Harry Potter World (aka Universal Studios Osaka)

When Covid lockdowns postponed our original Japan trip one thing Eleanor and Leo were especially disappointed to miss was Universal Studios in Osaka. So it has been eagerly awaited for the past three years. Harry Potter World was the main source of  their excitement, I’m not sure they were even aware (or maybe cared?) that it’s a bigger park. 

One advantage of travelling with older children is that they can step in as guest writers for the blog! So, Harry Potter World (aka Universal Studios) is brought to you by Eleanor…

That morning, we woke up super early to get inside before the public rolled in. Usually I would’ve been annoyed we woke up so early, but this was Universal Studios.

We got there before the gates were officially supposed to open, but they were open anyway - there were so many people already! [Jo - walking down the main street when we first entered was disorienting. It looks so realistic, until you look a little harder and realise everything is either good, souvenir or just a facade/shop window, it’s surreal!]. 

First we went to the Jaws area. We went on a river ride on which the shark followed us around as our tour guide tried to shoot it. It was loud and exciting, I thought, but a little confusing as all the words were in Japanese!

Then we went to the Jurassic Park area. That was - in my opinion - where one of the best roller coasters, Flight of the Dinosaur, was. We started upside down and then just zoomed around the place, turning every which way. It was awesome!! [Jo - it was designed to give you the sense of the flight of a pterodactyl. I had my eyes closed the entire time and still felt queasy at the end!]. 

Next was the Minions area, which is where Mum and I lost Leo and Dad. They had wandered off to go on a ride - without telling us! So that was frustrating, but we eventually found them again and made them wait as we went on a Minions ride. The minions ride was great - we sat in seats that turned and spun in time with the screen in front of us. 

Then we had lunch! We went to this cute little New York-inspired pizza place and ordered a pepperoni pizza and some fried chicken. It was delicious and hit the spot, fuelling us up for the next round. 

The Spider Man area was next! We had another ride like the Minions one, where it was like we experienced everything but in reality it was just on a screen. That ride was one of my favourites overall!

After that, we went to Hollywood Dream - an area with two great rollercoasters. One made us go backwards along the track- we couldn’t see where we were going! It was pretty scary. Then it had the same rollercoaster, but going forwards. That one’s my favourite. On both of them, we could choose out of five songs to play while we rode. I chose Shake It Off by Taylor Swift - great song!

Then we had Super Nintendo World, which was inspired by Mario Kart. It was incredibly crowded there - there was no room to even breathe - so we didn’t stay long at all and didn’t buy anything… but it was still amazing! It was so detailed - I loved it.

Second to last, we went to Harry Potter World. This is my favourite place in the entire theme park - Harry Potter was my childhood. 

I was so excited as soon as we stepped through the door, into a makeshift Hogsmeade. We wandered around the shops for a little bit before ending up at the Forbidden Journey ride. That was the same as Spider-Man and the Minions rides - an experience - but it was so amazing. We got to see all the actors on screen, plus moving portraits and authentic-looking Hogwarts hallways. I was in heaven. [Jo - it’s the closest we’ll ever come to experiencing broom flight, and it was awesome! Not so convinced by being dribbled on by Aragog though!]. 

After that ride, we stepped outside to try some butterbeer. Hot tip - get it cold, not hot. I got it cold and it was delicious, but Leo got it hot and it was way, way too sweet. I don’t think he finished it. [Jo - it tasted a bit like malted honey. And for the record mine was hot and it was yum, although a small cup was plenty!]. 

Next was the Flight of the Hippogriff, a rollercoaster. It looked great, but really we think it was a ride made for younger kids - it wasn’t very exciting for us and ended too soon, but it was still great. 

Then, finally, we went back to the shops, where I got some lollies - a chocolate frog and droobles best blowing gum - and some soft toys - a scabbers, an arnold, and a hedwig… (Ron’s rat, Ginny’s pygmy puff, and Harry’s owl respectively). Leo just got a few treats. 

We went on the Forbidden Journey for the second time, then, sadly, left that part of the park. Definitely my favourite out of all the parts of the park!

It was getting dark then, maybe around five, but Leo and I begged mum and dad to let us go on a rollercoaster we loved in the Hollywood area. It was around the third time we went on it, and it was stunning - we had such a beautiful view. Mum and Dad had just finished their milkshakes when we got back. 

It was time for us to leave - and as we started walking, I started to crash. It had been an awesome day, one I’ll never forget, but exhausting all the same. 

• Eleanor :)

Deer at Nara and on to Osaka

One of Leo’s lock-ins at the Trello board session a couple of months ago was a day trip to Nara, a city an hour or so from Kyoto. Nara is home to Kasuga Taisha shrine, Todaiji temple and over 1000 well-fed and friendly deer (Leo’s real motivation for visiting!). 

Nara was established as Japan's first permanent capital in 710. Before then, the capital moved whenever a new emperor took the throne. It didn’t last long though - the government made Nagaoka capital in 784 when they became concerned about the power and influence of the Buddhist monasteries, which can still be seen in the shrine and temple we visited. 

Walking up to Kasuga Taisha Shrine we saw a few ‘horse people’, Leo’s name for the extremely fit looking rickshaw ‘drivers’, and deer everywhere. The bolder (hungrier?) deer hang out near the cracker sellers ready and waiting, while others relax in the shade of the trees or in amongst the stone lanterns around the pathways.

We enjoyed wandering around the deer-free shrine admiring the hundreds of bronze lanterns. Until we got hungry and keen to get our own deer crackers to feed them ourselves. 

The first few deer we came across were gentle and polite. They’re tame and cleverer than I’d realised. Some have learned to bow to ask for food. They also understand that you’ve run out of crackers when you put empty hands in the air. And a pat seems to be accepted as part of the deal in return for food. 

The closer we got to the main cracker sellers near the entrance to the park the more assertive the deer. They’ll happily nip and head butt you (reasonably gently) to get your attention. Eleanor wasn’t thrilled to be surrounded by a cluster of deer all demanding food and I didn’t love being nipped on the bum! She wound up getting rid of them by dropping most of the crackers on the ground, much to her disappointment. Just as well I had a few spares. Adrian and Leo found it all highly amusing!

Todaiji Temple is absolutely huge - one of the world’s largest wooden buildings (incredible given that when it was last reconstructed they reduced the size by a third!). It needs to be big because it’s home to a 15 metre tall bronze sitting Buddha.  I know I’ve used the word ‘striking’ several times already to describe the amazing things we’re seeing, and I will again hear. 

I was on choosing a restaurant for dinner that night. When we joined the very long queue for the katsu restaurant I’d picked out, we were reminded that if you want to guarantee a table at the place you actually want to eat it’s a very good idea to get a reservation. We wound up eating at a cheap and cheerful cod rowe pasta specialist restaurant. Turns out that cod rowe carbonara isn’t as bad as you might think according to Eleanor and Leo.

The next morning we packed up ready for

Osaka then squeezed in a quick visit to Nijo Castle, the Kyoto residence of the Tokogawa shoguns. 

We all agreed that this is our favourite shrine/temple/castle so far. It has these unique ‘nightingale floors’ that squeak (like a bird) when you walking on them. Depending on which guide you read, they were designed that way to alert inhabitants to intruders, or the bolts in the floor have become squeaky over time. We’re going with the former explanation because we like it better! There is also some amazing and interesting art in the various rooms of the palace.

Osaka isn’t far from Kyoto - 30 minutes by train. It is different though, younger, grungier and edgier somehow. 

I suggested that we walk from the station to the hotel. It seemed a good idea when we thought it was 28 minutes away, but the station exit we picked meant it was closer to 50 minutes. Not quite so fun with our big bags, although we did get to see a little more of Osaka from above ground. 

We still had some spare time in the afternoon, so the kids voted for a visit to the instant ramen museum. It’s a bit hard to fully understand the story because it’s all in Japanese, but we had lots of fun decorating our noodle cups and designing our own flavour combinations. My tomato chilli chicken noodles were easily the best.

Our day ended with a short pre-dinner river cruise at Dotonbori. Leo in particular loved seeing the city from a different perspective. 

Wandering in Nara Park, and Kasuga Taisha shrine. 

New friends!

Todaiji Temple.

Nijo Castle - five stars from us!

Ramen, ramen, ramen!

Dotonbori, Osaka

Ninjas, kimonos and a tea ceremony

We spent our second day in Kyoto within  walking distance from our very well-located hotel. We started with a visit to the Nishiki Market, a narrow, long shopping street lined with shops and restaurants. It specialises in food related produce - fresh seafood, local sweets, knives, cookware and chopsticks. 

When we first arrived about 9.30am, some shops were still opening up for the day (not like other markets where you’ve already missed all the good stuff if you’re not there by sunrise, here things happen at a respectable hour!), within 30 minutes everything was open and it was bustling with locals and tourists. We nibbled and shopped our way the length of it, Adrian and Leo were the most adventurous (as usual!) with their eel and squid skewers. I went with a decent coffee in a cafe with a beautiful little garden and Eleanor found a yummy sakura sweet. 

Nearby is the Samurai and Ninja Museum. There we learned about traditional Japanese societal structure, Samurai families and ninjas being ‘hidden’ farmers and fishermen. Once the movement to modernise was took hold in the mid-to-late 1800s, it ended the shogunate and resulted in the Meiji Restoration, and we can see it everywhere now - a very modern and prosperous country albeit with differing views on the impacts of the restoration. 

After the quick history lesson we got to the bit Eleanor and Leo were waiting for… dressing up as ninjas and testing our skills with shuriken (throwing stars) and blowing darts. While ninjas dressed in black is more Hollywood invention than historical fact, we had loads of fun. The stars  require a bit of practice - I had trouble getting mine to consistently lodge in the wall. We all agreed the blow darts are the best, largely because it is remarkably easy to be accurate. 

There are several great second hand shops near the markets, so we visited those after lunch. Much to Eleanor’s joy after the failed attempts in Tokyo. Our favourite was the huge and affordable Three Star. A real treasure trove - our bags are slightly fuller now too!

I’d been keen to try dressing in kimono since my friend Haley recommended it when we were planning for the original trip, so was very happy to finally have the chance. We picked our colours from a large range and felt amazing in the beautiful robes with our hair done. We tottered across the road to experience a tea ceremony, where all the guests were dressed up. We whisked our own matcha - there’s definitely a skill to master there! - and ate delicious sweets while we learned about the history and traditions involved. 

There was no need for mandatory appreciation that day, it was genuine. And capped off perfectly with Eleanor’s choice of pizzas at the hotel and a game of cards. 

Hunting for yummy-ness at Nishiki Market. 

Watch out!

 

Samurai organisational values - business has learned a lot from the way the Samurai were organised. 

Dressed and ready for tea. 

Three big hits in Kyoto

We arrived in Kyoto by bullet train. An excellent and speedy way to get around - our train travelled at 285km/hr. It’s hard to appreciate how fast that is until one goes past when you’re standing still. It disappears in a flash, the ground shakes and it is so loud the kids cover their ears. 

Kyoto immediately had a completely different feel to Tokyo. It’s hard to describe exactly what gave us that impression, but all the coffee shops, craft beer and wine bars we walked past might have had something to do with it. 

We were very pleased to see our hotel when we finally arrived. The IMU has Japanese style rooms, so we sleep on fold out futon mattresses in a row. It’s remarkably comfortable, I had my best sleeps of the trip so far there. It also has several bottles of sake sitting on the bar in the evenings for guests to sample. Adrian and I popped down couple of times to give it a try. It’s not something we’d drink regularly, but it definitely grew on us. 

The next morning we were up and out in good time as we had grand plans to visit three of Kyoto’s big cultural sites. This made it a ‘mandatory appreciation’ day. These are drawn from the same idea as the ‘mandatory fun’ activities  at our work team days. In this case, ‘mandatory appreciation’ applies to things that are probably more interesting to adults than to 12 and 14-year olds, but are important for historical, cultural or other reasons, and add to the overall richness of our trip. 

We were very keen to get to our first stop, Fushimi-Inari-Taisha Shrine, before the worst of the crowds. It is a Shinto shrine dedicated to Inari, the Shinto god of rice, and known for the thousands of torii gates that wind through the forest on Mt Inari behind the shrine itself. The gates create tunnels to walk through as you explore the trails. It was an amazing experience to wander through the tunnels, and the forest. The kids even appreciated it, for the first few thousand gates at least!

From there we popped into the striking Kinkaku-ji, the ‘Golden Pavilion’. Apt because the top two floors are completely covered in gold leaf. It was originally built as a retirement villa for the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu in the late 1300s/early 1400s. It really is an impressive sight looking across the pond, and the gardens (which have retain their original design) are beautiful. This was probably a bit more mandatory on the child-appreciation front, but we all enjoyed the visit.

Our final stop for the day was the Zen temple, Tenryu-ji, in Arashiyama. It’s an old temple, established in 1339, and like many Japanese buildings has burned down and been reconstructed multiple times over the centuries (no less than four in the 1300s alone). We sat inside one of the rooms overlooking the peaceful garden and pond. Adrian tried to get the kids to really relax and meditate a little. Their level of appreciation extended to it being a pretty outlook. Horses and water.

The garden was laid out over 700 years ago and still has its original form. It is also an example of shakkei (borrowed scenery), in which the nearby mountains are used to give the garden a sense of added depth. It was designed for strolling, so we duly strolled along the little pathways. At the end of the garden you come into a grove of enormous bamboo, probably 18 feet tall with the thick stalks we’ve seen used in fencing. It would make pandas very happy!

Torii gate tunnels at Fushimi-Inari-Taisha Shrine. Instagrammers are very helpful at creating gaps in the crowds!

Kinkaku-ji, a better than average retirement home. 

Tenryu-ji, and some very tall bamboo  

Three bugs in their rugs. 

My Fuji spotting at Lake Kawaguchiko

The trip to Lake Kawaguchiko was our first using Japan Rail passes. We were able to reserve seats as far as Otsuki. The Fujisan View Express from Otsuki to Lake Kawaguchiko was fully booked when we’d done our travel admin a few days ago, so we took a local train the second leg. 

There’s no additional cost to reserve seats, and it means you won’t need to move during your journey, so we’ve reserved most of our train trips. Although unreserved seating is pretty simple too - there’s a little red light above each seat that turns orange before the train arrives at a station it is booked from so you know to move. 

In Japan it isn’t polite to eat in the street, or on public transport. They are pragmatic people though and it is common to take a bento box or other transportable food on long distance trains, so we stocked up on nibbles for the journey. Trains here are comfortable, easy and on time!

We arrived about lunchtime, to early to check in at our hotel, so we dropped our bags in the lobby and walked back to Shaw’s near the station for some amazing-looking sushi and rice bowls. Adrian and Leo went with grilled eel, and claimed it was delicious. Eleanor, who was struggling with chopsticks when we arrived, showed off her newly acquired skills with lettuce over lunch. She definitely won’t starve now!

Indoor spaces often felt small in Tokyo (restaurants, our hotel rooms, lifts etc. a sometimes I was surprised that we’d all fit, but there was always just enough room). Lake Kawaguchiko is a return to the smaller side of normal size. At Shaw’s there was room to move at and around the table. It made me optimistic for the size of our hotel room too (my optimism was not misplaced!). 

That afternoon was sunny with a cool wind. We’d had a peek at Mt Fuji through the clouds from the train as we arrived, but with rain due the following day, we quickly headed up the Mt Fuji Panorama Ropeway (cable car) for a view from a nearby hill. To get to  beginning of the ropeway, you walk along the road alongside Lake Kawaguchiko. It felt strangely familiar, like a combination of Queenstown and an alpine Swiss village out of season, and different at the same time. 

There’s a delicious-smelling bakery at the near the ticket counter the sells biscuits shaped like Mt Fuji (everything here is shaped like Mt Fuji, including the blue(!) and red curries Eleanor and Adrian had for lunch one day). We weren’t hungry after all the sushi, so didn’t buy one; a decision I later regretted when we didn’t pass the bakery again. I became a little obsessed with trying what we now call a ‘fu-kie’.  

Another thing the Japanese are good at is letting you know is the time you’ll be queuing - for the ropeway it was 60 minutes, although it might have been a little less in reality by the time we got to the end. No one minds a shorter-than-expected-queue!! The view across the lake on the way up was pretty, although we were crammed into the car which took away from the experience. We might have felt differently if towards the front of the the cabin rather than the back! 

Unfortunately Mt Fuji was hiding behind clouds while we were at the top. We waited a little while without much luck then started walking back down the hill. This was a real treat, the highlight of our little expedition - peaceful with dappled light through the trees and very few people around. There are a couple of good Mt Fuji-viewing spots on the way down as well as beautiful views back over the lake. The cloud even cleared a little so we saw more of the mountain - being 3776m high, Mt Fuji is a cloud magnet. It changes so quickly that when you get a clear view the idea is to grab your camera first then tell your friends. 

Not convinced we’d had the best view yet, we jumped on the train for the short trip to Shimo-Yoshida, from where it’s a short walk up hill to the Chureito Pagoda. It’s meant to be spectacular at sunset, but that evening the clouds meant no sunset and no view of the mountain. The cherry blossoms were truly spectacular though. They obviously bloom later in the slightly cooler mountain air because they were beautiful and well worth the visit alone!

The next day it was chilly, and wet, and windy. We started with a quick drink at Haostay Coffee, a cafe run by the same people as our accommodation. The kids continued their search for the best strawberry drink - trying our strawberry soda this time - while we tried our first  matcha lattes. Adrian and I both voted it ‘definitely worth trying again’. Leo gave his taste a ‘mediocre’ and Eleanor declared that it tasted like brewed peas (and not in a good way). I guess we won’t need to share our next ones!

We had a damp walk across the bridge and round the lake for lunch. Again Mt Fuji eluded us. In fact at some points we couldn’t see far at all! Chatting as we walked along was lovely, even if it was a bit chilly. Leo even mutter something about trousers at one point, which is virtually unheard of for our t-shirt and shorts wearing boy!

On our way back we stopped in at the Lake Kawaguchiko Music Forest, a museum of automated musical instruments. Its an amazing collection of organs and pianos from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century that play music at the touch of a button. One organ takes up the entire wall of a large room - it was loud too, used for public dances. It was an interesting prompt to think about a period where people were finding ways to provide music without live musicians before recording. It’s definitely quirky, and fun, it reminded us a little of places like the Waterworks on the 309 road in Coromandel. I’m not sure the music forest people would appreciate the comparison though!

The following morning we opened the curtains to a beautiful day, with Mt Fuji visible through wispy clouds. By the time we left for the station on our way to Kyoto the mountain was clearer still. Stunning! 

This time we were able to book on the Fujisan View Express. The only remaining seats were in the absolutely beautiful buffet car, so we enjoyed coffee, juice and beautiful clear views of Mt Fuji from the train. It almost felt like a relief to get a clear view given the primary reason for our visit. And they even had fu-kies! It was several days before we actually ate the fu-kie - it was yummy shortbread dipped in white chocolate to create the snow! 

Beautiful Mt Fuji

Snoozing on the luggage racks

Mt Fuji Panoramic Ropeway

Chureito Pagoda

Pretty (chilly!) Lake Kawaguchiko

A little bit of luxury on the Fujisan View Express

Fu-kie!