Episode 5: Budget Review of the Golden Route (+ Nikko, Okinawa & Hakone) in Japan with Maddie
hi friends I’m Day your host travel lover deal finder and storyteller and this is Wander Everyday the podcast where real talk meets real trips each week I sit down with some of my favorite welltraveled friends to swap stories we’re diving in on where to stay what to eat how to spend your time and money and how to enjoy exploring the world now let’s wander hey friends welcome back to Wander Everyday japan has been the number one must-hit destination on my bucket list for many years now and I know I am not the only one it’s the kind of place where ancient temples in neon skies exist side by side where you can eat a $2 bowl of ramen that changes your life then find yourself quietly moved in a mossy forest a few minutes later i feel like the allure of Japan lies in its contrast the stillness of a tea ceremony versus the chaos of Shabuya Crossing the thrill of the Shinkansen passing Mount Fuji versus the patience and order instilled in day-to-day life from convenience store snacks to bowing on the street Japan is a culture rooted in respect and detail where even the smallest moment feels intentional Japan is endlessly fascinating it maintains a rich culture that seems untouched by time yet is more technologically advanced in so many ways compared to North America and that’s part of the magic and why so many people want to visit today if you’re curious to another reason why so many people seem to be visiting Japan today it’s because unlike previous years Japan has become much more affordable this is due to a recent depreciation of their currency the yen the Japanese yen has reached a 34-year low compared to the US dollar and has reduced the cost to travelers by about 30% that means that accommodations dining experiences and intercountry travel are now much more affordable compared to previous years for budget and value travelers it’s the opportunity we’ve been waiting for to eat the sushi drink the sake and watch the deer bow in Nar Park today’s guest is my wonderful friend Maddie who’s going to review her epic trip to Japan maddie and her husband Taka explored Tokyo and the mountain town of Niko together we’re also going to hear a little bit about a true Japanese authentic experience while Maddie goes to visit Taka’s hometown in Chiba and then Maddie sets solo and stays in N with a side trip to Osaka and her first time aboard the Shinkansen also known as the bullet train we talk about food culture language tips must seas and the real deal on what Japan is like traveling as a solo woman we’re also going to talk about a few places Mattiey’s been on her other trips to Japan including the cultural and traditional town of Kyoto the beachy paradise known as Okinawa and last but not least Hakone known for its beautiful onen town and its views of Mount Fuji now let’s get into it today I am so excited to host my incredibly talented kind and inspiring friend Maddie on Wander every day maddie is that friend that always seems to post on Instagram in a different place every month i’ve seen her eat tacos in Mexico City hike mountains in Hong Kong and Nepal enjoy the sunsets of Thailand and Costa Rica and this is just to name a few maddie is the kind of traveler who does her research finds the gems and somehow balances thoughtful planning with total spontaneity the trip she’s reviewing today is not her first trip to Japan but she is here to tell us everything that she’s learned along the way maddie is the epitome of cool she has her motorcycle license she lives in a tiny home and she used her wedding as an excuse to travel to Vietnam to get her wedding dress made maddie welcome to the pod hi thanks for having me i am so happy that you would like agreed to join me in the first place when creating this podcast you are the epitome of the person I think of when I think of my friends who love to travel and you have so much great advice so much great information you’re so well traveled you are you are everything I want in a podcast guest so thank you for coming thank you i want you to know that I officially know that you’re moving to Japan because Taka told me so when did this happen and like has this been something that you’ve been thinking about for a long time or did this come out of nowhere okay so it was not something I was thinking about for a long time um like I’ve been to Japan a couple times and I was like okay like it’s cool and so I’ve never lived anywhere besides Hamilton Ontario and Waterlue for school and then I was kind of like half-heartedly I don’t know looking into maybe living somewhere else but like anywhere don’t know try Montreal um and then I heard that there’s an age limit on the Japan working holiday visa and it’s between 18 and 30 and I’m like oh man like am I going to regret this if I like age out and then I can’t do it so then it’s you can apply when you’re 30 and then after you get approved you can use it within a year so like I applied in December when I was 30 and then I turned 31 in January and then like I can still just use it anytime in that year so I was like I’ll apply i’ll go and if I hate it like I can just leave and come back home like it’s not a big deal but then if I like get to where I’m 35 and I’m like you know I should have gone and done that working holiday visa in Japan i don’t want to regret it so I was like “I’ll try and I think it’d be fun.” And I was going to surprise you with that today i was going to get your genuine reaction of being like “Mom he’s moving to Japan.” Oh my gosh so Taka spoiled the beans when I messaged him about you guys maybe selling your tiny home like he kind of when he posted on Instagram I was like “What do you mean you’re selling the tiny home?” And he literally was like “Matty’s moving to Japan.” And I’m like “Why didn’t you lead with that?” I don’t know why didn’t you tell me that first i was going to surprise you where did you already get a job like if you have a working visa I’m assuming you do you don’t have a job no so do you know where you’re going to go i’m showing up with backpack in a dream oh my god yeah so they don’t want you to work wild they don’t want you to work the whole time like they want you to work a maximum of like 6 months and you’re there for a year so like they don’t want you to work okay you can have a job lined up but like that’s kind of like sponsorship and you don’t need like a sponsorship you can just show up and then like you’ll find a job when are you actually planning on moving to Japan um October 20th like after Thanksgiving so we have Thanksgiving and then a friend’s wedding is October 18th and then I’m going to go like after that oh my gosh and then you can is there the opportunity to extend that visa um they just announced that you can extend it to two years um so yeah and then I think if you get sponsored you can extend it longer who is eligible to apply for this visa and what’s the visa called um it’s called the Japan working holiday visa program um and Canadian citizens are allowed to apply like as long as you’re just a resident or citizen of Canada between the ages of 18 and 30 like there’s like a form you fill out you get like a doctor’s note to say like you’re healthy you have to have like a bank statement to show that you have like x amount of money i think it’s $3,000 in your bank account so you’re not just showing up broke um but I didn’t have to pay anything to apply for it i just had to go to like the Japanese consulate in downtown Toronto with like my stack of forms and like passport photo and I think I dropped off my passport with them and then picked it up two weeks later you hear a lot about the Commonwealth visa which is a visa where you can work in any Commonwealth country i believe it’s also a year but can be extended to two years if you’re doing like agricultural work but I’ve never heard of this Japan working holiday visa japanese people can get it for Canada too so we’ve met oh so it’s both ways goes both ways we have a friend that we met in the like Dundas Peak when we were on a hike and Taco goes and then we just like talked to him and then he lives in Toronto and he’s on like a working holiday visa we’re like “Oh that’s so cool.” And now we’re friends with him oh my gosh I’m so excited for you and you’re going to have so many more tips when you get back or while you’re there no how many times have you been to Japan before three total of three when was the first time you went to Japan 20 Oh yes so I think it was 2018 we had almost been dating for a year and the first time I went to Japan was in our like big long 7-month trip in Asia that we did together um so Japan we spent like a month there for the first time and then the next time was 2019 we did Okinawa and then the most recent one was 2023 which is the one that is the most recent one that I’ll be talking about where is Taka from in Japan um he’s from Chiba so it’s like Tokyo’s in the middleish and then Chiba is like east so it’s close to the ocean so like and have you been to Chiba yeah I’ve been to like the little town that he grew up in the first time I went to Japan we borrowed a car from one of his family friends and he’s like driving me around and he goes “That’s my school.” and he’s like “That’s where he used to play soccer.” So he showed me like all of like where he grew up it was really cute and I also think it probably gives you a different experience and perspective of Japan i think of all the friends I have you have the most interesting perspective because your husband’s Japanese but also because you’ve been a few times right so I look forward to the answers of your questions today can’t wait um this is also an interesting trip I find because you did part of it solo have you ever traveled on your own before or done any parts of trips on your own i have um I went to Australia by myself in 20 I think it was 17 as well actually 2017 T and I had just started to talk like not quite officially dating yet and I was like I’m thinking about going to Australia cuz I had a friend that was going to school there like university and Taka was like just chatting and he was like you should do it and I’m like I don’t know like how to book like a flight ticket it’s be so expensive and so Taka is like you should use Skyscanner and then so I did and I was like whoa this is so cheap and so I did like a twoe trip to Australia by myself and I loved it when Tac and I did our like our sevenmon trip there was a week where we split up and like I did it was in Cambodia he went to like a different part of Cambodia and I went to see like Ankor Watt and he’s like I’ve already seen Ankorwatt before i don’t need to go again so we did a little bit separate there and then recently on the May long weekend of this year I went to St john’s Newf Finland by myself for like a long weekend and that was fun so I do enjoy solo traveling i enjoy traveling as well with my husband but it is nice to like just wake up at whatever time you want to wake up and then be like I want to do this today and you don’t have to like agree with anybody for anything which is kind of nice but it is nice to travel with somebody as well and then you’re like chatting at the end of the day or whatever and like you can share like ah that was so cool so I don’t know there’s ups and downs for traveling by yourself is there anything different about approaching a trip that you’re planning on your own versus approaching a trip that you’re planning with someone else like Ta um I did a trip with my friend Jess to Nashville and she’s very type A so she just planned everything and I’m like I’m along for the ride cool i don’t think that the planning for me is very different because I’d like do a quick Google search and see like some top hits and I was like all right and then get to the hostel and like chat to people that are there that’s like the general how I plan a trip with or without anybody i think the only difference is when you’re there it’s like I can’t rely on anybody else to be social and make connections and conversations with the people that are staying in the hostel it’s like I kind of just have to go out there and do it myself um but the planning aspect is I think it’s the same i’ll just put my backpack on here we go figure it out later oh my gosh good for you do you primarily use hostels as your form of accommodation yes 95% if it’s Taka and I going together if it’s like the host are 40 bucks per bed we have to get two but if the private room in a hostel is like 80 bucks we’re like that’s the same price we’re just going to get a private room we’ll sleep better but usually it’s host we’ll splurge sometimes on a hotel but it’s mainly host do you enjoy the socializing aspect of a hostel where there’s like a common space and you meet people is that part of the appeal of hostile to you yes uh that’s definitely the appeal of host i think I remember my trips based on the people that we’ve met that’s like one of our favorite parts of traveling too is like just meeting all the other weird people that are traveling and like hanging out and like you get such good advice it’s like this podcast but like in real life in like a kitchen in a hostel you’re just getting travel tips from the people that have done it and I think when you’re traveling too you’re probably seeing people who they’re in the same place as you so they’re like “We went to this restaurant or we did this experience and like you have to do it or we did this and like it’s super overrated and maybe you should not consider doing it at all.” So maybe the best way to get travel advice is actually staying in a hostel so you could talk to people who are traveling there like at that moment that’s I think also how we can get away with not planning anything cuz like we’ll just get there and then we’ll ask around like what did you do today what did you do last week and then we’ll be like getting some actual intel of like that was kind of overrated or like this thing was really cool to do so I think that helps for not planning anything when we travel on the day budget travel scale from 1 to 10 where one is the absolute cheapest accommodations street food minimal to no paid activities and 10 is absolute luxury no budget four seasons travel where would you rate yourself as a traveler i know where I’m going to rate myself as a traveler what do you think what do you think my scale would be everyone asks me this question i think you took it out on Yeah everyone I think that you’re a two or a three to be honest i couldn’t see you being higher than a three yeah I would say I would say two i think you do things so like you’re going to spend a little more money than like absolute minimum but I think you’re really looking for value and budget and I’m in for like that local experience like if there’s a theme park in Vietnam that like everybody goes to like the Handsbridge thing and I’m like h I’m more of like in for like the local stuff like the locals want to do like a boat thing I’ll do the boat thing or like I don’t know fishing tours things like that so like I’ll spend if it’s something that’s like you really can’t go there and not do this thing there’s like a good reasoning behind it if it’s like really special or it’s really cool it’s like yeah sure i don’t splurge for it but I don’t do it very often if it’s it’s got to be like really motivating okay well this episode is specifically for our budget travelers then you’re going to learn a lot from Maddie tell us about your general trip itinerary that we’re reviewing today so just quickly review the places you went to and kind of how long you were at each place okay um so we flew into Narita which is like outside of Tokyo and then we stayed overnight I think just to kind of like chill this trip we went to a family friend’s house so like my husband’s family friend owns like an extra house like a secondary house and my mother-in-law was staying there as well um so we went and we got to like hang out and we just like kind of cooked a lot of our own meals and went out for some uh it was really nice just to have a space because the time difference is like 12 hours so we just got to nap whenever we wanted to so we spent two days there I think and then we started our trip to Nico and then so that’s like all the way up north um and then we came back like down to like Tokyoish area we split up for a couple days so I went to N 5 days and Taco went to visit his grandma who lives kind of near Tokyo um and then we met back up in Tokyo and flew home so I think the trip was a little under two weeks did you find that that was too short of a time because I think a lot of people when they plan a trip to Japan think that you have to go for at least 2 weeks i feel like for me specifically I’ve already seen a lot of the sites that Japan has to offer so I think for the first time going to Japan I would not go for less than 2 weeks my first time in Japan I literally spent a whole month and I’ve been back two more times to see other things it’s like you think it’s such a small country but it’s really really big like it’s really long and like it’s so diverse between the different areas you could spend two weeks in Tokyo and never see the same thing twice you talked about how you and Tekk use Skyscanner is there any other apps that you use to plan travel or do you even still use Skyscanner i still use Skyscanner i’ll check because if it’s like the standby travel is more expensive than Sky Scanner then we won’t do it will like book an actual seat um we look at Google flights too just to kind of compare and then while you’re traveling between cities in the same country like sometimes the domestic flights are cheap on Sky Scanner as well so I still use it i still check it have you ever stayed in a capsule hotel um I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in a capsule hotel i’ve stayed in a hostel that’s like almost like a capsule hotel but it’s got like a little curtain at the end but it’s like wood little pod kind of but it wasn’t officially a capsule hotel have you stayed in the Love Hotel no but I really want to and Taka does too he’s like “We got to do it at least once but we just haven’t got there yet.” Good question okay has the vibe of Japan changed over the years that you’ve been visiting i don’t think that the vibe has changed i think that um people are a little bit more open to seeing a blondhaired person walking around i think the first time I went I got more stairs um but now it’s a little bit more common to see foreigners traveling but the vibe is still the same I think so you flew from Toronto to Narita and then you mentioned you went to Taka’s mom’s friend’s house where exactly was that uh that was in Chiba the town is called Misaki and it’s right by the ocean so we could take like a 10-minute walk and we would get to the ocean so it’s small little cute town how long does it take to get from Tokyo to Chiba tokyo to Chiba took I want to say like maybe two hours there’s two or three trains that you have to take does the Shinkansen run from Tokyo to Chiba i seem to think there’s only specific Shinkansen lines and not every town is like serviced by a bullet train yes so is there Shinkansen that runs to Chiba no I don’t think that there’s a bullet train that goes to Chiba i think it’s like mainly like the big long distances if you’re going across the country you’ll get like a bullet train but it doesn’t uh go to Chiba chiba being a more local town tell us or describe to us what a local town in Japan is like um it’s small but like there like like building wise small there’s not a lot of tall apartment buildings there’s not a lot of skyscrapers uh it’s a lot of like single dwelling homes there’s this little town in Msaki where like he grew up my husband there’s one grocery store there’s a McDonald’s there’s a convenience store and then there’s like little mom and pop shops um and a couple like cute little bars but it’s not really built up whereas like Cheba in like the city center that’s where you would go if you needed to like they have a really good running shoe store they have like a really good soccer store that we’ve been to these are just the places that I’ve seen in Chiba but it’s like a bigger city where you have more of like the skyscrapers um you have more trains that go there but uh the little Misaki town was a little slower a little temple that you have to like walk up a lot of steps like it’s deep and uh just a lot of people walking around and on their bicycles is their main mode of transportation there’s a train station that gets there but if you’re going around inside the town like you got to bike or walk or there’s some cars too so if you’re in Msaki visiting Taka’s family and family friends what do you what did you guys do um so he still has like friends from school that still live there so every time that we go he messages like everybody that he still knows that’s in the town and they’ll kind of gather at this like one spot in town that’s kind of like a bigger open um restaurant cuz sometimes Japan bars and restaurants are really small and uh so it’s like pretty open pretty big and so we just kind of sit around in the table and they’re speaking a lot of Japanese and I’m nodding and laughing when other people laugh and I have no idea what’s going on um so they usually meet up to eat um and I was like I I’m here for the food totally but the meeting spot is never like at somebody’s house either that’s like a cultural thing where you don’t just hey Daytona come hang out at my house i’d like to see you it’s like they don’t meet at each other’s houses they’ll meet at a restaurant oh that’s interesting do you have any highlights or memories from your time in Msaki i really liked going to the beach um every time I’ve been is like October so it’s kind of cold but there’s always people surfing if you go early on in the morning it’s like better surfing because the waves are bigger but there’s always people out there so it’s so much fun just to like walk along the ocean and like watch all these people surfing i just think it’s so cool so it’s a big surf town as well which is maybe that’s what they’re known for is surfing so after your time in Msaki you went to Tokyo i think we went right to Niko after after Msaki i think we went right to Niko together and we stayed there for four or five days what was the appeal of going to Niko because I have never heard of anyone going to Niko before yeah it’s um kind of like an off thebeaten path a little bit like it’s not the main Tokyo Kyoto Osaka i’ve heard it’s really pretty like nature-wise and like my things for if I’m going to travel somewhere is like I wanted to like have something interesting nature- wise like either mountains or like ocean and it had mountains and lakes and waterfalls and so I was like yeah cool let’s go to Nico it’d be cool to see something different too like I’ve never been outside of like the big cities and like Taka’s small hometown and then do you know the the three monkeys like the see no evil speak no evil here no evil it started Mhm in Nico there’s like this temple and it has monkeys carved in around it and it’s got those three monkeys so that’s where it actually originated from I’m pretty sure was this shrine in Niko so I heard that and I was like let’s go does Nico have a tourist culture were there people there were there hostile there there was a hostel that we stayed in i feel like there was also some hotels not super built up for tourism well not super built up for tourism of like western people i think it’s like um like a national like people that are from Japan would go to Niko so I think it’s built up for tourism of like Japanese people like the local people would go there to go see the temple and stuff that’s there there was a little uh school trip when we went to this temple there was like all these like tiny little kids they got off the bus and they’re all in their matching school uniforms so it’s built for local tourism not western tourism how would you describe Nico as a place you mentioned that your perception was that it was this like green outdoorsy space how would you describe it now that you’ve been there definitely green um it was like very mountainy you know that fresh dewy mountain air um so it’s like kind of got like that mossy vibe it was cool uh very charming kind of like a mystical forest like a mystical forest if that isn’t the best description of a place I want to go to Japan and it’s such like a cool striking difference from like cuz like Tokyo is all like skyscrapers right what did you guys do while you were in Nico we we went to the temple um it was cool recommend it and then there’s also a little lake so we did a hike around this lake and there was a waterfall that was in a different direction so we took a bus there was a bus system around Nico and the waterfall was really pretty there’s cute little cafes built up around the waterfall so you can get like a little coffee and then sit and listen to the waterfall very peaceful um and the hostel that we stayed in the owner drives you from the train station and then like you get up to like the hostel and it’s on the river so like the hostel’s like just here and the river’s down here so it’s like you could go and just have your morning coffee by the river and it was so nice it was really peaceful do you know what the hostel was called there is only one hostel in Nico i’m sure of it i do not know what the hostel was called but I will Google it but I’m sure there’s only one it is called Earth Hostel Riverhouse in Nico it sounds like a cool hostel experience i mean we spent a lot of time in episode one talking about hostiles so we’re not going to dive too deep into it but it sounds like this hostel being on the river almost has I don’t know almost like a elevated hostel vibe yeah you could say it wasn’t really elevated on the inside it was like cute and cozy and like cabin cottage vibes but apparently this guy that owns the hostel throws like rave DJ parties in the summertime but we were there in the shoulder season like so it was a bit cooler i’m kind of interested to see the summertime rave parties that he throws do Japanese people party they do they work hard and they play hard okay do they have like clubs do they listen to electronic music what would a typical Japanese person do for fun in the evening they So they work really hard so then they’re like all stressed right so they’d go to like a bar sometimes still in their work suits and they drink um a lot and then there’s clubs as well i haven’t been to a Japanese club yet but there’s definitely electronic music do they have much of a bar culture whether it’s a beer like a pub bar or like a cocktail bar what’s their more casual less dance party vibe like mainly beer bars but usually it’s also with food so like you will get some there’s like a Golden Guy area in Tokyo where it’s all like little bars and like it’s just drinks but then I think like the local Japanese culture is you go out for food and drinks it’s like it’s always kind of together and then in Tokyo too like you’ll get the fancy swanky cocktail bars but I think like mainly bar culture is beer and a fun thing about Japan is you can get all you can eat of course everywhere you can also get Oh you can drink where they give you this little tablet and you’re like I want 10 beers and they bring you 10 beers and then it flashes and it says you have five minutes left of your all you can drink and so what we did was order quickly i want 10 wines and 10 beers each and they just brought it and it’s like here you go so our table was full of drinks and we just sat there and drank them oh my gosh how much is it to do all you can drink at a bar i feel like when I went it was like 20 bucks so it’s not expensive my god that’s how that’s how much it cost to get like a cheap bottle of wine here right man Japan is sounding more and more appealing every moment you’d honestly just save money by going to Japan i think did you have any food highlights in Nico is there certain meals or exper food experiences you had there that you really enjoyed yeah we had a noodle dish i think it was sobba noodles like the buckwheat noodles they had it in like a hot soup broth and it was so good the soup there it was like kind of like a chili right my mist forest vibe it’s like a nice warm soup was so good very happy about the soup what’s the difference between soba noodles and ramen noodles in terms of like texture and flavor and taste soba noodles I think are less chewy I would say cuz ramen kind of has like a bit of a chewy texture to it um and soba noodles usually are served cold um so it was nice to see it in like a hot soup i mean I’ve only had it in like cold dishes before so I really enjoyed the warm soup version of it are there any other types of noodles that people eat in Japan cuz top of mind I’m really only thinking of ramen and soba noodles there’s udon noodles which are thicker chewier version of ramen kind of it’s got to be a rice noodle i’m sure what’s your favorite noodle udon noodles udon noodles they’re my favorite for sure they’re like so thick and chewy and great so after Nico you had your soba noodles you stayed at your river hostel you went to Tokyo where in Tokyo did you stay so when we go to Tokyo we always stay in Asakusa it’s in the Tokyo subway line um but it’s cheaper to stay in Asakusa than like Shibuya or Shinjuku but those are the main going out areas so it comes as a bit of a tradeoff so we find a cheaper accommodation in Asakusa and we’ll take the train into like the going out area do the trains run late at night so that if you’re going out you can get back to Asaka or how do you get there after you’ve been out all night so they run lateish they ran until like 12:30 and this is where we run into a big learning opportunity from my trip this most recent time to Japan don’t miss the last train it was not a good idea what did you have to do we had to wait for the 5:00 train to start running was it not feasible to take like a taxi we really if we really wanted to we could have but they’re really expensive in Japan um taxi prices like they don’t have Uber yet i think they’re just starting to get Uber in some areas now um so the taxis can just charge whatever they want to right so it gets really expensive especially late at night so we looked at it and we’re like you know it’s only like 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning after our night out and I was like yeah it’s fine we’ll just miss the last train and stay out and then there’s a 24-hour ramen restaurant and so we sat there and had some food and then waited outside of the train station and then I’m like slouched against the train station wall and I’m like “Oh no I’m so tired i’ve made a grave mistake.” And I’ll never do that again my gosh so in many places in North America if you’re out at 1:00 a.m there’s just nothing open are there a lot of things open in Japan specifically in Tokyo at that time if you do miss the train yeah I was very happy to find the 24-hour ramen restaurant and it was packed with also drunk white people which was nice to see some uh camaraderie and uh convenience stores are pretty much open 24/7 so convenience stores if you need a quick bite or whatever like they usually have bathrooms and snacks and drinks and more beer if you want more beer you can buy it a convenience stores 24/7 i know you’ve been to Tokyo before so I’m going to kind of ask you to bring in a little bit of knowledge from maybe some of your other trips what are some of your highlights from your Tokyo trips in general and what would you recommend travelers to Japan and Tokyo to do if they’re in Tokyo for a few days i really liked going to Herajuku uh it’s like busy shopping street but it brings in a lot of interesting people which is really fun to people watch there you can buy the crazy viral cotton candy things if you want to um people watching fantastic there and then across from Herajuku there’s um a man-made forest with a shrine in it so I thought that was really cool like just the juxtaposition of a huge forest in the middle of this crazy town so Herajuku area for sure super cool oh you have to do the the Shibuya crossing the Tokyo Scramble you got to see that um there’s usually viewing points is it worth the hype okay yes this one is worth the hype for sure it’s so cool but you do have like a hundred foreigners like live streaming through which kind of like I don’t know ruins the vibe of it um but if you go during the day it’s just like this big crosswalk and like a couple people are walking through but then you go at night time and it’s packed with people so that’s pretty cool to see it is worth the hype you go to like the Starbucks that’s over top of it and you can just like watch all the people walking around it’s pretty cool definitely worth the hype um oh there’s a really good restaurant so it’s not in the center of Tokyo but it is worth the train ride it’s called Ton Chin Khan oh it’s in Shinjuku what kind of food is it they serve one thing fried pork cutlet it’s like a thick pork cutlet is that called tonkatu in Japanese ton tonkatu yeah tonkatu pork cutlet and then they have unlimited refills of like rice and a cabbage my gosh that sounds like literally amazing do you have any other restaurant recommendations throughout Tokyo um there was a restaurant in Asakusa that had really good ramen and all of their ramen eggs are double yolk ramen eggs so that was kind of special yo Roya it was so good it was so good and these places both of them they always have a lineup but it goes so fast so it’s worth the wait for sure do you find that in Japan places that have a lineup are usually the places you want to go 100% if there’s a lot of people lining up for this it’s worth it i do think Tokyo as a city if you’re someone who’s never been to Japan can seem very overwhelming because it’s very large there’s so many different places to go and often times people are only there for a few days but for my understanding Tokyo needs more than like 3 days you said you were there for 2 weeks and you couldn’t see at all so I guess I’m just trying to understand for people listening where do they want to hit up based on what they want to do in Tokyo i feel like my best recommendation for that um and this is like a hot travel tip that I do for every city that I go to is I look up a free walking tour in the area and so you get like a person that lives there and they just walk around and you can ask them your questions for like what you specifically want to see um and you just tip them at the end but usually Shinjuku and Shibuya are like the big going out eating shopping areas so you can find pretty much everything you want there uh there’s museums in some like it’s called UNO um so if you’re a museumy art gallery person that’s a good spot for that and then there’s Akihabara which is kind of like the nerdy area if you want to see like your Pokemon trading cards or like your little figurine guys if you’re going to collect these things Akihabara is the place to go for that one is there any experiences that people need to do if they’re in Tokyo i think you definitely need to get lost in Tokyo you need to take one of the trains and then you’re looking at your phone like I went the wrong way uh I think that’s just like a right of passing because there’s so many trains in the city there’s like trains on top of trains on top of trains there’s floors of trains so you’re going to get lost and there’s this one I think it’s in Shabuya where there’s 25 different exits and you’re looking at Google Maps and it says take exit 15A and you can’t find 15A and then you’re like I’ll take 15B and it’s like the complete opposite wrong side so I think you have to get lost in Tokyo to have a real good experience you’ll find something fun it certainly sounds like a place that is very high energy lots to do a lot to take in in the environment so I’m sure it’s nice when you go from a place like Tokyo to go to a place like N or maybe you go to a place like Nico i’m excited to hear the compare and contrast of the rest of your trip so after you’re in Tokyo you left Taka and you decided to go to N on your own i’m assuming you stayed in a hostel in N uh did you meet people there or did you do this portion of your trip fully on your own in N it’s kind of a smaller city um I stayed in a hostel and I made that hostel my base for like 4 days which if I did it again I wouldn’t make N my base for those couple days just because it’s so small i found that a lot of the tourists that are staying there one night maybe and then they go so I didn’t find that it was a really great place to meet people that are going to be there for a couple days most people stay there for one day and then go on to the next city um so I did that part mainly by myself um I didn’t really meet too many people staying in the hostel for a couple days not a lot of familiar faces that you’d cross a couple times so a lot of turnover in the town did you take the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Nara i did i It runs from Tokyo and I think I took it to Osaka cuz it stops at Kyoto and Osaka the one that I took it was the first time taking a bullet train it was so cool it goes so fast and uh if you’re a train nerd you’ll really like Japan i’m not a train nerd and I was very impressed with it is there any specific difference that you notice between taking a normal train versus taking the bullet train or shinkansen as it’s known a lot of different paperwork they give you like three different tickets and you have to put them in and it was very confusing so I always just took my tickets up to the person that was working there and I was like which one do I use whereas a normal train you can kind of get like your little transit card and tap it whenever you go with the Shinkansen you have to have your specific tickets and you have to book your specific seat so I found that part was a big difference more tickets do you find that you have to book the Shinkansen in advance or are they frequent enough that you can book them when you’re actually in Japan uh you can definitely book them when you’re already in Japan i’m not sure if you can book it the same day when I did it it was like the day before 2 days before um but they’re definitely frequent enough that you can just book it once you’re in Japan why did you choose to stay in Nar versus staying in Osaka or Kyoto my main reason for going to Naro was I wanted to see the town with all the little freerange deer and I thought it would be a good space to keep as a base and then go from there in hindsight I should have made like Osaka my base and then take a day trip to Nara they’re very close together the two cities um but I just wanted to stay with the deer it was cute maybe I should also clarify because I’m assuming that the listener listen listeners already know in N they have these freerange deer where if they bow at you you give them a cookie so essentially the people visiting N are all harassed by these deer who are expecting cookies and just constantly follow you around and like bow at you like this constantly just so the people know I cannot assume people know what we’re talking about fair it’s true i’ve heard very mixed emotions about the N deer to be honest i’ve heard some people who find them aggressive and I find some people tell me that they’re like cute and nice and they bow for your cracker and they’re the kindest things ever so what was your experiences with the dear N two things can be true at one time they can be very cute but they can also be really aggressive um my experience was you know I got the little crackers you as soon as you have food around you they’ll all swarm you so I try to like just take one cracker out at a time not let them know that I have a stash and I wouldn’t give crackers to the deer with the horns i did that and it was not fun cuz then the horns get you and uh kind of scary so they can be aggressive but other ones can also be cute i understand the mixed opinions about N as well it did have a lot of deer poop everywhere and then there was just deer everywhere and sometimes they would like poke you cuz they think that you have food so it’s not for everybody i think it was fun to experience it i think also once you’ve seen it once you’ve kind of seen it have you been to any of the other places in Japan like Rabbit Island or Monkey Island where they’re just like infiltrated with one species of animal no but there is a cat island that I think I would like to go see i’m sure like 50% of the people who listen to this podcast would love to go to cat island nice target market what else did you do in N you were there for a few days so I’m sure you did more than just like bow at deer a lot of bowing at deer but while I was in N I had like posted on my Instagram story that I was in N and a friend that I had met like 5 years ago the first time I went to Japan sent me a message and he’s like “No way i’m also in Japan.” And he was staying in Osaka so then we took like just a normal train not a bullet train and went to a waterfall in Osaka and it was really nice i don’t picture Osaka being a place where you have waterfalls so I’m assuming this is outside of the city center yes it was outside of the city center it was called Mino so I think I took two trains like one train to get out of Osaka and then one train that went specifically to this town of Mino and it was really picturesque uh they had like these really cute red bridges throughout like it was kind of like rocky and mountainy and they’re kind of known for maple leaves as well like the Japanese maple so they had a lot of um like deep fried maple leaves and it was a cultural experience why was it a cultural experience something that you have do but it was really just a leaf in dough and then deep fried it was not good i feel like of all the Japanese food they’re so well known for their food like of all the things to make they’re frying a maple leaf we could do that in Canada good million dollar idea actually I’m going to start that what else did you do in N was there any food highlights or activity highlights there was a lot of cool temples in N as well um they have like really big statues inside of their temple there’s one really wellknown Toadai temple I think is what it’s called that was really cool to see just like massive massive temple i think Nara used to be one of the capital cities in Japan because the capital kind of like moved throughout the 3,000 years of their history so it was really cool to learn the background of the city as for food the ice cream that’s what was really good in N they have like chocolate ice cream and then like matcha ice cream and it was just like one of the best ice creams I’ve ever had don’t they have a culture where you don’t really eat food while you’re walking so do you have to go sit down and eat your ice cream you don’t walk and eat uh so like they have park benches all throughout so I got my little ice cream and then I sat on the park bench to eat it as a respectful citizen speaking of respect is there any other customs you want to share about respect that you find that Westerners maybe don’t know when they go to Japan for the first time i find a big one is you don’t talk on the phone when you’re like on the bus or the train definitely no like scrolling through Tik Tok with the volume up on your phone when you’re on the train i think they’re really respectful of like noise in a city of 14 million people i think it’s respectful to not be on a phone call i was on a bus one time and the bus driver like made an announcement cuz somebody was taking a phone call on the bus and so my husband was translating and he’s like “Oh Maddie that guy’s going to pull the bus over if this guy doesn’t hang up his phone call.” So they’re like serious about the no phones on the train or bus situation you can scroll quietly but anything with noise like no is there any other customs i feel like there’s like a backpack thing as soon as you get on the train like you don’t wear your backpack on your back you like wear it on your front and it’s not because you’re worried that somebody’s gonna like pickpocket you it’s because you’re worried that you might like bump into the person behind you without knowing so it’s I think it’s like a backpack comes to the front or like you put it on your feet or there’s always like shelves on the train and bus to put your bag up the backpack thing is another respectful you don’t want to be hitting people with your backpack which I do often cuz I’m quite clumsy so I always have to remember like take the bag off be nice in terms of going to the temples in Japan are there certain customs people should be aware of if they’re visiting there um a lot of the temples don’t want you to wear your outside shoes so there’ll be like a little cubby where you take your shoes and put your shoes in the cubby and then they have usually like a slipper that you can use so probably I would want to wear socks in case you’re needing to put communal slippers on for the temples sometimes they don’t let you take pictures inside but most of them do i think just pay attention to the signs cuz there would be a sign to say like don’t take pictures here in terms of translating Japanese into English do you use Google Translate or is there any app that you use to help you quickly translate so that you can read menus or signs or even if you’re talking to someone google Translate definitely works um I also find like my Apple phone if there’s a sign that I want to translate I’ll take a picture of it and you can like hold to translate it’s worked when there was a sign on this hike and I was like I’m not sure if this is 300 m 300 kilometers like it I just see 300 it’s like what is this are we almost there or not and it was like 300 m so it was nice to know uh you did go to Osaka for the day that’s the time you went to the park the waterfall did you actually go to Osaka proper on that day no not on that day i have been to Osaka like on a previous trip but this day was kind of just like a waterfall day in Japan one of the most common routes is called the golden route where you travel from Tokyo to Kyoto then Isaka so since Nara is kind of right in the middle of Osaka and Kyoto can you just quickly maybe summarize give a few quick tips both of Osaka the city and Kyoto the city for people at home who are going to visit the most common traveled route in Japan definitely it’s worth it um everybody goes to these cities for a reason i would say in Kyoto there’s like the Fushimi Inari with like the gold temple things if you really want to see it go but I think that one’s a little bit overrated if you are going to go you can keep walking all the way up cuz it’s really really overpop populated at the beginning cuz everyone wants to take their pictures but if you keep walking like they go for miles up so with the Fushimiari um just keep walking and then it gets less crowded kyoto in the city is so cool to see it’s really worth the visit we went on a weekend and it was crazy busy uh a lot of the local tourists go to Kyoto as well on the weekend and like they dress up in their kimonos so it was really cool to see but the streets were packed so uh I would plan your trip to Kyoto knowing that a lot of people will be there on the weekend but if you can’t avoid it it’s still worth it to see and then Osaka I think has the best food in the country uh definitely eat whatever you can in Osaka do you have any specific food recommendations in Osaka yes I do uh the best restaurant that I went to was Okono Nomiyaki Chitos and it’s like so it’s a savory pancake and it was just the best food I’ve had uh the ramen there was really good not at the okonomiyaki place osaka in general has really good ramen and I find it’s like different from the Tokyo ramen can’t explain how but it’s just different and Osaka is also known for takoyaki which is like doughy balls and it’s got like octopus in it fantastic it’s so good the amount of people I’ve saw or seen burn their mouth on takiyaki is like every YouTube video on the internet it’s hot i mean don’t be dumb but it’s like so good you just want to get it in here really quickly i get it have you ever been to Hiroshima because I’ve heard they have their own okonamiyaki type pancake that’s a bit different than the Osaka okonamiyakyaki ooh I’ve never been to Hiroshima not yet i would like to go i think if you’re taking the golden route and you’re in Osaka it makes sense to continue on to Hiroshima cuz it’s in the south maybe the next trip I’ll go and I’ll have more tips anything else you want to mention about either Kyoto or Osaka um Osaka I think had one of my favorite free walking tours that I’ve ever done um it just gave a really good explanation about the history and the culture because there’s kind of like a rivalry between Osaka and Tokyo of like I don’t know culture wars the language is different the food is different so I found um the walking tour in Osaka is like can’t miss i just Google search free walking tour Osaka and it’s the first one that comes up it was really good do you have a specific hostel chain in Japan that you like to use or do you just go into hostel world and find whatever’s the cheapest in the best location because I seem to think that there are specific hostel chains throughout the country of Japan there’s definitely specific hostel chains throughout um but I find like each location is going to have a different vibe so I go to Hostel World and I’ll look at the reviews and like look at the pictures and see like if there’s comments that say there wasn’t really a common space to hang out I’ll be like I don’t really like that i like to have a communal space to meet people or if a hostel organizes activities within I’ll book that one because it’s like so much easier to meet people if you’re all on a shared experience together and then I’ll look at yeah the reviews just to see like if people say this is in a really noisy part of town and I couldn’t sleep i’ll be like I don’t want that one even if that one’s $10 cheaper like I value sleep so I’ll find something that’s comfier okay so those are like your main things when you’re looking for a hostel all right that’s cool i I respect your ability to stay in a hostel in general good for you maddie before you left did you go back to Tokyo no we did our one big night out before I went to N is there anything about this trip that we’re missing in terms of where you went or where you stayed or what you did no cuz I’ve already told you about when I missed the last train that was our big night out i think I just met up with Taka in Tokyo just to go to the airport what did you do on your big night out we met up with like this one guy that we volunteered with in Nepal and he brought his friends to Japan and so we just met up with them and we went to this all you can eat restaurant that has like a tap of this lemon sour drink and so it’s just all you can drink lemon sours and for an hour we’re just drinking lemon sour and it’s like 90% sugar and then from there we just went to like different bars and convenience stores to drink beer on the street and was like “Ah it’s fine we’ll miss the last train and we get home at 5:00 in the morning to sleep for like 4 hours until we have to check out.” Oh my gosh well at least it’s a memory you have now forever forever while we’re reviewing other places you stayed why don’t we quickly talk about Okinawa or anywhere else you’ve been just so that people have kind of an idea of different places in Japan so let’s start with Okinawa tell me a bit about that and then just quickly review any other places you’ve been in Japan okinawa was really cool the culture there was like a lot different from mainland Tokyo a bit more like beachy and hot and the food there was more of an American fusion they created a taco rice which is like classic taco ingredients but they put it on top of rice and I was like “Oh that makes so much sense this is so good.” And I had a noodle dish and it was called maz men in mainland Okinawa and it was one of the favorite like top five things that I’ve eaten in my life it was so good the restaurant is called Maharoba it was a noodle dish with like different ingredients and then you mix it and it was just like the best thing I had to eat and then so that was mainland Okinawa and then we took a ferry to Zamami Island and it was this really small island it was really cute you can bike the whole island in a day on like a bicycle and it was really cool vibe it was chill people were like slow and relaxed which is a lot different from like Tokyo when everyone’s kind of like rushed and busy and uh just the night life is you just go to bed you sit and look at the stars at the beach and it’s like okay so you like it’s more of a peaceful part but I thought it was really special it was really cool we stayed at a guest house and she like makes breakfast for you in the morning it was really sweet and the the island was beautiful zami Island had amazing cliffs so like you’re biking around and you pull off to the cliff and it’s just like spectacular it’s really really pretty and like crystal clear blue waters as well if you’re going to Okinawa or Zamami Island how long do you think you need if you’re making that a detour like does that need like five or six days i feel like you could do four i think if you do two days in Okinawa you can see kind of everything that you wanted to see um they’ve got a cool Navy reserve where it’s like tunnels that they used in the war and then Zamami quick little ferry uh nice little island retreat probably yeah two days for each anywhere else in Japan that you’ve gone that you want to talk about oh yeah hakone i think it should be on the golden route it’s close enough to Tokyo it’s like an onen town so there’s just natural hot springs everywhere and it’s also right next to Mount Fuji so you get the onens to relax and then if you wanted to do a hike to see Mount Fuji you can also hike Mount Fuji but it’s a really short season um so I went to Hakone and we did a hike uh Mount Kintoki and you get to see Mount Fuji from the top well if you’re lucky you get to see Mount Fuji it’s apparently quite elusive but I’ve been pretty lucky every time I’ve been I’ve been able to see it do you want to explain to people what an onsen is yeah so it’s all of Japan is a very volcanic island because they’re on fault lines so there’s just natural hot springs from the volcanic activity underneath and they’ve just built towns around these volcanic fault lines to bathe in their hot salty water i know that onsens traditionally do not allow people to enter if they have tattoos because onens do require that people undress fully to go into them specifically I believe they’re separated like male female have you had issues with Taka being able to use an onsaid because you guys both do have tattoos spoiler alert if you haven’t noticed the tattoos on Mattiey’s arp and her husband has them too yeah uh we haven’t had any issues but usually Google Maps would say well I guess not all of them do if you go to the onen they’ll have a sign posted like if they’re really against tattoos it’ll be posted like at the front desk but uh as long as they’re okay with it like some of them are really strict and like they won’t let you in but like my husband has like some finger tattoos so like they’ll be able to see as we’re like “This is our information.” And so usually they would be like “No.” But that hasn’t happened to us yet um and yes you’re correct very segregated women only in one area and then men only in the other area and very completely naked so the first time you nakedly got into an onsen what was your emotions in that moment did you feel fully comfortable in your body bearing all in front of the Japanese women definitely not it was super weird and I was like is this really worth it i was like I could just take a bath by myself and it’s kind of the same thing um but the way that they built the onens like especially in Hakone it was like inside outside and there’s all these like natural rocks around so they really built it up to be really spa-ike so you can like sit outside and you’re just like in like a nice hot bath and you’re looking up at the stars it was so cool i was like “All right it’s worth a bunch of old Japanese ladies seeing my entire naked body that’s fine.” So when you were in Hakone the onsen you went to was in your hostel uh there was two onens that we went to there was one that was in the hostel um and then there was one that was just in the town have you ever stayed at a rayen no I’ve never stayed at a rayoken they look really bougie something we haven’t talked at all about is sushi wu beef unagary can you give me some quick tips and tricks for someone going to Japan looking for good sushi it’s pretty much anywhere you can get good sushi like from 7-Eleven convenience stores or you could go the conveyor belt sushi’s are really fun they’re really cool to see and uh the alikart ones are probably going to be your best quality sushi if you’re into that we did it once or twice uh you definitely pay for it but uh it was delightful really good sushi pretty much everywhere like even the 7-Eleven sushi is better than the sushi you get here in Canada well Ontario specifically the only place that you can go to 7-Eleven eat sushi and be completely fine and not get parasites probably okay what about Wagu beef is that outside of the Matty Taka budget range or is that something you guys have tried before it’s totally outside of the Matty Taka budget range that doesn’t compute with my hostile lifestyle what about the What about the grilled eel because every time I see someone eat an eel skewer with like the sweet sauce I’m like I need to go to Japan ooh I don’t think I’ve tried the eel skewer before i’ve had like they have these little silver fish on skewers that they barbecue and those are really good but I’ve never tried the eel one is there any other big Japanese foods that we haven’t talked about that you want to mention uh definitely shout outs to the oniri they are the best snack the little rice triangle balls the packaging is very specific where you can have the seaweed on the outside still stay crispy um so those are really great very cheap nutritious fun flavors and the pastries and desserts in Japan are top-notch um I think that they they’ve perfected the pastry the Japanese flavor profiles they just make everything balanced nothing is too sweet nothing is too anything like the pastries are bomb they’ve figured out pastries they make these cream breads those are the best ones to get i got fat the first time I was in Japan cuz I just ate too many cream breads there is a viral food that is worth the hype um when you go to Family Mart and you get like the the egg sandwich with the fried chicken so the egg sandwich is in the fridge and then you bring it to the counter you buy your egg sandwich and then you ask for one of the fried chickens and you open your egg sandwich and you put the fried chicken in just as good as every Tik Tocker says it is it is worth the hype is there anything at all about your trip that you want to mention that we haven’t talked about the Pokemon Center was worth it if anybody’s into like the nerdy aspect of Japan the Pokémon Center in Shabuya was really cool it’s got like the tank with Mew in it and then they have like any possible anime that you want to buy a collector’s item from like they’ll have it you can buy anything it’s amazing is there any good stories from that trip to Japan that you haven’t shared that you want to share karaoke culture oh you haven’t gone to karaoke yet karaoke in Japan is like so much fun you just rent a little box and you don’t have to sing Stacy’s mom badly in front of a hundred people that live in the same city as you it’s great no one knows they give you a little tablet you like play your song and you’re like “Ooh you know what’s going to go good with this some fried chicken and beer.” Great i love Japan it just sounds literally amazing man they figured out a lot of stuff were there any interesting people you met on this trip at any of your host i don’t think that there was anybody really interesting at this trip that we’ve met but we’ve made a lot of friends along the way from like previous ones there was this French guy Boris who was moving to Japan and he would wear like the traditional Japanese wooden shoes like we went out and he was wearing these shoes and they’re just so noisy i was like “Why are this is not comfortable why are you doing this?” To live like the locals do like I’m sure the Japanese people don’t even wear them they don’t yeah so that was fun what was the most peaceful surreal or beautiful moment of this trip um I think when we were in Nico and we were sitting in the cafe sipping our little warm drinks and watching the waterfall and it was like quiet and peaceful it was really cool um Nico in general I think was like a good peaceful reset coffee by like the river was so nice too what would you say was your one highlight of this trip and then what was one of your low lightss of the trip highlight of the trip I think was being in this like Osaka waterfall town uh it’s just like a really cool hike throughout the mountainy area and the like getting to see the waterfall at the end like the Osaka waterfall was huge so that one was like a really like you worked hard for this big long walk to see like this amazing waterfall and it’s like yes I did it and it’s worth it and the low light was probably me drunk at the train station at 5:00 in the morning waiting for my train to take me home yeah of course what’s the next destination at the top of your bucket list uh my next destination at the top of my bucket list is Portugal we are gonna take our honeymoon starting in September and I want to do the Azors the Portuguese islands and we are going to do that for two weeks and then we’re also going to do the Portuguese Camino where we walk from Portugal up the coast to Spain for 2 weeks oh my gosh amazing it’s time to play one of my favorite travel games this or that i’ll give you two options and you pick the one that calls to you the most no overthinking just gut feeling it’s the ultimate way to see what kind of traveler you are japan style are you ready ramen or sushi ramen for sure city lights in Tokyo or temple vibes in Kyoto city in Tokyo I think vending machine or 7-Eleven oh 7-Eleven matcha anything or Japanese cheesecake japanese cheesecake okonomiyaki or takiyaki okonomiyaki more flavors onsen soak or karaoke night oo those are completely different things daytona i can’t answer that you’re going to go with your gut Maddie uh karaoke fully plan every detail of your trip or plan absolutely nothing and just show up so hard plan absolutely nothing and show up with a backpack and a dream and that’s why we invited Maddie on to Wonder Every Day before we let you go we do have a few listener questions i feel like I know the answer to this one but I’m going to ask anyways have you ever done luggage forwarding if not do you know much about it oh I’ve heard it’s a very efficient way if you don’t want to travel your luggage around i have never done luggage forwarding uh but it’s reliable from what I hear if you were to go back to Japan where would you go and why i would go back to Osaka um I think that the food is better in Osaka and I think that the people are a bit more open like Tokyo is more of like a working city where Osaka is like a little bit more fun and chill and viby have you ever had any opportunities to travel to northern Japan or do you have any interest in going to northern Japan like Saparro i would like to go um I’ve heard that like Hokkaido in the north and with Saporro is where ramen started like they made ramen for the first time in the north of Japan and the snow seems interesting but I don’t like snow so I was thinking about doing a bit of like a ski trip but then after the winter that we just had here I don’t want to see snow ever again in my life so I don’t want to go to the ski season snow part have you ever been to Japan during cherry blossom season and is that an overhyped experience i’m a big shoulder season traveler so I’ve never been in a cherry blossom season because it’s like really busy and I feel like things get more expensive during like the really busy seasons um so I’ve never been during the cherry blossom um but I have talked to friends that have been there for it and they say it’s really pretty for the first day and then you’re like “Yeah okay there’s just cherry blossoms everywhere.” So if you’re really into it uh it might be worth going during that time but uh it might also be a little overhyped what time of year do you suggest people go to Japan my favorite time to go to Japan is October it’s not too hot it’s not too cold it’s not too busy uh and it’s you don’t get like the really expensive cherry blossom tourist price increase uh the weather is really nice cuz sometimes in the summertime it can get really hot and humid um and then October you’re starting to get some of the leaves changing as well um so you get a little bit of the fall colors and a little bit of the easier foot traffic before we finish up is there anything at all that you want to add i feel like you should definitely take a really busy train at rush hour in like Tokyo at 9:00 8:00 in the morning or at the end of the day cuz I feel like that’s just part of the experience they just cram in and it’s really fun to see at the end of the day like all of the people that are just waiting in line to get on the train it’s not just a big rush to get in the doors it’s like so peaceful and respectful and like everyone’s busy and it’s chaotic but they sit and they wait in their line to get on the train so I think Rush Hour Train is a right of passage i think you should try it well thank you Maddie for being on Wander every day your tips and tricks are invaluable in my opinion i think the amount you know about Japan is so helpful because so many people want to go there literally everyone I talk to wants to go to Japan especially recently so thank you so much for being on the podcast and I hope that we can hear from you soon maybe after your trip to Portugal yeah thank you so much for having me it was fun and it was great chatting with you you always have the best questions that’s a wrap on today’s episode from Tokyo Buzz to Nico’s Quiet Charm deer encounters and N breathtaking waterfalls just outside of Osaka i hope this episode left you feeling inspired curious and maybe even pricing out bullet train passes for yourself if you love this conversation don’t forget to subscribe or follow Wander Everyday on Apple Podcast Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcast you can also catch the video pod on YouTube or follow me for behind the scenes at Wander Everyday on Instagram or Tik Tok perhaps most importantly if you want to support the show please give us a fivestar rating leave us a comment or write us a review it would really mean the world to me do you have any questions about traveling to Japan send me a DM and maybe we’ll review it on a future episode
This week on Wander Every Day, I’m joined by my wonderful friend Maddie, who’s no stranger to Japan — she’s traveled there three times, spent over six weeks exploring the country, and just so happens to be married to someone who grew up there.
In this episode, Maddie takes us along on her most recent trip:
✨ Visiting her husband’s hometown of Misaki in Chiba
🌸 Exploring Nikko and sipping morning coffee by the river
🎤 Singing karaoke and missing the last train in Tokyo
🦌 Traveling solo to Nara with a peaceful day trip to Minoo waterfall
🚄 Experiencing her first bullet train ride
🍱 And of course — the food: tonkatsu, konbini snacks, and all-you-can-drink beer
She also reflects on highlights from previous visits to Kyoto, Okinawa, and Hakone, sharing tips, funny stories, and favourite off-the-beaten-path moments.
If Japan is on your list — or you just love hearing honest, thoughtful travel stories — this episode is packed with inspiration, laughs, and seriously great recs.
🎧 Press play and let’s wander.
00:00 Overview of Travel to Japan
4:00 Japan Working Holiday Visa
8:11 Overview of Maddie: Previous Trips to Japan, Solo Travel + Budget Style and Planning Approach
18:51 Chiba: Authentic Japan, Socializing Customs + Surfing
22:50: Nikko: Dewy Mountain Vibes, Hostel Coffee by the River + See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil
30:32 Tokyo: Overview of Tokyo Regions, Tonkatsu/Ramen + Missing the Last Train
38:27: Nara: Aggressive(ish) Deer, Japanese Customs + the Shinkansen
48:48 Osaka, Kyoto + Tokyo: General Overview of the Golden Route
54:46 Okinawa: Beaches, Mazemen + Zamami Island
57:17 Hakone: Onsens, Mount Fuji + Japanese Food Talk
1:03:55 Final Review of Japanese Activities and Reflection on Trip
1:06:42 This or That: Japan Edition
1:07:52 Listener Questions: Luggage Forwarding, Where to Revisit in Japan + Is Cherry Blossom Season Worth It?
AloJapan.com