Japan 2023: Day 1 / Shinkansen to Kyoto

Continuing from the day before, it turned out my vertigo was not temporary, and I woke up unable to get out of bed at first. I’ve only had one other serious vertigo (also called Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo or BPPV) attack back in September of this year, but my mom used to get them often before she started working from home. This time around, I was able to eventually get up (slowly) and move around (slowly), but it took a lot of effort to avoid turning my head sideways, up and down. Maybe it was the long flight or the stress of starting the trip, but we were both exhausted from yesterday’s travels and adjusting to the new timezone, and tried to take it as easy as possible. The day was beautiful, however, and we had things to do, so I pressed on.

Only for today’s stay did we get the Regency Club Lounge access, so we tried to enjoy it as much as possible. I wish I’d taken more photos of the inside, but it was really pretty. There was a circular room where the yellow morning was pouring through the large windows, and the whole room felt magical in the glow.

I was curious about all the food options, so I tried as many as I could. Even the curry! It was filled with mushrooms and a slightly sweeter taste than last night’s dinner – so good in its own way.

We went back to the room to rest some more and to try and find a glasses repair shop. We were directed by the lobby staff to Iwaki and took a taxi to the Keio Department store Shinjuku. We felt super out of place amongst all the posh and dazzling displays, as well as all the designer name brands, but the specialists at Iwaki were very kind and helpful. The lady who assessed my mom’s glasses asked to try to fix them, and after a few minutes she came back and I hardly recognized them! She not only fixed them, but also cleaned them up to a beautiful shine. Thank you so much for your help, it was a lifesaver for our trip!

Since we were all set, we decided to head to Tokyo Station and make our way to Kyoto. Our first big adventure started here!

As we were leaving the hotel, a Christmas tree was taking shape, surrounded by santas tending to various tasks.

Our taxi driver was kind enough to ask if we wanted to get dropped off on the Shinkansen side, which we hadn’t even thought of, or knew that there were different entrances. We felt very small in big Tokyo, but grateful to such attentive people guiding us along.

While purchasing the Shinkansen tickets were easy, getting there for our first time was rather confusing. Tokyo Station was huge! And there were so many people! It was hard to get out of others’ way quickly enough while also trying to find where we needed to go.

Our side quest during our trip was to collect eki stamps, but unfortunately we weren’t able to look for Tokyo Station’s stamp before boarding. Thank you to those before us for providing location info on some of the harder-to-find ones, they saved me a ton and we used it to find many of them!

While waiting for our train, I looked at our ticket over and over again and realized we were on the wrong platform. We had to go back downstairs and walk over to the next platform, and then all the way back over to the correct gate.. I had been reading about Japan’s many improvements on accessibility in the past 10 years, but unfortunately I wouldn’t say it’s quite there yet, as with many countries. Stations have such long stretches of walkways and many, many stairs with very few escalators and even fewer elevators. While they do exist, for someone like my mom who currently has painful mobility issues, some platforms only have a single-direction escalator, and you may have to walk further to get to the one you need. Many of the elevators are also small and narrow, which made it impossible for multiple disabled persons to use it, increasing wait times. Japanese wheelchairs are much more narrow than American ones, and often times a wheelchair or stroller took up the entire width of an elevator. This was the biggest reason we opted not to use a wheelchair for my mom while in Japan and tried to make do with a foldable cane. It was an unfortunately hard lesson for my mom and I, even with all our research and prep, but we really did our best to make the most of things. Taking breaks and taking our time was our mantra of the trip and we made sure to stick to it to prevent further injury.

We made it to our designated gate, but got confused on which side to line up at for our seats (later did we figure out the signs on the gate itself tell you lol!) We weren’t sure if our luggage qualified as oversized at the time of purchase, but the stress of trying to convert cm to inches while in line (a uniquely-American issue which I still bemoan lol) made it difficult to be sure. Not wanting to take a chance on doing something wrong, we bought tickets with oversized luggage storage. It turns out there’s space above the seats where you can fit your bags and carry-on sized suitcases, and while we still needed the oversized luggage option with our bigger suitcase, it was good to know for next time!

The seats on the Nozomi were so comfortable, with so much leg space, and even hooks on the walls to hang up your coat. I was really impressed by the speed, and the beautiful landscapes we passed through. (I only took videos, so I don’t have anything to show…)

The sun had already started setting by the time we got to Kyoto Station, and my goodness was Kyoto Station also long… Remember our side quest? We managed to find Kyoto Station’s eki stamp after quite a bit of walking lol! I was so close to giving up, but my mom encouraged we keep going, which was great timing because we ended up reaching it shortly after. The regular stamp was out of service, so we asked the attendants across the way for the stamp behind the desk and they were kind enough to let us use it!

Immediately outside the station, we were greeted by Kyoto Tower!!! We got to snap a few photos while in line for a taxi to our hotel.

After checking into our hotel and resting for a bit, we started looking at places to eat. My mom really wanted to eat ramen, so we found a place on yelp called KYOTO ENGINE RAMEN at the Shinkyogoku Shopping District near Nishiki Market. Unfortunately, many others (all foreigners!) had the same idea and the wait was very, very long with no seating. We wondered if the place was famous, but were too shy to ask. We grabbed some drinks from the nearby vending machine and decided to walk around for another restaurant.

It was fun just walking through the quiet side streets and checking out all of the shops. There were a lot that had signs saying “no english menu/staff only speak japanese” so we tried to be mindful of that. If it’s to the point where they have to put a sign, it’s probably been a huge hassle for them.

Unfortunately by this time a lot of shops were closed, or they only served traditional japanese dishes, which made it difficult for my severe white fish allergy. While I can avoid most dishes that blatantly have fish, it’s much different when you’re in another country that is known for its beautiful fish cuisine, as there are lots that have fish integrated in the broth and sauces.

We ended up coming across a family restaurant called Restaurant STAR that served omurice and western dishes. It wasn’t the place we had our hearts set on, but it really came in clutch when everywhere else was closing.

I wish the US had displays like these – I feel like some super delicious restaurants are underrated because of lack of (good) photos or eyecatching displays.

I got the cheese with demi-glace omurice and omg! It was soooo so good. The place inside was crazy hot though, so we were chugging our waters throughout dinner lol!

Ended our dinner with a strawberry vanilla parfait and a creme brulee – yummm! 🙂

Thanks for reading!