Week 20: Busy Bee

August 9th, 2026

On Monday, our time in Tokyo (for now) had come to an end, and we were off to Hakone! We got to our hotel, which was a nice little ryokan in the woods, after walking up a steep hill for 15 minutes with all of our luggage. It was not easy, but luckily the hotel had an onsen to relax our muscles.

We had dinner at a cute cafe nearby that had a really nice interior. Afterwards, we went to the hotel’s onsen, which was Harry and my dad’s first times. It was very relaxing, and it was nice to not have to worry about covering my tattoo.

In the morning, a traditional Japanese breakfast was served at the hotel, which was absolutely beautiful, but didn't have a lot of food for me, so we went to 7-Eleven and I got a fruit smoothie. It tasted like fruit.

For our full day in Hakone, we had a real tour guide! His name is Kaz, and he was great. He used to work as the Director of Music for Tokyo FM, and has interviewed Billy Joel and Earth, Wind & Fire. He has great music taste and knew/liked a lot of the music I listen to. He was also a great tour guide!

First, we went up a cable car up to Owakudani, an area around a crater that was created from the last time Mt. Hakone erupted 3,000 years ago. I also went last year, but this year something amazing happened: I saw Mt. Fuji! I’ve been to over 5 places where, if the weather was good enough, I would have been able to see Fuji, and every time I’ve been unlucky (plus, when we were supposed to see it on the bullet train last year, I was sleeping). But this time, with my family, I got lucky enough to see it. It was so beautiful, and I felt like it was a good omen for our trip, as it’s a very sacred mountain. We also shared egg ice cream.

After going back down the mountain, we took a little trip on a pirate ship across a lake formed by said volcanic crater. Because it consists of ground water, it’s super clear. The pirate ship was a fun little excursion and that brought us over to the Hakone Open Air Museum, one of my favorite places from my last trip. There’s a lot of fun sculptures, with my favorite being the guy laying down (which I learned this time is modeled after the sculptor’s body).

It was nearing the end of our time with Kaz, so we ended on a quiet note—going to a temple in the woods. It’s not too far from a main road, but when you walk past the gate, it’s just the sounds of nature. It has over 300 Buddha statues, and is an absolutely beautiful area. Afterwards, on the complete opposite side of the spectrum, we went to a conveyer belt sushi restaurant for dinner and I had 16 salmon nigiris.

After a great day in Hakone, we were off to Kyoto. We checked into our hotel, and it was absolutely beautiful—easily the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed in. They had record players and records in the room (they even had a CASIOPEA record in my room, they must have been spying on me), and more you could choose from downstairs. Harry and I ended up listening to a Jermaine Jackson (Dynamite, later rereleased as self-titled) record that we really enjoyed.

Harry and I tried to find some lunch but it was a bit of an awkward time, so a lot of restaurants were closed. We ended up just going to FamilyMart and I got a FamiChiki (that was extra big for the same price for a special campaign they have going on).

Next up was something I was looking forward to all week: family Taiko drum lesson with Rinda! I took a lesson from him last year with my class, and it was so fun to do again and with my family. The warmup was the same, but the main lesson was totally different and so much fun. Afterwards, he gave us a private performance, which was absolutely beautiful. Taiko is as much performing as it is playing the instrument, so it’s very physical. He’s a joy to watch and is so cool. He also posted us on his Instagram story later that day, saying that he expects lessons to be a once in a lifetime thing, and it made him more confident in his class that someone would choose to come back, especially from another country. What a sweetie!

We worked up an appetite drumming and were ready for dinner but first we walked around Kawaramachi and found some fun shops, where I bought some great shirts and a pair of pants from a vintage shop, and some fun things from a really cute snoopy shop. After walking around a bit we found a ramen restaurant. I had teriyaki chicken miso ramen, and it was really tasty, probably one of my favorites I’ve had (of which there hasn't been many).

Everyone had breakfast at the hotel the next morning, and I had some yummy french toast with caramelized banana on top. Before long, we were out again for a kintsugi workshop. Kintsugi is an art where broken plates or other pottery is fixed by applying lacquer and gold dust to the cracks, highlighting the broken areas instead of hiding them. Our teacher, Gakuji, was really great and funny. He taught the class very well and also was very entertaining. I didn’t get any pictures of my finished piece, but it will be in the final post next week after I’m home.

After an afternoon siesta, we had one of my favorite dinners yet at an obanzai (Kyoto-style home cooking) restaurant near Fushimi Inari. It was very small, and the owner was serving and cooking with only one other employee. We shared many small plates, including corn tempura, rolled egg, and ponzu karaage. There was also a really amazing chocolate gateau which was so rich. Everything was so tasty, and the store itself was so cute (she drew every item on the menu!).

Right near the restaurant was Fushimi Inari shrine, or 1,000 gates, which is beautiful and not crowded at night. It has many large Inari statues, and it’s very cool to walk through the tunnel of torii gates.

On Friday morning, we had a really nice breakfast at a little cafe, I had avocado toast with an egg and it was so beautifully presented.

After breakfast it was finally time for the Nintendo Museum! It was really fun to experience it again, especially with Harry. They also added new things since last time, including a little Switch 2 exhibit, some screens that show eShop-only games, and some other small things. At the gift shop I got a keychain blind box, of which I wanted anything except the WiiU, and I got the WiiU. Which also happened last time. One day I will get something else.

We made our way over to the Snoopy Chocolat, a cute snoopy store near Kiyomizudera, and barely made it before it closed. The way Google Maps took us was nearly 15 minutes of steep uphill with many flights of stairs, which in 95 degree sunny heat was not easy. But we made it and got to have ice cream in an air conditioned room, which made it all worth it. We walked through Kiyomizudera before it closed, and then I had chicken katsu curry with my dad at a restaurant in a train station.

Before we knew it, our Kyoto journey had come to a close as we made our way to Osaka. We had a quick breakfast and then hopped on the bullet train for a very short ride, and made it to our hotel in Osaka in the afternoon. We got lunch at a cute cafe that had lots of instruments and really good karaage, and then rested for the afternoon.

For the evening, we checked out Dotonbori, a super busy and flashy nightlife district. We walked down the river and explored, but didn’t go into many shops. We got dinner at an Indian place, walked around a little more, and went home to sleep.

Sunday morning, we had breakfast and chilled a bit before going to our third class/workshop of the week: ramen and gyoza making! Our teacher, Keigo, was very personable and a great teacher. He used to work as a chef in an izakaya and now teaches these classes. It was so much fun to make everything from scratch (who was going to tell me that cooking is so much more fun when someone else preps and cleans for you?)! We kneaded the ramen noodle dough by stepping on it, so it doubled as an exercise class. Everything ended up tasting lovely.

After lunch, we checked out the American Village, which has lots of music and second-hand stores. We went to a pinball arcade where I was too good and broke a pinball machine (a ball got stuck so the game paused and said to call a serviceperson, and when I did he was like 'ah that's tough' and gave me my coin back). They did have a cool pin that I bought, though.

Nearby, there was a really cute handmade clothing store that my dad pointed out, and I ended up chatting with the woman there who was the designer. I bought pants that were hand-painted and super cool, and there was a shirt she suggested to go with them, but Harry and my dad didn’t love it so I didn’t get it. But I started to regret it while we were eating some ice cream nearby so I went back and got the shirt. I also forgot to take pictures of them but you’ll have to trust me they’re super cute. They will also be in next week’s post. For dinner, we had some sushi which was good (but not quite as good as the place in Hakone).

And that’s it for this week! It’s been so much fun to travel with my family. Next week will be my last Japan blogpost, which is absolutely nuts. It’s been such a joy to be here and write these, but I’ll save the feelings for next week.

Until then. Have a lovely day.
-Dan