[ENG] Japan2k26, Day 7
Eiii, once again greetings from the Land of the Rising Sun.
Today was an extremely demanding day. I’m pretty tired right now, both physically and mentally, but it was absolutely worth it.
Today started a little differently compared to the other days. No 7-Eleven, no coffee, and no lounge. This morning we decided to try some local bakeries and, without checking Maps, we wandered through the endless little alleys of Kyoto hoping to find a bakery, a pastry shop, or something like that.
Eventually we found one: a really small and very typical bakery, with the lab in plain sight and all the food made during the night laid out on a counter. You could grab whatever you wanted in self-service style, then the lady at the register would tell you the total and wrap everything up, accompanied by endless thank-yous.
I don’t know the exact names of the items I picked, but one was a sort of large slice of toast with melted cheese and other things on top, like potatoes and sausage. It was neither heavy nor light, and I think it would have been even better if it had been warm, but it was good anyway. I also got a kind of pain au chocolat, smaller than usual: very good, though fairly standard.
In total I paid around 600 yen (about €3.20), which is not bad at all.
The first stop of the day was Nara and its huge park full of deer. We took a regional train that took about 45 minutes to reach Nara’s central station, where we arrived around 10:30 a.m.
As soon as we got off the train, we walked along the main road on the right side of the station, which leads straight to Nara Park, famous for the massive presence of deer roaming freely and begging for the crackers that everyone buys to feed them. There were so many of them. I don’t know the exact number, but online I read there are between 1,200 and 1,500 deer, completely free to roam around the park and even parts of the city.
As soon as we got to the park we were already quite hungry, so even though it was only around 12:00, we decided to have lunch. We ate at a small place on the second floor of a little restaurant complex right in front of the park. All three of us ordered fried rice with vegetables and some kind of minced meat (I’m not sure what it was, I think beef… I really hope it wasn’t deer, otherwise I’d feel a bit guilty), plus a portion of gyoza that honestly blew my mind. They were insanely good.
Entering the park was breathtaking. Besides the deer, which give you an amazing feeling and bow every time they see you (I don’t think it’s out of respect, they just want food), what really stands out is the incredible care with which the place is maintained: everything is clean, tidy, and perfectly in order, typical Japan.
We walked around some temples at the base of the park and then made our way along a path lined with beautiful stone lanterns, all the way up to the highest accessible area. Everything felt magical. If you come to Japan, you absolutely cannot skip Nara Park.
Later on, on the way back by train, we stopped at Inari to visit the famous Fushimi Inari shrine. To be clear, it’s the place where you walk under all those red torii gates. It’s a truly magical spot, even if it’s very touristy and extremely Instagram-friendly, so not entirely my vibe, but I still recommend visiting it.
We made it almost to the top, where there were only a few people left. At the base it was packed with people taking photos, but you only had to climb a bit to find the path almost empty and get much nicer shots. We reached a really beautiful viewpoint, rested for a bit, and took some pictures.
We headed back down around 5:00 p.m., and after taking the train back to Kyoto, we went looking for dinner.
For dinner, at first we wanted to find a place serving tempura or something similar, but it was so cold that we decided to go back to Ichiran Ramen instead—at least we knew exactly where it was, lol.
I ordered the same things as yesterday: classic ramen, two portions of meat with a weird but delicious sauce, and two semi-boiled eggs.
After dinner we stopped by the Pokémon Center, where I bought four packs, then by Family Mart where I grabbed another one (spoiler: I didn’t find anything…).
After that, we headed back to the hotel. I took a shower, and now I’m here writing this with a slight stomach ache. Nothing serious, probably because I ate too fast and caught a bit of cold. I’ll try to be more careful over the next few days; tomorrow, just to be safe, I’ll grab a little stomach-ache shot from a nearby convenience store so I can relax.
That’s how the day ends. I hope I’ll fall asleep quickly because I’m really tired. The trip is starting to take its toll: every day we walk more than 20 km on average, which is no joke.
On top of that… I miss my girlfriend.
Thank you so much for reading this post, my friends. I hope you’re doing well. Feel free to send me an email if you’d like to chat or if you have any questions about the trip—I’d be really happy to reply, and maybe I’ll save your questions for a bonus post at the end of the journey where I’ll do a full recap.
Talk to you soon, love you all.
— tega
I’d love for you to sign up for the newsletter you’ll get a nice little message every time I post something new. Plus, sometimes I share small gifts or ideas during the month that I later talk about here, so you’ll basically get early access 👀
Just a quick reminder at the bottom of the page there’s a little button with two arrows pointing up.
If you click it, you’ll be doing me a huge favor <3
Thanks again, everyone 🫶🏻