After a long journey taking us through Dubai, we arrived in Tokyo. The sprawling metropolis swallowed us whole as we stepped into the neon craziness of Shinjuku and walked to our hotel. In the following 10 days, we explored Tokyo, and then Kyoto, and Nara with Dan and Jake who were visiting from LA.

While we got over the jet lag, we took it easy for a couple days. We met up with Alan’s family for dinner, and we explored nearby Shinjuku and Harajuku. Then, we ventured out to trendy Shimo-Kitazawa mainly to find these adorable cream puffs. (What a mission, right?!) Needless to say, the Totoro-themed cream puffs were adorable. It also happened to be a festival day, so shrine-floats were being lofted through the city.

A couple days in, our buddies Dan and Jake arrived to Tokyo. We hopped onto a shinkansen to Kyoto, hoping to beat the typhoon there. We arrived to our amazing rental house, a renovated traditional home, and set out to eat some ramen. The next day, with the typhoon forecasted to arrive in the afternoon, we got up early to walk around in the calm before the storm.

The first temple of the day, minutes from our house! It was calm and sunny.

Near our house, a beautiful complex of temples made for an excellent morning walk.

There were very few people around! A light breeze accompanied us

As we wandered the neighborhood, the skies turned gradually more grey.

Heian-Jingu was closed to prep for the typhoon, but it was still pretty to walk around.

We walked way more than we thought we would be able to, we had to take a rest at the Nanzen-ji gate

This western style aqueduct seemed quite out of place! This is right around when it started to rain

Dan watching the typhoon

After the typhoon, the gate to the Kyoto museum grounds was glowing orange

Someone’s roof shed came off..

Obligatory late night ramen after going to the “Bee’s Knees” speakeasy in Kyoto after the typhoon

The next day, we took a bus across town, to Arashiyama. We were hoping to see some monkeys, but they didn’t have a great time with the typhoon, so the park was closed. We still saw an incredible Zen temple and garden “Tenryu-ji,” and the famous bamboo grove which was a bit more disheveled than usual due to the winds.

This crazy dragon screen door at Tenryu-ji

An acceptable balcony view.

An immaculate rock garden at the Tenryu-ji gardens

A breathtaking view to meditate with.

Stoked for the gorgeous day after the typhoon

Normally peaceful and orderly, the bamboo forest was somewhat messy due to the typhoon.

Afterwards, we made our way to Nishiki market to find some lunch.

We found a cute vegetarian restaurant in Kyoto, serving shojin-ryouri. We had the place to ourselves, since we were the last lunch customers!

Happy Mel

The next day, we took a short train to Nara. Nara was the capital of Japan in the 8th century before it was moved to Kyoto. We visited Nara park, where holy deer roam the park grounds. They’re very friendly with humans, to the point of demanding attention and food.

In between deer selfies, we visited a huge buddha who lives in the biggest wooden building in the world! He has some serious body guards!

We boarded the shinkansen in the afternoon and shot back to Tokyo. In Shibuya, we ordered sushi on a tablet and it arrived on a little train, we went to a huge record store, and browsed the quite strange Mandarake shop. Near Ebisu we ate snacks in a tiny snack bar alley and went to a trendy book store. In Shinjuku we took in the view from the top of the metropolitan government building (free!) and drank at a tiny bar in the Golden Gai. Every train stop we got off at could have been a city on its own.

The amazing view from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building.

The classic sushi place tower.

After sending Dan and Jake off to Narita to catch their flight home, Melanie and I stayed a couple extra days to plan our escape from the city. Tokyo was starting to be a bit overwhelming (and expensive!) and we were excited to get into the countryside. With some sort of plan in mind, we ventrued north to Nagano prefecture, toward the Japanese Alps.