The Japan Trip
The following is a series of journal entries for each day that I was in Japan, paired with some photos. Much of it is my sporadic random thoughts, so I apologize if the transitions are nonexistent and if the tense keeps swapping from present to past. I won't be editing them much in post since I want the original emotions to be preserved through my rambling. I also just wrote a lot and my job starts tomorrow so…
December 21, 2025
I flew to Washington to meet with Kayo at his new place. That way I could see what my boy was up to and also fly to Japan together. A twelve hour flight is much more bearable with a friend.
Before boarding the flight to Tokyo, I joked to Kayo. I said that I’d love it if an old Japanese man sat next to me during the flight so I could practice my Japanese. God delivered.
His name was Kenya-san. He was in America for three months, with his students, studying languages abroad. He’s a professor, has two kids, and one’s studying business at a university in Tokyo! We talked about my trip to Japan and he “nihongo jozu’d” me. I got “nihongo jozu’d” before I even touched down. I saw him with his five students at the bag carousel!
As soon as we left, we got on the trains. It was both easy to navigate and also very unintuitive somehow at the same time. We got lost. Decided to get an Uber. Stumbled around trying to find where a valid pick-up spot was located. Missed our shinkansen (bullet train). All while carrying our heavy ass luggage around. But, thankfully we're able to reschedule the train ticket.
We were about to miss our rescheduled shinkansen too, but I locked the fuck in and used my Japanese to ask the most disinterested station worker of all time if we were in the right spot. I felt like I was standing on coals just being near that man, but I extracted the info and we got to Osaka just in time before collapsing from exhaustion. The Airbnb had so many Mario stickers and pillows everywhere, it's almost as if they knew I was coming.
We ended the first night with curry katsu from CoCo Ichibanya. I bought the 500g portion and Kayo the 800g portion (at spice level four). Kayo died that night. I barely survived. The curry was pretty good though.
December 22, 2025
I looked out our window and saw people jogging outside next to the river. I decided to also go out for a jog! Also, I can't tell if the river has "river smell" or if the unfathomable amount of fried foods is covering up the stank with grease gas.
It was on this jog that I finally felt like I was in Japan proper.
I saw a ton of people at a ramen shop eating hot ramen on a cold ass morning. I said yes. I need this. We ate there. It was damn good. It was also the exact same place from the Yakuza games. My man Kiryu ate here.
I had my first experience at a giant gachapon shop and found Japanese Goshujinsama Curious Geroge. I also got owned at a claw machine trying to get a plastic bowl of salmon roe. So much wasted money… I ended up getting it later though.
Went to a Kobe beef restaurant and died from how good it was. My wallet also cried, but its cries were silenced by the marbled meat sizzling on the grill.
We found so many gachapon shops. Some of the items on offer made me question humanity. Like… “The Who” album cover pins??? In 2025??? Who is buying this??? How is this worth the shelf space???
It's 8pm on a Monday and every single food stall and restaurant is packed. The nightlife is crazy. There are people everywhere. It's not all tourists either. It's mostly locals from what I can tell. I cannot think of a single place in the US that's like this.
December 23, 2025
Went to a breakfast café for breakfast. It was alright.
Went shopping for stuff in the "Akihabara of Osaka" called, “Nipponbashi Denden Town.” First time in a Mandarake. That was crazy. I also went to a model figure store. Saw every conceivable thing in existence as a miniature. So much shopping...
So much...
Ended the day at an All-You-Can-Eat Wagyu KBBQ restaurant. It was fantastic. They were playing Kendrick’s Good Kid M.A.A.D City on the TV. The vibes were powerful.
Also, my throat feels scratchy.....
I'm getting sick...
December 24, 2025
My throat hurts like a motherfucker, but I'm downing vitamin C and D pills like a madman. The vacation must go on!
Went to the FFXIV Eorzea Cafe for lunch! We were scared about not having a reservation, but when we arrived it was completely empty so we just waltzed in. Plenty of people showed up afterwards though.
An overwhelming sense of joy and whimsy hit me as the festive sounding FFXIV night music played as I was eating my Christmas themed FFXIV strawberry parfait on my Christmas themed FFXIV placemat. This rocks. Life is peak right now. They sat us at table number 14 and we ended up buying 14 food items. Unbelievable.
We visited a small shrine and performed the traditional gestures written on the guides. We also bought fortunes. I got a good (small sized) romantic fortune.
Then we went to a place called "American Village" where every store was heavily influenced by American culture and fashion. The vibes were crazy. There was even a decent-sized mall! A legendary game of table-hockey was played.
We had sushi at our first izakaya. The cooks were vibing and we chatted a decent amount. It was great. Once again I felt an overwhelming amount of jolly.
(Please excuse the bluntness and intensity of the rest of this day’s entry, as it was most likely written in a drunken stupor.)
For Christmas Eve... I had the greatest experience of my life. We went to “Mittera Kaikan.” An apartment building where every room was a bar (40 in total). We looked at the design of each door and decided whether or not to go in. I picked the first door. It looked alright, nothing too crazy. The bartender lady took one peek at us and hit us with a vibe that was basically like... Oh.... Baka gaijin... But we were enthusiastic and took on the challenge. Ended up winning the whole bar over. I got an instant bar-wide +2 by saying "Osaka number one, Tokyo わるい (bad)!"
The bartender was a cute, aggressive chubby girl dressed in a green Christmas style outfit. There was an old man sitting next to me who I got to know after a couple drinks. He was using his phone to translate stuff to ask me. I learned he has been friends with the bartender for 12 years. Also, there was the hottest ever woman I've seen in my entire god damn life like holy fucking shit God help me I would do anything for her, and she was there WITH HER 10 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER. The daughter was so disinterested and bored. IT WAS CHRISTMAS EVE AND SHE WAS THERE OF ALL PLACES WITH HER DAUGHTER?? Single mother? Idk man... Idk what to think. Should I feel bad or…? Such a strange thing... Overall, a somewhat fun bar. So weird though. We moved on.
We found a bar themed after surfing. That bar was THICK with cigarette smoke. Empty. We went in and had great convos with the bartender who had been doing this for 20 years. He taught us a lot of Japanese in the Osaka dialect. Great spot. Then we kept going. We hit up a weird ass bar where the vibes were incomprehensible. Strange figures and mannequins everywhere, nude girls, boobs, weird ass shit on the walls. Had great convos and more learning again. Taught us some bad words. He loved boobs. Served us some great shochu with tea. Went down smooth. I drew him some art.
We all needed a drinking break, so we kept going and came across a video game bar that had its name in Monster Hunter font. It was called, “Encounter.” It was microscopic, just like all the rest, but it had like 7 setups with every console and game known to man. We had the worst pizza ever, good drinks, and played Smash Ultimate and Kirby Air Riders. It was awesome.
Then, as we were going to the next floor to hit up the next bar we came across two dudes who had just come out from one of the bars. They were college friends from the East Coast. We had a great time chatting. They told us about a strange bar that had a bartender that was basically just Professor E Gadd, both in look and vibe, running the joint making weird concoctions. They said to go in there but also not. Lmao. We talked, said bye, and kept going.
We stopped when we saw a bar called 69 with a sign that said "FUCKING DRINK ALL 500YEN." We go in and meet two of the chilliest, most vulgar dudes ever. We talk about games, anime, relationships, and God knows what else. I drew them another drawing and they posted it on the wall after commenting about how they loved her chubby stomach. Also a pro Yu-Gi-Oh player came in and bought us sweets, and I bought him a drink in return. The bartender (who wasn’t even bartending at the time, he was just playing games next to us as his part-time employee was running the joint) tells us there's a cute girl running another bar in the building that we should all go to. He has a crush on her. So we leave his bar, he has the part-time guy run it while we're gone, and we all visit the girl's bar.
It was very chill. Her English was great and she had no accent. I met two other Americans there. One was an English professor in Japan for the past 14 years!! He said that he makes around $25k, works 15 hrs a week and lives very comfortably... What the actual fuck. I'm jealous..??? We had great teacher talk. It was so damn awesome. All while my friends and the other bartender from 69 continued to flirt with the girl bartender and talk about the most inappropriate shit I've ever heard while the girl bartender enthusiastically egged on the conversation herself. Throughout every bar, many conversations were had that were amazing that will be lost to time... We left, grabbed snacks from Lawson, went home, and thought about how we might have just had the greatest night of our lives.
December 25, 2025
Slept badly at night so I stayed in to get extra sleep. It was the right move! I feel a lot better. The sickness has been conquered.
We went to Kuromon Market and it was a blast. I kept picking up random street food and walking and browsing and buying souvenirs and buying and walking. I went into a tea shop run by 4 women and bought a ton of premium macha for my cousins. One of the ladies there spoke great English! We talked a bit!
After a short break at home, we headed out to Osaka castle for their Christmas illuminage show. It was fun! But we went right after it had rained so the entire area was a giant mud puddle. Then we went to the city hall area where they were throwing a giant party with a huge farmer’s market / artist alley!
After that we went bar hopping. Went to an anime bar. The bartenders were cute girls in Christmas themed anime cosplay! We had them sing Snow Halation and had some great drinks. We learned about Dita lychee alcohol. They were quite nice, but at the same time I had the teensiest feeling of like… y'know… they were just doing their job keeping us happy, but their heart wasn’t in it much.
Then we hit up the bar directly next to our Airbnb called “Fun Bar.” It was fun as fuck. The dude looked like The Count from Sesame Street. He even had a plush of himself with The Count on the wall. He spoke decent English. We ended up learning so much Osaka-dialect slang from him and the other Japanese patrons in the room. He had a wall of bills from across the world. I keenly noticed that he was missing a 100 dollar bill. I gave one to him as a present. He was ecstatic. It was his first time seeing that bill. He was like, “NOOO THIS IS TOO EXPENSIVE NOO!” But I was like, “プレセントです！ほんとに！(It’s a present! Really!)” He had me sign it and he put it prominently at the top of the wall. His drinks were also great. Man, I love the bars here. I love everyone here. Osaka is awesome.
December 26, 2025
Chill day. Chilly too. Coldest day yet.
Ate hot ramen in the morning. Went shopping for hours. Friends bought a ton. Somehow, I didn't find anything that called out to me. Defeated capitalism right then and there.
I had my first piece of real fatty tuna. It was great! Not mind-blowing. But pretty fantastic!
We also found a literal hole-in-the-wall place called “The Bible Club” which was an underground American speakeasy. The entrance was so hard to find that we almost gave up and left. Thankfully, a crowd of people walked up and entered an extremely difficult to see door at the side of the alley, so we found our way in. All of the staff spoke English very well! It was amazing. For a moment, it felt like I was back in America at a themed restaurant.
We went back to the apartment that was all bars... We went to “Bar Hobo.” It was a vibe!!!! I got to flex all of my dad-rock knowledge at this American-rock themed bar. Sadly, that’s how I found out all of the bands I knew were European and not American… The bartender was happy with it and my Japanese speaking ability too. I told him that Pet Sounds was goated and he instantly put it on and we vibed. Also, fair warning. If you want to go to many of the bars in town, you NEED to be ok with second hand smoke. It will fill your lungs entirely.
December 27, 2025
Woke up early. Printed out our tickets at Family Mart for early-entry at Comiket 107. Went to Kyoto! Visited the Giga One Million Pillar Mentally Insane Fox Shrine (Fushimi Inari Taisha). Stumbled across multiple side quests like you would in a Yakuza game. Found a cat named “Oba-san” that belonged to a man in the mountains that carved wooden figures. It didn’t want to leave Kayo’s jacket. Then we participated in some sort of ritual and lit a candle under a secret hidden shrine. This place was a giant mountain that you hike up with tons of different paths you can take. I can see how you could end up with a completely different experience with each visit.
Then we had dinner and ate at a very popular mochi café called, “Gion Tokuya.” The mochi was like goop. It was both yummy and strange as hell. Kyoto was so packed… Also, I bought a metric ton of matcha for my cousins. Surely, they will be satisfied.
(Please excuse the bluntness and intensity of the rest of this day’s entry, as it was most likely written in a drunken stupor.)
Tonight was the greatest fucking night of all time. This is the best night I've ever had. This shit was the most fire night of all time. TONIGHT WAS FUCKING VIBES TO THE MAX. We went out on Dotonbori street to find a place that served okonomiyaki, cuz I couldn't leave Osaka without having their premiere street dish. We found a shop with a sign that said "Yakisoba Baby, Osaka Fucking Night Food." We were laughing our asses off as THE WHITE GUY THAT WORKS THERE (from Switzerland) was like, “Yo guys come in!!!” The chef behind him (who was right at the front of the place, cooking on his mini grill) was fucking JAMMIN OUT and VIBING HARD.The restaurant was kinda empty.
There were like 5 of us there total. But then........ It all changed.... An old couple walked in and were vibing. I saw the old man looking our way. He asked where we were from. I answered. I then went over and initiated more conversation. The rest is history. Old people are the fucking best holy shit. We had such an amazing time. They were dying laughing at our Osaka dialect knowledge. We were laughing at how cute and funny and awesome they were together. We weren't planning on drinking that night but we fucking DRANK!!!!! The place slowly started filling up with hella old people and a couple young people. A TON of them were musicians!!! Half of them coming in brought their musical instruments!! Here are some pics and videos.
The vibes were fucking peak. I have no words. Our final night in Osaka was the best night. Somehow, it beat every other night. The lady asked if we like Japanese women. I simply bowed my head and hands like a servant. They died laughing. The man said that Tokyo has even more beautiful women. I hit him with a fainting gesture followed by an, "おわりだ (it’s over)". The +2’s were audible. The old man did a curving motion around his chest and said, "Do you like THIS part of the women?" With elegance and respect I did the "zips mouth" motion. +2's fucking BIG. He said, "When my wife was beautiful-" and I stopped him there, I said, "IS beautiful" and she was like omg king yes. I cried. I love them so much. I will do anything for them. Also the old guy might have been a politician???? He said he worked at City Hall. Also his wife had traveled a lot and knew so much English!!! Omg. Japan is the best. Osaka number one.
December 28, 2025
We wake up and pack everything. It's time to leave for Tokyo. Thank you Osaka, for the best introduction to Japan that I could have asked for.
After a long ass trip, we made it. The place we were at was much more of a regular place compared to the party street we were staying at in Osaka. I like it! Great view! The sweet potato man, in his sweet potato car, greeted us with his incredibly loud yelling that could be heard for blocks.
We then had the best pork tsukemen I have ever eaten in my life. That pork was fucking heavenly like holy shit.
December 29, 2025
Akihabara day. Spent millions. Capitalism won.
Went to a very nice meat place. Got the HAMBAGA STEAKU, and it was bangin.
Came home. Surveyed the goods. We will definitely need a shipping service...
Had CoCo Ichibanya again, and it was as good as ever. Retired early for the long day tomorrow.
December 30, 2025
Day one of Comiket! We woke up early because Maellon and I both had early-entrance tickets (sorry Kayo *crying emoji*). We got lucky and won the lotto for that day. Very lucky. Like, extremely lucky, as I would later find out. Here we go!
We had to walk like 30 minutes just to get to our waiting area for the early-entry tickets. We were amongst roughly 3000 people, all sitting neatly and compactly in a parking lot. It was almost dead silent. Very few people were talking. I could whisper to my friend from a distance and he'd hear it. Surreal.
Turns out, we didn’t really need to get there so early. We could have arrived like 10 minutes before opening and been fine. When we got in, it was still quite empty. There was plenty of room to move around and get to the artist you valued most (since many sell out very fast). The first hour was like this. After that, it turned into a flood of flesh. Still somehow relatively quiet for the sheer amount of people there. It felt like Saturday at AX during peak hours. So... it felt like shit. But, I actually felt great checking out all of the artist’s booths and actually bought a fuck ton, unlike how it usually goes for me at artist alleys in the US.
The following section is for the boys. Please skip if not "the boys."
------------------
There was some quality art on display, lemme tell ya. Endless aisles of damn good art. I wish we had something like this here, but the US is just too prude-made to have something as glorious as this in the states. We are relegated to tiny curtained-off micro-corners at anime convention centers with a grand total of 2 vendors. But here? I find myself in a god damn hangar big enough to fit a space shuttle with peak art everywhere. I helped myself. Thoroughly. It was excellent.
Unfortunately, there was a sea of you-know-what there as well. It was quite vile. A thought occurred to me at that moment. Statistically speaking, I am probably standing near the most PDFs in my life right at this moment. Just mathematically, doesn’t that sound about right? It could be any one of these people. A spine numbing chill went down my body. I got as far away from those particular aisles as I could. Scary...
-------------------
I only explored three of the eight halls. But those three were the main halls that most doujin artists were relegated to, which is all I cared for. We left only a couple hours in. Around 2pm. My boys were feeling a bit unwell.
Next, we went for some sushi. In a shocking turn of events, it was pretty mid. Like, worse than some of the decent places in LA. Truly shocking. Win for LA, I guess!
Then, I met up with the one and only Annytf! That meeting was seven years in the making. We had so much fun. She showed me an incredible sushi spot. Had a blast of a night walking around, grabbing food and drinks, messing around in a Don Quijote, and finding a fucking protein shake making vending machine (it was actually pretty decent).
I am massively considering not going to day 2 of Comiket for many many reasons. I have walked nonstop for the past 16 hours. I don't have an early entry ticket. I'm tired as shit. My friends are both dead from sickness and will be bedridden. I need to be awake for new years eve festivities. But… my favorite doujin artists are gonna be there… including my number one goat artist of all time… in person…
December 31, 2025
I got excellent sleep. Perhaps the best sleep of the whole trip. I'm going to Comiket day 2. Let's see what happens.
Right now, all that's going through my mind is that I want to meet my number one doujin artist and shake his hand. Even if he's sold out, I need to tell him how much he has inspired me to draw and how awesome he is. Even if that means standing upright in a sea of people for over 2 hours just to get in.
Part of me is secretly praying he does art commissions...
MUCH different experience on the outside compared to day one. I should probably explain the process.
You can have 3 different types of entry:
1. Early Ticket - 10am entry
2. AM Ticket - 11am entry
3. PM Ticket - 12pm entry
If you win the lotto to get the early-entry ticket, grab it and go. It's excellent and you only wait around for less than an hour. If you get an AM ticket, it's rough, a long wait, but you still get in reasonably quick. If you are an unfortunate soul and get a PM ticket, I'm not sure I recommend going unless you want a thorough experience of how a sheep gets herded for hours. Thankfully, it's very organized and quiet, but still. You better want to fucking go if you are turning up with the PM badge. Anyway, here I am, with the PM badge, standing miles away from the entrance on a bridge in the middle of nowhere. Let's see how this goes...
For reference, I got in line around 10:30am, but actually got into the convention halls at 12:45pm. Not bad actually... Wow… I was expecting much worse. Still, you better hope you don’t need to use the restroom outside.
It was packed as fuck. I ran to my goat's booth. He only had like 8 copies left. I grabbed one instantly and asked him to sign. I told him I've been a fan for nearly a decade and that I've studied his art because of how perfect it is to me. He was shocked. He asked to see my art and my account. He loved it. He said to DM him so we can be mutuals. Absolute W. Sadly, no commissions though. I met the goat. We are friends now. Game Gaming.
I also bought so much more than the day before. A lot... From plenty of artists I had previously read works of. If you love supporting independent artists, and love comics, this is the spot.
Made a mistake and didn't bring enough money. The line for the ATM was 45 minutes long.
Much was purchased. Some of the artists I bought from were surprised I was asking for their signature. BITCH! Have some confidence, your art fucking ROCKS!! NOW GIVE ME THAT AUTOGRAPH. There were also a couple of artists that drew buff women. I told them that it's very rare to find and that they are doing God's work. They laughed LOUD lmaoooo.
When it hit 4pm, the intercom was like, “Aight we done here,” and everyone clapped and left. Very cute. Sad it ended so early.
On my way home, I'm getting kinda custom with the trains. I understand how they work. I'm taking slightly different paths than Google suggests cuz I know it could save me time. I was scared as hell at first since we originally got lost when we arrived in Japan, but I'm basically Japanese now lmao.
Also, In regards to day 1 and day 2 of Comiket. They are VERY distinct. One key difference being, there are very few OC artists on day 1 compared to the fuck load that are there for day 2. I tend to appreciate original content over fan art, so it was helpful to find out about this information (albeit a bit late).
On the final stretch home... Imma just say what I want to say in Armenian, because it carries the emotion I want to convey correctly. էլ վրես հալ չմնաց: (Google will not translate this correctly because the slang is too heavy. Good luck.)
Plans for tonight: Friends are both fucked with terrible fever so they are sadly dead. I guess imma grab food and then head to a shrine. Specifically the “Kanda Myoujin” shrine and participate in the festivities.
It was fun! I got some food at the festival stalls and I saw a little ceremony. It was absolutely packed. I was even approached by two fluent English speaking Japanese girls trying to meet people. The confidence boost I received from that one interaction will power me for the rest of my life.
Happy New Year!
January 1, 2026
Friends are still both dead. Time for a solo adventure! I went to Asakusa and accidentally found myself near the sky tree and a big temple. I found some food. Did some shopping. But the craziest part was that there was a line, I'm not kidding, rivaling the lines of Comiket, just to visit the shrine. It was constantly moving. An unfathomable amount of people. They had like 10 blocks of road closed down and roped off for the line. Crazy.
I decided to hit up Akihabara to find the last couple of items that I wanted. Explored for like 5 hours. Visited so many stores. Found some of the items. Still need more... I got 9 days to find em. Here's hoping.
My foot is beginning to hurt. I have been walking for 3 days straight. Might just stay in tomorrow. I don't wanna get hurt.
January 2, 2026
Late wake up. Tired. Might be fighting off the second wave of sickness that my friends are now passing back to me. Unsure. Either way, we are all downing food, pills, and vitamins like crazy so we can all be good asap.
Spent the morning watching Twitch and YouTube while eating conbini food.
Today marks a very important day. I have now eaten the three fried chickens from the three major conbini chains: Lawson, FamilyMart, and 7/11. Here's the review. FamilyMart’s fried chicken (“FamiChiki”) was so unfathomably juicy and soft that my enjoyment plummeted as I kept eating, because I thought that it must have been undercooked. I don’t know man. It was uncomfortably juicy. If you've ever cooked chicken before, you'd know. It was like… Right on the line. It concerned me too much. Next, I had Lawson. It was great. No complaints. The spicy version was better than the regular. Then I had 7/11. It was kinda rubbery? I definitely liked it the least. Lawson wins. I now pledge my undying loyalty and unwavering bias to Lawson.
In Osaka, we didn't have to reserve shit. Everything was open all the time. We just walked around and participated in anything on the spot. Not so in Tokyo. I want to go to the buff women's bar, but that is fully booked till after we leave. Same with women's wrestling. Can't find anything within the next week and a half. Truly a tragedy. Guess that's something to look into before the next trip.
Decided to go out for dinner so that the day isn't just spent entirely at home. Stepped out and it was cold and raining. Many places were closed but we found a great katsu place that had good vibes. We felt incapable of engaging with the chef sadly. Our Japanese wasn't there for it. We saw him chatting with other fluent local patrons in a playful manner. Shame. I gotta study more... But then when we stepped out, it was snowing with full force! The snowflakes were massive! Bigger than I've ever seen! I'm from LA so this shit definitely felt magical.
January 3, 2026
Harajuku and Shinjuku day! Holy fuck, Harajuku is busy as hell. It's the area’s fashion district (less bougie, more trendy). And DAMN. INFINITE people looking hot af. Insane food. Insane stores.
I went to a place called Mom's Touch, which was a Korean fast food chicken sandwich place. Bought the Double Thigh Burger. It arrived just like in the picture. It was amazing. The best fast food chicken sandwich I've had. The cost? Seven fucking bucks. WITH A DRINK. Man.
Yo. Wanna pop into the Samsung Galaxy store? No? Ok, I guess you don't care about the AUGMENTED REALITY MULTI-ROOM DINOSAUR CATCH-AND-RELEASE EXHIBIT then. Oh? You didn't know the Samsung Galaxy store had a TeamLabs dinosaur exhibit on the third flood? Hmm. Of course you didn’t...
My feet are starting to hurt. Non-stop walking... Might need to take more rest time at home… But tonight, we will experience the legendary Shinjuku nightlife.
We ended up visiting Kabukicho. We found all of the iconic spots. The sign. The parking lot where you beat up guys in Yakuza. Golden Guy (extremely narrow place that’s got hundreds of bars). Sadly, a massive chunk of the bars in Golden Guy were absolutely fucked by tourists. Like 90% of the people there were not locals. We can't be too mad cuz we're also tourists but like... We're committed to learning the language and the culture so like... I feel that we're at least a tier above the average crowd.
Anyways. Found a place that ended up being fun, that was only filled with Japanese locals. We chatted with the bartender and other patrons. A drunk-as-absolute-fuck American guy came in, and we helped translate and usher him back to getting his drunk ass home and out of the bar. The vibes were saved. Then we went to another chill bar in Kabukicho. The bartender was about to start his thesis in his master's degree, and that gave me all the room I needed to get the perfect conversation going. I was like, “Brother, I know the hell you are about to witness. Have a drink, on me.” And the night went phenomenal.
January 4, 2026
I forgot my backpack at the last bar we were at... Thankfully I was able to call them last night and make sure they kept the backpack for me so I could pick it up today. Lunch in Shinjuku it is!
Had some great sushi. Found my backpack. Bought a bunch of stuff from the conbini. Headed home. Had an hour long hot bath. Became a raisin. Got a bit of a headache and my nose is runny again. Time to take it easy to get ready for tomorrow.
January 5, 2026
I woke up bright and early and went to Shibuya for the first time. I stood next to the Hachiko statue to wait for a friend. While I was waiting, a group of five high school boys walked up to me and asked for an interview. I agreed. Two of them spoke great English. They asked me about Japan and why I was there. Then they asked me about my thoughts on tourism and immigration. I was like, “Yo, I’m hella underqualified to talk about this but, I’ll do my best.” The interview went great. I found out that they were doing a project for their social studies class. We ended up chatting a bit and then they left.
Then, I met Tsupu and had a blast eating some high-end sushi! It was awesome! We went shopping and hung out with more friends later in the day! Shin-kun and Shi-chan. They were both so wonderful! We ended up at an izakaya and drank so much. I brought a Pokémon booster box for us to play a drinking game with. For each art-rare or better that you open, you take a shot. It was a hit. We had a blast. Thank you for the excellent time guys!
Ended the day at a Hololive bar, against my will. It ended up being fucking awesome. The bar was pogging when they found out that I did that one Kiryu Coco gif. They had me draw them a Coco fanart and they put it up on the shelf. Then, when they found out that I teach esports, they challenged me to Smash. I beat them every time, including a 2v1, and won us all drinks. I also bought them drinks too. We were all shaking hands and having a fucking blast man. Beast night. GGs.
January 6, 2026
Woke up late. Head hurt. Hangover probably.
Hit up Ikebukuro to go shopping. All the stores were poppin, but very quickly we realized something. That entire area is filled to the brim with young women. Every single store was full of male vtuber merch, kpop boys, jpop boys, yaoi, manga for women, and a ton more. We were in fujoshi land. Horrifying, but incredible! I was able to find at least one thing that I wanted! Later on, I double checked with locals if Ikebukuro actually is fujoshi land, and they all confirmed it.
Then, I met up with Arex. What a guy. That dude is seriously one of my role models. Just an absolute gem of a guy. He took me to an incredible restaurant! Holy shit, Japanese chicken wings are so damn good. We had great convos and then split up. I had a fantastic time.
As I was drinking with friends that night, I realized something... I have spoken to random Japanese people, every single night, and had wonderful conversations with them. There wasn't a single time where they weren't as interested as I was with them. Plenty of them engaged with me first! All ages too! More so older people than people my age, because they were harder to find on weekdays. Many of these conversations happened at bars, some at restaurants, some on the train, some on the street. Point being, I never get this in LA. If you're out eating, then that's it. No one's gonna talk to you. You out at a bar? Alone? No friends? Then why the hell are you even out? Wanted to meet someone random and talk to them? Nah. That ain't how it works. What the fuck man? Japan is so much better when it comes to that. LA seems to be seen as this wild party city, but its nightlife is non-existent. This shit got me annoyed.
January 7, 2026
Final day of shopping. I truly have spent a fuck load on random ass shit. Today's my last chance. Let's see how it goes.
I found what I wanted to find. I have truly bought everything I could have wanted. I am beyond satisfied. I'm tired. Only a couple days left. I'm very tired. I've learned so much.
Ended the day at the Hololive bar again. The chats were fun. The people were great. I drew for them. I played them in Smash. There were more bartenders there that day. One of them was actually a teensy but better than me at Smash! We were both giving each other a run for our money. I’m pretty sure at one point they were betting drinks on who would win. I drank a lot…
January 8, 2026
Forced myself to wake up early and head to the Tsukiji Outer Fish Market. The streets were filled with vendors selling the freshest fish and meats. We went to two sushi places and had some great food. I paid for some top tier stuff. It was, in fact, pretty damn good.
On average, sushi in Japan is a bit better than sushi in LA. I did hit up some places that were clearly worse. So LA food is actually still pretty great in comparison.
Took a nap!
Friends and I went to Meguro to meet up with a mutual friend and it was fun! He worked for Amazon and he showed us around the town. We ended up eating at a traditional Japanese place. I mean, look at this food.
Went back home cuz it's windy as shit. Windiest it's been. Not worth going out right now. That being said, I'm feeling kinda sad. Not sure if it's because the trip is over soon, or some other reason. But yeah. Very strong sense of melancholy.
It kept going. The profound sadness kept getting worse as I laid in bed, day before the last, just thinking about everything. It wasn't the usual kind of "vacation is over" type sadness. It was definitely something more substantial and dreadful.
Thankfully, Kayo and I started to talk and pack and a wonderful thought came to me that cured me of my sadness. My best friends still haven't gone to Japan. And now that I have a very solid amount of experience with all of the nitty gritty things, train line knowledge, a sense of location, and many other crucial understandings, I can be an excellent guide for them when we all go in the future which I hope will be soon!
January 9, 2026
I went to Ramen Kai one more time. God, it was amazing. The pork in the broth was the best part. And there was so much food. All for 1600 yen. Ten bucks. Insane.
Went shopping at Akihabara one last time. Went to Don Quijote and grabbed an extra suitcase for all of the figures that I bought. It was expensive...
When we got home, I had to cut up some of the plastic housing for the figures cuz I bought way too fucking many to fit in the suitcase. I hope they all survive the trip... I'm a bit scared.
We went to a TCG card bar in Ueno with a booster box of Pokémon cards so that we could give some to the bartender and patrons. I wanted to run another drinking game like I did with Tsupu and her friends. Turns out, that bar was doodoo. Well... Not exactly. But the food menu was not available when we went in, and the bar seats were "reservation only" even though the entire bar was empty and had hella open seats. The server was also kinda off-putting. Idk. The vibes were off. We left and got some killer gyukatsu instead. It was fucking great.
Finally, we decided to find a random bar to officially end our trip with. We found one called Bar555. We went in. It was Kamen Rider / Power Ranger / Godzilla themed. The staff were awesome. We sang karaoke, watched the Pokemon anime, and gave out the cards for everyone to open. I sang Stand Proud in Japanese and tried my best to read the lyrics on screen. I did... Questionably. My reading in Japanese still needs a lot of work. But the local patron next to us was like, “Dude, that was seriously good for a tourist.” Then, I sang Driver's High. I pulled up the Romaji for it and sang the song almost perfectly. They were impressed at the singing and at the fact that I even knew that song to begin with. Game Gaming. A great final night to close out the trip. Sad, but happy.
January 10, 2026
Y'all know how in some Japanese games there's this one fuck-ass crow that’s always cawing all alone. Well that motherfucker is real. And he's everywhere. He was in Osaka, he was in Tokyo, he was omnipresent. That one single crow that keeps cawing loud as fuck is real.
Anyway, I downloaded some manga to read and anime to watch on the way back. Bye bye Tokyo. On our way to the airport!
The flight back was much shorter. Kayo and I had a great time watching the geology anime on the plane. And just like that, the trip was over.
Closing Thoughts:
I’m still so shocked at the sheer density and dependency on conbinis in Japan. They were everywhere. Like. You don’t understand. There was a FamilyMart, and then less than 30 seconds away, there was another FamilyMart. And both of them had tons of people inside. How are they not cannibalizing each other’s business? I have no damn clue. And yes, they had everything you could need. Hot drinks, cold drinks, fried food, clothes, stationary, bags, masks, desserts, packed lunches, everything. And all of these stores had at least 4 or 5 employees. Could you imagine an American 7/11 with more than 2 employees inside? Does one even exist?
Speaking of businesses, how are any of these people able to live? I went to a countless number of bars that were empty as shit, that could only seat 4 people, and that was their job. Being a bartender at a dead, microscopic bar. How did they pay their bills? Hell, one of them had a fucking part-time employee. How?? I am so curious.
It’s true. You do not need a car to live there. Perhaps if you are at the far edges of a farming town, sure. But otherwise, a car is a waste of money. Every single place you could ever want to go is a short walk and train ride away. The trains and subways are awesome and cheap as shit. I now understand what a walkable town means. On the topic of walking, everyone there is healthy. Everyone is walking around constantly, eating generally healthy foods, and taking care of themselves. No wonder I was clutching my heart, on my hands and knees, looking at every woman that passed by me. God help me, they were all stunning.
During my time there, I came up with some fun methods to better learn and immerse myself in the language. First, karaoke. All of the lyrics are legible since they have the furigana on top of the kanji. It will help me read faster! Also, I have to start participating in language exchange programs like the ones they have in VRChat. So if you catch me logged in, that’s probably where I’m at. Last, if I want to be hardcore with it, I can watch anime with the subs off, trying very hard to listen and interpret the meaning of what they are saying. Same with reading manga. This year I plan to study three times as hard and incorporate more methods of study!
One of the nights, we spent time with an absolutely chill dude named Sleeping. Bro was a bonafide Japanese salaryman that was our age. He was an absolute character. The most incredible thing he told us was that you could drink yourself to death, pass out on ANY given sidewalk, wake up with all of your belongings still on you, and go back home in the morning. He had done this several times, in the more “dangerous” places in Japan. No issues. Unbelievable.
Last, here are some nitty gritty things that I don’t want to forget for my next trip. Before going, make sure to sign up on Visit Japan and register all of your information. It saves tons of time during the border crossing there. When coming back to the US, download an app on your phone called CBP MPC and fill out the forms there. Declare that you aren’t bringing anything concerning back with you. Make sure to not hit the submit button until you actually land on US soil. When you arrive at the airport in Japan, grab yourself a Suica card and fill it up with money so that you can ride the trains. You can refill it at any time at any station. However, you will most likely need Yen to do that once outside the airport. Google Maps has excellent directions to follow for riding the train to get anywhere you want. Keep an eye out for which stations to get on/off at and which platform to stand on. Uber works there exactly like it does here. No need to download any extra apps. Same with Uber Eats. The train lines stop around midnight, so if you stay out for longer then you will need an Uber. If I recall more useful tips, I will add them to this post.
Thanks for reading!