After breakfast I took the metro to Odaiba - which is an artificial island that was built into an entertainment district. There's a nice seaside park and an indoor theme park called Joypolis that I had fun at for a few hours. Think of it as interactive rollercoasters. Like riding a rollercoaster and playing a video game at the same time.

Afterwards I headed to Harajuku where there's a four story Daiso, which is a 100 yen store. I was in search for a cheap duffel bag to carry some of the things I bought.

I then headed to the Tokyu Food Show to eat a late lunch and grab some curry mixes to bring back home. Every department store in Japan has these food markets in their basements. The fancier the department store, the fancier the food market. It's how they show off. It's actually cheaper to buy lunch or dinner here than at many restaurants, and the quality is amazing. I really love this place. You can find any type of food you want. These pictures only represent 1/5th of the amount of fresh food available. It's very easy to get lost in here!

I spent the evening packing for my flight tomorrow. This is the last post I'll write unless something unexpected happens on the way to the airport. So thanks for reading!

I took an 11am shinkansen from Kyoto to Tokyo and made my way to Shibuya which is where I'm staying on the last leg of this trip. It's similar to Times Square of NYC. Oh. Prior to getting on the train I had this delicious bowl of ramen at the Kyoto train station. It's an Osaka-style ramen.

I spent the rest of the day in Shibuya shopping, and then ate a delicious curry for dinner.

In the evening I went to a music venue named WWW in Shibuya for a concert. The opener was a Japanese artist named Miyauchi Yuri who builds soundscapes with multiple instruments and a looper. It was a great performance. Here's an example of what he does (this video is from 5 years ago so he has improved a lot!)

https://youtu.be/UR4VKWOtX_E

The headliner was Yumi Zouma which is an electric pop style bad that was really fun. I even danced on stage during the encore!

The following day I had some delicious ramen for breakfast at Tokyo station, and then went to Akihabara electric town - which is where all the electronic stores are in Tokyo. I spent many hours trying not to buy all the things...

After Akihabara I headed to Ryōgoku Kokugikan for a Sumo tournament that happened to be going on this month. It was a very cool experience!

In the evening I wandered around Tokyu Food Show and ate as much as I could handle. I was hoping to gain weight in Japan, but with all the walking I've done that didn't happen. But I thought I'd still give it a go :)

After this somber experience I took a ferry to Miyajima island - which is most famously known for the Itsukushima shrine that sits in the water during high tide. Unfortunately when I arrived I saw part of it was being refurbished. I ended up take a ropeway up into the hills of the island and the hiked in the heat to the top of Mt Misen. After Hiroshima, this hike was exactly what I needed. I felt rejuvenated (even though I was drenched in sweat). I ate grilled oysters before the hike and Hiroshima-style oyster okonomiyaki afterwards.

After taking a ferry and three trains to get back to Kyoto I took a much needed shower and sat by the Kamu river while enjoying the cool nighttime weather.

Here's a view from the top floor.

After touring the Himeji castle I stopped by a small restaurant for lunch and had a dish called kamameshi.

I spent the next two hours exploring the Himeji gardens which were very peaceful. I also stumbled upon a samurai movie being filmed.

After coming down with heat exhaustion again, I napped on the train ride back to Kyoto and had a low key evening of laundry, lots of sushi, and a shiatsu massage.

The daibutsu in the Tōdai-ji temple was stunning. The picture doesn't do it justice, but the second picture gives you a sense of the scale of the Buddha.

After Nara we took a 40 minute rapid train to Osaka, which is another huge metropolis. We visited the Dontonbori area which is known for its amazing food. In particular okonomiyaki and takoyaki.

After filling our stomachs and exploring the streets of Osaka we took a 30 minute rapid train back to Kyoto and spent then evening sitting by the Kamo river and chatting about life.

Afterwards we visited the local market and tried Inari sushi for the first time. Looks weird but it was really tasty.

I left my friend and spent the next few hours doing laundry and drying off. I was pretty proud of myself for being able to ask for and purchase detergent entirely in Japanese, and even more proud of figuring out how to use the laundry machine :)

After drying off and hanging my laundry to dry I walked to a shopping street called Sanjo Dori and stopped into a random restaurant. Ended up having a delicious bowl of charbroiled chashu pork and pickled vegetables.

Next on the list was a short walk to the Nijō castle to view its gardens and palaces. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed inside the palaces.

And for dinner I had okonomiyaki, which is a savory pancake made with cabbage, other Japanese vegetables, shrimp, pork, and a delicious semi-sweet sauce.

I purchased a bento box at the station, settled into my seat and enjoyed the view.

I arrived in Kyoto after 2h40m and hopped on a bus to drop off my bags in the Saiin neighborhood where I'm staying.

After checking into my place I hopped on two more buses to get to Otagi Nenbutsu-ji, an off the path area with hundreds of Buddhas with various facial expressions. One of the coolest places I've been to.

I narrowly missed the bus back down the mountain which only comes once per hour, so I walked down to the bamboo forest.

It was sweltering hot so I stopped for some cold udon noodles and tempura.

Next up was a hike to the Arashiyama Monkey Park to see the Japanese macaque (also known as Snow Monkeys)

There were some great views of Kyoto from up here as well.

A typhoon was passing east of Kyoto and brought with it a powerful thunderstorm, so I headed back home before it hit. In the evening I ventured a few blocks in the pouring rain to grab a bowl of ramen with a friend I made from Canada. Unfortunately I did not take a picture of what was the most delicious ramen I've had here so far. But I'm sure I'll go back there before leave.

I took the JR Yokosuka line from Shinagawa station to Kite-Kamakura station which took about one hour and cost around ¥1000.

I exited the station with a hundred or so children who were going to school.

I then made my way to the Engaku-ji temple.

Next up was the Kenjō-ji temple. Which was the highlight of the day with one of the most colorful shrines, and the Tenen hiking trail that led to some spectacular views of Kamakura.

After Kenjō-ji temple I walked 30 minutes to the central business district of Kamakura, which is a beach town.

I bought a waygu beef baked bun for some energy.

And then browsed the shops on the main drag called Komachi Street.

Next up was a local train ride to Hase station followed by a 10 minute walk to see a large Buddha statue called a daibutsu.

After viewing the statue I walked to the beach for a bit, grabbed a quick curry and rice, and then hopped on the JR train back to Tokyo.

No one locks their bikes in this country. The amount of respect people have here for each other is simply amazing.

After getting back to Tokyo I met up with another traveler friend I made earlier to checkout the view from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. There were a few more clouds than we had hoped for but still some great views.

We were both hungry at this point and saw some signs showing food on the 32nd floor. So we took the elevator down from the observatory to find the elevator that would take us up to the 32nd floor. The entrance to the elevator had a guard in front, and I asked "tabemas ka", which means "eat?". There was much confusion and he asked us who we worked for. My friend misheard him and said "San Francisco". The guards eyes lit up and said "Oh! San Francisco! Come this way!". He had us fill out a form with our names and a contact number, and then gave us a badge to let us up to the 32nd floor. We think he thought we worked for the US Embassy.. but not quite sure. There were no restaurants on the 32nd floor, but was rather a cafeteria for government workers. After finding some English instructions it was made clear we needed to pick out the food item we want from the display :

Then buy a meal ticket from this machine :

And redeem the ticket in the cafeteria line to obtain the food. In the end I got a delicious bowl of government subsidized Sapporo ramen for only ¥500 and a fun story to tell :)

After finishing our meal we went back down to the main floor and were kindly escorted out of the building.

We decided we should go to the observatory one more time for nighttime pictures of the city. We could not have made a better choice.

Walked through Inokashira park which was quite beautiful and had a few shrines.

I would not have come out this way if it were not for the Ghibli Museum (a studio that produced famous anime movies such as Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro). I recommend my niblings watch especially the latter film, I think you'd enjoy them!

Afterwards I went to Sunshine City which is a huge shopping area. Unfortunately it was mostly closed today and I'm not sure why. My feet are aching pretty bad, so I'm taking the rest of the day off to relax. I think a massage or onsen is in order.

Sorry for the short post. But here's a picture of a dog on the Tokyo metro to make up for it.

It is so incredibly hot and humid. I began day 2 in Tokyo by visiting Asakusa and its famous Sensō-ji temple.

At the temple I shook a container filled with sticks until one popped out, matched the marking to a drawer, and pulled out a fortune from the drawer. It looks like excellent times are in my future.

I then walked through some shops and made my way to the Tokyo Skytree with some other gaijans I've met.

We toured the shops at Skytree, but decided not to go up as it was a bit pricey and there are other cheaper places to get good views (like Tokyo Tower and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building). We did eat a delicious lunch there. I had tempura and soba noodles.

All morning I had a pounding headache from heat exhaustion so I left the group and took a 2.5 hour nap back at the apartment.

In the evening I met up with an old friend and his wife who moved to Tokyo 2 years ago. He's a chef and took me to the Tokyu Food Show which is a market in Shibuya. I'll be coming back there on the tail of my trip to pickup some items. It's pretty crazy how expensive fruit can be here. $250 melons and $80 grapes!!!

After touring the food market we went to the Hikari Building which had some stores that featured items from the various prefectures of Japan, and then ate delicious yakitori for dinner.

The last thing I did was people watch in Shibuya (similar to Times Square) near the Hachiko statue (pictured at the top of this post). There's a sad and beautiful story about this dog - I'll let you read about it on your own here.

First on the list was to explore to oddities of the 250sq ft studio apartment.

The Japanese do not joke around with their toilets! They are seriously amazing.

At some point I have to figure out the laundry machine. Hopefully YouTube has a tutorial or I'll just contact my host.

Here's a photo from the balcony.

I'll share some more pics of the apartment later when I get around to taking them.

Next up is breakfast at a nearby cafe. Thick buttered toast, a fried egg, and bacon.

I then walked to the Tokyo Tower.

While I waited for the tower to open i walked through the nearby Shiba Park

It cost ¥900 for an elevator ride to the observation deck which provided some great views of the city.

Afterwards I hopped on the Tokyo Metro to the Tsuikiji fish market for second breakfast. This seared scallop for ¥500 was amazing.

It is hot hot hot here. 90F with high humidity. The green tea ice cream helped.

After the fish market I walked through Kiba park, ate soba noodles in Tokyo station, visited a rooftop garden in the KITTE building, and walked through the bustling Harajuku area where people walk around in cosplay outfits (photos are still on the GoPro).

Afterwards I walked to the Meiji Shrine.

Then I walked to the nearby Yoyogi Park and took a quick nap on a bench. I walked in total 25km (15 miles) today!

I made my way to a restaurant where you order sushi on a touchscreen and then a few minutes later it zips down a conveyor belt right to your seating station! It was like a video game that feeds you.

Well this was a long post and I'm tired of typing on my phone. I'm writing this Sunday morning eating the same breakfast I had yesterday. Today I'm off to Asakusa, Akihabara, and then meeting up with my chef friend who moved here a few years ago with his wife.

Until next time!

After offloading the plane, going through immigration and customs, I was able to swap my JR Rail voucher into the actual pass which will allow me to ride almost all JR trains around the country. The pass won't activate until the 7th when I plan to go to Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Himeji, Hiroshima and Miyajima.

I also picked up a SUICA card for using the Tokyo metro system and it can also be used at many stores for payment.

Then I made my first purchase. A delicious green lemonade.

Currently I'm waiting for the Narita Express train to depart which will take me to Tokyo. From there I'll transfer to the Tokyo metro and head to the neighborhood I'm staying in, Azabujūban.

I think I packed pretty lightly. Total weight 22lbs :

First up is a 6:15am flight from SFO to YVR, with then a four hour layover before the 9.5 hour flight to NRT (Tokyo).

It begins!