The Backpack Adventures

What I love about food businesses in Japan is that they are always trying to one-up each other. This leads to products that are either very eye-catching, artistic, and sometimes downright unique. The same goes for quality, servings, and taste. When all these seems tied or it's hard to really distinguish which is the best, they resort to annual national competitions. To which the winner gets recognition for his work and better sales for the year (and sometimes beyond). This applies to many of the Japanese traditional cuisines like ramen, okonomiyaki, and mochi among others.  Nakatanidou Mochi Shop Speaking of mochi , this Japanese food is an important part of Japan's culture and tradition. Since there are machine-made mochi now, those who make mochi in the mochitsuki style (mochi traditionally made in a ceremony) are still held by many in high regard and their mochi is considered higher in value and quality.  Nakatanidou Mochi Shop - Nara City, Nara Prefecture If you wish

Day 3 December 21, 2019 Exploring Nara Good morning guys! Today is the 3rd day of our 2019 Japan Adventure . For today's itinerary, we're off to explore Nara City in Nara Prefecture.  Off to Nara! Waiting for our train to Nara Station The train was slow and crowded thank God we managed to get a seat. Since Nara City is about 40+ kilometers away, we woke up early to catch the earliest train we could going to Nara Station . This is to avoid joining the potential influx of tourists heading to Nara City on this beautiful Saturday morning.   We got a tip from the train operator on board. She said we should board down at Uji and transfer to the much faster express train... All aboard at Kintetsu Limited Express to Nara Station There was plenty of room on the train for me to pose and get that souvenir photo. From our Air BnB residence, we walked for about three minutes to  Kyoto Station and bought tickets to Nara Station. A ticket costs 720 yen per adult and 360 yen for a c