Hello. This is a summary of my holiday to Japan with my friend Daniel. Why? Well, obviously I’m the first twenty-something to go and everyone wants to know about my experience right? Of course not, but by mother definitely will and maybe about four or five other people — and there are some nice pictures.
Japan
127 million people live on an island where 73% of the land is mountainous, which isn’t great for living on — for any Australians playing at home — that’s like our entire population living in South East Queensland. So it’s really no surprise for a country with 98.5% native Japanese, and that was (almost) completely closed to the rest of the world for 212 years, has a very strong, slightly quirky culture.
A lot of places were two or three degrees warmer than is comfortable; bins for regular trash are very hard to come by; the recycling culture is excellent, however the excessive use of packaging is a little contradictory; police cars were often left parked and running, with no one inside; and in Osaka you walk up the left side of an escalator, while people stand on the right.
It wasn’t until I arrived back in Australia that I realised how much I appreciated some of the Japanese culture and lifestyle — while it can be exhausting — most is quite pleasant and comforting. There is something for everything, a gadget you never knew you needed, an amazing combination of a food inside another food, and pretty much every fetish under the sun is catered for.
Friendly
It’s true: Japanese people are very polite. Etiquette is a big deal and it’s followed rigorously. But don’t worry, it’s very simple, all you have to do, is not be a dick. For example: if you’re riding a busy train and you’re near the doors and it’s not your stop, step off for a moment to let other passengers get off, then hop back on. Don’t stand in the doorway and think just because you’ve turned sideways you‘re now magically wafer thin — step off the carriage you ignorant fuck (take note Australian train commuters).
During our first few days, people often stopped and asked if we needed help. Shop staff always greet you with the customary “irrashaimase” (which roughly translates to “welcome, come in.”) and in some stores, they’ll even carry your bag to the exit. This also means that obnoxious people really stand out. Unsurprisingly they were almost all tourists and foreign nationals.
Safe
The areas we visited felt ridiculously safe. When you see 6 year old children walking to school on their own, you‘ve got nothing to worry about. If there’s one country you can fall asleep drunk on a train or in a doorway — yes, we saw plenty of drunk-sleeping Salarymen — and not worry about being robbed, it’s Japan. Bikes are only locked around the wheel; not through the frame, both wheels, seat and then to a fixed object, like in Australia.
Things work
The technological revolution Japan experienced in the 80s and 90s embedded technology into their everyday lives. Australia still very much struggles with understanding the importance of technology. And when it is implemented, it’s usually a half-arsed solution, like the Coalition’s MTM NBN or the recent Census cluster-fuck by the ABS. This comes from our predominately over-privileged white, male, baby-boomer government, who think it’s more important to “stop the boats” than to future proof our telecommunications infrastructure for the next 40 years.
A wave of your hand will turn on a tap, dispense soap or flush a toilet (so there’s no need to twist on a tap like an animal). Store doors open automatically when you leave, but you press a little button to enter; so the thing isn’t opening 500 times a day when you’re within 30m of it. You can adjust your train fare at barrier exits with, wait for it — a “fair adjustment machine” — so you don’t hold up other passengers. And cab drivers punch phone numbers into their GPS to find your destination — genius.
Fatties
Once a year at Christmas I usually visit my family in Townsville, North Queensland. At some point I end up walking around the nearby shopping centre. Last year I noticed a disturbing trend, 90% of the people I saw were overweight, borderline obese.
Parents, their children, grand parents, teens; everyone looked unhealthy. I didn’t see this level of obesity when I lived in Brisbane or Sydney (where I am now). Japan however, from what I can tell, that’s flipped. Genetics, diet, portion size and cigarettes are all a factor, but I put it down to one thing — bicycles. And I don’t think I’d be wrong saying everyone rides a bike in Japan; men, women, children, 85 year old grandmas. It’s quite incredible to see mothers navigating busy footpaths with a child mounted at both ends of a bike.
Helmets aren’t mandatory either and I didn’t feel unsafe at all riding helmet free in Kyoto. But before you start that GetUp! petition, there is absolutely no way you could do that in Australia. Generally, drivers here are pretty terrible at actually driving and have a real chip on their shoulder when it comes to cyclists (and yes, cyclists can be dicks too). I’m not saying Japanese drivers are better, but they are definitely better educated about cyclists, it’s apart of the culture and they’re not scorned by drivers.
Late start, late finish
Japan is pretty sleepy place in the morning, most shops and cafe’s aren’t open til around 10 or 11am. Which for a country that prides itself of convenience, is well, inconvenient. However, you can forgive this because on the flip side, you can always find somewhere to go late at night. It’s a nice change from Australia, where nanny state governments actively work to ruin night life and small businesses (unless you’re a casino).
Fast food
Inevitably, at some point on holiday in a foreign country, you can’t pass up the chance to grab a Bacon & Egg McMuffin or a Cheeseburger. I also wanted to sample Japan’s western fast food franchises. And let me tell you, they do it so very much better than we do. Dan and I looked at each other in silent, delicious amazement during our first J-Donald’s experience. We were stunned by how good Maccas food could actually taste when it’s done right. It had the complete opposite effect than in Australia, where every six months I crave it, eat it, regret it, then remember why I avoid it.
Japan’s very own Mos Burger was also fucking incredible. The service is fantastic and the burgers melt in your mouth. Dan did fuck up once and order a shrimp burger instead of chicken. For most people this wouldn’t normally be a problem, however Dan has the palette of a five year old and doesn’t like seafood. Fast food 5 stars.
Smoking
Japan is a smokers paradise, the ciggies are cheap and you can smoke just about anywhere. They even have dedicated smoking areas inside most places, some are comfy, but some look like this. Cigarettes are apparently so cheap that most younger smokers only suck down half before stubbing it out and lighting another — oh and I have no idea what this trend is about.
Shinkansen
The Japanese bullet trains are my new favourite mode of transport. I would happily take the Shinkansen over an aeroplane any day. Why? It’s more comfortable, more convenient and so much less stuffing around — you just show up and get on, no need to check in or empty your bag at security gates. That said, the Shinkansen are run like regular trains, if you miss it, you miss it, they don’t wait for you and if you’re a local or don’t have a rail pass, it can be expensive. You also need to pay attention to your stop, you usually don’t have long to get off, maybe 1–2 minutes at most. But since they run to the second, you can set an alarm a few minutes before if you want to nap.
Shopping
It goes without saying there’s cool stuff to buy in Japan. Traditional Japanese souvenirs are a no brainer, toys and models are well priced, as well as some boutique, contemporary Japanese crafts. However most fashion was absurdly expensive. Reasonably stuff does exist, it was just much harder to find. Some of the pieces were amazing, but I couldn’t justify paying ¥30,200 ($400AU at the time) for a short sleeve button up or ¥93,000 ($1,230) for the equivalent of a $500 pair of leather shoes in Australia. Also be careful of the 8% consumption tax. Unlike Australia, tax isn’t usually included in the price, so you can get surprise at the checkout.
Absurdities
Two things that surprised me were ten-pin bowling and gambling. Bowling is very popular, some high-rises dedicate five or six floors and there are more of these buildings than you think. It’s a wide demographic too, lots of students, families and company workers.
Pachinko and slot parlours are everywhere and you absolutely cannot miss them. If the sheer brightness of neons and fluorescent lights doesn’t get your attention — the blaring, anime-style, J-pop will. But it wasn’t until we ventured into the 10 floor, 24-hour, “everything” chain store Don Quijote in Osaka, that my mind was blown. The building listed five floors of “amusements” which we figured that meant arcade games, and in a way we weren’t wrong. The first two floors were standard slots, however three to five was something else, it looked and felt like an arcade, but it certainly wasn’t.
At one end there were rows of cockpits facing a large LED cinema screen, each unit had multiple touch screens and speakers around the headrest. “What was it?” you ask: virtual horse racing. Personally I preferred the game with benches, set around a miniature track with tiny model horses racing around like slot cars.
Some other machines mimicked games, like the ones you find at TimeZone, that roll tokens down a rail to push other tokens off shelves and into the basket below. Except, this ones gives you money, and not tickets to get that plush Koala.
But the creepiest of all was an arcade game. From what I can tell it was a top down, real time, fantasy war sim. Your army was at the bottom moving up and the enemy was at the top moving down. Abilities down the right hand side of the screen cost varying amounts of Yen to use. It was quite amazing to watch the woman sat in front of this huge touch screen have at it.
Now, the actual trip.
Shibuya, Tokyo
When most people think of Shibuya, it’s likely the tall buildings, bright lights, busy streets and the Shibuya crossing. In reality that’s only a small part, Shibuya is an enormous ward, with a lot of different areas — I’ll get to the these, but let’s start with central Shibuya.
221,801 live within the ward and 1.5M people pass through the train station every day, it’s also a tourist attraction, so it’s nuts. The first time there is a sensory overload, especially wandering along the main streets at night — watching people pass through the Shibuya crossing is really something. But once you start to venture into back streets and alleys, you can find some amazing places, usually very unassuming. We relied heavily on the Monocle’s Guide to Tokyo, Time Out Magazine, friend recommendations and of course Google to find these and we weren’t disappointed.
Sasazuka
Since we were spending 6 days in Tokyo, we shelled out for a bigger AirBnB in Sasazuka, Shibuya-ku (1 stop East of Shinjuku on the Keio line). Sasazuka turned out to be a great choice, it’s much quieter and laid back than areas like Harajuku, but there’s still lots of places to eat, drink or bowl at.
Sasazuka Bowl
We hit the local bowling alley to kill time before our check-in. The place felt like a local alley you’d find in the outer suburbs. No gaudy neons or loud music, just a small bar and friendly staff. It was a Tuesday afternoon so the place was half filled with regulars. After a little while, a middle aged Japanese women came over to speak with us. This became a common thing throughout the trip — not being approached by middle aged Japanese women — but people who wanted to chat and practice their English. Her name was Mitsuko, it turned out one of her daughters had studied in Australia. Her husband worked for Mitsubishi (I think) which moved them to a few different countries. Mitsuko was retired and a Sasa Bowl regular, she was super lovely and gave us some free game tickets. Sasa Bowl 4 stars.
Sasazuka Bowl
3–4F, 1–57–10 Sasazuka, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
sasazukabowl.com
Manimal
Since Japan trains stop around 12am, we went out looking for a local bar to kick on and we stumbled across Manimal, an Italian wine bar. Manimal’s quirky atmosphere is surprisingly comfortable — even with the oddly bright lighting — and the animal inspired décor is fun without trying too hard. The staff were great, it was pretty quiet so they didn’t mind Dan trying to order in Japanese after I taught him a few words. There were a group of twenty somethings, a very attractive Japanese woman in her mid thirties — who sat and chatted to us for a few hours — and a hungry salaryman that didn’t want to go home. Seriously, I’ve never seen someone eat so much. He ordered four or five full meals while we were there, then went and sat in a dark room around the side we didn’t know existed. Manimal 5 stars.
Manimal
2F, 1–57–10 Sasazuka, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
manimal.jp
Ichiran Ramen
One of our two best food experiences in Shibuya was at the 24-hour ramen chain Ichiran Ramen. After a 30min wait, Ichiran was our first experience with ordering via vending machine. After a few minutes we realised you need to put your money into the machine first (I still think this is silly), you choose your ramen, toppings, extras, get your ticket and go find a seat. Normally you have almost zero interaction with staff, the place is setup like bar with stools fixed to the floor and partitions between each seat — these are collapsible so you can fold them back if you’re with friends. In front of you is a small window with a blind that is just big enough to pass your noodles through, a buzzer and a little water tap built into the bench. First you check boxes on a form, describing how you’d like your ramen; rich or mild broth, hard or soft noodles, a lot or a little garlic and so on; you press the buzzer, someone takes your tickets and form, draws the blind and you wait. I don’t claim to be a ramen connoisseur, but working very close to Sydney’s China Town for 18 months, I’ve eaten my fair share — and this was the best ramen I’ve ever had. Ichiran 5 stars.
Ichiran
ichiran.go.jp
Toritake
The second was Toritake Yakitori, three levels of grilled goodness. We waited about 30min for a table and begrudgingly took one in the smoking section on the top floor — it wasn’t too bad, but reminded me of days before smoking was banned in clubs and bars back home, and how you reek of smoke afterwards. We went non-smoking in the basement for our second visit, we sat at low tables and chatted with an Korean-American couple on holiday and their Japanese friends. Anything with chicken was ridiculously good, the capsicum stuffed with chicken mince and the Japanese mushroom combination in particular; and each dish can be grilled in sweet or salty marinate. There are some good draft beers on tap, whisky of course and a decent selection of sake. We drank quite a lot of sake, we made a point of always ordering it with our drinks — no matter how we felt. Sake comes hot or cold, and that’s the limit of my knowledge. Often the cheap stuff was pretty damn good. Toritake 4 stars.
Toritake
1–6–1 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Nonbei Yokocho (Drunkard Alley)
Coincidentally, our friends Rita and Wade were in Japan and their itinerary was identical to ours, one of our many outings was to Nonbei Yokocho (or Drunkard’s Alley). Nonbei Alley is a short walk North of Shibuya station and is a series of alleyways with tiny little bars, that only fit around four or five people. We settled on a place called Bar Piano, the walls were crammed with kitschy ornaments, frames, animal heads and the ceiling was filled with chandeliers. Surprisingly there were two levels and upstairs was slightly roomier. As is customary in these bars, you make friends with other guests — our new friends were Moto and Reiko. Moto is a talented photographer and Reiko was a designer, fashion maybe — we had a lot of beers. Drunkard Alley 5 tiny stars.
Nonbei Tokocho
1–25–10 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Yoyogi Park
In the heart of Shibuya is was my favourite place — Yoyogi Park. At the main entrance you’re greeted by an enormous Torii gate, then a long, wide path with trees towering over top. We arrived late in the afternoon when the light was low and shining through the trees, it was pretty magical. Yoyogi Park 5 stars.
Yoyogi Park and Meiji Temple
2–1 Yoyogikamizonocho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Daikanyama
Daikanyama has a noticeable upmarket feel without being (too) pretentious. Dotted throughout are plethora of great boutiques from records, books and furniture to fashion, fabrics and tenugui. I picked up some pants from ts(s), former stylist and creative director Takuji Suzuki store. The space is shared with Takuji’s wife Masayo Shimano and her brand Toujours. Their collections are gorgeous, but bring your credit card — I bought from the sale rack.
ts(s) TOUJOURS
1F, 1–29–5 Ebisunishi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
notsohardwork.com
Tomigaya
I regret leaving the visit to Tomigaya to my last 10 hours in Japan. The quirky residential area is located on the South East edge of Yoyogi Park. I found some great little stores selling hand made fabrics and cloth crafts, a figurine store full of blind toy collectables (I picked up a few Bearbricks), a cool bicycle store where you can sit and make your own drip coffee and the fantastic Shibuya Publishing & Booksellers — I dropped quite a bit in here.
Mimet
My reason for visiting Tomigaya was to eat at Taro Yamamoto’s cafe Mimet, known for it’s breakfast food (Ron Swanson would be a fan). Mimet is tucked away in an alley and Google Maps doesn’t make it easy to locate. But after about 15 minutes of matching shop fronts to photos, I found it. The place was busy and but I found a spot at the counter. Be warned, there’s no English menu and the staff there on the day weren’t fluent either. The gorgeous Japanese girl (with gorgeous English) who was having lunch with her mother beside me, offered to help read the menu, however I decided to wing it by gauging meal size by price and pointing to something randomly. The meal was phenomenal, a pan fried sandwich, filled with slow cooked pork hock with some kind of creamy cheese mixture and fried egg on top. Served with a side of roasted and pickled vegetables. Mimet 5 delicious stars.
Mimet
1F, 1–38–7 Tomigaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
facebook.com/mimet.tokyo
Akihabara, Chiyoda, Tokyo
Otaku capital of Tokyo, Akihabara is home to hobby shops, maid cafes, electronics stores, retro arcades, vintage video game boutiques and weeaboo.
Gundam Cafe
This is on a lot Akihabara to-do lists, however it was a letdown, it lacked atmosphere and the food was terrible. If you want to do something Gundam related however, check out the Bandai Hobby Center in Shizuoka — which looked fucking rad. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to go. Gundam Cafe 2 stars.
Super Potato
Vintage gamer heaven, the multi level building is full of every type of gaming console and cartridge you can imagine — and probably the biggest collection of Super Famicoms I’ve seen since 1992. The top floor has arcade room with a small canteen and manga section. Super Potato 4 invincibility stars.
Super Potato
1–11–2 Sotokanda, Chidoya-ku, Tokyo
superpotato.com
Yellow Submarine
Dan found Yellow Submarine on a list of places to check out in Akihabara, it was a little hard to find and we walked into the wrong hobby store by mistake. After we wandered around the ground floor browsing the standard hobby merch, we ventured to the basement level. The posters of the scantily clad, busty, young, illustrated women plastered along the stairs, weren’t really a red flag since they’re all over most hobbies stores (and Japan for that matter). But it wasn’t until I started flicking through DVDs that I realised we’d moved out of “hobby” and into “fetish,” specifically Hentai porn fetish — some questionable ones at that — and the clientele reflected it. It took Dan a little longer to notice. Watching him realise he’d brought us into a seedy hentai den was pretty funny — I didn’t let him forget that either. There was also another five levels above with wall to wall live action porn DVDs, that got progressively weirder as you went up. My personal favourite was the reasonably tame “conservative house wives” genre, it pictured house wives in very normal situations and attire, just missing their top (bra still on). It was so subtle and niche it made me laugh. I only made it to level three before the white middle aged tourists creeped me out.
Borderline illegal porn store 5 Pedobears.
Fukuro No Mise (owl café), Chuo, Tokyo
We visited the popular Fukuro No Mise hang out with some owls. There are are about a dozen different types from tiny to huge and they’re all very friendly and well looked after. However, you’re going to want to book ahead.
Fukuro No Mise
1−27−9, Tsukishima, Chuo
Yanaka, Taito, Tokyo
If you’re after a taste of old Tokyo, take some time to walk around Yanaka. It’s peaceful and laid back vibe is a nice change of pace and it was by far my favourite neighbourhood. The traditional architecture of low rise wooden houses with ceramic-tiled roofs give it the small town feel of prewar Japan. Wandering around Tennoji Temple and through Yanaka Cemetery, the final resting place of Japan’s last Shogun ruler Yoshinobu Tokugawa, was a nice taste of culture and history. Hidden throughout Yanaka are gorgeous boutique stores like Classico, Yanaka Matsunoya and Isetatsu Paper. Great beverages from Kyaba Coffee and awesome rice-crackers from Kikumi Senbei — which located in a gorgeous wooden building that opened in 1875! But if you’re looking for something more substantial, keep an eye out for Nezu Takajo, a very popular but hard-to-spot soba restaurant — exceptional noodles.
Tokyo Sky Tree, Sumida, Tokyo
I don’t need to say much about this, just take a look at the pictures. I would suggest going in the late afternoon so you can see just how dense and sprawling the city is, then hang around for an hour or two to watch it light up after dark. Also, once you’ve seen a city from this height, it’s hard to appreciate other observations decks like the Kyoto Tower or Umeda Sky Building in Osaka — they just don’t cut it.
Tokyo Sky Tree
1–1–2 Oshiage, Sumida-ku, Tokyo
tokyo-skytree.jp
Mount Fuji
I would highly recommend joining the Mt Fuji and Lake Ashi day trip, our tour guide was great fun and extremely knowledgable. We were very lucky to have exceptionally clear, crisp weather on the day and were even able to spot the iconic snow tipped peak from the bus ride up.
Mt. Kachi Kachi Ropeway
Because of the great weather, our guide made a judgement call to ride the Mt. Kacki Kachi Ropeway instead of the planned route. This gave us way more time to view the mountain and the lakes from a distance and we avoided the other seven bus loads of tourists waiting to ride the ropeway later in the day. And we got to try some local dango and iced tea.
Mt. Fuji 5th Station
Seeing Mt. Fuji up close is something else, it’s very, very large, and of course majestic. The view from the 5th Station of the surrounding area is also quite something — if you can ignore the huge car parks. However the area is pretty busy with tourists and some weird old Japanese men hassling young women to ride their pony — and no that’s not a euphemism. However if the weather isn’t great, don’t waste your time or money getting up to the 5th station.
Lake Ashi
Included in our trip was a boat ride from Hakone on Lake Ashi, again, I don’t need to say much about this, look at the photos, it’s gorgeous.
All for now!
It’s taken me three months to put this together (and I left a lot out) — so Kyoto, Osaka and Hiroshima will come soon. Also temples, shrines, parks and gardens will get it’s own section.
Future updates will include the locations of all the great places we went (including the ones I don’t mention), as well as some handy travel tips for Japan.