"Do you want to go to Japan during reading week?" "Sure."

02/17/2023 Tokyo I was reading a lot of typography books for my undergraduate thesis. The one I brought on the plane was Learning from the Japanese City by Barrie Shelton, that I'd borrowed from OCAD's library. When 0399 and I landed, it was nighttime. The first meal we ate was at Sukiya. We stayed in a shared women's room. Me and 0399 both slept on top bunks.

​ 02/18/2023 I was obsessed with the Tokyo Toilet Project, and wanted to visit as many of the toilets as I could.

​ 02/19/2023 I found Papago to be more reliable than Google Translate. My hypothesis is, since Papago is from Korea and Google Translate is from America, Papago is better at translating languages that can be read horizontally and vertically, which is common across east Asian languages like Korean, Chinese, and Japanese. That said, sometimes Papago still gets things wrong, like this translated receipt.

We happened to walk into a café, Kissa Ken. It felt like someone's house, they took us up a narrow flight of stairs where there were a handful of private rooms. The melon soda and soba was so good. Something I found surprising was that it's generally prohibited to eat on the streets, sometimes even near the storefront selling food. If you must eat outside, people usually find a corner to stand in, and finish their food before continuing to walk. This is how 0399 was eating a crepe, until I noticed the "Don't eat here" sign behind her.

​ 02/20/2023 Every day of our trip, we walked over 20,000 steps, but today was the peak – 29,582. It was a shopping day, we started in Ginza and had kakigori at Ginza Fukuroku. Then we went to my new favourite place in the world, Harajuku. We stopped at every floor in Laforet, I bought BAPE SK8 STAs at BAPY, and went thrifting at Kinji. For dinner, we ate omurice nearby at Salon Tamago to Watashi.

​ 02/21/2023 We were at the Imperial Palace right when it opened, 9 am. There were barely any people. Since it was February, I didn't expect to see cherry blossoms, but Yoyogi Park had a few patches of pink, where others were gathered taking photos. At night, we bought tickets to go up on the Shibuya Sky observation deck.

​ 02/22/2023 In Yanaka, I had my first montblanc at Waguriya, and it was life changing. From the photo, I thought it was a savory noodle dish, but it's actually a popular dessert that originated in France.

​​ 02/23/2023 Kyoto 0399 said we should buy ekiben at the station, so we could eat it on the train to Kyoto. It was a tasty breakfast, as the trees were speeding by. After stowing our luggage, we walked up Mount Inari and watched the sun set. On the way home, we walked into a restaurant without planning, and I ate the best okonomiyaki of my life.

​ 02/24/2023 We stayed at a more traditional guesthouse, with a courtyard and a pond. As we were walking to Nishiki Market in the morning, there was a group of people in rain gear riding their bikes. I remember 0399 looking over the bridge, and saying she wanted to be like them.

​ 02/25/2023 We were returning to Tokyo later today, so we stored our luggage at Kyoto Station, and went to the Arashiyama bamboo forest. Around lunchtime, we boarded the train and had ekiben again! On the way, there was some time to stop and explore Nagoya, and we even saw Nagoya Castle. At 6 pm, we arrived back to the first guesthouse and ate convenience store food in the common area.

​ 02/26/2023 Tokyo I really wanted to go back to Harajuku. So me and 0399 decided to split up and shop separately at the stores we were interested in, and then reunite to eat. 0480 also happened to be in Tokyo, so we met up and ate okonomiyaki!

​ 02/27/2023 Atami Since we still had our JR passes and had done everything we wanted to in Tokyo, 0399 suggested taking a day trip to Atami. In some parts, there was a view of Mount Fuji. We sat in San Remo Park by the water, and drank umeshu from juiceboxes. We returned to the house around 8 pm, and ate convenience store food in the common area again, talking with other guests we had met during the trip. I finally tried the yakisoba bun that I had been so curious about!

​ 02/28/2023 The last proper meal we had was at 珈琲＆ダイニング ピポット, Japanese style pasta and blueberry parfait. It was satisfying, but bittersweet.

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