Japan - the first time I fell in love

Tokyo Tower

For this post, I want to talk about the first time I ever visited Japan back in April 2018. At first, I did not know what to expect from this country. The only time I have ever been on an international trip was when I was 5 years old and I went to the Philippines with my family. To be honest, I do not remember much of that trip other than hanging out in a treehouse.

Fast forward to like, 20 years later, I experienced my first international trip overseas to Japan. At the time, I did not know any Japanese other than “hello” and “please” so this was definitely a whole new world to me.

We decided to stay at the Shinjuku Washington hotel in Tokyo out of a recommendation from a friend because there was a bus that directly stopped at that hotel from the airport. Buying the bus tickets at Haneda airport wasn’t so difficult either.

Since Shinjuku is in the middle of basically everything in Tokyo, getting around Japan was a breeze! Definitely, taking the trains in Japan was such a new experience! There are so many stairs to climb, so many people were traveling to where they had to go, and I discovered how convenient IC cards were in Japan! One thing we did was to buy a tourist 3-day unlimited subway ticket from Bic Camera. That subway pass saved us so much money.

Now, let me talk about the first time I felt like I ate REAL authentic sushi. I was blown away! There’s nothing that compare to Japan’s sushi! Even though Hawaii has its own sushi places, the fish doesn’t taste as fresh compared to Japan’s. Everything basically melts in your mouth! So delicious!

I mean, every food in Japan to me was so delicious! I even discovered Melon Pan for the first time! It was so good! In Asakusa, we found the one where they put soft serve ice cream inside. It was such a treat!

Other than exploring around the areas, taking the trains, and eating a lot of food, I scheduled a photoshoot with a Japanese model.

Her name is Mocoro Mamiya. We found each other’s work through instagram and decided to do a photoshoot together while I was there. This was the time where I found out that most Japanese people know how to read and write in English but speaking it was surely a different story. Eventually, I decided that I wanted to learn Japanese from then on. I really want to communicate with the locals of Japan and I believe that learning their language will also make all my future trips to Japan a lot more easier.

There were so many new things I experienced. Especially Japan’s culture and lifestyle. I absolutely FELL IN LOVE with Japan from then on. I decided to come visit here as much as I possibly can to explore other parts of the country!