Madness at the Tokyo Tsukiji Fish Market!

Tsukiji Fish Market
Famous for its 5am Tuna sales, the crowd, the market and the SUSHI!

My god this blog is turning into foodporn, I really should be fat for the amount of food I have been eating on this trip. Anyway, don't really need a description except that the sushi was amazing, the most amazing thing was they make it right in front of you and you just can't imagine how fast they are!

Cute overload at ikumimama homemade donut!

Animal Donuts! So cute that I felt bad eating it!

Only in Japan, will there be animal donuts, sigh.

Not easy to find either, located on a busy street in Kanagawa-ken, it's jsut a little bakery shop on a corner.

But as I arrived it was crowded by people, and most of the animal donuts are already sold out, my fault really for going at 6pm... 

I went for the classic cat donut and it was so yummy, wish I got more really!

Head to their site to see all the different animals! SO MANY! http://ikumimama.com/

Shin-yokohama Ramen Museum!

Ramen Galore!

Taste all the different kinds of ramen in Japan under one roof!
Also instead of buying big bowls, you can buy little taster bowls which is great if you want to try everything but even the little bowls can be really filling. If you're not a fan of ramen then still go because it's set like you're living in the 60s, everything's vintage.

All the ramen shops feature a diferent kind of ramen, soup base or the way you eat the ramen. As always the Japanese out smart everyone by introducing an electronic ticket system which makes all the transaction faster. The machine does everything, you pick, you get change, you hand the ticket over, you get ramen!
Here's me next to the ticket machine and all the tickets left behind!!!

And ALL THE RAMEN!!!

FOODDDDDDD at Hotel Konanso

This place is amazing! I have never tasted something so good and look so good!

Get ready to be jealous!

Dinner! 

Breakfast!

Crazy pouch in my breakfast!

Lake Kawaguchi (Hotel Konanso)

My dad decided to treat us to a posh and expensive hotel. It is the nicest hotel I have ever been in, in my life and thank god because it served the nicest food too!

The hotel was called Hotel Konanso and it's a hot springs hotel so more Onsen!
The onsens over looks Mt.Fuji so that's also why it's so expensive.

A photo from the website and my photos below, pretty similar!

Unfortunately the weather did not get better :( and Mt.Fuji was not seen from the onsen, well not the top of it anyways. So here's me and the beautiful pattern on the carpet!

The food deserves another blog post!

Day 4 Mt.Fuji & Lake Kawaguchi

The incredible Mount Fuji!
On clear days, the top of the mountain can be seen but on cloudy days like my day chances are very slim.

I only saw the whole Mt.Fuji in all its glory for a brief 5 minutes before it was covered by clouds :(
But still it was amazing!

Before & After

Only stopped off at Mt.Fuji for a few hours as it was on the way to Lake Kawaguchi, the view from the lake should be able to see the mountain, so let's hope the weather clears up tomorrow.

Enough about Hot Springs! Let's talk food!

NOM NOM NOM!

The dinner they served at the hot springs hotel was never ending, it was also fresh and delicious! Everything was local produce which made it even better.
Here are some photos so you know what you're missing out on!

Hot springs!

Deep in the mountain and in a hot spring hotel with no internet.

For those who don't know what a Japanese hot spring is...
Also known as Onsen, the Japanese word for hot springs. It's a public bathing area that contains natural hot water with a lot of minerals, it is believed to have healing powers.
I don't know about the healing powers but let me tell you, it was bloody relaxing.

Problem! You have to be naked when going into the Onsen. I'm confident but going into the Onsen with other women naked plus step-mum... I just can't.  Thank god this hotel was small so the hot spring wasn't in high demand all the time, I waited till late to try it out.

Rules! You must take a shower before going into the onsen and take a shower afterwards.

Except all that, it was bloody relaxing, that water is amazing.

Here's me after the hot springs :)

Day 3 Nagoya & Kawanehon-cho

Beautiful day seeing the famous Nagoya Castle and its palaces, eating a lot and then heading up a mountain.

You might recognise it as the Japanese castle with the green roof, either way it is defiantly something to go to Nagoya for. It's pretty impressive inside and out.
The view you get from the top floor of the castle can look out onto the city for miles, obviously won't be as impressive as a bird's eye view of Tokyo on the Sky Tree but it's really beautiful to see that the castle still remains in a modern city.

It seems we also came at the right time, there was some kind of plant competition going on and I got to see some amazing bonsai trees with flowers!

After a busy morning and afternoon seeing Nagoya, I had some more green tea ice cream and headed off to Kawanehon-cho, which is up the mountain. Took 4 hours to get there and up those horrible curvy upwards road.

Kawanehon-cho located in the middle of nowhere is a little village full of hot springs for locals and occasionally tourists to enjoy.

The little hot springs hotel that I stayed in called Miyama was traditional and full of locals, so local that no one spoke any english but it was lovely and homely. The food provided was never ending and so yummy. All the foods cooked was local produce which made it even better. With no internet, it is so peaceful and quiet. It's definitely a place you would head off to to relax and forget about your busy life.

Day 2 in Japan

Today have been a very full day.
Went to a town dedicated to deer called Nara, fed them, got chased by a lot of them for food and saw a beautiful temple.

Had a really good tofu lunch and went to ninja village in Koka.

Right now I'm at Nagoya and will be exploring the town tomorrow but I can smell the food from the hotel and I'm hungry!

Temples temples temples

So many temples everywhere in Kyoto.
The Fushimi Inari was the best I have seen, it's combination of traditional and beautiful, and the best is, not many tourists seem to be crowding around it like all the others.

The famous row of shrines seem to stretch for miles and up the mountain and more. If I had enough time, I definitely would have walked up the mountain.

The temple itself were impressive, red everywhere and a combination of the red leaves just makes the photographs even more beautiful. Thankfully it wasn't raining as well :)

I threw in some money at every temple I went to, not sure what I was wishing for but all went to a good cause I hope. For every coin you throw in you must shake the ribbon that's attached to the bell, it's one of their traditions.
I'm loving the traditions here.

I think I could stay in Japan for a while, Kyoto might be too quiet for me so lets hope Tokyo is everything I want it to be!

Day 1 in kyoto

So far it's been beautiful. Although the weather is getting cold now, might even be getting ill... Not good.

The toilets are crazy here and soooo clean. The seats are heated, there's some kind of bum washing thing going on that I'm way too scared to press on. Every place I have been to has one, which just seems like an awful way to waste energy.

Starting to notice everything is over complicated, even a coffee machine that needs to press a million buttons before I can have one.

The temples so far is the most peaceful place so far. It's a bit weird when there's one in the middle of the kaos.
Will do a separate post on the temples.

I love matcha green tea, always been a fave of mine so ofc im having them like crazy, anything to do with it, I'm buying and trying.
Here's me with matcha green tea ice cream :) and a photo of the crazy toilets here.

A bit frozen

Instead of trying this in Japan, decided to try it in Hong Kong. At 6 quid a beer I'm not impressed but according to my friend. This price is normal...

Impressed by what I have seen online, I though why not but this is nothing to be impressed by. It's just a bit of frozen foam with Japanese beer, I want my money back really.

In other news, I had some well good Japanese noodles with my friend.