Japan Trips & Travel Tips

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/m_nxx on 2024-03-14 00:16:09.

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I have been looking at tours from Tokyo to Mt Fuji area but am curious if this is reasonable to do on our own.

-Train (2 hours) from Shibuya station to Arakurayama Sengen Park/Chureito Pagoda

-Walk (15 mins) to Hikawa Clock Shop

-Train (25 mins) to LAWSON

-Walk (15 mins) to Mt. Fuji Panoramic Ropeway

-Walk (45 mins) or Train (15 mins) to Kawaguchiko Museum of Art-Walk through Sakura Festival to Maple Corridor to Oishi Park

-Train (2 hours 50 mins) back to Shibuya station

We were considering a bus tour but the time limits are a turn off. We were thinking of hiring a car/custom tour which would be nice because the travel time would be shorter but would probably want to cancel if Mt. Fuji is hiding the day of our trip and won't be able to get money back.

My boyfriend is a photographer and loves to take photos and it would be nice to take our time. Recommendations on beautiful places around this area would be awesome!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/OneFun9000 on 2024-03-13 13:51:55.

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Intro

This was my fourth time in Japan, so there was very little pressure to see things, and a lot of the time we were revisiting things that we’d liked from previous trips (you can see these reports on my profile). The goal of this trip was to explore different parts of the Tokyo metropolitan area. To preface, I’m not a huge foodie and I don’t eat meat, though can put up with dashi in Japan. I’m almost never willing to line up for stuff because I’m terribly impatient, so I didn’t go to particularly famous places. My travel style is fairly easygoing, with rough plans plotted out on a map and deciding on the day itself exactly what to do depending on the weather and my mood. I enjoy shopping, so I did a lot of that.

Day 1

My flight with JAL was fine. Vegetarian special meal was shamefully bad (I complained when I got home and got an acknowledgement of that fact and an apology), but the standard meals were excellent, I’m told. I find the service on JAL a bit too “Japanese”, meaning that it’s pretty stuffy and deferential. The plane was showing its age too. I’d give them another chance in the other direction, because apparently their special meal catering out of Japan is very good.

It was too cloudy to see Mt Fuji this time, unfortunately. We flew very low right over central Tokyo and it’s a great city to look at from above.

Our plane arrived at sunset, and the lines for immigration and customs were short and sweet.

We took a taxi to our hotel, Keio Plaza in Shinjuku.

Unfortunately, sleeping on the plane for a few hours really threw me out of whack and that night I didn’t get a wink of sleep.

Day 2

Given that we got no sleep, it was a pretty easygoing day. We visited the Shinjuku National Garden, including greenhouse, which I have been to before but really enjoy.

The rest of the day was some light shopping and comfort foods. The hotel complex is huge, so we had some time exploring it too. The hotel seems really popular with package groups, so sometimes breakfast would be immensely crowded and other times almost empty. The hotel is decent, though a little old-fashioned. The staff were always very kind and friendly which I appreciated. The club lounge was a pleasant place to hang out in the evenings before dinner, with lots of little cakes and treats.

I can see why people find Shinjuku station intimidating, given it is the world’s busiest(!) but having commuted using some of the other top stations I didn’t find it too bad. You just need to keep moving and keep an eye out for the signs, for the most part they are pretty logical.

Day 3

Jet lag was still knocking me down, but I managed to sleep okay and watch the sunrise in the morning.

After breakfast in the hotel, we did some walking around and then went to the Tokyo Metropolitan viewing deck as it opened, which I definitely would recommend. There was a perfect view of Mt Fuji and it wasn’t too crowded.

The next activity was TeamLabs Borderless. Meh. 3/10. I don’t get the hype. I've made it three times in Tokyo without going to any of them and I don't feel like I missed out. One of the first exhibits you see is a cool, innovative light show, so I thought that would set the tone but it was actually by far the peak. It’s sold as being interactive but it’s not interactive for 99% of it, it’s just (actually fairly poor quality) projections on walls. It was funny to see how almost everybody was constantly touching the walls to see if it did anything but it didn’t.

One part of it where there were different moving projections on the walls and the floor gave me motion sickness, so at least I felt something!

It’s an accessibility nightmare too as it’s unstable ground and mostly very dark. I’m not sure how people can find themselves “immersed” in the art when you’re not allowed to sit down in the vast majority of it, and you’re spending time watching where you’re going and trying not to bump into crowds of people. You’re unlikely to get decent pictures because it’s so dark, so it doesn’t have that going for it either. The app is supposed to help you navigate and give you more information but it was very buggy and didn’t really work.

All in all, different strokes for different folks I guess but I really don’t understand the appeal.

Jetlag meant that I was able to get same-day reservations for the Kirby Cafe. It was totally on a whim since I’ve never even played a game but we thought it looked cute. For all people said the food was bad, I actually really enjoyed the pizza and the various starters! The science experiment drink was fun; I didn’t particularly like the centrepiece dessert because it was a very thick and fairly bland mousse, but it looked cool.

Day 4

21/21 Design Museum. This was much more my speed, with an exhibit on the history of typefaces around the world. Unique and interesting exhibit, and the surrounding gardens are lovely.

Lunch was at Daigo, a restaurant I’ve been to before which formerly had two Michelin stars but after a cull last year is down to one. That said, I actually enjoyed the food more the second time. Highlights included cold soba and crispy seaweed rice.

We headed to Ginza for some shopping.

Day 5

We took a day trip to Enoshima. We wanted to ride the suspended monorail, which was a lot of fun and surprisingly really fast. We had Hawaiian food near the shore, then walked to the island. It was a nice day but intermittently very windy, and you could feel the Sea Candle swaying slightly. I really loved Enoshima Island; it had quirky shops, lots of little cafes and beautiful gardens. I’d definitely recommend visiting if you have a free day and want to do something fairly relaxed. That said I can imagine at peak times that it gets very busy like everything else in Japan! We had some Japanese wine at one of the cafes in the gardens.

We had an Enoshima Pudding which is made with toasted barley, and it was delicious.

Later in the afternoon we took the Enoshima Electric Railway to Hase to see the Giant Buddha. I hadn’t realised that this railway was a tourist attraction in its own right and has featured in countless media, so when we crossed over the small bridge there was an army of people outside the train taking pictures. The buddha was impressive not so much in the size but in the construction and its history.

We headed back to Shinjuku where I’d reserved a place at Kura Sushi.

Day 6

We ventured out early to Odaiba to go to Small Worlds. Unlike almost every attraction it opens at 9am, which is a huge bonus!

I actually really loved Small Worlds. It was a little goofy but eminently enjoyable. Being there early meant that we had enough time to do all the interactive parts (basically pushing buttons and seeing what happens!) without feeling crowded. Maybe a little pricey for the size of the exhibit but I’d still recommend especially for older kids.

Then we had some okonomiyaki for lunch in DiverCity.

Later in the day we went to the department stores in Shinjuku. Dinner was at Sohonke Komatsuan, a soba restaurant at the top of Takashimaya. It was great, and had expansive views over the train lines.

Day 7

We had been aiming at a slightly less walking day, and failed! We wanted some Korean food so headed to Korea Town. We ended up in a place called Retro Dongmakgol. We probably over ordered but wanted to try lots of stuff. It was great, and the place had a really quirky vibe. The waiters spoke excellent English which caught me a little off guard because we were the only non-Asian people there.

We headed to Omotesando to visit some specific stores and bought some shoes. The main Harajuku thoroughfares were incredibly busy, so as usual we skipped it and took the side streets.

Dinner was a chilled affair in a family restaurant near the hotel.

Day 8

We headed out to the Open Air Folk House Museum. It was really lovely with lots of volunteers doing things like basket weaving, stoking fires. It’s a lot of walking though, and very steep in some parts, but I still really enjoyed myself. We stopped for a coffee at Coffee Kan, a kind of upmarket chain place which specialises in charcoal roasted coffee. They had quite delicious pancakes too.

For lunch we went to Oscar American Chinese which coincidentally I had seen recommended on this very subreddit that morning. It was amazing, though probably moreso for a European because if I lived in the US I’d find it maybe too authentic in that sense! It’s fully vegan buffet-style American Chinese food. The location is very hipster, and for some reason the merch seemed more in demand than the food! Shimokitazawa felt very hip and vibrant.

We went to Gotokuji Temple, which was a bit of a tourist trap for the cat-related section but the rest of the temple was really nice. More enjoyable actually were the side streets with some beautiful homes. I can see why people say to skip it but as a gentle wandering destination I liked it. We inadvertently caught the cat-themed train on the way back into the city, which was super cute.

Day 9

I always try to visit a weird attraction, so this trip I decided on the Museum of Package Culture. It’s on the ground floor of an office building, and the whole time we were literally the only people there, including zero staff! It’s free and reasonably i...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/slightlysnobby on 2024-03-13 02:47:54.

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First off, I hope this kind of trip report is okay. I wanted to write about my recent chance to visit the Yamazaki Distillery, partly for myself, and partly to update some of the wonderful and incredibly helpful trip reports about it that have been made in the past (since most are from before the renovation that happened last year - for example, there's now a lottery system and a few prices that I came across in my planning were out of date).

The Lottery

Actually, my wife grew up not twenty minutes from the distillery. She said back in her high school days, they'd get bored and wander around the place for fun - gone are those days. There is now a lottery system in place. I applied in January for March tours. There are a few English tours, but the majority are Japanese, of course. I figured weekdays had a better chance than weekends. You can enter up to five times, so I put down two English tours as my first preferences and three Japanese tours to fill the rest. I ended up winning a spot on my third choice, which was the first of the three Japanese tour preferences. Not sure if this was pure luck, or maybe competition wasn't too bad for those spots. If chosen, there is a 3000 yen admission cost that needs to be paid online within a week or so of the lottery results to guarantee your spot.

The Tour

It was a rainy day, which added to the atmosphere of the place. I've passed it on the train many times and always loved how it's just perfectly nestled in at the foot of that little mountain. Check-in was smooth. You them climb upstairs to the museum and gift shop. If you're early, you can check them both out. There is an app (IOS/Android) you can download which gives you access to an English audio guide. The tour guide spoke super basic English and only used it for pleasantries. I was able to follow along in Japanese until the fermentation room, but the combination of not knowing technical vocabulary, combined with trouble hearing the guide (her mic wasn't super loud) made me put in the audio guide. I would say the audio guide felt about 50% as comprehensive as what she was saying, and it was also hard to hear the audio, but it was informative nonetheless. The thing that stood out to me the most was the smell - everywhere was just divine, woody, toasty. The kind of smell that makes you want to come back in the dead of winter because it just warms up your soul. After walking through the distillery, there's the tasting. You get to try three components that make up the Yamazaki blend: a white oak cask malt, wine cask malt, and mizunara (Japanese wood) cask malt. This is followed by a taste of the Yamazaki Single Malt (Distiller's Reverse/NAS), and then a second taste of it, but this time you're given ice and soda and told you can drink it how you like. I made a highball, as did most others. There were some small snacks and chocolates to pair it with. As a last "surprise", we were told that all tour participants have the right to purchase one 700ml bottle of the Yamazaki Single Malt Distiller's Reverse. Judging by everyone's reaction, this was a very big deal. One bottle was 5000 yen. I did not buy one, choosing to spend money in the gift shop instead, I hope I don't regret it. Suntory has announced that they will raise the MSRP to around 7000 a bottle in April, and I see that the going price on Amazon JP is about 17,000 yen a bottle. So it might have been my last/best chance to get a bottle at the lower price.

Tasting, Part 1

After the tour, I immediately headed to the tasting room. You're allowed 6 pours per visit, although no more than 3 pours per order. Also, the aged pours are restricted to one glass per visit. It is cashless and only debit and credit cards are accepted (the gift shop does take cash though). I will put pictures of the menu below. There is a Yamazaki 18, Hakushu 18, and Hibiki 21 flight which someone last year said was 1800 yen, well it is now 3000 yen. The legendary pours are now 4000 yen, so a small price bump too. I went for the Hibiki 30 and Yamazaki 25. As mentioned, Suntory is raising the MSRP on these bottles in April, from 160,000 yen to 360,000. At least not in the near future, I don't know when I'll get a chance to try these again, so I wanted to make the most of the experience. I'm channeling a previous trip report someone else wrote by saying that, in a way, I was hoping I wouldn't be knocked off my feet by these pours, but they were both easily the best whiskys I've ever had, especially the Hibiki 30. I will be thinking about that one for a long time.

Gift Shop

I'd heard there was a 300ml bottle of minimal information Distillery Limited Edition Yamazaki, which I was excited about, but alas they didn't have any. Not sure if it's been discontinued, but there is a sign vaguely apologizing that certain products may not be in stock. Instead, there are two gift sets with 180ml bottles of Yamazaki Single Malt Distiller's Reserve, one with chocolate (price unsure), the other with a highball glass (about 3300 yen). I think it's one of each per customer. I got the highball glass set because I like that kind of branded glassware. I also got a coaster (some connection to the barrels - possibly recycled barrel wood?) and "grown up" Pocky snacks. I haven't mentioned it yet, but you get a souvenir tasting glass at the end of the tour too. At this point, a huge tour group arrived and stormed the shop, so I bought my goods and went back down to the tasting area, as I figured that's where the group would be swarming to next (I was not wrong).

Tasting, Part 2

I figured I'd use up my allotment of the six pours - err, well at least 3 more of them. The servers were new though, so there's a chance maybe they wouldn't have recognized me. Who knows? I was looking for something that wouldn't break the bank this time, so I got pours of Chita (200 yen), 2023 Yamazaki Limited Edition, and 2023 Hibiki Blossom Harmony (both 300 yen, they don't seem like regular menu items as they were listed on a seperate flier, so I figured I'd give them a try). The Chita was fine, I've had it before, but I mean going from a Hibiki 30 to the Chita... maybe I shouldn't have started with the good stuff haha. I enjoyed the other two a lot though, especially the Hibiki Blossom Harmony (if I ever come across a bottle at a reasonable price, I may be tempted). Despite it being the Yamazaki Distillery, I think I've developed a taste for Hibiki after this.

Anyway, sorry to drag it on. Hope it helps anyone planning to visit.

Price menu for the tasting room, and

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/lil_chunk27 on 2024-03-12 21:23:46.

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Just got back from 14 days in Japan. I found trip reports on Reddit super helpful and thought it might be nice to write one, sort of pass on the favour.

We are a couple in our 30s from the UK and this was our first visit to Japan. We are interested in food, art, museums and generally wandering, my partner is also really into video games. We really wanted to spend time exploring and enjoying ourselves, but weren’t necessarily aiming for a min/max approach. We are quite keen planners and did a lot of research on things to do in advance, but tried to give ourselves room to adapt and stumble across things. Neither of us are big nightlife people. We saved in advance and tried to put ourselves in a position where we didn’t need to worry too much about spending, but we also did do things a bit on the cheap like just getting konbini breakfasts.

I think I’ve also realized we probably aren’t very discerning since we loved basically everything.

Some thoughts below!

TRAVEL

• We flew with China Eastern Airlines with a stopover in Shanghai. Personally I think long haul flights are something to be endured rather than savoured so to my mind the flights and layover were fine for the price. Quite a funny selection of films on board with 2014’s Interstellar listed under “Hot new hits”. If you fly with the same airline, I would recommend downloading a few movies/shows to your phone to pass the time.
• We used Pasmo passports to get around. I think people generally prefer Suica but we’d read it wasn’t available at Narita and I don’t have an iPhone. I kinda feel it was much for muchness, and Pasmo worked fine and was convenient for us to top up.
• We pre-booked Shinkansen tickets from Tokyo to Osaka, and Kyoto to Osaka. Could not believe the size of the overhead luggage racks on the train - our cases were H75 x W50 x D30cm and fit up there.
• We used google maps to navigate and this worked well for us. We didn’t find the transport system too overwhelming (the station numbering on the metro is genius, why don’t more places have that?), but we DID find Japan’s unreserved love of the shopping centre built into/on top of train stations a bit overwhelming, like just constantly being expelled from a busy train into a Parco was a bit much. We started just trying to find a way out quickly and go from there rather than trying to get to the right exit.

HOTELS

• In Tokyo, we stayed in Sotetsu Fresa Inn Higashi in Shinjuku for the first stretch. The room was really tiny so we did have to regularly pull suitcases up onto the bed, but the location was really convenient for getting around, and also great when we’d had a long day and decided to eat near the hotel. Had a coin laundry and set up luggage forwarding for us.
• In Osaka, we stayed in Hotel the Flag in Shinsaibashi. This was a bigger room with a bigger bed which was nice, and again the location was great for getting around. There was a coin laundry and they did luggage forwarding for us. The only thing here was that the room didn’t have an openable window so it was really warm and dry, we both kept waking up with sore throats.
• In Kyoto, we stayed in Yu No Yado Shoei. This was a Ryokan and was really nice. It was a bit more away from it all but that actually suited us at this point in the trip. It had a tattoo-friendly public bath which we loved, so restorative after so much walking. We went everyday. The only drawbacks were that they couldn’t set up luggage forwarding and there wasn’t a laundry, and we probably should have checked this before booking, but we booked before we knew the luggage forwarding existed. It just meant when we got back to Tokyo we had to go to the hotel near Nippori first.
• Back in Tokyo, we stayed in Hotel Wagokoro near Nippori station. This was a really nice hotel, enough room to pack which was handy. Did not have a laundry but was opposite one, amazing bakery not far away.

PLANNING AND PREP

• We booked flights first and then worked from there on how to split the time and sort hotels. We booked flights when they felt most affordable/convenient to us, but actually think the timing was good - we caught the odd bit of early blossom but definitely felt like we would have found it overwhelming during the busiest periods in some places.
• For hotels we took some recs from the internet and friends but ended up basing the choice mainly on cost and locale as well as online reviews. In Kyoto we wanted to find a ryokan with a public bath which narrowed our options.
• To plan our itinerary, we set up a google map and started pinning things we were interested in over a couple of months, including attractions and places we might like to eat. From there, we started grouping things that were close together into possible day plans, and then put this into the Wanderlog app. We found Wanderlog quite helpful as it flagged when things were closed as we were planning. We did get the free trial of pro and played with the optimization features but ultimately decided it wasn’t worth it, but did like the app. We also updated it at the end of each day to record where we’d been.
• Splitting the time: We settled on bookending the trip with Tokyo as that’s where our flights were from, with 3 full days in Osaka (one of which was a trip to Nara) and 2 full days in Kyoto. I know lots of people say Osaka can be a day trip but we really liked it as a city, I actually would have loved to spend a full day in the Expo park where Tower of the Sun is, as we could have spent much longer in the Ethnology Museum and there were other museums there as well as beautiful gardens. I also felt like our two full days in Kyoto were really touristy and we didn’t see much of the city proper - these were great days and I wouldn’t have skipped what we did, but I was grateful for the day we arrived where we got to see a bit more of the actual city.
• Our main sources for recommendations were Reddit, Google (searches like “things to do Tokyo,” “Shibuya itinerary”), friends. I think it’s sometimes easy to get caught in loops and see the same things again and again, especially with recs on TikTok, and I do wish we’d done a bit more just looking at google maps to see what else was in areas, like in Arashiyama we would have planned in the Orgel Museum if we’d spotted it in advance of actually being there, but it didn’t get mentioned in any recommendation articles, we just saw it on the map when we were there and didn’t have the time.
• Duolingo: we both did 4 or so months of Japanese Duolingo in the run up which was sort of helpful, but I think we should have also done some specific phrase learning for travel. I felt like it would have been useful to know, for example, numbers 1-10 and I just didn’t make it that far in Duolingo, probably used more from the phrase book we took with us than that. Mostly we said please, thank you, excuse me and google translated anything where we needed help bridging the communication barrier.
• Planning food: we didn’t want to do much queueing, so we weren’t sure how much we’d follow recommendations online. We pinned some places to the map and often used them for ideas when we were out, but didn’t stick to them too much. We booked one meal in advance for my partner’s birthday, at Bird Land in Tokyo. In general, we would decide what we were in the mood to eat and just plonk that into google maps and go somewhere highly rated nearby. This likely means we didn’t discover the most interesting spots but ultimately this approach served us well, we enjoyed every meal. Where we ate is in the itinerary below.
• Booking in advance: we booked Umeda Sky, Tokyo Skytree, Sagano Romantic Train in advance. These were useful anchor points for our days but it was nice to not have too many commitments in place. We also booked the Ghibli Museum in advance – we had a few days we could do this which was helpful, and my partner set up booking over 3 devices when it went live. Ultimately I think this is just luck though, he got to be 67th in the queue on one device (others in the deep thousands) and so we got our first choice date. Would recommend having multiple cards you can pay with ready to go as one got rejected for an unknown reason but it worked with another.

PACKING

• We took one big suitcase each and half filled them so we could easily bring stuff back. We took clothes to last a week and then planned to do laundry while away. We did not plan to buy extra clothes there (we’re both tall and plus size). In the end, we could have probably taken a bit more as we did not buy nearly as much as expected (it looks like most “hauls” are clothes and cosmetics which just aren’t huge areas of interest for us).
• We took some medicine with us, like paracetamol, ibuprofen, because we figured it would be easier to take than to find there if we weren’t feeling well. Ibuprofen was good for sore feet.

OTHER THOUGHTS AND CONSIDERATIONS

• It was very dry! Not weather wise but like, the air? We didn’t expect this but especially the first few days in Tokyo it just felt like we were shriveling up, even in the rain. We ended up needing to buy moisturizer and lip balm and we got through nearly all of it trying to make our skin feel less like papyrus.
• Weather was colder than we expected, if you’re going at a similar time I would definitely take a good raincoat and options for light layering. Most shops and attractions have umbre...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/zzzzoooo on 2024-03-11 02:09:55.

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Hi,

I just got a scariest moment on my last day in Japan. I suppose to take the bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo, and catch a flight in airport later at night. When I went from Tokyo to Kyoto, getting the tickets from scanning the QR code in a machine was a breeze. By the way, I bought the tickets from Klook.

However, at Kyoto station, doing the same process in the machine with English as language doesn't work. It doesn't recognize the QR code and it keeps failing. I have to go to see an agent. Then she advises to redo the same thing on the machine but with Japanese as language. Then it works.

So, for anyone who has Shinkansen tickets bought from Klook (or maybe elsewhere), do NOT use English menu to print tickets in Kyoto.

This is written on March 2024. This bug might be hopefully fixed later.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/diningbystarlight on 2024-03-10 22:35:00.

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Summary: My mom and I spent 2 weeks in Japan in mid-February: 5 days in Hokkaido, 2 days in Kyoto+Osaka, 5+1.5 days in Tokyo, and 2.5 days in Ginzan, for a total of 16 days (+1 day of flying). This was my first time, while my mom used to live in Japan but hasn’t been in several decades, so while she was quite experienced her knowledge was also quite out-of-date and there were plenty of new developments for her too. This was my 9th international trip but my first in Asia.

Our trip focused on fine dining, anime, and shopping. For context we live in NY, with one of the most developed Japanese fine and normal dining scenes outside Japan, so we are both quite experienced and mainly focused on experiencing similar or better levels of excellence in Japan. We’ve been to multiple sushi omakase (e.g. Masa***, Noz**, Onodera**, Nakazawa*, etc.), as well as other Japanese cuisines like kappo Hirohisa*, Tempura Matsui*, Yakitori Torishin*, French fusion Kei***, etc. and my mom has cooking experience from her time in Japan. So we’re well familiar with the style, ingredients, techniques, and etiquette of high-end Japanese dining and have points of comparison at multiple levels of quality. If you do not have this prior context, you may have a different experience if you were to try to repeat our itinerary, particularly for sushi which is a very subtle and technical form. I don’t say this to be pretentious or discouraging, by all means go for the best and you’ll have a great time, but thought this was important to say to contextualize this post interpreted as a trip report or as advice.

Fwiw although I enjoy taking pictures for my own memories and sharing with friends at meetups, I don’t have an instagram or active social media, and I’m mainly writing this post so I can link my friends/colleagues for reference instead of rewriting individually.

Itinerary:

2/11 Sapporo (hotel: Solaria Nishitetsu Sapporo):

• ANA landed in Tokyo Haneda 5:25am, ANA landed in New Chitose airport 8:30am

• We got lucky and got the Pokemon plane, which had themed cups and free merch. We also got great views of Tokyo and Fuji when taking off for Sapporo.

• Airport: we explored Snow Miku Town (website is out of date, they no longer serve the Miku pancakes) which had Hokkaido-themed merch, a figure gallery, and a life-sized Miku figure. Hatsune Miku (virtual anime singer) is a local celebrity in Sapporo given her company is based there. The highest-Tabelog-rated Hokkaido milk ice cream was in the airport (?) so we tried that as well as a Letao Hokkaido cheesecake. The airport also has a huge shopping mall/food court.

• Took the train to Sapporo, dropped off our bags at the hotel. There is snow everywhere, in some places piled to the side as high as a person.

• Lunch: We had lunch at Michelin-starred Teuchisoba Kohashi* (walk-in only, surprisingly no line). This is a travel not a food subreddit, so I’ll save the intricacies of the food for my someday-future food blog and focus on the experience. The handmade soba noodles were unlike anything we had before, with unique tempura accompaniments. The room has a big window with a beautiful view of a snowy garden. Staff was warm and friendly, does not speak English but has an English menu. Foreign visitors seem uncommon despite the star, both among the clientele and staff’s reaction. It’s inside the family’s home in a residential neighborhood so you have to take off your shoes, and the unplowed snow in the neighborhood was so beautiful for pictures. Most expensive dish was $15

• Afterwards we went to the Sapporo Snow Festival in Odori Park/near the Sapporo TV tower. Warning that the trodden snow is quite slippery, we saw a few people fall! As a result we scaled back our ambitions and picked only a few of the most interesting blocks (aka the anime ones) using the online map and cancelled our plans to see the night illumination. We saw a bunch of anime snow sculptures (Re Zero, Lucky Star, Roshidere, JJK, Overlord, Haikyuu, Gundam, Snow Miku, Hello Kitty 50th anniversary) as well as Godzilla and the perennial massive Neuschwanstein Castle. They also had a Ram/Rem birthday exhibit set up in a shack with cutouts and a Lego sculpture. I was very happy we made it to this. It’s worth noting the Sapporo Snow Festival and the Otaru Light Festival are each about only 1.5 weeks, with the snow festival happening prior and a few days of overlap. While these are major tourist draws in Hokkaido, it’s quite hard to time your trip to see them.

• There’s an underground city in Sapporo (Pole Town and Aurora Town) with tons of shops and restaurants. We saw ads for Oshi no Ko and Spy x Family on a huge billboard.

• We had hambagu steak for dinner and then a Lawson run (the 1st of many Karaage-kun chicken bites), then slept around 10pm. Sapporo is a laidback city so good jetlag starting point.

• Hotel: Solaria Nishitetsu Sapporo - spacious rooms, view of the Sapporo Govt Building, clean, helpful front desk, close to the train station.

2/12 Sapporo:

• We woke up early due to jetlag and lazed around for a late start. We kept getting sidetracked on our way to Susukino, first with katsu sandos and karaage-kun at Lawson, then a bunch of Japanese breads, pastries, and taiyaki in a food court under Susukino station.

• We made it to Susukino, looked at the famous billboards intersection (a bunch of Japanese people were standing around waiting to record one, turned out to be a massive screen of Miku).

• We had lunch in Ramen Alley for famous Sapporo ramen, then did some fashion and anime shopping

• Otaru: We took the train to Otaru and arrived around 4pm. The fish market closes at 5pm and while some shops interpret this as “shut down by 5pm”, luckily there’s one in the middle that interprets it as “last entry 5pm” (always beware of this in Japan). We waited 1h15m (standing!) for famous Hokkaido uni donburi and ikura donburi but it was a worthwhile experience. The wait was also long enough for the sun to go down, so we went to the Otaru light festival afterwards. The snow+ice lanterns along the canal were pretty and an inspiring example of community action, but the canal was a bit of a plain letdown. I’d not recommend Otaru as a sightseeing stop outside the light festival to be honest even though it’s often treated as a “must see” online.

2/13 Sapporo:

• After another late start, we did some shopping at the Daimaru in the train station (the station is massive and has multiple malls). We got lunch from multiple stalls in the Daimaru food court, including kushiage, futomaki, more Hokkaido cheesecake and pudding from Letao, mochi, other sweets, etc. Then we explored Pole Town and did more fashion shopping (Comme des Garcons) and anime shopping. Weirdly I felt like the various Susukino anime shops (the Animate and Norbesa buildings) in Sapporo had more merch variety than Akihabara, both older series and high-demand stuff. We bought the only Suzume anime figure we saw on our trip, and picked up a ton of Kana Arima (Oshi no Ko) merch that was often sold out later in Akihabara (conspicuously so, compared to other characters, bc Kana is best girl obviously).

• Dinner: We had 5pm dinner at Sushi Miyakawa*** (Tabelog silver). Elite sushi mostly differs in style than skill, but who am I kidding, Miyakawa was overall the best we’ve ever had. His perfectly cooked appetizers paired with rich addictive sauces. His nigiri technique was flawless, with “scattering” loose rice and fish cut down to millimeter precision to drape over the rice. Akazu vinegar had a strong taste that complemented but did not overpower the fish, plus our personal preference for akazu over komezu. Nigiri is about taste but it was so beautiful as well. His preprocessing for difficult pieces like squid and gizzard shad showed 3-star levels of skill. Product quality-focused pieces like Aomori tuna and Nemuro sea urchin were the best. Poundcake-like tamago was the best. Miyakawa-san himself is characterized by attention to detail yet warmth and joviality, plus he speaks a little English, all rare qualities in a master sushi chef. We expected a stern, silent experience in faraway Sapporo, but we had more fun as an experience than even places in New York. Price was a steal for this quality at $250 per person (NYC 1-star sushi is often $400-500). We ordered the $50 takeout futomaki.

• All Japanese food is seasonal, but I personally prefer sushi in the winter (when the fish are at their fattest for warmth and spawning), which in addition to the snow motivated the timing for this trip.

• Note about photos: At most fine dining restaurants, food photos are generally ok if you ask first (“Gohan no shashin wa daijobu desu ka?”) (usually they’ll say yes), but photos of people are discouraged. Be considerate (e.g. fast, one take, with sound off, and do not put your phone on the counter) when taking food photos, especially as the food is best enjoyed in the moment. Famous counter-style chefs may take a photo with you after the meal if you ask.

2/14 Niseko (hotel: Higashiyama Niseko Village, Ritz Carlton Reserve):

• We took the Hokkaido Resort Liner bus from Sapporo to Niseko.

• The weather cooperated today so we had a perfect cloudless view of Mt Yotei from our room. We enjoyed our hotel room, taking baths, eating the Miyakawa futomaki, etc. We did some skiing in the afternoon with a view of Yotei (hotel has ski rental) then...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/taemoo on 2024-03-10 21:30:24.

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We’re a family of four (kids are 11 and 13 years old). We flew from Finland to Osaka, where we stayed for the first four nights. We stayed at Mimaru Namba North, which turned out to be in a great spot between the wonderful Horie district and Shinsaibashi, and only a few blocks from Dotonbori.

Osaka highlights:

Horie district and Orange Street: We really liked the stylish and calm atmosphere of the Horie design district. It’s filled with wonderful cafés and chic little boutiques. Traditionally a furniture district, there were still a few very nice furniture shops with modern design classics and Japanese craftsmanship. A few great places we visited were Biotop, Goodland Market, The Real McCoy’s, Westwood Bakers, and Maze Café.

We visited Teamlab Botanical Gardens one evening and thought it was wonderful. There were no crowds, and the park is lovely in itself. There are a few different installations, and it does not take more than 1-2 hours to see them.

Nakazakicho, near Umeda, is another quaint and bohemian chic area with charming narrow alleys and cute old Japanese houses with lots of interesting tiny shops, restaurants, and overall a great atmosphere.

Osaka Castle was a must-visit, and we all thought it was interesting to learn about it’s history at the exhibit inside. Great views from the top, Osaka is vast!

After Osaka, we moved on to Tokyo, where we stayed for three nights at the Sequence Hotel at Miyashita Park in Shibuya. This turned out to be a great choice for us, as it is very well located just between Shibuya and Harajuku stations, and it was a wonderful hub for walking around Shibuya, Harajuku, and Omotesando. We explored these areas by foot for the whole four days, beside a visit to The Making of Harry Potter (which was a must for our girl). The views from the hotel were nothing short of amazing, by the way!

Tokyo highlights:

The recently renewed Miyashita Park: This is a wonderful park atop of a shopping center, with a skate park, beach volley, climbing walls, and cafes. It even has a replica of the Hachiko statue which you can sit with and take a photo crowd-free.

We spent a perfect day by taking a stroll to the nearby Yoyogi park to see some early cherry blossoms, walking back to the hotel exploring Harajuku, Omotesando, and Cat Street. Cat Street and the adjoining alleys have a great vibe – we had an excellent pizza dinner at the very cool Pizza Kevelos!

I’d recommend planning your dining well, especially with kids. One saving grace for us was Uobei conveyor belt Sushi in Shibuya, with all of us grumpy on empty stomachs on Saturday night. We tried Kanazawa Maimon Sushi at first, but the queue was enormous so we diverted to Uobei, which turned out to be a hilariously Japanese experience! It’s not cozy or atmospheric by any means, but the sushi (and million other) dishes were surprisingly good and the kids had a blast ordering them on the tablets.

The Making of Harry Potter WB Studio Tour. For Harry Potter fans, it's nirvana. And fans there were, with almost everyone dressed adoringly as a student of wizardry.

Note: If you arrive from Osaka or Kyoto via Shinkansen and plan to stay near the western leg of the Yamanote line, you can get off at Shinagawa station before Tokyo main station and save some time.

From Tokyo, we moved on to Kyoto, where we stayed at Cross Hotel Kyoto between Pontocho and Kawaramachi.

Kyoto highlights:

Kiyomizu-dera. The walk up from Gion is very nice and it wasn’t too crowded. Lots of young people in traditional festive attire, just authentic Japan!

On our second day, it was raining, and so we opted for the Teramachi and Shinkyogoku shopping arcades and Nishiki market, where we found all kinds of neat souvenirs like ceramics, toys, etc. We got delish donuts and a cup of coffee at the apparently very hip Koe Donuts, look for it!

Ryoan-ji, and Ninna-ji: Extremely beautiful and serene. They made a perfect day trip as they’re within walking distance apart. Kinkaku-ji is also nearby. Be aware that the restaurants around the temples serve lunch until about 14, so plan accordingly.

Pontocho is full of amazing restaurants. Couple of places we went and enjoyed very much were Yoshinosushi with a very homely and welcoming atmosphere, and a charming small Japanese vegan spot called Nijiya.

Note: Consider the taxi if you travel in a group. The train/bus network is not as convenient as in Osaka or Tokyo, of course. We used Go app and Uber a lot. For instance, from Kawaramachi to Ryoan-ji it was around 2800 yen, and took far less time than a bus or a train.

General notes:

Consider flying to Osaka (or maybe Nagoya?) instead of Tokyo if you plan on visiting these cities as well. My wife flew to Narita and back from Haneda last year on a business trip, and she said that Kansai was a 100x more efficient and fast to go through.

We had Ubigi eSims for data, and it worked extremely well in all cities. We had two 10Gb plans for us adults, the kids used our hotspots, and we had about 3.5Gb of data left after 10 days.

Suica/Icoca on iPhone Wallet is very convenient. Just add the card to your wallet, top up as you go.

For vegetarian and vegan food Japan still seems a bit tricky, but you can use Happycow to easily find places with veggie options or full vegan restaurants.

If you like vinyl records, there’s no place better to buy them than Japan. Every shop I visited had amazing selections, and the prices are very reasonable right now.

When planning our trip, we got a feel for the neighborhoods by watching walking tours on YouTube. Virtual Japan and Drifted Films are a couple of great channels. Works as a remedy for wanderlust too!

Overall, we had an amazing trip; the only trouble is we miss Japan terribly already.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/discombobulatedturtl on 2024-03-10 08:59:04.

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I went on an 11 day trip with my mom recently and hopefully, this post can help someone else with their trip planning!

A few quick notes: I experienced major culture shock upon arrival. I posted it on here and before it was taken down by the mods, a bunch of people commented and I want to thank everyone that did because it really helped calm my nerves. I did a bunch of research beforehand but this was our first international trip and I was planning everything, so a bit of anxiety came with that. I also got sick toward the end of my trip so it also played a factor in my experience.

I don't particularly enjoy reading long paragraphs so I'll write my general thoughts on each place we visited.

Day 1: Arrival at Narita, Friday

• I spent maybe an hour at the airport because I needed to pick up my pocket wifi (unlocked phone) and needed help buying train tickets.
• Arrived at our hotel at around 5PM in Ginza and walked around for food. We walked around on and eventually stumbled into a restaurant where the waitress recommended us some dishes. On the way out, we went through the wrong exit and one of the employees chased us down. It was quite embarrassing at the moment but in hindsight, I can now sit back and laugh about it.

Day 2: Costco/Ginza, Saturday

• Tsukiji Market - We got to Tsukiji market around 7AM and the market only had a few people. By the time we left 30 minutes later, it was pretty packed with lines going down the street.
• Kawasaki - Since it was early, none of the stores in Ginza were open yet so we decided to go to Costco in Kawasaki* (1 hr trip away). This was the first time we used the local bus and we hadn't gotten our IC cards yet (sold out in Toyko Station). We only had a 2000 yen bill but the bus only takes 1000 yen. Luckily, the bus driver was super nice and asked one of the passengers for change so we could get on.
• Ginza - To our surprise, the streets were packed in the evening and closed off to cars until 6PM. Uniqlo is also 40% cheaper there compared to in the US so we bought a lot of stuff there. We finally picked up a Pasmo passport card at Ginza station and loaded up.

Day 3: Shinjuku/Shibuya, Sunday

• Meiji Jingu - We woke up around 6AM and headed out to Meiji Jingu. It was absolutely beautiful and closer to the train station than I realized.
• Takeshita Street - Not really our vibe but the little stores were interesting to see. Not much to say here. We spent maybe 30 minutes here.
• Shibuya - We walked right into a tall building in Shibuya Square? and spent a good amount of time in there, as it was sprinkling a bit outside. There's a viewing area on the 12th floor and we saw Shibuya Crossing from above. We tried to go outside but there were so many umbrellas, I kept getting hit in the face with them.
• Shinjuku - Went to see the red light district (per request from my mom). We were pretty exhausted at this point though so this was the only place we went to before heading back to the hotel at 5PM.

Day 4: North Tokyo, Monday

• Asakusa - We got to Senso-ji around 9AM and there was a decent crowd already. The stores again weren't open yet so we stopped by and got melonpan (yummy!). Spent almost 2 hours in Asakusa looking at stores/restaurants. I really liked this area compared to the previous days.
• Kappabashi Dougu St - All kitchenware and we spent about an hour here. There's no food though so we had to go back to Asakusa for food. Still pretty cool to see and within walking distance from Senso-ji
• Ueno - Unfortunately, we skipped the park because our feet were killing us. We did walk around the shopping area and had the best seafood restaurant in this corner spot. It was way more food than I could handle but one of the best seafood spots we had on our entire trip.
• Akihabara - We ended the night here to see all the pretty lights. Unfortunately, we only spent 30 minutes here because it was crazy windy and we were extremely tired. There wasn't much to see here for us personally, but maybe we weren't their target audience.

Day 5: Kawazu/Yokohama, Tuesday

• Kawazu - Sadly, most of the trees already begun to sprout leaves with a few flowers left. We spent 4 hours here because I booked the train for later. It was nice to relax here but there wasn't much food so we were starving.
• Yokohama - Nothing much to say here. We just visited Cinatown because it was really windy again. The area itself was pretty cool and the lights at night were pretty. It was a nice rest day from all the Japanese food we've been eating.

Day 6: Kyoto, Wednesday

• Shinkansen - We saw Mt Fuji on a clear day! We weren't sure it was Mt Fuji at first so I had to Google it but it was it!
• Kyoto arrival - We just stayed at a nearby cafe until it was time to check in and stayed in all day. Our feet were killing us and our bodies were aching. Clearly, we are not physically fit people.

Day 7: Central Kyoto, Thursday

• Nishiki Market - We got there at 10AM and nothing was open so we stopped by at a cafe until 11AM and headed back. It was nice to see all the restaurants open but the food was for sure not worth it.
• Kyoto - We got lost in the surrounding area and went shopping. We planned to go to Gion at night but we were too tired. I regretted my hotel decision at this point because it was too far away from the main area so walking sucked. This was also my first day of being sick

Day 8: East Kyoto, Friday

• Kiyomizudera - This was a lot bigger than what I expected. We spent a full 2-3 hours here simply due to the size of the temple. It was absolutely amazing to see how grand the temple is.
• Kyoto - We walked in the surrounding area and hit up more temples in the area. They were all really nice to see and the area was very charming. We again planned to go to Gion but skipped because I was sick and tired.

Day 9: West Kyoto, Saturday

• Otagi Nenbutsuji Temple - I loved this temple! It was very cute. There were so many little statues covered in moss.
• Adashino Nenbutsuji - This temple has it's own bamboo forest if y'all want to get some pics w/o people in it.
• Gioji Temple - This temple was kind of a disappointment. We visited during winter time so the trees were all leafless and the moss was pretty dry. The expectations I had in my head were not what I saw.
• Tenryu-ji - We skipped entering the temple because at this point, we spent almost $50 USD at all the temples + goshuin we collected and our feet were killing us. The temple outside is nice enough as it is but we weren't willing to spend another 1000 yen per person to go inside.
• Kimono forest - Right at the train station and pretty cool to see. I would've loved to see it at night but again, I was sick and tired so we headed back around 3PM to our hotel.
• Due to my sickness, we skipped the park and anything south of the train station. Despite my condition, this was probably my most favorite day of the trip due to all the temples we went to. I don't remember all of them but these are the ones I did remember the names of. FYI, the goshuin in Kyoto were 50/50 in single-leaf paper vs writing into the book directly and about 500 yen per goshuin.

Day 10: Osaka, Sunday

• I really wanted to skip Osaka due to my fatigue. I was coughing so badly every night and hadn't been getting a good night's sleep since I first got sick. We decided to go for a few hours anyway to Dontonbori and it was pretty underwhelming. I'm not sure if it was me or if it was the fatigue but I was not in the mood to travel at all. We got back to the hotel and I ordered UberEats and rested.

Day 11: Fushimi Inari/Uji, Monday

• Initially, I planned to go to Nara but due to time restrictions, we didn't go. I decided to go to Uji instead of Nara for a quick stop before our early flight the next day.
• Fushimi Inari - We did not walk the entire thing. We only walked through the first set of gates and back. We arrived around 10AM and again, it was fully packed. The shrine itself was still amazing to see but there's not much else to do in the area.
• Uji - We stopped by Uji to buy some matcha and go to Tsuji Rihei Honten. I did not realize how bitter their soft serve/ice cream would be and was choking on every bite. It was completely my fault but I really enjoyed the experience! We stopped by Byodo-In and this was arguably the most beautiful temple out of all the ones we visited. We spent close to 2 hours here just taking it all in.

Overall thoughts:

I want to thank Reddit and everyone who posted before about any Itineraries/Trip Reports because they helped me plan my trip here. There were a few tips and tricks people posted here and there, which were also nice and helpful.

My style of traveling is more breadth than depth, hence why we visited so many areas in 1 day. I did not experience being "shrined-out" or whatever the term is. Some of the temples in West Kyoto were not worth visiting imo, mainly due to the winter times and lack of foliage. My only regret is not buying more souvenirs.

Budget:

For 2 people excluding accommodations and flights, we spent close to $2k USD. We had a variety of foods from 7-11 to $100 meals and bought a lot of Uniqlo.

Interesting Notes:

• Cold medicine there contains caffeine? I don't know if this is common in other places but I was shocked.
• Every single bathroom was super clean and your best bet for public toilets is department stores and train stations.
• Tokyo station is bigger than I thought. I got lost for 40 minutes the first ...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/MangoOverflow on 2024-03-10 07:39:44.

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Tldr: First time in Japan. Stayed in Osaka, traveled to Japan blind. Had an amazing time going in knowing nothing, extremely satisfied, and want to go back. Also buying a Toto toilet seat at home.

This was my first time in Japan, or overseas ever. I stayed in Osaka next to the Umeda station for 7 nights, and I had the best time of my life.

My partner and I went into this trip intentionally blind. We did no research besides where we wanted our hotel, nearby cities, basic sayings, and etiquette in Japan.

Day 1: We came in late and slept off any jet lag

Day 2: Explored the Umeda station area. Links shopping mall, HEP Five, Lucua, Daiso, and got familiar walking around the subways and train platforms. We also went to the Umeda Sky Tower building in the morning and then went to the Osaka Aquarium at night. We found the tower by walking around, and the aquarium in our hotel pamphlet. After the aquarium there was this huge ferris wheel outside that we rode and saw all the city lights.

Day 3: We traveled to Kyoto and started walking around following signs for anything we saw. We ended up going to the Inari shrine, we walked all the way up to Mt Inari, and spent a good portion of time in the street with all the vendors at the bottom of the shrine. We then visited the Tenryuji Temple which we say from a sign at the station and it was beautiful. Finishing this day we went to the Bamboo forest some people told us about nearby in Arashiyama. That was cool but we see bamboo at home and it was very excavated around the area, it didnt feel like a natural forest

Day 4: Our hotel pamphlet had Nara on it so we went to Nara. Shortly after walking down the station, we ran into a park with deer and doe everywhere. We walked all around and found a convenience store which sold these deer crackers and we got to feed the deer crackers it was amazing. We continued walking around and came across the Nadai-mon gate. I geeked out over this, it was truly incredible. After going through the gate we saw the Todai-ji temple and bought tickets to go inside of that. An unforgettable experience

Day 5: was completely rained and snowed out. We stayed in our hotel and walked through Links Umeda, ate some 7-11 bento boxes, and hung out in Lucua Umeda where one floor had like a "Pokemon Center", One Piece store, Capcom store, and Nintendo store. I made it a goal to take a photo with as many Luffy statues as I could find, ended the trip with 3 statues.

Day 6: We went to the Osaka castle. We saw the castle riding around the Osaka loop line and thought it looked awesome. The line was so long though even early in the morning we did not go in, just walked the perimeter. There was some street performers that were cool to watch for a handful of minutes. After this we went to Dotonbori and spent some time in the day there, as night started to fall we went down into the Shin Sai Bashi-Suji tunnel. That was a crazy walk, afterwards we stopped by a Tiki bar called the Shaka bar for some drinks.

Day 7: We went back to Arashiyama because we heard we could pet and feed monkeys. We climbed up the hill and did that, it was very cool. We spent the rest of this day going to different shopping centers and ended back up in Dotonbori for the night where we mostly roamed around Den Den town.

I'm sure I am forgetting some things we did, we did so much and we are so satisfied. I am happy we decided to do this trip blind because everything was an exciting surprise. We walked 10 miles a day and about 30 flights a day were climbed. Yearly trips to Japan may become a thing for us now.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/akhil1996 on 2024-03-09 10:07:22.

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Hello everyone!

This subreddit helped me plan my itinerary, so this is my way of giving back. Hope you find it useful for your next Japan trip! 🙂

Background:

27 M - Solo traveler from India who's passionate about history and culture. I was thrilled to explore what Japan had to offer in these aspects. I prefer quiet places over parties, so you won’t find many nightlife recommendations here. Most of my time was spent strolling around, visiting shrines, and snapping lots of photos (I ended up with 200 gigs of photos by the end of the trip). Since this was my first trip, my plan was to cover as much ground as possible. I stayed at hostels, snacked at 7-11, and did a lot of walking.

Itinenary :

Tokyo → Kyoto → Koyasan → Osaka.

Tips :

• Start from Osaka → Kyoto → Tokyo for the best experience otherwise, you might find Osaka underwhelming.

• Avoid excessive research, as it may spoil the excitement of experiencing a location for the first time, robbing you of that magic moment.

• Opt for the official Gyoshin book rather than a travel journal as many temples declined to stamp my travel journal. Also note that, some temples may not stamp your Gyoshin book if they spot other stamps, such as JR stamps, within it.

• Most temples in Kyoto impose an entry fee that accumulates rapidly. Therefore, strategically plan your temple visits, prioritizing those with rich history, culture, or scenic views.

• You'll be walking a lot, so make sure to buy comfortable shoes at least one month before your trip to break them in. Additionally, invest in pairs of comfortable socks to assist you during long-distance walks. I bought Nike Pegasus 40 for the trip and they kept me comfortable throughout the journey.

Payments :

• Youtrip for card payments + cash withdrawals.

• Wise and revolut didn’t work for me.

• Suica card on iphone

TLDR itinerary :

Day 1-7 : Tokyo

Stay : Tora hotel

• Day 1 : Ueno, Shinjuku

• Day 2 : Asakusa, Akhihabara

• Day 3 : Yoyogi Park, Harajuku, Shibuya

• Day 4 : Tsukiji Fish market, team labs planets, Ginza

• Day 5 : Suga shrine, Ginza, Coldplay concert

• Day 6 : Kamakura & Enoshima Islands

• Day 7 : Tokyo Imperial palace, Roppongi hills, Tokyo tower.

Day : 8-13 : Kyoto

Stay : K’s backpackers

• Day 8 : Gion, Kiyomizudera

• Day 9 : Philosophers path & fushimi Inari shrine

• Day 10 : Arashiyama

• Day 11 : Kifune - Kurama

• Day 12 : Uji & Nara

• Day 13 : Tofuku-ji, Gion, Kifune-Kurama

• Day 14 : Kiyomizu,

Day 14 - 15 : Koyasan

Stay : Koyasan gueshouse kokku

Day 16-19 : Osaka

Stay : Hotel the rock

• Day 15 - evening : Dontonbori

• Day 16 : Osaka

• Day 17 : Minoo park, Kurama & osaka castle

• Day 18 : Namba yasaka shrine, Osaka aquarium, team labs garden

• Day 19 : Shopping

Tokyo Chapter :

Number of days : 7.

Stay : TORA HOTEL ASAKUSA,

A quiet hostel, about a 5-minute walk from Asakusa station. Most people there were in Tokyo for business, so there weren't many chances to socialize. It was a good hostel for the price

Day 1 : Ueno and Shinjuku.

Places visited :

• Ueno park

• Ueno Toshogu Shrine

• Tokyo National Museum

• Shinjuku

• Tokyo Metropolitan Governament Office

• Kabukuicho

• Golden Gai

• Omoide Yokocho

Total distance walked : 25.68KM.

Arrival :

Arrived bright and early at 6:30 AM via Scoot Airlines from Singapore to Narita.

Immigration grilled me for a good 10 minutes (perks of a weak passport).

Boarded the morning Keisei limited express from Narita to Ueno and checked into my hostel.

Ueno:

First day here so wanted to take it abit slow, I headed to Ueno Park and visited Ueno Toshogu Shrine. Then later I saw a huge queue at Ueno zoo so instead I went to Tokyo National Museum and learnt alot about Japan’s history.

Shinjuku :

Went to Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office at around 4 PM and spent 1 hour there just seeing the endless city, the Mount Fuji on the horizon and city lights coming to life.

Then walked around Shinjuku, saw the cat billboard, explored Kabukicho, Golden Gai, was approached by a couple of “Friendly” Africans so immediately left the place.

Lastly, walked over to Omoide Yokocho and clicked a bunch of pics of the hustle.

Day 2 : Asakusa and Akihabara.

Places visited :

• Asakusa

• Senso-ji temple

• Nakamise shopping street

• Asakusa sight-seeing

• Akihabara

• Yodabashi-camera

• Radio Kaikan

• Hijiri-bashi bridge

• Sight seeing harajuku

Total distance walked : 22.00KM.

Askusa :

Started at 6:30 AM to beat the crowd at Senso-ji temple. Spent a good amount of time just chilling around the temple, clicking photos, and watching the crowd slowly come to life. Tried various street food on Nakamise shopping street and later explored the surrounding area of Senso-ji temple. Tried the famous melon pan (too sweet!) and award-winning chicken karage (delicious!)

Akihabara:

Reached Akihabara sometime around 12 PM, went straight to Yodobashi Camera where I spent 2 hours just browsing through alleys of gadgets. To this day, their catchy tune is staying rent-free in my head. Then just walked around Akihabara station and made my way to Radio Kaikan.

After being visually stimulated for a good 4 hours, I decided to take a break from the lights and walked over to Hijiri-Bashi Bridge to see the famous train crossing and later made my way back to the LED-lit Akihabara. Tried vegan ramen at Kyushu Jangara (highly recommend), made stops at various comics and games stores. One of them had a huge collection of train models, tracks, and environments which was a nice delight.

I was taken aback by the maid cafe culture; I knew it was prevalent but didn’t expect it to be packed at 5 feet apart. Spent rest of the night exploring different game shops.

Overall, Akihabara was sort of a miss for me. If I go there next, it would be with a goal to buy figurines/comics/toys.

Day 3 : Meji-Shrine, Yoyogi Park, Harajuku and Shibuya

Places visited :

• Meji-Shrine

• Yoyogi park

• Harajuku

• Togo-Jinja shrine

• adidas store

• Shibuya

• Shibuya sky

• pokemon center

Total distance walked : 25.85 KM

Meji-Shrine:

Started at 6:30 am, reached Meiji Shrine at around 8 am where I saw many newlyweds and wedding photographers around the shrine. After exploring shrine for abit, I went to a cafe called “Little Nap Coffee Stand”. The walk here was amazing since as it traversed the outskirts of Yoyogi park and streets were filled with yellow ginkgo leaves.

Yoyogi-park:

After taking a short rest and enojying the sights of train passing by, I headed for Yoyogi Park, which was breathtaking in itself. Watching people just take time off and sit under the sun enjoying picnics, exercising, and taking dogs out for a walk is a rare sight where I come from, so this itself was a unique experience.

Harajuku:

Then exited to Harajuku street, which was now flooded with people. Tried my first Cremia ice cream here, which I can describe as “coke served as ice cream”. Then tried the famous strawberries from “Strawberry Fetish”, which were delicious! Strolling around Harajuku, I took a wrong turn and found myself in front of Togo-Jinja Shrine, which was a nice surprise. I saw a traditional marriage ceremony there.

The alleys and streets around Harajuku attracted me, so I spent much of my noon just walking around Harajuku. Would recommend trying donuts at BPC Donuts over “I’m Donut”, as there was no queue and they were still delicious, and The Little Bakery if you want to try Western food.

Shibuya:

Around 3 pm, I reached Shibuya and spent the rest of my evening walking around exploring different shopping centers. Around evening, I was at Shibuya Parco clicking pics with Meowth. If time permits, try to go to the rooftop as it gives a breathtaking view of Shibuya.

Then I went to Shibuya Sky at around 6:30 pm. I feel it’s worth it only if you go around golden hour; when I went, it was well into the dark so the pics didn’t turn out that great. It was a nice view of the entire city, but go during golden hour to get 100% of your ticket.

Spent the rest of my night around Shibuya, just wandering around clicking pics.

Day 4 : Tsukiji Fish market, Team labs planets and Ginza

Places visited :

• Tsukiji Fish market

• Shrine

• Team labs planets

• Gundam base

• Ginza

• Sightseeing

• Art aquarium

Total distance walked : 26.06KM

Tsukiji Fish Market:

Reached Tsukiji Market at 8 am and was welcomed with long queues everywhere. First stop was the famous fluffy omelette, which was absolutely delicious. Next, I went to try the onigiri at Onigiri-ya Marutoyo; would recommend the grilled chicken Onigiri. Then tried other things like strawberry mochi, fresh melon, and matcha latte. Strolled around a bit and came across John Lennon cafe or Yemoto coffee head shop; the coffee there was AMAZING! I wish I had bought their coffee powder. I would visit Tsukiji Market again but with a group of friends to taste different food options; traveling alone limits these food options.

After spending a good 2.5 hours just walking around the market, I walked across to Team Labs planets, a good 45-minute walk that took me through various rivers, people, and buildings. I enjoyed it a lot!

Team labs:

Team labs planets was breathtaking. Although it’s filled with people, you can find good spots to click photos. There’s one art exhibition called the life cycle of a plant, and it gave me massive motion sickness, haha.

Gundam base:

After that, I went to ...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Kharris281 on 2024-03-09 01:41:15.

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Hi all, long time caller, first time listener.

Planning a trip with my wife for 13 days in October ‘24. First trip for us, but a longtime goal that’s been in the making for a decade. Getting to this point and planning for several months, am I crazy for looking at Kyoto and maybe skipping it because of the crazy tourism? We want to experience the culture and the history, but I can’t help but wonder if we’ll have a more authentic ‘experience the country’ vibe by spending the time in something like Kanazawa or maybe even something smaller. The plan was to do the typical Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka/Hiroshima mix with a possible overnight in Kinosake, but wondering if we’re better off with a less conventional first trip.

Minimal Japanese, but we’ve been working through Genki with the addition of Duolingo just for the additional practice. Curios on some other experiences/opinions and I thought it would break up some of the recurring (but still valid) questions on this sub.

And for those who respond regularly/post their trip experiences, thank you! Your advice and experience has been helpful for myself and I’m sure many others who lurk here with the same pipe dream!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Mjolnir07 on 2024-03-08 22:45:27.

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Does anyone have any further information on the ethical practices of Sunshine aquarium? We visited and were crushed to see what looks like enclosures for some of their larger animals, specifically the giant octopus and sea lions, that seem to be permanent

The tank for the octopus isn't even big enough to house twice the size of its body, and the seals and sea lions are in what seem to be too small for a single creature, let alone several.

Someone please tell me that these animals have the opportunity to move to larger holding tanks or environments and aren't eternally trapped in confined spaces?

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Its5somewhere on 2024-03-07 12:04:33.

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Starting July 1, 2024 Japan/Mt. Fuji will start mandatory charging ¥2,000 per person to climb mount Fuji. The fee has risen previously from the ¥1,000 that a lot of people were not paying due to being voluntary.

There will be a strict daily limit of 4,000 climbers per day. Climbers who have bookings at the mountain huts will not be subject to the daily limit restrictions.

These funds will help attribute to the conservation efforts of the Unesco World Heritage Site. Lately during the past few climbing seasons the mountain has been seeing a lot of litter and crowding. This new vote that was passed this week hopes to combat the traffic and litter.

A gate will be installed and operational by July with operating hours of 3AM - 4PM daily to monitor traffic and obtain the climbing fee.

Sources:

[JP]

[JP]

[EN]

[EN]

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/marsmat239 on 2024-03-07 11:27:25.

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I’m here in Japan for the month of March. 1 week ago I boarded a flight to Tokyo. Here’s my experience thus far.

Language barrier: I haven’t encountered a situation yet where my lack of Japanese has become an issue. I’ve been able to do pretty much everything I’ve set out to do. I consider myself blessed that English is a secondary default. But really, Japan should probably try to be less accommodating.

Hotel toiletries: I’ve been given a razor, brush, and toothbrush/toothpaste at every hotel I’ve stayed at. All disposable, so no need to worry about previous use. I would’ve saved space in my backpack.

Cash/credit: some vending machines and shrines only have accepted cash. But in my time in Tokyo, I thought I’d use more of it than I have. Credit has been pretty universal (if you have a Visa/Amex).

Shuttles from Narita Airport: have you ever been to Disney and needed to board a bus to your hotel? Hotel shuttles at Narita pretty much exactly the same way! Ask for help to find your shuttle.

Day 1: We landed in Haneda and had to transfer to Narita for our hotel. We made it, but I went nearly 24 hours from waking up for my plane until bed.

Day 2: Dropped my parents off at Narita because they’re traveling in SE Asia this week. Took the train back to Asakusa. Visited Sensoji Temple, and walked to Skytree. My hotel was the Henn Na Hotel Asakusa, which had virtual check in agents! Gimmick aside, this hotel was fairly central for my first few days, and I enjoyed my stay there. The rooftop deck was a nice bonus.

Day 3: Visited the National Museum and Ueno Park. The national museum took 4ish hours of my time-there really is a lot to see. Afterwards I strolled through Ameyoko St. I also learned that homeless in every country are bound with dogs.

Day 4: I walked from my old hotel to Shinjuku via Tokyo Station (14 miles)! There are few better ways to explore a city. Took my photo with Hachiko, and was amazed at all the fashion options in Harajuku. Walked through Yoyogi Park and was amazed that the city disappeared. I started staying at the APA Hotel Shinjuku Gyoemmae and enjoyed the public bath every night.

Day 5: browsing Akihabara to figure out what souvenirs I wanted to buy, and to visit the Radio building. I didn’t realize there’s a Steins;Gate themed surprise at the top. Just be sure to bring a spoon.

Day 6: I literally did the itinerary Chris Broad said in the “14 Days in Japan” video. The temples and Gundam were fantastic! Shinjuku being a central station came in clutch for departing for Kamakura and arriving back from Yokohama.

Day 7 (today): Hakone, but the reverse loop! I would’ve explored more but it’s COLD!!! Also-the reverse loop takes you up the mountain, where there’s still snow. Visibility was poor, so no Fuji, but the sites and tranquility of Hakone plus a Ryokan stay made it more than worth it.

Please lmk if there’s any tips or questions you guys have! I hope to do this again in a week!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/KitchenCabinetIsOpen on 2024-03-07 05:20:32.

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We are currently planning a six-person trip to Japan for this April/May, and it inspired me to write up a report using some notes that I jotted down from our trip earlier last year.

Background: My wife and I are in our early 30s and we flew into Haneda airport on a nonstop flight from Dallas, Texas. This was our first time in Japan, but we designed our itinerary knowing that we’d be back, so it wasn’t a huge deal if we missed out on some key landmarks. Our priorities were eating good food, drinking good drinks, and taking in as much as we could at a reasonable pace.

This report skips over most of our activities as the activities will mostly align with other itineraries you’ve read. The focus here will be mainly on rating/reviewing the food, drinks, and accommodations. And also a few stories along the way.

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Sunday, April 2 – Tokyo:

• Hotel: Citadines Central Shinjuku Tokyo (3/5) – This budget-friendly hotel is situated in Shinjuku, offering a lively experience as it backs up into Golden Gai and is within walking distance of Shinjuku Station, numerous restaurants and bars, as well as shopping destinations. The hotel, resembling a converted apartment building, exhibits dated finishes that could benefit from an upgrade. The rooms, unfortunately, have a musty atmosphere reminiscent of the apartment I lived in my senior year of college.
• Food: Random Gyoza Spot (4/5) – owners were quick to tell us “No English.” We managed to order gyozas and a couple of cocktails using a combination of google lens, pointing, and saying “Kore Kudasai”.
  • [First Gyoza Restaurant]
• Miscellaneous: We scheduled a private transfer via Klook to pick us up from Haneda and drive us to our hotel. This was SUPER convenient especially after being on the plane for 12+ hours. It was $60 to get us to our hotel from the airport.

Monday, April 3 - Tokyo (22,500 steps, 9.5 miles):

• Experience: Nane Tokyo (4/5) - Cute spot in Omotesando where we made rings for each other. You get to choose the metal, shape, design, and engraving for your ring and then you hammer it out until it gets to the right shape/design. Super fun experience, a little on the expensive side for what you get.
  • [Nane Tokyo Rings]
• Food: Kaiten Sushi Ginza Onodera (4/5) – We discovered this sushi restaurant while exploring Omotesando and were fortunate to find immediate seating. Orders were conveniently placed through an iPad, and the chefs skillfully prepared each dish fresh to order. The menu offered an impressive variety, featuring fresh fish prepared in traditional Edomae style. Although slightly on the pricey side, the experience was undoubtedly worth it!
  • [Kaiten Sushi Ginza]
• Coffee: Rag & Bone Coffee (5/5) - Cozy coffeeshop in the back streets of Omotesando. Really hit the spot as we were battling jetlag.
  • [Rag & Bone]
• Food: Flippers Pancakes (3/5) - After an afternoon of shopping in Shibuya, we were looking to kill time before a drink reservation. Jetlag was starting to hit us a bit and we happened upon a Flippers so we decided to get some sweets and chug coffee to keep awake. After a 15-min wait, we were seated. The pancakes lived up to their reputation, impressively fluffy but with a slightly eggy taste. The food isn’t anything to write home about.
  • [Pancakes]
• Drink: The SG Club (5/5) - Great bar with amazing service and innovative, tasty cocktails. Seating gets a bit cramped downstairs but they make it work. We made friends with a Singaporean couple next to us who were also honeymooning. My wife’s first drink was a tomato-basil drink that tasted like the best parts of a caprese salad, super refreshing. My second drink was a yuzu, chrysanthemum concoction; the fragrance of the drink as you lifted the glass to sip was intoxicating. The scent was as much a part of the experience as the taste.
  • [Tomato-Basil Drink] | [Yuzu Chrysanthemum Drink]
• Food: Nico Chica (4/5) - This place slaps. Located in Shinjuku, near our hotel, and it costs ¥500 yen for pizza. Upon entering, you take a set of stairs down to the basement level where there’s seating for about 40 people. The staff treated us well and were SO appreciative that we at least tried to order in Japanese (mostly pointing at the menu). We drank a ton of wine, ate pizza, pasta, and french fries. Not what we expected to be eating on our second night in Tokyo but it was the perfect late night snack after a night of drinking… At some point, they turned the lights off and brought a birthday cake out for someone and the whole restaurant sang happy birthday to the patron. How fun!
  • [Pasta & Pizza]

Tuesday, April 4 - Tokyo (17,000 steps, 7.1 miles):

• Food: Sushiya Ginza Honten (4.5/5) - This was our one sushi omakase experience of the trip. Located in a nondescript building on the third or fourth floor, the restaurant can be a bit challenging to locate. Show up early! We witnessed a group arriving 15 minutes late, only to be denied entry as the omakase had already commenced. Fortunately for us, this translated to an exclusive experience for my wife and me. The food here was amazing. There weren’t any frills in terms of super exotic flavors; the restaurant focused on high quality fish, wasabi, and rice. The combination of premiere ingredients with a high level of technique that is honed through many years of experience resulted in every bite being a banger.
  • [Omakase 1] | [Omakase 2]
• Food / Experience: Kirby Cafe (2/5) - My wife LOVES Kirby so she was happy with taking in the ambiance, listening to the iconic Kirby music, and she got hype over the adorable presentation of the food. However, when it came to the actual dishes, we were both disappointed, neither of us managed to finish our entrees. We wouldn’t go there again but we’re glad that we gave it a shot.
  • [Kirby Cafe]

Wednesday, April 5 - Hakone (10,600 steps, 4.6 miles):

• Food: 治兵衛 (2/5) - After landing in Hakone, we were looking for lunch close to the station and found a soba restaurant without a line. The prices were a bit steep, fitting for the resort town setting and its proximity to the train station. The soba was fine but didn’t taste as great as other soba experiences we’ve had. Additionally, the tempura was inconsistent; some pieces were overly battered so that the taste would lean more towards dough than protein.
  • [Zaru Soba]
• Hotel: Yama No Chaya (3.5/5) - This ryokan in Hakone was super quaint and relaxing. The amenities included multiple public onsens, a fun hotel bar, and plenty of snack/drink options. Our two floor room had modern comforts mixed with a traditional feel; it comprised of a second floor bedroom where we slept on a soft bed on top of tatami flooring as well as a formal dining room on the first floor along with a private in-room hot spring bath. The main reason for the 3.5 rating rather than a 4 is that the traditional kaiseki food was a bit of a miss flavor-wise and while pretty, it was underwhelming. The included traditional dinner/breakfast kaiseki meals took two to three hours given the pacing of the courses as well as the quantity of courses. This ended up cutting a lot into our limited time at the ryokan.
  • [Course from Kaiseki] | [Private Bath]

Thursday, April 6 - Hakone --> Kyoto (16,600 steps, 6.5 miles):

• Hotel: Gion Misen (5/5) - Located in the Gion district. The exterior to this hotel was lovely and gave you that old-school Kyoto feel. The hotel rooms were modern and were large compared to other Japanese hotels. For the price, we were very happy with the location, service, and amenities in the room.
• Food: Yama No Chaya Breakfast - No rating given I provided a rating in previous day. Here are two pictures from the breakfast.
  • [Grilled Veggies & Fish] | [Tofu Pudding inside Grapefruit]
• Food: Ekiben (3/5) - Rice, shumai, and minced pork and pickled veggies for the train ride. Hit the spot!
  • [Ekiben 1]
• Food: Kyo Kurozakura (3/5) - Kyoto was a different beast than Tokyo in that, it was SUPER hard to find a restaurant that we could walk into for dinner without a reservation. Maybe it was the number of tourists or maybe we weren’t looking in the right spots this night (we were mostly in the central area near/around Pontocho alley). We eventually found this Yakiniku restaurant which served decent quality beef along with a ton of great dipping sauces. Main reason for the lower rating here is related to service. The staff here interacted differently with the locals than the tourists, they were a bit more stand offish and didn’t use the typical polite mannerisms that you saw them using with other, local patrons. Maybe it was a bad day for the staff, maybe it's because there were so many more tourists in Kyoto versus Tokyo.
  • [[Kyo Kurozakura]](https://imgur.com/3R...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Dumbidiot1323 on 2024-03-06 20:34:22.

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With September out of the way, I am finally motivated to write properly again! The next two months were packed with lots of travel and some of my favourite moments during my time in Japan. As always, you can find previous reports down below.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Tokyo

Something I failed to mention in my September post is that during that month, I made a Japanese friend in Tokyo! I found her on Hello Talk (previously mentioned in my first Sapporo report when I had a random meetup with someone there) and we met up when I got back Tokyo to go to the Berserk exhibition. Both of us were fans of the series and I still vividly remember the day I woke up and got news that Miura had passed away. The manga holds a special place in my heart, to say the least. This exhibition was absolutely amazing. It took quite a bit not to tear up at some of the panels and especially when I saw Guts' greatsword like this. Would have loved to pick up some merch but it was obscenely overpriced, unfortunately.

My time in Tokyo was rather short this time because as the title of this thread suggests, I finally made my way to Kyoto. Another thing I don't think I mentioned so far is how different the Shinkansen experience is on Nozomi trains compared to Sakura/Hikari ones as a regular tourist with the JR Pass (RIP to that one nowadays, though). The Nozomi train was/is not included in the pass and even when borders reopened, the trains remained relatively empty compared to the other types, which was great.

Kyoto

And so I made my way to Kyoto, the city I have somewhat of a love and hate relationship with. The first time I went there, I barely even remember what I did because I suffered from some sort of food poisoning. The second time I went there, I didn't enjoy it all too much because it was so unbelievably packed back in 2019. Granted, we always hit the usual spots back then but still - it was not that enjoyable to walk around Kyoto as it felt more like an open-air museum than a city.

But I had the benefit of being able to visit Kyoto before regular tourism resumed and it was so, so different. Just writing about it is weird because on one hand, it was an absolute joy to wander the streets with barely anybody there and actually seeing the sights without fighting hordes of people or rushing to not stand in someone's photo while on the other hand I knew that a lot of people relied on tourism to keep afloat. Somewhat mixed feelings in my mind about that time.

On the day I arrived, an obligatory visit to Fushimi Inari in the evening was a must for me. I was even lucky to be there when there was some sort of lantern illumination event. I'll let the pictures do the talking for this one. Mind you, this was at around 6-8pm - which in normal years would still have plenty of people around.

The following day, I went to Kiyomizudera for the first time ever. I will keep repeating myself and it might get annoying but... aside school classes, there was barely anyone there so I got to take some great pictures of a relatively empty temple. Since it was around the corner, I also checked out the Yasaka pagoda and strolled (can't exactly remember what place this was), towards Maruyama park, ultimately ending up at Yasaka itself.

This was a rather long day because I also then walked to Heian Jingu. I could have probably taken a bus at any point but to be honest, I was in the mood for walking (as per usual) and it was probably the correct decision. Once I checked that out, I made my way to the final destination of the day, which was Ginkakuji, the less famous "brother" of Kinkakuji. At the time, this place was pretty damn empty. I really enjoyed this one much more than Kinkakuji. Kinkakuji is just one golden temple and you walk through the area in like five minutes. Ginkakuji might not be as shiny, but the garden around it makes up for it. I also got there at the perfect time for sunset! As the sun set further, I made my way back to the airbnb I was staying at, enjoying the peaceful streets.

I actually went to the pagoda a day later in the evening to try and get some better pics and...unfortunately, this car just didn't move away from this spot for ages so it ended up on the shot one way or another. On another day, I actually did go to Kinkakuji and this was basically right after borders had reopened. I didn't expect too many people there and even though it was still rather empty, there were already a few tour groups around. A sign of what was to come in the months ahead! I also visited Ryoan-ji, which I strolled to from Kinkakuji. The north-west side of Kyoto is pretty much never mentioned when people talk about the city and I've only really checked this place out but am absolutely planning to visit this side of Kyoto more in the future. It's very quiet, a bit more residential and made for a really nice, relaxing walk through the side streets. Topped the short trip here off with a katsu curry in a small, local shop!

Nara

Of course, a visit to Nara was obligatory. I think I've only been there once before and barely remembered much due to being sick at the time, so this was basically a brand new experience. I must say, I am not the biggest fan of the deer and think they're kind of overrated and more...annoying than fun. So I somewhat beelined to Kofuku-ji and then Todai-ji. The latter being extremely impressive, which is probably nothing new to people who've read trip reports before. But damn, it's so damn huge, it made me wonder how people built that back in the day. I also went to Nigatsu-do and took a little break in a restaurant across it, having some curry udon. The last stop of the day was Kasuga-Taisha - which I have actually just never been to before, despite it being quite famous apparently. It's quite the beautiful place, both the shrine and the surroundings itself since it's pretty much in the middle of the woods. There's also sort of a "dark room" where you simply walk through, only lanterns faintly burning inside.

I was quite exhausted at that point if I remember correctly, so I headed back to Kyoto, had an amazing ramen and then turned in for the night.

Uji

Another day with brilliant weather lent itself well to visiting Uji at the time. It is a short train ride away from Kyoto and known for its matcha, but there are also a few shrines and temples worth visiting. Most notably Byodoin. Uji river looks fantastic at this time of the year. One of the many things I love about Japan is that this sort of scenery is found all across the country. Wide rivers, forests to the side, shrines nestled within them and hills or mountains in the "background". I never got enough of these sorts of views. On my little hike I visited Ujigami shrine, of which I only took these two pictures of

Somewhat close to Ujigami is Kosho-ji, which doesn't even have a reception or anything - you can get a ticket at a vending machine in front of the place and nobody checks. It's an often repeated stereotype, but a lot of things in Japan truly are built on trust. Nobody would notice if anyone were to walk into this place without a ticket, but everyone buys one all the same. You can walk through the interior sanctuary and check out the well maintained garden here. This was a while ago of course but even now I don't think this would have many tourists flocking to it, so if you want to check a more "off the beaten path" location in Uji, this one is it!

Kifune Shrine

Speaking of "off the beaten path" locations, Kifune shrine is rarely mentioned in travel itineraries either. That might be because it's outside of Kyoto city, to the north. If I recall correctly, the train ride takes about 30 minutes from Demachi-Yanagi station. Once you arrive at Kibune-guchi station, you can either take the bus up the road to the shrine, or you can walk 20-30 minutes. As always, I opted for the walk, which was fantastic. That being said, you will be walking right next to the road, so if you don't like the occasional car or bus driving past you, take the bus itself. The road is surrounded by mountains and there's a river ...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/pizzagal_69 on 2024-03-07 07:34:10.

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Hey everyone! I don't believe I have ever posted in this thread before but I have a weird request! I am about to leave Japan and want one last weekend of fun before I go. I unfortunately injured myself pretty badly skiing in Nagano a few weeks ago and am on crutches! I really want to explore somewhere in Tokyo, Kawasaki, or Yokohama area this weekend but I am finding it hard to figure out what I will be able to do that is fun but also requires little walking, as I tire quickly on crutches. Does anyone have any suggestions for what to do? Perhaps a unique restaurant or something? Thanks again and have a great day!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/miles_away1012 on 2024-03-06 19:13:22.

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Finally getting around to writing a trip report from our Japan adventure in October 2023!

Summary:

My husband (33M) and I (32F) spent two weeks here, traveling the typical first-timer loop. We spent 5 days in Tokyo, 2 days in Hakone, 4 days in Kyoto, and 2 days in Osaka. While we are fairly experienced travelers, we decided to hire a travel agent from Japan Travel to help us plan our trip. We tend to travel at a moderate pace, not overly relaxed but also not interested in waking up early every single day.

General Advice:

• Others have said this on this sub, but it’s worth repeating: plan for at least a one hour commute wherever you are going, even if it looks like it’s close on Google Maps! We were not prepared for the scale of the Tokyo until we experienced it in person.

• Luggage delivery is worth the cost! It was easy to arrange through our hotel.

• I felt like the Tokyo part of our journey was well paced, but things got a little to chaotic for us in Kyoto/Osaka. It’s possible to do everything, but we were exhausted at this part of the trip. One more day in Kyoto would’ve been great.

• This was my mistake, but I did not pack appropriate clothes for the weather we experienced on this trip. Because it was the end of October/early November, I packed sweaters, pants, etc. It was HOT (average 75 degrees fahrenheit through our trip). More shorts, dresses, skirts would’ve been great and a light jacket would’ve been fine for cooler temps at night.

Day 0 - Arrival in Tokyo

Our flight from Toronto to Tokyo was delayed by 3ish hours, so we arrived at roughly 8pm at Haneda. From deplaning to departing the airport, we probably spent 1 ½ to 2 hours in the airport - customs, waiting for luggage to be delivered, filling out the forms for luggage, etc. Our travel agent had arranged transportation from the airport to our hotel, which was clutch considering our exhaustion after travel. We walked to a nearby 7Eleven for dinner and went to sleep.

Day 1 - Tsujiki Market, Tokyo Skytree, Akihabara

We woke up at 6:10am (jetlag!), had breakfast at the hotel and then took the subway to Tsujiki Market for a market tour and sushi making experience. Our tour guide was fine, gave us a great overview of the market and we got to stop for a few snacks. I expected to buy fish at the market, but we did not. We then took the subway as a group to the sushi school and had a class with a chef. This was very fun and lowkey. The sushi we made was very basic but delicious. We enjoyed this tour and would recommend something similar for others.

The sushi class ended around 12:30 and we took the subway over to our next planned activity, Tokyo Skytree. We made a stop in Ginza, which was along our route, so that we could pick up a Pasmo. We were scheduled to to to the top of TST at 2:00pm, and we arrived there right on the dot. Lines to go up were pretty fast, but it was packed once we got to the top floors. We got an overpriced matcha at the cafe on the Tembo Deck and admired the view for a bit, then went to the Tembo Galleria. Lines to go down were extremely long (probably waited 40 minutes). TST is cool to see, but I believe there are better observation decks. If you go, I definitely do not think it is worth it to go to the Galleria - stick with the lower deck.

We returned to the hotel for a quick break, then headed out to Akihabara (roughly 20 minute walk from our hotel). We had dinner at Roast Beef Ohno in Akihabara, then went to Gigo to play some games. They have every arcade game imaginable and it was so cool to see the local gamers mastering their games. I am not a big gamer, but this was a super fun experience. Akihabara seemed a little slower and less crowded than I expected, possibly because we were there on a Monday, but I still think this is a must-see neighborhood.

Day 2 - Asakusa, Ginza, and our first big mistake

This was our first of a few very avoidable mistakes made on this trip. We expected to go to the Ghibli Museum today and planned to get the Totoro Cream Puffs, so we headed to that area around 9:45am. Arrived at the metro stop nearest to the cream puffs at around 11, walked up and discovered the cafe was closed. Womp!

We then headed to Gotojuki Temple. We spent roughly an hour here. It was very quiet and traditional and the lucky cats were fun to see. We are cat people and I would consider this an Instagram-worthy spot, but I would not go out of my way for it again.

We sat down to look for a lunch spot before our Ghibli Museum time and realized that our Museum tickets were for the following day! We were glad that we didn’t go all the way to the museum, only to be turned away. We hopped back on the metro and went to Asakusa.

When we arrived in Asakusa, we were in search of lunch. We landed in this little ramen bar near Senso-ji. We were eating a little late for the Japanese crowd, but the chef was very kind to accommodate us. The ramen was extremely delicious!

After lunch, we went into Senso-ji Temple (roughly 3pm). It was very pretty and very crowded. We drew fortunes, explored the buildings and gardens, then headed down the shopping street. From there we walked over to Kappabashi Street. There were a few shops that I wanted to visit, but a Japanese knife was at the top of my list. Kama Asa was recommended to me as the place to go, and I am paying that recommendation forward. The shop was extremely professional with a wide variety of knives. The clerks were very helpful and multi-lingual. I found a versatile knife for myself and a knife for a chef friend. There were a few others shops I wanted to visit but it was near closing time and my husband was losing steam. We walked to the big chef head, which was exactly like it sounds. Then we went to Mister Donut for a pick-me-up and headed back to our hotel.

For dinner, we took the subway over to Ginza. We didn’t have much of a plan here, we walked by a couple of dinner places and ended up at one of those “grill your own” places. We ordered beef, seafood, and veggies and had an excellent dinner. We were too tired to grab a nightcap, so returned to the hotel.

Day 3 - Ghibli Museum

Trying this again! Our travel planner had recommended that we take a day trip to Nikko on this day, but we obviously couldn’t make that happen with our Ghibli mistake. That said, I would not recommend trying to do that day trip to anyone who only has five days in Tokyo. There is so much to do and see that it doesn’t seem worth it to spend all that time on a train.

Anyway, we headed out and went to the Totoro Cream Puff Factory. I have read lots of opinions on this place, but to me it was worth the trip. It was adorable and not crowded at all. We had the option of buying small cream puffs for take away or we could wait 15 minutes to sit in the cafe. We decided to wait and were so glad that we did. We had a lovely little table in the corner and enjoyed some matcha and two cream puffs (chocolate and chestnut). They were adorable and delicious.

We headed to the Ghibli Museum after, roughly 45 mins by train and then a 20 minute walk through a beautiful serene park. We stopped for lunch at a small noodle shop near the museum (delish!) then lined up for our 2pm call time at the museum. It was absolutely beautiful and I loved seeing the short film. I did expect the exhibits to be a bit more focused on the movies and animation, but it was more like an art museum. Like the films, everything was a feast for the eyes. A great stop for Ghibli fans and art lovers.

After the museum, we took the metro to Shibuya. This was the first station we had visited that had a JR Pass office, so we decided to find the office before heading out to explore. This station is absolutely bonkers during normal times due to the amount of people, but the insanity was exacerbated by the construction that was occurring. It took us 40 minutes to find the office.

After the debacle, we were both like “I need a drink”. We decided to go to the Family Mart that has the whiskey bar. This place was extremely charming and the whiskey selection was excellent. We enjoyed some konbini and chatted with a few other travelers who were at the bar. I loved this experience, it was very silly and fun.

We left the bar and started wandering around for dinner. Everywhere had lines, so we just started waiting. It turned out that we were at Gyukatsua Motomura, which I have seen many times on Tiktok (this was a great surprise). We waited for 45 minutes, but really enjoyed the experience once we sat down. We ended our day after dinner, which was around 10pm.

Day 4 - Harajuku, Shibuya, Shinjuku

We left our hotel and headed over to Harajuku. We got there a little too early for the shops to be open, at around 10:45am. We primarily explored Takeshita Street, which was a little bit like a beach boardwalk in my opinion. We are not big shoppers, so we didn’t spend a lot of time here. I hoped to see cool street fashion and interesting foods, but I think we were too early.

From here we went to Shibuya for a lunch reservation at Sushi Tokyo Ten, which was arranged for us by our travel agent. We had an omakase lunch here that was incredible! This was our first omakase experience in Japan and it really blew us away. Highly recommend!

After lunch, we needed to walk off all the food so we went to the Meiji shrine. Google Maps routed us the long way, but it allowed us to see a great de...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Informal-Seaweed-159 on 2024-03-05 05:32:20.

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Please watch out at club Voyager Stand Shibuya for people looking to scam you with “free drinks”. There are people there with the nomihodai passes (young Japanese/southeast-asian mixed guy that speaks some English with a pretty young Japanese girl) who will offer to buy you drink after drink and pretend to be drunk too, then all of a sudden the staff will come over and force you to pay for nomihodai yourself once they think you’re drunk enough. I had to drag two friends out of there and when I did the guy came running out magically sober as a bell suddenly not speaking any English anymore trying to bring us back in. Even when we went far down the street he still followed and tried to get us back in there. I only lost ¥6000 for the 3 of us but I don’t even wanna imagine what the fuck else they had planned should we have stayed. I don’t wanna assume that the whole bar is in on it, but the evidence just fits too well. And also, on their instagram page they advertise that it’s ¥1,100 for men/women nomihodai but on their posts it says ¥1,000, and then when you go in person it’s now ¥2000. There’s a lot more details I left out for sake of length, but just like I said, be careful of this bar and be very wary of any other establishments of this kind.

Edits: I’m not looking for sympathy of any kind, I’m all good I just wanna let people know of a scummy bar in particular. I know this is a common scam but not everyone knows that. No I wasn’t pulled in or anything, they didn’t have people pulling you in, it was only that guy after I had left.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/First_Middle_Last-00 on 2024-03-04 22:46:05.

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Hi all! Just wanted to start by saying that I have been on this thread and a few others for months now, planning my trip and reading everyone's first hand experiences!

This will be Part One of my two week trip report, I'll add the link for Part Two when it is complete.

I am sharing my personal experiences and opinions, which of course are going to be unique to me in some way and shared commonalities in others. Just because I did or did not like something or had issues / smooth sailing with something else shouldn't deter you or draw you in. Take everything with a grain of salt...we all like different things and experience things in our own unique ways :)

To start, I am a 30-35 year old female from Canada, first solo trip. I've been to a few European countries before. I live in a small town and am fairly unfamiliar with big city etiquette and public transit. I speak about 3 words of Japanese.

February 26 - departed Canada in the early morning, flights were cheap at sub-$1200 round trip, only one connection (if I had the money, I'd pay for premium economy or business class for the long haul flight)

February 27 - arrived at NRT mid-afternoon - I wasn't feeling well, probably from lack of sleep / food / anxiousness - navigating the airport to find Customs and the trains was fairly easy, I had already pre-purchased and pre-installed an eSim - I made it to my hotel in Asakusa and fell asleep fairly quickly around 8pm

Note: I did not read the fine print and thought an eSim allowed for voice / text - this is not the case - data only, Whatsapp is your best friend for communicating with family, or FB Messenger

Note: I have 0 experience with public transportation, and only lived in a "big city" for a handful of years - I found navigating the train system extremely easy with the help of Google Maps and reading signage / looking for colors to match the lines, etc....if this part is giving you anxiety like it did for me, I assure you, it'll be okay!

February 28 - I woke up very early (like 1 am), feeling slightly better from the day before, so I ventured out to a 7/11 and Family Mart and got some snacks - it was a light day, but I was able to check out Senso-ji Shrine, Asakusa Shrine, and Hozomon Gate

Note: I tried using the Timeshifter App to reduce jet lag, but I'm a shift worker and I think I was doomed from the start - as of this writing (March 5), I am still exhausted by 5pm and waking around 4am.

February 29 - I woke up at about 3am, found a McDonald's for an early breakfast and watched some Netflix until things started opening up - I walked to Shinjuku Gyoen National Park, Meiji Jingu and Yoyogi Park, the Pokemon Center and Nintendo Store in Shibuya, and took in the Shibuya Scramble - train back to the hotel

March 1 - Day trip to Kamakura

March 2 - Rest day - after walking nearly 50,000 steps over the previous two days, my body hurt and was begging me to stop, I only walked to one restaurant around the corner from my hotel and had two baths to recover

March 3 - took the train to the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace and Nijubashi Bridge, walked to Pokemon Center DX - today was a bad day to be in this area as it was Tokyo Marathon and multiple streets were blocked off, I wanted to go to Animate Akihibara and Yodobashi but I couldn't figure out how to cross or where to cross - I instead went to Ueno Park and Zoo

March 4 - checked out of Tokyo hotel and travelled to Nikko where I stayed overnight - visited the World Heritage Shrines and Temples, as well as taking the Ropeway to see Kegon Falls and Lake Chuzenji - arrived in Nikko approximately 9am and crashed at about 6pm

March 5 - woke at approximately 4am and will be travelling to Kyoto for the next leg of my journey

As for Food and Accommodations:

Tokyo - APA Hotel Asakusa Kuramae Kita - 4.5 stars, clean, techy, washer/dryer facilities, staff were friendly, well-placed near train stations and restaurants

I ate at McDonald's, Denny's, Dominos, Ichiran, a place that ordered off Uber Eats that I can't even begin to spell, much less say, McLean Old Burger Stand, and I had lots of snacks from convenience stores and even sushi - I know it sounds super North American, but I wanted to ease into the culture and sometimes having familiar things helps with anxiety too - overall, Ichiran was my favourite experience and food quality

Nikko - Nikko Station Hotel II - 3.8 stars, clean, basic, central to trains and buses

I only had three meals here - Cafe Fleur, Azuma, and the hotel breakfast - all three meals were reasonably priced and tasty - the Nikko Belgian beer at Azuma was very good

Final Thoughts

I have a lot of anxiety and this was my first solo trip - so far, I've had a fantastic time and I'm starting to become more familiar with the culture and vibes of Japan - also, for all the female travellers, I've never felt uncomfortable or unsafe once so far

Everything that I was anxious about has been fairly simple to navigate

A few things I've found: there aren't nearly as much English speakers here as anticipated, but Google Translate and "sign language" works well to get by - things are fairly inexpensive here - trains are super efficient means of travel in city

Over / Under rated: I planned 6 nights in Tokyo, I could've done with 5, I'm not one for shopping or nightlife and the time of year I came didn't really exploit the beauty of nature - the Parks are probably much more beautiful in summer or fall, I would skip the National Park next time - I would also skip the Imperial Palace and East Gardens - I really enjoyed all of the shrines and temples, even the little roadsides ones you pass as you walk around the city - Kamakura seems over-rated to me unless you're into checking out all the little shops and restaurants - Nikko is something that should be enjoyed in summer or fall, I'm from Canada and it is friggin cold here / windy, Kegon Falls had very little water flow this time of year...with that said, you can't miss the World Heritage circuit including the Shogun Mausoleum

I'll keep you updated for part two! Thanks for reading :)

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/VincX13 on 2024-03-03 17:31:55.

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Hello everyone.

I posted an itinerary some weeks ago and some users told me it was too much and impossible to do because there was too many places in one day.

Well… not only there was ton of time to do those things but I actually did a lot more.

So here’s my itinerary in case you want to steal it.

Premises:

1. We stopped a lot to shoot photos and videos
2. We walked and never rushed things
3. We frequently stopped at stores and restaurants/bars
4. We never used a taxi, just metropolitan/buses and trains
5. We had free time to just chill around
6. We walked a lot
7. We woke up early in the morning and we were home by 21:00/22:00

Here’s the itinerary of 6 days:

DAY 1: Morning

• Guided tour to Mt. Fuji Evening
• Atago Jinja
• Roppongi
• Tokyo Tower

DAY 2: Morning

• Kanda
• Ginza
• Tsukiji Market Evening
• Yoyogi Park
• Meiji Jingu
• Harajuku
• Pet Cafe in Harajuku
• Shibuya Sky
• Shibuya cross road
• Mega Don Quijote
• Golden Gai
• Shinjuku

DAY 3: Morning

• Senso-ji
• Ueno Park
• Yanaka
• Ameyoko Market
• Akihabara Evening (Rest)

DAY 4: (Tokyo to Kyoto) Morning

• Kyoto
• Kyomizu Dera
• Kodaiji Temple
• Gion Evening
• Kinkaku-Ji
• Ryoan-ji
• Arashiyama Forest
• Kimono Forest

DAY 5: Morning

• Fushimi Inari
• Nara
• Kofukuji
• Todaiji Evening (back to Tokyo)
• Shinjuku

DAY 6:

• Tokyo Disneysea

Guys, trust me, with Japan public transportations you can do everything.

Two things that users told me that wasn’t real was:

1. Google Maps isn’t good at timing
2. Apple wallet isn’t accepted in 90% of stores (in Tokyo I paid only with VISA and Kyoto was the only city requiring cash)

Read the premises. If you rush things and don’t shoot a lot as we did you can see more things than we did.

Remember we had a looooot of free time but we used to rest.

That been said Japan is AWESOME!!!! I’m in love and already missing it.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/sevketp2 on 2024-03-02 13:45:42.

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Hey everyone! I wanted to share my Izu Peninsula trip. It took 4 days and I started my trip from Yokohama. Since I was an exchange student, I had a low-budget trip without a car. I don't remember the hours well, so please don't take them as certain reference. I hope it helps!

1st day (24 Feb)

• Taking the train with the first lights of the morning (I didn't take the limited express one, the cheapest route offered by Maps)

• Took the Jogasaki Trail, starting from the north (the point is Jogasaki Picnical Course on the Maps), until the bus stop after the lighthouse

• Going to Mount Omuro by bus, I didn't take the cable car since everywhere was brown, and didn't see.

• Eating in Honke Maguroya Izukogen

• Staying in Pension Sunny Salad

2nd day

• I woke up at 6 and headed to the Kawazu Waterfalls by train and bus. My goal was to go to the old tunnel by following the Odoriko Trail; however, snow started and the middle of the route was closed because of maintenance until end of the April (as far as I remember) so I couldn't complete it.

• Eating in Masumi Diner

• Chilling in Hokkawa Onsen, just near the ocean.

• Staying in Izu Hokkawa Seaside Guesthouse

3rd day

• Going to Shimoda

• Visiting Perry Road and Shimoda local fish market (there are also other stores)

• Took a bus to Shirahama Beach, visited the famous shrine

• Walked down until to the train station (I'd suggest walking through the ocean view), swimming in the Sotoura Beach

• Going back to Atami and staying in Atami Onsen Guest House Megumi

4th day

• Walking to the Kinomiya Shrine (not necessary)

• Going to the Kiunkaku, good to visit an old luxurious Japanese ryokan

• Walking to the Atami castle. This hit hard, I didn't expect to climb to the other way of the town. But it was amazing with the town view, then I found out about Relics Pagoda which I thought a telecommunication stuff at first from the other side of the town. It has a very different style and is gorgeous. Nobody was around. Then going to Atami Castle, you see the ocean view. When I arrived at Atami Castle, I didn't even hesitate NOT to go in after this amazing trip! :)

• Going back to Yokohama

Suggestions

• Buy the Izukyuko line pass. I bought it only for the train as I was told there is no bus but as I've seen on Reddit there might be, so please check.

• There are sometimes observation trains on the Izokyuko line, ask about the schedule and take one.

• Eat a Melon Pan in Kikkodo after Kiunkaku.

• Highly suggested: Hokkawa Onsen, Relics Pagoda

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/kilibrium on 2024-03-01 21:14:18.

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Hello all, I wanted to write a trip report since I received so many tips and recommendations from previous posters. My itinerary was very loose, I highlighted and bookmarked things I wanted to see ahead of time and spent about 15 minutes every morning routing out things I felt like doing that day. I was solo for the majority of the days and met up with friends about 20% of the time.

 

• Flight to hotel: Flew into Narita using Zipair, it was as expected bare bones with a seat to get to Japan. It was surprisingly empty and people were able to lay down in empty rows. I arrived at 8:30PM and had no issue getting through security. I was able to withdraw money from the ATMs at the airport and pick up a 28-day Passmo card and loaded it with cash at the kiosks. I was a little slow and caught one of the last or next to last Keisei Skyliners out of Narita and to my hotel in Asakusa. There will be plenty of people at the entrance of the train stations to help you, you only need to show your google maps destination on your phone.

 

• Tokyo(Asakusa home base)

  • Stayed at a business hotel in Asakusa, it was small and got the job done. A little cramped with a small suitcase. The Asakusa area itself as others have pointed out is quieter and less busy compared to the other major cities in Tokyo.
  • Highlights in the Asakusa area were Senso-ji temple, Tokyo Skytree, Sumida River.
  • Ueno park was 30 minutes from where I was staying and I spent a whole day there while also vising the Tokyo National Museum.
  • Meiji-Jingu was my favorite shrine I visited while in Japan. I went shopping after the visit in Shibuya for most of the day and had dinner at an Izakaya in Shinjuku at night with friends.
  • We went to an arcade after dinner, it was a good time even if we didn't win anything at the claw machine.
  • Team labs planets was a great time. I was not planning on visiting it based on recommendations on the sub but different people like different things. I booked my tickets using their website 2 hours in advance the same day.

• Yokohama

  • I had an event to participate in during the day in Yokohama and decided to stay here for 1 night in case the event ran long.
  • It is definitely worth making a day trip here. I mostly visited the areas surrounding Chinatown. Yamashita park, Gundam Factory, Minatomirai, and the views from the harbor were beautiful.
  • I would have liked to spend a full day here but did not plan for it sadly.

• Kamakura - Day Trip

  • I had checked out of my Yokohama hotel that morning and planned to take the Shinkansen in the evening to arrive in Kyoto. I went to Shin-Yokohama station to buy a non-reserved shinkansen ticket. I also was able to store my luggage in a large coin locker with no issue and proceeded to take the train to Kamakura.
  • This was a day trip with a small group of friends. We had a Japanese friend plan the itinerary so I do not recall the exact details. Overall it was a nice slow and tranquil day after spending a lot of time in the city and walking around.
  • We went to two temples, Hasedera and Kotoku-in, both are worth visiting and have a small entrance fee. Although small compared to the other temples I had been to, they were dense and packed with a lot of beauty and culture. There is also the Kamakura Music Box Museum located near the shrines.
  • The day ended walking through a shopping district buying food and looking at souvenirs before we split.
  • I arrived back at Shin-Yokohama at around 6:30 PM and took the shinkansen to Kyoto.

• Kyoto

  • The plan was to pit-stop here for 1 day and 2 nights to experience a ryokan. The one I had chosen used a private reservation system for the onsen. The customer service was very attentive and made effort to make conversation in English with me.
  • The ryokan served breakfast and there was an opt-in for dinner. Both meals from the ryokan were amazing it was the main reason I decided to book one in the first place.
  • I got tickets for the GEAR /Non-Verbal theatre and it was a highlight of Kyoto for me. It starts off slow but picks up the pace after the first 5-10 minutes. The venue is small and there is some crowd interaction if you pick the seats closer to the stage. If you enjoy plays/musicals I would recommend it.
  • Like other tourist I visited Fushimi Inari Taisha, Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, and Philosophers Path. Fushimi Inari was worth visiting just for the fun of walking all the way up. Aryashiyama I went during peak hours and that was a bad idea.
  • I would have like to added another full day in Kyoto to take things slower and see more.

• Osaka

  • I started off by going to Osaka Castle and Osaka Museum of History. There is a lot to see outside of Osaka Castle even if you do not go inside. The Osaka Museum was more interesting than I thought it would be. There is a lot of history to Osaka.
  • I visited Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan. A lot of fish in tanks here, some fish I had never seen before, worth going if you like aquariums. We finished the night at Dotonbori.
  • Highlight of Osaka was going down to Sennan Marble Beach. There was an oyster food festival/market happening during the weekends and we made the trip to go out there. The oyster event was only for a limited time, it may be ending soon or already over.
  • FFXIV cafe was an okay visit. If you want some of the souvenirs they offer it is worth the trip for that.
  • Took a small day trip to Nara and feeding the deer was a good time.

 

• Key Takeaways / Notes
  • You get used to the train system very fast with google maps. Even if you mess up another train will appear in 5-15 minutes.
  • Food was good everywhere and do not worry about getting food not speaking Japanese as long as you can point at the menu and be polite.
  • There are a lot of smaller parks, shrines, restaurants I went to that I did not add to the main post. But they were very enjoyable and important parts to the trip. If walking a lot is not an issue for you I would walk the 15 minutes instead of taking the train for 5. I am a not obese but overweight, if you can average 10k steps a day in your daily life you will be fine getting around.
  • Outside of the business hotel, I booked in advance and was able to book 4-star hotels at about 50-60$ USD a night. I combined some one-time coupons and booking 60 days in advance deals. Normally these hotels would be at least $150 a night in the U.S.
  • I used T-Mobile international data plan as my phone does not support e-sim. It was no issue 90% of the time, it did slow down at times.
  • Definitely bring some cash, I was able to get through my whole trip with 40k yen in cash used and the rest in card.
  • Small coin purse/wallet recommended but you can use a backpack compartment instead.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/SideStrict1177 on 2024-02-29 12:47:02.

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Hello everyone :( I’m currently on vacation in Tokyo and have 4 more days until I leave back to the states.

The problem is I have a tooth that fell out a couple months ago and the nerve is exposed. (Note: I have a scheduled root canal but dental work in the states is so expensive so I am planning to take care of it in March!!) Out of nowhere, the nerve itself flared up and the whole left side of my face is swollen and I am in intolerable pain.

Unfortunately, my healthcare provider does not cover international care and I’m in desperate need of pain killers and/or antibiotics for the swelling. Any advice for a foreigner? Any clinics or options available for traveling foreigners?? I also don’t want to pay a hefty medical bill as I am currently almost done with the trip and don’t have much money to spare. Thank you for the help and I apologize if this has been previously posted. 😔

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Dumbidiot1323 on 2024-02-27 21:48:27.

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Welp, I am unsure as to whether anyone even wants to read stuff that happened over 1 1/2 years ago at this point but because I started this travel report series, I want to finish it. My goal is to have the final one released before the end of May. Unfortunately, pictures in the albums are out of order because imgur keeps being annoying.

You can find the other three parts down below. With that said, here goes.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Tokyo

I took the long way home from Sapporo to Tokyo on a 7 1/2 hours train journey. Once I arrived back in Tokyo, my Airbnb was situated in Shinjuku so I exited the station and to my surprise, I ran into a certain content creator just outside. Pretty neat encounter! I was also immediately reminded of the fact that Hokkaido (at that time) was far nicer when it came to heat and humidity because I was sweating within minutes of getting back to Tokyo.

The plan for this month was stupid, as the title of this thread may imply. Blinded by the amazing time I had in Sapporo and a rather... optimistic Autumn foliage forecast, I already planned to get back to Sapporo in the middle of September. Before that though, I spent a few days in Tokyo and Kamakura...

I didn't do a lot in Tokyo itself. I stayed at an Airbnb in Shin-Okubo and quickly realised that that was a mistake. Even when foreign tourism was pretty much dead, Shin-Okubo was packed. And unlike the big areas in Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro and the like, Shin-Okubo in particular just does not have a lot of space for pedestrians. Honestly, if you are into K-Pop and Korean pop culture, I do not know if you'd enjoy this place because it's just so goddamn packed.

I did have some Korean fried chicken (of course...) at a place that was REALLY good at the time. Service was great, food was great, portions were great... all of that was gone once borders reopened. I went to the same place another two times in 2023 and the quality of everything fell off a cliff...

Speaking of open borders - the one BIG news that hit while I was taking a small break from travel in Tokyo was that Japan would open its borders to foreign tourists in mid-October again. My first reaction was "Hell yeah, my friends can visit me!" but that was quickly followed by "Oh fuck...". This was a very selfish thing to think, but I immediately thought about how much cost and availability of accommodations would change. In hindsight, I should have probably immediately spent a bunch of time planning out months in advance but it was also somewhat difficult for me because I wanted to stay as flexible as possible. Either way - the looming return of tourism certainly did stress me out a bit because while I did have a lot of money saved up, I kind of banked on Japan not reopening until March/April. Oh well, such was life!

Kamakura

Somehow I have never been to Kamakura at that point in time and I was pleasantly surprised by how nice it was. Another one of many places I am glad to have experienced back then because now it is probably swarmed with people and having all the temples and the buddha relatively empty was amazing. I also took a bit of a hike around, visiting some more off the beaten path areas. There is a one day itinerary for Kamakura on Japan Guide and I think I basically walked to places that were on that itinerary. Once again, mosquitos struck and I had to deal with bites that itched for a solid week and red dots that did not disappear for two. So, if you plan on going to Japan in September, unless it is Hokkaido, please get yourself some mosquito repellant.

Sapporo 2.0

Now, as the title stated, this was the first time I made a mistake and unfortunately, Sapporo was that mistake. Not only did I take the Shinkansen + LE up there, which was way more expensive than a flight, but the trip itself was just a waste because - as I should have researched far better - Autumn colours were still a while away from appearing. Moreover, the Anime Bar I mentioned in my August report was already beginning to decline. Many of the staff members I got to know stopped working there which had sort of a big impact on the atmosphere.

There were some random cosplay events during this visit where I got to take pictures of a bunch of really well done cosplays. Here's a pretty convincing Majima from the Yakuza series, as an example. I also got to attend the Sapporo Rainbow Pride with the American friend I made a month prior. Overall, I just can't look back at this trip to Sapporo too positively, because it cost a whole lot of money and most of the things that made the previous visit great were just absent. I didn't want to just return to Tokyo again so I decided to take a trip down to Sendai and stay there for a few days so the trip back wasn't just another shinkansen ride.

If you are ever planning to go to Sapporo but don't have any plans to stay anywhere along the route from Tokyo up to Sapporo (Sendai, Aomori, Hakodate, Noboribetsu, Toya-ko), you should take a flight. They're usually cheaper and faster.

Shiogama + Matsushima

I took an early train from Sendai to Hon-Shiogama station because I wanted to check the area out and then take the boat ride to Matsushima. Shiogama shrine is a short walk away from the station and it looked fantastic in Summer. Originally, I had planned to eat some seafood in the area since Shiogama is famous for having the most sushi restaurant per capita in Japan but I wasn't really hungry at that point so I decided to take the boat ride from Shiogama to Matsushima.

Matsushima is famous for having one of the 3 great views of Japan. Dozens upon dozens of islands are dotted around the bay and the boat ride had two options, one that takes you directly to Matsushima and one that takes a little detour around a bunch of those islands. I can't remember exactly which route it is but I do recall that it was fairly obvious when buying the tickets which course was which. I can wholeheartedly recommend the detour! Some of the little islands feel like they were manmade, their formations and holes looking like someone purposely built them that way. Once we docked at Matsushima bay, I made my way over to Zuigan-ji and Entsuin temple.

Again, the scenery in Summer is incredible and the vivid green of the tree leaves and moss all over the place gave the temple grounds a really nice tone. If you want to visit Matsushima, definitely check this place out since it is basically right across the bay anyway. When I left the temple grounds, I decided to finally eat something and settled for a small seafood place nearby. As mentioned before, this entire area is supposed to have some fantastic seafood and the kaisendon I ordered was delicious. That being said - I am not a connoisseur so whether this was better than the one I had in Sapporo, I couldn't tell. It's probably all mostly a marketing thing :P

Once I finished up with my meal, I walked across the long, red bridge connecting the bay with Fukuurajima and walked a loop around it. One thing to mention is that there is a small fee to walk across the bridge. I do not remember exactly how much it was, but it couldn't have been more than like 300 yen. This was a more quiet area with a lot of shade and a different angle to view the bay from. I was running kinda late and sun was starting to set, so I made my way back to the bay, took a few final photos and had a "Man, I can't believe I am here and looking at this." moment where I got a bit emotional haha.

Yamadera

Ever since I saw this temple in a Youtube video, I wanted to visit it and the weather forecast was looking great a day before I actually went. But alas, on the day I actually took the train ride, the weather gods wanted to be a little bit nasty and made it rain! Thankfully it wasn't too bad and perhaps it added a bit to the atmosphere. Yamadera is a temple built on a mountain side. It is quite a bit of a walk up to it but my god was it beautiful all around. You basically hike through the foresty mountainside, past a few shrines (?) up to the top, through big gates and over stone steps. Had to be a bit careful since they get rather slippery when it's raining, though. Also, the hike can get rather steep and there are a lot of steps so if you plan on going here, please keep that in mind.

That being said, the view from the top is nothing short of breathtaking. My shitty Pixel 4 camera does not do this place any justice. The mountains look incredible and I suppose the rainy weather made it look more "atmospheric" (for lack of a better word) with the fog hugging the hills/mountains. This is an absolute MUST see if you are ever near Sendai or in Yamagata prefecture itself. Never got to see it in Autumn, but from the...

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