Japan trip, March 2025

This trip, my new phone’s better camera did a lot of work taking good pictures (well, for my standards). I have created a new section on this website dedicated to higher quality images, since the ones in blog posts are heavily compressed. Head on over to the gallery section to see a higher quality gallery of pictures from Japan!

It’s been a long time since I posted anything on here. For a while, I’ve been out of topics to write about, or anything I started writing was scrapped, or is in a permanent limbo-state of being half-complete. Life has been happening without any blogging for a while.

But finally, something worth posting about happened. I finally went on the meme trip to Japan, the place where all the tourists flock to these years days.

Prologue: The long road

This trip also involved quick stops at London and Korea. I’ll only lightly talk about these segments, because they were very short. This trip involved a lot of flights. The full route of just airports was something this:

YYZ (Toronto) → LIS (Lisbon) → PEK (Beijing) → ICN (Incheon) → PUS (Busan) → FUK (Fukuoka) → HND (Haneda) → HKG (Hong Kong) → YYZ

Some trivia about these flights:

1. In total, I was in the air for over 40 hours
2. This was my first time landing in Lisbon and Beijing
3. This was my first time crossing across Russia fully from west-to-east

I even got to communicate using extremely basic Mandarin on the flight to Beijing, which was fun. The layover in Beijing was interesting. I was asked to photograph my passport for airport wifi (no thanks), an information kiosk asked consent for facial scanning (???), and there were CCTVs everywhere. Pretty scary, honestly. A shame, since I’d like to explore China one day.

The London segment was fun (and short), just like last time. I got to saw Camden and Borough Markets, walked around Regent’s Park, and Soho. Time in Korea was mostly spent visiting relatives, so nothing happened. Though, I did get to visit Busan (why is it called Pusan now??) for the first time in over 10 years, which was nice.

Main: Japan

I was in Japan for just 8 days, travelling across 7 cities from west to east; starting in Fukuoka and ending in Tokyo. Being healthy was critical for this trip; if I were to become ill in the middle or something, everything would fall apart. The first 2 nights (Fukuoka to Kobe) were going to be a solo travel, which I was excited for. I would join friends starting from Osaka and then move as a group until the end. My main goals for this trip were:

1. Visit the big three cities (Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo)
2. Visit an onsen and ryokan
3. Try speaking Japanese throughout the trip

Night 1: Fukuoka

I spent 1 night in Fukuoka after arriving from Busan. The flight was hilariously quick; the plane started to descend as the flight attendants finished handing out customs declaration forms.

Here’s a list of what I did:

• Walk around Ohori Park
• Roam the Hakata Station block (underground area, department store)
• Walk through the underground Tenjin shopping center
• Wander around Nakasu

Food in Japan is incredibly cheap for the quality (the weak yen helps a lot). I had a ramen bowl and gyoza in the underground area of Hakata station for $16. A meal like this in Toronto would easily cost over $30 after tip and tax. Considering the taste and portion size, eating ramen in Toronto feels really bad now (hell, eating at any restaurant feels bad now). The positive side is that the taste is comparable, so the quality in Toronto is actually quite good. Just a shame that its so expensive.

I couldn’t do much more because I was so time limited (basically a day trip), but Fukuoka was a nice place. It was the most relaxing out of the big cities I visited. If I return, I’d like to spend a few days exploring the outskirts and the rest of Kyushu.

Day 2: Himeji Castle

Early next morning, I got on a shinkansen and headed for Himeji Castle. The night would be spent in Kobe/Arima, so I had time to choose one place to visit during the day. Bigger places like Hiroshima would not be done justice with such a short visit.

Himeji Castle was awesome. I’m not a good appreciator for history and monuments, but this castle was an outstanding landmark. The castle is about 1 km away from the train station, but you can already see the white superstructure from afar. Up close, it looks beautiful and intimidating at the same time. I think it’s miraculous the castle wasn’t signficantly damaged throughout its history.

I briefly toured the interior as well.

I really wish I could have stayed longer at the castle, because I only got to see the main structure. There are structures to the side and courtyards, which I didn’t have time to explore. In hindsight, the itinerary I planned was just too tight.

Night 2: Kobe and Arima

After touring Himeji Castle, I was back on the train for Kobe. The plan was to splurge on a Kobe beef lunch. I knew it was going to be pricey, but hey this is an international vacation. I don’t mind spending for a good experience as rare as this.

And expensive it sure was. I went to a restaurant called Yazawa. The good cuts of beef are about $1.5 CAD per gram, which sounds hilarious compared to more peasantly grades of beef, such as AAA tenderloin. Here are the prices of what I ordered:

1. Chuutoro Sushi (¥900)
2. 80g sirloin (¥12000)
3. 220g premium cut (¥11400)

If I had my meal portion purely in the best cuts, I would have paid over $600 CAD. Instead, I ordered a smaller portion of the really good cut (which still wasn’t the most expensive one!) and a bigger portion of a more peasantly cut.

Even though this was a stupid amount to spend on steak, as a one-off event, I believe it was worth it. The meat literally melts in your mouth. It’s like eating tenderloin, but the incredible marbling makes it super savoury and even softer. You can taste the fat, but it’s not anything like the bits of fat attached to a sirloin that no one likes. It tasted like the ultimate beef. There were condiments such as steak sauce, salt, wasabi (underrated), and a sauce which I think is soy-sauce based. Anyone who wants to try a good steak should try Kobe beef at least once, no matter how small the portion is.

Being fatty, the steaks were hard to finish despite the moderate portion size, and they kept me full for a really long time. I walked for a little bit around Kobe after the meal. The city had a similar vibe to Fukuoka; it felt comfy and not too busy. If I had more time, I would have gone down to the harbour.

After walking around a little, I headed to Arima. This is a small mountain town visited by a lot of tourists for onsen and its calm atmosphere. Arima was very calming at night after the day travellers left. It was a nice change of pace after the busier cities up until now, and the scenery is great. I wish I had time to take the cable cars up to Mt. Rokko, which is supposed to have an excellent view.

I took a dip in Kin no Yu, one of two popular onsen houses. This one is known for its brown-coloured water which is rich in iron. The other one, Gin no Yu, has clear water with dissolved radium (ummm). I don’t believe in the magical healing powers onsen are believed to have, but its always nice to soak in some hot water. Kin no Yu also has a small outdoor footbath, where you can just dip your feet in.

Night 3: Osaka

By the next day, I was in Osaka. There wasn’t much planned for this place, since the friends I joined up with just landed in Japan. This day was meant to rest, adjust to jetlag, and casually explore. The main attraction was to visit Dotonbori at night.

We went to a sushi chain restaurant called Sushiro. Considering it’s a chain, the quality was crazy good. This might be obvious because the whole country is a chain of islands after all, but fish quality in Japan is just better. There was even real tuna being served, which tasted awesome. Getting full with sushi in Canada means spending at least $40 per person, but we spent less than $30 per person in Sushiro. Incredible.

In the evening we took a walk to Osaka castle. This castle looks decently big from afar, but it’s tiny once you get close. Himeji Castle was way cooler.

The last highlight was Dotonbori. It was everything that I expected: endless people, neon lights everywhere, the river and bridges, and the famous stores seen in photos. It was here that I really felt that I was on a vacation.

Night 4: Kyoto

Technically, we stayed 2 nights in Osaka. This meant Kyoto was a single day trip. In hindsight, it might have been more time efficient to spend the nights in Kyoto. A one way trip between Kyoto and Osaka is around 45 minutes to 1 hour long.

We arrived in the morning and (being tourists) headed for Arashiyama Bamboo forest. It was kind of amazing that I could take photos that barely had any people in them.

Then was Kiyomizu Temple and Gion. Both areas are packed with visitors.

Finally was Fushimi Inari Shrine in the evening. We climbed to the peak of the mountain, which is a decent hike of stairs. Out of all the places visited in Japan, I liked this place the best.

You can see a view of Kyoto from the mountain, which was nice.

Descending the mountain can be pretty rough on the knees, so be mindful. Out of all the places we went to, Kyoto was probably the most distinct.

Night 5: Ito

The next day was spent in a small town called Ito, located midway in the Izu Pensinsula. The point of going here was for a night at a ryokan. We could just barely see Mt. Fuji in the background during our train ride. The air was hazy and obscured most details, but the mountain’s size was immediately noticeable. It towers above all the other mountains along the way.

Ito was a refreshing place to stay for a night. From walking around, it felt like the town was on a decline; lots of old abandoned buildings and infrastructure, and a very quiet atmosphere. Coming from much bigger cities, it was a nice change of pace.

We happened to be in the town when they have an annual event. The townspeople carve out bamboo, put lights in, and then place the products by a river. It must have taken a lot of effort and time to make these.

The ryokan experience was interesting. We spent a night at one called Yokikan. They’re known for an outdoor onsen that is on top of a hill; it is accessible by stairs or a small cable car ride. I don’t have footage of the onsen because they forbid photography, but it was a nice experience. Everything was a first time experience for me; wearing a yukata, kaiseki meal, and outdoor onsen. I think that I’m not exactly the best fit for this kind of experience, but it was certainly nice to try. Yokikan was mid-tier for pricing, at about $150 per person per night. It made me curious on what the extremely expensive ones would be like (> $500 CAD per person per night).

Nights 6 - 8: Tokyo

The whole Tokyo trip was essentially checking items off of a list of memes. On day 1, we toured Shibuya and Harajuku for some shopping (meme 1). And yes, we went across Shibuya Crossing (meme 2). There were crowds in the nearby 2nd floor Starbucks just to see people walk across the crossings.

After the memes, we went to Yoyogi Park and saw some cherry blossoms (meme 3). The blossoms hadn’t peaked when we were in Tokyo, but there were plenty enough to take pictures. After that, we were heading back for the evening.

gets stomach flu

Well, that’s unfortunate.

So yes, this happened. I got sick on the night of arriving in Tokyo and was bedridden for the next 24 hours. Thanks to this, I missed out on a Teamlabs Planets reservation, Ueno, Asakusa, and Shinjuku. And naturally, I hardly have any pictures to show of Tokyo. The only lucky fact is that this was stomach flu, so symptoms came and went quickly. I was able to walk around on the last day in Tokyo to see Akihabara and Akasaka, albeit not fully recovered.

My only cope for missing out is that Tokyo didn’t feel all that different from the other big cities, so I didn’t miss out on anything significant.

Epilogue: Onwards south

In the prologue, I mentioned that speaking Japanese was a goal during this trip. I’m happy to say that it was very successful overall. The only time I had to use English was at the airport, and that was mostly because I didn’t want to accidentally make a fool out of myself. All other times; like ordering food, asking questions to staff, buying things, were all done in Japanese. Pretty proud of myself for this.

One thing I haven’t mention up to now is how similar Japan felt to Korea. Makes sense in a lot of ways; the countries are physically close, culturally intertwined, the languages sound similar, and Korea still has some remaining marks from Japanese colonization. Even the renowned convenience stores and vending machines weren’t too exciting, nor was the incredible transit infrastructure, nor the bidets that are equipped everywhere. Just mirror the direction people drive, switch the language, and boom. Japan is now almost indistinguishable from Korea.

The biggest differentiator I felt during my time in Japan was the architecture. Korea mostly has apartments and skyscrapers everywhere, but Japan has dettached houses and a mostly low city skyline. My theory is that they just can’t build as high, thanks to earthquakes. The point of this epilogue is to say that while Japan was fun (and could have been better if I wasn’t sick), it also didn’t feel too novel. So the conclusion is that I need to travel elsewhere if I want to see something truly different. Japan was still very fun though. I get why everyone likes going here so much; expenses are cheap, transit is great, facilities and convenience is top notch, food is delicious, and there are so many things to do and places to go.

After this trip, I’ve become more tempted to travel further south into Asia. To Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, and beyond. A bucket list item for me is to go beyond the equator, into the southern hemisphere. Japan’s weather was already plenty warm enough for me, so true tropical weather will kill me if I go. But that’s another problem for another time. If I travel back to Japan, I’ll stop by Tokyo for closure, likely Hokkaido and northern Honshu, and maybe Okinawa.