A short trip yet memorable to Japan, specifically to Osaka, Kyoto, & Japan. We traveled for 5 days with extremely dense schedule (1/18/14 - 1/24/14). I traveled with a friend of mine. I departed from Taiwan, while my friend was from Jakarta. I will have another post to list down required documents to get Japan visa in Taiwan. It is actually pretty easy, especially if you are student. Also, you can visit my other post on Japan delicacy here.

Before we get started on the trip. There's something you might want to know for travel preparation. These are must-bring-items when you travel abroad in winter season: 

Winter coat, comfy boots/sneakers, hat & scarfs, toiletries & cosmetics (handcream, moisturizer, etc), Lonely Planet/other travel guide book, water bottle/tumbler, camera, smart phone, power bank, passport & ticket, small diary & pen. 

Tips:

1. Download useful app such as *Hyperdia (android only), Tokyo Metro Subway / Trains.jp (iOS only), and Google Maps / MapsWithMe (iOS & android). Some apps need an active internet connection. Hyperdia offers the route and the timetable of the railway within Japan. Unfortunately, this app is not available on iPhone for free. All iPhone user need to do is opening Hyperdia website in Safari.
2. Rent Mifi (Mobile Wifi router provide you a high speed Internet access in Japan). You can order it in advanced from Japan-wireless.com or right at the airport.
3. Bring water bottle/ tumbler to save cost on drinks.
4. Leave some space to your luggage when you leave, as you will end up buying some cutesy things when you get back. 
5. One coat or two is enough. Bring more scarfs and hats, so you can mix n match it with your coat for your daily looks. 
6. Bring more inner thermal wear since it is so cold out there.
7. If you already know where you going in Tokyo, you can purchase discount ticket of Metro Line with your boarding pass. Make sure you know which metro line you are going to take. Read more information here.

Day 0 (1/18): Arrival in Kansai Airport

I was arrived at a small airport in Osaka. After waiting for a while, I realized it was not Kansai International Airport. It was apparently Peach International Arrival area. FYI, Peach is a low-cost airline based in Japan. Peach offers flight service only to Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan. Peach airport is part of Kansai International Airport and there's shuttle bus every an hour that can take you to Kansai airport.

I met my friend once I arrived at Kansai int airport. The plan was to reach my cousin place to stay there for couple days. In fact, we were stuck in the airport since it was too late to take train to Suita City where my cousin lived. So we spent the night at the airport.

By the way, I was so amazed with every single tech they have, including toilet. It was winter, but the toilet seat was warm and has a remote control on it. There are several buttons but this one impress me much, the music button, to disguise the sound when you pee or poo. Anyway, that was for my first night in Japan, sorry for me being too tacky about toilet. I just thought that was one of my fabulous finds. LOL

Day 1 (1/19): Osaka

Woke up at 5. We had our first breakfast in japan at McD, and took off to my cousin place right after. It's quite a long way to reach Suita City from Kansai airport. We finally arrived around 10pm. Since we don't have too much time, we decided to go shopping straight away. And there we were in Osaka City, around Namba, Dotombori, and Shinsaibashi shopping area. I tell you that it was huge. No wonder people around the world come and shop there. From the top brands like Uniqlo, H&M, Zara, Forever 21, and Disney store, to street stores including second hand store, to infamous Fugu fish restaurants, to street snacks, everything was there! And there's a giant billboard of running man, a logo of Glico, where you should take picture in front of it.

Day 2 (1/20): Shiga Biwako Valley ski resort.

The main purpose of winter trip was to see snow. We were so excited when we first saw the snow, especially when it was snowfall. Shiga Biwako Valley is famous for skiing. When we arrived at Shiga station there's a bus that took us to a higher place. From that point we need to ride cable car to reach a top of a mountain where the skiing area is actually took place. The price of skiing/snowboarding set is ¥9,800 or about IDR 1m. The package includes ski/snowboard, skiing clothes, goggles, shoes, a meal, and one return cable car trip. Too bad we didn't take enough pictures because it was way too cold to take off our gloves and took snapshots. Neither skiing nor snowboarding was easy, my body felt like cracking after fell off too many times.

Tips:
Join a group training for additional  ¥1,000. That will be so much help for newbie.

Day 3 (1/21): Kyoto

We departed from Suita City to Kyoto as early as we can. We scheduled for only a day in Kyoto. My friend had planned it very well. As we all know, Kyoto is a well known city for its history. There are tons of temples and traditional houses there. We went to several spots as we planned, Arashiyama bamboo groove, Kinkaku-ji gold temple, Ginkaku-ji temple, and Gion. Unfortunately, Ginkaku-ji temple was closed at 4.30 PM and we arrived there at 4.45 PM. Even after we ran to get there, we still couldn't make it. Anyway, we're still happy because we found the green tea puff store in front of the temple. Then, we finally at Gion area strolled around the city before we departed to Tokyo.

Arashiyama Bamboo Groove

Kinkaku-ji Gold Temple

Day 4 (1/22): Tokyo

Arrived in Tokyo at 7 AM in the morning. We reserved backpacker hotel at Sakura Jimbocho. The hotel was quite clean and cheap, price at ¥7,850 /person for 2 nights. It's suitable for backpackers. We got a private room for two persons, a bunk bed with air conditioner, TV, WiFi, and a shared bathroom. Since it was for backpacker, you can do your own laundry at the basement level. After putting our bag in our room, we decided to go right away. We bought 1-day ticket for Tokyo Metro & Toei Subway price at ¥1,500. We went to Asakusa for little shopping and had our lucky wishes there, to Tokyo skytree to find Tokyo banana store, watched sumo tournament at Ryogoku (¥4,900), and finally headed back to hotel. Well, it was quite random trip I've ever had. We didn't intend to watch sumo but the tournament was held right when we were there, we're just curious to see. 

At Asakusa temple

In front of Tokyo Skytree

Sumo Tournament at Ryogoku

Day 5 (1/23): Tokyo

We bought 1-day ticket of Tokyo Metro & JR Line price at ¥1,580. We went to Tsukiji fish market in the early morning. Tsukiji is one of the largest fish market in the world which located in central Tokyo. I saw many kind of sea creatures, I even saw extremely big tuna fish that is probably bigger than me:)) We continued our trip to Harajuku, it is best to go on Sunday if you want to see Japanese cosplay. Then to Shibuya to see the overly crowded Shibuya Cross. Starbucks in Shibuya is the best place to capture that moment, but remember to take pictures or video secretly, because we are not allowed to do so. We also visited Hachiko statue near Shibuya station, and lastly we went to Ikebukuro to look for Kit Kat store. Sadly, all Kit Kat unique flavors were sold out:(

Tsukiji Fish Market

Harajuku station

Day 6 (1/24): Departure to Taiwan

Finally that was the end of our trip. It was a time for me to go back to reality, back to a student life in Taiwan. I was early at the airport, I wanted to buy something for friends and family back home, and I got plenty of Kit Kat unique flavors and Tokyo banana. Happy ending trip:)

Visit my other post on Japan delicacy here.

January 2014. My friend and I had marvelous days in Japan. 5 days non-stop travel around Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo. Wherever I travel I would definitely taste the local food of the place I visited. The fact that as a Moslem there were limited food I can eat doesn't stop me to keep looking for the best food. I could suggest for Moslems whose going to travel around Japan not to eat ramen, curry, and okonomiyaki. Because they use pork in their ingredients. Okonomiyaki originally uses pork belly as its filling. If you can speak Japanese then you can ask to take out the pork before it's being cooked.

Given the limited time, I couldn't specifically go to Halal restaurant. The food listed here were created based on our trip. Let's get right to it, shall we?

Fresh Sushi. This is not a new thing. You can find sushi anywhere in Jakarta. But you gotta eat this when you go to Japan. The raw fish taste different, so fresh!

Hakozushi or Osaka-style boxed sushi. This style is less known by the foreigner. Hakozushi style is unique to the Osaka region. All ingredients of Hakozushi are either cooked or cured: sea eel, red snapper, egg omelet, and shrimp.

The Fugu or Pufferfish. Dotonbori district in Osaka is the right place to find this restaurant. Fugu is known as the extremely poisonous fish, yet it is famous in Japan. In fact, Japan gov allow only highly trained and licensed chefs to serve the dish. Knowing this fact, I put aside my worries. I shouldn't have missed this chance while in Osaka. I ended up ordering a plate of mixed sashimi and a plate of Fugu sushi which contains of thin sliced of raw Fugu (the bottom plate in the picture). Raw Fugu is rather chewy, not like other raw fish. Since Fugu is an expensive delicacy, I can only afford this much.

Ikayaki or grilled squid topped with soy sauce. This fast food is quite popular too in Japan. The taste of sweet and salty sauce makes you want to eat more. It also good to eat it with rice. Onigiri rice filled with tuna and vegetables. Takoyaki. All of these I bought at the supermarket nearby when I stayed in Osaka. 

Takoyaki. A ball-shaped Japanese street food snack which is originated in Osaka. It is basically made of wheat flour filled with a tiny piece of octopus inside. Takoyaki is served with takoyaki sauce, green aonori, dried bonito flakes, and sometimes mayonnaise. The taste is similar to okonomiyaki that you can read in my other post. Too bad I couldn't eat okonomiyaki in Osaka because it contains pork as I mentioned earlier. Just like takoyaki, okonomiyaki is originated in Osaka.

Udon. That day, the weather was below 0°C at the top of Biwako Valley. Udon would be the best companion at this rate. Udon is served in a hot broth with thin sheets of fried tofu and kamaboko (a pink and white steamed fish cake) placed on top of the noodles. As I eat it, there's a refreshing after taste from the soup. While eating, I could enjoy the view of Biwa Lake that lies ahead.

Tentamadon in Kyoto. Rice topped with tempura and beaten egg.

Green tea puff bread. The shop is near Ginkakuji temple in Kyoto.

Kyo nama-fu yaki made of wheat gluten. A traditional food of Kyoto, which served dry baked with soysauce. Wheat gluten is more chewy than tofu. The taste is so unique. This becomes one of my favorite dish from all of the foods I've tried in Japan. This food is high in protein which once provided for the monks who are vegetarian. This is often used as meat substitutes or an alternative to soybean-based foods. I once wrote about vegetarian meat substitutes, the version of Taiwan, in my other post.

Grilled salmon. Another healthy food for you to choose.

Tarako cod-roe pasta. Tarako Pasta is certainly a popular dish in Japan. The dish was first invented at a pasta restaurant in Tokyo, when someone made a request for a bowl of spaghetti with caviar in it. Nowadays, there are many restaurants serve this, Sbarro Spaghetti is one of them.

Green tea-vanila ice cream at Asakusa temple, Tokyo. Probably not the best choice in Winter.

McDonalds at Harajuku area. French fries topped with cheese sauce and apple pie with  strawberry-ice cream. McDonald's is another must-taste when you travel abroad because every country has its own menu and style.

MOS Rice Burger. The burger that made of rice instead of bread bun. This one is a vegetarian rice burger contains of carrot, veggies, seaweed, and seasoned with soy sauce.

Kitkat, Tokyo banana, Pocky, and Maxim green tea latte. Japanese sweets and crackers. There are many unique foods in Japan that at the end I brought this much of sweets and crackers back home. Kitkat version of Japan offers a wide variety of flavors: hot Japanese chili, rum strawberry cheese cake, wasabi, green tea, rum raisin, white chocolate, and strawberry chocolate.