Japan (Other Than Hiroshima and Nagoya) – The Exasperated Historian

In June of 2025, I took a cruise all around Japan (with a stop in Jeju, South Korea which you can read about by clicking here).

Full disclosure--that part of my around the world trip was such a blur I don't remember where some of the following photos were taken, but I am going to try my best to fill in the gaps. I am also going to make separate posts about my visit to Hiroshima, as well as the Toyota Museum in Nagoya because I have a lot to say about both places.

But with that out of the way...enjoy my virtual tour of Japan.

The only part of Europe I have been to is Denmark so far (well, and the Lisbon, Portugal International Airport but that doesn't count!) Anyways, something I have heard about Europe is "Once you see a cathedral in Europe, you feel like you have seen them all."

I'm going to be honest-- I feel the same way about Shinto and Buddhist shrines in Japan. I don't remember where any of these shrines were with the exception of one in Tokyo, which I will point out below. I will provide some photos here and then give you some more information about the Shinto and Buddhist religions and shrines in Japan in a bit.

(The last photo directly above is of a Buddhist Shrine in Tokyo, I believe all the other photos are from Shinto Shrines scattered throughout Japan).

I had heard of Shinto before going to Japan, but didn't know much about it. Our tour guides throughout our time in Japan filled in a few of the gaps, and I did a bit more research to give you a better understanding of this polytheistic religion.

The Shinto Religion was founded in Japan in ancient times, at least 1,300 years ago--kind of like how we associate the Olympiad with Ancient Greece and certain Egyptian gods with Ancient Egypt. With Shinto, however, the religion is still fairly popular and widespread throughout the Japanese islands. And when I say there are Shinto shrines everywhere, I mean they are everywhere!

According to the website Jinja Honcho (linked below):

Shinto has no founder, no dogma, and no doctrine. It is a way of life, shaped by pure reverence for the myriad kami and honest gratitude for the blessings we have received.
Shinto is both the wellspring of Japanese culture, and an eternally renewed expression of that same culture.

Our tour guides told us that there are thousands of gods and spirits in the Shinto Religion. The Shinto word for spirits or gods is "Kami", and "Jinja" is the word for sacred locations around the islands. "Shinto" itself is a word that can be translated as "The Way of the Gods."

Shinto is also an ancestral religion, and after people die, they can be worshipped as Kami by their descendants. Some families even build shrines to worship their ancestor Kami. The most important Kami in Shinto is the goddess Amaterasu, who is associated with the sun.

Shinto is explained further by Japan Guide (article linked below):

In contrast to many monotheistic religions, Shinto does not have absolutes. There is no absolute right and wrong, and nobody is perfect. Shinto is an optimistic faith, as humans are thought to be fundamentally good, and evil is believed to be caused by evil spirits. Consequently, the purpose of most Shinto rituals is to keep away evil spirits by purification, prayers and offerings to the kami.

Shinto priests can be men or women, and are allowed to marry and have families. They often live on the grounds of the various shrines scattered around the country, and are aided in various rituals (or "matsuri") by young, unmarried women called "miko". The Miko can be the daughter of the priest, and they dress in white kimono for the ceremonies they assist at.

During the Meji Period (1868-1912), Shinto was made the state religion as a way to create a sense of Japanese identity after the fall of the Shogunate and end of the Edo Period (the time of the Samurai). However, after World War II, the new Japanese government formally separated itself from the Shinto Religion.

While Shinto is still popular in the country, and there are such things as Shinto weddings, there are virtually no Shinto cemeteries because of the way death and Shinto conflict. Instead, cemeteries and death rites are usually left to Japanese Buddhist customs instead--which I will go into next.

The original form of Buddhism practiced in Japan is called Mahayana, or "Greater Vehicle" Buddhism, which essentially teaches that everyone is capable of achieving enlightenment and salvation. Over the following centuries, however, other types of Buddhism also developed in the country. During the 6th Century AD, Buddhism was brought to Japan via Korea and China. While the ruling people of Japan were immediately receptive to the new religion, the common people struggled with Buddhism at first because of the differences between it and Shinto, but eventually the two religions came to a place of complementary coexistence.

Unlike Shinto, which is one, fluid religion, Japanese Buddhism is divided into multiple different sects, founded at different periods in the country's history. Each sect has different followers, different beliefs, and teaches different ways to paths of enlightenment. And honestly--its all pretty confusing as someone who doesn't know much about Buddhism in general, and even less about Japanese culture and history.

For around a thousand years, between the 6th and 16th centuries, Buddhism also held political power in Japan, beyond the religious aspect. Things were calm for the next few centuries, but during the Meji Period, Buddhism once again came under attack as the government attempted to make Shinto the dominant religion. Long term, this didn't seem to work very well.

According to Japan Guide's website, today, two-thirds of Japanese people consider themselves to be Buddhist of some sort, but it does not strongly influence their day-to-day lives. Many Japanese people keep altars in their homes to pray to the ancestors, and as previously mentioned, funerals are usually held in the Buddhist traditions.

When I visited the Shinto and Buddhist Temples, I was amazed--first of all by how green and beautiful everything is and the fact that there are literal plants growing on the roofs of some temples! Coming from the desert where I live, I always find places that are really green and have wildflowers so pretty. One of the Shinto temples we visited even had a giant pond of all different colors of Iris growing in it (I provided a photo above). I was also struck by just how many people were at each shrine. Yes there were a lot of tourists, but there were also many native Japanese people as well. In the United States, where monotheistic religions are much more popular, you usually only see churches full at specific times (for services or masses, weddings, funerals, and other events for example). In Japan, the shrines were all full all the time! It was fascinating.

Another thing we saw multiples of was castles. I personally saw two on our trip, and both looked exactly the same--white walls with black tiled roofing. I honestly can't remember which was which and don't know which one is in this photo (sorry!). It doesn't help that we saw them two days in a row, and it was pouring rain pretty much the entire time we had allotted to look at them.

I did a bit of research to look into why there are so many castles dotted around the islands, and it sounds a lot like why there are so many European castles (or ruins of castles) scattered around. According to Japan Guide, during the 15th and 16th centuries, there was no unified Japanese government covering all of mainland Japan like there is today. Instead, there were a bunch of small warring states, and the heads of those states built small castles on top of hills as defensive positions.

During the second half of the sixteenth century, the Japanese reunification process was completed, and more castles (albeit larger this time around) were also built all around Japan. These castles were built for military and administrative uses, and to prop up a symbol of the new government's authority in the regions they were built.

When the Feudal Age came to an end in 1868, many of the castles were destroyed. More castles were further lost during bombing raids in World War II. Today, only a dozen castles from before the Feudal Era survive, but more have been rebuilt--with concrete and other modern supplies as opposed to traditional materials.

I believe, after doing a bit more reading, that the two castles we visited were Kochi Castle, and Himeji Castle. I believe the Himeji Castle is the one I have pictured here in this article.

(Also quick random side note, we went to the zoo while we were in Himeji because capybaras are my favorite animal and they have capybaras there! Unfortunately the zoo itself was really sad and depressing so if you're an animal lover like me, you probably don't want to go there. All of the enclosures were super tiny, dirty, and had little to no enrichment for the animals in them. I saw an armadillo doing the "I'm stressed and running in circles" dance at one point too. It was so sad.

We also found a Studio Ghibli inspired village somewhere, but again I can't figure out where it was. I tried to look it up online but there are so many different Studio Ghibli areas in Japan I have no idea where we were!

For those who don't know, Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio who makes wildly popular films like Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away.

Also, again I don't remember where this was but we found a hamburger place that sold a "Ladies Burger" so I decided to pose next to it, haha.

And once again, I have no idea which beach this was. I tried to look up "Black Sandy Beach" in Japan but apparently there are multiple beaches in Japan that have black sand! All I remember about that day is that we were trying to see Mount Fuji in the distance, but it was way too cloudy out so we couldn't see anything, and instead walked right back to our car and promptly went back to our cruise ship!

Ryugado Cave is in Kochi, Japan, and it was pretty cool to walk through! Honestly though, I wouldn't remember the name of the cave if I hadn't snagged a pamphlet, which has clearly been sort-of translated into English from the original Japanese. I posted a photo of it here for your enjoyment!

The other photos were taken inside the cave itself by my fiancé with his night vision camera, which was really useful because most of the cave is so dark you can't see anything inside it.

I would say if you happen to be near Kochi, check out the cave, but ONLY IF you are ready to climb eight flights of stairs and, well, there's no nice way to say this but, the cave is Fatphobic. By that I mean, there are multiple tiny passageways that you have to twist and contort yourself through. The gaps are easily passed by stereotypically sized Japanese people, but Americans? You really don't want to get stuck down there and it was so busy during our trip there wasn't really a way to turn around and go back either.

Earlier this year I went to Kartchner Caverns in my native Arizona for the second time with my family and my fiancé, so that experience was still fresh in our minds the day we went caving in Japan.

If you visit Kartchner Caverns or other cave systems that are operated by state parks, or even have stringent scientific studies happening in them, you'll learn that it is expressly forbidden to touch anything. Cave systems are incredibly delicate, and even something as small as a human touching a wall can result in bacterial growth or a whole host of other issues.

In Ryugado Caves, however? You have no choice but to touch the walls, especially in the tight areas like I mentioned above. Luckily there are no rules against it either though. So, if you're looking for a caving experience where you are allowed to get up close and personal and touch whatever you want, this is the caving experience for you. Just again be careful because of how many stairs there are. The final climb up out of the cave is called "The Tiring Hill" and boy are they not kidding!

And now for a bit of history about the cave.

According to the cave's website, the cave system was formed over 175 million years ago and is around four kilometers long--one kilometer of which is open to the public. One sentence on the website really stood out to me--"The cave even has Wifi!" I can tell you that, of all the things I liked about Japan, one of the best is that there is free Wifi in almost all public spaces, which is really nice when your American cellphone doesn't work in foreign countries!

Also, there is a museum about the caves on sight, but we were not given enough time to go through it unfortunately--which is a shame because the pictures of it look really interesting.

To get to the entrance to the cave, visitors also have to pass a range of different vendor shops and souvenir stands. The most prominent store (that our guide was sure to tell us about beforehand) is a man who makes handmade kitchen knives. They were excellent quality but we didn't buy any because a) they were really expensive and b) as passengers from a cruise ship, we knew they would get confiscated by security when we went to take them back on board the ship. That's also why we didn't buy any shurikans that were also for sale at the caves!

I also learned doing research that Ryugado means "Dragon River Cave" and that the system is one of Japan's largest limestone cave systems. Ryugado was designated a Natural Monument of Japan way back in 1934. The colorful lights and other music we saw while traversing the cave was only added in 2019, my guess as a way to draw in more visitors. One nice thing about the cave system is that they have maps all throughout the route that shows you how far you've traveled and how much further till you get to the end. This is really helpful when you're already exhausted from multiple days in a row of walking miles and miles like we had been on our trip!

Our first night in Tokyo, we were able to go to the Asakusa Sumo Club to witness a real sumo wrestling fight (from retired actual sumo wrestlers, pictured here).

First I will talk about my time at the Sumo Club, and then give some background about Sumo Wrestling in General.

The night we saw sumo wrestling, we were all bone tired. We had been wandering around Tokyo all day long, going from one stop to another, and for the past three hours had been wasting time waiting for our sumo show to start. It was also pouring rain, my phone was dead, and it was our last day with the cruise so we were all getting ready to disembark the next morning (and immediately head to Tokyo Disney, which I'll talk about next!)

Anyways, right before we went into the Sumo Club, a few of us wandered down the street and tried Japanese McDonald's, which was actually pretty good. And I'm glad we did, because I'm not exactly the most open to eating random food I can't identify.

So we get into the sumo club, all of us dripping wet and cold, and we find out our seats were wooden benches with wood slabs for a tabletop in front of us. The seating is extremely uncomfortable but makes sense for the vibe the club is going with. Then we get our food--which is a traditional Japanese platter called Chanko" which included fried chicken, vegetables, and some soup cooked over a little fire they make right in front of each guest. I didn't like most of it but other people in my group thought it was okay. The part I didn't like was that each guest got a free drink--alcohol or non-alcoholic, but each guest had to order separately by scanning a QR code on their phones. As I mentioned, my phone was dead so I was lucky I'd carried my water bottle in with me!

Then the show started. My fiancé and I were a little nervous when a white guy with blond hair who speaks perfect English came out and introduced himself as the owner (I think! I'm almost certain he was but now I'm second guessing myself). We were only a bit concerned that we had found ourselves in a tourist trap, and it was a little, but the wrestlers themselves and the woman who worked as the geisha dancer who performed before the wrestlers were all authentic.

Come to find out, the white guy had moved to Japan but was originally from Canada, and apparently he just really liked Sumo wrestling, so he opened the club as a way of bringing sumo to the world. Sounds like something I would do honestly.

Before the matches, the host gave us a short history of sumo, explained the rules, and then we met the fighters. The room was divided in half, with one side backing Roman and the other side backing Asazakura (I hope I am spelling his name right). My side backed Roman and WE WON. And by that I mean Roman won the most matches of the night between the two of them!

Afterwards, the host asked for ten volunteers from the crowd who wanted a chance to take on the sumo wrestlers. The very first volunteer challenged Roman. Now quick tangent--in sumo wrestling, as a way to bless the ring beforehand, the wrestlers will each take a handful of salt and toss it onto the ring. When our first volunteer took his handful of salt, he decided that instead of throwing it into the ring, he would instead throw it directly into Roman's eyes.

Now, I don't know about you, but there's this thing I was taught from the time I was a child called basic human respect. And part of that aspect is that you do not throw SALT into a person's EYES. Not unless you're literally in fear for your life or something. Oh so many of us in the crowd were beyond pissed, and you could tell Roman the wrestler was too. He spent the rest of the night with his eyes burning, trying to clean them out with a rag he was using for his sweat.

Luckily he also promptly beat that volunteer's a** as he should have. Whoever that guy was, if you ever see this--I hope you never do that again because not cool my man. Not. Cool.

Nobody from my group volunteered to fight, but we all still had a lot of fun, and when it was over, each group that was part of the audience got to take a photo with the wrestlers and Geisha dancer. I posted ours above. One of my future brothers-in-law even got picked up by Roman for the photo!

Now for the history of Sumo.

The earliest records of sumo wrestling are found in written texts dating back to 712 AD, while figurines of sumo wrestlers have been dated to around the same time. In the earlier periods of sumo history, matches would be performed around the same time rice was planted, as a way of praying for a good harvest and good weather that year. Eventually, sumo became a popular sport that was performed even in front of the emperor.

Professional sumo wrestling, however, was not developed until the Edo Period, the time of the samurai. Sumo at the time was used as a way to raise money for building projects and other public works, and because of the public nature of it, the rules and regulations that still pertain to sumo today were formed. Despite its popularity, the government actually tried to ban sumo on several occasions because of the arguing and fighting that came along with it.

This was the same period that the 48 Winning Techniques were decided on. In Sumo, you can't win any which way you want. Instead, there are 48 specific moves or ways you can utilize to win a match. These 48 techniques all boil down to one of two things: either one wrestler is able to force the other out of the ring (even if its only a foot or a hand or something), or one wrestler is able to force the other to touch their hands to the ground of the ring. As soon as either happens, the round is over.

The only other way to lose is if one of the wrestlers loses their belt, or "Mawashi," which is why they are tied on so tightly. The wrestlers demonstrated to us what it looks like when one *almost* falls off for comedic effect, but apparently that is also a major rule. You flash the audience, you lose.

The biggest surprise to me, watching these matches, was how quickly they were over. I would say that of all the rounds we watched, the longest way maybe a minute long. They are extremely fast, so don't blink!

Another thing I noticed was that both wrestlers we watched at the club were retired from professional sumo wrestling, and both were (I think) in their early 30s. So apparently even though the wrestlers train for years to become good at the sport, they retire not long after!

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The morning after our day exploring Tokyo, that ended with the Sumo show, we disembarked our cruise ship and headed straight to Tokyo Disneyland Resort.

(When I say we spent thirty-seven days straight running all around the world, I'm really not exaggerating!)

The previous two photos are from "Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast"--a ride not currently available in either Disney California park (as of July 2025). I've never been to any other Disney parks so I'm not sure if it is available in any of them either!

(And yes it was supremely odd to hear Lumiere singing "Be Our Guest" in a French accent, in Japanese!)

One thing I noticed (and loved!) about Tokyo Disney was that none of the rides have been made "Politically Correct" like they have in California. Splash Mountain still carries all of the original Brer Rabbit characters (though again they sing in Japanese, which makes sense for the park's location but was still odd for my American ears) and Pirates of the Caribbean still features the Bridal Auction! As a child who always found red headed women particularly attractive, my favorite part of the Pirates attraction was the line, "We Wants the Redhead!" and when it was removed from Disneyland Anaheim I was crushed. My childhood was restored when I got to hear the line--in English no less!--at Tokyo Disneyland.

And seeing as Pirates was our first ride of the day, it made it even more special!

We spent two days at Tokyo Disney Resort: our first day we spent at Tokyo Disneyland, and our second day at the newer park Tokyo DisneySea.

I absolutely LOVED Tokyo Disneyland, and honestly that park is the only reason I could see myself returning to Japan one day. It was everything Disneyland Anaheim was when I was a child but isn't anymore. Also, the park was clean, the staff was really nice and friendly, and there were not very many guests--even though it was a Sunday. I think the part I loved the most about the park though was the sheer number of children there.

When I visited Disneyland Anaheim in September, my fiancé and I noticed that there were about four adults for every child. Now I get it, with how much it costs to get into Disneyland now, I don't blame parents for not being able to afford it. But there was something so special about seeing all these young families and happy children everywhere. I didn't even see any kids upset or crying!

While we were at Tokyo Disneyland, we went on the following attractions: Splash Mountain (which we actually went on twice!), Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan's Flight, Snow White's Adventures, Mickey's Philharmagic, Pooh's Hunny Hunt, It's a Small World (With Groot!), Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast, The Happy Ride With Baymax, Star Tours the Adventures Continue, Monsters Ince Ride and Go Seek!, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Jungle Cruise. I honestly think my favorite was It's a Small World, not just because Groot and many other Marvel characters have been incorporated, but because the ride was actually clean and well maintained. The last few times I've done the ride in California it seems kind of sad and dilapidated. Pooh's Hunny Hunt was also really fun and had a surprise that I won't spoil for anyone here! But yeah, overall I loved Tokyo Disneyland.

(Also they still have a version of Fast Passes that is much MUCH better than the stupid Genie whatever its called in the US).

Tokyo DisneySea, however, is a much different story.

The first thing you have to understand is that Japanese culture is much different from American culture, and the Japanese people really don't mind waiting in long lines.

The day we visited was a Monday and the park was beyond packed. We waited in a line for over an hour, just to go through security before we even got into the park. The line was also outside, with no covering, and in June it is HOT there. Well over 90 degrees Fahrenheit and humid as well.

(Also my fiancé had to use the bathroom while we were waiting in line. The only bathroom available was in the train station near the security lines, and there were two bathrooms for the entire area. Not separate male and female mind you, but literally two toilets for probably a thousand people, so that's...cool).

Alright, so we finally got into the park, and again it is HOT. Now, another thing to know about Japan is that their smoking/nicotine laws are very different than the US as well. Its nearly impossible to find nicotine vapes or pouches, and it is illegal to smoke cigarettes out in public, you have to use specific smoking rooms.

My fiance had a pack of cigarettes on him, but the paper map we were given by park employees once we entered DisneySea was all in Japanese (understandably) and also failed to mark where the smoking rooms in the park were. Luckily we found a very friendly park employee and she literally took a sharpie to our map and starred the general location of where the rooms were.

And of course they are on complete opposite ends of the park, and not anywhere near where the entire back half of the park is!

After my fiancé made use of the closest smoking room, we started heading to the back of the park where we had specific Fast Pass like tickets for some of the newer attractions. And remember, it is hot, and there is very little shade anywhere in this park. We also had already run out of water and couldn't find any stands to buy more...and it was only 10 AM.

We made it to the back of the park, went on the rides we had our Fast Pass tickets for, and then began to explore the rest of the park. And thank goodness we had those passes by the way, because the lines for the three rides were: one and a half hours long, two hours long, and two and a half hours long! I would not have waited that long for any of them, but again, Japanese culture is very different from American.

We spent the next few hours trying to find water, utterly failing to do so, and riding a few rides. We also walked several miles, back and forth, utterly confused at times because the Tokyo Disney app for your phone SUCKS when you have poor American phone service like my fiancé did. I couldn't use the app at all most of the time because I had no service unless I Bluetooth tethered my phone to my fiancé's, but then that would throttle both of our service, which is a whole other complaint I have about international travel that I won't bother going into any more detail!

Oh yeah, and to top it all off I was also in excruciating stomach pain the vast majority of the day because Japanese food didn't agree with my American stomach. At one point when we were waiting in line for Soaring Fantastic Flight, I was literally doubled over in pain crying. Such a fun day.

At the end of the day, we did still get on a fair amount of rides, which I will list below. We also found out after the day was over that apparently all of the restaurants have water taps inside to refill water bottles in--but seeing as most of the exterior signs that did exist were in Japanese, and that's not really a thing in American parks, my fiancé and I had no idea and instead had almost passed out from heat exhausted at one point in our search for water.

That particular episode was entertaining for some of the Japanese guests I'm sure. Here I am, a tall (by Japanese standards), gangly, sweaty American girl sitting on the literal ground across from the one water fountain we did finally find, trying to regain my strength while my fiancé wandered off to find the other smoking room on the map.

Oh yeah, another note on Japanese culture--its actually seen as rude to sit down on the ground in public places, but they also fail to put benches in most public places either. I actually got stared at on two separate occasions while in Tokyo for daring to rest my tired legs!

I also had no idea, until after the fact, that DisneySea is at least three, maybe four times the size of Tokyo Disneyland. Literally the night after we went to Disneyland, my fiancé and I commented on how excited we were that we had an entire day to sea DisneySea, and that since it was probably the same size as Disneyland, it would be a relatively easy day. Oh how wrong we were.

We actually had until six PM to explore the park before we needed to leave to get to the airport, but by around 3:30 my fiancé and I called it quits and took the train back to the hotel, and we literally sat in the lobby for a few hours and waited, regaining our strength after that trying day.

During the five hours we were in the park, we were able to get on: Toy Story Mania, Tower of Terror, Soaring Fantastic Flight, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Indiana Jones Adventure of the Crystal Skull, Anna and Elsa's Frozen Journey, Peter Pan's Neverland Adventure, and Rapunzel's Lantern Festival.

There was an entire land we didn't even get to in DisneySea, called Ariel's Grotto I believe...but again we were so exhausted we were just done.

In my personal opinion, if you're planning a trip to Tokyo Disney anytime soon just go straight to Disneyland and skip DisneySea. I know that's a bit of a controversial take, since DisneySea is all the rage right now, but my experience was so bad I feel traumatized and don't ever want to go back!

But with all that said, let me get you some historical info on Tokyo Disney as a whole.

Tokyo Disneyland opened all the way back in 1983, which really isn't all that long after DisneyWorld opened in Florida. The major difference between Disneyland Anaheim and Disneyland Tokyo you will notice immediately upon entering Tokyo Disney, is that instead of the classic open-air Main Street USA, instead Tokyo has a World Bazaar with a covered roof, evidently designed to protect the park during inclement weather.

DisneySea opened in 2001, which is really surprising to me actually! One of my future cousins-in-law, who had done some research on the parks beforehand, told me that the reason DisneySea was so much busier than regular Disneyland was because it had "recently opened and was more popular." I figured DisneySea must have opened within the last five, maybe ten years, but twenty-four years ago?! No offense to my cousin but how is that recent!? Lol.

Both of the parks were closed for several weeks following the horrible tsunami and earthquake that hit Japan in 2011, not because the parks were damaged, but because a reliable source of electricity to the parks had been cut off. DisneySea, was closed the longest of any Disney park since opening (other than Covid that is)--which is kind of a sad but interesting distinction. The Covid19 Pandemic shut the parks from February to July of 2020, but they have been reopen ever since.

Since the first park opened in 1983, over 300,000 people have worked as cast members between the two parks!

After doing a bit more digging, I think I may have found what my cousin was referring to in terms of DisneySea. Remember when I said we had special tickets to get on some of the rides quicker? Those rides had to do with the films Tangled and Frozen, as well as a new Neverland Peter Pan themed ride. All three are located together at the back of the park in a land called Fantasy Springs. That entire area was opened in June 2024--so its only been open for around a year.

That would make sense why the lines are so incredibly long for those rides, and I think another reason why the crowds were so big were also because Duffy, a character that's really only popular in the Asian parks, is celebrating his 20th anniversary this year.

So yeah, there's a bit of info about Tokyo Disney, and my experiences while there.

A few other things to note: if you plan on riding the train from the main Tokyo Disney hotel to DisneySea or the other two stations, just know you have to pay for that ticket. The monorail in California is free, but not so in Tokyo.

Also, if you happen to be visiting DisneySea soon and don't have those special fast passes, remember this when you head to Fantasy Springs; the Rapunzel ride lasts literally less than five minutes--you are probably in the boat for maybe three minutes at the most! Also, I described the Frozen ride to my cousin and she said it sounds almost identical to the Frozen ride in Florida. Then there's the Peter Pan ride, which is entirely in Japanese (which again, makes sense given that the park is in Japan), but if you don't speak Japanese don't expect to understand what is going on on that ride at all. It is also one of those newer rides where you sit in front of a variety of screens with 3D glasses on, looking at various short films. If you get motion sickness, you might want to avoid that one. But yeah, most people were waiting over two hours for each of those rides...and I really don't think it was worth it.

So yeah, I hope you enjoy my virtual tour around Japan. I have more content about Hiroshima and Nagoya specifically coming up, but for now, hopefully you learned a bit and enjoy my random ramblings! Until next time!