We made it to Japan!! Oh yes we are banjo deliverers now, if you need anything delivered, please let us know. Anything is worth the travel across the world right? 

My first impressions of Japan pleasantly surprised me! We spent only 1 night in Tokyo as we had a volunteering experience to get to. 

Steal our Tokyo Itinerary: 

It was surprisingly difficult to find affordable hostels in Tokyo, so we ended up staying at a capsule-esque hostel in a female dormitory, Ace Inn

Dinner at Tempura Funabashiya Shinjuku

Eat some Tayaki fish in Shinjjuku

Sleep off our jetlag and get some rest! 

Next day- 

Pack our bags, and drop them off at a coin locker near the bus station where we will take the night train. 

Breakfast at Matsuya (they have many around, it’s a chain) you order outside on an ATM looking screen and pay, then pick up your food with your ticket once it is ready. I highly recommend it on a budget and traditional Japanese breakfast. 

Matcha at Willbe Lab. & Cafe

Then we walked around the area going in to camera shops. If you are looking for cameras in Tokyo, most places with have great lenses although the bodies are in Japanese. So I would recommend bringing your body from your country and buying lenses in Japan.

We strolled around Meji Jingu

We booked a free walking tour through Tokyo Localized and then you offer the guide a tip 

After that we walked around the Ueno Market had some food there and then we walked around the Shimokitazawa area (favorite area!) very cool, hip, young, lots of nice thrift stores! 

Then we took our night bus to Kanazawa through Willer Express! 

Here is that same itinerary in video form in instagram:

View this post on Instagram

Some things that surprised us in Tokyo: 

• People are so kind & helpful like ladies working at the airport telling us to be careful on the escalator down, so sweet. 
• Business men in suits walking around Tokyo in bunches. 
• The sounds of the cross walks. Some go pwee poow pwee pow and others go beee booo beee booo. Apparently it’s to know in what direction you are going like north/south or east/west. People are quiet when walking in the city (shocker!). Like people don’t talk loudly in the streets. They are simply quiet or on their phones (still quietly). 
• Somehow the streets are quite clean, especially for no public trash cans anywhere. I would recommend carrying a small bag to put your trash in 🙂 
• No eating on the streets, when do these busy people eat?!
• The convenience stores are heaven! You can get some nice sweets, cool drinks, onigiri, a meal, even clothes…
• The napkins, are like a bit like oil paper
• People are kind & firm. They are respectful when they say something and the rules are the rules

Steal our day in Kanazawa itinerary: 

We arrived in Kanazawa at like 7AM and our luggage were back in the coin lockers (thank goodness for coin lockers, genius invention) 

We walked around the streets of Higashi Chaya District which I highly recommend this early in the morning because no one was around. It did start raining, so after we went to eat the famous fluffy pancakes at Cafe Tamon. 

Then we walked around, saw some temples & shrines, saw the Kanazawa Castle, there was a free tour in English while we were there, then had a curry at the train station. Where might I say that the train stations in Japan are like shopping malls and there is like a ton of food places to eat at, there are like little boutique and sweets shops here and the locals are eating and buying things there. It’s incredible!! 

Train to Kaga Onsen

And then finally we made it to our volunteering! 

Volunteering at Takigahara Farm- 

We arrived at our home to volunteer! It felt so magical, so nature-esque, and everything felt so perfectly imperfect. Like everything was out of a studio Ghibli movie. (heads up, this eventually does rub off). 

Oh I almost forgot, we are volunteering for Takigahara Farm which is a cafe, hostel, and craft space in the Japanese countryside. 

And of course with life’s synchronicities and meant to be moments, we got there and a mutual friend from San Diego was there. 

A little video about that here:

View this post on Instagram

And to top it all off, we arrived a couple days before a music, art and culinary festival! Welcome to Ishinoko festival fellow readers

Here is a lil snipbit I made of the 3 day festival. It’s better in person, so in conclusion you should go!!! Usually in October each year and all fundraised on donations! 

View this post on Instagram

Ishinoko opened this whole new world for me, 

1- Hippie Japanese people. Ok looooove (note that this was definitely a small bubble of Japan)

2- Expats living in Japan and speaking Japanese. When I say living in Japan, the average time expats were living in Japan was like 5-7 years. I was mind blown.Quite a bit of Americans too. I was inspired and impressed at their love for the language and culture of Japan.

3- Chefs from all over the world. It was so cool that this festival is very multicultural and very food oriented. Mainly by teaching about the local foods and very big on foraging. So if you are a chef, RUN DON’T WALK. Seriously tho, go check it out.

After the festival madness, we were off to volunteer our regular schedule which consisted of cleaning the hostel, helping out in the cafe, helping making content for Instagram, and cleaning out a garage. All the staff are all so friendly and we really got to connect with everyone there and our fellow volunteers. As mentioned above, it is a bit of a hipster/hippie place for Japan and sometimes things had its sense of flow. Not extremely structured like I like to organize things. And guess what? It works out, everything always worked out even if it wasn’t the way I would organize things haha. This is a big lesson I have been learning, that traveling has taught me a bunch of. Not everything needs to be planned to the T. 

It’s funny because I am usually the Type A kinda gal and my sister is usually more the Type B. For this Japan trip tho, it was weird, it was like we switched bodies. She was the one communicating with the volunteer organizers or planning things. I was just like doo dee doo in my airy element. Honestly, I wasn’t mad about it. It was such a mind boggling twist to me. I really enjoyed going with the flow, and trusting her and her planning. Sometimes, it wouldn’t work out and that’s how we both learnt too. 

Also, time was such a warp. Time felt like it was extremely slow and also at the same time it felt like the month there went by so fast. This was my very first fall, so it was my first time experiencing the weather becoming actually cold, not a So Cal cold or a Moroccan cold (which is probably like 15C at the coldest haha). I just wanted to hibernate, sleep more, it was so not me. I usually wake up early like 6AM, meditate and do yoga and am extremely productive. It was weird, at some point I felt so unproductive, helpless, and not gonna lie, a bit, down. I felt almost numb. Then I got reminded that actually I was being productive doing nothing. I was thinking more, sitting in silence more.

I have been learning that life is a cycle, that rest is normal and very productive too. I do have to give it to myself that I have been a non-stop workaholic for most of my adult life, and I am just now realising that rest is good. So yay, fall is teaching me to change, parts of me falling off and being in a rut. Thank goodness for good company and for amazing adventures we would go on. From late night onsens, to making hot pot in the staff house living room, to random costco runs, to driving far for ice cream and more sweets, it was a true pinch me moment. Costco in Japan felt like a hug from home, with a sprinkle of more asian goods. It was super fun because we were 4 Americans (all different ethnivities) & 1 German and it was so funny to see our European friend jaw dropped at the large sizes of everything. It was a giggly fun moment.

Here are some recommendations I have if you stay at Takigahara or volunteer there: 

• Book the Sauna! The view, the relaxation, the sweating out all your toxins in nature felt just incredible, bring dome friends of go solo.

View this post on Instagram

Here is a cute Takigahara guide that Anais and I created:

Here are the places with the google maps link:

• Ippei Sushi; Apparently good sushi for a good price, I don’t eat fish so I wouldn’t know.
• 8989 Taiyaki Cafe; Various flavors to choose from, the rice batter (gluten free) is a bit crispier, the drinks are good too and a bit sweet. A good sweet snack!
• MooMoo; creamy fresh icecream with unique flavors. I loved the hojicha flavor 🙂 Nice ambiance and say hey to the cows for me
• Pinecone cafe; Nice spot to grab a matcha in Komatsu and friendly staff
• Pizzeria Suolico; if you are craving some good pizza this is it. The pizzas will probably come out one at a time.
• Yamashiro Onsen; a classic onsen with 2 differnt hot tubs. Don’t forget to grab an onsen ice cream (hokaido ice cream, onsen egg & soysauce)! I know it sounds weird & it’s so good!!
• Another Onsen; this one was nice too, they had an outdoor bath, a sauna, and multiple temperatures available (along with cold)
• Ramen Tsunagu; go to ramen spot in Komatsu
• Takigahara Cafe; definetly go here for some amazing fusion dishes. I highly recommend the cheesecake, the creme brulee and the Mugwort mocktail (I forgot the real name of it, it is mugwort based), if you have period pains or diegestive issues it will help. Thank me later
• Marugame Seimen; udon chain with tempura, afforadble and delicious. You can top it off with more dashi, and other toppings yuuum
• Blanc a pois rouge; a cute little bakery with some good pastries. I tried the chocolate macadamia S pastry

Anais and I split up, she went to Tokyo for a week and then I stayed back volunteering a bit longer. Then we met in Kyoto. Kyoto was one of my go-tos because as a reiki healer, I wanted to go to the country and then the exact place where Mikao Usui, the reiki guide in my lineage, was enlightened. I took a night bus and got to Kyoto very early. 

Steal my Kyoto itinerary: 

Day 1- 

Hike up Fushimi Inari; highly recommend to go early to skip the crowds (I went near 6AM on a rainy day)

Matcha at Vermillion cafe; nice matcha, nice ambiance too

Free walking tour by Kyoto Localized

Go to Yellow Deli (we used to go to the one in California all the time and so we wanted to eat some food that felt like home; I got the Yuzu Cider & the spinwhich)

Check into hostel; I stayed at Next Door Hostel it was okay, it could have been cleaner, the capsule beds were nice since they were separated, not a lot of space for luggage, nicely situated by the Kyoto station

Day 2- 

Kuramadera Temple & hike. I did this hike in my tevas because I got rained on the day before and surprisingly I was good. An older man on the hike was like “oohh” and pointing at my shoes. Once you hike up to the temple you can go inside and write a wish on a piece of wood and they will burn it every 28th of the month. It was so magical to do this hike, and especially alone. I really enjoyed it and I definetly recommend it even if it is a bit out of the way.

I met friends at the Nishiki Market and walked around. Lots of food here, and usually lots of people

Day 3- 

Met up with the sister !!

Went back to Yellow Deli haha. This time I had the Tofu sandwich and it was sooo good, and ofcourse we had to have a cheesecake agh a taste from home. We got some banana breads to go and oh wow it tasted like the best banana bread EVAH. 

We somehow took the wrong bus and ended up exploring the Bamboo forest which was super beautiful. So beautiful that everyone was there too. It gets crowded fyi.

Arashiyama Area (by the river was absolutely gorgeous)

Then Anais checked into her hostel & surprised her with our volunteer sister ! Her hostel seemed to be nicer and breakfast included its called Guesthouse Soi

We walked to Kiyomizu-dera Temple and then down the road of many touristy shops and tourists

Drinks at Good Morning Bar; A very cool, vibey, retro bar. 

Vegan Ramen at Uno Ramen I recommend to make reservations, it was a bit pricey, a nice splurge for the veg/vegans, super cute traditional seating on the ground. 

Walk around Higashiuoyacho area and the river, it was super cute!

Day 4- Osaka

Train to Osaka 

Checked in to our hostel Hostel Q (I didn’t really like the area that it was located and the dorm was a bit smelly, I don’t really recommend unless you want to enjoy the party scene)

Walked around the area

Weaving workshops at Saori; You can book by email or on instagram, it was a fun experience to do and get crafty. It takes a couple of hours and I would recommend bringing some water to drink haha. 

Check out this cute video of us making scarves:

View this post on Instagram

Got the iconic fluffy cheesecake at Rikuro Daimaru Umeda There are multiple locations, we struggled to find this one that was in a station, there is a line but it goes by quickly, since it is so fluffy you can easily eat one per person ahah, there are 2 lines, a line that says freshly baked and another line prebaked. I was a bit worried that the cheesecake needed to be refrigerated, we ended up eating a freshly baked one and it was delicious. It was fluffy, eggy, and little raisins at the bottom for a sweet touch. 

Matcha at Neel. We were in need of some matcha after that workshop so we hit up this very cute cafe. The decor was on point, somehow earthy and futuristic. 

Met with friends for dinner in Tenjimbashi area and ate at an Izakaya, many around.

Drinks/cheesecake at Baum. I know another cheesecake? Girl what?! I don’t really drink so I went for this pumpkin, caramel cheesecake I think it was and it was sooo good! The owner was so so friendly and her menu looked delicious too, you can tell that she puts so much love and intention in everything she does. 

Arigatoooo Japan for so many fun adventures, amazing connections, and wow a whole lotta culture and goood food! 

The next day we were off to Korea. Look out for the next blog post where I’m going in DEPTH about going to the fatherland for the very first time!