Day 25 (Aug 23) - Back to Canada

Our last morning in Japan was comfortable since we had nothing planned besides heading to the airport. Unlike two years ago, we knew our seats, thus having no anxiety about whether we can board the plane or not.

We checked out at around 10 and headed towards Shinjuku station to catch the Narita Express. I wish I got myself a ekiben before boarding, but I didn't make any side trips to find stalls/vendors. The ride to Narita was smooth, and this was the first time that I didn't nap as we sped to the airport.

We had about three hours before our flight, which meant that we couldn't check in our luggage right away. We found a waiting area nearby and sat there for about 30 minutes. As we waited, a parade marched by us, though I wasn't sure what the event was for. It was nice to see though!

After checking in our luggage, we went to find a place to return our Pasmo cards. For future reference, we just need to head to a gate attendant and ask for a refund. After returning our Pasmo cards, we headed to go through security. We still had about two hours left, so we strolled through the Duty-Free stores for a while before stopping at McDonald's for one last meal. It seems to be a habit of mine, since I've ordered something from McDonald's ever since 2014 (started with Mexico, though I didn't buy anything from McDonald's in 2018 in Montreal). We finished our meal and headed to the lobby area to wait to board. I'm not sure why, but we waited to be the last people to board the flight.

The flight was relatively uneventful, besides patches of turbulence. I finished watching End Game, and watched The Fate and the Furious that I downloaded on my phone via Netflix. I also managed to finish the first part of Terrace House Tokyo 2019-2020, which kept me up throughout the flight. I think I managed maybe 15 minutes of sleep in total?

Going through customs in Calgary was a lot quicker than 2017 ever since they introduced electronic kiosks. We picked up our luggage and waited for our dad to pick us up from the airport.

And that essentially marks the end of Japan 2019! At times, I admit, I wanted the trip to end earlier, but in retrospect I'm glad we had 24 days in Japan. While I write this, I kinda wish that I was still in Japan! I regret not eating as much variety this time around, but there's always next time!

I'll post a reflective post about this trip sometime in the next few weeks. I've stopped blogging daily ever since I finished my 365 day challenge (if you include those short, short Haikus) for my last year in my 20's, but I'm pretty tired from blogging for almost a month. 

Day 24 (Aug 22) - Last Full Day in Japan

For our last day, we finished up some last minute shopping. Due to the sweet shop in Ameyuko being busy yesterday afternoon, we went back first thing in the morning when it opened up at 10 AM. I had a much easier time walking down the narrow aisles and purchased some more sweets and snacks. After we finished with the shop, we traveled back to Akihabara.

We first went to Mak Japan, which was closed yesterday to purchase some items. It was a small shop, but the service was extremely friendly and informative. After making our purchase, we crossed the street to visit Tamtam to see if they had gundams that we couldn't find at Yodabashi yesterday. Unfortunately, they did not.

That meant that we needed to go back to Odaiba's Gundam Base. It seemed like Gundam Base is the only place now to purchase newly released Gundams. Before heading to Gundam Base, we stopped by Fuji TV's building, which is a place I haven't visited before, but have seen from the distance. They had some sort of event taking place, for it was filled with people and carnival games. After spending some time there, we traveled to our intended location to purchase a few gundams.

With our hands full, we ventured back to our hotel to deposit our items. We arrived relatively early, so they haven't finished cleaning our room. We only had to wait an additional 15 minutes, before dropping our purchases and heading out for lunch.

One other regret I have is not going to Yayoi more often, when it's so close to our hotel. Food is relatively cheap, and seemingly healthy. Perhaps most importantly, it's quite tasty as well!

We went back to our hotel and relaxed for a few hours before heading out to Shinjuku for more shopping. There seemed to be a new Yodabashi building that held model kits, in which my brother was able to pick up a kit that he was looking for. Tokyu Hands there was extremely jammed pack, which I assumed was due to people finishing work. Afterwards, we walked around the station to try and find a food stall that had Chinese buns, but to no avail. We headed back to the convenience store at Shin-Okubo to shop for dinner and breakfast before heading back to the hotel.

I quickly did some last minute reorganization of my luggage before checking in for the night. It's almost time to say goodbye to Japan 2019. One more sleep!

Day 23 (Aug 21) - Beginning of our Shopping Spree.

Our last two days were purely for shopping. We started out in Shibuya, hoping to shop at their Tokyu Hands for a specific item. However, they were closed, thus we had to travel elsewhere. We made one final stop at Uobei for this trip: I didn't eat as much, so I gave my 5% voucher to my brother to use.

Once we had breakfast/lunch/brunch, it was off to Akihabara. I was looking for a specific item at a store, but it turned out that it was closed on Wednesdays! Turning back towards the station, we made our way to the Radio Station, which had a wide variety of toy and card shops. For the next two hours, I stopped at the various card stores to compare prices of certain Pokemon cards that I wanted. Time went by so quickly that I wasn't fully aware till I looked at my watch and it was mid afternoon.

We then travelled to Ameyayokocho (Ameyuko) for snacks at the snack store we found in 2017. It was extremely busy, and unfortunately they stopped taking credit card (I'm quite sure we paid with card back in 2017). With a few massive bags filled with savory snacks (not a lot of sweet snacks this time around), we headed to a wind chime store down a quieter shopping arcade nearby. Finally, it was back to the hotel to drop off our goods thus far.

We rested before heading out to Freshness Burger near our hotel for dinner. It's my first time (I believe) at Freshness, and it tastes just like Mos Burger. As we waited for our food, I started reminiscing about Japan 2019, even though there's still one more full day left. Overall, a really good trip with a lot done.

Day 22 (Aug 20) - teamLab Planets, Yokohama and Ikebukuro

For the last few days, we didn't have any large trips planned. We woke up at around 7:30 and headed to Toyosu to visit teamLab's Planet museum. Personally, I found it a lot better than Borderless since it was more immersive: besides sight and hearing, it utilized touch as well with the amount of water around the museum. It was far shorter than Borderless, meaning that we finished in about 40 minutes time.

We traveled to Yokohama next, which took about 30 minutes from where we were. At Yokohama, we first visited their Chinatown, which is the largest one in Japan. Streets were filled with restaurants. We stopped at a restaurant for lunch. We were the only customers at that time (around 1 PM if I recall correctly), but our meal was good -- though pricey.

After exploring Chinatown for a while longer, we made our way to the Pokemon Centre in Yokohama. After purchasing some goods, it was time to head back to our hotel to rest before heading over to Ikebukuro in the evening. We made brief stops at Tokyu Hands, the Pokemon Centre in Sunshine City and Uniqlo. I ended up leaving empty handed, which may have been the best since our last location for the night was Square Enix's Artnia. We took the subway to a station near the cafe, which was the first for me. It led to a different part of Shinjuku that I haven't seen yet. Once we arrived at Artnia, there was nothing of interest. The store across the cafe, however, was the supermarket that we visited frequently back during the last few days in 2017. As a nostalgia trip, we made purchases there before walking back to our hotel.

22 days have passed thus far, but it felt more like 6 weeks have gone by at this point. I'm ready to head back home!

Day 21 (Aug 19) - Enzan and Family

Woke up at around 6:30 so that I could get ready to catch a train to Enzan. We booked tickets a few days back in Okayama for the Kaiji Limited Express. The trip took about an hour twenty, in which I spent most of my time looking out the window. The sky was somewhat grey, but it wasn't terribly cloudy.

At Enzan station, we were greeted by our eldest aunt and uncle. They took us to visit our grandfather. Unlike two years ago, he lost a considerably amount of weight, similar to when we first saw him in 2014 when he had a stroke. After some time, we said our farewells and headed to a temple nearby. I'm not 100% sure, but I believe it's Erinji Temple, based on how my aunt mentioned it was dedicated to or that Takeda Shingen built. It was fairly pleasant and quiet at the temple.

We left for lunch at a family restaurant. Since I wasn't feeling too well, I got a simple udon and vegetable set. My aunt was worried that I was dieting, so she graciously offered a chicken kaarage from her meal. It was tasty and while we ate, we got the chance to show her some of our pictures that we took throughout the trip. It also seemed like my aunt picked up some English, for she was able to say a couple sentences. Unfortunately, my Japanese was pretty basic, so I could only answer some of her questions, while saying "wakanai" for the others (lit: I dunno).

After lunch, they brought us back to Enzan station. We said our farewells as we exchanged gifts. We had to book tickets back to Shinjuku, so we did so with the attendant by the gate. The ride back seemed quicker, for we were back in Shinjuku. After heading back to our hotel, we did some laundry (final one for the trip) before heading back out in the evening to meet up with another cousin. This cousin makes the effort each time we're in Japan to visit us, and I'm very grateful for that. She took us to a udon restaurant by the name of Tsurutontan. My initially impressions of the place was hipster/trendy, based on how it didn't look like any other udon restaurants (I admit I've been to very few) I've been to in Japan. Also, we had to order drinks, with the cheapest ones being 480 yen. When the udon bowl came to us, I was amazed by how big they were, but the portionn size within was equivalent ot a normal size.

I was pleasantly surprised by how tasty it was though, and it has ever so slightly lessened my bias towards these types of establishments. My cousin also ordered sushi, tempura and a crispy corn appetizer that were all really good as well.

During dinner, we conversed a bit while talking about our vacation. Once dinner was over, we headed back to Shinjuku station before parting ways.

We stocked up for breakfast and rested for the night. A fulfilling day visiting family; it is one of the reasons why I started to learn Japanese. I hope to one day be able to carry out a conversation!

Just three more full days left in Japan.

Day 20 (Aug 18) - Back to Tokyo

One final bread breakfast at our hotel before we prepared to leave our hotel in Okayama. We didn't book tickets for the Shinkansen despite Sunday being a busy day for travel due to people heading back to home with Obon finishing a couple days ago. Fortunately for us, the Hikari shinkansen started at Okayama, meaning that we could grab seats in the unreserved cars.

Four and a half hours later, we made it back to our hotel in Shin-Okubo. We were able to check in right away, so we took a small break before heading out to Nakano. We first went to Nakano back in 2015 when my friend was looking for camera parts. Back then as well, we were able to find rare Gundam kits and Pokemon cards.

Unfortunately this time around, there were none of those to be found. After walking for about an hour, we left dejected. Since we didn't eat lunch, we headed back to Uobei. I wanted to use my 5% coupon that I won during my first visit this trip, but I wasn't aware that I had to trade in my coupon for a voucher. That means I'll have to make a 3rd trip back to Uobei! =)

We went looking for some souvenirs near Shibuya station, but unfortunately the building was undergoing renovations (seems to be a theme this time around). It was pretty early still, so we ventured to Tokyo Station to look for the Pokemon Centre near the Pokemon Cafe. As we approached Tokyo Station, we walked through their underground passage, which was full of tourists. We soon went above ground to a part of Tokyo that I haven't visited yet.

The Pokemon Centre and Cafe were located within a Takashimaya department store in Nihombashi. The walk reminded me of our downtown since it wasn't filled with people walking down the streets. The Centre was relatively easy to find with the cafe being right across. Unfortunately, you had to reserve seats for the cafe, and I swear that anytime a day opens up, it fills up right away. Fortunately, it wasn't the case with the centre. After looking around for a while, we ended up heading back to our hotel via subway. Once back in Shin Okubo, we headed to Don Quijote for dinner and relaxed for the rest of the night.

The last leg of our journey. Waking up early makes it feel like we've been in Japan for over a month now.

Day 19 (Aug 17) - Kibi Plains and Reunion

We didn't have much planned for Saturday, meaning that we could wake up later than usual. We left the hotel at around 10 and headed off to Kibi Plains, which is only about 20 minutes away from Okayama station. The plains were famous for housing the Kibi Kingdom back in the 4th century, which apparently had similar strength to the Yamato Clan (modern day Japanese I believe?). There's also a famous story about how Momotaro (Peach Boy) defeated ogre(s) on these plains.

It was extremely quiet on the plains, considering it was late Saturday morning. We pretty much the sights to ourselves as we walked for about under an hour.

The greenery, the calm river, and the clear skies made it such a serene place to visit.

After some time spent here, we traveled back to Okayama to shop for lunch. It was off to Aeon Mall's supermarket and food vendors. We walked back to the hotel to eat, but we arrived a bit too early. After about 15 minutes, we were allowed back into our room.

We spent a few hours in here before heading back down to the lobby to meet up with a cousin that we haven't seen in 18 years. He brought along his family, which included his wife and two children (age 6 and 2). We walked to a Teppanyaki restaurant not too far from the hotel. It was quiet, though the food was quite good. Despite the lack of conversation, it was nice to reunite with our cousin and to see new additions to his family. Like I mentioned before, I always look like seeing family. It's always hard to find time to see this particular cousin due to his job. Fortunately, we were able to meet up!

Once dinner was over, we walked back to the hotel before parting ways. A relatively simple, but fulfilling day.

Day 18 (Aug 16) - New sights in familiar sites

I cannot recall exactly, but I believe it was sometime early January. I was scrolling on Facebook and an advert caught my eye: a picture of a scenery that imitated Salar de Uyuni (Salt Plains) in Bolivia, save it was during sunset. Upon further reading, I found out that the picture was taken at a beach in Shikoku.

I was already planning to go back to Japan this summer, but that scenery spurred me even more to go back. With Typhoon Krosa, I was worried that we wouldn't be able to venture to the beach, but fortunately train services were back to normal. I actually gave up going to Shikoku for half the day, until "re-finding" my resolve to see if trains were heading down to the area.

But to start off my day! We headed to Onomichi to view the city from the top of a mountain. We missed it the first time, since I wasn't aware of an observatory point until we got back to the station in 2017. The hike to Senkoji Park (where the observatory point was) took about 40 minutes from Onomichi station. The path was quiet, with very few people. The ascent was mostly stairs, which meant I was pouring with sweat when we reached the top. The view was amazing from the top though.

We took a rail car back to the base, since I didn't want to walk all the way down. Once we reached Okayama station, it was to venture to the Pokemon store that we couldn't go the day before. Aeon mall was certainly different compared to Thursday -- their were throngs of people walking within. It took us to find the Pokemon store, probably because I didn't expect it to be so small. Disappointed, we walked to the supermarket once again to shop for lunch.

After a few hours, it was off to visit the beach. The journey started with a train ride to Shikoku Island, followed by a transfer to a local train. I was feeling anxious with the 3 minute layover time we had, but fortunately Tadotsu station is relatively small and that trains were only a few tracks apart. Once we got to Takuma station, we looked for a bus that would take us to the beach. Being that it's Shikoku, English is sparse. Fortunately, my Japanese went from absolute-scrubby-noob to absolute-noob: I was able to ask the bus drivers there whether they stopped at the beach or not. Once we found the bus, we boarded it to see that it was filled with people. It was funny to see, when we arrived at the bus stop, everyone leaving the bus except for one person who I assumed was a local.

At first glance, it looked to be a regular beach. It didn't help that the skies were partly cloudy and that sunset was still about 40 minutes away. The beach spanned about a kilometer, and there were probably a few hundred people on the beach. Fortunately, we were able to grab a few shots. After fiddling with an image I shot, I managed to make it into something that I like.

The colors are definitely more saturated than what it really looked like. Here's the unedited version.

After taking a few shots, we took an earlier bus back to the station. In hindsight, it might have been better to spend more time at the beach, because we had to wait nearly 90 minutes for our train back to Okayama. At times, my brother and I were the only ones at the station as we sat there on our phones with flies and other insects flying around us.

Once our train arrived, it was about a 50 minute trip back to Okayama. Since most places were closed at nearly 10 PM at night, it was convenience store food for dinner.

Overall, a day in which we visited familiar sites to see new sights. I was glad to see Chichibugahama beach in Mitoyo city, and it might be something I would consider visiting again. However, I probably would look to booking a hotel nearby... trains were too few and far between at night. =P

Day 17 (Aug 15) - On the edge of Typhoon Krosa

Since Typhoon Krosa was to make landfall in Western Japan, the shinkansen lines were closed for the day. In other words, we were to stay in Okayama for the day. Due to being on the edge of the typhoon, we didn't get as much rain as other places. If I remember correctly, we only got about 9 mm of rain and winds were only got as high as 40km/h.

I did wake up early to grab bread from the front counter for breakfast. They had six different flavors, so I ended up taking three: a hot dog bun, dessert bun (chocolate and cream) and a cutlet bun.

Since it was about 6 AM, I ended up doing laundry. We tried staying in our hotel room as long as possible since we didn't have much planned for the day. If I remember correctly, I think I ended up reading a bunch of manga and watching clips on YouTube. We left when we heard the cleaners starting on our floor. It was raining relatively hard outside, but it wasn't torrential.

We headed to Aeon Mall via the underground passage. However, when we approached the glass doors that led to the basement floor of the mall, there was a sign. Pulling out Google Translate told us that the mall was closed, except for the food vendors and super market. Walking around the underground passage some more, we saw that a Bic Camera was open, so we went in and spent a relatively long time strolling through the different floors. We weren't in a rush.

There was apparently a large Sega arcade nearby, so we left the passage and traveled above ground to locate it. Streets were relatively quiet from what I'm accustomed to in Okayama, though the rain died down. Wind picked up a bit and there were times I had to briefly stop walking as the wind blew against me. After walking for a while to where Google Maps pointed it should be, we saw essentially an empty plot of land. It turned out that the arcade was permanently closed. I should have checked Maps more thoroughly before heading out.

It was nearly lunch time, so back to Aeon mall to look for food at the supermarket and food vendors that surrounded the market. For those of you planning to japan, always try and visit a supermarket -- selection of foods are vast and tend to be cheaper than convenience stores. After purchasing food, we headed back to our hotel. It was around 1:30, which meant that they may not be done cleaning, but fortunately they were. We then spent about four or five hours in our hotel (I think I played some MHGU at this time) before heading back out for supper.

We walked to a nearby shopping arcade near our hotel and the station. Unfortunately, it seemed like everything was closed. With only the supermarket, back at Aeon Mall open, we headed back there for dinner.

Overall, a simple day, though perhaps a good way to recharge was the last third of our trip. We were fortunate that we weren't caught in the brunt of the typhoon, and that it was only going to last a day.

Day 16 (Aug 14) - Back to Okayama

We only spent two days in Kyoto. Wednesday marked our move to Okayama, while one of our group mates went back to Tokyo. Our train arrived just before 1 PM, so we were able to check out later than usual. While we were in a waiting area at Kyoto's station, I saw the news talking about an incoming typhoon that will affect Kyushu, in which Okayama is relatively close to. While the train took us from Kyoto to Okayama, you could literally see the skies starting to darken.

We arrived about 30 minutes before check-in at our hotel, thus we had to wait instead of dropping off our luggage. Once we checked in, we went back to Okayama station to head to Hiroshima. I wanted to try Hiroshima style okonomiyaki and tomorrow wasn't an option since the shinkansen will be shut down in preparation for the typhoon.

The ride to Hiroshima is only 40 minutes. After arriving at the station, we looked for a particular okonomiyaki place that strangely both my brother and I were reading up on while we were on the train. I was a bit confused, because on the website, it mentioned that it was outside of the station, but Google Maps suggested that it was underground, though at the edge of the station. After walking around for a while, we managed to find the place. We had to line up for around half an hour, but it was definitely worth the wait. Hiroshima style okonomiyaki is different than Osaka's style in that there was a yakisoba layer and all the other ingredients were stacked in layers. Osaka's style tends to be a mix of all ingredients. Personally, I prefer Hiroshima's style since it looks more organized. Taste was really hard to compare, since I haven't had Osaka okonomiyaki since 2017.

After eating, we walked above ground to find the Pokemon center in Hiroshima. When I last visited Hiroshima in 2015, we only had time to see the Peace Memorial, thus making Hiroshima city, somewhat a new experience. The streets were quiet, but I'm not sure whether its due to the cloudy skies or it's normally this quiet. We eventually found the location and ventured inside. The Pokemon Center's mascot was a Pikachu on top of a shiny Gyarados.

We purchased a few things from the centre, including a Kimono Pikachu plushie. As we left the building, we saw that there was a fair bit of rain. Not wanting to walk in the rain, we took the train car back to Hiroshima's station. We caught the slower Kodama shinkansen (around 70 minutes to Okayama) and purchased convenience store food for dinner. There was a pasta place in the underground mall linking to Okayama station, but somehow I didn't feel up to it. I noticed that the convenience store had a limited selection of food... I wonder if it was due to other people stocking up for the typhoon.

Day 15 (Aug 13) - Nara and Uji

I've been to Nara twice, with both times seeing just Todaiji temple. This time around, we went to visit Kasuga Taisha -- a highly popular shrine dedicated to the guardian of Nara. We started our day late, but managed to get to Nara Station by around 11 AM if I remember correctly. The bus heading to Kasuga Taisha was quite packed. We were sitting at the back of the bus which made me worried about being able to get by people to exit the bus when we reached our stop. Fortunately, it seemed like a lot of people had the same idea as us since a vast majority left at the same time we did. We walked about 10 minutes through, what I assumed, was Nara park to reach the shrine.

The shrine was busy, but the main area was free to explore. We didn't want to pay to enter the shrine, so we walked back to Nara station to head to our next location. 

Uji is on the same line as Nara, meaning it was relatively easy to get to. As we got to the Uji station, we stopped by the tourism centre to pick up a map of the location. Uji is known for their green tea and I wanted to purchase some for my relatives. According to websites, the place to purchase tea is at Omotesando, which was near Byodoin temple. Since it was past noon, we stopped by a small soba restaurant near Byodoin temple for lunch. 

The portion of soba, I felt, was quite generous and the dipping sauce/soup broth was just right. After lunch, we headed to Byodoin temple first to look around. There was a little museum on the grounds of the temple which we visited. In here, we learned more about the temple and the various Buddha artifacts that dwell inside. After about an hour, we walked about 10 minutes to reach Omotesando. There was a wide variety of tea shops to pick from. We went to Ito-Kyuemon, a store that was recommended by a website. There were a wide variety of tourists within the shop, and they had a wide variety of different green teas to pick from. After purchasing tea, we headed back to the station to head back to Kyoto.

Once in Kyoto, we stopped by our hotel to drop off our purchases before heading back out for dinner. I was craving sushi from a department store, so we ended up heading down Shijo street to visit Daimaru. For those that do not know, most department stores have an extensive food venue in their basement level. In here, there'll be stalls and stalls of different foods: fried, sushi, bento boxes, vegetables, meats, deserts, etc. I never had a bad experience yet going to a department store's basement! We found some sushi and brought it back to our hotel. Our last full day in Kyoto before we move to Okayama tomorrow!

Day 14 (Aug 12) - Ginkakuji and Gion

In the midst of Obon, trains are usually quite full. We opted to take the slower Kodama shinkansen, which makes stops at all the stations and increase travel time to 214 minutes from 151 minutes if we were to take the Hikari instead. We wanted seats, thus the decision to take the slower train since most people wouldn't want to go on it, and the fact that there were more unreserved seat cars for us to pick from. Fortunately, there were a lot of seats, meaning that we were able to get our own section.

A long trip, though it beats planes by a mile since I'm able to see cities and the countryside pass by. As we arrived at Kyoto, we disembarked and took a subway to go to our hotel. Since we were a couple hours early, we dropped off our bag and headed to find lunch.

After lunch, we headed off towards our first location: Ginkakuji or otherwise known as the Silver Pavilion. To travel to Ginkakuji, we took a train to Nazenji Temple, which was the start of the Philosopher's Path, which would lead to the Silver Pavilion. The walk was hot, with some shade. The path was quiet, with little tourists walking on it. After about 30-40 minutes, we arrived at our destination. The road to the pavilion had a few shops that sold food and other trinkets. Since we ventured to a wide variety of different structures throughout Japan, the pavilion didn't really stand out for me. We spent about 40 minutes before heading back to our hotel to check in.

After relaxing for a while, we headed out to find dinner before heading off to Gion. Along our walk, we found a ramen restaurant. As we were about to enter, a waitress asked us for how many people before asking us to wait outside as she prepared a table for us. Since it was quite hot that evening, she turned on the A/C. I misinterpreted her and I thought she said to smell the A/C, so we started to waft the air towards us until someone mentioned that I was wrong. And wrong I was!

The service was top notch and the ramen wasn't too bad! It may have been a Michelin restaurant as well since it had a Michelin guide book at the front, but I was unable to find the name of the restaurant on the internet. After dinner, we headed back towards Gion.

It took a while to head to Gion, but we finally found a section of the place. I didn't see any geisha or maiko walking outside, which was a bummer, but it was finally nice to see this district. We walked around for a while -- it was filled with tourists of all nationalities.

After a while, we headed back to a convenience store near our hotel to shop for breakfast. Perhaps not a lot of sight seeing today with all the travel, but a fair bit of walking.

Day 13 (Aug 11) - Travelling on my own for a while

Morning was a bit rough due to my wacky sleep schedule, but I managed to eat breakfast before heading back out to Mount Fuji. We weren't able to book a seat in a limited express train since they were all booked, so we had to take a rapid train instead to Otsuki station. Once at Otsuki, we transferred from JR onto the Fujikyu Line to Fuji-Q-Highland. Admittance to the park was free; only the rides cost money. As you enter the park, they took a picture of your face which I'm assuming is for security purposes.

We found the Haunted Hospital, or otherwise known as the Super Scary Labyrinth of Fear. My brother and his friend were interested in giving the attraction a try, but I knew that I would probably have some sort of accident that would leave me embarrassed. I opted not to join them as they went to purchase their ticket.

They had about an hour or so (or was it 90 minutes) before their appointed time, so they went for lunch. I didn't want to spend my time walking around the amusement park, so I left on my own adventure. My father mentioned a tourist spot nearby called Oshino Hakkai. I left the park and went to the bus stop to catch a bus to the location.

I admit, I was a bit nervous since I never traveled by myself, let alone in a foreign country. My nerves didn't go away when the scheduled time for the bus came and left. I thought I had missed it completely, but I did arrive 20 minutes early to wait. Once the bus arrived, I breathed a sigh of relief as I hopped aboard. The trip took around 20 minutes, and by the time I arrived at Oshino Hakkai, I was surrounded by tourists. It was a lot more touristy than I thought it would be.

For those who never heard of the place, Oshino Hakkai is known for their eight ponds (used to be the sixth lake of Mount Fuji until it dried up hundreds of years ago) that had snow melt from Mount Fuji. It was set up as a tourist town with a whole bunch of food stalls and souvenir shops. I regret not trying out some of the food, but I was on a mission to search the eight ponds. Due to a lack of time, I only managed to find three.

I headed back to the bus stop (opposite side since I wanted to go back to Fuji-Q-Highland) and waited for the next bus, which was slated to come in around 15 minutes. 15 minutes came and gone with my bus not in sight. An elderly lady, who was waiting behind me with her husband, asked me about the bus. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to answer back, so I told her I didn't know how to speak Japanese. She kindly smiled and, if I remember and interpreted correctly, mentioned that it was late. After an hour, the bus arrived. The elderly lady motioned me to go first by telling others behind us that I've been waiting there the longest -- so kind of her! =)

The ride back was pretty uneventful besides a young couple beside me. To put it simply, I felt my personal space being invaded quite a bit despite there being room on the bus. =/ Anyways, I made it back in one piece and met up with my other two companions. We then ordered tickets and waited about 40 minutes for the train to our next location.

Shimoyoshida was a quiet station, but the walk to the Chureito Pagoda was very scenic. Something about the countryside, with all the greenery makes it serene. After around 15 minutes, we arrived at the base of the Pagoda. It was cloudy, with Mount Fuji being obscured by said clouds. As time went by, the clouds diminished and we were able to capture a picture of the Pagoda with Fuji. I wasn't able to take a wide angle shot, but my brother was able to take one.

As we returned back to the station, there were food stalls set up in front. Drinks and Yakisoba were 100 yen each! I couldn't resist purchasing a Yakisoba since I didn't have any on the trip yet.

The trip back to Shinjuku was uneventful for the most part. I spent the hour thinking about my first independent "trip". I think I can see where solo travelers get their joy -- you're in control of everything, not having to compromise for anyone. I still prefer to travel with others, because I enjoy sharing the joys of new sights, but perhaps I may travel on my own, for a much longer duration, next time!

Maybe I'll start small... like somewhere in Canada first...

Day 12 (Aug 10) - Summit and Descent

Maybe it's just me, but all of a sudden after midnight, the climb in front of us (and behind us) was extremely crowded all of a sudden. The climb was slow, but it meant that we didn't have to take as many breaks.

We reached the summit at around 3:40 AM, after climbing for around eight hours and forty minutes. Sunrise wasn't for another hour and 20. We initially waited with a bunch of other climbers near the summit entrance, but that area started to get crowded. There was a rock clearing off to the side, away from the buildings, that offered us a spot to camp out. Unlike 2014, it wasn't windy, so we didn't have to look for shelter against the howling wind. At long last, sunrise came, and it was a magnificent sight. I mentioned this before, but I cannot think of a better place to see the sunrise (despite the climb). People started shouting "Banzai" (Hurray!) and some started to sing Kimigayo (the Japanese national anthem).

After seeing the crater, or what I assumed was the crater, it was time to descend the volcano. The descent was a far lot harder than what I remembered. It could be due to the fatigue that was slowly settling in, or perhaps going downhill, slipping on the loose rocks. I had to take far more breaks going downhill than going uphill. Also, there were a whack of wasps/hornets flitting around our heads again... After four and a half hours, we finally reached the 5th station. The first thing I did was to sit at the center of the fifth station to relax for a while. Once rested, we purchased tickets for the bus back to Shinjuku. I was looking for a souvenir coin machine, and found one at a souvenir shop by the shrine. The coin had the same design as the one in 2015, just with a change of year. After purchasing and customizing the coin, we went to offer our thanks to the shrine for a safe climb.

The bus ride back to Shinjuku felt like a charter bus, since there were only 3 other people with us on the bus. I managed to get some shut eye, which was much needed at this point, for I went 24 hours without proper sleep. We purchased some food, including an exquisite corn dog, it was back to the hotel to relax. I couldn't sleep so I ended up doing laundry.

Fortunately I did pass out at around 10 PM. It was my third time climbing Mount Fuji (summit in 2014 and 2019, and to the middle 8th station hut in 2015). I doubt I'll ever do it again, for the climb took a toll on my body. For the rest of the trip, I don't think I felt as energized as I did before the climb.

But that sunrise... it's something worth seeing. I hope the memories are forever ingrained in my mind. If not, who wants to climb Mount Fuji with me next time?

Day 11 (Aug 9) - Ascending up Mount Fuji

The purpose of staying up late last night was my intent of waking up near noon. I knew that I wouldn't be able to get any shuteye on the volcano, thus hoping to get as much sleep in as possible. I ended up waking at 7 AM, which is about an hour and a half later than what I normally been waking up during this trip. I tried to drift back to sleep, with some success, for the next time I looked at the clock, it was around 9 AM.

We stayed inside our room, only to go out to shop for lunch at Don Quijote, which was about a 2 minute walk from our hotel. I tried not to eat as much as I would normally had, since toilets were scarce on the mountain.

After lunch, we rested till it was time to leave to catch our bus to Kawaguchiko. We initially wanted to take a direct bus to the 5th station (Fuji Subaru Line) since we had an unpleasant experience in 2015, while waiting for the bus at Kawaguchiko (long story short -- we had to stand on the bus for the hour, making our feet sore for the climb). Unfortunately, all buses going to the 5th station were full, so we were left with the next best choice. As we approached Kawaguchiko Station, it started to rain quite heavily. I didn't view this as a positive sign of our climb.

The bus to 5th station was about 30 minutes away, meaning that we were able to secure a seat on the bus by waiting near the front of the line. I was a bit apprehensive since a whole bunch of people came and decided to stand near the front of the line. As the bus approached and let us board, a few of them tried to budge us. =/

Fast forward about an hour later, we reached the 5th station at around 5:30-5:45 PM. We hung around the station for about an hour -- checking out the souvenir shops (I bought a water-proof cover for my backpack, and a few more Calorie Mate Blocks), heading to the shrine to make an offer of safe passage (collection box was closed) and dressing for the climate. I put on all my layers, since it was feeling a bit chilly.

We started our climb just before 7 PM. Our first stop was to donate 1000 yen each to the conservation effort on the volcano. This year, they gave us carved... plaques/tokens as a sign of gratitude.

The initial climb from the 5th to the 6th station was relatively straight forward without much of an incline. 6th to 7th station started to have a bit of an incline, but it was mostly zigzagging up dirt paths. The climb from the 7th station onward started to become tricky as the incline became a lot steeper and you had to scramble over large boulders. The night was relatively clear, and the path wasn't too busy, so we were able to make good progress. Unlike 2015, I didn't feel any exhaustion at all, and the hiking poles I brought with me this time (from 2014, but didn't use in 2015) helped immensely with the climb. Taking longer breaks (15-20 minutes) also helped with fatigue.

 We made it to... the third or fourth station by midnight. At this point, it seemed like there were more people climbing, but that's for tomorrow's post!

Day 10 (Aug 8) - The Day Before the Climb

The train ride, including layovers, from Takayama to Shin-Okubo (the location of our hotel in Tokyo) takes approximately five and a half hours. With that said, we left early once again. The first train took us to Nagoya while the second one took us to Shinagawa. Our final train was the Yamanote Line, which took us to Shin-Okubo -- like a Korean town within Tokyo. 

After dropping off our luggage at our hotel, we traveled to a nearby ramen restaurant for lunch. 

With lunch out of the way, we made the 30 minute journey to Mitaka to visit a place that has always been on my list, but never had the opportunity to visit: Ghibli Museum. Back in the day, you had to go to a Lawson's convenience store to book tickets (like how we did with Fujiko-F-Fujio Museum), but we could now book tickets online.

We opted to walk towards the museum instead of taking the bus. It was certainly peaceful walking down the neighborhood without the massive crowds.

We were about 30 minutes earlier than our appointed time, so we waited outside the museum. In all honesty, I was filled with excitement. As we entered the museum, I had to say that I was sorely disappointed. The museum was all in Japanese, and the artwork or art boards (I think that's what they're called) did not strike out to me. We finished going through the entire museum in about 20 minutes, and waited about 15 minutes to see a short animation: Boro the Caterpillar. Apparently this short was put out as a potential movie, but they decided to go with Princess Mononoke instead. Thank goodness that Mononoke made the cut instead of Boro. Boro was... weird.

I apologize for being so negative about the museum, but out of all the activities/events/things I've done in Japan, this was my most disappointed event. If you have a decent grasp of Japanese and really enjoy Studio Ghibli films, you'll probably enjoy going here.

After the museum, we went back to our hotel to check in. Luckily for us, they brought our luggage upstairs for us. I felt somewhat bad since this hotel didn't have an elevator and my luggage must have weighed about 45 lbs.

We ventured to Odaiba at around 7 PM, later than what we would usually travel at in Japan. The reason why we were out so late was us trying to stay up late for tomorrow. With Odaiba, we got to see the 1:1 Unicorn Gundam up close. They took down RX-78 a couple years ago to replace it with the Unicorn. I was quite pleased with the change since Unicorn is one of my all time favorite mobile suits. They had a short 10 minute film where you get to see Unicorn transform (as it is synced with the film). 

Once that was over, I went over to the Gundam Cafe nearby and purchased my first and only for the trip, bubble tea. The cafe had a promotion in which if you purchase a bubble tea, you get to keep a reusable plastic bottle. 

We went inside Diver City (a large mall where Unicorn stands in front of) to stop by the food court for dinner. I opted for my first and only for the trip, omurice. (A lot of first and onlys...). Seeing that it was nearly 10, it was time to head back to the hotel. At the hotel, I managed to stay up for a couple more hours before finally heading to sleep at around midnight.

As for the reason why we stayed up so late... find out in my next blog post! 

Day 9 (Aug 7) - Nagoya

Due to Nagoya being a fair distance away from Takayama (around 2 hrs and 30 mins) by train, we left relatively early once again.  Our first stop was for Nagoya castle. The walk was relatively quiet with a strategically placed strip of restaurants and souvenir shops. Ninjas seemed to be a big theme for Nagoya Castle, as there were places advertising souvenirs/food with these historical figures.

Nagoya castle was undergoing renovations on the main keep, but we were able to see the outside of the main structure. It looked really similar to Osaka castle for me.

After the castle, we ventured onto our next location, which was SC Maglev & Railway Park - a museum dedicated to trains run by JR (or more specially Central JR). It was a massive museum with a wide variety of trains on display. The first exhibit had three trains: an old, what I'm assuming, express train for back in the day, to the modern shinkansen, and the future magnetic levitation trains. It was a great introduction of what to expect for the rest of the museum.

There was also a small outdoor exhibit of a current N700 train that had been decommissioned and turned into a sitting/lunch area. People could go into the cars and relax/eat food. I spotted a Green Car, which is the equivalent to business class on a plane, and ventured there to explore since I've never gotten the opportunity to try Green Class.

Perhaps the exhibit I enjoyed the most, would be the main exhibit with the wide variety of older trains on display and with some being able to explore. One car in particular gave me extremely strong Spirited Away vibes.

After exploring for a while, we were starting to feel hungry, thus warranted a trip to the cafeteria. It seems to be a big thing this trip, but I went for yet again another bento box. This one had 30 different things to try. I wasn't interested in counting the 30 things - rather I quickly devoured my box.

After lunch and exploring the bits we missed, it was off to our last location for the trip: Toyota Techno Museum. In here, I learned that Toyota started off as a textile company before moving onto the automotive side of things. There was plenty of English signs explaining the various items they had throughout, which made it more meaningful to me (rather than just looking at an object).

There were also a few robots on display that Toyota designed - with one giving a live performance on a violin! I was thoroughly impressed by how well it performed. The museum also had a small car exhibit with past cars and upcoming models, including their hydrogen fuel cell car.

As we were leaving the museum, we caught sight of a small play area with arcade/carnival games. The museum was slated to close in ten minutes, but the staff were kind and asked us to explore. We ended up going to a "driving school" simulator where you drive a small kart and follow a dotted line. The more accurate you were, the higher the score you'd get. My brother ended up in first place while I came in a close second.

The train ride home was again long (2 hrs and 30 mins), thus we ended up coming back to Takayama at around 9 PM. Most restaurants were closed, so my brother and I went to a Family Mart close to the station for food.

Tomorrow is going to be another long day as we head back to Tokyo for the next leg of our trip.