Japan 🇯🇵

Our first full day in Japan started by waking up in a capsule hotel in the middle of Tokyo. For about $30 we got a clean shower, a warm bed, and a breakfast. The breakfast was a bread roll.. but the whole thing was still a good value.

We didn’t spend any time in Tokyo the first day, right after the breakfast we walked to Tokyo station and got on the bullet train to Hiroshima. This is the best train system in the world in my opinion. We got across the country and were on time to the minute. The ride was very quiet, and comfortable the whole way. The perfect travel day. We got dinner in Hiroshima at what was probably a 6 seat Okonomiyaki joint. We still think about this meal and consider it one of the top reasons to go back to Japan. They made it in front of us, and layer after layer I kept thinking, “surely it’s done now right?”. So good, and such nice people.

We only spent a day in Hiroshima, before heading through Kyoto and Osaka on our way to Tokyo again.

The main attractions in Osaka were the meals we had. (I tried chicken heart Yakitori) And the afternoon we spent at Nijō Castle which had the famous Nightingale floors that make little bird chirping sounds as you walk on them. Kyoto also gave us another life changing meal at “Matsuzakagyu Beef What’s” where they have some very rare cuts of beef that you grill yourself at the table, but even with this the highlight was probably the garlic fried rice.

We finished the trip by returning to Tokyo. This was our first time doing a hotel ramp up during the trip. The night we arrived was a capsule hotel. Then as we traveled we stayed in some business traveler hotels. These were “rooms” but they barely had enough space for the two of us and our suitcases. Saving money this way gave us enough to splurge and stay at the Tokyo Shangri-La hotel.

Japan was probably my favorite place we’ve been to. Tokyo is a massive mega city that just keeps on going and going.. yet I never felt even slightly unsafe, and I don’t think I ever saw a single piece of trash on the ground outside. It was spotless everywhere we went. 10/10 hope to be able to return again.