Japan May 2023 – Kyoto, Arashiyama

We spent a day in Yokohama which turned out to be a lot more eventful than expected. We took an express train to Yokohama station and would return on the Shinkansen from Shin-Yokohama station. We explored the market in the station while trying to find our way out, happened upon Nissan headquarters, explored Chinatown, got caught up in a couple large festivals along the waterfront and went shopping at the Red Brick Warehouse. Yokohama was a lot more fun than I expected with the addition of some festivals going on the day we went. Our first goal was Chinatown, we…

When we took the Shinkansen to Kyoto it was overcast and I could not see Mt. Fuji despite looking quite a lot. This was a bit of a disappointment but the train from Osaka to Tokyo gave us a glorious view. We decided to explore Shibuya more which did not disappoint, I would definitely go back here to walk around more. There are so many nice shops and restaurants especially in Jingumae. Later we headed to our afternoon booking at teamLabs Tokyo. It was fully booked as it had been before and we entered with a large group. I’ll warn…

We took an express train from Kyoto to Osaka and stayed at a hotel very close to Dotonbori. We stayed in Osaka two nights, walked around downtown quite a lot, took the train out to the Osaka aquarium and the Osaka Castle. We spotted the whale meat vending machines, the numerous luxury cars showrooms along the Main Street, got some Kobe beef and saw a lot of street vendors. Dotonbori was an interesting retro area but I felt like you can get a similar sort of experience in Shinjuku City or Akihabara area of Tokyo. I’m glad I went but…