Tokyo

November 21, 2016

Tokyo was crazy. It is HUGE. Looking over the city atop the Tokyo Skytree, it's sorta like the view from the Empire State Building, except Tokyo looks like multiple Manhattans crammed next to each other, 360 degrees. It's so dense, and there are so many layers to it physically, culturally, perhaps in every possible way.

Amidst all the chaos, there's so much beauty and artistry. Even for the smallest or seemingly most trivial tasks, the utmost attention is paid to every detail, and everything is executed with incredible precision. There's a visceral, shared pursuit for perfection and doing things right that's hard not to notice and appreciate. It's all quite breathtaking and overwhelming at the same time.

Over the final week of our hsiaoswithoutborders time abroad, we explored as much as we could of Tokyo with Alexandra's parents, who had visited once in the early '80s. One of their favorite memories was eating yakitori under railroad tracks and feeling the rumbling of the trains as they went by, but they had forgotten the location. Fortunately, one of the stops on our food tour was that precise location, where about a dozen open-air yakitori stalls line a narrow alley right under the railroad tracks. We went back on one of our last nights for a fun, memorable dinner, where Alexandra's inner-Japanese-businessman-who-just-left-work-after-a-long-day came out to shine, and we enjoyed a few 'Kanpai'-s with actual Japanese businessmen who just left work after a long day. Man, they know how to party!

Other highlights included day trips to Kamakura and Nikko Parks, seeing Tsukiji fish market, exploring the cool tiny bars of Golden Gai, and taking Alexandra's parents to the sensory-overload Robot Show.

We went out with a bang!

Kamikochi

October 04, 2016

Riding the Shinkansen literally feels like flying on land. It's unbelievably fast, yet very safe and orderly. It was amazing, and really makes you wonder why we can't get our public-transit act together here in America. While on the train, I noticed that every time the train attendant entered and exited our cabin, she bowed politely. No eye contact with anyone, just a simple bow. Whether it was a gesture of respect to the passengers, or perhaps to foster positive chi, it made a lot of sense to me.

When we arrived at the train station, we stopped at the tourist center as directed by my Japan travel guide. We hadn't planned to visit Kamikochi National Park, since we had only one full day in Matsumoto, but we were convinced that the excursion would be worth it given the weather forecast. We'd have to wake up at 6am, not exactly our finest hour, but we decided to make it happen.

It was one of the best decisions that we made on our trip, a relaxing day in nature before the hustle and bustle of Tokyo, where we would spend the rest of our trip with Alexandra's parents. The air that day in Kamikochi was incredibly crisp and clean, and the park itself was so lush and pristine. Its natural beauty was absolutely breathtaking.

As I wrote in my journal, "The moment we boarded the transfer bus, in the heart of the Alps, I had a very strong feeling that I'd be back one day." There's definitely something about that place... Hope I'm indeed lucky enough to go back someday.

For our last dinner together, just the two of us, we pigged out on all-you-can-eat hot pot, of course! The different cuts of Japanese beef were soooo good; everything was perfectly fresh and flavorful.

The next day, we boarded a bus to our final hsiaoswithoutborders destination: Tokyo!

Kanazawa

October 04, 2016

A coastal city on the western side of Japan where saltwater meets fresh water, Kanazawa is known for its unique and diverse seafood. We happen to really like seafood -- like, as in, pass out at the dinner table from eating so much seafood -- so we were looking forward to Kanazawa.

The seafood didn't disappoint. On our first night, we had a sushi boat experience at a restaurant popular among locals. Unlike any sushi boat restaurant I had ever been to, this place had a cool digital menu screen at every table. Once we got the hang of that thing... it was trouble. Let's just say, as many of you already know, I married a woman who rarely under-orders when it comes to food. Sure enough, we had to quickly learn the fine art of balancing a tower of little round sushi plates. All of the fish was super fresh and delicious as advertised.

On our full day in the city, we enjoyed exploring Kenrokuen Garden and Higashiyama Old Town. The sky was pure white that day, really quite amazing. It beautifully complimented the white Kanazawa Castle and highlighted the colorful old wooden buildings of Higashiyama.

To get to our next stop, Matsumoto/Kamikochi, we rode the Shinkansen!

Kyoto

October 04, 2016

Things slowed down for us a bit in Kyoto, where we spent several days exploring the city's beautiful temples, gardens, and forests; trying delicious food; and taking advantage of our hotel's public bath and $5-pours of Yamazaki 12!

The ramen that we had on our first night was pretty mind-blowing. The broth was incredibly rich and porky; the noodles had perfect texture; and the egg and pork slices have undoubtedly converted at least a few vegetarians. As a condiment, a big bowl of pickled greens was something I hadn't seen before -- deliciously crunchy and spicy, not too salty. Sure it was the type of meal that made us feel 10 pounds heavier the next day, but we needed carbs to do a lot of walking over the next several days (since I was a fat little kid, justifying eating more has always come easy to me).

We had a great time exploring as much as we could, and the time flew by. Everything was so beautiful.

The Bamboo Forests were especially breathtaking. There was such an immense calm and peace among the trees. It was one of those moments during our travels where it felt as if time had stopped, and all there was to do was look around, take a deep breath, and appreciate life.

Osaka

September 27, 2016

Osaka was a wonderful surprise in many ways, and it provided a great introduction to Japan. The night we arrived, we had had a long travel day, and we were hungry (bordering on hangry), roaming around our neighborhood looking for a good place to eat. We finally stumbled upon a small restaurant that initially seemed a little intimidating given that it was quite small, and at two of the three tables were Japanese businessmen who appeared to be ordering a lot of food and booze and seemed somewhat rowdy. But for whatever reason we both had a good feeling about it, and it ended up being fantastic. We ordered pan fried udon, fried chicken drumlets with succulent meat and perfectly crispy skin, and a savory grilled mackerel. It was a great foray into the delicious Japanese cuisine that awaited us for the next two weeks.

The next day, we went on a walking tour of the city, and we went to areas we may not have known to explore on our own. We visited the Osaka train station, its rooftop garden (with perfect little grapes and tomatoes). We stopped by Hozenji Temple, which has a statue of one of the five Wisdom Buddhas (and interestingly, instead of tossing coins in the fountain, locals splash water on the statue, and as a result it is covered in a soft green moss). We went to Shinsekai, aka Osaka's "New World", where we sampled one of Osaka's culinary specialties, kushikatsu, aka fried stuff on a stick (which, as you can probably guess, is delish). Later that day, we also toured around the Dotonburi District. It's a popular shopping and entertainment area in the city, and at night it has a sort of Las Vegas-y feel, as the whole area is illuminated with bright, neon lights (including the famous Glico Running Man sign, which we impersonated - nay, perfected -below).

After the tour, we decided to go to the Osaka Castle. We had originally planned to buy tickets to the top to see the view, but we found out that the ticket office did not accept credit cards and we did not have any cash on us. Back in SF, this happens frequently, so we figured, hey no problem, let's just find the nearest ATM. But here, it turns out the nearest bank was about a 20 minute walk away! It didn't seem too convenient, especially considering none of the other vendors accepted credit cards as well. To make matters worse, it was a particularly hot and humid day, and it seemed that everywhere around me, people were enjoying delicious vanilla and matcha-flavored soft serve. Michael can attest that it's really challenging for me when I see other people happily licking their ice cream cones when I don't have one of my own. What can I say? #firstworldproblems

A fun fact about Osaka: it is traditional a merchant city and flourished as one of the economic centers of Japan, and that history can be seen today even in the language. For example, in many parts of Japan, you greet someone by saying, Genki desu ka?, which means, How are you?. But in the Osakan dialect, you greet others with Mokkari maka?, which literally translates to, Are you making money? So fascinating!