It was great. I am glad to be home. A man can only be the ugliest and least fashionable person in a 1 mile radius for so long.
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Apparently my post has to have at least 200 characters so here’s a small report:
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I am glad I did not go to Kyoto or Osaka, and honestly feel like I missed nothing. Of course there are plenty of things there that I would love to experience, but honestly Tokyo was crowded and hectic enough. I loved having leisure time to just explore, like going to the National Museum of Modern Art with no plans, and ending up spending the rest of the day in parks and coffee/shops in Jimbocho. Next time maybe they’ll be on the list, but I preferred not having crowds.
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Soup curry was the best meal I had. I still think about it. Honestly beat out multiple expensive omakase courses I did.
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I adored Sapporo. We were there during Halloween and it was so cute. And just an all around lovely city with plenty to do, but without the huge crowds. It was nice to have a bench in the middle of the city to just sit and eat ice cream, something that’s basically impossible in Tokyo (finding a bench lol).
The Sapporo Open Air Museum is sooo lovely and they have volunteer English guides. He was so cute and funny. We had a lovely time and spent way more hours there than intended. Autumn is gorgeous in Hokkaido.
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Lake Toya is very quiet. If you go, plan to go before the 31st of October. Lots of stuff ends on the 31st (like the fireworks). Plan your meals carefully as places close early. But it is so serene and peaceful and lovely and charming. I did some hiking up Mt Usu and was one of 3 people on the trail. Incredible autumn hiking.
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if you rent a car, pay for the highest level of insurance. It’s not expensive and will save you. My rental tire blew up an hour away from Sapporo headed towards Toya, and it was so stressful and a huge headache. Thankfully I didn’t have to pay $1000 on top of it.
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spend less money on your regular hotels and splurge on 2 nights at a really, really fancy ryokan at the end of your trip. Mine was $600 a night (Tsuruga Hikari no Uta) but it was an incredible cap to the end of the trip. Pure luxury that would have easily cost double that per night in the States. 100% worth it. Incredible food. It was amazing.
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I really am glad to be home. I love Japan. It was everything I imagined it would be. At the same time, there were things there that I just… felt stifled by. It was crowded but often not lively, if that makes sense. Also it’s funny that I thought the US was overboard with ads, but man the audio ads in Japan are something else. Please don’t take it as criticism. Just glad to be home but at the same time can’t wait to visit again!
by orientalmushroom