Last fall, my husband and I spent two weeks in Japan with some of our best friends—we’re still talking about the food we ate, the art we saw, and the places we stayed on a weekly basis, and I don’t see us stopping any time soon.
We went to Tokyo, Kyoto, and the art islands: Naoshima and Teshima. We were all first-timers, and walked away with the same conclusion—it felt like some sort of utopia. From the glorious (and I mean glorious) convenience store snacks on every corner to the general level of cleanliness and respect for others, to the high bar for food, design, and public transit….I found nothing to improve upon!
Cannot wait to back and I feel a deep sense of sadness in the pit of my stomach thinking about it, wishing I could relive it all as I write this. (The telltale sign of an amazing trip for me (lol)). I could go on, but I’ll get into the list:
ONE FINAL NOTE
This list won’t be ranked in order—I couldn’t possibly sort these things from best to worst, because they were all essentially The Best—so please consider any of the below an excellent option where you cannot go wrong. Ok! Let’s go
Staying at this particular airbnb on Teshima would’ve made the whole trip worth it, if nothing else. (A big thank you to our friend Zach for planning this part of the trip…Without him, we would’ve been stumbling around, searching for last-minute museum reservations, probably unsuccessfully)
We arrived on the ferry, our airbnb host picked us up from the dock, then dropped us off in town and set us up with some bikes to get around. Breakfast at the house consisted of eggs and yogurt from the host’s family farm, which could not have been a sweeter touch
Visiting the James Turrell exhibit at the Chichu Art Museum on Naoshima. You’re able to walk up the stairs and “go into the blue,” if you will. (I have full body chills just thinking about it)
Vintage shopping at the Oedo Antique Market: this is where we got most of the goods on our trip! It’s only held on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of every month, so plan around being in Tokyo on either of those dates
Sipping incredible coffee at Woven in Kyoto. The owner had a garage on the side where he was selling vintage ceramics (among other tchotchkes) and we ended up getting some of our favorite souvenirs from the trip there:
Eating this delightful tamago sandwich at momoharu in Kyoto
*BELOW
Everywhere else we stayed, a beautiful onsen, coffee & yakitori omakase, bar and restaurant recommendations, a denim customization situation, more art installations, konbini faves, vintage shopping, tennis, and excellent donuts