I just got back from my Japan trip yesterday. This time, I visited Japan for three weeks and came back with interesting insights into Japanese culture to share for weeks. But first, I want to rant about the bad and the ugly side of my Japan trip that I wasn’t a fan of. Let’s call it a digital-spiritual cleansing through this blog, if you will.
The bad and the ugly during my Japan trip
Firstly, a tip for you: DON’T stay in APA Hotels! The (already small) room layout is not optimal, the pillows are flat, the unit bathroom is the size of a standing coffin, and the hotel design is utterly gaudy.
Still, about accommodations, we had an obnoxious family staying in two rooms beside ours in the Osaka hotel. They would talk to each other with annoying loud voices in the hallway. Sometimes, the kids would run around and knock on the doors to say something. Again, loudly. Also, all these happened every day after midnight. They checked out one day before we did, and we saw a powerful air deodoriser warning sign put by the hotel management in front of their rooms. Pest!
My shoes were killing me, and so was wearing bras without weekend breaks.
Studio Ghibli was a letdown. Worse than that was Nabano No Sato, the famed winter illumination in Japan. We had to take an hour-long bus ride to go there, stand in a long, disorganized queue to pay (only in cash) the over-priced ticket to enter the park where nothing much was happening other than that one main illumination walk and a few minutes of light shows. On top of all this, we had to wait for hours in the cold for the bus back.
We both agreed that we would stay in Tokyo for one too many days. We also had bad sushi and the worst restaurant experience in Japan at Sauce Osaka Boss.
I shall also admit my own mistake, one of the most common travel sins: over-packed luggage, which I had to drag, lift, push and pull from city to city in Japan.
This time, though, I managed to correctly identify and purchase salmon onigiri from the 7-11; became a regular patron of Counterpart Coffee Gallery, a small coffee shop in Shinjuku; navigated the complicated Japanese train system successfully with a Suica card; ate plenty of seafood at Kuromon Ichiba market Osaka and the most expensive meat I have ever eaten in my life, Kobe beef; survived a horrible night in a capsule hotel whilst enjoyed another night in another capsule hotel; and went to the Senso-Ji temple in the new year.
Despite having travelled to Japan multiple times, my Japan Culture Checklist keeps growing.
I still have to try natto (I couldn’t bring myself to eat it this time) and take a miso-making class. I want to stay in Shirakawago in winter, have an Indian Thali meal at Little India in Kobe, and hike Aokigahara and Arashiyama forests.
But for now, I am taking a break from Japan to explore other parts of Australia and the world. Unless, of course, the Universe wants me to go back to Japan soon. I would be completely okay with that as long as it’s not in the winter.
Follow me on Instagram @KultureKween for more recent updates.
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