First timer at Japan~

Lifelong dream - Two weeks trip

[jjatjapan]

Third hostel

So my third hostel was at Tottori

And with this one, the thing that were important when picking which to chose, where location near the center areas, cheep enough price and also what other people had written about it.

Name of the hostel was Y PUB & Hostel Tottori

The location of the hostel was just few minutes walk from the Tottori station, right in the middle of the town. And really all the important sights were pretty close to go to.

I stayed here for 3 nights, which did cost 9600yen (about 76euros) There were no down payment, so just needed to pay that 9600yen when I arrived to the hostel. Breakfast at the hostel would have been 500yen (3,99euros) for the night.

Two rooms were sepperated as girls girls room and boys room. And all had sepperated “capsules” to sleep in.

The staff were nice and helpful and did speak good english too. As the name of the hostel says, it has a bub at downstairs, but it was never that loud that it would have disturbed me any way. Sleeping areas, kitchen and showers were at second floor and you could also wash your clothes there. And really nothing to complain about. Easy to recommend this hostel if anyone else feels to be special enough to go to Tottori~

[jjatjapan]

Tottori

Tottori was the final new town to see during this trip. It was also the only place where I knew basically nothing about. Only that it’s next to the sea and there are some sand dunes somewhere.

One interesting thing about going to Tottori was that even most of the Japanese I talked about it, where really surprised why I want to go there. Already at the airport I needed to explain my reasons and even at the hostel at Tottori the employers there where askin why someone from Finland would want to come all the way there ;D

Really the main reason was that my friend had just moved to work there from Tokyo and she invited me to visit her.

To travel to Tottori from Kyoto by train took a few hours. But I really liked that part too because of all the scenery with many small villages, mountains and forest. Was nice change after almost too many people at Tokyo and Kyoto.

And in the end I liked Tottori so much that would have been happy even if I had spend the whole 2 week just there.

Maybe it’s something about being from Finland too, and that’s why I feel more comfortable to stay somewhere that could feel too calm and quiet to someone else. But I really liked it. To know that most people around are me are not just other tourists, but true locals just living their lives. And the town around me didn’t feel that it’s designed to just look nice for tourists.

Would be happy to go back there some day~

[jjatjapan]

Taro The Grandpa at AFTER BEAT Club

The last but not least thing at Kyoto was to see the gig of my friend

Taro The Grandpa at the AFTER BEAT Rock Club.

The club isn’t big, but the atmosphere is good and the old couple that owns and runs the club are just great.

One special thing about the gig was also that, as I had crafter Taro a Golden Dragon mask as a surprise gift..he did actually wear it thru the whole gig.

You could say I was kind of honored..a lot~

And actually, you can listen to all his songs from youtube too.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCttPzw9nGoqHwI0dsOpWCNQ

Music that makes you smile :)

[jjatjapan]

Kyoto Imperial Palace

Or Kyōto Gosho, used to be the residence of Japan's Imperial Family until 1868, when the emperor and capital were moved from Kyoto to Tokyo.

The Palace also had some really nice garden areas.

[jjatjapan]

Nijo Castle

Nijo Castle was the residence of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Edo Period (1603-1867)

The entire castle grounds and the Honmaru are surrounded by stone walls and moats.

The castle also has some big garden areas.

To have energy to run around castles, you’ll of course need to eat too.

On this days menu was white miso soup noodles.

And in Japan the food actually looks as good (or even better) on the plate as at the picture.

[jjatjapan]

Kinkaku-ji temple

Also known as Golden Pavilion.

Thiis was also one of the places that I ken I must see coming to Japan.

And even that the temple itself is amazing already, the surrounding area around it made it all the more beautiful.

[jjatjapan]

Lights on

 One night there was some special event (which name I forgot to write down) where most of the temples and shrines we lighted and looked really nice next to dark night sky~

One road was full of these cool looking carts.

[jjatjapan]

Around the hostel.

There were lot of interesting and beautiful places right around the hostel too.

One of those was Yasaka Shrine

Chionin temple is also just couple of minutes walking distance from there.

Some of the streets right next to the hostel are left to stay really traditional and you can even buy a ride with those old style cart pulled buy a guy. Many people were riding those while dressed with traditional kimonos.

This area would have also looked way more beautiful if I would have arrived here a bit later and trees would have had some time to bloom.

[jjatjapan]

Bukkō-ji temple

Bukkō-ji temple is located in the middle downtown Kyoto.

My time to visit Japan was so early that most of the trees and flowers weren’t blooming yet, and I would Imagine this temple to look way more beautiful with those.

But even without blooming trees, the architecture and style of the temple were great to see.

During that walk around Kyoto downtown I also visited the shopping area of fish market..and bought something that I though would be fish or some other meat.

My mouth was pretty surprised with the chocolate flavour of the first bite.

But maybe the coolest thing I bought from Japan was during this day too.

I found the store of SOU • SOU and got my very own Tabi Shoes!

[jjatjapan]

Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine

Next day was  sunny and warm, so was time to visit some more temples/shrines.

And one that I’ve wanted to see for long time is Fushimi Inari-taisha.  I had seen those famous gates on several movies, so was great to able to walk thru the same gates.

Some of the areas of Fushimi Inari-taisha are way high at the mountain behind and to those areas you need to go thru pretty long paths and many of those orange/red colored gates.

And even that I thought I followed the sighs pretty well, was getting lost a bit. There are several different paths to go to, but the main ones are pretty well marked with signs. And most of the time there are so many other people, that following the big group is good way to stay on track too.

Some areas had lot of Fox altars.

[jjatjapan]

Kiyomizudera Temple

First day at Kyoto was rainy and really windy, but I couldn’t waste the day by just sitting inside at the hostel.

The hostel was just few minutes walk from the Kiyomizudera Temple, so I grabbed my umbrella and went there.

But because the weather wasn’t all that ideal this time, I went there again some other days too when the weather was better.

Slightly more people there this time.. Many of them had rented a kimono to get photographed with it at the temple area, or just to feel the touch of history a bit better.

There were many places arount Kyoto where you could rent a kimono. One of those right at the same building as my hostel.

..and I also met My Neighbour there at one Ghibli themed merchandice store ;)

[jjatjapan]

Second hostel

My second hostel was at Kyoto.

For my second hostel main important things were the same as with the earlier one. Good location and cheap price + of course I did also read what some other people have written about the place.

Name of the hostel is A-yado Gion

At that picture the bottom floor of the building has some restaurant and the hostel is located at the higher floors. From one of the floors you can also rent kimonos to make it feel that much more special when visiting some of the many temples and shrines located all around Kyoto.

The location of the hostel is great, really close to shopping area with many smaller shops and within walking distance of the downtown area of Kyoto too. It took about 15min by bus from Kyoto station + 5min walk to get to the hostel.

I stayed here for 6 nights, which did cost 9000yen (about 70euros) Needed to pay 8,48e as a down payment + 1e as a cancellation protection and finally 7920yen (61,06e) when I arrived to the hostel.

I already complimented the earlier hostel at Tokyo a bit, but compared to that this was amazing. Rooms and beds were basic but nice. Sepperate rooms for guys and girls and maybe a mixed one too. There was free Wi-Fi, shower at the room and toilets just outside the room. They also had air conditioning. Bedrooms were at lower floor and at the top floor there was a living room/kitchen where you could cook, watch tv, read some mangas, play with game console (already forgot which one, as I didn’t use it), use their tabletop computer. There was also pretty good collection of drinks and snacks that you could buy (cheaper than at the stores) Coffee was free! They had plates, cups etc. that you could use as long as you wash those after use. And almost forgot..you did get some Huge white bread slices for breakfast every morning for free there too. ..really, even at the guestbook many of the visitors have drawn pictures and written about how big those breads are :D

When ever you needed some more to eat, there were also several different type of food shops just few minute walk from the hostel.

The staff was really great here too. They did speak english and were really helpful when I needed some guiding about how to get to some place and were chatting with customers outside the work related stuff too.

I even liked them enough to give them some finnish chocolate that I took from home as a thanks for the great service and place to stay :)

So really, about recommending this to anyone this one is easy. Maybe not great if you have really young kids, but for anyone else, great place to spend your nights when staying at Kyoto! I’m already dreaming about my next trip to Japan and most likely will stay at this hostel again if returning to Kyoto.

[jjatjapan]

Akihabara

Also known as - Electric town because of its history when it used to be known mainly by its cheap electronics and gadgets.

It still has lot of that too, but I think these days it’s known more by all the manga, anime and gaming stores. You can find tons of shops filled with gaming stuff and others totally filled with anime figurines ..I may have bought some too.

Many of the stores had bottom floors for softer merchandise as basic manga and figurines, but the higher you walk the stairs, more adult oriented things got with all the hentai, films with real people and some adult toys.

There would have also been some Maid Coffees, but I was travelling alone that day and just had no courage to go to those alone.

This was my last full day at Tokyo before I was gonna pick a train to Kyoto early next morning.

[jjatjapan]

Shinjuku streets

Some of the areas of Shinjuku I’ve also seen on games like Persona 5 and Yakuza 0, so was nice to see that area too, even that not really remembering any specific spots.

To some people those streets may be familiar from the Godzilla movies. Sharp eyed ones can still see Godzilla at the end of a street which is called Godzilla street

As my guide told me, at night time these streets are also known as some of the most dangerous ones in Japan. So for a good reason we didn’t stay there to spend the night.

The red-light district area of Shinjuku got it’s name Kabukicho from the times of late 1940′s when it was planned to build a kabuki theatre there. In the end the theatre was never built but the name stayed.

Before we left, still had to stop to get something to eat. The place that we went was at that Godzilla street, but no idea of the name of that restaurant. But anyway, there we desided to get some proper traditional ramen. And even that we were at Tokyo, my guide told that the ramen we had, is originally from Kyoto.

Was a lot better than cup noodles at home ;)

[jjatjapan]

Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden

One thing I was stressing a bit before the trip was, if it would still be too early to see cherrytrees blooming, as it was still just an early spring.

But as it seemed, I was lucky enough that they had started blooming here more early than normally. And because Tokyo is located that much more south than Kyoto or Tottori, the spring comes more early for Tokyo too. But even at there the blooming had just started.

And as we picked some ice cream styled slightly chili flavored local treats from the small shop there, this was also my first ever hanami (eating while watching blooming cherry trees)

[jjatjapan]

Tokyo scenic view

During the first day we were thinking if we should have went to the skytower for the scenic view, but as the day was already that far at the time, we thought of other option which would also be totally free.

So the next day we headed at Shinjuku to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, which has a great view to every direction to all of Tokyo. Even that the building was closed from the main parts at that day, the floor for the observation deck was still open. Plenty of souvenirs to buy at that floor too.

If the sky would be clear enough, it should also be possible to see Mt.Fuji from there. But not that day.

[jjatjapan]

First day at Tokyo

Right after I got all my stuff to my hostell at Nakano, we headed to see some sights with my friends Shino and her brother Taro.

Plans for the first day were to visit Asakusa, see some sights there and eat something traditionally japanese for dinner.

As a first place to see we went to the gate to Sensō-ji temple. That was one of the few things I new from Tokyo beforehand because had seen the place in so many videos.

We were also wondering if we should visit the Skytower and The Asahi Beer Hall: aka the golden turd (that’s what it’s actually called..and what it looks like) But as we noticed that we could see those just from few steps of the temple gate, we decided it was enough to just take a picture from there and look for a place to eat after that..or did we actually eat before that already ..not sure.

I don’t remember the location or the name of the restaurant where we went, but it was a nice traditional style restaurant. The food we decided to get was tempura with rice.

Shino, who was my main guide, tried to always find me good restaurants to eat something traditional that I wouldn’t have had here at Finland, or atleast something that I could taste the original ones even if I have had some versions at home. And great thanks to her for that. Not sure how much of the great foods I could have experienced there alone as most of the times I just bought something easy from the stores or something fast from the streets.