Coming off of an impromptu European trip in June, I thought I would be done with oversea travel for this year but then a business opportunity came up requiring me to travel back to Saigon, Vietnam. During this time, a group of my friends was planning a trip to Tokyo and Kyoto and was looking for more people to share the cost. I thought it was a great opportunity since I would just fly to Saigon after my week in Japan. Besides, I really enjoyed Jiro Dreams of Sushi documentary, a beautiful film and is streaming free on Netflix, and wanted to check out his restaurant. I jumped at the opportunity.

Since I was a last minute add-on member, I just followed along with everyone’s itinerary. The first day was tame. After landing in Tokyo airport, I met up with the rest of the group and we took the train to our rented apartment. After checking in and washing up, we ate dinner at a small restaurant nearby and called it a night. The next day was more packed because we visited Harajuku, a center of Japanese youth culture and fashion, Toykyo Bay and Shibuya, which wasn’t as energetic as I thought it would be. But then again, Times Square didn’t excite me neither so perhaps the issue wasn’t Shibuya. Of course we didn’t forget to drop by the Bronze Statue of Hachiko, Japan’s most loyal dog.

The highlight of the day was when I met up with an old friend, Daisuke Horikawa. He was a grip for many of my shoots before he headed back to Japan to continue pursuing his career. He is a hard worker and always reliable.

The 3rd day in Tokyo was fun. We visited the Imperial Palace, Suginami Animation Musium, and Temple Festival at Igemaoka. If history is your thing, Imperial Palace is the place to be. Nothing beats the feeling of walking around a palace once the main residence of the Emperor of Japan. What I enjoyed most that day was not at the Imperial Palace, but a place right across from it. There we found a park where they offered free bicycle rentals. All it took was our names and the address of where we stayed and we got our own bicycle to ride around the park. They even blocked off the streets so no car were allowed on our path. We all really enjoyed it.

Our 4th day was all about the Tsujiki Market and the hunt for Jiro’s restaurant in Ginza.

Once we got to Tsujiki Market, we literally went from one booth to the next for the food. There was one dish we didn’t know what it was called and was just made from eggs and soy sauce. It tasted soooo good we went right back in line waiting for the 2nd while we were eating. We wanted to continue exploring the fish market (made famous by the Jiro Dreams of Sushi documentary) but unfortunately it was closed due to a national holiday. Instead, we went to a sushi place nearby that comes highly recommended on TripAdvisor. We had to wait a bit but it was worth it.

Armed with a full stomach, I convinced the group to search for Jiro’s restaurant. They agreed though none had watched the film. The place was difficult to find and it didn’t help when none of us speaks Japanese. For some reasons, Google Translate didn’t work its magic like it did on my previous trip and although many passersby had been very helpful, they didn’t really point us to the right direction. Guess Jiro isn’t as well known as I thought. No matter. We…er, I persisted. We finally found the place which was hidden underneath a big shopping plaza. I was excited until we found out it was closed, also. Yep, national holiday! What made the matter worse was that a hurricane was passing by our town so we had to head back before the trains stopped operating. We bought ramen and headed home to cook dinner which turned out to be a fun experience.

The next day we packed our bags and headed to Kyoto. Once there, we started the whole process again: eat, visit place, eat, visit place… There are more than 1,600 temples in Kyoto so all we did was visiting temples. And eating. We went to Soren-in Temple, Chion Temple, and Kiyomizu Temple. We ate freshly made sushi, ramen, bao, and baked donuts. Of course we didn’t forget to visit the KitKat Chocolatory before we said Sayonara to Kyoto.

An interesting thing about Japan is that it has a remarkable number of vending machines, which can be located almost everywhere, from ancient temples to the summit of mountains to busy highways. What is even more interesting is that these vending machines offer a really wide selection of goods ranging from food to clothing.

Overall, I’m very glad I tagged along. I had fun and Japan is a place I definitely want to revisit. And next time, I will make sure it is not during a national holiday!

Have you been to Japan? What was your experience like?