So for the past few months, I had the opportunity to experience every couple's worst nightmare - a long-distance relationship. It was pretty tough and I'm really glad that our LDR journey is coming to an end in exactly 10 days - but there were some good things that came out of this ordeal. For example, I got the chance to explore Japan!
Over the duration of almost 20 days in total, my boyfriend brought me around his "turf" in Tokyo, as well as a few places in Kyoto and Osaka. It was really eye-opening and I got to experience Japan and all its charm with the delicious SASHIMI, breathtaking scenery and unique culture.
So in today's travel blog I'll be sharing 11 fun places we went to throughout the trip. Of course we went to like, a 100 more places but due to TLDR purposes I'll just put in the main highlights!
1. Tokyo - The Tokyo Roastery
We stayed in Tokyo for the most part, so the most frequented/ memorable places were situation around here. One of the places I die-die wanted to visit was The Tokyo Roastery - planet earth's biggest Starbucks Reserve Roastery with four effing floors. To enter, we had to get a queue number and wait about 2 hours. Here's how it looks from the inside!
This Starbucks has everything - merchandise, pizza, cocktail bar, lounge area, workshop, as well as the normal drinks counter. It was massive and so beautiful. I missed Sakura season, but if you do come during March-April you'll be able to sip attas coffee against a pink backdrop of sakura flowers!
We had coffee and some pastries and pizza which tasted pretty meh, but it was a nice place to just sit down and hangout.
2. Tokyo - A Happy Pancake
You know how Singapore's been having this fluffy pancake craze for awhile with shops popping up everywhere claiming to have pancakes "just like the ones in Japan"?
All these shops lyin' because the ones here are so. much. better. duh.
The first time I came to A Happy Pancake, I was told by my boyfriend's mother that we had to expect a queuing time of around an hour just to enter the shop. We had to go up to the 7th floor of the building where it was situated, and take a queue number. There was this QR code you could scan so you know how many people are before you.
A Happy Pancake has an English menu, so remember to request for it! We ordered a mix of the sweet and savoury pancakes.
On first glance (when you see the chefs making the pancakes), the pancakes didn't look very filling so we ordered one each. Surprisingly, it fills you up more than $30 spent at Sushi Express, and we couldn't finish everything.
The pancakes were very sweet and VERY fluffy. If you're ordering something very sweet like chocolate, it's best to share it with someone because it gets a little jelak after a while.
The iced coffee is also pretty good so you can try it if you have a sweet tooth. Overall experience 10/10!
3. Tokyo - Tsukiji Fish Market
OH MY GOD this is my happy place I feel happy just thinking about it
My boyfriend lives in Ginza and this famous 24-hour fish market is located just 5 minutes away. I was never a fan of tuna (because tuna in Singapore sucks), so he was determined to get me to try some Japanese tuna while I was here.
There were a lot of people there around 1pm, and we had to squeeze through the narrow walkways. Eventually we stumbled upon this little sashimi shop and decided to give it a try. Here's what we ate!
It's not the cheapest since it's literally located in Tokyo's Orchard equivalent, but we definitely were rewarded with the quality we paid for about S$80.
4. Tokyo - teamLab Borderless Tokyo
I realise I've been talking about food an awful lot, so here's something only your camera can munch on.
I'm a hoe for anything Insta-worthy, so visiting this digital art museum was a must. This exhibition was at least 10 times bigger than the one in Singapore, and had much less people. Tickets are around S$42 per person.
I was told that the popular exhibits were the "Forest of Resonating Lamps" and the "Borderless World". For the "Forest of Resonating Lamps" exhibit, visitors had to go in by batches of 30 people and were only allowed less than 1 minute inside.
There was also Crystal World - a similar but bigger version of the one in Singapore, and The Nest which was a double decker art show where you lie on a suspended net as lights and sounds swirl all around you!
5. Tokyo - Hitachi Seaside Garden
I was very lucky to be able to visit Japan during the Nemophila season. Hitachi Seaside Garden is not easy to get to from Tokyo, and takes 3 hours maximum.
When I was there, I got to see millions of the blue bell-shaped flowers spreading over the Miharashi Hill. The flower, also known as "Baby Blue Eyes" is believed to have the "power to heal" - from what, I'm not really sure - but I did feel a sense of calm standing there in the midst of the flowers.
Here's how you can travel to Hitachi Seaside Garden from Tokyo.
6. Tokyo - Tokyo Disneyland
Tokyo Disneyland is much milder than Disney Sea, and it's pretty much a kids wonderland. The rides aren't that extreme and everywhere is a photogenic backdrop.
We spent most of our time around Fantasyland, Toontown, and Tomorrowland. I lost a poll on whether I should take a scary ride at Disneyland, so I found myself Thunder Mountain, an outdoor roller coaster at Magic Kingdom Park. Honestly, it wasn't that horrifying and there was only one major drop. There were many of twists and turns which I am less afraid of, and certain parts of the ride were dark as we went through tunnels.
No regrets though, and I would go again!
You can buy tickets here.
7. Kyoto - Fushimi-Inari Taisha Shrine
We spend about two days in Kyoto, and since Kyoto is basically a temple-town, we spent all our 48 hours visiting temples and shrines.
Fushimi-Inari was a must-go, and I was really excited because I used to see it all the time on Instagram. Funny story - I didn't know that the arches were actually ORANGE and not red like we see on Instagram, and I instantly felt like my life was a lie.
Damn you Photoshop.
Anyway, a great tip for taking photos is to walk into the deeper parts of the park to avoid the crowd. Most tourists get so kanchiong when they first see the arches and start crowding around the entrance taking photos, but you'll get a much better shot if you just walk further down a little bit!
Boyfie and I were just walking deeper and deeper into the park until we realised that we were headed towards a lookout point. It actually takes 2 hours to travel past all the 32,00 arches lining the route to the top. We gave up midway and settled for a nice and not-bad looking lookout point.
Bonus: We also visited Kinkakuji - the Golden Pavilion. It's situated in a park and the whole sight-seeing takes less than 30 minutes to complete, as the main attraction is just the Zen Temple overlooking a gigantic pond. It is really beautiful though.
8. Kyoto - Gion District
Gion is Kyoto's most famous Geisha district, and also a great place to shop and eat matcha desserts!
We arrived at Gion a little late, and had about 1 hour before most of the shops started closing. However it was a really nice place to take a walk and look-see, especially at the Shirakawa Canal.
There are many restaurants and shops along the main street, but it is really easy to wander off into the beaten path. Those areas were really dark and a little scary (even looked a little shady?) and we even stumbled upon some quiet hidden clubs!
Walking back to the main road and towards the brighter side of Gion, we found ourselves in the midst of a shopping paradise with shops like Zara, Takashimaya, and Forever 21. We also found a cute little shop with photobooths and here's what we ended up doing:
9. Osaka - Nara Park
It was rainy season when I visited Japan, so we had to feed bambi and friends under the rain in our soaked sneakers. Snacks were really cheap so we balled and spent almost S$10 on the deer biscuits. We even tried rationing them by breaking them into smaller pieces before feeding the deers.
Some of the deers were more aggressive than others, and we both got our shirts chomped on. Fortunately, the damage wasn't serious. Tip - do not wear expensive clothes to Nara Park!
Second tip - do not run when being chased!
Bonus: We visited an owl cafe near Nara after visiting the deers.
10. Osaka - Animeal Pet Cafe
We were exploring Dotonburi when we came across this pet cafe in Osaka with doggos, cats, rabbits, goats, and a guinea pig!
We paid about S$50 for 2 people inclusive of chocolates and a drink of our choice + pet food + a free polaroid.
The animals were very adorable, and being dog lovers we couldn't get our hands of this really cute doggo. The staff were also really friendly and patient, and we had so much fun we requested to extend our time there.
11. Osaka - Universal Studios Japan
Most people think of Universal Studios Japan when Osaka is mentioned. I wasn't really excited about coming here since I'm not really into rides, but I was looking forward to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
I only went on one ride here - and it was the "Flight of the Hippogriff". Much more fun than the one I went to in Disneyland, and much less scary!
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was quite small and due to it being so popular, there were many people but not to the extend that it was hard to walk around. I got to try the Butterbeer drink (from S$7.80) which was really nice and foamy, but extremely sticky! We bought the package with the souvinir, so we got to keep the pretty Butterbeer cup too.
I queued with my boyfriend so he could go on two rides - The Flying Dinosaur and Hollywood Dream. He's been on Hollywood Dream before, but after getting off the Flying Dinosaur, he told me it was the scariest ride he's even been on in his life.
Another ride we went on was The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, which looks like a rollercoaster but is actually a kid-friendly 4D ride. It was one of my favourite rides and the special effects were very cool. Didn't take long to queue either.
Oh, we also went on some Attack on Titan 4D show which was a complete waste of time because the movie was only in Japanese and the special effects were super meh. Don't go there unless you can understand Japanese!
So here are the top 11 places that I found memorable during my trip. Overall, I love Japan and it is really a great place to visit since the people there are generally friendly and things cost around the same as Singapore but for a better quality. It's also easy to get around and there are so many things to do. I won't be coming back to Japan anytime soon, but when I do I'd love to see the new things that come up in the next few years!
Love this post? Feel free to share and comment below or check out my other travel review to Japan here.
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