Japan - Toyota and Ueno

The Tokyo factory tour was amazing. It was in the middle of nowhere and pretty hard to find (do your research beforehand before you go) but it's definitely worth the time, and it's free!





The tour starts at the Tokyo showroom where you get to watch a robot play a violin (pretty damn well, and so many degrees of freedom in that left arm make it very smooth), then catch a bus to one of the plants. Today we got to see the assembly plant and my god it was an eye opener. The welding production line of robots was incredible, and the manual assembly line was another level of work ethic and speed. Their philosophy is kind of what Agile is based on, and we even got to see some Kanban cards in action! I would definitely trust a Toyota after going on this tour.





My first train bento was from Nagoya to Tokyo and involved a completely runny egg that we managed to crack on our beer cans without it going absolutely everywhere.



Tonight we saw some beautiful cherry blossoms and a lot of drunk people in business suits appreciating them. Tomorrow is our last day in Japan and we're planning to spend it appreciating the cherry blossoms in Ueno park in the light of day.







Probably our last ramen in Japan :(

Japan - Nagashima Spa Land

What a fun park, but man were there waits! We got there for the park's opening time of 9:30 but we were quite far back in line and we literally ran to the Steel Dragon 2000 and managed to get on within 30minutes of waiting. Best ride of the day, it was a lot more intense than I thought it would be! My eyes were drooling so much.



We went straight for White Cyclone next which was a 1h wait but definitely worth it. The roller coaster itself was very rattly but the main attraction was how you felt like you were surrounded by the white wooden structure when you were in the middle of the roller coaster, just like being in a cyclone.



We did a few small rides next that really were not worth mentioning. The Space Shuttle was boring, the  Space Shot (like a reverse drop) was sooo boring but maybe I'm just being judgy because the wait for each of them was so long. We actually really enjoyed the Shuttle Loop which was like a launch swing roller coster with a loop, the Ultra Twister was pretty smooth (and didn't make Andrew sick!) and we also really enjoyed the Bobkart which was like a weird electrical bobsled thing that seated two people with the back person controlling the speed (the funnest method was to stop, then accelerate to the full speed over and over). We got some nice views from the top of the giant Ferris Wheel.



Towards the end of the day we decided to bite the bullet and wait 45min for the Acrobat which is a roller coaster which you face down on. It was fun, particularly the famous pretzel bit, but I thought it was a bit boring otherwise although it knocked Andrew's head about a little. One thing I found hilarious is that in the gift shop they had (as usual) confectionary themed on the roller coasters and the Acrobat had pretzels… but they were straight stick pretzels! With all the other nonsense ride-themed confectionary (also rife at Fuji-Q) what a missed opportunity to make the confectionary in the actual shape of the roller coaster track, argh.



I did the Giant Frisbee on my own and enjoyed it, but I think mostly because I got on pretty much straight away.

Next we went to the Illuminations which blew our minds. It was just so lovely and beautiful and romantic. The main illumination section was like an Alps scene that cycled through the seasons with a little character that sang yodels. Very pretty and we watched it through a few times without getting bored one bit. There were also two tunnels of light that were just fucking magical.

Japan - Osaka, Nara and Kobe

Takama, known for it's unique and fantastic soba (buckwheat) noodles, is the first Michelin star awarded restaurant that Andrew and I had been to. When we got there, we weren't sure it was actually the right place until we saw that people were starting to queue (we were pretty much the first ones there at 11:25am).



Lunch was simple and delicious. We ordered two miso-flavoured entrees to share including some tofu aged in miso which tasted like cheddar cheese, and a sort of buckwheat and cabbage fritter served on a wooden spoon. Both sides were around 500 yen and were really interesting. I couldn't finish mine because, believe it or not, I thought it was a bit too salty! Andrew finished his, but he had a beer to balance the saltiness.





Andrew and I got the same dish but with a different style of noodle. I got the inaka (whole buckwheat grain) noodles, while Andrew got the mori noodle (a more delicate and light coloured noodle), both dishes served cold with a dark dipping sauce made of at least soy and mirin. These were both 980 yen and absolutely delicious. I can't believe we can't get soba noodles like this in Perth!





Next we made our way to Nara to see some shrines, the great Buddha, but mostly (lets be honest) lots of deer in Nara park. There were so many deers! We bought some deer biscuits from a vendor on the side of the road (for 150 yen) and got mobbed (one even ate my map, what is it with deers and eating our maps?). At least the deer bowed to you before asking for food, so polite!











The great Buddha was gigantic and very impressive. The 5 tiered pagoda was lovely (Andrew had me convinced for far too long that it was Japan's first TV antenna), and the gardens were absolutely beautiful and very tranquil.













For dinner we had Kobe beef in Kobe at Steak Land. It was my second experience with teppanyaki and marbled steak, and my god it spectacular. We again got two different grades and shared them, and both were really nice. The more expensive one seemed a little more tough but more flavoursome, but I still maintain that both tasted like you were sucking butter out of them (in the best possible way).





Steak Land was less fancy than Heki but the food was just as delicious, but I think I'll always remember my first experience with wagyu at Heki as the best mostly because I had no idea what to expect and kind of thought that it was going to be Andrew's thing and I'd mostly enjoy the vegetables. I don't think I'll eat anything close to this anytime soon!

Japan - Himeji and Osaka

Himeji's castle was gorgeous. The outside was better than the inside, but we're glad we got there for the opening to see the inside of the main keep.

It was a really nice day trip to make, and we wandered around the castle and grounds for about 2h before heading back to Osaka. 

Finally I found the deep fried earth moving machines again! I got a deep fried excavator.

Tonight we went to Heki for teppanyaki and we had wagyu beef (me for the first time, Andrew the first time as teppanyaki). The experience was amazing, and our chef was really talented. The feature of Heki is that all of the chefs are women, and it really was beautiful seeing her prepare the meal.

The wagyu beef was the best meat I've ever eaten. The best way I can describe it is that it was more like a dessert than steak (although it wasn't sweet), and it tasted like you were sucking butter out from inside the meat. Amazing, I had no idea it was that good! The whole meal came to just over 200 yen a head, which is just over $100 each and it was so much more than what you would ever get for that amount in Perth.

Japan - Tokyo Dome to Osaka

Today we caught the bullet train to Osaka, chilled at our cool hotel for a bit, then headed out to look around the Minami area. After wandering around a bit, we looked up what the best okonomiyaki in the area was and settled on Mizuno. After a 1h wait in the cold we got in and had some amazing okonomiyaki. 1h wait in the cold worthy okonomiyaki? In hind sight yes, but I wouldn't do it again.

We also fluffed around a bit on the way back trying to find some damn corn flakes. Damn you Family Mart! And Lawson, where the hell were you when we needed you? We have definitely been spoiled for convenience store choice everywhere else but have been lacking the luxury in Osaka. We finally got some at a Daily Yamazaki.

Japan - Tokyo Dome

We started off today with a run around Yoyogi park. It was so nice, even though we were getting some funny looks because Andrew was in shorts and a tshirt in 6 degree weather. I was in my tights-aren't-pants and a thermal underwear top so maybe that was attracting some judgement too. The park was a beautiful place to run.

Checking out of Sakura Fleur was a bit of a nightmare. The hotel itself and the staff were all lovely (they even gave us leeway on our checkout time, and a lot of free water bottles), but the problem is to get from the hotel to the station you have to go over an overpass which means carrying your luggage up and over a whole bunch of stairs. Ouch my shoulder.



Tokyo Dome is the best hotel we've stayed at so far. We enjoyed the room a bit this afternoon, checked out the Tokyo Dome Dolphin Thunder roller coaster which goes through buildings and the hollow ferris wheel, and finally headed to the baseball this afternoon.









Go Giants! Man what great atmosphere for the opening game, which was a derby between two Tokyo sides. The guys behind us were relentless in their inventive chanting, and we even managed to get involved in a few. Lets Go Sakamoto! Home Run Home Run Garato! It was so much fun! Andrew bought a jersey for Sakamoto and also a mystery bit of merchandise which we later found out from a lady selling them outside that it was a clapper (and I was clapping it wrong).



Bar 2000 was cool, great views, nice negroni and patatas "bravas", but it was a smoking bar so yuck. Although I did tell Andrew that if he ordered the 120 glass of whiskey I would order a cigar.



Man these songs are catchy!



Happy Good Friday everyone in Perth!