Japan 2023

Destination: Machida

On the large side compared to an american city. On the small side for Japan. Machida is a good headquarters for a visit to Tokyo with cheaper food and easy access by train. Many many good places to eat. Shout out to Jami Jami burger, Carrot House, and that one ramen place I never learned the name of. Restaurants can be extremely cramped here, with no good options for getting pictures(you will mostly capture the faces of other patrons and workers, which can cause legal issues in Japan). Expect more pictures of the great outdoors and museums.

The park here is well tended, and comes with a bonus minigame of find-the-manhole.

The museum in this park showcased both traditional/historical items, and modern local art pieces. Conveniently located in the park above!

Fuchinobe

Closer to suburbia, home to the Sagamihara City Museum. I found a very nice Sakura flavored bread roll in a bakery here.

Mystery Shrine!!(??)

Right across the street from Dagashiya Game Museum. A much nicer sight than the museum was. Turns out that museum is just a place to play some old pachinko(gambling). Check out the size of that tree! Sucker was easily over 100 years old. Likely several hundred years. We didn't plan on going here, but it was nice to see.

Akihabara

Tourist town! Anime city. Maid cafe central? This place is interesting, with an aboveground dedicated to entertainment, anime gaming, and electronics. We also trailed through a couple underground alleys where all sorts of electronic minutia were for sale. I wish we had a place like this back home! It would make electrical projects much easier to work on. This place was too crowded for picture taking. We stopped by Shibuya too. Wasn't as packed as I was expecting.

Matsuda Sakura Festival

In the hills of Matsuda, we got a view of a beautifully curated garden and a hint of Mt. Fuji, which was hidden by the haze of several hot days. I had an orange here that was so potentialy Orange, it hurt.

The Mountain Above

If you keep going past the Sakura festival, you end up on a beautiful mountain road. Yes, it did lead to people's houses. No, it didn't have a crazy view at the top(it terminated in someone's yard). Very nice hike all things considered! The untamed nature was a beautiful as the pruned part.

Matsuda Highway

Check out the ridiculous scale of the highway here. Always pay attention to the architecture and civil engineering of Japan. It can be just as awe inspiring as the food and festivities. The countriy's civil engineering is on a scale I have never seen before, and it's absolutely part of the sightseeing.

Felix's Day Out

How cruel would I have to be to leave poor Felix at home? He came on the last adventure abroad, and he came on this one too. This time, he got to see the Emperor's Palace, the Pokemon Centeer DX, and an entire museum in the heart of the capitol!

Emperor's Palace

People said this one was really worth seeing, but I'm going to have to count myself unimpressed. The vast gardens of bonsai'd pines were interesting, but the massive fields of gravel were more offputting than anything else. I can only assume this is to help with large crowds, but on a day as empty as today, it simply looked barren. The most exciting parts are, of course, sectioned off for the Emperor's personal use. There were more interesting things to see in this town.

Tokyo National Museum

SO it turns out this place is like 7 museums all packe into one area? We decided to go for the largest building, since everything was going to close up soon. We got a full showing of Japanese art history with extensive descriptions of how things were created and why things have changed over time. It was an extremely enjoyable experience that was difficult to photograph due to the dim lighting. Many original pieces of famous and historical art were housed here. I hear they change out this exhibit often, so I'm glad I got to see this one while I could! I loved it.

Mt. Takao

Went for the firewalking festival, stayed for the beautiful hiking trail. This mountain hosts the steepest cable car route in the country. Which we took. Worth it! Cuts straight to the good views, and only gets you half way up. Plenty of hiking left to try on foot. Lots of jungle, lots of religious markers.