Japan, part 1: Osaka, Tokyo.
Me and my four friends went to Japan in late October, 2025. We bought a plane tickets, 4 hotels (long story) and got our Japanese visa without any problems.
Osaka
The flight to the Shanghai and then to Osaka went just fine, but we were exhausted – sitting 8 hours straight was unusually painful IMO. I also did not bring a Steam Deck with me, because I had a lot of stuff already in my backpack. Anyway...
...we landed in Osaka, checked-in in a hotel and bought some snacks in Seven-Eleven store nearby. I went to sleep, my friends went for a walk.
The next day all of us decided to see an Osaka castle.
Well, the castle was there indeed, it was beautiful (even though it was completely rebuild in XX century, if that bothers you), and also the way to the castle was filled with tourists. It's fine, though, but I had some anxiety spikes. Anyway...
After going through a castle park I went to my first at all Shinto shrine – Hokoku Shrine. Bought my very first omamori – these a charms that bring good luck, protection or help in specific areas of life. Here are they:
I also want to note how different was the air & smell from where I came from. And the asagao flowers, Japanese maple leaves... ❤️🩹
The third day was kinda full of shopping on Dotonbori street in Osaka, but I stumbled upon a Namba Jinja Shrine – a big shrine with camphor tree that survived World War 2 fires, and now it help burns to heal. The fox statues though... they had a specific and kinda scary atmosphere around them.
We left Osaka for Tokyo next day by Shinkansen train. It was worth noting that the Fuji-san was snow-capped and the tip was seen clearly, which is considered as a good luck sign. I took no photos though, mostly because I was kinda sleepy and feeling weak-ish – jet lag caught me, probably.
Tokyo
Me and my friends spend pretty much 50% of our money we brought to Japan there. I was just wandering through specific shops by foot or metro network. I'd like to share some interesting places.
- Japanese Pottery in Tokyo store near Ebisu station. Website.
A lot of Arita-ware, and the prices are really reasonable. The owner was very friendly, and understood even my level of Japanese. ❤️ - Market under Kabuki-za.
I bought some furoshiki, wooden postcards & hanten jacket. There are a lot of worthy souvenirs, like bags made from old kimonos (HANA-TOKYO brand). I am glad that I visited that place, even though by complete accident. - FUJI-TORII, a store where I bought beautiful autumn-themed matcha bowl for 48.000 JPY (no regrets). Also saw ukiyo-e prints, books, other ceramics and authentic goods made in Japan.
But I made some good photos on my way!!
So... I was surprised how cheap are PC components in Japan (also note Japan-only RTX 3080 model, pretty cool IMO). Photo from Akihabara:
After 3 days in Tokyo, me and my friends went to Kyoto for whooping 9 days, but that's for another post here.