MIRAI & SAMURAI

The Mori Art Museum is a contemporary art museum in the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower in the Roppongi Hills. They have many great exhibitions throughout the year. One of the exhibits, Recycle and Rebuild focuses on the relationship between cities and recycling. It's really unique and interesting learning about the different types of artists and how they portray art from past experiences/history.

Azabu Kyutoku has some of the best udon in Tokyo! I highly recommend coming here for a meal after or before the Mori Museum. The noodles we had were really tasty and the lunch set was a great deal.

The three-story building is located in Roppongi with other contemporty art galleries: Tomio Koyama Gallery, ShugoArts, and Taka Ishii Gallery. They have some of the best selection of Japanese contemporary art and is worth a visit. One of the current exhibitions now is Light of from Tomio Koyama Gallery, it captures lights sparkling in darkness at fireworks or outdoor music festivals. Anoter great exhibition to not miss by Taka Ishii Gallery is Moved, a group exhibition featuring 20 artists by bringing together latest works by a collection of Japanese and foreign artists with Japanese photographers and painters.

*The ASIMO and UNI-CUB exhibitions have now ended.
Miraikan – The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Odaiba is a very unique experience. You can learn about the evolution of life as we know today. Learn about natural disasters throughout history. They also offer a demonstraion on ASIMO, a humanoid robot! On the first floor there's a UNI-CUB where I tried the personal mobility device. It's a new device—both a vehicle and a robot which allows users to sit on device and move around on your own based on your movement of weight.

Corridor Gai Street is one of the most popular streets for dining and drinking in the Ginza area. It's a very fun area to walk around and very lively on weekday evenings for people getting out of work nearby. I enjoyed the ambiance of the street, lots of lights, friendly people walking around and loved being able to step into small shops and try small pastries.

After walking around and exploring the Corridor Gai Street. Hop into a traditional Japanese restaurant for dinner. Kokappo Ohashi Ginza is the perfect dinner spot, located on the second floor and in the center of Corridor Gai Street. The restaurant also offers private rooms and has an all you can drink menu. The restaurant has a quiet ambiance, which makes it great for a date night.

Tokyu Stay Shimbashi is conveniently located near the key city terminal, JR Shimbashi Station and the Onarimon Staton of the Toei Mita Line. The rooms are comfortable and very clean. The room has a small fridge, a good sized bath, a desk and great air conditioning. I had a great time staying at Tokyu Stay and would definitely stay here again.

I enjoyed traveling on the Shinkansen very much! The trains have restrooms and plenty of space for luggage. The seats are very comfortable especially for long durations and relatively silent, always forward facing seats. The train typically arrives on time and known for it's punctuality. I've travelled to many places around the world and used hundreds of trains, none are as efficient and clean as the Shinkansen.

I had the tempura soba, the tempura had the perfect crunch to it while the soba was the perfect texture. The soup saltyness was perfect.The staff also provided me with soup that was cooked with the soba, it's a form of not wasting food. If you're looking for something warm, I highly recommed it.

The Tsuruga-Jo Castle was built in 1384 making it over 600 years old. It was used for the military but now serves as a museum to learn about the samurai's. It also has a viewing dock at the very top of the castle which provides stunning views of Fukushima. Highly recommend making a visit to Tsuruga-Jo Castle as it was one of my highlights of the trip. I enjoyed learning about the long history of the castle, the samurai's and being able to enjoy the views from the top of the castle was magnificient.

The Byakkotai, Sazae-do is located not too far from Tsuruga-Jo Castle, it's a very unique architecture with a double-helix wooden tower from the 19th century. This is the spot where the Byakkotai group of teenage boys that took part in the Boshin War committed suicide in 1868. In this war, the former feudal government army headed by a shogun fought to protect the feudal rule against the new government army, which sought to create a new world. It is a unique Buddist temple with spiral ramps going up and down. It's a very powerful feeling to be able to learn about this history and stand at the very same spot were history was made.

The ryokan offers a few prix fixe dishes for each person and moreover a great selection of buffet style dinner. They had some of the freshest vegetables and fish. My favorite of the night is having the hot pot where we were cooking our own meal and vegetables.

A beautiful ryokan with two public baths. One indoor and one outdoor. The ryokan is clean and has an amazing staff that is very helpful. The ryokan has serveral buildings on the property. Both buildings have beauiful rooms with views of the stream. The outdoor bath is quite nice as you can sit there hearing the water come down from the hill. I highly enjoyed my time in the public bath, it's one of the most relaxing experience I've had.

Ouchi-juku is an important post town whose buildings served as shops, inns and restaurants. Many of the buildings have been preserved before the Meiji restoration and is now a major tourist attraction. I love being able to connect with the locals and experience their culture, and this town allowed me to do so. During the winter months when it snows, it can be quite beauiful too. A great time to visit if you're in the area during the winter months.

Kitakata ramen is one of the best in Fukushima! The ramen is quite simple, flattened noodles with a bit of curl in a shoyu broth typically with pork and niboshi based. There is always a line and they even sell out so make sure to go early!

The Otazuki Kura Street was quite nice, theres lots of restaurants and even a ramen shrine in front of one. When visiting the Ohara Shuzo Brewery is interesting to learn about how sake is made. Some of the best sake is made by playing music from Mozart! The sake tasting was fun and I was able to try multiple sakes made from the brewery.

The town is very cute with lots of great shops, restaurants and bars to choose from. We stopped by a sushi restaurant and had omakase with many different types of sushi. Each piece of fish melts in my mouth and left me wanting more every time.

When I arrived at the ryokan, the owner greeted us right away. It's always great to have good hospitality when staying at an accomodation. The ryokan was very clean, comfortable and has great scenery views in the room. The onsen is very nice, the temperature was perfect and it was a very relaxing experience.

During the 2011 tsunami, many fishes died and the aquarium had to be rebuilt. It's now completed with many interesting fossils and fishes to see and learn about. The aquarium highlights the sea life in the Shiome Sea, customers can learn about the evolution of life in the sea, seas of the coral reefs and so much more. One of the exhibits, From the Fishing Ground toward the Dining Table allows visitors to learn about aquatic animals and increase our awareness of environmental issues. Going through the exhibits of Along the Shoes of Fukushima is interesting to learn how live in the rivers to the seashore in Fukushima.

It was great walking around the fish market, you can pick out your own fish and cook it yourself for lunch! We decided to try oysters there, it was some of the best oysters and biggest I've ever tried. I learned that the tsunami hit this area hard and it's amazing to see how they have recovered. I'm happy to have been able to explore this area and eat some of the freshest seafood in the area.

Shiramizu Amida-do Temple a simple wooden temple surrounded by beautiful gardens and ponds built in 1160. It's designated a national treasure in 1952 and currently considered a historic site. It's a great place to explore, walk around the garden and enjoy some peace and quiet.

My week in Japan visiting Tokyo and Fukushima has been an amazing experience. I loved visiting new places in Tokyo such as the Mori Art Museum and eating at local restaurants. Fukushima was the highlight of the trip! I really enjoyed learning about the history of Fukushima, exploring hundred year old temples and castles while learning about the samurai's. It's also quite impressive how the city has rebuilt itself after the Tsunami. My favorite experience of all is getting to interact and meeting with the locals and learning about their culture and life. There is so much more to see in Fukushima and I cannot wait to return soon.