A Night in Ine No Funaya, Kyoto, Japan

November 15, 2020

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It was in 2017 that I visited this quaint little fishing village duped as the "Venice of Japan." Given my personal bias for hidden gems slash off the beaten path kind of travels; Ine No Funaya remains one of my favorites quiet places in all of Japan, thus far. I've written quite extensively about this town in a previous post so, I won't bore you too much with the same details again.

This seaside fishing village lies North of Kyoto, roughly 3 hours away from the actual city center. Within its name, 'Funaya' is what the boathouses in this seaside fishing village is made up of. They are a traditional type of wooden boat houses that's special due to their architecture featuring two floors, with the first floor being a docking for the boats and the second floor as a living quarter. Upon talking to some more locals during this trip, we learned that the original intended usage of the second floor of the 'Funaya' was actually for storage and the living space of a fisherman family would be in a separate building close by. You can differentiate the usage of the boathouse by looking at the orientation of the roof. If you look closely, in all of the photos you'll notice that all of the roofs of the boathouses that face the waterline have the roof open up to the front. Behind the boathouses, all other homes have roofs that turn to the side. It's learning about how a collective group of people meticulously commit to these small details that always blows my mind when it comes to Japan. To be quite honest, I don't really remember much of my first visit here asides from the fact that getting there was such a struggle, and wishing that I could have spent a night here to experience waking up to a fisherman either going out or coming back from the sea. Three whole years later, and that wish finally came true for me.

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Although it's been 3 years since I've been back here, I can safely say that not much has changed. Asides from the trip being a little smoother (less random transfers along the way) it still took us roughly 3.5 hours from Kyoto Station. It's one of the biggest reasons why I think if this is somewhere that you're planning to visit, you should stay the night. I've already covered the basics of my trip to visiting Ine No Funaya in an older post, so I'll just breakdown where I stayed and ate, and what I did and wore.

Where To Stay

In my past trip, I had my eyes on staying at a boathouse called the WATERFRONT INN. Unfortunately, this time, they were fully booked during the time that I planned on visiting Ine. Instead, I used the local Ine Town Tourism Association and found another local boathouse that was newly renovated to stay at. Beyond looking for an accommodation, this site will also guide you to book local activities that you can do such as biking, fishing, and boat tours. I ended getting to stay at Funaya no Yado Maruichi, which was slightly further away than the rest of the accommodations (which is probably another reason why it didn't get booked out) but the views from there was so worth it. Other than the views, the bed were comfortable, and it felt much more secluded from the rest of the town-which only gave it much more charm.

Due to this boathouse being quite away from everything else, we ended up getting a ride from our host to and from our dinner (otherwise there was nothing to eat nearby). This is something else to keep in mind when you visit. While Ine No Funaya is a well-known town, it's actually not a tourist destination. You won't find a lot of cars driving back and forth, let alone cabs should you need to go somewhere. It's also important to have cash handy, and stock up on some snacks from the convenience store before you arrive for the night. Of course, since this is Japan, you'll always have a vending machine somewhere for your choice of beverage.

Where To Eat

On my first night, I ate at a local fisherman's home with Shun. I don't really recall the name, or if it even had one since it was a recommendation from our host. Some accommodations will come with dinner, but definitely check before you arrive. The next morning, we had some coffee and bread from the comfort of our beds on the tatami floor, facing the open sea. Watching the sun come up was actually beyond my expectation even with the on-and-off drizzle that took place. After a slow and quiet morning, we got ready at our leisure pace and checked out of our boathouse just in time for lunch.

Back into the busier part of Ine, we found ourselves at WATERFRONT INN since other than being just an accommodation, they also have a restaurant that serves lunch and dinner to outside guests. As you might have guessed, being this close to the sea obviously, meant fresh and delicious seafood- but I literally never expected a roughly 15$ lunch set to come with 3 different types of fish, prepared 4 different ways. Infact, it was so good that Shun and I ended up ordering a huge beer to go along with this set (haha, this is why we can never do road trips together). The last time we were in Ine, we had a really good omakase lunch at Wadatsumi, which I still would have loved this trip if we had the stomach to eat a second lunch.

We didn't want to leave Ine right away, despite it being quite a trek back to Kyoto, then Tokyo- so we decided to grab coffee at the Ine Cafe, which is just as quaint and lovely as I remember when we first came.

What To Do

While having our coffee, we saw that the boat tours were starting to operate, so of course, we walked down to the dock and asked if any were free to take us. As mentioned before, these boat tours can be reserved in advance, and the boat drivers can even coordinate with your accommodation to pick you up from the actual boathouse that you're staying at. Otherwise, these tours take place pretty much anytime at a 30 minutes interval for a price of roughly 10$ per person. On our boat tour, we got to learn so many little cool facts about Ine from a grandpa that's been living here all his life. These are things that you probably won't read about online (such as the roof facts that I mentioned above), so I highly recommend it. Towards the end of our tour, the grandpa handed our shrimp crackers to all of us, and we got the chance to feed all of the seagulls that were flying by. It was so exhilarating and fun that I forgot about all my worries of possibly falling over and drowning (since I can't swim) for a whole 10 minutes.

Other than taking a boat tour, you can also take water taxis around to different docks throughout the day. There is also a bigger boat that you can take as well at the entrance into the town that will go even further out at sea, close by to one of the small island that you can see from the inner shore. If you decide to stay longer, there are so many activities that are available, including going fishing, biking around town, getting dressed in a kimono for a photo tour and learning how to cut sashimi or cook with local fresh fish too.

With everything that's taking place this year, I am grateful that I was able to take this trip and spent some quiet and reflective time in Ine with the boyfriend. There's a saying "it's not about the destination, but it's the journey" or vice versa, to some, but when it comes to Ine No Funaya, for me, it's totally both.



Camera Gear Used: Nikon D600 (body only) with 50mm F1/4 and 24-70mm F3.5 lens.
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Tokyo's Not So Secret Cherry Blossoms Spots

June 1, 2020

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Cherry blossom blooms, Tokyo's Not So Secret Cherry Blossoms Spots That You Might Not Know Of - Style and Travel Blogger Van Le (FOREVERVANNY.com)
It’s undeniable that Japan is one of the most beautiful places to witness cherry blossom season. Though cherry blossoms do not last very long, their fleeting nature is exactly what makes them so captivating. To top off their beauty, seeing them bloom among the urban metropolis of Tokyo, or traditionally charming towns in Kyoto is something that many people would not hesitate to add to their bucket-list.

Over the past few years of living in Japan, I was lucky enough to experience cherry blossom season in a few different ways-- as a tourist, as a second-time admirer, and as a local. When I first experienced cherry blossom season as a tourist, the whole experience can easily be described as a rush. Although I’ve seen almost four seasons of cherry blossoms by now, I still can recall the pure excitement and admiration for them, the very first time I saw them. When trying to capture their beauty, I was constantly torn between taking a close up shot to show their delicate features as opposed to taking a wide-angled shot to show how vast and abundant they were. I took note of the things I missed most about these cherry blossoms and what made them so precious to me for the second time I got to see them again.

By now, I was in Tokyo and I came to appreciate just how cool it was to see all of these cherry blossom trees engulfed over highways and giant buildings. It became clearer to me that it’s not just the cherry blossoms that are beautiful, but it’s also their sceneries and surroundings. If you’re reading this article, I’m assuming that you’ve seen plenty of cherry blossom photos with Mt. Fuji, shrines, torii gates, and trains somewhere along with your searches, and I’ll warn you now, that none of the spots that I’m sharing in this list will feature that. Instead, I want to share a few of my favorite not so secret cherry blossom spots that I’ve come to frequent and love as a local.

I've listed their general location as well as their best public transportation stations to help you locate these spots if you're looking to have a different cherry blossom experience in your upcoming Tokyo trip.

Shingashi River
Access: Kawagoe Station
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Among the locations that I’ve shared, this one is probably the most touristy but local at the same time. Kawagoe isn’t a town that’s known to many tourists, but if you come for the cherry blossom, you should also stay to check out this cool little Edo town.

Shakujii River
Access: Naka-Itabashi Station
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I hope I won’t regret sharing this spot, but the cherry blossoms here go on for miles and miles along this prefecture where it’s majority locals. Please be respectful and enjoy the calm atmosphere if you decide to check this spot out.

Sakurazaka
Access: Roppongi Station
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If you can drive in Tokyo or are able to get an international license. I highly recommend driving down Sakurazaka. It’s so scenic and stopping to enjoy these cherry blossoms is easy since there are parking spots available along this road.

Chidorigafuchi Moat
Access: Kudanshita Station
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Chidorigafuchi Moat isn’t a secret by now, but it’s locally still a spot that many people here still get excited about and go out to experience. A tip would be to get maximum time and row to the end of the moat to avoid the boat-crowd and see the almost-lake-sweeping cherry blossom branches.

Kandagawa
Access: Takadanobaba Station
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This river is one of the major ones in Tokyo and it also runs along the Sakura Tram (Toden Arakawa Line) route. You can even strategically plan out to visit this spot, then take the tram closer to Ikebukuro and access the Shakujii River location.


Camera Gear Used: Nikon D600 (body only) with 50mm F1/4 and 24-70mm F3.5 lens.
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Kanazawa and Shirakawago, Japan

March 11, 2020

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It’s been a while since I covered a travel destination in Japan, but I finally got the chance to check out Kanazawa and Shirakawago a few weeks ago after almost one and a half years spent in Tokyo. Honestly, although Kanazawa is a town that I’ve been dying to check out, I had very little expectation of what this place had to offer. We also had crossed our fingers and hoped for snow on the day we went to Shirakawago but sadly, it was all melted. Despite what my initial thoughts and expectations were, it was safe to say that it was a well-worth 3-days-weekend trip with my boyfriend.

I’m not big on guides and I ended up just winging it for most of this trip so below is a rough recap of my itinerary of the 3 days and 2 nights in Kanazawa from Tokyo. I hope that you can pick up a thing or two to check out on your travels here.

Day One
Kanazawa Station and Higashi Chaya District

We arrived at Kanazawa Station from Tokyo around 1 pm. Generally, it’s about 3.5-4 hours to get to Kanazawa from wherever you are in Tokyo. For the weekend, I booked a private house through Bookings.com and the owner offered a complimentary pick up at the Kanazawa Station when we got off the train. Our accommodation, Kaimoku-an was a recently renovated place so the whole thing was quite beautiful. It was located in a central location as well (pretty much a 15 min walk to the famous Higashi-chaya Street). My favorite thing about this accommodation was the delicious bakery that’s just next door. On the day that I checked out, I even grabbed two Madeline muffins to bring back to Tokyo.

After we dropped off our things, we went out to do a bit of exploring. As we were quite close to Higashi Chaya District, we decided that it would be the first place we would explore. We passed by some bridges and saw an interesting bar called HUNI. We wanted to stop by for a drink at night but found out that they were closed for the New Year. Our accommodation host actually really liked the place and highly recommended it. So if you’re looking for a place to grab a drink in Kanazawa, it might be a good spot to venture out to.

When we got to Higashi Chaya's main street, I was overwhelmed with all of the gold flakes street foods that were all around me. From gold flakes on takoyaki to croquettes, and even soft serves (of course I tried them all). And yes, the gold doesn’t contribute anything to the taste of these foods, it just makes it look expensive and extra as hell.

Since the location was super close to our place, we went back for a quick rest after before heading out for dinner.

Kanazawa is known for its seafood so we had to try a local sushi spot for omakase. My chef was the funniest for dropping gold flakes on some of my sushi pieces through the course.

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Wearing: Zara textured coat, Acne Studios sweater, Trave Denim cropped jeans, Chanel WOC, and By Far Sofia boots.
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Wearing: Aritzia houndstooth coat (similar) and thermal, NanoUniverse cashmere plaid scarf, GRLFRND Denim cropped jeans, Topshop boots and Chanel WOC.
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Day Two
Omicho Market and Shirakawago Day Trip

We got up very early on the second day. We grabbed some pastries from the bakery next door before heading out for Omicho Market to sample some fresh seafood.

Omicho Market is similar to Nishiki in Kyoto. There are seafood stands that either sell fresh fish, sashimi, and other shellfish by samples or wholesale. Kanazawa region is especially known for their crabs so of course, we didn’t hold back from trying. We had some wild scallops, uni, and giant oysters as well. Seafood in Japan is generally highly praised but it honestly lives up to all the hype. There are other interesting foods that you can explore in the market like sashimi rice bowls (some places even drop gold flakes on them as well). My favorite snack there though is fried baby shrimp. If you come across it, do yourself a favor and buy a bag.

After our market snacks, we made it back to Kanazawa Station to catch the bus to Shirakawago. By now, it’s about noon and getting there takes about an hour. As mentioned before, we were hoping that it would be snowing, or there would be some leftover snow on the roofs of these gassho-zukuri farmhouses infamously known in this UNESCO world heritage site, but the weather was clear and mild. Still, the site was quite charming. As I was reading up on this town, I saw that there were some accommodations in the area, and many people recommended to stay the night. However, after visiting for half a day, I realized that there wasn’t much to do aside from sightseeing and grabbing a casual lunch. The observation point of this town was something we did check out and that provided a nice aerial view of the town’s landscape. It was also beautiful to see multiple triangle huts so uniformly laid out next to one another.

Right before the sun went down, we decided to head back to the main bus station to get back to Kanazawa for some dinner. Close by to the station was a restaurant that we happened to stumbled upon. It ended up being one of the best meals both Shun and I have had in a long time. PLAT HOME was so well decorated that it didn’t really feel like an izakaya-style place at all. On top of their well put together menu, they had some really good wine options as well. The sashimi platter here was one of the most impressive ones I’ve had in terms of creativity in how they used normal ingredients. For example, their ginger came chopped up in stringy form and was soaked with soy sauce and wasabi to go perfectly with each piece of sashimi. Aside from that, some classics like potato salads and fried fish were really elevated too. As if we still weren’t stuffed enough, Shun wanted to check out a few more local izakayas along Katamachi street. It’s an area that is very reminiscent of any yokocho alleys that you might have come across in Tokyo and all over Japan. We stopped by a lotus root focused izakaya around here and I discovered lotus root chips (also known as 'renkon') for the first time. Pretty much changed my life. I even tried ordering another round but it was so popular that it was sold out by then.

At some point, that night Shun and I made our way to one of the most well-known shrines in Kanazawa and did a little prayer as well as got our little blessings for the New Year. Random, but glad that we were able to check out one shrine in this town full of major ones.

We called it a night after the third spot because it was pouring so bad that night.

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Wearing: Zara textured coat, Uniqlo crewneck, NanoUniverse cashmere plaid scarf (similar), Trave Denim cropped jeans, Tabio wool socks, Monica Vinader ringCommon Project sneakers and Chanel WOC.
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Shirakawago
Day trip from Kanazawa Station
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Day Three
Nishi Chaya Street, Kanazawa Castle, and Kenrokuen, and D.T Suzuki Museum before last meal at Kanazawa Station

On our last day, we took a cab over to Nishi Chaya District in the morning just to quickly check it out. In general, most of the main attractions in Kanazawa might seem underwhelming because they’re quite small but still, I found them to be pretty charming. Most of the teahouses didn't open until later on in the day at Nishi Chaya so we both headed over to Kanazawa Castle and grabbed a tea lunch set at Mamezara Chaya. Kanazawa Castle is one of the most aesthetically pleasing castles that I’ve seen in Japan so far because of how minimalistic it seems among the grounds that surround it. Or maybe it was just so pleasant because there weren’t so many tourists and people crowding everywhere. The tea set came with a sushi rice ball, a soup, and some sweets to go along with either coffee or green tea as well as a gold flaked soft serve. I have to say that the rich soft serve is honestly one of the best in Japan that I’ve tasted so far. Reminds me a lot of the Milk Bar ones back in NYC.

As we walked over to Kenrokuen Garden, which is said to be one of the three most beautiful gardens in all of Japan, it started to pour a bit. Still charming though, as is the rest of Kanazawa. We decided to head to a museum right after this and the boyfriend especially fell in love with D.T Suzuki’s space. We ended up spending a good 2 hours there just watching the rainfall from their main observation spot. From there, we headed back to Kanazawa Station and grabbed a quick meal at a local izakaya. The sashimi platter never disappoints and this one was pretty filling. We left Kanazawa Station around 6:30 pm and got back before it was too late.

It might have seemed like we did a lot, but I found it to be one of the most relaxing trips so far. One of my favorite things about visiting lesser-known areas of Japan is that the crowds of tourists are much more controlled allowing you to fully experience and see all of the beauty of these main attractions. For those of you who are seeking the Kyoto charms but would like to avoid huge crowds and getting up way too early to be able to see things, I highly recommend visiting Kanazawa. Keep in mind that accessible transportations from Tokyo to Kanazawa pretty much only existed since 2015, so I’m sure that this is an area in Japan that will quickly become more well-known.



Camera Gear Used: Nikon D600 (body only) with 50mm F1/4 and 24-70mm F3.5 lens.
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