I took the bullet train from Osaka to Kyoto, which takes just 14 minutes. The drive takes approximatly 90 minutes so this seemed crazy. It cost around 1500 yen. The dutch guy came to Kyoto with me and we met up with our scottish friend that evening for some drinks. On my way to meet them I bumped into a guy from Norway I had met in Fujisan at the crossing. I cant remember his name but we called him Big Z. We explored the nightlife and I found it was extremely busy with tourists, I think people have complained its over crowded. It was different from Tokyo and Osaka, still a city but not big high rise buildings everywhere. We lost Big Z somewhere in a tourist bar, he believed a couple of girls were into him (I think he was imagining this bless him). We decided to hit the karaoke as we were in Japan and it was big there, same goes for the Philippines and most of the asian countries I suppose. I only spent a couple of days in Kyoto as it was too busy. I skipped the bamboo forest after hearing some people reviews but, I did visit the 10,000 gates at the Fushimi Inari Shrine. This was pretty cool but again it was very overcrowded. The next day I tagged along with the scottish guy to check out the wild deer in Nara. We said to eachother that we needed a couple of days without alcohol but, wouldn’t you believe it when we arrived at our hostel we met an Irish bloke. So again in typical British/Irish fashion we went for a “couple” of drinks and ended up getting carried away. The next day we went to see the deers. They were everywhere. We bought some food from 7Eleven to feed them (this isn’t the thing to do). We got told off by a Japanese guy selling biscuits that we should not feed them this stuff. Maybe it was business tactic or maybe it makes them shit all day, im not sure. The deers got pretty aggressive, they would headbutt you for food or as my scottish friend found out, nip at your privates. That got his attention. The next day we parted ways and I headed for Hiroshima.

I checked into my hostel in Hiroshima and went for something to eat. Someone had told me they thought the Japanese McDonalds would sell crazy things so I decided to check one out for lunch. I can confirm nothing that crazy on the menu. I sat down in a food hall eating when the chair I was sitting on caved in as one of the legs broke, quality. That evening I went looking for a gym to train at. During my time in Japan it was incredibly difficult to find a gym and I got turned away numerous times. One reason is that I have some tattoo’s and they are usually frowned upon as I was told the japanese relate tattoo’s to the Yakuza, the japanese mafia. Forgive me if im wrong. I think sometimes if the employee didn’t speak english they just turned me away to save the hassle also. I did always manage to find a gym eventually and normally it would be a leisure centre style gym. The following day I went to check out the Hiroshima war monuments. After a quick glimpse at the Atomic Dome, I went to the Peace Memorial Museum. It was about 200 yen for entry and it was an eye opener. I saw a few japanese nationals overwhelmed by some of the photos, this makes you really think of how bad it must have been. After a couple of days in Hiroshima I decided to visit Fukuoka. A local in the gym had told me he was from here and that it was a good place to visit, so I took his word for it and headed there via bullet train.

I arrived in Fukouka and it gave me Amsterdam vibes with its canals. I checked in to my unmanned hotel, these were pretty cool and easy to use aswell as very affordable. They were called Mizuka Daimyo. That evening I went to check out some street food near my hotel. The place was called Nakasu Yatai Yokocho. A street of 6 or 7 stalls, with a chef in the middle cooking your dishes and 10-14 seats surrounding the outside. The guy pulling the customers in spoke good english and we had a long chat whilst I cued for my place. In the cue I used google translate to communicated with a friendly Japanese couple from Osaka. When I sat down to eat the guy had bought me a beer, the Japanese people are so welcoming. I went to this stall the next three days and tried Takoyaki, Yakisoba, Yakitori and some other dishes. The food was really amazing and I recommend trying these stalls if you are staying in Nakasu. I met up with my dutch friend the following day and we went out to Ibiza club. We pre drunk some 9% lemon/apple sour drinks from 7Eleven. These really perk you up before a night out if you are looking for a good time! We had a crazy night and I woke up the next morning with a blurry memory of the night. We ended up going out to the same club the following two nights, again not remembering much each night and losing the dutch guy every time. Maybe the alcohol was catching up with me or maybe I was being spiked, who knows. I ended up staying in Fukuoka for a week and once the dutch guy had moved on it got a little boring. I had always planned to head back up to Osaka and finish the trip once again in Tokyo. But after looking at flight prices from Tokyo on the date I wanted to leave and seeing that a flight to Seoul, Korea would cost me just £40. I changed my plans.

My three weeks in Japan were really incredible. I would say it was one of the best countries I have visited, if not the best. The people were so polite and friendly, the food was amazing, the technology was so cool, the streets super clean and in general just an amazing country and I encourage anyone to visit. I planned to go back this September but my plans have now changed so I will plan to visit in 2025. Next time I want to look into climbing Mt Fuji aswell as watching a sumo match. It was out of season for both of these activities but next time I plan to amongst other things.

Until next time Japan.

ありがとう