ready for departure! 🛫 today started at 5am, our family trip is about to begin! 10 days in Japan await us, but first, we need to survive 13 hours of direct flight Italy-Japan.

The Flight. we took off at 10am and landed after 13 hrs. at 6am local time. the plane meals were exceptionally good! I ate butter salmon with potatoes and crackers with cheese; the second meal was gnocchi with shrimps and fish! it was a long run, but we made it.

Day 01 🏙️ morning we arrived at Asakusa, saw the Sensoji and waited for the new year! Asakusa was crowded and full of stands with street food. one thing for sure is that I ate plenty of delicious goods :3 🌇 afternoon we actually took a nap because the jet lag was something real 🌃 night we went at the Sensoji for the Hyakuhachi-e! it's a new year's eve bell ringing ceremony where 108 people take turns ringing the bell 108 times to purify humanity of 108 earthly temptations as the year ends and the new one begins. 🍱 list of things I ate during the day: • salmon onigiri (bought at a konbini) • cheese nuggets (from burger king) • garlic bread (from a bar nearby) • shrimps and mayo roll (also bought at a konbini) • karage (from asakusa temple! so good) • takoyaki (also from the temple, but I didn't enjoy them that much)

Day 02 🏙️ morning I had breakfast with my dad and after we all took a walk towards Tokyo Skytree, we found a park and the view from the bridge of Sumida River was amazing! the weather was also so nice!! during our walk we found a Shinto shrine called koume inari shrine. 綺麗でした 🥹 🌇 afternoon we spent the afternoon at the Skytree, did some shopping and also had lunch here. 🌆 evening after that, we came back, had dinner and chilled. it was a pretty nice, full day. the mall at Skytree is called Tokyo Solamachi and it's huge, super crowded and full of shopping spots. we're all pretty tired. 🍱 what I ate today: • cinnamon roll for breakfast at Starbucks • salmon onigiri and shrimp mayo roll from the konbini • meat bun for lunch, tasty and not too savory like the Chinese bao (for me it's a plus not being too crowded with flavors) • tuna onigiri from the konbini • karage for lunch (I really liked it apparently lol 2 days in a row out of 2!) • soba also from the Sensoji shops

Day 03 part 1 🏙️ morning my sibling and I had trouble sleeping today, we woke up at 5am, had a chat and after we just gave up and at 7am went to a konbini to buy something for breakfast. at 8am the rest of my family woke up and we went buying おみくじ (omikuji) at Asakusa temple for us and our loved ones. then had breakfast at Starbucks. 🌇 afternoon we spent most of our day at Sunshine City, at Chiikawa Park. we had lunch and wandered around Ikebukuro. I just love japanese metro and especially Yamanote Line so much! 🍱 what I ate today (so far): • salmon onigiri, shrimp and mayo roll • アボカド明太とスモークサーモンの 「かけだし」 パスタ – this was a pasta with broth on the side, with salmon and avocado. it was pretty strange, probably because the pasta was our traditional Italian pasta and not the one you usually find in Japan for ramen and such. it was pretty interesting still!

❄️ SNOW! Day 03 part 2 It snowed!! we were in Asakusa and suddenly started snowing! it was so magical, I took tons of pictures 📸 we went out for dinner and had a delicious sushi!! it was just so good we had to ate it twice omg just thinking about it makes me drool 🤤

SHINKANSEN! 🚄 day 04 part 1 today we're transferring from Tokyo to Osaka and we're on the Shinkansen! it was a real ride to find a way to buy tickets, because we were getting tangled in small details and probably a bit lost in translation. luckily everything turned out okay! for the real Japan experience we ate Ekiben, a bento (boxed meal) specifically for train travel :] it was very nice

day 04 part 2 today we arrived in Osaka! we were so tired even if we spent most of the day on the train. our luggages are heavy and even if Japan is very equipped in terms of accessibility, elevators and such, it is still hard to go around with them. we took a walk near Shinsekai and saw the observatory tower Tsutenkaku. the lights, the dusk, everything was amazing! today I wasn't feeling my best so we came back earlier than expected but we decided to skip Kyoto (we should have gone tomorrow) and see more of Osaka. I've never seen this city and it looks amazing, I have so much spots I want to visit! let's hope for the best~

day 05 🏙️ morning today started slowly, we were supposed to go to Kyoto but we decided to stay in Osaka to discover a bit more this magical and beautiful city! we took a long walk and visited a shrine and a shopping mall, arrived at Dotonbori where we had lunch. 🌇 afternoon we used Japanese taxi for the first time and it was a very nice experience! we went to another mall where there is a Pokemon center dedicated to the three big legendary birds, after that, we went to another big building full of tech products. 🌆 evening we took the metro and arrived at Osaka Castle! 🏯 we did a big walk there and headed home.

Day 06 🦌 NARA! today we went to Nara and spent the day there! it was amazing, we went there years ago on our first trip but I didn't remember almost anything! it was so nice, the deers are so funny and I love when they bow to ask you for a snack 🥹 the temple and the park itself is something breathtaking. for lunch we had tonkatsu (shout-out to my dad that ate his first real Asian meal!?), I called it "lunch" but it was like 4pm lol anyway we were so tired after walking more than 9km up and down this park, we decided to come back home and chill for the rest of the evening

day 07 part 1 another transfer today! we took again the Shinkansen! it was so unusual and a bit confusing, we discovered that in Hiroshima there was a 6.2 earthquake and some trains were significantly delayed or even canceled! that's so strange for Japan but so normal for us in Italy.. our train had just 40 mins delay and they told us to change tickets? we waited, it wasn't that big of a deal after all lol I ate ekiben again! this time a special sushi wrapped in a leaf, a typical Osaka dish apparently, we already saw it in Nara the other day. honestly it was so good!

day 07 part 2 Nagoya is a great place! we are using this city mainly for convenience since it's close to the Ghibli Park, but tonight we did a nice walk, visited (yet another) Pokémon Canter, had dinner in a (surprisingly nice!) Italian restaurant and went to karaoke!! i had a real blast there I want to come back asap before sleep we watched japanese tv. it's so random, I didn't even realize they were moving on to different shows lol

day 08 🌿 Ghibli Park! today we went to the Ghibli Park, it was nice, even if in a lot of places was forbidden to take pics :[ we walked so much! it's very nice that they used the old 2005 EXPO space, japanese efficiency 😎

day 09 🚄 Nagoya → Tokyo today we came back to Tokyo, these are our last days and I'm pretty sad about it. I don't want to come back home, start working and have responsabilities again. on the other hand, I miss my partner and friends, plus, sometimes I really can't stand my parents. I feel like I need some time alone, to recharge, and I feel like Japan by myself was a whole other thing.. I knew my family was hard to please and find common ground but sometimes it is just so difficult I just wanna cry. anywho~ we did a bit of Shinjuku exploration and saw a lot of different stuff, we saw Godzilla head, ate sushi and my sibling and I even played some arcade games! it was fun :] tomorrow I MUST see Meiji jingu and Shibuya or I'll snap so hard istg :)

day 10 🏙️ morning we went to Meiji Jingu! I love this temple, I think it's one of my favorites. being fully immersed in nature, the weather was amazing, with the sun rays filtering through the leaves.. so magical! I think it's one of my favorite places on earth. the peace it gives me it's unmeasurable. 🌇 afternoon we spent the late morning/afternoon in diver city and saw the Gundam! we also went to the big mall and bought some gifts 🌆 evening we luckily went to Shibuya! we did a quick stroll but it was enough for me. after we came back to Shinjuku and stopped there for some last minute shopping and playing arcades 🍱 what I ate today: • something like rice with egg and chicken on top, with a amazing soup on the side • some appetizers/tapas from our hotel, all of them really nice!

day 11 - last day (⁠╥⁠﹏⁠╥⁠) today we went to the inokashira park, visited the zoo and also went to the Ghibli Museum! I was so happy because my host mother from last year went along with us and we visited the museum together!! it was so nice, I was so happy to see her 🥹 after that we went to the airport, out flight is really late and we are waiting a lot.. luckily the time is passing by

coming back this flight was more smooth, it was at 1am and we were able to sleep most of it. the food wasn't the best tho. but I've seen worse. let's just say that after the amazing food they served us the other time I had my hopes up lol soo i think this trip has come to an end (mostly, we still need to pick up our luggages and we've already waited an hour.. will they ever arrive ATP? ugh, I didn't miss Italy one bit.) anyway I think I'll still update some inki monogatari every now and then when I feel a bit nostalgic eheh we'll see~