Japan, the land of the Rising Sun, the land of sushi, sake, hot springs, gardens, MarioKart, and macaques - the perfect place for adventures in art, culture, language, mountains, and cuisine. Many thanks to all of your contributions to the Adventure Fund and for making this experience possible.
So, why Japan? It was a bucket list destination for Alex and was reasonably convenient from Singapore (a mere seven hour flight where Emily was spending a week for work). We were looking for a place with amazing food, a distinct culture, and nature that would feel new and exotic. Plus, Emily had spent a semester there in college, still had a few words to help with menus and directions, and was excited to reconnect with her wonderful host parents. Japan fit the bill.
Singapore
The jumping off point
After 24 hours of travel for Alex, an overnight flight for Emily, and a day fighting jet-lag in Tokyo, we landed in Kagoshima, a small city on the southern tip of Kyushu. Famous for an active volcano, Sakurajima, a liquor made from sweet potato and rice called Shochu, and a low key vibe, Kagoshima was where we acclimated to life in Japan. We (re)discovered the joys of 7-Eleven (heavenly egg salad sandwiches and do-it-yourself onigiri), visited our first hot spring (onsen in Japanese) where we were buried beneath steam-warmed sand, and ended the day at a local Izakaya where some residents were showing their appreciation for Halloween a few days early. Something about Minions really seems to speak to the Japanese.
From Kagoshima, we boarded a high-speed ferry where Alex managed to finish James Clavell’s Shogun for the second time. About two hours later, verdant, mountainous Yakushima appeared on the horizon, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its 3000-year old Yakusugi ceders, steep terrain, roaming Hondo macaques, rocky coastline and stunning sunsets… as well as for raining 180 days per year. Our biggest adventure was a 15-mile, 10,000 ft-in-elevation-gain traverse over several mountains, including Yakushima’s tallest, Mt. Miyanoura. The primeval terrain made us feel like we were in a fairy-tale and spoke to Emily who has a real thing for moss. After a long day on the trail, we relaxed our muscles in a natural sea-side onsen, which was only accessible at low tide, and provided a fantastic view of the sunset.
After four days in nature, we were ready to shift gears and accelerate to the famously fast pace of Japan’s cities. Moments after landing in Osaka, we set off on a food tour with Yuki, a first-rate tour guide and deeply knowledgeable foodie. In a two hour whirlwind, we swept through Osaka’s backstreets, sampling the region’s best takoyaki (fried octopus balls), stopping by one of the city’s oldest standing bars where we sipped sake and daishi (a delicious kelp and bonito broth that is continuously replenished for years on end), toured a neon-lit supermarket, and capped off the evening in a packed chicken joint where we put aside our vegetarian preferences and indulged. It was off-the-scale delicious. Yuki also recommended a lunch place for the next day - Japan’s take on Indian curry. Exceptional.
After a semi-sleepless night in a capsule hotel, we made the short hop to Kyoto where we spent a few days visiting some of Japan’s most iconic sites. Kyoto is Japan’s cultural and historical locus, and it seemed that everyone in the country had decided to visit at the same time to see the changing foliage. We toured traditional strolling gardens, minimalistic Zen rock gardens, ornate temples, exuberant Shinto shrines, and even came across a grove of the rare Truffula Tree. We also treated ourselves to a night in a luxurious ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn, with stunning in-house onsen facilities and exquisite multi-course meals served en suite.
After three days in Kyoto, we boarded the Thunderbird Express to Kanazawa and were greeted enthusiastically by Emily’s host parents from her college study-abroad program who she had last seen eleven years before. They whisked us away, and for the next 48 hours, acted as the most generous and thoughtful tour guides imaginable. We affectionately called them Otoosan and Okaasan (dad and mom) the whole time. While touring Kanazawa’s geisha district, we were interviewed by groups of school children practicing their English. We then hit the road and took in Natadera, a temple in Komatsu.
Over centuries of activity at Natadera, Zen monks carved dramatic caves into a cliff overlooking a meditation pond and a grove of maples.
From Natadera, we hurried to an all-inclusive onsen resort where we arrived just in time to witness a live performance of a samurai play and a geisha-inspired, cross-dressing dance routine. It was all quite overwhelming, but a slice of Japanese life that we hadn’t yet seen. After karaoke, soaking in the onsen, and some all-you-can-eat meals, we returned to Kanazawa and visited the glorious Kenroku-en, one of the top three gardens in Japan. When Emily had lived in Kanazawa all those years ago, this was one of her favorite places to wander. It lived up to expectation.
We traversed Honshu from Kanazawa on the the Sea of Japan to Tokyo on the Pacific aboard the famous Shinkansen arriving just in time for dinner. Stuffed with grilled veggies, miso sauce, and yakitori, we got to our hotel and found “Happy Honeymoon” in rose petal paper decorating our bed. Cheesy, but sweet.
Tokyo
Tokyo is vast, packed with shops, bars and restaurants across seemingly endless corridors of commercial activity. We navigated bustling streets and a subway system that puts New York’s to shame in terms of complexity, exploring some of the famous sites and wandering off the beaten track to parts of Tokyo that don’t turn up in the guide books. In the Tsukiji Outer Market, we discovered what wasabi looks like before it is grated into the green, nose-clearing paste that pairs so well with sushi. Speaking of sushi, we are incredibly grateful to the secret admirers who sponsored the best sushi meal of our lives. Over three hours, we worked our way through a 20-course omakase that was simply divine. As is tradition, Alex topped the meal off with a Japanese ice cream cone (i.e., sushi hand-roll). Dessert: two giant, luscious muscat grapes.
While in Tokyo, we also made sure to get a taste of Japan’s rich gaming/fantasy world, visiting a wild VR center where we raced against each other in MarioKart (Emily won as Yoshi), navigated rapids on a virtual raft, and flew through a stunning canyon landscape on a Da Vinci-esque bicycle flying machine.
On our last morning of the trip, we looked out the window of our hotel room to see a snow-covered Mt. Fuji sitting on the horizon. Over 24 hours of travel later, our plane circled into the Geneva airport, and there, out of the window to the left, was Mt. Blanc welcoming us back home.
Mt. Blanc