What I Loved About Night Time In Japan

Continuing on with using the Japanuary trend back in well, January, as food for the blog.

Evening/Night was the theme #japanuary

There were so many photos to choose from for this as Japan really does go to the next level when it gets dark. It adds another layer of enchanting to the already magical landscape.

This is not me saying that Japan is some magical country! Every country obviously has its faults. I just mean that it gets really pretty with the lights at night.

For me being a magpie and drawn to shiny things that light up, the Unicorn Gundam at Diver City was superb.

By this point we had already seen the moving Gundam in Yokohama so Paul was statisfied by big robots. Diver City was on our list and we were already in the area that day for teamLab Planets.

Most likely the oddest “Halloween” W is ever going to have as we went on 31st October. But it is also one that will have a lasting impact I’m sure.

You can watch our full video from teamLab Planets as well as the Unicorn Gundam with it’s song here

More than bright lights

Japan itself at nighttime, well I can only speak for the places we visited which was Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka and Kyoto (Nara was daytime only). We know, not enough but there is always next time! I honestly, hand on heart, could have cried with the relief of how safe I felt. How safe I felt it was for W.

Now I know there are good bits and bad bits to every country, I’m not nieve.

But compared to here, back home, where I don’t feel safe going out when it is dark. Where I always need to keep my head on a swivel (not saying don’t do this in Japan but I felt like I had a bit less fight or flight) and where I don’t feel that I can let W just explore as much because there is always something going on.

In Japan a massive weight on my chest that tends to be invisible, lifted. I’m not sure at what point it did, it was probably a few days after the jet lag disappeared. I felt comfortable letting her wander around shops, just get that little bit of independance that she really should have.

I loved the hustle and bustle of nighttime too. It wasn’t the busyness of day with people going to work or shopping, but people heading out for the night and a little more relaxed. And the food! The smells that would waft down the streets to lure you in.

Some of the restaurants we visited were found just by our noses. The pictures and the plastic food outside the restaurants also helped once our noses led the way.

Prime example above of letting our noses lead the way to a cute little kushikatsu restaurant in Osaka. So much so that we don’t even know the name of the restaurant, just that it was super tasty! I’ll do more on this when I cover Osaka I think.

I actually could go on and on about the nighttime vibes, how it felt like a light being switched in terms of the visuals but also the sounds, smells and feeling.

Being a nightowl I felt exploring at nighttime to be a wonderous experience and I can’t wait to visit again in the future and get “lost” in the labyrinth of the streets.