Japan '24

We arrived around 7am Japan Time on the 21st. We had breakfast in the international departure terminal, which was just a burger and fries each… we were too tired to try anything new. We were also lucky the cashier spoke English… I could have ordered for us but my parents were quite insistent on ordering themselves.

We then Ubered to our hotel in Kamata, and we got there at about 9am. Check-in wasn't until 3pm, and we paid extra for us to check-in at 1pm because of how exhausted we were. So we had a look around our area. Keikyuu-Kamata station was extremely close by, and we had a look at the stores in the station. We visited Donki Hote, and bought some food in a supermarket for lunch. There was an arcade nearby with a lot of restaurants. One thing was for sure - there was no way we'd go hungry anywhere in Japan.

We had lunch in the dining area in our hotel and waited until 1pm. I tried to nap until then, but it's difficult when you're hunched over a table. Then check-in time arrived, we got to our rooms, and I went straight to bed until 5.

For dinner, we went to the arcade. I don't remember what we had and did not take photos. (I think my philosophy of 'living in the moment' has come to the detriment of memory recall.) I had a look at the TV and saw an episode of an anime that was basically "Free!" with girls instead of boys and bikes instead of swimming. There was also an episode of Kamen Rider Stronger.

The next day was the start of our 6-day guided tour of Japan. The tour had about 36 other people in it, and we travelled in a coach. Our tour guide was super nice and shared with us a lot of information about the places we visited, the culture of Japan, language tips, and so much more. The majority of our fellow tourists were from Australia and the United States - we were the only Kiwis! It was fun to get to know these people. I learned some stuff from an American-Filipino about her career in chemical engineering and where the technology scene in the States was heading, and was suggested by a Sydneysider to consider Western Australia for my future work endeavours. I'll treasure these interactions a lot.

From Tokyo, we left for Kawaguchi lake to see Mount Fuji. It was breathtaking! I was quite worried that we wouldn't be able to see it because it rained in Kamata for all of the previous day. Moreover, that day was apparently the start of the rainy season in Japan. But the gods decided to clear up the sky the day we saw Mount Fuji, and thank the gods indeed. There wasn't much snow on it because the last snow was in April, but it was still majestic. I am and always will be obsessed with mountains. We spent a bit of time here, and I bought some souvenirs. There was a spot at our stopping point where there was a nice botanical garden.

We then went to a village called “Oshino Hakkai” near the mountain. Here we had our lunch. The village was teeming with tourists (like every single place we visited), but regardless the place was beautiful. I love rural Japan. The houses were so nice and the gardens were well-maintained. I'd love to retreat to a similar village for a few days in the future.

We stayed the night at Hamamatsu. Our original hotel was apparently overbooked, so all of us got upgraded from a 3-star hotel to a 4-star hotel owned by the same company! The vibe of this was somewhat antique. There was a small chapel on the second floor, and a nice lookout area on the top. We went to a mall called “Zaza City” (the name of which I find hilarious) and we had dinner there.

The 23rd was when we visited Nagoya castle. It was a fairly overcast day with some drizzle here and there. We went into a small building outside the main castle where we saw various rooms that the shogun of the time used for meetings, rest, etc. Eventually I got tired of seeing similar rooms with similar wall art. The buildings themselves looked beautiful on the outside though. I got to do a “ninja pose” with a ninja present there. One of the highlights of my trip!

Our hotel for the night was in Osaka, a walking distance to the Dōtonbori district. We didn't do much there that night, but we were staying in the same hotel the next day, so we held off on doing much apart from dinner. We did walk alongside a really pretty river. It’s a shame that it was downpouring.

That night, we stayed in Shimizu. I spent the evening with a Japanese exchange student that came to my school back in 2020. It was nice to meet up with her again! Another acquaintance from my school was also travelling in Japan, and we were supposed to meet up as well, but unfortunately she was not able to make it.

My friend brought along another friend, and we went to have yakitori at an izakaya. I had chicken neck and chicken thighs, and drank Japanese green tea-flavoured alcohol. Her friend brought along her sister afterwards, and we went to a karaoke bar. It was difficult to find songs we all had in common since I didn't listen to modern J-pop. The only ones we all sang together were “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” and Kenshi Yonezu’s “Lemon”. They also knew a bit of Michael Jackson's “Beat It”. I sang Anri’s “I Can't Stop The Loneliness”, Yukiko Okada’s “Koi Hajimemashite”, Toshiki Kadomatsu’s “If You…” and Buck-Tick’s “Dress”. I sang the last because I think my friend’s friend's sister said she enjoyed visual-kei, but she didn't know that song… Me and my friend sang “Sugar” by Maroon 5 together (she only seemed to know the chorus though). I didn't note down all of the songs these people sang, but one was a song by Acid Black Cherry (I think it was “Jigsaw”), one was Fruits Zipper’s “Watashino Ichiban Kawaiitokoro”, and another was the Sailor Moon theme song. (I'm not THAT much of a weeb that I know it, sorry.)

The next day, 26th, was the last day for our guided tour. We went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building for a panoramic view of Tokyo. It was insane how much I could see. It was also the first time I saw homeless people on the trip… it's crazy that they're literally right outside the place where politicians convene, as if it was mocking them for how many problems still exist in Japan. We saw the Tokyo Skytree as well. I don't think I'll ever see another building taller than that.

We went to Asakusa to see Sensō-ji. By this point I'd gotten thoroughly sick of seeing Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, so I didn't explore it much and just had some lunch. Afterwards, we went back to our hotel in Kamata, where we just chilled out in our rooms, had some dinner at the arcade and planned what we'd do on the next two days, which were free.

The next day, we checked out of our hotel, but kept our bags there. We went to Shibuya to do some shopping, mostly for me and my sister. Our first stop was Brandy Melville, a shop my sister wanted to go to. She got a few clothes, and I ended up buying a shirt for myself too. I also got some button pins and stickers that were completely free.

We went to Tower Records, my shop. I was there for the vinyl. I had a browse on the third floor where the city pop CDs were, and the 6th floor where all vinyl was present. The list of records I bought were:

• Timely!! - Anri (reissue)
• Cool - Anri (reissue)
• Touch and Go - Toshiki Kadomatsu
• Mind Game - Miho Nakayama

Afterwards, my sister wanted to visit BAPE, a designer clothing store in the vein of Supreme and Balenciaga. I'm not really into this kind of thing. I must be out of touch. We had some lunch at an Indian restaurant before going to another record shop by Shibuya station and the Shibuya crossing, Recofan. I bought even more stuff here:

• My Sanctuary - Reimy
• First Finale - S. Kiyotaka and Omega Tribe
• Paper Moon - Junko Ohashi
• Delication - Etsuko Sai
• Groovin’ - Toshinobu Kubota
• Super Chance - 1986 Omega Tribe
• The Soundgraphy - Casiopea (a gift for a friend, not pictured)

The 28th had torrential rain, so we decided to just chill out for most of the day at home. I read my book, “The Secret Garden”. Dad went to get lunch and got lost on the way back. Turned out he was on the street next to ours… We did a bit of shopping in the evening in Asakusa Rox, mostly chocolates and gifts for others.

After shopping, I hung out with another exchange student who came to my school in 2021. We went to two restaurants - the first didn't have many options to fit my dietary requirements, but we had some anchovy fries and chicken thighs. I had a glass of Asahi Super Dry, which didn't taste much different from any other lager I've tried. My friend had a pomegranate cocktail. I had a sip and it was so much better. The next restaurant had a lot more chicken, but I was quite full, so I only had chicken meatballs. She had a bunch of stuff, including chicken gristle, which I tried and found thoroughly unpleasant. I drank a Cassis Milk cocktail, which was strawberry flavoured and delicious. I couldn't even taste the alcohol! Maybe I should try Cassis more often, when I can find it. For dessert, I had an ice cream mochi, also strawberry flavoured. My friend had a soy sauce flavoured one, which was also delicious. It was great to hang out with her again too!

29th… our last day in Japan :( Today was a tour of Yokohama. Our tour guide was a different person from the same company. We were supposed to finish up by 4 but ended up skipping some stuff and finished by about 2. First we went to the Cup Noodle museum, but we didn't really have any interest in it, so we just browsed the shop. We hung out by the bay for an hour before we visited Cosmo World, an amusement park. The only ride we went on was the massive ferris wheel. We got some okay pictures of Yokohama from there. It wasn't that scary and the wheel rotated extremely slowly. Here we had some ice cream. We had a look through the Red Brick Warehouse, a building that used to be a customs site but is now a shopping and food complex. Outside there was a wine-tasting festival occurring.

We went to Chinatown to have lunch. I wouldn't have minded doing a palm reading there if I understood Japanese or Mandarin. It was during this time that I realised just how weak the yen is. You wouldn't figure that out from the JPY/NZD exchange rate alone, but it becomes obvious when you spend $85 for meals for four, and it would cost you probably $120 easily in New Zealand. I heard that the yen is now at a 37-year low, so if you're thinking of shopping in Japan, I suppose now is the time to do it.

After this we went to Narita airport. We reached there at about 3:00pm, and check-in wasn't open until 5:30pm… a long wait like the start of our trip. I napped until check-in, after which we had dinner and went to the duty-free area to do some more last-minute shopping. The time flew by fast, and by the time we reached our gate, we had just an hour before boarding.

On the flight to Brisbane, I watched a movie called “Saltburn” because my sister had recommended it. I didn't enjoy it at all, so that was several hours wasted. I could have used it for sleep instead... but I had trouble falling asleep again.

The layover at Brisbane was also short, so we didn't venture outside the airport. We had some breakfast before the flight back to our city. Unlike my previous flights on this trip, I bagged a window seat. I took photos of what I think was the Gold Coast, and of New Zealand when I got there.

Souvenir buying was a lot more difficult for me than I expected. My ideal souvenirs are objects that I can “use up” quickly (such as food, soap, etc), and this was difficult to look for. I had to be mindful of customs requirements when selecting food, and the most common souvenir items were keychains, magnets, single stickers, and miscellaneous decorations.

I got a small array of souvenirs for six people - five who live in my general area, and one whom I will probably ship to since he lives in Ireland. Shipping costs $40…