And we're back with part 2. It was difficult to fit all the places I had visited into one long article, hence the second part.
After a rather hectic week travelling all around Japan, I spent the next day resting up and exploring the local eateries near me. When you feel exhausted from travel, the best way to recover is good food and a nice series to binge watch. My friend and I enjoyed walking around the Sumida river. It was quite a lovely to place to have a picnic. Check out this cute Youtube video to see how our picnic dates were like.
My friend and I going for a late night walk along the Sumida river and Sakura is in its peak
Akihabara
Akihabara is one of the more touristy places to visit in Japan. From manga & anime, to little kawaii things and weird sex toys, this place is truly a representation of the rather mysterious and bizarre side of Japan.
My friend told me to explore the place and that I did. I started by visiting a dog cafe where they allow you to pet and play with cute little teacup puppies. They were so adorable, and you could also pay to feed them treats. This would be good place to bring children, as they will really enjoy the experience. They also have a cat cafe, an owl cafe, and even a bird cafe; so see which one would be of interest to you.
They were so cute and fluffy! Totally adorable, I just wanted to squeeze them!
I also wanted to see different anime and manga merchandise that they might have. I walked into a shop that I thought was selling manga, turns out it was store that had erotic manga and also happened to have a lot really different sex toys (I was like what even does that do). Was totally not expecting that. But something to check out if you are travelling with your partner ;)
After this I managed to walk into a proper store that housed anime merch and a lot of manga. I was quite surprised to see the fan base that some anime had amassed. I wish couple of my anime junkie friends were here with me. They would have totally lost it! If you're travelling here with children, best give them a budget and ask them to pick out merchandise according to the budget, or else you're going to be leaving here bankrupt (applies for you as well)!
Shinjuku Goeyen Garden
This was a place that my friend has suggested. The national garden was in the center of the city. As I travelled by train, a lot of different lines merge in Shinjuku, so I found it quite difficult to navigate my way within the station and the gate that I had to to exit from. So ask around if you get stuck anywhere! Travelling by train in the most accessible form of public transport in Japan, but it is going to be a bit crowded and confusing, but eventually you will figure it out.
The garden happens to be really beautiful during spring as most of the trees there are of different varieties of cherry blossom. So if you're going in the right time, it just feels like walking amidst trees that are white and pink. It tool me almost 45 minutes to enter the garden as the crowd was quite big. But it was completely worth it after I entered. The garden is quite big and you won't be able to see it entirely unless you plan on spending half a day there. I saw a lot of families picnicking there. Would have been nice to do the same had I travelled with someone. As a solo traveller, I bought some sandwiches from a convenience store and a hot tea along with a good book. Nothing like spending some time with yourself in a beautiful garden.
I also saw some professional photo shoots going around in different parts of the garden. So if you're looking for some good pictures for the gram, this would definitely be a nice place to get them. If you're travelling solo, it might be difficult for you to get the kind of pictures you might want. I invested in a big phone tripod stand which could take the kind of pictures I wanted.
Please also carry an umbrella with you. In spring, the occasional showers are normal. There is not a lot of sheltered places within the garden, so if it starts raining, you will most definitely get wet. Right as I was about to leave the garden, it had started drizzling. After which both the rain and the wind had picked up. So always be prepared!
Mount Fuji
Okay, so Mount Fuji has always been on my list. Surprisingly, my friend who has lived in Japan for far too long, had not been to Fuji herself. Initially, we decided to plan the trip ourselves, but after quite a bit of research, we figured out that a one-day travel package was the best option. Transportation, food, itinerary were all taken cared of by the travel agency, so we had nothing to do but to enjoy the day trip planned!
If you're travelling with family or want to explore a bit with your friend in a hassle free trip, I would highly recommend trying the one day Mount Fuji day package offered by Klook. All we had to do, was to pay for the trip and meet at the Shinjuku bus station. The travel package included strawberry picking in a farm, visiting the village of Oshinohakkai near Fuji, lunch near the Kawaguchiko lake, the Fuji ropeway and visit to a beautiful herb garden on the way back. We couldn't visit Fuji, as entry had been closed due to heavy snowfall, but nonetheless, this trip was so fun! Check out this YouTube video to see how my day trip to Fuji was!
The strawberry picking experience was quite exquisite. As march and April happen to be peak seasons for strawberry, they were all so ripe and juicy, Thank god that my friend and I did not eat anything that morning cause these were quite yummy. Check out this YouTube video to see how my strawberry picking experience was in Japan.
After this, we headed to Oshinohakkai. This was a cute little village right below Mt Fuji. Quite a popular tourist attraction. Most of the villagers main livelihood depends on tourists arriving all around the year. The houses were so small and the village gave such a homey feel. My friend and I bought some snacks and mainly a lot of postcards from here. One thing to know is that, as this entire trip was curated into a one day experience, the stop at Oshinohakkai was just an hour. If you're someone who likes to explore at your own pace, then you might not be able to do that in a travel package like this.
There was a stream running throughout the village which made the village cuter
After this we headed for lunch which was near the Kawaguchiko lake. The view from the lake was absolutely beautiful. We were given a traditional Japanese lunch based on the local cuisine. If you're vegetarian or vegan, I would highly recommend packing your own food. As most of the food here has some kind of fish in it, it is always better to be prepared.
We were famished that day that we finished everything!
We could not go to mount Mount Fuji due to heavy snowfall, hence the next best option was the Fuji ropeway. This was right by the Kawaguchiko lake. The ropeway showed us such a beautiful view of Mount Fuji. There were a lot of activities that we could do there, but as we were short on time, we just sat down, enjoyed the view and shared a coke. Food in tourist attractions are always expensive. Always carry your own snacks and drinks so that you can reduce unnecessary expenses.
The weather was perfect the day we had come. Had it been raining or even drizzling, the clouds would have covered the mountain and we would have not been able to see it at all. Main point I'm trying to convey is that, you never know what the weather might be like and you may or may not be able to see the Mount Fuji. So don't have too many expectations. If you do want to have more time exploring this place, best is to plan your own trip.
the view from the top of the ropeway is quite beautiful
We ended the day trip with a visit to the herb garden. They showed us beautiful flowers and herbs.Most of them had bloomed as it was spring season. You can take some beautiful pictures here if you're into photography. The garden also had a store with various homemade natural products. So do check it out if you're into them.
I'm not a photographer, so this is the best I could do
We were out on the bus ride back. The day was quite exhausting and we were really tired. We dropped off in Shinjuku. The Nakameguro cherry blossom river stretch was quite nearby to us, so we decided to go check that out. It is a stretch of cherry blossom by the Sumida river. More than 100 cherry blossom trees, all bloomed along the river, just imagine the view. This is not just one long stretch, but small stretches in that branch out from one central lanes, into more lanes. We went there at night, and the view was a stunner. It was difficult to do justice of what we saw by taking a picture, but here is one I took.
If I had my watercolours, I would have painted what I was seeing
Kamakura
My friend suggested to visit Kamakura as she has travelled there a couple of times. Its a beautiful place by the ocean. I never visited a lot of temples in Japan and this place had beautiful temples. We visited 3 places in Kamakura.
So one thing I learnt from my friend was you can buy these mini stamp books. Every temple or shrine in Japan has a unique seal, that only the officials there have. Each time you visit a shrine or a temple, you can bring your mini stamp book along and the offcial will stamp their unique seal. This is for you to keep a record of all the temples and shrines you have visited in Japan. Many people have volumes of this books, collecting these seals as souvenirs.
Hasedera Temple, Kamakura
This was the first temple we visited. It had different types of Buddha statues all around the temple. I was quite astonished to see the number of Buddhas that were present in just this one temple. The each Buddha statue had a different cultural influence. There was even one statue that had its influences from India (try to see if you can identify it from the pictures below!)
One thing to note is that all the Buddhas are in different places of the temple. One happens to be inside a cave, one inside a zen garden, one inside a mini temple, one in the peak of the temple and some all along the way. So try to be very observant in this temple as they are everywhere, in places you might not expect them to be. Here was the view from the temple. You will have to climb a few steps, but it is definitely worth it as you can see the beautiful big blue ocean.
Kotoku-in Temple, Kamakura
In this temple there was just one big Buddha statue. It is one of the famous statues in Japan, and is a must visit if you happen to go to Kamakura. The statue is actually hollow, and you can pay to see what the inside looks like. As we also planned to visit the shrine, and given that there was such a long line, we decided to skip it. Temples follow strict opening and closing timing, so plan your visits accordingly. You might not get a lot of information in English about these monuments, so I would suggest reading up before you go there. It will help you to visualise some aspects of what you read a bit better.
The 2 temples are walking distance away from each other. If you happen to be travelling with children, best is to take the local bus that shows up every 15-20 minutes.
Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine
The shrine was a good 45 minutes walk from the Kotoku-in temple. We were able to push through, but after visiting the first 2 temples, not many might be able to fit in the visit to the shrine as well. Right before the shrine, there was a 1km stretch with just cherryblossoms. It's better you see it for yourself!
One thing my friend shared with me, was that only shrines have this red entrance. That is one way of how you can differentiate if it is a shrine or a temple.
The shrine was on top of a mountain. It was very quiet and serene. We walked around the shrine, and they also had a a joined accommodation for the monks and priests who lived there. Temples and shrines in Japan are very one with nature. I would say that although these are religious structures, they embody more of a spiritual essence with different totems. After walking around the shrine, we headed to a pond and sat down to enjoy the sunset. We spotted the turtles and birds moving around. It was a nice way to unwind and just enjoy the silence.
I have always wanted to try a Japanese curry. And I did! It has a very unique flavour profile and you should definitely try it at least once in Japan. There are vegetarian option as well, but if you're vegan, I'm not sure there are a lot of options.
Enoshima
Enoshima was suggested by my friend. It is a tiny island in Japan you can spend a day at. It is really close to Kamakura, so you can visit both islands one the same day, if you plan your day a bit early. There are a few activities you can do here. I really wanted to visit the Enoshima aquarium, as I'm a marine wildlife enthusiast. You can check out this Youtube video to see how my experience was over there!
They also have a dolphin show that happens every 2 hours. I didn't take any pictures as I don't really like to see dolphins or whales in captivity. But if you are travelling with children, they would definitely like to see this show. If you come a bit early, you can get the seats in front, so you can have a good look at the dolphins.
After visiting the aquarium, I bought some sandwiches, and sat along the beach to enjoy the view. It a nice place for a picnic or a good book. There was a crazy group of crows scavenging for food, pretty much pecking on any food they saw people were holding, so try to be a bit careful when you're eating.
After my lunch, I walked over the bridge to head to the island. The walk to the island was a 20 minute walk. There is a separate pedestrian walking, so its quite safe and you can walk to the island with children as well. The view of the ocean is quite beautiful, you can see people sailing as well!
There are 3 major things you can do on the island, which is to visit the shrine, check out the Iwaya caves or visit the Enoshima sea candle. These are the major tourist attractions here. I managed to visit the shrine, and then wanted to walk around the island.
There are lot of street food you can try in the area. My favourite was the chocolate banana. If you are vegetarian/vegan, this so something you would enjoy! One thing to note, you have to walk quite a bit here. Getting from one place of the island to another can only be done by walking around the island by climbing steps which are of a certain altitude. If you're someone with a health condition, you might find it a bit difficult to walk this much in a single day, so try to plan you itinerary based on what would be most comfortable for you.
The view of the ocean from the Enoshima shrine
I spent quite sometime sitting by the shore and enjoying the silence. These are the moments during solo travel that love!
TEAM Labs Tokyo
This was the best thing I did in Tokyo! TEAM Labs is an immersive art experience. By immersive it means all your senses are engaged during this experience. Check out this Youtube video to see what I experienced! There is not a lot I can share, but maybe some pictures might give you more perspective.
I spent the next 2 days taking some rest. As travel was physically quite exhausting, I just wanted to wake up a bit late, have a nice lunch and explore local eateries in the near by areas.
Korean food in Japan was just so good! We ended up ordering some Korean fried chicken and beer, and watched a nice thriller movie!
The next day we had sushi by the river for lunch and the weather was perfect
The other night we had a traditional Korean dinner. So try to make time to explore different cuisines in Japan as well. You can also explore different snacks from different convenient stores. My friend introduced me to this mini chocolate chip cookies that I fell in love with!
Ikkebukuro
This was the last place I visited in Japan before I left. Ikkebukuro is considered the best place to buy any equipment or electronics. So I visited a couple of stores to check out different electronics. I ended up buying a phone tripod stand and some filming equipment. But its not easy to shop in Japan! Check out this video to know why. If you also want to check out anything related to anime and manga, this would also be the place to find it.
The next day was just me packing for my flight and off to India. You can buy a lot of nice chocolates, and treats in the airport as well. So if you come early, you can roam and explore different parts of the airport. Also, you have to try the massage chairs there. You might need some coins for this, so ensure you have enough change for this. But it's really worth it, so don't miss out on this!
Bonus video
I have managed to learn quite a bit during my stay in Japan. Check out this Youtube video to know some aspects of the Japanese culture you should be aware of as a tourist. Here, is some of the food I tried in Japan, check this Youtube video out if you want to know some of the things you could try.
Looking forward to making another travel blog soon!
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