I’ve had a week now to sit with the feelings and the experiences of our visit to Japan. I challenged myself to pick my top five things we did on this adventure. Japan is beautiful, in landscape, people and culture, needless to say, I am changed. When I visited Maui I also had these same feelings of Wow about its cultural beauty.

In less than 2 weeks we did the typical tourist things to do – and hopefully a little extra – around the middle of Japan: Tokyo (Ginza, Shibuya, Harajuku, Chiba, Tokyo Bay); Shimoyoshida (for a view of Fuji-San); Osaka; Kyoto (Gion); Kobe.

I tried my best to list it according to city/region, but I’m probably wrong in terms of how I broke it down. Here’s the full Google Map of all the places I had on my wishlist. We of course didn’t get to do everything on the list, and that wasn’t my intention. I just like to research the talked-about places and if we get to it, great, if not no biggie because we’re on vacation and we’re going to go at vacay-pace.

Now onto the top 5…

5. five

Kobe

Kobe Nunobiki Herb Garden & Ropeway. My only complaint is that we didn’t go earlier. We were tired from number three on this list so we spent most of the day just relaxing at the hotel. The cable car ride is a joy in itself, going high, high into the mountains, and spying the Nunobiki Waterfall from a birds-eye view was tremendous! Instead of taking the cable car, you can also hike from the train station, I’ve read it’s an amazing hike.

Once we got to the garden, the actual garden was already closed, again bummed that we didn’t leave earlier in the day. But exploring The Veranda was beautiful as well. I snapped so many flower pics.

We ended the day with of course a dinner of Kobe beef at a local restaurant. The kids surprised me and loved it, they claimed it as the best meal of their trip.

4.four

Tsujiki Outer Market

So nice we went there twice. The biggest bonus was that we were within walking distance from our hotel! If you are a lover of food like Jason and I you’ll find yourself at Tsujiki Outer Market where vendors sell their fresh produce as well as prepare tasty food from these fresh, delicious ingredients. I could have wandered around that market for far many more hours than we were allotted by the 2 junior members of our family.

3.three

Universal Studios Japan – Super Nintendo World

To be honest I did not want to devote an entire vacation day, a whole 13 hours in the future, to a theme park 😑. I also read beforehand about the hoops and loops for entry. But alas I gave in because I knew it will thrill the kids. Little did I know that my husband and I were probably the ones that resonated more with this activity than I think even the kids did. The reason being we grew up with Nintendo and Super Nintendo! We are kids of the 80′ and 90’s, therefore our entire childhood was spent sliding down castle flagpoles, battling Bowser, and racing Karts. My kids only know the movie. Ours is a rich history of Goombas, and Piranha plants.

I wrote another blog post devoted to a few tips for getting in!

It was a fun, hot, thrilling day!

2.two

Mount Fuji

I told my family that I selected this as my #2, and they vetoed me and said Lawson’s was their pick.

So I’ll tell you first a little bit about Lawson. It’s a convenience store. By now in your research, you’ve gathered that 7Eleven is a must when you go, and to get the egg salad sandwich. Both I 💯 endorse. Lawson is another convenient store in as many, if not more places than 7Eleven. So midnight runs by my husband and kids became the thing (while I luxuriated alone in the room). They would bring back Eggsalad and Chicken Teriyaki sandwiches (even better than just the egg salad); Pear Juice-so -good-you-can-bathe-in-it, according to Jason; a new snack, or whatever their guilty pleasure wanted. One of those strange things that become a core memory.

Mount Fuji

Did I hike up to Chureito Pagoda in my dress, yes – because I wanted cute pics and it was only 400 stairs…(dramatic pause) in the summer hahaha. I looked up all the things to do in this area but we only made it to this one, we were moving on vacation-self-guided-pace. If you want to do it all, check out this blog with all the top sites to hit. I was so happy just to have a clear, beautiful view of this volcano, and that was enough for me! We stopped along the way and picked fresh peaches from a roadside vendor, they were so delicious – summer peaches, that’s it. Simple goodness.

1.one

Kyoto | Gion

I think this was my favorite destination-type reel I’ve ever made. Kyoto is beautiful. And to walk amidst such historically rich grounds felt special. We went to the scenic Saga Arashiyama area of Kyoto and explored the United Nations World Heritage Site, Sogenchi Garden and Tenry-ji Zen Temple and environs. At this point, you’ve undoubtedly also seen photos of the bamboo groves, the most photographed area in Kyoto. To be honest I was a little haughty, we have bamboo in Trinidad, so it’s ok if we miss that one. But we went and it was absolutely peaceful and gorgeous and grounding to stand there amidst the towering stalks. There’s so much to do in Kyoto that it could spend a week there and still not explore all the beautiful landmarks.

As for Gion, it can best be captured in this quote:

Oh so deeply I love Gion
Even in my sleep
The stream runs beneath my pillow

The poem “Oh So Deeply” by Isamu Yoshii

We were lucky that we happened to be there for, what we learned was, one of the most famous festivals in Japan. We were amidst thousands of people and just knew something big was happening. What a treat to see everyone out, Geishas included, for the procession of floats that was about to take place. Aside from the festival, walking the streets of such an old city lined with beautiful old traditional wooden “Machiya” buildings.

For a free walking tour guide and amazing research on this district, check out the Nerd Nomads blog.

If you’ve read this far, thanks for sticking around. It was a beautiful adventure and I hope you get to experience or have experienced the beauty of this part of the world. Leave a comment or share this blog to show some love 🙂

For more content on Japan, check out my Instagram highlight reel!