Note: I wrote this blog post over the course of the second half of 2024 from June all the way to November where it amassed 155 pages in a Google document. This blog is being released in 8 different parts where each read has lots of content but is digestible without reader burnout: Pre-trip, May 17-19, May 20-21, May 22-23, May 24-25, May 26-27, May 28-29, May 30-31
Here is the link to view the all parts (released/unreleased)
May 19 Friday
Days prior to the trip, I had been using the Timeshifter app which helps you avoid jetlag when traveling across timezones. A quick summary is you enter your flight information and then it tells you what hours to sleep, avoid sun, take caffeine, take melatonin. On the day of departure, I needed to wake up at 3 am per timeshifter for a 7 am flight. The San Diego airport is about a 15-20 minute ride share from where I live and I was already packed so I was ready to depart around 5 am with little hustle at all. My first flight was from San Diego to Vancouver with a 3 hour layover to eventually go to Osaka airport. My instructions were basically to sleep, avoid light, and take melatonin on all my flights there. I really have nothing else to add besides the 2 meals on Air Canada were Japanese-based (Beef rice bowl, Yakisoba breakfast) and a nice preview of what was to come.
May 18 Saturday
Although I was only in the air for about 13-15ish hours, we’ve jumped ahead into the future +16 hours from California time. After landing at Osaka Airport (KIX) slightly earlier than scheduled, I was in and out of Immigration in 2 minutes by sheer luck, my medium suitcase already popped out of the conveyor belt when I got to the baggage claim, and customs was also another 2 minute breeze as I had pre-filled out my immigration paperwork online before and received a QR code to just scan. From leaving the gate to the airport curb, it was around 5 pm and I estimate no more than 10-15 minutes total of being in the airport. The destination that I needed to get to was Kyoto which is about a 90 minute bus ride via the Airport Limousine Bus. I tried to get on the 5 pm bus but it was full already…darn…but ended up making it on the next one at 5:30 pm. On the bus ride I had some good interactions with a Canadian student who was studying abroad in Kyoto for the summer. I also messaged my friend Miho to meet up as she was in Kyoto the past 2 months learning valuable Japanese trade skills. Miho has been with me my entire organizing journey and I have always valued our connection and friendship!
After the airport bus ride to Kyoto station, my next adventure was trying to get a Taxi to the Double Tree Kyoto Higashiyama. I would be staying there until Monday since I was arriving earlier than the official retreat and had hotel points to burn. It was only a 3 minute walk from the main group hotel, too, which would make checking out and in on Monday much easier. During the bus ride, I read that GoTaxi is the number one Taxi app in Japan so I got it and preloaded my credit card. Getting a taxi was a breeze at the station and it was my first interaction with a Kyoto local. I pulled up Google Maps and had maps voice the location of the hotel. He was jotting down the address and then I said “Double Tree” and he knew exactly where to go. This was my first realization that Taxi drivers in Japan actually know where they are going unlike US rideshare drivers who rely heavily on navigation to get somewhere.
Everyone told me that Japanese hotel rooms were “tiny”. Well, guess what – they were wrong as my first room at the Double Tree was huge! There is a video in my story hi-lights on IG of the room if you want to view. After I dropped my stuff off, Miho (who was living a few blocks away) met me at my hotel and we hopped on the local metro to a local street fair near the imperial palace. This street fair was mainly meant for kids but had many street food stands. I got the Wagyu sticks and Fried Chicken! Overall it left quite an impression of Kyoto and Japan for me and I knew I could see myself exploring more areas. Miho was so kind for showing me around the local neighborhood and sharing the culture with me. I would have been a lost American tourist without her!
Wagyu Beef Skewers
Michael and Miho
After the street fair was ending around 10 PM Miho and I decided to walk on the Kamo river trail to grab a drink at a Kawa Bar that overlooked the river. This was the first “warm” day in Kyoto and many people were out and about just hanging out on the river in both small and larger groups. The crazy thing was no one brought out loud annoying speakers and everyone was being respectful!
Kamo River
After our drink, we walked on the river path back to our respective locations and said our goodbyes for the night. I had an “infinite” day where I kept powering through and would hope that Time Shifter worked and jet lag would not exist. Falling asleep was pretty natural that night.
May 19 Sunday
Waking up in Kyoto was surreal this morning. It finally hit me that I was in Japan! This would be another free exploration day for me and I had made plans with Tiffany (the mastermind behind the retreat) to visit the Arashiyama Bamboo forest along with some other activities in the area. Some other retreat goers also arrived early and decided to partake on the adventure! These new friends were Bree from the Thousand Oaks, CA area who I had met briefly at another KonMari event in the past and Meera from Inland Empire, CA area who was a brand new consultant and getting her business off the ground.
The first order of business this morning was getting some caffeine in our bodies (especially for Bree and myself). We found this cafe called Gojo that was a minute from the main hotel that had a nice wall of books that was just calling our name to visit. Most drip coffee in japan is pour over and it was a good first caffeine hit for the trip.
Meera, Tiffany, Michael, and Bree at Gojo Coffee Tokyo
After the coffee start, we took a Taxi to Kyoto station in order to take the JR rail system to Arashiyama. This was my first experience at a larger train station compared to the single track from the night before but all signs were easy to follow to get us on the right train and platform. Having a Suica transit card loaded on my phone digital wallet made entering and exiting all train stations the entire trip a breeze. Once we got to Arashiyama there was another scenic bus that could be taken to the forest but that was sold out. The universe told us to take the 15 minute walk which led us to many more discoveries! On the path to the forest we encountered Tenryu-ji Zen Temple and decided to detour and scope it out. This was the first of the temples we visited and had a wonderful indoor area and also an outdoor garden area to explore. I remember sitting down on the inside of the temple and watching the garden in admiration of the history and care that was put into the grounds.
Tenryu-ji Zen Temple garden
While walking the well maintained garden area, we got a nice preview of the bamboo forest and the exit of the temple garden area led directly to the entrance of the bamboo forest! This was probably the first extremely crowded attraction that we encountered. It was like Disneyland and super overcrowded. Taking a decent photo took a lot of patience as crowds were heading both directions down the path. Overall between the temple and the forest, definitely still worth a visit!
Arashiyama bamboo forest
After the bamboo forest we were all hungry and wanted lunch. Tiffany found this restaurant in the main Arashiyama area called Yudofu Takemura that specialized in Tofu dishes. We literally had many variations of tofu where I can’t even remember the preparation methods/styles. The lunch was multi-course and every dish looked and tasted much different than the previous one. Here’s a photo though that shows the care the Japanese put into each dish. There were many more extravagant meals to come later in the trip too.
Yudofu Takemura Tofu Dishes
The next item on the agenda after lunch was to visit Arashiyama Monkey Park. In order to get there we got to walk across the wooden Togetsukyo Bridge with nice views of the mountains. Around this time it was very windy and wet which made crossing the bridge a fun adventure where my umbrella kept flipping inside out.
At the base of the Monkey Park, an American family was coming down and we asked if going in was worth the time. They said yes but it was a long and difficult hike to get up to the area with the monkeys. We were also in a time crunch to reach the next activity before it closed but ended up deciding to go into the park and hike the half mile 300 foot elevation gain to the top (as tracked by my watch). Once reaching the top, there were monkeys all over the place! If you wanted to feed them you had to go inside a small building and feed them from the inside with specific food they were selling. The food choices were sliced apple bites or peanuts…I picked the apples and then went to down on the feeding. There is a nice video on my IG story highlights of me feeding multiple monkeys.
Monkey Park feeding
After the monkeys we took a cab to the next stop, Pug Cafe Living Room Kyoto. The concept was you get to sit down with non-alcoholic beverages and feed rescue pugs. I had never been in an animal cafe before but since I enjoyed the monkeys I was fully on board with this. The staff gave us rice cracker items that many of the dogs liked, but if you wanted their full attention, you could buy an add on that contained more wet food and also included a special trip to visit the puppy room. We did this. The pugs went crazy! Video is also on my stories of this moment.
Pug Cafe
Meera, Tiffany, Bree, Michael with the Pug Cafe puppies
We hung out with the puppies at the end but they were wild and went to the bathroom all over the place until we decided we had enough! We stayed at the pug cafe until they closed around 5:30 PM. We took a taxi back to the main retreat hotel and it was almost dinner time. Bree, myself and another new newly arrived retreat attendee Leesa from Australia decided to get sushi. My entire on-my-own eating strategy was to select places that weren’t too popular on Google maps reviews and not located on main tourist streets. The place I ended up picking was Sushi-Kappo Yamabiko and it was difficult to find and only held maybe 15 people inside at most. We sat at the bar and I got the multi course meal and it was probably the best sushi I’ve ever had.
Sushi Kappo Yamabiko
Michael, Leesa, and Bree
After dinner, Bree and I continued on an adventure to find more adult beverages. We stumbled into a beer bar next door called Shalara Craft Beer where I got a flight of japanese beers and Bree grabbed sake.
Shalara Craft Beer
After the beer bar, we walked by other bars along the river while scouting out other places to grab dinner the following night. After passing on a few bars that didn’t match our vibe, we found a speakeasy called Bar Alchemist where the front door was hidden by a shelf of liquor from the outside. Once inside, they had an extensive list of cocktails and I got one that contained absinthe and was still tasty even though I don’t like sweet beverages. Bree also got what she was on the hunt for all night (vodka)!
Bar Alchemist hidden entrance
Cocktails!
After the speakeasy, we walked back to our respective hotels and called it a night around 11 pm in order to be well rested for the next day's adventure!
