When you mention you’re going to Japan, you get all sorts of reactions. Japan is just so interesting. You see Japan things on tv, the internet, or you hear about something in Japan and it just blows your mind. When you’re actually there as a foreigner, it’s an entire new experience. A good one. It’s one of the best trips I have had in my life. Instead of getting a Rolex for myself, I bought a ticket and went to Japan with my sister.
The culture is very different to Canada. You think Canadians are polite? Go to Japan. They put us to shame. I love anime, cute things, manga, vending machines, japanese toilets, and just the thought of going somewhere so far away from home made me super excited. Get ready to see the thousands of photos I took in Japan. Warning. I believe I took over 4000.
This trip was planned. HEAVILY planned. If you’re going here, be prepared to plan since many of the tourist attractions require advance bookings such as Studio Ghibli’s Museum in Mitaka. That place is a must see.
Let’s begin, shall we?
Day 1 – The lift off
Here I am posing with my sister while we wait at the airport. My first 12+ hour flight. I am not looking forward to this.
I bring my Nikon D3100 SLR Camera with me. I’m still trying to be a better photographer.
Japan Airline. This is the biggest plane I have been inside to date.
Feeling a little froggy.
We arrive at the airport. The flight was 12 hours. I do not like plane rides. so I tried to sleep the ride away. It did not work very well as I puked as soon as we landed. The worst was over but I did it. That’s all that matters.
We take a taxi to our hotel. We are mesmerized by just entering the cab. The roads are clean, the cars are fast, there’s order everywhere. I’m in love.
We stay at an amazing hotel right by the subway and right by my favorite convenient store, 7/11.
We arrive late at night. I run straight to the bathroom and see the infamous Japanese toilet. I’m in awe. I then pass out. My sister goes out and explores the area. Day 1 was exhausting. Day 2 we are turning it up a notch. The first hotel we stayed at was Tobu Hotel Levant in Tokyo.
We wake up. We prepare. It’s a big day. Everyday is a big day. We are in Japan for only a finite amount of time. We have to do as much as we can but also enjoy the time we have there. I take a nice picture (above) and head downstairs.
I take a selfie in the hotel hallway. Ok let’s proceed.
this street was right outside our hotel. It’s quiet as usual since we are early birds when we vacay. It’s around 7am. We head to the 7/11.
Everything is already looking different yet very delicious in 7/11.
I purchase and eat my first Egg Salad Sandwich from 7/11. I eat at least one everyday during this vacation.
Here is me posing with my first vending machine. Quite the refreshing take if you ask me.
We leave 7/11 and just start exploring the block. Did I mention how clean the streets look?
A sign we later see to be a common reminder of no smoking; neatly printed on the side walk.
For such a modern country, we see this. A Japanese pay phone!
Another vending machine pose…. truly a thing of beauty.The hotel was extremely close to the Skytree.
We see a bakery opening up. We get excited and run in.
We snack some more. We also snacked from 7/11. It’s all about snacks.
We continue the walk.
Cars start popping up. Lots of Toyota Crowns. I fell in love with those cars.
Did I mention it rains on and off constantly in Japan.
Bike lane representation. #respectthecycle
We buy umbrellas.
We keep walking.
We see our first Pizza Hut. We also start looking for the subway. you absolutely 100% need the Japan Rail Pass. This allows you to use travel with ease and peace of mind. This needs to be bought in advance before going to Japan.We find the subway thanks to our internet hotspot that we purchased in advance. It was unlimited data. Our connection became very slow after we surpassed 50GB. I believe we were throttled. That happened around our 3rd last day in Japan. The service was still amazing since they offered a replacement. I used Global Advanced Communication. It did the job.
where are we going? @.@
This way looks interesting.
We are now very far away from our hotel. We are headed to Studio Ghibli Museum. Book these tickets in advance. This is a very exclusive place to go and it’s worth every penny.
We are close.
Let me get a picture.
Ok, let’s move.
We have to be in line at a certain time. The lineup is huge. We came too early so we explore the surrounding area.
This was one of the best bakeries I’ve been to in my life.
We leave the bakery and walk to the park beside Ghibli Museum. There are some interesting homes around this park. This is all new and interesting. Houses do not look like this in Canada.
It continues to rain off and on.
We keep walking
We are deep into the forest looking for a big pond.
The park then leads us to more homes. The GPS tells us to keep going.
It lead us to more homes. we are overwhelmed by everything.
We find it.
We head back to Ghibli Museum since our time is approaching.
Taking film in the museum is prohibited. I can only show you how magical the museum looked from the outside.
On top of the museum.
I am still at the top of the studio ghibli museum.
We go in and spend quite a few hours going through each room and just being in awe. We then go to the souvenir shop and spend too much money. We will most likely never be here ever again so we are ok with this. We then head back to the city.
We continue exploring with our souvenirs.
I continue to pose at more vending machines while making more purchases.
Just another hustling city. We arrive back to our area. We are minutes away from our hotel.
That’s it for day 1. We explore a ton of areas. We visit the studio Ghibli Museum and we explore more at night. This day started at 7am and most likely ended at midnight. No feet pain yet. I hope you enjoyed you the pictures.
