Japan summer 2023

Because we’ve been to Japan more than a few times, I thought I wouldn’t have a fresh enough opinion to do a blog. I didn’t take many pictures the first few days because of this. However after soaking in the vibe, Japan’s unique and amazing culture easily won my heart over again and so here we are…

Why this place? How did this come about? Here’s how our trip formed. A family friend found an inexpensive cruise from Kobe to Yokohama. We decided to fly into Tokyo via budget airline Zip Air. It just so happened several other Hawaii friend families were going to be in Japan at the same time. We were all hoping to meet up and because of this coincidence I felt like we were going to see plenty of other Hawaii peeps wandering about. Hawaii is relatively close to Japan

Japan is easy to get around on by foot and public transportation from airport to pretty much everywhere else you want to visit. Google maps is key here. Other than that the only things you have to worry about are looking like lost tourists (minor detail) and also carrying your trash around as there are no trash cans on the streets.

Our flight was declared delayed before we even left the house so we ended up leaving a few hours later than expected but this meant that we ran into our first Hawaii friends at Honolulu airport. Me thinks there are going to be many Hawaii people traveling similarly.

ZipAir is the budget airline of Japan Air and although this (inexpensive) is our traveling style we wondered how no frills it would be. However, the crew was great and the flight was smooth so it ended up being a fine flight after all. We landed at Narita Airport and brought our luggage onto the SkyAccess Train into the city. I believe the 4 of us cost around $40 usd to make the hourlong trip into Tokyo city.

One highball please…hey why not? The drinks and non-included foods seemed pretty reasonable to me especially considering onboard pricing.

Tokyo-in no particular order

For the first part of the trip, we stayed in the Shimbashi area. The first thing we did was eat ramen at Ichiran since Hudson has been asking for it. This place is where we imagined eating at while planning. Also, since this wasn’t our first time visiting Tokyo, we were there to eat and enjoy. Japan’s big cities have SO MANY eating options!

Check it. Our hotel also included a public bath on the rooftop, which was a fantastic place to soak after a long day of traveling.

The next day we discovered a barbecue place around the corner and ate an amazing hearty and inexpensive breakfast at Yakiniku Like! Meals start at ¥580 and include thin strips of beef, rice, soup, and kim chee. There are individual grills for cooking and easy touch screens to order from. Everything you need right in front of you.

Tasty! Quick! Value! I agree! This restaurant chain became our favorite place to stop at during the trip. It became our food infatuation. Sorry Ichiran, but just like Ichiran it is mainly set up for solo dining which I must say is very efficient. I had the set shown above for breakfast and when I walked out of the restaurant I felt like a king. This is the cheapest BBQ set I could find on the menu. And after eating it I resonated with their catch phrase.

At the bottom left of the picture there’s a raw egg and an egg separator that come with this particular set. What are you supposed to do with an egg and a meal like this? The egg yolk gets mixed with shoyu then it gets mixed all into hot rice. Just that would be an amazing breakfast. The whites I used to dip the sizzling hot grill items in before saucing and shoveling down with shoyuyolk rice.

June was on the lookout for fancy latte art so we found our way to Roar for rainbow lattes.

Their menu also offered “original loco moco.” Hilo might have something to say about that!

We subwayed to the new Tsukiji Marketplace, Toyosu, which still remains the largest fish market in the world. June had sushi with Hudson but because Pax and I wandered away we ended up eating sushi at a different place.

After lunch we went to meet our other Hawaii friends right around the corner at teamLab Planets. Hello friends!

TeamLab was a neat high-tech experience but not exactly my thing. We had visited a similar exhibit in Odaiba last time we were in Tokyo in 2019 with June’s family. Still, it was neat to hang out with friends together away from Hawaii.

We went to kill time in Shibuya before our dinner reservations at the fishing restaurant Zaou. The boys got to cuddle hedgehogs at Chiku Chiku animal cafe, and I tried to get June a birthday pin at the One Piece store but even though it read “June 6” on the outside, the pin itself said June 16!

Zaou was also June’s idea, a restaurant where you catch your own seafood. Hudson caught three good-sized prawns for tempura while Paxton netted a sea bream that was big enough to feed all of us. We opted to have half of it turned into sashimi while the other half was deep fried. Methinks it would have been better all fried.

The next day we went to visit the Akihabara electronics district with Kamemoto San and the rest of our Hawaii friends. We ran around an 8-story department store looking at gunpla, consoles and every kind of electronic device possible. Unfortunately no Zelda Tears Of The Kingdom amiibos! We also checked out a 6-story arcade where the kids got addicted to a “washing machine” game they couldn’t stop playing. Good thing the yen is so good!

We had to leave the party a bit early to catch our Shinkansen to Kobe for the start of our cruise. The ride was as smooth as I remembered and somehow bentos are always tastier on a train.

3 days in Kobe

Our hotel in Kobe was in a great location where we could walk pretty much everywhere. They also offered bike rentals for 500yen a day but Hudson was too nervous to try it out. Next time!

While wandering around, we saw signs for a Ghibli exhibit at the Kobe City Museum and decided to check it out. June had been unable to snag Ghibli Museum tickets so saw this as the next best thing. Except we needed reservations for the exhibit! Thinking we were denied again, we hung our heads and started shuffling away until a museum staffer offered to help us make reservations. We were able to get in for later in the day but what to do until then?

How about frappes! Hudson’s friend Austin introduced him to Pokemon fruit frappes at Family Mart so next thing we know, the kids are addicted. After that point, the kids asked for frappes every time we saw a Family Mart (which you can imagine, was quite often!).

Time for some quiet and reflection. We wandered away from the water and toward the mountains to check out the Ikuta Shrine, a Shinto shrine that is one of the oldest in the country. It was a pretty peaceful setting right up against a cool green forest with a little stream running through. I could’ve stayed there longer but we had lunch reservations we had to get to, for Kobe beef, of course! This was one of our tastiest meals of the trip.

Happy and full, we made our way back to the Ghibli exhibit. It ended up being pretty neat, explaining not only about how some of the movies were made but also how the Ghibli Museum and Ghibli Park were conceptualized and built. We also got to sit in the CatBus!

For dinner, we sought out more Kobe beef. It wasn’t as fancy as our lunch but still pretty satisfying.

Today is our last day in Kobe, after packing we left our luggage at the Merikan hotel and walked to Chinatown for some street grub. No big plans for today except to end up at the pier to board our cruise.

My problem in Japan typically is not knowing what to choose for food. The choices are so numerous I often wonder how these places stay in business. Not knowing what to get, I saw lines of local adults as well as school children lining up in front of a simple looking stall. Bing! But what was it for?

The line formation was enforced by a security dude who kept people from blocking the foot traffic in and out of other stores. What an amazingly orderly society.

All I could tell when peeking up front is that they were wrapping up dumplings at 6 for ¥600 or 10 for ¥1000 (about$ 7). One item. Long lines. Let’s go, I’ll take a chance on this!

Here’s what we ended up with…

Freshly steamed buns filled with pork were being cranked out of a small kitchen by 6-8 people over and over. Each steamer tray probably had 30 buns each.

We also got deep fried mochi with beans…

Deep fried hedgehog with bean.

Then we decided to go to Mega Don Quijote. We accidentally jumped onto an Express train which shot us way out of town. That’ll give me more time to blog on the go lol.

Mint chocolate Kit Kat, medicine in case we get sick, Poppin cookin and a headband were on the list. What to do for lunch? Ippudo! We had a hard time finding the joint when we realized it was right in front of us.

Here’s the original tonkotsu…Holy shiz. Ramen art.

Miso spicy…my favorite, it didn’t tasty spicy after eating mine…

…which was spicy tonkotsu. I liked mine the least. The spices covered the tonkotsu flavor.

And we’re off to the port. Princess cruise here we come!

Welcome aboard!

At the port, we met up with our Hawaii friends who had invited us on the cruise in the first place. Thanks, Hudsons! Check in was quick and we were able to go to our cabins right away. We were all on different decks, with the Hudsons occupying two balcony rooms and our inside room getting upgraded to an oceanview at the last minute. Our boys were excited to be back on board and made a beeline for Key West Cooler (Hud) and ice cream at Swirls (Pax). Sadly the flavors at Swirls didn’t change daily this time and stayed vanilla and matcha throughout the cruise but that didn’t stop Pax from hitting it up several times a day!

We also checked out the kids/teen clubs, pool areas, and got a head start on our beverage package because why not? The Princess app has gotten marginally better since our last cruise, and this time, we didn’t even have to scan our medallion room keys when ordering because our names automatically popped up whenever we approached a crew member. What service!

The next day was an at sea day as we made our way from Japan to South Korea. We spent our first full day on board at sea, which meant pool/jacuzzi time plus taking advantage of the events throughout the ship. Amy and Hudson took a napkin folding class (dead chicken, anyone?), and I learned the coal miner dance during bon dance lessons. At night we cheered for Holly as they took the stage during karaoke night. Definitely no shortage of activities here.

Jeju island, South Korea

First stop of three. Everyone is wide eyed and scattering about the ship. All aboard today is at 330 for sail away.

Jeju island is the Hawaii of Korea. It’s a slow paced island that attracts tourists as well as honeymooners looking for a romantic destination.

Jeju is also home of the tallest mountain in south Korea. The peak is said to look like a woman’s face or like breasts. It is also known as “mother mountain.”

Our two main destinations were 1)a waterfall (there are a few) and 2) Olle old shopping district.

The cruise ship shuttle to town was $20 USD pp round trip. We thought we’d save a little by taking a taxi on our own. The first guy I talked to quoted us 250,000 Korean won which I thought was just under $2000 for the day. Then I realized I misplaced a decimal and it was actually $200 USD for the day! Done. Our driver was Mr. Shin, a retired and friendly taxi driver. We choose him because he had a jumbo taxi which could fit 8 people, perfect for our two families! $40 bucks more for a private driver? Done.

We first stopped at this scenic bridge to look at the volcanic landscape.

Next we headed off to Jeongbang falls, a coastal waterfall that falls directly into the ocean.

Mr Shin dropped us off and down we went. I got scolded by some ladies who I think were prepping their catch to sell fresh seafood but didn’t want their pictures taken.

I had to go and feel the spray of the waterfall on my face before heading back up. We bought fresh tangerine juice at the top for 3000 won a bottle or a little over two bucks each. They were delicious and sweet. I asked if there was added sugar and the seller said “no.”

What I thought was neat is that the seller asks if you want to use a straw and if you say yes, he has a device that makes a puka in the top of the bottle cap for a straw.

Next we went to the Seogwipo old market. The first thing I did was get a snack at this stall which was deep frying breads right in front. Mochi ball and a shrimp stick. Pax got a lollipop that reminded me of that candy from “Squid Game” but he just picked it because he liked the character on top.

We ambled through the crisscrossing walkways thinking there would be more snacky food. We were looking for black pork. Afterward we ended up walking around the town a bit to find these bowls. Credit June. The bowls had vegetables! Deep fried garlic and rice and were actually very healthy and well balanced.

Next we went to what was probably the quirkiest spot of our Jeju visit, a park called Father’s Garden. Mainly we went for the animals but there were some pretty random things to see, like a stairway to nowhere, mini Hobbiton, and crazy cartoon heads.

I feel like I could be in a horror film in this vintage Minnie Mouse mask. Actually there were lots of familiar characters throughout the property. So quirky.

Afterward we said goodbye to our friendly driver. As we thanked him and said our goodbyes, he started to tear up, which I found pretty touching. If you are ever on Jeju and need a kind tour guide, look him up: Mr. Shin.

Kagoshima

“The Naples of the east”

Today is a rainy wet day. We’ve pulled into port and are awaiting a late departure due to immigration and the weather. The Hudsons wanted to do some shopping so we decided to split up so we could wander around a bit to look for a particular dish our Hudson read about in a manga.

We’re heading to the Jigenji park area of Kagoshima in search of “streaming somen.” The weather is rainy and the lines for a taxi were long. Being the impatient person I am, we (meaning I?), decided to huff it on foot out of the terminal into town. Hudson saw his friend from the kids club also walking with his family. From there we jumped onto a JR train away from town.

Today is definitely about the journey as we bumbled through a park along a mossy river bank. Google maps was confusing but luckily we found some signs along the way and finally found our grail.

That meal was amazing. We put somen noodles in a fountain of water then fished them out to dip in sauce and eat. We ate outdoors under sparse covering and the sound of the river constantly roared behind us as we ate somen, fried fish, fish miso soup and mochi. So much beauty.

After our meal we taxi’d June over to the Saint Francis Xavier Catholic church. She never misses Sunday Mass so me and the boys hung out at Xavier park across the street while she prayed for our souls.

Finally we made our way back into town to meet back up with the Hudsons. They had a spectacular shopping journey and we stopped for a taste of Kagoshima tonkatsu at the Amu Shopping Plaza before having to hurry back to the boat!

As we sailed away from port, a school band was set up to play music to send us off. The locals waved and cheered as we set off, and it was a really touching sendoff. This is one of those small examples0 of what makes Japan such a unique place. We waved back until we couldn’t see them anymore.

At sea day

Our next day was another “at sea” day which meant two step lessons, cha-cha dancing, an egg drop challenge and a visit to the onboard onsen. We also attended a culinary demonstration that ended with a tour of the ship’s galleys.

We joined the egg drop challenge at the last minute, not realizing that most people had signed up the first day we were on the ship. Pax and Alex crafted an egg nest made from my Jeju island plastic gun souvenir container with an old rain poncho as a parachute. Our egg didn’t break but it didn’t win any prizes either. Although still vague it seemed the prizes were for 1) nicest looking, 2) closest to target, and 3) most elegant landing. Still, super exciting to do.

Hudson and June also wanted to check out the onboard onsen called Izumi so we all ended up going. There was a traditional onsen indoors separated by gender plus a large outdoor tub for everyone that required bathing suits. It was pretty relaxing and a nice touch. This particular ship was mainly meant to sail in Asia and the passengers were about 90% Japanese. All the signs were bilingual and the food at the buffet in particular reflected more Asian tastes with dishes such as jook, natto, and a ramen bar.

Tomorrow we disembark at Yokohama. Bye bye boat!

Yokohama-day visit

We said our goodbyes to the Hudsons and to the boat and went off to meet our other Hawaii friends-the Shus.

Yokohama looks to be a very modern city, with clean white buildings that are spread out.

We taxi’d to meet the Shus at their hotel and then went off to Chinatown to eat our way through starting with Taiwanese food. Beef noodle soup is the standard measure for Taiwanese food. We also fulfilled Huidy’s dream of tasting Taiwan beer. Along with that we had dan-dan noodles, congyoubing and some other dim sum type dishes.

Then we ate various street foods.

Here’s a Shanghai style fried soup dumpling… unlike the steamed version, we still don’t know how they soup it up.

A flat fried chicken… Common with the kids walking around.

And a creamy Taiwanese strawberry shave ice from the same place.

Cosmo town was our next stop. It’s a quirky amusement park with an adult side and kids side. The most recognizable part of it is the giant ferris wheel/clock (¥900pp) for all of us.

We played video games indoors after the kids got chased by a security guard for running up and down the escalators and then the kids did the VRV or virtual reality vehicle. They also tried the roller coaster and declared it was “so fun!”

We stopped at the Ghibli store in the below ground mall under the Shus hotel and then we grabbed our luggage and headed on the one hour long commute via local train to Tokyo to our last home of the trip, Asakusa, Tokyo.

After arriving at Asakusa we got a quick meal at our new regular chain restaurant across the bridge at Yakiniku Like! and bought way too much stuff at Don Quijote. Off to bed and to figure out how to operate everything in our room. Sorry this is actually a repeat picture of Yakaniku Like.

This morning we are predicted rain and sure enough woke up to grey skies. Asakusa is crawling with tourists. Although I am one, it still takes away from the authentic experience imho.

Thanks to Huidy’s recommendation we located freshly baked melonpan and melonpan filled with cookies and cream ice cream located next to the Sensoji temple by our place. Hudson was in heaven.

Here we are after a 12 minute walk to a very nondescript ramen place called men mitsuwi. I didn’t even know it was a ramen place until I asked the person in front of me. He helped us register “table for 4” on the tablet.

Here is my shoyu broth ramen with thick noodles. All of our ramen came out to ¥4550. Locals only here, my preferred makeup.

My pork was unbelievably soft. The broth was simple and fulfilling. Hud and Paxton got soft boiled tamago as an add on. Tummies full. Thanks for the tip, Kamemoto San!

Right about now I’d say I’m at the point where places we’ve visited are beginning to get blurred together.

June wanted to do a little more shopping so off we went to the Shibuya Parco for the Pokemon Store, Jump Shop, and Nintendo shop all on the 6th floor. We’ve been here before on past trips. But not to buy a Nintendo Switch Pro controller! Around $62 USD.

Then we went to the Animate Store in Shibuya and got a few knickknacks.

Shibuya has a Cafe Reissue, a spot June wanted to visit for its latte art. I’m hanging out on the streets below. This area feels like an alternate Harajuku but with overpriced vintage stores. At least the stores have benches outside to sit at while waiting for your wife and kids to have coffee.

No wonder. June just told me that we are connected to Harajuku lol. She also said they also put out a little stool so Hudson could watch them make their 3D latte art.

Home to cheap T-shirts, odd fashion, huge cotton candy…and otters. Otters? This unnamed place which may or may not be located in Harajuku breeds and raises these amazing cute and tame creatures!

Harajuku this afternoon isn’t as busy as I’ve seen it in the past. We did run into more Hawaii folks there though of course!

Ok we are mentally preparing ourselves for udon. Not the udon itself but rather the wait for a great udon place recommended by none other than Huidy. We’ll see, in two more stops on the Ginza line and a short walk.

Ooh see? 21 people before us. There’s a roped off area for hungry diners. I got scolded for sitting on the curb outside the restaurant and even had time to fail at looking for mochi covered fruit. (I think the store is now nonexistent.)

An hour later we dined on hot, cold, wide and flat udon made with wheat from the district of Gunma. Along with udon we had meat nigiri, tempura, hot sake and a variety of sauces. Totally worth it. This was June’s favorite meal of the trip.

Today is our second to the last day here. We’ve done mostly all we want to see and do. After a breakfast of Family Mart rice balls we wandered around for guess what? More food.

I said what’s the craziest thing we could do here? My idea was McDonald’s. Thus a lemon cheese pie and waffle cone chocolate and almond.

To continue the theme of gluttony we stopped at Marugame udon, a place which has 2 locations on Oahu that Hudson is a fan of. Two small udons and a vegetable tempura came out to less than ¥1000 or about seven bucks US.

Ueno park here I barf! Joke, joke. We walked across town for around 30 minutes to Ueno park for the Taiwanese food festival. I wanted to do something outdoors before descending below Tokyo Station for more food and shopping. Here we had xiao long bao, pepper cakes, chili oil wontons, and mango shave ice.

Even the trash is organized. Liquids, bottles and other disposables are kept orderly by a person.

Tokyo station-Yaesu underground mall is filled with small shops selling foods and clothing. There’s a ramen street. There is a character street with Totoro and Snoopy, Harry Potter etc.

We had pork tonkatsu here at Tokyo Station and then headed in search of the 2D Cafe in Shinjuku. Straight to the cafe because it’s wet outside!

We capped our eating marathon off with a conveyor belt sushi dinner at Kura Sushi. I think we had about 12 meals today.

Family time

Hey look who’s in town to meet us? Cousin Eke and his ‘ohana! Me and June’s very first visit to Japan years ago was with Ed and Carrie and now they are back to recreate that journey with their kids.

After a visit to the Sensoji temple, we walked to our candy making class where we made candy bunnies. How can three minutes can seem so long and so short at the same time? We had two practice rounds before our final creation.

We ended up hanging around Sky Tree Tower while waiting for our Kirby Cafe reservations. The food was OK. Looked better than it tasted. The kids really enjoyed their laboratory soda drinks.

Last day. We found out Pax might have gotten the last Pasmo card in the city when Clam tried to get one so we could subway to Akibahara for amiibos. Oop. Wrong Surugaya.

Here we go. Our Zelda amiibo back home is worth 7300 yen. Unfortunately there weren’t many amiibos to be found. I guess we’ll stick with what we have.

At the electronics store Pax tried a crane game that yielded 3 folded pieces of paper. After a quick Google translate we found that two were losers and one was a winner! Choose anything from the bottom shelf. He picked out an unmarked set of Japanese Pokemon cards.

Out on the street Pax tried a ¥1000 random vending machine. He got a phone holder. Not bad but not Bose earbuds or a sparkly hat.

After a second breakfast at Yakiniku Like! we went to play games at an arcade. Olivia was the lucky winner at the crane game.

Time to eat again! We went back to Asakusa for pork patties and Cremia ice cream. I was able to go back to a hat stand I had spotted earlier in our trip and got a cool new hat to add to my collection.

Our flight was delayed again so it was time for a second lunch/last dinner at Ichiran with the Lus before heading off to catch the train to Narita.

What a great trip. Japan is always fantastic, with delicious food, friendly people, and safe surroundings. This time it was made even better by getting to meet up with so many friends and family there. Our trip soundtrack this time was: “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe” and the Donki theme song, both of which the boys kept singing endlessly. They were always on the lookout for melon pan, Family Mart frappes, and candied strawberries. Full bellies, full hearts!

Japan you have been amazing!