Japan 2025

My two week long vacation to Japan was probably one of my favorite vacations ever, second only to Italy. There are a lot of reasons why this trip was my favorite, including the amazing food, and the gorgeous scenery. 

My trip started in Tokyo, specifically in Shibuya. Yes, that is where the famous 'Shibuya Crossing' is, and it was just as crowded as everyone says it is. We arrived in Shibuya late in the afternoon, at around 4pm. The first thing we did after dropping our stuff off, was run to the crossing to take photos. We actually went to the Shibuya crossing several times over the course of a few days since we weren't able to get proper pictures. People were also feral for pictures, one time I saw a guy stand in a runner stance and then sprint to the middle to take a picture. The picture to the left is taken from the Starbucks over looking the Shibuya crossing. the picture was taken early in the morning, so it is not as crowded as it was in the afternoon. 

In Tokyo, we visited the Meiji Jingu shrine, a shinto shrine dedicated to Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shoken. While we walked to the main hall, I found myself entranced by the scenery and sounds. It has been a while since I have just been in nature without loud sounds from cars or people, and I enjoyed it a lot. We also went into the Meiji Jingu gardens, and it was so pretty! we went to a pond that was used as a fishing site for the Empress and Emperor. What made it so pretty was the different color water lilies that were spread across the pond. I think I spent like ten minutes just staring at them! The picture on the right is from the sake barrels donated by sake companies.

One of the coolest things I experienced was when we went to the Team Planet Labs in Tokyo. We fist had to wait in a long line outside, in the sweltering heat. At that point, I didn't think that whatever was inside would be worth it, but I was wrong. Once we entered, we were shown an introductory video. There were three sections for exhibits, My favorite one was Water, the first exhibit we went to. We started by taking off our shoes and socks and putting all of our stuff in lockers. We were then lead through many immersive art exhibits. Some of my favorites in the water section include the infinite crystal exhibit, an exhibit where we walked through water that had koi fish reflected off of it, and an relaxing exhibit where we laid down in a dome shaped room while moving flowers were projected on the ceiling and walls. The Team Planet labs building doesn't look like much from the outside, but it is like a dream in the inside. 

While in Tokyo, we took a half day trip to Yokahama to go to the cup noodle museum and visit the chinatown. 

The cup noodle museum was very fun and interesting. We looked at some exhibits before going to watch a short movie about the inventor of cup noodles, Momofuku Ando. I found his story to be really inspiring. He first invented instant ramen to provide for his family since they were struggling after world war 2. This invention also helped other people in Japan as instant ramen was cheap and easy to prepare. After we watched the video, we went to the cup noodle factory and designed our own cup noodles. I still haven't eaten mine yet, but I'm sure it will be delicious. 

The next segment of the trip was in kyoto. 

The temples in Kyoto were gorgeous. The two that I remember the most was the the Kinkaku-ji temple and the Otagi Nebutsu-Ji temple. 

the Kinkaku-ji temple is a Zen Buddhist temple that is covered with gold leaf. It was originally used as a villa for the powerful nobleman Saionji Kitsune. It was later purchased by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. When he died, it was turned into a Zen Buddhist temple by his son. The photo on the left is a picture I took of this beautiful temple. 

The Otagi Nebutsu-ji temple had so many statues of Buddha in different poses and making different facial expressions. Just like many old temples and shrines in Japan, this temple was destroyed many times in a variety of natural disasters. But... just like many old temples and shrines in Japan, it was rebuilt over and over again, a testament to the resilience of Japanese people.

I also remember the Fushimi Inari Shrine. The main thing about it was the abundance of torii gates lined up close to each other, making it feel like a tunnel. The shrine was spread up a mountain, meaning that in order to get to the top, we had to walk through all of the torii gates. It was really hot and sunny that day, and while the torii gates provided shelter from the sun, the humidity was too much. We didn't make it all the way to the top, but we went up as far as we could. My legs were shaking while we walked back down!

Another thing that stood out to me in Kyoto, besides the beautiful temples, was when we went to Nara to feed the dear. We went there with some family friends. It was so fun seeing all the deer chilling with everyone, they even crossed the street! Nara is also where the deer 'bow' to you. This is really interesting because the deer had learned to bow to people when they saw food (the crackers). The deer even bowed to people without seeing the crackers, which means that they knew that the people were probably there to feed them. I saw a man surrounded by deer trying to eat the one cracker in his hand, and I even saw a deer attack another deer in order to obtain the cracker. 

Also in Kyoto, we went to a Tea Ceremony. First, we picked kimono's to wear. Next, the hairstylists did out hair up into a bun and placed flower clips. We then wore or chosen kimonos and went downstairs to the location of the ceremony. It took place in a traditional Japanese room, and we sat on our knees in kind of like a rectangle formation. The host led us through the history of Tea ceremonies, as well as important etiquette, The green tea we made was nothing like the matcha we get in the US, but I loved it just the same. 

In Osaka, we took a sushi making class. Just like in the Tea Ceremony, we learned a lot about the history of sushi, and how it became so popular. The sushi we made was delicious, and I was so happy we went. One thing that surprised me was that despite there being an abundance of sushi places in Japan, I was only able to have sushi a few times. I had Ramen a lot though, and I think it has become my favorite foods. The picture on the right is of a delicious vegan ramen I had on the first day. 

One of my most fun evenings was spent in Osaka when we went to universal studios. I don't like rollercoasters, so I wasn't very sure how much fun I would have. As it turns out, I didn't need to worry. Since everyone in my family is not fond of roller coasters, we only went on the medium intensity rides. Such as the minecart ride. My favorite ride/experience there was the Harry Potter Forbidden Journey. I absolutely loved how real the simulations looked, and how real the robotic dementors and spiders felt as we moved around. I'm pretty sure I was giggling the entire ride. Even waiting in the line was pretty fun, as it felt like we were actually walking through Hogwarts. Even the portraits were moving and talking!

We also went on a minion's ride about like training minions or something, and I enjoyed that too. Since the 'story' of the ride was also about this day being the anniversary that Gru adopted the three girls, it ended with a 'happy anniversary' which was a crazy coincidence, because that day was my parent's anniversary. 

I had a lot of fun in Japan. It was very different from the US, but I enjoyed it a lot. Japan was definitely unlike any other country I visited, and I loved every part of it. In the spots of Japan we went too, the culture was amazing and the people were so nice. I would definitely recommended visiting Japan, and you can see a lot in just 2 weeks.