Gaijin Smashing Through Osaka

Not mentioned in this blog, but this is me at Namba Yasaka Shrine in Osaka!

 

Kyoto→Shin-Osaka→Shinsekai

Following my eventful departure from Kyoto, I hopped on a local commuter rail and traveled to Osaka, the last stop on my 2-week tour of Japan's 'Golden Route'. The journey was about 50 minutes, although it could've been 15 if I had been willing to fork over the cash to ride the shinkansen. I didn't mind, though - taking the commuter rail made my travel day a lot less stressful. After a pleasant ride that seemed to never leave the city, a 5-minute walk is all it took to get to my new hostel. 

The building was situated right across the street from Shinsekai - a popular tourist district home to dozens of cheap bites, dive bars, and tourist traps. It's a charming place full of interesting characters, so I was happy with my choice of accommodation. To my relief, this hostel was very comfortable, secure, and full of amenities. Hmmm, strange that it was so cheap...

Osaka is not nearly as packed with historical to-dos as Kyoto or points of interest as Tokyo (at least on my map), so I planned to take my visit slow and try to immerse myself in Osaka's famously unique culture and people.

A nice place to stay, a fun city to explore, and a sunburn that is almost healed - this is shaping up to be a great 5 days in Osaka! 

I Survived the Crowds of Kyoto and All I Got Were These Lousy Lifelong Memories! >:(

Journey to Japan's Old Capitol

On the morning of the 23rd (which also happened to be my 24th bday!), I woke up sore, with blisters on my feet, and battling the worst sunburn of my life. Alas, I had a schedule to keep. I packed up shop and caught an expressway bus from Fujikawaguchiko to Mishima. Mishima doesn't really hold any significance in this story apart from being the nearest shinkansen stop!

The shinkansen is Japan's famous bullet train railway system. Unfortunately, it's quite expensive, but I knew my Japan trip wouldn't be complete without trying it once, so I rode it from Mishima to Kyoto. It's an incredible way to travel and is something that I really, really hope can exist in America sometime in the near future. Some shinkansen lines reach speeds up to 200 mph, making it one of fastest commercial trains in the world. Actually, one of my favorite parts of the experience wasn't even on the train, but instead when I was watching other trains whisk through the platform at full speed while I waited for mine. Standing there on the platform a few mere feet away from such a large object moving at such incredible speeds is mind-blowing!

Bento on the train!

I want to note that this isn't my first time on a bullet train! In Korea, I took bullet trains a few times to travel around the country. They are just slightly slower on average than Japan's shinkansen, but I must say, I thought Korea's train was a bit more comfortable 🤷. The shinkansen was still a great ride, though, and I enjoyed a bento box while watching the countryside pass by out the window.

After a 90-minute ride, we pulled into Kyoto station. As soon as I stepped out of the train station, I was hit by a wall of heat and humidity. Having been at high elevation for a few days, I had gotten accustomed to 70-degree weather. Every day I was in Kyoto, it was in the 90s and incredibly humid. The walk from the station to my hostel that sounded so easy when I was planning my travel day was much more cumbersome thanks to the heat and my aforementioned physical ailments.

A Wise Man Climbs Mt. Fuji Once

Goodbye Tokyo!

On the morning of the 21st I loaded up all of my gear, said goodbye to the Tokyo hostel, and walked to the Shinjuku Expressway Bus Terminal. I swear I left the hostel early, but somehow I was running late when I arrived at the terminal. I rushed to the nearest employee and showed her my ticket asking, "これはどこですか ?" (kore wa doko desuka ~ "where is this", those of you who have been studying your Japanese survival phrases from the last post should recognize this phrase 😎). She pointed out my terminal, and I made it on the bus just before it pulled out of the station - phew! The bus ride was scheduled to take an hour and half, but due to traffic, we were on the road for 3 and a half. I wasn't stressing it though. As we were sitting on the expressway, I had a lot of fun car shopping out the window! Most of Japan's vehicle market is dominated by kei cars - a Japanese-made class of ultra-compact cars. My favorites that I saw were the Suzuki Hustler, Toyota Alphard, and Toyota Hilux pickup.

Finally, we arrived in Fujikawaguchiko, a small resort town north of Mt. Fuji. This was where I almost made my biggest mistake so far. When disembarking the bus, I left my wallet behind! I got off the bus, completely unaware, and collected my bags. I am so so so grateful that I stood there at the station for a minute fiddling with my luggage and pulling up my hostel information. Soon, the bus driver came running out the bus waving my wallet in the air and shouting for its owner. Thank you bus driver-san for saving my dumbass!!

On the bus headed for Fujikawaguchiko!	Arrived to the rainy, mountain resort town.

Place, Japan: Life Among the Tokyoites

Catching Up

Welcome back, blog readers!! A lot has happened since my first post, so let's catch up a bit. 

The days leading up to departure were a whirlwind of last-minute shopping, finalizing itineraries, and wishing farewells. After packing everything into my two backpacks, I weighed in at just under 30lbs of gear in total. Pretty light and lots of extra space - exactly how I wanted it. 

Delta's in-flight curry dinner...it was ok.

My travel day went pretty smoothly despite Delta's best efforts (my flight out of Spokane was delayed the morning of takeoff). On the long flight from Seattle to Tokyo, I didn't sleep a wink in an attempt to combat the jet lag. Instead, I spent my time watching movies and learning the Katakana alphabet. After landing, immigration and customs were pretty easy for me, but the same cannot be said for the woman from my flight who threw up all her airplane food in the immigration line and just left it there to soak into the carpet. Way to give a good impression of us Americans, lady!!👍 I filled out all my paperwork beforehand, so all that was needed from me was my QR code, passport, and fingertip scans before I was on the train bound for Shinjuku!

Now, after 4 days in Tokyo, I am headed to Fujikawaguchiko via expressway bus! I will climb Mt Fuji tomorrow and carry on to Kyoto on the 23rd. Editor's note ~ it's now a few days later at the time this is being posted so please forgive the lagging schedule!

Welcome & FAQs

Welcome to Landen's Letters!

Alternate Title: "Dawg with a Blog"

Welcome friends and family!!!! I'm so so excited to share that I will be leaving in 1 week to travel to far-off lands with nothing but a backpack and my wits (mostly just the backpack). I'm very excited to share pictures, updates, stories, and other ramblings over the next who-knows-how-long until I have to come back to living in the states. I can't promise anything groundbreaking in these posts - hell, I can't even promise good grammar or proper spelling - but I can promise fun photos and 100% AI-free writing!😎🧠 I also won't make the mistake of committing to a schedule, but I'm aiming to post at least once every few weeks. If you'd like to get these blog posts sent directly to your email, you can sign up for the mailing list on the home page of this blog (if you're on mobile, you'll need to tap "View web version" on the home page)! The visual layout of the pictures gets jumbled up a little bit through email, but you'll still get all the content. I promise your information won't be sold - I literally had to make the little mailing list signup widget by hand because the service I'm using to host this blog didn't add a way for you to sign up for email notifications...

This welcome section is not all that is in this post! If you're reading on the blog website home page, long posts get truncated. To view the whole post, click or tap the post title (blue "Welcome & FAQs" text). Between updates to this blog, never hesitate to reach out for any reason at all! Email is always a safe bet at landenhughes21@gmail.com. You can also text or call me any time (🚨I am not responsible for any overseas messaging fees you may incur🚨). Whatsapp or Instagram work best since I will be changing eSIMs and cell providers quite frequently and you will never run the risk of getting charged any sort of international fees.

Thank you to every single one of you reading this and a HUGE thank you to everyone who has supported this idea since the beginning. I'd also like to give a special shoutout to all of my friends who have been courageous enough to live long-term in a foreign country. Whether you're an expat or living in the US as a foreign citizen, you all inspire me every day and I wouldn't be doing this without your reassurance and guidance.

That's enough of the formalities, logistics, and underwhelming 'thank you' speeches! I'll see you all out on the trail!! 😁