The oldest temple in Tokyo and it’s in such amazing shape!
The scale of these buildings was really impressive. The curves and murals. The photos don’t do it justice
On the way back home, we went to the kitchen district in Asakusa to buy some knives.
Rach did a bit of reading up and found that Kamata was the place to go. I didn’t get a photo but the store was very humble with a stone wheel spinning away. Mr Kamata then engraved them for us.
(We got the two outside knives and the cleaver)
In the evening we went to a fun Yakitori place in Shinjuku. Boy it cheap. Everything was 350 yen. $4.20 NZD, $2.60 USD. Really tasty!
And finally, we ended the night at Golden Gai. A few blocks of snug little bars that only sit 4-7 people. Alley ways are tight. Some bars are weird, one just had a cool bar tender playing guitar and smoking. Most have a cover charge to come in. Some where members only.
All in all it was a lot of cool vibes and a fun way to end our last full day in Tokyo.
The bar tender in our second stop asked us where we were from then went on to tell us he was in a shapeshifter video some years back (A drum and bass band from NZ)
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Day 14
Last full day / night in Japan.
Traveling back to Tokyo today. We made a mistake and got on the only Shinkansen that wasn’t covered on our rail pass. Thankfully, the staff were very kind and helpful.
We were lucky to see Mt Fuji on the way home. I’ve heard of people living here who didn’t see it for 10 years due to cloud cover.
All in all, I’ve really enjoyed travelling by train. It’s always felt faster than flying and a lot more comfortable. Some have unfortunately made Rachel a little unwell.
Day 13
We made it to our last official stop of the trip- Hiroshima. We are pretty exhausted by this point, so we kept things simple with one goal: to see the A bomb dome.
Day 13
The building is still intact mainly due to the fact that the bomb exploded directly overhead (the pressure blew out the ceilings and much of the structure, but the walls and some distinguishing features of the dome remained because the force wasn’t at an angle).
We met a guy who parked up next to the dome purely to share his extensive knowledge of the historical landscape at the time and impacts of this attack. I had to ask all the questions, because Rachel didn’t want to draw attention to her American accent.
Day 12
Out of Osaka and off to our last destination: Hiroshima! But not without a pit stop in Himeji to check out Himeji Castle.
Himeji Castle is famous for a few reasons. It’s one of a handful of cultural sites in Japan that is still orginal (I believe most of the places we’ve visited have been rebuilt). If you’re my father, you might recognise it as the ninja training camp in You Only Live Twice.
It’s also one of the only places that has allowed us inside. It is pretty inpspiring to be able to climb stairs and touch windows that have been around since 1609 (some fortifications since 1400). We’ve just got nothing like that in New Zealand, by a long way.
Day 11
Universal Studios Japan!
It was a really fun day.
We stayed close to USJ so it was easy to get there early.
The park has good number of rollercosters but all of the best ones were the traditional coasters. At least half were a 4D motion ride with a bit of track movement.
Super Nintendo World was so cool to look at. Which is most of its value. There’s a bunch of little activities around the area which interact with these power bands you buy.
But the place is popular, lines for everything. Glad to have done it. Rach found it a little overwhelming because of all the video game noises.
Day 10
We tried to have today be a resting day in prep for our big day at Universal.
We slept in and didn’t leave the hotel until about lunch time.
A short ferry ride over the bay and we were at Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan.
It’s a weird mixture of feelings at places like this. On one hand there are some amazing tanks with large beautiful creatures. But these tanks are nothing compared to the full on ocean.
Some were so tiny, so while it was cool to see things up close, there was a sense of sadness at the tiny spaces these animals have to live in.
Day 9
Today mostly consisted of travelling from Kyoto to Osaka.
But before we go, let’s talk a little about where we stayed. It seemed fitting that while we were in Kyoto that we stay in a ryokan, a Japanese-style inn.
Often smaller family run businesses with tatami rooms, futon beds, Japanese-style baths. I enjoyed sleeping lower to the ground but Rachel and I both thought they could be a tad thicker to make the side sleeping a bit easier. Both of us were big fans of the bath.
At the behest of @theHenryDemos , I checked out Nintendo’s first & current HQ. Without being a hotel guest, there wasn’t a lot I could see at the first location. I hoped the current office would have a reception or something but they had security to keep riffraff like me out.