1/11/2025 - 30/11/2025 November in Japan

Seeing in the start of a new month with my black and blue broken finger taped up, I started off the month with a visit to Disney Sea with my friends! At this point, this was my 3rd or 4th time visiting Disney Sea and so I was pretty confident in my knowledge of how to make it the most jam packed day possible. The five of us (Me, Chloe, Luke, Erin, and Louise) set off early in the morning and spent the day trying to get on as many rides as possible! However, we didn't account for the fact that it was a national holiday weekend and, honestly, I think everyone and their mum had decided to go to Disney Sea that day! It was super super busy and the queue times were immense, but we all had a really great time!

One of the best things about Disney Sea is the decoration and detail that has been put into every single element of the park. This meant that even though we weren't able to get onto all of the rides, the day was still amazing, and we all had a great time!

Shortly after that, Chloe's family came to Japan again to visit, this time bringing Chloe's sister, Olivia, and her boyfriend, Callum, with them. They were only in Japan for a few days this time, but it was a jam-packed schedule! First, we took the train down to Yokohama for a day, kicking off our visit at the Ramen museum. This was a really cool museum that had an inside space dedicated to the most famous ramen restaurants up and down the country with each shop having a little stand where you can go and try their ramen. I ate two bowls of ramen here and they were both DELICIOUS! After that, we took a trip to the Cup Noodle museum which gave an in-depth journey through the history of the creation of Cup Noodles.

This museum was right next to a mini theme park and so we spent the early evening going on some fun roller coasters. We headed into Yokohama's China Town for dinner and this area was amazing! Yokohama's China Town is one of the biggest China Town's in East Asia and I could definitely tell! There were hundreds of shops, cafes, and restaurants lining the streets and hanging above our heads were loads of beautiful lanterns and lit up dragons. It was a very cool place to visit and the food was delicious. It's surprisingly hard to come by authentic Chinese food here, and so Chloe and I definitely indulged.

The next day, we headed back into Tokyo and spent the day at one of the TeamLab museums before finishing up at Shibuya Sky! Unfortunately it was pretty rainy that evening, but it didn't take away from the amazing view at the top - all of the neon signs and lit up buildings illuminated the night sky. I absolutely adore Tokyo and one of my favorite ways of seeing it is from above. The city sprawls out underneath you and it's fun to try and recognise all of the different wards.

And finally, to finish off Chloe's family's visit, we spent the next day at Disney Sea! The crowds were less busy this time and so we were able to get on quite a few rides, and we even joined the MASSIVE queue for the Frozen ride. It was really, really nice to have the Cheng's visit and it was super fun being able to show Olivia and Callum around Japan!

The rest of November was a pretty quiet time, most evenings were spent relaxing and on the weekend, we took some trips to some nearby nature spots.

It was around this time that the Autumn leaves started changing color and suddenly (almost overnight) all of the trees had beautiful and vibrant red leaves. I took a trip with my friends to an area called Yoro Valley and we hiked through a forest where all of the trees were bright orange and red! It was so so beautiful. Japan is obviously known for its sakura (cherry blossom) trees, and whilst that time was very stunning, I think that the period were the Autumn leaves are on display is my absolute favorite. Every moment that I spent outside during this time I would just walk around in awe at the natural beauty. When I plan my next visit to Japan, I will definitely prioritise coming here at this time.

By the end of November, the weather had started to get a bit colder and signs of winter were beginning to show. Christmas decorations started to pop up in the local shops and I began to look forward to December - my first Christmas away from home and the excitement of knowing my family would be in Japan soon.