Welcome to my write up of the fantastic two week adventure through Japan I did with my brother in August ‘16.
It’s separated into four parts:
Introduction / High + Lowlights / TippsImpressions from during the tripReview of restaurants, hotels, bars, sightseeing spotsPersonal summary
If you travel to Japan and want some tips or have questions about anything, please feel free to reach out: [email protected]/* */
Introduction
This little summary / essay / itinerary is also supposed to fill some gaps of information, which we weren’t able to find about Japan. This concerns everything from food to organization, working out, things worth seeing / eating / doing, etc. But mainly it’s your window into our journey. May it inspire you and make you appetite for sushi and Japan.
A little background.
My brother and me went on a two week Japan tour. It was our first time in Japan, after we both spoke about going for years. So in the beginning of this year I nailed him down on a date and just bought two plane tickets. We went in the first two weeks of August, 2016.
We knew it would become hot, but it was the only time possible for us. Temperatures were 35 degrees celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) on average, with high humidity. So… don’t go in August, if you can avoid it.
We spend 6 nights in Tokyo, 2 nights in Osaka, 1 night in Koyasan (an ancient monastery), 2 nights in Kyoto and 1 night in Tokyo again.
The initial motivation for going to Japan was of course Sushi. Or maybe it was the introduction. Or maybe it was playing Japanese video games as a kid. Probably all together.
But the fascination never stopped, the hunger only became bigger.
In the end, the journey was a lot of things for us: a vacation, a way to experience something completely foreign, but also getting out of your comfort zone. We managed to reach all of these goals. We had fantastic experiences. It was on point!
Highlights
I’ll go into more details about the highlights in the according review (a little lower), so I’ll just mention them briefly:
1 Tsukiji Fish Market, Tokyo
2 Sukiyabashi Jiro (Roppongi Hills)
3 Koyasan
4 Capitol Hotel, Tokyo
5 Robot Restaurant, Tokyo
6 Kyubey sushi
7 Osaka main station
Lowlights
There aren’t really many negative things about Japan or the trip, just two things stood out:
1 People walking
This is a phenomenon that I haven’t really understood. Maybe I’m just stupid / sensitive / overreacting, but as a notoric “don’t-stand-in-the-way” and “watch-out-for-others” fan, this was VERY nerv wracking!
What’s basically going on is that people in Japan completely lack the function of NOT running into you (in public places) or NOT being in the way. It’s super annoying. Constantly people step on your feet or run right into your face.
Maybe it’s because there are so many people in Japanese public places or maybe it’s a cultural thing. I personally think that you just have to use your brain to think about making space for others or not cross their way (especially when they carry something heavy).
2 Journey to Koyasan and back
The way to Koyasan included a couple of transfers to different lines and it was indicated so poorly a.k.a. not at all that we got lost and the trip that should haven taken 2–3 hours ended up taking 6 :-(.
What I would do differently next time
I think one week for Tokyo is decent for a first-time visit. It’s like any metropole: you can spend 3 days or 3 weeks there. What I would do differently, if I was to do it all over again, was to decrease the time in Osaka and increase it in Koyasan and Kyoto. Maybe, I’d even cross Osaka off the list completely. Not that the city is ugly or has nothing to show, I’d simply prioritize the time differently.
I’d also visit Tsukiji Fish Market twice, or 10 times…
What you need
1 Pocket Wifi
Even though there are quite a lot of free Wifi spots, especially in Osaka and Kyoto, you need a pocket Wifi. There is no way around it, if you want to find restaurants / bars, hotels, train stops and all the like. Don’t only count on finding a free Wifi spot — it won’t work out.
You can get pocket Wifis from the Japan Rail Company or other providers. Just google it.
2 App: Japan Travel
This little app was crucial for us to find the right trains and connections. We would have NEVER found it by just using the super complicated plans and schedules. Seriously, if you know someone from the Japanese Tourism Ministry, connect them to me and tell them I’m offering to simplify the travel system for foreigners FOR FREE!
3 Google Maps
Just to figure out where you are, where train stops leave you out, etc. you need Google maps or any other maps app.
4 Mobile phone charger
You can get through the day by leaving your phone in air plane mode or turning it off, but if you have an older one (like me, iPhone 5s), you might want to get a mobile phone charger. Just 5,000 ampere recharge your phone fully, twice!
Impressions
1
1. Fantastic sushi everywhere. Yes, food is an important part of this journey and it’s as fantastic as you’d expect it to be. They say “it’s hard to find bad food in Tokyo”. These pictures are from Kyubei Sushi, Ginza and it was a great experience. Notice the prawn we had just a couple seconds after he “died”. Delicious dude.
2. White shirts everywhere. It seems as if anybody with a job wears blackpants and white shirts.
3. Billions of people. There are people everywhere. And they sometimes walk ruthlessly. Tricky not to bump into people, especially if you’re over 150 pounds;-).
4. No public trash cans. Seriously guys, why?
5. Crazy hot and humid in August…
6. You have to take off your shoes, even if you want to try something on. I tried on a t-shirt today — had to take off my shoes.
7. Tokyo’s skyline is gigantic. New York City couldn’t compete, even if it double its skyscrapers over night.
8. You walk a ton in Tokyo. Got huge blisters on my feet after two days, like a woman dancing in high heels all night. I feel ya, women ;-).
9. Crrrazy shopping malls… Venus Ford DiverCity Tokyo Plaza, Odaiba
10. Akihabara is a fun quarter, full of gaming “halls”. They seriously have 8 level buildings full of arcades and ghosts a.k.a. young people playing late at night during the week.
11. A lot of Tokyans don’t look very happy. Maybe it’s just a cultural thing, but people walking on the street are hardly smiling or talking to each other, ever…
2
1. If New York is the city that doesn’t sleep, Tokyo is the city that doesn’t end. As you can see on the picture, there’s simply no end to this city (and its skyline).
2. Couples are not kissing in public. They’re hardly ever holding hands. Very interesting to see that etiquette. In mediterranean countries you see people french kissing on the street. Definitely not happening here.
3. Tokyo has a very American touch: 7eleven everywhere, you get the bill right with your food in most places, etc.
4. You hardly see homeless people. Maybe that’s because we’re moving in certain areas, but it still sticks out (or not).
5. There’s no traffic in Tokyo. If it happens to be, it’s because of an accident.
6. You don’t get napkins in (most) restaurants.
7. The vast majority of people is very thin.
8. There are still a lot of smokers.
9. So many people are caughing! No wonder with so many people living in a city, but it seems to be more here than in other metropoles.
10. You find gigantic malls everywhere. What would be an attraction in other cities is not even highly advertised in Tokyo. Sometimes you stumble into a mall with +20 levels that doesn’t even have a sign.
3
#1 Japan is full of beautiful women. Every country has beautiful women, but in Japan there are definitely more than ugly ones (yaya, beauty lies in the eye of the beholder…). Most women are dressed VERY well, wear make up, painted nails and carry themselves well.
#2 The stereotype that you encounter a lot of bad English and even more no-english-at-all is very true, after my experience. Ironically, you find better English in Koyasan and Kyoto than in Tokyo and Osaka.
#3 Japan has a beautiful architecture, very futuristic. Sometimes you feel like you’re in a video game, or it’s just the reflection in Japanese video games of their world. Especially the train stations in Osaka and Kyoto were VERY impressive to me. They gigantic, but designed in a way that you discover new layers and platforms everywhere. It’s crazy.
#4 A lot of people still smoke in Japan. While the whole world is making an effort to decrease the rate of smokers, Japan seems to not be affected by that at all. In most restaurants you can still smoke, in a “separated” room and most trains have smoking wagons. Also on the street you find a lot of smokers. I’m not judging that, just being surprised, since it’s one of the healthiest countries in the world.
#5 Japanese people are crazy friendly, which is another true stereotype. Except for the walking thing (more about that in the blog article), everyone went out of their way to help and be nice.
#6 You find a lot of free WiFi in Osaka and Kyoto. Just Tokyo seems to be a little left out of that.
#7 Why is there no way to buy train tickets online / in an app?
1. Tokyo
Tokyo is the world’s largest urban area in the world, with roughly 35 Million inhabitants (35,000,000)! It’s a 50/50 split of the ultra modern and the ultra traditional. I could write +5,000 words about Tokyo, but I’m trying to keep it short and focus more on the things we did.
Air BNB Tokyo
We chose and AirBNB for the first 5 nights and a 5 star hotel for the last one (The Capitol Hotel). Located in Shishinbashi, Minato, we had a 5 minute walk to two train stations that’d take us all around Tokyo. The AirBNB itself was pretty clean, had everything we needed and was comfortable.
The only problem was that we landed at 8AM and the AirBNB was ready before 3PM, which left us with way too much time after a 11 hour flight and trapped in sweaty clothes with heavy luggage… Ouch!
B-Pump (Akihabara)
B-Pump is a pretty cool bouldering gym that we went to on our first day to bridge some time until we could move into our AirBNB. It has 3 levels, including a space room with neon lights. Pretty cool! For about 20,000 Yen, you can climb for a couple hours, rent shoes, chalk and everything else you need.
Kyubey Sushi
Located in Ginza, Kyubey is a high-end sushi bar with about 10 seats that are lowered into the ground around the counter. Two sushi chefs make FANTASTIC sushi, that was probably only topped by Takashi Ono (Jiro Sushi).
It comes for a very high price, but that was expected and justified. You get the typical 20 course that consists mainly of Nigiri, topped of with soup, a round of Maki and a tasty dessert.
If you value Sushi enough to spend the money, which I surely do, I can recommend this place for sure.
The Capitol Hotel Tokyo
After 5 nights in an AirBNB, we slept in a super luxurious hotel to round it off. The Capitol in Tokyo is definitely an experience, including a small breakfast starting at 20,000 Yen (coffee for 13 bucks — one cup).
The rooms are… breath taking! They come with elegant interior, awesome view and of course the overall service is 5 stars.
Tsukiji Fish Market
Tsukiji was as great as expected. We didn’t go super early, but arrived around 7/7:30AM. We got a coffee, jumped in a cab and went there.
It was a little rainy, which actually fits quite well to a fish market. Tsukiji is the biggest in the world, with probably with the highest quality, too.
Of course we wen’t for sushi breakfast, but couldn’t get into Sushi Dai or one of the other famous ones. It didn’t really hurt us, because the sushi breakfast we had was better than 99% of any sushi you get somewhere else ;-). The lines in front of the famous ones were hours long!
Roppongi Hills
The gigantic shopping center that revolves around the Mori Tower is not only home to Sukiyabashi Jiro, but also to tons of cool stores (amongst others: Nike, Adidas, Reebok) and a great view. When we went up the 52nd floor, they had a Studio Ghibli exhibition going on, which was really cool!
Sukiyabashi Jiro Roppongi — an ode to Sushi
If you are not into sushi, you might want to skip this post. But if you are, you want to give it a serious shot. This is a collection of impressions from my visit at Sukiyabashi Jiro Roppongi, which is the restaurant of Takashi Ono, the younger son from Jiro Ono who you may know from the documentary “Jiro dreams of Sushi” by David Gelb.
Obama stated about the restaurant: “I was born in Hawaii and ate a lot of sushi, but this was the best sushi I’ve ever had in my life.”
Sit back, turn on some classical music and imagine Anthony Bourdain would read this review to you.
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Tl;dr: I spend a lot of money for that dinner, but I would have spent double as much. It’s actually funny, because now I’m so spoiled that I probably won’t enjoy most future sushi dinners. I ate a ton of sushi in my life, but Jiro has been the best experience so far — by far.
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I made a reservation at Jiro months in advance, before I came to Japan via a concierge service. If you don’t specifically know where the restaurant is, you won’t find it. There is not sign outside with the name, at least not in latin letters. It’s hidden in a back corner within the huge shopping area of Roppongi Hills. You need to know exactly where you’re going (or follow Google Maps 😉 ).
You’re being asked to not wear (thick) cologne, since it may interfere with the taste of the fish.
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The restaurant itself is as small, as a perfect sushi experience would allow: 8 seats at the counter, 2 small tables. Sushi Connaisseurs say that it’s very important to eat it right away, because the temperature is timed so closely that the taste is different, if you have to carry the sushi from the counter to the table. The tables are only used, if there is not other way.
We were lucky to sit at the counter, in between a younger Italian couple and a mid-age Japanese couple.
The restaurant is also not fancy at all. It looks like a traditional Izakaya with a little fountain in the entrance and the furniture is made of wood.
So is the selection of drinks: water, tea, beer, sake.
Everything is focused on the sushi. Even if you order something to drink — we had tea — you’re not supposed to drink WITH the sushi, but in between the pieces to cleanse your palate. Same goes for the ginger by the way.
There is not even music playing.
Everything is focused on the sushi.
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Takashi Ono tells you exactly when you’re free to use soy sauce or Wasabi. In general I was surprised by how much he guides you through the course and explains what’s important when it comes to sushi. He does that in understandable English, which he learned in just 3 years from his apprentice. He speaks in a deep, controlled voice and finishes his sentences with a smile.
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The course consists of roughly 15 nigiris, with optional sashimi before and special fish at the end — both we chose. All cuts of fish are very, very thick.
The first four pieces of sashimi are Flunder and Trout. Then it get’s crazy: you get smoked tuna, which you combine with a sauce made of soy and green onion on a mint leaf together with Japanese onion. It’s such a bombastic, smokey taste in your mouth!
It goes on with Nigiri: Hamachi, more Tuna, Mackerel, different versions of Sardines and eels.
There are three different pieces of Tuna: lean, mid-fatty and fatty. The last piece melts in your mouth almost before your tongue can touch it. The lean Tuna hast the most complex taste, because it’s the fat that transports it. Of course the fatty piece is an explosion of taste.
So is are the two eel pieces (Unagi). They’re without a doubt the most delicious I’ve ever eaten.
Takashi teaches us that when it comes to sushi, rice is equally as important as the fish. In fact, the rice at Sukiyabashi Jiro is so airy and delicate that you’re scared the nigiri falls apart every time you pick it up (it never did, though).
The sea urchin (Uni) is SO rich that you stop chewing for a couple seconds, because you just don’t want it to be over. Takashi takes it out of a little box that’s probably worth a couple thousands dollars.
Of course you also get the gigantic shrimp that appears in the documentary. It comes in in two nigiris, one still has the tail piece, the other doesn’t. Takashi Ono explains that you should eat the tail piece first, because the taste stays close to the shrimp head the longest. It had just been cooked and has to be eaten right away.
The Ikura (fish roe) you’re being served has been home made by Jiro himself. It’s out of this world. Regular Ikura is now forever downgraded for me.
The whole show lasts about 40 minutes and ends with a thick piece of Tamago: an egg cake made with flour of shrimp and a rare
mountain potato.
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Takashi Ono pays insane attention to his guests. I took the first nigiri with my left hand. When I took the second with my right one, he asked me if I was left or right-handed! He puts the nigiri on your plate accordingly and even adjusts the cup of tea and soy sauce to the right side. Impressive!
During the dinner one of the younger apprentices got schooled big time, once for interrupting a conversation and once for not cleaning a fish properly. Even though I didn’t understand what Takashi said to him, it might have been his last day at work.
The standards are VERY high and even though the environment seems low key, the staff follows the etiquette the two Michelin star restaurant deserves.
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When I asked Takashi Ono what his favorite dish was, he simply answered: good food. The day before he had pasta with Bolognese.
When I asked him what he does when he’s not making Sushi, he opened up a bit: golf and driving fast cars!
His handicap is 8, which doesn’t surprise me when seeing how he makes the sushi.
He also told me that he owns two cars: a tuned up Nissan GTR with 850 horse powers and a Mercedes AMG with 500hp. He’s a speed junkie! He says that once the CEO of Nissan came to eat at his restaurant and realized Takashi had a faster car… He’s doing 300km/h on the highway — too much for the police to catch him.
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Summing it up: if you’re a true sushi lover and in Tokyo — go and spend the money. It’s not cheap by any means, but a unique and unforgettable experience.
Crossfit Chikara
Of course I had to work out on that trip! Staying completely off the gym for 2 weeks is an absolute no go for me and even the 2x per week sessions were hard, but I survived ;-). I love lifting. I wanted to work out not because of all the food we ate, but in order to somewhat maintain the progress I made and reap the benefits of all the food.
However, Crossfit Chikara was the first Gym we went to and it’s pretty cool. Even though well hidden near Roppongi Hills, it comes equipped with all you need. You cannot drop a barbell (meh), but dropping in and doing our own thing was no problem. The first drop-in session is even free! This is something I found in no other box and really appreciated. Nice people, nice box.
Crossfit Roppongi
Crossfit Roppongi was similar to Crossfit Chikara, but the drop-in did cost 40,000 Yen per person. That’s about 40 USD — phew! But if you don’t know me, then be assured that nothing stops me from working out, so of course I paid it. Nice box as well, again no barbell dropping.
Tokyo Sky Tower
You get amazing views all over Tokyo from the sky tower. Not much explanation necessary, I guess. We went there at night, around 8PM, when it was already dark and got some fantastic shots. On top of that they had their Milky Way special going on, which means they had some light shows in the view room. It’s definitely worth seeing.
Eorzea (Final Fantasy) Cafe (Akihabara)
We stumbled across this Final Fantasy themed cafe more by chance than by plan. Definitely make reservations in advance, because if you don’t, you can only get a seat between 4 and 6PM!
You can order all kinds of cocktails and dishes that resemble stuff from the video game. The desserts and drinks tasted surprisingly well! I think it’s a serious contender for a good lunch, even if you’re not into the game.
Robot Restaurant (Shinjuku)
The robot restaurant is located in the annoying part of Shinjuku, you know, that kind of quarter in which everybody tries to pull you into a titty bar. At first, I was very sceptic about the Robot Restaurant, but once we were let in, it was… breathtaking. I definitely needed a day to comprehend what happened in there haha.
At first you enter the restaurant and have to walk through a couple of doors and tunnels — all in bright neon lights — until you get into the waiting room, where they gather everyone before the show starts. Imagine it like this: you step into an elevator, still sceptic of the whole thing, and suddenly the door opens and a guy in some sort of Daft Punk costume plays Michael Jackson classics on an e-guitar — SO good!
After a short while of waiting you’re being guided 5 floors down into the main hall, which is separated into two seating rangs on opposing sides (5 rows, probably 100 people each). The show happens in the middle, where you can also buy snacks and drinks in the breaks. The show takes about 90 minutes: 5 show parts, separated by 10 minute breaks.
It’s difficult to describe the story, but it’s basically about a fight between an ancient alien tribe and robotic conquerers who just want to kill everyone lol. But the story doesn’t matter. The show offers everything: from crazy costumes, acrobatic stunts, drumming to dancing and what not.
It’s as mind blowing as it is disturbing… Just check it out!
2. Osaka
Osaka is less than 3 hours away from Tokyo by bullet train and the second largest city in Tokyo. It’s another truly impressive, large city!
What really stunned me was Osaka main station. It’s. So. Big. There are so many different platforms and layer you can discover, together with restaurants and cafes!
Osaka Castle
The Castle is one of the main sightseeing spots in Osaka. We didn’t go inside, but just from outside it’s worth the visit. We were a little unlucky with the weather (still blazing hot) and the metro we took, because it took us a little while to get there.
Mitsui Garden Hotel Premier Osaka
The Hotel we booked for Osaka was a good average. The only thing that really disturbed me was that their dryer (they provide washing machine and dryer) didn’t work, so I had to travel to Koyasan with wet laundry that was hard to dry -,-. Other than that the hotel is fine, with a good buffet breakfast that offer Japanese, Chinese and Western foods. Location-wise it also gets a thumbs up.
Suntory Whiskey House
Located in a huge mall near Osaka station, it’s a good visit if you like Whiskey. Unfortunately people smoke in the restaurant, but it’s worth coming for the Whiskey flights and little foods they offer. We had a good dinner and Whiskey experience there!
Gold’s Gym
Gold’s gym in Osaka is pretty similar to any other Gold’s gym out there. For 2,700 YEN (about 25 USD) you can train at any time for as long as you want. They got a couple of squat racks and decent bars. Not sure you’re allowed to deadlift there, but I did it anyway ;p. If you NEED to work out, like me, go there and you find pretty much all you need, otherwise think twice about the price (that rhymed).
3. Koyasan
Koysan is SO worth it, if you are in Kyoto or Osaka and want to get a very tradition experience in. Koyasan is a monastery / monk village located on top of mount Koya, to which you have to travel by cable car after you took the train.
It’s a 2 hour journey from Osaka, which we greatly messed up, because the train system is so confusing and they had some outages, which we couldn’t understand.. We ended up taking roughly 6 hours and lost a lot of nerves, but in the end it was very worth it.
However, the village has about 100 temples and you can stay over night in about 50. The monks who work there are all young students, super friendly and very helpful. You’re being served dinner and breakfast and can attend afternoon meditations, morning ceremonies and tours through the HUGE sanctuary (200,000 tombs…).
We did everything except the afternoon meditation (because we were too late, duh). All of it is very recommendable and such an experience. Just alone the sanctuary night tour was probably one of my favorite moments of the whole trip.
4. Kyoto
Kyoto is a small version of Osaka, just a little more relaxed and less all over the place. Once again, the station here was crazy! Just check out those hidden stairs:
The Century Hotel Kyoto
The Century Hotel in Kyoto was pretty good — very nice breakfast buffet, good rooms, very good service, etc. Definitely deserved 4 stars. I think, it could even get 5 stars, if they had a gym and a pool. But don’t get me started talking about gyms in Japan ;-).
Fushimi Inari Shrine / Mount Inari
The probably most anticipated sightseeing spot in Japan — I’m sure you’ve seen the hundreds of red doors lined up — is indeed very worth seeing. Right off the train station you get to the main temple, where the whole show starts.
“Whole show?” you ask yourself. Yup. What I expected to be just a couple of those doors where you can take a couple of nice pictures is in fact a trail up to mount Inari that’s not for the weak! Or smokers…
After climbing for half an hour just to find ourselves about 10% up to the mountain, we decided to face the challenge and climb up the damn thing. It takes a good hour, if not more, and almost as long to come down again. We surely walked a couple thousand stairs, no kidding.
What you’re being rewarded with is a great view and having mastered the challenge ;).
Personal Summary
I’m a little sad to not be able remember all the experience with the emotions we felt, but the journey gave me what I was expecting from it and a lot more. It’s a country as far away from the Western world as possible (culturally and geographically) that still holds a very high living standard.
Sure, one of the main motivations to go to Japan was food, but I also wanted to get out of my comfort zone by not being able to communicate properly (with most people), getting lost and having to deal with some challenging situations. It’s always nice to take a 1–2 week dive out of your normal life, because it helps you to pause and reflect so much, while extending your horizon.
I also loved the time with my brother. We had so much fun, did some great bonding and now share more fantastic memories.
Of course, the food is outstanding in Japan. You can merely find a bad place to eat. Especially the sushi was as far away from everything I had before as expected, in a good way. I was very impressed by the overall perfectionist approach all the restaurants provided in the way they prepare and serve the food.
Many, many times I was overwhelmed by the elegant architecture, huge buildings and skyscrapers, and hidden places in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. It seems as if it doesn’t matter where you go, you always discover a new place. It’s a never ending journey. With lots of Sushi.