Autumn Trip to Japan Part 1

Hello everyone and welcome back to Tiro Finale! A part of the the reason I have and by extension, the rest of the Tiro Finale crew, were on hiatus towards the latter months of 2019 was because I had being doing a lot of traveling. There is a lot of boring stuff involving moving several countries, catching a lot of flight and moving to a new job but, that is really a story for another day. The exciting bit though, that had to be my autumn trip to Japan which I will be breaking down over this two part series. 

I could have gone with any other title besides something as ambiguous as a trip to Japan. Japan after all is a pretty large country with many, many points of interests. But as I will be detailing throughout this recap, this trip involves a large number of locales including some very awesome hobby stores. So, make sure you stay tuned for that!

First up, we landed in Tokyo shortly before midnight. Part of my tradition upon landing in Japan is to have a Katsu-don. Do not ask me why, I do not know. It is just something that I do. Unfortunately I could not find any this time around at several of my nearest convenience stores! So, I had to suffice for some prawn cutlet sandwich instead. Still, very good. 

Equipped with a JR Pass this time around, the goal was to visit as many prefectures as possible for this autumn getaway. Oh, and also to leave as much Mami graffiti around as possible too.

First stop after landing in Tokyo was a very popular autumn attraction, Nikko. Famed for its beautiful autumn colors, Nikko was a surefire autumn tourist attraction which is crowded even on weekdays.

Even on a day with particularly bad weather with rain and heavy overcast, there were still many visitors to the surrounding shrines.

The horrible weather coupled with all the umbrellas around made it very difficult to navigate the tight walkways and, worst still, take photos. It is times like these where I truly appreciate the weatherproof aspects of both my phone and camera. Nevertheless, it was still a real pain to get good shots. 

With Nikko done, it was time to head back to Tokyo for the day. But not before we said high to Domo-kun. 

Went home, decided to watch some late night anime and what do we get? The re-run of Love Live of course! It even happened to be in one of the pivotal recruitment scenes between Eli and Nozomi in the first season. I sure am glad the original Love Live has aged well in terms of animation and production qualities. 

Next day, we were up nice and early to head to our new base and a city I have always wanted to visit, Nagoya! At this time of the year, Nagoya looked absolutely beautiful with all its autumn leaves and surrounding city vistas.

A quick visit to the Nagoya castle. It may be a completely rebuilt castle but, the site itself was of much historical significance. As with most castles in Japan, visitors were allowed to climb up the castles and the various tower outposts which surrounded it. 

Next stop, the famed Nagoya Port Aquarium which is known for housing one of the few orca whales in captivity in Japan. Their live shows were exceptionally good with a large screen zooming in on all the action and ample seating for all the visitors. 

Illuminated jellyfish?! Well if I were to ever get pets, I know what I would be getting.

Parfait-goals, am I right? I don't know if I will ever see such an offering by a restaurant ever again. But if I do, I would definitely like to grab some close friends and tackle these behemoths!

Cuisine-wise, Nagoya is famed for its Unagi Hitsumabushi (grilled eel on rice). If you are ever in Nagoya, make sure you try it out even if it means having to wait for a bit!

Having some time for shopping in the evening, I finally bit the bullet and got myself a new lens that I had been eyeing for quite a while. This prime lens would then go on to be my main lens for my Olympus EP-5 over the course of the trip. 

Next day and the destination was another one high on my wishlist, Kobe! 

I have always had a great deal of love for port-side towns/cities and Kobe was no exception. Many visitors often overlook Kobe but, if even it is just for a day, I would strongly recommend paying Kobe a visit.

The Kobe Nunobiki Ropeway is certainly one of Kobe's main attractions and should not be missed. Head there first thing in the morning for a stunning view of the city and once you are done, you would still have plenty of time left to go about your day.

Why did I take this picture of this Mazda 3? Besides the fact that a close buddy of mine is completely infatuated by it, I happen to think it is a really good car. And it serves as a reminder that I should definitely revisit Hiroshima when I have the chance to!

With there still being time left in the day, we took the country roads drove up the mountains and into a farm. 

That is right, we went to an actual farm in Japan. This was a completely impromptu thing and I had never planned to actually planned to be visiting a farm during my time in Kobe. 

See? It looks just like what you would expect of a farm complete with a silo an shed. Not to mention, farm animals. 

This particular farm was special because visitors could get really close to the farm animals. Weird as it may be, this is the closest I have actually gotten to a cow. 

There is so much more that I would love to talk about Kobe as we spent a good full day there from dusk till dawn. The last place we visited was Kobe's Chinatown. It was definitely a serviceable Chinatown and probably on par with the one in Yokohama. Though, I somehow find the charm of Japan's Chinatown(s) starting to wear thin on me these days as I somehow feel they are rather over-commercialized. 

Nevertheless, I still absolutely loved my time in Kobe and was glad I made the trip down. The next part of my trip will be covered in the second part of my autumn trip to Japan which features several special places like Kyoto, more of Nagoya and even Akihabara. Stay tuned for that which should be out on Friday. Until then, thank you so much for reading and have yourself a wonderful day ahead!