Osaka part 2 大板

For my second day (28th of December) I had two sights on my list; the first one was the Osaka Castle and the second one was the Osaka Aquarium. After more than 10 days of sightseeing I was getting a bit lazy and tired. So I only picked out two main attractions that I wanted to see. I fulfilled one of my childhood dreams by going to the Osaka Kaiyukan Aquarium and therefore the Osaka Aquarium is ideal for being known as one of the largest aquariums in the world. The last day before heading back to Tokyo I just spend shopping and strolling around Osaka. Osaka is a great duty-free paradise, they have multiple-floor duty-free shops full with different Japanese products. I was even able to purchase a small Japanese rice cooker that my mum wished for. A good tip therefore is to always bring along your passport!

Shinsekai area just around the corner of my hotel

Tsutenkaku Tower

Osaka castle

Selfie time!

Another thing on my 'to eat list'-Okonomiyaki which is a cabbage egg omelette 

I spent half of my day in the aquarium, seeing all kinds of sharks, fish and they even had a tank where you could touch sharks and stingrays!

The main attraction the whale shark- the fish tank was up to 4 level.s

Osaka part 1 大板

It takes about 1 1/2 hours to get to Osaka from Kyoto by train. Although it is so close to each other distance wise it couldn't be more different from their atmosphere. Kyoto had a very calm and historic vibe, Osaka on the other hand is very alive, colorful and loud. After checking in my hotel I went to see Namba which is the city centre and one of the main tourist attractions. From there I just strolled around the street, walked through dotonbori and tried the famous Osaka street food. It was a nice contrast to the historic Kyoto and on top of that I almost recovered fully from my flu. Therefore I could really appreciate the noisy and colorful Japanese vibe. 

The famous Osaka Tako-yaki, the line was quite long but it is a really exciting view to see how fast they cook these little balls  

Tako-yaki, round balls in a wheat batter with minced octopus inside

Tako-yaki, round balls in a wheat batter with minced octopus inside 

The Dontonbori Canal

The famous billboards from Namba-there is a huge lane coming from it with hundreds of shopping possibilities. I went back almost every day that I stayed in Osaka to do all my shopping

The famous billboards from Namba-there is a huge lane coming from it with hundreds of shopping possibilities. I went back almost every day that I stayed in Osaka to do all my shopping

Kyoto day 3 京都

The third and last day in Kyoto we just strolled through a few temples in the morning and went to see a traditional tea ceremony at noon. Most people know me as a huge tea lover so it was a really interesting and special experience to see Camellia explaining and showing us the traditional matcha tea ceremony. She was really helpful with all the questions we had not only regarding the tea ceremony but also about Kyoto in general. After the tee ceremony me and Megan parted ways because I had to head back to the hostel and check out, to catch my train to Osaka in the afternoon. I had a great time in Kyoto not only seeing all the beautiful temples and shrines; learning more about the historical side of Japan but also having the experience to stay in a beautiful renovated Japanese house with the two loveliest owner of the hostel Oki's Inn. Yuka even gave me a hot pack whilst I was leaving, telling me that Osaka will be cold the next days (my heart melted!). One of the most significant memories of Japan are by far the cute, helpful, polite and lovely people I have encountered on this trip! 

Entrance gate of Chion-in 

One of the very interesting things I've encountered in Asia are the restaurants with the plastic food on display. Showing customers the 3D menu

Camellia showing us the individual steps of the tea ceremony 

The utensils for the Matcha tea ceremony 

There is no sugar added into the Matcha tea therefore we had to eat this kind of candy in the beginning before drinking the tea

The kanji; meaning harmony, respect, purity and tranquility; the four most important elements of the tea ceremony 

After being showed how to make Matcha it was our turn of making it ourselves

Seeing the tea ceremony really made me appreciate this kind of tradition. Every move was very stable and calm just how you imagine Zen to be. Of course I had to purchase a matcha set for myself to include this type of Zen into my daily life 

Strolling around the little lanes in Kyoto 

Beautiful hand painted tea bowls 

The Hokanji Temple also known as the Yasaka Pagoda with tourists dresses as Geishas

My last meal in Kyoto- delicious abura soba which are a type of dry oily noodles with karaage as a side dish (fried chicken)

さようなら京都!

Kyoto day 1

I arrived in Kyoto early in the morning via the night bus from Tokyo. If you are thinking about going there with the night bus I would suggest to purchase the bus ticket earlier than just a few days ahead because you can save up a lot money especially during Christmas time (I had to learn it the hard way). After the horrible night with almost no sleep and still ill I was lucky enough the quickly find my way to the hostel. The hostel was in one of those little traditional food lanes, not only were the owners super helpful and kind whilst I was ill, the hostel, a traditional old house which they renovated  had such a calm and beautiful atmosphere. After I slept until late in the afternoon, I wanted to walk a bit around the area and find some food. The hostel owners suggested to see the Nanzenji Temple and the Eikando Temple. Just by the little glimpse I had of that day I was already feeling the magnitude of the former Japanese capital. Kyoto has so many traditional and historical buildings to offer and in my opinion a must-see whilst traveling Japan. 

The cute entry of the hostel I was staying in- Guesthouse OKI's Inn 

My heart made a little jump for these cute arrangement of succulents 

Every shot in Kyoto is picture perfect

I had to get some strength back because of my flu- this was a perfect meal to get me going

Beautiful aqueduct 

Nanzenji Temple- I arrived there whilst the sun was setting. Whilst being in Kyoto I had dozens of Deja-vu situations with the Hayao Miyazaki movies 

Cute little monks at the Eikando temple

Tried some soba and vegtables tempura 

I was walking along Eikando Temple and saw all these students coming home from their afternoon classes and was so intrigued because of the feeling that time just stopped in Kyoto. I felt like I was watching a movie about the 50s wether it was because of  the students wearing those really old looking uniforms or those dark wooden buildings. Now thinking about it I really enjoyed that atmosphere, it was a really calm and picturesque!

Tokyo part 3

I love traveling! All these new impressions about an unknown culture which you've just encountered; the 'lost in translation-ness'; the new faces and the stories behind them etc. It's one of my big loves in life BUT what happens if you feel sick and by sick I'm not talking about it like in a hiphop kind of way, like cool and fresh I mean coming down with a diseases...That is what happened to me on my third day in Tokyo. It was probably due to a mixture of mental stress of planning this trip, the sadness of the semester ending and the lack of sleep that caused me to get the flu. Instead of resting for the first few days, I was having the infamous FOMO (fear of missing out) so I was pushing myself too hard which lead to my knockout. I wasn't able to leave the bed for two days which really annoyed me but I guess that was the only way how I could continue my trip. On the third day the weather wasn't that great, we started with Shibuya walking around trying to find a restaurant where we didn't have to wait for more than an hour to finally get a table and continued with Harajuku. Because we wasted a bit of time trying to find a restaurant we had to rush through Harajuku also Anja had invited me to her friends place to hang out so we also had to go there. I was quite sad to leave the party earlier but I was just feeling horrible!

The day before I got really sick Anja and me went to Shibuya-it's crazy how many people are at Shibuya crossing 

We went to this restaurant called Sweets paradise which had a buffet with western food and lots of cake- after paying at a vending machine you have one hour to eat as much as you can ^^

They really know how to make delicious cake

A must for tourist- standing next to the Hachiko statue

The busy streets of Harajuku- everywhere I went in Tokyo there where tons of people

I already look a bit ill in this picture in front of the main street in Harajuku 

Tokyo part 1

After the semester had ended I fulfilled one of my long time dreams- traveling to Japan. I went there on the 21st of December till the first of January 2016. Which meant spending Christmas and New Years in Japan. Ever since I was little I was fascinated with that country starting from the Anime world, the motherland of Sailor Moon, Dragonball Z to just name a few of my childhood heroes and this fascination has continued even now through my adulthood. Two of my favorite movies are set place in Japan, the first one is 'Spirited away' and the second one is 'Lost in Translation'. Both tackle different topics but both of these movies have left an immense impact in my tastes in cinematography. Japan in my eyes was a world where tradition and craziness has formed a well sorted balance. And I was eager to make my own impression of these two worlds. My first stop of this journey was the gigantic, enormous and tremendous capital of Japan-Tokyo. 

I started to realize how big this city actually is on my way from the airport to my friends dorm where I was staying at, it took me more than two hours. I arrived there exhausted but happy to finally see my friend Anja after 6 months. She took me to Ikebukuro which is a district with lots of shops where we had some yummy food and had a good old chat about our exchange student lives. 

Ikebukuro- first outlook on the amount of people living in Tokyo 

We had some food in one these so called family restaurants-I really enjoy the Japanese cuisine with their set meals

They really know how to make a good desert

Huge arcades- I saw tons of these types of arcades on TV, so me and my friend had to play a few games. It's crazy to think that some of these people are staying hours and hours playing by there own

First time for me playing this race and I don't know how but I was able to score first place (I'm the piggy with the bow)

On the 22nd we woke up super early (around 5 o'clock) to go to the Tsukiji Fish market. Sadly we weren't able to witness the Tuna auction but we saw one of these big Tuna fish in front of a restaurant. So of course we had to snap a picture. A lot of shops and restaurants weren't even open at that time. So for those not that interest in the Tuna auction and just want to see the market I suggest going later in the day!

The market was full of deli which I have never seen before. Most of them were either products of the sea or things to eat with seafood

I really enjoyed the atmosphere of all these people in the early morning picking up their groceries

Of course we had to have some kind of Sushi from the Fish market- really delicious!