The train ride was really nice because we were able to pass Mt. Fuji - it's an elusive mountain because it is very easily covered in clouds and you can't really see it. We were lucky enough to see the top of it while our train sped by.
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| View of Mt. Fuji from the train |
When our train pulled into the Tokyo station, we made our way via the subway to our hotel. As usual, it was a very small hotel with a hard bed and a small bathroom, haha. I haven't spoken too much about the hotels but they are very minimalist in Japan - at one of them, Ryan could touch both walls of the room if he stood in the middle and stretched out his arms. They also didn't have wifi which surprised both of us - we always thought Japan was super wired, but we learned that Korea is actually much more connected than Japan.
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| Tokyo Train Station |
Anyway...on with our fun adventures - it was really rainy that day, but we decided to go check out the local area to get a feel for the city and then head to Shibuya because we always seem to see that part of Tokyo in movies. We crossed the street and went up to the Starbucks to see the crossing full of people at rush hour. We grabbed a coffee and staked out a spot near the window (this was tough because all tourists head here during rush hour so it was a busy, busy Starbucks - luckily, Ryan and I are good at dividing and conquering...he went to get coffee and I pounced at the first vacant seats. It worked out well).
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| Shibuya Crossing - lots of umbrellas because it was a rainy day |
After that, it was time to head back and then grab dinner. I know that many of you will be disappointed that our first meal in Japan's capital was not Japanese food...nope, it was the classy establishment: Hooters. If you've ever been an expat, you'll understand that simple reminders of home are incredibly exciting, so we stood in line for 35 minutes waiting for a table. We were not disappointed - the wings tasted just like they did in the US!
To make sure that we made the most of our Japan Rail Pass (and we because we loved train rides), one of Ryan's friends who lives in Tokyo gave us some recommendations on day trips that we could do. We hopped on the train and got off at the Shin Yokohama station to visit the Ramen Museum. We had the same reaction - there is a ramen museum?! Yes and it's the most bizarre museum I have ever visited because it has a small exhibit talking about ramen (all in Japanese so I can't tell you what it was about) and then you go into the basement and it is set up as if it is late 1950's gangster style Japan. There are several different mini-restaurants where you can get a bowl of their ramen. They were picked as being the best ramen restaurants all over Japan. We tried a couple different dishes and our favorite was one that was miso based with lots of garlic and ginger - simply to die for!
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| 1958 Style Japan - Ramen Style |
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| Ramen with a Miso Base and plenty of ginger - SO good! |
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| Round 2 of our ramen tasting - this was really good as well! |
Then, we got back on the train to go to a zen temple where it was said that one of Buddha's teeth is stored. As we have told you before, the train is incredibly relaxing - unfortunately this meant that both Ryan and I fell asleep and completely missed our train stop. No worries, though - we got off and then quickly back on the train very well rested and headed back in the right direction. :) We got there and walked around the temple grounds which was an incredibly peaceful place. We saw the building where the tooth was stored, but of course, you're not able to go in that building. Then we hiked up to the big bell and that wrapped up our visit to the temple.
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| Temple Grounds |
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| Temple Cat |
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| Monk walking around the Temple |
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| Posing with the bell |
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| Ryan killed this Asian wasp with his bare hands! |
We headed right back on the train and went to see the Great Buddha in Kamakura. It's about a 20 minute walk from the train station and you walk through the cutest neighborhood of Japanese houses. Finally, we got there and we walked up and we couldn't believe how big it was! We had definitely seen this in our history books growing up and it was unbelievable to see it in person! It is a giant, broze, sitting Buddha statue that is over 13 meters high! It used to be inside a temple but a big tsunami washed away the building and so it's been outside ever since. After taking enough pictures, we headed back on the train to Tokyo to get a good night sleep before our next day trip.
In the morning, we woke up early and got on the train to Matsumoto to visit the famous castle there. It was a longer train ride and it went through some beautiful mountainous areas - it was a really beautiful train ride. We got to Matsumotto and walked directly to the castle - it was gorgeous! We walked in and around the castle and really enjoyed it. We were blessed with an extremely beautiful day, too, so we were very lucky! We stopped and tried one of the speciality foods there - oyaki. It was essentially a roll filled with yummy ingredients - Ryan had red beans in his and I had pumpkin in mine...very tasty.
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| Samurai Suit |
Then, we got back on the train again and headed to Nagano. You will recognize this name because the winter olympics were here in 1998...we only walked around the city but there are a lot of ski mountains a little ways out from the city - hopefully we will be able to visit these sometime in the future to go skiing. Beyond winter sports, the primary tourist attraction in Nagano is the Zenko-ji Temple. It was built in the 7th century and then Nagano City was built around it. It is also one of the last pilgrimage sites in Japan so there were many people around the temple.
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| They put the hats and caps on because it was starting to get cold... |
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| Fire breathing statue - smoke came out of his mouth - pretty cool! |
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| Something about this scene just made me think of Japan... |
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| Lanterns out around the temple area |
After a nice exploration of the temple, we grabbed some soba noodles (Nagano is said to have some of the best soba noodles in Japan) which were very tasty and then headed back on the train to Tokyo. It was our last night in the city and our friend had graciously promised to take us to the top of one of the buildings (Mori Tower at Roppongi Hills) to see the city view at night. Before we embarked on that journey, he took us to an unbelievable burger restaurant - it was small but it was easily one of the best hamburgers I have ever had...he said that they use some kobe beef in there which makes it extra delicious.
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| Soba Noodles, Tempura, and Rice - so Japan! |
At the top of Mori Tower, there is a special exhibit going on for Disney's 110th Anniversary. Basically, they turned their helicopter pad on top of the roof into a crazy Disney tribute - there are mirror covered Disney characters that spin around while bright colored lights shine on them and music plays - the first song is always "It's a Small World" - it was an interesting scene up at the top dedicated to Disney, but the cooler part is that you get to be up on the roof, looking at the panoramic view outside without any windows in your way (the usual look out point is in the building and is indoors). The views were awesome!!
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| Tokyo Tower |
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| Tokyo City View - we're purple because of the Disney Lights |
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| It's hard to make out but these are the spinning mirror Disney characters with colorful lights flashing on them...one of the funniest things I've ever experienced... |
Afterwards, we met up with one of our friends who has recently moved to Tokyo. He took us to show us the "real" Japan which consisted of walking through a lot of alleyways looking for small restaurants/bars where businessmen come at all hours to have some yakitori and some beer/saki after work. We found quite a few and had a lot of fun! It was a great night!
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| The menu was up on the wall in one of the spots we stopped at (those wood panels are all menu items) |
On our last day, we headed to the airport on the Sky Train which was a very fitting last activity (seeing as we loved the Japanese train rides so much). A great end to a wonderful week in Japan! :)
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| Last picture of us in Japan while on the Sky Train :) |
