Anyway, before I launch into the next installment of my trip report, I have to ask — is anyone else annoyed with Google for shutting down Reader?! I know it’s ridiculous but I read quite a few blogs and it’s so easy to keep up with all of them in one place. So far I’ve tried a few different potential replacements and haven’t found “the one” yet. LOL. Feedly has a sleek look but I’m not loving the magazine style layout. The Old Reader was my top choice because it’s pretty much a carbon copy of Google Reader but DAMN, it is SLOOOOOWWW. Bloglovin is my favorite so far but I wish blogs would get marked as read when I scroll through rather than me having to do that manually. UGH. Are there any other options out there that I should try?

Onwards with my Japan trip report! After leaving the Tokyo Disney Report, we headed into Tokyo Proper for the last 4 days of our trip…

Saturday, November 17
Sadly it was raining HARD on our first day in Tokyo. I was too busy trying to keep myself dry that I didn’t take nearly the amount of pics I normally would, hehe.

Our first stop was the neighborhood of Asakusa and the Sensoji Temple.

As you enter the temple, you first walk through the outer gate known as Kaminarimon (or Thunder Gate). Ugh, the rain.

From the outer gate, Nakamise shopping street leads you towards the main hall.

And that’s the main hall behind me.

From Asakusa, you can see the newly built Tokyo Skytree, which is the tallest building in Tokyo. With our limited time in the city, we didn’t have a chance to visit (I guess we’ll save it for next time ).

It was so incredible to be walking around in this vibrant city!

Our next stop was Kappabashi — also known as Kitchentown. You know you’ve reached it when you start seeing signs with the flying girl. It’s a long street filled with shops that sell all kinds of kitchen supplies from pots, pans, utensils, dishes, etc.

And also the ubiquitous plastic food you’ll find at most of Japan’s restaurants! I thought about picking up a plastic ramen bowl as a souvenir until I saw the prices. WOW! They are incredibly expensive.

The last neighborhood we hit on our first day was Akihabara, the district known for electronics and anime/manga. Oh man, Rob was in heaven here.

So many vending machines, so little time to try all the options. One thing I LOVED about the vending machines is that in addition to cold drinks, they dispense hot ones too! Like coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. Be careful, though, the cans are HOT!

The Akiba streetscape. We didn’t know where to go first!

We started at Yodobashi Camera to check out the sheer number of products available for purchase – from electronics to toys to beauty products, they had it ALL. Seriously.

Then we found a random arcade where Rob played Street Fighter. He was so happy!

We ended our night with dinner at Ippudo. A big bowl of ramen totally hit the spot on such a cold and rainy day. SOGOOD.

Sunday, November 18
Rob & I aren’t super active (LOL) but when I discovered that the city of Tokyo rents bikes FREE OF CHARGE every Sunday, I knew we had to check it out. They block off streets around the Imperial Palace to create a 3 kilometer cycling route. It’s all flat and surrounded by beautiful scenery so it was perfect for us.

So as we walked from the subway station to the bike area, we GOT STOPPED BY THE POLICE. I guess we look like troublemakers?! He asked us for our IDs but when he saw that we had US passports, he gave them a quick glance and let us go. Seriously bizarre.

Anyway, off to rent bikes!

This is the staging area where you fill out a quick form and pick out your bike. We picked out a tandem.

It was a gorgeous day!

Such lovely scenery all along the course.

Here we are on the bike. It wasn’t as hard riding tandem as I thought it would be. Rob sat in the front since I’m terrible at steering. But randomly he would stop pedaling and I had to do all the work. UGH. That was rough.

For lunch we headed to the neighborhood of Ginza where I was in search of tempura – specifically from Tempura Tsunahachi.

AMAZING! The tempura was so light (not oily at all) and perfectly fried. It wasn’t an inexpensive lunch but so worth it.

Ginza is an area known for its upscale shopping. On the weekends during specific times, the main street, Chuo Dori, is closed off to vehicular traffic.

The ability to walk in the street really made the chaos of the crowds much more bearable.

We window shopped at the large Mitsukoshi department store and I bought a few crafty items at the stationery store Itoya — but Rob was looking forward to Hakuhinkan Toy Park, a multi-level store absolutely crammed with all sorts of toys and games. He was dedicated to finding Transformers to take home as souvenirs.

Our last stop was Shibuya. While Ginza has all the upscale luxury shopping (think Chanel, Cartier, etc), Shibuya is more focused on youth fashion.

I was super excited to see the statue of Hachiko that’s located at one of the main subway exits and has become a popular meeting place. The story is that Hachiko waited for his master to come home from work every day at the station and he continued doing so long after his master had died. *sobbing*

We also got to experience the famous Shibuya Crossing, which is when HUGE crowds of people cross the street directly in front of the station. It’s pretty insane. We crossed multiple times to experience the rush of being swept in with the masses but I didn’t get very many good photos — I was too focused on trying not to walk into anyone! The best place to get a birds eye view of the crossing is from the Starbucks that you see to the left above. The only problem is that it’s SUPER crowded so we ended up standing. No one wants to give up their prime seat at the window!

For dinner we had beef bowls at the fast food chain Yoshinoya. They have locations in the US but we had to have it in Japan! The food was the same except that you get more sides and you’re served on an actual plates and dishes versus styrofoam containers. So good!

Dessert was back at our hotel where we finally tore into the boxes of macarons we picked up at Pierre Herme and Laduree — both famous French pastry shops. I’ve read reports online that Pierre Herme is supposed to have the better macaron but I actually preferred the ones from Laduree.

Next up: Final Tokyo recap!

For more pics from our first 2 days in Tokyo, check our Flickr here and here.

BUT the new Justin Timberlake album was released yesterday! WOOT. I downloaded it right away and currently have it on repeat. My favorite song at the moment is “Pusher Love Girl.” It’s AWESOME!

So in my last entry I revisited the time we spent at Tokyo Disneyland — and now we’re going to Tokyo DisneySea!

Thursday, 11/15 & Friday, 11/16
WOW is all I can say. DisneySea is the most picturesque theme park! It’s a real treat for the eyes at every turn and it quickly catapulted itself to my second favorite Disney park (after the original Disneyland of course).

The iconic Aquasphere is the centerpiece of the entrance plaza. It was so exciting to be here!

The park has a nautical theme and consists of seven different lands or “ports of call.” There is so much to explore at each of them — we spent 1.5 days at the park and didn’t get to see and experience everything (good excuse to go back ). I don’t know that my photos can truly show how amazing the park is but I’ll try! Let’s start with…

Mediterranean Harbor! This is the entrance land and resembles an Italian port city.

First view of Mount Prometheus (the park’s iconic volcano) as you enter.

We decided to head right to explore the park counterclockwise (and avoid the huge crowd headed in the other direction – I’ll explain later).

The view above is taken looking back at Mediterranean Harbor from across the water.

Walking to the right brought us to Mysterious Island, which is located within Mount Prometheus and features a Jules Verne theme.

GUH. The detail is seriously jaw-dropping.

One of the park’s e-ticket rides is Journey to the Center of the Earth. The beginning starts out as a tame journey (to the center of the earth, heh) and ends with a thrilling escape from the lava monster. The end is the best part! The other dark ride in this land, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, takes guests to the depths of the ocean. We didn’t care for this ride much — although I’m sure our opinion is biased because the narration is all in Japanese and we couldn’t understand any of it.

Mermaid Lagoon is home to the characters from The Little Mermaid. And Triton’s Kingdom is a huge castle that immerses you into another land “under the sea.”

Most of the rides are geared towards kids (we learned this the hard way after an uncomfortable ride on Flounder’s Flying Fish Coaster, lol)…

But we still had a great time exploring like the big kids that we are.

Another stunning visual treat is the Arabian Coast.

Aladdin is one of my very favorite Disney movies so I absolutely fell in love with this land.

Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage is a charming indoor boat ride that takes you on an adventure with Sindbad and his tiger Chandu who is the cutest ever!

At the back of the park is the Lost River Delta.

This is where Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull is located. I’m almost positive that the ride is an exact replica of the one at Disneyland in Anaheim except that Indy speaks Japanese! I know that makes sense (I don’t expect them to cater to westerners after all) but it threw me off during the ride.

Ride photos are the best. I mean, look at the expression on my face. LOLOL.

Raging Spirits is supposed to be a roller coaster (with a 360-degree loop!) but really, it was just a disappointment. It was WAY too short. There’s no discernible theme. Not worth the time in line (even with a Fast Pass).

C-3PO! Seriously, the greatness of this park lies in all the details.

Up next is Port Discovery, which struck me as DisneySea’s take on Tomorrowland.

StormRider is an enjoyable motion simulator ride (like Star Tours) that takes you into the center of a huge storm. There’s a great moment during the ride that really took me by surprise. So good!

Using a trackless system (like Pooh’s Hunny Hunt over at Tokyo Disneyland), Aquatopia is a fun little boat ride that moves and spins you through waterfalls and whirlpools in an obstacle course of sorts.

We could have walked but decided to take the Electric Railway, an elevated trolley, over to the last land — American Waterfront.

There are two themed areas in this land — the first is New York!

It has a great street scene…

Its own harbor…

And even a large scale recreation of an ocean steam liner, the SS Columbia. There’s a formal table service restaurant on the ship and the rest of it is open for guests to explore. Sadly we never found the time to do so.

Toyville Trolley Park is the latest addition to the land and opened in July 2012. This is where you’ll find the wildly popular Toy Story Mania. Locals make a beeline for this ride at park opening and the standby line reaches 2+ hours almost immediately. Since we have the exact same ride at Disney California Adventure, it wasn’t a priority for us to ride in Tokyo, which is why we chose to tour the park starting with Mysterious Island first. Walking through the park in a counterclockwise direction let us enjoy the rides & attractions unique to Japan with minimal crowds. I highly suggest this plan of attack!

We also have Tower of Terror in California (though not as gorgeous as this one) and while the ride itself is said to be identical, the Japanese version has an entirely different storyline. Instead of the Twilight Zone, the ride revolves around the hotel’s builder, Harrison Hightower, and an idol named Shiriki Utundu that he brought home with him from his travels. There is a ridiculously AWESOME effect during the pre-show that truly amazed me. I still can’t figure out how they did it.

I always get super anxious before this ride but once I’m on, it’s THE BEST EVER. The unexpected and sudden drops are SO FUN! We’re on the right in the middle having a blast!

The other themed area of the American Waterfront is Cape Cod.

So Cape Cod is home to Duffy the Disney Bear. He’s a character that the Disney marketing machine created years ago for Walt Disney World that never took off. It wasn’t until he was brought to the Tokyo parks and given a new backstory (Minnie made him for Mickey to take on a journey at sea) that he developed into a true phenomenon. The Japanese are CRAZY about him — there’s an entire store DEDICATED to him and literally everyone is carrying some sort of Duffy paraphernalia (plush, bags, popcorn buckets, etc). Despite his questionable beginnings, I’m a huge fan (or sucker, hehe). I think he’s adorable!

But the character I was SUPER excited to find in Cape Cod was…

Thumper! AHHHH! SQUEE. But OMG, the way they handle character greetings in Japan is insane. It’s a free for all. There is no line so you have to be super aggressive to get the character’s attention. It took so long for me to get this picture because I held back to let kids go first until finally Thumper grabbed for my hand. He must have noticed that I had been waiting forever. YAY!

The bridge separating Cape Cod from New York Harbor.

The American Waterfront is by far my favorite land at DisneySea. It’s stunning visually and incredibly detailed. The Oriental Land Company left no expense spared (for those that don’t know, the OLC owns the Tokyo parks and they license the themes & characters from the Walt Disney Company).

When darkness descends on the park, it takes on a different feel — and becomes even more beautiful.

The Venetian Gondolas in the Mediterranean Harbor.

Mount Prometheus again from different angles.

Toy Story Mania! So many lights!

The imposing Tower of Terror.

So in love with the American Waterfront.

And Mickey bids you a good night!

Tokyo DisneySea Rides/Attractions Count:
Journey to the Center of the Earth – 3
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea – 1
Flounder’s Flying Fish Coaster – 1
Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage – 1
Indiana Jones Adventure – 1
Raging Spirits – 1
StormRider – 1
Aquatopia – 1
Electric Railway – 2
Tower of Terror – 1

For more pics from our day at Tokyo DisneySea, check our Flickr here.

Let’s back track to our Japan trip (I still have at least 3-4 more entries after this one — so bear with me).

Wednesday, 11/14

First day in the Tokyo Disney parks! We decided on Disneyland for our first day so that we’d experience something familiar to start.

This is the Disney Resort Line (aka monorail) that takes guests to the parks.

And this is the Disney Resort Cruiser that acts as a shuttle from the various on-site official hotels to the Bayside resort line station (so that guests can then connect to the Resort Line to get to the parks). Our hotel was across the street from the station so we never used it but I just loved the cruiser — it’s SO CUTE.

When I was planning our trip, I read numerous reports online that the Japanese are serious about Disney and arrive early to get into the parks. If you arrive even an hour after park opening, fast passes will be gone and ride lines will be hours long. This was NO JOKE. We woke up early to take the Resort Line to Disneyland well before the 9am opening and as we rounded the corner to the park, there were already lines upon lines of people waiting to enter. Oddly enough, the ticket booths had no lines because everyone was prepared and already had their tickets ahead of time like we did.

This was the crowd in our immediate vicinity waiting in line to get in to the park (can you spot Rob?). It was INSANE. But everyone was super organized and polite. I don’t even want to imagine what it’s like during high season.

Entering the park! SQUEE.

Everything was at once familiar and overwhelming. In a general sense, I knew where the lands were located (the layout is similar to Disneyland in Anaheim) but just like when we visited the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, everything was so much bigger and nothing was quite “right.” It seriously took me the better part of our first day to get oriented with the park.

So the first thing I always get asked is if the rides and attractions at Tokyo Disneyland are the same as Disneyland. For the most part, the answer is yes. There’s always exceptions, though — and I’ll try to highlight a few along with some pics.

First up — instead of Main Street USA, they have the World Bazaar! And it’s covered due to the inclement weather in the winter months. Outside of the name and the roof, though, the storefronts are very similar to Disneyland.

This is the view of the World Bazaar as you head out of the park.

Inside the World Bazaar along with the festive Christmas tree.

Another difference is that the World Bazaar has side alleys like the one above. I LOVED THIS. At Disneyland, when you enter the park, you have to walk all the way down Main Street to the hub in front of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle before you can veer off to the various lands. But these side alleys are SHORTCUTS so you can head directly to Tomorrowland on the right or Adventureland on the left without walking the length of the World Bazaar. I’m sure these were designed and built to help the traffic flow, particularly during busy times.

At the end of the World Bazaar is the Partners Statue and the first glimpse of Cinderella’s Castle!

While beautiful, I have to admit that I prefer the landscaping & gardens around Cinderella’s Castle at the Magic Kingdom (and of course, Sleeping Beauty’s Castle at Disneyland is my all time favorite castle).

One of the two rides unique to the park is Monsters Inc Ride and Go Seek in Tomorrowland.

It’s so popular that THIS is the Fast Pass line! We had only been in the park about half an hour and the standby line was 140 minutes with fast passes already at 6:00pm. This is exactly why it’s important to arrive early!

It’s an interactive ride (think Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters) where you use flashlights (like the one Rob’s playing with above) to make the hidden monsters move, make noises, etc. So fun! Though it threw me for a loop to hear all the characters speaking Japanese, LOL.

The other exclusive ride is Pooh’s Hunny Hunt in Fantasyland.

We missed out on getting a fast pass for this ride so we ended up staying until park closing to get in line (and it was still a 30 minute wait!). SO WORTH IT. The honey pot ride vehicles spin and bounce in and out of various rooms. I don’t know how to describe the ride other than it’s AMAZING! I loved it. Plus, the ride is trackless so each time the experience is different.

There’s Westernland instead of Frontierland.

And New Orleans Square isn’t a separate land — instead, it’s part of Adventureland. Similarly, Haunted Mansion is located in Fantasyland (it’s in New Orleans Square at Disneyland and in Liberty Square at Magic Kingdom).

By far, the most popular snack at the resort is POPCORN. No, not your typical butter popcorn — FLAVORED popcorn!

There are carts all over the parks and we did our best to try them all! Spoiler – we did not succeed but we had fun trying. The first flavor we tried was curry, which I didn’t think I would like. The strong smell didn’t help. But surprisingly, it ended up being my favorite. YUM YUM.

Honey popcorn was a VERY close second. You might notice that each popcorn cart also sells souvenir popcorn buckets. Collecting these buckets is just as popular as the popcorn! EVERYONE (not even an exaggeration) has one — people even bring old buckets to refill with popcorn and carry around. I REALLY wanted one as my Disney souvenir but I never saw one that I loved. I don’t know what I would have done with it anyway, LOL.

The quintessential Disney souvenir is a set of Mickey ears.

The Mickey (or in this case, Minnie) ears tend to look more trendy than the American counterparts.

These Minnie ears made me scratch my head. Not sure I like the earrings.

And some of the ears doubled as a scarf with gloves! I ended up with a Minnie version of this.

I absolutely LOVE to see the Disney parks all lit up at night. It somehow feels even more magical.

The lights are more restrained as compared to the US parks (they’re trying to be conscious of their energy consumption since the earthquake in 2011) — but just as lovely!

Friday, 11/16

We spent our last night at the resort at Disneyland just soaking in the atmosphere.

So hard to say good-bye! We had such a great time!

Tokyo Disneyland Rides/Attractions Count:
Mark Twain Riverboat – 1
Captain EO – 1
Space Mountain – 1 (There was NO MUSIC! So weird).
Pirates of the Caribbean – 1
Monsters Inc Ride & Go Seek – 1
It’s a Small World – 1
Pooh’s Hunny Hunt – 1

Up next: Tokyo DisneySea! (LOVE this park!)

For more pics from our first day at Tokyo Disneyland, check our Flickr here.

But I’m taking a quick break to write up this next installment of my Japan trip report. Our time in Kyoto had ended and we were heading to the Tokyo Disney Resort! Woohoo!

Tuesday, 11/13

Before checking out of the Westin, we visited the outdoor terrace again to check out the view in daylight. So lovely!

We found ourselves back at the Kyoto station to catch the shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo.

It was so fun to watch the trains arrive and depart. While we waited, we picked up coffee from the vending machines on the platform — I loved being able to get hot drinks too!

The trip to Tokyo was about 2 hours and 40 minutes and we were treated to views of the countryside as we sped by. But there was one sight I really wanted to see…

Mount Fuji! I read that on a clear day, it was visible from the left side of the train, which is exactly where we were sitting. We had a perfect view when it became visible. So amazing!

Upon arrival at Tokyo station, we needed to transfer to the local JR Keiyo line to get to the Disneyland Resort in Maihama. Tokyo station is so ridiculously large that the signs not only indicate the direction you need to walk but also the distance. I have NEVER seen that before. The Keiyo line was about 450 meters away and it was so far that there were moving walkways along the way. !!! Crazy.

We have arrived!

While at the Tokyo Disney Resort, we stayed at the Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay, which is an official hotel of the resort. At the hotel, we bought 3-day park tickets, which was interesting because for multi-day tickets in Tokyo, you have to select which park you’re going to for the first 2 days. After that, then you can park hop.

We took the Disney Resort Line (basically the monorail) to Ikspiari…

It’s Tokyo Disney Resort’s version of Downtown Disney crossed with a traditional shopping mall.

After 4 days of Japanese food, we were ready for something different so we decided on burgers at Kua ‘Aina for dinner. YUM YUM!

And dessert was a matcha green tea cone with azuki beans and mochi. *drool*

We spent the rest of the night taking advantage of the coin laundry machines (so convenient) and killing time at the arcade…

Before calling it a night. Tomorrow we were off to the parks!

Up next: First day at Tokyo Disneyland.

For more pics, check our Flickr here.

I know the Super Bowl is coming up but this is my favorite “bowl” — the Puppy Bowl. SO CUTE!

So back to my Japan trip report — and our last day in Kyoto.

Monday, 11/12

Japan has a FABULOUS luggage delivery service called takkyubin where you can send your luggage ahead to your next destination. Since we’d be taking the shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo the following day, we took advantage of the service so we wouldn’t have to deal with wrangling our luggage at the train station. All we did was bring our luggage down to the bell desk at our hotel where they took care of filling out the shipping forms for us. SUPER convenient and very reasonably priced too – maybe about $40 for 2 pieces of luggage (one large, the other carry-on sized).

After taking care of that, we started our day with Starbucks (I tried the nutty praline latte, which was a delicious seasonal drink) and a couple of waffles from Manneken inside the Kyoto station.

SO YUMMY!

We took the JR local train two stops south to the Fushimi Inari Shrine.

The Inari station is so quaint looking!

Located directly across the street from the station, the shrine is dedicated to the Inari, the Shinto god of rice. It consists of a series of torii gates which are purchased/donated by individuals or companies. They range in price depending on the height, width and depth.

The torii gates slowly lead up an incline to the top of the hill. This is the start of the walking trail.

Starting the walk!

Right or left?

Along the path, we saw stands that sold ema, which are wooden plaques where you can write prayers or wishes.

We didn’t go very far (we probably walked for 45 minutes or so?) — we stopped at a natural rest stop where there were seats and a view of a small lake.

Heading back down the hill.

That’s us!

Lunch time brought us back to our home base, the Kyoto station. We went to ramen alley again and chose Hakata Ikkousha where we enjoyed a fantastic bowl of roast pork ramen. *drool*

Back on the train, our next stop for the day was the Arashiyama district. This ended up being my most favorite neighborhood in Kyoto. It was so beautiful.

We visited the Tenryuji Temple and its absolutely gorgeous garden.

Love the fall colors.

The back exit of the garden leads directly to the bamboo groves.

There’s a walking path through the bamboo groves and we even saw this couple being transported on a pedicab.

After all the walking, we were ready for a snack. It was pretty warm out so we finally decided to try some soft serve, which we’d been seeing everywhere we went. We think the flavors were sesame, chocolate, green tea and vanilla. It was amazing just like everything else we had eaten so far.

I just loved walking down the tree-lined streets and browsing the shops.

At the end of the main drag is the Togetsukyo Bridge (Moon Crossing Bridge), which runs across the river (named Hozu River to the west and Katsura River to the east of the bridge).

Across the river is Mount Arashiyama and a monkey park that sits on the mountain.

After dinner at Yodobashi Camera (we were mistaken for locals again!), we spent our last night in Kyoto having drinks at the hotel bar (ok drinks for Rob and sodas for me, haha) and enjoying the great view of the night lights from the outdoor terrace.

Up next: Heading to the Tokyo Disneyland Resort! SQUEE.

For more pics, check our Flickr here.

And today is my blog’s 11th birthday! CRAZY, right? I had no idea when I started this blog out of boredom back in 2002, I’d still be here calling this tiny part of the interwebz my home. WOW.

Anyway, here’s another installment of my Japan trip report — this time a day trip to Nara!

Sunday, 11/11

We woke up to rain. BOO! Not unexpected (we packed umbrellas) but annoying anyway.

Because of the rain, the Kyoto station was PACKED with everyone trying to stay dry.

Coffee came from Cafe du Monde again — still disappointed there are no beignets. I guess this means a trip to New Orleans is in order.

We used our JR passes again and took the subway to Nara, which is about 45 minutes away. Nara was the first permanent capital of Japan and is known for Nara Park and its many significant temples.

Upon arrival in Nara, we found that the rain hadn’t let up. And it was so overcast. GRRR.

To get to Nara Park, it’s about a 20 minute walk down Sanjo-dori, which is a major street that’s partly closed off to traffic and has a variety of shops and restaurants.

Along the way we encountered an Amusement Cue that naturally distracted Rob. We checked it out and found claw games, pachinko slots, and other random arcade games. We didn’t stop to play, though.

The rain was progressively getting worse so we ducked into a covered shopping alley to get away from the rain, find a clean bathroom, and have a warm meal.

We ended up at McDonald’s. LOL. We usually like to try menu items that we can’t get stateside but we couldn’t find the English menu so we both ended up with our usuals (filet o’fish for me).

After lunch we found that the rain hadn’t stopped but we sucked it up and continued on to Nara Park. As soon as we got to the boundary of the park we started to see the deer (just like in Miyajima!).

Throughout the park there are various stands that sell deer cookies to tourists. Rob wanted to get some to feed the deer.

The deer go CRAZY when they see people with the cookies. They started harassing Rob and one of them even bit his shirt! BWAH.

They are EVERYWHERE!

Within Nara Park is the Todaiji Temple, which is where we were headed to see the Big Buddha.

The Nandaimon Gate signals the approach to the temple.

We saw these signs warning tourists to beware of the deer. I guess they can knock people down! WOW.

We finally reached Todaiji Temple’s main hall…

with the Big Buddha inside!

Along with a couple of smaller buddhas on either side.

This was a pillar with a hole at the bottom that people were trying to squeeze through. There was no signage around so I had no idea why they were doing that or what it meant. I later learned that if you manage to get through the hole, then you are granted a place in heaven. We saw a hilarious group of guys trying to pull each other through. LOL.

After just a few hours in Nara, we decided to head back to Kyoto. Unfortunately, the rain really put a damper on the day. It was pouring hard enough that it was difficult to look around and truly enjoy the park. All we wanted to do was find cover — we were getting soaked!

We picked up a couple of chocolate croissants from Choco Cro (a chain bakery with pretty damn amazing croissants) and headed back to the station to hop on the train.

For dinner, we were back at the Kyoto station. When I was planning the trip, I found some great restaurant reviews on Paul’s Travel Pics (this whole blog is a great travel resource). One place we definitely wanted to try was Katsukura, which specializes in tonkatsu.

Katsukura has a few locations in Kyoto but conveniently there is a restaurant on the 11th floor of the Kyoto station. The line looked looooong at first but it was super organized. They take your order ahead of time and then seat you in order of the line.

It was probably one of the BEST dinners of the trip. Rob & I both had a filet cutlet and then a different side (I had a crab cream croquette and Rob had a potato). The meal also included a cabbage salad with the YUMMIEST yuzu dressing (citrus), miso soup, barley rice and green tea.

We waddled over to Yodobashi Camera to browse (Rob wanted to check out the toys, hehe). It’s basically a HUGE department store — like a Target AND Best Buy combined and on steroids. There’s multiple floors and a staggering amount of choices by product (there was a whole aisle dedicated to men’s shavers, for example). I think it took us 2 nights to walk through the entire store, LOL.

Back at the hotel, we had a couple of drinks at the Moonlight Bar (ok, Rob did — I had a Shirley Temple, heh) before we called it a night. Had to rest up for our last full day in Kyoto.

Up next: More Kyoto.

For more pics, check our Flickr here.

Anyway, Happy New Year everyone! Outside of being sick for the past week, Rob, Diesel and I had a fantastic holiday — we spent lots of time with wonderful friends & family, ate lots of nommy food, and were spoiled with presents. Thought I’d share a couple of pics from our holiday —

At my happy place Disneyland with my new favorite character Duffy.

And a family pic before we headed to my cousin’s house on Christmas Eve.

I knew it would take me AGES to write up all the Japan entries I want to share. I’m so slow! Here’s another installment — this time our day trip to Miyajima Island and Hiroshima.

Saturday, 11/10

This was going to be a loooong day. We were heading about 225+ miles west. BUT we were traveling on the shinkansen (otherwise known as the bullet train). I was ridiculously excited!

Here’s a shinkansen approaching Kyoto station. So sleek!

Here’s a glimpse of the interior of the train. I absolutely LOVED it. It was so easy. No need to deal with security. Trains leave and depart on schedule. And there was so much space and legroom around the seats! It was so great.

We got a view of the countryside on the way. The train was going so fast — this was the least blurry picture I managed to take.

After about an hour and 45 minutes on the shinkansen, we got off at the Hiroshima station and transferred to a JR local train that was PACKED (we were crammed in the train like sardines — so no picture of that). It seemed like all the locals were heading to Miyajima too! From the Miyajima station, we had to take one more mode of transportation to get to the island…

The ferry! There’s a few different companies that operate ferries to the island but since we had the JR Rail Pass, we took the JR ferry since it was free of charge to passholders. So convenient.

Our first glimpse of the famous torii gate in the water.

Wild deer are EVERYWHERE on the island. They’re used to people and some of them even approach and follow you around!

Like this one. HAHA.

We decided to follow the main drag towards the Itsukushima Shrine. We weren’t planning to go inside but wanted to get a closer look at the torii gate.

The path is lined with lots of shops and food stands.

Approaching the torii gate. It was low tide so people were able to walk right up to it. I wanted to go down and join all of them but it was SUPER muddy. So Rob & I decided to stay on higher ground to protect our shoes. LOL.

Looking away from the torii gate and towards the shrine itself.

The entrance to the shrine.

And finally a picture of us!

From the shrine, we walked down the shopping street and decided to snack from the various food stands rather than having a sit-down lunch. We picked up oysters (an island specialty) and meat on a stick (I think this was pork belly). Sooooo GOOD.

There were other things to do on the island such as taking the ropeway up Mount Misen to see the monkeys or visiting the aquarium but since we also wanted to visit Hiroshima before heading back to Kyoto, we decided to save the other sights for our next visit to Japan (whenever that may be).

It would have been free for us to take the local JR train back to Hiroshima but I LOVE water transportation so we took a ferry! It was also faster since the ferry takes you directly to the Peace Memorial Park whereas with the train, you’d still have to take a tram from the station to the sights. Anyway, the ferry! Isn’t it cute?!

And inside the ferry. It’s not really a formal narrated tour but the guide pointed out random things along the way. He actually thought we were Japanese so he didn’t bother translating for us at first. When he realized I was just nodding without understanding, he quickly did his best to translate to English for us. He was the sweetest!

The 45 minute ferry ride took us directly to the Peace Memorial Park and from the debarkation point, you immediately get a glimpse of the A-Bomb Dome. But first, we decided to visit the museum so headed over the pedestrian bridge in that direction.

The first monument that you see is the Children’s Peace Monument, which is dedicated to the children who died as a result of the bombing. The statue depicts a victim, Sadako Sasaki, who believed that if she folded 1,000 paper cranes, she would be cured. Her story is told in the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. Surrounding the monument are paper cranes folded by school children and displayed in the glass cases.

As we continued on to the museum, we approached the Peace Flame and the Cenotaph.

The Cenotaph (the rounded arch) holds all the names of the victims and is built to perfectly align with both the Peace Flame and the A-Bomb Dome. Being in Hiroshima was an incredibly haunting and sobering experience.

From here we spent some time in the Peace Memorial Museum (the entrance seen behind Rob above). I didn’t take many pictures in here — it almost felt wrong to do so since there were many artifacts (such as victims’ possessions) and simulated displays showing the city before and after the bomb.

After some time, we walked back over the bridge to get a closer look at the A-Bomb Dome, which is the preserved ruins of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall.

We took the tram back to Hiroshima station where we found a bunch of food and snack stands outside.

We picked up some mochi and donuts. YUM!

We should have booked return tickets to Kyoto immediately upon arrival earlier in the day – because we didn’t, we had to wait about 3.5+ hours to get seats on the train. D’oh! So beware, shinkansen tickets definitely get sold out so book as early as you can.

While waiting, we decided to grab dinner at the train station on the floor with all the okonomiyaki restaurants. Okonomiyaki is a Hiroshima specialty and is a savory pancake with a variety of ingredients — ours had egg, cabbage, pork, udon noodles and sauce. It was super filling and oh so good. Again, I just love the convenience of the train stations in Japan. They have everything you need! Clothing stores, restaurants, souvenir stands, drugstores — you name it.

This is an example of the signage found at most major train stations. Loved that it was so easy to read — perfect for us tourists.

Because of the sheer number of people riding the trains (and really in Japan in general), they had guide lines on the ground to show you how to properly line up for boarding. Here’s Rob demonstrating how to do so. LOL.

Another few hours on the train and a taxi ride back to the hotel, we crashed. It was another successful day touring a beautiful country!

Up next: Day Trip to Nara.

For more pics, check our Flickr here.

Rob & I have been back home since the day before Thanksgiving but it’s been a whirlwind of get-togethers with family and friends, getting sick, and going back to work (UGH). So much anticipation and now Japan seems like it was a lifetime away.

But I finally started to download and go through all the pictures we took and I’m excited to share them with you all! It’ll probably take me a few months to finish all my planned blog entries though. LOL.

We had an AMAZING time. I absolutely adored Japan and its people and miss it so, so much. This was our itinerary —

11/7 Departure flight
11/8 Arrival in Kyoto
11/9 Kyoto Day 1
11/10 Day trip to Miyajima Island & Hiroshima
11/11 Day trip to Nara
11/12 Kyoto Day 2
11/13 Travel to Tokyo Disney Resort
11/14-11/16 Tokyo Disneyland & DisneySea
11/17-11/20 Tokyo proper
11/21 Back home

Two weeks barely allowed us to scratch the surface. AND we had a packed schedule each day! There’s just so much to see, eat and experience. I’m already counting down the days until we can visit again.

Wednesday, 11/7 – Thursday, 11/8

We flew economy on United (I have a love/hate relationship with United but it was the cheapest fare we could find). Luckily we selected seats very close to the back of the plane and ended up with an empty window seat in our row.

So of course we took full advantage and spread all our stuff around. It was SO nice to have the opportunity to stretch our legs while sleeping! (Spoiler: we didn’t have the same luck on the way home).

Our flight was early in the morning and after 12+ hours in the air, we landed at Kansai Airport at about 4:30pm… the following day. We weren’t done traveling yet, though. We still had to take a train to Kyoto — and to do that we needed to redeem our JR Rail Pass exchange orders for the actual passes. The JR rail pass was SO great and easy to use — it’s meant for overseas tourists to travel on major forms of transportation provided by the JR Group, including most of the bullet trains. Thankfully the person helping us understood enough English to get us our passes AND make us reservations for the next train to Kyoto. PHEW!

As a quick aside, I have to admit that for the first few days, the language barrier really got to us. Major signage (like at tourist attractions or at the train/subway stations) is usually posted in English so we were always able to figure out directions and where to go. What was difficult for me, and frankly overwhelming, was the feeling of not being able to communicate verbally with anyone else (we only knew a handful of basic words and phrases thanks to the 3 Pimsleur Japanese lessons we managed to listen to). I realized I had to let it go and see the cobbled communication using minimal words and lots of gesturing as part of the “fun” of traveling.

Here’s Rob at the Kansai Airport train station waiting for the Haruka express train that would take us to Kyoto, our destination for the next 5 nights.

Now me. Boy do we look tired.

And here’s our first train of the trip! I was so impressed by the long distance train system in Japan. The trains are fast, convenient, CLEAN, comfortable, user-friendly and ON TIME. This is what Amtrak wishes it could be.

Funny story. When we arrived at Kyoto station, I was hauling our luggage off the train and onto the platform when my right shoe (I was wearing ballet flats) FELL INTO THE GAP and onto the tracks. OMG!!!!! Hey, it was a BIG GAP OK. Now this is a perfect example of how accommodating the Japanese are to others. My first reaction was to just leave it since I had another pair of shoes in my backpack. But a janitor saw what happened and he notified a station manager who went down to the tracks after the train left WITH A FLASHLIGHT and retrieved my shoe for me. I was hanging my head the entire time in embarrassment.

We took a taxi to our hotel, the Westin Miyako, where we had a quick dinner and fought to stay awake until an appropriate bed time in order to avoid jet lag. It worked!

Friday, 11/9

Our first full day in Kyoto!

For breakfast we went over to the Kyoto station (LOVE how the train stations have EVERYTHING you need — food, department stores, etc) where we discovered a Cafe Du Monde. I was so excited! I’ve never been to New Orleans. Sadly they do NOT sell beignets. What a tease. We ended up just getting coffee and picking up donuts at Mister Donut next door.

We took the Kyoto city bus north to Kinkakuji, which is a temple also known as the Golden Pavilion.

The view from across the pond is gorgeous (the pavilion itself isn’t accessible to the public).

The surrounding gardens were full of colorful autumn leaves. LOVE!

Our next stop was Nishiki Market. It took us forever to find it — the streets and addresses were SO confusing to us.

This shopping alley is known as “Kyoto’s Kitchen” where many restaurants purchase fresh produce, seafood and a variety of food-related items. We had just eaten lunch (fried chicken and grilled steak “sets” with the yummiest soft tofu side dish at a random basement of an office building) so we didn’t buy anything but all the food was definitely a treat for our eyes.

We hopped on the bus again (the one-day pass is a great deal at only 500 yen per person) and headed to the Kiyomizudera Temple. From the bus stop, it’s about a 500 meter walk to the temple (I think?). What the sign doesn’t tell you is that it’s steep! At least there are shops and restaurants lining the walkway so we could catch our breath while shopping at the same time.

At the entrance to the temple we snuck a pic of these girls dressed in yukatas (or are these kimonos?). Whatever they are, they’re so beautiful.

The main hall had a great view of the sunset.

Looking down towards the Otowa Waterfall where the water is separated into three separate streams. It’s said that the water has the power to grant wishes.

Visitors can “catch” and drink the water using the cups provided. We even saw one lady fill up her own water bottle! I guess she really wanted her wish granted, LOL.

That’s us.

We walked about 15 minutes to the geisha district of Gion and happily stumbled into a side alley where we spotted geishas and maikos! They walk really fast so I didn’t get any pics. Plus, I didn’t want to follow them around like the other tourists were doing. They were like paparazzi!

For dinner, we went back to the Kyoto station and randomly picked a ramen restaurant on the floor known as “ramen alley.” You order from a vending machine outside, which you’d think would be easy peasy. Not for us. We started cluelessly at it until the greeter rescued us. OMG, we were so helpless for the first few days! We both had YUMMY bowls of tsukemen (dipping noodles) — the only bad thing is that it requires so much effort just to eat!

We ended the night back at the hotel by trying out the Japanese robes and taking silly pics. So happy to be in Japan!

For more pics, check our Flickr — Arrival Day and Kyoto Day 1.

We’re going to start off in the Kyoto region for the first few days along with a day trip to Hiroshima (designated by the green & pink areas) and then will take the bullet train to Tokyo (in orange) and the Tokyo Disneyland Resort (!!!).

If I find free internet access, I’ll update my Twitter (username: CooKie01) and/or my Instagram feeds (username: cookiekel). Follow me! Can’t wait to share our adventures with all of you!

We hit Carsland first and I was IN AWE as we turned to head down the main thoroughfare. It’s incredibly immersive. I loved it. And I’m not really a huge Cars fan — I never even saw the second movie.

First sight! I realize this picture is crap. It does NOT do it justice.

There are only three rides in Carsland and we figured we should try them all! We started with Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree where you’re swirling all around in a tractor. It was a cute kiddie ride but because it throws you around from side to side, it HURT!

Next up was Luigi’s Flying Tires. You’re in a HUGE tire and in order to move, you need to shift your body in the direction you want to go. We got the hang of it pretty quickly and had a good laugh figuring it out but I’m not sure it’s worth the long wait times.

The marquee ride at Carsland is Radiator Springs Racers. It’s phenomenal — definitely a new favorite.

AND it’s amazingly GORGEOUS.

Look at the CUTE ride cars!

Here’s our ride photo with me in the middle. LOL.

After the rides we spent some time just soaking in Carsland…

I ADORE the Cozy Cone area.

OMG. The attention to detail is evident everywhere.

For lunch we decided to try out the new Carthay Circle Restaurant.

I was a *little* disappointed in our entrees but the ceviche appetizer we had was YUMMERS. I definitely want to give it another chance. But next time for dinner. I’ve read fantastic things about some cheddar biscuits, which sound right up my alley.

After lunch we strolled around Buena Vista Street. So lovely! Such a massive change from the lifeless Sunshine Plaza, which occupied this space before.

Love LOVE love the Red Car Trolleys. They add such great character to the area.

California Adventure’s version of the Partners statue.

A few weeks ago we went back to see Carsland all lit up. It’s even MORE beautiful at night with all the neon lights.

Looking forward to many more days and nights spent at California Adventure!

Fore more pics, check our Flickr here and here.