Okay, here we fucking go. Back from my little vacation, back from the other side of the world. My trip to Japan marks the first time me visiting Asia (not counting Turkey) since covid. It also marks the first time I took some real time off since I started freelancing as a teacher. It was a really cool experience and I got to do it with some of my favorite people. So without further ado, let’s dive into it…
After two long-ass flights, I arrived at Narita Airport early afternoon September 19th. Quickly learning that Japan is still heavily cash-based, I had to withdraw some money to get a subway ticket downtown to our accommodation. Now, let me point out, that the subway system is ran by different companies and their tickets are not compatible. Which is super weird and sometimes causes real headache. Anyway, made it to my station and walked to our building to find out nobody is in. Which was fine; I was really enjoying strolling around, watching the high-rise buildings, feeling the vibe. It was making me sentimental as it was by far the closest I had got to Shanghai in ages. At that point, I had no internet access so I was trying to find some wi-fi and in the process accidentally ran into my friends who came from Canada. So the whole adventure could start.
We spent the first four days in Tokyo. Now, Japan has a reputation of this super fascinating place with a unique culture, rich history and tons of things to do. Which is all true but there are also things that don’t really work very well. For me at least. It kinda feels everything is bound by some protocols and rules. It’s not really okay to drink water in public. It’s not really okay to sit down outside and have a snack. It’s not really okay to do pretty much anything as it’s considered an “annoying act”. Even though, it was very hot the whole time, there are pretty much no establishments with outside seating. Oh, and there are virtually no trash bins. Which would be okay, if they didn’t sell everything in layers of plastic. Beverages, snacks, even fucking veggies and fruits. It’s like everywhere you go, you end up with tons of rubbish but then you have nowhere to put it. Bins are such a rare occurrence that I ended up taking pictures every time I saw some. And the fucking food. Japan might be the least vegan friendly place in Asia I’ve experienced so far. Sure, there are vegan spots and you can usually get a little something in a regular restaurant as well. But listen… These tiny Japanese portions of food don’t really cut it. Shit isn’t really cheap and when you get like two pieces of mushrooms, little tiny green leaf and about 30 grams of rice… It’s all cute in the beginning but after a day or two you are really fucking hungry. You can get a ramen here and there but I found it extremely difficult to get a decent portion of food. Ended up eating lots of peanuts and relying mostly on Indian or Nepalese places. Plus honestly, there wasn’t a single dish that blew my mind. It’s all kinda mid. But I understand this might be me. I don’t eat most things and I’m not the biggest fan of sushi. Ramen is good but I also don’t need one every day so there you have it.
When it comes to bars, they often have these tiny little spots (couple of square meters at most) with capacity of about 5-6 people which creates a pretty intimate environment. Which would be great if Japanese were communicative. Which they’re not. So again, a pretty pricey experience where you basically stare into the staff’s faces but it really isn’t much fun. Overall, it really feels like a whole bunch of rules, lotta distance and very little spontaneity. Which kinda goes in line with things you often read about the country. The population is aging like crazy, many young people find the idea of sex disgusting, people are lonely (they actually manufacture robots so older people have something to hug; which is like the saddest thing I’ve ever heard), they are not very welcoming to other cultures so they can’t really solve this by immigration… It’s very difficult to understand and it seems very complicated.
I don’t wanna make it sound like I had a bad time tho. It was a great experience and I’m super happy we got to it. Downtown Tokyo at night looks like something from a comic book and it is an experience. There are many really cool things. It just feels that the hype around Japan doesn’t really reflect the full reality. And my friends who live there (part of my old Shanghai gang) confirm all of that. Based on the first impression, if I had to choose between Tokyo and Shanghai, I’m picking Shanghai any day of the week. Shit feels much more free over there. How ironic is that.
We kept ourselves busy tho. We went to karaoke, we explored some bars and cafés, we went to the legendary Shibuya crossroads… One day, I visited the Tokyo National Museum (epic) and I also reunited with my Lithuanians which brought back some memories. It’s apparently one of those friendships where it doesn’t really matter how much time you spend apart. Whenever you see each other again, it all falls back in place. So yeah, that felt great. Made me feel old but also grateful. All the shit we’ve been through, all the memories we created… I’m not really in touch with most people from back in the day but shit… We used be amazing together. And it’s cool revisiting that once in a while. Life’s good. Shout out to the Shanghainese gang! Much love...
The one negative thing was illness. Two of our group started feeling unwell on the second day and they ended up splitting for two nights. And unfortunately, the rest of us took some damage, too. We never really had to spend a whole day in bed but for good 3 days, we weren’t really sure what’s happening and in what condition we would wake up the following day. But again, nothing serious.
From Tokyo, we took it to Hakone for a night. It’s a rural area and our hotel had an onsen in it. It’s this traditional Japanese bath and even thought they restrict tatted people, I managed to get in. There weren’t too many guests, there was no staff present in the evening… So it worked out. Exploring Hakone was fun. Many cable cars over the mountains and lakes. On the top of of one of the mountains, there is a sulfur mine. I’ve seen similar places in Indonesia (and even on Teide in Tenerife) but this one was probably the largest. And it all smelled of spoiled eggs as expected.
From Hakone, we went to Kyoto. See, we got this one-week train ticket which entitles you to use most Japanese trains without limits. And those Shinkansens are both super reliable and fast. Kyoto was mostly about temples. We visited Nara where there’s deer casually walking around everywhere. Apparently, that’s been happening for ages but it’s a trip seeing animals who are naturally extremely shy being fed and petted by tourists, chilling in parks and generally not giving a fuck. My vegan heart wasn’t particularly happy about that. But yeah, lotta temples and castles, some cool bars (if you ever get there, check the In The Moon bar – some epic views), really nice accommodation. We also did an afternoon trip to Osaka. The castle over there is really nice and so is the surrounding park.
Our last stop was Hiroshima. I had never thought about what Hiroshima actually looks like prior to coming there. In my head I had always associated it with a-bomb, pain, suffering, radiation and apocalypse. So it was pretty surprising seeing how green the city is. The first day, we did a trip to one of the surrounding islands, walked around, took a cable car to the top and then spent the evening downtown in a park drinking and hanging out. It was our first time doing shit like that in Japan and it felt refreshing. You see, that park is located exactly where the bomb was dropped. Now there’s a lot of greenery, museum and a memorial with a burning flame. And they say they gonna keep it burning until there are no more nuclear weapons left in the world. Good luck with that. There’s also a building which is the only one in the whole area that survived the blast. Only because the bomb exploded about 500 meters high, almost exactly above it so the blast went all around but kept this one intact. And it was designed by a Czech architect. Crazy, right?
We also visited the museum. And that was heavy. It’s impossible to fully appreciate the scope of damage brought by the attack. Temperatures of thousands of degrees Celsius, radiation, death, illnesses, suffering. In the museum they keep it personal, telling stories of different individuals, giving examples, painting the whole picture. There’s a lot in it and it’s not an easy content to digest but it is totally worth it and it really puts some things in perspective. And it’s crazy we live in the world where thousands of these weapons have been assembled. It’s enough to destroy the whole planet countless times over. With people like Trump, Putin or Kim having access to the red button. Happy days.
We spent the last two night back in Tokyo. We found this neat capsule hotel (we stayed in one in Hiroshima, too) with onsen. These capsules work. I cannot imagine staying in these youth hostels with 30 bunk beds in one room anymore but the capsules give you enough space and privacy to have some quality sleep. This hostel also had a nice bar and it was right by the river… No complaints. The last evening, we took it to one of the neighborhoods where they sell sex toys, porn and panties with menstrual blood off vending machines. Because yes… You can’t really drink water outside without people looking at you weird but you can apparently buy DVDs of dogs fucking people (no exaggeration there) in a store with a credit card. The whole experience was surreal. We also hit some arcades, did some fucked up pictures in one of these photo booths and went to karaoke once more to sing some Backstreet Boys, Justin and My Heart Will Go On. Shit like that is important.
And that was that. The day after, I was on my way to the Czech Republic. Arrived two days ago, spent some time with the fam, worked a lot… Back to reality. I’m super happy I did the trip. Felt good spending this much time with friends, felt great exploring new country, felt good taking some time off. Japan is a weird and messed up but it has a lot to offer. Now I’m back on my workouts, I’m eating a lot (compensating for the whole trip), I’m decompressing. Hope y’all good, too. Sending love to everybody out there and shout out to all my vegans. One!
Highlights:
- Hiroshima.
- Karaoke.
- My people!
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