JAPAN

TOKYO - HAKONE - KYOTO - OSAKA

TOKYO - DAY 1

Irasshaimase! Welcome to what was technically our first day in Tokyo! Although it mostly consisted of sitting on a plane for 12 hours, we already felt like we were in Japan. Flying on JAL truly makes a difference, immediately immersing you in Japanese culture. The food was amazing and the sake was plentiful.

By the time we landed, grabbed our bags, checked into our hotel, and rushed out to dinner, we had officially been awake for a full 24 hours. Not to pat ourselves on the back or anything, but we powered through dinner like champs, running on nothing but caffeine and excitement. And dinner was bomb. 

At Nakasei Uchimise, you walk through a tiny butchery in front to get to the restaurant in back. Here, they specialize in wagyu, all cuts, shapes, and sizes. After being seated and ordering drinks/appetizers, your waiter brings you up front to the butchery again, where you choose your cuts and how you want them prepared. Everything brought out to us was melt-in-your-mouth delicious.

TOKYO - DAY 2

Our first official day of exploring Tokyo! We chose to jump on the metro to head towards the Shibuya district, and what a great choice that turned out to be as we were right in time for the Tokyo pride parade! We proceeded to let ourselves get lost, exploring and taking in the magic of the city and of course, scrambling through the Shibuya crossing. We managed to see the Meiji Shrine, which engulfs you in a forest in the middle of the city. We then walked down Takeshita st ( yes, you read that right). It's the main Harajuku st, filled with colors, sweets, and everything Harajuku. Lunch was at Ichiran, a ramen restaurant chain where you order from a vending machine out front, and then are seated in a private booth. If you want ramen, that's the place to go.

A quick nap and several espressos later, we headed out for dinner at a sushi place called Irifune. Here, they specialize in tuna that "melts in the ass in your mouth", according to a poorly google-translated Trip Advisor review. Although the tuna stayed away from our asses, the sushi here was the shit- no pun intended. We were the only ones in the restaurant, so we had the chef's full attention. We ordered the tuna omakase, and proceeded to be handed piece after piece of amazing tuna from all different parts of the fish, prepared in all different ways. The dinner was 30 minute long sprint to the finish line. We were exhausted.

TOKYO - DAY 3

Another amazing day in the books! Today we headed out to explore the Tsukiji fish market- basically the world seafood trade epicenter of a sushi lover's dream. They have absolutely everything you can want and more, from the biggest tuna to the tiniest shrimp. Surrounding Tsukiji are countless tiny sushi restaurants, some of which people wait over 3 hours just to get in. We ate at a fantastic little place called Suzutoni with drool-worthy omakase.

The nearby Hamarikyu Gardens were next on our list! It's an absolutely gorgeous spot to walk around, plus getting a hot cup of matcha & a seasonal sweet at Nakajima Tea House on the lake in the center of the garden is an absolute must! From here, we took a riverboat to Sensō-ji, another must-see while in Tokyo. It's Tokyo's oldest and most iconic temple with an equally old marketplace out front.

If you feel like being one with the locals (or at least trying to), then Shimbashi is your place. Head that way at around 7pm, when all of Tokyo's business men get off work and are looking to blow off steam with some izakaya and lots of beer. Pick a place, any place, because chances are it's going to be amazing. We wandered into Yakiton Makochan, which specializes in Izakaya'd pig parts (organs). The old Japanese man smoking a cigarette and drinking shochu kindly ordered for us. He spoke no English so we had no idea what we were getting, but we didn't care. Out came skewers of pork belly, intestines, cartilage, uterus, heart, and liver. It was amazing.

We ended our night with the set menu at Tapas Molecular Bar- a fifteen course dinner, where each dish seems more like a science experiment than food. Chef Kento uses his creativity along with molecular gastronomy to create courses such as a fake egg, spherified mango, frozen tofu snow, and a C02 infused waffle, to help it become extra crispy. Our last surprise of the night was a liquid nitrogen meringue, which you quickly pop in your mouth and chew while exhaling smoke through your nose like a dragon. Such a fun experience, but us dummies forget our camera - must have been all the beers in Shimbashi!

HAKONE

One quick train ride later and we are in Hakone! What a beautiful spot! Before checking into our ryokan, Gora Kadan, we've gotta do what we do best- eat. There's a super tasty local soba spot right down the street from the station, so we stuffed our faces with buckwheat noodles. Hunter got his soba hot & with duck since it was a chilly he's normal, while I got mine cold and slimy cause I'm weird af. Both were delicious. We then wandered further down the street to the Open-Air museum, which is basically a beautiful park with large pieces of artwork scattered around. Yes it was pretty, and yes they have some great artwork, but the highlight was definitely the foot-soaking hot spring. Man do I love hot springs.

After checking into our ryokan and being escorted to our rooms, we were greeted with a customary cup of green tea and a sweet treat. We're still unsure what exactly that treat was, but it was sticky and stretchy and I loved it. At Gora Kadan, they specialize in relaxation. We had our own hot tub in our room that was always full and always hot. Dinner was served in our room as well- several courses of traditional Japanese food brought to our living room table where we dressed in yukatas and sat on the floor. After dinner, we were brought to a private outdoor hot spring to soak and digest, and from there, brought back to our rooms for Shiatsu massages in bed. We slept like rocks. 

The first thing we did in the morning was get back in the hot tub, naturally. We only got out for the incredible traditional kaiseki in-room breakfast, and then got right back in the tub. Once we felt like our bodies might actually be starting to cook, we got out, hit their gym, and then rushed out to catch our train to Kyoto- which we missed.Thankfully, the next train was only half an hour later, and the nice staff let us board with the wrong ticket. Phew!

KYOTO - DAY 1

The train took us about 3 hours to get to Kyoto, so by the time we arrived and checked into our hotel, it was just about dinner time. We decided to go to Pontocho Ally, a small pedestrian street lined with restaurants. We couldn't decide on just one place to eat, because each looked better than the last! We had to have two dinners. Dinner #1 was at Chao Chao Sanjo Kiyamachi, which served Japan's champion gyoza according to their sign. I definitely agree, it was hard not to over-order. From there, we went to Chifaja Shijo-Kawaramachi for a variety of meats that you grill at your table, which was also great. In an effort to digest our two dinners, we walked around Gion- one of the oldest parts of Kyoto.

KYOTO - DAY 2

To kick-start our day, we headed straight for Nishiki Market- a long pedestrian shopping street filled with food vendors of all types. It's an amazing place where it's hard to pass by a stall without seeing something that you need to try. Good thing we skipped breakfast, because we needed all the stomach space we could get! Matcha tea mochi, fried squids, baby octopus with a quail egg stuffed in it's head, kobe skewers, custard-filled buns, and "healthy" ice cream made from soy milk and black bean powder were among the many, many bites that we couldn't resist. Somehow, after ALL of that, we managed to slurp down some burnt miso ramen with a perfectly runny egg. I thought I'd never eat again. Which I most definitely did, but we'll get to that later. 

From there, we thought we'd do some sight-seeing. The Fushimi-Inari Shrine was on our list for its rows of beautiful vermilion Torii gates. What we didn't know was that if you continue to follow these mesmerizing pillars, it turns into a 3 hour hike... needless to say our legs are a bit sore (maybe we shouldve held of on leg day that morning!). We kept thinking, surely this has to be the last set of stairs! Nope. It keeps going, and going, and going. It's beautiful, and I definitely recommend going all the way up if you're looking for a bit of a workout! 

I'm so thankful for that hike, because dinner was more food than I thought I could handle. We went to Gion Suetomo- a traditional Japanese kaiseki restaurant where you give them your budget ahead of time, and they create your dinner around that. They serve you a sweet welcome drink at the front, where you then take off your shoes and sit at an 8 person bar where you can watch the chefs at work. They hand you course after course, focusing on seasonal ingredients. We even had our own translator behind the counter to tell us what the heck we were eating. Everything was so delicious! One of the most interesting dishes was thinly sliced wagyu, which you wrap around some lightly cooked Japanese pepper greens. What they didn't tell us what this plant makes your mouth almost numb and tingly, and causes you to excessively salivate, plus everything tastes floral! It was so bizarre! Similar to chewing on Szechwan peppercorns, if you've ever been lucky (or unlucky) enough to try that.

KYOTO - DAY 3

Our last morning in Kyoto before heading to Osaka, so we had to make sure to go see Kinkaku-ji (Golden temple). It's gorgeous and definitely a must-see when visiting Kyoto. I highly recommend going early in the morning when there aren't as many people, or during sunset when the reflections on the water are supposed to be amazing. We went right in the middle of the day, so it was a clusterfuck of tourists. We wandered down the street to find something for lunch, and found a great little soba spot. I don't know the name of it since all the signs were in Japanese, but that's one of the most fun parts of Kyoto- getting lost and stumbling across little magical places. Before catching the train to Osaka, we made a pit-stop at the sake museum which we didn't get much out of, other than tasting some mediocre sakes. The museum was small and crowded, so we had to skip over most of it, but we did find there were several other breweries nearby for tasting.

OSAKA - DAY 1

While we were in Tokyo, we were told by two Americans who frequently travel to Japan for business NOT to go to Osaka. They told us it was dirty and a waste of time. I am SO glad we didn't listen to them (and that our hotel wouldn't let us cancel our reservation) because they were so wrong! My first impression of Osaka was a giant, business-like city FILLED with amazing food. I know all of Japan has great food, and that all we've been doing this trip is eat, but seriously! If you come to Osaka, come hungry. After checking in, we decided to have some sake at the hotel bar. From there, we headed out to Dontonbori- basically a foodie's dream street. We could have stayed in Osaka for a month, eating at different little places and grabbing street food all along Dontonbori! It's such a lively street, filled with people, lights, and so much amazing food. The first thing we saw was a takoyaki stand, so we had to buy some. Takoyaki are little balls of octopus coated in batter and cooked in special little spherical pans. The next place that caught my eye was a conveyor belt sushi place that already had a line forming outside. We had to go, because in my opinion, anywhere that serves conveyor belt sushi outside of Japan is probably somewhere you don't want to eat. I mean, how long has that sushi been sitting there? But here, not only was the quality great, but the sushi plates don't make it around the conveyor belt more than once. It's a shame we filled up so quickly, because there were never-ending rows of other eateries that looked equally amazing.

OSAKA - DAY 2

Okay, I know I THOUGHT the conveyor belt sushi from the night before was good, but I had no idea what I was talking about. We found a place for lunch with unbelievably amazing quality fish and perfectly prepared rice. However, it took us hours to find this place! The first location that our map took us to no longer existed, because they had moved. The second location took us to the food court (or "gourmet museum", as they called it) of a shopping center, which we wandered around for practically an hour with no luck. Not many people spoke English, and those who actually tried to help us kept sending us to a small to-go sushi restaurant. Finally, after trying to explain that we were looking for the conveyor belt sushi, someone circled a location on a map for us, in another underground shopping center. We headed that way, and finally found it! It was like a treasure hunt, where the treasure was sushi and it was so, so worth it. Turns out our map was taking us to their sister restaurant, which does not have the conveyor belt. If you find yourself in Osaka, definitely find this place. It is so worth it. Next to the soy sauce and ponzu in front of you, there are also small bowls of matcha powder, mugs, and a hot water tap. They really do it right here. On our way out of the mall, we stopped to grab a small cheesecake from Pablo's. Apparently cheesecake is a thing here. It was super good and almost runny in the middle, which was interesting. We wanted to try the cheesecake from a neighboring stand which was supposed to be famous for being so fluffy, but we ran out of cash. On the way back to the hotel, we stumbled upon some sort of food truck festival! It seemed very exciting, and the food looked delicious, but we were way too full to taste anything. 

After a little coffee to perk us up, and lots of walking to digest our massive lunch, we headed to dinner. The restaurant was called Yakiniku M, where we ordered their tasting platter of different cuts of fine Japanese beef, from leanest to fattiest. It was super tasty, and zapped the energy right out of us. Time to get some sleep before heading to Seoul in the morning!