Jet lag has me rising bright and early, which I love! Every day's been feeling nice and full, with gorgeous weather. Not too hot, not too cold!

Today, we hopped on the Shinkansen with our JR Rail passes to go to Osaka (Shin-Osaka station is just 1 stop from Kyoto station). Osaka is known for their food, but also their aquarium, so we grabbed an awesome deal which was the Osaka city pass. It's your admission to the aquarium, plus unlimited subway travel in Osaka for 1 day. The pass was just 2000円 and it was well worth it! Highly recommend for a day trip. 

The JR, like the Kyoto buses, were super easy! Each stop is numbered, so even if you have trouble with romaji, it's still easy to follow where to go. Each sign is in English and Kanji, so unless you're bad at public transit in general it'll be a cinch to blend in with the crowd. The Osaka pass we got is just a ticket you feed into the subway gate. So convenient!

Aquarium

At the aquarium, there were a lot of street performers doing awesome tricks! The aquarium itself was huge, with tons of really cute and scary fish. I'd say Toronto's Ripley's Aquarium is definitely on-par with Osaka's. At the end of the tour, you can even pet sting-rays and smalls sharks! A shark's skin feels like sandpaper, a stingray's is softer and slippery.

Dottonburi

After that, we went to Dottonburi for food! The street was packed and felt like a carnival with all the busy stalls and wacky building signs. It reminded me of a certain street in Niagara Falls...
I got the takoyaki (their famous squid balls in Osaka, with mayo and dressings). It was delicious!!

Osaka Pokémon Center

My feet were killing me by the time we finished there, but I also wanted to check out the Pokemon Center, so we hopped back on the subway. The trip was a blur since I was just trying to walk, but the Pokemon Center was bright and colorful! Lots of plushies and games to play... I was tempted to get a handkerchief because there are no hand towels or hand dryers in public washrooms in Japan that I've seen. Everyone carries a personal hand towel on them. I didn't get one though, hoping to find a more grown-up one somewhere late, haha. They were pretty cute though!

I was in so much pain by the end of the day that all I can report is that it was worth it to experience the place! Tomorrow will definitely be running shoes...

Temples and shrines on my bucket list for Japan! I love the architecture and gardens that surround these places, so I was very excited to go to the Golden Pavilion (Kinkakuji)!

Our house is really close to Kyoto station, so we were able to take the 205 bus all the way to the top of the city where the temple is. The ride was really pleasant and people were friendly as we tried organizing our 7 people group around them. My friend Sean and I made friends with this one kid sitting with us who was collecting acorns with his family. I got to practice my limited Japanese and I think the kid was impressed by Sean's size (he's a big guy)! When they got off, the dad told him to say goodbye and it was really nice seeing them all wave as a family.

The buses in Kyoto make a lot of sense, and I think they're really foreigner friendly! (Here's an awesome map we used to get around!)

Kinkakuji

When we got to our stop (it's called Kinkakuji so it's really easy to spot), there was a small souvenir shop. I grabbed some stuff for my parents and then we went up to the temple.

One thing I didn't realize was that you had to pay to get in. Nevertheless, it was a smal lfee that I was happy to pay! The ticket looks really neat.

The grounds were well kept, with enough space for everyone to take their photos. The building's on a lake, but you can still get pretty close! It's a popular site for both foreign and Japanese tourists.

There were also numerous shrines and stalls to buy charms! I didn't light any incense or pray, mostly because I believe spirituality shouldn't be a tourist-y thing but it was also really busy. Perhaps I'll try it later in the trip as an experience, but I don't want to offend anyone. Kinkakuji is a Buddhist site I think, but they even had a small Shinto shrine near the exit. There are also washrooms and a cute cafe on-site. Gage bought me a really delicious shaved ice, while he had the black sesame ice cream (delicious)!! There are also several of the common vending machines.

The place isn't very wheelchair friendly. You could probably get up to see the building, but all the stalls and other features of the site are only accessible by stairs. Just something to keepin mind!

After Kinkakuji, the group set off for a small shop that sells bento. It was in a really trendy part of town that had a giant outdoor mall that went on the whole street basically. As the sun went down, people really started to look fashionable! There was also a cool arcade that had a ton of cool games, and Purikura.

Ramen

We ate at a ramen bar called Sen no Kaze (1000 Winds) and was very delicious! Gage and I sat at the bar since the table didn't fit us, which suited me just fine since we had the cozy seats by the cooks. I love food so much and the prices have all been super reasonable!

And then we went home!  I'm excited to do more amazing things tomorrow!

Day 1 was pretty uneventful except for the crazy amount of travel time my group put in. By the end of it, I want to say the total amount of hours was around 20. A lot of it was spent waiting around - either for flight delays or on the flight itself, which was about 11 or so hours from Chicago to Narita.

Because of our delays we were about 2 hours behind schedule, so we were expecting to roll in to our Kyoto rental house around 10pm.

Chicago skyline

Japanese hospitality is amazing! I would definitely recommend Japan Airlines, as they took very good care of us during our flight. (Multiple free meals, free blanket and neck pillow, plus friendly service)!

Thanks to the JR Line receptionist at Narita for running (litterally in heels) with us to catch the last train! Amazing.

To get from Narita to Kyoto, we pre-ordered our Japan Rail (JR) passes. Due to the delays though, we missed the last train and made a quick decision to catch the last train of the night, but at a pricey cost ($130). It definitely wasn't how I wanted to start the trip, but we got there eventually around midnight - 1am. Overall the JR pass was worth it because not only can you use it for Shinkansen (bullet train), but also some above-ground local trains.

Here's a shot of where we stayed! (Here it is on airbnb)

We never met Akane (our landlord), but the house was spotless and in a very quiet neighbourhood. It was about a 10min walk from Kyoto Station too, which was perfect. It was very easy to find given the instructions by Akane. There was a little sign above the alley that the front door is accessed by. Lots of great cafes and Yoshinoya just down the street. If you're staying in Kyoto, I would highly recommend!

The place looks exactly like the photos in the listing above. There was one bedroom with a door, a loft, a tatami room, and a futon. Plenty of sleeping space for the 7 people we crammed in there. If you're tidy with your luggage, I have full confidence that you'd be comfortable there! The house was also extremely well stocked with bath essentials like hair dryer, shampoo, conditioner, and even toothpaste. The kitchen had all you could ever need for making meals at the house, but we never used them since we ate out mostly. Akane had even provided us with snacks and instant coffee!

So for the next 14 days, I'll be blogging about my trip of two weeks in Japan! I'm crazy excited because it's a place I've always wanted to go to but haven't been able to until now. I'm a huge fan of anime and gaming, but I've always had a great interest and respect pertaining to their culture. So for the next few days please bear with me as this silly foreigner tries to get around in Kyoto, Tokyo, Osaka, and Shiroishi to name a few destinations.

The days leading up to my flight were really hectic. I caught the flu on the previous Sunday before my flight and could hardly accomplish the various things that needed to get done. On top of that, organizing a trip with 7 other people can get really hectic. I like to have things organized so it was a struggle to get some info when I needed it. It wasn't too bad though since we used Google Docs to collect everyone's ideas in one space. I'll definitely do it again in the future since it was great to have a editable space for everyone. Below are a few snapshots from that document.
(Pink is when we're in Kyoto, Blue is Tokyo)

On top of it all we ran into various issues before we're even on the plane! One of our residences canceled on us (we were originally in Akihabara which was PERFECT) so we ended up scrambling for one that was further and a little more expensive. I'm just happy to have a roof because apparently there's a sumo event that week and even some hotels were booked up!!

We also had some airlines change on us, as well as some people thinking they were going to back out, then they were back in.... It was all a bit of a mess!

So now the night before I'm just hoping everything goes smoothly and everyone gets there safely!

Our flight details: (Click the image to see the large size)

We got a really good deal on our flight! $815.29 for both ways!

I used Pinterest a lot for travel tips and packing guides. I could have definitely traveled with just a carry-on suitcase, but decided to bring my hard luggage case for swag and buy a carry-on while I was over there. And if you're interested, here's the link to my Pinterest board where I have all my travel planning organized.

I feel a lot more comfortable in long skirts rather than pants or shorts so I'm bringing a lot of those. I also have a few dresses since those act like an outfit on their own. I guess the last thing to note is that I'm bringing an umbrella and a rain jacket since apparently September is Japan's rainy season. The jacket's handy since it can actually fold into a little pouch!

And that's all I have for now! I hope I can write something everyday, but if it's too much then maybe I'll just fill the empty days with a photo diary entry.

See you next time! Stay tuned for more to follow!