FAREWELL, JAPAN

GOOD NEWS: During my last three weeks living in Japan, I was able to travel to some amazing places...places I had always wanted to visit but never had the time to while working!

BAD NEWS: I somehow lost the memory card (or accidentally formatted it) that had all my photos from my last month of travel...  -__- 

GOOD NEWS: I took a lot of photos on my iphone while traveling around so at least I have some! Decided to put a thick film edit on them, since vintage is all the rage now haha.

Ok so in the end...the good news outweighs the bad! amen.

 

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HARAJUKU. TOKYO - Only in Tokyo can you find LATTE art like this!! At REISSUE in Harajuku, you can literally show the latte artist any photo and they will turn it into latte art. amazing.

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KASHIWA. CHIBA - My hometown's summer matsuri (festival!) 

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KASHIWA. CHIBA- Looking back at this photo really makes me miss it...Kashiwa, my hometown in Japan. I know these streets like the back of my hand!

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KASHIWA. CHIBA- Even though Kashiwa is an hour outside of Tokyo, it's still a big poppin city of it's own! Our summer festival is HUGE and tons of people come out to watch the parade.

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ARASHIYAMA. KYOTO- This year, I went to Kyoto THREE times! yep. THREE. You could say i'm a Kyoto pro tour guide by now haha. Arashiyama (bamboo forest) is definitely one of the spots you can't miss. 

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KAMO RIVER. KYOTO - stunning.

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FUSHIMIINARI. KYOTO- The key to this is...get there early and turn around in the exit tunnels to get a shot with no one in the background! 

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NARA PARK. NARA - deer deer everywhereeeee

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TEAM LAB BORDERLESS, ODABIBA. TOKYO - this exhibit was super hyped and a bit pricey...but WORTH IT!!!! This room was magical. 

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TOKYO DISNEYSEA, CHIBA - Nomes and I headed to TDS on the hottest day EVER. Thank God for the popsicles (fun side note, in Japan they call popsicles "ice candy"). And of course we had to match head to toe!!

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MARUNOUCHI, TOKYO - one of my favorite things to do in my free time is sit at a cafe and journal. This one happened to be right in front of Tokyo station and had hot coffee and tasty macaroons. I love this city. 

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TEGANUMA, KASHIWA, CHIBA - summer in Japan means two things : fireworks and yukatas (summer kimonos). I was able to get a front row view of the popular teganuma firework show! The most impressive part was when they set off these giant fireworks right on top of the water creating this amazing view. 

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GLICO FACTORY, NODA. CHIBA- Glico is a HUGE company in Japan which sells icecream, cookies, snacks, etc...and we were able to go for tour at their new factory in Noda! Japanese factories are amazing...so well designed and made for tours!  

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TOKYO DOME, TOKYO - What is summer in Japan without baseball?? I LOVEEEE going to Tokyo Giants games, especially with...

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TOKYO DOME, TOKYO - Kai!!! My coworkers son, who is like a younger brother to me! His uncle got us amazing seats in the season ticket area where we had a buffet dinner and three icecream bars haha.

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CHITOSE, OSAKA. OSAKA- I found this amazing little restaurant on a blogpost I saw and decided I had to try it. TRAVEL TIP* look up a place you wanna go on instagram. If there are a lot of photos of it...GO!!! It must be good* and this place was worth the hype. AMAZING beef soup with a lot of meat paired with a bowl of tamago kakegohan...rice with a raw egg on top. PERFECTION!!!! I want to eat this every single day. 

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DOTONBORI, OSAKA - the main place to be in Osaka. I love the madness here. 

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21st CENTURY MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, KANAZAWA. ISHIKAWA - This museum was on my bucket list ever since I moved to Japan. Kanazawa is pretty far from Tokyo (3 hr shinkansen) so I didn't have a chance to go until this trip. It was so awesome and so worth it! 

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21st CENTURY MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, KANAZAWA. ISHIKAWA. 

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CHAYAMACHI, KANAZAWA. ISHIKAWA - this little street of shops and restaurants is so old school and a step back in time. 

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KENROKUEN, KANAZAWA. ISHIKAWA- Kenrokuen is one of the top gardens in all of Japan. It is an iconic place full of perfectly manicured trees and garden areas. 

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SHIRAKAWAGO. GIFU - This world heritage site is ABSOLUTELY worth the trip (it's an hour bus ride from Toyama station...which is 2 hours from Tokyo). It felt like I entered a magical land!!!

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SHIRAKAWAGO, GIFU - nevverrrr waaantedddd to leaaveeeeee!!!!!!

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DOMINIQUE ANSEL, TOKYO - One of my favorite places to get sweets in Tokyo. 

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KASHIWA STATION. KASHIWA. CHIBA - I walked through this station every day for three years. It's my home and my favorite place in all of Japan. So many memories made here with so many incredible people...ahhh!

 

JAPAN...i'll be back for you soon...