In 2014 I visited Japan for the very first time. It blew my mind. I fell in love with that country. And after a memorable 5 days trip to Japan, I promised myself I would turn back every single year.
And I did, until Covid happened. Japan closed its doors for tourism for almost 3 years.
Beginning of this year, visitor were allowed back to the country, and we couldn’t wait any longer to get back. The very first trip together with my girlfriend was in Japan. And now it was about time to show our daughter that beautiful country, where mom & dad came together.
Osaka over Tokyo.
So far I’ve visited Tokyo twice. Don’t get me wrong. Tokyo is amazing. It’s the big japanese capital. It’s diverse, entertaining, photogenic, crazy and peaceful at the same time… but I can’t help it, to still appreciate Osaka a lot more than the capital.
It’s the soul of Osaka that fascinates me more than Tokyo. This trip would be my 6th visit in Osaka. And still I keep going to the same places as if it would be my first holidays in Japan.
Why did we choose Osaka as our destination in Japan? It’s perfectly located to do several daytrips around its neighbouring cities: Nara, Kyoto, Arashiyama, even Hiroshima (which isn’t too close).
NARA.
We decided to visit Nara on our first day, as we couldn’t wait to see the smile of our daughter, while she would meet up with a deer for the first time. The deers run freely through Nara’s several parks. You can pet & feed them. It’s fascinating everytime again. The deer-parks are surrounded by walking paths, the famous gigantic Todai-Ji temple, a pagoda, cherry blossoms during spring. Nara has that typical japanese village vibe, which attracts way too many visitors.
This year, it was the first time for us, where the deers wouldn’t eat the animal-cookies, tourists were buying, to feed them. Usually they are mostly loved by the deers, however this year, they were over-fed as too many tourists were heading over to the deer-city. We were visiting Nara on a sunday, and it was packed with people. Due to the crowds, it lost some of its magic. However it was still a memorable experience.
Nara is easily reachable by train from Osaka, and it takes about 40 minutes.
The same day, in the afternoon, we headed back to Osaka, to the Expo Park, to meet up with our friend Yasuyo who had organized a BBQ afternoon with other japanese friends, who wanted to practice their english. It was a great first day, with lots of laughters and enjoyment.
KYOTO & ARASHIYAMA.
Kyoto must be the most cultural city of Japan. It used to be the capital of Japan before Tokyo. It’s so diverse, and has so much to offer. We headed to Arashiyama, a suburb of Kyoto, as we opted for another animal experience for our daughter, the monkey feeding.
It may sound like a tourist trap, but it ain’t. As soon as you step out of the trainstation, it feels like walking towards a village from a japanese fairy tale. Beautiful rivers and its wooden bridges, an alley full to tiny charming shops. An enchanting bamboo forest (one of only a few in Japan), this one’s the most famous one. As already mentioned. the monkey park, where people walk into a cabin, and the free monkeys are climbing around that cabin, to wait until they are being fed by the visitors.
It was the first time, I ever did the river-cruise with a small paddle-boat. It wasn’t as easy as it looked, paddling against the stream.
The different shades of green in the background of Arashiyama’s forests, make the landscape look like a painting. I love spending time in Arashiyama, everytime again I am visiting Osaka. This year, like already mentioned, it was packed with too many tourists. Maybe it was because of the sakura season, that it attracted more tourists than usually, or was it the golden week? People were eager to get back to Japan after covid, the same as we did.
And of course, I wouldn’t forget about the mandatory green mochi filled with bean-paste. Every time again I would have one at the same stand, where I had my first matcha-mochi in 2014.
On our last day of this trip, we decided to head back to the center of Kyoto, nearby Kamo River that runs through the middle of the city. We passed hundreds of shops, walked through the Gyon neighborhood, until we reached Hōkan-ji pagoda. It’s such a picturesque city, it may feel like you’re stuck in a japanese fairytale.
HIROSHIMA.
I wanted to bring my girlfriend to a new city, she hasn’t visited yet. Hiroshima was a nice option, because of its history, the part of riding a shinkansen (rapid train), and the bonus of visiting another deer-village, the island of Miyajima.
As we spent a limited time in Japan, we didn’t want to lose half a day, while spending a night on Miyajima island. So we decided, to do a one-day-trip. We started with the Peace Memorial Park, where you can witness the only building that wasn’t completely turned into ashes, when the first atomic bomb hit the city in 1945. We moved on to the Hiroshima castle, which was less impressive that I had in mind. And from the castle we headed straight to Miyajima Island, which took another 35-40 minutes by train.
It was my second time at the Peace Memorial Park. I’m not sure if I’m the only one, however as soon as I started reading the informations noted on the monuments, I felt the same sadness inside of me, as the first time I was visiting Hiroshima. Knowing how many lives were ended, seconds after the blast of the bomb, at that exact spot where we were standing.
The ferry ride to Miyajima, is quite beautiful. And so is the island. The only concern we had, was that all the shops and restaurants were starting to close after 16:30 (4:30pm). We were hopelessly looking for a restaurant, as we haven’t had lunch yet, and really wanted to try Hiroshima’s okonomiyaki, their most popular savory pancake dish. After a lovely 2 hour stay on the island, we headed back home with an empty stomach. Around the time, when we reached the island 15:30, the tide kicked in, and we were able to walk nearby the big red tori gate. I’d rather have watched it standing in the water, surrounded by moving waves. You can’t win all the time.
Hiroshima is easily doable within a day, train rides included. However rushing through the main interest points, will still be stressful. I would suggest, to spend a night on the island, if you have the time.
Osaka, Namba.
We spent most evenings in Osaka, as it never disappoints. It’s a never-ending shopping paradise, there are just too many shops to explore. The neon lights at night, are giving the city a film-noir futuristic look, as we know it from the movie bladerunner, which was highprobably heavily inspired by Osaka’s city look.
Streetfood is amazing and cheap. Within the same street, you’ll get a big variety of food options. We love Ramen, Gyoza and kushikatsu. You can hardly find bad food in Japan (well we did in Arashiyama).
Weirdly it’s been the first time that I noticed the boom of Gashapon madness. “Gashapon" are vending machines with tiny toys that are wrapped in a plastic ball, and are being sold for 300-400 yen on every street corner. They toys are weird, cool, cute, and the whole thing can get very addictive. We spent quite some money on these toys as our daughter loved them as well. Everytime we had too many coins in our pockets from the train rides, we spent them at a gashapon store. I witness these toys before at the airport, or bigger train stations, however now they’re literally at every street corner.
Another mandatory visit would be the Shinsekai area, with its eyecatcher the Tsūtenkaku tower. The neighborhood is super busy at night, and offers many charming restaurants. The whole lit up alley is super photogenic, maybe the most instagramable spot in Osaka. We also visited Tower Knives, which offers a big vareity of japanese knives, with a great service, and you can add any name-carving to your selection. After having bought 3 kitchen knives, this year I opted for the Higonokami, a traditional pocket knife, just a cool souvenir, to remember this fantastic trip. And while being amazed about the knife madness happening at the shop, and the great service, I bought another small kitchen knife for my home-bar, with the engraved name of Valentina, our daughter.
This year we discovered the unusual Yasaka Shrine in Namba, Osaka. When you think, you’ve seen it all (temples), there’s always another shrine or temple, that will impress you with its unusual look. Yasaka is one of time, as it is built in the shape of a huge green dragon head.
We spent another dinner-night with Yasuyo and Odie, in an underground Izakaya, to end this trip in a proper way. They introduced us to japanese dishes, that we wouldn’t have ordered by ourselves, and our daughter and us, we got spoiled with too many presents.
2 days in Seoul.
To reach Japan, we had a stop-over in Seoul, as the flights were supposed to be cheaper through South-Korea, compared to flying straight to Japan from Europe. It was a bonus for Vanessa, so she would get a +1 on her list of visited countries.
Seoul is different. It’s not Osaka, it’s not Japan. I was my second time in Seoul, and I liked it a little bit better now, than the first time. That’s mostly the case, when I turn back to a country, that didn’t impress me much, for the second time. While flying towards South-Korea, I watched a new korean movie called “The Brokers”. I love korean movies! And the scenic views, that were shown in the movie, made me quite curious about the rest of the country. It will still be hard for South-Korea to win my heart, as I will always compare it to Japan. However i’m pretty sure that we will do a roadtrip in the near future, to discover more of South-Korea. For a country that releases so many great movies, there has to be something special about it.
On this trip, which was very short, as our flight got delayed, we were super limited in time. We rushed to the Gyeongbokgung Palace, which was super busy, and 50% of the people were dressed up in Hanbok clothes, traditional korean clothes. After that we jumped to Bukchon Hanok Village which was super crowded, almost impossible to snap a descent photo.
Strolling through the streets, along many cute shops, we had a coffe, and visited the Gwangjang Food Market after sunset. They have so many food stands in the indoor food hall, however the food variety is rather limited compared to the numerous vendors. The food we had, was ok, nothing comparable to thai food. But we enjoyed the whole vibe. And it’s definitely a cool place to take some photos. We also noticed the stand, from the Netflix streetfood serie.
I was shooting an endless amount of photos on this trip. Check the photo gallery button below.
