Day 93 -105 Japan Part II (Kyoto, Osaka, Miyajima, Hiroshima & Fukuoka)
- cameronwllloyd
- Jul 5
- 14 min read
Kyoto
Day 1
After accidentally having our first bullet train experience the day before, we jumped on again, but this time, to head to Kyoto. We grabbed a chicken karaage bento box and watched the last samurai on the train… spot the tourists!
We got in nice and early, just in time for Kirstin to receive and sign the paperwork for her new job, all before lunch. In true Lloyd style, we had to get a bottle of wine (to save the box) and Cam surprised Kirstin by taking her to a wine shop. We couldn't choose what we wanted, so naturally, we got two bottles! One, a bottle of sparkling pink sake, and the other, a bottle of plum wine (if you know, you know).
After our purchases, we visited the Nijo castle which was incredibly beautiful and wandered round the gardens which were very well kept. Naturally we also collected our stamps to add to the collection. Kirstin also bought a lovely ring, however, unfortunately she forgot to take into account the fact that her hands had swollen due to the heat and walking around… As she would find out later in the day, the ring was actually slightly too big for non-swollen hands.
We then headed to Nikishi Market to meet our friends Jodie and Ian for a proper catch up. We wandered around the market trying all the amazing street food, including some Wagu skewers, gyozas, burgers, mochi and tempura. Oh, and obviously some beer and lemon sours! We then decided to do a little bar crawl, visiting two bars that Stacey recommended. The first was Good Morning Records where we had some lovely cocktails. The second was this little bar, owned by the sweetest old man. He didn't speak any English so we used our translate app to get to know him. We had beer, sake and whisky and some little snacks. He then even got out his guitar to play us a song - he was genuinely incredible! He said that he was in his 80’s but you would not have known by how well he played the guitar, clearly a sushi rich diet staves off arthritis!
After quite a few drinks, we were hungry. We managed to find a very cute Yakiniku spot where we grilled our own Wagyu and had yet more plum wine. We went out for some more drinks with Jodie and Ian's friends, before calling it a night.
Day 2
Day 2 was going to be jam packed with not one, but two activities planned for the day. First up was a tea ceremony and calligraphy workshop. We started off the morning poorly by getting an uber to the wrong place, but made it to the tea ceremony place eventually! We were then dressed up in our Japanese finery, right down to the hair pins! We then were taught all about the traditional tea ceremonies and sipped away at our matcha. We were then taken upstairs for our calligraphy workshop, where we learned how to paint Japanese Kanji. Kirstin wrote the word 'love' and Cam wrote the word "cherry blossom". Although neither of us are very artistic, we were pretty chuffed with how they turned out!
After the activities, we went for food as we were starving (and hungover!). We got a super yummy wagu burger and then started to walk around some of the amazing shrines in Kyoto. Unfortunately it was pouring down and our hungover selves found it difficult to push on. We decided our time was better spent napping before our evening activity - sake tasting. Kirstin was still a little worse for wear, but Cam was raring to go. We learnt a lot about the history and process of making the sake, and about all the different types. We then tasted about 12 sakes in total! Some were very yummy, others... not so much. We got ramen for dinner and then got an early night.
Day 3
The next day, we started the morning with a knife making class! There were lots of classes on offer, but they seemed mainly just to sharpen and engrave them. We wanted something different so we chose the class where we actually forged the knives ourselves, and let me tell you, it was much harder than we imagined! Cam was really great at hitting the metal hard, but was a bit all over the place with his accuracy. Kirstin, on the other hand, could barely make a dent in her metal. We hammered, shaped and polished our knives, and although they are very.... rustic looking.... We are super happy with them!
We visited a nearby shrine and garden, and enjoyed the lovely morning sun before moving on.
Cams knife was made for his godmother after a great amount of effort was expended trying to carve the ham at christmas time… Whilst the knife looked nice, we were not wholly convinced that it would be up to the task, so we ventured into town to a recommended knife shop to supplement the ceremonial knives with practical ones!
Following our knife shopping we were greeted with a beautifully sunny day, so we decided to walk around and see some more of Kyoto's beautiful temples and shrines. We even went to the shrine where they have the super heavy spear that everyone tries to lift. Cam gave it a shot but it was pretty difficult and unfortunately he couldn't get it, although was left with some pretty gnarly marks on his shoulder from the effort. We walked home and then cracked into the rose sake, which was actually very tasty, more akin to a sparkling wine made of grapes than what we were expecting from a sparkling sake. After some dinner and a quick laundry cycle (turned into 3-4 hours in the end because the clothes wouldn't dry), it was bed time.
Day 4
On our fourth day in Kyoto, we went on a large group trip which took us to Nara and Arashiyama. Nara has a large park with a lot of deers that you can feed. Some can get a little aggressive and some did actually try to bite Cam and chase him, which led to the below funny video. The shrine was very beautiful, sadly our time here was limited.
Our next stop on the tour was the bamboo forest in a small mountain town. We were here for about 2 hours so we had plenty of time to take it all in. We first joined the tour to see the kimono forest in the town which essentially was old kimono silk displayed to look pretty. It was a little gimmicky for us so we bailed and got some wagyu ramen which was super tasty.
We then aimed for the bamboo forest which was a short walk away. It was super pretty and quite ethereal. We wandered through for a while and just enjoyed the ambience. We then strolled down to the river, it was so peaceful to just donder and chat.
The final stop in this town was to the famous togetsukyō bridge which is super picturesque. Apparently if a couple walks the entire length holding hands they will have a long and healthy life together… or so says the tour guide, we haven't seen anything to corroborate this! Either way, Cam insisted on a kiss every 20 steps or so just to ensure the good luck was achieved! We grabbed a matcha ice cream latte and then headed back to the bus for the final stop of the tour.
After a couple of hours on the bus we arrived at the Fushimi Inari Shrine area where we promptly ditched our tour guide as the group was taking too long. We went straight to the shrine which is known for the back to back tori gates which grants good luck when you wander through. It was really beautiful so we spent about 30 mins walking through as many of the gates as we could, however, we didn't even manage to get to half of them. We grabbed a strawberry tanghulu and daifuku which Kirstin was delighted about and then went back to the bus.
Back in Kyoto we wandered out to a small izakaya for a meal. It was really fun being in about it whilst the salarymen got on the sauce and the food was a bunch of smaller tapas style dishes.. It was all delicious!
Day 5
On day 5, we decided to get up at a reasonable time and head to the samurai and ninja museum before heading to Osaka. Kirstin made the unusual error of booking it for the Tokyo location and not the Kyoto one… Luckily they were very understanding and made the simple switch. Whilst it was quite cool and interesting, it was definitely marketed towards kids…
Now, onto Osaka...
Osaka
Day 1
We jumped on another train. On the way kirstin did her best Mario impression… When in Japan!
The train we had chosen was a specially decorated train, where each compartment had its own theme. We ended up on the cherry blossom themed carriage which was very cute, although the views weren't particularly scenic, it was a nice change.
We then wandered over to where our airbnb was. It was traditional ryokan style, which meant bamboo mats and futon beds. We set up the beds (doubling up the futons to make them more suitable to our delicate western sensibilities) and then headed out for our food tour that evening. This food tour was definitely one of the best we have been on. We started at a fried chicken spot where we got served loads of different kinds of fried chicken - our favourite being the one topped with Japanese tartar sauce, so delicious. We also got to try Takoyaki (which are the squid balls). They weren't as bad as Kirstin thought they would be, but they were also not as crispy as we thought they would be, so we weren't blown away! We had a lot of sours on the tour too, our favourite being a very random but tasty, banana sour!
After copious amounts of sours, we accidentally wandered into a pachinko parlour which is like a casino, with loads of slot machines. We tried to play for a while, but naturally had no idea what we were doing and Kirstin's machine shouted at her in Japanese, whilst Cam's machine had a godzilla that just growled! Safe to say, we did not develop a pachinko habit and left completely over-stimulated!
Day 2
After the hassle of lugging our heavy bags across Japanese cities, which are not exactly known for being uncongested, we decided to post our bags from Osaka to Fukuoka. It was a good 15 mins walk so Kirstin picked up her fav breakfast of 7/11 butter and syrup pancakes as fuel. Bags ready to be shipped, we wandered to another shrine. Unfortunately, there was an issue with the trains so we couldn't get out to it. However, fortune was on our side still as we ended up wandering into a lovely little omurice spot where we made pals with the owner. We even ended up on the instagram of the restaurant and had a lovely time.
We clearly hadn't had enough excitement for the day so we went to the fish market to try and get our hands on some Fugu, or pufferfish, which if prepared improperly can be fatal. It was fairly tasty but the texture was a bit rubbery. Nevertheless, we finished it off and proceeded to spend the next hour nervously waiting for the symptoms of poisoning to kick in.
To distract ourselves from the potential poisoning we found our way to Osaka castle which was very pretty and was filled with old antiques which were really cool, although none of the scrolls they had were as nice as the ones we had picked up in Tokyo! By the time we made it down to the floor of the castle enough time had passed to assume that the fugu was well prepared and we would be okay. To celebrate we decided to go to Dotunburi to get some more food! We strolled down the river and eventually found an okonomiyaki spot which was highly recommended. It was super tasty, but did not compare to the ones we had the first week we were in Japan. We shared a small portion and wandered for some more snacks and settled on some Kushikatsu or fried foods on skewers. We finished it all off with a melon pan filled with Sakura ice cream which was probably the best dessert of the trip, it was insanely good!
Miyajima
Today's travel was made much easier without having to lug the cases around with us. We travelled through Hiroshima to get to the island of Miyajima, which is a small picturesque island. We arrived before check in so dropped off our small back packs and went to see some of the sites. We walked to get to cable car which takes you to the highest peak on the island. It was a bit of a fiasco as on the way up we kept running into small worms which were hanging down from trees which was a bit gross. Once we arrived at the ropeway we realised there was an hour long queue so we just headed back down. We visited the massive Tori gate and shrine. Cam then decided to play dead on a small bench, Kirstin in an attempt to rouse him threatened to pour water on his head. This got the attention of some German tourists who thought it was the funniest thing they had ever seen and insisted on taking photos!
We walked further into the town and found yet another antique shop. We spent far too long in the shop but eventually only made one, very reasonable, purchase in the form of a 100 year old kimono sash! Goods in hand we got back to the hotel to enjoy the setting sun and have some complimentary beers… truly a hard life.
After getting a wee buzz on we headed into town again which was so much quieter with all the day tourists gone. It was amazing and it almost felt like we had the island to ourselves. We grabbed some dinner at a local spot which was very tasty and then headed back to the room to chill out.
Hiroshima
Another day, another tour. This one was in Hiroshima and centred around the dropping of the A-Bomb. Whilst very interesting, the tour was a lot more sombre than the others we had taken part in on our trip so far. It started at Hiroshima Castle and went round a few of the sites as our tour guide told us of the events of the day. He was very informative and it was interesting getting the events and emotions from a local Japanese person. It's amazing how little anger they have towards the event and how they have used it as a chance to promote peace.
After the tour we went to get some lunch and have an hiroshima style okonomiyaki, which was delicious and then wandered to some shops. We found another antique shop which was filled with interesting things. Amongst it all, we decided to make the sensible choice and keep our purchase small. We settled on a page from a book that is over 100 years old.
After some food we went into the peace museum which was very harrowing. It was made worse by the fact the other tourists had a weird fascination with taking photos of all of the horrific images that were in the museum and holding up the crowd in the stuffy and claustrophobic rooms. It was very bizarre.
For a much needed change of pace we went to the crane building, where people can make paper cranes and add them to a collection piled up in a glass section of the tower as a symbol of peace. We had a shot of making our own paper cranes which was really difficult. Naturally, Kirstin was great and hers looked amazing.
Our ticket included entry to the rooftop bar in the evening, so we had some time to kill so we went on the search for more eki stamps for our collection. En route we picked up some pastries and then hung out at a local park. We then wandered back to the rooftop bar and enjoyed the amazing view and drink. Then it was back to Miyajima, unfortunately by the time that we arrived back on the island, all of the restaurants were shut so we had to settle for a Lawson pick n mix dinner, which was actually really tasty!
Fukuoka
Day 1
After almost a month in Japan, we were up and off to our final stop, Fukuoka. The train ride was lovely as we ventured towards an area of Japan that is less well travelled. When we arrived at the central station, our first priority was to get a case so that we could mail all of our various trinkets and antiques that we had picked up on our travels…
Once we had found the cheapest case we could, we picked up our larger cases from the delivery depot and made our way to our hotel. The hotel was nicer than any we had stayed at in Japan so far. Given that the area is less populated the room was able to be much bigger so we had tonnes of space. The hotel also has a complimentary snack and drinks room downstairs which included oven pizzas, loads of alcoholic drinks and sweeties… Naturally we would spend the next few days taking advantage of the free stuff!
We raided the fridge, had a few drinks and chilled out in the hotel before getting some much needed rest.
Day 2
The weather forecast for the day was miserable today, so we opted to get some adminy things done. First stop was to get the new case filled with all of the fun stuff that we had picked up mailed to Australia. We thought this would be a relatively painless process, unfortunately we were wrong as we needed to catalogue every single item using a unique code in a provided tablet and weigh them. It ended up taking about an hour and half. Once we had successfully mailed that across we decided to visit the original shop of a large and popular ramen chain, Ichiran Ramen. The ramen was super tasty and exactly what we needed on the cold and soggy day. After we had eaten we wandered for a bit but ultimately decided to go back to the hotel and chill out as the weather was really rubbish. We ordered the most Japanese meal we could imagine… a KFC. Then it was bed time.
Day 3
Thankfully the weather took a better turn today so we decided to do a day trip out to Itoshima. The train ride was lovely and we quickly ended up in the smaller town which was a nice change of pace. We had a great lunch at a small local cafe. We seemed to be the only tourists in the entire town which was cool.
We grabbed a taxi to the beach which was really pretty and saw an amazing white tori gate that was in the ocean. It was beautiful. Then we did what we do best, hung out, relaxed and enjoyed each other's company. We also picked up an icecream and a matcha before settling on the corner of the beach to watch the surfers. It was really lovely.
After a relaxing afternoon we opted for sushi for dinner. We arrived at the a conveyor belt sushi spot with great reviews and began to order… You received points for each of the dishes you ordered so combined with the best sushi we had on the entire trip, this gamified experience meant we ate far far too much. Luckily the sushi wasn't too expensive, so we left very happy!
Day 4
On our final full day in Fukuoka and Japan, we decided to wander around the town and see if we could find any last antiques for great prices. We travelled across a good few areas to try and find some hidden gems. There was loads of things that were really interesting but we would not be able to fit them in our case so the only thing we found was a watch Kirstin spotted for herself. It's a really cute black and gold number which only cost £30. When we looked online it was selling for about £1,000 (if its real ofcourse!). We decided that our last meal of japan would be tonkotsu, so we grabbed an uber into town and had an amazing tonkotsu with rice. Then it was back to the hotel to pack our bags for the next leg of the trip, Vietnam!
Japan was nothing short of amazing. We had so much fun everywhere we went and the people were so incredibly friendly and welcoming. The worries we had about offending people were really overblown as the Japanese people we met were not as stringent in following rules as social media would have you believe. We suspect that this is a rumour spread by people that don't like to be called out for their genuine bad behaviour. Given that we love orderlyness, good manners and happy people however, we just had the best time. That combined with the amazing food, rich and deep history and amazing scenery and architecture led to the best place that either of us had visited. We left japan feeling so lucky not only because we had the chance to explore such an amazing country, but because we got to do it together. Japan you were a 10/10.
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