Our last night in Japan was kind of sad – we were 24 hours away from leaving this extraordinary country. Undoubtedly this is the country I’ve enjoyed visiting the most. Maybe Ruth will say differently, but I’m sure that this one is also among her favorites.

We’ve visited quite a few amazing countries, each with their own unique characteristics, but the culture, the people and the traditions in Japan have all fascinated us.

It will be tough for us to say goodbye, but easy enough to say see you soon.

There was so much more we could’ve visited during those 2 weeks here, but we tried to adapt our schedule to optimize the visit.

And one thing we did really well was to take advantage of the JR Passes we’d purchased before our arrival. Without this we surely wouldn’t have visited as much.

We went from south to north in a matter of hours and were lucky enough to have the weather follow us all the way. We didn’t even have one day of real rain to keep us inside the room. There was some drizzle but it wasn’t enough to ruin our plans, and on a few days there was a beautiful blue sky.

The last nights in Japan were in Kyoto and Tokyo

We spent our penultimate night in Japan in Kyoto, which we had returned to for the Jidai Matsuri Festival.

We then headed to Tokyo, from where our plane to Bangkok would depart. Since we had one more day (or at least a few hours), we tried to enjoy the capital a bit more. There were still plenty of places on our list of things to see in Tokyo and we were able to cross off a few more.

Initially we met, Chikako, one of our contacts at The Gate Hotel Kaminarimon by Hulic, where we spent our first nights in Tokyo, for a coffee and chat at the hotel with those beautiful views of the city.

From there we went to the Sushi Zanmai, for a last typical Japanese lunch. This branch is located just across the street from the hotel.

Next stop was the busy Shibuya Crossing, and it was even busier than the first time we were there. This was probably because it was a Sunday, and more tourists were trying to cross the street.

But the reason for our return was because the statue of the famous dog Hachiko is there. We passed by 3 or 4 times on our first visit to Tokyo and didn’t even realize that it was really close to us.

Finally we went to the Harajuku area. This place is famous in Japan for its cosplay. People dress up in costumes and walk down the streets.

Those streets also have many shops selling electronics and, as far as we know, it’s the area with the most electronics shops in the whole country.

To finish this glorious trip, pit stop for dinner. By chance we came across a Brazilian restaurant called Que Bom in the Asakusa area. They were celebrating Halloween, and prepared a delicious buffet with different types of grilled meat. Brazilian food with barbecue? Well, I not even hesitate to pay the entrance. Ruth was full, so Noah was the only one to join me for dinner. The food was great and the music that was being played, also very nice. I was suddenly transported home. At least for a brief moment.

Heading to the airport for our final goodbye to Japan

We only managed to get a few things done that day, but time literally flew. Suddenly it was time to collect our luggage and go to the airport, and we took some time over this task …  We had one backpack stored at The Gate, a few things at the hotel where we’d spent the previous night, and the remaining baggage stored in a locker at Tokyo station. When we started our journey through Japan we tried to travel as light as possible, and for that reason we kept our belongings in different places where it would be most convenient to store them. It’s a good strategy that we’ve used over the last few months, and is a strategy we’ll remember for our next world trip in a few years’ time 🙂

With everything collected, we eventually took the train to the airport and waved goodbye to the country.

I’m sure that we will enjoy many more places during this last month of our world trip, but Japan is already one of our favorites and we’ll definitely be coming back. And before I forget… thanks to Roberto, Eliza, Lindsey and her friend (I’m sorry, forgot her name 🙂 ), Chie, Tomoyo, Chikako… and everybody that helped us to discover this beautiful and amazing country.

Next stop, Bangkok!