Welcome back to
The Journey to Japan!

Re-establishing connection to the Tokyo channel…

Connected!

June 22nd, Friday

I had slept last night confident that I’d find something to do after waking up with ease.

It was not easy.

Fortunately I had all day to figure out what it was that I wanted to do. So after taking a shower, I browsed around my laptop to search up things to do around the Tokyo area. At this point, I had started to feel the choices that were being shown on Google were becoming more and more uninteresting. On top of that, I dreaded the idea of having to go out in the humid heat.

After searching for a bit, I came across a really nice looking garden called Rikugien. I had thought that it would finally be a great opportunity to take pictures of my nendoroids in a unique environment. So off I went to go to the gardens!

Actually getting there proved to be easy and caused no difficulties whatsoever. The only thing that was dragging me down was, of course, the humid heat. When I started walking in the garden, it did not take too long before I started looking for a rest stop. I was amazed yet again at just how beautiful the gardens were. It provided a very serene feel that honestly made me curious if there was anything similar in Washington state that could compare. It certainly has gotten me to reconsider making the two hour drive to the gardens I had looked up previously.

When I sat down, I took out a snack I had purchased earlier from a convenience store on the walk to the garden. While I was eating, I was trying to figure out how I would want to take the pictures of my nendoroids. The difficulty I was faced with was the fact that I wanted the background of the garden to be a little more in focus without the bokeh completely obliterating it out of existence. In order to do that though, I would have to make the aperture smaller, thus, having to increase my ISO so I could maintain a fast shutter speed. There were several factors I had to deliberate over.

After I finished my snack, I began to experiment with my angles and settings to see the kind of results I would get. As I continued contemplating how I would take the shot, I noticed there was a turtle in the pond next to the resting area. Naturally I had to take pictures whenever the little guy passed by!

I continued taking pictures of the nendoroids when I noticed the turtle was looking towards me… almost glaring at me. I stopped what I was doing to get a little closer to the edge where he was at. Then he started climbing up. I was surprised! The turtle was trying to get closer to me! Everyone else who was at the resting area had also taken noticed and they were trying so hard to contain their confused excitement!

After a short moment, the turtle had finally made it up close to where my right hand was. I had made a couple attempts with my left hand to see if I could pet the turtle’s head, but he would duck any time he saw movement. So I just stayed there with a finger extended toward the guy. Later, he finally did a quick boop to my finger as if to say hello. He stood still for a couple seconds before he turned around to go back into the pond. I guess he had determined that I was, indeed, trash!

Jokes aside, it was an odd experience I wish I was able to record. The best I was able to get were a few pictures. Nevertheless, it’s a rare experience that I can’t help but wonder… why? I couldn’t find any articles that would indicate a turtle being curious nor anything that would suggest that they’d be anywhere remotely interested in a human. Now I can’t help but wonder if the turtle would remember me amongst the millions of guests it must see if I were to go back one day.

While I was there, I went on a video chat with my mother to show her just how beautiful the garden was. I knew she wanted to make sure that I was alright and I figured I might as well show her where I was at. She loved it and we were able to chat for a little while. It was also interesting knowing that not many people would know what I’m saying to my mother. An added sense of privacy I normally would not experience in America.

I’ve never been a person who was able to really sit in one place for too long. I would always feel a bit unsettled and have the urge to move on quickly. There are a few exceptions, however, where I feel like I don’t want to go anywhere. That’s why after I left the garden, I went to go back to the Artnia Cafe.

Now that I had the nendoroids with me, I was able to take some photos with them in a cafe setting! This time around, I allowed myself to splurge a little more. After all, it will most likely be a long time before I will be able to enjoy the cafe again.

At one point while I was taking pictures of my food and the nendoroids, I noticed another patron next to me taking pictures of her food with Ignis (from FFXV) merchandise. I found it interesting and started a conversation with her with the little Japanese that I knew. I showed her some of the FFXV cosplay pictures I had taken and talked a little more about the game with her. I could tell the conversation was coming to a close so I told her my name. She made a simple nod without replying back. Wasn’t sure if it was customary ask for the other person’s name for whatever odd reason, but I did. She actually declined to give out her name, which I can understand. It was the way how she declined which made me laugh which reminded me that this is how my life must be. When I asked for her name, she shook her head while making a small “x” symbol with her fingers. So not only was I denied of her name, I wasn’t even worth saying no to! That’s fine though as I can understand. Still, it made me laugh!

As much as I had wanted to stay there longer, I wasn’t going to start forking over more money just to buy over priced cappuccinos that I did not wan to drink more of. Though the cocktails were pretty tempting, to be honest. When I had finished my business and packed everything away, I left the cafe to go back to my Airbnb. I really did not care to go anywhere else.

Most of my day was spent just relaxing in the apartment. I eventually started talking to a friend of mine from the US which was a little surprising considering how late it was over there. It was nice to chat while I was just there by myself, quite literally chilling from the heat. My friend, who I’ll call Togo for now, was also a fan of a series many people aren’t too familiar with: Yuki Yuna is a Hero. I had told her at one point that there was an AmiAmi store I had visited that had a lot of Yuki Yuna merchandise. Of course, she was excited about it as I told her what they had. Knowing how difficult it can be to find merchandise of your favorite series, I had offered to buy some for her as long as she paid back later. Togo agreed to it.

I realized I still had some time and checked to see if AmiAmi was still open. It was! Since there was still a bit of time in the day, I got dressed and decided to head out for one last time for the night. The only problem is I realized a bit too late that I had looked up the wrong AmiAmi store. You see, in Akihabara, there are some stores that are in multiple locations. Those locations can also have different stock. The actual store I needed to go had closed an hour prior to my arrival. Of course, this is my life! Togo, thankfully, understood and was already grateful that I was willing to get them anyway.

Since I was in the area, I decided to go to a store a few friends had recommended to me, Don Qijote (Pronounced Donkey Hoe-teh, which always made me think it was a hotel). I wanted to go there to purchase an extra bag to store the souvenirs I had purchased during my stay. I found out Don Quijote was a large retail store that carries a large variety of random goods (similar to Target or Walmart). I went there to find a small duffel bag to store my extra goods. Along the way, I found a cute doggie plushie I knew my mother would love.

At the very least, I was somewhat productive in my outing and that was enough to justify going out into the heat once again. So back home I went to sort out a few more things. Though tomorrow was going to finally be the day I will get to hang out with Nightmaren! It was a rare moment in both of our lives to be in a completely foreign country at the same time! There was no way we were going to throw away the opportunity! The only problem was trying to figure out a good schedule to hang out. Not only was I given the opportunity to hang out with Nightmaren, but with Isabel too! I had initially planned on hanging out with them separately in different times, but that was going to conflict with some of Nightmaren’s itinerary. After a bit of contemplation, I figured Nightmaren and Isabel would be perfectly fine hanging out together as I knew both of them would find each other’s company enjoyable as much as I found theirs.

So the day was set! All I had to do was just go to sleep and wait for a day of adventure to arrive… after a couple episodes of Rick and Morty.

June 23rd, Saturday

Today was the day! Something weird was going to happen for sure! Any time I hang out with Nightmaren, that’s always the end result!

So the plan was to meet up at Akihabara station so we could go to the Gundam Cafe together. After that, we’d just do whatever else we felt up for afterwards. Just like my trip, all of us agreed just having a general idea of what to do would be a better way of enjoying ourselves for that day. Isabel also had a strict schedule to go by as she came to Japan with a group of people and needed to head back at a certain time.

Since today was going to be the last day I was going to stay in that creepy Airbnb, I packed everything up into my luggage to prepare ahead of time. In the train stations, there are lockers that you can pay to use for a limited amount of time. It’s the same ones that I had to use when I had gotten out of the hotel from Tokyo and needed to wait before I could check into the Airbnb. I was going to spend quite some time in Tokyo before I would head to Kyoto so this was something I definitely needed. I had actually finished earlier than I had expected so I grabbed a really small breakfast at a Starbucks nearby to help pass the time.

Later I had gotten a message from Isabel telling me that she was getting really close by. I went back to the train station so I could meet up with her. It was kind of wild knowing it was only a few months ago I had met Isabel for the first time at Sakura-Con. Now we’re meeting up again! My trip to Japan has certainly proved to be a more interesting experience than I could have imagined it to be!

After a little bit, I see a familiar face amongst the crowds. It was Isabel, jumping up like a little puppy overflowing with excitement. All we had to do was wait for Nightmaren to arrive. It took a bit longer than usual as Nightmaren had apparently taken a different train by accident. Isabel, knowing she doesn’t have as much time, was starting to do a little skip with her feet. I know she was doing that as she was just super excited and was getting impatient, but I couldn’t help but find it a little charming and hilariously like she needed to use the restroom.

Nightmaren had finally arrived but was a little confused as to which entrance we were to meet at (these train stations aren’t always easy to navigate I found). When Nightmaren mentioned the exit name, I quickly realized it was on the other side of the train station… the same one I had exited out earlier. It was easy to sort out the situation and when we did, we finally entered the Gundam Cafe!

It has been ages since I’ve seen anything Gundam. Pretty sure the last time I saw an episode of Gundam was back when I saw it on Toonami… practically over 15 years ago. I know Nightmaren has seen and remembers much more than I do. Isabel, however, was pretty much a walking encyclopedia regarding Gundam. Her family is a group of Gundam freaks. So it’s no surprise that she too became one as well. There was even a point where she heard one of the songs playing and was able to tell us what the song was and exactly when it was played. As soon as she did, the TV screen showed the song details. Isabel was 100% accurate!

While we were waiting on our order, Nightmaren brought out a couple souvenirs from South Korea. First, I was told that it was just a couple pieces of junk and hands me a few coins… they were Korean won. Having primed me up with laughter, Nightmaren brings out the big guns, a snow globe! This is the second one I’ve received from Nightmaren and I began to wonder… is this going to be an ongoing theme from now on? Still, I was still pretty grateful and accepted them! Besides, I had a handful of souvenirs to give to Nightmaren. Can’t get away that easily! Now was not the time though. I’ll get my chance later.

Even though I ate a little bit earlier, I was still a little hungry, so I got myself some sort of tonkatsu dish. As I mentioned earlier, I had no idea who or what any of these were supposed to be themed after, so I just went with something I knew I’d enjoy. All of us were already having a great time and we were just hanging out at the Gundam Cafe. I could tell the rest of the day was going to be just as great!

We had taken a few pictures around the Gundam Cafe before we left to go around some of the shops in Akihabara. Isabel naturally went to the shops that had all the figures! Of course, I didn’t mind as I figured there’d be a couple things I probably would be interested in. Still, I didn’t have any real way of being able to transport them back to America without it possibly being damaged along the way. So when I did see something that I thought would be nice to have, they always did end being too big for me to realistically be able to take home in one condition. At least the stores were nice enough to let me take pictures, and we all know how I am with pictures!

Unfortunately Isabel’s free time was short and she already had to leave soon. We said our good byes and Isabel went on her way. Fortunately there was a lot of time for both me and Nightmaren to hang out. There was an itinerary that Nightmaren was given that was optional to follow. It was for some exhibit in one of the stores called Atre in Akihabara. Nightmaren still wanted to give it a shot so I agreed to it. There was still some time so we did a couple things.

First thing I did was go to the correct Amiami shop to grab the merchandise I had promised my friend, “Togo”, last night. I had sent a couple pictures of what was available and waited to see what she wanted to get. I was also super thankful she was awake right around that time too as she responded fairly quickly. After confirming everything that Togo had wanted, I made the purchase and went on a love quest walk around the streets again with Nightmaren.

While walking around, we came across a small gacha machine containing Darling in the Franxx buttons. Nightmaren had mentioned before how that show had recently become an obssession. This was certainly an odd situation for me as I had never seen Nightmaren so fixated on any one thing until today. So of course Nightmaren told me we were going to stay there until Nightmaren had gotten one of everything. We went through a meticulous process for this machine. First, I’d be handed the money. Second, I would give the amount needed to Nightmaren. Third, Nightmaren would play the gacha. Lastly, I would hold onto the capsules so I could dispose them in a proper bin for re-use. We would repeat this until we ran out of the yen coins needed for the machine. Honestly Nightmaren’s luck was pretty good! Had gotten one of everything except for one button. There were only two dupes Nightmaren had gotten (to which were gifted to me). Both of us were pretty surprised and that was when I explained my theory of how I am a weird lucky charm in the sense that when I’m with my friend doing these gacha/blind box things, they will be able to get what they were hoping for. Now if I were to make the attempt, I would only get the opposite. Such is my life!

We had actually spent a bit too much time hanging around and the exhibit had already started. Figured it didn’t matter too much from there and decided to check out the Persona 5 Cafe. Since it was right around the middle of the afternoon when we went in, it was filled with a lot more people than when I last went in at night. It was fine though and we both still had a lot of fun. Something I didn’t think of that would be different was the white board being filled with a lot more drawings. Other than that, our experience was pretty great! Enjoyed our food and beverages while having a good time in the cafe. As I mentioned before, however, when you order drinks, there are coasters that you can get and the waiters give you one at random while having it faced down. I grab them and tell Nightmaren to make a choice. Nightmaren then says, “Okay! I’ll grab the one you’ve touched the least!” and ends up taking the one I had more of my hand over… Turns out Nightmaren got the one we both were hoping to get! I eventually had to tell Nightmaren that particular coaster, in my perspective, was actually the one I had my hand covering more of. It added more to the possibility that I must really be some sort of weird lucky charm that only works for others!

After we were done, we noticed that we still had enough time to check out the exhibit at Atre so we went quickly to check it out. We had a bit of a rough time finding it but realized quickly it was practically in front of us the entire time. When we got to the entrance, we found out there was someone who was cosplaying as Zero Two in her jumper suit! Unfortunately we were just a little too late to take pictures as the manager had to tell me they were no longer allowing pictures. We were a little disappointed, but we were fine as there was still the exhibit to check out.

Turns out the exhibit the itinerary was talking about was a small Darling in the Franxx store. We looked everywhere in the store and that was the only thing that seemed to be unique and stood out. They had all sorts of goods such as acrylic stands, t-shirts, etc. Of course, since we had gotten there later in the day, there were some items that were already sold out. Just to confirm that this was, in fact, the exhibit, we checked twitter to see if there was any sort of event going on. We then saw a picture of the Zero Two cosplayer in one of their tweets. This pretty much confirmed it!

While we were browsing the store to see what they had to offer, the Zero Two cosplayer came up out of nowhere! Of all places for her to show up, she’s here in the shop! Though we later found out that we were not able to take pictures of her still. In fact, the reason why they were at the shop to begin with was so that the team could take promotional pictures of the Zero Two cosplayer featuring some products from the store. This didn’t stop Nightmaren though! Through some covert action, Nightmaren had managed to snag a couple shots of the cosplayer!

Just as suddenly as she had appeared, she had disappeared shortly right after. Later it was just me and Nightmaren just hanging out. Here I am, hanging out with my friend whom I’ve known for so long, practically weebing out right in front of me! This was such a surreal moment for me that I constantly brought that up as we were walking around. Even more so when I would find Nightmaren taking 10+ pictures of the same Darling in the Franxx stuff! First off, seeing Nightmaren partake in the lottery-esque scheme of the blind boxes for keychains was one that definitely stood out.

Because there were two different key chains of Zero Two in the blind boxes, Nightmaren just had to take the risk and buy some. Just like with the gacha, we went through another ritual of opening each one. Nightmaren would make the purchase, I’d hold onto the products, we’d go off to the side, I would hand Nightmaren one product at a time, then I would take the trash. Rinse and repeat until Nightmaren got practically each character that was available. The results from this ritual was actually pretty remarkable. Not only did Nightmaren get the desired result, but with only one duplicate (which was Futoshi, and was given to me). This was after two purchase attempts! I really must be some sort of lucky charm! Perhaps the little ritual added more to the luck…

Having finished looking around what the shop had, Nightmaren and I looked around Atre some more to see if there were more Darling in the Franxx related shops. It was three stories high so we wanted to make sure there were no other spots. We did wander back to the actual Darling in the Franxx store a couple times only to go look around some more. At one point, there was a small anime shop we passed by on the third floor. I had noticed there were some Idolmaster merchandise and was interested.

There was a sheet of all the different little things you could win through a wheel lottery. I’m sure most of you have seen the kind where you spin a wheel until a ball comes out. Depending on the color, you’ll win different prizes based on tiers. I wanted to test out my theory regarding the luck charm status I seem to have possessed, so I asked Nightmaren to do something for me. This time, I would pay for the lottery and have Nightmaren do the spinning. Slightly different, but I figured why not? Hilariously, just as the cashier was trying to tell us that we’re supposed spin the wheel slowly, Nightmaren goes FULL FORCE and spins it as fast as possible. A ball comes out and!! it’s a white ball, meaning I got the lowest tier. Looks like my lucky charm status only affects others, but not myself. Go figure!

At this point, we’ve explored everything that we could and were pretty sure we checked out everything we wanted to see. With the time that I had left, we left to go check out the Shibuya crossing. It slowly turned into a small Persona 5 pilgrimage as we walked around to find the underground mall in Shibuya along the way to the crossing. Honestly, we weren’t sure if we were at the underground mall or not and our mobile internet wasn’t loading quickly enough for us to really check. Still confused as to where we were, I pointed out a little shop that I had always felt was an easy spot to distinguish amongst the rest: the flower shop. Turns out we were in the right place!

Next up, we left to find the first hideout the Phantom Thieves gathered to exchange information amongst themselves. It was a little confusing at first considering there was little to no references to exactly where the hideout was supposed to be online. However we’re both rather observant and were able to find it ourselves. We also used that opportunity to take pictures of the people crossing at a higher angle. I was glad to be able to come back as I had hoped to see the crossing with umbrellas on. Looks like I was lucky today as well!

I wanted to take pictures of Nightmaren in the middle of the crossing just like how I had my pictures taken by Stacey, so I had mentioned the idea and Nightmaren was up for it. Before we went outside, I gave Nightmaren the gifts I had purchased while I was in Japan. As usual, Nightmaren sensory overloaded. Thankfully for Nightmaren there were no horse items… this time.

Now I understood why Stacey enjoyed taking pictures at the Shibuya crossing. It’s almost precisely because it’s difficult to get a good shot that makes it so interesting to try! With each shot I took, the more I was determined to get a better shot! The one saving grace was the fact Nightmaren is just so naturally photogenic that almost all of my pictures came out nicely!

The time had finally come where we would have to part ways. Honestly, it was amazing that we had a chance to be able to hang out in an entirely different country! The odds of such a coincidence are so rare that I can’t help but wonder if it was meant to be. Naturally, as I had imagined, I had such a great time being with Nightmaren. There’s a certain kind of back and forth I can only enjoy with Nightmaren (it helps Nightmaren’s wit is pretty much god-tier and is able to provide quality roast every single time).

That said, I went back to Akihabara station to grab my luggage and head off to Kyoto. When I had gotten to the station where the shinkansen trains were located, I found they were in their own little station… within a station. Though with how expensive they are, it made sense. I had a bit of difficulty understanding which train I had to take so I referred back to Google maps to reaffirm the train number several times before I was confident in my decision.

Later I realized at one spot I was waiting at was at the section of the train specifically those who have the reserved ticket — it was a green car. The rail pass I had purchased did not allow for me to board those cars, so up I went to see where the unreserved cars were at. I kept walking… and walking… and walking… and good LORD I hadn’t realized just how long these trains were! Finally I saw a little schematic on the fence that showed where the unreserved cars were at. Turns out there were only 3 out of 16 cars that were the standard, non-reserved ones. Goodness. When the train arrived, I quickly went in hoping that I would find a good spot to sit. I was fortunate to find a spot on the left where there were three empty seats. I sat closest to the window and left my luggage to hang out in the middle seat. I was started to panic a little bit as I noticed my laptop was running low on battery and there were no outlets in sight… until I looked at the lowest point of the wall. Thank goodness!

Disconnected from the Tokyo channel…

Connecting to the Kyoto channel…

Shortly before we left, there was a middle aged lady who sat on the edge towards the middle aisle. At first I was worried my luggage was taking up too much space, but she did not seem to mind at all. I ended up chatting with her for a little while and even shared a little bit of myself. She was impressed that I knew enough Japanese to hold a somewhat decent conversation with her. There were times where I had to borrow Google to pass the language barrier a couple times, but we still maintained a decent conversation!

She was curious as to why I decided to visit Japan (ie, business, student exchange, etc). I told her how I got to get the tickets to Japan, what I had done so far, and what I plan to do. The kind lady later told me about how she had gone to New York once and she enjoyed her time there. Naturally I suggested trying out Seattle if she ever got the chance! Especially since it’s a lot cooler there than it was in Japan. Apparently, with the pictures I had shown her of Washington state, she was convinced that she should give it a shot if she were to ever go to America again!

A few minutes passed when the kind lady had offered some sweets to me. I was surprised and thanked her! I think she was able to tell that I was a little wary and feeling rather slightly guilty about taking the candy as she later told me that it was her way of saying ‘thank you’ after showing her my pictures.

While I was waiting to arrive at Kyoto, I spent that time watching Darling in the Franxx for the first time and chatting with Nightmaren. I had figured the show would be enjoyable, but I was enjoying it a bit more than I thought I would. As I was chatting with Nightmaren, however, we found out the itinerary called for a visit to the Fushimi Inari shrine! I later found out it wasn’t too far of a travel from where I was staying at in Kyoto! Talk about insane luck! It looks like our adventures together had extended to one more day!

Having made my plans with Nightmaren, I continued to wait on the train, excited knowing I had an extra opportunity to hang out with my friend!

I would have enjoyed looking out the window a bit more if it weren’t for the fact that it was late at night and it was too dark to really appreciate the speed of the train. At the very least, I was able to feel how fast it was. It’s similar to how a plane would feel when moving at take off speed without the turbulence and noise. Honestly, it was pretty impressive!

Connecting to the Kyoto channel… Connected!

The train finally came to a stop at the station I needed to get off at. There was just one more train I had to board before I would have to walk to the Airbnb I had managed to book in time. When I got off at Nijo station, I double checked to see where the Airbnb was located. Thankfully it was just a straight 10 minute walk from the station. Couldn’t be easier!

When I got to where Google maps told me it was at, I was slightly confused. I was looking around for what should be an apartment. Instead, all I saw was a hotel looking establishment. I take another look at the Airbnb listing and noticed its name. I look up from my phone and see “One More Heart”. I look at my phone again. “One More Heart”.

“Oh… so this is the place?”

Turns out my Airbnb was the hotel. I went into the lobby to get checked in and it was a relatively easy process. The staff who was on shift for that night was also pretty fluent in English! It really made things much easier.

I go in, get settled, and quickly realize why the Airbnb was so cheap. It’s because this was the kind of hotel that made you pay for EVERYTHING. Wanted extra pillows? Extra. Wanted more towels? Extra. You want the room to be cleaned? EVEN MORE EXTRA. Ridiculous! Thankfully I don’t need much so this wasn’t as big of a deal. Just a little sensory overloading!

Still, I was just glad that I had a place to stay. Hopefully that’d also be the last time I would have to worry about any of my Airbnbs cancelling on me. After taking a shower, I got comfortable and went on my computer to double checked my agenda for the next day. Once I was satisfied with my plans, I went to sleep, excited knowing that it would be another adventure! Just how much of an adventure was something I would have never guessed…

June 24th, Sunday

After I woke up, I looked up a few ideas on what to check out around the area. There were a couple castles around the area that I thought would be pretty neat to check out. I decided I’d check out the castle that was closest to the hotel, Nijo Castle, after I grabbed myself a quick breakfast.

About halfway through the walk to the castle, I started to think about something I had read in the pamphlet provided in my room. Inside that pamphlet was a large variety of services and items you could purchase. I had also noticed it mentioned a bike rental in there. What had confused me, however, was I had seen the same bike rental ad on the wall of the lobby. The difference was that one had mentioned having a room in the hotel would grant free rental of the bike. Since it was hot, I decided I would inquire about it when I got back to the hotel. If I can spend less time under the sun, the better.

Nijo Castle proved to be rather interesting! Although there was an admission fee, there was a lot to see making it worth the price. Honestly, it was huge and just trying to walk around the entire castle probably would have taken a good 15-20 minutes.

At the entrance of the actual palace itself, there were racks where you had to put your shoes at. There were signs that showed some of the rules that they had before entering the castle. One of them had left me devastated: no pictures allowed. How could they!

I was talking to Nightmaren about my experience so far and I remembered back to when the cosplayer had come up to the shop. It was then I decided to do something risky… it was time to do some covert action!

The plan was after I left the castle, I’d walk around and look for some app that had silent shutters on my phone. When I was ready, I’d go into the castle and act as though I’m searching something on Google Maps (which I needed to anyway), and take pictures where there were no cameras or security looking around. The only problem I found was that the camera took too long to respond when pressing the shutter button.

Unfortunately the whole thing was a bust. When I went in the second time, I noticed there were surprisingly a lot of security cameras around. The one moment I pulled up the silent camera app, a security guard from behind me kindly asked me to not take any pictures. I thought she was a tourist so she scared the crap out of me! I did manage to take one picture… and that was of the floor. That was even crap because it was blurry. So I just decided to ditch the attempt and appreciate the interior design of the castle. There were a lot of recreations they had to do to preserve the look of the castle. I was pretty impressed with how well they did!

Having finished checking out the castle, I decided to go to this little cafe shop that was on the side of the path inside the castle. As usual, I only wanted to dine at places that fit within the criteria of what would be considered “foreign” compared to what I normally do in America.

I wasn’t looking for a whole meal (and I don’t think that was the entire purpose of this little cot anyway), so I ordered some matcha tea with some traditional Japanese sweets. When I had received my order, I asked one of the waiters to take pictures of me with my camera. To make it easier, I turned the live view screen on and just told him to point and click. While I was thankful, I saw the pictures and realized parts of my head were cut off in every picture. I couldn’t get mad and just found it funny more than anything!

Due to the fact I was taking pictures, the hot water that was given to me had gotten only down to a warm temperature making it difficult to mix the matcha powder properly. It was still fine and I was able to enjoy it. The sweets were what I was more interested in anyway. But first, the tea.

The interesting thing about this tea was how they served it. They gave me a cup that held the hot water, a small spoon that held the matcha powder, the flask, and a small bowl. The whole idea of this was to pour the matcha into the bowl, the hot water after, and then mix it on your own. I feel they intentionally served their tea this way to provide tourists an experience similar to how they enjoyed tea in traditional times.

There were three different sweets that came inside this little box: one that looked like a miniature cake with a clear looking top, something that looked like a pink pumpkin, and something that looked like it couldn’t decide to be a sweet or an onigiri.

Both the miniature cake and the pumpkin looking sweet were pretty okay. They’re unique enough to where I can’t really think of anything similar in America to compare it to. The last one, the onigiri wannabe was perhaps one of the better tasting one. There was an ever so slight crunch to it that had a bit more flavor than I thought there would be. Nevertheless, I found them all to be rather enjoyable! I just wished there were more for the price I had paid.

I wasn’t quite finished yet so I ordered just another set of tea… so more powder and hot water. I didn’t mind however, as this would be the only time I would ever indulge myself this much. Had this been in America, I would have just done it myself at home! Still, the scenery that was around the cot was really nice. It was worth staying for just a little while longer.

There was not much left to do, so I decided to go back to the hotel to rest for a few seconds and figure out what I wanted to do next before I would go to Fushimi Inari. Also, I was feeling pretty disgusting in the shirt I was wearing (no thanks to my backpack, again). When I had gotten to the hotel and took my shirt off, I started laughing when I noticed there was a visible wet square on the back of the shirt.

With a new shirt on, I checked Google Maps to see if I would have enough time to check out the Kyoto Imperial Palace. While it wasn’t that long of a walk, I went back to the lobby to ask if I was eligible for the free bike rental anyway. Again, if I can spend less time under the sun, the better.

I had prepared my question on Google Translate and played it to the receptionist at the counter. As soon as it had finished, she started speaking in fluent English. I was a bit shocked and apologized for assuming she had not known English. In fact, I couldn’t help but continue complimenting her for just how well she spoke! In any case, I learned that I was able to get a free bike rental! Thank goodness!

Now all the bikes from the hotel were numbered and had locks on them. I had to choose which bike I wanted and tell the receptionist that bike’s number so I could get the code to unlock the bike.

I was just ready to leave and went to unlock the bike… then I realize the bike’s lock was kind of backwards. Instead of the numbers facing up from the rear wheel, the numbers were facing down towards the ground. After struggling for a couple minutes, not understanding why the code wasn’t working, I discovered that it was still unlocked… Lucky for them the bike had not been stolen.

The bike was such a great idea! I was initially hesitant on riding the bike as it meant I wouldn’t be able to walk around and enjoy the scenery, however I also realized that there really wasn’t much of a “scenery” to enjoy. Tall buildings left and right with cramped roads don’t really make for the best picture opportunities.

Upon entering Kyoto Imperial Palace, at one of the entrances, there’s a building where you can stay inside and relax with some ice cream and cold beverages. Honestly, I found it difficult to say no and got myself an ice cream. It felt really nice inside the air conditioned building and recuperate from the heat.

One thing I did not expect from the castle was that it was actually under construction. There were still things you could take a look around the inner part of the castle, however the actual palace itself was not available to enter and view. So honestly, it was kind of a shame that I was unable to really see much. Even more so considering that there were no admission fees to enter. Oh well, the gardens surrounding the palace at least were still pretty nice to see!

Now with nothing much left to do, I decided to go to the nearest station from the castle and take the train to the Fushimi Inari area. I had more than enough time to get a quick bite before Nightmaren would arrive. Even though that meant I would have to leave the bike outside near the entrance, I was fairly confident no one would really care to steal it. Besides, this time the bike would actually be locked.

I stayed at a place called Kanoko Cafe that was right in front of the Fushimi-Inari station. With a few sandwiches and a cup of tea, I was able to take shelter from the sun again and kill time before Nightmaren would finally arrive.

Bonus adventure was about to begin.

My phone starts buzzing. I take a look at my notifications and it’s a message from Nightmaren. I go out to meet up and Nightmaren arrives in an eerily animu fashion. This was par for the course at this point and I am practically no longer surprised. A long time ago, I had to learn that I just need to embrace and accept whatever happens when I’m with Nightmaren. We were on a bit of a tighter schedule as Nightmaren did not want to miss the shinkansen train back to Tokyo.

As we were entering the Fushimi Inari shrine, we had to stop for a bit and take in all the architecture it had to show. It was pretty impressive, honestly! What was surprising, however, was there was a glass box shrine. We couldn’t tell what was inside at first due to the glare from the sun… but we were horrified when we realized what it was. IT WAS A HORSE!!

Naturally Nightmaren and I were confused as to why a HORSE shrine had found itself at the base of a shrine that specifically highlights foxes?! In any case, leave it up to Tikbalang to force himself in a shrine where he has no business! As a way for us to oppose such blasphemy, we intentionally disrespected the shrine by only offering one yen coins and half-assing the prayer. Little did we know this would enrage Tikbalang…

So now we started the ascent to the top of the shrine. It was hard to take pictures inside the torii gates as there were a lot of people walking up the mountain. Thankfully, however, the higher up we went, the less people we encountered, allowing for better pictures. There were a lot of places that really caught our attention. As we went further up, the steps slowly started to wear us down. Honestly, we were also surprised at how long it was taking to get to the top. Still, we weren’t all too worried and had enough time. The sun was also starting to set, giving the forests and torii passages a bit of a somber, yet inviting atmosphere.

At long last, we had finally arrived at the summit of the shrine! What was impressive was the timing of our arrival. Since the sun was beginning to set, we were able to get a really nice view of the city below and the sun close to the horizon. It not only gave an opportunity for some interesting pictures, but it also gave me a bit of a sense of awe. I always felt like it’s nice and important to have these sort of views to remind us not only of how small we are, but how we’ve developed as a society.

We originally thought about going down the summit the same way we came, however there was another path on the other side of the summit. Figured it wouldn’t hurt to see the rest of the shrine. So down we went! The previously contradictory somber and inviting atmosphere slowly began to lose it’s inviting feel and it started to feel like it was an isolated part of the world. We didn’t think too much of it as it gave us an opportunity to take a lot of pictures with the torii without having to worry about others passing by.

After we finished, we kept going down the path to get back home. And we kept going. And kept going. The stone paths started to slowly disappear and it started turning into a dirt path. I had thought about going back, but Nightmaren insisted that we just keep going. There’s something about Nightmaren that always makes me feel that nothing can go wrong, so I just went with it. However sure enough, we definitely were lost! On top of that, the GPS signal was lost. To make it worse, the path started getting a little more dangerous, and Nightmaren starts RUNNING. The moment the path starts to look safe? Nightmaren stops to walk again only to run again when it starts looking even remotely possible you might slip.

Finally we come out from the forest into some random neighborhood. Although one would normally feel at ease being back in a familiar environment, we instead were kind of worried. The reason was we weren’t too sure if Nightmaren would be able to get back to the shinkansen on time. Thankfully GPS finally came back on and we used that to get around the quiet neighborhood. The whole thing just felt so funny, honestly. You see Nightmaren in a casual professional outfit just jogging down the street while I’m just running up ahead to take pictures of Nightmaren. I know there were several people who had seen what we were doing and were confused as to what we were doing. Joke’s on them, we too had no idea what we were doing!

Slowly but surely, as we continued to switch between jogging and walking, the surrounding area became more and more familiar. Alas! The large torii acting as an entrance to the shrine came to view. We had made it! We were relieved we had made it on time! Now I had began to think just how incredible it was that we had two separate opportunities to experience Japan together. It made me wonder if the remainder of my trip will appear rather banal in contrast to these recent events.

Now this time, we really said farewell to each other as there was nothing in Nightmaren’s itinerary that involved either Osaka or Hiroshima (where I’d be heading for the next couple of days). With that, we waved each other goodbye heading to different train stations knowing we’d soon talk again online.

At least so we thought.

As I was heading to the train station I needed to take, Nightmaren comes OUT OF NOWHERE right besides me and was like, “Hey!” Before I even got to ask, Nightmaren told me the station that I was headed to would actually help save more time. I couldn’t help but laugh at this development. It always feels like I’m in some sort of television show when these things happen around Nightmaren.

We get to the Inari station waited for the next train to come. We thought we were good on time, however as a few minutes passed by, we were starting to worry again. We then realized the train was delayed… This was a first for both of us in Japan. Now the idea of Nightmaren being stranded in Kyoto was starting to feel like a bigger possibility, yet both of us were sure everything would come out alright. It’s always as though these things happen only for dramatic effect.

A light appeared from the corner of our eyes and there it was, the train! We finally had a bit of down time to just relax for a bit. When we got to the stop we needed to get off at, we both bolted out. I saw Nightmaren off to the shinkansen area and hoped for the best! I got on my train back to the hotel and I kept in touch with Nightmaren to make sure everything was alright. As you would imagine, Nightmaren did make it, and just barely! It was way too close for comfort!

As this was all happening, I was just thinking of how much fun it would be to write about all this. Seriously, this all felt as though this was supposed to be some sort of episodic adventure! I’m typing this all out right now and I can’t help but just laugh at everything that happened. I almost wish this would have been the last day of my trip. It’d certainly help me leave on a high note!

My night still hadn’t ended though!

When I had arrived and exited the station I originally went on, I had to look around to find the bike I had brought. I couldn’t find it at first not only because it was so dark, but I couldn’t find the entrance I had originally entered through Thankfully I finally found the entrance and the bike was still at the spot I had originally left it at.

I had managed to get to the hotel with no worries and I changed my shirt, again. It was after I got back into my shirt that I had realized I still hadn’t eaten dinner. I really didn’t want to go somewhere with heavy food and it was getting fairly late. I took a quick look online to see which restaurants were open that would also give me enough time to enjoy my meal. I initially had no interest whatsoever in ramen restaurants as I didn’t really think they’d differ that greatly from some of the ones I’ve gone to where I live, but one listing stood out from everything else I’ve seen: Fire Ramen.

Now I see the word “fire” in it, and I wonder if it’s going to be spicy. I’m about 90% sure that it’s not, but I thought it’d be worth checking out anyway. Besides, I didn’t have too many other options and I have a hard time saying no to noodle dishes!

So I actually still had memorized the code to the bike I had rented earlier and decided to use it again to get to the ramen place. Might as well use all the benefits I have while I can, after all.

When I got there, I noticed there was a small terminal where you had to push a button to get a number. I guess normally it’s packed, but since I was there on a Sunday night, it probably would not be as full of people. As soon as I went in, everyone had greeted me. Thankfully they also knew enough English to help me out when I had difficulties understanding what they were saying. I actually did need it for this restaurant. I’ll explain in a little bit.

After I made my order, they had me wear some apron made from some material similar to baking sheets. They also had me place a large baking sheet on my lap. They asked if I wanted a video recording of them serving ramen. Since they offered, I took it. I was surprised to see that they had a set up just for this purpose and I was still not sure as to what they were going to do, if they were gonna do anything at all.

The last thing they asked me to do was place my arms behind my back. Finally, they placed a bowl of ramen broth in front of me and they went to work. I had noticed there was almost an unnatural amount of green onions in the broth. I had read in the menu that there was a good reason as to why. In just a couple seconds, they brought out a pot with a long handle close to the bowl. You could see a small fire emerging from the pot. It didn’t seem impressive until he started pouring the ramen into the bowl. It was precisely at that moment I finally realized why they were called “fire” ramen. You can see the video right here. Hilariously, one of the guys (who I had presumed to be the owner of the shop) told me to make it look like I was about to eat the ramen so he could take a picture for me.

As far as the actual flavor goes, it was fairly mediocre at best. There wasn’t as much of an impactful taste as the ramen I had eaten back near where I live. It was clear that you were paying more for the show than the actual food. Still, it was pretty neat! I’d definitely take friends there just for that little experience. The owner had talked about how he wanted to spread word of his business everywhere and gave me his card. I guess that’s why his English was better than I thought it would be!

Still, I have to admit that the ramen (along with the fried rice and gyoza that came with it) was filling. That’s all I had needed!

The rest of my night was spent just trying to make notes of what I had done up until that day so that it would be easier for me to type the rest of the post. I actually decided to do a lot of my work in the lobby of the hotel since there was no actual desk in my room. I actually stayed up later than I had originally wanted to because I wanted to make sure the file transfer from my laptop to my hard drive finished before going to sleep. While I was waiting, I went ahead and started to type down what I could for my post. When the transfer was complete, I went back up to go back to sleep. The next day I’d be going to a ryoukan, a traditional Japanese inn in Osaka. I was looking forward to it!

Connection lost.

Reconnecting…