Nara’s main attraction is the Nara Park, a park with lots of ancient temples and pagodas, and full of friendly deer. There are feed by the visitors (you can buy a special deer cake, “shika-senbei”), so they are used to it and posing with the visitors obligingly. Well, I haven’t feed them. The other group in the park had been hundreds of kids from primary school. They interviewed the foreign visitors to practice their English skills, and gave them a handmade origami as present. So I went back with my rented bicycle and pockets full of origami.

Kyoto was a big recommendation of many travelers I’ve met on my way. Of course I had to go there! And I arrived at a pretty, cozy city, a nice place to stroll around without any destination, it will always be exciting. But without missing the main attractions, the Bamboo Forest next to the Tenryū-ji Temple (another UNESCO world heritage site in Japan) and the Fushimi Inari Shrine with its popular red gates (Torii).

As I’m always looking for cheap but yummy food, I was happy as I discovered this Sushi Hand Roll in a convenience store. You get Nori (seaweed sheets) and the rice with various fillings separately and roll your ready-to-eat sushi by yourself. One roll is about 1,00 EUR – 1,20 EUR and you get six pieces of Maki Sushi. I would be happy if I could get that in Germany, too 😋 “Itadakimasu!”

The past few days I stayed in Fujikawaguchiko, which is a great place to discover one of Japan’s UNESCO world heritage sites, the Mt.Fuji. I rented an e-bike and drove along the local lakes, Lake Kawaguchiko and Lake Saiko, which offer an amazing view to the highest mountain of Japan. And I took the Hiking Bus to walk along the routes Oniwa, Okuniwa and Ochudo up to the Mt.Fuji fifth stage.

Tokyo is one of the most vibrant cities I’ve ever seen. Next to the ancient temples you see the futuristic architecture, the functional technologies and intriguing wonders.
9 million inhabitants share an area only twice the size of Munich. That’s why almost every café, restaurant, shop, even every location is extended over several floors. Smoking outdoors is only allowed at a few designated areas, but almost every location has a nice smoking area.
And Tokyo is definitely the best place to discover the geekiness of Japanese people. I’ve seen so many crazy, surprising, but still convenient stuff. I could stop every few steps and discover something I’ve never seen before. Being in Tokyo seems a bit like being in the future.