A Japanese travel adventure through Osaka, Kobe, Nara, Kyoto and Himeji with lots of mischief in between.  

I went to Osaka to visit my brother - with my buddy Vanya tagging along - and came away with the experience of a lifetime and a bunch of new friends. Osaka is the perfect travel base. Often referred to as the anti-capital of Japan, it may lack the commercial pull of Tokyo, but it certainly makes do as the cultural capital; boasting better food, nightlife, and close proximity to the major historical areas that make Japan what it is today.

We knew we were in for an interesting trip when on one  of our first afternoons in Osaka, we stumbled across a “Maid Café” - where the waitresses are dressed as maids and greet you upon arrival with the phrase "welcome home father". It only gets stranger. The whole place is filled with weird characters enjoying 1930's wallpaper, the ballerina jewel-box music, and the extravagant chandeliers. One conversation we overheard went something like this: "You wouldn't believe how many girlfriends I have!" Got that one right buddy! To get service you had to ring a little bell on your table and your maid would shuffle along and ask what she could get "father". Unfortunately we missed "short skirt Tuesdays." Bizarre!

My brother organised a party for my arrival and 30 of my closest friends whom I'd never met before arrived duly brandishing gifts and shouting me the night’s shenanigans. I felt like some sort of celebrity. The venue was an Izakaya restaurant which had the novel idea of providing unlimited drinks for two hours which we made full use of, of course, and Leon, a friend of mine who I hadn't seen in 2 years, popped in from London, as one does.

We then headed to a major gaijin (foreigner) hang-out called Sam & Dave's where the gaijin are there for the locals and vice-versa and it all works rather splendidly. We made many friends that night, and two or three enemies but we won’t go there. It ended with Vanya's tragic fall down some train station steps and a visit to a Japanese hospital which was cheap, efficient and utterly surprising!

After two days in Kyoto, we headed to the Aoi Festival. Essentially a couple of hundred people dress in clothes from 1000 years ago and form a parade – this has been done every year for over a millennium. It goes through a large area of Kyoto, crossing the beautiful river and meandering through a bunch of temples and shrines that seem to be littered like confetti throughout Kyoto.

We also checked out The Golden Pavilion of Kinkaku-ji, which is this amazing golden structure nestled amongst delicately beautiful garden surrounds. In the evening, we wandered down to the amazing Pontochō lane - the traditional nightlife hub of Kyoto - which runs along the Kamo River where there is an abundance of exclusive riverfront restaurants whose outdoor courtyards are suspended on poles over the river. This was our splurge - delicious food with a remarkable backdrop, the kind of place where I am told one might spot one of the few remaining geisha in the world, the majority of whom reside in Kyoto. Afterwards we went to a dessert superstore as big as the Louvre, where the cakes looked like art and tasted

Then there’s Kyoto train station. This place is unbelievable - it screams "welcome to the future" - with a 12 storey shopping complex and hotel attached, as well as bizarre, confronting, metal artwork and architectural designs. Kiyomizu-dera is arguably Kyoto's finest temple complex and is up for a nod as a new wonder of the world on top of its World Heritage status. It's nestled in a beautiful forest atop a mountain and is known for the healing properties the water from its spring provides. We managed to see not one but two Maiko - who are apprentice geisha. There are a few hundred Maiko in existence (and less than a hundred Geisha) and seeing one is a very rare thing indeed. Our brief exchange with the Maiko felt like a chit-chat with royalty, complete with bowing and polite smiles.

Stay tuned for the next installment of Dominic’s tales from Southern Japan.