip started by everyone was going to take the subway to the airport, besides two people that had went earlier the same day. Funny story about that is that they were suppose to go on the same flight and the guy (Toffer) thought he had the same flight as Teele so they went to the airport together ... it turned out that he had an earlier flight so his plane had already flew away when he got to the airport together with Teele. Teele had to buy another ticket so he could get to Osaka. Anyway so on the way to the airport with 7 people and all their packings and everyone had had classes earlier the same day so people thought we should have meet up around 6 which in my opinion was quite late and it turned out to be quite late as well because we had to run to the airplane... I was so sweaty boarding the plane. But anyway now we are on the plane at least and it looks like everyone is scattered around in the plane so I was sitting next to two Japanese girls. Because of the time from Hyehwa to Incheon (1 1/2 hour) and the time spent on the airport none of us hate eaten. I decided to eat something on the plane. And I do like to try new food and I had no idea what the things on the menu where so I asked the flight attendant what was the best dish or which one she would recommend. She said she liked Okonomiyaki, and of course I went for that one :)  and because I needed to pay at least 1000 yen to use my card I had to buy a beer to that ^_^. When I got my meal I had no idea what to do. It looked like a big fat omelett thingy, and I got 4-5 different small bags with stuff. I had to ask what to do and she said put it ontop. I still had some problem with managining this and the girl to my right saw that and helped me to open the bags. Okonomiyaki turned out to be one of my favourit Japanese dishes! I talked a little bit with the girls and they had been on a vacation to Seoul and they where from Osaka and one girl worked in a Korean restaurant so we talked about Korean food a little bit. That was nice :)

Then we finally landed in Osaka, and it was not a long flight at all perhaps around 1 and a half hour. At this time we were in a hurry as the last buss to Kyoto was soon about to depart so we had to get moving and withdrawing money. Some of the others bought some food at the 7-eleven close by and then we headed for the buss ... another funny story is that one of the girls had forgot here credit card at home in Seoul ^^  she had to borrow money for the whole trip but that was no problems :).

Then we had a almost 2 hour bussride to Kyoto, arriving around 2 in the morning and then we took a cab and tried to show him where our house were. First of all cabdrivers in Japan weares suits while driving and they drive on the wrong side of the road ^_^. Anyway we almost got to where we lived. Got dropped of close but then we struggled to find the place, only having a printed map of where it was we had to stop several people in order to get there... but they mislead us more to a street next to our street. After a while we finally found a house with a note written on the door from Toffer. (because we didn't really know how the house looked like.(


Well there it was ... a really traditional Japanese house that had paperthin walls so it was pretty cold in big parts of the house but in the bedroom it was warm. We got there and had to put out or floormadresses because when you are in Japan you do sleep on the floor ^^  We sleept 5 guys on the floor in one room, kinda messy but cozy anyway. The morning after that I had got a friend of my flatmate (Shogo) to meet us up and show us some parts of Kyoto. So we all meet up with him and was a little big shocked because we were so many now ... 9 people. In the beginning almost everyone besides me were planing on going to Universal studios in Osaka and look at Harry Potter and stuff, but I rather see Kyoto and stuff around there. Somehow everybody got convinced by me and everyone wanted to tag a long with me and my Japanese guide. As I told you the guide got a little bit shocked and some guys wanted to go and have breakfast and they started to get cranky but we decided to go to Arashima and visit a temple and Bamboo Forrest and eat something there. So we went down to the subway and discovered that the metro system in Japan is a little bit more complicated and not as convinient. But we got to Arashima and the colors were so beautiful there. We started to walk around a little bit and went to a restaurant and had some lunch and then we went of to a temple and later the bamboo forest. We walked a lot around there and after a while we went to a tea place where you could make your own macha te.

After that we had to decide what we had time to do ... everything had taken more time than we thought it would and our Guide told us that we didn't have anytime for anything more we had on our list. The only thing we could do was to go to the Fushima Shrine, because this one is open almost 24/7 and is light up during night time. So we took the train from Arashima towards Fushimi inari shrine, we got their when the sun had started to go down so we didn't have much time to see it in daylight but it didnt't matter, it was suppose to be really beautiful during night and it was. Would say it felt more spiritual during the night. Some people left a little bit earlier because they wanted to go and grab something to eat but few of us wanted to walk a little bit further up for the view. You could spend a couple of hours walking around the whole thing but we didnt do that. Afterwards the people that went a little bit further up went back to Kyoto station and went for dinner close by, had squid tempura beer and sake. Perfect end for the first awesome day :)

 And on the way home we stumbled upon a small shrine that was in the middle of a block. In kyoto you dont need to look that much after the cultural heritage of Japans old capital city.

The day after we had decided to go to Nara, which is a smaller city half an hour from Kyoto with a lot reindeers ... It is also an ancient city where they have a lot of temples and old buildings with history. So we took the train in the morning and went to the cty where reindeers are free to walk everywhere. The weather was a little bit rainy but it didnt matter to much. The day was spent just walking around in parks with the reindeers but also visit some temples and historical sites. During the day people started to split up because they wanted to go in different directions. I went on a leaf photoshoot and later for some dinner before heading back to Kyoto. This day I had planned to go to a Samurai training thing, but didnt manage to book it :/ instead me and Thuy went to see a typical Japanese show with sining, acting and making craftship. After that we wondered around to find a place to eat and see all the temples and things located around us. As I mentioned before, you can't go anywhere and not stumble upon some cool historical things in Kyoto. After that we meet up with the other people at a bar where we had some Japanese Whiskey (Yamasaki).

Back In Kyoto

The next day was our last one in Kyoto so we had to take some pictures of the house we lived in. We shared this house with 3 Russian people that arrivied the day before.

The last day we were going to try and squeez everything that we still wanted to do in one day. In order to do that but also see the city we decided to rent some bikes from the house that we rented. First we went to the Golden Pavillion.... But not before the other guys forced me to have some breakfast ... at McDonalds.

After the Golden Pavillion the other guys wanted to just bike around a little bit while I wanted to try and see another top attraction of Kyoto. So I deceided to go to Eikan-dō Zenrin-ji which is an old Buddhist Temple of a special sect that had a really beautiful garden. The other guys went to a Zoo and the girls we didnt see until later because we were to late to arrive at the golden Pavillion. After being at the temple we biked around some more before getting ready to leave Kyoto for Osaka.

I had got a free train ticket from one of my flatmates that helped me to preper this trip. So I didn't need to buy a ticket or anything like that. I felt that I will go to Osaka by myself because the ticket was for another train company then the others were going with. But it ended up that when I arrived in Osaka and managed to get to the Capsule hotel they were already there ... So we had a shower and chilled in the relaxing area of the hotel where they had saunas, pools, massagechairs. But also got to experience the true way a japanese showers .... sitting on a small stool naked and showering with your flipflops. That was something new for me, pretty fun though. Later the girls arrieved to the Hotel and we got ready to go out and see Osaka. Now it was night and dark outside but that didnt matter too much because at the river where they have so many billboards and which is somewhat of a trademark for Osaka is only nice to see at night. Then we went to the best Okonomiyaki place in Japan (won some competition) where we had dinner and Sake. After that some people wanted to go home while others wanted to go out and have some drinks. We found a kareokee bar that was more or less totally empty and where you could order drink as much as you want within a timeframe. We saw this as the most optimal way to get the night started. So in 1 hour we had about 8 big drinks, and because everything was in Japanese and you were suppose to mix one alcohol with one softdrinks we went freestyle and just pointed randomly and got some nice and some pretty bad drinks. During this we sang Kareokee around the bar and went crazy. I think the owner and his co-workers enjoyed it pretty much acctually. After that we wanted to go out to a nightclub but because it was a weekday a lot of the places were closed so the Karoekee bar owner walked us to a place that was suppose to ge good. We didnt want to spend to much money so I went with a all you can drink ticket and shared my drinks with everyone. It was a pretty nice club and we had a good time there. Some people left early and somehow around that they lost my jacket when they were getting theirs. Me and the others stayed till the club closed and then Carolina wanted to go to an afterparty ... or at least she said so I asked some random Japanese people leaving the club if they knew a afterparty. So we tagged along with them to a bar where one normally works. Carolina feel a sleep and Thuy as well when I sat there having a beer and trying to make conversation with google translate hahaah :D At this place the girls found a teddybear or a squireel that was dressed as a Santa. They wanted to bring him home so they asked if they could. Ofcourse the japanese didnt understand what they were saying so Thuy Kidnapped the Evil Santa Squireel. After this we went to have something to eat and then went back to the hotel around 6... Needed to check out at 10 the morning after

 
The day after was pretty hard. Trying to find my jacket going back to the club but ofcourse no one is there. Then we went for some food and later to visit Osaka Castle before getting ready to leave for Tokyo. Today the little fellow got to tag along ... ofcourse he was kidnapped

Takiyaki (Squidballs)

Then we went with different flights to Tokyo and arrived pretty late in the evening in Tokyo. Went for some food, At a Donburi place where they have easy common japanese dishes, and we always went for the Gyudon.

The first day we went as a group downtown to see some of the most see things before going to have Sushi the first time in Japan, at a place that my flatmate had recommended. I noticed that the people I traveled with was not that keen on Sushi and for some of them it was the first time trying Sushi. 

We spent the day mostly walking around and trying to see different areas of Tokyo. Went up in some high building. After some time we started to split up because people wanted different things ofc. That night I wanted to try some cool common japanese food, especially nato because I heared that is pretty special ... and I like to try special things to eat. Again we were just a smaller group because the others wanted to eat somthing else. After not being able to find any place at all we asked someone randomly on the street. This guy tried to explain where it was but then he just wanted to walk us there. He was from this neighbourhood. And he decided to join us for some food and a beer and we talked a lot and he explained and guided us around the area where there was some really cool places to see. He was a business man that worked for Adidas so he was pretty good at english and later he took us to a VIP bar. He was a really nice and friendly guy that took his own time to show us around and tell stories about the different places.

The next day we went to Akihabara, which is the manga, cossplay, games area of Tokyo. Which I would say is my favorite place. Just because it is really different and you can find so many strange and cool things there. Me and two others decided to go to a Maid Café, which was a really fun experience. Couldn't get that much out of it because they didn't speak that much english. Then we went to get some pictures from a photobox thing where you can go and put on costumes.

Later the same day we walked around to the Shibuya crossing and went up in a tall building to try and get some good views of Tokyo by night.

The day after that I had made plans with my brother and his friends. Yeah my brother actually travelled to Tokyo around the same time as I did. I think he had been in Japan one day before I meet up with him. After sometime we were able to meet up and have some food and then we went to Akihabara again which I really dont get boared of. Then we had made plans and booked the Ghibli Museum. You needed to buy tickets in advance in order to be able to go there. And later that day we had some Shabushabu.

The day after we went back to Korea. After that Trip I had decided to go back to Japan more than once at least. I had a really good trip to Japan and it is one of my Favorite places.