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Ohhh the places you’ll go. So this ones a bit late for February but I just got back from a month long trip…

I’d been craving some more east Asia experiences after traveling around Taiwan last year, so when my landlord extended his stay and my friends started planning a Japan ski trip—the stars aligned. Weak yen, no crowds from China due to tensions — it was the perfect timing…as McConaughey would say—Green light 🚦

My friends were leaving a bit later, and I had a long weekend for MLK Day so I booked a flight to Seoul first. I landed and did what should be everyone’s first priority in a new foreign land—Airbnb food experience. The food and crew were amazing and we ended up playing Korean drinking games until the wee hours drinking wayyy too much soju.

The next morning at 9am I stumbled onto a bus tour to the DMZ… for the first hour I thought I was going to die. Literally sweating soju on the bus trying to hold it together - while simultaneously trying to hit on the beautiful tour guide. Luckily we had a long stop walking around the frozen Korean countryside which helped cure the hangover - but where I unfortunately learned the tour guide was married 🤣

Then the final stop was the observatory where you can look across at North Korea… and holy shit it’s a surreal experience. Looking across into one of North Korea’s largest cities in the far distance and seeing a few people walking around in the small town nearest the DMZ you feel like you’re in the Truman show. The South Korean side and DMZ are hugely forested but the North Korean side has barely any trees (used for both heat and food). Yes they’re starving so bad they eat bark.

The next day was Seollal or Korean New Year. While most the city is calm and quiet with family, I happened to stumble upon probably one of the coolest festivities… Korean games (yes some of the same ones played in squid games), traditional dresses, and a mix of both traditional and modern shows. It was a quick 4 day weekend but I got such a good feel for South Korea. Definitely would go back.

Now it was time to hop over to Japan - and my mind was already thinking wtf I already had a minding blowing experience and that was just the side quest…gonna be one of those trips! 

I landed in Osaka in the wee hours of the morning and hopped on the trains to Kanazawa. The first bit I’d be traveling the lesser known spots of Japan’s west coast and would then meet up with my friends in Hokkaido to snowboard and do the classic tourist route of Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka.  Kanazawa didn’t have much but it was great local entry point into Japanese culture. It’s crazy how much travel and being somewhere makes such a difference. I thought I knew the respect and cleanliness and other stereotypes of Japanese culture…but I didn’t ‘know’ it. Being in Japan really makes you understand it. See it in practice. Feel it. In town after town after town.

The main reason for starting in Kanazawa was to go to the traditional Gassho village of Shirakawa-go. This place takes you back. Thatched roof huts nestled deep in the mountains. Old homes turned into cute cafes and restaurants. Staying overnight here was a necessity to get to feel the vibe without the day trip tourists.  But houses are sooo slim most places were $500-1000 a night except a hostel 15 minutes from the center of town. I hadn’t stayed in a hostel in so long and I gotta say — damn having money takes all the fun away 😆 such an amazing crew of people both young and old drinking sake and sharing stories under one roof in the middle of the mountains.

After Shirakawa-go it was onto Takayama a beautiful small city at the base of the Japanese Alps. Takayama, from what I heard, was a less touristy Kyoto and it didn’t disappoint. It also known for Hida beef (comparable to Kobe) and one of the highest concentrations of sake breweries. The combo is amazing. Walking the streets and getting some sake tastings and then a skewer of beef so perfectly cooked it melts in your mouth like butter makes you feel like you’ve hit the lottery.

After Takayama I made a quick stop in Matsumoto to see one of the most beautiful Edo period castles. Then I made my way to Nagano on the other side of the Japanese Alps. This city is used as a jumping off point to all the ski areas in the alps.  Wild because it’s only 1.5 hour train from Tokyo. You can literally bring a backpack on the train directly to a mountain, put your stuff in a storage locker, and get right on a ski lift for the day and be back in Tokyo for dinner 🤯

It was now time to meet up with the homies in Hokkaido. I took the bullet train to Tokyo and got on a flight for the winter wonderland. And boy is it beautiful. It’s one of the snowiest places on the planet and had just gotten 6 feet of snow a couple weeks before I arrived.

In the main city of Sapporo - sidewalks felt like tunnels with half a foot of ice still covering the concrete. It felt confusing that this was still a major functioning city. On the first day, I walked around the cities main highlights - including a stop at the Sapporo brewery of course. Then I took a trip to the coastal town of Otaru where you can see seagulls and ski mountains at the same time. Then I took a day trip to the popular snowboard mountain of Furano and the highlights in north. Then a trip down to Niseko to see the volcano and go snowmobiling (cool but insanely overpriced).

Hokkaido's a lot bigger than I imagined and while it’s definitely a snow season destination - I’d love to come back and explore during the summer months.

My first 2 days in Tokyo were a bit unconventional but a necessity if you know my family.

What’s better than the most magical place on earth? The most magical place on earth… in a place that makes everything more magical.

I spent a full day at Tokyo Disney and another at DisneySea. They were both beautifully done, unreal attention to detail and amazing experiences. I can’t imagine going in busy season as most of the popular rides were 3-4 hours long … all day.

After 2 days on the bay side of Tokyo it was time to get into the center of the heart of Japan. Tokyo is wild. So vast it takes going up to the Tokyo Skytree at night to really appreciate how giant it is. The “greater” Tokyo area has about 37 million people - bonkers. We got hammered, went shopping, visited temples, ate amazing food, and got more hammered. Hands down best concrete jungle on the planet.

Kyoto is an undeniably beautiful city. It’s iconic for its cherry blossoms and old-town area. The old town is definitely touristy but it still feels beautiful. The rest of the city is ok but there are some other cool sites on the outskirts of the city. Must visit but least Japan feeling as it’s filled with so many foreigners.

One of the day trips you must do from Kyoto is a trip to Nara - the first capital of Japan. There are a few beautiful and impressive temples (including a giant Buddha), but for sure the highlight of Nara are the hundreds (thousands?) of deer wandering the city.

Every deer looks at you and gives you a quick bow to ask for food. It doesn’t feel real. And while they’re cute when alone - watch the f*ck out if you start feeding them in a pack…it quickly turns into a pond of goldfish and they nip at your pants/jacket/bags trying to find where you’re hiding the precious snacks.

If Tokyo is the heart of Japan, Osaka is the soul.

In Tokyo everything seemed clean, glamorous, amazing, but Osaka has an edge, grit, and less serious take than Tokyo. Tokyo is like flying business class and Osaka economy… but either way you’re still on Emirates 😆

Most of the time we spent just walking around trying the famous Osaka street food like takoyaki and okonomiyaki. Nothing special but must tries in this city.

After a 1.5 hour bullet train in Osaka I arrived in Hiroshima for a looong day trip. First stop was the atomic bomb dome - a building directly under where the first atomic bomb was ever used (exploded 600m above the surface). It’s pretty surreal to see the rubble around the building and images of how destroy the city was and how it’s now a thriving city. Idk if it’s just knowing the history or something deeper but walking around that building really gives you an ominous feeling about what happened there…

Then a few hundred meters away I made my way to the Peace Memorial Park where the museum is…

I think every world politician should be required to walk around that museum. There are some powerful exhibits and stories that had people crying everywhere you walked.

After a super emotional morning, I took the ferry over to Miyajima island - which was super underrated. It’s a) absolutely beautiful - taking the boat from the peace park reminded me of sailing in Phuket, Thailand - and b) much needed emotional reset after thinking about how 100,000+ humans vanished instantly in the city you’ve been walking around.

Welp, there you have it. After a crazy month of travel, there was only one way to end it - eating and drinking too much in a back alley izakaya in Osaka.

Arigato gozaimasu Japan 🇯🇵 🙏

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