I don't think I ever properly reflected on my time in Japan this past fall, aside from a single instagram post about my experience in Mashiko, which I loved. The whole trip, however, was amazing, and I miss it. This was a trip of many firsts, including:

• - first solo travel experience
• - first proper vacation in two years
• - first time visiting Japan

The tickets I bought on a whim when my price alert went off, and I didn't have a real plan before pulling the trigger, but thankfully my cousin/big sister helped me out with a lot of the initial itinerary and planning. I flew from LAX to Narita, then transferred to Kansai International to stop in Osaka before I made my way to Kyoto. About 24 hours of travel after I left my house, I arrived at my hotel in Nanba, showered, and immediately went outside to see Dotonbori at night.

I don't normally like to do super "touristy" things because I prefer to avoid crowds, but I also kind of felt like I had to go see the sights since it was my first time.

After walking around a bit more, I was completely exhausted, and went back to my hotel and fell asleep. Early the next morning, I went to check out Osaka Castle and the surrounding area. Even though the castle was 30-40 min. from my hotel, taking public transit was a dream and then it was a really pleasant walk to the grounds. It was probably 7am or so, so there weren't many people out, and inside the gate the area was almost completely empty. With the lack of people and the dry moat filled with plants it looked almost like post-apocalyptic growth. Pretty beautiful. Ate a Family Mart egg sandwich while looking up at the castle which is almost too pristine (I know it's a recreation, but still, it looks too perfect).

Afterwards I made my way towards Shitennoji, a Buddhist temple, to pick up a goshuincho stamp book and my first goshuin to commemorate my trip. Little did I know I would inadvertently be starting a new obsession collecting these. This might actually have ended up being one of my most expensive souvenirs from the trip since I visted over a dozen temples. But I feel like it's one of the most special things to have brought back. I love all the different calligraphy styles next to each other, and the vermillion color of the stamps are really nice.

I spent the rest of the morning just sort of walking around and stopped by Shinsekai, although it wasn't much to look at during the daytime. I did, however, like the juxtaposition of this small traditional-looking house next to what looks like some sort of corporate 7-11 building, and also this ice cream lamp that I only know about because of Animal Crossing.

I only had about a day's worth of activities planned for Osaka, even though I know there's plenty to do. But I wasn't super interested in the nightlife, and didn't have that much time to explore more of the area around the city, although I would have loved to go see Mino Park. Anyways, since Kyoto was the most packed and planned part of my itinerary, I decided to head there early to get started.

I'll keep writing about my trip (Kyoto/Uji/Nara next), so thanks for reading and see you on the next post! x Tommy