Hmmmn, Trying to think of an intro but couldn't really think of a good one.
Oh well, let's just start it with a typical "Good day guys" ish. This is my first blog here
so hope I don't mess this up. 😅. My name is Cookie and currently living in the West side of Japan. It's summer here and every summer we have a 10 day vacation, so I decided to Travel from the Kansai to Kanto. Kansai is the west side of Japan, Kanto is the east side. And yes Kansai(関西) and (関東) literally means west and east region when translated to English.
Just to give a brief image on my travel, here are the places I went to.
(The red dots are the places I stopped over, photo from google maps)
Summer here is a bit harsh, coming from me who grew up in a tropical country, I say it over and over again, summer here is much more intense! (fight me) Some people love it and some hate it. It's more like either you "love it" or "hate it" season, there's no really in between.
I personally hate summer here, and the beaches here is just meeeh 🙄, so I really don't go to them.
Soo many people and the water is not that clean. You can go there during night time to party but on the daytime I wouldn't recommend it. Don't get me wrong other islands are beautiful but in mainland Japan, beaches here are just.. eeeh...
Let's just say, I have high standards when it comes to beaches.
So let's start off, I wasn't really planning on going anywhere this summer vacation, but suddenly my friends in Tokyo asked me if I was coming this year, because every year I always meet them. I though for a second and just said "fuck it! Might as well do it". So just decided to travel abruptly.
Choosing a transportation
B U L L E T T R A I N
If you're like me, and like to go to your destination ASAP and with no hassle just ride 新幹線(shinkansen) or (bullet train). It's pretty direct. Less hassle than going to the airport because there are a lot of bullet train stations rather than airports. It's fast and you don't have to book anything, just go to the station, buy a ticket and voila! That easy! But it's much more expensive than the other options and since the destination is point to point you can't really stop to visit other places along the way, unlike going by 普通電車(futsu densha) or (normal train)
(here is a photo inside a Japanese Bullet train)
A I R P L A N E
I would say going by plane is the cheapest if you booked ahead of time, prior the travel is within Japan and not from overseas. There are a lot of discounts but a hassle because you need to get out of your way to go to airports and be there a head of time. So only do it if you have a certain fixed schedule months before.
B U S
Bus I would say, . . is the goto transportation for most people when it comes to long distance travels. Because it's not that expensive and also the most comfortable, well depending on the bus. It ranges from simple bus seats to a whole sofa. But like planes you also need to book beforehand. Well at least a day or two before your travel. There are a lot of bus stations so there are a lot of options as well.
(Some pictures of the seat options you can have)
Disclaimer: photos are credited to Willer Bus, This is my goto bus and highly recommend it.
This time I chose the bus because I was on a tight budget and there are also places I wanted to stop by in between my travels and not go straight to Tokyo.
The Travel
First I kicked it off by going to a 花火祭り(hanabi matsuri) or (fireworks festival). These kinds of festival happens a lot in different places in Japan during summer season, so a definitely a MUST if you are travelling in summer.
T A T S U N O
The festival I went to is in Tatsuno City. It's not a known city in Japan. It's on the province side. My favorite part about festivals is the food stalls, but this year they decided not to do it because of the corona situation. Here are some pics during the festival
(One of the best things about summer in Japan is the fireworks festival so be sure not to miss it when you are here in Summer)
K Y O T O
The next day after the fireworks I went to Kyoto. My bus is in Osaka but Osaka and Kyoto is near so I decided to visit there first before going out of Kansai.
I heard there was a flee market going on and decided to visit. Flee market means street food so we definitely going. Took some pictures of the flee market. It is outside of a temple.
(Flee Market In Kyoto, you can find handmade stuff to antiques and my "favorite"! STREET FOODS)
N A G O Y A
After visiting Kyoto. I took a bus from Osaka to Nagoya to visit some friends, it was about a 4-hour ride. I stayed there for 3 days just bonding with my friends and ate good food. Here are some photos of my visit in Nagoya.
S H I Z U O K A
After Nagoya I went to Shizuoka, Shizuoka is a really nice place full of nature near Mt. Fuji. I I was only there for 1 day to visit my cousins. This time I took a local train because it's not that far from Nagoya. It was really fun and hoped I could have stayed a bit longer. I had Filipino food that I really missed and then went around a bit. Wanted to go to Mt. Fuji but I needed to get to Tokyo the next day so I decided not to. Here are some photos I took in Shizuoka
(I was been there for only a day so I just ate as much as I can and then took a quick stroll near the river)
T O K Y O
On the Next day I'm finally going to Tokyo, from the place I was staying it took about 5-6hours bus ride. I arrived there in the evening and just when I got there I met up with my friends and partied all night. Coz when you're in Tokyo, Night life is a must experience. I stayed there for only 2 days because my summer vacation is not the same from my friends and my work starts and ends earlier than most people. Here are some photos of the fun moments I had in Tokyo.
(Shin Okubo, Shinjuko has the biggest korean town in Japan and man this place is wild)
(Odaiba, Tokyo is a must place for tourists if you are ever in Tokyo, I have been here a couple of times but I still can't stop visiting whenever I am in Tokyo area)
The End of the Trip
As everything in life goes. All good things must come to an end, also at the end of this travel I've lost so much money that I think I will be relying on cup noodles for a couple of days. But hey! I don't regret anything.
We spend so much time with work that we often forget what we live for.
And that would be the things that makes us genuinely happy, friends, family your dog, cat.
Always find time for them, because we don't really know how much we have left ourselves.
On the evening I took the night bus going back to Kansai, as I got on bus and sat on my seat. I felt Everything just went too fast. The week felt like minutes, hours I've spent felt like seconds.
Guess time really flies when you're having fun. It's as if it has become a dream.
I felt sad and happy at the same time. It's sad that I needed to go back, but happy because these memories will stay forever in me and with my friends. Someday we will talk about it and laugh with these memories.
I guess I was still having a hard time accepting that my summer vacation is definitely ending, even so, I am pretty sure I will be coming back again next year with a brand new batch of memories to take back home again.
Tatsuno
[//]:# (!pinmapple 34.828212 lat 134.531190 long One Week Travel from Kansai to Kanto (Tatsuno) d3scr)
Kyoto Toji Temple
[//]:# (!pinmapple 34.981371 lat 135.747654 long One Week Travel from Kansai to Kanto (Kyoto Toji temple) d3scr)
Nagoya
[//]:# (!pinmapple 35.170897 lat 136.885800 long One Week Travel from Kansai to Kanto (Nagoya) d3scr)
Shizuoka
[//]:# (!pinmapple 34.724132 lat 137.485412 long One Week Travel from Kansai to Kanto (Shinjohara Shizuoka) d3scr)
Tokyo
[//]:# (!pinmapple 35.701051 lat 139.700092 long One Week Travel from Kansai to Kanto (Shin Okubo Shinjuko Area Tokyo) d3scr)
PS: All photos are mine unless stated otherwise
PS: All photos are mine unless stated otherwise
This is so crazy but so much fun!!
I am so jealous of the 10 days vacation! I don’t have that so meh, my summer vacation is just like a weekend. Yours is really one of a kind!
What an adventure!!
Going around in places and bonding with friend, eating good food, that’s pricey considering it’s Japan but so so fun!
Lol I thought you go out every weekend with your friends. Sorry couldn't see you and kevin and apple. Wanted to but just don't have enough time
It's okay! There will be a next time anyways~
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One thing I admire from japan is their public transportation. It looks very comfortable, neat and seemingly comfortable. I hope to visit Japan one day and thanks for sharing these detailed how to and your trip.
No problem, glad I helped a little. Hope you can visit soon. Also for tourists visiting Japan they can buy an unlimited ride for bullet train within Japan public railways. The railway covers the whole mainland Japan including Hokkaido region. It's like 200USD I recommend purchasing it if you ever come here and want to visit a lot of places. Just a tip. Hope you are having a lovely day macchiata
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