a piece of meat on a towel
|

Fat And Furious: Cherry Blossoms and THE BEST STEAK EVER In Tokyo

ByTerence Chan

On the initial stop in Tokyo we were hoping to take advantage of our jet-lagged body clocks to wake up in time for the daily fish auction at Tsukiji Fish Market. Based on our research, we had read that you really need to be there by 4AM at the latest to secure a spot. But we ended up going 0 for 2 on our attempts, although I fully admit that I only gave it a half-hearted effort. After all, while on vacation there’s no way that you should be forced to wake up earlier than you do for work.

a plate of food with a bear made of food
|

Fat And Furious: Maids, Robots, and Cosplay In Tokyo

ByTerence Chan

At Kyoto Station we hopped on the shinkansen for a very pleasant 2-hour journey to Tokyo. Even by the lofty standards of train systems in Asia, the shinkansen is truly amazing. We had received some mixed signals from the hotel concierge on whether to book our tickets in advance. Perhaps the they assumed that we were using the Japan Rail Pass, in which case you will want to make reservations ahead of time. Since we weren’t, we simply purchased tickets at Kyoto Station for the next Nozomi train which left every 15 minutes.

a sculpture of a curved object
|

Hotel Review: The Peninsula Tokyo

ByTerence Chan

Even though I’m a total creature of habit, there was no way that I’d forgo the opportunity to stay at a different hotel when we returned to Tokyo. Similar to my restaurant dilemma, Tokyo has so many amazing luxury hotels to choose from that it was hard to pick one. Ultimately, I settled on The Peninsula Tokyo, mainly because I’d been wanting to stay at a Peninsula property for quite some time. Our shinkansen arrived at Tokyo Station in the late afternoon, and even though we had our luggage with us, we ended up walking to the hotel. It wasn’t bad at all, and arrived about 15 minutes later.

a tray of food on a red surface
|

Fat And Furious: Kaiseki Dinner at 3-Michelin Star Kikunoi Honten

ByTerence Chan

As a food-lover (I’m not a fan of the term “foodie”, but let’s save that discussion for another time), vacations are as much about seeing new places as they are about trying new foods. And as much as I love stuffing my face with street food, for me no trip is complete without also splurging on a fine dining experience. In past trips, a front-runner for that fine dining meal has naturally emerged as we conducted our research, including restaurants such as El Celler De Can Roca near Barcelona, Steirereck in Vienna, and Astrid y Gaston in Lima. But here’s the problem with Japan – there are simply too many world-class restaurants to choose from, evidenced by the fact that they have the most Michelin-starred restaurants of any country in the world.

Kinkaku-ji next to a body of water
|

Fat And Furious: The Search for Matcha and Geisha In Kyoto

ByTerence Chan

As first-timers to Kyoto we realized that there was a LOT to see and do, and we were going to attempt to cram as much as humanly possible into the next 4 days. By the time we had settled into the hotel it was early evening, and we headed out to Gion with a couple goals in mind. Firstly, we wanted to find some good food, but we soon realized this was one of the few places where our “tourist trap” radar went off and ultimately decided to eat elsewhere. Secondly, we wanted to go Geisha-spotting, and had heard that around 5-6pm in Gion was one of the best times to do this.

a building with a door and stairs
|

Hotel Review: The Ritz-Carlton Kyoto

ByTerence Chan

This hotel review could easily be summed up in a single sentence – The Ritz-Carlton Kyoto is one of the best hotels that I’ve ever stayed at, and I would be absolutely shocked if it didn’t soon ascend into the rankings of “Best Hotels In the World”. But as tempting as it is to drop the mic and walk away, what’s a trip report without a few pictures? We arrived at Kyoto Station in the late afternoon, and while the hotel is semi-walkable from the station (25-30 minutes), we had our luggage with us and instead jumped in a taxi. The traffic around the river was backed up, and it took 30 frustrating minutes and more than $20 to get to the hotel.

a bowl of food on a table
|

Fat And Furious: Living The Onsen Life In Matsuyama

ByTerence Chan

The most common question we received about our trip to Japan was “which cities are you visiting?” And while most people expected to hear Tokyo and Kyoto, we usually got a puzzled look when we mentioned the 3rd city on our itinerary, Matsuyama. Matsuyama is the largest city and capital of Ehime Prefecture located on the island of Shikoku and is know for onsen, or hot springs, and udon noodles.

a purple banner with white circles on the front of a building
|

Hotel Review: Funaya Ryokan In Matsuyama

ByTerence Chan

Since we’d be staying in Western hotel chains elsewhere else, in Matsuyama we figured that it would be a great chance to try a ryokan, or Japanese guest house. My 4 years of high school Japanese language studies paid off since I could read the hotel sign which was only written in Japanese. If it weren’t for these skills, we may have never found the hotel. OK that may be a stretch, since Google Maps also announced that “you have arrived at Funaya” as we walked up to the building.