#trip diaries

[ultimateaclrecovery]

Japan Day 5! Day trip Nara and Uji from Kyoto

Started our day at Fushimi Inari, and saw all of the red torii gates. It was early and still kind of dark which made it extra cool. Also Anthony is a power walker and I refuse to ask him to slow down so we hella power walked up and down this mountain 😂 but it was very efficient!

Then we took the train on to Nara and feeding the deer! I had so much fun. Too much fun. But there were just so many tiny deers!

After we fed the deer we saw the wordless largest Buddha statue and the temples and monuments in the area

We got curry for lunch and then head in the Uji where we got a fun set of tea. Uji is known for their tea so Anthony also got a bunch of tea to take home (I didn’t because I never make tea)

After we got back to Kyoto we went to a light up temple where they gave us tea and it had these little sweets and mine had a deer on it!! 😍

The light temple was really cool but a bit more religious than anticipated.

We then ended up getting Korean bbq for dinner

Overly long travel diary

I put 2000 more yen on my ic card

Fushimi inari. All of the red gates.

Fushimi inari. All of the red gates.

I am torn between my desire to not be an annoying Instagram picture taker and get in everyone’s way, my desire to not annoy my bf with too many pictures, my desire to just be present in the moment and my desire to have all the cute pictures. I try to find a balance and take a couple.

It is really cool to walk through all of the red gates, they feel endless. They all have the same thing in the front but the backs have lots of different writings. As we go up the mountain the forest gets denser and darker and makes it almost ethereal. I like all of the fox statues and the shrine kitties.

I always forget how much of a power hiker my bf is until we start passing all sorts of people. I don’t have a problem keeping up but it does sometimes make me feel like I’m being annoying when I then invietablly stop to take a picture or just meander a bit.

The higher up we go the less people there are which is nice. We stop for breakfast on the way down and eat our 7-11 sandwiches at some benches overlooking the city

Nara

600 yen ice cream card

3 packs of 200 each deer crackers Anthony

4080 yen total for bag shipping Anthony

Then it’s off to Nara and the deer park. We start seeing deer almost as soon as we get there. They are little and have split hooves and many are so very friendly. We buy a pack of deer crackers and go to feed a couple. There is a bit of a swarm right by the cracker stand and some people are getting mobbed. We go further away and pick out a nice looking deer. A lot of them will bow for crackers which is pretty fun. We feed the deer and take pictures and generally take in the chaos. After two packs of 200 yen each cracker packs we continue walking towards one the the temples. There are still deer everywhere. Just like freely wandering the streets jumping over little fences, no fear and no hesitation. It’s extra funny to see them just walking amongst the shrines. They were worshiped in Nara for many many years and killing one of them used to be punishable by death.

We head into the temple. Anthony pays the 600 each yen entrance fee and we go to see the largest bronze Buddha statue in the world. The temple itself is huge and made entirely of wood. There’s also a couple other big statues inside and a 50 to 1 replica of the whole complex which is really cool.

We continue to walk around Nara and see some of the other temples including one that has a couple octagon buildings which is the first time I’ve seen that here. There’s also a five story pagado.

We try to go to the deer house that’s a part of one of the temples but alas it’s closed. We head back to the train station and I stop to get a soft serve ice cream cone decorated like a deer. It has little Pretzle bread antlers and googly eyes and a chocolate nose and is just so cute. We buy one last cracker pack and spend some more time feeding the hordes of deer and making friends. They are happy to be fed, content to be pet but do not want hugs.

We grab lunch in one of the markets at a curry place. A lot of the restaurants in Japan are designed for maximum efficiency. At the counter they have a button to push when you’re ready to order. And then give you your order slip with your food so whenever you’re done you can just take it to the front and pay and leave. Means getting lunch even at a restaurant is very fast. I get the chicken curry. It’s good but has many different vegetables, one of each feels like. I try most of them but give the ones I don’t like to my boyfriend.

On the way to the train I pause to take a picture of one of the manhole covers because it’s engraved with a scene featuring a deer. Some of the ones in the main area are also painted (but too crowded to take a picture). Lots of the manhole covers in Japan have pretty designs. The ones in Osaka had pretty flowers and a lot of them were painted too.

We then take the train to Uji which is known for its tea. My boyfriend picks up a couple of things of tea and then we go to a shop to get cups of tea. We order our flavors of tea and the lady tries very hard to ask exactly which thing we want but we aren’t really sure what’s she’s trying to ask? Some drawings later she ends up satisfied and we end up with their tea set which includes little scones and things and a full tea pot each of the kinds of tea we ordered. We were going for more of a single cup but also pleased with full set. I get a Carmel tea and he gets a melon earl grey. I am already at 29000 steps for the day. I tell my bf I think I’ll hit 40k today but he doesn’t think we have that much walking left.

We head up a couple of switchbacks to an observatory deck just on the edge of the city. It’s crazy to me how quickly you can be in very deep woods in Japan. The trees are so tall and only really have leaves at the very top. We have a snack of Mochi that we got earlier from a famous mochi store in Nara at the top. The red bean paste inside still had bean shapes in it which is a first for me. It’s pretty good but the bean shells weird me out a little.

We then head back to kyoto and then over to ayrishima where we have tickets for a night light up temple. The lighted paths are very beautiful and there’s a path through a bamboo groove which I love. The way lights shine on the bamboo creates a really prettt color. The tickets include a little tea ceremony with a little sweet, a red bean paste filled pastry (mochi?) with a little deer stamped on top. We try to use what we learned about tea ceremony yesterday here.

We continue through the temple and look at the shrines. In the main temple there is a guy giving a lengthy explanation or something in Japanese while shining a flashlight on different elements of the statue inside. We’re starting to realize that this event is much more geared towards Japanese people than tourists. And is maybe more of a ceremony than a come look at pretty lights. We wait with everyone else for him to finish his speech and then quietly work our way back out through the gardens.

We head back to our hotel and pack up our bags. We are going to send them ahead to Tokyo so keep only what we need for our one night in Hakone in our backpacks. It costs 4080 yen to have them sent to our Tokyo hotel.

We then head out to dinner. We wander for a bit before deciding to check out a Japanese version of Korean bbq. We also get a 15 sampler set of sake. I kind of a hit a bit of an overwhelmed moment with all the different food and drink options and how many of them are mostly new and that I only kind of like. But most of it is still delicious.

We think about getting more fish pastries but alas I am too full.

[fascinatedfinch]

"As the hostiles came through into the private docks, I activated the new code I had been working on. Code: Deploy&Delay."

AKA: "you know the thing in media where someone disappears when a transport drives in front of them? yeah, that"

Bonus:

[theslowtravel]

Rocky Mountain National Park / CO

[expelliarmus]

[literatureaesthetic]

📍marylebone, london — vowing that one day i'll move here, and it'll be my forever home. truly never felt so in love with a city before

[ladyloveandjustice]

My Top 12 Favorite Anime of 2024 (and more)!

We had a lot of good anime in 2024, so here's the list of my top 12 favorites and some bonus great anime as well. If you get tired of clicking the review links, check out my anime overview collection for all of them here.  

You can also check out my post about my favorite manga from 2024 here and my favorite books of 2024 here.

These are in no particular order!

Delicious in Dungeon (a.k.a Dungeon Meshi)

Dungeon Meshi  is one of my favorite stories period, and easily my top anime of the year. The basic premise is that Laios and his party of adventurers need to travel through a monster-infested dungeon rescue his sister. Rather waste precious time earning money for food, Laios decides they should just eat the monsters they encounter as they travel. But then that simple plot spins off into so much more...

The story combines cooking and adventure animanga expertly. It has some of the most impressive and fascinating worldbuilding I've ever seen, top-tier varied character design and a great plot. It's also funny as hell, and I love its main cast of nuanced eccentric weirdos with all my heart. Even the characters who have five minutes of screen time feel like you could watch a spin-off series about them.

It's not just about food, but the cycle of life and death, about hunger of all kinds, about ecosystems and societies and finding solace in the monstrous...there's a lot simmering under this story!

So, go ahead and eat up! And read my review here for more!

Mayonaka Punch

Canceled YouTuber, Masaki, meets a pathetic lesbian vampire, Live. Live agrees to help Masaki launch a new YouTube channel, but in exchange, Masaki has to let Live suck up all her blood when they reach 100 million subscribers.

 This is the kind of stuff I watch anime for. This is what dreams are made of.

Do you support women's wrongs? Are you craving some women who are loveable shitheads? Do you want a great ensemble comedy about five disaster vampires wreaking havoc and a cynical human along for the ride? This show has all that, plus some down bad lesbian vampire shenanigans! But there's also a lot of growth for the main character, and the show has a lot of pathos in how it explores how the internet and its outrage train can do a number on one's mental health.

It's a ton of fun! See my full review here!

Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc.

Being a magical girl is no longer the domain of teenagers, and has evolved into an actual career dominated by adult women. Kana becomes a magical girl for a scrappy start up company, and tries her best to navigate working life.

It's the magical girl story about adult women I've been craving for years! Magical girl media often explores the struggles of adolescence and growing up, and this show takes us to the next step by using magical girls to explore what it’s like to be a young woman entering the working world. The focus is one Kana struggling to grow her confidence and accept support from her workplace, but it also has a lot to say about companies exploiting their workers, prizing efficiency and growth over actually taking care of their customers, and it shows how the world could be better than what it is right now. Check out my review here for more detail!

Girls Band Cry

After being bullied, Nina drops out school and ends up starting a band with four other girls, including the woman whose music saved her at her darkest moment. Nina's determined for the band to stick it to the people who once looked down on them. GBC features some wonderfully messy and entertaining teenage girls, actually incredible CGI animation and great music. Nina, the lead, is allowed to be angry and obnoxious and powered by spite, but the narrative sympathizes with her and loves her spirit, even if she sometimes messes things up. All the girls have rough edges and raw emotion and a great dynamic with each other. They also flip people off a lot.

It was kind of screwed over by streaming, but don't sleep on it! See my review here!

Natsume's Book of Friends (Season 7) 

Anime's sweetest boy and his horrible cat (affectionate) are back, and it's time for more yokai adventures! I’ve already talked at length about how this series is special–check out my series review/ Rec post for the series here. I also did an article titled The Courage to Speak: Mental Illness and Recovery in Natsume’s Book of Friends that goes into more in-depth analysis. The story is sweet and charming and sometimes heartwrenching and very important to me.

It's yet another season of lovely, bittersweet yokai tales that tug on your heartstrings, the characters continue to heal and grow in slow but satisfying ways. It just feels so nice watching this series again and letting the love, comfort, and catharsis wash over me. See my review here.

Dead Dead Demon's DeDeDeDe Destruction

A giant mothership is hovering over Tokyo. The aliens have done nothing, not even leaving their ship, but Japan and America are already trying to blow that UFO up, and show off who has the best weapons, causing many civilian casualties along the way. Meanwhile, two girls are just trying to living their lives.

This anime goes hard on criticizing the military industrial complex, Japanese nationalism and imperialism, American imperialism, xenophobia, mistreatment of immigrants, rich people, and conspiracy theorists. That means it's often devastating and visceral, but it also follows some fantastic weird girls and their ride-or-die soul bond, as well as other charming, funny teenagers who are just trying to live in a world falling apart around them. You can also look forward to some plot twists that recontextualize everything you know!

You should also see my review for some content warnings and a really important message about episode order if you want more detail, you can read it here.

Senpai is an Otokonoko

 Makoto is an "otokonoko" ( a term that means crossdressing boy) and he's figuring out his relationship to gender, and hiding his interests from his mother. A girl named Aoi confesses to him, thinking he's a girl. But he reveals the truth, she's ecstatic about it, much to his shock. Meanwhile, Makoto's best friend Ryuji is also crushing on him...

It's tough to be a queer kid in a world full of rigid gender roles and insidious homophobia, and this anime shows the unfairness of that struggle. But it also shows the joy of finding those who accept and understand you, and of slowly becoming comfortable with who you are. The show knows how to make you really roots for these great kids, and it's really good at tugging the ol' heartstrings. See my review here for more!

A Sign of Affection

The anime follows Yuki, a shy girl who's been deaf since birth, and Itsuomi, a world-traveler and polyglot, fall in love. They both live in very different worlds, but as their romance blooms, they're eager to learn more about each other.

A Sign of Affection is shoujo romance at its sweetest, with soft colors, gentle blushes, tender moments, and plenty of warm fuzzies. The animation is beautiful and the show treats Yuki's perspective with care and delicacy as the story goes on. It also have a great focus on communication and consent in a relationship. Read my review here! 

YATAGARASU: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master

In this world, people have the ability to shapeshift into yatagarasu, the giant three legged ravens from Japanese mythology. Prince Wakamiya, who's next in line for the emperor, is thought to be an incarnation of the powerful "Golden Raven", so the four women chosen as his bride candidates (each who carry the hopes of their respective provinces) compete fiercely for his hand. Yukiya, a canny young boy, has been pulled into being the prince's attendant, and both Yukiya and the women soon find themselves pulled into a deadly web of mysteries and political machinations.

Yatagarasu is a tightly woven tale of political intrigue, featuring lots of palace folk plotting against each other, multiple assassination attempts, spies, fascinating worldbuilding and use of mythology, well executed plot twists, and complex characters. Yukiya is a very likeable little trickster with a heart of gold, and he works well as an audience surrogate who has to keep up with all this weird court drama. In the first half, the story focuses a lot on on women contending with rigid roles and how that leads to both enmity and empathy between them. But disappointingly, most of those characters are dropped or have their roles reduced in the second half of the anime, which is a shame.

Overall, this anime is a story that hooks you with it's story and it's dark, majestic atmosphere and never lets go. It's just plain good, and pretty underrated, so I'd suggest checking it out!

The Apothecary Diaries (Episodes 13-24)

The second half of The Apothecary Diaries was somehow even better than the first half, crafting a compelling ongoing mystery and delving into MaoMao’s backstory. There were quite a few big thrills that made me gasp aloud. MaoMao, the world's best poison-obsessed detective, pulled off some show-stopping feats and she remains an incredible, endearing character. Especially now that we’ve learned she has a killer evil laugh. Check out my review of the first part of The Apothecary Diaries here and slightly more detail on this run of episodes here.

Dandadan

 Another one you've probably heard of, it's the story of two kids- Momo, who was abducted by aliens and Okarun, who was cursed by a yokai. Now they have to break Okarun's curese while aliens and yokai are hunting them!

Dandadan is an anime bursting with absurd action and humor, and it has a boppin’ soundtrack and amazing animation from Science Saru. It’s wildly weird in the best way, and the characters are hilarious lovable losers. It's also the rare example of a battle shonen that actually treats its female lead as an equal to her male partner, in screen time and in battle. I adore Momo with all my heart- she's fun, she's bombastic, she's badass, she's everything.

However, the main problem I have with the show is its pattern of putting Momo in sexual peril. I go into more detail about this and the show in general in my review here.

Train to the End of the World

 A story about four girls and a dog traveling across a weird, warped version of Japan to find their missing friend, Train to the End of the World is wild. I absolutely adore bizarre anime about equally bizarre girls, and this delivers. We see the girls encounter a cult with mushrooms growing out of their heads, screaming goatmen and even zombies on their journey. The dynamic between the different characters is great, and the dialogue is snappy. If you appreciate wild and weird zaniness that also has a lot of heart and great friendships, give this show a try. My full review is here.

Bonus Anime- some other stuff you might want to check out!

Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!

Despite an extremely goofy title Cherry Magic quickly became a surprisingly grounded, thoughtful and heartfelt BL romance worth watching. See my full review here.

7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy!

Rishe has lived seven lives, had lots of adventures, and in every single one of them, she has been killed as result of the world war started by the emperor of a neighboring kingdom. Each time Rishe dies, she's sent back to the moment the crown prince of her own country broke off their engagement (she's actually pretty happy about it). But in her seventh life, the future Emperor sees her, is instantly smitten by how cool she is and proposes to her. Rishe decides she might as well enjoy life chilling in the palace before things inevitably go to hell.

7th Time Loop has a fun conceit, and it features a vivacious, badass heroine who's a joy to watch. Having lived as a commoner in most of her past lives, she's ready to use her smarts to help people--whether it's going undercover to help a maid who's being bullied or addressing illiteracy among the servant girls. Whether she's beating up kidnappers or politically maneuvering, she's learning and growing and kicking ass. While her love interest is a bit too broody for me, I do deeply relate to how Rishe's badassery clearly turns him on. The antagonists and plot are sometimes a bit silly, but it's always a good time. A josei anime about an awesome gal is just what the doctor ordered.

Acro Trip

A silly show about a magical girl fangirl who's recruited to an evil organization by an incompetent villain,  Acro Trip is a lot of fun, and I recommend it to any magical girl enjoyer. I also recommend it to anyone who loves pathetic failguys and girls. Our "villain" Chrome is the most hilariously pathetic of them all. You like bad boys? Well this man is literally bad at everything. See my full review here.

Whisper Me a Love Song

 I have to give a shoutout to the only textual yuri anime that came out this year--it's production basically completely collapsed, but it's still watchable and the story is a sweet and solid girl band romance. At least consider giving the manga a shot if nothing else! See my review here!

[williammarksommer]

Wyoming Diary

iPhone Photos

[julykings]

by candlelight

[pencilscratchins]

they won’t let tpol be on season 3 of strange new worlds because they know footage of old tpol would allow me to finish my tripol silver springs fancam

[morecrearty]

i lied about probably not drawing much for the rest of the month 🤥 i went to the natural history museum with my pal & we drew lots of wonky lil guys ✍🏻😌

i am pleased to announce that the main scanner at my local library has been fixed and now nobody will be spared from my sketchbook spreads xoxo

[theartsytrip]

[goodartitude]

Hiking mementos pt. 1

Taglist (please let me know if you don't want to be tagged under personal/non-amphibia art or writing!):

@dodelidoo @calamity-unlocked @turn-the-frickin-frogs-gay @mira-blue @kaseyskat @bardicspiration @maritasdump @perpetually-profoundly-confused @scribicronus-v02 @yourpersonaltimebomb @eeveearoace @cute-as-buttons @beneaththeiceandsnow @arcadiii @reyraccoon @gayfrogcoven @oraclecoven @allegory-of-the-rave @hachidementa @hey-its-puddlesock @watermelon-converse @bookmermaidcats @linkcalm @ivypond11 @chaoticcerise @nexstage @darcysd20 @gaynessisintheair @bloop-arts @banyanas @impact801 @mood-owl

[soulmvtes]

sitting at the window of a beautiful sunlit cafe drinking yorkshire tea in front of a tree whose leaves are turning brown and orange after a long week... i am soo back

[theslowtravel]

Rocky Mountain National Park / CO

[placeofwonder]

today: studied in the library of my new uni for the first time. this particular branch library was recommended during a campus tour as both pretty and not very busy, which seems to be true, and I picked out a table with a lovely view. I'll definitely be coming back here!

[literatureaesthetic]

18th april '24 — london

this was such a special trip for me. my first time travelling entirely on my own, discovering and falling in love with a city. i've been to london a few times growing up, but i've never had the chance to really explore and live in it until now. forever an experience i'll cherish <3