Touring the imperial palace, this was a guard house on the perimeter.

Walking to the hotel at 6am after the flight, I saw my first Japanese car on a Japanese street and everything was already amazing.

Even the trucks look effortlessly cool.

6th floor of Shibuya Parco is wild, a Nintendo Store, Sega Store, Jo-Jo’s pop up, Jump store and of course…

the Pokémon Center.

It was insanely packed. Almost too much good stuff to choose from.

Devon’s haul. This was just the beginning of a slippery slope that led to both of us buying larger backpacks.

If this stuffed DK was not large enough to justify it’s whole own suitcase we might have had a more serious conversation about him coming home with us.

Shibuya is beautiful, if touristy. It’s at least in a cool way.

5 hours after landing, first Sushi. You ordered on the tablet and it came out a few minutes later. Truly delicious.

It was fall and we had a lot of evocative, moody days. It was all my weather happy place.

I’d gotten a recommendation to try Yoshinoya for good, quick, but very Japanese breakfast. I would like to eat this kind of breakfast exclusively, please.

Japan Yoshinoya is a far cry from the Styrofoam rice bowl I have in my mind from the US edition.

Devon found a lovely garden (Rikugen) an easy subway trip from our hotel. Incredible fall colors.

I’ve made a lot of these out of paper. It was awesome to see one in the wild.

An authentic 700+ year old Samurai sword at the (touristy, but fun) Samurai/Ninja museum.

I did not win the throwing star competition.

We didn’t ride this boat. But I love the look.

Tokyo Skytree. Spoiler, we went up to the 450th floor later in the trip.

Apparently that’s golden beer foam? Not a poop? Ok, if you say so.

I love the colors on this Monet which I somehow had not seen before.

The Artizon Museum was beautiful, though the special exhibition was very ’things you can’t unsee’. We came here as a plan B after the Creative Museum was way too packed.

Chiikawa everywhere. I didn’t get it. Now I get it. Cute but with an adult emotional core.

How are even the seagulls kawaii

There’s a Starbucks. At the imperial palace. That sounds wrong, but it was the meeting place for a guided tour. At least the space was incredible.

The old/new juxtaposition jumped out at me constantly in Japan.

I didn’t know bonsai trees came in XXL. But they are really beautiful.

This used to be the place the Shogun could go and contemplate Mt Fuji. These days he would be contemplating skyscrapers instead.

Since the imperial palace burned down in a massive fire centuries ago, this is a new model that the government commissioned based on the best evidence for how it looked. It was impressive and incredibly detailed.

I did not go in to the bag store because I Have A Problem.

I miss having a Muji nearby.

If you know you know

Chiikawa park. Peak cuteness. Very few kids in sight.

Uncle’s been at the sake again.

I have no idea who this guy is but he’s a whole whole mood.

I didn’t have any 100 yen coins at the time but I might have done some damage at these gashapon machines. Such a cool collection.

We didn’t have time to go to the Ghibli museum but luckily there was a store at the base of the Skytree.

Sadly the catbus was not currently available for riding.

Tokyo Skytree. Another ’touristy but worth it’ destination. Incredible views.

On the way to Gōtokuji Temple, you can take a special lucky cat themed trolley.

The temple itself was lovely and the colors were incredible.

You can buy your own cat here and add it for whatever luck you might need.

I loved that random spots would just look cool for no reason.

Back in Shibuya at night.

Souflee pancakes. (Pancake?) Devon reported them to be delicious.

This is my new reference for trying to relax.

Sometimes Gashapon machines are lies. I did not want a minon keychain. I wanted a miniature game boy game cartridge. But, now I have a minon keychain.

Gingko trees turn the most amazing golden yellow. Apparently we had great timing and missed the time of year they drop nuts which we were told smell like ’especially fragrant cheese.'

Stayed at the best hotel in Kyoto. Perfect blend of traditional and modern.

Stop following me.

Carter wanted to buy a version of this car that they sold for a few years in the US. They’ve done cooler things with it since.

Breakfast at the hotel tou.

Thanksgiving at Universal Japan. After a very stressful trip there (oops turns out some trains are reservation only, now I know), it was nice to walk through the gate.

We had a lot of fun on the Donkey Kong mine cart ride. Not enough fun to pay for the picture.

Don’t judge this dog. He said it was delicious.

Was it worth an hour wait for this Yoshi ride? Yes, if only to avoid the regret at having missed it. Awesome view, at least.

I love that they have the exact same Waterworld show. Just, in Japanese. No subtitles but somehow we managed to keep track of the highly nuanced tale.

This is the face of a man who carried a poncho for 8 days in case it rained actually wearing a poncho in heavy rain and feeling totally vindicated.

A Mario themed dessert cafe.

including this gorgeous wood Mario level wall art.

Don’t love JK Rowling; still a cool looking spot.

Me and a very sleepy minion going home.

On day 2, got the western breakfast. I was sad I could not eat this part of it. Or at least somehow get it to Carter.

Devon found a tea ceremony for us to attend. It was an amazing experience to learn more about the history and the ceremony itself.

I would like all the Japanese cars please.

There’s a famous souflee cheesecake that’s unique to Osaka, but we didn’t have time to get it during our Universal-dominated day trip. Devon found this worthy alternative in Kyoto, made by a true craftsman.

The kitchen where the cheesecake happens.

The oldest gate of it’s kind in Japan.

Old town Kyoto was really incredible. We’d love to have had more time there, or in Kyoto in general.

My gashapon friends that came home with me.