Japan Diaries

24/06/2026

Part 1.

Sitting on the flight, about two hours in, the hostess came through with drinks. Wine was an option, but I couldn't imagine spending 13 hours sipping wine. I'm technically sober anyway, apart from the occasional whiskey where I'll take one sip and somehow the taste follows me around for the next three months.

l asked for tea after overhearing someone else order one. In my mind, tea meant English tea.
Japan, however, has its own relationship with tea. Walk into almost any restaurant and a waiter will place tea on your table before you've even looked at the menu. No questions asked.
What I didn't realise on the flight was that the hostess immediately assumed I meant black or English tea.
At one point I fell asleep on a stranger's shoulder for what I hope was no more than five seconds. The moment I realised, I launched myself upright and apologised with enough panic.

Breakfast was fish.
Don't ask me what kind of fish, or what else was involved. I didn't want to be rude by not finishing it, so I kept trying while wondering why I was eating seafood at 7am. Ten minutes later we hit severe turbulence, which felt like the universe questioning my decisions alongside me.
I did read about a group of tourists who accidentally ordered octopus guts at a restaurant. Apparently the chefs were surprised too. Whether they finished it or not remains a mystery...

My first challenge in Japan was travelling solo to the apartment and immediately getting lost in the train stations. The strange thing is I enjoyed it. There's something satisfying about standing in front of a map you can barely decipher (including my Google maps & citymapper...) & trying to understand the logic of a railway system that somehow runs with extraordinary precision. I know how to get around now with enough confidence.
Japan feels stacked. Buildings sit on top of buildings. Restaurants above shops.
Galleries above cafés. Entire worlds hidden behind staircases and elevators.
There's also alleyway culture, maze like alleyways filled with atmospheric bars & restaurants.

I visited a temple and spotted a crow perched above the entrance. It looked like it had been assigned the role of judging every tourist who walked underneath it. It probably wasn't. But in that moment it felt like an omen.

One of the things I love most about Japan is how artistic it feels. Not just the galleries, but the attention to detail everywhere including how fabulous & creative people look.

The mosquitoes, however, will enjoy biting you.
One very very large black bug was genuinely the size of my hand (I do have a photo). It crawled onto me in a guardians shrine, same day when I saw the crow. Causing me to accidentally yell in a place specifically designed for peace and reflection.

I did shreek again when it found its way back on my body ...

One afternoon I stumbled upon a small gallery hidden among trees and nature. The perfect setting.
The artist ‘@ilemayart’ had a painting inspired by the day she learned she had been accepted for an exhibition. It was beautiful.

There was also a cool pizza place beside a railway line called "Not A Slice." Further up a hill was a tiny jazz bar spilling music onto the street.
No idea if either place was good. But they looked good.

I saw my first wild hawk too. Massive. The uk seagull may steal your food through sheer confidence, but these looked like they had military objectives. It enjoyed being perked by the cafe next to that gallery to target food…

So far l've seen dragonflies, crows, hawks, one squirrel, and at least one Japanese animal I still can't identify.
At the Nezu Museum, photos weren't allowed inside the café or museum itself. The café was wrapped in glass, overlooking trees and gardens in every direction. Everything felt quiet, deliberate, precise.

The trains. The temples. The gardens. The galleries hidden down side streets. The tea quietly placed on your table before you ask for it.
Even getting lost somehow feels intentional.
And somewhere between apologising to one stranger, eating mystery fish for breakfast, being attacked by mosquitoes, and trying to navigate train stations, I understand why people love Japan.
Heading out of Tokyo today to explore more of Japan, so here's my experience.

Part 2.

I landed back in England and, within an hour, remembered exactly where I was.

Someone skipped the queue with a suitcase the size of a small apartment, then stopped dead in the lift entrance so nobody else could get in. People shoved each other to get onto an almost empty bus. A lady, probably in her 70s, fell over and people just... watched. I ran over to help her while another woman asked a man if the train was going to her destination, only to be completely ignored.

All in an afternoon's work trying to get home.
In the UK, (no offence) Half of the UK reminds me of Roz from Monsters, Inc (just out of annoyance how rude people can be).... meanwhile Japan somehow transformed me into Randall Boggs, slithering my way through the country causing accidental chaos.
Anyway... here's the story.

I got caught in a typhoon

Thankfully it wasn't as severe as other parts of Japan, but I was flooded in for a while, nearly got bitten (or at least very nearly introduced) to a wild animal , and somehow still made it through safely.

Matsumoto
Mountains in every direction.
We stopped so the driver could rest, and naturally I bought a Fujilemon bread/ cake. I briefly considered pretending it was a third boob in a photo... then decided maybe the driver didn't want to see that today.

Matsumoto Castle was stunning and whoever designed those stairs clearly hated knees. (Fun fact; the design was entirely focused on military defence)
I wandered through quiet streets and found a handmade ceramic mug from a local artist that somehow had my name written all over it.

Kamiköchi
Low clouds wrapped themselves around the Japanese Alps like a blanket.

There were bear warnings everywhere. The latest one? A mum bear and her two cubs had been spotted the day before.
No bears for me.
Just birdsong, endless forest... and an impressive amount of fresh bear poop.
I walked to a lake where an influencer was filming himself. Five minutes later I awkwardly asked if he'd take my photo. Instead, he called over another stranger and handed them his phone. I immediately thought I'd accidentally interrupted someone famous who wanted a fan photo I was like nono just me...
Nope.
He just wanted a solo picture... taken by someone else.
I have never recovered.

Takayama
I stayed in a traditional ryokan and experienced an onsen for the first time.
Honestly? | was nervous.
But then I realised everyone probably is.
That's the funny thing about trying something new
99% of the people around you are wondering if they re doing it right too.
Luckily my tattoo wasn't an issue here. Everyone was incredibly respectful, and after the first few awkward minutes you realise... we're literally all in the same boat.
The water feels manageable for about five seconds before it suddenly becomes lava.

I'd absolutely do it again.
Dinner was a surprise every few minutes.
Cooking meat in front of me, sashimi, shrimp with eggs, raw egg...
Breakfast was another adventure. More cooking, more surprises, and yes raw egg.
At 8am, however, my body drew the line... I genuinely tried.
It kept coming back up, and felt awful leaving so much food. I hate wasting it, especially when someone has prepared it with so much care.

After that came one of the longest one-hour bus journeys of my life.
I died multiple times

Takayama's Cats
I passed Neko no Tsuki, a lovely rescue cat café where every cat has its own story. The undeniable stars of the show were the gloriously chunky double-chinned cats, who looked permanently offended that anyone expected them to move.

I also wandered through Takayama's beautiful shrines before accidentally hiking an entire extra forest loop because I failed to notice a path about 30 metres behind one shrine that would've taken me straight back to the road. (tbf there was no indication that made me think you can just go around)
Anyway
Another 500 metres.
Spider webs.
Steep hills.
A maze of forest trails.
One hidden shrine tucked amongst the trees.
The smell of cedar.
And seeing the same random man three separate times, making us both silently question whether either of us actually knew where we were going.
Eventually I made my way out.
Passed the sweetest dog being treated like absolute royalty by its owners.
Then immediately missed my 4pm bus and had to buy another ticket.
Classic.

Kyoto
Forests. Waterfalls. Temples.
I ate lemon ramen
delicious, but somehow the bowl never seemed to get any emptier.

Japan was still being battered by Typhoon No. 7, so everywhere I went carried that quiet feeling of rain hanging in the air.
I finally lost the battle against Japanese mosquitoes.
They won.
At one of the temples I also saw possibly the most handsome person l'll never see.
A brief cameo.
Promise he wasn't a monk/ or Buddha though

At Fushimi Inari Taisha, I wandered beneath thousands of vermilion torii gates, where hidden amongst the pathways I met the shrine's resident cats. They wandered through the grounds as if they owned the mountain which, to be fair, they probably do.
One of the most unforgettable moments was walking through ‘Tainai Meguri’ representing Queen Maya's womb.
Complete darkness.
One hand follows the rosary beads.
One stone.
One wish.
Maybe I should've wished away my terrible luck and lifelong talent for accidental chaos.
But you only get one.

On the morning of my flight...
My bank blocked my card.
My Suica card stopped working because of a system failure.
Customer support was closed internal meltdown.
Somehow miraculously the Suica reconnected just in time.
Japan gave me mountains, forests, typhoons, hidden shrines, rescue cats, temple cats, awkward encounters, beautiful strangers I'll never meet again, food that challenged me, moments that humbled me, and enough accidental adventures.
I came home soaked, mosquito-bitten, slightly traumatised... ...and immediately got shoved trying to board a bus in England

Some things really do never change.

Chat soon
Ada