I will probably start with the our very first image of Japan: Tokyo Narita airport staff actively running all around passport control and hurriedly moving arrived people from lane to lane. Running, not walking. They energetically gestured while moving and kept repeating with a wide smile 'One by one!' When newcomers appeared in the passport control area, the running officers also managed to bow down to greet them. During first 10 minutes in Japan, I saw more action going on than in the last month.
We headed towards the city. The first hotel, Aman Tokyo, is an example of an incredible interior architecture. Inside the skyscraper, the lobby hall is 27 meters tall! When I first gazed up, I assumed the ceiling was even higher.
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| Aman Tokyo |
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| Aman Tokyo at night |
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| Aman Tokyo |
Feeling really jet lagged, we still crawled out to see some parts of Tokyo. After visiting one of the Tokyo markets and trying red bean paste sweets, we went to the Tokyo Skytree – second highest construction in the world. The elevator to the observatory station travels with the speed of 7 m/s – REALLY fast, reminded me of how cool technology in Japan is.
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| Tokyo Skytree |
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| Tokyo Souvenir Market |
Later, at one of the shopping malls, we saw a person dressed as a huge-headed robot, probably advertising some laptops. Nikita came up and grabbed his hand, but didn't feel one inside the costume. It was not a person, it was an actual robot – and what is surprising, he (it) hugged my brother back! Really cute :)
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| Cutest robot ever |
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| Food preparation |
Many Japanese people wander the city wearing the protection masks in spring – scared of the pollen allergy. In 109 mall in Shibuya, we even found a little shop selling the masks with animal faces or emoji. Skinny Japanese model on the advertisement happily wore a froggy face; we curiously tried the masks on and were basically forced by the shop assistant to take a silly picture. "Cute is Justice!!"
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| Cute is Justice!! |
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| View from Aman Tokyo |
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| Shibuya |
A little bit to add about our Tokyo experience is visiting the fish market. Tokyo itself is an extremely clean city – you will almost never find a garbage bag resting on a street. Fish market, however, is just a regular market, not as technologically new and neat as we previously thought. I have never seen some of the products before; crabs were just HUGE and scary; there were some expensive tunas of human size. And, of course, the smell. Makes you want to flee away.
Next stop – Osaka, to watch a sumo tournament. I came onto the stadium half asleep, but in half an hour was actively watching and even cheering. On the list of the sumo fighters, we even found a Russian guy from Siberia... Unexpected.
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| Sumo Tournament |
In Kyoto, we stayed in Ritz-Carlton, and the hotel design was far above all of our expectations. In gold/burgundy colors, without any vulgar decorations but every detail is carefully thought out and of the highest quality. Just a really beautiful building. Japanese architects may soon rule the world, I believe.
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| Ritz-Carlton Kyoto |
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| Ritz-Carlton Kyoto |
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| Kinkaku-Ji (Golden Pavilion) in Kyoto |
Before being dressed as a geisha, I never thought how difficult it is to walk or seat in the geisha's kimono. The assistant probably put approximately 30 layers on me consisting of multiple belts, towels, bathrobes, etc. And each one of the fabrics made my breathing more and more difficult. In the end, I felt like wearing a corset, on the verge of passing out. But wait! I also had a several-kilos-wig on my head and slippery geta-shoes on my feet.
In Gion, surprisingly, geishas (or more correctly geiko and maiko) still exist. Girls at the age of 15 make a decision to come to Kyoto and learn how to become a maiko. She can not even contact her family during her learning and has to obey all the rules set by the head of the house. Once a week, maikos visit a hair salon to get their beautiful hairstyle. They even sleep with their hair up! Each kimono they wear costs about 10, 000 $. And no, they are not prostitutes anymore, only the entertainers – dancers or singers.
On the streets of Gion, we saw some real geishas. They are local celebrities: people actually followed them with their iPhones, ready to snapchat the real geiko.
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| Geisha and Samurai / Mom and Dad |
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| Streets of Gion |
After Kyoto, we took a bullet-train to Hakone, near the Fuji volcano. We dragged the ski-touring equipment with us all the way from home: my father hoped to reach the summit of the highest Japanese peak. Actually, we haven't even seen the mountain. The fog was really thick during all our 3 days in Hakone. Place is famous for its hot springs' baths, so we had spa-procedures everyday.
The hotel, Gora Kadan, was very authentic. In the tatami-mated rooms, kimonos awaited for us. We were invited to wear them anywhere in the hotel, so we forgot about the normal clothes for couple of days.
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| Hot springs |
To talk about the food: for me, it was too much. Raw fish everyday not only for lunch and dinner, but also offered for breakfast. Soba noodles, udon noodles. Tofu and extraneous vegetables. Miso soup. In Gora Kadan, the food was so local, that I didn't know what the 90% of the plate was.
What I loved, though, was the constant presence of the green tea! Green tea chocolate, green tea ice cream, green tea from matcha (powder), and so on.
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| Food.. What is THIS? |
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| Tatami |
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| Gora Kadan |
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| Fog in Hakone |
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| Green Tea sweets |
I loved Japan. People are really polite, friendly, and optimistic – you can sense it even from their cultural 'cuteness'. Food is nice if you are a devoted fan of Japanese cuisine. Places are beautiful and different: Tokyo – new capital, very technological, Kyoto – old capital, more traditional, and Hakone – 'in the middle of nowhere'. Japan was a totally new world for me, and it still remains. A week is not enough to fully comprehend such a rich culture.
