Japanese HOT POT Feast + Odawara Castle TOUR | Odawara, Japan

It’s no wonder that Japan has been a popular tourist destination for years. Its cities are brimming with centuries of fascinating history and culture and the food scene around the island is unparalleled. The country is so clean and organized, and the natural beauty of the areas outside Tokyo is breathtaking. I hope you’re having as much fun watching this series as I had making it!

My next Japanese adventure took me to Odawara, a town that’s just 35 minutes south of Tokyo via bullet train. It’s a castle town, so I couldn’t wait to see and explore the famous Odawara Castle!

The castle is surrounded by a moat with fish in it. There are also beautiful plum blossom trees on the grounds. The castle has one main gate and the main castle building is set atop a massive stone platform. You have to take a lot of steps to get to the top!

Inside, we climbed to the top, where we had some amazing views of Odawara, lots of snowcapped mountains in the distance, and the Pacific Ocean. There are also binoculars you can use to get even better views for 100 Yen. The 360-degree views are gorgeous!

Then I went back to the bottom to get dressed up like a Samurai! I couldn’t wait to get in the gear. The samurai were feudal lords who ruled Japan for 500 years until 1868. My new friend Haley from Girls Love Travel also dressed up as a samurai!

Then we headed to the workshop at Sororito Odawara to make sachet bags. We could choose from six different natural fragrances and even mix them together if we wanted to. I mixed some frankincense, patchouli, sandalwood, cinnamon, spikenard, and Hedychium together with the mortar and pestle and put it in a silk sachet for my wife. They smelled really amazing together!

Next, it was time to get some oden, or Japanese hot pot, at Oden Honten. I love oden, and Odawara is famous for theirs, so I couldn’t wait to have some!

We started with some appetizers that included fish, green beans, beans and potato, tea, some spicy sauces, and more. The green tea was delicious!

After cleaning my hands with a wet towel, I started with a sardine, which was dry and salty and had a nice glaze on it. Then were the green beans with bonito flakes and sesame. They were a little sweet. There was also celery, cucumber, and red pepper, which was really refreshing. The red beans were also sweet. There were so many contrasting flavors!

Then it was time for the oden! I got mackeral, shrimp cakes, mackeral dumplings, and a white fish, along with mustard, wasabi, and plum miso. The mackeral was great and the wasabi was extremely hot! I liked the fish, which was nice and dense. I tried it with the mustard, which was strong, too!

Next was the white fish, which looked like a huge scallop. It was also dense, but good. The mackeral dumpling had lots of fish, salty flavor. I had it with the wasabi and loved it! The shrimp cake was also really unique. But the best part was the broth! It tasted like a miso soup and warmed me up.

Then was mackeral sushi with seaweed on top. It was gorgeous! The seaweed was very different and fragrant. It was probably the best sushi I’ve ever had. The flavors and textures were outstanding. It seriously blew my mind!

Then we had some wheat noodles, which were amazing! They were so juicy and absorbed the soup they were in. It was like a five-course lunch for 1,800 Yen.

Finally, we ended with some vanilla ice cream with plum jam. It had a nice, orange-like taste.

Then it was time for us to take the Shinkansen bullet train to Tokyo. We checked out some of the things you could buy at the station, including souvenirs, foods like mochis and fish cakes, and even sake!

We rode in Car 11 in Economy Class. It was tough traveling around with my huge luggage, especially up and down the stairs in the stations. I got to the platform just in time to see a bullet train fly by! You have to get on fast because they don’t stop for long.

Car 11 was one of the cars that requires a reservation. This train travels at 350 km per hour and takes only 35 minutes to get to Tokyo. It’s so fast! You have to get off fast! And just like that, I was back in Tokyo!

I hope you enjoyed my adventures in Odawara and my travels back to Tokyo! If you did, please give it a thumbs up, leave me a comment, and subscribe to my channel!

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Japanese HOT POT Feast + Odawara Castle TOUR | Odawara, Japan