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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/metafire18 on 2024-02-11 00:57:08.

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Hi there,

I wanted to share a program/itinerary that worked well for us and potentially for anyone looking for a good mix of "old/traditional", geeky, fun and yummy travel in Japan. If I had to do it all over again, I'd take the same route, because it was great!

I also try to write down some information that may be useful for others to save time and reduce anxiety :-) I think most of them have already been mentioned at least once on Reedit, though!

For the context, it was our first trip in Japan with my wife. 18 days including travel time. We wanted to go during November to enjoy autumn colors of mapple tree. It turned out that temperatures were abnormally high and autumn was delayed lol. We were still able to enjoy the autumn colors on the second part of our stay. For the record, the progress of autumn varies drastically from city to city. Kyoto seems to be the most advanced, I'd say (confirmed by a map/schedule found on site).

Stages

Day 1 * Our flight was at 9am and we arrived at Haneda airport (closer than Narita) around 7am the next day. We picked up our Pocket Wifi and loaded the Suica card. It's very practical to do it at the airport if you do it right. We stayed at Ginza during our stay in Tokyo. It's a nice place. Classy and quiet. Ginza is also very convenient for navigating the city, thanks to the nearby JR station. * Pokemon Center DX. There is a Pokemon Coffee in Ginza. It is not too packed in November. There is no need to book in advance IMO but we did not try to enter either. We did 3 or 4 Pokémon Centers during our trip in Japan. I can't think of a single one that stood out, either positively or negatively. They all offer something different in terms of decoration and are well worth a visit. * The Imperial Palace. There is a park with the foundations of a dungeon + small guardian houses. Not essential IMO but it does not cost much to go through. * We head then to Ochanomizu on our way to Akihabara. This place is full of music stores (guitars, basses, amps and stuff). As a musician, it's cool to see such giant displays for Gibson or Fender products. We then arrived in Akihabara to get a glimpse of the famous Electronic Town. During the week, the place is not packed at all. I would recommend to come at night time to see the neon lights. Also during the weekend, the streets are closed for the cars which make the experience different (and nicer). This place is a mix of maid coffee, arcade and Pachinko centers, IT stores and geek stuff. * We finished this first day with Ueno Park which is close to Akihabara. It's a nice park. It must be beautiful in Spring. This year, there was a delay for fall colors as the temperature were higher than ever in Japan (no snow in Mt Fuji either!!!). We went to the natural museum. If you did not have the chance to do a relatively big natural museum before, that's your chance. * Regarding food, we went to a ramen restaurant in the morning. We were not used to the ticket machine that is used in a lot of restaurant. The staff was not helping us much so quite disappointing experience to start but that was the only time we had to complain. Most of the time, staff in Japan are super nice and ready to help. We took ramen with shrimp tempura and it was super good. For dinner, we went to a Konbini (Family Mart seems bigger than 7 eleven I would say) and picked some Onigiri and Tayaki with custard. The food was very good value for our euros.

Day 2 * Big day with Shibuya in the programme. We started the day with Harajuku, the street of cosplayers and kawai culture. During the week, there are a lot of people in the street but not so many cosplayers. Nice experience though. You can pick some funny food here like fluffy pancake or barbe à papa. * We then headed to a zen experience at Meji-jingu temple. It was very nice. Not too many people during weekday. I would recommend to not go during the weekend if you are looking for a zen experience. The Yoyogi park just near the temple is very nice too. You are then near Shibuya. * Our goal was to first visit places like the Nintendo store. If you go in this building, I would recommend to go downstairs. There is a full floor of restaurants with an interesting ambience and a lot of choices. We then went to the cyberspace floor to visit the Nintendo store, Pokemon Center, Jump Store, Capcom Store, etc. One of the highlight of Tokyo for me as a big fan of video games and manga. A little disappointed by the Jump store which is rather small. In general, I was expecting bigger thing regarding "old and famous" shonen like Naruto and One Piece in Tokyo. Anyway, we spent a good amount of Yens here. * From here, you can take a door in this floor that lead outside where you can take nice picture in front of Mario Artwork and a sign "Nintendo Tokyo". Then take the stairs to reach a nice rooftop garden and have a view on Shibuya. I felt like I was in a cyberpunk city. We went then to another building where there is two big manga shops including Mandarake. Impressive quantities of manga and figurines. A must see before heading to Shibuya scramble crossing. * Shibuya scramble crossing is super impressive to see live. Of course, you need to cross it 1-2 times and feel the experience. You can enter the buildings near to have a higher view. There is a street full of restaurant near Shibuya. We went for food after saying hello to Hachiko.

Day 3 * Heading to Kamakura for the third day to have a little break from the big town. My advice would be to take the JR line to Kita Kamakura and then there is an interesting path to follow which is packed with temples, both buddhist and shintoist. * We visited a number of temples during the day, the names of which I've forgotten, sorry for that! * To eat, there is a big avenue full of restaurants. Do not hesitate to take small perpendicular street. We found a very nice family restaurant here with super good oudon and tonkatsu. Super cool experience. * Then we went to the famous bhudda and finished this journey with a view of the ocean. We were not able to see the Mt Fuji from the beach but I read that it may have good spot to view it on sunny day. From the beach, the train station is at 20min walk.

Day 4 * We went to Shinjuku for the afternoon. We visited the Gyoen Park. Very nice park with different styles of garden : italian, french and japanese. There was a chrysantem exhibition by the time. If you have the chance to see the 1000 thousands flowers style one day, its worth it!!! * We then went to Square Enix shop and coffee. The place is rather small but still cool with a lot of figurines from our favorite franchises including Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearth... We passed by the Square Enix building company without knowing it so pay attention. Apparently there is a stone with Square Enix writing on it. * We then went through Kabuchiko street. Interesting to see the volume of host/hostess coffee lol. We reach then Gigo (always fun to spend few hundreds yens in arcade game, the drum games are pretty funny), the Godzilla head, the 3D cat crossing (a must see of course lol). * Then, it was night time and we wanted to have a view of the whole city. We went to the Metropolitan Governement building. I recommend it. It's free to take the lift to the 45th floor. Super impressive view on many famous places and building of the city. * We ended the day with an activity you won't want to miss. We went to Omoide Yokocho after drinking few beers. This street is crazy. Its super tiny and packed with barbecue restaurants. The restaurant have 6-10 places where you can sit and enjoy street food. We went then to Gold Gai. Same concept but for sake and beer. One of the highlight of the trip for me.

Day 5 * On Sunday, we started the day in Ghinza visiting the Sony store and then went to Asakusa. Not sure if its the best idea to visit temples during the week end. The place was heavily crowded. The temple in itself is beautiful but the crowd may "ruin" the ambience here. We also did the big street food and souvenir shop street near the temple. Nice but again, too crowdy. * We finish the day at Akihabara as we did not had the opportunity to see it by night. We also found out that the city is closing certain streets during week ends including the main street of Akihabara. The feeling is different to walk on the center of such a big street. We did a couple of arcade games, a shop selling robots Gundam and others and a IT shop. * It was then time to say goodbye to Tokyo. Last night here and then we headed to Kanazawa.

Day 6 * First experience with the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kanazawa. Super nice experience. Cannot emphasise enough how much Japanese are organized when talking about public transportation. The Shinkansen is the point d'orgue of this. The little ballet of train preparation, people waiting in line and stuff is something to see and experience. * We arrived at Kanazawa in the morning. The city is very rainy it seems and we experienced it. We stayed in the train station few hours, booking tickets for Shirakawa-go for the day after, lunch and stuff. If you want to go to Shirakawa or others alpin small towns, book as soon as possible. It seems like the buses are full quickly especially the ones in the morning. * Then we headed to our first Ryokan of the trip. Ryokan is a must do if you have the opportunity. Sleeping in a Futon, siting on tatami,...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/daniraven844888 on 2024-02-08 22:08:47.

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Hello travelers! I was asked to make a review of my 3 day driving trip in Shikoku with my fiancee that we took in November.

We were originally going to spend the night in Beppu but found after a day of walking around, we were ready to ditch the tourists and take off to the island. We took the Uwajima ferry which was about 2.45 hrs from Beppu to Yawatahama. The pricing was roughly about 40 CAD a person and the ferry was really nice and quiet, with large areas to rest. You could upgrade to a private area on the upper floor, but we didn't feel that was necessary. There was a snack bar, small arcade, washrooms and you were allowed to step outside to smoke/vape. The ferry was very large and we did not experience too much movement.

We then took the train from Yawatahama to Matsuyama to pick up our car rental the next day. Through an app called ToCoo! That someone else recommended on here, we were able to get pick up in one city and drop off in another for a small surcharge (¥3000) which was super handy. We then drove the 2.5 hrs to Kochi city. It was a gorgeous drive, with tunnels galore and mountain views with little towns. Stunning.

Arrival in Kochi we had rented an air bnb in an old traditional house that was huge and gorgeous. Unfortunately at this time, my partner got a bad cold and we didn't do much that first night.

Next day: Ryugado caves - so cool! You take a giant escalator up the mountain to a cave that's about 2.5km long. Would not recommend if you are claustrophobic, have mobility issues or don't like creepy crawlies. Very hot and lots of stairs, but really neat. In total took about an hr. Below the cave is a little area with locals selling knives, fruits and local wares. Very good pricing.

Urado bridge to Katsurahama Beach area Local samurai hero Sakamoto Ryoma - statues and viewing points. This beach is known as one of the most beautiful viewing spots in Kochi. Umi no Terrace shopping area was full of local delicacies and souvenirs and nice little Cafe restaurants to stop and grab a bite. There is an aquarium but it we did not go in. Something about an aquarium next to the ocean always makes me sad. We left at dark and just went to a CoCo curry for dinner as the next day was drive heavy.

Next day : Kochi - Nagoro scarecrow village - vine bridges - Tokushima

We drove about 3.5 hrs to Nagoro. This was some of the most beautiful views of Japan I have ever seen. Little fishing villages nestled deep in the mountains, it was misty and raining a little, just adding the ambiance. Our little roomy made it all the way through the mountain roads which at a lot of times, were single lane roads.

Things to know about driving Shikoku :: The road often go down to one lane. There are mirrors on the corners to see if there is another car coming. Drive with caution. Look at the traffic boards. We used Google translate to assist as due to the rain, we were concerned about road closures. Our GPS did try to say the roads were closed a few times. They were not, the GPS just hadn't caught up with the times. So don't always trust it blindly. You will cross many bridges and go through lots of little towns that are beautiful and traditional. Obey and observe the lights. Some roads had lights at the beginning of them, due to one lane and road work you had to wait til the light went green. Be comfortable with heights as you are driving through the mountains, with sometimes nothing more than a tiny railing on one side.

Nagoro scarecrow village was amazing. We saw about 6 other tourists there. Everyone was respectful and kind. It was really emotional and poetic to see. If you haven't heard of it, check out Abroad in Japan or an episode of James May our man in Japan. Really was so worth it.

Another 40 mins down the road were the vine bridges. They were scary if you're scared of heights but peacefully set in a mountainside near a beautiful river. There were 2, plus you could go down and check out the water.

Drive to Tokushima took about another 3 hrs. We ended up passing through many more cool little villages and towns namely Oboke town which was all about yokai! They had lots of restaurants and places to stop and I was sad we didn't have more time to spend the night there and explore as I love anything with Japanese folklore.

Tokushima after dark was pretty quiet. We walked to the main downtown strip from our air bnb and found a nomihodai place with great food. I think it was 25$ CAD roughly for 120 mins all you can drink plus the food which was really well priced. Tokushima was extremely walkable and I wish we had more time but our flight back to Tokyo was the next day at 11am.

We experienced that English was not as prevalent on the island (obviously), but we were able to get by with Google translate and the little Japanese we know without an issues. Our pocket wifi worked like a charm the entire way with no isses. All in all we loved everything about Shikoku and would recommend to anyone who is looking to escape the city and see some gems of Japan. I can't wait to visit again! Thanks for reading this, if you got this far!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/MartinB105 on 2024-02-08 16:27:36.

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I did the Shimanami Kaido as part of my recent 16 day trip to Japan, taking place on days 10 and 11.

I arrived at the Onomichi Port Bicycle Rental place just after 08:00 from my hotel in Mihara. I've read that the bicycles here are low quality, but they're not much different than typical Dutch city bikes I've used for nearly half my life, so I think they're perfectly fine. They even had Dutch style wheel locks and dynamo powered lights! The cost was ¥3,000 per day, so ¥6,000 in total.

So after a quick ferry ride to Mukaishima (the first island), off I went amidst some light rain, cycling for my first time outside the Netherlands.

The first thing I realized is how much more dangerous cycling is in Japan. Despite all the talk of Shimanami Kaido being made for cyclists, the vast majority of the route is on normal roads alongside cars and other vehicles, with no separated cycle lanes, except for the bridges.

There also doesn't always seem to be clear rules about certain things, most notably when it's OK (or not) to cycle on the pavement instead of the road. Regardless, I actually did cycle on the pavement when possible because it felt a lot safer and there were practically no pedestrians using the pavements anyway, so why not?

A nice thing about the Shimanami Kaido is how almost the entire route is marked by a blue line painted on the road, with occasional markers indicating remaining distance to Imabari (the city where it ends). That doesn't mean it's impossible to go wrong, as the blue line does not extend into road junctions, and there's only small arrows before these junctions to indicate an upcoming turn that can be easily missed (as I did once or twice).

Now, although Shimanami Kaido is around 70km, I actually ended up doing around 90km in total, as my mid-point accommodation was a hostel on the far side of the Ohmishima (the fourth island), and I decided to detour around the north side of the island for some extra scenery rather than going directly through to the hostel, which added some extra time and distance to my journey.

Incidentally, getting to and from the accommodation was the only part of this journey that had hills that proved too difficult for me to climb on the bike, where I ended up having to get off and walk for a bit. I wasn't walking for miles or anything, but certainly not something I'm used to with the flat terrain of the Netherlands. This is probably why the map I was given at the rental place indicates these parts as orange "Intermediate Course", as opposed to the blue "Recommended Course" (there were also some red "Advanced Course" parts, but I didn't attempt any of those).

Staying in Ohmishima was an interesting experience. The town is small with limited accommodation options, especially on a budget, so I had booked a private single room in a small hostel, rather than one of expensive ryokans. Needless to say, the hostel was basic; a very small room with a place to hang my coat, a shelf to put my cycling helmet on (first time I've ever used one), and a single bed that you climb in from the end due to the walls on both sides. Compared to the hotels I stayed in during the rest of my Japan trip, this felt more like staying in someone's house.

Also for some reason, they had set the heating in the room to 26°C (79°F) when I arrived, so I had to shut that off immediately to stop the room from feeling like a sauna. Why the hell would anyone want a room to be that warm!?

After taking some time to rest and refresh, I decided to find somewhere to eat at around ~17:00, but Google Maps was showing nearly every restaurant in town as being closed for the day. In fact, I could literally only find one restaurant that was open until 20:00, otherwise I would've been stuck eating from the nearby Lawson, which isn't a terrible thing, but I'd rather take opportunities to try new places.

So off I went to the one and only open restaurant, a local okonomiyaki place. The town was eerily quiet with a relaxed atmosphere created by the gentle rain and the lanterns on the main street. I barely encountering a single person during my walk to the restaurant and back. The same was true of the restaurant itself, where I entered through a sliding wooden door to find a place devoid of customers and the old lady who runs the place behind the counter watching a small TV in the corner.

I'm guessing they get more tourists at other times of year, since despite seeming very local, she did have an English menu for me, so I was easily able to choose something. The okonomiyaki was very nice and also very cheap, although I did feel a bit awkward for being the only customer there the entire time, and not knowing enough Japanese to attempt any conversation.

Without much to do for the rest of the day, I had a slow wander in the park near the hostel before heading in for the night to look through my photos, catch up with my parents on a WhatsApp video call, and get an early night.

The following morning, I picked up some onigiri and a Monster from the nearby Lawson for breakfast before checking out of the hostel, and then was on my way again.

I completed the last three islands fairly quickly as I didn't want to hang around too much in the morning rain, but ended up spending a lot of time on the last bridge because the views there are just incredible, especially as the rain had stopped by then. Even in the January mists, it really is breathtaking to see all the islands and sea stretching off into the distance, and I couldn't help but stop many times to "just take a few more photos". I've really never seen anything like it.

Besides the views and the cycling itself, one other thing I love about the Shimanami Kaido is rolling down from the bridges, where the winding bicycle paths down to each island almost feel like a kind of "bicycle bobsled". I found myself using the brakes very frequently just to feel safe, which is not something I've ever had to do in the Netherlands.

After reaching Imabari station and dropping off my bike, my hotel was only a 10 minute walk away. The hotel in Imabari was actually the nicest hotel I stayed at during my 16 days in Japan, which was a pleasant surprise after the hostel.

The room was very spacious even by western hotel standards, and had an incredible view over the city from the 15th floor, with Oshima (the last island) visible in the distance, and it also included access to the onsen. I had to double check that I really only paid £50 for the night!

A few more things to note:

First: Regarding luggage: I left my case in a coin locker at Mihara station, where it's possible to use a locker for up to three days (it's written on the locker, but only in Japanese). I chose the locker instead of luggage forwarding to save money, which was a mistake, because it really inconvenienced my onward journey from Imabari to Hiroshima, and likely didn't even save me anything in the end.

See, when I was leaving Imabari, I had to take a "Highway Bus" to Innoshima Island (the 2nd island) to change to a local bus that would take me to Onomichi, where I could take a local train to Mihara to collect my luggage, then get the Shinkansen to Hiroshima. But Hiroshima was the destination of the Highway Bus I took from Imabari, so with luggage forwarding to my hotel in Hiroshima, I could've just taken that one bus for the entire journey, and it would've been cheaper and quicker than taking multiple buses and trains, and likely negating the higher cost of luggage forwarding.

I also had to spend some extra time in Mihara station because the coin locker broke and wouldn't open, so I had to get someone to help. They ended up having to use some tools to get it open.

Second: What you'll find on YouTube about the Shimanami Kaido is not a good representation of scenery of the entire route. Yes, there are a lot of nice views from and around the bridges, but there's also large stretches of the route along the islands just going through normal towns with old houses, factories, etc. that you won't see on YouTube.

Third: While I don't regret doing the Shimanami Kaido at a relaxed pace over two days (it gave plenty of time to take photos), I'd probably do the whole thing in one day and spend the extra night at the nice hotel in Imabari or Hiroshima if I did it again, since there really wasn't much to do in Ohmishima, and the hostel was very basic (and only marginally cheaper than the nice hotel in Imabari).

Fourth: I think it should be quite easy for most people to do the Shimanami Kaido one day as long as you start early enough. I'm 41 and not into sports or fitness, yet still found it pretty easy aside from the hills I encountered outside the recommended route.

Finally: I want to finish by saying that I really enjoyed doing the Shimanami Kaido in January. The cool temperature was nice for cycling, and I liked doing it with hardly any other tourists around. A greatly enjoyable experience overall. Recommended. Would do again.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/IMustSayThat on 2024-02-08 15:43:53.

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Hi everyone! This is the part 2 of our honeymoon trip report. You can find part 1 here, covering Osaka, Hiroshima and Miyajima.

Before I pick it up from where I left, a few more general thoughts:

• Google Maps: worked really really well everywhere we went. We got the Ubigi e-SIM before going so we had internet at all times, and google maps got us everywhere we needed. It even tells you which train car to get in so you're closer to you train station exit by the time you get out. Just once (on our way to USJ) it told us to stay in the train when we actually needed to change trains.
• Some places and restaurants will only take cash, so I would advise to always have cash with you. In the three weeks we were there we had to withdraw cash 3 times, and we got around 40,000-50,000 jpy each time.
• Before going we read about foreigners being denied entry in some restaurants or places with 'No Foreigners' signs - nothing like that happened to us in the entire trip. We were only asked to leave once from a shop in Matsumoto, because we were not wearing masks and we didn't have any on us, but the man was very polite anyways and if we had masks he would probably had let us stay.
• Jet lag: it took us good 5 or 6 days to get over it completely. So I would recommend having some food in your hotel room! If your jet lag is anything like ours, you will wake up in the middle of the night and you will be hungry.
• Buying food for the Shinkansen: every station is different, but from my experience it is better to buy food BEFORE you go through the ticket gate, as you will have more options. In a good few stations you will only find very small convenience stores and souvenir shops with not a lot of food options after the ticket gate, so If you see something you fancy eating, grab it before going in.

Now to the interesting part.

Day 6 - Himeji and Kyoto

• We arrived in Himeji by 9.30am and had our Shinkansen to Kyoto booked for 1pm, so we were there for 3.5 hrs and I think that was enough. We headed straight to the castle - you can get a bus from the train station or walk for 20 minutes, we decided to walk as it was a beautiful day and we wanted to see the town. There's no way of getting lost, you can basically see the castle from the train station and it's a big straight line getting there.
• Himeji Castle: we arrived at 10am and there was no queue. The visit itself was pretty quick - there's not a lot going on inside the castle. The interior is well kept and beautiful to see, but there's not much of an exhibition or information on the history, so you basically just go up all the floors, then back down and that's it. Still, the castle and the grounds are pretty impressive and I would recommend the visit. There is an English tour at 10am but we arrived too late for that (first come, first served), but I imagine the visit would have been more interesting in a tour.
• We bought the Himeji castle + Koko-en gardens combined ticket, so visited the gardens after leaving the castle. I do recommend going, especially if you're visiting during spring or autumn. We spent a total of two hours visiting the castle and the gardens.
• For lunch we had a Kobe beef burger at Kushiyaki Kobe Beef, a solid 9/10.
• We still had some time before our Shinkansen to Kyoto, so decided to walk around Himeji, just to find out that there's not much going on, the town is pretty dead. Most things worth checking are around the train station, so if you have any time to kill, I recommend spending it around the station and the shopping street close by (Miyukidori).
• We arrived in Kyoto, checked in to out hotel and rested for a bit. We got out for dinner and went to Aiba Curry. Such a good curry restaurant (9/10), so good we had dinner there twice.
• We then strolled along Teramachi-dori checking out the clothes shops, and walked towards Yasaka Shrine to see it lit up - it is really worth seeing it at night!

Kyoto hotel: Carta Hotel Kyoto Kawaramachi (6/10) - Excellent location, average room. I wouldn't recommend this hotel for a single reason: they told us they would handle forwarding our luggage to Tokyo upon check out, but when we arrived at the reception with our bags for checking out they simply decided they didn't offer this type of service. So there was a lot of unnecessary stress - checking out, going to a 7/11 to try to figure out the luggage forwarding and trying not to miss our reserved train tickets to the next destination.

Day 7 - Kyoto

• Early start to try and get some nice photos around Hokan-Ji/Yasaka Pagoda. We arrived right before 7am and there were about 30 people there. We then headed to Kyomizu-dera, arriving at 7.30am and leaving at around 8.15am - the place wasn't too busy, but there were A LOT more people there we we left than when we arrived.
• We then walked along Sannenzaka and Ninnenzaka, but because of the time all the shops were closed (most shops open around 10-11am according to the signs). So basically if you want to visit the above places with less crowds, you won't be there at the right time to check out the shops. There was a massive queue (50+ people) waiting for the Starbucks to open.
• We had brunch at Kacto (9/10 for the pancakes).
• We then visited Nishiki Market, arriving there at around 12pm. I almost decided to skip it because I was sure we'd seen enough markets in Osaka and Hiroshima, but I'm glad we didn't. This market is great. It was SO BUSY though. We spent around 2 hours looking at all the shops.
• We walked around Gion, then checked Chion-In temple and Maruyama park, which are cool spots, but not a must-see if your time in Kyoto is limited.
• Since we were close by, we decided to go back to Sannenzaka and Ninnenzaka. SO MANY PEOPLE, but we had fun checking out all the shops. We had apple pie at the Apple Pie Lab (10/10).
• At this point it was around 5pm and we decided not to do any more walking as we were already at 21k steps. So we just went back to the hotel and did some laundry, then went back to the Curry place for dinner.

Day 8 - Arashiyama

• To get there we got Bus #11 from Kawaramachi Shopping Street at 7am. There were only 2 empty seats in the bus and it's a 45-minute bus ride, so if you don't wanna stand, go early.
• Arashiyama Bamboo Forest: we arrived at 7.45am. Not a lot of people there, so we got some really good photos. We then walked around the park and checked the observatories, and left by 8.15am.
• We then visited Tenryuji Temple. It is located in a very beautiful garden, so we really enjoyed going there.
• We had tickets booked for the Sagano Romantic Train at 10am, so we walked to the train station and had breakfast at the Rickshaw Cafe (6/10) right next to it. Buy the tickets beforehand in Klook, as the ticket queues at the train station were MASSIVE. I recommend booking even-numbered C/D seats for the best views. The first train is at 9am, but I booked our tickets for 10am just to make sure we would have enough time to visit the Bamboo forest first. However, we could have easily boarded the 9am train if I had booked earlier tickets. I really recommend doing this, the views from the train are AMAZING.
• Once you get to the final train stop, you can get a train or a boat back. We opted for the boat - just follow the signs! A bus will take you out to the boat ride starting point. We didn't pre-book tickets to the Hozugawa River Boat Ride, and it took less than 10 minutes to buy tickets on the spot. It is a very slow boat ride (16 km in 2 hours), but I think it's worth doing it if you have the time. It was a sunny day, so the scenery was beautiful.
• Two hours later we were dropped off at Togetsukyo Bridge - I was shocked at the amount of people in the region. You could barely walk. We were starving but there were queues to get EVERYWHERE. So we decided to just leave. If you wanna check out the bridge and the shops around it, do it earlier, this was the busiest spot of the whole trip.

What I would do differently: Visit Togetsukyo Bridge and shops in the area right after Tenryuji temple. Then after that, get the Sagano Romantic train (with pre booked tickets for around 11am) and the boat ride. You would be done at around 2pm and could just head back to Kyoto.

• Back to Kyoto, we went to Kinkaku-ji Temple (Golden Pavilion). Honest opinion, I don't think it was worth it. The temple is a bit out of the way and VERY BUSY (like most things in Kyoto). So you are basically walking in a queue from the entrance to the exit, going around the temple and getting out.
• After visiting the temple, we got ramen nearby at Sabanji. 9/10, they only have one dish that comes in two sizes, a bit spicy for my taste but my husband loved it (hence the high rating).
• In the evening we had drinks at a rooftop bar. 10/10 for the views, 6/10 for the bar, as the staff ...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/MightyAwl on 2024-02-05 13:14:02.

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My partner and I had the most amazing Japan Trip this Oct/Nov. And I am feeling especially nostalgic on those cold February days and decided to share one of our absolute highlights of the trip. Our first day in Kyoto (accidentally) off the beaten path. The Kyoto-stretch was the one part of our journey I initially worried the most about as I've read about the crowds and was afraid that I wouldn't be able to warm up to the city. Our first day proved me so wrong, and I still think about the serendipity of that amazing day a lot and thought I would share!

We started off with a slow morning coffee as we reserved a slot in Saihoji Moss temple at 11am. We reserved our tickets only about 10 days in advance (via their website). Beforehand I heard mostly positive reviews (except for the price 25€/pP) and decided to book as I was so worried about the crowds and their reservation system guarantees a visit without crowding. We got there by bus and the area was already super different from "downtown Kyoto". We waited in line and were granted access with about 50 other people. This part was kind of sad though, as there were a few people who dindn't know about the temple's reservation system and were sent home. The first part of the experience is copying a sutra to "calm" yourself and get ready for the gardens. I looooved the experience and loved that the sound of the collective pen strokes on the paper. Once you were finished you could enter the garden. It definitely isn't huge, but it was super lovely. The sun at noon was so beautiful and I think I took about 200 pictures all of beautiful sunray patterns on the lush green moss. Some people seemed to not appreciate the atmosphere as much and practically sprinted along the path. We spent an hour there and absolutely treasured every moment.

Next we visited Arashiyama Monkey Park Iwatayama. And as much as I loved the park itself. The journey there was one of my absolute highlights that day. We decided to make the best of the sunny day and walked from the moss temple to the monkey park, starting with amazing coffee at the "Bamboo Coffee Kyoto" right next to the temple. It had a lovely outdoorsy vibe and very good drinks. The 40 mins walk from there to the park were so special! Until we were super close to the moneky park and the downtown area we didn't see a single person on the lovely streets. Instead we saw cute houses, serene landscapes, empty playgrounds, some less famous temples and could witness the non-touristy part of Kyoto (for the exacte route just check out google maps form Saihoji to the Monkey Park).

After the monkey park which was super fun we wanted to hit Arashiyama Bamboo Forest as I really wanted one of those famous pictures, but.....we could barely walk on the side walk as it was so busy in the area and decided that coming from Koya-San the day before we were not ready for that many people.

Instead we hit the bus and drove to a temple I stumbled upon on Google the day before: Otagi Nenbutsuji Temple. It is a temple on the outskirts of Arashiyama with 1200 unique and whimsical statues and the bus stops right outfront the premises. In the whole temple area it was only about 10 people exploring the amazing moss covered statues. I took so many pictures. There are statues of families, statues with cats, statues crying and laughing. It was an amazing place to explore. If you are up for a little bus drive I can 10/10 recommend.

As the bus only very seldomly drives all the way up to the temple and back to the city we decided to walk back down rather than wait for 30 minutes. It turned out we stumbled upon "Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street" a lovely street that transports you right back in time. The old houses were either still lived in or converted into lovely coffee shops where you can enjoy your matcha in peace.

After about 10minutes of walking we saw an entrance to another Temple "Adashino Nenbutsu-ji Temple" and decided to check it out for 500yen. It was super lovely and except for one other couple we were the only one's there (it was already stating to get dark by that time). We wandered around the beautiful area and I almost cried tears of joy as I saw they have a BAMBOO GROVE! My partner and I took some lovely pictures and non of them had to be staged around hundreds of tourists as there was not a single person close by.

We walked the rest of the path back to the city seeing other lovely temples, cute cafes and odd museums (for example a folk doll museum) but were to tired and happy to check them out further. Maybe next time...

Conclusion: get lost in Kyoto, it's the best!!!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/KevinAlc0r on 2024-02-05 12:51:00.

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I went for a trip to Kawaguchiko today. The snow was unexpected but it was beautiful! We already booked a highway bus from Kawaguchiko to Shinjuku but due to the heavy rainfall the bus was suspended and we tried to get back by train, taking the Fujikyuko(?) line to Otsuki station and planning to transfer to JR Chuo Line. However, the JR Chuo Line is heavily delayed and suspended today, we don’t think it will move any time soon. We have been stuck at Otsuki for more than 2 hours with all trains not moving at all. The station staffs all said that there is currently no clear time when the train will move.

We gave up and exited the train platform and looked for hotels around Otsuki station but they are all full. I checked google maps and it said there are some buses operating from a nearby town but I don’t know how to verify if the bus actually operates at this weather. What should I do? Is there any bus app that I can use? All taxis won’t work to Tokyo either. I am planning to book a nearby hotel and go back to Tokyo tomorrow morning, any advices on how do I find which transportation will be useable tomorrow besides the train?

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/hypomango on 2024-02-04 06:16:26.

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Just back from my first trip to Japan! 2 weeks with my sister (both in our late 20s & we're Australian) in winter. Had a blast.

TLDR: less busy time to go, if you love snowsports late January is a decent bet, and whilst there's nothing wrong with tourist itineraries we preferred to let our interests guide us. Overall a really positive trip!

TOKYO (4 days)

• Stayed in Ueno, and it was a great location conveniently close to things by public transport but not too busy and touristy. Enjoyed the local yokocho street for food, and it was good to go straight from Narita Airport to Ueno on one train and not have to navigate a transfer on our first night.
• Favourite experiences were going to a Yakuniku restaurant (and discovering my favourite drink ever, Lemon Sour), late night shopping at the Mega Don Quixote in Shibuya (and loads of other local shopping, love the 10 storey malls), and we also had some nice nights just walking around (like the Sumida River and Senso-ji on a rainy evening). Did less touristy stuff than I had planned on my Google Maps list but just enjoyed the vibes!
• It was love at first sight for Japanese toilets and I want one. Bit tricky at first since there's no English instructions usually but there's pictures. Hygiene in general is great, and I also have allergies and really appreciated the no fragrance/incense rules in hotels, and non-scented laundry detergent they used.

HAKUBA (4 days)

• We have both skiied multiple times in Australia, but Japanese snow is so much better and we couldn't have asked for better conditions; two snow days and one bluebird day to end it (topped off with an onsen visit!). The variety of mountains to go to on one pass was great, plus a free shuttle bus service, and the whole 3 days were relatively cheap (as long as you don't go out for dinner! Make a meal out of stuff from 7-11 and you're sweet). Totally overrun with Aussies including us.
• A random misfortune struck on our way here from Tokyo - powerlines fell on the tracks in northern Tokyo and all the souls trying to get to Nagano that day were stuck for hours (including us, it was chaos). Happily no one was hurt and later that day we were able to get a highway bus to Hakuba instead so it worked out okay. We also were able to get a refund on our tickets at a JR East station before we left Japan.

KYOTO (4 days)

• My sister and I split up for a day (needed a break and she had made friends in Hakuba haha), and I had a night solo in Matsumoto, which was a lovely town and I really enjoyed a visit to the castle, the art gallery (Yayoi Kusama exhibition imo was more special than TeamLabs, quite special), and there was also an ice sculpture festival on which was cool. We met up the next day and travelled to Kyoto together.
• In Kyoto we stayed near Nishiki Market and had fun shopping in the big arcades near there (my sister loved the underground thriftshops and I enjoyed all the anime merch stuff; B-Side Label & Village Vanguard got my money!). Subway network in Kyoto felt easy to navigate by this time.
• Our favourite experiences were hiking up to the lookout at Higashiyama, visiting the Arashiyama monkey park (also a hike), and a daytrip to Nara (deer were so cute! And the Buddhist temple was special & impressive). Had one night out in Osaka but it was kinda a bust haha (except for the massive Daimaru mall in Umeda, that was cool). Kyoto seemed definitely more touristy than where we stayed in Tokyo, and food was more expensive. By this time we were tired and enjoyed konbini cup noodles as much as expensive restaurants. :)

GENERAL LEARNINGS

• Money – Mastercard/Visa works at 7-11 ATMS and most places now accept card, however it's still very useful to have ¥5000 on you and coins for small purchases and local attractions. Get a coin purse from Daiso to keep organised, as train tickets are just paper and easily lost (and Pasmo works through a purse btw!). Keep in mind any foreign ATM fees your bank has and plan accordingly.
• Communication – I used an e-sim called Airolo, $10 USD for 10GB data over 30 days. I used 4GB in 2 weeks, and it worked reliably. Called family and messaged my sister when we were separated using Facebook Messenger.
• Transport – Google Maps is reliable and useful, but always leave extra time for navigating stations; it's always signposted but they're big and complex. JR Pass wasn't worth it for our itinerary, but we got by just fine with Pasmo for local trains and physical tickets for long-distance. If you make a mistake, the ticketmaster can fix it for you on the train and usually understand. Also we each had a pocket journal and loved looking for eki-stamps, more fun than you think and an easy way to record memories.
• Language – I used Microsoft Translate a couple of times when complex requests were needed, and also to translate writing on products etc. Most of the time all we needed was "sumimasen" (sorry/excuse me) and "origato gozaimas" (thanks very much), and know that when a shopkepper says "douzo" it's your turn ("go ahead").
• Packing – Carry-on is far more convenient in Japan; hotel rooms are compact, you can stow a small bag in overhead lockers on trains but not a big suitcase, and there are lots of stairs in some train stations. Most days I was comfortable in jeans with a thermal underlayer, boots, a long sleeve top, sweater & puffy overcoat, and a beanie/hat if it was windy. We did have cold weather while there, tops of 5°C / 40°F some days. On the 10°C / 50°F days I just omitted some layers.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/ryguy_1 on 2024-02-04 13:15:04.

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I just spent two weeks in Japan, and had one of the best vacations of my life. I thought I'd give some reflections on what I noticed. These are not travel tips; just reflections as someone new to the culture. For background: I'm Canadian, early 40s, gay, went with my partner, speak 3 total words in Japanese. I've lived and travelled in Europe extensively, but I didn't know much about Japan before going (other than the surface-level travel research). I did take a couple of courses that touched on the Edo period during university, so I had a limited understanding of the 16th-18th century history of Japan.

Thoughts:

• Tourist traps: this may sound strange, but I never experienced one in Japan. To me, a tourist trap is something that promises a lot but turns out to be totally hokey. I did not find any of the major castles/palaces/shrines/areas under-promised in any way. Kyoto, for example, is packed, but these are incredibly special places and being there (even with thousands of others) is deeply moving. Even the restaurants in major places were interesting and fun, and I never once felt taken advantage of in terms of pricing. Of course there were some places with big lineups, but it's fun to see that and find out what the hype is, even if you don't line up and buy it; what's wrong with that? It's fun!
• Shrines and temples: The temples were active religious communities, so I saw my first Shinto and Buddhist ceremonies taking place, in-person. It was very profound to see the priests and congregants worshiping, and the vestments and tools of worship. For anyone interested in world religions, the major shrines and temples of Japan are very well designed to allow visitors to see ceremonies taking place, which was so fascinating for me. When you visit cathedrals, they often stop tourism activities during ceremonies, so it is difficult to see those special moments taking place without planning and attending a complete service (and I struggle to do that when I'm vacationing). I loved being able to catch glimpses of Shinto and Buddhist worship as I visited. It was just so beautiful and I loved it.
• History: I loved visiting the museums in Japan. My absolute favourite was Nihon Minka-en (日本民家園), just because you could see so many houses up close, some of which had their ancillary buildings and yards attached. There isn't a ton of English in the park, but it was easy enough to translate and the guides were welcoming and did very well to give a sense of the buildings. I also was surprisingly moved to visit Daisenryo Kofun and some of the smaller tombs in the Mozu Tombs cluster, and I loved the little museum there that displays artifacts. I really loved the accessibility of history in Japan, even if so much has been lost (and hey, where hasn't history been preserved?).
• Poetry/literature: I have never experienced a culture where poetry/literature is so integrated into daily life. I love translating the rocks with text that you would come across in parks and throughout cities (they must have a name, but I don't know what it is). If my translate app was correct, the majority just seemed to have thoughtful notes from Japanese authors of the past, and it helped to open a world of imagination about the area I was standing in, who wrote that, who placed the rock here etc. What a cool thing! I just loved that.
• Costco: I visited a Japanese Costco, and it was fun! There were a surprising number of Canadian products there, too (including pork at 1/3 of the price we pay for it!). It's just so funny to see these things reinterpreted around the world. I loved it.
• Rail and Subway conductors: thank you to each and every single transit employee I interacted with! You are the most awesome people.

I am tired, and could go on. I just wanted to share some observations that I had. Thank you for the best travel experience of my life, Japan!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/TotoroMush on 2024-02-04 09:10:57.

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I'm not going to do a day by day breakdown as some days we didn't always do notable locations (just random shopping), but we did cram in a number of places (USJ, Disney World and Sea, a nice ryokan, etc.).

Being my 4th time visiting after a long break (first time in 2014, 2015 and 2016), there's a few things I've realized that I didn't before. It's only been a few days since and wish it was longer, so I've been binging on Instagram Japan reels and noticing they really focus on hyping up whatever they're featuring and not the full picture. I've enjoyed reading about the experiences others have had so wanted to share back to the community.

I'll cover the general things I learned, observed and then a bit about each specific location we went to:

Keep Major Paper Receipts

Ignorance on my part, but having flown maybe a total of 30ish times including for work, I never had the habit of keeping paper receipts because there was always a digital one in my email.

As luck would have it, for the first time ever we had a major delay flying out due to weather. We sat on the tarmac for over 4 hours, and our evening arrival turned into a super late evening arrival to Narita—we couldn't make our Shinkansen to Kyoto, and had bought tickets for USJ the next day.

For a brief stressful hour, we did some searching and decided to take the last bus to the Tokyo station area so we'd be at least as close as possible for the first morning Shinkansen.

We didn't want to do the capsule hotels (with the two of us and luggage). Searched up one hotel but didn't realize it was an automated hotel—realized there was nobody there at the door after our taxi dropped us off. By sheer luck, we turned around and there was a Comfort Inn right behind us and they were able to get us a room.

So why the note about keeping paper receipts? Because we paid in person with cash, and my habit (during the trip) to toss all paper receipts, I had no proof we ever had to stay at this hotel. I had to find their parent company and email them directly (the hotel itself had no email) and was lucky in that they promptly found our reservation, and even manually wrote and stamped paperwork that we had paid in full.

I'm currently trying to get my travel insurance to cover the extra hotel costs, and this proof was needed to submit a claim.

Basic Japanese Phrases and Understanding REALLY Help

I see a lot of people sometimes talk about how Japanese people are often super helpful even if you can't speak Japanese, but I think picking up a few basic phrases can make both parties life easier if the person you're speaking to actually speaks no English (or has no interest in trying).

I found myself using broken strings of sentences with "I'm okay" "Please" "Do you have __" "where is __" "two of these" "two people" "is English okay?" "do you have an English menu" heavily during my trip and it made it far easier to just enjoy everything.

I felt like noting this because on more than one occasion I watched people just use plain English for very mundane things, and both sides struggling to navigate the conversation. I realize some people may have unique circumstances (they weren't there for fun), so this isn't a blanket criticism.

Google translate is super helpful too, and I think more respectful than trying to get them to understand your English.

Universal Studios, Disney Sea and Disney World

I'm grouping these together because my takeaways cover all of them.

If it seems like it's a little cold, assume it'll be even colder while you're waiting in line for some of the rides. When you have to sometimes wait outside for 1-2 hours, it can get pretty uncomfortable fast.

Dress to be warm, but also allow for layers so you have flexibility in managing your heat. You'll be cold outside, but eventually the queues often go indoors so you'll overheat if you overdressed. Gloves, hats and leggings aren't bad ideas to consider.

If you have a sensitive bladder, avoid overdoing it on the drinks because you're not going to a bathroom for at least 2 hours for some rides.

Less a tip and just an observation, but on one occasion while in queue I watched a group of tourists at the Indiana Jones ride spit over the railing since the ground was quite low below us, in addition to playing on their phones and holding up the whole line for a few meters. I know people anywhere can be crappy, but I was disappointed in how their behavior could affect the local perception of tourists.

Exlusive Merchandise at Disney Sea and Disney Stores

Disney Sea in particular has as I understand it specific stores that you have to get a reservation in to gain access. The problem is two fold: you have to be physically inside Disney Sea to make the reservation in the app, and Chinese (I know because my wife is Chinese and uses Chinese social media) resellers that live in Japan are there first thing in the morning in large groups to queue and basically clean out the whole store of these limited exlusive merchandise. They then resell them to buyers in China who want them at marked up prices.

We went to the Disney Flagship Store in Shinjuku another day because they just released a new toy—and again, sold out, but magically available for purchase from Chinese resellers.

I opted to not mention ethnicity when I previously complained about other tourists, but having seen photos of these resellers showing off literally hundreds of the same keychain toy they bought and are selling, I don't think I'm being unfair with being transparent about it. For fans like my wife who just wanted one for herself, it simply wasn't possible, and we aren't going to pay 3-4x the price to buy it from the resllers. She tells me that Disney tried to enforce a 1 per person limit, but these people would just come in repeatedly. Staff tried asking them to remove masks (so they could recognize repeat attempts) and ask them to say the full name of the characters in Japanese, because many of them weren't actual fans and couldn't say it.

If you don't care about exclusive merchandise, this won't matter to you. If you do, well it's going to be a grind if it's popular and you need to get there EARLY.

Sanrioland

So my wife was the one who wanted to go, but I also hadn't been before and don't mind at all going to places she wanted to. I overall did not enjoy it for a few reasons.

It's pretty miserable due to the number of people they let in.

• I'm sure they have an official capacity limit, but it didn't feel like they followed it. The HVAC in the building was clearly not keeping up with the amount of heat inside, and it was mildly uncomfortable due to so many people being inside.
• ...which meant the queues were pretty long for any of the shows you might want to watch. We were two adults and not obsessive fans, so we didn't mind missing out, but I think if you were a family buying tickets, it'd kind of suck for the kids.
• ...and this also extends to the show at the end they perform. If you didn't fight for a spot in the front, if you were too short you wouldn't be able to see anything. I watched a mom struggling to hold her two daughters up to take a peek over the railing for all of two seconds each. The kids ended up just staring at the lights on the ceiling. I was chilling and not watching, so no I couldn't offer my spot or anything. My wife was stuck elsewhere and peeking between people.

If you love Sanrio though, it's still pretty neat and buying merchandise is totally doable.

Yokohama's Gundam

I'd never been the last few trips, so we figured why not.

Just like USJ and Disney, due to it being near the ocean it was SUPER windy and cold. I had a wool toque on, but the holes in the wool meant I was still feeling all the wind while we were there.

The wind also prevented them from making the Gundam move, so it was a pretty passive experience.

Harujuku Street

So I've been during my past trips but my wife hadn't seen it before so we went for a spin since we were in the area. It was insanely packed with tourists (like us!) and probably a huge waste of time. We tried going to a specific cafe but the queue was way too long so we got out pretty quick.

I think my only tip here is to not plan for it to be a big part of your trip if you do include it.

Isaribi - Ryokan in Shizuoka

We opted for a ryokan a bit farther out than the more popular Hakone (I've also been there twice).

Significantly less people (as in, no other tourists), and it was a pretty quaint experience to walk around the small town and reach the ocean in just a few minutes.

The ryokan itself was also beautiful, and the view of the ocean from our private bath (we used the outside ones too) was pretty awesome. You can see a video of it here:

Note: we opted for the futon (sleeping on the floor) room, and maybe I'm just getting old, but it was way too hard and uncomfortable for me. I would have preferred the bed if I ever went again.

More Visibly Non-Ethnically Japanese Staff?

As I noted initially, it's been 8 years since I last visited. I don't remember there being so many staff that looked like they weren't Japanese. I think at one of our hotels they had 3-4 ethnicities, and even our Ryokan had people speaking either perfect English or Chinese due to being from Taiwan, etc. Convenience stores were pretty diverse too.

To be clear, I don't mind. It's ver...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Kotoriii on 2024-02-03 17:10:04.

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--If you don't feel like reading the preface, scroll to the ITINERARY part below.--

To preface, I travel very little. I live in Germany and traveled 5 days to Austria last year and 5 days to Spain about 5 years ago, both times solo. Otherwise I travel back home to Latin America every 1-2 years to visit my family, but that's it. I suffer from traveler's anxiety, in the sense that I don't like leaving my comfort zone. Because my friends are all couples, I am forced to third-wheel or travel solo, the latter is which I would rather do. I also hate planning, because I find myself wanting to cancel whatever plans I have with each coming day.

I have been wanting to travel to Japan for several years. The culture, the food, the history, the megacities... I just always found it to be my top destination ever. The fact that Lost in Translation is one of my favorite movies, and probably one of the reasons to ignite my interest in the country probably does something for it too. The "Lost In Translation" movie theme will play a bigger part in this report.

But due to overzealous money management, the pandemic, anxiety and just waiting for meeting a girlfriend to not have to travel solo, I always postponed any travel plans.

That was until a couple of weeks ago. I had been laid off from my bankrupt company in December and found a job starting mid February. It was end of January, I had a few weeks to kill before the new job. The prospect of entering a new job that I can just tolerate, and not like, looking at how my life is just working and not having hobbies whatsoever triggered something in me.

It was January 19th. In a moment of weakness, or rather, boldness, I threw all my anxiety and careful managing of my money through the window and booked a flight to Tokyo on the 24th until February 1st, so 5 days from now on. 1 week of traveling. I decided only on Tokyo, even though I wish to discover the rest of Japan, because I thought one week would make no sense to get out of the city, with the latter having so much to offer already. It was low season, and with reasonable prices and hopefully not many tourists, I had to visit Japan _now_, before I could chicken out of doing it again.

I booked the flight and two hotels. One night at the Park Hyatt Tokyo, and the rest of the week in a business hotel in Shiodome. I booked one night at the Park Hyatt out of love for the Lost In Translation movie, and because they are going to shut it down for a year or two of renovations starting in May. The time to visit that hotel was now. Also just one night, because I'm not rich, and one night there already makes my bank account cry.

The days passed, with my hands shaking out of anxiety before the big day.

--ITINERARY--

Day 1 (Note, this will probably be the longest entry, fear not, the other ones are shorter):

I flew from Germany at 10AM. It was a good omen to see the plane almost empty. I had the whole aisle for myself, so I could even sleep an hour or two (I generally cannot close my eyes on a plane). I flew ANA, first time ever. The quality gap between anything I have flown was astonishing. The food was plenty and delicious. The crew was the kindest I had ever experienced, a small taste of Japanese customer service I would experience, I guess.

I arrived in Haneda at around 7AM. I was surprisingly awake, or just scared/anxious about I had just gotten into. I managed to find apparently the only machine in Tokyo dispensing Welcome Suica cards (Terminal 3). After being relieved that I managed to snag one and being able to get cash out of an ATM, I headed to Shinjuku using the Airport Limousine service. 1300 yen, very cheap. The thought of using public transport on rush hour with my luggage and lack of experience was something I didn't want to deal with.

An hour later, admiring the Tokyo landscape, the amount of salarymen/women running around, the sheer density of buildings, the billboards... I was experiencing cultural shock already. The Park Hyatt building was imposing and just as I remember it from the building. It was still very early, so I left my luggage with the staff at the lobby, who already proved to be painfully polite.

I had reserved a ticket at Shibuya Sky that noon (I was really downplaying the jet lag the day before I reserved this), the only thing (apart from a tour that evening) that I had actually planned out. But I was tired and the way to Shibuya according to Google Maps would involve me using a bus... I said hell no and decided to yield my ticket. Instead, I used the observation deck in the Tokyo Metropolitan Tower, which was very near to my hotel. Few tourists. The 360º view was impressive and free. The weather was unbeatable, you could see Mount Fuji clear as day.

I spent the rest of morning running around Shinjuku. I went through Kabukicho, which was of course almost deserted, as it was the morning and everything was closed. I walked back to the Park Hyatt area and had to have my first lunch... I found a well reviewed Ramen place around. I didn't check pictures or anything before. I entered the place... And it was tiny. About 8 spots. Just salarymen. And a machine with tickets, only in Japanese. Oh shit, panic attack, this was too much for me. But I was already inside, going out would have been rude. I picked whatever option I could find on the machine. My basic hiragana knowledge recognized "Miso", so I had apparently found the Miso Ramen option. Thank god. I sat down. A few patrons looked at me with interest, this was definitely not a restaurant that saw tourists.

The waitress came shortly after with this huge ramen of bowl. My jet lag stomach wasn't prepared for this. Furthermore, a queue started appearing in front of the tiny place. I, a tourist, was taking away a salaryman spot. I started eating like if in an eating conquest. I had to eat quickly, they needed my spot. Somehow I managed to eat everything, after less than 10 mins. My jet lagged stomach didn't appreciate it, but it was delicious. I stormed out of the place with an "Oishii! Arigato gozaimasu" and panicked at the 10-15 people queue when I got out.

After this mentally draining experience and feeling tired af, I headed back to the hotel. My check in time was due. It was surreal. Just like in the "Lost in Translation" movie, about 8 people greeted me before I got to the reception. The receptionist explained me everything in detail and even asked what newspaper I wanted in the morning... Newspaper? Not expecting this, I just said "Yes" (they put 3 newspapers on my door the day after, lmao). To my shock, the receptionist guided me to my room, on the 42nd floor. She explained me everything. The room was bigger than my apartment, with this massive bathtub in the middle and a dressing room. I had a better view than the Tokyo Metropolitan here. Mount Fuji smiled from the horizon. The receptionist left me. I took like half an hour to admire the level of luxury I was staying in. It was the first time in my life that I stayed in a 5 star hotel. And this iconic one... I think I cried in realization. I dropped on the stupidly comfy and big bed and napped for like 2 hours.

I woke up, took a shower and headed to Shinjuku, where I would meet my privately guided tour with Aya, who would show me izakayas in the area. Once again, about 10 people greeted me on the way to the lobby. I felt uncomfortable with this level of attention. I felt too anxious to get into an intimate izakaya by myself and no Japanese, so I figured having a tour guide and myself would be the best alternative. We walked around and she told me a lot of Japanese culture. We sat in an izakaya with no other tourists. It was fairly big though, so we were to ourselves. We talked a lot and and we eat lots of cool small meals. But then I realized how exhausted I was. I was dropping dead. My bad, I shouldn't have booked a tour on my first evening there. Aya was extremely understanding, so she offered to just meet and do something else on another day.

I headed back to my hotel, admiring the Shinjuku city scape and the amount of people on the streets. I arrived in my room and took my first bath in around 20 years (I haven't lived in a place with one since I was kid). It was glorious. I went to sleep, being ecstatic that I had just survived my first day in Japan, without having chickened out in the process.

Day 2:

I woke up, after a great night of sleep, but still tired. My stomach feeling like crap. These jet lag symptoms wouldn't go away until like the 5th day, unfortunately.

It was sunny. In fact, it was sunny the whole week, between 2-15º all week. Perfect weather. I walked to Meiji Jingu. I was in awe. A lush forest in the middle of Shinjuku. It was about 8:30 and there were very few people there. The temple was gorgeous. It all felt so peaceful in the middle of such a busy area (I must say though, Shinjuku felt more quiet and peaceful than the downtown part of all the cities I've been). I then walked to Harajuku, and wow, I'm glad I went early and nothing was open, because Takeshita street is really much narrower than pictures do. Despite it being so early and everything being closed, there were already crowds starting to gather.

I walked back to Shinjuku, using narrow side streets. I loved just going off the beaten path and discovering all these residential areas.

I headed back to the hotel, sad to have to leave such luxury to go to my second and a bit more modest hotel, but t...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/hjvkjvkjvg on 2024-02-03 11:33:25.

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I don't see this on discussions anywhere on the internet, so I decided to make a post talking about this. Recently, I traveled to Kyoto, and I kust stumbled across this shop that sells Kyoto Animation goods inside Kyoto Station.

Here is the address: Higashishiokoji Kamadonocho, Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto, 600-8215日本

This is a pop-up shop that orginally opened from 04/08/2023 to 08/01/2024, but is extended to 31/08/2024 due to popular demand. I was so lucky for this extension, otherwise I would not have came across this store. This shop features anime-related products from all Kyoto Animation anime, so I decided to recommand this shop to all Kyoani lovers before this shop closes down.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/church0fchris on 2024-02-03 04:11:35.

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My wife and I want to start planning our first trip to Japan, likely for fall 2025. We want to focus on Tokyo and Kyoto, ideally a week in each with a few day trips.

She's a manual wheelchair user- walking to a table or going up a few steps with a handrail is fine, but she can't stand for too long or walk across a big parking lot. If there's a step, she can stand up so I can lift her chair over. If we're going somewhere by car with very minimal walking she's sometimes able to leave her chair behind, but it comes with us otherwise. This might improve a little with ongoing physical therapy by the time we go, but that's the current situation.

It seems like Japan varies a lot in terms of accessibility and we're interested in hearing from people who have managed with a wheelchair (especially at around this level of mobility- super glad we don't have to deal with a much heavier chair). Any good resources you would recommend? We've found a few accessible tours on offer, is this something you would recommend for seeing any particular areas? Are they worth paying for or can we probably manage on our own? Are people generally pretty understanding? How much time would we have to get on trains? Any areas where a folding wheelchair shouldn't be expected to fit?

I would also love recommendations for a ryokan with private baths that would work for us! We would love as traditional a room as possible but we both have too many tattoos to hide lol.

Thank you, super excited to start planning!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/makoeyes on 2024-02-02 08:15:57.

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My boyfriend and I are planning a first trip to Japan in May 2024. We've put together a rough itinerary and would appreciate any feedback. We've been editing it a bunch over the past week to try to fit in everywhere we want to go, but hopefully in a way that makes sense. Please let me know if you have any suggestions, espeically for our time in Kyoto. We decided we wanted to spend time at a ryokan with a kaiseki dinner and also spend a free night reward the Roku Kyoto LXR. But two nights at either place is not possible for us, so we also have the third hotel near Kyoto Station. Is moving to a different hotel every night in Kyoto going to be too much hopping around?

Day 1 (Tues, 5/14) - Arrive In Tokyo

• Arrive at Haneda Airport at 5 AM. Get IC card and yen.
• Drop off luggage at hotel in Akasaka
• Meiji Jingu
• Harajuku
• Shibuya

Day 2 (Wed, 5/15) - Tokyo

• Tsukiji Outer Market
• Ginza
• Akihabara
• Kaminarimon/Senso-ji (to see them illuminated in the evening)
• Hoppy Street

Day 3 (Thurs, 5/16) - Tokyo

• Ikebukuro
• Shinjuku

Day 4 (Fri, 5/17) - Tokyo

• Senso-ji/Asakusa Shrine (Sanja Matsuri)
• Ameyoko Shopping District
• Ueno Park
• Yanaka Ginza

Day 5 (Sat, 5/18) - Tokyo

• Not much planned. Can be more of a rest day.
• Could check out the area around Tokyo Tower and Roppongi which is all within walking distance of our hotel

Day 6 (Sun, 5/19) - Tokyo/Osaka

• Senso-ji (Sanja Matsuri)
• Check out of hotel in Akasaka
• Shinkansen to Osaka
• Check-in/drop off luggage at hotel in Nakanoshima
• Dotonburi

Day 7 (Mon, 5/20) - Osaka

• Osaka Castle
• Kuromon Market
• Sailor Moon Exhibit in Namba Parks
• Shin Sekai

Day 8 (Tues, 5/21) - Osaka/Kyoto

• Take train to Kyoto
• Drop off luggage at hotel near Kyoto Station
• Arashiyama Monkey Park
• Tenryu-ji
• Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
• Saga Toriimoto Preserved Street
• Adashino Nenbutsuji/Bamboo Path
• Otagi Nenbutsuji

Day 9 (Wed, 5/22) - Kyoto

• Check out of hotel near Kyoto Station and forward luggage to Roku Kyoto LXR
• Kiyomizu-dera
• Ninenzaka
• Gion
• Check in to ryokan in Higashiyama
• Yasaka-jinja Shrine (to see it illuminated at night)

Day 10 (Thurs, 5/23) - Kyoto/Nara/Kyoto

• Check out of ryokan in Higashiyama
• Fushimi Inari as early in the morning as possible
• Day trip to Nara
• Come back to Kyoto and check in to Roku Kyoto LXR

Day 11 (Fri, 5/24) - Kyoto/Tokyo

• Kinkaku-ji
• Ryoan-ji
• Check out of Roku Kyoto LXR and forward luggage to hotel in Tokyo
• Nishiki Market
• Shinkansen to Tokyo
• Check in to hotel in Akasaka

Day 12-13 (Sat-Sun, 5/25-5/26) - Tokyo

• Take a rest day, go back to places in Tokyo that we might have walked by but didn't have time for

Day 14 (Mon, 5/27) - Tokyo

• Possibly more free sightseeing until we go to Haneda Airport in the early afternoon and then fly back home

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/IMustSayThat on 2024-02-01 13:04:20.

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Hello everyone!

Trip reports really helped me on the final planning of my trip - I had my itinerary ready, but would read the trip reports and make some small changes, add restaurants, change the order of things etc. I found it really helpful so will leave mine here for future travelers. I apologize in advance, but it is going to be a long read :)

Some background:

We are a couple in our early 30s and spent our 3-week honeymoon in Japan. My husband is very interested in anime and all things Japan, so this was his dream trip. We are not the going out type, so you won't see many night life recommendations here. We both love nature and walking, but the trip focused a lot on cities as it was our first time in Japan.

Some general thoughts:

• We travelled from November 11 to December 02. It was past peak autumn foliage but still very beautiful to see. Temperatures were warmer than I was expecting, around 13-17 °C and very little rain.
• Things weren't as expensive as I thought they would be. We travelled from Ireland, and Ireland is definitely more expensive than Japan. You can eat really cheap, hotels weren't too bad either, except for the ones we decided to splurge on. Our biggest expenses apart from the flights were the internal transport (JR pass) and all the souvenirs we bought
• A lot of people complain about the lack of bins, but I didn't find it too bad. There's bins close to most of the vending machines (which are everywhere) and one of our tour guides recommended just using the convenience stores' bins - that's what we did, so we were never really carrying trash with us.
• We used booking.com for booking all our hotels (don't forget to filter by non-smoking rooms if you're not a smoker, and for hotels that have wi-fi). Breakfast is really not a thing in Japan, so if you don't want to have breakfast from convenience stores and vending machines, book a hotel with breakfast. We didn't book any restaurants, but also didn't go to any of the TikTok famous ones.
• Regarding booking Shinkansen tickets - we had reserved seats for all our journeys and I really recommend booking it a couple of days in advance. Most trains will have non-reserved cars, but you never know if they will be super busy and you will have to stand etc. We booked our journeys 2 or 3 days ahead - whenever we were in a train station, we would just go to one of the booking machines with our JR passes and book our seats for any journeys we would take on the following days. It takes a bit of planning as you need to commit to a certain train time.
• Pack light. I read this advice and ignored it. You won't use all the clothes you'll bring. I brought boots, never used them. 2 pairs of runners were enough. And you will fill a suitcase of things to bring back, so might as well have the space. We ended up buying an extra bag from Don Quijote and filled it with souvenirs, but nothing stops you from just bringing and empty bag.
• You will walk a lot, and as most on this sub we averaged 20k steps per day. Your legs will be sore and you will most likely be too tired to be up and running from 8am till 8pm, so add some breaks to your itinerary.

Our itinerary:

Osaka - Hiroshima (and Miyajima) - Himeji - Kyoto - Matsumoto - Shibu Onsen - Nikko - Tokyo - Kawaguchiko

I think it was a good shout to start from Osaka and finish in Tokyo. During the trip everything got 'bigger' and 'busier', so we were never underwhelmed. And it was good to see how the public transport worked in a smaller city, I imagine it would have been a bit overwhelming to start my trip at Shinjuku or Tokyo Station!

Day 1 - Arrive at Kansai Aiport and Osaka (Shinsekai)

Osaka hotel: the b namba kurumon 8/10 - room was small (as most during our trip were), but comfortable. Shower was great (in fairness we didn't have a single bad shower during the trip). Location was excellent, right across the street from Kurumon Ichiba Market. You could pay extra for breakfast, but it wasn't that good. They also helped us with forwarding our luggage to our next destination.

• Flight landed at 11.20am and we got to our hotel right before 3pm to check in. We booked the Limousine Bus from Kansai Airport to Osaka on Klook as I didn't want to figure out trains right when we landed.
• Things to do before leaving the airport:
  • Get cash from an ATM
  • Buy your IC card (these machines only take cash). Don't leave the airport without an IC card - at least when we went there was a shortage of cards all over Japan so you weren't able to buy it from train stations. We lost one of our cards mid trip and were stuck with paying all fares with cash, which is doable but annoying. Oh, and bring a little bag for coins (or buy one from a souvenir shop) - you will have a lot of coins with you.
• We didn't have much of a plan for this day as I knew we were going to be tired from all the traveling and jet lagged. All we did was a Food tour around Shinsekai which I highly recommend. It was probably the best tour we did during all our time in Japan, and we didn't have to figure out what/where to eat on our first night. We went to several restaurants that we wouldn't have tried otherwise and walked around Shinsekai. 10+ dishes and 2 drinks were included, more than enough to make you feel very full. To get to the tour's starting point, we walked through Den Den Town. Not my thing, but my husband checked a couple of shops. We were back at the hotel by 9pm and that was the end of the day.

Day 2 - Universal Studios Japan

• The park opened at 9am, we got there at 8.20am and were inside the park by 8.45am. It was a Monday morning and a bit rainy, so that might have helped. We had the express pass, but I'm not sure it was entirely necessarily. If you are buying the express pass, buy it way in advance as the ones with decent time slots sell out very quickly.
• Our timed entries for Super Mario and Harry Potter were at 11.50am and 4pm, a good gap and we were able to have lunch in between. We had lunch at a Japanese restaurant (Saido) and I really don't recommend it, worst food of the entire trip. My mistake, in an amusement park I should have just had pizza, but oh well, it was our second day in Japan and I though Japanese food would be a good shout. It was not.
• The best rides in my opinion were Hollywood dream (and Backdrop) and the Flying Dinosaur. We went twice in each, even though our express pass covered only one ride in Hollywood Dream. The Minions ride was cute but I wouldn't queue for it, unless you have kids. Harry Potter rides were fun. Super Mario rides weren't great to be honest, and I wouldn't recommend spending two hours in the queue for it.
• I've never been to Universal Studios before, so I had a very fun day and would recommend it.

Day 3 - Osaka (Umeda, Dotonbori and Shinsaibashi)

• The initial plan was to go to Nara, but we ended up deciding against it after talking to a few people who had just visited (we had no interest in seeing the deer, plenty of them in Ireland) and considering we wanted to see more of Osaka.
• We were dying for a good cup of coffee (they are not that easy to find), so we started the day getting brunch at the Melbourne Cafe (7/10)
• We then headed to Umeda, which wasn't in our itinerary initially. Getting there, we first exchanged our JR passes and I'm glad we did it there instead of the airport, the queue was much much smaller (it took us less than 15 minutes). We also booked our Shinkansen seats for the next day - the earlier trains were already sold out, so we learned our lesson to book the next ones a couple of days beforehand.
• Then we checked the Pokémon Center, Nintendo and One Piece Stores and bought a good few things (even though I would advise you to leave most of your shopping to the end of the trip, as you'll find these stores almost everywhere)
• After, we headed to Umeda Sky Building - really cool building and views, be mindful they only take cash for the tickets. Looking back, we should have probably gone to the building first, so we weren't carrying shopping bags around with us.
• Back to the hotel for a quick power nap (jet lag is tough). We spent our evening walking around Dotonbori and Shinsaibashi and eating some delicious street food. Very busy but really cool area. We finished the night having drinks and playing video games at Space Bar

Day 4 - Osaka and Miyajima

• We checked out of our hotel and shipped our luggage to Kyoto - always check with the hotel if they actually do this service and when should you go down to the reception to fill the forms, some will say the night before, some will say on check out.
• Kurumon Ichiba Market for breakfast. There were plenty of options open at 9am - we had sushi and wagyu, both delicious.
• We walked to Namba Yasaka Jinja, not much to see there but it's a cool photo spot. We left in less than 10 minutes.
• We then got the Shinkansen to Hiroshima. Our initial plan was to spend the day in Hiroshima, go to the museum, peace park etc. and go to Miyajima on the next day for a full day. However, the day was very sunny and the forecast for the next day was r...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/thisistheperfectname on 2024-01-31 19:13:06.

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I got back from a solo trip to Japan last week, my first in Asia, and I had a great time (though not everything went totally smoothly). I'll give some more general thoughts on the country, its culture, and the experience of navigating it as an American below, but first, the obligatory day-to-day (non-exhaustive, since accounting for everything would make the post way too long):

Day 0

I landed in Tokyo in the mid afternoon. I was having some stomach problems (something I ate?), so I got to the hotel, threw up, and slept for about 14 hours. Day lost.

Day 1

Feeling a bit better, I got on the early tour of the Tokyo Imperial Palace and thought it was interesting to learn a bit about the Japanese monarchy and the way the country sees it. I visited Tokyo Dome City in the afternoon, but was a bit disappointed to find that Thunder Dolphin would be closed the entire time I was in the country. I then hit the Tokyo National Museum, with its rich collection of art from all over Asia. Getting caught in the cold rain afterward sure was an experience too.

Day 2

Went to Senso-ji and the Skytree. Great view of Tokyo with Mt. Fuji in the background from there. Also hit Meiji Shrine a bit later, where I felt pretty out of my element while a ritual was going on involving hundreds of people with cloth covered poles. I was sure that I was the only gaijin there for most of my time there.

Day 3

Took the Shinkansen to Nagoya, and this was another stop where things went a bit awry. It was all fine at first, as I went to Nagoya Castle and hung around the city center. The hotel I booked had a terrible smell in the rooms (this was not apparent from the lobby, so I checked in thinking nothing of it), like it had never been cleaned. After changing rooms only marginally improved things, I figured that I would tough it out. I slept terribly.

Day 4

Impromptu hotel change (massive upgrade) and a trip to Nagashima Spa Land. Click here to read my ramblings about Japanese park operations and what they said to me about the culture. Hakugei was killer, and an equally killer sukiyaki lunch with Matsusaka beef followed.

Day 5

Hectic day, this one. Took the Shinkansen to Kyoto and dropped off my luggage. Then I made a quick visit to Higashi Hongan-ji and got back on the train and popped over to Himeji, where I visited the castle (a trip highlight) and the neighboring gardens. Got hit up for a limited express fare on the way back after working on what seemed to be some bad information. My lack of understanding of the Japanese train system was showing. Had a nice steak dinner after getting back to Kyoto too.

Day 6

Went to Nijo Castle and the Kyoto Imperial Palace. Tea made for a nice refuge from the rain. Took further refuge from the cold in my ryokan's onsen, and that rock salt bath hit the spot. Had Fushimi-Momoyama Castle to myself in the afternoon (I blame the weather), and it was a bit eerie. Had some good spicy ramen and played pachinko at night, and pachinko made me feel the dumbest I remember ever feeling. The attendant probably explained how to play at least four times (I couldn't hear, let alone understand him), and then I left what was left of my money at the machine after it wasn't immediately obvious to me that it was going to spit out an IC card.

Day 7

Another hectic day. Went through Arashiyama into lunch time, including the bamboo forest and the monkey park. Tried takoyaki, but I wasn't crazy about it. Kiyomizu-dera was one of the coolest places I visited across the entire trip, but it was equal parts amusing and annoying to see the path up through it clogged with men who got roped into filming their girlfriends walking from behind in cheap, rented kimonos, even in the low season. Nevertheless, the views are fantastic and the complex has a lot of cool details to see. Went to Fushimi Inari Taisha after that, but didn't climb the whole mountain. I had done enough walking as it was.

Day 8

I thought I would take it easy, but I rarely end up actually doing that. Went to Gion and had a nice shabu lunch. As much as I liked the traditional surroundings and wished that more of Kyoto looked like that, I didn't care for the constant police presence directing foot traffic and enforcing the "no photography" policy. It all felt rigidly controlled to a greater degree than I tend to appreciate when on vacation, but I suppose they have their reasons. I spent the afternoon in Nara with the deer (go see them if you have the chance; they bow back if you bow, and they'll bow to ask for food too) and seeing the massive Todai-ji.

Day 9

The last Shinkansen ride on the trip, this time back to Tokyo. I finally took some needed rest time before getting a ramen dinner in a booth (one of the most cyberpunk feeling things I saw or did on the whole trip) and going up Tokyo Tower to get a night view of the city from above. It's amazing how big the place is, even coming from LA and its urban sprawl.

Day 10

Checked out the Shibuya area, including the famous crossing, and went to one act of a Kabuki show in the afternoon. Circumstance made me unable to get the English guide (long story), so the show didn't make sense to me, but it was something to try. I went out later at night and ended up getting drunk in Shinjuku. Met some cool people and finally saw the Tokyo of Enter the Void and Ichi the Killer come to life (and wow, the lights). Golden Gai is an absolute vibe too.

Day 11

Delighted to not be nursing a hangover, I hit Teamlab Planets around lunch time and then wandered around Roppongi Hills in the afternoon. I was surprised at how many things were closed at that time, but it was alright. I had a super awkward run-in with the artist behind the Striped House Gallery, where I popped in unplanned, saw him talking to some other people, thought I was in the wrong part of the building (not recognizing that his pieces were in the background), and then he told me to look around at his art, but I couldn't communicate with him about it, so I left after a couple minutes. Capped off the trip with a multi-course sukiyaki dinner overlooking Ginza and all its lights.

Day 12

Flew back home.

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Some thoughts on Japan as a place and culture:

• The people are very accommodating and helpful. I even had a situation where Google Maps took me to what turned out to be the nondescript back loading dock of one of my hotels, so when I was looking around for the real entrance, a guy got out of his car to ask me what I was looking for, then walked me around the corner to the entrance. I couldn't believe it. English was limited throughout the trip, of course, but Google Translate and the classic "point at what you want and say 'please'" tactics worked well for communicating, and I was never given a hard time about the language barrier.

• The place seems very orderly and rule-following, but I do get the impression that a lot of it is about appearances. A good example is crossing the street. When the pedestrian sign was red, but no cars were around, nobody would cross the street until I would. Once I stepped in the street, a bunch of natives would follow, as if nobody wanted to stick out and be the rulebreaker, but some gaijin could break the ice and be noticed for it and then all bets were off.

• I mentioned above that one of my ramen dinners was a very "cyberpunk" feeling moment. You eat the ramen at a counter that's divided into individual booths, and you look straight ahead and use pre-printed tokens to talk to the staff without having to actually, you know, talk to the staff. The feeling was not unlike that of being on the train, surrounded by people who are trying to avoid each other. The Tokyo metro area has about 40 million people, but it feels like they're largely alone. There's so much anonymity in a crowd, and the culture does not seem to promote spontaneous interaction. Maybe it's because I do not speak Japanese, and therefore don't have access to the true Japanese culture, but simply looking around tells me that people are in their own bubbles, no matter what is happening around them.

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Some thoughts on myself and my relationship with travel:

• This was not my first trip that I planned and purchased, but it was the first one where I was actually alone. The freedom of solo travel is great, and I'll be doing it again, but not for every trip. Time and place and all that.

• I am chronically unable to relax. I think I walked about eight miles on a day when I woke up thinking that I would take it easy. It's great for efficiency, but not so great when it sometimes becomes physically painful to walk (that did happen a couple times). Maybe I should be padding my trips even more with the time I spend at a place.

• This was my first time in Asia. I had a lot of "I'm not in Kansas anymore" moments, and I think that's fundamental to the experience. Variety is the spice of life, and you go somewhere to be somewhere different. Even so, Tokyo is a pretty easy "baby's first Asian megacity," and I expect that I'll be upping the ante in this regard in the not-too-distant future.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Choochutrain on 2024-01-29 00:58:53.

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Hello, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with planning this once in a lifetime trip. I'll be in a group of middle aged adults and pretty fit elderly parents. We typically get up around 0600-0700, and if anything are worried about trying to cram too many things in this trip. We have a track record of doing that.

Feedback is greatly appreciated of any logistics we might not be thinking about, feasibility, and any items you would recommend removing/adding that really made or broke your trip. This subreddit is amazing! We are planning on going the beginning of July 2024. We are fairly big food people and are generally big on architecture/museums/natural monuments. We will get the 14 day JP pass most likely (hence the split time in Tokyo) or if we adjust the trip to get it down to 7 days that would be even better (but not sure what to cut!) and local passes for transportation as needed. Thank you in advance!

Day 1-3: Tokyo

Day 4: Hakone

Day 5-8: Kyoto

Day 9: Nara

Day 10-11: Osaka

Day 12-17: Tokyo

• Day 1 (Shinjuku):

  • Arrive at Narita Airport
  • explore Shinjuku near hotel

• Day 2 (Shinjuku):

  • Ghibli Museum
  • Shop in Shinjuku

• Day 3 (Tokyo): Disney Sea (Will make sure this isn't on the weekend)

• Day 4 Hakone

  • Train to Hakone
  • Check in to Ryokan
  • Ropeway
  • Private Ryokan Onsen

• Day 5 (Kyoto)

  • Travel to Kyoto
  • Check in to Kyoto Hotel
  • Higashi Hongan-ji Temple
  • Nishiki Market

• Day 6 (Kyoto):

  • Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
  • Arashiyama Monkey Park
  • Togetsukyo Bridge
  • Tenryu-ji
  • Okochi Sanso Garden

• Day 7 (Kyoto):

  • Travel to Kyoto
  • Check in to Kyoto Hotel
  • Higashi Hongan-ji Temple
  • Nishiki Market

• Day 8 (Kyoto)

  • Kyoto Imperial Palace
  • Nijo Castle

• Day 9 Okochi Sanso GardenDay (Nara)

  • Day trip to Nara
  • Nara Park
  • Higashimuki Shopping Street
  • Todai-ji
  • Kofuku-ji

• Day 10 (Osaka)

  • Travel to Osaka
  • Osaka Castle (general consensus is just look on the outside, no need to go in)
  • Abeno Harukas
  • teamLab Botanical Garden

• Day 11 (Osaka)

  • Kuromon Market
  • America-mura
  • Shinsaibashi-Suji Shopping Street
  • Umeda Chair
  • Umeda Sky Building
  • HEP Five Ferris Wheel

• Day 12 (Akihabara)

  • Travel back to Tokyo
  • Meji Shrine
  • Super Potato
  • Bic Camera
  • Gigo Akihabara

• Day 13 (Harajuku + Shibuya)

  • Tokyo Plaza Omotesando
  • Nintendo Store
  • Mega Don Quijote
  • Parco
  • Scramble Crossing
  • Hachiko Statue
  • Takeshita street

• Day 14 (Tsukiji + Ginza):

  • Tsukiji Outer Market
  • teamLab Planets
  • Uniqlo
  • Ginza Six

• Day 15 (Shinjuku)

  • teamLab Borderless
  • Tokyo Tower
  • Pokémon store Shibuya
  • Harajuku Kokyo or Hamarikyu Garden

• Day 16 (Shinjuku): July 24

  • Tokyo Joypolis?
  • Senso-Ji
  • Skytree

• Day 17: Leave from Narita

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Michishige_Ren on 2024-01-29 02:31:34.

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Hello. I am currently on my third trip to Japan. What I never did in my previous trips was taking a day off. During those trips, my duration of stay wasnt as long as my current trip now. I felt it wasnt worth it to take a day off and just relax as I would essentially be wasting a whole day doing nothing. I am concidering taking today off since I have been very tired. Its the 10th day of my 4 week trip and I just want to hear your thoughts.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/aloneghost on 2024-01-28 16:05:26.

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Hi everyone,

Writeup is great to re-live the trip, so here I am noting down the essential from my trip last month. English isn't my native language so please forgive the mistakes below.

General

1. Bus: the process may differ between cities, so best not to be the first to get on. For example, in Tokyo passengers get on via the front doors and pay the fare, and finally get off through the rear doors. In Kyoto, you get on through the rear doors, then pay right before getting off through the front doors.
2. Google Maps is good for nearly all navigation, no need to install any domestic apps.
3. If you visit museums, bring your own earphones/headset in case you have to hear the audio guide with your phone.
4. For mobile data, 1 GB/day/person is more than enough for navigation, keeping in touch with friends, and miscellaneous internet browsing.
5. Best to bring a powerbank, because they don't help to charge your phone (unlike in S. Korea). In a pinch, you can rent a powerbank though.
6. If you use a physical IC card, put ~¥2-3,000 in it, and ¥5,000 pocket cash. Coins are useful for vending machine and laundromat, keep some.
7. If you need to check the map during your walk, don't be obtrusive. Step aside from the walking stream.
8. Wanderlog is your besto friendo.
9. Omiyage is greatly appreciated, so bring some national delicacies (such as candied fruits, coffee, trinkets...) as souvenirs for the people you like.
10. Grocery shopping bag and umbrella (during rainy seasons) are 2 handy things to always have with you.
11. When selecting hostel/hotel, the nearer the station entrance, the better.

Itineraries

Day 1: Just move

I landed at NRT at 2 PM. I was worried about the data esim, but one toggle and I was online once more. Getting through Customs was a breeze, and I arrived at Tokyo Station on the Limousine Bus relatively early. The Limousine Bus was a mistake though, because it was quite pricy at ¥3,100. You can go to Tokyo Station with only ¥1,300 via JR.

From Tokyo Station, I got my Toica card and wanted to get on the earliest Shinkansen Tokaido Nozomi to Kyoto. Getting the ticket was troublesome for me, but luckily the helpful station staff helped me out, and I was able to board the train at ~4:30 PM. The lightning-fast train was impressive, and I arrived at Kyoto Station at nearly 7 PM, and at my hostel quite early at maybe 7:30 PM. I was feeling rather anxious, so I checked the room briefly for hidden camera and bedbug. Things looked to be in order.

After checking in, I went to a local yakiniku for some wagyu, and was blew away by the super good but still affordable food. It was only ~2km away from my hostel, so I decided to walk back. Kyoto was very cold that night.

Day 2: Walked until my legs gave out

I came to Nijō-jō (二条城) as early as they opened, and I had a lovely time following many groups of tourists on my walk through the castle interior. The castle brochure contains many interesting facts and the tour guides mostly repeated them back to the tourists, but I liked to look at their expressions and gestures. I knew about the "nightinggale floor" before visiting, but I thought it was a glorified sound. In fact it sounds exactly like birds are singing, and when you are looking at beautiful murals, it's like all your senses are getting their share. What a magnificent place. I enjoyed the walk through the scenic gardens too.

I then went to Otsuka, a well-known steak house for my lunch. The queue was long and I had to wait for 20-30m. I considered going elsewhere, but was too tired so I resigned to waiting. The food and service were both superb, so I didn't regret waiting.

Revived after a big lunch, I then proceeded to Arashiyama bamboo grove. That was a big mistake. Even at hundreds of meters away from the entrance the crowd was too thick to manage, so I decided to ditch the place and walked to the Katsura river instead. The day was growing and it was a nice breezy late autumn afternoon on the riverside. Even though there were still lots of people there, the space was expansive so it didn't feel crowded at all.

I got back at Arashiyama station to go to the Manga museum. At the station, I saw the Kimono forest, which is a collection of collumns sheated in kimono cloth. At night they are lit from within and I think it'll look good then, but in the daylight it's hard to distinguish from the murals that are everywhere you look.

The Manga museum would be superb for a/ manga fans, and b/ those who know Japanese. You can easily spend a whole day in there. I don't know Japanese so I only understood a small part of the exhibition, and read some foreign comic books. Still, I liked it very much.

I then went to a nearby cafe called Kurasu, had my oat milk latte and watched people from the pavement. Then, I slowly made my way through the area until I reached the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on the Kamo riverside, and strolled alongside the river. I walked through the Pontocho, but didn't like it very much. I stopped at a matcha shop and a confectionery shop before dragging my feets back to the hostel. At this point my heels were killing me.

Day 3: I didn't know Inari was a hike

Determined to avoid crowds, I arrived at the entrance of Fushimi Inari Taisha at 6:30 AM and started to make my way through the red gates. Some fellow travellers were there, but luckily, no crowd. People posed and took photos during the first leg of the hike, but when I ascended further it was more focused and tranquil. Upon reaching the midpoint of the hiking trail, there were some benches for looking at the landscape below. I was not impressed with the view, but I appreciated the thoughtfulness. I was not fit at all and my wheezing must have waken up the whole city by then.

But I managed to complete the hiking loop, got down via another trail, and arrive at Vermillion cafe just 10m before their opening time to have my breakfast and coffee. Even at that time, there was a queue. But luckily I secured a seat right on the balcony, overlooking the stream. So I watched the ducks catch their breakfast while I had mine.

Then I went to Gion, walking around the empty streets was so calming. When I was too sore to walk any longer, I got to Maikoya for a matcha-making class. I was an hour early for my appointment, but I was too cold and tired, so I sat waiting next to a heater and watched people. Then when it was my turn, they helped me into a kimono that I liked, took some photos for me, then guided me to the class. Sitting seiza-style for longer than 20m is painful, but I tried to sit properly whenever the hostesses delivered a speech or instructions. When it was time for us to practice, I had to sit cross-legged to let the blood flow a little. The matcha was bitter, and I had thought that the wagashi was supposed to accompanied matcha, but it turned out that they are eaten and drank in turn, not together.

After the class, it was mid-late afternoon and I strolled to Sannenzaka-Ninenzaka. I was sure not to stumble during my short walk there. There were many shops for anything: confectionery, tea, chopsticks, noodles, even brands like Porter and Ghibli merch. So the streets were short, but I took a long time to walk through this area. Upon arriving at Yasaka Jinja, I happened to look at Google Maps and saw a curious place nearby: Gion Duck Noodles, with the duck and noodle emoji in their name. On a whim, I decided to go there for my dinner. The place was tiny but apparently popular, so I had to queue for a long time before entering. With duck, the ramen is certainly different, the broth was thinner and clearer than the usual pork broth as in tonkotsu ramen, but still, it tasted good. I felt that this would be better in the summer than in cold weather, and the cook and staff were super helpful and friendly.

I walked around the Gion area for a while, until my feet berated me. Even then, I tried to visit the Kanji Museum, which happened to be right at the corner. Again, it's a place for those who know Japanese. I only knew some kanjis, so I couldn't appreciate it fully, but I liked it still.

After that, my feet called it a day, and I went back to my hostel.

Day 4: Why did I walk that much?

I'd read that you must go to Kinkaku-ji (Rokuon-ji) as early as possible, so I was among the first to queue in front of the gate by 9 AM. It was a rare sight indeed. We were lucky that day, because the sun shone so bright, it was blinding. They must coat the temple with some kind of extra metals because man it was shining. Same with other historical landmarks, there were groups of students and I rather enjoyed accompanying them throughout the place, even though I don't understand what the teachers were saying. By the way, the entrance ticket was unique, and I made sure to bring it home in my collection box.

Kinkaku-ji was relatively small, so I went to get my lunch early. Too early in fact, because Okonomiyaki Katsu opens at 11:30 AM. So I killed time by walking through the area, but it was a Monday so lots of places were closed. Back at Katsu, I was the first customer. The owner was an elderly couple who took their time and care in preparing the okonomiyaki, hence the long queue outside. I rarely have a whole okonomiyaki by myself, but this time was able to finish it.

After that big lunch, I went to the Kyoto Gyoen National Garden for some fresh air among trees. Walking alone in a garden can be so calming...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/mak6453 on 2024-01-28 04:15:21.

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I'm long overdue in posting this report, we went last year, April 6, 2023 - April 18, 2023. I'll do my best to keep it somewhat organized, but it's harder now that things aren't completely fresh. Most points will be very high level, but I'm happy to provide more detail in a private message if anyone has questions.

JR Pass Note: Our group of 4 had the regular, 7-day JR Pass during our trip, and it's what allowed us to save some money on flights by going round trip from Tokyo. I know that the recent price change was significant (69% increase, last I saw) and makes it hard to justify unless you're taking a TON of train rides. My recommendation is to avoid the JR pass and instead spend a little extra flying out of a different airport in order to avoid the travel time (and expense) of taking the Shinkansen back to the other side of the country. If you do elect to go for the JR Pass, note that the lines at the airport and every other major subway station are completely packed. We had budgeted 30 minutes to pick ours up (laughable) when we should have budgeted hours. My recommendation is to dodge the airport line, go to your hotel, get to another JR pickup location 30 minutes before they open the next morning and be at the front of the line. If you're like us, you'll be awake due to jetlag anyway.

Day 1: Flight to Tokyo. There's not a ton to say about the flight, so I'll use this day as an opportunity to give some travel related tips.

• Pack light and use hotel washing machines. We were surprised to find that every hotel had coin washing machines, and some even had them in the room. I'd have packed way lighter had I known.
• We went the portable wifi route, and we stuck together so we only needed one for the four of us. It worked great, but it's worth noting that to return it, you'll need to drop it at a mailbox before you go to the airport. Some airport terminals do not have a mailbox to accept portable wifi units, nor is there a counter to return them at. It's a very expensive mistake to make.
• Trust Google Maps. The only times we got lost in major cities was when we thought we knew better that Google. Put in where you want to go, and pay attention to the subway color/number combos as well as the Platform number - very important you're at the right platform, not just the right line and stop.

Day 2: Because you lose a day in the time change, this was really day 1 getting off the plane in Tokyo around 4pm. We had a lot planned for this evening, but we were all exhausted and it took far longer than expected to pick up portable wifi and get to our hotel, so we just got dinner around our hotel, which we found out was actually in Koreatown. We were trying to stay near Shinjuku, but messed up. I don't recommend Koreatown - completely different vibes, and the dirtiest part of Tokyo we saw the whole time. The original plan was dinner at Ichiran ramen and then drinks and late night food at Omoide Yokocho AKA Memory Lane where they've got a bunch of bars crammed into a few little alleys. I'm sure it would have been fun, but jetlag got us good.

Day 3:

• Tsukiji Market - great call, must do in my opinion. The earlier you can get there, the better. The lines end up getting pretty long (on a Saturday at least) and we were able to try a ton of delicious food before it got too busy. Big win here, and I'll be going again on my next trip.
• Gundam Center - BIG error on my part. Turns out that there are TWO Gundam centers in Tokyo. I booked tickets at one that was across the city, not the one that was near Tsukiji Market. We ended up not getting to experience this. I don't know if it's been shut down yet, but make note of which location you're buying tickets for.
• Teamlab Planets - I'm pretty sure this is closed now. It was just OK. A cool experience, but probably not worth the time that we could be experiencing the rest of Tokyo.
• Pokemon Center Tokyo DX - We're Pokemon fans and stopped into several of these, and they were all pretty fun but mostly the same experience. Would recommend if you're a fan.
• Ginza - we walked around the Ginza area, which was very nice. I recommend it if you have any fashion lovers who want to get some shopping done. If I'm ever in Tokyo with my wife, this will be where we spend a day.
• Nihombashi station - we accidentally got off the subway here and stepped out into a really cool mall/food hall that was a totally unexpected thrill. If you're in the area, I recommend stopping for a snack.
• Akihabara - We're gaming/anime nerds (and proud), and expected this to be a huge feature of our trip, but it was a pretty big disappointment for everyone. It just felt kind of run down, and there wasn't much of interest. You can find the Japanese version of many video games at Super Potato, or 200 stores that all sell the same anime figurines. I'd honestly pass on it completely if I were you - nerd or not.

Day 4:

• A note on Japanese Breakfast (not the band): We were surprised to find that most stores/restaurants in Japan don't open until like, 10am. As a result, breakfast is mostly not a thing. I had some of the saddest (in a funny way) breakfasts of my life in Japan. Don't try to wake up early and go to a Japanese diner for breakfast - they'll offer you "bottomless toast."
• Harajuku - A very lively area that felt a little too touristy for us. I'd probably recommend walking through it once - scoping out the stores - and then walking through the park just next to it to really experience peace after pure chaos. We went on a Sunday around midday, so that could be why it was so packed with bodies.
• Lunch was at a place nearby called Gyukatsu Motomura Harajuku. It was phenomenal but we had to wait hours in line for a spot at the bar. I later found out that there are identical restaurants in other cities that have no line, and we went to the busiest location by far. Don't wait in line for this if you can go to another location at another time in your trip.
• Shibuya - We were fortunate enough to know a local who guided us through Shibuya and took us to some great spots. We got a beer at a brewery in Miyashita Park (a cool mall-like area with an open air park on the roof), walked a good bit sightseeing, then ended up at a really interesting place for dinner that he asked me not to share because it was already slammed with locals every night as it is. Sorry! Walking around Shibuya was great though - so many interesting areas.

Day 5: Kyoto by Shinkansen

• The shinkansen ride was great - a really cool experience. We got our ekiben (train bento box) and boarded. Thanks to this subreddit, we knew to get seats on the right side of the train when heading for Kyoto, so we got an awesome view of Mt. Fuji. It's incredible.
• Wajoryomen Sugari - We got lunch at a ramen place we found on Google maps called Wajoryomen Sugari. Small place, basically no sign on the small door. If you do find it, it's delicious and a great, quiet atmosphere. You put in your order at a self service machine at the end of a long, dark hallway that opens into a little open air courtyard/garden for waiting. You sit along the wall in queue and give your receipt to the guy at the bar when you're up. Ramen was excellent.
• Hotel - We stayed at the Richmond Hotel Premier Kyoto Shijo, which I thought turned out great. It's a straight shot down the road to a lot of good walking attractions.
• Gion and Kiyomizu-dera - We took a very long walk east through a mall that led toward the Kamo River, which has a nice walking trail next to it. Walked down for a while and crossed the river at Shijo-dori, which brings you into some historic buildings that are pretty cool. Walked through the Gion area - highly recommend - took us to the Hokanji Temple at around sunset. Things started closing up around then, which I found surprising, but the view was incredible. We kept the hike going up to Kiyomizu-dera and enjoyed it quite a bit. I recommend going earlier and maybe leaving around sunset, rather than arriving then.

Day 6:

• Fushimi Inari - If you're down for a hike, I highly recommend this. Listen to what people recommend here: GO EARLY. It's beautiful and peaceful, you won't regret waking up before the sun. We had a somewhat unique experience, I think. We didn't follow the tori gates up. Almost immediately after leaving the base, there is a side path up to a few little houses/huts. If you visit those, I think you're supposed to go back down and follow the gates. We saw another path following the bamboo forest around the side of the huts and took that by mistake. It still leads you up the mountain eventually, but it's a less defined path and probably added an hour. The trade off is you see some really cool shrines (and maybe memorials?) including some waterfalls. It's a more intense path though. Not recommended if you're out of shape (like me) unless you take your time a bit.
• Nijo Castle - I'd give this one a 6.5/10. Maybe not worth the entry fee, but certainly not a waste of time. There's some interesting history they'll explain to you - you're walking around an ancient castle with gardens and a huge moat, so that's cool.
• We spent the rest of the day trying out random food and visiting another Pokemon Center. It was pretty chill, but we had a big, early morning. It's never a bad idea to build in some down time to just wander and eat :)

Day 7:

• Redemption Breakfast - the best breakfast we had in...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/MagicMushroom01 on 2024-01-28 00:33:00.

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So 4 of us have a trip to japan booked Mon 29th april to 12th May.

Mon 29th April - Sun 5th May we are staying in Tokyo. On the Sunday 5th we are travelling down to Hirosima/ Miyajima Island, then going to Kyoto, Osaka and back to Tokyo the following week.

We booked this a while ago, now we are looking at tickets for the Shinkansen and we noticed a warning sign about reservations due to 'Golden Week'

Unfortunately we were restricted in our times to go when booking and when we were looking things up we somehow missed the biggest holiday in japan..

It looks like we're mainly hitting golden week on the first week we're in Tokyo, and might get a little bit when we go to Miyajima.

When researching what Golden Week is on youtube we're hit with these senational titles saying AVOID JAPAN DURING THIS WEEK.

So my question is.. is it really as bad as these youtube videos make it out to be? It's now put a bit of a dampner on things and as I said we don't really have any alternate dates to go! Thanks!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/milkandvaseline on 2024-01-27 04:23:20.

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Travelled in January, 2024 with my best friend. It was winter there and although Tokyo was not too cold, the Kansai region seemed much colder.

Our goals for this trip were to see the main sights of Japan, go thrifting and buy some merch from anime/games/other miscellaneous Japan things. I think we did a pretty good job checking these things off the list and don't really have any regrets!

Tokyo - 5 full days

• Day 1 - Shibuya and Harajuku:
  • We woke up too early and got to Shibuya whilst most shops were closed. We visited the Hachiko statue and the scramble crossing. The crossing was actually not as busy/big as we were imagining, however it wasn't peak hour when we went. We passed the time at a Don Quijote while we waited for the other shops to open. Then we grabbed lunch at Kura Sushi which became our obsession for the trip (we went around 4 times in total oop). Then we went to the Jujutsu Kaisen cafe located in the Shibuya 109 building (I think there's two locations, both in Shibuya).
  • Then we went to Harajuku. We thought the thrifting around here was quite disappointing, it seemed like there was a bit of popular-tourist-area-price-gouging.
• Day 2 - Asakusa, Kappabashi and Shinjuku:
  • We got to Asakusa pretty early and we rented kimonos. We walked down Nakamise Street in our kimonos and took some photos around there. We probably only spend about an hour in our kimonos before returning them as we were absolutely freezing. After we got changed, we did another round of the area and did some shopping and tried all the Instagram famous matcha places e.g the matcha mont blanc place and the gelato place. The gelato place (Suzukien) was a personal favourite, they do seven different levels of matcha gelato.
  • We then walked to Kappabashi (Kitchenware town). I absolutely loved this place. If you're looking for a knife, this is the place to get it. There was also so much good pottery at reasonable prices and I would've absolutely bought more stuff if I wasn't stressed about luggage space. There were lots of kappa statues and images hidden around the place as well, very cute.
  • We then went to Shinjuku at night to visit Golden Gai, Omoide Yokocho, the cat billboard and the Godzilla head. The bars and restaurants weren't super busy since it was a weekday and we were quite surprised by this.
• Day 3 - Shinjuku during the day, Studio Ghibli Museum, thrifting in Kichijoji and Ikebukuro:
  • First we went to visit the special KFC near Shinjuku station. Then we went to the Metropolitan building and were luckily able to get some views of Mt Fuji. Definitely recommend the Metropolitan building over the other popular observation decks e.g Tokyo Tower, Shibuya Sky since it's free.
  • Then we went to the Ghibli Museum. Definitely think this is a must go even if you're not a massive Ghibli fan. The exhibits were so thoughtfully put together, the building and surrounding park were beautiful and there's some unique merch you can get here.
  • We then went thrifting in Kichijoji since it was nearby. This wasn't on our original itinerary and we didn't have high hopes for this place but we were pleasantly surprised! The prices here were very reasonable and we thought it might be because it's less popular than the other locations. This ended up being our favourite thrifting spot.
  • We then finished the day in Ikebukuro. We ended up preferring Ikebukuro over Akihabara. We thought Ikebukuro was just a bit more...nicer? Ikebukuro was more female orientated and Akihabara seems more male orientated.
• Day 4 - Tsukiji market, shopping in Ginza, Akihabara: * Honestly we both thought Tsukiji marker was skippable. We thought all the "everything I ate at Tsukiji market" Instagram posts were overhyping this.
  • We did some shopping in Ginza and finished the day in Akihabara.
• Day 5 - Gotokuji Temple and thrifting in Shimokitazawa:
  • This ended up being an 'extra' day for us since we originally planned on visiting Akihabara on this day.
  • We decided to go to Gotokuji Temple, which is the temple with all the maneki-nekos. We're glad we did because the temple was super cute. We took the cat tram there as well which was also super cute, it's one of the only tram lines still in operation in Tokyo.
  • We then went thrifting in Shimokitazawa. This place had a good range of shops but we didn't find anything that caught our eyes. We think it might've just been an unlucky day for us.

Kyoto - 3ish full days

• Day 6 - Nishiki Market and Fushimi Inari:
  • We left for Kyoto and got to see Mt Fuji on the bullet train along the way.
  • Nishiki Market was close to our accommodation so we went there for lunch. We thought Nishiki Market was better than Tsukiji and we'd choose Nishiki if we had to pick.
  • We then went to Fushimi Inari. We decided to climb all the way to the top since we had time to kill. Would I recommend it? Probably not. At the top there's just a shinto shrine/statue. I'd recommend climbing up high enough so that there's not many people and and then taking some pictures there and climbing back down. There's a halfway point with a view of Kyoto that's not bad.
• Day 7 - Higashiyama area and Kiyomizu-dera:
  • We left early to visit the Starbucks in the Higashiyama area. It's quite cute inside the Starbucks and we had breakfast sitting on the tatami mats there. We then walked around the area and took some photos.
  • We then went to Kiyomizu-dera and finished the day by chilling in the Sanjo area near our accommodation.
• Day 8 - Arashiyama, Kinkaku-ji and Nijo Castle: * We first went to the bamboo grove and then to the Miffy Cafe for breakfast. We also got a coffee at Arabica Coffee which is all over Instagram and it's definitely a very touristy place. As a Melburnian, I actually thought the coffee was pretty good. We then went to Iwatayama monkey park and it was so funny seeing all the monkeys chilling around the tourists.
  • We then went to Kinkaku-ji. If you can, go on a sunny day because words cannot describe how beautiful the temple was when the sunlight reflects off the gold. The photos absolutely do not do it justice.
  • Nijo Castle was a spur of a moment decision since we had some time to kill. It was kinda expensive for Japan standards at 1300 yen for entry. I would say this is very skippable. The architecture was nice but not exactly unique. I did enjoy seeing and 'hearing' the nightingale floors but at the end of the day it is just a squeaky floor.

Kinosaki Onsen - 2ish days

• Day 9 - Kinosaki Onsen and bathing
  • We left Kyoto and arrived in Kinosaki around the afternoon. We explored the town, had dinner at our ryokan and then visited some onsens.
• Day 10 - Kinosaki Onsen, ropeway and Osaka
  • We had breakfast at the ryokan and did some early morning bathing before checking out of the ryokan. In the end we got to visit 5/7 onsens. Goshono-yu is definitely the prettiest and a must visit. Kouno-yu Onsen was also really nice. Satono-yu was skippable in my opinion.
  • We then went on a ropeway to see a 'Michelin rated' view and uhh...it was just okay, maybe because it was winter it wasn't as nice.
  • We then headed to Osaka and had dinner in Dotonbori.

Osaka & neighbouring areas - 4 full days

• Day 11Himeji and shopping around Dotonbori and Shinsaibashi
  • We took the Hello Kitty Shinkansen to Himeji and I highly recommend doing this if your schedule allows (the train only runs once a day unfortunately). It was a unique experience and although I'm not the biggest Hello Kitty fan, it was very amusing just getting on a train that was covered in pink ribbons.
  • We had time to kill so we just did some shopping for last minute souvenirs around Dotonbori and Shinsaibashi.
• Day 12 - Hiroshima and Miyajima
  • We left quite early for Hiroshima. We visited the bomb dome, the memorial park and the museum. I'd say the museum is a must go. It was probably the most educational museum I've been to and they planned the exhibits very well. The content was quite heavy but I think everyone should see it at least once.
  • We were feeling a bit down after the museum so we then went to get some famous Hiroshima okonomiyaki for lunch.
  • Then we went to Miyajima and just visited the shrine and the Grand Torii gate pretty much. I didn't know there were also deer on Miyajima island and they were really cute.
• Day 13 - Universal Studios
  • This is definitely a whole day thing. We stayed from opening to close pretty much. We spent most of our time in Super Nintendo World doing the Power Up Band challenges. This was my second time there and I still think the Flying Dinosaur is the only must go ride. I think Hollywood Dream is skippable, imo it's just your generic roller coaster. As someone with glasses I actually did not enjoy Koopa's Challenge since you get these glasses with the ride and they did not work well for me. We had express passes so we were able to save some time. If you're worried about not being able to get entry into Super Nintendo World, I wouldn't stress. When we got to the park, we saw there were still timed reservations for SNW available (we got to the park maybe 8:30-9ish?). We also had lunch at Kinopio's Cafe. The food was...okay but it was really cute inside. There was quite a wait so if you wanted to save time you could skip this.
• **Day 1...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/OneFun9000 on 2024-01-26 15:03:30.

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Hi all, this was my third trip to Japan, and it was late November/early December.

One of my favourite things to do is simply walking around, so if some days feel light that’s what I’m doing. With the exception of a few things I call out, most of the time for food I’m having some sushi, kushikatsu or soba somewhere. My travel style tends towards relaxed rather than hectic.

I’ve spent some time in this report talking about things that didn’t go quite so well. I’m not doing it to complain or whine, but just to give a different perspective and be helpful to others. I had an amazing time, so I don’t want people to think that the trip was bad!

Tokyo

Days 1-3

These were really acclimatisation days. Jetlag hit more than normal, so we did a lot of early morning walks and park visits, as well as some light shopping. One of my checked bags went missing on my flight, but thankfully it was delivered to the hotel the next morning. That meant my first priority was some pyjamas and toiletries.

A friend from my childhood happened to be in the city for a conference so we had a fantastic dinner at a Gonpachi. Some might say it’s a bit of a tourist trap, but the food is really good and caters for every dietary requirement. We just ordered a ton of things and shared. We ended the night at the bar on top of the Asahi building, which is a little old-fashioned but has great views.

I won’t dwell too much on Tokyo as I was mostly going over a trodden path, and if you’re interested you can read my other Tokyo trips on my profile.

TLDR: even though losing my luggage was a pain, the airport dealt with it really well and got us all the forms we needed to fill out, and the luggage arrived without incident on the next flight.

Kyoto

Day 4

I used the SmartEx app to pre-book the Shinkansen to Kyoto as we needed the oversize luggage seats. For some reason, this app is only available in certain countries so I had to use my American Apple account to download the app. Other than that, it was completely seamless. However, you need to make sure if you’re using QR codes that you disable Express Travel Card on your iPhone otherwise you might also tap in with your IC card which will mess things up. I realised it happened while on the Shinkansen, so when I reached Kyoto Station I explained the situation and the friendly attendant reset my IC card for me.

The train itself is fine. I understand the appeal of the Shinkansen if you’ve not taken many trains or no high-speed ones, but I have already done it a bunch of times elsewhere so it doesn’t feel more special than a regular train to me. That said, it was great to see Mt Fuji for a few minutes.

I’m not going to lie. I found Kyoto by far the most stressful place I’ve been to in Japan. Given that it’s the most historic of the big cities, it does feel ancient and the infrastructure just isn’t there to support the number of locals and tourists. The historic narrow roads aren’t fun to walk down when there’s buses flying inches from your face and thousands of tourists shuffling along in their wooden shoes.

Upon arrival at Kyoto Station we took a taxi to our accommodation, and I’m guessing we were very unlucky, but several times when we got taxis the drivers got lost! One driver even left the car for several minutes to get his bearings, leaving us in the backseat in the middle of the street!

Highlight: Kodai-Ji Temple was a fairly calm oasis in the chaos of Kyoto.

Day 5

We wanted to visit the Imperial Palace but unfortunately it was closed without advanced notice. We enjoyed walking the grounds though.

Other highlights from Kyoto included Toji Temple and Kiyomizu-dera (on the other side of the hill from afar, because when you’re in it you can’t see it!).

Kyoto’s not going to be for everyone. I was a bit whelmed by the temples after the first few, since they don’t really mean anything to me other than being pretty. And Japan isn’t short on pretty architecture in the first place. We ended up skipping most of the ones on the list.

Similarly, the tori gates while really aesthetic are mostly sponsorships from corporations. It’s effectively like walking through a bunch of ads. And shuffling around the Gion area just felt…performative? It was very pretty but it was just thousands of people trying to have photo shoots.

We also visited the Suntory Brewery for a tour (must be prebooked, but is free) which was a whole lot of fun. It’s really well-run and they give you a lot of beer to drink in a short time. Not particularly Kyoto-specific but I had a great time.

Conventional wisdom is that you should get up very early to see the sights before they get busy. But what that means is you really need to pick ONE thing that day, and whatever else you do on that day will be absolutely packed. I’m well aware I’m a tourist complaining about tourism, but I preferred seeing things from afar rather than being in it.

In the nice weather, it was just unbelievably cramped and claustrophobic to do anything, including just walking from A to B. Buses were regularly full and drove past stops. You could tell that locals were annoyed by all the tourists and I don’t blame them, but I feel like the municipalities are partly to blame because the bus routes are catering to both commuters and tourists when they could easily have been split more sensibly. I know that Kyoto is in enormous financial problems so those solutions might just be too expensive right now.

I think Kyoto requires careful planning, and you need to know what your priorities are. If you’re counting on seeing something, you need to make it your first port of call. I honestly felt a bit like I was missing something in Kyoto since so many people on here say it’s their favourite place in Japan, but I guess it’s just not for me.

Osaka

Day 6

On the other hand, I really enjoyed the day trip to Osaka, and it’s a perfect contrast to Kyoto. It’s got more people, but it’s got lots of wide open spaces and water which for me is a lot more relaxing.

We started out at the Museum of Housing and Living, which was quite fun and a good way to spend the morning. Afterwards we looked for okonomiyaki which took us to a location we didn’t know had a large line and with sunken cost setting in we decided to wait it out. I think it took about 40 minutes to be seated, which is way more than I would usually tolerate. The okonomiyaki was good, but not worth waiting in line for.

We took a walk to Osaka Castle, and rather than going in we went to the little shopping plaza on the grounds and to the top-floor bar. It was a glorious day and the castle looked beautiful. We hung out there for an hour or so, with perfect views and drinks.

It was getting close to sunset so we headed to Umeda Sky. It was quite a long line to get in, but we made it comfortably in time to watch the sunset. We did a little shopping in the streets below then headed back to Kyoto.

TLDR: I’d really like to spend more time in Osaka, it was a lot of fun and had great energy.

Okinawa

Day 7

We headed to Kyoto Station that morning to catch an express train to KIX, which requires both a ticket and a supplement to be paid onboard. The line for tickets was very long but fairly efficient, but it did mean it was a little bit of a rush to get to the right platform in time.

KIX airport was a breeze for domestic travel, with a bunch of nice food options post security (which is something you can’t always rely on as we found out later!). We had soba at Sojibo which was very tasty.

We flew to Okinawa, which took around 2 hours 15, and in that time there is no real onboard service, even in business class, other than a cup of (tasty) juice. Unlike in Europe there’s nothing to buy other than lots of calendars (?) so if you’re flying domestically on the main airlines, bring food and drink with you.

We got a taxi to the hotel, and checked in. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Naha, which is the tallest building in the city. It was a good hotel with friendly staff and a good breakfast. If you’re in a suite you can access the rooftop which was a pleasant place to watch the sunset most evenings.

To finish the day we walked down the main strip which is really fun and reminded me a little of Las Vegas, and it full of domestic tourists wearing all the iconic Okinawa merch like Orion Beer and Blue Seal ice cream shirts. We had dinner in Norengai which had live Okinawan music in amongst mini restaurants that was really awesome. It was a great way to start the trip.

Day 8

The second day we walked to the Chinese Garden which was beautiful, and mostly spent our time exploring the city on foot, going through the covered markets. It was pretty chilled day as we knew the next couple would be more hectic. We had some absolutely delicious soba at a place called Sanraku, next to the Regency.

TLDR: Okinawa will not disappoint if you like cats. I saw more than anywhere I’ve been in Japan! Every store and stall seemed to have its resident cat.

Day 9

We rented a car to do some more exploring. We first headed to American Village, which was bigger than I thought, and did some shopping. It’s kitchy but charming. Next stop was the Cape Zanpa lighthouse which offered great views, and had some Blue Seal ice cream next to it....

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Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1abj2c9/trip_report_kyotookinawayokohama/

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/4evertravler on 2024-01-25 20:14:31.

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Hello! This is our first time going to Japan. We are planning a trip in February with 2 adults and 2 children. I would like to ask you to check our plan, please. We will be staying at the Remm Ropongi Hotel in Tokyo and the Emion Hotel in Kyoto. We really want to try a ryokan, but can't figure out where or what to give up to accommodate it. Any ideas/tips are welcome, thanks in advance!

DAY 1 flight LAX-Tokyo

DAY 2 GINZA

• Imperial Palace
• Hibiya ParkShiodome
• Media Tower Hamarikyu Gardens
• Sanrio World, GinzaMUJI Ginza, UNIQLO GinzaGinza, Six Rooftop Garden
• Tsukiji Outer
• MarketTsukiji

ROPPONGI

• Tokyo Tower
• Zōjō-ji Temple
• Roppongi Hills Mori Tower

Day 3 SHIBUYA

• Meji JinguMeiji
• ShrineTakeshita
• Kiddy Land, UNIQLO Shibuya
• Hachiko statue, Shibuya CrossingShinuya, HikarieShibya Sky
• Scrumle square, Mag's Park Rooftop
• Hello Kitty Japan Shibuya, Sanrio Gift Gate

Shinjuku (evening)

• Omoide yokochi
• Tokyo Metropolitan Goverment Building

DAY 4 KYOTO

• Morning Train to Kyoto
• Arashiyama, Monkey Park, Iwatayama, Togetsukyo Bridge
• Tenryuji Buddhist temple
• Otagi Netbutsu-ji Temple
• Kinkaku-ji Temple
• Kyoto Tower (If clear day)

DAY 5 KYOTO

• Fushimi Inari Taisha (early morning)
• Kyoto Imperial PalaceGion, Higashiyama (Kiyomizu-dera, Shirakawa Lane, Kamo river, Kiyomotocho)Nishiki MarketPontocho Park
• Sannenzaka Path
• Kiyomizu-Dera Temple 8th century (what time better day or evening)

DAY 6 BACK TO TOKYO

• Train to Tokyo
• Lunch and rest
• Teamlab boardless at 4:00pm
• Tokyo Tower at night and dinner OR maybe something else (please recommend)

DAY 7 GHIBLI MUSEUM

• Kichijoji and Inokashira Park (or something else)
• GHIBLI MUSEUM
• Ueno park
• Sensō-ji
• Tokyo Tower

DAY 8 Harry Potter

• Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo at 12:00pm
• Toshima City ???? Please recommend any activities for this day
• Akihabara

DAY 9 REST and shopping (advise please)**

DAY 10 flight back at the evening

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/PM_ME_XMAS_LIGHTS on 2024-01-25 23:47:32.

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Jan 2024

Day 1: Arrived at Narita at 2 pm JST via ZipAir. The airport staff demonstrated excellent English proficiency. Acquired a Japan Wirless pocket WiFi from the JAL ABC counter and purchased a Pasmo Passport at the Skyliner ticket booth, where they also scanned the QR code from Klook for the Skyliner ticket. Took the Skyliner to Nippori, followed by a five-minute walk to Almont Hotel Nippori. Explored a 7-Eleven and had dinner at CoCo Ichibanya, where there seemed to be some challenges in dealing with a foreigner.

Day 2: Started the day at 7 am, walking to Ueno Park, spending most of the morning there. Explored Shinobazu no Ike Pond and a street market near Ueno station. Played a crane game and won a Hatsune Miku figure. Tried candied strawberries on a stick but didn't enjoy them. Continued to Asakusa Underground Street, Senso-Ji, and Asakusa Nishi-sando Shopping Street. Incredibly busy at all three locations. Enjoyed a curry pan, visited Don Quijote, and, feeling the effects of jet lag, took an Uber back to the hotel ($12 USD). Ordered McDonald's via UberEats to conclude the night.

Day 3: Took the JY line to Akihabara station for a 9:30 am "tip-based" walking tour from Tokyo Localized. Tour guide directed us through Akihabara and we ended up in Ueno. Despite some off-handed remarks made by the guide, I tipped 8000 yen. After the tour, returned to Akihabara, had ramen at a random place, and explored anime stores. Due to cold weather, took a train back to the hotel.

Day 4: Walked to Rikugien Gardens, spending just over an hour there. Proceeded to Ikebukuro Parco for the Evangelion Store, had a beef bowl at a random restaurant, and checked out the nearby Animate store. Took a train to Shinjuku, visited the Cosme store for cosmetics, explored Shinjuku, then went to Harajuku, visiting the Sailor Moon Store and enjoying takoyaki on Cat Street. Ended the day at Shibuya Parco, visiting Nintendo Tokyo and the Jump Shop. Walked across Shibuya Scramble and returned to Nippori by train.

Day 5: Caught a train to Harajuku station at approximately 7 am, walked to Yoyogi Park, and spent about an hour there. Continued to Meiji Jingu via the West entrance, spending 1.5 hours walking the grounds. Traveled to Nakano Broadway, had an early lunch at a yakiniku spot, and explored the area, visiting anime/manga stores, Kyle's Good Finds, and having a slice of carrot cake. Also had some soft serve in the vegetable market area of Nakano Broadway. Returned to Harajuku, walked around, and took the train back to Nippori, visiting a grocery store for snacks and a bento box for dinner.

Day 6: Joined a 9:30 am tour of the Tsukiji fish market via Tokyo Localized. Had a great experience with the guide, tried various foods, and explored Ginza, Tokyo Character Street, and Gransta. Bought souvenirs and sweets, walked to the Imperial Palace (was closed for the day), and took the train back to Nippori. Fell asleep at 6 pm, still struggling with adjusting to JST.

Day 7: Checked out of Almont Hotel and moved to APA Hotel due to a reservation error. Walked to Yanaka Ginza, bought pastries and souvenirs, had a mixed experience at a hole-in-the-wall Unagi restaurant, and enjoyed a giant kakigori at Himitsudo. Took the train to Akihabara, visited more anime places, walked to Ueno, ate at Yoshinoya, and, feeling unwell, returned to Nippori, napped, and explored Ueno in the dark while it rained. Had hamburg steak at a random restaurant.

Day 8: At 6 am, walked the empty streets of Nippori in pouring rain, had a "westernized" breakfast, and explored until 9:30 am. Requested a check-out time extension, gathered belongings, and took the Skyliner back to Narita, arriving around 1 pm. Caught the flight home at 4 pm.

Tips:

-The majority of public restrooms lacked hand-drying facilities. Carrying a hand towel in my backpack proved to be a lifesaver.

-A few public restrooms were without toilet paper, so having disposable wipes on hand is advisable.

-Google Maps was excellent for guiding me to the nearest restroom and proved to be a reliable overall companion. Additionally, Google Translate and Google Lens were invaluable tools.

-Despite dealing with medical issues like chronic migraines, T-II diabetes, and Mal de Débarquement Syndrome (MdDS), I faced no problems bringing my daily medications through immigration, with no inquiries about them.

-Transporting my CPAP machine was hassle-free, although the airline check-in counter on my return flight did inspect the bag and record the serial number.

-Ensure your QR codes from Visit Japan Web are ready on your phone when going through immigration. Printed copies were not accepted, but free WiFi at Narita allowed me to pull up the codes on my phone.

-Some Tax Free shops did not accept the Tax Free QR code from Visit Japan Web, emphasizing the importance of carrying your passport at all times in Japan.

-Public seating and trash disposal facilities are scarce.

-Many businesses, including konbinis, have narrow aisles, posing challenges for larger individuals dealing with balance issues like MdDS.

-Consider the suitability of restaurant seating for larger individuals, as many establishments may not have accommodating options.

-The Pasmo Passport is available at the Narita Skyliner ticket booth in Narita Airport.

-Using a Japan Wireless pocket WiFi (as my 2018 phone lacked e-sim capabilities) cost approximately $10/day, providing consistently excellent WiFi speed.

-Employing Google Voice alongside the pocket WiFi allowed me to make calls and send texts.

-When shopping for cosmetics, explore smaller stores throughout Tokyo, as they often offer better prices than larger establishments like Cosme in malls.

-English proficiency is prevalent among employees at tourist spots, Narita airport, and most malls.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/hyouko on 2024-01-25 00:37:25.

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As folks are gearing up for spring 2024 in Japan, I figured it would be fun to give back to the community by sharing the experience my siblings and I had last year with you all in the form of a cleaned-up and edited copy of my travel diary.

It's a big one, so if you're looking for information about something specific you should be able to use the table of contents at the start to jump around. I've included a lot of pictures of what we saw and did.

For those who'd prefer something more concise, here's the TL;DR version...

Who: Three adult siblings from the US on our first time visit to Japan.

When: We left March 23rd, 2023, and returned April 8th, 2023.

What we did: My sister and I started our trip in Kyoto, where we explored the temples, saw cherry blossoms, and visited the deer in Nara. We were joined by my brother in time for a hike up Fushimi Inari, and then we traveled to Hakone where we stayed at a nice ryokan and did the Hakone Round Course. We then headed to Tokyo and toured Akihabara, saw the Ghibli Museum and Teamlab Planets, and hiked Mt. Takao. My brother returned to the US while my sister and I continued on to Nikko to see the Toshogu Shrine and Kegon Falls.

Highlights:

• Kyoto - The day we spent in the Arashiyama area of Kyoto was excellent - loved the monkey park, the gardens at Tenryuuji, and touring the Katsura Villas. The morning walk from the Silver Pavilion down the Philosopher's Path on a sunny spring day with the cherry blossoms in full bloom was approximately perfect. Too many amazing temples to name. Also, great day trips to Himeji and Nara.
• Hakone - Stopping for amazake and tea at the last remaining teahouse along the Tokaido was great, and it was fun doing our first onsen experience.
• Tokyo - The Ghibli Museum was a delight, and seeing Mt. Fuji from the top of Mt. Takao while eating ice cream was great. Getting a tour of Akihabara's gaming stores from a local friend was super fun, and unsurprisingly we had our best meals here, including hands down the best pancakes at Bill's.
• Nikko - The Kegon falls were stunning, even as someone who has seen a fair number of waterfalls in my time.
• Misc - Riding the Shinkansen was very fun. I learned that I love tantan ramen and all things yuzu. We nailed the timing on the cherry blossoms generally.

Lowlights / things to avoid:

• Unfortunately, landing and going through the COVID quarantine / customs in Narita was lengthy and painful. Hopefully you will not experience the same this year (no more COVID checks!) - but if you land and find yourself in a long line, and you see the opportunity to use a restroom... take it!
• Finding medicine to help with insomnia was a challenge and some stuff (like melatonin gummies), though legal, just weren't readily available.
• The Ghibli Museum was a delight. Getting advance tickets for the Ghibli Museum was not. If you are visiting in March, be ready to grab tickets online in February. Again, hopefully this is something that has smoothed out some since we did it.
• I'm not genuinely sure I would have done anything differently on our first trip here, but we pushed ourselves pretty hard, regularly clocking 25K+ steps as we tried to hit all the spots we wanted to visit. I'd like to take it a bit more relaxed next time.

Overall, the trip was one of the best experiences I've had, period. I can't wait to go back.