10 Days in Japan

             

Japan

   Japan has been always in my bucket list and I have never thought I will able to visit it at this stage of my life where I just finish my college couple years ago, started a new job and moved back to Bali, this trip has been surreal for me.

Some of you might not know that being able to travel as an Indonesian is a privilege. With average Indonesian earned only USD 150 per month, travel abroad  almost impossible and I am forever grateful and blessed to have job that allow me to explore the other side of the world.

In this trip I decided 10 days is a good number trying to explore Japan even though  at the end of the trip I think it was an ambitious mission, I booked my flight from Garuda Indonesia Travel Fair and scored return  tickets only for USD 370!!! I booked the flight alongside my other 6 other friends, the best crew I have ever had! You know who you all are!!

As the crew come together it wasn't anything easy try to manage 7 people travel itinerary and for some reason we manage to book our accommodation and everything else in time before we fly out. We decided to start in Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo and Nagano and flew back to Bali from Osaka. The most exciting part of this trip is because of Nagano is where I saw and touch my first snow like ever!

This trip happened back in January 2017 and it has been overdue for me to put it up on the blog but, like the old saying said better late than never. I have so many great images from this trip, too many and it took me a while to sort the images while I'm at my full time job and that is one of the reason I am missing out from posting images on Instagram.

So this is the story of my Japan trip, I hope everyone enjoying this post as much as I do and today is exact 1 year of my Japan trip and I miss my Japan crew dearly!! 

Osaka

We took the train from Osaka airport straight to Kyoto with a shinkansen and this is become one of the important thing when you go to Japan and going to explore few cities is you definitely need to buy a JR Pass. Japan Rail Passes can be used on JR trains across Japan, including shinkansen (bullet trains). The passes can also be used on certain JR buses and ferries and this is only applicable for tourist visa it cost you a fortune but trust me you better buy this because buying single ticket will cost you even more.

Crab restaurant the best one in Osaka, must try!!

Freezing out captured by talented Carol Kuntjoro.

We started at Osaka heading to Kyoto- Tokyo - Hakuba and we fly back to Bali from Osaka where we spent our last day exploring the local food!!

Takoyaki at Osaka Castle is the best!! Thank you for Carol that suggest this!

Thanks to Martika who brought along her talented boyfriend photographer Evans!

Kyoto

And one of the most visited place in Kyoto is of course Fushimi Inari, I personally when I travel I hate sight seeing but since I travel with a group I ended up visited this and despite hundreds of people are everywhere it wasn't so bad at all because at least they have a street market on the exit where all the good street foods are. Vega equals food.

Beer Bar Jive - 203 Pontochodori 4-Jo Agaru Nichome Shimokorikicho, Nakagyo-ku | 2F Takayoshi

We were so bad at researching the city, like what to do, what to see, where to go and so on and we ended up strolling around Kyoto 5-10 hours a day but one thing that we never forgot to research, where to eat and drink. We always on track.

It's said, I will travel more and I will start a new job with more creativity involved. And I actually did.

One of my favourite about Kyoto is definitely Gion, it is their old town since it is originally developed in the Middle Ages, in front of Yasaka Shrine (Gion Shrine). The district was built to accommodate the needs of travellers and visitors to the shrine. It eventually evolved to become one of the most exclusive and well-known geisha districts in all of Japan

Yasaka Shrine during sunset time

As a coffee lover, I guess Japan coffee is sort of week but this one is the cure of my caffeine addiction

Burning skies, always an eye gazing.

Tokyo

I know Tokyo is famous for their busy scene, high tall buildings but my highlights is definitely visited Mount Fuji. This lookout is not a touristy area, I rarely see any tourist!! With staircases that quite a workout in -5 degrees celsius this view, worth every steps.

Look how majestic Mount Fuji is.

Spent the day at the Onsen overlooking the all mighty Mount Fuji.

The other must see from Tokyo is the Tsukiji Fish Market and if you think we woke up at 3 am to watch the famous Tuna auctions you are wrong! We visited Tsukiji because all the fresh sushi and sashimi in the market.

Cherry Blossoms that almost blooming.

Hakuba,Nagano

Hakuba has left me with many stories, we almost missed the direct train, Carol tried to stop the Shinkansen to depart at the platform and left the bag in the bus, lost in the middle of forest tried to find our AirbnB and one of the best memories that I have ever had in my life is in Hakuba.

Carl excitement played at the snow trust me, my reaction is far away from this.

As I would predict, I love the snow! Thank you Carol for this shot  :)

The craziest thing I have ever done is tried to learn how to snowboarding in a day!! But Happo One is famous for ski and snowboarding as they said the POW is amazing and amazingly so many people from around the world seasonally come and make this majesetic mountain scenery their playground.

Carl chilling at the kitchen, one of the easiest kid to travel with!! Auntie misses you!

We booked our accommodation mostly through Airbnb and found this wooden house called Hakuba Share when we thought we booked the whole place and eventually Luwung did not press the "Entire Place" button however we ended up met few fun people in the house, played card and of course drinking sake and whiskey all night long. 

Japan crew posed in front of Osaka Castle.

So today marked 1 year of this trip and I could not been happier this post is finally finished and live today. Overall  my experience with Japan is amazing, not only because of the people, the culture, the view, the food but also because all of the people above that make this trip is a trip of a life time.

My suggestion when you visit Japan is do not try to be ambitious and try do to so many cities in 10 days like I did, probably do 10 days just Tokyo and Kyoto because Japan has so many things to offer.

Tokyo itself is huge, I mean massive! They have so many hidden bars, cafes, sight seeing, museum and zillion things to explore by spending quality days in one city you will be able to explore it like a local.

If you ever make Japan is one of your dream destination, trust me it is worth to go. Do more research before you go, the distance in Japan is actually a quite an issue since most of the sight seeing places is far away from the city, always try to learn people's culture before your arrival so you know what to do and what's not and last always respect the land you visited, the people and the culture.

I hope everyone enjoy the post and hopefully it is helpful for some of you that want to visit this beautiful country.

Thank you for reading and much love from monsoonal Bali.

Love

Vega