Adventures in Japan

[pd7077]

I’ve had a number of people contact me regarding my recent trip to Japan, and the consensus was that I should start a thread to document everything because it might prove helpful for those planning future trips to Japan. But between the Thanksgiving holiday, jetlag, three sick puppies (not including my wife), a root canal, and my pathetic attempts to reintegrate myself back into the real world...it’s taken me a lot longer to get this thread up and running. It didn’t help that I also had about 2,000 photos to sift through....which means that this thread is gonna be pretty photo heavy. It also means that it will take me a bit of time to go through the highlights of our trip because we were there for 2 weeks. Hopefully this thread gives people some insight into Japan and the wonderful things (and food) that it has to offer.

While I am as much of a knife addict as the rest of you, this trip was based primarily on food and trying to immerse ourselves into Japanese culture. I had a lot of knife related things earmarked, but they weren’t super high on my priority list so we only did the things that were within shouting distance of our other plans.

Living in a California means that we were lucky enough to not have to worry about layovers. What was even better is that All Nippon Airways (ANA) has direct flights from SJC to NRT (Narita). SFO is about an hour away from us so this saved us a bit of time. Ironically, NRT is about an hour away from Tokyo . Haneda (HND) Int’l Airport is in Tokyo so we will likely plan future Japan trips through there. And if airline food was any indication, this was gonna be one helluva trip!



Our flight arrived in the late afternoon, and we didn’t arrive at our hotel until the early evening. We decided to stay in for the night so that we could be well rested for our first full day. This meant room service and a nightcap (or three) at the lobby bar. We stayed at The Prince Gallery Tokyo Kioicho (south-west of the Imperial Palace/Gardens), which has some killer room service and one of the best hotel bars I have ever been to. Best drink I had that night was a roasted green tea martini, which I promptly finished before my wife could even snap a picture of it.


To be continued...

[nakneker]

This is gonna be fun! Me and the wife are debating a trip to Japan, maybe you’ll give me some ammo to tempt her with. It sounded like one hell of a trip and with you being a shutter bug who takes excellent pics this will be Fun! Thanks for taking the time to share the experience with the rest us!

[salemj]

Thanks for sharing, Steve. I'll look forward to more!

[arthurfowler]

Thanks Steve for taking the time to share. I have always wanted to visit Japan, even before I got in to knives. I just want to visit there even more now!!!

[Jeff B]

You suck....

[old onion]

This is going to be a fun ride.Thanks Steve.

[pd7077]

We started off our first day with a fantastic Japanese breakfast at the hotel. I have a pretty hefty appetite so I was surprised how full I got from the seemingly small portions. That became a huge theme with our dining experiences in Japan...don’t be fooled by the smaller portions


Tokyo is a humongous city so we planned our days by lumping things together based on location. Our plan for the first day was to hit up the neighborhoods of north and east Tokyo, which included Yanesen, Asakusa & Akihabara. With as much pre-planning as we did, we didn’t get to see half of the places that we had flagged. That became another theme for our trip...so much to do/see, so little time.

We started off in Yanesen, which is east of Ueno Park in the Taito ward. It’s not the typical touristy hotspot like Shibuya or Harujuku, and while it still has a bit of that concrete jungle feel to it, this area is chalked full of cool little temples and shrines. We strolled through a shopping area called Yanaka Ginza, which was full of arts & crafts, food stalls, tea & ceramic shops, souvenirs, etc.


A definite must is Yanaka Coffee and a little shop nearby that sells maneki-neko shaped taiyaki cakes. Rather than the traditional red bean filling, we went with a lemon custard and a green tea.


Explore a bit deeper and you will find even more cool shops and street food vendors. I even found a store that only sold kiri boxes!!! The highlight of the morning was a cozy little craft beer hall that was tucked away in a small little alley of a residential area. I highly recommend the black pilsener and the Yanaka bitter ale.




To be continued...

[slobound]

I love all of these pictures! Thanks for sharing, Steve!

[Bluenoser87]

Very nice pics. What are you using for a camera out of curiosity?

[Drewski]

Love this thread. Thanks for taking the time to do this Steve!

[Andreu]

Simply amazing! Thanks for sharing, Steve and I’m looking forward to the installment. This is like a good manga series that makes me antsy for the next episode. Keep up the good work and thank you again, sir.

[pd7077]

I’m glad you guys are enjoying the thread so far, and thanks to the guys that pushed me to do this in the first place. It’s actually kind of a fun way for me to re-live what was the best vacation I have ever had.

Very nice pics. What are you using for a camera out of curiosity?

I just switched over to a new platform a few months ago. I was shooting with a Nikon D700 for the past 10 years, but I got tired of lugging around all my gear when we were on a trip. A full frame body + hand grip + 2-3 lenses + a couple of speed lights + reflectors/diffusers = sore shoulders. So I sold all of my gear and jumped to a more compact setup: Fuji X-Pro2 with a 35mm(equiv)/f1.4 wrapped in a custom half case. Quite a few photos that I’ve posted (or will post) were taken with an iPhone because I forgot to bring a spare battery with me on the trip

[ashy2classy]

Great photos and great gear!

[gastro gnome]

I've been very curious to hear how the craft beer scene is playing out in Japan. When I lived there 15+ years ago, the number and types of beers seemed limited, but I'm seeing some imports here that suggest things are equally as creative and diverse over there now. One day, I'll get back and check it out.

[Drewski]

there was no drool emoji for that camera

[gladius]

Fuji X-Pro2 with a 35mm(equiv)/f1.4 wrapped in a custom half case.

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Nice kit! Vivid color too, do you have the color saturation up to 4?

I shoot Nikon and my next camera will probably also be a Fuji, probably the X100F though.

[MisoSatisfried]

Loving this man, thanks for taking the time to post them! Makes me miss my xpro2.

[mdl130]

I will be eagerly following this thread. My wife and I have a trip booked to Japan in March. I was considering staying at the Prince Hotel for our last night. That bar looks incredible!

[pd7077]

Fuji X-Pro2 with a 35mm(equiv)/f1.4 wrapped in a custom half case.

---
Nice kit! Vivid color too, do you have the color saturation up to 4?

I shoot Nikon and my next camera will probably also be a Fuji, probably the X100F though.

Haha...that’s all camera colors. I don’t really do too much in post processing. It’s mostly just exposure, WB and curves adjustments.

Shifting from a Nikon to this Fuji was a pretty big change. I’m a huge fan of back button focus, and that’s not something that can be done on the X-Pro2. I tried practicing with it before the trip, but most of the learning curve was overcome on the fly in Japan. I finally started getting the hang of the camera towards the end of the trip

I will be eagerly following this thread. My wife and I have a trip booked to Japan in March. I was considering staying at the Prince Hotel for our last night. That bar looks incredible!

I believe that there are several Prince Hotels in Tokyo. Ours was the Prince Gallery in Kioicho. The bar was fantastic, as were the rooms and the views! The other hotel we stayed at in Tokyo was the Aman, which was the last leg of our trip...but here’s a sneak peak at the ridiculously cool centerpiece in the Aman Tokyo lobby.

[Altadan]

Fuji X-Pro2 with a 35mm(equiv)/f1.4 wrapped in a custom half case.

---
Nice kit! Vivid color too, do you have the color saturation up to 4?

I shoot Nikon and my next camera will probably also be a Fuji, probably the X100F though.

You two are sowing doubt here... my shoulders are still good, though I tend to pick one lens only to go on my D750 when I'm out for travel.
Really great shots, Steve, lovely colors!