Category: Destinations

“When do you start listening to Christmas music?” The answer to that question is a critical juncture in the United States marketing sphere, and a long-debated point in time among the general population. The two major players in that debate can usually be chalked up to the ‘right after Halloween’ camp, and the ‘after Thanksgiving why would you start on November 1st that’s WAY too early’ crowd. I am sure some fall somewhere in between those two parameters, slowly easing into the Christmas spirit; but Japan, I recently found out, is firmly part of the ‘right after Halloween and not a day later’ camp.

It makes sense when you think outside of the American point of view and realize that Thanksgiving in the United States is very much a unique holiday. In other countries, there is zero buffer for the start of Christmas festivities, which often means as soon as November hits, anything is fair game. To be fair, most companies in the United States have also continued on that track (I vividly remember my dad’s look of reproach as he stared up at the Christmas trees in Costco when they started putting them out before Halloween even hit), but the existence of Thanksgiving tends to slow the transition. I did not truly realize how popular the holiday season was in Japan until I walked into my closest Starbucks (it’s exactly 35 minutes away) during the first week of November. 

Wham!. Literally. The tune of Last Christmas drifted through the entirely decked out establishment, red and green, seasonal flavors on full display. For a moment, it genuinely felt like I’d walked into a Hallmark Christmas special. One of the most popular seasonal flavors is Chestnut. (even though Americans have whole Christmas song dedicated to it, on this side of the world, Chestnut is infinitely more popular). I’ve gotten various shocked reactions after explaining that most people in the United States don’t actually roast chestnuts over an open fire during the holiday season. 

Since coming to Japan, Starbucks of all places has risen to the top of my list of places-I-like-to-go-at-least-weekly, and I don’t know if it’s more from the seasonal flavor schedule in which they split all four seasons into two parts and create a specific flavor for both, or if  it comes from the setup which is exactly the same as the United States. Anyways, I ended up getting a very unseasonal drink, a caramel macchiato, and went on my way. Something about the holiday cup almost made me forget that the high was still hitting the lower 70s.

Convenience stores are certainly not ones to be left behind, however, and on the same day I walked into Starbucks I also noticed that my local Lawson’s had already started advertising Christmas Cake reservations. Christmas dinner in Japan can usually be characterized by two main points; the first one being a Christmas Cake. I can’t speak to the majority of American households, but even though I didn’t grow up with this tradition, the concept is familiar. In Japan, Christmas Cake seems to be so popular that you can literally reserve it two months in advance. The second characteristic of a traditional Japanese Christmas dinner is a little more out there. The concept is probably completely foreign to American readers, yet at the same time, very American. It can be summed up by three letters. KFC. 

Yes, it does mean what you think it means. In fact, if you think about it, doesn’t Colonel Sanders look just a little bit like Santa Claus? I recommend looking up a Japanese Kentucky Fried Chicken commercial in your free time. Or maybe I’ll link one here. There’s something truly beautiful about the popularity of KFC in Japan, and I honestly have no idea how they managed to convince an entire country that everyone eats fried chicken on Christmas. Either way, today, the fried chicken tradition has transcended just KFC, and has now become a staple Christmas food item that has penetrated even to the far reaches of the Japanese countryside. Here’s a picture of my local Lawson’s from just a few days ago advertising their ‘golden chicken’ for Christmas, the tag line in green on the bottom reads ‘Merry Delicious’. At times like these I am reminded how much I love this country.

Either way, Starbucks and Lawson’s aren’t supposed to be the center of this post. I’ll definitely end up rating them some other time. Today, the star of the show is Osaka Station, specifically during the Christmas season. Some friends and I had traveled to Osaka from Kobe, where we had a fun (insanely boring) work conference to attend the week before American Thanksgiving. Eager to make our way ‘back into civilization’ (the city) (this kind of trip is a necessity at least once a month), we decided to make the most of our weekend and hit Osaka the day after our conference. 

Walking out of the train into Osaka Station (NOT to be confused with shin-Osaka Station), my poor inaka (rural Japan)-accustomed senses were immediately overloaded. In Japan, when you’re in places like these, it’s almost impossible to imagine that this country is going through a birth-rate crisis. There are bodies everywhere, it is utterly and completely packed. I’ve often wondered why, as the busyness of American cities simply can not and does not compare to the jam-packed, crowded atmosphere of their Japanese counterparts. Honestly, it probably has more to do with the fact that although Japan has ⅓ of the population of the United States, its entire land area can be fit into the state of California. The U.S. is simply more spread out, and even its cities reflect that.

Anyways, we had just gotten off the train and were ready to make the most of our day before returning home. My friend mentioned something along the lines of the Osaka Station area being one of the largest conglomerates of buildings in the world, and it’s easy to understand why. It is connected to six satellite stations by way of underground passageways and over-road walkways. Every time you leave one zone, you’re met with another mall, one of the other train stations, a subway entrance, another restaurant floor, or a walkway to another building with more malls and ways to get to yet another entrance or exit. It took me months to grasp the layout of Kyoto Station, which is coincidentally one of the longest single buildings in the world; Osaka station and the outlying buildings would actually take me years. You can’t tell me a single person that uses it, even every day, actually knows the full extent of that place. It is no doubt the origin of many a trauma for the directionally challenged (aka myself). 

To make this easier, I will just refer to the entire area as the Osaka-Umeda complex, as technically it’s part of a larger area called Umeda, but we mostly stayed inside and between the train station buildings themselves. This was not my first rodeo in the Osaka-Umeda complex. In fact, I was there a bit over a month ago, and it literally took myself and a friend twenty minutes to find a restaurant that she had been to at least two or three times previously. 

If I was ever left in this train station area alone, you’d likely find me roaming the basement floor in twenty years, feeding off the leftovers in 7-11 trash cans at night. Luckily, it wasn’t just me, so I didn’t have to go it myself and get lost fifteen times. In a group of four, we were only slightly confused on a couple of occasions, and made it through many a passageway, succeeded in acquiring a coin locker for our luggage, and even made it to one of the outlying malls for a collaboration event two of us wanted to go to. Christmas decor was everywhere. 

I was hit with the full brunt of the holiday spirit walking through that station, and I finally felt the annual call of Christmas music, waiting to be listened to, from the dusty corners of my digital music playlist collection. 

The ceilings in parts of the interconnected stations are very tall, which is an architectural choice not often employed in Japan outside of urban areas. There’s something about cities, a characteristic of some type, that strengthens as it gets colder. What I’m trying to say is that cities themselves somehow become more city-like in the fall, and especially in the winter. Walking around the inside and outside of the station reminded me of New York, with both Japanese and English Christmas songs drifting out of several stores and cafes we passed.

There’s also this giant shopping area called the Hankyu department store between the Umeda Station section of the complex and Hankyu-Umeda station. A mouthful, and you’re just as likely to stumble upon it accidentally as purposely find it. If you go inside the store it feels quite literally like every single person visiting Osaka on that day is buying souvenirs there. All of us, feeling slightly overstimulated, easily decided not to battle our way through the crowds just to enter. Next to the shopping area was pretty nice to walk through, though. A snow/snowflake motif extended through the ceiling hangings, and I took at least fifty pictures and videos walking under them. I don’t know how videos are supported on this website building platform yet, so you won’t be getting one. Here’s some pics though.

Oh yeah, that reminds me. I was looking back through my first post and realized I never did update it with my feelings surrounding web design. Kind of just left the brackets in there with nothing in between them. Oops. Well, if you must know…

I absolutely hated it with every fiber of my being. In fact, the current version of this site’s homepage is barely 75% finished. There’s a bunch of stock text and images littering the other pages I haven’t gotten to yet, and I was brought to tears more than a couple of times trying to create and then fix everything. Basically, I’m going to ask my brother to help me fix everything when I return to the United States in a little less than three weeks. Or my cousin. They don’t know that yet. Don’t tell them.

After this post goes up I’m once again going to dive into the terrible and confusing waters of website creation. Let it be known, though, that I’m using a platform that pretty much holds your hand every step of the way. I’ve realized I need to be literally carried through the process. Oh well. Everything will come together in time. That’s my mantra. 

After spending most of the afternoon in Osaka-Umeda stations and the surrounding maze of interconnected buildings, we eventually recollected our luggage (finding an open coin locker almost felt like a Christmas miracle), and took a train back home. 

Although people still get festive in the Japanese countryside (or as we often refer to it, the inaka), it isn’t to the same degree as major cities. Sitting on the train headed home, scrolling through the pictures I took, I could almost hear Micheal Buble and Frank Sinatra’s renditions of classic Christmas songs echoing in the far reaches of my brain. 

I was always a post-Thanksgiving kind of person. In the U.S., whenever I saw Target or Walmart pulling out their Christmas decorations in early November, I’m sure my face mimicked the look I often saw my dad giving the Costco trees when I was younger. Consumerism and Christmas often go hand in hand in America, and that truth of the holiday season is even more prevalent in Japan. 

Looking out the window of the JR train leaving Osaka Station, the cityscape slowly turned back into typical countryside houses and mountainous terrain. I glanced back down at my phone, aimlessly shuffling through all of my music, my earbuds echoing out the first ten or so seconds of a song before I’d hit the next button. 

I then came to a rather uncharacteristic decision.

Subtly, as if to trick my own mind, and to soothe the state of cognitive dissonance that had been brewing in the back of my brain all day, I navigated to a playlist I hadn’t touched since last year. I hit the play button.

(I then found myself listening to the opening notes of Last Christmas in the middle of November)

Marie’s Official Travel Experience Rating of the Osaka-Umeda Complex (or Osaka Station’s MOTER):

General Vibes (very subjective): Good. Also Overstimulation Station. Not giving it a super low score because I literally crave the crowds sometimes LOL. 5/10

Historical/Cultural Relevance: Historical relevance? No. Cultural relevance? Surface level if you personally consider something like getting physically squished into your morning commute by train pushers part of Japanese culture. 3/10

Relevance to FUN (also very subjective) (was it fun?): Yes. Like I mentioned in general vibes, this is heavily biased because being in a square kilometer area that contains as many people asmy entire town is almost a novelty at this point. Holiday decor adds to this. And for all the confusion of the station itself, there’s a lot to do and so many good restaurants in the area. 8/10

Good for Travelers (on the go)?: Good enough. If you’re not getting off at Shin-Osaka station on a visit to the city, you’re probably getting off at Osaka Station or one of its satellite stations. Lots of shopping and food, but it’s not exactly known for much on the cultural activity side. If you’re lugging around more than a carry-on I’m sorry for your loss; good luck finding an open coin locker. 7/10

Good for Vacationers (just wanna relax)?: No. 1/10

Re-visitability: By definition you’ll revisit this station if you come to Osaka more than once. On the other hand, I’ve been twice and had a completely different experience each time. 7/10

Accessibility: It’s a train station. By definition it’s accessible. Also part of the bullet train route. Maybe I need to rethink my rating categories. 10/10

Would I take my friends there?: Yes. It would be funny seeing them struggle if they had more than a carry-on. 7/10

Would I take my family there?: No. It would be anxiety inducing. Leading everyone through Kyoto Station several times was enough for me. It could be unavoidable, though. 3/10

Final notes (wild card points): Points because I love trains so much and the vibe of the JR line section of the station felt like an airport. Also some extra because it needs to be more than a few points higher than my Himeji rating. 7/10

Final Rating out of 100: 58/100 (take that as you will) 

Japanese Word/Phrase of the Week: 

田舎 (ee-nah-kah)

Meaning: Rural Japan. The sticks. The countryside. I use this word several times a day. If I tell someone living in a city where I work, they often respond with something like “Wow. That’s soooo far.” with an unspoken undertone of ‘why would you live all the way out there’. But, just as there are upsides and downsides to living in the countryside, there are upsides and downsides to living in the city.

This post is for you. Coincidentally, it’s also the first post I’m writing for my blog. I’ve spent the better part of a week (two weeks) agonizing over how to write the perfect first post and making sure everything is as interesting as it is seamless. I give up. Just now I’ve come to terms with the reality that it’ll take me some time to find my own style when writing in a new type of media. Anyways, readers, mother, friends, bear with me. 

It might seem a little strange to dedicate the first post of a blog for me to document travels, experiences, Japan related things, and non-Japan related things, to a random senior who happened to be working the toll station on the IC between Himeji and northern Hyogo prefecture this past weekend.

Well, did you think I was going to deny it? (I wish I could insert a crying face emoji here but that would be very un-blog like methinks).

Continuing with this unorthodox approach, I will attempt to give some background of what I want to accomplish with this blog, as well as the moment that inspired me to actually put effort into creating an entire website (and paying three dollars a month for the hosting platform). It connects back to the older man working the toll station, I promise. 

To begin, let me set the scene on yet another attempt I made in the realm of solo travel. 

Solo travel… I’ve come to realize that it takes one of my favorite parts of traveling out of the equation. I’m the kind of person that likes seeing other people’s reactions almost more than experiencing my own. And this time I was headed to the historically significant city of Himeji, located on Japan’s east coast, a little further down from Osaka. The start of my day, a Sunday, found myself sitting in bed at about nine in the morning. I had actually meant to wake up at seven thirty, but things don’t always work out the way you want them to in life.  

It was a three day weekend, just this past weekend if we’re being specific about it, and I was on my own for the first time in a month and a half or so since arriving to this small, rural corner of Japan for my job. Disclaimer, though, this blog will not be very work-focused, so I probably won’t discuss much to do with my job. Maybe that’ll change though. Honestly, don’t hold me to anything right now. I have zero idea what I’m doing. 

Either way, I hoped to have already been on the road for an hour by the time I woke up. Whatever. I wasn’t running on anyone’s time but my own. Honestly, that’s also been something that has been hard to get used to. Outside of work, I have no responsibilities. It’s strange. When I was in college, I couldn’t just ‘clock out’ of college. I had homework, and a lot more commitments. In Japan, my life started as a blank slate. I could literally do whatever I wanted with it. I still can do whatever I want with it. Being a recent college graduate is an interesting period of time.

I realize I have a hard time staying on track. Oh well, first post and all. Sorry older man from the toll station that I dedicated this post to, I’m getting to you soon. 

CONTINUING ON; I found myself getting in the car and starting the drive at about ten thirty that morning straight through to Himeji. One of my friends had actually recommended that I take a day trip there, with the disclaimer that it was ‘not worth staying overnight’ which surprised me. Himeji is an established enough city to warrant a stop on the bullet train route, about fifteen minutes out from the Kobe stop (by bullet train, obviously. By car it takes closer to fifty minutes). It’s known mostly for the amazingly well-preserved and scenic castle that sits in the northern corner of the city, which some even consider to be one of the most beautiful castles in the entire country. 

So why did my friend strongly recommend only going for the day? I needn’t have wondered so much, as my question would soon be answered. The drive to Himeji was uneventful, but still enjoyable. One of my favorite parts of traveling in Japan is the natural scenery as you drive or take the train. I’m based in a much more rural part of Japan, and I’m not even close to exaggerating when I say I’ve never been to a more beautiful area in terms of nature. I get the feeling I could stare at these mountains forever, and the way the clouds hang at lower altitudes in the morning and in the rain is insanely pretty. Other than nature, though, is the architecture. The classic tiled roofs and smaller villages and towns are a sight that I doubt will ever get old for me.

Another part of driving I very much enjoy in Japan is the availability of their internationally renowned convenience stores. I’m not even kidding when I say that if all else in Japan went horribly wrong, the idea of leaving these beautiful buildings behind, which were clearly brought into fruition by the conglomeration of ideas from greatest minds throughout generations, would give me pause. I will always stop in a Lawson or 7-11 to grab a coffee and a snack when I’m on the road, and this trip was no different. 

I finally arrived in Himeji at around an hour past noon.

Turns out, besides the castle and the surrounding grounds, Himeji doesn’t exactly have much else to offer.

It was alright, though, I was able to revel in the ‘city’ life and all for a bit. Also, the main station was cool. I hadn’t seen a bullet train pass by in a while. Upon arrival, I pretty much beelined for the castle, and the walk around the grounds was actually very nice. 

You could see a lot of the old walls, the restored towers, and surrounding moats that were meant to protect not only the castle but also the surrounding neighborhoods; it was all very historical. So, you could imagine my surprise as I was gazing up at the castle, fully immersed in the moment, when out of the corner of my ear I was suddenly able to make out the chorus of *NSYNC’s Bye Bye Bye. 

Curious as I was, I decided to walk toward the music, eventually coming across a local park that was overlooked by Himeji Castle itself (it was actually kind of cool). 

As I got closer, I started seeing groups of twelve year olds dressed in what was reminiscent of 2010s Dance Moms style. My confusion grew, but not for much longer, as I turned the corner and stumbled upon some kind of dance competition that was being held in an outdoor amphitheater, and at least two hundred people were watching it. The accompanying music ranged from Spice Girls to Ado, One Direction to BTS. I watched for a couple of minutes before heading back in the direction I came, kids with fake dreads and braids woven into their pony tails practicing in every open space surrounding the competition area.

Continuing on my journey through Himeji, I walked back around the castle one more time, opting not to go inside (as it turns out it was a national holiday; Culture Day no less. I don’t have the patience to wait in an hours-long line, especially by myself). I felt vindicated in my decision after checking online, though, as most people said it wasn’t worth it. Or maybe you could interpret my choice as laziness… Either way, I will be ranking my trip at the end of this article so stay tuned, and keep in mind the vehement subjectivity my rating system is built on. 

Also, I only ended up staying in Himeji for the better part of four hours. So keep that in mind too. 

After making the executive decision to not enter the castle, I walked back along the main street towards the station. A couple of covered shopping streets later I realized there wasn’t much else for me to do outside of browsing and/or eating, so, I made my way into the main station to take the local train one stop away to where my car was parked (it was 300 yen (~$2 USD) a day parking which is an absolute steal when you’re used to US prices.). As I was walking through the station I battled intrusive thoughts that kept popping up and telling me to take the bullet train to Kobe for $25 USD and spend the night. The reality that I’m also on a budget managed to hit me at the same moment. So, it was back to my car for me. Maybe one day I’ll be financially stable enough for a decision like that.

The solo part of solo traveling was quickly catching up with me. One thing I’ve noticed, is when you’re in a city like that, alone, surrounded by a bunch of people that are not, it can feel slightly isolating. In those moments, I like to rely on the tried and true walking into an older looking souvenir shop, or a less frequented, smaller restaurant, in order to have a conversation. hose places are run by older owners, and if you know at least a bit of Japanese, they’re often keen to have a conversation. 

That day, though, I forewent the conversation starter option and decided instead to leave as soon as possible to catch as much sunlight as possible on the way home. But because of that choice, my mood was weighing a bit heavy.

So there I was, driving home on the toll road, going through (another) post-college life crisis (featuring thoughts such as “what are you even doing with your life?” paired with a general agonization over the future). It was also getting a bit dark and I still had about an hour left of the drive. My mood was definitely what you would call a slump. So, when I finally hit the toll station to transfer back onto the highway I was very much ready to be back home. 

I rolled down the window and slowed my car to a stop. The older man working the toll station leaned out to greet me.

“Cash or card?” he asked in Japanese; making sure to enunciate each word very clearly. Definitely due to my very non-Japanese appearance. There is a tone that you can sense some people have here when they need to speak to someone that doesn’t look like they’ll understand the language. It’s a bit of ‘aw fuck’  mixed with an equal pinch of frustration and anxiety, all packaged together in the most polite way possible. 

Sensing that tone, and also not being in the best mood of my life, I answered with a bit of an attitude; yet, for some reason, the words came out in the most confident way I’d ever spoken the language.

“Cash, please.”

As likely as it was that the man could have taken my tone of voice the wrong way, something strange happened instead. His features immediately softened, and he looked infinitely more like someone’s grandfather than a toll station worker. I handed him the cash for the toll, and he didn’t even bother to count it in the meticulous way I’ve noticed retail workers here do. Instead, he glanced at the coins, put them in the machine, took a long look at the darkening sky, and handed me my receipt. 

“Take care,” he said, 「気を付けて」, with a soft smile on his face and in his voice. 

“I will,” I responded; that same smile had taken over my own complexion. 

And I drove off. I was in a completely different emotional state than when I had left Himeji. I didn’t even end up having my weekly existential crisis when I got home! (well, on that particular night at least). I also came to the realization that I immediately wanted to tell my mom about my experience. And my dad. And my sister. And my cousins. And my friends. 

On the other hand, it’s a little bit difficult to fully flesh out moments like that in conversation, at least for those who are not extremely conversationally gifted (of which box I put myself in). Writing has always been a much easier outlet. So, the idea kind of just hit me. How can I share these moments with everyone I want to share them with, in a way that actually conveys my feelings and impressions in the way I want them to be understood?

A blog, obviously. 

Well, making the decision to start blogging was all fine and great, but I was soon hit with another problem.

Help. How do I make a website. Web design… agh. The bane of my existence. What am I even supposed to name it?? 

Upon writing those sentences I got a little blue ‘wrong grammar’ mark under ‘website’ for using a period instead of a question mark. Unfortunately, I am of the school of thought that touts using punctuation in whatever way I see fit, in order to achieve the exact tone and feeling to the words that I want to achieve, and grammar may or may not be left on the sidelines. Please let me know if I ever go off the rails, though.

As of the time I’m writing this, I actually haven’t even started the website part of this blog endeavor yet, so future Marie please write between the following two brackets when you’re about to post this so we can all have your current thoughts and feelings on the world of web design [].

Anyways, I will be henceforth rating my travel experiences using a very complex and definitely completely objective system I meticulously thought and developed for several minutes. It will be right at the end of this post (under this excerpt). Also, shout out to my friend Hannah who thought of this idea, but there will also be a ‘Japanese phrase/word of the week’ section after the rating. If you noticed, I assumed you did or you definitely were not paying attention, I used exactly one Japanese phrase in this post that was relevant to my experience. I will explain that phrase underneath my travel rating.

Marie’s Official Travel Experience Rating of Himeji (or Himeji’s MOTER):

General Vibes (very subjective): Okay I guess. Normal city. Okayama castle garden/grounds were better. 4/10

Historical/Cultural Relevance: The walls were cool and there was more than just the main castle. The town is built around the old moats. 8/10

Relevance to FUN (also very subjective) (was it fun?): Finding the dance competition was a highlight. Honestly no more than 4/10

Good for Travelers (on the go)?: Yes. There’s a cluster of restaurants, and traditional looking shops you can browse and buy souvenirs in as you walk towards the castle from the station. Also There are workshops you seem to be able to do nearby too. Plus the castle’s interior itself if you’re motivated to pay the money take the tour. 7.5/10

Good for Vacationers (just wanna relax)?: If you’re looking to chill,, behind the castle are these super nice benches that face the moat, and the vibes were immaculate. That was the only place though, so 6/10

Revisitability: Himeji is a day trip at most. 2.5/10

Accessibility: On the bullet train route, and drivable from Kobe if you decide to journey outside of the ‘Golden Route’ (which consists of Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka for first-time travelers). I just had to drive because I live in the middle of nowhere, but could have taken the train if I wanted to. 9/10

Would I take my friends there?: Maybe. Probably not. If we were spending a lot of time in Kobe or Osaka maybe. 3/10

Would I take my family there?: This is much more likely. 6/10

Final notes (wild card points): I didn’t get into it too much in the post but this place gets a couple extra points, specifically for the atmosphere surrounding the benches facing the moat behind the castle. Koi fish and all. 3/10

Final Rating out of 100: 53/100 (take that as you will) 

Japanese Word/Phrase of the Week: 

気を付けて (key-oh-tsu-keh-teh)

Meaning: “take care” or “be careful”. You hear adults saying this to kids that are getting a little too rowdy, but it can also be used as a more endearing way to wish someone safe travels when they leave.

Anyways, thanks, older man who was working the toll station last weekend.