My trip to Japan - Part 1

Created: 12/1/2024

After watching thousands of anime episodes over the years, playing countless Japanese video games, listening to Japanese music AND finally landing a decent paying job - it was a no-brainer to make my dream come true and visit Japan!

I started preparing for the trip months in advance. I booked all of the hotels and bought plane tickets and, of course, binged nearly every "best things to do in Japan" video on YouTube. I wrote down the stuff that seemed interesting into my excel libre office spreadsheet (I use arch btw).

Fast forward to literally 1 day before my flight. I had just finished dinner and sat down at my PC to print my planning-spreadsheet and, I shit you not, right at that moment my power got cut out.

But wait, the lights were still on...

Turns out it wasnt a power outage - just my PC. The power supply literally died. Perfect timing, innit? And I still needed to pack my luggage.

At that moment, I realized: this isnt just a normal trip anymore. This is officially an adventure. 😎

From now on, my go-to method for trip planning is saving interesting spots directly on Google Maps. Its not only more convenient for planning an optimized route, but it also ensures you dont lose everything if your PC decides to fail.

Trust me, everything is going to take much longer than you initially think it will. Thats why I recommend focusing on 1-2 key places that you really want to visit, and leaving the rest up to chance.

Also literally the same day I discovered something I didnt see mentioned in ANY of the youtube videos about Japan Ive watched. Did you know Japan has gamified shrines and temples ?!

They have these books called goshuincho (usually around 2-3k yen) and you can collect a goshuin (usually 500yen) - a hand-written record of your visit to the temple or shrine. And let me tell you, these are gorgeous.

They also have special edition goshuins for holidays! For instance, there is one shrine that gives out unique goshuins if you visit on a rainy day. How cool is that? This literally made visits to shrines and temples billion times more exciting for me! I was never into collecting stuff like coins and stamps or anything like that, but this? This is on a whole other level.

Because I arrived at the airport early and breezed through all the checks, I found myself with some extra time before the flight.

I decided to try signing up for some limited edition goshuin on the smart ex website... but no luck. Looks like I live in a third world country, so no sms confirmation for me. Oh, well.

The flight

I was flying through China, so it shouldnt come as a surprise that there were a lot of Chinese passengers on the plane.

What was funny though, was realizing I could actually read some of the Chinese text because it had the same meaning in Japanese. Hidden knowledge unlocked, lol.

The seat had a USB port for charging and reclined quite a bit, so I thought this 16-hour flight might actually be somewhat manageable.

Spoiler: It wasnt.

I didnt bring a neck pillow and suffered immensly because of it. Mistakes were made. To make matters worse, there was an elderly Chinese grandma sitting behind me who just kept shouting. Every time she needed to get up, she used the back of my seat as a handle, which shook my seat EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. And she got up a lot.

As for jet lag, I was initially a bit worried about the 7-hour time difference between my home and Japan. Turns out it wasnt a problem at all!

The airline crew closed all the plane's windows, so I could actually sleep. Then, they woke us all up at like 3am in my home timezone, which was about 10am in China. Later on, I could sleep and wake up on Japan time with no issues.

Hours later I arrived at Pudong Airport. The whole immigration process was incredibly fast and almost entirely automated - so cool!

The airport also had ultra high tech toilets, which I would eventually start worshipping.

Fun observation: I noticed a lot of luggage with designs similar to the one that they were picking with Kana in Oshi no Ko S2.

This is actually a well known cognitive bias called Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon also known as Frequency Illusion. But lets get back to the journey.

The plane from China to Japan was pretty turbulent, but I didnt really care that much - I was too busy rewatching re:zero s1. Tthough I did catch myself thinking that it would be nice to get isekai'd to some world better than the one in Re:Zero lol.

Meanwhile, the Chinese lady next to me looked SO PALE. Once the plane finally stopped shaking, we had a bit of a chat. She mentioned she was about to graduate from Meiji University and was working as a Chinese-Japanese translator at a company. Pretty impressive!

Japanese immigration

The Japanese immigration process was the most insane thing I have ever seen - in the best way possible. There was a VERY large crowd of people and an incredibly long line. I assumed that I would spend at least 2 more hours waiting, but that wasnt the case at all!

The line was constantly moving. I didnt stand still even for a moment. The staff was unbelievably efficient, rerouting some people to separate fingerprint machines to keep things flowing smoothly. In the end, i dont think it took me more than 30 minutes to get through the entire process.

What made things even easier was getting the QR code in advance, using this website.

I highly recommend doing this before your flight and saving the QR code to your phone, as you might not have internet access when you arrive.

Preparation

After picking up my luggage, I had two things I needed to do:

1. get my ninja pocket wifi
2. get my welcome suica

The Japanese railway system has many different companies, and you'll often need to change lines. If you want to skip the fun of using the tax-fare machines and figuring how all of the details, you can simply tap your Suica card when you enter and leave the station. Its SUPER convenient. Google maps also shows an approximate cost for your ride, so there should be no surprises. You can easily recharge your Suica with cash at almost every station.

At the time of my visit, there was an IC chip shortage, so the only option available was the Welcome Suica, which lasts for 30 days before expiring. Regular Suica cards last for about 10 years. One thing to note: after Welcome Suica expires you lose all of your money on it, so keep that in mind. However you can use it to pay at convenience stores, so spending any leftover balance isnt really a problem.

To my surprise, it took about 15 minutes to do both things on my list. The Suica machine had a huge sign next to it, so it was hard to miss and it didnt take long to find the pocket wifi counter either.

Now fully equipped and ready to go, I headed out to my hotel! The surprising part was that the entrance to the train station was actually inside the airport. In my mind, the train station and the airport were separate locations, but nope!

The train car that I hopped on was literally made for me:

Then I panicked a bit, because the announced stations didnt match what I had on google maps. But after a few stations they synchoronized again, and I made it to my hotel in Ningyocho without any problems.

I was too tired to do anything else, so I took a shower and went straight to bed.

Day 1. Asakusa

First thing in the morning I went to the 7-11 near my hotel for a quick snack.

There were lots of different tea flavours, so I picked a random one and it didnt disappoint.

I arrived at the Asakusa culture center. If you go inside, you can take an elevator to the viewing deck for free! The view is quite nice. It opens at 9am, but as you will see, by that time, there were already quite a lot of people there.

You thought that was big? Here is the next gate, after a bit of walking:

Fun fact: the other side of the gate has HUGE 400kg sandals attached to it. No spoilers though - check it out yourself.

You are supposed to cleanse yourself, before entering a holy place. There is a "correct" way to do this, but its also the most efficient method, so it should be easy to remember:

1. take the ladle with your right hand and scoop some water.
2. wash your left hand
3. switch the ladle to your left hand and wash your right hand
4. put the ladle back into your right hand and cup some water into your left hand
5. rinse your mouth
6. raise the ladle so that the rest of the water runs down the handle, cleaning it
7. ???
8. profit

If this still seems confusing, you can look up a video online, but it should be pretty straightforward.

For the coins that you use, it should be 5 yen, because 5 yen in japanese is: go en which sounds like goen meaning "good fortune".

But if you were to continue this line of thinking, you could arrive at:

25 yen - which sounds like niju goen, meaning "doubly good fortune"

OR even better

45 yen - which sounds like shiju goen, meaning “constant good fortune”

The amount of money you donate doesnt really matter that much, just be a decent person I guess.

Since this is a temple, after offering the money, you put your palms together (no clapping) and bow. Thats it. Also keep in mind that the process of praying in temples and shrines is different, but we'll get to that later.

Next up is Omikuji!

Basically fortune gacha game.

You pay for it with some coins (typically 100yen) (you can see a coin hole on the next image), take a straw out of the metal box. It will have a number written on it.

The numbers will be in Japanese, so learn to read Japanese numbers. Next you need to find the box with the same number and take the fortune from the top. Here is mine:

LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

but ...

what if you get a bad fortune?! (not me tho 😎)

Don't worry, there will be a place nearby, where you can tie it up and leave the bad fortune behind.

Dont forget to return the straw to the metal box!

Now that the praying and gacha were done, it was time to grab something to eat from one of the many food stalls.

Actually we are not done with praying yet! Asakusa shrine is on the way.

The top part of the gate has a sacred rope called shimenawa (注連縄) and the zigzag-shaped paper and cloth hanging down from are called shide (紙垂). It is used to wander off evil spirits and you will see stuff like this at Shinto shrines, trees and all things holy and sacred.

There is no ladle here, so you will have to just wash your hands like you normally would.

Now its time to pray. The process is slightly harder compared to the temples though. After offering the money, you need to:

1. Bow deeply twice
2. Clap your hands twice
3. Join your palms and pray
4. Bow deeply once

Done.

You can look it up on youtube, or just observe how the locals do it when you get there.

Now for the most exciting part...

Goshuins!

The goshuin-lady was also super nice to me. And here is what she made:

Now I remembered that temples also have goshuins, but the line there was already huge, so I decided to skip it.

I wandered around a bit more, and found this dude:

There is also one of the oldest amusement parks in Japan nearby

I have never tried matcha ice cream before and it exceeded all of my expectations. Its not as sweet as regular ice cream and it really does taste like matcha. I really liked it.

They had some nice chairs outside the cafe and my legs needed a rest. Also I think like 10 people saw me eating the ice cream and came over to get one too lol. Having seats outside the cafe is definitely a really good idea.

It is a 5-story pagoda near Senso-ji and the yellow ornamental finial on top of it is called sōrin (相輪)

Fun fact: The sōrin also acts as a lightning rod, protecting the structure from lightning strikes

I really suggest going off the beaten path and exploring things, you never know what cool things you might find.

But at this moment, I knew exactly where I was going. It was engraved in my memory that Asakusa has one of the best melon pans. I think i even mentioned on my visa application that i wanted to get one lol

Let me tell you.. it was as good as the legends foretold. At this point though I was SUPER full, especially after that matcha ice cream.

I honestly wish I could eat more at this point, because there were so many cool things to try here, but I just couldnt anymore.

Also some of the shops here even sold Katanas for like 20-30k yen. I wonder if you need some sort of license for them, or if you could really buy one just like that?

I only bought some small neko figurine as an omiyage (gift) and went on my way.

Asakusa Don Quijote

It is a store chain where:

1. you can buy literally anything
2. you'll walk in and then wonder where the last 2 hours went
3. the shop's tune will be forever engraved in your mind

It is an ear pin..

Also remember how I told you, that you could buy anything at Donki?

After I eventually got out of Donki, I checked google maps and saw a familiar street name: Kappabashi street. Kappabashi is known for kitchenware and I knew that I had to get one of their famous kitchen knives.

I went into one of the shops and had some nice small talk with the owner. However I got a bit humbled, when he asked me if I was doing kankou. I was like doing WHAT? and then he smiled and said "sightseeing"... so much for getting nihngo jouzu'd lol. Still got a long way to go.

Anyway, he showed me all of his knives and he helped me choose the one I wanted. He was so helpful and patient with me. Since it was relatively expensive, he also showed me that I could go to a place nearby and get a tax-free return for it. And I did just that. The whole process didnt take longer than 5 minutes.

Tax free

What you need to know about tax-free is that you need to keep the item with you, when you are leaving Japan. If you purchase tax free consumable goods, you cannot use them before leaving Japan. However, if you buy some clothes - you can wear it. If you dont have one of the tax-free items when you leave - you could get fined.

Spoiler alert: when I was leaving Japan, I was told I would need to go to a specific tax-free checking place (Haneda had a counter with helpful ladies that told me where to go), I went there, rang the phone, the lady came out, took my passport, presumably she checked the things that I bought, came back a few minutes later and told me its daijobu. They didnt even check anything, but your mileage may vary.

Next location

Now that the knife shopping was out of the way, I realized I had forgotten to visit Asakusa Skytree. However it was quite far at this point, so I decided to head to Ueno park instead.

Rumors say, that you cant go more than 200 meters in Japan without seeing an ancient shrine or a temple. So look what I found on the way:

There was absolutely nobody there.

Little did I know, the gate of steiner led me here, because this is actually one of the shrines that Rukako had to clean in Steins:Gate!

To be honest I didnt even realize this was a Steins Gate location at the time (its not even in Akihabara!!!), I accidentally found out while doing research for the blog. (thanks to the kind people on google maps reviews)

El.Psy.Kongroo.

And the goshuin was one of THE prettiest that I got:

I am speechless tbh. Finding this place by accident is truly amazing.

But its time to move on.

Also can we talk about Traffic lights for a second? In my country there is a countdown with numbers and when it reaches 0 the light changes. In Japan there are no numbers, so I was a bit confused.

Well it turns out im blind, because there are BARS near the person symbol which deplete as the time runs out.

Unfortunately since it was Monday, all museums and even the zoo in Ueno were closed. F

But not all hope was lost, because I found Ueno Toshogu Shrine.

Fun fact: this shrine was originally erected in 1627 and then rebuilt by Tokugawa Iemitsu in 1651. It has avoided all of the disasters since then, including the WW2 and various earthquakes.

Also it even has its own Gachapon machine lol

Unfortunately I didnt have enough coins on me.

There was also a paid section of the shrine and if you ever have doubts, let me tell you from experience: it is always worth it to go.

I also got another goshuin there, but this time it was not hand-written.

Tanuki is a raccoon dog, a deity of luck and victory, especially popular with students and new graduates.

I meditated by the tree for quite some time. It was really peaceful and I really needed to calm down a little, since there were so many new experiences and things going on.

10/10 would recommend

Then I prayed at a small Tanuki shrine (no spoilers, but you can actually see him there), before entering the next location and witnessing this:

After this I went to explore the rest of the Ueno park.

There are vending machines almost everywhere in Japan, which is really convenient. Also in most of them, you can pay with suica!

Anyway..

I thought that "Pocari sweat" was a funny name for a drink, so I went for it.

I should have probably tried more different drinks from vending machines, but if it had pocari sweat in it, I would almost always get one...

It would have been nice to stroll near the pond for longer, but it was around 4pm and my stomach started sending me urgent messages.

I opened Google Maps and found a Japanese restaurant with a solid rating nearby. So, I followed the map to what seemed like the entrance - except when I opened the door, it was like stepping into a post-apocalyptic bar scene. Lights out, drinks everywhere, chairs tossed around, some stuff just outright broken. I thought for sure I'd walked into the wrong place, so I quickly closed the door and checked my map, wondering if I had just accidentally stumbled into a crime scene.

Then, out of nowhere, an old Japanese man appears, greets me and says with a huge grin:

"something-something-something Paatii owatta kara" (TL: the party has ended)

For some reason it was SO funny to me, the dude also looked like he had a great time lol.

After a solid laugh to myself, I gave up on the mystery bar and opted for a chicken curry at an Indian restaurant nearby. It was surprisingly good - and cheap.

Later, as I finished up, I checked Google Maps again and realized I was within walking distance of a certain legendary spot that any weeb would recognize.

Akihabara

If I had to describe it in one word, it would be: Heaven.

Have you ever wanted to get a haircut, like your favourite waifu/husbando? Akiba got u covered.

Its not cheap though. (also this poster looks so well designed, I love it)

And then, as I casually strolled down the street, I noticed something strange. The stairs. You know, the ones that are burned into the memory of anyone who ever watched a certain anime (or played the VN). I doubled back like a detective on a hot lead, and sure enough, my weeb radar had once again proven its accuracy.

Every steins gate fan knows about this place, but it had completely slipped my mind until this moment. It was already closed, but I was so happy that I stumbled upon it. I now knew exactly how I wanted to kick off my day in Akiba.

I walked a few meters down the road and wanted to check the maps again for some other cool spots nearby, when suddently the girl came out of the LaLaLa cat cafe and was like:

Bro, u maigo?

I was like, "Daijobu!" and waved her off, but honestly, it felt so nice to be looked after like that. Japanese people in general treated me really well and were always ready to help, when I needed it.

Suprisingly the GPU prices were not that different from my country.

Then I found a Mandarake nearby. It has many floors (as usual) of mostly books. Some floors are more cultured than other though.

I've been rewatching ReZero recently, so I had to buy this. (maybe someday I`ll be able to read it too)

If you are wondering about that 🤮 sign, don't worry - it has absolutely nothing to do with the contents of the books on this shelf. Instead, its a warning from the staff about how they feel when you:

1. take a book and don't put it back in the same place
2. damage the cover

Please be careful.

As for the store itself, it was a goldmine of hidden gems, and I couldnt stop exploring (for research purposes of course). But what was really funny was observing the other customers.

There was one oji-san (old man) that was visibly very pissed off. He kept going through EVERY single loli hentai they had in that store, looking like he was on a mission. It was quite a sight lol.

At this point I was too tired to go anywhere else, so I went back to research all of the cultured goods that I have obtained.