re: Japan Report - Kyoto and Tokyo

The hike up was a series of shrines. We had the place to ourselves, minus a monk chanting at one of the shrines.







The top of the mountain was an old-growth pine grove. The whole backside ended up being a spectacular forest. You could tell they had recently had an intense storm as some 1000+ year old trees had been snapped in half.







That took up most of the day. Worn out, we had a quick bite to eat, and then hit bed.

Next morning we were headed to Tokyo via the Shinkansen. I’ve ridden on some European bullet trains, but they ain’t got shite on the Shinkansen.



We stayed in Shinjuku in Tokyo. The Shinjuku station is incredible. More people pass through this place a day than live in my hometown of Nashville. It was mind-boggling. We got lost several times. Tons of good food. Tons of people. Tons of trains.





From there we just decided to explore with no real plans. We only had a night in Tokyo,so seeing everything was not remotely possible. We started out in a place called Omoide Yokocho. It’s a couple blocks of narrow streets that are full of yakitori places. We tried two places. Things like heart, intestines, liver, and other assorted body parts were common and delicious.






Then we strolled around Shinjuku to see the lights and crowds. I stopped in a couple arcades. I couldn’t convince my wife to go in to some of the finer gentlemen establishments. I tired.





Then a subway ride to Harajuku to see the anime thing. Maybe it’s not anime. I don’t know enough about it. It’s not really my thing, whatever it was, but it was interesting to see. After that we walked across the Shibuya crossing, because why not?

We then ended up back near our hotel in a part of town called Golden Gai. It’s sseveral narrow streets with a couple hundred small bars. Some of the bars were tourist-friendly, but most were not. Some openly said so. Can’t say I blame them. We stopped in a few bars. They either had covers with moderately priced drinks, or no covers with expensive drinks. Pick your poison.





After a long night, I hit up the beer vending machine on the way home to try some Japanese malt liquor. Again, why not? I’d never bought malt liquor from a vending machine. Now I can say I have.



The next morning we had some time to kill before getting to the airport. The National Garden was nearby, and me being a plant nerd it was a must stop. I’ve been to a lot of gardens and arboretums in my travels, but this one takes the top prize as far as number of amazing specimens. I wish I had a full day here.







Getting to the airport from Shinjuku was super easy via the Narita Express.



A relatively quick 11 hour flight to Chicago on a 787-800 and we were back in USA.

I loved Japan. One night we were watching the sunset over Kyoto from the balcony of our room. I looked at my wife and said, “We’ll be back. I have to come back.” It was the cleanest, most peaceful, most polite, most organized place I’ve ever been. I left a lot out of this report. I could have gone in to much more detail. We only spent time in two cities, and it wasn’t enough. I can’t recommend Japan enough, especially Kyoto.