It was back to Tokyo today. Finally goodbye to those "sauna" hotel rooms in Nagoya! However, check-in time wasn't until 3pm so we decided it would be best if we just left our luggage in lockers instead of travelling back and forth just to leave our luggage with the hotel. There weren't many days left before we return to the UK so my friend...

We were off to Osaka today. Originally I wanted to visit Osaka Castle early morning when there should be fewer people but my friend wanted to go off to a Virtual Reality conference back in Tokyo so we decided to skip it. It was going to be a pop culture day again because we were going to head straight to Den Den Town which was basically Osakas...

Well, after a day's break of wandering around shops, it was back to touring the land of the rising sun. While I'm a big fan of Japanese games and Anime, I was also interested in Japan's culture thanks to all the TV programmes I grew up watching such as documentaries and travel programmes so I decided we should go visit a rural village while...

Today was a break day for us. Originally I never planned any rest days but my friend didn't want to travel to places every single day in case it was too much of a tow so, we did our separate things today. Was probably a good idea since holidays was about relaxing and visiting places by the clock can be quite stressful. All that rushing around...

We were off to Nara today, Japan's very first capital city established back in 710 before it moved to Kyoto and then today's Tokyo. I was at the back of the hotel now after the room change. Don't know what the building opposite was but it had a well kept garden. Never actually seen or heard of Nara before until my friend mentioned it while I...

Our destination today was Kyoto because we wanted to see the more traditional side of Japan. Tokyo wasn't always the capital. It's a tradition for wherever the emperor dwells to become the capital and before Tokyo, it was Kyoto. Kyoto was the second capital of Japan between 794 - 1868.   Early morning - well, not really early. Just...

Today we were going to move base to Nagoya because it was in between the other places we wanted to visit next. It was also going to be our first time on the Shinkansen (Bullet Trains) which was exciting because they looked awesome to travel on. They also made the JR Pass worthwhile since you could go on them as much as you wanted and, a single...

Ah yes, Ghibii Museum! This place is so busy you'll have to book 3 months in advance if you want a chance of getting in. Especially during the holiday seasons. It was either a JR train to Mitaka Station or a Keio train to Kichijoji. We chose Keio even though we had a JR Pass because it was faster by a 5 minutes or so. I read the route from Mitaka...

Another nice day, around 20C and sunny. Today we were off to Chofu where the Kitaro O-cha-ya [Tea House] and Jindai Temple is. Early morning onigiri breakfast. This time I went to a nearby supermarket place instead of the Lawsons conbini. Didn't taste very good and they didn't support IC cards as payment so cash only ^^; I heard...

Since our hotel was in Tokyo, I decided we would visit Senso-ji first which was in Asakusa. Always see the temple in travel programmes about Japan with its giant red lanterns. We went out the wrong exit at Shibuya Station on the night we arrived so, we didn't really get to see the famous crossing during the night. This time we did early in...