2023 Japan Trip Post 1

13 December 2023

I did not expect to be making this update so soon, but I have some time right now, so I may as well make a post. As of writing this, it's the second day of my Japan trip (Don't worry; I'm writing this early in the morning), and wow, it's been a doozy.

Plane Trip

It was an 11-hour flight from where I live to Japan, and wow, it was a painful one. Only one of the 3 meals was actually pretty good, and my legs hurt from not being able to move them often. I chose a window seat for both my flights, which... well, I did get some good shots, but I think I absolutely regret. That said, I'm sure it'll be fine. I also did get some good shots from the airplane, like this one, for example:

The first day

We start off with me having been able to only barely get a bit of rest on the plane, as well as accidentally spilling some food on my hoodie, which made it stink quite a bit. Great... Thankfully when I got off and went to the bathroom to take off my hoodie, I noticed they actually had a changing room, which was really awesome to see.

After that, I picked up my bag, went through security, and got set loose in the airport, which was overwhelming. It was also when it dawned on me that I'd be alone and would be missing my parents way more than expected (This is my first trip without them after all). After some back and forth and visiting the Nintendo check-in station, I picked up my Wi-Fi hotspot and a Pasmo passport and got on the train to Asakusabashi, where my hostel is. Considering I was very tired and I tend to fuss about harming others, I did have quite a bit of panic since it was my first time, but thankfully that's mostly in my head, and the people I did end up meeting were all very nice.

So after finally arriving at the hostel, rearranging and dropping off my bags, it was time to go out and explore!... or so you think. In reality, I first had to find a place to clean up that hoodie of mine. While the hostel has one too, I found this really nice laundromat with this really neat all-in-one solution. That took 40 minutes, which is quite a lot of time I'd say, but finally after that, I could explore.

I decided to go to Akihabara, which was quite a treat. There were so many anime merch shops!!! Way too many to keep up with, honestly. I also played a little bit of Taiko no Tatsujin. It was also funny to see 18+ figures in the same store with the best selection I've seen of model kits of cars. I'm planning on going back there today, but first, I gotta find some other stores.

I ended the day off by going to Ichiran Ramen in Ueno. Finding the damn place, though, was like a large maze with several levels, which made following Google Maps an especially hard time. I did not regret trying to find it, though; it was soooo good! Spicy too! I decided to choose these customizations:

The soup looked really good. I did sadly forget to not stir before taking the picture, but even so, it looks pretty dang yummy! The only real issue that I had was that I made it too rich and too garlicky, meaning I couldn't even finish the darn thing. That said, I absolutely would eat here again, and I might end up going again to a different location if I have time during this trip.

In any case, despite my fears Japan is really awesome to see. I might take a while with the next post as writing a blog post takes a bit longer than I like. See you next post!