Japan Beckons Yet Again!

It’s always nice to be back in Japan. I’m obviously a fan and each time my appreciation for the country and its people grows.It’s OCD clean, everything works, the people are very helpful and polite, the food is amazing and for the first time that I can remember, it’s very inexpensive! How the yen has fallen and that is perfect for a tourist like myself. 

I had planned this trip as part of a health check. My good friend Kaori has been telling me it’s very opportune to get an extremely thorough medical exam (I can’t think of anything  that isn’t going to be checked) with the currency differential, the advanced med tech that Japan invests in for their healthcare and the relative lower costs to Europe and the USA for similar exams, made it appealing. That was all the excuse I needed to plan my next trip. 

By coincidence, my children and their other halves were going to Japan as well. I scheduled an earlier arrival date to overlap with them for a week. 

We all headed off to Hakone after a day in Tokyo to enjoy the open air museum, see Mount Fuji, and go for a few meals. It was fun! Fujiya Hotel is a good place to stay and we ate in a few places that had good reviews. 

After 2 nights we went back to Tokyo, enjoyed some izakayas (Japanese versions of bistros), had a wagyu teppanyaki (grilling on a metal plate an assortment of good meats on your table0, hibachi (grilling on coals) and an omikase (chef’s choice tasting menu). This is a culinary trip and I’m sure my cholesterol numbers won’t be ideal for my checkup. 

We didn’t give the Bauhaus a miss, of course!  A bit of gaijin rock and roll.

The meal prices vary. A good noodle bowl or bento box lunch in a restaurant will probably set you back 10 US dollars. I followed some Japanese into this restaurant on a third floor in shibuya and I had quite a large and delicious supper for 15 dollars. Once you start consuming top grade meats,  omikase then obviously it moves into three figures but nowhere near the prices of similar establishments  in New York or London, specially considering the quality of the fish and the a5 (highest ranking) meat. And don’t forget, it’s rude to tip in Japan!

Third sighting of Fuji (how lucky am I, it normally hides). This is from the bullet train Tokyo/Osaka. When I asked the train attendant when I could see Fuji, she said you can see it but take a picture at 10:17. Sure enough, at 9:45, 10:03 and 10:15 my pictures weren’t v good, but at 10:17 voila! The Japanese are very precise. She checked if I took the photo at the precise time!

I bid the kids farewell and travelled onto Osaka. Having seen the famous sights twice before, I focused on shopping (it’s 25 percent cheaper than Tokyo for similar items) and of course eating my way through the Dotomburi district. Don’t be put off by how it looks quite street foody because the food in those restaurants are quite good! Osaka is known to be Japan’s culinary capital so try them all! 

The Osaka speciality is takoyaki, it’s an octopus cooked in batter. 

If you see a giant crab on a building, the restaurant serves multiple crab courses, about 35 dollars for six courses. I enjoyed it!

Kobe in only a tube (subway) trip away so off I went for guess what?! Don’t make the mistake I did so please book in advance. I panicked for 24 hours since I wanted a seat in one of the best Kobe beef restaurants in Kobe. These places are small and the Japanese book way in advance. Thankfully my hotel found a way. It was worth the effort. 

They obviously stagger serving the meat. 

Fried garlic rice from the beef drippings.

Yuzu ice cream

Definitely worth the effort!

On an aside, life has certainly improved with google maps. It told me which options for subways/trains around Japan, which platform, told me when I was arriving and which gate to exit for my hotel. No need for translation. However when I did get confused, any Japanese I asked would take me to my destination. Seriously, I’d ask directions multiple times a day and this nice random stranger would take me there and give me a deep bow. How wonderful is that? 

They’re so honest as well.  I left a nice long leather coat on a busy street in Tokyo by mistake (I was reading directions on my phone so I put it down). I returned 20 minutes later and it was still there, folded neatly and put on the side. I left my charger on the bullet train, reported it to the train station’s lost and found, they immediately located it when it reached its destination an hour later, and they’re shipping it to my hotel. Wallets full of money, phones, they find their way back to you. Pretty amazing and wonderful. 

One last thing, I’ve been observing how clean Japanese shoes are everywhere; on trains, buses, roads. They are immaculate. No dirty, scuffed shoes. If you want to go vintage shopping and can fit into their extremely small sizes, the clothes and bags are very well taken cared off. They really take good care of their personal items and surroundings. Don’t eat and walk, no rubbish bins in sight and it’s rude.

Off to Okayama then Kurashiki  next. I want to see new places and explore.