Oh my goodness, friends! October was a blur. (You can read a short list of all the Breast Cancer Awareness Month happenings in this issue of The Still Good Monthly.) Now that it’s officially over, I am sitting down to chronicle our beautiful, wild and once-in-a-lifetime Japan trip for you in my digital scrapbook. 🥰 This has been on my heart and mind for literal weeks, but alas- a girl can only write and post about so many things at once. Right? Pour yourself a cozy cup and settle in. Let’s talk all things Japan!

Disclaimer: This is so incredibly long. Bless you for caring to read it! So much to say!

Another Adventure?!

Andrew and I saved and planned for our Europe trip for over a year. (Remember our epic Easter Vacation? Details here!) We had no idea we’d go on another adventure so soon! In the grand scheme of international travel, I’d say this one was a little last minute. 😂 We basically found out we were going as soon as we got home from London. That means our entire trip was planned and financed in 5 months. 🤪 That being said, it was really special to be invited on a vacation across the world to see Andrew’s Japanese family!

Andrew’s mom, my mother-in-law Mary, was actually born in Japan. She and her sister, Barbara, still communicate with cousins living there. We met Tetsuro a few summers ago when he visited the US, but this would be the first trip they’d take to visit him. Back in 2020, Andrew’s mom, sister and aunt planned to visit their family in Japan during the Olympics. As I’m sure you’re already inferring, the world shut down and so did their plans. We heard they working on another trip last year, but didn’t know we were going with them. The newly expanded group for the new trip included Mary, Barbara, Abby, Andrew, Chris (their cousin) and me!

Planning a Family Trip

Mary and Barbara worked out dates and cities with Tetsuro, their cousin, and booked flights with a local travel agent. They decided that mid-late September would be a good time to visit. Japan’s seasons are actually pretty similar to ours in North Carolina. (The winter is cold and the summer is hot hot hot!) We also planned around Obon, an August holiday that rivals Thanksgiving for mass travel and people going back home to visit their families. It was fun to have planning nights at our house! We ordered pizza or baked cookies, and projected laptops to our living room TV to narrow down all the fun sites we wanted to hit in Japan. Slowly over the summer, our trip began to take shape!

A “Road Trip” Across Japan

Japan is roughly the size of California, with about half the US population nestled inside. Cities are close enough to warrant hitting as many as you can, but are far enough to take a good deal of time. (Ha!) So our Japanese family vacation was basically a “road trip,” but on trains and planes. 🚅 It was totally packed 10 days!

Sunday Sept. 21-Monday Sept. 22 Travel Days

The six of us gathered in Andrew and I’s driveway under the stars early Sunday morning. We squeezed 6 grown adults and 8 suitcases into a mini-van, and drove to the airport. We took an early flight to New York, and then a 14 hour flight to Tokyo. While it felt like an entire lifetime, Japanese Air was a great experience! We had Japanese food for every meal, and they served hot matcha and miso soup. It was delightfully cozy. 🥰 Because we were flying west (and following the sun), they simulated day and night on the plane to help our bodies cross the international date line and get a little sleep. We landed in Tokyo Monday night, swapped currency, picked up train passes, and took a shuttle to our hotel in Shinjuku!

Tuesday Sept. 23- Sendai (Family Day)

The next morning we rolled our suitcases into the train station, ready to move to Sendai! Almost every morning, we traveled to a new city in Japan. Instead of driving 4 hours, we took a bullet train for just 90 minutes to get there! We bought ekiben (boxed lunches) at the station to eat during the ride and it was so fun. We stowed our luggage at the train station, and Tetsuro whisked us off onto a whirlwind tour of Sendai sites: Zuihoden Mausoleum, Sendai City Museum, Sendai Castle and more! Tetsuro and his wife invited us over for coffee after dinner, and it was really special to see their home, try Japanese sweets, look at picture albums, and just do family things. I’ll never forget it!

Wednesday Sept. 24- Yamagata (Family Day)

I wish I had pictures to show you of the off-the-charts breakfast buffet in our Sendai hotel! Japanese breakfast was so healthy, and it’s what my body was craving. (Salmon, roasted asparagus, fresh fruit and tiny croissants?? Yes, please!) The six of us traveled with Tetsuro and his wife, as well as his sister and her husband, Naruse, to Yamagata. We took a “normal” train into the mountains to see where Andrew’s grandmother grew up. We also toured the government building where Andrew’s great-grandfather worked during the 1930’s. Yamagata is famous for soba noodles, made from buckwheat that grows there! We had a huge lunch of soba noodles, only to have a 10 course dinner at the hotel a few hours later. 😂 We were incredibly full, but also sad to leave Tetsuro so soon.

*Family dinner on our last night in Sendai!*

Thursday Sept. 25- Travel to Osaka

It was so sad to leave everyone in Sendai so soon! Tetsuro, Naruse, Coco and Kikeko went to the station with us, and we all cried when they put us on the bullet train for our next journey. 😢 According to Google, Sendai is a 10 hour drive to Osaka. (Holy moly!) Our train ride was only about 4 hours, which continues to amaze me. Zooming that quickly is a blur- literally! LOL. I think only Chris got decent pictures of Mt. Fuji. (see below) Eventually, we stepped off the train and into the thick humidity of southern Japan. This marked the end of my good hair days- just like NC in July! 😂 We checked into our Osaka hotel and walked to a restaurant for dinner, then Andrew and I ventured back out on our own for an art show for Yebisu Brewing. I loved it!

Friday Sept. 26- Kyoto Tea Ceremony and Samurai Museum

Friday and Saturday were really great days! Friday morning, we took city trains and our dependable walking feet for some pre-booked Kyoto activities. The Samurai Museum included a class where we actually dressed in traditional Samurai training robes, learned some moves, and got to practice with each other. (It was a hoot!) After, we checked in for our tea ceremony. We got to dress up in kimonos, and I felt like Mia Thermopolis in Princess Diaries. 🤩 They showed the ladies to a separate space to choose a kimono off the rack, sit for a professional hair do, and get dressed by some really talented stylists. (I mean, how fun?!) We met Andrew and Chris in the garden for some pictures, then had our traditional tea ceremony inside. I loved both of these activities because we actually learned a lot! We had real demonstrations from real professionals, and we participated in an authentic way.

*Group photo with our Samurai instructor!*

Saturday Sept. 27- Kyoto/Nara Guided Tour

Another lovely day! A little long, a little sweaty, but really wonderful. It was so luxurious to have a tour guide drive us around with AC instead of hoofing it and navigating subways ourselves. 😂 Our tour guide helped us prioritize several big tourist staples: Fushimi Inari Shrine (known for it’s 1,000 gates), Arashiyama Bamboo Forest and Monkey Park, Nara Deer Park, Todaiji Temple, and Kinkakuji (the Golden Pavilion.) It was super crowded all day, but we never would have squeezed it all in without our guide. Due to timing and locations, we didn’t eat breakfast or lunch this day which was crazy. Nothing like climbing mountains and living on matcha soft serve- ha! And because one lives 3 different lives in a single day on an international vacation, we spent the evening at a huge shopping mall across from our hotel. There were lots of specialty shops for Nintendo, Harry Potter, etc. The food court upstairs was filled with tiny restaurants, and we had some fantastic udon tempura for dinner!

Sunday Sept. 28- Travel Day to Tokyo

One full week into our vacation, real life became a figment of my imagination. Suica cards, metro lines, and nightly 7-11 treats were all I knew! 🤪 Responsibility, who? We confidently rolled our suitcases on and off of narrow escalators, train platforms, curbs. We filed through dense crowds like little ducks in a line and didn’t lose anybody! We were pro’s…and we were exhausted. 😅 I believe this is the night that ended with me sobbing over a basket of dumplings in a restaurant. Enough said!

Monday Sept. 29- Tokyo Shopping and Sumo Wrestling

Let the record show that we could have spent an entire week in Tokyo. There is simply so much to do! We hit a variety of shopping spots- like a 12 story paper supplies store 😍- before ending the day in Asakusa for Sumo Wrestling. Asakusa was a neighborhood with lots of older, traditional structures right in the middle of modern, urban setting. Very cool, very artsy. One block was skyscrapers, the next was a temple complex! The sumo wrestling event included all-you-can-eat chicken hot pot and a family picture with the wrestlers. (Very a-la Dixie Stampede, haha) I loved the recycled kimono store, too. Another long, great day!

Tuesday Sept. 30- Tokyo Part 2: Toei Animation Museum, Shibuya, Imperial Palace

How much can we squeeze into one day?? We hopped on an early train to the outer edge of Tokyo for the Toei Animation Museum. (The home of Sailor Moon, amongst many other famous anime.) After lunch, we rode the train all the way back to the Imperial Palace for a quick picture before ending the day exploring the Shibuya neighborhood. Lots of shopping, lots of navigating, lots and lots of people. 🤪 We had a fun dinner at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant! After hittng the hotel, Andrew and I popped out for one last solo adventure. We visited the observation deck at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building for skyline views and a light show on the plaza.

Wednesday Oct. 1- Thursday Oct. 2 Travel Home!

Somehow, against all odds, this was the first day it rained! We donned our hoods and umbrellas to make our way to breakfast a few blocks from the hotel, then hopped on our airport shuttle! The airport itself had a beautiful Edo exhibit/area outside of security, and we had plenty of time to pick through the shops. Andrew and I cashed out our transportation cards for a great udon lunch and some last minute souvenirs! We flew 10 hours Tokyo to LA, then 5 hours LA to Charlotte. Add a 1 hour drive back to Hickory, and you have a zillion years of travel and a deep desire for one’s own bed and fluffy cat. 😂

Overall Impressions

Japan was incredible! Highly recommend! My Instagram algorithm is now full of nostalgic, Japanese tourist content and I miss it all the time. ❤ Japan is westernized enough where we felt really comfortable to move around, find what we needed, etc. It’s also dramatically different from what we know, so everything is new and exotic and interesting. Some points of note:

Japanese cultural norms: Conservative, loose clothing. (No leggings, here!) Silent subway cars, no matter how crowded it was. Considered rude to blow your nose in public. (So hard for me!) In general, very polite and respectful. No litter! Moist hand wipes were offered at restaurants, planes, nice trains.
Tourist-friendly: Free, clean public toilets all over the place! We saw very few bottle-filling stations, but there were vending machines everywhere. (I don’t want to guess how much money we spent on bottled water, haha) Most signage had both Japanese and English, and many community helpers like train attendants or cashiers spoke some English.
Trains, trains, trains: Yes, people drive in Japan, but as a tourist the best bet really is trains and subways. Japanese cities are so densely populated. We only took a cab one or two times! That being said, you will still walk soooooo much.
Buildings are full! Every train station was like a shopping mall. Stores, sit-down restaurants and exhibits were packed into every nook and cranny. It was challenging to navigate because a physical address didn’t necessarily tell you everything. (Hence, the vertical street signs all the way up a building!) It was so cool to see brightly lit, enclosed cafes inside underground tunnels. No area is “low foot traffic,” so why not put a nice restaurant there?
High quality souvenirs: I guess I’m used to the junk we pick up at amusement parks or gas stations here at home, but all Japanese souvenirs were top notch! From fridge magnets to stationary and t-shirts, I think they were really nice. Great materials and assembly for a great price. There must also be a tradition of giving fancy, individually wrapped sweets, because there were rows of stores and kiosks full of gift boxes- all with uniformed staff ready to help you choose your box! Imagine a boutique Krispey Kreme experience where someone packed your donuts with the reverence of a jeweler. So cool!
Fantastic food! Omgosh, take me back! 😭 Udon, tempura, miso, matcha, sushi, soba…I loved it all. The 7-11 Stores are as glorious as the internet promised, and we stopped by almost every night for fancy baked goods, fun drinks and snacks.

Traveling with MBC

Thanks to some recent travel experiences, I planned ahead on this one! I am proud to say that I did not come home sick. Hooray! I wore masks on the plane and in crowded train stations, which really helped. I also think the Japanese food was so good for me: tea, brothy soups, fresh ginger. I brought my little travel fan everywhere, and that helped a lot with hot flashes. (and just sweating in general!) 😂 I was utterly pooped throughout the trip, but Andrew kept me well-stocked with tea, snacks, and Vitamin C shots. I’m so grateful that my body could do the crazy things I asked of it. What a gift!

Travel Tips for Japan

While I am clearly NOT an expert, here are some fun extras I really appreciated:

Pack light! We knew this trip would involve a lot of movement, and I’m so pleased with Andrew and I’s packing choices. We both stuck to a carry-on rolling suitcase and one tote/backpack. We had to carry everything we brought through busy train stations almost every day. Keep it simple!
Pre-book experiences via Get Your Guide! Hands down, the best days were the best planned. And the best memories (outside of family time), were the activities we booked on Get Your Guide. Wherever you’re traveling, try it out!
We booked “Green Car” tickets for the bullet trains. This was like first class on an airplane, and totally worth it. The peace of mind of having seats reserved together and extra luggage storage was great! BUT, you can only book tickets 30 days in advance. So plan accordingly!
Ticket lanyard: Interestingly, all these trains required physical tickets or cards. (No phone beeping) And if you lose a ticket, you can’t replace it- no joke! I was really worried about this before our trip, but when we picked up tickets in the airport, they sold special lanyards for tourists. I may have looked like a college freshmen with my badge reel around my neck, but I didn’t lose any tickets! 😂
Get a hand towel! While public restrooms were super clean, most did not have paper towels or blow dryers. We realized that locals just whipped out a washcloth of their own to dry their hands. Most gift shops carried a big selection of hand towels as souvenirs, so they were easy to come by. I’m the proud owner of a Samurai Hello Kitty towel, now! 😍

What I’ll Remember

It was really sweet to spend time with family in Japan. While we spoke zero Japanese, and they spoke a little English, we were still able to spend quality time together. I have little vignettes tucked away forever: Andrew and Naruse’s heads together, connecting over classic cars and pictures. Everyone gathered in Tetsuro’s living room, shoe pile by the door. Learning all the history together in Yamagata. When Tetsuro teared up reading his pre-written goodbye to us at our fancy dinner. It was beautiful.

Idk who’s still reading at this point (haha), but mushy alert: I have to say that I’m really proud of Andrew. Traveling so far away, for so long, with extended family is really hard. There were definitely days when we were all hangry and dropped all pretenses. 🫣 Even so, Andrew was a great, unofficial group leader that got us where we needed to be. His deep respect for Japanese culture and for people was so evident. He listened attentively to kind tour guides like a sponge, soaking up every detail. He did the literal and metaphoric heavy lifting. He was wonderful. 🩷 Sure, we had tense moments. But I think there’s something special about going around the world with your in-laws, and coming home more in love with your husband. 🥰 To see each other fall apart and then utterly thrive, all in one day…it’s wild.

We are all far from perfect, and in constant need of grace and forgiveness. I’m so grateful that God can redeem hangry days and tired feet, and open my eyes to see the sweetness right in front of me. What a gift that heaviness and stress don’t have to define our relationships or our hearts. God continues to make all things new, even on family vacation!

This is so, so long, friends! Bless you for making it this far into the post. Thanks for visiting my digital scrapbook, and for being a part of my life. I’m happy to answer any travel or Japan questions you may have! Local friends, watch out for a Facebook album soon!

Japan