27 February 2024
Early this morning, I boarded the first of three flights from Germany to Japan with a flight from Cologne to Zurich. After a quick breakfast at the Zurich airport, I then boarded the second flight of the day from there to Abu Dhabi which was quietly marked by sleep nearly the entire journey interrupted only by a brief enjoyment of lunch and afternoon tea on the flight. After a brief dinner in Abu Dhabi, I then boarded the final flight to Tokyo marked only by further sleep in an attempt to prepare for the jet lag ahead.
28 February 2024
After waking up in time to have breakfast on the flight, the plane arrived in Japan. I grabbed my luggage and hopped on a train into town along with some Irish passengers who had been on my previous flight I shared conversation with along the journey. After reaching my hostel and checking in, I had my first real meal in Japan and began preparing for the expedition ahead of me.
29 February 2024
On the final day of February, still plenty of time ahead of the first day of the expedition in Kyoto, I took the time to explore Tokyo's National Museum which included exhibits on Japanese history as well as Asian history in general with several exhibits on the different regions of East, Southeast, and Central Asia. From there, I had tea at the museum grounds' traditional tea shop then headed back to the hostel where I prepared for dinner later that night.
1 March 2024
On the first day of March, I prepared for the expedition further by heading to a local print shop to print out the informational booklets on Feudal Japanese history with the rest of the day having no remarkable happenings beyond having tea delivered to the hostel out of exhaustion from days of struggling with time zone differences in my sleep cycle.
2 March 2024
On this day, I checked out of my hostel and hopped on a bullet train to Kyoto, then endured a mile hike to my hostel with all of my luggage on my back. That night, I spoke with one of the volunteers at the hostel- a young man from the UK- before heading to bed early.
3 March 2024
On my first full day in Kyoyo, I spent the day exploring the east side of the river where my hostel was located, wandering the alleyways of the area and seeing people enjoying the sunlight of the late winter day in celebration of a local holiday.
4 March 2024
On the first day of the tour, I prepared for the arrival of our guests by taking the train to the wrong airport without realizing nearby Osaka had two international airports, and our guests had arrived at the newer, further one of the two. After spending hours trying to get in touch with them, I finally managed to get word that they took a train to to Kyoto from where they were and got a taxi to their hotel.
5 March 2024
With a new day came new challenges as the designated location for the first breakfast of the trip did not serve any food- only coffee; but the morning was saved by a quick impromptu donut run to Koe Donuts- which seemed to raise morale significantly among both guests and staff. Our first activity of the day was the Samurai & Ninja Museum which featured comedic- yet professional- tour guides and an ending that allowed guests to try a hand at throwing ninja stars and wearing samurai armor.
After getting sushi for lunch nearby, we then went to the second activity of the day: Nijo Castle. While cold rain did dampen moods, it also drove away larger crowds of tourists, allowing us to enjoy the beauty of the castle grounds almost entirely to ourselves. After returning back to our respective lodgings, we made an attempt at getting dinner at around 7pm, but colder and heavier rain had set in, and online menus to restaurants did not seem to reflect their current offerings. Dinner was found, but we had discovered the secret to dining in Kyoto would be to make lunch the main meal of the day.
6 March 2024
On the second full day of of the tour, the group took the subway to Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine and hiked quickly past the tourists taking photos at the entrance to reach the mountains behind where few tourists care to explore. Storm clouds rolled over, but conditions remained dry throughout the morning, allowing us to enjoy a cool hike around the grounds of the shrine and the several waterfalls therein. In the afternoon, we headed to Kyoto's famous bamboo forest after getting lunch nearby.
7 March 2024
On this day we once again enjoyed a breakfast of Koe's Donuts before exploring the Nishiki Market. Afterwords, we headed to Rokuon-ji Temple- famous for its gold-painted architecture. The warm sun struck the gold paint perfectly as we enjoyed time to photograph the scene before large flocks of tourists arrived later in the afternoon. The group then explored a nearby rock garden and had lunch nearby before exploring more of the garden's botanicals and charcoal drawings of dragons. In the afternoon, we headed to Ichimonjiya Wasuke teahouse- a teahouse still making tea the way they had for one thousand years- for tea on the quickly chilling afternoon.
8 March 2024
That Friday, we had out last full day of activities for the tour with an exploration of the Kyoto Imperial Palace in cloudy but dry weather- once again empty of any large flocks of tourists. After getting lunch at a noodle shop that required some acrobatic seating, we spent the afternoon on a tour of the Kahura Imperial Vista where Japanese emperors long used as an escape from the busy life of running Japan.
9 March 2024
On this day, the group headed to Ninenzaka, a neighborhood of Kyoto still using Feudal Japanese architectural styles; but the weather had turned far colder, wa fell during our exploration of the market stalls in the neighborhood. In the afternoon, we decided to traverse the Philosopher's Walk, and the weather did improve along our journey past several shrines, statues, and temples. One of those temples was the famous Silver Temple at the end of the walk.
10 March 2024
On the last full day of the tour, the group enjoyed a much needed extended rest before brunch from all of the hiking and walking of the expedition thus far before taking the rest of the morning off. In the afternoon, we headed to nearby Nara to explore the friendly deer there and witness a temple cleansing ceremony involving priests spinning massive torches off of the balcony of a very flammable temple.
11 March 2024
On the last day of the expedition, staff and guests parted ways on their respective trains to Tokyo. When I returned to Japan's capital, I went over expenses of the trip and assessed the quality of each of the activities we engaged in along the way after having afternoon tea nearby. After having dinner at the hostel, I went to bed early and exhausted.
12 March 2024
On this day, I checked out from the hostel and headed back to the airport to leave Japan behind me. After having lunch at the airport, I boarded a plane to Honolulu for the final flight of the expedition which would bring me back to the United States.
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