In early February, myself, my husband, my mom, and some friends set out for 10 days in Japan. I sadly did not do a very good job of posting during the visit so I am going to attempt to give you an idea of how our trip went and some of the highlights.
Not being a fan of airplane food forced me to start our trip by planning and prepping meals and snacks for the airplane. I was sure to pack my cutlery wrap with my favorite Morita Miw handkerchiefs to use as napkins and all the utensils we would need including a non-serrated butter knife which thankfully made it through security.
Most of my time in Japan is planned around visits to onsen. My husband isn't much into them so it sometimes means I have to visit them early in the morning (which is easy the first couple of days with the jet lag wake up at 4am) or while he is shopping for records. For our last two visits we made to Japan we have stayed in Togoshi Park in Shinagawa City. This is the perfect location for us as it is close to the airport and easy to get to anywhere else in the city. It is also about a 10 minute walk and two train stops to Oimachi Onsen King (Ofuro no Osama Oimachi).
Here I am waiting for the facility to open taking a pic with my favorite royal couple! Onsen King is great. It is clearly used by locals and not touristy at all. It is easy to navigate your way through check in and check out. They have many variety of baths including indoor and outdoor baths. There is a sauna, steam room, and a cold plunge. They also have one of my favorite things: chocolate milk vending machines.
On this visit I also took my first trip to Togoshi Ginza Onsen upon the recommendation of our Air BnB hostess. This is a tiny little onsen facility in the neighborhood within 5-10 minutes walking from our apartment. The facilities are very basic and there are two baths. But one is outside and the water is black! The color comes from the root decay that is happening below the surface of the earth at a layer that the water is drawn from. I don't fully understand it but soaking in it was delightful.
In a place like Tokyo it may seem silly to go to the same restaurant every time we visit but when you find something that clicks you can't resist. For us, that place is Sengyoya Kichijoji, owned by our now friend Hiromi. My husband and I first visited Sengyoya in 2018 and we fell in love. Since then we have revisited two other times and sent friends there. We have become friends with the owner Hiromi who is delightful. The reason that we found this amazing Izakaya in the first place was because I wanted to visit my favorite stationery store in the whole world, Paper Message.
I first encountered Paper Message on our first trip to Japan in 2017 in the town of Kochi. When I walked into this magical shop I literally thought I had died and gone to stationery heaven. There were all sorts of lovely paper flower cut outs hanging from the ceiling and the tiny shop was filled with the most beautiful and unique stationery I had ever seen in my life.
Since the inception of my shop I have wanted to establish a wholesale account with Paper Message but that was not possible until last year. After visiting this shop above in Kichijoji I was exploring their website and noticed they did have information for wholesale. I have been in discussions with them ever since and we saw this recent trip to Japan as a great opportunity for me to place my first wholesale order. I am so proud to claim to be the first shop in the United States to carry Paper Message products. You can find the collection on the website here.
I should also mention that we really love Kichijoji. It is a small neighborhood with lots of shopping and eating and also has a lovely park. For anyone interested it is one stop from the Ghibli Musuem.
On this trip we visited Osaka for the first time. Sadly, or maybe not so much, I was having so much fun eating and shopping that I did not take a single picture! We had a great time exploring the Kuromon Market and the small streets off the Dotonbori where we did discover a doll head bar that was filled with the heads of dolls who the staff felt embody the souls of the departed.
After departing Osaka we visited Hakone. Last year we did travel to Hakone for the day and enjoyed ourselves so we really wanted to go back for a longer stay. Of course, the onsen options are bountiful and we definitely got our fill of hot water. The highlight of our time in this mountain region was walking along the Hakone Hachiri, the stone paved road Hakone Old Highway. This path was established in the Edo period and is part of the Tokaido Highway, a pathway that extended from Tokyo to Kyoto used frequently by travelers, samurai, and other important officials.
We ended our hike at a 400 year old tea house that served a lovely fermented rice drink and handmade mochi. It was definitely an adventure worth taking. We opted to guide ourselves which maybe made it more challenging but fun nonetheless.
After a couple of nights in Hakone we returned to Tokyo. I had a fun idea to invite Hiromi to join us for dinner and I do not regret it. He took us to his favorite Izakaya called Bakawarai Junsui. The night started with one of the staff "dropping a beer" on my husband's lap that was actually a fake prop beer. Needless to say there was lots of laughing and good cheer.
Hiromi planned ahead for our visit so they pulled out all the stops for us. They made a banner with my name and decorated this little egg that they used to make us the most delicious egg omelette.
I think you can tell by the smile on our faces that we were well fed and had a ton of fun on our night out with Hiromi. During dinner he shared with me how because of his work schedule he doesn't often get a chance to eat out with friends. So it seems that the evening was a highlight for him as well.
I have been asked by so many folks to offer recommendations for our favorite places in Japan so I started a Google Map. This one is for Tokyo. Find it here!
Besides having fun eating, soaking in hot water, and exploring ancient paths, one of my main reasons for visiting Japan was to find precious goods to bring home for you. I will let you explore on the website the goodies I did bring home. See if you find something exciting to add to your life. You can visit the Zakka from Japan Collection by clicking here.
Thanks for reading.