Sea Change Okinawa: 2019

Ghibli Museum and Kichijoji

Slowly but surely I am getting through the posts from our March trip to Japan.

One of the best days of this trip had to be the day we went to the Ghibli Museum, followed by a stroll through Inokashira park and Kichijoji. I have been to Ghibli Museum a couple of times before, but had never made it to Inokashira Park and Kichijoji before, which I now realise what a huge shame that is because I LOVED both.

Anyway, as always, the Ghibli Museum was great, and G really enjoyed all the displays. I even got to have the exclusive Ghibli Museum beer while I was there! If you want to go to the Ghibli Museum on your Japan trip, start planning early as you need to book tickets in advance and can't buy them when you get there!

This beer is delicious and only available for purchase at the Ghibli Museum

After the museum, we grabbed some lunch from the Lawson across the road from the museum and then walked through Inokashira park to Kichijoji. There were lots of Sakura trees already in bloom in the park, which of course made me happy, and we stopped by the pond and had a cheeky chu hai each while snacking on our lunch. Even though it was chilly, it was still so lovely, and I will definitely head back to Inokashira Park next time I find myself in Japan!

So fluffy!

Seriously, does it get any more picturesque than this??

After the park, we wandered around Kichijoji and bought some cute things on the tourist street, then spent a good amount of time in the Kichijoji Uniqlo before calling it a day.

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Kamakura - Giant Buddha and Hasedera

About a month ago we were lucky enough to have a short trip back to Japan. It had been almost 2 years since we moved back to Melbourne from Okinawa, and as always, I never stop missing Japan.

This trip, we kept short, only 8 days so just centered ourselves in Tokyo and hung around there. It was such a great decision because we found ourselves the perfect Airbnb in Shibuya and although we walked a ton everyday, we managed to get really comfortable long sleeps in at night so the holiday was incredibly relaxing. I swear i was getting 10 hours a night, which basically hasn't happened in about 20 years!

Once thing I did notice, however, when we were looking for a place to stay, is that since the Japanese government regulated Airbnb and required people to get a licence before they can let an apartment, the number and variety of places is much less, as well as being more expensive! We ended up finding a place on Homeaway which was cheaper than anything we saw on Airbnb, but it felt like slim pickings compared to a few years ago. This is the place we stayed at, which I would definitely recommend for the bed alone. It was probably the most comfortable bed i've ever slept in!

Anyway, on to our adventures. Seeing as both H and G had never been there before, we decided to head to Kamakura for a day trip. We splurged and got Green Car tickets and took the short (1 hour) trip from Shibuya to Kamakura. Although i've been to Kamakura numerous times, I had never been to see the giant Buddha, so we headed there first. After checking that out, we wanderd to Hasedera, which has to be one of my favourite temples (aren't they all). It had heaps to see, lots of gorgeous blossoms out, and to top it off, there was a buddhist vegan restaurant at the top!