Japan 2023

 Levent and I went to Japan!

After years of planning, postponing (thanks covid), and rebooking, we finally made it to Japan. I still can hardly believe it.

My friend Denise recently asked me where this trip ranked out of all the places I've traveled internationally. This made me realize that it's been a long time since I've travel internationally for fun (and not connected to work). So the answer: pretty high up there.

Japan had never really been on my travel radar until Chadwick and Tirzah moved there several years ago. But I am so thankful I had the opportunity to go and visit my cool in-laws, (who are incredible and took care of so many logistics for us. All we had to do was show up and enjoy. What a rare treat).

Before going, I made a list of my hopes for traveling to Japan. I kept it pretty general because I truly had no major expectations before going over there. Here was my list:

1. Eat lots of food, especially ice cream

2. See the cherry blossoms

3. Drink a lot of tea, coffee and alcohol

4. Go to the stationary store

5. See a view of the city skyline

6. Hang out in a park

7. Go to a convenience store

8. See something historical

9 Find different KitKat flavors

That was the official list. But I should have also added "learn something new, "see the ocean," "live in the moment" and "be brave", which I also did despite my travel anxiety coming in hot. (The Sunday before we left I had bad vertigo and I think it was because I was so stressed out about traveling to Japan. Yikes).

Since it's so hard to figure out how to talk about a 10 day, international trip in one blog post, I figured I would share about my trip through the lens of this list.

1. Eat lots of food, especially ice cream

It is not a surprise that food is always on the very top of any list like this. I love experiencing a culture through its food. Since I knew very little about Japanese culture before traveling to Japan, food is an easy gateway to understanding this place a little bit more. Here are some of my favorites:

Trying pastries from Japanese bakeries

Ramen! (which we ordered from a vending machine and sat in little cubicles to eat it)

 Eating street food in Yokohama's Chinatown

Potato on a stick from one of the food stalls near Senso-ji temple in Tokyo

Katsu chicken curry!

A steamed curry bun from the food stall at Hasedera temple

The teriyaki chicken dinner I had at the Japanese style restaurant we went to in Ito 

Trying new-to-us flavors of chips from the grocery store

The curry lunch we had near Lake Ashi

And we cannot forget ice cream. For years now I've had the goal to ice cream on every inhabited continent. Recently, I decided to change this to inhabited regions of the world. (That way I can count places like the Middle East and Asia separately). So I got a check by the "Asia" column by eating ice cream from a vending machine on the side streets of Japan.

(There was actually lots of opportunities for ice cream from human vendors as well as from convenience stores walking "home" to Chadwick and Tirzah's apartment from the train station. We even got served ice cream from the ANA flight to and from Japan).

And speaking of vending machines, ah I love a Japanese vending machine. They were everywhere and there was all different types of them. We ordered ramen from a vending machine at a restaurant.We stopped on our road trip (from the Tokyo area to the Izu peninsula) to get cold beverages. We made pit stops at vending machines for caffeine pick-me-ups. (Cold milk tea was my favorite).There was even a siracha vending machine near the train station by C and T's apartment.

This leads nicely into the drink section

2. Drink a lot of tea, coffee and alcohol

As mentioned above we drank a lot of things out of vending machines. It was so fun to try things we only vaguely knew what we were getting.

Tea and coffee were especially helpful in fighting jet lag. Most of these were from vending machines but we stopped into a few cafes too. (My favorite coffee experiences were when we got coffee to go and walked among the cherry blossoms. I actually got to do this twice and it was quite lovely).

And alcoholic drinks (although most drinks I had had a very low alcohol level). My favorite were these drinks that maybe had like .3% alcohol in them, but they were very yummy. We also enjoyed trying sake, whisky sours (which are also very common there) and plum wine.

 

3. See the cherry blossoms

We got really lucky and were in Japan for some of the peak blooming around Tokyo. The sakura, or cherry blossoms, were even lovelier than the photos show. Our first "immersive" experience was on our first full day. On our route back to the apartment, Chadwick and Tirzah took us along a small creek that was lined with cherry blossoms. It happened to be raining at the time, but we had our umbrellas (and coffee) and were perfectly fine. This also meant there weren't many people around. So we got to enjoy the sakura by ourselves.

One day, Tirzah and I went around Tokyo just the two of us, (while the boys  went on a ski day trip). We ended up walking along a river surrounded by cherry blossoms. We were there in the evening so we got to see lanterns light up as dusk fell upon the city. It was lovely.

4. Go to the stationary store

In Tokyo, there is an 8 story station store called Ityoa. On the day the boys went skiing, Tirzah and I head to Ginza (the part of the city where Ityoa is). It was magic! Every level had it's own theme and I could've spent hours in there and hundreds of dollars.

5. See a view of the city skyline

One afternoon, after a long day of looking for souvenirs for people (without a ton of success), we headed to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building observation deck to check this item off my list. We got to see a 360 view (from multiple windows) of the city. It was very cool.

6. Hang out in a park

I put this on the list because the original plan was to have a picnic under the cherry blossoms, which is a favorite Japanese past time. Unfortunately for us, it was pretty rainy almost the whole time we were there. But we got to spend time in a park when we went to see the open air Folk House Museum, which just so happened to be in a park. There were several traditional style Japanese houses from different periods. We could walk inside parts of them and saw how people traditionally live in Japan. It was pretty cool. 

7. Go to a convenience store

Convenience store food in Japan is a thing. When Tirzah and I had our day out together, we stopped at a convenience store to buy a rice ball for a snack. (Convenience stores were also where we got some of our ice cream treats)

8. See something historical

When you live in a country where most things aren't hundreds and hundreds of years old, it's kind of mind blowing when you visit a country where several hundred years is no big deal.

When we headed down to the Izu peninsula, we stopped in Kamakura on our way to Ito. There we walked along the beach, went to Hasedera temple and went to the great Buddha, which was cast in 1252 AD. (Mind blown).

My favorite historical thing was visiting the Amazke tea house which started in the 16th century. It's been run by the same family line for 700 years! We enjoyed some amazke tea (which is a rice malt drink) and some mochi sitting in this historic space. I learned too that tea houses were common along the road from Tokyo to Kyoto. It used to take months to travel this road and tea houses provided a much need rest stop. We walked briefly on the old road before heading into the tea house. 

9. Find different KitKat flavors

It's pretty well known that Japan has a ton of different KitKat flavors. We wanted to try a lot of them (and ended up brining a ton home - for ourselves as well as for gifts for others). My favorite roughly translated as "sweet adult white." 

10. See the ocean

After spending a few days in the Tokyo area, we headed down to the Izu peninsula to get out in nature a bit. Plus we got to see the ocean. On our second day there, we hiked along the coast, which was stunning. 

11. Learn something new/Live in the moment/Be brave

I tried sushi! (even though I do not like fish). Turns out, I still do not like fish. Sushi was honestly a bit of a struggle for me but I did it! (We went to a conveyor belt restaurant too which was a fun experience as well).

Experiencing an onsen, or natural hot springs, was a moment where I learned new things, lived in the moment and definitely had to be brave because at the onsens, you go in completely naked. At the guest house we stayed at in Ito, there was a onsen there. We tried it and actually really liked how it felt on my back. After this easier introduction, we decided to be brave and go to a public onsen. I honestly cannot believe I did it. It was relaxing and awkward and also liberating. And it really helped my back. 

relaxing in a yukatta (traditional robe) after visiting the onsen at the guest house

After relaxing in the public onsen we enjoyed some coffee milk. (The boys waited for us in the courtyard).

Overall, it was a fantastic trip and it was more than I can sum up in one blog post. But it was maybe one of the best trips I've ever gone on. A lot of that has to do with how much Tirzah and Chadwick took care of logistics and were willing to take us around, show us the ropes, and translate for us. It was so fun to hang out with them and see their lives there.

Japan is a place I never thought I would visit, but I am so grateful I had the opportunity to visit this beautiful place and experience this unique culture.