Japan is my favourite country. Calling it now!

I flew into Osaka late on the 19th and despite challenges at the airport (like only one working ATM and everything in Japanese!) I made it to my hostel. The train in from the airport took about an hour and was so clean, and eerily quiet! I was suprised to see an actual driver and was pleased to have english announcements haha

Thursday was my first full day in Japan and I spent all day out exporing Osaka! I had ramen for lunch in this tiny little shop which was very Japanese so you face the chef - so good! There were so many fun things in Osaka - they have a huge Ferris wheel in the city centre and I went to a viewing tower where you could see so much of the city! I think it was all the little things I loved, like their taxi doors open automatically!! Talk about living in the future haha! I'm loving the food so far, I mentioned ramen but I've also had waffles and a yummy seafood bisque like inside a bread roll so you can rip off and dip!

On Friday I got my JR Pass from Osaka station and jumped by first Shinkansen to Tokyo! Man they go so fast and are so clean and comfortable! I loved that there wasn't a catering carriage persay but instead just a girl in a tiny pink dress who pushed a cart up and down the train selling things! When I got to Tokyo, Nina met me at the station! Another friend in another foreign country!! We spent the afternoon together and made our way to my hostel then back to where she was staying. After I left her I spent some time riding the trains and decided to jump off at a random station to get dinner. Turned out to be where all the government buildings were which was awesome!! No dinner though so I went another couple of stops then managed to find this little back alley place serving dumplings! After dinner I went and saw the scramble at Shibuya crossing which is just as intense as it is on Tokyo drift haha but I was amazed that nobody was running into each other or anything, everyone just knows where everyone else is headed and steers clear. Such beautifully organised disorganisation haha the trains in the city are so easy to negotiate with lines having a letter assigned and stops having a number so you just have to remember you need to get to for example A8 and the rest is easy!

Saturday I spent the day with Nish. We had sushi which was really yum and she made me try new types so that was great - she always encourages my adventurous side haha! We went and got Starbucks together and did some shopping - the fashion is just so Japanese! Beautiful shops though! In the afternoon Nish went back to her fam so I went out to the Tokyo Skytree to see Tokyo from above! I stopped by the postage museum which was in the same building - I've never actually seen a stamp collection before haha so was very very impressed! The view from above was really cool, it was a clear day so I could see really far. For dinner I saw a sign for sizzler so followed it haha was really good!!

On Sunday morning I left Tokyo at about 5am bound for Nagoya. There was a sumo wrestling tournament on and it was the last day. You can buy box tickets beforehand but the on the floor ones are sold in the morning so it's just luck of the queue - I missed out by about 30 people! Ahh well! I walked back through Nagoya to the station and got the next train to Kyoto. For lunch I had ramen again, I'd read about this place in a blog so followed the advice to visit, well worth it! Another little thing I like is that in food courts there are drinking water taps as well as clothes provided to clean your own table - I think that's what I admire most about the Japanese is that they see it as their duty to contribute in every way they can, no one has the attitude of "someone else will do it". In Kyoto I stayed in a really cool capsule hotel where each capsule has its own TV! The showers were a bit awkward though... in keeping with true Japanese style there was a shared bathroom for the whole building with a rule of no clothes allowed inside which was confronting to say the least! There was a huge onsen bath where you could bathe communally and then a few showers which I used but with the tiniest/flimsiest doors ever - think the flippy wooden doors you'd see on the kitchen entrance at a pub - not very private at all!

On Monday when I woke up I was watching a parade on the TV in my capsule, it was in Japanese so I didn't get much but it was cool. I finally headed outside and found that the parade was here in Kyoto on my street!! So that was cool - there were different floats with Japanese people in various traditional clothes leading them along. People lined the streets! So cool! I spent the afternoon wandering around Kyoto seeing the castle and parklands. I just can't get over how clean all the streets are even though you don't see any cleaners anywhere! Even the train stations and back alleys are clean - I didn't realise I instinctively hold my breath until I didn't have to haha! At night I went and saw Kyoto tower which is beautifully lit up once it's dark. I ate in the mall near there and just got meat and veg. It's easier to get vegetables here than Malaysia but I was still lacking a full dose!

Tuesday morning I set out for Hiroshima. A few hours on the Shinkansen and I made it just after lunch. I ate just near the train station and got traditional food called Okonomiyaki which is essentially just noodles, cabbage and veg in soy sauce with an egg on top. So yum though!! I also tried plum wine which was good! I dumped my stuff at my hostel and headed down to the Peace Park for the afternoon. It was really powerful seeing all the leftover destruction from the WW2 atomic bomb but also super inspiring how much everyone in Hiroshima is trying to move forward, even though there are still survivors alive today. It was interesting wandering around the park seeing how many Americans were there as tourists - I think I would have a different experience if it was my country's fault. I went to the museum at the park which had a collection of recounts being told by survivors and they were all quite detailed and horrific. One struck me as interesting; a man explained how he had lost his brother in the blast and that his family became displaced because of it but he said during his retelling, as an old man, that the worst part about it was that they lost the war. Truly eye opening insight into the disappointment the Japanese have about losing the war despite winning on so many fronts. The rest of my time in Hiroshima I spent at the markets (all 4 blocks of them!) which again for reinforced that moving forward attitude in the vibe of everyone!

On Wednesday I tried to see Mt Fuji but failed miserably. I caught 4 different trains from Hiroshima to try see it but by the time I reached in the afternoon, clouds had rolled in and it began to rain! I was annoyed but what can you do! I got the train again and made the last keg of the journey to Tokyo. I had dinner just near the main station in this awesome buffet restaurant which... wait for it... had partitioned plates for eating off! And I'm not talking like half half or split into four, there were 9 different slots - perfect for buffet style eating where you want a little bit of everything with no overlap!!

Thursday was my last day in Japan and I was in Tokyo. I went out to the markets Sarah told me about at Ueno which were really cheap and very local-style markets! I spent the afternoon there and wandered around the nearby park where the zoo and art gallery were. It was a really good last day in this beautiful city and country! I headed to the airport around 8pm and had ramen for dinner before my flight to Shanghai for my next stop!!