Japan

 This year to celebrate Avery's graduation, we visited Japan.  Japan has been on Avery's bucket list for awhile and while it may not have been in my top ten places I wanted to visit, I'm glad we went.  Japan is completely different from anywhere else we've been and it took us out of our comfort zone.  Since there was a language barrier, it took a little longer to make daily plans.  There were quite a few things in English but we had to use google translate often.  The grocery stores were the most exhausting and after a long day of walking, we didn't always have the most patience to figure out what we needed.  The country is very orderly and clean and didn't feel crowded despite the sheer number of people.  

One example of translation mishap was with laundry.  We used google lens to translate and it said detergent above the box where the laundry pod is.  I put the pod in and started the laundry.  When I opened the door for the second load I was surprised to see the pod still there.  Well, it appears that that is not actually the pod detergent door, just a pull to open the actual drawer!

The first place we stayed was in Asakusa which is in the Taito ward of Tokyo.  It is considered one of the oldest districts and is near the Sumida river.  We enjoyed the quieter location outside of Tokyo and got to see old Japan.  The river walk was nice in the mornings or evenings.  It was hot and humid while we were there so we tried to pick the best times to explore.  The house we stayed in was a very traditional house.  The floors had tatami mats and the walls were shoji and fusuma which are lightweight wooden framed doors with paper.  As you can see in the next two pictures, tall Davis boys don't fit in traditional Japanese houses.

Avery enjoying cartoons after a long flight day.  The 16 hour time change wasn't hard going to Japan but has been tiring now that we are home.

It was fun to sit on the floor for a little while.  I imagine if we sat here every day we would be flexible enough to sit criss-cross much longer.  It was hard to get up after sitting there for too long.

 This was the river-walk on the Sumida river by our Airbnb.  

Wandering around Asakusa

This is Sensoi ji Temple, a Buddhist temple in Asakusa.  This temple was completed in 645.  

We stumbled upon this park on our walk.  The pond was full of koi and turtles.

Waiting for the train.  Japan has a great subway/train system.  We picked up suica cards and loaded them to ride any of the lines, which made travel much easier.  Google maps did a great job letting us know the train line to take and then the exit when you get off.  It is very easy to get lost in the train stations so I was happy Google maps did a great job.  You did have to carefully read the signs and it took all 4 of us to match the names of the exits but we never got lost.  

Here comes the train for the JR line.

Despite there being so many people, Japan has the train system down.  Everyone was very orderly and quiet.  There was never anyone talking on the trains, everyone got on, rode and quickly moved to their next destinations.  You always had to make sure you knew where you were going before you got off because you can't stop anywhere, or the crowd will take you along with it.

7-11 and Family Marts are on every corner of Japan and they have snacks and pick up meals down.  We went in so many for lunch and snacks.

Here is our haul the first night.  The one interesting thing about Japan is there are no public garbages anywhere and you can't walk and eat or drink.  If you want to eat what you purchased right away, you have to stand in front of the place of purchase and then hand the garbage back to the person that sold you the food.  The 7-11 sometimes had tables and trash cans inside, but now always.

The egg salad sandwiches were my go to.  They were pretty good but the bread was like wonder bread.  I'm spoiled on Vashon with homemade sour dough every week from Daniel.

Don Quijote or Donki is also very popular here.  It is a giant discount chain with so many floors.  You can find almost anything here.  It was hard to spend too much time in one because there were so many people, colors and noises.  It was definitely too much for my brain!

We took the train into Tokyo and enjoyed an amazing dinner at Okonomiyaki.  Okonomiyaki translates as "grilled as you like it." They started out as grilled, savory pancakes. It's a place that grills your food in front of you, similar to a hibachi restaurant.  This was a fantastic meal.

We found an escape room.  There were puzzles all over the wall that you had to solve and those puzzles gave you clues for when you were in the room you needed to escape.  We solved all the clues and escaped the final room.

Night walk outside of Tokyo.

This was a really long day of walking 15 miles and we were really tired by this point.  There aren't really any places to sit unless you are at a restaurant so we were excited there were steps to sit on in this park.  We enjoyed the quiet night and nice fountains.  

We went to a robot cafe called Dawn Avatar robot cafe.  The cafe was interesting because it was created to allow people that are home-bound with various disabilities to be able to interact with people and work.  The people operate the robots from home and talk to us. 

Our robot was controlled remotely by Rion.  She lives in Toyama and is a 4th year university student.  

We went to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant.  The kids loved this place and tried to see how many plates they could eat.  The whole system is automated.  You can either pick from the conveyor belt as it goes by or order on the screen and it sends it to you.  Once you finish a plate, you put it in the dish compartment and it counts them.  We ended up with 38 small dishes which was $45 and one of our cheapest nights out.

Next stop Kyoto.  We took the bullet train or Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto.  The train goes 173 miles per hour and makes a 6 hour trip 2 hours and 15 minutes.  Of course when you purchase the tickets make sure you don't pick the time slot that stops at every station.  On the way there it took over 4 hours!  We learned our lesson on the way back to Tokyo.  

We picked up bento boxes in the station to eat on the train.

We stayed at 4 Sisters Residence in Kyoto.  It was a nice, spacious place with plenty of room.  Many accommodations across Japan are small so we were happy to find this place.  We each had our own room and it was air conditioned.  As with any place in Japan, you have to take your shoes off and wear slippers.  This place had you take your shoes off in the lobby and put your shoes in a locker before you could go to your apartment.  As you can see they don't have very big slippers.

There was a nice massage chair in the apartment that we all took advantage of after walking an average of 10 miles a day.

Nijo Castle grounds in Kyoto.  The castle was built in 1603 for the first shogun of the Edo period.  We didn't spend much time walking around as it was very hot and humid.

Nijo Castle

Nijo Castle gate.  Umbrellas were a must for both sun and rain in Japan.  We used ours every day.

Kyoto's Fushimi Inari Shrine is a Shinto shrine that is famous for it's 1,000 torii gates.  The gates follow a trail up to the sacred Mount Inari, the Shinto god of rice.  

Foxes are considered Inari's messengers so they are everywhere.

We decided to visit the gates at night to escape the heat and the crowds.  It was quiet at night.

Looking out to Kyoto.

There were wild boars running around at night.

To escape the heat, we decided to go to the ninja museum.  It was really interesting and a highlight for us all.  We learned that the samurai were only 5 foot 2 and wore elaborate but light weight armor.

Here is the hierarchy of the Japanese system.  The emperor was above the Shogun but only as a figurehead.  The Shogun had all the power.  The ninjas were much lower on the chain than we thought and were the farmers and fishermen during the day.

Cool artwork in one of the rooms.

A kabuki actor

We learned how to throw stars.  Scott was one of the top 3 throwers in our group.  

Hanging out at an arcade during the heat of the day.

This was a fun air hockey game that had the big puck and then lots of little pucks all at once.

Kyoto at night

Alia making a scrap book of our day 

We bought a cute bowl here

Nishiki market or "kitchen market" in Kyoto is a 5 block long shopping street with over 100 shops and restaurants on the narrow street.

So many narrow streets in Kyoto with shops and restaurants.  We loved taking the alleyways.

We bought a cute mug here.

So many pretty lanterns at night.

This is Arashiyama Monkey park in Kyoto.  We hiked part of a trail on Mount Arashiyama to see the Japanese macaques or snow monkeys.  There's about 120 monkeys running around the top of the trail.  

We bought apples and peanuts to feed the monkeys.  To do this safely, we are the ones in the cage.  You can only feed them in the cage, not when you are outside with them.

The hike up the mountain to the monkeys was pleasant.

We took a day trip to Nara to feed the deer running around the city.  For 200 yen ($1.37) you buy a special stack of cookies for the deer.  

The deer were crazy when they realized you had cookies so Scott held them on his head until we were ready to feed one.  We went farther into the park to feed the more docile deer.  They have been fed for generations and have learned to bow their head for a cookie.  

They realized she now had the cookies and they followed her around.

We traveled to Sakai for a bucket list item for Scott.  He has wanted to travel to Japan for at least 10 years to get good knives.  Japan is known for the highest quality knives in the world.  He bought 2 different knives, a nikiri and a petty.  The petty was bought at Mizuno Tanrenjo a 5th generation shop.  This shop was founded in 1872 and they have been supplying the Imperial family with knives ever since.

We got to tour the workshop.  This is where we bought the petty.

He also bought a knife from Baba Hamono.  This shop opened in 1916 and family still make the knives.  He bought the nikiri here.

Nikiri

Nikiri and petty

Osaka is a foodie capital so we headed here for a day to explore the markets.  There were so many fun signs and billboards.

Dontonbori is their food market street.

Instagram has a huge influence on this generation.  Alia planned her trip from reels she saw before the trip.  We had to make a stop at this shop for Japanese cheesecake.  It was a very fluffy, light version of our cheesecake.  I liked their desserts as they weren't too sweet.

Bento box

Lots of tasty cuts of meat at this grill.  The waiter had to keep coming over and turning our grill down because Scott kept putting the meat in the middle and causing the flames to shoot up.  

Ordering in Japan was interesting because almost every restaurant had a QR code you scanned and then ordered from your phone.  They brought your food out as you ordered.  It was helpful since there was a language barrier.

Their ice cream cones were rolled in crepes with various toppings.

These cheese coins were popular.

Strawberry chocolate mochi

The ramen was really good in Japan which makes sense since it originated there.  

This was a tasty sushi roll with ginger and plums.

Fluffy pancakes.  It didn't feel like breakfast because they were served with ice cream.

My favorite food was their version of shave ice, it was even better than Hawaii's.  I enjoyed a mango one and a strawberry one.  The fresh fruit was amazing.

Everything in Japan is wrapped in plastic including single bananas and the cheese I'm holding.  You could buy a package of cheese and each one was wrapped like a piece of candy.  They are not a cheese heavy country so it was really hard to even find cheese.  This Wisconsin girl was in cheese withdrawal by the end.

On our last day we traveled back to Tokyo and spent the night near the Shibuya crossing.  We went to a pig cafe during the day and snuggled mini pigs.

This is Shibuya crossing in Tokyo.  It's the world's busiest pedestrian crossing and it is a sight to see because thousands of people cross at once when the lights change.  

Tokyo at night was pretty.  The kids loved walking around taking everything in.  We walked a lot this trip.  By the end of the trip we had walked a total of 100 miles, averaging about 10 a day. This was another great Team Davis adventure but I am happy to be home on this quiet island.  However, cities were surprisingly quiet and didn't feel as busy as they were but there's only so much city I can take. The language barrier this time was much harder and I felt like I was in a never ending escape room.  Avery on the other hands says he's moving to Japan.