Japan Trips & Travel Tips

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Junior_Woodpecker519 on 2024-10-12 01:35:59+00:00.

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I benefitted so much from reading people’s experiences on here when I was planning my trip to Japan, I thought I would share my own. Feel free to browse on, but if this can make life easier for anyone else - mission accomplished.

Who we were: 2 adults and our 6 year old son, and two grandparents in their 70s who had always wanted to go. Time of year: Sept 26-Oct 13.

Itinerary: Tokyo (6 days), Disney Sea/Land (2 days - grandparents did their own side trip elsewhere until:), Hakone (2 days), Kyoto 5 days, Osaka (for Universal - 2 days - grandparents did their own side trip to the west), stayed at Hotel Excel at Terminal 2 Haneda then flew out. This was a good amount of time for us all.

Weather: Hot and humid when we arrived, but not as bad as some have had it recently. In the last week, the weather was far more pleasant. You either accept it or suffer with it I guess! Dress accordingly and for comfort most of the time. Accept you look like a tourist (if the confused look and constant reference to your phone doesn’t already show that).

Accommodation:

• Tokyo - Shinjuku - Hundred Stays Hotel. Three of us stayed in a 2 br room at the top floor. More like a serviced apartment and roomy for Tokyo standards (had a tiny kitchen and dining room). Quiet, 5 mins to the local station. The hotel was v good but on reflection we would rather have stayed in Rappongi or Shibuya. Next time!
• Disney - Disneyland Hotel - excellent hotel with early entry into the park. Not cheap but made life a lot easier for starting and ending the day with less stress.
• Hakone - Gion Hanaougi - Superb ryokan in the hills of Hakone, at the top of a rope way. Found it via Reddit. Cannot speak highly of it enough - our first experience of Japanese traditional hospitality, food (both breakfast and dinner provided each night), and onsen. Conveniently located near the ropeway exit (which helped because it was pouring down when we arrived).
• Kyoto - Gion Shiraume - I thought we would be done with ryokan experiences after leaving Hakone, but Tomoko san and her staff at this amazing little ryokan in the old district of Kyoto were phenomenal. This was a real highlight and if you are going to splurge anywhere, this would be it. Perched on top of a small stream running through town - there was nothing Tomoko would not organise or know. The food was incredible.
• Universal/Osaka - Universal Port Hotel. It was fine. Mostly a room to stay in to do USJ conveniently. We had split opinions on the buffet here. I see a buffet at a hotel filled with families (like ours!) as a bit of a health hazard, and this was the only option in the hotel. Do not plan on a great diet if you go here.

Transport:

• Three of us had iPhones so life around local trains was super easy. Use Wallet and add a card (any will do - we used Suica) and charge it using your usual method. Activate express pass on either your Apple Watch or iPhone and off you go. Do not stop walking.
• The system worked through all of the cities we visited on all trains aside from Shinkansen (although you can link this I believe).
• One of us (the kid) did not and we had to find a Welcome Suica card at a JR Service Centre at Shinjuku for him. He didn’t come w me when we got it, and so they wouldn’t see us a child ticket - we bought an adult one instead. It did cause some headaches later on the Shinkansen so try not to make the same mistake.
• One of us had a Samsung - sorry android users - but the Japanese train system does not welcome you! Get a Welcome Suica card or regular one from a JR service desk and then you will enjoy train transport a lot more.
• Even by the end of the trip, we were still somewhat confused by the Shinkansen ticketing process. We used SmartEx (official app) and got a QR code to ride. But sometimes you tapped on w your Suica/ICOCA card and sometimes you didn’t. There seemed to be different systems - but it was probably just us. One of us forgot to tap off with their iOS suica at one station - and couldn’t use it for the rest of the trip. Staff couldn’t fix it. Lesson learned. (Edit: and now I know )
• Shinkansen is amazing though. The whole transport system is. But there seems to be a mix of companies and paper tickets are not always compatible. Suica/Icoca will get you through that.
• Staff will always help if you ask. Be patient and use Google Translate.

Language/culture:

• I did Japanese at high school 30 years ago, and no one else had ever. I also started doing Busuu and Duo Lingo (the first is better, although the latter is better to learn hiragana and katakana) to get an understanding of the language. I did some lessons for a while too.
• Google translate is useful but not foolproof.
• Japanese people are amazing at trying to understand you.
• Learning a few phrases will really help you and make life more fun. Reading the alphabets (maybe not kanji!) also helps a lot. Our 6 year old really got into it and you will too - the Japanese were so appreciative/surprised/good humoured when any of us tried it, and that made our holiday more enjoyable.
• Learn some of the basic rules - no loud/or any talking on the train, line up everywhere you need to, bowing is good, stand on the left side of the escalator in Tokyo, and right in Kyoto/Osaka (I think?), be considerate of others, try not to sit on the floor (hard with kids sometimes) and don’t walk on places people sit (eg walls, benches), take your litter with you and find a bin.

Diet/eating/health:

• I read that a lot of Westerners get constipated on travelling to Japan (TMI?). There’s not a lot of fruit, and probably less salad/vegetable than we were used to. Buy when you can. Grapes and bananas, apples, and kiwi are mostly around.
• Take psyllium (and lots of water) to maintain regularity. Plus fibre is good for you generally. I used a Metamucil supplement the whole stay. It definitely worked.
• We took Parachoc for our son and used if we thought things were getting a bit “slow”.
• One of the grandparents was on a low FODMAP diet and in particular had to avoid garlic and onion. It was doable despite some negative posts I saw about this. Soba noodles, sushi/sashimi, lots of other things. She also has problems with gluten (not Coeliac) and yet still was able to eat Japanese omelette and other foods without significant consequence.
• Contrary to what we were told, sushi/sashimi is common enough. There are lots of conveyer belt restaurants and the quality was always great. This was good because our son really loves these foods, and was reluctant to try new food (and is stubborn). However, he did branch out to soba noodles, izakaya, etc and loved it.
• I read that restaurant reviews are rated slightly differently in Japan than in the West - the scores might be lower but still represent a good meal. We were never disappointed eating out.
• We booked a couple of restaurants ahead of time but otherwise just stumbled across places and took a chance. Never lined up for anywhere. Some of the best places had 10 seats, a tiny kitchen, and were on a back lane or upstairs in a plain office block. Get out there and look.
• Ryokan meals - highly recommended to try at least once if you can.

Clothing/luggage:

• I took two pairs of shoes, worried that I would get one wet but I only wore 1 pair and the other was wasted space. They were super comfortable and required no breaking in.
• I took three pairs of Smart Wool socks (merino) because they can be worn for 5 days without washing, don’t smell, and wick away sweat. They worked as advertised.
• Don’t take a change of clothes for everyday. Pack enough for a week and do washing regularly at hotels. Hundred Stays in Tokyo had a washer/dryer in the room!
• We took a suitcase inside another suitcase on the way over so we could expand as needed and this helped at the end of our trip.

General:

• Tokyo was a shock for the first 3 days. We are all travellers, but had never been somewhere so intense. It was hot, humid, intensely crowded, and then there was the cultural and language differences. After a particularly enjoyable day we felt we had adjusted and then things got easier. Anticipate this and plough on.
• Get an eSIM and use data without concern. We used Airalo. You’ll use it a lot.
• Google Maps is not infallible but it is very useful. Use common sense as well, or ask (xxx wa doko desk ka).
• Activities (and some forms of transport) do book up. Don’t leave everything to the last minute. Accommodation options open up 6 months +/- before your dates so keep an eye on things.
• Klook is quite helpful to book things - but also look at the official websites too.
• My (elderly) parents did fine on their own when not with us. They probably benefited from us organising and navigating generally, but then went off for a few days on their own. They just kept accidentally ordering double portions of sake somehow…
• Money - we used Wise and a spare credit card. We had some cash on hand that we withdrew on arrival from a 7/11 ATM. I would say we used the card mostly and cash about 40% of the time.

Activity highlights: I won’t go into everything I did as it’s too much and there are lots of online opinions. Tokyo:

• Teamlabs - we did Planets and Borderless and we all loved both.
• Disney Sea - an unexpected highlight that we almost didn’t do. I’m glad we did. So unique. Disneyland was also grea...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/saccerzd on 2024-10-10 16:55:00+00:00.

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Hi, after lots of reading and researching, I've pulled together a draft itinerary for our trip in 10 days. Group of 5: Me, my partner, our 5 year old daughter, and two active/fit grandmas. We're used to a lot of walking and travelling quick and light (basically hand luggage only plus a foldable pushchair/stroller). Very excited about walking around all day, to see plenty of stuff and just soak it all in, and eating all the food! Any ideas/criticisms/suggestions welcome, especially for anything in italics and the last 2-3 days where I'm still very undecided what to do exactly re Kanazawa/Tokyo/Hakone.

Land late on 21/10, Leave afternoon of 5/11, 14 full days, 15 nights: 4 nights in Tokyo, 2 in Hiroshima, 5 in Kyoto, 2/3 in Kanazawa + 1/2 in Tokyo or 1 in Hakone (~Ryokan?).

(ignore the colours; they refer to pins I've put on a google map).

Sun 20/10 - Depart Gatwick, UK at 1900.

Mon 21/10 - Land in Shanghai PVG at 1315. 4 hour layover. Fly to Tokyo Haneda 1715-2120. Get cash and maybe mobile wifi at the airport (perhaps leave Suica/Pasmo until the next day). Depending on tiredness, train/metro, taxi or limousine bus to Asakusa, grab food, bed. 4 nights in Asakusa.

Tue 22/10 - Tokyo day 1 (blue): Asakusa/Ueno/Akihabara area - Senso-ji Temple (very near our apartment), try o-mikuji sticks; Nakamise St shops; Ueno park, lunch in Ueno Ameyoko; Akihabara ('electric town') and arcades, fun at night also. Jet lag dependent, obviously, but is this enough for a full day?

Wed 23/10 - Tokyo day 2 (green): Shinjuku/Shibuya area (some say start in Shinjuku and walk downhill to Shibuya instead) - 40 mins Asakusa Station to Asakusabashi Station to Yoyogi Station; Meiji shrine (either in last hour or before 8 am); wander the shops in Harajuku, try a crepe; try purikura photo booth; Shibuya crossing and Hachiko statue; quick visit to Pokemon & Nintendo shops in Shibuya, #C=Pla Gachapon toyshop; and/or Cat Street; check out Don Quijote Shibuya megastore (24/7); maybe grab lunch in Omoide Yokocho (might not open until mid-PM). 3D Cat. Godzilla head. Late afternoon/evening: view from Met Govt Building; Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden (illuminated?); Shibuya Center Gai or Golden-Gai (or Harajuku) at night (karaoke?). Near Golden-Gai, make sure we see Shinjuku neon lit up at night.

Thu 24/10 - Tokyo day 3 (yellow) Roppongi/Odaiba - *TeamLabs Borderless booked for noon, annoyingly, I left it too late to get the early slots. Hoping it won't be too busy, but it means we need to find something to do beforehand. Tempted to move it to 4/11 *if* we're in Tokyo that day, or to the evening of day 3?;* Before Borderless, maybe visit Tsukiji Outer Market first thing, or a quick look around Tokyo Imperial Palace beforehand (don't think I'm bothered about the tour), or Character Street, or Azabudai Mori JP tower sky lounge at the 33rd floor; see Tokyo Tower; Zojo-ji Temple grounds; Hamarikyu Gardens; wander over Rainbow Bridge to Joypolis and Unicorn Gundam (time it for 11/13/15/1700 or 1900-2130 (half hourly)). If returning to Roppongi later on, museums in the area and karaoke nearby.

There are a few other things it'd be nice to see (Nakano Broadway, Suzume-no-oyado Ryokuchi Park bamboo forest, Omote-Sando architecture, National Museum & stroll through Yanesen) if time, but we may have an extra day or so in Tokyo at the end. Won't be visiting Studio Ghibli museum or Disneyland this time.

Fri 25/10 - Train to Hiroshima via Shin-Osaka (using Kansai-Hiroshima Area Pass (5 days)). Because we have a child who travels free, probably go for unreserved seating and hopefully get a Mount Fuji view. Probably start from Tokyo Station rather than Shinagawa Station for better chance of seats (and more convenient for us). Plan is to get the train to Shin-Osaka and then continue to Hiroshima using the Area Pass (not sure if we need to get off the train at Shin-Osaka?). If we time it right, get the Kodama 849 at 11:37 from Shin-Osaka to Hiroshima (the Hello Kitty train, although I can't see either of the Hello Kitty train times on Google Maps for some reason). Aim to get to Hiroshima early afternoon, and then:

Hiroshima (Green): Do what we can of this itinerary today, anything else the next morning. Peace Memorial Museum, Atomic Bomb Dome (also wander past in evening); Orizuru Tower View (£10); Hiroshima Castle (skip?); Gokoku Shrine; eat Okonomiyaki; Shukkei-en Garden (if time, but meant to be v good in Autumn). Night: wander past Atomic bomb dome. 2 nights in Naka Ward.

Sat 26/10 - Miyajima Island (pinky red): do stuff in the afternoon, high tide at 1805ish for Shrine view. / Senjokaku Pavilion; Mt Misen view; eat Momiji Manju pastry; Itsukushima Shrine.

Sun 27/10 - Train to Kyoto via Himeji. If we didn't get the Hello Kitty train on Friday, try to get the 08:38 Kodama 838 from Hiroshima to Himeji. Stop off and see Himeji Castle. Himeji (purple): Himeji Castle, Himeyama Park, Koko-en gardens next door (buy a combined ticket). Will be busy on a Sunday but can't be helped. Undecided whether to go into the Castle or not.

[At some point in the next few days, visit Osaka in the afternoon/evening. Might be after Himeji, might be after Nara, might be a standalone day. Currently have 2 days (AFAIK) worth of stuff for Osaka, so need to narrow this down to 1 day: Day 1 (orange): Osaka Castle (reconstruction so probably skip); Shinsekai + Tsutenkaku Tower; Namba Shrine; Nipponbashi Den-Den (computer game shops - skip if no time); Dotonbori food and lit up at night. / Day 2 (green): Umeda Sky Tower; Shitennoji Temple; Kurumon Food market.]

Continue to Kyoto, 5 nights in Sakyo Ward near Highashiyama Station.

Mon 28/10 - Nara day trip (while 5 day Area Pass still active). (light green): Deer Park; Isuien Garden; Todai-ji Temple (giant Daibatsu buddha); Kasuga Taisha Temple; (if time) Kofuku-ji; Nigatsu-do (only if time); Nakatanidou (mochi pounding shop). [Possibly Osaka in the afternoon/evening].

Tue 29/10 - Kyoto day 1 (purple) Fushimi, Gion & Higashiyama: Fushimi Inari Taisha (early hike! or go in the evening); walk around Geisha district (Gion + Higashiyama), see Kiyomizu-Dera (if time today, if not day 3), Sannenzaka, Ninenzaka, Kodaiji Temple, Hokan=ji, Kenninji, Gion Corner etc; dinner and evening walk around Potoncho Alley.

Wed 30/10 - Kyoto day 2 (green) Arishayama: early start for Arashiyama bamboo grove (and Arishayama Kimono Forest; better at night?) and Arashiyama Iwatayama Monkey Park (some say the views are great, some say it's sad to see the monkeys and should skip this); Sagano train line; end the day in central Kyoto to see Kyoto Tower, Gundam Base, lots of bars and restaurants in this area.

Thu 31/10 - Kyoto day 3 (orange) Kinkaku-ji: Kiyomizu-Dera temple if missed on day 1. Head out to the Golden Pavilion Kinkaku-ji (half a day) (although I've heard some say they just go to take a photo and it's not really worth the journey?). Anything else? [Possibly Osaka in the afternoon/evening, in which case might swap this with day 2].

Try and see some of these at night (black): wander Gion; Yakusa shrine; Pontocho Alley and Kiyamachi St nightlife; Kiyomizu-Dera and Yasaka St; Fushimi-Inari; Kyoto Tower & Station; Kifune Shrine; Arishayama Kimono Forest; Eikando Temple. Anything Halloweeny in the evening?

Added to the map to visit if there's time, but there probably won't be: Honenin Temple, Adashino Nenbutsuji, Otagi Nenbutsuji, Enkoji Temple, Daitoku-ji Zuiho-in.

Fri 1/11 - Travel to Kanazawa. Aim to get there for lunchtime. Wander around as much of Kanazawa day 1 (orange) as possible, moving things to the next day if necessary: Nagamuchi Samurai district; (Oyama Shrine possibly); Ishikawa Gate and Kanazawa Castle park (probably not go in the castle itself); Kenroku-en and everything in the gardens (Kotoji Toro, Kasumiga-Ilu pond, Honomi-Bashi Bridge, 7 Fortunes etc). Probably do a quick informal tea ceremony at Shiguretei. Head over to Kazuemachi Chaya & Higashi Chaya geisha districts, wander round (Shima Geisha House, Kaikoru House etc); See Gyokusen Inmaru Garden (in the evening); dinner in Seseragi-Dori St. **2/3 nights in Kanazawa, v near to Kenroku-en.***

Sat 2/11 - Kanazawa day 2 (blue) - things we didn't do one day 1 (Myouryuji Ninja Temple etc). See the modern side of Kanazawa. Breakfast at Curio ; Omicho Seafood market; Oyoma Shrine (if missed on day 1); 21st Century Art gallery; dinner at Kirari Sushi? Another Onsen at some point - maybe in Kanazawa?

If time: DT Suzuki Zen museum; Renshoji Temple; Onsen (Miroku onsen Motoyu?).

**[Currently got 3 nights booked in Kanazawa, very near Kenroku-en. Am debating whether to cut this to 2 nights and add a night in Tokyo, which will give us a bit more time in Tokyo and split the journey up en route to Hakone. Also contemplating cancelling Hakone for our last night, which would give us either 3 nights in Kanazawa and 1 in Tokyo, or 2 in each].*

Sun 3/11 - [Culture Day National Holiday] Either Kanazawa day 3 (mooch around, relax, onsen etc) OR head to Tokyo and have an afternoon/evening there. Probably the latter, especially if we're staying a night in Hakone as it will break the journey up.

[Probably get a Hakone Free Pass (need to check if it covers the return to Haneda instead of Tokyo).]

**Mon 4/11 - Hakone. [*****C...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Heatmanofurioso on 2024-10-10 08:53:18+00:00.

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Hi everyone, first time trip here.

I feel like I've crammed too many things, and the trip starts in 2 days, so I know I can't change much, considering the things I've booked in advance, but I'd still like to try and get some opinions in my itinerary for me and my girlfriend.

I might be able to change some things, or at least manage our expectations better.

Osaka

Day 1

• Early Morning
  • Arrival in Osaka
  • Bags sent to Hotel
• Afternoon
  • Osaka Castle
  • Tennoji Park
  • Umeda Sky Building
• Evening
  • Dotonbori District
  • Minami

Day 2

• Morning
  • Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine
  • Shinsaibashi-suji Shopping District
• Afternoon & Evening
  • Dotonbori District
  • Minami
  • Osaka Hard Rock Cafe

Day 3

• All day

  • Nara Park
  • Todai Temple House

• Day 4

• All day

  • Horishima Field Trip
  • Miyajima Visit included

Day 5

• All day
  • Universal Studio
  • Travel to Kyoto in the evening

Kyoto

Day 6

• Morning
  • Fushimi Shrine
  • Kiyomizu-dera Temple
• Afternoon
  • Gion Geisha District

Day 7

• Morning
  • Arashiyima Bamboo Groove
  • Monkey Park Iwatayama
• Afternoon
  • Kinkaku-Ji-on
  • Afternoon-Evening
  • Nishiki Market

Day 8

• Morning
  • Kyoto Imperial Palance and National Garden
• Afternoon
  • Kyoto Tower
  • Samurai & Ninja Museum
  • Hard Rock Cafe Kyoto
• Evening
  • Nishiki Market

Day 9

• Morning
  • Philosophers Path
  • Nanzen-ji Temple
• Afternoon
  • Heian Shrine and Garden
  • Kyoto Handcrafting Center
  • Pontocho Alley
• Evening
  • Kyoto Tower

Nagoya

Day 10

• Morning
  • Shinkansen to Nagoya
• Afternoon
  • Nagoya Castle
  • Atsuta Jingu Shrine
• Evening
  • Osu Shopping Street

Day 11

• Morning
  • Nagoya City Science Museum
  • Nagoya Public Aquarium
• Afternoon
  • Travel to Tokyo

Tokyo

Day 12

• Morning
  • Teamlabs Borderless
  • Tokyo Ruppongai Hard Rock Cafe
• Afternoon
  • Shinjuku Goyen National Garden
  • Shinjuku District
  • Isetan Department Store

Day 13

• Morning
  • Senso-ji Temple
  • Hard Rock Cafe Taito Tokyo
• Afternoon
  • Ueno Park
  • Kappabasi Street
• Afternoon/Evening
  • Akihabara

Day 14

• All day
  • DisneySea

Day 15

• Morning
  • Teamlabs Planets
• Afternoon
  • Oedo Antique Market
  • Tsukiji Market
  • Sakurai Tea Experience

Day 16

• All day
  • Warner Brothers

Day 17

• Morning
  • Meji Shrine in Shibuya
  • Harajuku District
• Afternoon
  • The Bellwood Coffee House
  • Takeshita Street

Day 18

• All day
  • Mt Fuji Trip

Day 19

• Morning
  • Imperial Palace
  • Palace East Gardens
• Afternoon
  • Tokyo Tower
  • Odaiba

Day 20

• Morning
  • Sumida Park
  • Tokyo Skytree
  • Skytree Pokemon Center
• Afternoon
  • Yokohama Chinatown Hard Rock Cafe
  • Yokohama Chinatown

Day 21

• Morning
  • Shibuya
• Afternoon
  • Bohemian Tokyo in Shimokitazawa
  • Tokyo Tower

Day 22

• Morning & Afternoon
  • Walk around Shibuya & other places more
• Evening
  • Go to airport

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/odkfn on 2024-10-09 14:10:52+00:00.

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I'm not long back from my first ever trip to Japan and absolutely loved it. This subreddit featured heavily in my planning so I figured I'd pay it forward and post an update of what I did in case anybody else finds it useful.

General Tips / Comments

1. Get a suica card - if you're on iphone you can add this directly to your wallet and top up remotely in seconds. My friend who had an android said you can only get them if you're joined to the japanese android store - unsure how true this is, but my friends without iphones had to get a physical suica card and head to a terminal to top theirs up. Either way, these cards make navigating japanese trains a breeze - you just walk up to the gates, swipe your phone or card, and do the same when you leave the destination station and it knows how much to deduct. If you don't have enough on your card there is a little "fare adjustment station" next to the exit gate.
2. Google made navigating the trains super simple also - if I was, say, heading to "Teamlabs - Planets" I would just put that into google and select by train. It'd show me where to walk, tell me what train to get on, what stop to get off at, what the next train was, etc. Between this and the suica card it made travelling so trivial. This really is how public transport should be done.
3. Klook was very useful for longer haul trains, such as going between Tokyo / Osaka / Kyoto. Buying them here gave us a QR code so we could, again, just use the E-gates.
4. Airalo - I bought an E-sim on this app. It was around £20 for 20gb of data if I remember correctly. In my whole 2 weeks of japan I used around 8gb of data. My UK provider was going to charge me £9 per 150mb of data used - so it was obviously hugely cheaper to use this. Buy it in advance but just activate it once you land.
5. Japanese people seemed to be hugely helpful and friendly. My wife accidentally dropped her passport on the bullet train - we went Osaka > Kyoto, but the train kept going to Tokyo. The worker behind the desk at our Kyoto hotel went out his way to phone around, source it, and asked them to leave it in Tokyo station lost and found for us, which we collected on our way back to Tokyo. I imagine in any other country a bag with cards and stuff in it would have been pilfered. In Japan the staff were too polite to even open it to see what was inside - we had to get the hotel worker to phone them back and request that they do open it to see if my wife's passport was still present.
6. Google translate is super helpful. Japanese people speak a varying range of english, and all of them speak infinitely more english than I speak Japanese (despite trying to learn some!). We had some conversations with non-english speakers using google translate, which lead to some nice interactions with people we otherwise couldn't have communicated with.
7. I found Japan surprisingly affordable / cheap. When we went we got ~200 yen per £1. My friend who was with us said last time he went to Japan he got roughly 140 yen per £1, so I suppose that factored in a lot. A nice bowl of ramen was like £7, each plate of sushi at kura sushi was around 80p, cocktails universally seemed cheaper than beer which was weird but welcomed.
8. I stupidly made no effort to look up the weather when we booked this trip. It was 33 degrees pretty much every day. I'm Scottish and more accustomed to like 8-12 degrees in September. Needless to say we were grotesquely sweaty the whole time. I read (unsure if this is true) that Japanese people don't sweat as much. Anecdotally I thought this may be true as even when they were fanning themselves or looking hot there were no visible signs of sweat, whereas we were literally sweating through our t-shirts like cretins.
9. Something I found unusual, but is not a complaint, is how few places seemed to be open during the day. In British culture you'd often stop off for a single beer during the day to have a break or cool down if it was hot, etc. In Roppongi we really struggled to find anywhere like a bar that was open before 5pm. Weirdly when we moved from Tokyo to Osaka and Kyoto we found them to have much more food and drink options during the day.
10. There are lots of etiquette rules and some posts here made it seem a lot more hassle than it is, or like you needed to memorise them. As with most things, if you just copy the locals you'll figure it out. Be quiet(ish) in public spaces, stand on the same side of the escalator as them, don't eat whilst walking if it can be avoided, etc.
11. Tax free - if you show your passport and you're not in the country for longer than a certain period of time (a couple of months??) you get things tax free. Consumable items must get sealed up in a bag, but things like knives, suitcases, etc. don't. Then at the airport on the way home you just go to the tax free bit, they scan your passport, and that was it. They didn't check any of our stuff as it was sealed away in our hold-luggage.
12. Luggage Forwarding - If you go to reception of your hotel with the Japanese address of your next destination you can pay a nominal fee (we were like £8 per bag) to forward them on. This saved carting multiple bags through the subways, on trains, etc. We used this at every opportunity and don't regret it. The form is in japanese but the reception staff were always happy to help us fill it out.

My Trip

• 17th - 20th Tokyo;
• 20th - 25th Osaka;
• 25th - 27th Kyoto;
• 27th - 28th Hakone;
• 28th - 30th Tokyo.

Tokyo

For both our Tokyo stints we stayed in APA hotels - one in Roppongi and one in Shinjuku. The hotels themselves were clean and nice. The rooms were TINY but I assume this is just a Tokyo thing. The Roppongi one was more bearable as there was under-bed storage, so even if the room was small, it wasn't cluttered. The Shinjuku one did not have under-bed storage so the whole room was taken up by the double bed, the desk, and our suitcases. Literally if I wanted to pass my wife I had to stand on the bed to get round her. This wasn't an issue as I guess it's just part of the Tokyo experience and we were out our rooms much more than we were in them.

• Sumo Wrestling - this was probably the highlight of the trip. Sumo tournaments run every odd month of the year I believe. We used the "buysumotickets" website to get our tickets. We honestly thought this would be a novelty and we'd just go have a look then leave. How wrong we were! Your ticket covers you for a full day and there are 4 divisions (???) spread out throughout the day. The "buysumotickets" guide says the latter two divisions begin at 3pm so maybe head for that sort of time. Had I known how much we were going to enjoy it we would have gone for the full day. The actual bouts are very short (like 10-20 seconds) with a lot of ceremony inbetween, but it's all really enjoyable. You can have beers or snacks whilst you watch, and the crowd was very into it. There is some thing where both sumos have to begin at the same time, so if one sumo doesn't, it's a false start. There seemed to be a lot of posturing and at the last minute one sumo would stand up and just walk to his ring-man (or equivalent!) and get a towel and just wipe himself down. This was quite fun after we understood it as the crowd gets really into them mugging each other off, and some sumos would do this multiple times. Regardless - would highly recommend this.
• Mario kart - I wasn't sure what to expect with this as my friend booked it, but this was also great. We did it in Shinjuku and it wasn't like a race or zooming about, it turned out to essentially be a lovely site-seeing tour by kart. There were outfits you could wear, but due to the heat we just stuck some open shirts over our t-shirts. A lead car (an actual car) drives, and you follow in single file. Japanese drivers seemed very courteous and we had no issues. The "scary" part was if lights went red when only half of you were through, then you had to try navigate some busy junctions to catch up with the lead car (which pulled over very quickly to wait). You need an international drivers licence for this, and to take your own licence from your home country. This was such a fun way to just see large parts of the city with a breeze. We did this with "Japan Kart" and I would highlight recommend it.
• BBQ Eden - We were just wandering around Shinjuku and looked up and saw what appeared to be a bbq near a glass balcony on a restaurant, so we sauntered up and it was a little place with 4 tables, each had its' own bbq food and you ordered raw things to cook. This was a cool experience, the food was good, and the view was great.
• Kill Bill Restaurant - Gonpachi Nishi-Azabu. This restaurant was cool to look at, the staff were friendly, and the food was good. The service wasn't amazing - my friend ordered the set menu which had like 8 dishes or something. Throughout the night our waiter finished their shift twice, so we went through 3 waiters. Each time we got a new waiter they completely forgot about our friends set menu / the food he still had to get. We had to keep prompting them and what should have been like an hour meal ended up taking 2 hours or more. This is a minor criticism as the food and decor were good, and we had no issue spending "too much" time here.
• Golden Gai - We wandered her for a look. It was our first experience of small japanese bars, but they were pretty cool. These streets were worth a look but, again, we seemed to come too early as only one bar...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/erythemanodosum on 2024-10-09 12:29:11+00:00.

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We (my fiancée and I) just came back from a three week trip to Japan, and felt like writing a post to summarize my thoughts.

Our itinerary ended up like this:

Day 1-5: Tokyo. Visited Meiji Shrine, walked around Shibuya/Shinjuku, visited Ginza/Ueno/Akahibara etc, and Koenji. TeamLab Borderless.

Day 6: Overnight stay in Matsumoto. Saw the castle, visited the City Museum of Art, bought some local crafts.

Day 7-9: Climbed Mt. Yarigatake from Kamikochi. Stayed in the mountain lodges.

Day 10: Rest and relaxation at Hirayu Onsen after the hike.

Day 11-12: Two days in Takayama. Old Town, ate some amazing Hida beef, went bouldering at the local gym.

Day 13-14: Kanazawa. Visited the fish market, Kenroku-en, Kanazawa castle, Museum of Modern Art. Ate a bunch of sushi.

Day 15-19: Osaka. Shopping, street food. Osaka castle. Went out with a couple of friends we made at Yarigatake. Had a sick day. Day trip to Nara to see the deer park.

Day 20-21: Hiroshima. Visited Miyajima and took a hike up Mt. Misen. Peace Park + Dome Building.

Day 22: Return to Kyoto for one day. Saw a couple of shrines/temples, ate food.

Day 23: Left Japan from Osaka airport.

Positive experiences:

1. The absolute highlight was Mt. Yarigatake. Holy hell what a view, and the mountain hut being a 15 minute climb from the peak meant that you could get up at 05:00 to see the sunrise from the top. One of the best mountain hikes of my life. The first 2-3 hours of the hike on the first day from Kamikochi were pretty uninteresting with a long, flat stroll with way too many other hikers, but once you got away from the Kamikochi area there were far fewer people around, and the first lodge had an onsen which was unexpected and amazing. The second day climbing the actual mountain range was amazing, and we did a detour to do some adjacent peaks on the way to Yarigatake. I'd say it's perfectly hikeable for anyone with an average level of fitness.

The downside of climbing Yarigatake in late September was that we had to pack accordingly, and carrying around hardshell jackets, hiking boots, fleece jackets, silk liners etc for the rest of our trip was very cumbersome. In the end we didn't need warm clothing but we were lucky with the weather (no wind or rain). If you're climbing in the summer months you won't need to pack as extensively.

1. Tokyo was great, and much quieter and cleaner than I expected. The Meiji Shrine was not at all as overcrowded as I'd thought it would be. I can't understand what the fuss is about Shibuya Crossing though, it felt like a perfectly ordinary, if a bit busy, crosswalk. Koenji was a highlight and if I'd recommend staying there if visiting Tokyo. TeamLab Borderless was overrated, but to be fair we visited on a Friday evening so the immense crowd might have ruined our experience a bit. Unless you're interested in some good photo-ops, I'd say skip it, or at least plan your visit outside of peak hours.

3: Miyajima was beautiful, and I recommend climbing Mt. Misen so that you are at the top around sunset, as you'll get a great view from the top and also get a nighttime view of Itsukushima Jinja with a stunning reflection from the water. You'll need light on the way down, though!

1. Japan was much less complicated to travel around than I thought. With an IC Card, eSim and Google Maps getting around was a breeze. I'd heard some people say that you have to plan everything and have bookings weeks to months in advance, but that wasn't the case. When we landed in Tokyo we had booked the first four nights, and the mountain lodge, and that was it. For the rest of the trip we booked our hotel 1-2 days before, and stayed longer/shorter some areas as we felt like it. Sometimes we shipped our luggage to our next hotel, but even when we didn't we were several times able to meet up at the train station and book a Shinkansen with extra bag space that left in 15-30 minutes. We may have just been lucky, though.

Now some negative opinions/experiences:

1. When going from city to city, we quickly got sightseeing fatigue. In Tokyo and Matsumoto, we were excited to see all the temples, shrines, parks and castles, but after a few cities things just felt... Too similar. I can't help but be a little disappointed that almost every castle in Japan is a reconstruction, and Kanazawa Castle was a real letdown as we paid to enter the castle only to realize that most of the exhibition is just a display of the renovation efforts. Kenroku-en was also disappointing, but thats probably because we visited in late September. We didn't bother going inside Osaka castle as we read that it was pretty much the same as Kanazawa.

The absolute low-point was taking a day trip to Kyoto. We were at the end of our vacation and were already feeling tired of Old Towns, Castles and Temples, only to arrive in the arguably most touristy area in all of Japan. In the end, we only visited for 5-6 hours before we called it quits, bought snacks and chilled at the hotel and took an early night.

In hindsight we would have skipped at least one of the cities (maybe Kanazawa) and found a calmer region with a smaller city centre and easier hiking opportunities to stay for 2-3 days just to relax, and feel more excited to go sightseeing again. Perhaps Noto Peninsula would have been a good idea? This is just a personal preference though, as we are definitely more nature lovers than metropolitans.

1. Food: While most of the food we ate in Japan was amazing (shout-out to Udon Noodles and Umeshu), it is definitely possible to get bad and/or bland food in Japan. I'd be very careful to trust Google Reviews as some restaurants have artificially inflated ratings (e.g. free dessert if you give 5 stars). Japanese people use Tabelog which is more reliable but I'd still just recommend winging it and take the L if you had a bad meal (which is still unlikely). Restaurants that have local customers is usually a good idea.

If there is one advice I'd give to people visiting Japan, it's this: Skip Japanese breakfast. I can understand much about Japanese culture, but starting your day with soup, fermented/pickled vegetables, slimy fermented beans and then a piece of grilled mackerel with rice is incomprehensible. Either don't have breakfast at all or eat Western-styled breakfast. We are Norwegians though, and breakfast is a big deal for us.

1. I love Japanese culture and Japan is a calm, safe and comfortable place to visit. It is, however, a culture with some strange contradictions. I get the impression that it's important to act properly and not do anything that's viewed as obscene/rude. While nobody reacted negatively when I kissed my girlfriend or if she gasp used a toothpick in public, I've heard that both things could be frowned upon, among many other things. At the same time that this "proper and well-behaved Japan" is showed, when walking around the bigger Japanese cities it is brimming with Love Hotels, Erotic Spa Treatments (did someone say testicle massage?) and girls in skimpy outfits advertising their prices (which I understand is actually just for talking with them, but you get the drift). The contrast is startling. Also, in the land of extreme politeness, I can count on one hand the amount of times I saw someone give up his or her seat on the metro/train to an elderly person.

4: Nightlife: We didn't really get a hang of it. In Kanazawa we randomly stumbled upon a beer festival at 6:30 PM, and were excited to spend the evening there drinking good beer and eating street food, only to realize that all the stalls close at... 7 PM. On a Saturday. This seemed to be a general theme where the night life seemed to die out at around 7-8 PM, and the streets emptied (Shinjuku and Namba were obvious exceptions). Do people go home or do they all go to the bars behind closed doors with no windows? Out of fear of ending up somewhere shady, we didn't enter any of these bars.

Final thoughts: We had an amazing time, but remember to relax while you're there. It's a vacation, after all. If you're feeling fatigued and/or overwhelmed by all the things you want to/should do, just take a break for half a day or a day and recharge your batteries and enjoy reading a book in one of the many parks and cafés.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/HomeworldMoA on 2024-10-07 19:12:29+00:00.

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I was spending two weeks in Japan with the majority based out of Kyoto. (2 days in Osaka, rest Kyoto)

I had a split itinerary, with one week focused on Osaka and Kyoto themselves and another week focused on daytrips to things I could get to using the sanyo sanin area pass. This is a region specific JR pass that you can get for 23000 yen that lasts 7 days. Here is a coverage map.

It allows you to ride the JR lines between Osaka/Kyoto and Fukuoka even including the Nozomi, (fastest), Shinkansen as many times as you want. This really helps with a day trip based itinerary. (It should be noted that you can’t ride the Shinkansen between Kyoto and Osaka on this pass.)

This pass also gives you access to several express trains that depart a few times a day to specific touristy locations, these were very useful when I was putting my itinerary together.

The pass also allows you to book the HARUKA express that travels to/from KIX.

I was aiming to get out as early as possible and return to Kyoto by ~6/7pm most days.

If I were to do this again, I’d suggest making a base in Osaka rather than Kyoto simply because it’s so much easier to not have to think of how you are going to get to Shin-Osaka station to get the really early Shinkansen.

The day trips were as follows:

1. Hiroshima.

Simple, just get the Shinkansen from Shin-Osaka. When you arrive, there are several JR tour busses that are covered by this pass that depart from the station main entrance.

Your pass gives you free travel on the Miyajima ferry. Make sure you take the Sanyo line down to the ferry terminal and not the metro as the metro is not covered in your pass.

Hiroshima was amazing and I would 100% recommend visiting. This one daytrip almost entirely pays for the pass itself. I personally split the day between extensively visiting the peace museum and Miyajima shrine with a small amount of walking around downtown inbetween while killing time waiting for public transport.

It's so easy and quick to get there and as it's essentially Shinkansen all the way. You could do two day trips to Hiroshima and not run out of things to do.

2. Tottori.

There is a dedicated train to get from Kyoto called the HAKUTO that goes to Tottori. If you have a full day to dedicate to Tottori I would suggest just getting this train and calling it a day. The train leaves Kyoto at 7am and you will arrive at 10am.

You can then catch the Super Inaba Limited Express from Tottori at ~7pm to Okayama before switching back to the Shinkansen to get back into Osaka/Kyoto around ~10pm. Remember to not stay on the Shinkansen after Shin-Osaka as this is not covered by the pass.

You will see talk of supplement fares needing to be paid to get to Tottori that are not covered by the JR pass online but these are specifically covered by the sanyo sanin pass and you do not have to pay anything extra at any point.

Tottori is the least visited prefecture in all of Japan and that is a shame. It’s beautiful, interesting and I don’t regret making the journey out there. I would recommend taking advantage of something the local government is offering called the ‘Foreign Tourist Taxi Service’ where for 4000 yen, you get a taxi to ferry you around between the points of interest for 3 hours. This all departs from / is organized by the Tottori Tourist Information Center which is in the same building as the station but accessed from the outside.

If you want to go to the Tottori Sand Museum, buy your ticket at the train station as you arrive and not at the museum itself as it’s cheaper. If you stay in Tottori for the entire day you do not have to limit yourself to Tottori City, if the weather is nice I’d recommend bringing your swimming gear and spending time at Uradome Coast or looking at the neighboring Kurayoshi city as well.

3. Kinosaki-Onsen.

You should spend the night at Kinosaki-Onsen at a Ryokan. A day trip does not do it justice but it could be done if pressed for time.

The Hashidate departs from Kyoto to Kinosaki early in the morning and there are several ‘special’ trains that leave back to Osaka/Kyoto in the late afternoon / evenings. You need to reserve seats for these so make sure you leave some time to talk to the JR staff at the station if you don’t pre-book a specific train back. There can be large gaps of several hours between these trains back so it’s really worth figuring it out.

You can purchase a day pass from any of the 7 ‘Mythic Onsen of Kinosaki’ for 1500 yen that gets you access to them all for the day. If you stay the night, this is usually given to you for free by your ryokan.

There isn’t much to specifically say about this one; if you like Onsen, you will like it. If you say the night, your ryokan will usually provide you with traditional dress and footwear for making the onsen pilgrimage in the evening.

The pass you receive from the Ryokan is valid until 3pm the next day. I’m not sure if this is the case for the bought day pass.

2+3) You can do a combined Tottori day trip with overnight at Kinosaki-Onsen with minimal time wastage so long as you take a very specific set of trains. This enables you to do the 3 hour taxi tour in Tottori and then get an express train to Kinosaki-Onsen just as the Ryokan are opening check-in.

• Take the 5:20am Rapid Himeji from Kyoto to Shin-Osaka.

• Take the Hikari Hakata Shinkansen to Aioi (You must pre-book before the journey as there is no time to do so at the station)

• Take the San-yo Line from Aioi to Kamigori.

• Take the Super Inaba Limited Express up to Tottori Station to arrive at 8:36am.

• Take the Taxi Tour on your selected route from ~9am-~12 midday.

• You have an extra ~hour to shop in Tottori. I’d suggest buying tottori pears and honey.

• Take the 12:56pm Hamakaze from Tottori to Kinosaki-Onsen. (Must be pre-booked) This gets you there at 2:11pm which gives you more than enough time to get to your ryokan.

The pass booking system will not let you pre-book this journey in one go, you must book the Shinkansen, Super Inaba and Hamakaze separately.

If you do spend the night at Kinosaki-Onsen, consider getting one of the trains back to Kyoto that goes via Amanohashidate. (One of the ‘three most scenic views of Japan’) The Kyoto Tango Railway is not a JR route but is included in this pass. I didn’t end up doing this because the weather was bad on the day.

5. Himeji.

Get a rapid train down to Shin-Osaka and switch to the Shinkansen. No real advanced planning required beyond booking the Shinkansen seat.

The roads leading up to Himeji-jo are shoutengai. I’d suggest getting their early-ish in the morning and going on a food tour along the shoutengai. I stopped in at 4 places on the way up the castle and the food was all cheaper than it was in Osaka/Kyoto, there were no lines at all and it was very high quality. I particularly liked Tamagoya.

I can’t recommend the official guided tour enough. The guides are very passionate, and it greatly enhances the experience. There are very limited places on these tours so I’d get there early for the timeslot. They happen at 10am and 1pm each day.

5. Nara.

Again, very easy. There is a direct JR line from Kyoto. Make sure you don’t get the non JR line.

You know what Nara is. Go get attacked by deer and visit Todai-Ji. I thought Nara was going to be overrated but I enjoyed it.

Much like Himeji, the shoutengai here have hidden gems, totally worth going up and down them to see if anything catches your eye. I want to call attention to ‘Treasure Off’ with their 500 yen giant plushies.

If you are staying in Kyoto, Nara and Himeji could easily be half day excursions with an evening in Osaka as to take advantage of the free travel between them while you have the pass. The JR rapid train between Kyoto and Osaka is more expensive than the non JR line that is not covered by the pass so may as well make the most of it while it’s free.

I spent the other two days in and around Osaka/Kyoto with friends. Even then with ‘wasting’ two days of the pass on cheap transport days, what is described above Is ~52,000 yen worth of travel for only 27000 yen. If I had used it book the HARUKA, it would’ve saved another 6000 yen on top of that. (I happened to have it covered by something else.) You could very easily get loads more value out of this pass.

Something to be aware of is that once you have collected the pass at the JR desk / machine. You will be unable to book more reservations through the online portal and you must book seats at the JR desk from that point onwards.

Here is the link to the pass. Look at the regional passes for your trip, they are probably much better value than the main JR pass!

The rest of my trip was spent doing the usual things in Kyoto / Osaka that you've read about a million times before! All I'll say is that Gion is overrated and to be careful that you may get charged an extra fee if you do tax free shopping in some shopping malls where you have to go to an external desk outside of the actual store.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/drgolovacroxby on 2024-10-06 19:40:43+00:00.

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Hello all!

I'm pretty new to this sub, and while I'm in the process of planning a trip for next year, I figured I'd share my experiences from my first trip to Japan earlier in February with my wife.

Day 0: Arrival

• Arrived at Haneda, set up our e-sims, and made our first foray into the Tokyo subway systems

• After some initial difficulty with the way Google Maps behaves when using the metro, we were able to navigate to our AirBnB in Shin Okubo

• We were pretty exhausted, but still went out to dinner (as we heard the tales of people messing up by going to bed too early on the first day) - our first meal consisted of tempura and sashimi, and I discovered the joy of lemon sours (how are these not more popular internationally?!)

• Finished the evening with a conbini trip (Family Mart was our first (more on that later)).

Day 1: Shinjuku

• Started the day with a Lawsons breakfast (folks were not kidding about these egg salad sandos!!!!)

• Walked from Shin Okubo to Shinjuku as we wanted to stretch our legs a bit.

• We didn't really have a lay of the land, so our first destination was the Tokyo Metropolitan Building. This place was amazing, we got an excellent view of the city (and it was free!!). We also happened to go on a super clear day, so we got to see Fuji-san on our first day :D

• After a bunch of walking, we found a well-rated chicken ramen place in Shinjuku that is to this day the best ramen I've had in my life.

• We spent the afternoon just wandering around Shinjuku taking in the sights, heading towards Kabukicho as it got dark. We found a little izakaya for dinner (that honestly was not too great - avoid places with too much english signage).

• After dinner we hit up Golden Gai. I absolutely love it there. As a drinker and a smoker, this was heaven to me. We found a couple of rock'n'roll bars and stayed out way too late (worth it!)

Day 2: Yokohama

• We surprisingly woke up (reasonably) early, had a nice breakfast a Lawsons, and hopped on a train a headed down to Yokohama.

• Our first stop was the Chinatown. I know it seems weird to want to visit a Chinatown in Japan, but let me tell you, it is absolutely worth the trip. The whole fried squid was one of the best things I've ever eaten.

• We walked down to the bay, and took a boat tour on a whim. The Gundam was still there (though the display was closed), but we got to see it from the water, and it was pretty reasonably priced.

• From there, we headed to Cosmo World as my wife is quite fond of Ferris Wheels. We got a nice afternoon view of Fuji-san again from the top of the wheel.

• We headed back to Chinatown to grab some dinner at a lively Chinese restaurant before heading back to Shin Okubo.

Day 3: Shibuya

• Another day, another Lawson's egg sando for breakfast. I'll also state for the record that after trying all three of the major chains, my ranking of the conbinis: Lawsons -> Family Mart -> 711

• We took the train down to Shibuya and did the Hatchiko statue and the crossing before heading into town to do some shopping.

• My main goal was to hit up Tower Records. I found some really cool LPs and some CDs of some of my favorite Japanese bands (Maximum the Hormone, Ningen Isu, Band Maid).

• We also shopped at the huge Donki here, where I hit my head pretty bad coming down the stairs too fast :P (for the record, I'm 6'3"/190cm - and I was fine)

• We had some kaitenzushi for lunch which was fantastic for the price.

• After doing a bunch of shopping, we headed back to our AirBnB to unload our treasures before heading back out to explore our neighborhood a bit and find something for dinner.

• We stumbled across a local ramen place where I tried salt ramen for the first time (it wasn't my favorite, but the shop was super nice, and the owner was friendly even though we didn't share a language outside of the few Japanese phrases I learned).

Day 4: Meiji Jungu, Harijuku, Koenji

• We got a little bit of a later start, but we wanted to first hit up a Michelin starred tempura restaurant in Shibuya. It was absolutely amazing.

• From there, we walked to Meiji Jingu and explored the park and the temple. I know this is a super touristy thing to do, but it was well worth it to me. It was really nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city for a bit and enjoy the tranquility of this area.

• From there, we looped around to Harajuku. I don't have much to say about this place - it clearly was not designed for me (I'm a 40 year old man who is not concerned with fashion at all). This part was more for my wife :P

• After freshening up back at our AirBnB, we went to Koenji to meet up with some people I had met on a forum some time ago.

• We got a little tour of Koenji from a local, and had dinner at a metal-themed restaurant.

• Afterwards, we hit up a bar until we had to leave to catch the last train.

• One of my few regrets was not spending more time in Koenji. I absolutely loved it there.

Day 5: Shinkansen and Osaka Arrival

• We had to be out of our AirBnB pretty early, so we packed our stuff and headed to Tokyo Station to catch our bullet train.

• This is another place we messed up. We had a bunch of luggage, and all the luggage lockers were full. We didn't pack in such a way that we could use the luggage forwarding service, so we were basically stuck in Tokyo Station for hours. We had hoped to explore the area around the station, but that just wasn't feasible with so much luggage :(

• We bought some ekiben and drinks for our ride on the green car, and the trip itself was actually quite nice. I loved having the smoking rooms aboard the train, and I was even able to buy more beers once the first ones I bought were gone (apparently this is only available on the Green Car).

• It was actually lightly snowing when we arrived in Osaka

• After a mixup in locating our AirBnB, we finally dropped our stuff and headed out to dinner.

• We found a sukiyaki place with a VERY energetic hostess. I was also able to try horse meat which was surprisingly good.

• We walked around Dotonburi for a bit and snacked before finally heading back to bed.

Thoughts on Tokyo:

We had initially skewed our trip more towards Osaka because we didn't know how much we would enjoy Tokyo. In hindsight, I wish we had split the days a bit more evenly, and started and ended the trip in Tokyo instead of flying out of Osaka. My wife and I were both surprised by how much we loved Tokyo. It was super busy, but it had a charm unlike any other place we've been to. I'm quite excited to explore it more thoroughly on our next trip!

So this post is already super long, so I will turn this into part 1. If there's any interest, I'll be happy to type up our experiences in Osaka, Nara, and Kobe as well. I'm also happy to answer any questions or clarify on any of the stuff from above :)

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Material_Adagio_522 on 2024-10-05 10:38:40+00:00.

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It's been a week since I boarded my flight from KIX to go home, and I feel ready to talk about my trip.

Some precontext, I haven't travelled internationally for 20 years since I was a child. I had slowly over the last few years become more interested in Japan through the Persona Games, Yakuza Games and Abroad in Japan and other YouTube channels.

May 6th I played Yakuza 2 for the first time, and I thought Dotombori (sotonbori in the game, but very accurate) looked incredible, if you'd told me with anxiety, prediabetes and depression that in just 5 months I'd BE THERE, I'd have called you crazy.

A month or two later we got very short staffed at work, causing me to need to work some INSANE overtime, and I suddenly realized I had the money to go to Japan. I applied for my first passport since the 00s, and as soon as I got it I booked for 6 weeks time.

I didn't really believe I was going until I landed in Hong Kong airport for a short layover, it was then that it hit me.

My first day in Japan was incredible, landing in KIX at 6 am, the bus over the bridge, staring in wonder out of the window for 45 minutes. Seeing Japanese people living their day to day lives, for this small town sheltered guy, it was magical. Arrived near Osaka station and it was 30 degrees at 8am, I lugged my case 2km to my hotel, stopping every 2 minutes to take it all in. My hotel had mercy on my soul and allowed a super early check in for me to shower. I walked to dotombori and stood on that bridge I've walked over so many times in Yakuza and had to pinch myself.

The next 10 days were all magical, I met with my Japanese penpal on day one and spent every day I was in Japan with her. People ask what we "are". I can't answer that, I don't know, it's complicated but all I know was those two weeks were the best of my life.

USJ was amazing, we went on Harry Potter, Mario Kart, Jaws, Hollywood Dream, saw waterworld and enjoyed Halloween horror and the hami Kuma dance party. It was the best day of my life.

Kyoto and Nara were magical, we only did one day in each but seeing the famous sights was healing on a level I never knew. The deer in nara and almost having a heart attack climbing the hills in nara, only to find a young couple taking wedding photos at the peak, and watching the sunset.

The aquarium and the whale sharks was mind blowing, Tennoji tower and shinsekai, den den town, the MAID CAFE, Osaka castle, Kani Doraku Crab Resturant, making our own takoyaki, Abeno Harukas observatory at sunset, these are some of the things we did.

I cried twice leaving Japan, when I had to say goodbye to my penpal, who for those 10 days was the closest I've ever felt with someone, and again at KIX while waiting for my flight. I haven't cried in over 10 years.

My plan, god be good is to return in March. I set a countdown app on my phone while at KIX to exactly 6 months and promised myself I would return and set foot in arrivals in exactly 6 months. That promise to myself was the only thing that got me on that plane.

Please ask any questions if you want to know more about what I did, or anything really. I had the best time of my life and even in just that short time I had there, Japan changed me forever, I don't feel like the same person since I got back, I'm not withdrawn anymore, I don't have negative depressing thoughts, I don't want to waste money on nonsense like Uber eats and overpriced food and clothes here anymore. It was a turning point in my life.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/KuroMango on 2024-10-04 00:16:15+00:00.

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Hello all! I’ve decided to post this trip report in particular because I found it a little difficult to find solid resources for planning my trip to the south of Kyushu this past September. I will include a detailed itinerary of how I spent my time, and a collection of tips/thoughts at the end. I arrived on September 14th and returned to my home prefecture on September 21st. So it will be a long one but I hope a couple people find it useful. After the itinerary/commentary I've included a notes section at the end. 

Overall, I think this was a good amount of time to spend in these cities and prefectures, and I don’t think I missed out on much. If I had stayed for longer, I may have gotten bored.

 

Night 1: Arrive in Kagoshima (staying at a friend’s house)

-         Arrived at Kagoshima Airport at 4:45pm.

-         Went outside and bought bus tickets from the booth to go downtown, closest to friend’s house. I should note that you can’t use a regular Pasmo/Suica to pay bus or tram fares here, so either get the Cute Pass or pay in cash.

-         Arrived around 6pm, dropped bags and together we went to a community Mochi Making Event held at the Kagoshima Kenmin Koryu Centre. It was to celebrate the upcoming Tsukimi holiday and was a lot of fun! Very foreigner friendly. Though apparently advanced reservations were required, I think they had enough space that potential drop-ins in the future would be fine.

-         Friend and I parted ways momentarily so I could grab some dinner and they went to a party that I would later join. I ate tsukemen at Vagabond Ramen and I HIGHLY recommend getting the tsukemen with chashu – the portions were so delicious and succulent. I actually chose to eat here again later in the trip because it was so dang tasty.

-         Attended the party at Luck Apartment (not actually an apartment, it’s a café which usually closes at 6pm but they seem to have frequent events that lead late into the night). I’m not really a huge party person but it was fun enough. Had a couple drinks, they had a DJ, made some friends (also a very international crowd here and there were many Japanese people in their 20s who were very practiced at casual English conversation).

-         Headed back home around 10pm, and the party was still boppin when I left.

 

Day 1: Sakurajima and the city

-         Got a latte at Luck Apartment, was good.

-         Set off to the ferry terminal around 9am, took me about 15m to walk from the café though I went a bit of a roundabout way to stroll through Minato Odori Park on my way, which was pleasant. It was quite sunny so I was using my umbrella to give me some shade. It was already 25 degrees despite being 9am.

-         Boarded the 9:40 ferry to Sakurajima. When you get to the terminal you just walk on to the ferry and you pay the fare when you get there.

-         Bought a Cute Pass at the info booth in the arrival terminal which was all-encompassing for city transit (basically anything that isn’t JR). Proved to be worth my money since it will also cover the ferry.

-         Got on the 10:30am red line tour bus. There are two buses every hour, one blue and one red. The red seems to stop at every point whereas the blue skips a couple I think? At least that’s what it looked like to me on the diagram. Line up ~20mins early to get a good spot. (Used Cute Pass for this, there is also a bus day-pass you can get on-board for 500yen)

-         Finished my tour around 11:30, at which point I had the “ash” ice cream at the café in the ferry terminal which came with *the* perfect sweet potato chip. The softcream was fairly standard otherwise but was nice to cool down.

-         Took the 12pm ferry back to the mainland.

-         Walked to the tram and took a 1-hour journey to Amaminosato, where I had a reservation for the hand-looming experience. This was super fun, but you have a hard deadline of 1h30m to work, which is was the reservation was for. I think it would be easiest to do if you have basic Japanese (key words being left, right, up, down). If not for this reservation I would have spent more time on Sakurajima. But it proved to be worth it. They have other things you can make reservations for, and there was a couple making the little woven keychain thing they offer which seemed fun too. I enjoyed the garden on site as well as the little museum/displays of the Oshima Tsumugi ash-dying fabric process. I probably spent 2 1/2 hours here, between my weaving and exploring.

-         Took the tram 1 hour back to my friend’s place where we met up and we went out to dinner. I had Kurobuta tonkatsu at Kurokatsutei Kurobe Tenmonkan. It was tasty!

-         We walked around the Tenmonkan area for quite a while, and stopped to have dessert at Mujaki Main Shop, known for its Shirokuma Shaved Ice. It was pretty good, better than the average I’d say.

-         We tried going to a local izakaya named 017 Yokaban, which came HIGHLY recommended by several people I spoke to before going on this trip and unfortunately it was completely full when we got there around 7:30pm. I think if you want to have a chance getting in you need to either go early or late. The owner came out and spoke to us for a minute, and she was super sweet. She recommended we come back around 9pm, but we didn’t end up having the energy.

-         Returned home for the night after this.

 

Day 2: Last full day in the city before heading to next destination

-         Went to Reimeikan for 9am. The gates were open a little early and it was very dead when I got there, and when I left. I think there was only one other group of people. I took my time around the ground and inside the museum to appreciate the history. My Cute Pass got me a discount for entry.

-         Walked over to Tenmonkan area again after I was done to eat a donut from Satsuma Jokiya Kakashi Yokocho, as recommended by my friend the day before. It was good, and I think if you don’t like super sweet things you’d enjoy it but I wouldn’t go out of my way for it. The shop was cute and had a lovely water feature where you can sit and eat your snacks.

-         Spent some time at CenTerrace Tenmonkan, which was fairly standard for malls in Japan but they had a few shops that were owned by locals making their own products and art which I enjoyed. I also found these small soy sauce plates that looked like traditional Japanese plate art but had dinosaurs on them – absolute 10/10.

-         Took the bus to Sengan-en Garden. I was really looking forward to this because it was a beautiful clear day and they had really good views of Sakurajima. It was quite a dynamic park with many different areas that felt unique. I ate mochi at one of the first shops there that are prepared traditionally to the area and they were very tasty. I then made my way over to the craft workshop area, where I paid 4000yen to do pottery painting. This does not require a reservation, nor is there a set amount of time you have to complete your work. I did a plate, and I think it came out quite nicely! You do need to have an address in Japan though for at least another week and a half after you do this because you use glaze paints, so they have to fire it in the kiln and then send it to you (all included in the initial price) before you get to keep it for good. They also had cups you could paint, or other little charms you could make which you would get to keep right away. I think I painted for about 2 hours, and was at the park for 3 hours overall. My Cute Pass got me a free post card upon entry.

-         Took the bus to Ishibashi Memorial Park. It was nice enough for like 15mins. I just wanted to see the bridge architecture and that was about it, so I didn’t stay too long.

-         Realized that I forgot my mobile battery at CenTerrace so had to make a detour back there to get it back. The staff were very helpful.

-       While I was in the area I decided to get a matcha latte and chocolate tart at TEAWAVE, which was highly recommended by a local and I thoroughly enjoyed their offerings. I don’t like my matcha too sweet, and this was perfect. The chocolate tart was also quite rich and delicious.

-         Returned to my friends place to drop off stuff, and then went back out to eat at Vagabond Ramen again where I had the tsukemen again and enjoyed it even more than last time. If you like thicccc noodles you’ll like this place.

-         Turned in for the night.

 

Day 3: Shinkansen to Kumamoto (staying at another friend’s place).

-         Had a breakfast sandwich as Seattle Coffee (chain) at Kagoshima Chuo Station, was a standard egg salad.

-         Took the 8:30am shinkansen for Kumamoto. Cost about 8300yen for the green car (7000 for regular).

-         Stored my backpack in the coin lockers upon my arrival to Kumamoto station.

-         Took the tram (used my regular Pasmo here) to Kumamoto Castle. Sure, there are better castles in Japan but this was nice enough, and the area around it like the river and surrounding parks were quite beautiful. I liked seeing the view of the city from the top. There are also some areas that are under construction because they were damaged by a recent earthquake, so it was pretty interesting to see the process of refurbishment. Also walked around the traditional shopping area here and got a yummy honey-blueberry drink mix syrup.

-         Bided my time until 12pm, where I had a reservation a...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/honeylemon00 on 2024-10-02 15:44:07+00:00.

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Disclaimer: I'm just a random person who overanalyzes things, no sponsorships. They didn't even ask me to leave a review anywhere and were super professionally neutral when I mentioned I thought their service was better than more well known alternatives.

When I was looking for Tokyo activities, I saw several reels about making your own custom perfume. After a quick look at the main trending options, none of them really seemed like a genuine 'custom perfume' to me. D.Anda was exactly what I was looking for aka:

• detailed guidance from someone trained in making fragrances so I don't make something crazy
• a "proper" perfume composition aka not essential oils; at least eau de toilette (D. Anda has you make eau de parfum); structured with top, middle, base notes.
• actual customization: being able to choose whatever direction I wanted to create a unique product. I got to pick from 100 scents and used 12 for my perfume. Compare to 3-4 scents out of 20-30 options for the other places.
• affordable: I think their pricing is amazing for the perfume industry and personalized service they're providing. $50-60 for 1 oz for a 90 min session, which is already affordable by perfume standards, much less one you get to design.
• Bonus: I also got to mix the perfume myself instead of the store employees, which was fun and made it feel more like *I* made it.

Some pet peeves I had with other options on the market:

• The general model doesn't seem like it'd create a great perfume. For most places, they have 20-30 scents (which are either fragrance mixes the store has or more singular scents like Jasmine) that you can pick 3-4 to mix. The store's workers will choose the ratios and you get to adjust to your liking.

So 1) there is no mention of creating a balanced fragrance or even base vs middle vs top notes. Top notes smell the best, so you could totally leave with a combo that's all top notes. 2) Not that many options. Among 20-30 scents, only some combinations would actually smell good together which further limits how much you can customize your product. 3) Little guidance. I have no clue what I'm doing and I imagine most store workers are minimally trained.

-My only fragrance - points above

-Ann Fragrance Atelier and The Flavor Design- it's not actually perfume, you're making a "fabric spray" per their website and pts above.

-Le Labo - am I missing something? The only customization I could find in the description is you get to name the perfume.

-Scent/incense workshop classes - essential oils, usually meant as a room spray

-I don't remember their name but I ran across one in Nakameguro that was $$$

Okay this is already long, review of the actual experience.

• The process is described on their website. You choose 3-4 scents in each base > mid > top last. I had full decision making power but asked my consultant for a lot of advice and for his thought process behind the recommendations to make my choices. The consultant was great at giving me the reins but letting me know if I was about to choose a bad idea (ex. using a really strong base note as my main base). He came up with the ratio at the end but asked for my input to determine it (ex. "do you want rose or lily to be stronger?" "do you want it to be more sweet or more fresh?"). He also gave advice on what scents to add to balance the perfume out which I think is definitely missing from the other custom perfume options. Sometimes you gotta eat your veggies too (cough using not only fruit top notes for me).
• I mixed the perfume then we adjusted as I desired. This was more fun than I expected! I felt like a little chemist even though I've pipetted plenty in labs.
• The end product: I went in with the idea "very fruity, fresh, and to not just try to recreate a perfume I already like" and generally gave input like that. When I got to my top note selections, I decided on a "fruit soda" vibe in my head but didn't tell him. The initial product surprised me -- it definitely smelled good but wasn't what I was expecting as the combination of my scents. It did match the descriptions I gave him, just not quite what I wanted. Honestly, his mix was probably better for most people. It smelled sophisticated but I wanted to smell like fruits exploded on me. I did 2 adjustments to get it to the fruit soda vibe I wanted. I wouldn't say I walked away with my forever signature scent but I like my perfume (whereas I dislike the majority of perfumes I've sniffed), I'll definitely wear it often, and it's a genuinely unique to me creation and souvenir. I haven't smelled anything similar before.
• They had a great selection of scents including ones I haven't heard of before like tomato leaf.
• I think you will get a more satisfying product if you know more about perfume or have a stronger idea of what you want. I still had a great time and product from going in pretty blind.
• They save the scent mix so you can reorder later.
• It was so fun! I kind of want to go again during my trip already.

Reasons why you may not want to come:

• Language barrier: The consultants are fluent in Korean and Japanese, with pretty good English. My guy only needed to use google translate for English 2-3 times.
• It's not at a major tourist train station and you're short on time: Totally fair! I do think it's located pretty well though: residential neighborhood in between Ueno and Asakusa + 12 min walk from Kakimori custom notebooks for a whole DIY day. I also stopped at Dandelion chocolates, found a cute whimsical animals themed leather goods shop Ozio, and enjoyed the architecture of the neighborhood during my walk. It's a peaceful get away from the main tourist sites.
• I know nothing about perfumes: Me too! I just had a basic understanding of my preferences. No background is expected but I would at least go sniff through Sephora and read the main descriptions (ex. floral/fresh/earthy/sweet) to get an idea of what you like.
• 100 scents is too much decision paralysis for me: The standard course is 80 scents. I think if you came in with a strong idea of what you wanted then you could let the consultant take over a lot more.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/yusoffb01 on 2024-10-02 03:41:26+00:00.

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Im sharing my experience so those who don't drive can consider this too. All tour buses have free wifi on board

Day 1 - Kokusaidori street, Fukushien garden, Almont Hotel Omoromachi, Shuri Castle Park

Arrived in the morning, bought the monorail tickets from the airport station. Alighted at prefectural office stop, and just wandered around kokusaidori. Then walked to fukushien garden. in hindsight, i should also walked to naminoue beach which is very near fukushien garden. Checked in at Almont Hotel omoromachi which is like $50 a night with public bath, 3 stops away from kokusaidori, beside a mall with a supermarket and many food options. Also beside TGalleria which has 4 rental car companies, and teamlab. After that went to Shuri Castle Park

Day 2 - Cape Chinen Park, Okinawa World, Gyokusendo Cave, Okinawa Outlet Mall Ashibinaa, Umikaji Terrace

Followed South Okinawa day tour booked on klook. The tourists were mainly chinese, but the tour guide can speak English if you have any questions. There is a performance at okinawa world but recording was not allowed. Tour was quite affordable ($50) and Gyokusendo cave is a must visit. Tour ended at 5.40pm

Day 3 - Okinawa Churaumi aquarium, Emerald beach, okashigoten onna village, cape manzamo, Ryuku mura, Banta cafe kanai beach

Followed a Churaumi aquarium bus tour by cerulean blue also bought from klook. Aquarium tickets, ryuku mura tickets were included, and also has free drink at Banta Cafe. Don't miss the show at ryuku mura, recording is allowed. Really worth the $50 price. Tour ended at 7pm

Day 4 - Kouri island, Nago pineapple park, kouri island, dolphin show, native okinawa village, tropical dream center, tamatebako

Followed hiphop bus by jumbo tours bought from klook. Only the pineapple park entrance ticket was included. Bus then went to kouri island for a short while. didnt have time to go to the observation point and heart shaped rock here. After that stopped at marine park for 2.5h, since i already went to aquarium day before, i went to the mockup of okinawa village, watched a free dolphin show, and went to see the botanic gardens. Last stop was okashigoten but wasnt as interesting as the onna branch one from day before. Tour ended early at 3pm+. As Naha has many vegan options, i tried okinawa soba at tamatebako

Day 5 - Japanese navy underground hq, Rakuen cafe, american village

In the morning, I went to the japanese navy underground hq to learn about the okinawa war. you can come here by bus, or walk 30min from the nearest monorail station. Had lunch at rakuen cafe on the second floor of RYUBO department store. It has many vegan options. After that I went for open top bus tour by cerulean blue at 12:20pm slot to american village for $15. You could take public transport for the same price, but open top is a nice experience since driver will take a coastal route. We had 1h to spend at american village which is sufficient to just walk around and take pictures. On the way back, the driver drove past kokusaidori street and it was a nice experience too. Tour ended at 3.30pm. after that I went to San-A naha shopping center near my hotel and bought stuff from supermarket and daiso. in the evening, I also booked ticket to zamami island and a rental car.

Day 6 - Zamami Island day trip

Went to the harbour and took queen zamami to go zamami island. If you want to snorkel, there are a few shops you can rent from at the island. or you can buy from donki at kokusaidori before coming. I drove around the island to visit all the recommended viewing spots. If you dont drive, you can rent a bicycle or electric scooter.

Day 7 - okinawa zoo, pokemon center, nyansore cat cafe

The last day before going back. Using google maps, I took a public bus from omoromachi station near my hotel to go to the zoo. topup 2000 yen to your okica pass. Taking the public bus was not as bad as I thought. There are multiple buses going the same route, so despite the long waiting time for each bus, you can take whichever that comes first. I waited less than 15min. After the zoo, I walked to aeon mall okinawa rycom less than 2km away which has pokemon center. Check the bus timing to go back, and you can plan to have lunch here. There was also an electronic display at the bus stop which indicates upcoming buses, estimated time or arrival and how many minutes late. With nothing much left to do, I visited Nyansore cat cafe, Don Quijote and bookoff.

Day 8 - going back

Going back wasn't bad. the ride from omoromachi to airport just takes 20min and costs 300 yen. Another advantage of not staying near kokusai street is that you will definitely have space to board.

If I were to change my itinerary, I would have tried staying at onna village area for 2 days to try glass bottom boat, parasailing or marine walk.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/We_are_all_monkeys on 2024-10-02 00:14:19+00:00.

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9 days in Tokyo and environs 9/21-9/30. A summary.

Day 0: Arrive in Tokyo. Get Suica card and train to hotel in Akasaka. Get food at 7-11. Crash.

Day 1: Tokyo Tower. Meh. Very touristy and kitschy. Next stop was Teamlab Borderless. I was completely blown away. Very very cool and hugely recommended. Next was the Art Aquarium in Ginza. Verdict: cool but overhyped. Walked around Ginza and ate dinner at some little Ramen place.

Day 2: Started the day at Shibuya Crossing. People everywhere! Walked around a bit and discovered the 8th Wonder of the world that is Don Quixote. What an amazing ode to chaos! I both love it and hate it at the same time. Lunch was at Maidreamin Maid cafe. What a bizarre and awkward place. Maybe I just don't get it. After that was Harajuku and Takeshita St. If you like crowds and people everywhere, then this is for you! I'm glad I checked it out, but once was enough. Ended the day at Meiji Jingu. Impressive.

Day 3: Kamakura and Enoshima. So, this was Monday the 23rd and no one told me it was a holiday! Kamakura was shoulder to shoulder. Took the train, saw the big Buddha, went to Enoshima. Walked around and shopped and ate. Checked out the sea caves. All in all, a good, if crowded day. Pro tip: pay for the escalator to the top! It's worth it.

Day 4: Akasuka and Senso-Ji. Walked around. Took pictures. Shopped. Went to Ueno Park in the afternoon. What a really nice park! Went to the art museum there and was going to go the science museum but it was closed. Ended the day at Skytree at sunset. Amazing views! 

Day 5: Went to the Mori Art Museum in the morning and saw the giant spider and the Louise Bourgeois exhibit.  Afternoon was spent in Akihabara. I was like a kid in a candy store. So many cool stores. Yodobashi is amazing! I so wish there was something like that in the States. In the evening went to an owl Cafe and saw lots of owls! 

Day 6: Took the train to Mt. Takao for another day trip. Took the chairlift up and hiked up to the top. Weather was favorable and the views were amazing. Monkey park was closed though, which was slightly disappointing. Took the chairlift back. A good day.

Day 7: Feet were hurting and needed an easy day. Went to the National Museum Modern Art and then back up to the National Museum of Nature and Science in Ueno Park. That museum is absolutely amazing! The number of specimens is astounding! It is a real jewel in Tokyo.

Day 8. Shabuya Sky in the morning (only time I could get a ticket). Being out in open air on top of the city is a cool feeling. Went up to Shinjuku and had lunch at the Alice in Wonderland Cafe. Gimmicky as hell, but a lot of fun! Checked out Kabukicho, saw the giant cat, Godzilla, and got drunk in Golden Gai at an awesome bar called Deathmatch in Hell. Excellent end to a day!

Day 9: Odaiba. Saw the beach and the Statue of Liberty. Walked around by the water and checked out the Small Worlds Museum, which was really cool! It's amazing how detailed everything is. Got lunch and ended the day at Teamlab Planets, which was cool, but I thought Borderless was better.

Day 10: Flight home. Goodbye Tokyo!

Observations:

As noted by others, the lack of garbage cans is quickly apparent. Bring a small plastic bag with you for all your garbage. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, Tokyo is the cleanest city I've ever seen. 

Once you figure how the trains work, navigating around is pretty simple, even thought some of the stations are huge and it can take forever to walk from one track to another.

I got away with knowing practically zero Japanese. It seems everyone knows at least some basic English and you can get pretty far just by pointing. 

All in all, an amazing trip and I can't wait to go back!

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/tawonracunte on 2024-10-01 09:20:05+00:00.

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In Shibuya Ward, a strengthened regulation on street drinking will come into effect in October 2024, introducing a year-round ban. Previously, restrictions were only in place during specific times like Halloween and the New Year, but rising issues related to noise and littering, as well as an increase in tourists, led to the decision for a comprehensive ban.

Under the new ordinance, drinking will be prohibited in designated areas around Shibuya Station from 6 PM to 5 AM the following morning. Although there will be no penalties for violations, security personnel will patrol the area to provide warnings to those who do not comply

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/cadencetimeletsgo on 2024-09-30 01:27:48+00:00.

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*Japan absolutely slaps, so if you’re thinking of taking a trip there, just bloody do it! You won’t regret it!*

Trip Dates: Feb 29 - March 12, 2024

About Us: 1 female (Aussie vego) and 1 male (Canadian meato), iPhone users, VISA and MC holders, Intermediate skiers

General Notes

1. Luggage Forwarding Service: Use it! It’ll change your life. This efficient/secure luxury really made traveling around seamless. Couldn’t recommend it highly enough.
2. Cash: We withdrew 25000 yen in advance. This got spent quickly at markets, luggage forwarding, mom and pop restaurants etc. Often places do take card, but I’d definitely advise bringing some cash. That said, withdrawing from an ATM in Japan is easy and inexpensive (check with your bank) so it’s totally cool to rely on that if need be.
3. Shinkansen ticket booking: booking online in advance (once already in Japan) was a major fuckaround for us for a few reasons: we had to turn our Canadian sims back on to get verification codes, our credit cards would work with some websites and not others. Prepare for it to get confusing, but just go with the flow. You will end up with a ticket!
4. VISA vs MC: Often my Visa worked, often my MC worked. Sometimes both worked and sometimes neither worked. From our experience, there’s no method to the madness. My advice is (if you can) bring both. It’s Japan, so we never felt *stuck* - just had to patiently figure out which method of payment was going to work on any given day.
5. Narita vs Haneda: When booking flights, I was given both options. I decided to go with inbound Narita, outbound Haneda. Next time, roundtrip Haneda will be my preference. It’s much closer… like, it’s actually in Tokyo lmao.

Detailed Itinerary

Day 0:

• Flight from Toronto to Tokyo, Narita. 14 hours on Air Canada. Nothing glamorous but the only direct option from Toronto.
• We booked 6 months in advance and paid $1600 CAD return PP for economy.
• Food on board was gross but I was glad to have pre-ordered a vegetarian meal. The general offerings were dire and exclusively meat. It made us keen for 2 weeks of Japanese grub!

Day 1: 

• Landed and took the Narita Express straight to Shinjuku. This route was a little longer, but we preferred not having to change trains after such a long flight. We bought our tickets from a machine right before boarding using VISA.
• Using train wifi, we activated our Ubigi e-sims: 10GB for $17 USD. Plenty of data considering there’s also wifi everywhere. You WILL need access to the internet (especially for Google Maps) so make sure you’re hooked up.
• We checked into our hotel: Hotel Gracery, Shinjuku (the Godzilla Hotel). Tiny, clean room, which was all we needed since we were always out and about. Shinjuku is WILD. It’s so busy/bright/hectic/awesome/fun. Next time we’ll try another more low-key neighbourhood, but for our first time in Tokyo it was the perfect way to throw ourselves into Japan!
• We had a quick bite near the hotel, browsed some combinis (convenience stores) for snacks  (actually really yummy!) then ventured out to Shinjuku Golden Gai, an awesome string of tiny alleys filled with even tinier bars/restaurants. Highly recommend!

Day 2: 

• Woke up super early because jet-lag! Approximately zero coffee shops/ breakfast spots were open early, so we explored the streets (all very clean, go Japan!) and ended up grabbing breakfast onigiri from 7/11. Meat and veggie options, often labeled in English. Convenience stores became reliable, cheap options for meals we didn’t care much about (like breakfast).
• Added our Suica cards to our Apple wallets. This was shockingly EASY after a lot of confusion. If you have an iPhone, here’s how you do it: Make sure you are on wifi (not data). Go to your Wallet app. Click “add card” then “Transit Card” then “Suica”. Load up using the credit card you have stored in your Apple Wallet. Both VISA and MC worked for us. We loaded 1000Y increments regularly and easily. It’s much easier/faster than buying individual tickets for transit and you can use Suica for a bunch of things! We paid for ramen at a place that didn’t take credit cards with Suica! Also, forget about getting a physical version of the card. They basically don’t exist anymore for tourists. Just add it to your phone! Voila! (NB: you only need wifi for the initial set up. Reloading works fine with just data. One of the many mysteries of Japan!)
• Grabbed coffee and a snack from Blue Bottle Cafe. Right near Shinjuku station and pretty trendy looking.
• Ventured over to Akihabara (a very anime part of town). My boyfriend is a major Magic the Gathering fan so we went to bunch of nerdy stores. He could’ve stayed there all day!
• Had lunch at Tempura Rice Kaneko-Hannosuke in Chuo City. We waited over an hour BUT it was our favourite meal in Tokyo. The service and food were exceptional. As a vegetarian, it would’ve been impossible for me to eat here without at least having fish broth, so I decided to be a little bit *flexitarian*. They have a very basic English menu, so I chose the first option and traded my fish/chicken tempura pieces for my boyfriend’s veggies.
• There was a Byron Bay Coffee Company a few doors down. I grabbed a lamington from there while we waited in line. Not very Japanese, but as an Aussie who now lives in Canada I had to indulge.
• For dinner we headed to a side street in the quieter part of Shibuya called Kamiyamacho. It had a bunch of cool looking restaurants and the one we chose wasn’t great, but we’d definitely try others in the future. It had a very cool vibe.
• We saw one of the surreal Japanese gas stations (where the pumps hang from the ceiling!)
• After dinner we walked around Shibuya crossing. I thought it would feel more touristy but it was actually just BUSY AF.  I felt like I was in Lost in Translation. So cool.
• We also went into the mega Don Quijote in Shibuya and it was chaos but so fun. We bought a bunch of treats (like cheesecake Kitkats) and I dabbled in Japanese hair products.

Day 3: 

• Picked up coffee and quick breakfast from All Seasons Coffee, Shinjuku. I grabbed an egg salad sandwich from Family Mart. It was amazing. We planned to walk around Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden while eating, before remembering that walking while eating/drinking is taboo in Japan! We sat on a bench and ate, then began the pursuit of finding a trash can. There’s so few on the streets, but we found one in a convenience store.
• We then went to our 11am booking at TeamLabs Borderless, which we booked about a month in advance. It was completely sold out on the day, so book ahead! I’d heard mixed reports about both the area and the exhibit itself, but we LOVED both. The area is a cool, new section of town with interesting architecture. Initially, the exhibit felt a little small scale and we were ready to leave after about 40 mins. Then we discovered that there were a bunch of secret rooms we had yet to explore. I’m so glad we stayed, because what we found was mind blowing and so fun. Go in with an open mind and explore!
• We took the subway to Ginza, a fairly ritzy part of town with lots of great shopping, then ate lunch at Yomoda Soba Ginza Branch. This was our first experience ordering from a vending machine and we looked like true idiots for not understanding how it worked. But people helped us and the food was delicious. I ordered a vegetable soba soup.
• We hit up the massive Muji in Ginza. It was much cooler than any other Muji I’d ever been in. Highly recommend the matcha chocolate covered dried strawberries! We took advantage of the tax-free program here. If you’re interested, you’ll need your passport and won’t be able to use the items purchased until you’re out of the country (they seal them in a plastic bag) Worth it for the discount!
• We tried to go to the Pokemon Cafe but it was completely booked out for the day. Reserve in advance if you’re keen!
• For dinner, we ate ramen at Afuri Shinjuku Lumine. This is a chain but a really, really good one with vegan and meat options (most other ramen joints only had pork!) Don’t be discouraged by the fact that it’s in a food court. Plenty of locals were eating there and the line up was out the door. So yummy!

Day 4: 

• We started our day at Tsukiji Market. Very crowded, but fun. We arrived at 9:30am and it was already chaos, so get there early if you want to avoid crowds. We tried a bunch of viral foods here, like the omelette, strawberry daifuku (Mochi), wagyu beef (for my boyfriend), matcha and fish. The food was good but I’d say if you don’t go early (like 8-10am) it might not be worth it.
• We then caught our first Shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo Station. We had already sent our luggage to our destination using the hotel’s luggage forwarding service, a massive relief given how busy the station/train was. It was only $50 CAD to send both suitcases from Tokyo to Nozawaonsen. Well worth it!
• We purchased our tickets for the Shinkansen at the station, right before departure. If you can buy in advance, do it. It will give you a better chance of sitting together. We sat behind one another in the Green Cabin (a little more expensive). Just remember that it acts like a flight, so if you miss your train you will have ...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/TightLadder6003 on 2024-09-30 08:53:13+00:00.

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I’ll be in Osaka with my 14-year-old for two days during October 11-12. I’m having trouble planning our day in Kyoto. I’ve listed some options below but am open to suggestions. Could you help me create an itinerary based on these spots? Are there any shrines that have night time illumination in October?

I’d really appreciate your insights if you’ve been there! Thanks!

Option1:

• Sagano Romantic Train
• Hozugawa River Boat Ride
• Lunch
• Kiyomizu-dera
• Gion District
• Yasaka-jinja Shrine.

Option 2:

• Fushimi Inari (I’m fine with not reaching the summit of Fushimi Inari.)
• Explore nearby area (suggestions are welcome!)
• Lunch
• Kiyomizu-dera
• Gion District

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Shyam3540 on 2024-09-29 09:51:08+00:00.

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Hey, 

Me and my wife are travelling to Japan for the first time in late October for 14 days. We are both in our late 20’s and coming from Germany. We came up with this itinerary after a bit of research reading blogs, reddit, youtube etc. I would really appreciate your help and suggestions in the following itinerary. 

A little about us: We are very much into Anime. Hence, we hope to spend a lot of time around Shibuya and Akihabara. Apart from that, we love Japanese food and hope to shop some skincare and fashion products.

Day 1 – October 27 (Tokyo): 

• Arrival at Narita around 6 PM.
• Check-in to Hotel and rest.

Day 2 – October 28 (Tokyo): 

• Asakusa – Sensoji Temple, Kappabashi Dori
• Nakamise-dori Street
• Ueno Park
• Tokyo Sky tree

Day 3 – October 29 (Tokyo) 

• Meiji Shrine
• Harajuku -Takeshita Street
• Shibuya – for shopping and nightlife

Day 4 – October 30 (Hakone day trip) 

• Romance car train to Hakone (Hakone Free Pass) - Reach around 9:30 AM
• Here we will take the Hakone Cable Car + Ropeway to visit Owakudani, Lake Ashi
• Hakone Pirate Ship
• Hakone Shrine
• If time permits and worth it, then also book an Onsen for 2 hours

Day 5 – October 31 ( Tokyo – Takayama) 

• Shinkansen from Tokyo – Nagoya + Bus from Nagoya to Takayama – Reach around 3 PM
• Walk around the streets of Sanmachi Suji (our hotel is close by)
• Short evening walk along Miyagawa river

Day 6 – November 1 (Takayama) 

• Miyagawa Morning Market
• Hida no Sato open air museum to learn about the local history and culture
• Sake Tasting + Food exploration

Since its cheaper, we might also try buying Hida beef from the local butcher/market and try to cook it from our stay. 

Day 7 – November 2 (Hiking day trip to Kamikochi) 

• Take the 7:00 AM Nohi bust from Takayama to Kamikochi
• We will start the hike from Kappabashi bridge and then walk towards either Myojin Pond or Taisho Pond. There are two hikes – one is 6 km and other is 10 km long. We have not decided which one to take yet.

Day 8 – November 3 (Takayam - Kyoto) 

• Hida wide view expess to Nagoya + Shinkansen to Kyoto. Reach around 2 PM
• Nishiki Market (Lunch + Shopping) - Our stay is close by
• Rest at Hotel
• Evening walk and dinnner around Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka

Day 9 – November 4 (Kyoto) 

• Start early around 6:30 AM to Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
• Walk to Daihikaku Senkoji Temple and back
• Sagano Romantic Express to Kameoka + Hozugwa river boat ride back to Arashiyama.
• If time permits and not too tired, then walk along Philosophers Path
• Eat dinner from Pontoncho district

Day 10 – November 5 (Day trip to Uji/Nara) 

• Start at 7:30 AM to Uji.
• Nakamura Tokichi Honten
• Byodo-in Temple
• Take the train to Nara
• Nara Park
• Todai-Ji

Day 11 – November 6 (Kyoto – Tokyo) 

• Fushimi Inari Tasha(full hike)/Kiyomizu dera in the morning
• Take the Shinkansen post-noon to Tokyo

Day 12 – November 7 (Tokyo) 

• TeamLab planets – morning slot
• Lunch at Toyosu Fish Market
• Akihabara

Day 13 – November 8 (Tokyo) 

• Shinjuku City
• Yanaka Ginza
• Visiting places that we missed from the initial days in Tokyo.

Day 14 – November 9 (Leaving Japan) 

• Last minute shopping + Souvenirs
• Return to Germany

Some questions:

1. We were initially planning to go to USJ in Osaka, but cancelled the plan after knowing that it's usually very crowded. Since we have a couple of extra days in Tokyo, is it worth going to Ghibli Museum/Disneyland? Or is there any other similar experiences around Tokyo?
2. Between Teamlabs planets and Borderless, which one is better?
3. How accessible is Uber in Tokyo and Kyoto? Since some of our hotels don't accept Takkyubin, we might need to rely on Taxis to get the Shinkansen stations from our hotels
4. Any recommendations on an E-SIM? Currently considering Sakura Mobile

Thanks you so much for the help :)

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Jieas on 2024-09-25 22:50:22+00:00.

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So we (gf & I - 28yr olds) just booked flight tickets to Japan a few hours ago. This is all we've booked so far, and the trip is from September 30th (landing day) to October 18th. Yes, 2024. Here are the locations and a few activities that we've been thinking about for each. Please bear with me as this is a very anxiety-enduncing trip for me, but I'm trying to step out of my comfort zone! If you notice anything that doesn't make sense or we're not accounting for, please do let me know! :)

Day 0 - Sept 30th - Tokyo

Landing at 3h30pm at Narita. probably just going to get Suica cards (are they back? I've read a few things about chip shortages but maybe since Sept 1st they seem easily obtainable?), take transit into the city to our AirBnB (currently not booked at the time of writing), and head out to walk around the area, get acclimatized

Day 1to3 - Oct 1st to 3rd - Tokyo

Shibuya crossing, ikebukuro (recommendation), Shinjuku, Akihabara, yoyogi park, Ryogoku Kokugikan National Sumo Arena, tokyo tower, senso-ji Temple

There's also the possibility of doing a day trip to Kamakura for a hike, as I've been told you could have views on Mt Fuji.

We would sleep in Tokyo that night, and leave on Day 4

Day 4-5 - Oct 4-5 - Either Nikko or Nagano

Looking to find maybe a Ryokan and Onsen in those areas. DEfinitely seems difficult considering our last minute trip!

Day 6-8 - Oct 6-8 - Kyoto

Taking a shinkansen to Kyoto. Fushimi Inari hike, Arashiyama bamboo grove, Tenryu-ji Temple and the Iwatayama Monkey Park, Gion District, Rengeoin sanju-sangendo, Gold & Silver temples.

Day 9 - Oct 9th-10 - Nara or Takayama?

We were initially thinking of going to Nara and sleep there, but now we've just been made aware of the Takayama Autumn/Hachiman Festival. Is this worth trying to attend? There doesn't seem to be available accomodations in the region, but there is maybe the option of staying south of the festival in Gero. Any thoughts?

Day 10-12 - Oct 10-12 - Osaka

We're currently a little low on Osaka activities other than the Osaka Castle. Here we could take a day trip to Nara if we do end up going to Takayama. There's also been talk about going to eat Kobe beef in Kobe.

Day 13-15 - Oct 13-15 - Hiroshima

Shinkansen to Hiroshima in the morning. Himeji, Peace Memorial Park & Museum. Mayajima Island, Mount Misen (might either do the hike or the rope cabin)

Day 16-18 - Oct 16-18 - Back to Tokyo

Shinkansen back to Tokyo, explore any other things we might have missed, want to see more of, etc. anything that wasn't listed in the first tokyo stay maybe!

Leaving at around 5pm on the 18th, going back to Canada!

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Few additional questions/help

• In our case, would the JR pass be worth it, even after the increase in price last year?
• How much do you disencourage having suitcases? Especially for transit.
• How much money is worth taking out for this type of trip? I know that cash is king, but I was thinking like 2000 CAD (1000 each), but this seems excessive a bit. Is it worth taking out money in Japan at the ATMs or before leaving? Kind of getting mixed info on that one with travel vlogs on YT.

The itinerary feels quite... loose, and as we literally bought the plane tickets this morning, it feels very unorgniazed, and I am panicking (my gf is as cool as cucumber though, hence why I'm the one making the post). There are currently no accomodations that are booked for any of those places, so even those suggestions, warnings, good-to-know's are all welcomed :) I am no seasoned traveler by any means! Thank you soooo much for any input and help.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Life-Zookeepergame72 on 2024-09-26 17:37:00+00:00.

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Just came back from a 9 day trip and thought I'd post what I actually ended up doing and also a few thoughts that stuck out to me. Also I'm really bad about names of restaurants. I just wanted to enjoy the meal without having to take pictures etc.

Day 1

• Arrived at Narita around 3pm. Took about an hour to get luggage and go through immigration. Everything is set up very efficiently designed to use passport readers and facial recognition. Pro tip: definitely use the Visit Japan Web app and fill out your customs declarations ahead of time. This provides you with a QR code that gets read through customs making it much faster.
• Took the train to Akihabara and settled into the hotel.
• Explored Akihabara and found a local Ramen spot, then had my first experience of the large Japanese department store at Yodabashi. I'm a big fan of how convenient it is to basically get anything you need in one building.
• Went to Giga (formerly Sega) center and played a bunch of claw, dance and other random games. Got introduced to Pokemon Frienda (new game that comes out and spits out "Pokemon cards" similar to how Injustice works in the states. Made some new friends playing it.

Day 2

• Odaiba to see the life sized Unicorn Gundam as well as visit the Gundam Factory Base. Afterwards did some more shopping at Diver City. Across Diver city was Joypolis so spent a few hours there playing some games.
• Fuji Film HQ is located in Odaiba and they had a spherical observation deck that was open to visitors. Decided to head up and check out some awesome views of the city and Tokyo bay.
• On the way back to the station ran into what seemed like a festival celebrating Mexican Culture. They even had a wrestling ring and caught a few minutes of an ongoing match. Bless those wrestlers for performing in 95 degree weather.
• Back in Akihabara had dinner at a Kaiten Sushi place (conveyer belt). Every place I had sushi (and this was a first of a few) had very fresh fish and it was very affordable compared to US prices. I loved them all. Plus this is a side note, but there's something about Japanese rice and how it's made, but man it's so much tastier than the rice back at home (California). I might have to invest in some of these expensive imports.

Day 3

• Asakusa to visit Sensō-ji shrine. Man this place was packed and it was only around 10am in the morning. They offer a lot of things for sale here for the visitors. I ended up buying some incense to light and pray and also some charms to bring back for family.
• After the shrine took a local train to Tokyo Skytree to visit the observation deck. This offered more amazing 360 degree view of the city and it's amazing to see how sprawling and dense Tokyo is. San Francisco and Manhattan can't hold a candle to this. Currently they have a Pokemon them going on so got some cute pictures with the mascots.
• On the way down from the tower, stopped by the Chiba Institute of Technology to check out their displays, but mainly to find the life sized VF-25 Valkyrie from Macross Frontier (yes total nerd).
• Late afternoon trip back to Akihabara and spent time visiting Mandarake, Super Potato, Animate, and Traders.

Day 4

• Tokyo DisneySea! What a fun day trip. Ended up using Fastpass to buy tickets for Rapunzel (in order to get entry into Fantasy Springs) and also premium seats to watch the nightly water show. Beyond that, just explored and went on whatever ride that was stumbled upon. Most rides were about 120 minute wait time. It was definitely crowded and the queue to get in was massive. Most of the free fastpasses to Fantasy Springs were gone by the time I got into the park so opted for the paid version. One thing I noticed here is that unlike Disneyland in Anaheim, there were rarely any scooters and also even strollers. It was so nice walking around and not getting rammed in the back by an errant scooter.

Day 5

• Shopping at Ueno (ended up buying a Citizen Buzz Lightyear watch) and then at Nakano Broadway. I wanted to see what the Mandarake and shops here offered versus Akihabara. I did prefer the shop in Akihabara as it was much easier to navigate between floors with clearly defined "subjects" of each floor. At Nakano, Mandarake occupied a large number of individual shops on the second floor, but it was hard to tell what each one specialized in.
• Headed back to Tokyo in the afternoon to catch a baseball game between the Homiuri Giants and the DeNA Baystars. I have to say this was one of my favorite experiences. I highly recommend going to a game if you can. The atmosphere was extremely lively with each fan base chanting along for their team the entire game. Plus cute cheerleaders and beer girls!

Day 6

• Checked out of the hotel and took a train to Yokohama. Ended up storing most of our luggage at the hotel and packed an overnight bag. Took a train from Yokohama to Odawara and then a bus into Hakone to stay at an Onsen.
• Stayed at Hakone Jade and it was an amazing property and experience. Had a room with it's own tub that was on the ground floor right next to the pond on property. You could see the Koi swimming while soaking in your tub. Also there was lots of privacy in the space. This was also my first experience with a public bath and hot spring. The hot baths were fed by two different natural hot springs with different temperatures. They also had a dry sauna that I only lasted 2 minutes in before having to tap out. I'm sure the old gentlemen in there laughed at me as I ducked out while they stayed in for much longer.
• Dinner at the Onsen consisted of an amazing 8 course tasting menu that highlighted local ingredients along with the chef's favorite techniques. Eating this while looking out the at the mountains and serene backdrop was unreal.

Day 7

• After checking out, took the bus and train back to Yokohama. At the station, used some lockers to stow overnight bag and then explored SOGO and Marui City department stores as there were a few hours to kill before being able to check into the hotel. SOGO also has a fully stocked grocery store on the bottom floor so picked up some fruit and snacks before heading to the hotel. At Marui City is where the Yokohama Pokemon center was so picked up some souvenirs and a booster pack there. Note they do rip own the booster pack after purchasing to discourage reselling it looks like.
• After checking in, walked around the Red Brick Warehouse, and ate some sweets and treats from a few of the shops there. Afterwards rode in the Yokohama Sky Cabin (Kind of like the Heavenly Gondola for those of you that have been Tahoe) that crossed over Yokohama Bay.
• On the way back to the hotel decided to try some Pachinko! I had no idea what was really going on , but I did get my machine to spin up and make a bunch of noise. Did not win anything, but it was a fun experience.

Day 8

• Visited Yokohama Chinatown and tried out different food stalls.
• Headed back to Yokohama station because I wanted to visit the Book Off and Volks showroom there.
• Afternoon was spent at Cosmo World riding a few rides and also the giant Ferris Wheel (sort of like the London Eye). Also great views of the city from here.
• Last dinner (on recommendation of a friend) was eating a Puffer Fish dinner course. this was a 4 part meal that used each piece of the puffer fish followed by a dessert (not made from puffer fish). I kept thinking back to the Simpsons episode with Homer thinking he was dying. My friend guaranteed it was safe and it was one of the tastiest meals on the trip.

Day 9

• Packed up and final breakfast before heading out. I also bought some Onigiri from a local shop to take with me on the plane.
• This time took a taxi to Yokohama station so I wouldn't have to lug around the giant suitcase that was now completely full. From Yokohama station took bus straight to Narita.
• Once again check in and getting screening was extremely easy and smooth and then boarded the flight back to the states.

Overall what an amazing experience. There's still so much to see and do that I'll definitely have to plan a trip back. Also a few more thoughts below:

• It's true that most people are very polite and if you show politeness back, it goes a long way. Learning to say "sumimasen" and bowing usually will get people to help (thank good for google translate!)
• I noticed when sitting on trains that Japanese people generally have very clean shoes. Just a weird detail but everyone's shoes seem super white or polished. I must have stuck out like a sore thumb
• There really are no trashcans so avoid having to carry trash with you. If you plan to eat, it's better to sit down and do it at a restaurant.
• IC cards are key! You can basically use them for almost any form of payment. I loaded mine up and used it not only for the trains, but also at convenience stores and some restaurants too!
• Minors in Japan are so much more independent! It was interesting seeing kids as young as 10 or so ride trains on their own (usually with friends) and navigate through the hectic stations like it was nothing. Heck I even had a young kid help me with the Pokemon game because I was so helpless. She had more rare cards so she lent them to me so I could beat a boss.
• The weather is no joke. 95 on average with high humidity. Bring light clothes and clothes that can easily be washed and dried. I loved that there are machines that are both washer and dryer in one!
• 7-eleven egg sandwiches are the best!!

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Little-Jellyfish-418 on 2024-09-26 14:13:57+00:00.

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Hii

Me and my parents (in their 50s) are going to visit Japan for the first time this December for 12 days. After doing some research I came up with the following itinerary: Please leave any suggestions or advice you would have on my itinerary (switch some things around, add/drop certain spots) as this is our first time visiting anything will help, thank you!

 day 1

• Arrival in Tokyo (recommended to stay near Akasaka area)
• transport
• check into hotel and rest (go out and eat if not tired)

Day 2

• Visit MEIJI JINGU (morning)
• Grab lunch
• Visit Shinjuku Gyoen (afternoon)
• Then explore the shinjuku or shibuya area at night

Day 3 

• Explore Asakusa (Nakamise dori, senso-ji)
• Grab lunch
• Tokyo national museum
• Explore Akihabara

Day 4

• DAY TRIP TO HAKONE (most stuff close before 5 so need to go early, will need to ride the train for about 2 hours.)aim to get there by 9am. Take Romancecar from Shinjuku to Hakone

https://www.hakonenavi.jp/international/en/course/244#:~:text=Ride%20the%20Romancecar%20to%20travel,enjoying%20the%20scenery%20(*1).

• Visit the hakone shrine and lake ashi
• Visit open air museum
• Have lunch
• End the day at Hot spring at Hakone (need to reserve) weekdays close at 8pm, weekends at 9pm https://www.hakoneyuryo.jp/english/spa/hotspring/#hanare

Day 5

• *FREE TIME NOTHING PLANNED*
• Ginza shopping center
• Train to kyoto (two hours)
• After getting to kyoto, explore the area and rest

Day 6 

• Explore Arashiyama (bamboo forest (go EARLY), Tenryuji, monkey park)
• Lunch
• Explore kyoto streets: Gion, Potoncho, Kawaramachi

Day 7 

• Fushi Inari red gates (morning)
• Ninenzaka!!, Sannenzaka, Hokanji Temple
• Winter illuminations (not sure which one yet,late afternoon or night)

Day 8 

• **FREE DAY NOTHING PLANNED**

OPEN TO IDEAS

Day 9

• Check out and head to Osaka (very fast), check into hotel
• Osaka Castle
• Kuromon ichiba market
• Explore Dontonburi

Day 10

• Nara/kobe day trip

Day 11

(Potentially go visit the Hiroshima war museum?) as a day trip?  

Day 12

• Rest and get ready for flight back

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/KimonoCatChloe on 2024-09-25 17:04:40+00:00.

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Wanted to give a trip recap with the hopes of helping someone in the future! This sub helped me and my husband a lot with trip planning so maybe something here will be of use.

To preface: I am a theme park nerd so I take my days seriously. Because of this, I booked a stay at Singulari and paid for the Express Pass 7 to try and maximize my time.

-6 AM: Woke up at this time to start getting ready. From the Singulari was a five minute walk to the gates at most. I had no idea there was a Lawson and 7/11 in their Citywalk, when I saw them I bought our snacks/coffee the night before after we checked in to save time in the morning.

-6:30 - 6:40 AM: Ready and out the hotel. We got to the front gates at about 6:40 AM and could see the bag check tables. There was about 10 groups in front of us. They had some people already lined up at the bag stations. Not sure if they were early entry/APs.

-7:40 AM: Gates opened early for the public. Originally scheduled to open at 8:30 AM. We rushed to Nintendo World like everyone else. We didn’t get in line immediately, we took some pictures and enjoyed the view. Around approximately 8 PM we got in line for Karts. Karts posted a wait time of 40 minutes, we waited about 30 minutes.

-8:30 - 9 AM: We did one of the Key Challenges and walked around the land. By 8:55 AM started heading to Kinopios, I was hoping to try and get seated first thing when it opened. At that point they were already only doing virtual reservations. At first, the earliest time slot available was 11:15 ~ 11:30 AM - which overlapped with our Express passes. I went ahead and booked just in case, checked again immediately and was able to snag one for 9:45 ~ 10 AM. (I cancelled the first one we made. Booking/cancelling was super simple and there was an English option available on the website.)

-9 - 9:45 AM: Shopped the gift shops in Nintendo Land and did another key challenge while we waited for our reservation. Made way back to Kinopios.

-9:45 AM - 10:30 AM: Getting an early time into Kinopio’s was one of the main reasons I wanted to rope drop the park and I’m SO glad I did. We have been to the Nintendo Land in CA and weren’t too impressed with the food. I always heard the JP one was incredible and it lived up the to hype. We got the carbonara, teriyaki chicken, and lemon drink. All were good but the carbonara was the standout and just incredible. The lemon drink had a great sour but refreshing flavor. The teriyaki chicken sauce was thick with just the right balance of sweet and savory. I am so glad to have had this reservation work perfectly for us.

-10:30 AM - 11:10 PM: TLDR: my husband has been having back issues which causes him bad cramping in his legs; he powered through for me for the first few hours so we could make it Nintendo Land and get a Kinopio’s meal. At this point he really wanted a wheelchair so we made our way up front to rent one. Rental was only 500¥, but chair was sooo tiny compared to American ones! Had to be at most the 19in size. We shopped at the entrance shops while up there, then walked back to Nintendo Land for our EXP7 time slot.

-11:10 AM - 12:30 PM: Did our passes for Karts and Yoshi. Since we were using a wheelchair the staff stopped us at the entrance each time and throughly explained what ride risks there were. For Karts, you don’t miss much regarding the queue. (Can’t speak for Yoshi as we never did its standby.)

-12:30 - 3 PM: This was the time we really slowed down. The sun was beating, and I was uncomfortably sweaty. Tried the Chocolate Churro and Frozen Melon Drink over by Jaws, both were pretty good. Went to one of the Pokémon meet and greets and got a pic with Pumpkaboo. Side note: I do wish they let you pick at least two if some don’t have lines. We weren’t too interested in Pikachu/Gengar and Misdreavus, Banette, and Pumpkaboo had no lines. Shopped the Halloween store for a little then watched the Pokémon stage show. Walk around to the left side after the show to see some Gengars and the cast walk by!

-3 - 4 PM: Went on the Detective Conan 4D show. Even tho I’m not super familiar with the IP, the show was still super lively and entertaining.

-4 - 5:15 PM: Walked back over to Waterworld to see the show and loved it!! Last (and only) time we went to CA the show was down so I was thrilled to have this opportunity. The stunts are fantastic I highly recommend it.

-5:15 - 7 PM: Ate at the Studio Stars restaurant that has the Pokémon food. The line for this moves slowly so be prepared to wait. We didn’t actually order until 6 PM, 45 minutes after we got in line. By the time we got our food the line was ever longer. We tried the katsu burger, pumpkaboo cake, and litwick mousse. Burger was really good and saucy, a little messy. Pumpkaboo cake was good enough, but not a strong pumpkin flavor. I would personally skip and go for one of the churros. Litwick mousse my husband enjoyed.

-7 - 8 PM: Sing Show! I really wanted to make sure we could see this show as we both really like the movie and it did not disappoint. Super cute, the Buster Moon animatronic is awesome, and I love how they interact with the crowd. This was a point I was concerned about as my husband and I are not into the “horror” of everything. We’re FL locals and, from what we know of HHN, people run at you in scare zones. That is not an issue here. So many people will crowd around scare actors for pics/vids, you don’t really see anything in passing. Even what I saw was very tame IMO. We were able to walk around all scare zones with no issue.

-8 - 8:30 PM: Jaws ride. Posted wait time of 20 min and was more like 10. I will say I was initially disappointed I couldn’t ride during the day, but the ambiance at night felt intense and even more thrilling! So happy I was able to experience this ride as both States versions were torn down.

-8:30 - 8:50 PM: Hollywood Dream. Used the EXP7 for this one. I had saved this for near the end since I was apprehensive about riding (idk why I thought there was a 360 loop lmao). The ride is very tame and I could have even gone after our breakfast or lunch. Song selection 3 was meh since most of the audio was two characters talking over music. I do wish I could have done Backdrop but could not justify a two hour wait time.

Overall I’m pretty satisfied with how our day went. A lot of backtracking and such which I could have handled better with more proper planning. As far as EXP7 we did not use the HP ones; as FL locals it just wasn’t a top priority. I chose not to do Flying Dragon since when I read other’s description it sounded too intense. I’ve been on Velocicoaster in FL, one of my favs, but it goes so fast it doesn’t feel intense IMO. Because of my husband’s pain he did not do the coasters, I probably would have done it if he was feeling better and could ride with me. Unfortunately, we completely forgot about the tax free when we left so I can’t speak to that experience.

In hindsight; I would have chose the EXP4 Thrill, EXP4 Race, or EXP4 XR. Jaws is not worth the ticket as the wait time drops dramatically at times compared to Hollywood Dream. Yoshi’s is not worth the EXP or full standby (as an adult), I’d recommend rope dropping that ride over either option. (Not saying the ride is bad, super cute! But really short track with not much else to say about it.)

Prices we paid:

Kinopio’s - 5,900¥ ‎ = -40.87 USD - one carbonara, one teriyaki, one coke large, one lemon drink

Food Stand - $7.97 - one chocolate churro, one frozen melon drink

Studio Stars Pokémon Food - 8,500¥ = $58.88 - two katsu burgers, pumpkin cake, litwick mousse, beer

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Secret_Impact_1027 on 2024-09-23 23:43:18+00:00.

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Hey! I am traveling to Japan with my family (6 Adults) 5 of which will be visiting for the first time. I have been lurking here for a while whilst we plan this trip, and I think we’ve gotten the majority of the itinerary ironed out. That being said, we would love any feedback, tips, etc anyone has to offer!

Some information about us/specific questions: 

We are not much for nightlife, super fancy restaurants, and are not heavy drinkers therefore generally do not have much planned for the evening hours so would love any recommendations for Kyoto/Tokyo after dark.

One of our group does not eat beef/pork, we are planning on having a business card in Japanese explaining this, but any tips on how to accommodate that, or foods to avoid that may not obviously contain beef/pork would be appreciated!

Arrival:

• Oct 5: This is a long travel day by design, trying to get most of it out of the way at the beginning.
  • Arrive in Haneda Airport ~2pm,
  • Grab Welcome Suica cards,
  • Take the Keikyu Line to Shinagawa Station then Shinkansen to Kyoto (Should we book these tickets in advance?)
  • Check into my hotel (Sora Niwa Terrace).

**Kyoto: (**Oct 6 - 12)

• Oct 6: Start the day with a Tea Ceremony at Maikoya, then explore Gion district as much as we fit in (Kenninji Temple, Sannenzaka, Kiyomizu-dera, Yasaka Shrine, Chionin Temple, Shorenin Temple).
• Oct 7: Booked a private car tour for some of the areas further out from hotel (Ryoan-ji, Kinkaku-ji, Kibune River, Kurama-dera)
• Oct 8: Philosopher's Path area - stops at Nanzen-ji (Suirokaku & Okunoin Temple), Honen-ji, Ginkaku-ji and maybe a hike up Mt Daimonji-yama. - I’ve done some googling and it seems like the bus/taxi is the best way to/from this area unless I am missing something?
• Oct 9: Osaka Day Trip: Not much planned for this, mostly hitting Osaka Castle in the morning and Dotonbori in the afternoon. Open to suggestions for other must-sees!
• Oct 10: Fushimi Inari in the morning and the Nintendo Museum in the afternoon (4:00 PM).

Other spots in Kyoto we plan on visiting:

• Nijō Castle, Nishiki Market, Maybe Uji if time permits?

Miyajima & Hiroshima: (Oct 11-12)

• Oct 11: Check out of Kyoto hotel, Ship luggage to Tokyo, Shinkansen to Hiroshima, drop remaining bags at hotel, explore Miyajima or Peace Memorial Park/Museum (depending on time/Weather). Stay at Daiwa Roynet Hotel Hiroshima.
• Oct 12:  Do either Miyajima or Peace Park/Museum then Shinkansen to Tokyo, check in to Tokyu Stay Shibuya Shin Minamiguchi.

Tokyo: (Oct 12-18)

• Oct 13: Morning: Nakameguro (Starbucks Roastery!), Mochi making class in Meguro, Meguro Sky Garden. Afternoon/Evening: Asakusa &  Sumo Dinner Show
• Oct 14: Between Harujuku/Yoyogi in the morning and Eastern/Northern Tokyo in the afternoon (Ueno, Yanaka, Akihabara) or a day trip to Kamakura/Yokohama depending on weather.
• Oct 15: Private Car Day trip to Hakone/Fuji area.
• Oct 16: TeamLab Borderless in Azabudai Hills, Tokyo Tower, Shueisha Manga Museum, Shimokitazawa in the afternoon
• Oct 17: Same as Oct 14th: Either Kamakura or Eastern/Northern Tokyo
• Oct 18: Shibuya Sky observation deck at 10:00 AM, Check out hotel, head to Haneda Airport for a 6:25 pm departure.

Any suggestions or ways to improve the itinerary are greatly appreciated! Thanks!

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/quisquiliae_arum on 2024-09-22 17:44:15+00:00.

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Hi! I’m planning my first trip to Japan in November (13 days between Tokyo-Hakone-Kyoto), but I’m especially uncertain about the Tokyo leg of the trip; I’m worried I might have underestimated travel distances and queues, and that I’ve tried to squeeze in too much day-by-day.

We are travelling as a couple (yay honeymoon!) and we are most interested in history, general culture and anime/gaming! We’re not very interested in shopping beside the aforementioned nerdy stuff; we’re interested in food but not enough to target specific places just to eat there, or to do long queues. Not at all interested in nightlife or clubs.

Our hotel is already booked in the Akasaka area.

Below is the (for now) plan:

DAY 1: arrive at Haneda airport at 11 AM, reserve time to purchase Suica and retrieve SIM/Pocket WiFi (still haven’t decided which), then take either a private transfer or public transportation to the hotel. Did not plan any activity for the afternoon but I think we might check out the Tokyo Station area/Imperial Palace garden, since our hotel is relatively nearby in Akasaka.

DAY 2 - SUMIDA/ASAKUSA/UENO: take subway to Tokyo Skytree and visit the tower and Pokemon center. Then walk (if possible) to the Azumabashi brige to cross into the Asakusa neighbourhood, and visit Nakamise Street and Sensoji. If that can be done in the morning, we’d like to visit the National Museum in Ueno Park in the afternoon (at least the Japanese collection is a must for me).

DAY 3 - SHIBUYA/SHINJUKU: take subway to Shibuya and see Scramble crossing and the Hachiko Statue. Then walk in the neighbourhood and see some shops like MegaDonki and the nerdy shops in Shibuya Parco shopping center. Take subway to Shinjuku to enjoy the view from the Metropolitan Government building, then spend the rest of the afternoon/evening walking and dining either in Omoide Yokocho, Golden Gai or Kabukicho. I unhappily left out Meiji Jingu because it seemed to me way too much to squeeze in, and because we will be seeing a lot of temples in Kyoto.

DAY 4 – AKIHABARA/TEAM LABS: I know these are not very close nearby but we’d ideally book the TeamLabs Borderless for the late afternoon/evening, which would get us closer to our hotel. All morning and early afternoon would be reserved to Akihabara. I'm uncertain whether to plan it for a Sunday (I read that the main streets of Akihabara are closed to cars on Sunday, but I fear that Teamlabs might be swarming with people because of the weekend).

DAY 5 – JOLLY: We initially thought to do a day-trip to Nikko, but if the planned itinerary is too busy we might consider to use the day to spread out things a little bit more, or to add 1-2 more places we'd like to see (maybe see Odaiba or Roppongi Hills or Tokyo Tower and Zozo-ji).

Any help or suggestion from you veterans of r/japantravel would be very much appreciated!

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/ma94uro on 2024-09-22 15:20:47+00:00.

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Hi all,

I've recently came back from my 3rd trip to Japan and wanted to share what we did and what we thought about it. I'd like to make this as much as possible a quick read so I will avoid going too much into details with the plan (do feel free to reach out if you'd like additional information) and I'll try to focus as much as possible on what kind of experiences we were looking for in Japan and what we did to look for them.

Let's start with a couple of points:

We were a group of four.

• Me, 29M, already been in Japan twice
• My partner, 23F, speaks a little Japanese and lived for one year in Hyogo prefecture
• Two friends of ours that have never been to Japan before

Me and my partner, having already traveled extensively around Japan, wanted to spend as much time as possible outside big cities and ideally as far away as possible from mass tourism. We did have a list of very famous places we wanted to visit but I guess they were 'remote' by most foreigner's standards being always more than 50km away from the closest Shinkansen station (like Ise, Koya, Dewasanzan, etc). We also really like onsens.

My two friends trusted us completely with the planning but, in general, wanted to get a 'standard' experience of Japan with Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Nara and so on.

What did we do?

First of all, we decided to rent a spacious car for the entire trip. We rented cars in Japan before so the experience itself was as smooth as expected but it did make us wonder a lot about the reasons why people don't tend to consider driving in Japan. Driving in Japan:

• Gives you a flexibility that public transport simply can't give you.
• In most cases it's cheaper than the train, often substantially.
• It's more convenient thanks to Japan being extremely car friendly with parking at reasonable prices and almost always available even inside the biggest cities
• A/C in the car when it's hot outside is a game changer
• It gives you much more flexibility in terms of changing plans. For example we would've never committed to a day-trip around Mt Fuji without being sure we would've been able to see the top without clouds. Having a car allowed us to decide last minute if it was worth doing it or not (it was).

We spent 17 days in Japan and drove around 4500km. We spent 2600USD per person everything included (including flights from London).

Below the places we visited:

Kanto

• Tokyo
• Fujikawaguchiko

Kii pensinsula (Wakayama + Ise)

• Koyasan
• Yunomine onsen
• Hongu
• Nachi
• Ise

Kansai

• Kyoto
• Uji
• Nara
• Osaka
• Kobe
• Arima-onsen
• Himeji

Chugoku

• Okayama's garden
• Hiroshima
• Kure, Etajima and Edajima

Tohoku

• Nikko and Chuzenji
• Zao onsen
• Yamadera
• Miyajuku
• Dewasanzan
• Ginzan onsen
• Naruko onsen
• Iwate Tsunami memorial museum
• Kesennuma City memorial museum
• Matsushima
• Sendai Colossus
• Zuihōden
• The Great East Japan Earthquake and Nuclear Disaster Memorial Museum

This list might be slightly misleading because in some specific instances the group was split resulting in two days worth of activities recorded on the above list as one. For example when we were in Hiroshima while they were visiting Itsukushima and the Peace Memorial Museum we were driving around the archipelago south of Hiroshima from Kure to Mitaka. So please take this plan with a pinch of salt but do not hesitate to ask me if you would like more info.

As I don't want to bore anyone with a detailed description of how we experienced and what we thought about every single place, I will list below a couple of particularly meaningful experiences that I hope will help others in plan their trips to Japan.

Kyoto

Let's start by discussing the love-hate relationship that me and my partner have with Kyoto. We believe it's singlehandedly the most beautiful city in Japan with activities, temples and food requiring months to properly appreciate. Having both of us studied and researched a lot the religious history of Japan, we genuinely believe that what Kyoto has to offer is unparalleled. The problem, in short, is that most tourists approach their trips to Japan as a checklist to complete and end up flooding always the same 3-4 spots and making them (and everything that surrounds them) unpalatable at best. Fushimi-Inari, Arashiyama and Kyomizudera are, above all, the three worst (and least authentic) experiences anybody can have in Kyoto. Plenty other temples offer similar experiences (if not, often, better) and almost always better pictures (since that's why most people go there anyways).

While our two friends were visiting the more popular spots in town, me and my partner spent a day visiting Mt Hiei and I can confidently say that it was one of the most intense, most beautiful and almost spiritual experiences I had in Japan. The Enryaku-ji complex is such a powerful and meaningful place that I'd wholeheartedly recommend spending an entire day there even if you only had two days to visit Kyoto. The cherry on top is that at the end of the visit you end up in Lake Biwa where we stopped at Ukimi-do, a beautiful temple on the lake, and at Spa Resort Ogoto Agaryanse, a very local super-onsen that we thoroughly enjoyed.

Himeji

While our two friends were visiting Himeji castle (and don't expect the same rant about it, we love it) we took the ropeway to Mt Shosha and visited Engyoji.

Like for Enryaku-ji, it's beyond us why this place is not on everyone's radar. If I had help somebody plan their first trip to Japan I'd recommend them staying one whole day in Himeji so they could visit it.

Hiroshima

This is a much more niche recommendation but if anybody is planning on spending more than 2-3 days in Hiroshima, hear me out.

Kure, 20 minutes south of Hiroshima, and the collection of islands around there used to be the main shipbuilding area for Japan prior to WW2. The Yamato museum in Kure is an amazing representation of the revisionist approach that Japanese people have to their history and a must for any history buff.

The archipelago around there is simply spectacular and driving around there was just beautiful. In addition to this, if you speak Japanese, do absolutely visit the Naval History Museum in Edajima. It's inside an active Maritime Self-Defense force base and it's the best hands on experience of what Japan was doing during the Meji restoration to get up to speed with the world powers.

Miyajuku (Tohoku)

In Miyajuku we had the most wholesome and authentic experience we had in our entire trip.

• We slept in Daichan Farm Guest House, a beautiful farm in the middle of Japan's countryside. The owner was beyond kind and we cannot recommend enough spending some time in this serene place.
• Ringo Hot Spring was one of the best onsen experience I've ever had in Japan. Forget the luxury of the ryokans and the frills of touristic onsen towns - this was a very down to earth onsen with locals chatting at the end of their working day and bringing their kinds with them. Shout-out to the Ringo (apples) left floating in the water that were just too cute.
• お食事処番外地 was a local ramen restaurant/izakaya. Nothing too special about it except for the fact that people around there never see a foreigner so we ended up becoming the star of the night with several people offering drinks, chatting with us and in general offering us a snapshot of a country life completely removed from the rest of mainstream Japan.

The Great East Japan Earthquake

We heard incredible things about the museums that were built following the great eastern Japan earthquake (and tsunami, and nuclear disaster). Japan is, in our humble opinion as Europeans, pretty bad at museums in general so we didn't have the highest expectations. But Iwate Tsunami Memorial Museum was one of the best designed museums we've ever visited. The intensity of this museum can be easily compared to visiting Auschwitz or the Peace Memorial museum in Hiroshima. Depending on how sensitive you are, you might find this museum being too much.

Kii pensinsula

The beauty of this area is not really a secret but I think it's worth mentioning how incredible this place was. Many people either walk the Kumano Kodo or use public transport to visit the area so having a car felt like cheating but allowed us to visit in 4 days (including a temple stay in Koyasan and a ryokan stay in Yunomine) the whole area.

To conclude, I'd like to share with everyone our three conclusions:

• If you are interested in understanding Japanese culture do make an effort to get out of the beaten path. Onsens are missing from major cities hence provide a great opportunity to experience something more authentic.
• Do some research before approaching temples or shrines. A basic understanding of religions in Japan will provide you with so much more context and will make you enjoy everything you see on a much deeper level.
• Before organizing your trip to Japan, to whatever degree you plan your trips, ask yourself what YOU like before committing to a plan decided by other people (including influencers and guides). Your trip to Japan should not be somebody else's checklist.

P.S. : Tokyo's absence from this review comes from us having been unable to form a conclusive opinion about it. We love Kansai and our trips to Tokyo have never made us feel like we really wanted to focus on it too much but we never really gave it a proper chance so .. hopefully one day we'll be back.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Sakura95996 on 2024-09-22 02:58:29+00:00.

Original Title: Trip Report - Day 4 to Day 7 of 21 Days - Kyoto (rabbit shrine, Nishiki Market), Yamanashi (Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan Ryokan), Tokyo (Cinnamoroll Cafe, APA Hotel, Hie Shrine, Ghibli Museum, Sanrio Puroland)

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Original Post - 21 Days Onsen Hopping Itinerary plus more 

Trip Report - Day 1 to Day 3 of 21 Days - Osaka (Dotonbori, fluffy pancake), Kyoto (Bunny Shrine, Fushimi Inari Taisha, Nishiki Market, Ichinenzaka, Ninenzaka, Sannenzaka)

Side Notes - Japan travel experience regarding late fall weather, bugs, shoes & luggage

Hello, I previously posted my 21 day itinerary on reddit. I wrote this for my future self to reference back on but I'm making this public for anyone interested to read. Below only contain my diary from Day 4 to Day 7. Reddit won’t let me post it together with Day 1 to Day 3 (link above) so I had to make a separate post.

Post format - Each day starts with the updated itinerary, follow by my diary with google map links to all of the destination. 

My travel videos are posted on Instagram at EstherTravelDiary for anyone interested to watch. I cannot link it here due to reddit "no self promotion" rule. All of my travel videos from Day 1 to Day 7 are now posted as of 09.20.2024. I will be uploading the rest of my travel videos for Day 8 to Day 21 whenever I can. 

• Day 4 - 10.25 Wed- Kyoto - staying home in Nara 

[X] Leave by 7:30, 1hr30min to Okazaki Shrine - rabbit shrine, get the by 9AM - a MUST visit for bunny lovers like me! 

[X] 20min bus to Nishiki Market for street food: 

[X] snack - Okakidokoro Terakoyahonpo Nishikiichiba Sohonten for rice crackers 

[X] snack - Fuka store for chestnut manju[X] snack - Marutsune Kamaboko for buttered potato tempura 

[X] snack -Hanayori Kiyoe for yuba cream & curry croquette - can sit there to eat. 

[X] Ochanokosaisai for rice seasoning 

[X] dango 

[X] Sally's Kitchen for fruit sandwich 

[X] Kyo Tanba for tea 

[X] Sugi Bee Garden for honey 

[X] Nishiki Tenmangu Shrine 

[X] Mahoroba Daibutsu Pudding 

• I felt drain from being in crowded place for the past two days, so I slept in more on this day. I took my time getting ready and enjoyed eating my expensive Shin muscat grapes. I didn't leave until 11am. Weather was 65F-75F, cool but still sunny so I wore my very comfy, breezy, sleeveless maxi dress from Uniqlo.
• It took me about 1hr30min to get to Okazaki Shrine (Bunny Shrine in Kyoto). Despite getting there later than I wanted to, there was no crowd at all. I came here years ago in 2018 and it was very crowded. So I felt lucky that I got to visit a second time without the crowd. This is a shrine that locals visit to pray for safe childbirth, so newlyweds often like to visit this shrine and pray. There was so many cute bunny statues at each corner. The tiny pink and white ones were especially cute, they look like a bunny army ready for battle! You can ring the shrine's bell at the center and rub the black bunny belly that is to the side with its own alter for good luck in childbirth. I got some good luck talisman and charms to take home, they just look so cute! Some are for good luck in studies, health, safe travels, and meeting your soul mate, etc. I enjoyed some quite time here for sure before heading to my next destination.
• I took a 20min short bus ride to my next stop for lunch at Nishiki Market. When I got there mid afternoon, it was super crowded! When buying snacks to eat, I stood to the side at a corner to finish eating. It is consider bad manners and rude to eat while walking. I wouldn't be able to enjoy my food anyways if I had to walk with food at hand at such a crowded place. So I just find a corner to eat and enjoyed my food. Some of these stores have inside seating though so you just have to look or ask. If you look up, the banners have animals on it, I thought that was a nice find. The elephant was my favorite find. Despite the crowd, I really enjoy going here to eat and shop. I would definitely go back again. All of the store owners and employees were very energetic and friendly toward tourist so I had a very pleasant experience. Here's the stores I went into:
• Okakidokoro Terakoyahonpo Nishikiichiba Sohonten - They sell rice crackers, but not just any rice crackers, they sell all sorts of flavored rice crackers! I tried the Aosa (sea lettuce) flavor. I liked it, good flavor, I think this is a safe choice for anyone unsure of what to get. I recommend it. 9/10.
• Ochanokosaisai - I didn't plan to go here but the samplers got me! I didn't think too much about visiting this rice seasoning store but when I saw the employee giving out free samples, I couldn't resist walking over to get one to try, and that sure got me hook because I went in and bought like 10 packs of them XD LOL. I wasn't the only one mind you, this other girl had arm full of the same rice seasoning pack I was buying! It was that good. 10/10. I was very excited that I found this so I can make better tasting onigiri at home. I recommend this place for spice lovers or any adventurous cooks. They sell other spices too, so not just rice seasoning.
• Fuka - I went here for their popular chestnut manju. Luckily we were the only one there so we got to order and sit down at their one and only small table. The store is very small so if there is space to eat, you can order it to go. Once I sat down, they brought over a complimentary hot tea with the manju so that was very nice! I got to rest for a few minutes there while eating. The chestnut manju was 10/10, I miss it...it was so good... I want to go back there again. Next time I will order one to eat there and one to go!
• No store in particular, but there a lot of seafood stalls there. What caught my attention though was the gigantic, huge, oyster! It was bigger than my hand! I had never seen such a big oyster before. So I had to make a mention of it.
• Marutsune Kamaboko - Next I went to this fried fish cake store. I got the buttered potato tempura from here. Per Google review, this is many people's favorite and the store's #1 recommended item, so that's what I got. And WOW just after first bite I could tell why that is. It was just so good. 10/10. I was afraid it was going to be too buttery or oily but it wasn't. It was so delicious. I wish I had gotten a second one to take home for the next day road trip. I also tried a second flavor, the curry onion with potato tempura, it was good but not as good as the buttered potato tempura. 8/10. Next time I go back, I will only get the buttered potato tempura and some to take home for the next day. These are heavy though so it was filling my stomach up fast, I couldn't eat much after that.
• I went to a nearby stall for dango, forgot which store name it was. It was not as good as the one from the day before at 月下美人 so I was sadden by it. It was just not fresh at all, so I think that was the biggest difference. This one was the main disappointment of the day of all the food I tried. It made me miss the dango from previous day even more because of how fresh it was.
• Hanayori Kiyoe - I went here for some croquette. I got the yuba cream and curry flavor. Both were too oily for my taste and flavor was decent. 6/10. I did like that I got to sit down to rest inside after ordering though.
• Sally's Kitchen - I was craving something cold after all the warm food I ate, so I got a cold fruit sandwich from here. I got the grapes sandwich. I actually really liked it! There was a good balance of grapes and cream inside the bread. 10/10. Would get again! Next time I want to try the dragonfruit sandwich.
• Kyo Tanba - I was walking back, I visited another shop that wasn't on my list again because another sampler got me... it was a tea shop this time. I was given a cup of black soybean tea, and it tasted unlike any other tea I had before. I really enjoyed the taste, so I got a bag of it. Black soybean is goo...

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Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1fmjldv/trip_report_day_4_to_day_7_of_21_days_kyoto/

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/optimisticwanderer13 on 2024-09-21 08:58:59+00:00.

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Hello! Travelled with a friend. It was a last minute trip since we found the flights for an extremely nominal price, so we didn’t get much time to plan it out. It was our first time in Japan. We started with Tokyo:

Landed at Narita and took the Kisei Skyliner to Ueno Station. There, we got our Suica IC card at the JR station nearby. We then took a metro and checked into our accommodation in the Akasaka area, and surprisingly enough found the Hie Shrine nearby, didn’t expect to find such a beautiful shrine right in the middle of the city, the Tori gates at the stairs made it even better! We explored the city taking long walks late at night and visited the popular places during the day. The view from the Tokyo Skytree was breathtaking, there was some Pokemon event/exhibition kinda thing on the upper deck (450m) so it was mostly filled with kids and accompanying parents but overall it was a great experience. Also visited Tokyo Tower and Teamlab Borderless, the later was as beautiful as in the pictures, especially the hidden rooms. I would recommend everyone to go there atleast once if you visit Tokyo. The Shibuya crossing is as busy as they say, got to witness it with my own eyes. Explored Akihabara a little but then was informed that most of it closes by 9pm. Visited some more shrines like Akagi Shrine and Meiji Shrine, both plenty beautiful and peaceful. Our last stop was Senso Ji temple but we were short on time since our Shinkansen tickets were already booked so we couldn’t spend a lot of time there but the little time spent there made me realise that I will be visiting again next time! PS - It was very crowded.

Onto Kyoto, arrived via Shinkansen and checked into our accommodation in Gion area. One challenge we faced here was carrying our luggage to the hotel. The routes showed by Google maps had buses mostly and there were signs of “No Heavy Luggage” on the buses so we took a Taxi, even though it was a little heavy on the cost side, the person driving the Taxi was very polite and made sure we reached our destination comfortably. Our accommodation was near the Yasaka shrine so we checked it out first, there was a Kagura Dance (not sure if I am using the correct term here, please correct me if I am wrong) coming to a close so we got to witness the last few moments and it was beautiful. We went on to visit Kenkaku-ji and Ginkaku-ji, there were a lot of school kids in groups probably on field trips. Next we went to Kiyomizu-dera temple, and I was stunned by the views from the top. Japan is very photogenic in general but those views from the top were just something else. We also went to the Fushimi Inari shrine, and went all the way to the top, although it was around 7pm and no sun but the humidity made it a little hard, the 10 thousand Tori gates were totally worth it though. Wanted to visit the bamboo forest as well but we were out of time.

For food we went for local restaurants as much as possible and late night snacks had to be from the konbini (which are a true blessing). The interactions with the locals were very wholesome in general, everyone was very polite and respectful. In one of the restaurants we visited in Kyoto, the girl who served our ramen was very pretty, which I told her and her smile and reaction was adorable.

Overall it was an amazing experience, this unplanned last minute trip was better than most of the planned ones I have taken to other places.

Some points I think people should know (if they don’t already) -

1. Almost all places we visited in Tokyo and most of them in Kyoto accepted Credit Cards, very few were cash only. So its better to be on the safer side and carry some cash.
2. The humidity was as bad as everyone has been saying. Pocari sweat is your friend. I did hear the weather is going to get much better from next week so maybe you won’t need it but it’s available at almost every Konbini and Vending Machine.
3. One interesting thing I noticed at Mt Inari, the cost of the same drink in the vending machine increases by 20-30 yen the higher you go. Good sales strategy. Thankfully we bought from the one at the starting point.
4. Coin Lockers are underrated. You can store your luggage for nominal fee and explore the city carefree. This proves very handy if there is a gap between your hotel check-out/check-in and train/flight times.

Thanks for reading and please let me know what I could have done better or any other suggestions!