Japan is a totally unique country and despite being in Asia it is like no other Asian country. It has many western attributes – a fabulously efficient public transport system, a clean, safe environment in which to live and a very low unemployment rate but it is like no other western country. It is an enigma and it is one of THE places to be right now for some reason. Every man and his dog has either been or is planning a trip to visit in the near future. Its uniqueness is its greatest charm. The mix of old and new, conservative and crazy, ancient culture and modern anime, old fashioned yet cutting edge. Our trip was split between Kyoto and Tokyo, the fantastic bullet train whisking us between the two cities in less than 2 hours in comfort. Both cities have their plusses and minuses but our personal favourite was Kyoto. Smaller to navigate, plenty of things to see and do and we stayed in a very old narrow townhouse with rickety stairs, an outside bath overlooking the tiny garden and futons on the floor for sleeping. Alith the welcome addition of reverse cycle aircon which kept us toasty in the rather chilly weather.

We bought suica cards at the airport on arrival which made life so easy when catching the trains or buses and were easy to reload at the 711s found on every corner if necessary. These are like our Australian opal cards and made transitioning through stations much easier and on the buses (which charge a flat rate on any given route) where you just tap off when leaving. Google maps and Google translate were our friends and with the relatively cheap rates nowadays to use your phone overseas life was pretty easy. The camera function on the translate app was very handy for reading menus and signs and nowadays they even announce the stations in English as well as Japanese on the trains which was comforting! So despite a completely different language (no latin based easy peasy stuff here folks) alphabet and culture we somehow managed to navigate our way around the city. Our go to 1st day is always the HOHO bus to get our bearings and its often a pretty cheap way of seeing a few landmarks without having to worry too much about how you get from A to B. We stopped off at the beautiful Golden Pavilion which glowed in the afternoon sunshine amongst some beautiful gardens. A stop in Gion where we spotted a Geisha on the way to work and witnessed many couples dressed in traditional clothes. The girls look so gorgeous although those weird wooden sandals with socks look distinctly uncomfortable! Despite it being March there were tourists EVERYWHERE. Rivers of people from both overseas and from Japan all basically aiming for the same experience. Needless to say some of our best moments were when we went off the main track and could immerse ourselves in a more serene environment and get more of a feel for how the place would have been in the old days.

The next day we set off to explore the Fushimi Inari Shrine famous for its 10,000 torii gates and one of the “must do” things in Kyoto. We had a lovely day to slowly climb up the many many steps to the top of the mountain watching the locals praying and leaving charms and wishes as they went. It was quite fascinating despite not really understanding the whole dedication to Inari – the God of rice and foxes apparently! The crowds dwindled the higher up you went and we were rewarded with a wonderful view of Kyoto from the top.

After so much climbing we were happy to get home and soak in our lovely outdoor bath to soothe our aches and pains before venturing out into our local neighbourhood to suss out a venue for dinner. We found a great little corner bar that served warm sake and cold beer before heading to a restaurant that serves okonomiyaki – the famous Japanese pancakes that are cooked on a hotplate in front of you. Delicious and fun. We also discovered our first decent ramen – the MOTH was in heaven!

We love a good market and the following day we were excited to check out Nishiki market which takes up an entire block of the city and was conveniently located under a roof as it was raining. Hundreds of little stalls selling everything from jasmine tea to smoked eel to the reddest strawberries wrapped in white bean paste as well as vintage kimonos, sneakers, thousands of trinkets that they love to attach to their bags and a couple of shops selling amazing (very expensive) chefs knives. We tried the biggest oysters grilled by a blowtorch, huge battered prawns and smoked eel on skewers and fish tempura – all yummy and eaten as directed outside the shop where you buy it. No tables are provided and they urge you NOT to walk and eat as it’s considered very bad manners. No rubbish bins are provided either yet there is not one piece of litter anywhere!

We also came across our first animal cafe. These are extremely popular over here and can feature cats/dogs/guinea pigs/rabbits/owls/hedgehogs and in this instance micro pigs! They are insanely cute but we resisted the temptation to enter. Just another uniquely Japanese experience!

We had noticed that the Nijo-jo Castle was just a ten minute walk from our house so with pictures of tiny pigs dancing in our heads we decided it was time for a bit of history and a visit to the castle where the shoguns had lived while ruling from 1603-1868. The castle is still impressive and imposing although the interior is truly beautiful with painted screens of gilt depicting flowers, trees, birds and tigers and the grounds contain groves of plum and cherry trees that were just coming into bloom. We really got a feel for how they lived in simplicity despite their wealth.

Our last day took us way across town to The Bamboo Forest. We hadn’t really planned on going there but I had been told about the special tofu dish that is famous in Kyoto and a specialist restaurant serving tofu (yudofu) was a 20 minute walk from the Bamboo Grove so off we went! Despite another river of tourists the bamboo forest was rather special – tranquil and serene despite the crowds. The obligatory brides were dotted about taking their wedding photos (this happens ahead of the actual ceremony apparently) and I did rather admire them as it was muddy and puddly but I imagine that was all probably edited out of the final photos!!

Our tofu meal was probably one of the most memorable of our trip. We arrived at what we thought was the restaurant and met by a uniformed man who asked us several times if we knew it was a yudofu restaurant only serving tofu and when we agreed he led us through the original building to some gorgeous gardens and a big old house where we were shown a beautiful traditional room where we were to eat zashiki style – at low tables on tatami flooring. The MOTH had a look of dread at the prospect of having to sit cross legged on the ground and the lovely older Japanese lady looking after us came back with a couple of extra cushions for him to sit on! Apparently Kyoto has particularly lovely water and the tofu dish became famous in the area as a result of it being boiled in the special water! It bubbled away in front of us as we were served about 20 different little tiny accompaniments – all vegetarian – pickly things, chilli things, tiny omelettes, miso soup, kelp, steamed rice, veggie tempura and the chopped green spring onion tops that are synonymous with Kyoto. The tofu was soft, luscious and creamy and quite unlike the stuff we’ve previously had in Australia! The fact that this restaurant was tucked away from the surge of tourists in the town made it an even more special experience – a lovely last day in Kyoto.

Back to Tokyo and our nephew, wife and 2.5 year old son who live there. We stayed near them so we could catch up easily and it was great to be able to spend some time with them. They’ve been here about 18 months now and find they have mixed feelings about living in Tokyo. It’s hard living in an apartment with a 2 year old and with no outside space. I think this is the thing I would find the hardest too. They take him to a nearby playground for a couple of hours every afternoon and he happily rode his balance bike to meet us at various local coffee shops but after living in Australia and Switzerland with their beautiful outdoor lifestyles it does make them yearn for space! They get away from Tokyo at least once a month which helps. For me Tokyo is a HUGE sprawling concrete jungle. No wonder they go ape over the cherry trees when they blossom – they are a welcome splash of pink in an otherwise grey landscape especially coming off a winter of bare trees and cold wet weather. It makes the gardens an extra special place to meet and for the little children to run around.

The food was one of the things we were really looking forward to on our visit and it didn’t fail us! We LOVED the different ramen restaurants and sushi made freshly in front of us with soft, still warm rice which beats the cold hard offerings we often get in Oz. The Takoyaki made for a yummy afternoon treat on an afternoon where it snowed in Kyoto – they are balls of battered octopus shallow fried and served with different sauces and are on every street corner. We were tempted to go to a nearby teppanyaki restaurant but at $260 per head without drinks we decided it wasn’t worth it! Funnily enough they do great burgers in Japan and it doesn’t take long before you want to break up the traditional food with a bit of a western treat! Wagyu burgers win! They are also famous for their sandos – Japanese sandwiches. They mostly use fluffy white bread with the crusts off and are filled with the famous egg mayonnaise mix and katsu of either chicken or pork (they reminded me of the English style fish finger sandwiches which have become a bit of a thing again in cafes in Sydney). You don’t however have to go to a restaurant to get decent food as the local 711 and Lawson stores have a fresh daily supply of yummy options. Their packaging makes me slightly anxious with every little thing wrapped separately and then in a bigger plastic container but that is very typical of all of Asia. They have vending machines everywhere selling everything from sweets, rice crackers and water to hot coffee and alcohol. The family stores have shelves of their chilled sections that actually contain hot coffee in a takeaway bottle! Everyone was super helpful to us and their manners are out of this world. Lots of bowing from the taxi drivers when they say goodbye and from wait staff when they give you the change. No tipping in Japan makes everything easy and they are so honest that they will run after you with your 5 cents change thinking you’d forgotten it!

Our Tokyo experience was rounded off with a few different experiences. One was a visit to TeamLab Planets which is an immersive and interactive digital art museum which was very enjoyable as you become part of the art yourself! It is very playful in parts and challenges your idea of perspective. It was one of the few things we’d booked from Australia and we loved it – definitely brought out our inner child!

The second experience was over in a matter of seconds and was an earthquake. The epicentre was north of Tokyo so it was just a little shake and shudder but the fact that both of our phones started blaring out “earthquake earthquake find shelter” was more alarming! Our nephew assured us it was nothing to worry about as it happens all the time and we laughed and continued our day but a week later Taiwan was hit by a big one so I guess you never know when it’s going to be your turn. Another thing I love about Australia is we are not on any fault lines and our problems are mostly rain related – either too much or too little!

On our last night we had booked to go to Abbey Road with Jason and Leslie which is a club where tribute bands play Beatles covers. Our friends at home had recommended it and we thoroughly enjoyed it. They were accomplished and enthusiastic and a good time was had by all. Afterwards the MOTH finally got to go out and enjoy a local whisky bar with Jason, getting home in the wee small hours tired but happy!

All in all we enjoyed our trip. We spent more time than we care to mention in queues, which is par for the course with so many people I guess although an hour queuing to go up a tower for 10 minutes is a bit punishing! So many things stand out – the amazing toilets (if you know you know) deserve a mention, the Japanese themselves with their impeccable manners and adherence to the rules (no one would ever cross the road without permission from the green man) and the history, culture and sheer Japanese-ness of everything was wonderful. The downside of it being flavour of the month is that thousands of tourists had already booked ahead months in advance to some of the things we would have liked to do on the spur of the moment and our usual spontaneous style of travel backfired this time around because of it. I was interested in doing an ikebana class, Cam wanted to make ramen, we both fancied playing tourist at a tea ceremony dressed in kimonos all of which were unavailable for weeks or even months thanks to those over organised tourists! Well you live and learn I guess! Now we are home I find myself thinking back to various things and I think it is one of those countries that takes a bit of time to process. I would definitely go back and explore some places less well known now that we have dipped our toes into Japan and found it was a little easier than we had thought it might be to get around. Give it a whirl folks!