2024 Japan Holiday - Diary

I'm writing a dairy for every single day while i'm here in Japan, I hope it can be an interesting read! Its definitely something new to me and so far i'm really enjoying writing it.

Day #0 - It was a 3.5 hour drive from the countryside to the airport then a 10+ hour flight to Guangzhou, then an AWFUL layover from 7pm till 9am the next day with no hotel room just laying around suffering 😭 ended up spending so much money to sit in the VIP lounges for food and other stuff, long story short I never want to do a layover in China again.... they block EVERYTHING.... no youtube, no discord, nothing~

Day #1 - Apart from the terrible layover at Guangzhou, once I touched down at Haneda airport I got lost in Tokyo's train station right away 🤣 but around 4-5 hours later I finally made it to Kyoto where my relative is.

I wanted to do a lot but arrived late around 7pm so tonight was just settling in and going out for dinner.

Even though its only day one I definitely feel the same way, in that I want to move here permanently in the future, so when I get back home I will try to apply for IT jobs in Japan. I think Tokyo is more suited for me though, I really want to go to cons like shotafest, comiket, etc

Day 1 picture collage ⬇️

Day #2 - I went and visited Nara~ famous for the Tōdai-ji temple and Deer Park! Apart from this I did a bit of shopping for general goods and ate out some more experiencing the cuisine and culture more~ I'm suprised how costly public transport can get one all totalled up.

Day 2 picture collage ⬇️

Day #3 - It was more of a slow day, on this day I went to visit Kyoto Zoo and dam... its really small compared to other zoo's i've been to. Apart from that I spend most of the day at home touching up on my documents and doing some drawing and just slight gaming. Around lunch I went to Shinkyougoku and bought new glasses and a new bag~ I think that area is amazing... I had really nice takoyaki and fried chicken 😋 last thing for the day was later in the evening I went to karaoke, it's really amazing... I want to find that special someone and sing a lot of karaoke with her someday~~

Day 3 picture collage ⬇️

Day #4 - This day was very chill~ just another visit back to Shinkyougoku to buy groceries and new clothes. Ate at various different restaurants, nothing too special. I'm really sore from all these steps... like 20k each day alongside all the biking _(:3/ L)

Day 4 picture collage ⬇️

Day #5 - Nothing really to note~ I had a really bad sleep so slept late and woke up late, just went back to the same spots again and discovered more shops more slowly

Day #6 - Nothing really to note again 😅 just some food, and stayed in doing art and playing some games~ I think I will visit the arcade and thousand steps soon

Day #7 - For today I visited the Heian Shrine and had a lot of different food~ the 150yen sushi train downtown and the round one arcade~ I'll be visiting more shrines each day and probably the bamboo forest as well. I will be going back to Tokyo on the 21th to explore around that area until the 25th which is when my flight is back to Australia~

Day 7 picture collage ⬇️

Day #8 - I caught the flu from my famly member 😭 so i'm quite cooked right now, but I still managed to go out for some food, visit the Shimogamo shrine and the Kyoto Botanical gardens. By the time I got home I was absolutely dead, as of writing this its 3:19am 🤣 since I slept all evening feeling dead....

Day 8 picture collage ⬇️

Day #9 - Just resting all day in bed, went out for lunch and dinner though~ Indian food, and miso ramen

Day 9 picture collage ⬇️

Day #10 - Still pretty sick, but a lot better most of today was resting and food~ I went out and tried CoCo Ichiban, I think its been like 7-9 years since I last had it. The last time was when I was in Thailand, and for dinner just meat on rice~ nothing too special. Because of all this downtime I have ALOT of time to draw in my room since I don't have a proper PC setup I am just on the tablet a lot of the time, please see my latest posts! I'm trying to draw lots lately 😋

Day 10 picture collage ⬇️

Day #11 - Another slow day not much to note apart from the usual going out only for food, just at home recovering from the flu. Tomorrow I'll be going out to adventure zip line so i'm looking forward to that!

Day #12 - Finally fully healed! Today was a road trip with a rental car to Shiga to Forest Adventure RITTO! Apart from that just more nice food and picking up my new glasses from Jins in Kyoto city center. I'll be in Tokyo soon for the last few days of my holiday, I wonder if I can find any cute figures from Akihabara 🤭

Day 12 picture collage ⬇️

Day #13 - Nothing much to note, abit sore from previous day so it was a slow one, just had fast food and went out to a flea market held at the Chion-ji Temple. I bought a small moss terrarium for my relative, its so cute I wish I could bring it back to Australia but immigration/TSA wouldn't allow it for sure.

I have universal studios in Osaka planned for Monday or Tuesday and then from next Friday I will be in Tokyo till the following Wednesday!

Day 13 picture collage ⬇️

Day #14 - Nothing at all to note! Was a potato the entire day and just did art and stayed home~

Day #15 - Today was a big day~ early start leaving home at 7:30am for Universal Studios riding from Kyoto all the way to Osaka, I think the picture collage can speak for itself! I cant believe the waiting lines were that long... even on a Monday! I thought there would be a lot more rides but I guess being a theme park instead of an amusement park there are much less rides. Nonetheless it was a good day and I got a lot of photos and made a lot of memories!

Day 15 picture collage ⬇️

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Above is the stage play from Waterworld! (Day 15)

Day #16 - Nothing to note again 😆 just had nice food and late in the night went out for some drinks near the river~

Day 16 picture collage ⬇️

Day #17 - So today was pretty awesome~ originally it started slow with nothing really to note (getting lunch outside, doing some art, playing games on the laptop), but it was because I made plans for late night~ As i'm writing this its 3:45am and I just got back! My relative works in a club and I was fortunate enough to be able to visit and had a wonderful time with drinks and games~ they were all super welcoming it was an awesome first time exerperience, even though my Japanese conversational skills were awful they were stll really awesome~ Right after I cycled to Sannenzaka, however didn't go up fully since I was really tired and it was pitch black.

Tomorrow I'l likely head to Fushimi Inari Taisha at night again and then the following day i'm off to Tokyo!

Day 17 picture collage ⬇️

Day #18 - Pretty much my last day in Kyoto! Main highlights of this day was the pizza, the karaage chicken and then at night visiting Fushimi Inari Taisha~ I think the picture speaks for it itself 😋 I was DEAD once I got home, 40 minutes bike ride there, 2 hours of walking (more like climbing) then 40 minutes biking back. Tomorrow I will head back to Tokyo around midday and explore a lot of different places there! Hopefully the impression it leaves in my heart is good and i'll be happy to move there permanently someday.

Day 18 picture collage ⬇️

Day #19 - I woke up suppeeer late, just didn't want to move with how sore my body was from yesterday. Eventually I was up and about and was off to Kyoto Station for one last point of interest. I feel kind of sad to leave Kyoto 🥲, but i'm sure someday i'll return again to explore more. It was about a 2 hour shinkansen ride back to Tokyo and godness was I surprised with how stuffed the JR line trains can get. Got to my accomodation and just unwinded a bit then went out to get dinner, and readying for tomorrow since i'll be visiting Shibuya and Akihabara!

Day 19 picture collage ⬇️

Day #20 - Majority of today was spent in Akihabara! My sleep is really really bad right now, I don't know if its from the accomodation that I'm currently at or if i'm just thinking too much lately. I slept for like an hour last night so was pretty exhausted the whole day in Akihabara. Nonetheless it was an awesome experience, I think there was still plenty to discover, and someday I definitely want to revisit! I was looking for cute male figurine models but had no luck, characters like Ciel (Black Butler), Astolfo, and so on. In the end I settled on buying a lot of Tori merch~ I was mainly looking for stickers since I can stick it to my luggage and have it as a memory.

Day 20 picture collage ⬇️

I'm really tired~ and ready to go home 😆 I ended up spending much more than I anticipated, so once I get home i'll need to save for awhile. After I got home from Akihabara I just did my weekly raids on Elsword with friends and continued working on some art ⬇️ (full work/details in my other fanbox post!)

This trip has made me come to realize a lot, once I get back home to Australia thee is a ton of things I will be actively doing to aim for my goal of returning permanently someday. Things like better organization, new job, glow up, i'll work hard to come back to hopefully live in Tokyo someday. I'm still a little worried about the lonely epedemic this country has, but I think with enough effort and work anything can accomplish anything. This includes making friends even in a country like Japan~

I don't know if I'll do anything tomorrow, originally I wanted to go to Shibuya but websites are saying its better to visit at night. As of writing this days entry in its 4:29am.... I think theres a chance I just rest tomorrow and on the final day before i'll do Shibuya for the whole day. Regardless i'm already really happy with how this holiday panned out, the things i've learn, the realization i've gotten, all that has been worth it and i'll take it all home with me.

Day #21 Sunday - Spend most of the afternoon and evening in Shibuya! Another shock with just how many people there are.... I had some really really nice curry, CoCo Ichiban can't even compare this one was like on another level! Then had some deserts and can you believe it, I FOUND THE ARTIST SUPPORT ITEMMMMMMM. It was their last stock and a bit marked up in terms of price but i'm so happy I was able to find a local stock!!

I took it out of the package and had a bit of a play with it, I think I will still resort to using irl references (myself) for hands but in some circumstances i'll use this! I want to get the L hand white color someday too so I can have a full set 🥰

Sadly when I was in Shibuya the Sky observation deck tickets were completely sold out so I couldn't do the point of interest 🥲 nonetheless I spent a good amount of time and was happy with the day!

Day 21 picture collage ⬇️

Tomorrow I probably won't do anything unsure at this stage~

Day #22 Monday - As predicted I did nothing! Just ate out and relaxed~

Day #23 Tuesday - Flying home was an absolute NIGHTMARE. I will never be taking China Southern Airlines again in the future. My flight was delayed which caused the plane to touch down too late in Guangzhou so was forced to spend the night here, since my connecting flight had already departed and left myself and a few others behind. To top it off the following day i'm not even flying back to Australia.... we were sent to Kulua Lumpur.... unbelievable airlines... to then take another connecting flight from KL to Australia. The only good thing about all that was I got to meet 4 really kind people and we stuck together all the way through till we got home since we were all trying to get back to home to Aus.

Never again, the initial flight to Japan was a nightmare thanks to Guangzhou, the return trip should've been the better one only to be worst.... so frustrating....

Final days picture collage ⬇️

Below was my time in Kulua Lumpur airport~ even this flight got delayed 3.5 hours

That concludes my diary for my Japan holiday trip! It was 100% worth it, my main feedback would probably be that it was a bit too long~ I think 14-16 days would've been perfect I ended up spending a lot more than I anticipated. Regardless once back in Australia I'll try my very best to learn Japanese in full swing and look to move here permanently in the following months or years!

Thanks again for reading if you are! And thank you for supporting me too~ I am really grateful to each person that supports.