Month: November 2025

Japan – 21st October 2025

Travel

Somehow we ended up going to bed at 11pm last night, not quite sure how that happened, probably because it was only 3pm at home and so we felt really awake. Thankfully the melatonin kicked in instantly and we both had a proper long sleep.

I managed to drag myself up and out for a run at 7:30 this morning, feeling very stiff and sore, rest doesn’t seem to help weirdly. Then both downstairs for our first buffet breakfast of the trip, which was… not nearly as good as Busan, but not too bad. We were quite late so I ended up having green curry and rice, which actually went down very well, Trix managed to find some pancakes and bacon, of course (we had yoghurt too!).

The rest of the day was, surprisingly, shopping! Very successful outing, but lots of walking. We started with a wander through the Kuromon Market which is just near our hotel, similar to that street market we saw in Kyoto, food everywhere, the smells were insanely good. King crab, raw sea urchin, wagyu beef, prawns, so much. Both sad we didn’t have any room for anything.

Decided that we really didn’t need lunch, but at 1pm needed a sit down and a snack, luckily Osaka really is the kitchen of Japan, you’re never more than a few steps away from something delicious. We sat at a counter and had freshly cooked Tako-yaki (yep, more octopus balls!).

Counter to earlier promises, we split up, it feels so safe here and our sore feet insisted we minimise walking for a bit. Got the tube to skip some of the distance, Trix took our bags back to the hotel and I went off to get myself a nice Japanese cooking knife. We met outside Animate and, properly hungry now, found the closest Ichiran for some perfectly spiced, just the right richness of broth, noodles just-so, ramen. Booths, as we both needed a bit of quiet time!

Very pleased to get back to the hotel early, Trix is in PJs with a hot water bottle, I’m on the sofa wondering where to stick all my new stickers. Early bed promised, Nara and the famously tame deer tomorrow (oh and a temple that was first opened in 752, which has a giant Buddha in it!).

Japan – 20th October 2025

Travel

Less restful sleeps last night, my lovely wine pairing with supper spoilt mine, and Trix woke up at 5:30. Needed to be up early anyway as we had a 7:15 breakfast slot, enough time (for me) to have a soak in our onsen first, watching the fog swirl around was very peaceful.

Somehow we were in time to catch an early train, with space for us and our giant suitcases. We felt like we were in a studio Ghibli film as it slowly snaked and zig zagged its way down the edge of this ancient volcano. Occasionally the forest would open and we’d catch sight of the other side of the gorge, rushing water below, tendrils of cloud caught in eddies of wind, then it would close in again, the green tunnel steeper than you’d think a train could cope with.

Easy train change at Hakone-Yumoto, with plenty of time for coffee in Odawara station before our Shinkansen to Osaka.

Having all our tickets and instructions is so helpful, we just need to look in our information pack for where we need to be and by when, then follow the instructions. Makes the whole process a breeze and very low stress.

Mount Fuji briefly appeared between the clouds passed, just as elusive as it’s been for the last few days, we’re hopeful that the weather is kind to us when we return to Tokyo next week.

“I’m hungry” Trix says at 12, her lunchtime internal timer appears to be unaffected by jet lag. I’m still quite full from eating most of both of our breakfasts, including the grilled mackerel that was looking lonely on Trixs side of the table. My western style choice included an octopus salad, not quite my usual yoghurt and granola. The scrambled eggs with wagyu beef stew was a well received interpretation of what people in the UK might eat in the mornings.

We realise that our itinerary has a typo and the train takes 45 minutes longer than we thought. Every time the door to the next carriage opens our eyes snap up, hopeful to see someone with a food trolley. The hotel presented us with some pickled plums as we left, they’re slowly starting to seem a bit more edible.

As the train approaches Nagoya I joke that Trix should make a dash for the nearest vending machine, we both know that’s a ridiculous idea, and anyway the machines we saw earlier only had cold water and hot coffee.  When our window passes a very well stocked kiosk, we look at each other, eyebrows raised. “I reckon I can make it”, I’m looking at the departure board hanging over the platform. “No, don’t, it’s too risky, don’t get left behind on some random train station”, Trix sounds panicky, there is a queue forming to get off the train, another to get back on. I can see the cold beer waiting for me.

“I’ve got 6 minutes, look”, I point, and stand up, “loads of time, I’ll just grab whatever I can see, yeah?”, inserting myself into the queue in a very non-Japanese way I make for the door, just making out the sound of Trix groaning behind me.

I’m back in 4, tuna mayo onigiri, crisps, coke and a delicious Suntory premium malt. Sorted, I love Japan.

Arriving in Osaka was a bit of a shock after a weekend in the mountains, but we managed to get ourselves and our cases to the hotel relatively easily (having pre-charged IC cards made a huge difference). While our room was finished being prepared we zipped down the road to B Side Label to stock up on stickers.

Very brief sit down then off to meet our group for a “retro” food tour, whatever that means.

Turns out that we stopped in about 4 different places that served traditional Osaka food, Japanese of course, but with a very local twist. The highlight was octopus balls, or more accurately Takoyaki. Little sort of dumpling things covered in sauce and loveliness, could have just stayed there!

Was great to meet some other people and by the end of the evening we were all chatting away.

Got back to the hotel about 9:30, unpacked (!) and now just reading a bit before lights out.

Japan – 19th October 2025

Travel

Good sleeps, much needed! The phone went at 8am which lurched us awake, why hadn’t we turned up for our breakfast? Minor crossing of wires, back to sleep for Trix, I wrote my journal on the balcony and had some coffee.

Interesting breakfast, I’d guessed Trix would prefer the western style one but hadn’t anticipated it would also be lost in translation. Octopus wasn’t really what she needed, and she was very suspicious of the pink centred sausages. I was very happy with my grilled fish, rice, and pork stew, perhaps we’ll swap tomorrow.

Fun day out though, funicular railway, cable car (weird with no snow), pirate ship over a volcanic lake, and a gentle walk through a very green 400 year old cedar forest.

We (Trix) figured out which bus we had to get to get our way back, and 20 minutes later, around 1pm, we luckily found a 7-Eleven 😂 Equally handily there was a pub just around the corner, with lots of lovely IPAs and bags of nuts.

Short walk (not even wobbling) to the outdoor modern art gallery, which was way better than expected. Drizzle didn’t detract from the Henry Moore sculptures, worth coming to Hakone just for them.

Hotel, onsen (Trix braved the public one only to be sent away for wearing a swimming costume, retreated to our own one until she nearly fainted from the heat), then chill in the bar, then food!

Another 7 course meal, incredible again and this time Trix was there for all of it (even if she raised an eyebrow to my enthusiastic adding of the wine pairing).

Did our usual walk afterwards, back to the room to pack, bed now, breakfast at 7:15, Osaka tomorrow.

Japan – 18th October 2025

Travel

Flight was fine, just long. We didn’t sleep much, not really surprising I suppose, just a nap really. It landed early which was nice, not too long through immigration and then into the taxi that Trix had been dreading for hours…

I explained through the magic of hand gestures that she can get car sick, and he drove very smoothly and nicely. Phew! Lovely route (once out of the industrial part of Tokyo) along the sea and then a long winding road up through thick green forests to a small town near the top of a mountain.

Found the hotel, dropped our bags and freshened up then headed up the funicular railway to the top of the mountain (via a coffee shop for caffeine and eggs). Slow walk down the mountain through some super pretty mossy green gardens and a museum of pottery.  Stopped for a late lunch of (much larger than expected) rice and tempura, then thankfully our room was ready, early!

I got straight into our private onsen, super hot, deep, wide, with an amazing view over tree tops and mountains. You can hear water gushing below the hotel, which is sort of hanging off the side of a mountain. It’s really peaceful.

Early dinner at 5, lots of sashimi and wagyu, then Trix went off to her NYC call and I finished off supper only own.

Sadly the internet is a bit…crap, and she had to bail out of the call. Such a shame after all the preparations and organising, but sometimes life throws a spanner in the works and you just have to roll with it.

We chilled in the bar for a bit, then went for a leg stretch (without Billy, very odd!), had an ice cream, then chilled for a bit before both collapsing into deliciously comfortable beds, the first time we’d laid down since we got out of bed in London, which felt like a week ago.  Both asleep almost instantly.

Japan – Epilogue

Travel

We landed on the 18th of October at 6am (my 49th birthday incidentally), and over the following 12 nights and 13 days….

  • Stayed in 5 different hotels
  • Spent 21 hours on trains, travelling over 980 miles (when measured directly, in reality much further)
  • Walked or ran 214,161 steps (113.4 miles), although Trix didn’t do any of the running!
  • Sat in taxis for 2.5 hours
  • Kayaked 3 miles

… it feels like we’ve been away for a month, we’ve packed so much in.

The research, plotting and planning that went into this trip is undoubtably a lot of effort, though we can’t take any credit for it whatsoever. A good friend recommended the Inside Japan travel group, and well, time is money and all that.

This isn’t meant to be a review, more of a recommendation. We had a 30 minute call with Simona and went through what me and Trix did and didn’t want to do (individually), literally a bit of a brain dump. A little bit of back and forth taking into account the sorts of things going on in October, shuffling priorities, and we left it there for her to figure out a proposed itinerary.

Given this call was only 2 weeks before the trip, I was super impressed to get back a detailed document with nearly everything we’d discussed, and some more. “Sounds great!”, we pulled the trigger, waited for our printed instructions in the post, and started packing.

A car was waiting for us when we arrived in Tokyo, as were two packages at our first hotel. One had a box of Kyoto chocolates, the other contained all our train tickets (each trip in a little paper clipped bundle, neatly marked with a sticker of the journey details), charged IC cards (the Japan version of an Oyster card), vouchers for some of the excursions, and a lovely welcome letter.

We quickly settled into a routine of not thinking more than a day ahead, enjoy whatever was planned for today, trusting that everything is not only taken care of, but thoughtfully planned for maximum convenience.

Some days we didn’t have a set plan, we’d asked to be given breaks to follow our noses (or sit in a bar and drink beer), so it never felt like we were rushing between things on a strict timetable.

All the trains were at civilised hours of the day, usually between 10 and 11am, with plenty of time for breakfast and an easy journey to whichever station we needed.

Each destination in our printed pamphlet (which is very well worn now!) had a QR code which gave us a guide to that place. Reading “our perfect day in …” whilst on the train there became a lovely travelling ritual.

So many small details were thought of, and it would have been easy to miss them if we hadn’t done all this (on a smaller scale) ourselves last year. 

Like the tip on which train line to get from our hotel in Tokyo to the Avatar cafe, the secret basement level for the taxi pickup, which of our hotels had gyms, which had laundry facilities, and what time breakfast was served.  All things we could have found out ourselves, but being able to consult the oracle at any point and find this out was not only a huge time saver, it was a source of comfort and as the trip progressed I trusted it more and more. 

I would never have known about “luggage forwarding” otherwise, and even if I had I don’t think I would have risked it. When we arrived at our hotel in Tokyo our cases were wheeled out to us while we were checking in, a seamless service, and one I would absolutely use again.

Usually I fret about the taxi to the airport: Will it be on time? Will it turn up at all? What’s the backup plan? Will the car smell and the driver be half asleep? Not this time, I knew it was all going to be just fine, and it was.

Trix obviously wants to return next year, I’m thinking of somewhere different, but our choice might be swayed by whether we can find a travel planner this well organised, knowledgeable and capable. 

I’m probably totally spoilt now, but honestly, I don’t enjoy wading through pages of search results, following myriad threads in an attempt to judge whether a hotel or excursion is good, bad or a scam. Or jumping between the different local rail companies to try and piece together a multi leg journey, with seat reservations (how long do we need to allow for changes? Who knows!). Without all that agitation I was able to relax and enjoy being with Trix, distractions were minimal and we could have a laugh, and focus on on the important things, like what we were going to eat next!

Offloading all the planning was a massive relief and a huge time saver, leaving us to enjoy each moment and the wonderful country. 

This trip will stay in our memories for a long time.