The highly anticipated, much debated, and finally available on a screen near you: Japan Intel Mar ’25

This trip has been in the works for a while, with some old friends I grew up with in Flagstaff, AZ. We chose Japan for a number of reasons including its reputation for mystical scenery and innovative culture. We wanted to soak up all the fun, creative, and often bizarre designs, styles, and customs. The food scene was probably the #1 attraction overall, with a multitude of ramen and sushi spots on our itinerary. With our minds open and tickets booked, our journey unrolled into four chapters; Tokyo, Fuji Kawaguciko, Osaka/Kyoto, and Tokyo pt II.

Intro to Tokyo

After arriving in Tokyo from Amsterdam via Paris, I met Christopher at the Tokyo-Haneda airport at 7am local time. The 16 hour travel time took a bit of a toll on us both, and we needed coffee, desperately. We quickly learned that cheap snacks were in plentiful supply and that ubiquitous vending machines could quench our thirst on most street corners or alleyways. Feeling more or less energized by just being in a new foreign world, we took the monorail into the city itself.

The scale and magnitude of the city and its wards, filled with skyscrapers, was the first indication that this was not like any other city I’ve seen. During the 1-hour ride into the “center” of Tokyo, we passed neighborhood after neighborhood; some filled with industrial buildings, others made up of comparatively spacious streets and three-story single family homes, all of which surrendering to clusters of modern skyscrapers. We transferred from the skytrain to the actual Tokyo metro system, navigating our way efficiently with the help of Google maps and helpful locals. Our first station exit this day was towards our Airbnb in Shinjuku, itself a bustling city within the mega-metropolis of Tokyo.

Arriving in Shinjuku’s Shin-Okubo area via the Yamanote line, we stood at the entrance to the station for a minute and just took in the street scene in front of us. The buzzing activity on the street and the electric advertisements kept my head spinning. We were too early to check in and I was happy to sit in the sun and catch up with a good friend, who I hadn’t seen in over a year. We chatted and sampled some local snacks before finally dropping the bags and hitting the streets of Shinjuku. We hopped back on the metro, something we would do several times a day for the next two weeks. While complex and at times confusing, the Tokyo metro system is so well organized, clean, and on-time that it felt completely natural to use, drastically expanding our exploration range. Exiting the metro station in Shibuya, we emerged into daylight and joined the steady flow of pedestrians moving towards the infamous Shibuya scramble crossing.

This area can be compared to New York’s Times Square, with numerous moving digital billboards framing the tall buildings and massive crowds gathering to cross the street from every angle. When the light turns green, pedestrians can cross in several directions at once, cementing the title of “scramble” in my head. Upwards of 3,000 people make their move every two minutes. We shuffled our own way across, within the mass of moving bodies, churning down some of the wider boulevards in the area. We had a few shops in mind and it was a pleasant day to simply stroll and have a look around, while we patiently waited for the third member of our trio to arrive. The highlight of this afternoon was a jaunt through Yoyogi Park, a beautiful city park where we caught the first blossoms of the season, surrounded by nature, and a single dog-walker managing close to twenty pups. Needless to say, we felt highly inspired by our surroundings and the natural beauty of the park.

Tyler arrived later that evening and we met up back at the bnb for a quick team sync. I think it’s fair to say that I could travel just about anywhere in the world with these guys and have a good time. We caught up, laughed, and plotted our food tour for the next few days.

Over the next three days, we started off each morning with a nice coffee, sometimes from baristas presiding over no more than four seats and a closet-sized kitchen. Out of these places would come some of the highest quality cappuccinos I’ve tasted, leaving me with inadequate words to accurately describe the attention to detail.

We strolled the streets, operating under a loose agenda based around neighborhoods and pre-identified hot spots. During this first stint in Tokyo we visited the Meiji Jingu Shrine, walked Shibuya and Harajuku, and caught a Tokyo Giants baseball game at the Tokyo Dome. The Mori Art Museum in Roppongi had an interesting exhibit called “Machine Love”, which showed some contemporary art influenced by technology, AI, and video games. Tokyo and to some extent, other Japanese cities we visited, all shared a sort of fascination with futurism and hyper-modern takes on life. This manifested in automated food ordering, 3-D billboards, and in the gaming and anime cultures. The cities really felt like a tug of war between historic remembrance and longing for a shiny, new future. My favorite neighborhood thus far was Harajuku, serving as a sort of a fashion capital for unique styles and interesting shops.

We ate some delicious sushi and began our ramen tour at the entry-level: Ichiran. We ordered our meals by filling out a small paper menu and, voila, our food appeared in our assigned stall within minutes. Minimal human contact was required to acquire and devour a large bowl of steaming ramen, complete with all the usual toppings like pork belly, egg, and some greens for comfort. We would gradually eat our way up the ramen food chain past future classics such as the creamy broth ramen (I believe a Tonkatsu?) and the miso ramen. We were quickly adjusting to the time zone and the idea that we could eat good meals like this all the time. “Bad day to be a gyoza…” – said Tyler.

Kawaguciko – Fuji Five Lakes Region

After a jam packed first segment of Tokyo trotting, we took a bus out into the lake country surrounding Mt. Fuji. It was colder outside the city and we arrived at our hotel in Kawaguciko to a splendid view of a mystical foggy lake laying in a mountain’s shadow. Our hotel had an onsen (Japanese bath) onsite and served lunch and dinner in the hotel cafe. We were able to enjoy some experiences closer to nature than Tokyo offered, including a short hike to a local shrine, a walk through the town itself, and a cable car ride to a scenic viewing point that turned out to offer nearly zero visibility due to the thick cloud cover at higher elevations.

The highlight for me was sitting in the onsen’s hot spring mineral water and looking out across the lake through the bath’s panorama windows, fully open, while a blizzard swept across the lake. It was cosy and we enjoyed a much slower pace while eating fresh sushi and other treats including a local (unlabeled) sake that was incredibly smooth and light. We felt recharged after a few days of onsen, good food, and some snowy weather that helped us slow down.

Osaka & Kyoto

After bussing back to Tokyo and catching a bullet train to Osaka, we found our way to our next airbnb in the Konohana Ward on the western side of the city. We picked up some bags from the Yamato Transport office we had shipped from Tokyo and dropped them at the bnb. I highly recommend shipping any large luggage from city to city or hotel to hotel to avoid lugging heavy things around.

The highlights from Osaka included a visit to Osaka Castle (although a lowlight was going inside the castle – too many people), an interesting shopping building in Minamisemba, and a pleasant walk through a Team Lab exhibit in Nagai Park. The busy Dotonbori district was also fun to walk through during the golden hour, with the lights from the many billboards casting reflections off the canal.

One Saturday, we did a day trip from Osaka to Kyoto, about a 1-hour train ride, and walked through some older neighborhoods that retained some charm from times long ago. Tyler recommended a nice bakery he had been to before. (Tyler had just been to Japan in November 2024 and loved it so much that he went back with us) We ate our way around and found a great incense store that had some amazing options for gifts and for my damn self! I found Japanese incense to be more mellow and less pungent than other incense i’ve tried. Kyoto was a bit rainy so we headed back to Osaka to rest our weary dawgs (feet) and charge up for our final day before heading back to Tokyo.

Last Day – Osaka

Chris had been recommended a local flea market by our airbnb host and we took the train out to Osaka’s Expo ’70 Commemorative Park, a sprawling park of over 260 hectares that was constructed for the 1970 World Fair. As soon as you approach the park, you are greeted by a massive statue, The Tower of the Sun, created by Okamoto Taro. The statue has three faces, one each for the past, present, and future. Taro believed that “within the human body and spirit, the past, present and future of mankind are always present in a unified cycle”. It was a cool view and we found the large flea market near the back of the park to also be an exciting spectacle of used clothes, art, and many other eclectic items. We walked around for a few hours, had some nice food truck snacks, and strolled the park, past some early blooming blossoms and a bamboo forest. Feeling accomplished with the area we covered, we packed up and took the bullet back to Tokyo the next morning. We finally caught site of that majestic Mt. Fuji on this return trip; previously it had been shrouded in clouds.

Tokyo Returns – The Final Chapter

Our return to Tokyo landed us in the Ebisu neighborhood; a fashionable and walkable neighborhood dominated less by skyscrapers than some of the other wards we had visited. We walked the trendy shopping streets and enjoyed some cool sunny spring weather. Highlights from this second go at Tokyo include visiting a vinyl listening bar, the Perrotin Gallery (and shop), the 21 21 Design Sight Gallery (Ramen Exhibit), and one final onsen soak at a locals-only bath house.

Onsen life: The bathing culture was relaxing and something I could get used to in my own daily life. I described the hotel onsen previously but Chris and I visited a local Tokyo onsen near Ebisu on our last night. It had the feel of a small health club and offered low-cost entry into the neighborhood spa. After passing through a standard locker room separated by gender, you entered the bathing chambers, complete with two hot baths and one cold bath. There was also a sauna and the shower stalls that are used prior to entry and before you leave. I remember one moment distinctly, when Chris and I were sitting in the crammed five-person sauna with about seven Japanese men, watching local news on a small tv built into the sauna wall, just sweating it out. I glanced over to him and smiled, knowing this is not a moment we ever expected to find ourselves in. We had a good soak, roast, and chill, and left feeling refreshed and relaxed. Then we devoured about 5 orders of cheesy gyozas for good measure and packed our bags to head home.

Key Takeaways

1. The food was simply outstanding and quite affordable at today’s exchange rates. A bowl of ramen with all the toppings would cost $6 or $7 and a platter of freshly sliced sushi would set us back about $20, easily half the price compared to cities in the US and NL. Also the street food and even convenience store snacks were tasty and low cost. 7-Eleven and Lawsons carry tons of good snacks/drinks and some even offer clothing basics and stationary items.
2. The culture was welcoming and mostly warm, the people helpful and highly aware of others. I really got the feel of a society built not for the individual but for the greater good. There were many rules to follow, but if followed, the general flow of day to day life ran very smoothly and served as a foundation to a truly safe and clean modern metropolis. Young unaccompanied children and elderly folks could use all the same public facilities without fear or accessibility issues. From an outside perspective, it seemed like there was intentional consideration for all members of society.
3. The shopping in general was incredible; from clothing to art to incense to souvenirs, the creativity and craft was unlike anyplace I had been to before. We did quite a lot of shopping as a result and the weakened yen provided a tail wind. I bought some big pants and could’ve spent A-LOT more money on cool gear (I had no idea that North Face has a Purple Label in Japan).

Next Time!

I am already thinking about what another trip to Japan would look like and there are a few things I would do different:

1. I would go skiing in the north; either Niseko, Hakkaido or Nozawa Onsen, Honshu, where the powdery snow is said to formed by water vapor that falls as dry flakes due to the cold arctic winds blowing from Siberia.
2. I would do less cities; Tokyo is a marvel but I would propably skip Osaka and Kyoto and stick to smaller towns closer to nature. For me, some of the big cities blended together and I would prefer to see smaller, less modernized versions of Japan.
3. I would do more cycling; the public transport is great, especially in the cities, but if I was sticking to more rural areas, it would be a joy to cover more territory on two wheels.

Japanese Books I am Enjoying

1. Tokyo Totem, A Guide to Tokyo, by Monnik: This was a very cool book I stumbled upon while browsing a design and architecture book store in the Jimbocho Book Town. This guide wont tell you where to eat or where to go but will inform you about why Tokyo is the way that it is in a fun and interesting way. It did make me look at the city differently, even just during the second portion of our trip. https://www.tokyototem.jp/project/tokyo-totem-a-guide-to-tokyo/
2. Morisaki Bookshop- With Love from the Morisaki Bookshop, by Satoshi Yagisawa: This was a fun and light read about a girl and her family in Tokyo and the family bookstore in Jimbocho. I recommend this to anyone wanting a cozy read that takes place in a unique area of Tokyo. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/223524677-with-love-from-the-morisaki-bookshop?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=liykJ1kUGK&rank=1
3. Butter, by Asako Yuzuki: Still reading this one but I’ve been seeing it everywhere and it magically fell right in my path. Murder mystery, will update this post once I finish it. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/200776812-butter