What can I say, I like to choose niche places to travel. Rapidly becoming one of the most popular holiday destinations, I escaped the Sydney humidity and exchanged it for a couple of weeks of icy winter in Japan. Having only visited briefly once before, this was my first proper time immersing myself in as much ramen, tempura, train transit, blind boxes and gacha as possible (I don’t drink matcha). After travelling around to six different cities on the most punctual train system in the world, I’m here to share some of my favourite moments and photos with you.

Tokyo

Having spent a considerable amount of time on JapanTok prior to my trip and with a to-do list 10 deep, I can safely say that this city can be overwhelming and overstimulating if you try to go too hard too quickly. My main objectives for Tokyo were to find a Monchhichi figurine (sold out in Australia and my latest obsession). Luckily, I solved this problem on the first day when I visited Harajuku. After hitting Takeshita Dori and only finding Hello Kitty and Sanrio memorabilia, I made my way to Omotesando and found my mecca – Kiddyland. Four floors of different beloved characters later, and my Monchhichi was secured.

I was staying in Shinjuku and so spent a lot of time around this area, which is most known for its night life and Golden-Gai bar area. During the day, the area takes a little time to warm up and recover from the wild night before, and so I took a wander over to the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden and spotted my first cherry blossoms! Unseasonably early, it was such a treat to come across the beautiful sakura. While most of my time was spent shopping on basically every street I walked down, we managed to head to Asakusa for a shopping break to see the Senso-Ji temple, on a beautiful blue sky day. Notable meals we had in Tokyo included ramen from my beloved Ichiran restaurant icon (don’t worry they are literally everywhere so you can always have it), sashimi at the Tsukiji Outer Market (there are so many vendors to choose from, its heaven for a raw fish fan!) and a standing sushi bar with the most charismatic chefs, Uogashi Nihon-ichi Dogenzaka in Shibuya.

Hakuba 

I love to ski and snowboard so it wasn’t physically possible for me to go to Japan and not hit the slopes. I only stayed for a short three days, in the snow town of Happo One in Hakuba, but it was a magical few days. Snowfall had been record breaking this season, and it was incredible to walk around the streets with walls of snow taller than most trucks lining the roads and footpaths. While little footage of the actual snow sports was captured (too busy making use of the queue-less chairlifts at Hakuba47) most of our free time was spent walking to and from Lawson, the local konbini / convenience store to our hotel. Safe to say we had most breakfasts and dinners there. A must try would 100% be the egg sandwiches and the fried chicken – combined. Just trust me!

Nagano & the Snow Monkeys

A magical day was spent exploring Nagano and Yamanochi, on a day trip that took us to the Zenkōji temple and Snow Monkey sanctuary. A vibrant town, we explored the area around the temple; visiting the local shops and exploring the temple, as well as doing a saké tasting at a local brewery. Lunch was in Yamanochi, at the base of the Snow Monkey reserve in a restaurant called Hotarutei, and we were served a beautiful spread of Shabu Shabu (hot pot), sushi and tempura. A hearty meal before a 2.5km walk to view the local snow monkey troupe enjoying a soak in an onsen. The monkeys are said to have begun emulating this behaviour by watching the humans enjoy the hot bath, so the local community had to build the monkeys their own onsen just so they would stop coming to their one. Completely free, the monkey troupe has over 200 in its community and come and go from the onsen at their own volition. An extremely cute sight to see.

Kyoto

A 3.5 hour shinkansen (bullet train) later, we travelled from Nagano to Kyoto to experience some of the history of Japanese society. Despite the rain and a large number of tourists at each of the popular temples and shrines, I enjoyed the energy in Kyoto. A little less frantic than Tokyo, you could spend days wandering the streets and find a new thing every day. Opting to go to popular spots such as Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka streets that lead to Kiyomizu-dera temple at 8am proved a good idea for clear photos of the attractions. While there are a tonne of different temples and shrines to visit, a favourite of mine was the Higashi Hongan-ji shin buddhist temple; I loved the scale of it. Food was really good wherever we went in Kyoto, but my two favourite meals would have to be the Yakisoba I had at Gion Tanto, and the Yakiniku at Kyoto BBQ House Ando. Oh, and the food vendors at Nishiki Markets are a must try!

Hiroshima

I took a special day trip while staying in Osaka, visiting Hiroshima to explore the tragic history of what I found to be a very charming and beautiful city. Exploring the peace park, the A-Bomb Dome and the Memorial museum was haunting, and puts the current global situation at a very harsh perspective. The fallout of nuclear war was presented in a well thought out museum that showcased, in great detail and with pictures, the struggles that the Hiroshima people faced after being attacked with the world’s first nuclear bomb. However despite this history, the city itself felt light, fresh and peaceful, and I really enjoyed walking around its streets and visiting its (rebuilt) castle. We stopped by a very cute restaurant called Momijitei that was anime themed and had the best staff – I loved the experience of tasting a Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki.

Osaka

Our last city before heading home was Osaka. Super vibrant and busy compared to Kyoto, we stayed right near Dotonbori and Shinsaibashi, which are the main shopping and tourist streets in Osaka. Plenty to shop (more than I had accounted for in my luggage) and explore, I would definitely recommend you come with a very empty suitcase to Osaka. At night we explored the Shinsekai area which was a carnival-like restaurant and games area with the most OTT signage I’ve ever seen – if a restaurant sold octopus, you would definitely know about it. At this point in the trip health was waning and energy was reducing, but one massive hot pot from Shabu-shabu Tonton cured me of the common cold, I swear. We also explored a few more beloved Japanese restaurants while shopping till we dropped in Osaka, most notably Mos Burger (the Japanese McDonalds) and Sushiro (a very fun sushi train experience).

I left this trip with sore feet and a strong desire to eat Wagyu beef for every meal. I would call that a success.