Jacqkie | Travel and Lifestyle

I have officially become one of the millions that overcrowded the Japanese parks in Tokyo during Sakura season. Can you blame me though??? Initially, I didn't understand the hype about the Sakura but after seeing with my own eyes how they gracefully disintegrate in the breeze and fall like gentle rain over the many passerby, laughing, toasting and hugging - I totally understand why the Sakura season makes one of the most romantic, most iconic backdrop walks of all time. Because it truly is. This is that trip (I usually have one in a year) with mum. And we've been talking about the Cherry Blossoms for as long as I can remember. Personally, I've never seen the Sakura flowers. It's the kind of flowers you only see in movies, as a backdrop of a dreamy date. Or in a Korean TV series, and you always think it's so beautiful but will not remember it after. And do you know, that the Sakura flowers only bloom for approximately a week? Which is why being able t...

The first thing I did when I reached Osaka, was to .. smell it. Yes, smell it.  It was an exciting blend of freshly stirred street food and possibly the carbon monoxide emitted by road mobiles, and humans, maybe. Variety of odors wrapped into one welcome. Ah, so exciting! True enough, within seconds of walking towards our hostel we stumbled upon a lively okamayaki marketplace with loud yells, clinks and laughs. And then it hit me, "I'm, in, Osaka". Which according to most of my friends:  THE LAND OF AMAZING FOOD.  My first impression of Osaka, was that -- this city seemed like the more human of a city between the four! Don't get me wrong,  Tokyo ,  Kyoto  and  Hiroshima  were exceptionally lovely, to the point they almost seemed flawless? but Osaka, seemed intoxicating, exciting, colorful, flamboyant just like the multifaceted human. Or maybe it was that district I stayed in.  To know about the airbnb place I stayed in Osaka,...

Japan is a nation rich in history. Some if not most of the innovation we know today have been attributed to Japan. But, there are times when Japan is in the history for the worst reason. Hiroshima, 6 August 1945 marks a very tragic date to mankind. Hiroshima is the capital of the Hiroshima Prefecture, most known for being the first city on this planet to be wiped out by the first nuclear atomic bomb, used on civilians, and was done by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). It was war times, world war 2 to be specific, and the war that was between the United States and its allies with Germany, Italy and it's ally - Japan (please correct me if I'm wrong, this is my understanding). With a far more complicated than meets the eye allegations, conspiracies and allies during the world war 2, with the United Kingdom, and Italy and some parts of Asia joining in the picture - war times were complicated, and difficult. One thing was very clear - Hiroshima was the victim to the ...

Prior coming to this beautiful country, I asked those who've been to Japan which were their favourite cities, and why. 5/6 of my friends voted Kyoto as number 1 using similar keywords to describe their experience, authentic and beautiful. I didn't know what to expect really... I never spent a lot of time Googling about Japan neither have I discussed a lot on this beautiful country, but I do know one thing - I love Japanese food... I know so shallow. But thank God after this visit, I know a lot more about Japan than meets the eye. The people, the lives, what matters, what are they looking forward to. Upon reaching Kyoto (via Shinkansen and local train). We started our day meeting up with our Airbnb host Ms Rumi (a self proclaimed grandma who proposed the idea to the owner of the home to turn that home we stayed in into a meeting point for conversations and gatherings for the people around her area - because "people are just too busy with their own lives, we don...

The first time I Googled about Japan, there were a lot of articles out there talking about the shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto. Everyone seemed to be wanting to give travelers out there one specific advice: SIT ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE TRAIN.  So we did just that. The ever so helpful and friendly Japanese customer service guy at the JR Office Station in Tokyo reserved us the seats on the right aisle a day before the actual departure. and guess what, WE MISSED IT. I had a hunch that we would miss it because I wasn't confident in taking the train really early in the morning at 9.00am. But thank heavens for the awesomeness of the JR Pass , we can book the next train anytime we like from any JR Station! So we estimated our journey, this time to be expecting Tokyo Station in less than half an hour to be able to FINALLY catch the shinkansen to Kyoto. Luckily this time we manage to reach Tokyo station on time. PHEW. I was fidgeting the whole time making sure we don't miss th...

I need to start this post with a fact. After this trip, I Googled "the most populous city in the world" and guess what came in first? TOKYO. Yes, seriously. Not any cities in China, neither in India, nor in America, but TOKYO JAPAN! I haven't actually dive into the reason why Tokyo is the most populous city in the world, I'm sure there is some history, campaign, law or legislation to this, but I have yet to read it somewhere, so if you DO know, please let me know! How true this article from IB Times is, must have somewhat truth in it because... planning to go into Tokyo Disneyland, without purchasing ticket online, on a weekend is a little crazy. We had Disneyland in mind simply because, we just had to. We are child at hearts and we're already in Tokyo, might as well check it out. That sounded so simple. We stumbled upon the Disneyland Ticketing Office while walking around Shibuya looking for the Robot Restaurant , and decided, HEY, let's see how...

Every year I devote myself to one big vacation. I made sure I have a lot of savings to splurge on that vacation, and calculated all the things that I needed to do or buy. JAPAN WAS THAT VACATION THIS YEAR. Not knowing whether I will ever come back to Japan, I decided this trip was to cover most of the areas that I wanted to. Like, simply, staying in a traditional Japanese home, eating sushis in Japan, checking out Tokyo Disneyland, discover manga, the very few Japanese stuff I know of. I really know SO LITTLE of Japan, and decided this was the chance to learn all of that. Tokyo We flew in via AirAsia to Tokyo (Haneda) first. Our take off was around 2pm in the afternoon (Kuala Lumpur) and reached Haneda around 11.30pm. We were made to understand that the train stops operating around 12am, and counting the fact that we needed to pay an extra night just for a couple of hours till we move to our airbnb home, we disregard the idea, and stayed the night in the airport. Apparently...