Exploring Japan

This was my first trip to Japan. I can't believe it took me so long to get there! Oh, what a beautiful country. We traveled to Tokyo and Kyoto and had intended to go to the south as well but we were just so in love with Tokyo we couldn't bring ourselves to leave!

There are so many things I love about Japan. The food was out of this world, every cuisine was done to perfection, we even had some of the best pizza I've ever had! And that's saying alot because I fancy myself a sort of food connoisseur and am quite picky about my pizza, especially coming from New York where pizza is a whole culture. We did a ton of research about all the best places to eat before we went and had some really mind blowing meals where we bonded quickly with the staff, whether they spoke English or not. The sweets and treats was definitely another highlight of the trip. We tried everything we could from crepes stuffed with whipped cream and fruit to fish shaped pastries stuffed with apple filling to every matcha soft serve we could get our hands on. The treats definitely satisfied my sweet tooth but didn't have that fake sugar and chemical taste that so many sweets in the U.S. have. We also brought back a whole array of goodies–as many as our bags could carry and then some! 

Aside from eating, we spent every day running all over the city trying to see all the amazing temples, shopping centers and gardens and exploring every hidden alley and back street we could find. The gardens were certainly one of my favorite things to see. I have such a love for parks and gardens around the world and Japan just took it to a whole other level. The ponds and trees in the parks were so beautiful and the flowers were all blooming at this time of year–although we missed the earliest cherry blossom season ever by a week, which was a bit disappointing, we did manage to catch a couple trees still in bloom though. I was also especially mesmerized by the colorful koi fish that fill every pond, they were so peaceful to watch and had an almost hypnotic effect on me, much to the annoyance of my boyfriend, who accompanied me on this adventure.

I will fill you in on the rest of our trip in another post. This is definitely just part one of the Japan series because there was too much to capture and so much I want to share, plus the shopping (swoon) deserves a post of its own, for sure!