Japan 2024, unexpected Cherry Blossoms

 

Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo 

   

There definitely are a lot of tourists. However they mostly tend to stick to the tourist highlights. With some patience, its possible to find beautiful spots and experiences. Plus many parts of Japan are crowded anyway, so queuing is also part of the experience.

I was inspired by Mindfulness Travel Japan to explore activities that were reflective and meditative from Kintsugi, to the contemporary tea degustation or staying in hotels with onsen, a great way to relax. Along the way I got into my own groove of standing in queues, lots of walking, taking in small, beautiful moments. I definitely recommend this book and I am not on any commissions for any of the links that are in my blog. Just happy to share some great experiences.

Also Time Out Japan is super awesome for up to the minute tips on the newest and calandar sensitive things happening.

 Osaka

Namba Lion

Kintsugi with Joseph 

This was a beautiful experience. In a very old wooden building in Namba (near the Namba Lion). Of course Kintsugi is very complex and takes weeks to complete. This is a great intro with some pre prepared bits. NB the lacquer has to dry so Joseph shipped the piece to my hotel where I was in 7 days time. We also got to see a beautiful collection of kintsugi upstairs and we made some green tea. Plus he walked us around to the Namba Lion at the end of our lesson. Learnt a lot about this beautiful art. - Was great value.   

 Traditional Kintsugi Work Shop in Namba Osaka, booked through Viatour - click for link  

Explore Deep Backstreet Osaka 

This was a fascinating walking tour of the less glamorous side of Osaka, empty buildings, entertainment areas and the backstreets where its like a version of Amsterdam, there's even canals here. It does feel like you go off the grid and its pretty full on couple of hours of walking, but so interesting. Link

Museum island - really worth a visit, I visited Nakanoshima Museum of Art, contemporary gallery with exhibitions. There is also a more traditional museum, great place to walk around. Kuromon markets and Osaka Castle Cherry Blossoms walk Kozumo Cherry blossoms came late this year and there are lots of walks where you can enjoy the blossoms and for me, time to reflect on the transient nature and beauty of life.  There are lots of viewing parties, as its a time to catch up with people. FYI, they are not necessarily glamorous with blue plastic tarp on the ground. Plenty of guide books have info on spots for cherry blossom viewing. Again be prepared for crowds. Early morning is best for tranquility. Osaka is a great place for food, tiny bars at the back of Dotonburi. Friendly people and easy to get around. Just head off the main drag and explore. Kyoto A city full of temples and of course tourists. Guide books say that the city is small, well that may be true, but a trip from the station by bus to the Golden Temple is a good hour. Taxis are worth considering, as is walking between Temples. There are many more temples than I have mentioned, you could spend weeks checking them all out. Its actually quite mind blowing planning and organising. Having heard lots of stories of over tourism in Kyoto and tourist fatigue for the locals I didn't spend enough time here. Good excuse to revisit.

Golden Temple, Kinkakuji is probably the most visited and famous. There is more to the site than just the Golden Pavillion, enjoy the gardens. Ryoan-ji is a classic stone zen garden, very tranquil, especially when you are watching the cherry blossoms fall. There is also a beautiful garden here. Saihoji Temple I absolutely loved this place. The garden of origins and journeys. I found it really meditative. Before you visit the garden you complete some calligraphy with a Buddhist sutra. They limit the visitor numbers and you  have to book to visit this temple.  Kyoto Insider     Sake Experience,  Amazake House. Great experience tasting sake and learning so much about the tastes, quality and food matching. Its a little out of the centre, but so worth doing, its a cute place, and the bars around looked interesting

Kyoto Shibori Museum, a family run business with generations of shibori makers. Apparently it is the only museum specialising in shibori. It gave me a deep appreciation for this craft. A fantastic experience. While your scarf is drying there is an upstairs gallery and shop, definitely worth a visit.

ThisIs ice cream bouquets and a beautiful shop with plants. Its in a small shopping mall that backs onto the ACE Hotel in Kyoto. Boutique shops on offer around here.

Philosophers Path, the incline and walking past the zoo. Taking this path also takes you to the Museum and Gallery area, so you could spend quite a bit of time on this walk. A beautiful thing to do on a Spring day. Nanzenji is a large site with Budhist Temple, beautiful grounds.

Higashi Hoganji, another spectacular active Buddhist temple complex, with the most beautiful gem of a garden over the roads in the backstreets

There are so many guide books and sites such as Arayashima (bamboo grove) and Fushimi Inari Shrine. Capturing quiet moments is truly a challenge. Arayashima is a full on tourism area, with other gardens, the train and boutique shops on the main street. There are a lot of walking trails and if the hills are daunting, there are rickshaws.

The red tori gates of Fushimi Inari Srhine are looking a little tired. Don't go with high expectations of tranquility. There may be better places to see Tori gates and bamboo groves.

Tokyo

Of course there is so much to see and do in Tokyo. Its huge, travel can easily take over an hour. My biggest tip is to stay in different areas and then focus on hitting the sights closest to those locations. Also, if you stay a little away from the big hits of Shibuya and Shinjuku you can discover a different pace of life. I stayed in Ryogoku District, Asakusa Takadanobaba. Each area was great for different reasons, next time I think I'll go with Koenji and around Cat Street.

 Sakurai Tea Shop

Tea degustation an experience in an upmarket boutique mall. Such care is taken with the brewing of the tea, the first pour, accompanied by dainty morsels of food that highlight the tastes. Watching the tea being brewed is also special, contemporary tea tasting. I would definitely return, maybe for the cocktail experience.

What you see in the streets of Tokyo, near the Zoo at Ueno

2K 540 Many hand made goods and artisnal crafts people.

Nakameguro, was the only place in Tokyo where they sold drinks and food to eat on the streets, plus it was not just any drinks, more along the cocktail trail. Stroll down the sides of this canal for cafes and shops. Think second hand, shiny trendy cool fashion before it hits the super upmarket labels that are just down the road in the area of Nakameguro where you will find Tsutaya Books, (if you love book shops, well worth a visit) think French labels in a less hectic environment than Shinjuku.

Loved the restaurants dedicated to only one dish ie ramen or tonkatsu and only open Monday to Friday for lunch.  This one is run by the brother of Nujabes and is called Shibuya Usagi. The background music is Nujabes. This is the truffle ramen, rather delish. For those who don't know Nujabes, you really have to look him up and listen to his music. Some background here

Other restaurants here 

 

Roppongi, Museum triangle, something for every taste. This is National Art Centre and 21-21 Design site. The Design site is really interesting if you are interested in robotics. This is a really nice area, beautiful parks, some pretty upmarket malls.

 

 

Take Me Out to the Ballgame in Tokyo

I did this experience through Air BnB and my guide was Jason. It was so fun, we were in the fans section and Jason had the words for the chants and also the props and a bag of Japanese goodies. The enthusiasm of the fans and the atmosphere were great. I was definitely glad I did this with someone who knew about baseball.

 

Team Lab, Borderless. Opened in 2024. I loved it and spent over 3 hours there. The digital art is evolving, so many different rooms and images. Don't miss the tea room and the interactive tea.

Mini pigs seemed to be all the rage. There are animal cafes everywhere from Otters to cats, to Owls. I was a bit conflicted on this one as what happens to the animals once they are no longer cute?  The people at this one seemed pretty ethical, but its just that they are only super cute while they are under a year old.

One of my favourite jazz clubs in the world, Blue Note in Tokyo. A very Japanese experience. If you love jazz, you definitely need to check it out. You can catch the best international artists here. One tip, its really hard to book online, you might need help from someone who can book for you in Japanese.

Lush shinjuku, - spa in this branch. This was the most sensory massage I have ever had in a super good way. The Good Hour, is actually more than an hour, so leave lots of time for this, from choosing the smells, to be sea shanties, designed for the experience. I would definitely do this again. Treat yourself.

Hamburger Yoshi, I needed the instructions to work out how to eat these deconstructed burgers. They close once they run out each day, roughly around 8pm. With the basic serve you get three patties, which they serve you one at a time and the sauce is kept warm on a small flame. If you need more rice, they'll refill, but you only get one egg. Intrigued? try it.

  

Teppanyaki Nanaumi at the top of the hotel, with this amazing view. Food was great, I had the basic lunch with alcohol and it was good. I didn't mean to do this, the guy upsold me and it wasn't cheap, but on reflection great value. Plus it was a place you can linger and just watch the river world go by. Close to the station so easy to get to.

 

Other places that I want to go back to Koenji, for 2nd hand shopping, small restaurants and bars. A more chill part of Tokyo. Feels more like the atmosphere of what you might think Japan would be like.

Ginza and Ginza6, don't forget to check out the garden rooftops. In fact they are all over Tokyo so when you need to refresh head to the roof of a department store or mall.

Ueno if you want to go shopping in a place more for locals rather than tourists.

Tokyo Station underground is a sensory overload in terms of people and shopping, especially on the weekend and peak hours, be prepared for the onslaught.

Yanaka Ginza area has hipster brewery and cute shops, I think best to go in the daytime as things seemed to close early in the evenings

TIPS

• Group your to dos into geographical areas
• Hotels provide pyjamas and slippers - so don't pack them
• 7-Eleven is a great place to get cash from your overseas cards
• Pasmo or whichever one you use are great for small expenses. Cash is fine, but you end up with loads of small coins
•  Travel as lightly as you can if you are using public transport, it makes life so much easier
• Dont rely on real time directions, in really congested areas all bets are off. Its good to have a downloaded copy of a map on your device. There are also helpful tourist information desks.
  
• Nice drip filter coffee in most hotels, however more posh hotels will have Nespresso
• Try the small restaurants, there are loads of Michelin star places. It involves queueing, but that is part of the experience. 
• At the end of the day fancy department store food halls have discounted specials, if you want quality at reduced prices
• At many supermarkets the process is that you go to checkout and they ring up your items, you then are directed to a machine to pay and you go to a different area again to bag. If you need chopsticks for your takeaway just ask. 
• Always check the train destination before you get on. Multiple trains use the same platforms. You can find yourself going in the wrong direction or on an all stations instead of an express or vice a versa.
• You don't have to reserve seats on the Shinkansen, there are carriages with unreserved seats on most trains - just check if this makes you  
• Kissaten cafes may be romantic, but beware the coffee is usually like bitter mud and expensive, around 800 JPY.  Plus some of them still have smoking sections eg Dug cafe, Tokyo, if you are a non smoker, this may not be too pleasant as its in a Basement and if you are a non smoker, smoke travels
• Liquor Museum is a chain across Japan of bars attached to combinis. No cover charges and some pretty decent looking bars.
• You don't need to stick to the travel guide bars etc, there are so many really cute neighbourhood bars, be adventurous and if you see a sign, there might be something fun and unique ahead.
  

The dont bother list

 

Oedo Antique market

On the day I went it was a motley blend of old and new. Maybe there is a gem in there somewhere, but it wasn't as satisfying as markets in Sydney. It was a meh for me.