Category Archives: Japan 2022

Japan Day 5 and 6 – Tokyo

Posted on by
Reply

Had a late start to day 5 (which was technically my last full day in Japan), but we still did a lot, and lots of walking!

We started by getting food at this ramen place called Izobachi (note that the one we went to was only found in Apple Maps, not Google. Also, this place was at a food court in a mall where one of the Google offices is at):

https://food.johnmatienzo.com/2022/11/27/izobachi-misoramen/

We then went to a Starbucks in the same food court (one thing we did notice is that not only are there a lot of 7 elevens, but Starbucks is super plentiful).

Another interesting thing compared to the previous time I was in Japan is that they are cracking down on smoking (in the sense that there are now designated smoking sections. This used to not be the case).

Afterwards, we headed to Yoyogi park. We stopped by what seemed to be a Spanish food festival, and got an interesting sweet Belgian beer (pictured below).

From Yoyogi park we walked to Harajuku. We stopped by Uni Qlo, and IKEA, but didn’t by anything. We also walked through the street called Takeshita Atreet, where apparently they are famous for having people (usually girls) dress into cos play (honestly, the street was really packed, and there was a lot of shops, but only went in McDonald’s to use the waste basket and restroom).

As an aside, another thing to note about Japan is that they really don’t have a lot of garbage bins except for in restrooms, and occasionally near a vending machine outside).

Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel by walking. Along the way we did stop by a mall and Park that seems slightly similar to the Saleforce park, which was called Miyashita Park.

We then took a 3 hour rest back in the hotel (around 6:30pm) to prepare for a long night out.

So we made moves at 10:30pm. We met Ben G. near a dog statue at Shibuya station (see below). The history behind it is that the dog apparently always waited for his owner at the station every day he would come back from work. Also, we were trying to find food for dinner. Unfortunately most sit down places at 11pm were closing (and sit down speak easys) were closed by then, so I had to make due with eating things from a Lawsons while walking to the nightclub Womb. What I ate: chickatsu (basically a fried chicken patty), these chicken balls (one was with cheese, and another was with lemon), and a salmon onigiri).

The DJ we saw at Womb, we Hernan Cattaneo. He’s mainly progressive house without vocals. He was really good. Womb has 3 floors. Main and top floors were the best (top floor was playa house music). The last song was at 4am. After we got food at this Ramen place called Ichiran:

https://food.johnmatienzo.com/2022/11/27/ichiran/

The next day (basically 5 hours after the Ramen place) I was flying out to SF at 5pm. I checked out of the hotel at 1pm (it’s only 1000 yen per extra hour after 11am). Then we went to a conveyor belt sushi place 2 minute walk away from our hotel:

https://food.johnmatienzo.com/2022/11/27/kaisen-misakikou-shibuya-higashiguchi-shop/

Then took an Uber black (yea, it wasn’t a taxi… probably Uber cars only exist if going to and from the airport) to the airport at HND. It took about 30 minutes.

At the airport, used priority pass to get into the ANA lounge. Gotta say, one of the best lounges in terms of types of food, and they have a shower (see last picture below)! I also shopped at the duty free for Japanese Whisky. Unfortunately couldn’t find the one I wanted (wanted the Hibiki blended). Got a Suntory whisky.

Japan 2022 Day 4 – Kyoto / Tokyo

Posted on by
Reply

We started off the day by checking out the Starbucks at the Gino District, where you can drink / eat Japanese style (ie sitting down on the floor). Here are the details :

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2022/11/25/starbucks-gion-district/

We the taxied it back to Kyoto Station, where again I did get some McDonalds, and then caught the Shinkansen train to Tokyo (Shinagawa station). The train was 2.5 hours. I felt a bit nauseous at first, but got used to the high speed.

After getting to Shinagawa station, took one of the JR trains to Shibuya station. Our hotel is actually connected to the station (as the name, JR East Mets Shibuya, would suggest).

After getting settled in, we went to a close by conveyor belt sushi place in Shibuya (which was very close to the Shibuya scramble, which was super busy, as pictured below).

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2022/11/26/katsumidori-seibu-shibuya/

After, we headed towards Shinjuku for some nightlife fun. First stopped by Golden Gai (so I could compare it to the burning man experience). Lol, the bars there are super tiny, but really fun. We went to one where the owner made a really good music video about Shinjuku.

Then we checked out Shinjuku Nichome. Basically you go to the local convenient stores (7 eleven, Lawson, etc), drink some seltzer or hard liquor, and then bar hop. We went Arty Farty, Dragon Men, and King.

Ended the night taxiing it back to the hotel.

Japan 2022 Day 3 – Kyoto

Posted on by
Reply

We checked out of our hotel in Osaka (Hotel Intergate) around 11am and headed to Osaka station to catch our 12:30pm JR-west train to Kyoto station (picked up an onigiri for the train ride!).

After getting to Kyoto station, we dropped our bags in our hotel, Henn Na Hotel (they were pretty strict with only allowing check in after 3pm).

After dropping our bags, we tried this McDonald’s out at JR Kyoto station:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2022/11/25/mcdonalds-jr-kyoto-station/

From there, we took the JR-west train to the Fushimi-Inari-Takisha shrine (which I’ve been to before). On our way back to the hotel, we also stopped by the Tofukoan Temple (I spelt it this way last time I was here, but it’s actually Tofukuji Temple). Although this time around we could find the Zen Garden.

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to rest for 2 hours so that we could get ready for a night at the Gion District.

We took the JR-west and subway to Gion (see the end of this post about the train systems here).

We started at the area where you may see Gesiha’s. We went to the following speak easy, and then the following restaurant for dinner (we were trying to find a spot for Kobe beef, but they all basically stop serving at 9pm. Good to know for next time!):

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2022/11/25/bees-knees/

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2022/11/25/abusan/

Afterwards, we tried to clubs, both in the Gion district (they are supposed to be the best ones in Kyoto). One was World Kyoto (would not recommend. They kept playing Michael Jackson and Bruno Mars with bad transitions). The other one was called Kitsune Kyoto. I would go back here since they played 2012 top 40 edm (ie Zedd, Hardwell, etc). One thing to note about the entrance fees of the clubs is that they give you a drink ticket, which is basically the price of what a normal drink would be).

We then taxied back to the hotel.

A couple notes about the transportation system in Kyoto (ie getting around):

Taxis: calling them through Uber is hit or miss (ie wait times are sometimes long, or they cancel). You can usually try and flag one down faster than getting one through Uber.

For Kyoto, there are three types of trains in the station: Shinkansen, JR-west, and subway (aka the local metro). To get around Kyoto (ie to Gion or the Fushimi-Inari-Takisha shrine), you would use a mix of the latter two types of train (Google maps is your friend to find out which ones to use). And for the latter two, Suica is fine for payment (love Apple for iterating it with the iPhone).

For the Shinkansen, that is supposed to be for really long journeys (and it is fast). Typically you need to buy two types of tickets (one is the basic ticket, and the other is the limited stops ticket). When purchasing the ticket, you will have the option to add the limited stops ticket as well (I guess some people may not need it since they have a monthly pass limited stops ticket) You can buy the tickets at either the stations using terminals, or buy online (however if you buy online you still need to pick up the ticket at a terminal using the credit card you purchased it with. Also. each Shinkansen train has a name, ie Nazomi, and a specific number. Use that name and number to find which platform you should go to at the station by looking at the monitors. You can also find the platform via Google Maps by searching for the train routes (and specifying the date/ time your train leaves (although platforms are subject to change).

Japan 2022 Day 1 and 2 – Osaka

Posted on by
Reply

Flew into Japan from New York (EWR) into NRT, which was a 14 hours flight. Wasn’t bad since I was sitting in an exit row with economy plus on United (and also watching episodes of Below Deck Sailing Yacht). One interesting thing is our flight path was through Canada over the North Pole.

After reaching NRT, immigration was fast since I completed the immigration and quarantine info on the Japanese government website beforehand (just showed several QR codes). Will say the amount of English known by people in the airport is very limited. Then from immigration exited the secure area and went to security to go to the domestic part of the same terminal (they allowed me to bring my full water bottle in, I just had to separate it from everything else. One other note is that I flew ANA, which is definitely better than the alternative Peach (a peach employee wanted me to weigh my carry on back, and it could only be 7kg, which mine was 11.7 kg… fortunately we both realized I was not flying ANA).

When I got to Osaka airport (ITM), I basically followed the directions to the taxis (as Uber uses local taxis). I ended up not using Uber though and asked one of the taxis drivers to take me to the hotel (they accessed AMEX as payment).

The hotel I was staying at in Osaka is called Hotel Intergate (in the Umeda area of Osaka). Will say this area is pretty different from the Dotombori area (more city like, and I think less tourists).

After settling in, headed to Kitashinchi area (in Umeda), and there were a lot of restaurants, clubs, and drinking spots in the (narrow) streets. We checked out a speak easy called The Auriental. More information can be found here:

https://food.johnmatienzo.com/2022/11/23/the-auriental/

Then ate a a really good ramen place called Tsurutontan. More info here:

https://food.johnmatienzo.com/2022/11/23/tsurutontan-kitashinchi/

That concluded the first day in Osaka.

The second day in Osaka was mostly about Universal Studios Japan. We ordered an Uber (but really a taxi) to go there, which was only a 25 minute ride away.

For Universal studios, we got a basic ticket plus an express ticket for certain rides (totally recommend doing this as it saves time in the lines. For the rides unfortunately it comes in a set and you cannot choose individual ones). Should get this ticket like 3 weeks in advance if the trip.

When we got there, we put some stuff in the lockers before the entrance (since it was raining), and also got ponchos.

From the entrance, we headed straight to Super Nintendo World. I thought it was really well designed and done, especially bowsers castle (it reminded me of the N64 Mario cart Bowser castle). The ride itself inside (Mario Kart: Koopa’s adventure), was a great way to combine VR (yea, you had a headset), and a physical ride. You basically were able to shoot shells to other karts and enemies to get points, all through the CR headset and physical steering wheel).

After, we ate these Mario “shells ” that has ketchup, cheese, and spaghetti filling. So good.

We then went to Yoshi’s adventure (not gonna lie, it was a short wait for a reason… it wasn’t super great).

The above two rides are really the mai. Attractions in Super Nintendo World (btw, I also got a bracelet that allows you to hit these bricks for coins. Don’t think it was worth it. However, apparently you are suppose to be able to play a game where you find 3 keys through Nintendo world, and then you enter a secret level. I didn’t know that until we were about to leave the park).

Afterwards, we headed to the Harry Potter section of the Theme Park. There were two rides (only did the 4D adventure one, Forbidden Journey). The ride and Harry Potter section itself was very similar to LA. Only noticeable major difference is that all the characters usually are speaking Japanese, not english.

One thing I will say is that it was hard to get hard throughout the park was hard liquor. Beer was easy. Also, sitting down in any indoor cafeteria usually required you to get a set meal, which was a bit annoying. We ate at an indoor cafeteria place called Louis Pizza. They served a kaku highball and pizza. I thought they were both great.

The other ride I did was the Spider-Man 4D ax tire ride. It was also similar to LA. The ride I didn’t do from the express pass (since didn’t want to go on roller coasters) was the backdrop, and Hollywood dream.

Other places in the park we walked around were the Jurassic area, Waterwold, Minions, New York City, and San Francisco.

When we exited the park (took 6.5 hours in total), we went through the City Wall just outside the entrance. Slightly similar to LA, but definitely more Asian places (and not really and bars). There was a Gap store though.

After universal Studios we cabbed back to the hotel for a 2 hour nap.

Then head to Dotonbori via subway. There, we ate at a yakitori place. Details here (note there are two of almost the same onesZ you want to go to the one that does not say nakaza (even though below has it in the name).

https://food.johnmatienzo.com/2022/11/24/torikizoku-dotombori-nakaza/

We then explored around. The area. Will say it was a bit more dead than when I first was here several years ago. The club Giraffe I went to before seemed also dead. We walked a bit north from the main bridge of Dotonbori, and there were more clubs. Some may have been popping, but we ended up going back and calling it a night (there was an expats place called Queens that we walked by and I would have been interested to go to).