I decided to take Jenny up on her suggestion and back-blog our trip to Japan (back in October of 2010- can't believe it's been almost 2 years already!).
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| 14 hour flight later, we arrive! |
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We started our trip in Tokyo, staying with Thom for 4 days- Boeing set him up in a gorgeous 2-bedroom apartment in the Akasaka neighborhood.
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| View from Thom's apartment |
We arrived pretty late the first day so we just met up with Thom for a quick dinner and then crashed. The next day, Joey and I did some sightseeing around the city.
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| One of Joey's fans. |
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Once Thom got out of work, we met up for a pretty epic night- starting with a baseball game at the Tokyo Dome and ending with late night/early morning karaoke.
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| Moment of truth- spent most of the game chatting :) |
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| Beer delivered by tiny ladies with kegs strapped to their backs- impressive! |
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| Joey makes another friend- they bonded over baseball (while Thom and I were not paying attention to the game...) |
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| No caption needed... |
We spent the next 2 days touring the city- Thom was an excellent host, taking us to wonderful dinners (including treating us to drinks at the Hyatt- Lost in Translation moment) and helped navigate all of the different neighborhoods.
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| Grounds at Ido Castle |
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| Wedding processional at Meiji Jingu Shrine |
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| Excellent people watching at the park |
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| Golden Gai with Thom and his English teacher, Reimi |
Our visit with Thom was an absolute blast and bonding time, but we were also excited to see other parts of Japan (and perhaps get to bed before 4am!). We made our way to Hakone, a small town in the mountains known for their hot springs. Joey had reserved all of our accommodations, which all but for Osaka would be in the "traditional style"- tatami-matted rooms, sleeping on futon mattresses and buckwheat pillows. Our ryokan (traditional inn) in Hakone was over 400 years old and featured our very own private hot spring bathtub on our deck overlooking the river.
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| Ryokan in Hakone |
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| Ryokan in Hakone- at night, the table is pushed to one side and they set up the futon mattresses |
The ryokan served a communal dinner, where everyone (including us) wore kimono robes. We were the only westerners in the room- I don't think that we quite blended in, but definitely enjoyed the food and authentic experience.
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| Joey got a bit overheated in our hot-spring bathtub (he'll probably kill me for including this picture, but I love it) |
We visited Hakone by way of train, bus, ropeway, boat, and mountain tram- all in the same day!
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| Hakone Boat |
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| Hakone Open Air Museum- one of my favorite museums in the world! |
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| Hakone Ropeway- had to get my bear pic in somewhere! :) |
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| Hard boiled eggs cooked in the hot springs of Owakudani (sulfur turns
the shells black). As I remember it, Joey's expression is less about joy
and more about his fingers being burned by the egg. |
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| View of Mount Fuji from Hakone Shrine |
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| J&J self-portrait at Hakone Shrine |
From Hakone, we took a high speed train to Kyoto, which was my favorite city as far as sightseeing- there are beautiful shrines and gardens at every turn.
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| Joey wasn't the only one with a fan base in Japan. |
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| Monkey Mountain! |
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| Joey enjoying some of the local beverage offerings. |
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| Little bit of shopping in Kyoto. |
We finished our trip in Osaka. We felt like it was the Time Square/Vegas of Japan- a bit more bright and hectic than we were prepared for knowing that we were about to go back to the craziness of New York. Nonetheless, we had a fun evening of trying out several different restaurants (like a progressive dinner)- they are known for their food afterall.
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| Osaka | | |
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| Downtown Osaka |
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| I think they may serve crab... |
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| Many, many arcades in Osaka. Not sure why I had such a tragic look on my face- perhaps I was sad the trip was coming to an end? |
Doing this post brought back a lot of great memories from our trip- I feel like I've only documented 2% of what we experienced and my pictures absolutely do not do this country justice. It was easily top 5 best trips of my life- I cannot speak highly enough of the sights, food and people!
Ok, now I need to tackle Iceland...
3 comments:
How long were you there? This trip looks awesome...how was the food? The language barrier?
Glad you are reviving the blog Jocelyn!
Good questions Jenny! The food was fantastic- we truly did not have a bad meal the entire time we were there (10 days). Joey preferred some of the more "adventurous" fare, such as squid balls (shape, not anatomy) and chicken hearts, but there wasn't anything that I didn't at least try. We didn't have too many issues with the language barrier- we carried around a phrase book that helped a bit (they were so pleased when we said anything in Japanese). We did a lot of pointing and smiling- everyone was quite willing to help. We also were willing to just trust that whatever was given us to eat would be yummy- it worked out! Pre-planning also helped- Joey had printed instructions to/from train stations to hotels so we weren't at the mercy of deciphering street signs.
love the post!! it looks like you guys had such a great time!! thanks for sharing.
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