Japan Travel Log⌗

This trip was the best/most impactful traveling experience I’ve had as an adult.

  • I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to do this.
  • I’m happy I spent a few months learning some basic Japanese.
  • I’ve drastically underrated traveling by myself
  • If I have children, I will highly encourage them to live abroad for an extended period of time as a young adult

Whats below?⌗

Below is pretty much my stream of thought, recapping how each day went in the moment. I’ve lightly edited for clarity. My core reflections are above, although I have done some further reflection internally that won’t make it here. Any post-hoc edits will be highlighted like This.

Day by Day⌗

4/14:⌗

Mom dropped me off at airport. Was a bit busy for 5:30 am. Walked around terminal 3 and ran into Charles Barkley which was wild hahaha. Missed a great opportunity for a San Antonio joke. I’m on a hot streak for seeing famous people. I had seen David Goggins a few days before

Sat next to James on the plane to Hawaii. He’s in the army stationed in Honolulu and is a helicopter pilot/instructor. Good guy!

Flight went well beat all levels of angry birds while listening to young thug. Managed to drink about a liter and a half of water and ate ~700 cals… so feeling pretty good going into the second leg. Hopefully the WiFi works nicely.

Stretched my legs and walked to the garden at the Honolulu airport, it was really nice. The small garden is extremely nice and a great way to break up 16 hours of flying PHX -> HI -> JPN

4/15:⌗

Ok so this is a little weird because of the time change but I’m still traveling to Japan (Honolulu to Japan leg). We’ve just changed days. Sitting next to another military guy had a good chat with him for 2 hours. Talking about if he likes the military, why do people sign up, kinds of people that are there etc… they are going to Japan for 1 month I guess for training or something. We also talked about voting, and how he thought that some sort of service to the country could be a requirement to vote and the pros/cons of that

The WiFi on the flight (Flight was equipped with free star link internet which was excellent) was nice but I wasn’t feeling all that great I toughed it out and got some sleep which made me feel better and played some chess.

Got off the flight and it I think a bunch of international flights all came in at the same time… so it took like another 2 hours to get through customs/duties with my bag. Met some guy from Finland who was cool.

Found the train station, eSIM doesn’t say it’s active but I still have service I guess from t-mobile. Can’t tell wtf train I’m getting on but I’m so tired I just bolt into the train I think is right and the doors close on me on the way in. I made a split second decision to get on which ended with the train doors closing on my backpack as I squeezed through the door

Turns out it was right! Got off at Kamata station and start to walk to the Airbnb. It’s wild like this place is straight out of a movie and I’m just in some tiny city outside of Tokyo. Make a few wrong turns walking but get to the place.

Do all their check in stuff and I get to their door and I can’t get this Lock Screen to come up so I can enter my code. So I just start tapping wildly and it works hahaha. The lock on the door was a little weird to use especially on basically no sleep

I had a little snack but I’m so tired I can’t go out to eat. I’m going to shower and go to bed hopefully by like 9:00pm. I’m going to set an alarm for 9:00am and force myself to get up after 12 hours of sleep. 12 hours of sleep was a PIPE dream.

4/16:⌗

Woke up at 4am so got 6:30 hours plus the time in the plane… not bad. Showered, had a little food, did some laundry, made an instant coffee and organized a bit.

Worked on Ally’s website (slamming effect) Claude won’t do what I want so may have to make some tweaks. I’ll see what time a get back tonight and work on it then. I was making a website for my Girl Friend's birthday, but I know very little about web development and was running into issues

Current goal is to go to 7/11 get some cash, and maybe a snack. Then hit the grocery store, drop off what I get and then head out for the day and get some breakfast/go to the shrine. Let’s see how this goes. For some reason I was very nervous about going to stores... IDK

Ok 7/11 went smooth I got 20000 yen, a coffee and a snack! Payed with suica! Ate me little açaí cup in a park. There was a small park next to me airbnb

Grocery store went fine. I got bananas,yogurt, avocado, bread, juice, almond milk for like $10. Got change for one of my 10000 yen bills so that’s nice as well. I think the lady asked me if I wanted a bag, which I actually had studied, but she said it too fast so I just stood there looking like an idiot until she just got me a bag.

Went to kamata cafe which was good and then walked around sun road. Saw a couple restaurants that looked good. Now taking the train to the temple.

Walked through the cemetery and to the ikegami rooftop garden. Got a cool picture of mt fuji from far off in the distance. This would be the best view of Fuji I'd get even though we'd visit a city directly next to the Mtn it was covered by clouds Walked through the shrine. Inside didn’t allow photos but it had a cool golden display and large drums, very intricate/ornate. Continued walking around, bought a matchbox and sat in a park with a little pond and some trees.

Walked back to Airbnb from kamata station with no maps assistance! Bought some strawberry KitKat, eating them in the park by the Airbnb, they are pretty good!

Noticing a few things about the culture here:

  • No adults walking around wearing shorts
  • Nobody has sunglasses except some older people
  • Very quite in public places, no talking/eating on trains
  • Everything very clean
  • Everyone has their work uniform, seems most take pride in their work
  • There are 0 public trash cans

Took the train to go meet Chris for dinner. Sat by the meguro river and waited before dinner had some edamame snack. Another guy came to dinner with us named Ben. Good conversation. We talked about Japan a lot, what it means to live here the people/culture. Dinner was good, bunch of small plates, apparently fish semen is really bad, so is the raw chicken… horse is good though. We just ordered from our phones and they brought it. We did not get Fish semen, horse, or raw chicken we just talked about those things

We got booted from our table after 2 hours and went to a small pub. They played heavy metal and the bathroom had a chord attached to a door and a guitar, so when you opened the door a chord on the guitar was played… so cool. After a beer, we walked back to the train station and Ben and I took the ekigami line back, he got off before me.

Walked back to the Airbnb so tired! A couple of beers and lack of sleep will do it to you.

4/17:⌗

Slept until 5:20 so got 7 hours!! Made some avocado toast but there’s no salt and pepper in the Airbnb but there WAS some in this little plastic utensil set bag a had… huge win.

Took train over to great cycling tours. Met Yuki-San and Takashi-San and chatted with them for a bit. Then met Eva and caitlin/rob (from Alaska). Was pretty hungry and only brought a couple strawberry Kit Kat.

We went to:  - Nihonbashi Bridge  - Kanda Jimbocho (book town)  - Koishikawa Korakuen (Japanese Garden)  - Sugamo shopping street  - Gokokuji Temple   - Zoshigaya Cemetery (Soseki Natsume’s grave)  - Kishimojin Temple  - St. Mary’s Cathedral  (sorry, in Japanese)  - Yasukuni Jinja shrine  - Imperial Palace  - and through lots of backstreets

Caitlin got a flat, so we stopped at a shrine and it was the tightest tire I’ve ever seen. Apparently it never happens because the roads are so smooth and clean, and these bikes aren’t the best maintained lol. After an hour and some bloody knuckles we got it fixed.

Lunch was really great had curry with udon noodles and tempura vegetables. Stopped for a while and got a matcha tea towards the end. After the tour we struggled to pay (Their device wasn't working quite right) and Caitlin forgot her phone and we had beers.

Took the train back but must have fucked up a bit and realized I started to go the wrong way about half way home (train started going west lol) got off and walked over to the right line and was fine.

Had a great dinner at Hung’s kitchen tiny Vietnamese restaurant and a nice conversation with the owner. Amazing experience, the epitome of why I enjoy traveling. Took some spring rolls to go and went to bed.

“It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” - Hemingway

4/18:⌗

Went to bed at 9:40 and woke up at 5:40! Got a full 8 hours!! Called pal and ate some breakfast at home. I got the right amount of food, was really nice having some avocado/banana/yogurt for breakfast at home.

Called pal, sounds like she’s doing well. I struggled to articulate my experiences. Like I can talk about what I’m doing, but I’m struggling to capture how I’m feeling, how I think about Japan/the culture and the people/places I’ve been since I’ve been here. I just need some more time to process. The beau miles short film I watched this morning actually fits pretty well.

Took three trains to get to Mt Takao. Wasn’t bad at all and got to the Mt at like 10:00 am. Hiked up to the top there were a lot of schools with big groups of kids which clogged the trails a bit, I went up #6. The nature was beautiful and there were nice flowers.

I had a snack and some matcha ice cream at the top. Then I started to descend trail #4 and it spit me out directly at the soba noodle restaurant, I got the sansai since I didn’t want the raw egg and ate outside with an amazing view. I just wandered into probably the coolest meal so far this trip hahahaha… it just keeps getting better. Had a funny conversation with the waiter about a little jar she brought out which turned out to be spices. I tried to translate the writing on the jar but it was just the name of the merchant and the address not actually what it was and we both laughed. Randomly walking into this place and soaking it in epitomizes what made this trip specials

I kept walking down after the meal and asked some guy what time it was in Japanese which was cool. Ima nan ji de su ka? Then saw a waterfall/shrine where there was a monk washing himself and praying. Waterfall is Taki.

Kept walking down and saw a small animal, kind of looked like a badger or those things we have at Sabino canyon. Headed back down where all the shops were and bought Ally a cute owl and a card.

Now headed back to the Airbnb on the train going to get ready to hang out with Kenta tonight.

Took the train and met up with Kenta, train was packed to the brim and some lady was bringing her birds haha. Shibuya was busier and bigger than I could have imagined. I was disoriented just walking around. Bought a couple post cards for pal. and we walked to the place for dinner.

Kenta’s friends are nice guys, they all went to international school so they speak English fluently and they banter in some combination of English + Japanese. We had some nice sushi, little squid, octopus, chicken kutsu, seaweed soup and drinks for like 40$ per person. I don’t know if I was tired from hiking or just tired from the time change, but I felt like I had vertigo at dinner haha, it was wild.

Next we went to a pub and got a DK shot Pretty nasty. Some random guy asked to hang out with us and Kenta said sure lol. DK shot was just some nasty double shot, so did one of those. We went to another one of those British Pubs, I guess they have a bunch of British type pubs here it’s like a chain.

We went out side and I was a little buzzed and had 45 mins of trains to get home so ended up heading back around 9:45 and headed to bed.

4/19:⌗

Actually slept in until 7:00am today, had some breakfast at home and started getting all packed up. I can’t believe it’s already time to leave this Airbnb, it was a good pick. Had everything I wanted, quiet location, and forced me to use the local trains to get around.

I got packed up and then got some cash from 7/11 and hunted around for some flowers to give Taka-San and Keiko-San, but couldn’t find any so headed to the station. Where I had a short ride over to Omori station only one stop away. I was at the station early and got some flowers from a little shop (just worked out perfect) fumbled all the Japanese haha.

Met Taka and this Croation couple and walked to Taka’s house about ten minutes away from the station. I had my full bag on my back the entire time at this point and we walked slowly, chatted and stopped at a shrine and by the time we had gotten to the house I must have been wearing it for an hour, so my traps/shoulders were completely shot.

Taka and Keiko are amazing people we did udon noodle making (danced on the dough), origami, made tempura vegetables, learned about our cultures, made sushi, were given gifts, and wrote our names in Katakana in calligraphy. Keiko spilled shochu on me and was very apologetic but it was totally fine. It was such a special experience, just a gem of Japanese culture from people who were caring/dedicated enough to spend so much time preparing for us and inviting us into their home. I can’t wait to return the favor/come back at some point and at the very least send them some photos of us making Soba/Tempura. I have since attempted to do tempura at home once and sent them photos, it turned out ok.

After that ended, went back o Omori station and headed towards the Airbnb, turns out the Airbnb in the google doc was not the right Airbnb as the address Tristan sent was completely different. Luckily they had landed, so I was able to clarify and get on the correct trains. I made it to the Airbnb first after walking through hordes of people with my bag and finding the door down a small path next to the building, it was a cool three story place above a kebab shop. But it was hot and I was a little nervous about how close we were to some of the busiest places in Tokyo.

Tristan and Matt showed up next and we walked around for a second and got a few things from a family mart. Then Kaiser showed up and we started ambling around to dinner. I ended up walking us into a Korean place a bit from where we were staying and we had a nice meal where I tried to navigate ordering and that went poorly. But it all worked out the meal was ok, but it was still just fun to hang out and go to a random spot half way around the world (literally).

I walked home and went to bed the rest of the guys went out for bit I think.

4/20:⌗

On this day we were going to a baseball game and my friend's parents house, but I also needed to travel ~3 hours to a small town to go ride bikes the next day. I was pretty nervous about fitting all of this in and navigating the 4-5 trains I'd need to take to get out there.

Woke up at 6:00 today so I think I’m doing pretty good on my sleep schedule. Just wanted to get everything in order for heading out today as all I’m going to have on me is my backpack. I’m a little nervous for this trip, I think I’m going to skip dinner at Kenta’s parents house to give myself the best chance at making it to Kiryu and getting some sleep. I’m going to make it to Kiryu!!!

Ok so everyone finally woke up, I had gotten all ready early in the morning since I went to bed early. Grabbed a little pancake thing from Lawsons. Came back and Tristan and Mike were ready but Matt wasn’t so we went and got more pancakes and coffee. Then we came back and Matt still wasn’t ready, so we had to take a later train.

I got us on the right train and we met Kenta on the train. We got to the game it was dope. Lot of singing, but we lost, however it was fun and got some good food. Then I got some chopsticks from the shop. Some of Kenta’s friends showed up mid game and hung out with us.

Then we went to Kenta’s mom’s house and met Kenta’s Mom, Grandma, and sister. I’m so glad I decided to do this and not just go straight to Kiryu, I got to eat a little food and speak some japenese, I think I impressed Kenta’s grandma.

I’m now on the final train to Kiryu, I actually made a few mistakes closer to central Tokyo, but we freestyled and made possibly a better route. I’m a little tired and need to eat some of my food, but I’ve got everything I need and I made it to Kiryu!! (Fingers crossed).

Checked into hotel, shaved and called Al. Went to bed but couldn’t figure out how to close window so kept waking up as the wind would blow really hard haha. CLosing the window was not hard, but I spent probably 20 minutes attempting to do it.

4/21:⌗

Got up after not great nights sleep but going to get after it. Suited up and walked over to Rob’s warehouse. Met Frances, had some coffee, and got set for the ride.

What a ride, I mean I can’t do it justice with words but I must go back the photos are such a sliver of a momento from such a vast and majestic place. Rob was such a nice guy! A few highlights:

  • started off riding on the river path
  • Roads so smooth few easy climbs
  • Massive perfect tunnel that nobody uses haha
  • Large climb can see volcanos, Tokyo, cherry blossoms and lakes
  • Stopped for lunch by the lake, chatted about friendships DO A BIG TRIP WITH FRIENDS 1/2 times per year
  • Frogs We saw two frogs on top of one another in the middle of the road
  • Flatted off a rock

Made it back to town and had lunch then got myself sorted at the shop. Walked back to the hotel and told the lady I was checking out early. Went up showered and found someone else’s shirts so I gave those to the lady and told her a spilled coffee on the sheet (it was blood from cutting myself shaving lol) and she was nice and charged me 1000 yen.

I then walked over to the other station in kiryu (shin-kiryu) and bought a limited express train ticket. This route is wayyy better than my previous one. Only need to switch trains once. Man I am a little fucked up and dehydrated. But was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.

Got back at like 8:30 and the boys waited for me for dinner. We went to this little place and I met Walid, Julian and Jorge. After dinner we got a couple snacks and went to bed I was cooked.

4/22:⌗

Woke up around 8am and got my shit organized didn’t get out of the house til ~9:30 but the boys picked me up and we walked over to Meiji Jingu. The gardens were really nice and peaceful. After the gardens we took a train to harajuku, and we shopped and looked at gaming cafes. Not really my thing

After a while I dipped out with Matt and went to this place for ramen which was gas. Had to buy a ticket at the machine and gave it to a little lady that sat us right in front of the chefs. They would take the noodles out of the boiling water and shake the boiling water onto the ground. Ramen was great.

Then matt and I took a train to meet up with Kenta who was going to take us around a museum. Tristan and them showed up a little after and he had crawfish so he was mucking crawfish with gloves on and got it all over his new bathing ape shirt and we were all laughing. I made friends with ladies in this little cafe and got an ice cream.

We went into the museum and looked at old Japanese stuff for a while. I got a postcard for ally from the gift shop. Then we walked to this large open air market. There was a ton of crazy stuff (fish, turtles, clothes,etc…) we stopped for fried octopus balls and beers.

Next we hopped on a train for a sushi dinner. Got to the place and they served out large trays of different sushi almost immediately it was really good and we got Matt an avocado only roll because he barely ate anything. I got us to stop at the hub (British pub) and we had some large beers and a DK shot. After that, we took a train back to the Airbnb, I took a separate train from the other guys but we met up in the walk back from the station.

4/23:⌗

We had to get up early for a bus ride out to Mt Fuji at 10:15. Spent the morning packing up and then we went to the station to meet Kenta. Kenta brought us to the bus station and I had a fun 2 hour ride listening to music and shooting the shit with Tristan.

We got to the hotel around 12:00. Dropped out stuff off and went to a Hoto restaurant and sat in the bench in the floor and had hoto and a grape sour. It was very good. Walked back to the hotel and got our room. Room was essentially an open space and then a bathroom/shower.

We headed out and walked around the town, rented a couple swans and paddled on the lake. Went back to the hotel and put on our traditional bathrobes and want to down to the hot springs.

There was a locker room and then inside were like 30 seated showers. You shower off first and then go in the hot springs. There’s an indoor, outdoor, and half indoor/ half outdoor. They are hot 44 degrees C, our favorite was the half indoor/outdoor, spent a lot of time with try Kenta and Matt.

Then we met everyone up on the seventh floor for dinner which was a nice buffet. Ate and drank a ton. Then we went back the room and everyone got a little pissed and we played cards. Mike and I went down and got more beers out of a vending machine and eventually went to bed around 11. Somehow a window got left open and we got hammered by mosquitos

4/24:⌗

Got up at 5:15 am, was sweating so much my bed was soaked. We went up to the observatory but still couldn’t see Fuji because of the clouds. We went back down and did another 90min sauna session before going to breakfast.

The other guys woke up like 15 mins before breakfast ended. We checked out and then went up a cable car to a view point above the lake and did a short hike to a small shrine and got some ice cream. We got down and Kenta and I walked back to the bus station while the others took a car. Kenta and I went to get ramen while we waited for the bus.

The bus back was fine, we worked on Matt’s hinge profile using the photos I took earlier. Then we got back to the station and walked to their hotel. It was a bit of a shit show so I headed to the airport early and said goodbye. Dumped a couple beers by a vending machine and made it to the train. Went through Kamata station one last time as I headed to the airport.

The people who were on the first bike tour from Alaska were on the same flight to Honolulu. The flight was pretty easy, talked to this girl I sat next to for a bit and then mostly slept. Was pretty groggy landing in Hawaii, but grabbed my bag and re-checked it in after customs with no issue. The flight kept getting delayed, I could’ve spent some time at the garden but every 15mins it’s get delayed like 15 mins. Almost back to PHX now, a bit tired but just need a shower and a meal. Travel went fairly smooth.