Trip Report: 25 days – Tokyo, Nikko/Utsonomiya, Hiroshima/Miyajima, Beppu/Yufuin, Fukuoka, Osaka

Hello all, I was just in Japan for about three and a half weeks. I didn’t post anything pre-trip, but I did consult this sub frequently in the planning process, so I thought I’d share the trip summary. This is pretty long, once I started writing, I couldn’t stop. My wife and I last went in 2019/20 right before the pandemic. That trip was largely spent in Tokyo and Osaka, so we did a lot of the big things in those towns last time. Last time was also more of a sushi-focused trip, and this time I switched gears to ramen. My trips also tend to be beer-focused regardless of where they are. This was also a packed trip, as we tried to squeeze a ton of stuff into the JR 14 day pass window.

We ended up visiting: **Tokyo, Nikko, Utsonomiya, Nagoya (briefly), Hiroshima, Miyajima, Beppu, Yufuin, Fukuoka (& Yanagawa), Osaka (& Kyoto)**. My wife is from Osaka so she has a natural anti-Tokyo bias, and she didn’t really want to go there at all this trip. Since we were landing in Tokyo anyway, I managed to coax her into two days there.

**Day 1**: We landed in **Tokyo** in the mid-late-afternoon on a Saturday. First thing we do is go to the Yamato kiosk to ship our mostly empty large suitcases to my wife’s parent’s house in Osaka. We have five days before we get to Osaka, so we have pre-packed our clothes in a smaller bag that we remove and go straight to dinner.

*Dinner*: I gave my wife a few options that I had previously bookmarked, and she chose donburi at **Tsujihan Zeitaku Don**. Saturday night in Tokyo, I fully anticipated a lineup, and we did end up waiting for 90 minutes. This was fun since I don’t think I had slept for more than 36 hours. Food was great though, the best part was halfway through the donburi, you ask them to pour in some delicious sea breem soup to make ochazuke. Really really good and recommended.

After this we finally go to our Airbnb. We booked a place in Koto since we were coming in from Narita and it seemed to make sense at the time. At this point wife and I part since she wants to go to a sento and I want to get a beer.

*Beer*: I had staked out Popeye’s since it was on the Koto side of things and I had missed it on my previous trip. Popeye’s is one of the original beer bars in Tokyo and did have a good Japanese taplist and some house brewed beers.

**Day 2**: *Breakfast:* Since we were severely jetlagged, we woke up at 5. Luckily, one thing we missed on our last visit to Tokyo was going to Tsukiji market in the morning, and this made it a lot easier. For breakfast, we went to **Mata Koi Ya** to have five different cuts of tuna in one donburi, including cuts from the head, cheek and jaw. Tasty and educational.

We then wandered around Tsukiji as it was opening up. Sunday morning it’s comparably quiet, and we sample the various selections with relative ease. I recommend a Sunday morning visit. After this, my wife goes to meet with a friend, and I go to Nakano Broadway since I had missed it last trip. I was actually there far too early and most of it was closed, but I think I’m not the target demographic for most of these shops anyway.

*Lunch*: Time for ramen #1 – I then made my way up to **Chigonoki** to try niboshi ramen. I pulled this one from the ramen guy that posts in the various Japan subs. I was slightly nervous to try niboshi as I wasn’t sure how strong the anchovy flavour would be. It was strong, but I loved it. I ordered the niboshi with extra pork fat in the broth, which made it almost viscous. The sous vide charsiu was 👌👌.

*Dinner*: I spent the entire afternoon shopping and wandering in Shimokitazawa, and since I was dining alone, I decided to knock another ramen off the list and try the curry ramen at **Ten to Sen**. This was actually better than I was expecting, and the curry soaked egg was great. Broth was very creamy, though it might have needed a little more kick.

*Beer*: Visited one of the new branches of **Ushitora** that opened up since my last visit. These guys produce a large number of beers, but I’ve never had a bad one from them.

**Day 3**: *Breakfast*: Up at 5 again, and after what we saw in Tsukiji the previous day, we decided to go again. This ends up a theme of the trip, going to a place two days in a row with different conditions. Monday morning the market is much busier than Sunday, so we experienced the market during both calm and bustling vibes. We didn’t plan on a donburi trend this trip, but we wanted to eat a large bowl of uni and ikura for breakfast. We settle on **Tsukijiro** (our original choice was Sushikuni but they didn’t open until 10) and get exactly what we asked for. 👍👍

*Lunch*: Today was mostly dedicated to record shopping so after hitting up a few places, I go for ramen #3: **Tsukomo**. I had never tried tomato ramen, and this one came with a mountain of cheese, so I was intrigued. Like the curry ramen, it was better than I expected. The cheese makes the broth extra creamy, and the noodles are about as thick as spaghetti, so it kind of becomes spaghetti soup. Could maybe use a little meat, but I guess meatballs might be too much to ask.

After lunch I headed up to Koenji for more clothes shopping. I ended up liking Koenji more than Shimokitazawa for shopping – it has a similar shops (a lot of the same ones, actually), and doesn’t have the same crowds in Shimokitazawa (probably because there are fewer places to eat and drink).

*Dinner:* I again presented my wife with a few different options for dinner and she chose udon. We ended up going to **Menchirashi** since the pictures looked good. We didn’t end up getting what looked good in the pictures though, since they seem to be famous for their udon carbonara. I went the more traditional route with a kitsune udon, and it was decent. The place seems to be going for a “cool” vibe, but it did nothing for the udon.

*Beer*: I went to the ever-reliable **Baird** for beers after. Their pub in Harajuku has a classic pub vibe.

**Day 4**: Still up at 5, but this is great since today’s objective is to get up and get to **Nikko** as early as possible. We activated our JR pass the day before and we are ready to go. We grab an ekiben for breakfast and hop on the train. Now depending on your perspective, this is either a good or bad time to go to Nikko. This time of year, most of the town only opens three days a week, and this is now Tuesday. Practically everything in town is closed, but there’s barely anyone here and that suits me fine. I’m not coming to Nikko for the food anyway. At someone on this sub’s recommendation, we stayed at the Hotel Kanaya, which is a classy joint and we quite enjoyed it. We timed our arrival just right to drop our bags off and hop on their hotel shuttle up to Lake Chuzenji. The plan for this day is to hike down along the edge of the lake to Kegon falls, stop along somewhere for lunch that serves Nikko’s famous yuba, then hike back to Nikko township on foot, stopping at the Kanmangafuchi Abyss along the way.

*Dinner:* Probably the same person recommended some restaurants in town, and we ended up going to **Furuhashi** for a decent traditional dinner. We went back to our hotel for cocktails, as the bar there features the Frank Lloyd Wright fireplace we wanted to see.

**Day 5:** Beautiful day. The previous day was a little rainy, so we saw Nikko enshrouded in mist, which was magical. Today is sunny and clear, so we saw a different spin on the landscape. Today’s plan is to take the local bus all the way up to Lake Yunoko, take a peep at Yumoto town, then hike down to Lake Chuzenji from there. We did the loop around the lake, which has a really nice path down to Yudaki Falls. We stopped for a snacks/lunch there, and then we took a leisurely hike across the Senjogahara Marshland and eventually to Ryuzu falls.We then took the bus back to the hotel to grab our bags and take the train to **Utsonomiya** for dinner.

*Dinner*: We booked a room at a business hotel close to the station, nothing special. The plan for dinner is to tour around the various gyoza establishments. We went to **Minmin** first. There was no lineup but it is bustling and we’re seated immediately. We got the three different style of gyoza and they are delicious. Sadly, Masashi Miyajima Gyoza is closed on Wednesdays. We wipe away our tears, and head to the gyoza food court under the Don Quijote to sample some of the town’s other gyozarias. We planned on going to a third place, but at this point we cannot eat any more gyozas. Sadder still, the beer bar I wanted to go to, Blue Magic, is closed because the staff are all off at a beerfest somewhere. C’est la vie. We head to Pipe no Kemuri close by for some cocktails instead.

**Day 6**: Today we are up early-ish to hop back on the train, with Osaka as our final destination. We grabbed a 7-11 breakfast because we have an 11:00 reservation in Nagoya for unagi don at **Hitsumabushi Hanaoka**. We went here on our last trip and had to go back.They serve unagi donburi that you eat several different ways with different toppings and finally with ochazuke. Then we went over to **Kako** for my favourite coffee in Japan. They also do a toast with housemade jams and cream that makes a great dessert. After this we get back on the train for Osaka and dinner with my wife’s family.

**Day 7**: This is something of a day of rest, running errands, visiting grocery stores, and exploring the Osaka suburbs.
**Day 8**: Partially another day of rest, but we have tickets to a concert close to Shinsaibashi so we head there in the late afternoon and we go to my wife’s favourite ramen chain for dinner (ramen #4), **Tenkaippin**. Not what I was expecting, the broth was almost like gravy. I didn’t dislike it, but won’t be running back any time soon.

**Day 9**: Back on the road today, headed for Hiroshima and Miyajima. Due to some funny scheduling, we kind of do things a little out of order for this trip and end up taking the ferry 6 times. We go straight to Miyajima first to take the ropeway up to the top of the mountain. We expect Miyajima to be really crowded so we wanted to do this as early as we could and not have to worry about it at all on the second day. This ends up being a great call, since the next day is supposed to be rainy anyway. We climb up to the top, which was a bit more strenuous than I was expecting, though standing for several hours at the concert the previous night was a bit of poor planning on my part, but I am also getting old. However, the mountain is fun and there’s lots of cool parts to the hike. The top is actually the worst part, it was swarming with loud children. We try to make it down as soon as we can since the lineups for the return trip on the ropeway can get very long.

*Lunch:* For lunch, we go into town and go to **Kakiya** for an oyster-heavy meal, and eat so many giant oysters that we cancel plans to eat any more the next day. The meal is fun though, as there were even oysters in the salad dressing and in the miso.

Now you can tell we booked the hotels for this part of the trip before doing the planning and making the reservations for things, since we are sleeping in Hiroshima this night. We take ferry #2 and train back to town, do a bit of exploring, take some of Hiroshima’s classic streetcars, and visit Hondori Shopping Street. Our hotel here is a modern cheap place close to the station.

*Dinner:* We wanted Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki for dinner, and we went to **Okonomimura**. Luckily, my wife did her research since I didn’t realize this was actually a huge place with tons of different okonomi places inside. She knew which place we wanted to go (Atomu), and headed straight there. More luck, we came with perfect timing and sat right down right as they were transitioning to a new crowd. A big lineup started forming right afterwards.

*Beer*: We went close by to a beer bar afterwards, **Raku** which had a decent taplist but not a friendly vibe.

**Day 10**: Up early this morning, take ferry #3 back to Miyajima to see Itsukushima Shrine before the crowds. Cloudy day, but it’s nice out. We see the shrine and explore the town a little.

*Lunch*: Some more funny scheduling, my wife has made a lunch reservation at a place that serves the famous **Anagomeshi Uemno**, back across the strait so we take ferry #4. Thank god she did, as the place is swarming with people when we get there. The anago is great, and both the restaurant and the reservation are recommended.

We then take ferry #5 back to the island and go to our hotel, **Kikunoya** which is a nice ryokan with a view of the shrine. We then explore the town some more, and eat a variety of different momiji manju, the maple leaf shaped adzuki desserts they sell here. We eat in, have a quiet evening, and enjoy the hotel baths.

**Day 11**: We get up early and go straight to the shrine again as soon as they open. It’s pouring with rain, so there is almost no one there, so it’s quite lovely. The mountain is shrouded with fog and the deer are all hiding from the rain, so there’s a different vibe. We go back for breakfast at our ryokan and then get the hotel shuttle to get to the ferry for ride number #6. We have seats booked for an early train from Hiroshima to Beppu.

After arriving in downtown Beppu, our plan was to go straight to Takegawara Onsen before anywhere else to try the sand baths. Unfortunately, they were closed for the day since they were doing a deep clean. Unlucky timing.

We bought a Beppu two-day bus pass at the station, though they didn’t explain that there are two bus companies. This pass only works on Kamenoi buses, so if you want to use the Oita Kotsu to get around anywhere, be aware you will need to pay. We got on the first bus google said would take us to where we wanted to eat, and it turns out it wasn’t covered. Luckily we got on the wrong bus anyway and got off at the next stop and he just let us off, instead of taking us all the way and making us pay.

*Lunch*: We got on a the correct bus and went to **Toyoken** for their tempura chicken. There was a bit of a lineup, but we probably only waited 20-30 minutes. They did a regular and yuzu version of the chicken and both are good.

We then took another bus up to the Kannawa area of Beppu, where our ryokan was. We checked-in, and then we started walking around in the pouring rain visiting the “Jigoku Seven Hells” tour. I really liked Kannawa, there was literally steam billowing out of cracks in the pavement from all the hot springs underneath. I did not like the Seven Hells. We actually only visited the first five that were within walking distance in Kannawa. Some of them had really depressing aquariums or alligators in small pens. They were all tourist traps filled with cheap merchandise or terrible coloured beer, and while the “hells” themselves are real phenomena, the way they are presented seemed completely fake to me, with picturesque “sets” built around them to distinguish them from each other. My wife wanted to see the last two, but I was like… can we please just go to onsens instead?

The first onsen we went to was the steam onsen, **Kannawa Steam Bath**. After washing, they lock you in a small room where you lay on a bed of dry fragrant leaves for eight minutes at 65 degree temperatures. I couldn’t believe how hot this room was. Hottest I’ve ever been. I had to suppress my urge to panic for the first minute or two, but I stayed in for the full eight minutes. I was quite proud of myself. Felt quite nice afterwards, and had a good soak afterwards.

*Dinner*: We then went to get steamed food for dinner. Can’t seem to find the name of the place, but it was the main place in Kannawa where they steam food using the natural steam. This was probably the only meal in Japan that I actively disliked. You pick your food, which all sounds good, and then they steam it for about 15 minutes. Thank god for the sauces, because that is too long to steam food at that temperature. All the food was mushy and flavourless. You got to steam the food yourself, which was kind of fun, but I didn’t enjoy eating any of it.

After dinner we went to **Hyotan Onsen**. This place was kind of like an onsen emporium, with a bunch of different baths, a big room for waterfalls to fall on you, some saunas, and a sand bath. Had a great time here, and it wasn’t too busy. Did the sand bath first, and it actually made me not mind that Takegawara was closed that morning, as the sand bath was not actually that fun. Just made me feel dirty and want to get in a real bath. Loved the outdoor bath, especially because it was still pouring with rain, so the hot bath with the cold rain felt great.

Before bed, we climbed up the hill in Kannawa to get a great nighttime view of the town with all the steam rising out of the buildings.

**Day 12**: We had standard breakfast at our ryokan, called **Mikasaya**. Pretty low key place. We went up to the Myoban area this day, which takes a bit of bus travel. First stop was **Koudei Onsen**, we bused up there to try their mud onsen. My wife loved it, but it was too hot for me. Felt like it was scorching my skin. Took me three tries to submerge myself but I couldn’t do it for longer than a minute, it was boiling me alive. I got out and hung out in their regular hot spring in the rain and had a better time.

*Lunch*: We took the bus up to **Okamotoya** to have a small lunch and the famous steam-made pudding. Loved the pudding, I got a second one.

We then went to **Yunosato** where they had private onsen in little huts. So far, my wife and I had been bathing separately, so it was fun to do it together. After all the gimmicks of the other onsen, this one was fairly ordinary. The huts are cool though.

After this, we hopped on another bus back down the hill to **Hoyoland**. This was a late edition to our itinerary, but I’m very glad we went. This was everything I wanted in a mud onsen that I didn’t get in Koudei, and it’s much bigger. The place is co-ed, so that may be a roadblock for some. When we went, there were only one older couple there. There are two pools. You enter separately into the one main pool, which has a small dividing fence that obscures nothing. There is a second pool with a lot more mud in it, but is used more infrequently since you have to emerge from the main pool and walk naked over to it in full view of whoever is there. The older couple left so we made our way to the second pool and covered ourselves with mud. Lots of fun.

We took the bus back to Kannawa and did a last little exploration of the town. I wish we had booked one more day in Beppu. We didn’t have time to explore Beppu proper, and I would have liked more time to wander around both Kannawa and Myoban. It would have been nice to be able to space out the onsen visits with more time in between, as running from one bath to another for a couple days is not the best way to relax.

We then took a bus back to downtown Beppu to catch another bus to **Yufuin**. We dropped our bags of at our nice little ryokan, **Kotono Kashin**, which has private hot springs in the rooms, and a few more you can use.

*Dinner*: We walked down to **Yufumabushi Shin** for dinner, which offers a beef version of Hitsumabushi, where you have beef slices on a bed of rice, and you eat several different ways before using the last of it to make ochazuke. Very delicious, a must if you go to Yufuin.

After dinner, the town was pretty much completely closed, so we walked around until the sun went down, and then walked along the river back to our ryokan to hunt for fireflies. We spotted a few, and then went back, had a nice nighttime bath and went to sleep.

**Day 13**: We got up and found coffee at a cafe next to Yufuin’s cute lake, then made a breakfast of the various foods on sale: croquettes, dango, more puddings. Yufuin is a bit of a tourist town, it kind of reminded me of the Banff townsite, but it was actually kind of nice. We wandered around and pretty much saw everything before our scheduled train at noon to Fukuoka. We took the Yufuin Express sightseeing train, recommended for train nerds. It’s a little slower than other trains, but it’s a fun ride.

*Lunch*: We checked in at our hotel near Nakasu, and went out to the **Nagahamasengyo Fish Market** to have a late sushi lunch. This was actually a mistake, there’s not much to see at this fish market, and the sushi was just average. I figured it was a fish market, it should be good, but I definitely could have found better sushi options in Fukuoka. I think I did too much ramen planning for Hakata and neglected other things. Lesson learned. We then went to Tenjin underground mall to do some light shopping and exploring, which was fun after several days of doing non-city things.

*Dinner*: Back on the ramen train for ramen #5. Was very excited to have some hakata ramen, and our first stop was **Shin Shin**, an exemplary example of the hakata style. A must stop for any ramen enthusiast in Fukuoka. Broth, noodles, pork, all perfect.

*Beer*: After, we went to my favourite beer bar of the trip, **Beer Kichi**. It’s a stand bar with great vibes, very friendly folks, and an excellent taplist full of Japan, Kyushu, and international beers.

**Day 14**: Today was my day to explore Fukuoka. After meeting with my wife’s aunt for a late breakfast, I went to check out the city. Later in the afternoon, I wanted to get a donut at **I’m Donut** but the lineup looked like it would take about two hours. Are you serious, people?

*Dinner*: We then headed up to **Hakata Genki Ippai** for ramen #6. This was actually a bit of a disappointment, as the online reviews had touted this broth as extremely thick. It was pretty thick, but I didn’t think it was that much thicker than Shin Shin. I also made the big mistake of asking for the larger serving of wood ear mushroom. It was too much – way too much. The mushroom took over. I spent so much time just chewing on mushrooms. Don’t get the larger wood ear mushroom serving, just don’t. The broth and noodles were good, but I guess I had high expectations.

*Beer*: We then went to **Asunaro Brewery** a nice little brewpub with some decent beers and a friendly vibe.

**Day 15**: We decided to do a day trip to Yanagawa. I had watched the three hour Ghibli Yanagawa documentary and was eager to check it out and do a boat tour. I had lots of fun. The boats go under a lot of low bridges that you need to duck for, and our boat captain had a great personality and singing voice. Yanagawa is a bit of sleepy town, so we wandering around a bit, and walked back to the station along the canal route.

We then caught a train to **Dazaifu**. This place so crowded, I could hardly believe it. I just want to add a note that I think this is great time of year to come to Japan. We came a couple weeks after Golden Week, and just on the edge of the rainy season, but didn’t get too much rain. I was thrilled that Nikko and Beppu were practically empty. We fought through the crowd and went to a place that had mentaiko beef donburi. The wait was about 40 minutes, but we could get take away in about 10, so we did that instead. We shared that and ate a bunch of snacks in the main corridor. We then went to see the temple itself. We did so many temples in 2019 that I think I’m still a bit templed out, so I was happy to not spend so much time here. The perks: the trees here are awesome – you got to see them to believe them. There’s a good anatomically correct kirin statue. Decent matcha ice cream place.

*Dinner*: We returned to Fukuoka, and I had ramen #7, my favourite of the whole trip. I went to **Ramen Unari Nakasu** right when it opened. I waltzed right in, but I kind of wish I went later in the evening when it was busy and I was drunk, since I think it would be amazing after a couple drinks. The broth is a pork/fish mix, and it’s so damn savoury, has a nice bit of oil in it, and some delectable fatty charsiu. I wish I had gone back after visiting yatais.

*Beer*: I then went to **Okura Brewery** nearby. I did not realize this place was in the basement of a classy-looking hotel, so I was a bit put off at first. Beers are good though – it’s a good traditional European style brewery and I enjoyed what they had.

My wife and I then went out to explore the yatai. We had a couple in mind, but this was a Saturday night and there were lots of people. We visited **Takechan** for some tasty gyoza, and my wife had the doteyaki and horumon. We tried finding another yatai in Nakasu after this, but the lineups were too long and we couldn’t make a decision. I wanted to go to **Chez Remi** for the cheese toast, so we head back downtown to check out the non-Nakasu yatai. There was a bit of a line, but it wasn’t insurmountable, and the cheese toast was definitely worth waiting for.

**Day 16**: We had breakfast at our hotel and then did some morning exploring and checked out the bougie grocers and food stalls in the Iwataya and Mitsukoshi basements and pondered what kind of life it would be to shop here regularly. Who buys $138 cherries?

*Lunch:* I then made my way over to ramen #8, **Hakata Issou**. It was Sunday afternoon and the lineup was quite long. Waited about an hour. Very interesting ramen. Broth is very frothy, very porky, probably the porkiest broth I had. Leaves a very porky aftertaste. 👍👍 Not for everybody though.

*Dinner:* After some more minor exploring, we then went out for another Fukuoka staple: torikawa (chicken skin yakitori). Our first choice was sadly closed for a staff event that night, so we had to scramble to find a backup. We visited two places: the first was a gritty izakaya that sold some very good torikawa, though my wife thought the staff were rude so we left. We went to a more popular place on the main drag that we had spotted near our hotel. The torikawa were bigger but they were also greasier.

We cut the dinner plans short (we were planning to check out a third place), and decided to do some karaoke. We went into the closest Big Echo and sang until we were tired (which was not long).

**Day 17**: We went back to Tenjin mall for breakfast since I had spotted a conspicuous number of French patisseries here and was craving some pastries. We went back to the Mitsukoshi to pick up some food for lunch and then we caught the Shinkansen back to Osaka. Dinner with the folks.

**Day 18**: My wife had some administrative business in the morning, so I went to Yodobashi for some shopping, and then we met for lunch and went to **Toyo Izakaya**. We went on our last trip and had gotten his last order of tuna cheek and loved it, so we wanted to go back and try it again. We ended up stuck in line for about an hour, even though it was raining. I love the sloppy unglamorous sashimi and sushi they serve, and probably enjoyed the ikura a little more than the tuna cheek this time. We met up with a friend for dinner and went to an unpretentious izakaya, and she very kindly gifted us a cheesecake from Rikuro-ojisan’s.

**Day 19**: This day I was very excited to do something I didn’t get to do on the first trip: bike in Japan. I borrowed my father-in-law’s bike and plotted a trip from Ibaraki-shi to Minoh to try a brewery. I used an app (maps.me) that seemed to be better at charting good courses for biking. Google Maps tries to get you to a destination as quick as possible and puts you on any road it can, and maps.me was pretty good at finding more bike-friendly routes. I think I need to play around with it a little more, but if any other cyclists have suggestions, I’m all ears. This one put me on bike lanes, lower traffic roads, and fun back streets, and lots of routes google would never dream of putting me on, and it was great.

*Beer*: Found my way to Derailleur Brew Works in Minoh, and had some pretty good beers. Had my third beer of the trip brewed with koji, and they had a pretty good dashi gose.
*Lunch*: I then charted a course for **Matsusaka Gyumen Suita** for some beef ramen (#9), which was delicious. The beef comes raw, pho style, and you bukkake the broth over the meat and noodles before eating.

*Dinner*: We met with friends and went to Osaka staple **551 Horai** for butaman, giant pork-filled baos and other Chinese food (Japan-style).

**Day 20**: Today we planned to go down to Shinsaibashi for shopping. One thing I have to do in Japan is visit a McDonald’s to check out the latest menu items. I barely ever eat McDonald’s anymore, but I had to do it. I got a teriyaki chicken filet (essentially a McChicken covered in teriyaki sauce), a yubari milkshake, and a lemon cheese pie, and I loved it all and have no regrets. We later met with more friends and had another dinner at an izakaya.

**Day 21**: My wife must have eaten something at the izakaya that didn’t agree with her, as she had a spot of minor food poisoning. I left her at home to recover and went to Kyoto to look for records, and wander around Nishiki Market

*Lunch*: One of my favourite things I ate in my 2019 was my 10th and final ramen here, at **Wajoryomen Sugari**. They have an amazingly thick, rich fish broth. They have some big thick noodles that were a welcome return after all the skinny hakata ones. You can’t just slurp this ramen back, it’s just too rich. You have to savour it, which I did. I love this place, it has a very old school vibe, lots of sliding doors, only bar seating, and a very tranquil back yard/waiting area.

*Beer and Dinner*: After wandering around a bit, I ended up at **Bungalow**, a homey beer bar with a decent taplist. I got slightly tipsy after a few beers and decided to eat there instead of exploring for another option. Their yakisoba hit the spot and their aji tataki was a great finisher.

**Day 22**: Since there was no rain, I decided to go on another bike ride, as I didn’t get to the Expo Park on my previous ride to see the Tower of the Sun. My wife and I biked to a mall to meet with her sister first, and then I embarked on the rest of my trip. Five minutes later, and POW! Flat tire. The rear tire was a bit worn and was past its due date. Luckily, there was a cycle place back at the mall I had just left. I walked it back, and managed to communicate enough to get the bike back in two hours. Unfortunately, that put me into the dinner hour and ruined my biking plans, so I went to do what I was going to do at the end of my bike ride: drink beer.

*Beer*: After dropping off the bike, I walked back to Ibaraki-Shi to try **3 Trees Brewery**. Very friendly folk, and pretty good beer. Probably my second-favourite place I drank at, I’ll have to return in the evening for a future visit.

**Day 23:** For breakfast this day, I did the most essential thing: I woke up early and went to **Endo Sushi**. This is one of my favourite places. There was about 14-15 people ahead of me, but it moves relatively quickly. The sushi is absolutely amazing, and it’s completely affordable. There are four sets, five pieces each, and you can’t go wrong with any of them. I had ¾ of them. If I lived in Osaka I would go here once a week.

Rain was in the forecast, but it seemed like it was only going to drizzle lightly, so I decided to take the bike back out with its brand new rear tire and finally see the Tower of the Sun. Third time’s a charm. The route took me underneath Ibaraki-Shi’s cool monorail tracks, so that was fun. Saw the Tower of the Sun from all angles, and biked back for a chill day. My wife was still feeling ill so we needed to cancel our dinner plans and eat at home.

**Day 24**: We started packing this day, since we had accumulated a lot of things, and my wife wanted to take a lot of her stuff to Canada. That took up most of the afternoon. We went out to for Japanese BBQ for dinner.

**Day 25**: The day of reckoning is here, final day. We spent most of the day packing.

**Day 26:** Flight out, connecting in Tokyo.