Golden Kamuy Pilgrimage, Tokyo Bustle & Lots of History [My Japan Trip]

Golden Kamuy Pilgrimage, Tokyo Bustle & Lots of History [My Japan Trip]

Mochi, Mochi, how are you’ll doing?
As promised, here I am to talk about my travels. For those who might 
be watching me for the first time, my channel is about Japanese culture: 
Japanese history, Japanese language, Japanese mythology, anime and 
manga reviews, among other things. Last April, I visited Japan and stayed 
there for around 3 weeks. And this video, the first of a series, will be me sharing how it 
went. I know there are a ton of these videos on YouTube, but at the end of the day, everyone has 
a different experience when traveling, and I will make this very personal, very cozy. So hopefully 
that will coat it with a sort of unique flavor. That being said, if you’re hoping to see a very 
polished, very aesthetically pleasing video or one of those that give tips for tourists and 
tell what the most popular places to go are, this might not be what you’re looking for. 
This is not even one of those “find Japan’s hidden gems” videos, although I did visit 
some pretty obscure places. The vibe will be: “your friend just visited Japan 
and is telling you all about it”, except your friend is a history nerd 
and very much into otaku culture. I guess I should start out by giving you 
an overview of the places I’ve been to. We first landed in Tokyo, then on the following 
day immediately took a Shinkansen to Hakodate, then headed north towards Abashiri, passing 
through Otaru, Sapporo, and Asahikawa, returned to Hakodate via a route that 
allowed us to visit Lake Akan, Biratori, Shiraoi and Noboribetsu, returned to Tokyo to 
catch another Shinkansen, this time to Kanazawa, visited Shirakawa-go, and finally arrived 
back in Tokyo, where we stayed for a whole week (except for my father, who went to 
Kyoto to attend a martial arts event). I will have timestamps for each region, 
so you can easily navigate between them. It’s important to note that this 
was actually my second time in Japan. The first time was 8 years ago, but I 
visited different places for the most part. The focus of this video will be on my most recent 
travel, not the old one, because my memory is still fresh. But I will mention and refer to 
things that happened back then, especially when it comes to Tokyo, because Tokyo is really 
different now compared to almost a decade ago. And yes, it has everything to do with over 
tourism, but we will get to that. I do not want to sound hypocritical, but it is important 
to talk about it. It does not only affect people living there, it affects you as a visitor as well. 
So, if you’re planning to visit today’s Japan, it might be a good idea to reflect on what you 
actually want to see because you might end up going to places only because of their popularity 
while in the end not even having the greatest of experiences. I’m being completely honest when I 
say that if I had gone alone instead of with my family, there are some places in Tokyo I wouldn’t 
have gone to. I would have chosen to go to some other places. But you know, when you’re not 
traveling solo, there has to be compromises. Moving on, I just noticed I didn’t mention the 
places I went to on my first trip to Japan. So, let’s just rectify that real quick. As 
a first time tourist, I went to Tokyo, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Osaka (more 
specifically Universal Studios), Nara, Kyoto, Ise, Yokohama, Kamakura and Enoshima. Now, back to the current times. The journey began in the same way as any major 
trip: with a taxi ride to the airport. Thankfully, unlike in 2017 when we had to wake up at 
around 4 or 5:00 a.m. to catch our flight, this time we set off at some 
point in the late morning. Our plane to Frankfurt was scheduled to 
depart at 2:45 p.m., but we had to arrive at the airport several hours in advance 
because my father was bringing a katana, more specifically an iaito, to 
Japan for an iaido demonstration, which requires extra bureaucracy 
because… well, for obvious reasons. As I mentioned in my last video, the 
main reason we went to Japan was for my father to participate in a martial 
arts event called the World Butoku Sai, which takes place in Kyoto every four years. 
I will fill you in on the specifics later. After a quick lunch consisting of an egg sandwich 
my mother had made at home and a small bowl of soup, we were ready to fly. Unlike the plane, 
apparently, as it didn’t leave the ground for over an hour. Because the AC only turns on 
after the takeoff, by that time everyone was sweating buckets and there were even those 
that wanted to leave even thought the doors had already closed. Also, we almost missed our 
plane to Tokyo. So, this could have ended badly. On a more positive note, I met a very nice 
couple who were also travelling to Japan, so we spent the entire travel chatting, 
and it really helped pass the time. Once we landed in Frankfurt, we had 
to run to catch the plane to Tokyo, and we managed to get on board just in time. 
As you’ll see, this was a one-time occurrence, and it totally didn’t happen again. Trust me, bro. That aside, this is when the fun began. Flying 
with a Japanese airline is an integral part of the Japanese tourist experience. Just take a look 
at this video and you will understand what I mean. Inflate the life vest at the door or on 
the wing by pulling the red tabs down. If you need more air, blow into the tubes. When necessary, cabin attendants will 
provide you with infant life vests. Please look at the safety 
instructions card in your seat pocket. If you require assistance or have 
any questions, please contact… No explanations needed. Also, this time around, we were 
given these forms to fill in, which is something we didn’t have to do 
last time. If the same happens to you, just get it done with right away. Otherwise, you 
will just forget about it and then have to rush through it. Trust me, you won’t want to fill 
these forms after a super duper long flight. I spent the first hours reading manga in Japanese 
on my tablet. I found a series called Crystal Hunters, and it was exactly what I needed. An 
easy peasy story made specifically for those learning Japanese. You see, you do not have Wi-Fi 
on airplane mode. So, you’re pretty much on your own. Either you know your vocabulary and kanji 
or you don’t. You can’t ask Google for help. So, when I found Crystal Hunters, I knew 
I had to buy it and read it on my way to Japan. And I liked it so much I’m going 
to dedicate a video to the series. So, look forward to that. It will be on 
my Japanese study sections playlist. Then came lunchtime and we had 
our first Japanese meal. Yes, I will count it as the first meal because it is 
clearly Japanese themed even thought we weren’t in Japan yet. It consisted of curry with edamame, 
a regular salad, cheese and crackers, tamagoyaki, which is the Japanese rolled omelette, and pasta 
salad with bacon. There was ice cream for dessert. Afterwards, I had to endure the long 
artificial night. Emphasis on long. The flight from Frankfurt to Tokyo took a total 
of 13 hours and 40 minutes. I spent the time watching the first season of Spy x Family on 
my tablet, something that was long overdue. One thing about me is that I’m always late 
to the party. I don’t prioritize new shows over old ones. I just watch whatever. So, I end 
up years behind everyone else when it comes to popular shows. I don’t do it on purpose. It just 
happens. Years pass by way too quickly, okay? When morning came and they turned the lights back 
on, we were served another meal. The one you are seeing on the screen is my brother’s. Mine was 
different. In case you’re unfamiliar with how these things work because you have never been on a 
long-haul flight before, you get to choose between two meal options when it’s time to eat. At least 
that’s how it was both times I went to Japan. As for my breakfast, I do not recall what I 
ate at all. My memory of the first two days in Japan is a bit fuzzy. There are things I don’t 
quite remember and this started happening after I finished Spy x Family because that’s when 
the sleep deprivation started to kick in. This might be considered oversharing but I’m going 
to say it anyway. I don’t have a good relationship with sleep. Years ago I was a victim of medical 
malpractice and that left me with severe trauma. I won’t go into any details because it’s too 
personal, but all you need to know is that as a result, I am completely unable to sleep in public. 
Even when I share a room with someone I trust, it is difficult because I naturally become 
more vigilant and on edge, which leads to poor sleep. The mere thought of being unconscious 
where I can be watched makes me want to puke. Realistically, I know people around 
me who wouldn’t care. They would maybe glance in my direction, 
but even that makes me uneasy. All of that to say that from the moment I left the 
house to the moment I crashed into the hotel room, I didn’t get a single second of sleep. So, maybe 
close to 30 hours without catching any Z’s. And you might think, “Yeah, that’s 
not really that bad. Is just an all nighter.” But just you wait… Sweet 
summer child me had no idea what was coming to get her on her way back to 
Portugal. But that’s a story for later. So, let’s just carry on from where we left off. After breakfast, there was just a couple more 
hours to go. So, I put on some Japanese music, mostly from anime, to get me in the right 
mood. And of course, I listened to Ali’s Lost in Paradise because what better time to do 
such a thing than when you’re landing in Tokyo? And finally, we arrived at Haneda airport. 
Before we could head to the hotel though, there were just a few things 
we needed to take care of, such as exchanging money on an ATM, buying 
SIM cards, and picking up or JR passes. Father also sent part of his luggage and his 
katana directly to Kyoto so that we could travel more lightly… and so he wouldn’t 
be walking around with a sword, of course. I will now talk a little 
bit about payment systems, cards, the JR passes and those sorts of 
technical things. Only briefly thought, don’t worry. I just think this 
information might be useful to someone. Starting with the Japan Rail Pass or JR Pass for 
short. It is a travel pass that gives you free access to all lines operated by the Japan Railways 
Company. This includes regional lines, the most famous of which is the Yamanote line, which loops 
around all the most touristy spots in Tokyo, and the Shinkansen lines, where the bullet trains 
travel, covering long distances at high speed. Having this pass does not mean you 
can travel around Japan as you please. Not only are many train lines private, 
but depending on where you want to go, you might also need to take other forms of 
transport, such as the subway or bus. There are some buses that are also covered by the 
JR pass, but not that many. A map showing the JR lines across the country is available 
on their website, so you can look it up. These passes can only be bought by tourists and 
from overseas. You have to purchase vouchers which will be sent to you by mail and then 
exchange those vouchers for the passes once you arrive in Japan or anywhere during your 
stay. You might want to play with that if you know you only need the pass during 
a certain period of time. For instance, you could buy the 7-day pass and choose to 
activate it on your second week in Japan. One more important thing, the vouchers 
expire after 3 months. So don’t book them so far in advance that you then 
can’t use them when you arrive in Japan. I think this is all the information you might need 
on JR passes on a first instance. But the more important question would then be: do you even need 
them? And the answer to that is most likely no. You see, JR passes were never cheap, but 
they have been increasing in price more and more to the point most people will actually 
lose money if they buy them. Some people on the internet will even say JR passes are 
never worth it. But that’s an exaggerated claim. It’s a case-by-case situation where 
the answer tends to be no. The bigger the area you will cover on your trip, the more 
likely it is that buying a JR pass will be worth it. But there are calculators 
online that can help you with math. In our case, for example, buying the JR 
passes was worth it since we had to go to and from Hokkaido, to and from Kanazawa, 
my father had to go to and from Kyoto, and we even ended up having to make two extra 
shinkansen trips because of an emergency. My mom was the one who made the Math, 
and I trust her wholeheartedly with these sorts of things. She has a degree 
in economy, so she knows her numbers. But yeah, long story short, you are unlikely to 
have to worry about these very expensive passes, even if you have to take a shinkansen 
at some point. But in case you need it, I just gave you a very quick run through. Another thing you probably won’t want to 
buy is SIM cards. Because yes, we did it, but we had a very specific reason why. We didn’t 
buy these the first time we went to Japan, and we were perfectly fine, even on more remote 
places like Ise. But this time we went to Hokkaido and we rented a car. So it was just us and nature, 
nature and us… and a GPS, but in Japanese. We ended up using the car’s GPS too, but 
Google Maps was still the boss. And you know what? We probably did well because the two 
systems were often at odds with each other. So, who knows where the car’s GPS would have 
led us? If we did not have Google Maps, we would probably still be lost 
in some snowy mountain today. Now, let’s talk about cards, namely 
IC cards. IC cards are convenient, rechargeable cards that can help you save time 
on payments, not only on public transportation, but also in several other places such as 
restaurants, shops, vending machines, and konbini. Once you have the card, you can charge it 
with a certain amount of money and use it to make contactless transactions, eliminating the 
needs to purchase individual tickets or use cash. The most famous of all is probably 
the Suica card. Suica with a C, not with a K. Suika with a K means watermelon, and is also the name of that game where you 
mash fruits together to make a bigger fruit. There are also many other cards, such 
as the Pasmo, the Icoca, the Pitapa, and so on. Each card has an association with 
a certain area, but it doesn’t mean that they can only be used in that area. For instance, 
Suica is associated with the Tokyo metropolitan area and surrounding regions, but it can be 
used outside of Tokyo too. As far as I know, you can use it pretty much everywhere 
in Japan, no matter how north or south. There are limitations of course, but its 
range is wide and that’s why it is so popular. Of course, I’m not saying that you should 
use this card instead of other cards or vice versa. It’s always better to do your own 
research and find out which card meets your needs best. You can get more than one card. 
You might not want to get a card at all. We were planning to get Suica at the airport and 
get it over with, but we were told that we needed to go to another terminal in order to do that, and 
we were just too tired. Besides, we were going to Hokkaido the next morning, so we had no immediate 
need for it. After all, we didn’t have to get it at the airport. IC cards are also available 
at train stations and convenience stores. Needless to say, we ended up never 
getting those suica cards. In hindsight, we were fine without them because we ended 
up not moving around Tokyo as much as we had planned. You will see why once I get to that 
part of the story. Besides, we had the JR passes, so it’s not like we had to get individual tickets 
every single time we wanted to travel somewhere. As for other payments, cash works 
just fine. And we also had booked and paid for a lot of things in advance. 
Plus, rule of thumb, large establishments like hotels generally do accept credit 
cards like Visa, Mastercard, and etc. The same cannot be said for all establishments 
though. There are a lot of places that only accept cash. Not credit cards, not IC cards, just 
plain cash. A great example of this will be merchandise stores. A lot of them will ask you 
for cash. And you know what? I respect that. I have the mentality of a caveman. There is just 
something about having actual money with you. I am totally the kind of person who would try 
to shove coins in your hand if you came toward me with one of those card reader machines. 
Maybe I am 70 years old inside after all. But where was I? Oh yeah, do remember to always 
have cash on you at all times. That was the whole point of this conversation. I think it’s 
just common sense that you don’t rely on a single form of payment when you travel, but 
it doesn’t hurt to point it out nevertheless. One last very important thing, Japan is going 
through a lot of changes regarding tourism between now and next year. It’s all over YouTube 
and other platforms. Everyone is talking about it. So everything I’m saying applies to pre-may 2025 
Japan, not post-may 2025 Japan. I haven’t looked into the specifics of these changes. All I know 
is that things are about to become a lot more expensive for tourists. So, keep in mind that 
some of the things I might say in this video will probably become outdated soon. Or maybe not. 
It depends on the nature of the coming changes. Now, with with all of this out of the 
way, let’s get back to where we were, the Haneda airport. After taking care 
of everything, we headed to the Tavinos Hamamatsucho Hotel. The Tavinos Hotel is 
manga inspired, so they have the walls, floors, and beds decorated accordingly. And 
they also have a manga collection in the waiting room. You are free to enjoy them, 
but of course they are all in Japanese. It was raining a little bit when we left 
the station, so I put on my rain coat. Bringing a raincoat to Japan is always a 
good idea because no matter the season, you’re bound to get wet. That’s just how it is. And sure, you can get an 
umbrella literally everywhere, but sometimes you want your hands free, 
so a rain coat can be a better option. Or you can embrace the rain. The first time we went to Japan, it was 
typhoon season, so it was always raining, but it was extremely hot. Even the rain was 
hot. So it was refreshing to get a little wet. The moment you entered somewhere, you 
dried instantly because that’s how hot it was. Bringing sandals back then was the best decision 
I could have made. While my father and brother had to walk around in wet sneakers every day and 
got blisters because of the constant humidity, my sandals were always dry by morning. So yeah, 
open shoes in summer is my recommendation for you. Even if sneakers might look like a 
more comfortable option at first glance. We arrived at our hotel and, after the 
check-in, immediately headed to the Family Mart next door to get dinner. Family Mart is 
one of the three major konbini chains in Japan, along with 7-Eleven and Lawson. These 
convenience stores are open 24 hours a day. And if you ever visit Japan, you will rely on 
them as if they are checkpoints in a video game. When you think about eating in Japan, 
you might imagine yourself in a fancy sushi restaurant. But I’m sorry to break it 
to you. This is where you’ll be eating most of the time. It’s cheap. It’s convenient. And 
more importantly, it allows you to get some nutrition fast. Sometimes you just don’t 
have time to be sitting around waiting for food or the energy to be choosing a place 
to eat in. Or you might tourist until too late in the night and then everything is closed. 
Whatever the reason, this place got your back. And if you’re looking to save even more, you can go to supermarkets instead. But 
we prefer konbini because we are lazy. So in terms of prices, it would be: Restaurants 
> konbini > Supermarkets. And of course there are cheap restaurants. I’m not claiming there 
aren’t. I’m just making some generalizations here. Still on konbini, they aren’t just good for 
food. Do you like anime? Do you want cheap and the exclusive merchandise? If so, you need 
to explore the konbini around you because you can find pretty cool stuff. I bought a lot of my 
merch from konbini stores. There are even places you can consult that will tell you what collabs 
are happening at a given moment between certain brands or chains and certain anime. I will put 
a link to such a website on the description. It’s a Japanese website, but navigation 
isn’t hard even if you don’t know Japanese. And even if you don’t like anime, there’s 
still plenty to see at konbini. From cute food to snacks with flavors 
you can find anywhere else. My father and brother were content with a simple 
dinner consisting of some sandwiches and snacks. But I and mom were hungrier, so we bought 
some omurice and red bean soup for dessert. By the way, konbini have microwaves, so you can 
ask them to heat your food before leaving the store. In our case, we didn’t need it because the 
hotel also had microwaves, but just so you know. Finally, we crashed in bed. You would hope 
that not sleeping for almost 30 hours would lead to a good night’s sleep, but even 
that didn’t prevent me from experience jet lag from the 8hour time difference. I woke 
up twice, once at 2 a.m. and again at 5 a.m. The next morning, we ate some free cakes provided 
by the hotel and passed by the konbini so I could get an energy drink and my brother a vanilla 
monaka jumbo. If we had more time, I would have loved to relax for a while and scroll through some 
manga pages, but we had a shinkansen to catch. Because it was too late when we arrived at the 
airport the day before, we ended up having to reserve the shinkansen seats right before catching 
the train which resulted in us getting separated. The man sitting next to me shut the curtain 
and slept through the entire journey. So when we passed by the area where the sakura were in 
bloom, everyone in my family saw them through the shinkansen window… except for me. At the 
time I wasn’t too upset because I thought I was going to see the sakura blossoms in Hakodate 
a week from then. Spoiler, that didn’t happen. Not being able to look outside and 
appreciate the scenery, I spent my time reading some more chapters of Crystal Hunters 
and looking for good fanfiction on my phone. Since the entire trip takes about 4 hours, we came prepared to have lunch on the way 
and bought bento boxes at Tokyo Station. The one you are seeing right now is my 
brother’s, he ate tonkatsu with rice. Meanwhile, this is what mine looked like. 
It’s essentially gyoza with rice (or if it isn’t gyoza at least it tasted a lot like 
it), with some side elements like tamagoyaki, fish cake and dried plum. Also, this yellow sauce? 
90% sure it’s karashi. And turns out that karashi is quite spicier than regular mustard. I put too 
much on my gyoza and regretted it afterwards cuz I’m really not used to spicy food. I try to avoid 
it as much as I can since my stomach is bad. And even knowing that, I went and just had to throw 
a bunch of sauce on my food like a brainless zombie. So yeah, do not be like me. Do not put 
sauce on your food without trying it first. This wasn’t the first time we had bento on a 
shinkansen. Just look at these three beautiful ones we had on our first trip to Japan eight 
years ago. Mine was the first one by the way. While we are still on the shinkansen, here’s 
a fun fact for you. The shinkansen to Hokkaido passes through a tunnel called the Seikan Tunnel, 
that has a total length of 53.85 kilometers, which makes it the longest undersea tunnel in the world, 
with 23.3 of these kilometers being underwater. The tunnel passes beneath 
the Tsugaru Strait seabed, ranging from 100 to 240 meters below sea 
level, and it was constructed over 37 years ago. So it is like super old. 
I had no idea that it was this old. The project was a thorny one. It was 
almost abandoned several times. Not only did 34 workers die while building this 
tunnel, but it also cost a fortune. So when it finally opened in 1988, they released a 
special yen coin to celebrate the occasion. Fast forward four decades and there we were, passing through the tunnel 
and arriving in Hokkaido.

Hello! How are you all doing? Last April, I went to Japan with my family for about three weeks, having visited Hokkaido, Kanazawa, Shirakawa-go and Tokyo. Now I want to talk about it in excruciating detail and make it everyone’s problem!

This was my second time in Japan by the way, I went there for the first time about a decade ago.

This first video is a bit of snooze, I will admit it, because it serves as an introduction of sorts, but things will pick up the pace in the next one, I promise!

I’m putting these videos in the ‘Travel’ category because, for all intents and purposes, this is a travel vlog. However, they could easily be in the ‘Education’ category because I’ll be talking about the history of every city and site I visited. That will be the meat of the videos, so to speak.

There will be a lot of anime stuff too… because I like anime…

Yeah, this is all I have to say for now, I’m kind of sleep deprived today.

Thanks for watching!

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction / What Places We Visited
03:53 Flying to Frankfurt
05:51 Flying to Japan
11:51 Arriving at the Haneda Airport
12:33 About JR Passes
15:37 About SIM Cards
16:26 About IC Cards
18:57 Always Have Cash on You
20:54 Manga-Themed Hotel
21:20 In Japan It Rains… A LOT
22:25 About Konbini + Unboxing Merch
24:58 On the Shinkansen to Hokkaido
27:43 Seikan Tunnel

Footage used (besides my own):
Renfield Kuroda Wikipedia Commons
JAPAN RAIL PASS – Site
JRPASS Freedom to Explore Japan
Japan Travel by NAVITIME
Japan Rail Pass Calculator – Daisuki
japan-guide.com
JR East Japan Railway Company
https://collabo-cafe.com/ – Click here to find anime collabs
I lost the video at 27:00 but the character is Karashi from Hoozuki no Reitetsu
Commander Keane Wikipedia Commons
Bmazerolles Wikipedia Commons
Encino Wikipedia Commons
Risto Kaijaluoto Wikipedia Commons
jaUserAlljal Wikipedia Commons
Jojo’s Ending (is copyrighted and it got my video blocked in Russia and Belarus, I’m sorry if any of you live in there, but I HAD to use this meme)