Archive

Hirosaki

June 3: I always wake up as early as possible, and I see on the map, or one of my maps, of things to do in Aomori is visit the nearby city of Hirosaki, there's a castle and a few dozen temples, a samurai village and the usual

Hakodate Days

1st of June I wake up around 7AM, I look once again at my map ahead, I still have some time, so I go down the long underground malls looking for a small present with the town name to give to the hotel receptionist. I have only done it once

Sapporo Days

May 29 Time to say goodbye to M, and to Tokyo for a few days, grab my shinkansen. Realize I actually got the wrong ticket, so rebook it quickly to the same exact hour, with plenty of seats available, grab some Ekiben, and sit down, and start watching all the

Last days of Osaka and Back to Tokyo

May 26 We start a normal day, hunting for coffee shops in American village, seeing some stores for my own sake, and just wasting time until lunch. For lunch we planned to fish for some food, so we head to the Fishing restaurant experience, and well that does take a

Himeji, Kobe & Hiroshima

Day 34 - 25 May As M has no japan wide ticket, and no green class, he grabs an alternative JR East pass, and we set our sights on Himeji, passing by Kobe we realize it might be worth coming here for dinner. We don't even need to

The Osaka Days & Nara

20 May: Quick 40min journey from Kyoto to Osaka , dropping us at shin-Osaka station, catch another train and walk through endless underground mall's until our exit. Drop things at the hotel and decide to start right with the castle, grab a taxi and pass by the castle gardens,

The Kyoto Days 27-30

May 16: Tokyo station, the day is nice and sunny. Finally the Japan I wish everyone experienced. The train ride to Kyoto is upon us, we do the whole tourist dance of arriving early. Picking the right Bento box and being uncomfortable with it giving with our bags. The first

The Tokyo Days 25 & 26

It's hard to write when you're showing Japan to anyone, when you're alone you have time for yourself, to think and to act freely, when you're with somebody you need to put up a bit more effort to not stare at your

Day 24 - Airport, Meiji Jungu and KS Concert

Woke up at 7am and prepared my bags for check out. Decided to drop off the bags at the new hotel before heading to the airport. Took a longer route due to confusion about some stations, but had ample time. Explored the airport and waited for a friend's

Day 23 - Akasaka Temples & Roppongi

I wake up early to pack my bags and check out of the hotel. The next hotel is in APA Roppongi Six, closer to Akasaka than I thought. After dropping off my bags at reception, I decide to visit some temples and collect stamps. I revisit a couple of shrines

Day 22 -Temples around Ginza, Nihonbashi and Shinjuku

An earthquake struck southern Chiba early today, around 4am. I slept through it. The NERV app that people use to track earthquakes though, is a nice reference from Evangelion to real life. I focus on studying and working, taking a short walk around nearby temples since it's my

Day 21 - Ginza, Yaesu

I woke up around 6am and left my house at about 8 or 9. My initial plan was to visit the post office, but I got sidetracked by studies and morning coffee. I checked out an Arcteryx store with expensive items and took in some views of Tokyo Station and

Day 20 - Gotokuji, Shimo Kitazawa, Ikebukuro & Shinjuku

I leave my house around nine after the usual studies and find the subway bustling. My plan is to visit Gotokuji Temple, then walk to Shimokitazawa. Unfortunately, I forget my PASMO card and delay my trip for more studies. After the rush hour passes, I arrive at Gotokuji Station around

Day 19 - Odaiba, Kanda , Akiba, Ochanomizu

Starting day with some laundry, some lessons and more photo processing. People from the concert posting my photos, not really fully processed, but I guess they are happy. Quick meal from combini as always. It's raining, and actually around 12 degrees, feels refreshing after being almost 30, but

Day 18 - Shibuya, Concert in Shinjuku

Rain day on a Sunday. Finally some more chilled temperatures. I wake up a bit dizzy from yesterday night but still managed to get out of bed. Grab breakfast and think about what to do later. I only have one friend of a friend to meet but then I realised

Day 17 - Shimbashi, Zojo-ji and Shinjuku

Still waking up early. It's still a hot sunny day today. Something about 27 or higher, but I still decide to go for a short walk to the nearest temple Shimabshi station and the temple is hidden away in the corners of the buildings. It has a brutalist

Day 16 - Asakusa 7 and Harajuku Photoshoot

Early, and not with a concrete plan I randomly threw out a thought to go beat the crowds at empty Asakusa. I arrive, take a few videos to show for friends, and decide to get a fortune, 100 yen well spent, apparently it’s great fortune, and I had the

Day 14 - Photography around Tokyo Station

We begin again, as early as possible, having a sandwich from the previous day. A quick visit to laundry and another seven eleven for more food and coffee. As the laundry does it thing, I do more studying. After collecting it all, I decide to go to the Tokyo Station

Day 13 - Mitaka & Kichijoji

Usual early wake up... After a few Google searches, I realised that the Guardians of the galaxy movie was out already in Japan. As I looked for cinemas nearby, I also noticed that some cinemas are showing as early as 8:00 a.m I book for a session for

Day 12 - Tsukiji & Ikebukuro

Once again 6am wake up... at least now having Tsukiji around is a bit more helpful, as I can do an early walk through the fish market. I grab a sandwich and a coffee from the supermarket, there is no good place to sit down and eat it, so I

Day 11 - Ginza and Vegan Restaurants

Waking up, still early, write for a bit, study for a bit, go to the nearest cafe, Turret Cafe, nice coffee, quite popular with tourist crowd, but a very small, only coffee , no cakes type of establishment, makes me wonder The only plan today is to meet with my guitar

Day 10 - Moving to Ginza

My days still start pretty early, I lay in bed writing a similar post to this one. I decide to visit a few nearby things to Roppongi, notice there is a free Fujifilm photo museum, with all the camera history, why not... opens at 10AM though, still have some time

Day 9 - Yokohama

I had a meetup planned, called something like Coffee & Code, around 10am in Roppongi. As I was getting ready, and confirming the location. I saw the organizer just cancelled it about an hour before. I still decide to head towards Roppongi to explore a bit more the area, have

Day 8 - From Ochonomizu to Akihabara

Warm day, don't really feel like I should be walking a lot, since the legs are still tired from previous walks. Have a sandwich from supermarket ready for a breakfast, and some coffee in the fridge. Decide to just visit bookshop area then guitar street looking for some

Day 7 - Fukagawa, Midtown and Shibuya

Another sunny day, another early wake up. Deciding on a route is easy as you have a few more pages of some touristy guides to follow and see where it leads you. Go to the station, select a nice cafe in the area and ride to Kiyosumi-shirakawa Find the coffee

Day 6 - Rain & Reflections in Shinjuku

Waking up still early-ish. But quite foggy in the morning, clouds are low and humidty is high. Decide to take a local stroll around breakfast places, and settle for the one cafe I've been before, having the same toast and coffee with an egg. See that the weather

Day 5 - Yanaka & Nezu

Too early again, wake up around 5, spend a few hours on catching up work and the usual study of Japanese. Decide on a more touristy path this time, to follow a path through Ueno Park, Yanaka and a few of it's shrines all the way to Nezu

Day 4 - Nakano and Yotsuya

Still waking up too early, still a bit grey and cold outside. The breakfast options are limited around 6am, still relying on the 7-11 and Lawson, good selection of sandwiches, and noticed they also sell individual soft boiled eggs, will try next time. After the morning meal, decide to go

Day 3 - Through Ebisu and Meguro

My eyes opened late on this Sunday morning. My mind was racing between the thought of a warm breakfast, deciding on the best route to explore for the day, and feeling the tired from the previous walks. The skies were still a bit grey, so I thought it best to

Day 2 - Ogikubo and Shimo Kitazawa

Still waking up early, 5 or 6am No good breakfast place open til 8am All supermarkets are there to help, grab a sandwich and onigiri. Wash the salty onigiri with some hot tea, also from supermarket, and feel fresh but not full. Try to devise a plan to head towards

Day 1 - Locals-Only Repair Centre

Wake up around 5am, still probably a bit jet lagged, at least happy I managed to snap my first few photos last night, that you can now view on one of the pages on this blog. As it's early in here, and in London, time to catchup on

Day 0 - From London with Love

As with any other day, it starts with a 5am wake-up, brewing some Japanese tea, and dressing in your final pair of London pants. It's still cold outside, typical London weather. Complete your final mental checks, put the last cables in, and attach the GoPro on top. Double-check