Japan Journey – Lost in Translation

(And Then Immediately Got Lost in a Fish Market)

Part 2 of 5 | JET Journey

If you read Part 1, you know the drill: we left Arkansas in a storm, sat in an airport for twelve hours, and boarded a flight to Japan fueled purely by adrenaline and the stubborn refusal to let a delay ruin our dream trip.

Even now, waiting on that elusive JET email, remembering this chaos is basically keeping me sane. Because let’s be real — nothing makes airport delays feel shorter than reminiscing about being utterly lost in a fish market at 6am.

Here’s what happened once we finally got there.

1am. Haneda Airport. Zero Sleep. Let’s Go.

We landed at Haneda Airport around 1:00am. One in the morning. After a twelve-hour delay, a long flight, and roughly thirty-two hours awake fueled by excitement and airport snacks. Japan was right there… and we were completely, spectacularly exhausted.

First thing we did? Find a shower. Haneda has them, and let me tell you, life-changing. Warm water. Tiny soap. The kind of miracle that makes you feel human again. If you ever arrive in Japan at 1am after a day of chaos — find the showers.

Second thing… well, we wanted to figure out the metro. Only problem: no trains ran until 5am. So we waited. A lot.

Picture this: two Americans, running on nothing but adrenaline, backpacks at our feet, wandering the empty airport. The fluorescent lights were harsh, the echo of our footsteps made the place feel enormous, and the faint smell of reheated sandwiches lingered in the air. Everything felt wobbly — our legs, our heads, our sense of time.

I kept telling myself, “This will be a story one day,” just to stay awake. At one point, I looked at my husband and whispered, “You look… kinda awful.” He looked at me deadpan, and I realized I probably looked the same. Exhaustion jokes aside, we were still buzzing with excitement.

By the time the trains finally started running, we were unsteady but at least awake enough to follow Google Maps to the shinkansen station. Our goal: the 6am bullet train to Nagoya. Everything else could wait.

Tokyo, we will be back. Two whole days aren’t enough to scratch your surface.

The Bullet Train, the Fish Market, and the Hotel That Saved Us

The shinkansen is… a revelation.

We boarded at 6am, found our seats, and about four minutes later we were both asleep. Not kidding. Smooth, quiet, impossibly comfortable — the gentle rocking of the train and the hum of the rails were basically a lullaby. By the time we arrived in Nagoya around 8 or 9am, we were at least partially restored.

Then came the walk to our hotel. Google said twenty minutes. We said, “Fine. We have backpacks. We’re mobile.”

Google lied.

Somewhere between the train station and Lamp Light Books Hotel, we stumbled into a fish market in full swing. Smells. Noise. Chaos. Two bleary-eyed tourists bumbling through like lost puppies. Fishmongers shouting, crates being dragged across the concrete, the smell sharp and unmistakable. One vendor gave us a look that said, “Why are these foreigners here?” We smiled weakly and shuffled on. Somewhere between awe and panic, I laughed so hard I almost dropped my camera.

And somehow… it was completely worth it. There’s something magical about accidentally wandering into local life your first morning in Japan.

Lamp Light Books Hotel was our salvation: cozy, quiet, book-filled, 24-hour coffee, a little cafe, a park next door, chill vibes all around. We dropped our bags, grabbed a coffee and a sandwich, and finally… breathed.

Enhance lighting, sharpness, and color naturally

And here’s a small victory: we tried out our Japanese on the staff. Nervous, wobbly, probably mangling every word, but they were patient and kind. The first time we said “thank you” and it was understood — the tiniest moment, but felt like a triumph. Little victories like this are exactly what I cling to while still waiting on that JET email — sanity-saving, I swear.

(Tip: Matcha+ sandwiches at Lamp Light = life support.)

Nagoya Castle on Zero Sleep (Highly Recommend, Weirdly)

We should have slept. We knew we should have. But instead, we went to Nagoya Castle.

Here’s the thing about an 8 or 9am castle visit: it’s quiet. Not “tourist brochure quiet,” but genuinely peaceful. The morning air was crisp, the gravel underfoot crunching softly, the grounds ours to explore. Everything felt wobbly — from our steps to our brains — but the awe hit anyway.

Inside, we were whisked from room to room, each filled with miraculous details: traditional artwork, ceilings covered in intricate designs, tigers that didn’t quite look like tigers, architecture that made you pause and just breathe. My husband and I kept looking at each other like, “Wow… we look kinda awful… but look at this.”

Standing there, exhausted and wobbly, I felt like a tourist and a kid seeing magic for the first time at the same time. This was the moment Japan became real. Not the landing, not the metro, not even the fish market. Standing inside Nagoya Castle on zero sleep, staring at gold and artistry, it hit us: we actually did it. We’re actually here.

Hotel Recovery & Convenience Store Magic

After the castle, we returned to Lamp Light Books Hotel, grabbed some 7/11 and Lawson food — which deserves its own post, honestly — and slept like we had never slept before.

Nagoya, you were exactly what we needed. One day, a fish market detour, and a castle that made everything worth it. And replaying it in my head while waiting for that JET email? Basically my sanity soundtrack right now.

Quick Note on Nagoya’s Metro

Completely unscientific opinion, but we’d rank Nagoya’s metro system as the best we used on the entire trip: clean, easy, logical, never once made us feel lost. High praise from two people operating at about thirty percent capacity.

Next Time… Kyoto Adventures

We arrive in Kyoto, put on kimonos, attend a tea ceremony, eat at the best mom-and-pop okonomiyaki place you’ve never heard of, and I form an unexpectedly moving connection over calligraphy. Oh, and the bamboo forest is… a little overrated. I said what I said.

Stay tuned. 🌸

Question for you: Have you ever had a trip that started in complete chaos and somehow turned magical anyway? Tell me about it in the comments.

— Katherine, somewhere in Arkansas, waiting for placement

(A Cautionary Tale)

Part 1 of 3 | Posted in: Jet Journey

If you’ve been following along, you know Japan has been calling my name for a long time. This is the story of how my husband and I finally answered — impulsively, joyfully, and with absolutely no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

The Night We Did Something About It

There’s a version of this story where we planned carefully. Where we researched for months, compared flight prices, built a meticulous itinerary, and approached the whole thing like responsible adults.

That is not this story.

This story starts on a random night in March. I had just finished teaching my college classes for the semester. We had just gotten married. And somewhere between the relief of finishing my master’s degree and the newlywed energy of what do we do next, something in us just said — go.

We’d talked about Japan for years. Years. It was our dream destination in every sense — the culture, the architecture, the history, the food, the everything. It was the place we referenced constantly when watching J-Dramas and anime together, the place we’d say someday about so many times that someday started to feel like a word that meant never.

So one night we looked at each other and said: sure. Yeah. Let’s just look up the tickets.

An hour later they were booked. Non-refundable. Done.

And then the realization hit.

One Month. Zero Plan. Two Very Impulsive Newlyweds.

We had one month to plan a two and a half week trip to Japan with absolutely zero clue what we were doing.

Not six months. Not three. One single month to figure out flights, hotels, trains, itineraries, visas, packing, and approximately four thousand other things we hadn’t thought of yet.

Were we young and a little impulsive? Yes. Yes we were. Do I regret a single second of it? Absolutely not.

We spent the first three or four days just dreaming. Instagram first — scrolling through reels of cherry blossoms in full bloom, late-night street food stalls, and the chaos of Shibuya Crossing, saving everything, building a visual wishlist of what Japan could look like for us.

Instagram was for dreaming. Wanderlog and Klook were for the actual itinerary building. Google Maps for logistics. And more YouTube videos than I can count.

Eventually we landed on this: Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Nara, Uji, Hiroshima, and Osaka. Ambitious for one month of planning? Maybe. Perfect for two people who had been dreaming about this trip for years? Absolutely.

We also decided on backpacks instead of luggage — a decision I want to give us full credit for because it was genuinely smart. We knew we’d be jumping from city to city constantly and we wanted to be as mobile as possible. No rolling suitcases on cobblestone streets. No checking bags. Just us and our backpacks, ready to move.

We felt very prepared. We were not fully prepared. But we felt it.

The Morning Everything Almost Fell Apart

The day of our flight, I woke up to a storm.

Not a light drizzle. A storm. And a notification that our flight was delayed by twelve hours.

Twelve. Hours.

I want to paint you a picture of what twelve hours of delay does to a meticulously planned — okay, a one-month-scramble-planned — two and a half week itinerary. It sort of makes your mind melt.

That was the moment it hit me — we might actually mess this up before we even left.

We lost two full days on the trip before we’d even left the airport. Which meant scrambling to cancel hotels, rearrange bookings, and make some painful decisions about what had to go.

Hakone got cut entirely. We went from several days in Nagoya to one single day. My husband, who was already scared of flying and had been very bravely holding it together, sat in that airport for twelve hours watching me frantically reorganize spreadsheets on my laptop.

But here’s the thing about a twelve hour delay in an airport when you’re about to go to Japan for the first time — even that couldn’t touch the excitement. We were going. Finally, actually going. A storm and a scrambled itinerary and a very long airport day couldn’t change that.

And so eventually, finally, we got on the plane.

Next time: We land in Tokyo, attempt to navigate the train system with zero Japanese, and discover that we forgot to plan anywhere to sleep for the night.

Have you ever planned a trip completely spontaneously? Tell me about it in the comments — I need to know I’m not alone.

— Katherine, somewhere in Arkansas, waiting on an email 🌸

Category: Japan Journey

We Made It to Japan