Off we go then.

I flew in and out of Narita airport. Haneda is closer to the city but the flight options for me weren’t as good.

It’s no secret that trains in Japan run on time. This is accurate enough that in one case where the station was not well sign posted and I couldn’t see the on-train screens, I was nonetheless able to get off at the correct stop because it was 3:24pm and this was the station the train stopped at at that time.

We used Suica cards for the majority of our travel. It’s a simple tap on/tap off for trains, and some combination of just tap on or just tap off, or both, for busses. The Suica worked fine across all cities we visited (Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Onomichi, Imabari). They had a shortage of chips for Suica cards, so we had to get the “Welcome Suica” which we purchased at Shinjuku station. These are tourist-specific cards that last a month.

We used the shinkansen for longer journeys between cities. They were comfortable enough though for some reason I expected them to be a bit more plush. We did not book ahead, just turned up to the station and (usually) visited the counter to organise our trip. I would recommend visiting the counter, they can book the entire trip for you, including non-shinkansen connections if appropriate. Plus it’s cool to see them use the touch screens at an amusingly rapid rate (though one assistant was tapping on the side of the screen between page loads so it seemed even more hectic, it was rad!). Not booking ahead meant we often did not get a window seat, but it also meant we weren’t rushing to the station, and could plan stop-offs and stuff without having to be on the clock for the stop. We did not get a rail pass – I did the math prior to departure and for us it wasn’t going to work out, money-wise. We took 3 shinkansen trips: Tokyo>Kyoto, Osaka>Fukuyama, Okayama>Tokyo and would need at least one more long one to make it cheaper to get a rail pass. Plus the rail pass isn’t the fastest train (Nozomi) but the second fastest (Hikari).

Airport transfers were fine, though the one hitch I did have was when leaving Japan. I had carefully run my Suica down to almost nothing (pro tip: you can use them to buy stuff in konbinis), and intended to buy my last ticket to the airport with my credit card, thus leaving me with no cash. Unfortunately the ticket machine at the station I visited did not take card, despite saying it did (a local guy helped me in the end, and he was very apologetic on behalf of Japan). So I had to lug my heavy suitcase back up to street level, visit and ATM which would only let me get out cash in 10,000 yen increments, then go back to the machine and spent 1,200 yen on a ticket. So much for managing my cash well! Plus then I was so sweaty and the train was super crowded and I felt bad for both my sweaty body and my suitcase getting in everyone’s way. I did my best to apologise to Japan on behalf of every sweaty tourist…

Accommodation: we stayed first in Kabukicho in Shinjuku. Near Shinjuku station is a good idea, Kabukicho isn’t a particularly authentic or accurate introduction to Japan for those who’ve not visited. Lots of loose units around, particularly in the mornings after they’ve had a big night. Some homeless folks too. Plus big queues to get into the pachinko parlours when they open. All kind of a bummer, specially if you’re not interested in going the various bars in the neighbourhood. There were lots of good food options around though.

We stayed near Tokyo station next. This was quite different when compared to Kabukicho, it was kind of cool to see all the business people bowing to each other repeatedly etc. There was some heavy salaryman drinking going on in the evenings but they kept things pretty chill, at least as far as I could see. I found food options around here to be slightly less good, though I did eat further south around Ginza and there were some good options down that way.

Sumo: I was fortunate to be in Tokyo while the September Basho was happening. A basho is a 15 day tournament where each of the ~600(!) sumo wrestles once per day, every day. At the end of the 15 days, they each have a record of wins/losses and the champions are crowned. I went along on the 12th day. It was rad! I did a tour so there was an English speaking guide who gave a short “lecture” which wasn’t great but was then available for questions which was much more interesting. The tournament runs each day from 10am, with the juniors, then progresses through the day by seniority with the top ~40 wrestlers matching up from 4pm. We arrived at around 2pm, which gave plenty of time to check out the arena (which has a museum) and to head to the basement for some authentic chanko nabe (chicken stew, a traditional sumo meal):

The chanko was tasty but seemed very healthy and not particularly high calorie? I was fortunate to sit next to an actual sumo having a meal after (presumably) his bout. He had 2 bowls and a litre of milk.

The bouts were much more entertaining than I expected. Those big boys can move! At least for a bit. I saw a couple of matches were they fought each other to a standstill where they then stood, clasping each other, gasping for air, until one or other would summon enough energy to take advantage of their opponent’s exhaustion. Fair play to them, it looked very intense. I picked the powerful Onosato as the guy I’d cheer for. He’s big:

On the 12th day he was sitting with an undefeated record of 11 wins, no losses. Predictably once I started cheering for him, he lost. He looked shocked when he lost. Outraged almost. I didn’t take a photo because I was too in the moment. Here’s one from much earlier in the day when it was more junior competitors. Note that most floor seats are empty, it was jam-packed when the seniors were battling.

Animal cafes: I’d made a big deal about vising a capybara cafe. Then the more I read, the more concerned I became with the potential treatment of animals at these cafes. We ended up going to Cappiness which had only just opened. My impression was that the animals were well looked after and cared about. We visited first session of the day so they were spritely and curious and very interested in the food we were given to feed them. I do wonder how they’ll be in a few months when they’ve had 6+ hours a day of tourists feeding them but for now they were healthy and everything seemed pretty nice.

Teamlabs planets: It was cool. Worth a visit. We booked for an early morning entry under the assumption it might be less busy. I’m not sure it was.

It’s a series of immersive installations of various sorts. Some were pretty great, some felt like more of an afterthought, or less about experiencing and more about taking photos.

We went through twice, which was cool. First time through we went a very “standard” route, second time through we visited only the ones we wanted to reexperience and with a little bit of exploration we discovered a few additional cool features in them.

Tips: there are lots of mirrored floors. Consider whether you want to wear a skirt or not. There’s also a few bits where you walk through water. The water gets to be about 45cm at the deepest (~1.5ft). So consider pants that can roll up, or shorts. We were there on a hot day so I was wearing shorts and it worked out great for me.

Whiskey: a local friend took me to a cool local whiskey bar. It was very Tokyo: 9 seats, one proprietor who was really into whiskey. Everything costs the same price, you just get a different sized pour depending on the bottle you choose.

Kappabashi kitchen town: I wanted to get a cool Japanese knife. It was interesting to wander around kitchen town, and I got a santoku knife at Tsubaya World. The knife is good, though honestly (sacrilegiously?) once you get to a certain level of sharpness, they all seem good. It’s a nice memento but I don’t feel it’s a level up vs the Global chef’s knife I have.

Galleries: Watarium was good/interesting/cool. Mori had a Louise Bourgeois exhibition which was ok. The National Art Centre had an artist association exhibition which was gigantic and varied and overwhelming and of extremely variable quality.

Museums: we visited the national museum. It was fascinating to see the “treasures” – superbly preserved ~1500 year old relics. Plus some cool archaeological finds and samurai sword stuff.

We rode the shimanami kaido – a bike ride across the Seto inland sea. It was pretty good! Our riders were two boys (10, 13) a couple of adults, and one old man (75? something like that). Over 2 days the ride was very doable, even for the youngest/oldest. Though there was one hill that required walking for a couple of the less fit riders. One thing to note is that the ride is mainly on the side of the road. My original expectation was that it was mostly bike path where actually the only bike path bits are around the bridges themselves. Riding on the road was fine, there was often a wide footpath (which I guess counts as a bike path?) for kids, and there was little traffic – though we rode on the weekend.

We started in Onomichi and rode to Imabari, stopping for the night in Setoda on Ikuchi. It can be ridden in the opposite direction but from Onomichi seems better: whilst it has the same elevation change, the route starting in Imabari has more long, straight climbs which would be more dispiriting, and the initial ride from Imabari to the first bridge seems a lot less picturesque than the initial ferry + short ride through the part of Onomichi on Mukaishima island.

In Onomichi I recommend taking the ropeway up to the top of the hill, then walking down via the Literature path and stopping off at the Senkoji Temple on the way. There’s also the “path of cats” but when we did it around sunset there didn’t seem to be much cat action. The view from the top is lovely, it looks like this:

We hired bikes from these guys: https://shimanami-cycle.or.jp/rental/english. The bikes seemed fine, most of us were on mamachari bikes, they looked like this:

They worked fine, none of us experienced mechanical issues, or punctures. The basket was convenient. My main gripe with the bike was that the maximum seat height was too low for me, so I was almost hitting my arms with my knees as I rode. Not an ideal position to exert force on the pedals. The hills weren’t too steep so it was mostly just annoying. Also the tyre pressure was very low which made for a cushy ride but efficiency was significantly compromised. They do have more sporty bikes available. If I was planning to do it in a single day I’d probably prefer a more ergonomic bike with firmer tyre pressure.

We stayed overnight in Setoda. It was lovely. Recommendations: check out the Kousanji temple, it’s a decent size and has some engaging features like the “cave of 1000 Buddhas” which is deeper and longer than you’d expect, and a hilltop covered in imported Italian marble:

We stayed at Yubune which was lovely. I didn’t get a chance to visit their onsen but I think it would have been a nice location for a soak after a day of riding.

We ate that night at Mintoya, which is the restaurant under SOIL Setoda. It was a good meal and worth considering if you’re there.

Highlight for me, specifically: being well protected from the open ocean, the inland sea didn’t have any noticeable swell while I was there. It was far from smooth water though! As the tide moved through, the bathymetry (presumably, haven’t found any useful resources yet) is such that many whirlpools, currents, and other treacherous features are constant. Its constant churning was frightening.

We finished our ride in Imabari where we took a couple of trains back to Tokyo. Very convenient.

In Imabari there’s a nice castle that’s worth a look if you have time/energy:

One thing we didn’t do well on the ride was time our journey between good eating spots. I expected there to be a decent number of options for food but there weren’t. There were a few larger foodstall-type places but we weren’t aware of them and twice we stopped for food at a konbini only to recommence our ride and a kilometre later discover an actual interesting place to stop and eat. So it goes. Shout out to Lawson and 7-eleven.