This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Peartreepuff on 2025-03-05 17:45:13+00:00.

---

This is a trip report for the trip me (31) and a friend (28) did in October 2024. We focused on a pretty equal mix of nature/hiking vs city stops. Apart from hiking our interests shaping the trip were Ghibli, temples, strolling around, climbing, and some shopping (esp. vinyls, knives, Nintendo and stationary). 

Day 1-3: Tokyo

• Stayed in Kichijoji, both to explore the area and be close to the Ghibli museum
• Ghibli museum
• Corn Barley Cafe - a Ghibli themed restaurant with a set menu. Both the food and decor are themed around Ghibli - so you eat the ramen from Ponyo for example. The food was nice, but pretty simple for the price, and without the decor it’s not really worth it. I thought it was a fun little experience, but my equally Ghibli-fond friend thought it was too expensive.
• Meiji Jingu
• Second hand shopping in Shimokitazawa
• Explored arcade halls in Shinjuku

Day 4: Mitake 

• Rented a car in Hachioji (to avoid having to drive too much in Tokyo proper) and drove to Mitake for a day of climbing. Beautiful place that I highly recommend for non-climbers as well - it’s a great day trip from Tokyo if you want to experience some nature. Can easily be accessed by train.
• In the evening we drove to our hotel by Lake Shoji in the Fujikawaguchiko area.

Day 5: Fujikawaguchiko 

• Breakfast by the lake, with a view of Mt Fuji. Super lucky with the weather and could see her the whole morning. Best view I’ve ever had from a hotel, and probably ever will haha.
• Saiko Iyashi-no-Sato Nenba - an open air museum modeled after a traditional village, with lots of cute craft stores.
• Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine - basically in the woods, the trees were so majestic and made the shrine feel really serene and holy. Bought a shrine stamp book (goshuin-cho) to collect stamps during the trip, a great “investment” that made for one of my favorite souvenirs.

Day 6-9: Hiking in Kamikochi

• Drove to Matsumoto and took a bus to Kamikochi. We had pre-booked the bus since we heard they easily filled up and it did seem really full.
• 4day, 3night hike in the mountains around Kamikochi. Best part of the trip, easily.
  • Day 1: Walked to Dakesawa-goya, was a pretty easy walk although steep by the end. Very cold in the hut at night, but the food was nice.
  • Day 2: Dakesawa-goya to Hotakadake-sanso, via Maehotaka and Okuhotaka. The steepest hiking I’ve ever done. It was mad. I kept thinking it would be over soon but it just kept climbing. Not necessarily a “difficult” climb, but you have to be reasonably fit to do it. Luckily the weather was amazing and we could see for miles at the summits. We even saw Mt Fuji again, which is super far away! Slept at Hotakadake-sanso, which is a much bigger mountain station than Dakesawa. Great place to stay and excellent food - their ramen was some of my favourite of the whole trip.
  • Day 3: Hotakadake-sanso to Shinhotaka onsen. All that time spent going up yesterday we now had to descend. First half of the hike was quite bad, 2 straight hours of descending through a rock slide. But after that the forest and valley was lovely.
  • Day 4: Shinhotaka Onsen to Kamikochi. Up a mountain and then down the other side. More lovely forrest.
• In general I loved our hike, it’s one of my strongest memories from the trip. If I did it again I might have swapped the 3rd and 4th day for more time in the mountains. We mostly did it to get to Shinhotaka Onsen, but honestly it wasn’t that nice, at least not where we stayed (Yukimurasaki Onsen). So staying in the mountains and going for a 3rd mountain hut would probably have been my choice today.
• Direct bus to Kyoto on day 9 (day 4 of the hike).

Day 10-12: Kyoto

• Shopping (Nintendo store, chopsticks, donburi republic for Ghibli stuff, random walking around)
• Okochi Sanso garden, their zen garden is beautiful and really serene.
• Adashino Nenbutsi-ji temple, was nothing super special apart from a more secluded and less visited bamboo grove than the main one in Arashiyama.
• Visited several jazz bars whose names I can’t remember, but that was good fun and is recommended for some live music.
• We did a pottery experience through Zuikou Kyoto-Kiyomizy Studio which was so much fun. Can’t really say I learned anything about throwing pottery (but that’s to be expected after all of 50 minutes) but I did get a lovely mug and bowl out of it and it was fun to do something with your hands.
• Fushimi Inari - as crowded as they say. Super rainy and damp, and with all the people it was pretty miserable.
• Tenjuan in Nanzenji - One of my favourite temples from the whole trip. My friend was really tired so he took a nap on the veranda looking out over the zen garden, while I walked several times around the small pond and then sat and contemplated the zen garden. Such a nice oasis of calm in an intense city like Kyoto.

Day 13: Bus to Imabari

Day 14: Shimanami Kaido

• Cycled the Shimanami Kaido from Imabari to Onomichi in one day.
• Due to a bit of hübris we didn’t start until 10 am, and then took our sweet time cycling, stopping for photos and such. This meant we had very little time at the end and had to cycle for our lives to make the bike rental cut off at 7 pm in Onomichi. Luckily we did make it. Would recommend e-bikes, starting earlier or splitting over two days. It’s not super far but very hilly, so that takes it out of you even if like us you’re pretty fit.
• Ate lunch at Keishoku Tatara - a tiny tiny place run by this old woman, who makes excellent okonomiyaki. Can recommend!

Day 15: Onomichi

• We had no real plans for Onomichi, just walked around, exploring the main shopping street and small alleyways. Bought knives in one of the stores, really happy with them even after we compared with other shops in Kappabashi street in Tokyo.
• Stayed in Guesthouse Hostel Miharashi-tei which is an old traditional building that has been lovingly restored by a small foundation. It was so great. Fantastic view of Onomichi and the islands outside the coast, and the building itself was so atmospheric with its old wood floors and tatami mats. They warned excessively about how long the stairs up to the hostel are, but honestly it wasn’t that bad. They were right about how much sounds travelled between the rooms though, but luckily we could sleep without issues.

Day 16: Halfday in Onomichi, then bullet train to Mojiko.

Day 17-18: Mojiko

• Two-day woodworking course with a Japanese carpenter (Hiroshi) outside Mojiko in Maple Modulo Studio. E-mail him (can be found on his website) if you want to book a shorter course, he mostly does courses over several months for Japanese people, but is happy to accommodate tourists for a couple of days.
• Super fun experience, we learned a lot and had a blast talking to Hiroshi about Japan and Sweden and many other things.

Day 19: Train to Kagoshima, then ferry to Yakushima island

• We were going to take the overnight ferry to Yakushima but it was cancelled, so we had to book the fast one instead. Worked out well though.

Day 20-23: Yakushima

• Explored the island, went on hikes, snorkled, tried outdoor onsen bathing.
• Rented a car, can recommend because otherwise it gets hard to move around the island. Really fun to drive the whole way around and see the wildlife: monkeys and tiny deer!
• In hindsight would’ve maybe had one day less here? It wasn’t bad or anything, but I guess we were a bit hiked out, and there’s really nothing else to do on the island.
• Flew to Tokyo late on day 23.

Day 24-27: Tokyo

• Stayed in Asakusa, which was great since we had several things on or to-do in walking-distance.
• Shopping (Kappa-bashi street, several record stores, Loft, Uniqlo, Donqi)
• Senso-ji
• Bouldering at a small climbing gym in Asakusa
• Tokyo Metropolitan Building for views, really great even though I know it’s not the highest in Tokyo. You still see really far - we even got lucky and saw Mt Fuji for the third time!
• Tokyo National Museum - fantastic museum to get a fix of historical Japanese culture practices. Some beautiful calligraphy, kimonos and pottery.
• Karaoke in Akihabara with some friends who happened to be in Tokyo as well. Best choice ever, we had a blast. They had loads of songs in English so that was no problem at all
• Finished off our last night by going to a baseball batting center. Neither of us have ever played, but it was good fun!

Day 28: Flight home. 

Reflections:

1. Plan your route but not your days! We were in Japan for nearly a month, and as you can see we moved around quite a bit. I never felt stressed out or like we had planned too much though. I think that was partly because we had some days that had nothing planned except travel (like day 13 and 19), and partly because once we were at a city location where there was lots to do (Tokyo x2, Kyoto, Onomichi) we had no exact plan, only ideas. So in the mornings we could sketch out a plan depending on what we felt like doing and didn’t have to feel stressed about fitting everything in.
2. Flying domestically is great. Everyone lauds the bullet train, and it is nice. But for longer journeys flying is super sweet. Japanese domestic flights are pretty cheap, and very efficient. Like, we boarded 15 minutes before take-off!
3. How much Japanese do you need? Not a lot, but the basics help. Having google lens installed makes looking over menus super easy, so don’t bother tryin...

---

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1j48xvu/trip_report_27_days_in_october_2024/

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Capitan_Tortuga on 2025-03-04 12:31:37+00:00.

---

Hello!

I'm going to Japan in June for the first time, and after reading a lot and watching many travel videos, I’ve put together a rough itinerary for the trip. What do you think? Are there areas where I’ve allocated too much time or others that are essential but missing, or that I’m spending too little time on?

The plan is:

• 2½ days in Kyoto
• About 2½ days in Osaka plus one day for Universal Studios
• 5+ days in Tokyo plus 1 day at DisneySea

Once we finished scheduling the days for Tokyo, we got the impression that our time there is too tight, and perhaps it would be a good idea to “steal” a day from Kyoto/Osaka to add to Tokyo. However, at the same time, it seems ridiculous to spend only a day and a half in each of the other cities!

I'm still figuring out which areas in Kyoto and Osaka offer the best shopping for my interests in photography, antique markets, manga/anime and merch, video games, and clothing (yes, almost everything? 😅). In Tokyo, Ithink I have a clearer idea, but with so many options, it’s hard to decide which ones are really worth it.

I plan to check out specialty shops—like Jump Shop, Mugiwara stores, and Snoopy shops (my wife is a huge fan)—as well as popular chains like Uniqlo and Mandarake, but I'd love recommendations on which specific locations are worth prioritizing if time is short. And of course, if there are any must-visit shops I haven’t mentioned or hidden gems that might be easy to overlook, I’d really appreciate the suggestions!

And evidently, suggestions for additional sights in these areas, whether it's a museum, scenic stroll, or temple I might have missed are more than welcome!

KYOTO

First Day:

• Arrival in Kyoto around 1:00–2:00 PM.
• Visit:
  • Shirakawa Canal
  • Yasui Kompiragu Shrine (sanctuary)
  • Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka
  • Maruyama Park
• Around 6:00 PM:
  • Nishiki Market
  • Pokémon Center

Day 2:

• Morning:
  • Arashiyama Bamboo Grove
  • Golden Temple (Kinkaku-ji)
• Later (around 1:00 PM):
  • Ryōzen Kannon
  • Fushimi Inari Taisha

Day 3:

• Early morning at Nansen-ji
• Then visit:
  • Eikando Temple
  • Okazaki Shrine
  • Heian Jingu
  • Tetsugaku no Michi (Philosopher’s Path)
• The rest of the day: Explore additional sights or head toward Osaka

OSAKA

Day 1:

• Visit:
  • Osaka Castle
  • Tenjinbashi-suji
  • Umeda Sky Building
• (Also planning to visit the Godzilla Shop in Osaka—timing still TBD, and maybe not Day 1)
• Baseball game if I have time? Again, maybe not Day 1.

Day 2:

• Spend the day at Universal Studios Japan

Day 3:

• Visit:
  • Sumiyoshi Taisha
• Around 11:00 AM, head to:
  • Dotonbori
  • Shin Sekai
• Also check out a couple of local temples, such as Shitennō-ji and Isshin-ji

Day 4:

• No specific plan yet—depart for Tokyo, hour TBD

TOKYO

We plan to stay in the Shinjuku area, and although it isn’t fully detailed in the list, we intend to experience the local nightlife (Omoide Yokocho, Golden Gai, Godzilla Head). The challenge is fitting in a daytime visit to Shinjuku given the busy schedule, and we’d like to have the last day completely free.

Day 1:

• Visit DisneySea

Day 2:

• Early morning in Shinjuku (our hotel will likely be in that area)
• Visit the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building for views
• Then head to Ikebukuro
• Around 1:00–2:00 PM:
  • Nakano Broadway
  • Tokyo Dome (to watch the Giants)
• Late afternoon/evening in Koenji

Day 3:

• Early morning: Tokyo City Flea Market Oi Keibajo
• Have lunch in the area, then attend a Swallows game around 2:00 PM
• Afterwards, visit Shibuya (including Shibuya Sky)

Day 4:

• Early visit to Meiji Jingu Shrine
• Explore Ginza and the Tokyo Station area—plan to visit Pokémon Center DX and have lunch at the Pokémon Café
• Continue to Akihabara afterward

Day 5:

• Visit Kaminarimon and walk toward Asakusa to see Senso-ji (and possibly Imado Shrine)
• At 10:00 AM, visit the Tokyo National Museum, then explore Ueno and Ueno Park until about 4:00 PM
• Head to Tokyo Skytree, then visit Pokémon Center Asakusa and further explore the Asakusa area
• Finally, visit the Asahi Building for sunset or nighttime views

Day 6:

• Free day

So... what do you think? Thank you for your help!

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Additional_Flan_8181 on 2025-03-01 13:51:21+00:00.

---

We are 3 friends who love the food, anime and overall japanese culture and want to see as much as possible without rushing.

Maybe the last days at Tokyo could be changed with Takayama or Kanazawa, we are open to any recommendations.

📅 Japan Itinerary: Sept 24 - Oct 14, 2025

📍 Arrival: Tokyo Haneda (HND) – Sept 24, 23:55

📍 Departure: Narita (NRT) – Oct 14, 17:25

🗼 Tokyo (Sept 25 - Sept 30)

✈ Arrival (Sept 24, 23:55) → Take a taxi or late-night train to your hotel.

Day 1 (Sept 25): Explore Shibuya & Shinjuku

🔹 Shibuya Crossing – World's busiest intersection

🔹 Hachiko Statue – Famous loyal dog

🔹 Shibuya Sky – Best panoramic views

🔹 Takeshita Street (Harajuku) – Cute fashion & snacks

🔹 Meiji Shrine – Tranquil shrine inside a forest

🔹 Golden Gai (Shinjuku) – Tiny traditional bars

Day 2 (Sept 26): Traditional Tokyo

🔹 Asakusa & Senso-ji Temple

🔹 Nakamise Street – Try melonpan & senbei

🔹 Sumida Park – View Tokyo Skytree

🔹 Ueno Park & Ameyoko Market

Day 3 (Sept 27): Akihabara & Hidden Gems

🔹 Akihabara – Anime, gaming & electronics

🔹 Yanaka Ginza – Traditional neighborhood

🔹 Nezu Shrine – Hidden torii gates

Day 4 (Sept 28): Day Trip to Nikko 🚆 (1h50m)

🔹 Toshogu Shrine – Ornate UNESCO temple

🔹 Kegon Falls – Beautiful waterfall

🔹 Lake Chuzenji

Day 5 (Sept 29): Odaiba & Chill

🔹 Miraikan Science Museum

🔹 TeamLab Planets (Art experience)

🔹 Odaiba Seaside Park – Rainbow Bridge views

🗾 Kyoto (Sept 30 - Oct 5)

🚄 Tokyo → Kyoto (Shinkansen, 2h30m)

Day 6 (Sept 30): Classic Kyoto

🔹 Fushimi Inari Shrine – Thousands of torii gates

🔹 Kiyomizu-dera – Stunning temple on a hill

🔹 Gion District – Geisha culture

Day 7 (Oct 1): Arashiyama & Bamboo Forest

🔹 Arashiyama Bamboo Grove

🔹 Monkey Park Iwatayama

🔹 Tenryu-ji Temple

Day 8 (Oct 2): Nara Day Trip 🚆 (50m)

🔹 Todai-ji Temple – Giant Buddha

🔹 Nara Park – Friendly deer

🔹 Kasuga Taisha Shrine

Day 9 (Oct 3): Off-the-Beaten-Path Kyoto

🔹 Kurama & Kibune – Hidden mountain temples & hot springs

Day 10 (Oct 4): Uji & Tea Culture

🔹 Byodo-in Temple

🔹 Green tea tasting

🌊 Osaka (Oct 5 - Oct 9)

🚆 Kyoto → Osaka (30m)

Day 11 (Oct 5): Osaka's Icons

🔹 Osaka Castle

🔹 Dotonbori & Glico Sign

🔹 Shinsekai & Tsutenkaku Tower

Day 12 (Oct 6): Kobe Day Trip 🚆 (45m)

🔹 Kobe Harborland

🔹 Nunobiki Herb Garden & Ropeway

🔹 Try Kobe beef (budget: Steakland Kobe)

Day 13 (Oct 7): Universal Studios Japan 🎢

🔹 Super Nintendo World

🔹 Harry Potter World

Day 14 (Oct 8): Osaka Hidden Gems

🔹 Minoo Park – Beautiful waterfall & autumn leaves

🔹 Shitenno-ji Temple

🏯 Hiroshima & Miyajima (Oct 9 - Oct 11)

🚄 Osaka → Hiroshima (Shinkansen, 1h30m)

Day 15 (Oct 9): Hiroshima Peace Memorial

🔹 Atomic Bomb Dome

🔹 Hiroshima Peace Museum

🔹 Shukkeien Garden

Day 16 (Oct 10): Miyajima Day Trip

🔹 Itsukushima Shrine & Floating Torii

🔹 Mount Misen Ropeway

🗼 Back to Tokyo (Oct 11 - Oct 14)

🚄 Hiroshima → Tokyo (Shinkansen, 4h,)

Day 17 (Oct 11): Free Day / Shopping

🔹 Shibuya, Harajuku, or Akihabara shopping

Day 18 (Oct 12): Hidden Tokyo

🔹 Todoroki Valley – Secret nature spot

🔹 Daikanyama & Nakameguro – Trendy areas

Day 19 (Oct 13): Yokohama Day Trip 🚆 (40m)

🔹 Minato Mirai & Cosmo World

🔹 Cup Noodles Museum

Day 20 (Oct 14): Departure Day

🔹 Last-minute shopping (Ginza or Tokyo Station)

🚆 Hotel → Narita Airport (~1h30m by Narita Express)

✈ Flight at 17:25 from Narita Airport

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Hyenaziti on 2025-02-27 17:56:32+00:00.

---

Trip Dates - Landed 2nd - Departed Feb 17th (15 Full Days) 

This a long one so below is a list of the main points and learnings from the trip along with a TL’DR of our trip itinerary! 

Background: This was our fourth trip to Japan. We are 35F and 38M living in the midwest. We both know some Japanese: Can read Hiragana, Katakana, very few Kanji but conversationally OK and can have very basic conversations in Japanese. We also know culture basics from research and having visited before. We are fairly active but not super fit. We are pretty savvy travelers but this trip definitely still taught us some things - 

1. Overall amazing trip. Hindsight is always 20/20. I wish we had more days in Tokyo as it's my favorite place and there is always more to explore and revisit. Could have knocked a day off of Sendai to spend a day in Aomori. 2 nights in Hakone was pretty great. 1 more day would be great to see more.
2. Cash VS Credit Card - I would say 75% of all the places we bought something take cards. I would say however 10% of the credit card places don’t take tap yet (still insert chip). There were a few times I thought I could just pay with my phone and couldn’t and had to use a different CC that I wasn’t planning on. Not a huge deal. The places that were cash only were tourist spots and small mom and pop food stands/stores. For cash we ordered $500 (which is a little more than ¥74k) from our bank ahead of time. We still have our physical Suica Cards (and we like using them thank you very much!), so we took out more money from a Konbini ATM and put ¥10k on them both (we completely forgot you can only refill IC cards with cash) and had around ¥3000 left on both cards when we last tapped. We also had a good amount of leftover cash when we came home so we took out way too much but we wanted to be prepared.
3. We are not in our 20s anymore. The last time we were in Japan was 2019 (pre covid) and I was technically still in my 20s. That trip we stayed a month and explored 9 cities in the south and I don’t remember being half as exhausted or as sore as I was on this 2 week trip. I even kicked up my activity prior to the trip. We were tired and jet lagged. It sucked at first but we got through it and had a great trip!
4. Google Maps and Google Translate are amazing! I will die on the hill that Google Maps is superior to all other navigational apps. Not once did it steer us wrong. As long as you pay attention and look at ALL the information you will be fine. And the advancements in the translation app since the last time I used it was amazing as well. The fact that you can translate live from someone talking is incredible.
5. Using an e-sim VS pocket wifi - eSim all the way. Previously we used pocket wifi when traveling Japan and it was fine but if one person needed to go do something or there was an issue with it, it was like being dead in the water. We decided to each go with the Ubigi eSim this time and it worked flawlessly from the moment we both turned it on when we landed. Could not recommend it more. It was also much much cheaper than doing a travel pass through my carrier which is Verizon.
6. Using Klook to book train Shinkansen train tickets was great! We happened to come upon an instagram video with a 10% off code, and the coupon was good for 4 times. Basically you buy your tickets on the app then go to the station to a particular ticket machine where you scan the QR code and it spits out your tickets! The app has great instructions too.
7. Peak tourist season is interesting. I knew the festivals and the winter sports would draw a crowd, but we did not account for the Chinese New Year, so there were tons of foreigners everywhere. It never bothered me but it was surprising sometimes to be in Japan and hear entirely Chinese being spoken in an area sometimes.
8. Hakone free pass is worth every penny. It’s ¥6500 for a 3 day pass and then it's another ¥1200 for the Romance Car each way (optional). I think We used almost every type of public transportation in Hakone and only had to flash the cards.
9. Shinkansen - We were thinking of buying a rail pass again (we did it for our month long trip in 2019) but we looked at the price of all the trips we were actually planning to take and it made no sense. So make sure you actually calculate your routes before blindly buying the pass.
10. Gran Class VS Green Car - they really are quite different and Gran Class feels like domestic first class flying. You get a dedicated attendant, a light meal, unlimited drinks and snacks and slippers. The other passengers seemed to be mostly business folks but some other tourists as well. It was very quiet as well.
11. Northern weather - It wasn’t that cold (never got below 25 degrees F), but it was snowy and icy. I remember reading this from others posts about the icy-ness and I am glad we got those detectable spike treads for our boots in Sapporo. We saw some other people take some falls at the Snow Festival. And while I say it wasn’t THAT cold we still had down jackets (mine full length), base layers, hats, gloves, waterproof boots, and warm socks. I think that really helped us be able to walk around all day and not feel miserable.
12. Plans changed due to sickness - We kept our schedule VERY flexible, booking almost nothing in advance except for a food tour in Sapporo, a jean experience in Tokyo, and a concert in Saitama. We did a ton of “immunity boosting” before our trip and now I am convinced that stuff is not as reliable as I hoped.. I am very grateful we are laid back travelers so when we got sick in Sendai there wasn’t much for us to worry about and we mostly rested in the hotel room. In hindsight I am going to keep Nyquil and other American cold remedies in our checked baggage (along with Pepto and ibuprofen) from now on just in case.
13. Seeing a concert in Japan is super fun and everyone is very respectful and organized especially when exiting. Everyone seemed like they were just interested in having a good time. I saw on the floor there did seem to be a little mosh pit going on though. I wondered how hardcore it got in there haha..

TL;DR Itinerary - 

Arriving Feb 2nd - Arrive to Haneda 

• Hotel - The Royal Park Hotel Tokyo Haneda Airport Terminal 3 - 7.5/10

Feb 3rd-5th - Sapporo - 

• Domestic flight to Sapporo via Haneda in the evening - Arrive Sapporo at night
• JR East Hotel Mets Premier Sapporo - 7.5/10
• Nijo Market/SnowFest - Super fun but very crowded and icy
• Great Seafood, good ramen, night parfait parlors, and milk!
• 3 hour airbnb izakaya tour - Very cool and fun (link in long description if interested)

Feb 5th-7th - Hakodate - 

• Hotel - La'gent Stay Hakodate Ekimae - 8/10
• Great seafood and Ramen. Also good dairy
• Hakodate was quiet and laid back. No crowds. Snowy as hell!

Feb 7th-10th - Sendai - 

• Hotel The OneFive Sendai - 7/10
• Explore Sendai - Big city vibes, lots to explore, lots of shopping
• Got sick laid low for a couple days, didn't get to do our day trip plans

Feb 10th - Left Sendai - travel to Tokyo - 

• Hotel Gracery Shinjuku (Godzilla hotel) - 7.8/10 (Honestly would have probably given this one a 7/10 BUT they held our luggage for the 2 days we went to Hakone because we were gonna stay there again. Literal game changer!)
• Did Jean experience at Betty Smith in Yebisu - 10/10 experience

Feb 11th - Explore Tokyo - 

• Harajuku/Cat street- Always fun lots to look at. I like shopping the smaller vintage and secondhand stores. For the big brands and designers I like seeing what stores have Japan exclusive items

Feb 12th - Explore Tokyo / Linkin Park at night in Saitama Super Dome - 

• Nakano Broadway - but a lot of stuff was closed. Still bought a figurine
• Seeing a concert in Japan is a super fun experience. Polite crowds, great show!

Feb 13th - Leave Tokyo go to Hakone -

• Purchased Hakone pass and Romance Car from Shinjuku Station
• Check-in to Hakone Ryokan Gora Hanaougi - 12/10 experience

Feb 14th - Explore Hakone - 

• Took ropeway to Owakudani, bus to ship port (due to maintenance), ship to Hakone machi, walked to the Hakone Shrine, got Torii gate pic, got Unagi for dinner, the took the Tozan train to the cable car back to the hotel
• Didn't get to go to the open air museum or visit any other onsen

Feb 15th - Train back to Tokyo - 

• Check back into Hotel Gracery again
• Went out to Asakusa for custom hanko and other souvenirs
• Ate conveyor belt sushi for dinner in Shinjuku

Feb 16th - Last Full day in Tokyo - 

• Revisit Yanaka Ginza
• Walk around Daikanyama

Feb 17th - Leave Japan :( - 

• Had a few hours in the morning and early afternoon to venture out one last time. Get some last minute souvenirs.
• Got back to the hotel and took a Taxi to Haneda. From Shinjuku took about 45 mins
• Checked in quickly to check out the lounge and Fuji was visible from the windows .. 😭

You can stop reading at this point, if you just wanted the gist of the trip. Below is the detailed trip with some links to highlighted spots (not affiliated just want to share)!

Arrived Feb 2nd - 7,017 Steps

• Check into The Royal Park Hotel Tokyo Haneda Terminal 3 - Rating: 7.5/10
• This was very convenient for many reasons. We were planning to leave for Sapporo the next day so why lug all our bags into the city just to bring them back 14 hours later. It’s a fine hotel. Small but you g...

---

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1izly5h/trip_report_feb_2025_15_day_trip_sapporo_hakodate/

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Ornery-Ad-4072 on 2025-02-26 16:00:41+00:00.

---

I'm doing a solo 16-day trip to Japan this March for my first time ever, I have a general view of an itinerary from looking at websites like japan guide and youtube videos but I'd like to know if some stuff is too ambitious or doable. Some days I have extra bullet points as backup in case my main points are unavailable, or plans change.

Please leave your comments/suggestions or any alterations you feel would be good.

Some notes

• I'm pretty varied in my interests of Japan (Enjoy some animes, video games, interested in technology, nature aspects of Japan, architectural aspects like shrines, samurai culture, etc.)
• I'm pretty young 25 years old and in decent shape average around 10k steps a day, I heard in Japan you have to prepare to walk a lot
• Want to visit Shibuya Nintendo Store, probably most interested in tokyo as a city due to it being the technology center and having a lot of the cultural relevance.
• I want to go to Nara but couldn't find time to fit it in any suggestions to make it fit in my itinerary.
• I got all my hotels close to stations for maximum flexibility in travel.
• Any guides on where to get train/bus tickets for all the locations I'm going to?

Here is my itinerary below:

DAY 1: TOKYO ARRIVAL DAY

• land at Haneda Airport
• check in at hotel (Ueno)
• Explore Ueno Area/Park
• Go to Shibuya Crossing if there's time
• Rest

Day 2: TOKYO

• Shinjuku/Shibuya Day
• Gyoen National Garden/Meiji Jingu Shrine
• Shibuya Sky/Miyashita Park
• Shinjuku Night

DAY 3: TOKYO

• team lab borderless
• imperial palace/garden
• Ginza

DAY 4: TOKYO TO KANAZAWA

• Check in to Hotel
• Omicho Market
• Oyama Shrine
• Nagamachi District

DAY 5: KANAZAWA

• Shirakawago Day Trip
• Possibly do Takayama if there's time

Is it doable to do both shirakawago and takayama in one day if I start early?

DAY 6: KANAZAWA

• Higashi Chaya
• Kanazawa Castle
• Kenrokuen Garden
• Kanazawa Crafts
• Ninjadera

DAY 7: KANAZAWA TO KYOTO

• Nijo Castle Before check in
• Check into Hotel
• Pontocho Alley
• Nishiki Market/Food

DAY 8: KYOTO

• Kiyomizudera
• Sannen Zaka/Ninen Zaka Path
• Kodaji Temple
• Higashiyama Ward
• Explore Gion/Food

DAY 9: KYOTO

• Fushimi Inari Shrine
• Tofukuji Temple
• Ginkakuji
• Kyoto Railway Museum

DAY 10: KYOTO TO OSAKA

• Kinkaku-ji Morning
• Ryoan ji
• Head to Osaka by 3 PM
• Explore Namba/dotonbori/shinsaibashi

Wonder if it's a good idea to do those kyoto spots before heading to osaka, should i just head straight to osaka and skip kinkakuji and ryoan ji. I always wanted to go to Nara but couldn't find a spot to fit in the itinerary any suggestions for a time to go that fits the schedule.

DAY 11: OSAKA

• Umeda Sky
• Osaka Aquarium
• Shinsekai District

DAY 12: OSAKA TO HAKONE

• Head to Hakone Early
• Get Hakone Free Pass
• Hakone Loop (Gora, Sounzan, Togendai, Hakone-machi, moto-hakone)
• Check into Ryokan by 5 PM

DAY 13: HAKONE TO TOKYO

• Ryokan Breakfast
• Check into Shinjuku Hotel
• Free Day
• Shibuya

DAY 14: TOKYO

• Souvenir Shopping
• Free Day
• Day Trip (Yokohama, Kamakura?)

Any Suggestions on what to do this day?

DAY 15: TOKYO FLY OUT

• Last Minute Shopping
• Prepare for Flight
• Head to airport, Fly Out 6 PM

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/kristinnovowels on 2025-02-24 06:34:08+00:00.

---

This sub was super helpful when planning our honeymoon and I wanted to write up a summary of what we did - hoping it may help others! [It's LONG, so sorry]

We decided to go for the first two weeks of February (1-16) as this fit in best with our work schedules. We were going to Japan from California, where we live. It was the first time either of us have been to Japan, so we decided to do the big three (Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto) and add some day trips.

My goals/priorities: eating delicious food, knife shopping. His goals/priorities: visiting temples/historical sites and the Ghibli Museum (more on this below), jean shopping. Our budget was quite generous, with more than half of our budget being spent on lodging - I think this itinerary could easily and definitely be done for much cheaper with less fancy hotels.

We aimed to, essentially, have one "event" a day, while the rest of the day we could explore or be flexible.

Lodging:

• Centara Grand Osaka: super close to Dotonbori, large and clean hotel - they gave us a lovely welcome surprise which was greatly appreciated.
• Hotel The Mitsui Kyoto: the star of our trip - this hotel is beyond stunning. We were hesitating between this hotel and the Park Hyatt in Kyoto, but so glad we chose this one. People seem down on this hotel's location, but Nijo Castle has a ton of more "indie" restaurants and it's much calmer. When we went to Kiyomizu-dera, we passed by the Park Hyatt entrance and the roads were overrun with people - I can't imagine leaving/coming back to this every day. The Mitsui was just such a calm oasis away from all of this. Their concierge was not the most helpful - we needed some help with booking dinner reservations and they pointed us to Google.
• The Peninsula Tokyo: giant rooms but it felt a bit dated. The concierge was excellent and helped with a number of requests, but we thought their included breakfast was pretty low-quality and I was disappointed that they were very unhelpful when we were trying to get medicine after some food poisoning (they didn't have any medicine in the hotel and directed us to go to pharmacies that were closed).
• Hakone-Gora Byakudan: beautiful ryokan in Hakone and private onsens - highly recommend! Note, booking on the website was a total mess, but we figured it out eventually.
• The Kimpton Shinjuku: we loved this hotel - we do have a preference for Kimptons when we travel - it felt very urban and well designed.

Schedule:

• Saturday, February 1: flying to Japan: flew to Japan from SF [lost a day due to the time zone change]
• Sunday, February 2: getting into Osaka: transfer flight to Osaka. We landed in Narita around 4pm then got onto our next flight. Note, you do have to go pick up your luggage at Narita and reload it onto the domestic flight [we flew Japan Air]. We were exhausted, so we just had dinner/drinks at the hotel.
• Monday, February 3: check out Himeji and Osaka: we took a train to Himeji Castle - we kind of messed up by taking a regional train instead of buying the JR Pass (see below) which took about 1h instead of 30m for the Shinkansen and was a bit more expensive. However, the castle was very cool and is the most preserved castle in Japan, and we ate at a really delicious udon place, Menme. We headed back, walked around Osaka Castle (didn't go inside - so crowded) and headed to Dotonbori. Had fantastic drinks at Bar1515 and got some Matsusaka beef for dinner.
• Tuesday, February 4: day trip to Hiroshima and Miyajima Island: we got our JR Pass in the morning and headed to Hiroshima. Went to the Peace Museum, which was, as expected, incredibly heavy [we are Americans so we felt we should not go to Japan without doing this] then headed to Miyajima. Miyajima was fantastic, prob the highlight of our trip - the Omotesando shopping street is so charming and of course the Itsukushima Jinja shrine is stunning. We walked up to Daishoin which was also beautiful. Headed back to Osaka for dinner in Dotonbori.
• Wednesday, February 5: travel to Kyoto: had some ramen in the morning and went to get pastries before we went to the train station to go to Kyoto. We decided to sneak Fushimi Inari in here as well - it was not as crowded as we'd been led to believe, especially if you walk up a bit. Had some omakase back in Kyoto.
• Thursday, February 6: exploring Kyoto: our big day in Kyoto. We started at Higashiyama and walked down the beautiful Philosopher's Path, went to Nanzenji Fukuchicho, the Yasaka Shrine, and headed to Nishiki Market. Felt Nishiki to be overrated - so crowded and things you can find anywhere else. Walked over to Kiyomizu-dera which was so crowded. Went back to the hotel to relax before our dinner at Coppie (delicious and innovative!)
• Friday, February 7: day trip to Nara: we went to Nara in the morning and mostly walked around the park. The Isuien Garden was lovely and the Todai-ji was cool but crowded. We did a sake tasting at Harushika Sake which was very delicious and had lunch in town at 洋食春 (it's, for some reason, billed as a Western restaurant when it's really a tempura shop? Maybe they mean Western Japan?). We headed back to Kyoto and ended up having dinner at Pizzeria La Balena, which was quite tasty - my husband needed a break from Japanese food but the pizza here was really good!
• Saturday, February 8: travel to Tokyo: we checked out Nijo Castle to kill some time - I don't know why it wasn't on our list initially but it was super cool - you can get a ticket to walk through the castle which was pretty cool! We booked a Shinkansen to Tokyo because I was freaking out about having enough space for our luggage, which was really silly because I'm sure if we went to the ticket counter we would have been able to find seats without having to commit to that specific train. We checked into the hotel and got some soba noodles.
• Sunday, February 9: sumo in Tokyo: we walked around the Imperial Palace gardens on the way up to Ryogoku to the sumo arena. It was super cool however not a ton of options to eat if you don't eat meat, so plan accordingly! We headed back to Ginza to shop a bit before going to get sushi for dinner. We had a nightcap at Mixology Heritage which was delicious.
• Monday, February 10: Studio Ghibli: we headed up to Kichioji to hang out before the museum. Tickets were a MESS to get - we ended up getting them on Fiverr. After the museum (which was very cute), we went to Tamatoya Hibiya, which specializes in monjayaki. We wandered back and ended up getting drinks at Folklore, which was right next to Mixology Heritage.
• Tuesday, February 11: exploring Tokyo: we had breakfast at Haru Chan Ramen - a Michelin Bib Gourmand recognized tiny ramen shop. Really delicious! Then went to check out Akihabara (not really for us, so crowded!) and then to Kappabashi to go knife shopping. I ended up buying a nice set of knives from Tojiro - note that, unsurprisingly, most stores specialize in knives with Japanese handles. I have a preference for western style handles, which Tojiro has a nice selection of! We had dinner reservations at L'Effervesence (full review here if anyone is interested)
• Wednesday, February 12: head to Hakone for ryokan: here is where things turned kinda nuts. We got severe food poisoning during the night - I have a feeling from a funky oyster we may have eaten on Monday. We somehow were able to drag ourselves to Hakone to our ryokan, which was lovely, but honestly we mostly just rested.
• Thursday, February 13: cooking class in Tokyo: we headed back to Tokyo after some more onsen time and relaxed before a cooking class we booked on Airkitchen.
• Friday, February 14: check out plum blossoms and shop: we went to Hanegi Park to check out the plum blossoms - these were so pretty and the park was not crowded at all! We shopped a bit in Shimokitazawa, then headed to go jean shopping in Shibuya/Koenji (not close to each other at all, but we had to go to both Momotaro locations to find the jeans we were looking for). Then we had omakase dinner at Sushi Yuu.
• Saturday, February 15: TeamLab Borderless and shopping: went to teamLab Borderless in the morning then continued shopping, mostly around Aoyama/Omotesando. We headed back to Shinjuku, shopped some more, had some delicious cocktails at Bar Compsosition and then some udon.
• Sunday, February 16: back to the USA: had so...

---

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

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Jolly-Statistician37 on 2025-02-22 13:03:53+00:00.

---

My partner and I, both in our 30s, spent a little over two weeks in Japan (Kansai, Kyushu and Tokyo) earlier this month. 4th time for me, 2nd time for them. It was a great success in spite of a major hiccup along the way!

Our planned route was Osaka (2 nights) - Yakushima (3) - Nagasaki (4) - Kurokawa Onsen (3) - Tokyo (3). Yakushima sadly had to be replaced by something else at the last minute: we picked Arima Onsen instead.

The report is a bit long, sorry for that!

1. Osaka

Sunday, 2 Feb

Our arrival at Kansai International Airport, flying in from Paris was incredibly smooth: we landed at 10:20, breezed through immigration and customs, took the Nankai Rapit train (affordable and comfortable), hopped on a taxi at Namba station and reached our Umeda hotel (Candeo Osaka The Tower) at noon on the dot.

Luggage dropped, we headed back towards Shinsaibashi for a sushi lunch at Kaiten Sushi Ginza Onodera: it was nice, but less nice than I remembered from the Kyoto branch last year. Can't say what was missing, though.

Then, it was time for a stroll towards Dotonbori and the kitchenware shopping arcade near Namba where we had a few purchases to make. Tip: the Donki ferris wheel is pointless, don't go. There is nothing to see. However, stumbling upon Setsubun celebrations at the small temple just south of Dotonbori was really charming. By the way, the kitchenware arcade is convenient but I much, much prefer Kappabashi - far more charm IMO.

Exhausted by the flight, we made it back to the hotel shortly after check-in time, used the baths and rested until dinner time.

Dinner was at a quirky okonomiyaki place (Umeda Fuwatoro), a single-man operation that was charmingly chaotic, with decent food, but not the most comfortable place either.

Monday, 3 Feb

We had Nintendo Museum reservations at 15:00, so we dedicated the morning to visiting Uji. Got there just before 11:00, visited a couple of shrines and the amazing Byodo-in (a highlight), browsed a few shops, had a quick chasoba lunch, then headed over to the museum (quick 1-stop hop on the JR line).

We stayed until basically closing time, it was really great, even without being a huge Nintendo video game nerd (it's a fairly recent hobby for me). Highly recommended.

Dinner that day was a delight, at a seafood-focused izakaya (お初の十忠八九) with a very local vibe and some creative dishes (such as a persimmon sea bream carpaccio-like dish).

2. Yakushima (or so we thought)

Tuesday, 4 Feb

Woke up to a notification of potential weather issues for our flight to Yakushima. Hmm... We still went to Itami airport, proceeded to the boarding gate, and at the last minute, the flight was cancelled. A common occurrence, it seems. The ferries were cancelled too so going to Kagoshima was not an option, and we were told that the next day's weather did not look good either, so rescheduling was not even offered.

Thus we decided to drop our 3 night stay altogether and find something else. It went...much more smoothly than expected:

• Japan Airlines swiftly agreed to refund not only the cancelled flight but also the next flight from Yakushima to Fukuoka, even though it was a separate booking (nice!).
• Nissan Rent a Car waived the 6600 yen cancellation charge.
• The hotel (Samana), booked through a third party, was the biggest liability...and incredibly, they offered to cancel the stay from their end so that the third party (Chase/Expedia) could process the refund without discussion!

And to top it off, all the refunds were effectively processed within the week!

Safe with the knowledge that we'd have our money back, while still at Itami Airport, we quickly thought about alternatives, and didn't mind splurging a little if needed. An option was Nara, but the available hotels were not inspiring. We then had a look at Arima Onsen, and booked 3 nights there last minute at Negiya, a relatively well-rated ryokan which had last-minute availability.

There was a bus to Arima Onsen one hour later: time for a quick (but good) airport lunch and we were on our way.

3. Arima Onsen

Tuesday, 4 Feb (cont'd)

We arrived at Negiya right for check-in time. At 50,000 yen/night without meals, it was frankly quite expensive (hence the last-minute availability I guess!), but at least the room was very comfortable, had a lovely view, the common spaces were very cosy, and the baths were great with varied outdoor and indoor options and interesting iron-rich water.

Wednesday, 5 Feb

We spent a lovely day hopping around the cute shops and quirky museums of Arima Onsen (loved the toy museum!) and enjoying the baths at the inn (those in town did not appeal). It is a charming town and, given the ease of access, I definitely recommend it to people wanting to try an onsen town without going too far off the usual tourist routes.

Dinner was at an excellent okonomiyaki place in town, Ikkyu (better than day 1 okonomiyaki).

Thursday, 6 Feb

This was a day trip to Himeji and Kobe. We splurged for the Shinkansen which Google Maps did not even suggest: it was an excellent call. We shortened the trip from Arima Onsen to Himeji to 1 hour instead of 1:40, and thus arrived about 30 min after opening time, in a largely deserted castle against a bright blue sky. It was absolutely freezing inside (tip: wear warm socks in winter), but it was incredible nonetheless, and it was significantly busier by the time we left.

We moved on to the adjacent Koko-en gardens, which have a very good restaurant in a lovely setting. The gardens themselves were nice, if nothing special.

After coffee and a bit of shopping, we took the Shinkansen back to Shin-Kobe where we wanted to visit the Takenaka Carpentry Museum...and it was fantastic. Beautiful building, extremely informative and well-done exhibits, great gift store selection: again, recommended.

Having visited Kobe in the past myself (and not cared much for it), there was nothing else we wanted to do there so, a failed attempt at locating a bus stop later, we took the metro and commuter train back to Arima Onsen.

4. Nagasaki

Friday, 7 Feb

After a morning bath, this was mostly a travel day to go back to our initially planned route: Shinkansen to Hakata (treated ourselves to Green Car seats with the 3-day advance discount: worth it!) through a very snowy western Honshu leading to a slight delay, metro to Fukuoka Airport (where we would have arrived from Yakushima) to get a rental car, then a 2-hour drive to Nagasaki in light-to-moderate snow. Thankful for the winter tires on the car, I felt safer.

The car was rented through Nissan, the process was smooth but the domestic airport branch did not have ETC cards available for rental (strange, given how big the branch is!).

The hotel, Dormy Inn Nagasaki Station, was great with the exception of rock-hard pillows, with a cool top-floor public bath with an open-air section, and convenient on-site parking. Rates were unfortunately high (25,000/night), due to the ongoing Lantern Festival I guess.

Dinner at a hotel-recommended izakaya, Toritei, was okay but ultimately one of the worst of the trip. I was not thrilled by food options in Nagasaki overall.

Saturday, 8 Feb

We started with a somber and disappointing visit to the Atomic Bomb memorial area. Disappointing, because the Peace Park and surrounding memorials, while still moving, felt like a bit of an afterthought in their design. Unremarkable architecture, almost hidden from view (set aside from the main road), for me it was a far cry from Hiroshima where the equivalent area is much more solemn and grandiose.

We switfly moved towards the city center. Dejima was a real highlight, with great exhibits that really told a story. It was one of my main motivations behind going to Nagasaki, so I was really pleased! Sofukuji was also an enjoyable temple visit, and in between, we meandered from shop to shop through the charming downtown area.

There was little time to head to the Glover Garden area, and we had less interest in that area anyway, so we skipped it. Instead, we rested for a bit before heading out to the Lantern Festival, which was frankly impressive in scale and a fun atmosphere with stalls everywhere. We loved it. The "temple rally" in the former Chinese settlement was especially cool.

Sunday, 9 Feb

That day, a day trip to the Arita region, was a blast!

My partner makes pottery, so Arita was high in our priorities. We started with the "treasure hunt" at Kouraku Kiln in Arita, where we filled a box of lovely pottery for 6600 yen. Then, we had some very good curry at Gallery Arita, and proceeded to pick our own cup out of hundreds to have coffee there. The Kyushu Ceramic Musem next door was really worth the stop, too, as it was very informative about how Arita came to be synonymous with Japanese pottery in the west, and had some cool pieces on display.

Then we went to Okawachiyama Pottery Village, a very scenic village in its own right, with at least a dozen pottery shops, many of them excellent.

We ended the day with something completely unplanned: Huis ten Bosch! The unlikeliness of a Dutch-themed park, with windmills and tulips, in a far-flung corner of Japan was not lost on us, and we had a very good time walking around. The attractions/rides we attempted were...so-so, to be polite, but that wasn't the point of out visit anyway.

Monday, 10 Feb

This day was left open in case we wanted to see more of Nagasa...

---

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1ivi9t6/kansai_kyushu_tokyo_feb_2025/

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Pawcifier59 on 2025-02-23 18:34:03+00:00.

---

I will be traveling to Japan from the US in early May with my college-aged daughter, it is the first time for both of us. We are fairly active and are hoping to balance nature travel and cultural touring while we are there. The itinerary is pretty full (moving around a lot) but I've tried to ensure that transit times are feasible and reasonable. Most of the travel is via public transportation (buses, trains) but I'm also open to hiring a car as needed. Specific places to visit within cities are somewhat flexible. I would love to know if this itinerary is doable and if anyone has suggestions for us.

Day 1 - Land in Narita, transfer to Nikko

Details of transfer still tbd, we are landing about 1PM so there should be time to do what we need to do at the airport and then travel by train to Nikko. Overnight in Nikko.

Day 2 - Nikko

Shinkyo Bridge, Rinnoji Temple, Nikko Toshogu, possibly Kanmangafuchi Abyss, Kegon Falls, Ryuzu Cascades. Can pare down as necessary. Will get early start to try to avoid some of the crowds.

Late afternoon - travel to Matsumoto via train (via Tokyo, essentially two Shinkasen segments). Overnight in Matsumoto

Day 3 - Matsumoto -> Shinhotaka Ropeway and Kamikochi

This is the most ambitious part, especially with so much travel at the start of the trip. I think it is doable as a day trip, I've checked the bus schedules. Overnight in Matsumoto

Day 4 - Matsumoto -> Alpine Route

Leisurely morning, visit Matsumoto Castle, then start Alpine Route at Shinano-Omachi. Do first half of the route. Overnight in Murodo.

Day 5 - Alpine Route/Murodo

Some hiking in the morning around Murodo, then finish the remainder of the Alpine Route. Once done, Shinkasen from Toyama to Kyoto. Settle in to lodging first day, possibly visit nearby Nishiki Market and/or gion ichiho.

Day 6 - Kyoto/Osaka

Visit Fushimi Inari early, possibly Higashiyama Ward. Then travel for 1/2 day visit to Osaka (possible stops include Umeda Sky Building, Kuchu Teien Observatory, Osaka Castle, late in the day/evening Shinsaibashisuji and Dotonbori. Return to lodging in Kyoto.

Day 7 - Kyoto

Visit West Kyoto, Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, take Sagano romantic train, then Hozugawa River Boat Ride, end with Monkey Park.

Day 8 - Kyoto - Hakone

Last day in Kyoto visit Hirano Shrine and Kinkaku-ji in the morning. Then travel to Hakone. Afternoon around Hakone, overnight in Hakone.

Day 9 - Hakone - Fuji Five Lakes

Hakone in the morning then hire a car to travel to FFL. Places to visit include Mt. Fuji Panoramic Ropeway, Arakurayama Sengen Park, Fuji Shibazakura Festival. Overnight at hotel on Lake Kawaguchi.

Day 10 - Fuji Five Lakes - Tokyo

Walk around Lake Kawaguchi, Travel by express bus to Tokyo. Check into Tokyo lodgings. If feeling up to it, possible activities include Imperial Palace, Ueno Park, Rikugien Gardens.

Day 11 - Tokyo

Asakusa Shrine, coincides with Sanja Matsuri festival. Senso-ji, Sumida Park, Nakamise-dori street, Kaminarimon, Kappabashi Street, possibly Tokyo Sky Tree in the evening.

Day 12 - Tokyo

See a baseball game at the Tokyo Dome (Yomiuri Giants). rest of day still tbd.

Day 13 - Tokyo

Explore Shinkjuku, Meiji Jingu, Shibuya.

Day 14 - Tokyo

TBD, possible day-trip to Kamakura.

Day 15 - Tokyo - Haneda

Return home!

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Taka_C on 2025-02-21 01:28:48+00:00.

---

Hello, I'll be traveling to Japan in early july as 2 people, me(18M) and my friend(18M). This will be my first time visiting Japan; I'm japanese and my friend is american. I wanted to post our itinerary in this group to see what suggestions/warnings/critiques/comments people may have.

07/04/25

Tokyo

Relax, pick up SIM/IC card, explore Shinjuku.

07/05/25

Tokyo

Explore Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya. Visit TeamLab Borderless.

07/06/25

Tokyo

Free day to revisit favorite spots or explore new areas.

07/07/25

Tokyo → Hakone

Travel to Hakone. Use Hakone Free Pass for sightseeing and hot springs.

07/08/25

Hakone

Full day in Hakone: Hakone Shrine, Open-Air Museum, Owakudani.

07/09/25

Hakone → Osaka

Travel to Osaka. Explore Dotonbori and Round One Arcade.

07/10/25

Osaka

Explore Korea Town, Sakai Knife Museum, and America-mura.

07/11/25

Osaka

Universal Studios Japan (Super Nintendo World).

07/12/25

Day Trip to Nara

Visit Nara Deer Park, Todai-ji Temple, and Kasuga Taisha Shrine.

07/13/25

Osaka

Osaka Castle, Tsutenkaku Tower, Tombori River Cruise.

07/14/25

Osaka → Kyoto

Travel to Kyoto. Explore Higashiyama area and Yasaka Pagoda.

07/15/25

Kyoto

Nishiki Market, Pontocho Alley, and Chao Chao Sanjo Kiyamachi (Gyoza).

07/16/25

Kyoto

Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion), and Gion district.

07/17/25

Kyoto

Fushimi Inari Shrine (Thousand Torii Gates), Kiyomizu-dera Temple.

07/18/25

Kyoto → Tokyo

Travel back to Tokyo. Explore Asakusa and Senso-ji Temple.

07/19/25

Tokyo

Explore Akihabara (Anime, gaming, electronics) and nearby shrines.

07/20/25

Tokyo

Last-minute shopping at Omoide Yokocho.

07/21/25

Tokyo

Free day for shopping or revisiting favorite spots.

07/22/25

Leave Tokyo at 2 pm

And that's the trip. I'm hoping the community here can provide feedback or advice about these planned activities. I'm so exited. Thanks!

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Pyrodraconic on 2025-02-21 14:12:47+00:00.

---

An the end of October 2024, I returned from what was, at the time, the best trip I'd ever taken. I never could've imagined that merely 2 months later, I'd be heading back to Japan, for twice as long. Over these last two months in Japan, I've learned a lot, and I would like to share some tips that aren't often about (and it took me three trips in Japan to figure them out!), and also share some personal experiences, both good and bad.

You can check my previous trip report for more basic tips if you'd like.

Contents

Disclaimer*: This post is going to be pretty long, and some details may be irrelevant or too specific for first-timers, hence the title.*

Background - Basic structure of the trip.

1. Tokyo's Subway System - A deeper dive into Tokyo's Metro.
2. Winter in Japan - Some tips on how to survive and what not to miss in the winter.
3. Low Season - What's it like to travel during the off-season.
4. Favorites - A fun little section of where I share some of my personal favorites.
5. Personal Experiences - The highs and the lows.
6. Rude Tourists - Don't act like these ones.
7. Random Tips - Curious about why Japanese people fold napkins at restaurants? Read on.
8. Final Thoughts & A Personal Note.

Background

I'm 24M and I traveled alone. I stayed in an apartment in Sumida-ku in Tokyo for ~2 months - January and February. I also traveled to Fujikawaguchiko, Kamakura & Enoshima, Yokohama, Kanazawa, Shirakawago, Takayama, Sapporo, Kyoto and Osaka (in that order). I decided to skip Nikko, Hakone and Nara, all of which I'd already been to in the autumn.

I divided my trip into two halves. For the first part, I stayed in Tokyo with no excursions. I wanted to experience the city more like a local. I didn’t plan much in advance and tried to save money wherever I could. The second half was the complete opposite - I traveled all over Japan: Kanto, Chubu, Hokkaido, and Kansai. I booked accommodations in advance and meticulously planned every itinerary. This part was definitely pricier than my time in Tokyo.

1. Tokyo's Subway System ========================

I used Tokyo’s subway system every single day, multiple times a day. I became so familiar with it that I stopped using Google Maps most of the time (okay, sometimes). I could go on for hours about how efficient and impressive the system is (and I may or may not have consequently purchased a picture of Tokyo's subway map to hang on my bedroom's wall), but here are a few important things I learned:

1a) Underground Connectivity: Some stations in Tokyo are not fully connected underground. In many cases, you would have to go above ground to the street to transfer to another line. This is almost always true when transferring between JR lines and subway lines; but it's sometimes true even when both lines are subway lines. The exit (or entrance) you go through is also crucial.

1b) Subway Path Optimization: Google Maps usually does a good job, but it doesn’t always give you the most efficient route. For example, it sometimes assumes you walk at an average pace, so you might not make it in time for your transfer. More importantly, if you're using an unlimited metro pass, it's better to take two subway lines (which would be free) than a single JR line (which would cost extra). The subway map is pretty easy to read, so you can figure it out on your own.

1c) General Etiquette: On escalators, stand on the left. If you must walk, do it on the right side, but ideally avoid it altogether. During rush hour, people might walk on both sides. On platforms, stand behind the yellow/white lines and always let people get off the train first before you board. Keep your backpack in front of you, and try to hug it tightly. If it's crowded on the train and you're standing by the door, step outside briefly to let people off, then go back on. And please avoid talking, eating, or littering on the train.

2. Winter in Japan ==================

I come from a hot country where it almost never drops below 15°C (60°F), let alone snow, and I had never traveled in the winter before. I'd been worried and anxious about too many things: What would I wear? What if I'm too sensitive to the cold? How do I deal with snow? Etc.

I came prepared: I wore two layers + a down jacket, warm socks, a beanie, a scarf and gloves. I went to Uniqlo on my very first day in Japan and bought (thermal) Heat-Tech undershirt & underpants. I also bought quite expensive snow boots. And yet, on the first two days I was freezing, yes even during the day. I actually suffered, to the point that I was actually considering going back home (such a drama queen...). And the funny thing is, it was merely around 6°C (43°F) during the day.

But the good news is - I'm here to tell you that your body most definitely adjusts. After just a few days, I stopped wearing my warm socks, gloves, beanie and scarf, and during the day I didn't even have my coat on. The temperatures in Takayama, Shirakawago and Sapporo were much lower: around -2°C (28°F) during the day and -6°C (21°F) at nights & early mornings, and I wore the same stuff. I've actually never used the Heat Tech stuff I bought from Uniqlo.

That said, there were still particularly cold days, so here are some tips for dealing with winter in Japan:

2a) Heat Packs (Kairo): You can buy these in department stores and conbinis (I got mine at Matsumoto Kiyoshi). They stay warm for hours and are a lifesaver on chilly days. Just shake them a few times to get them going, and trust me, warm hands feel amazing.

2b) Hot Drinks: Do yourself a favor and buy a bottle of hot cocoa from any vending machine (or conbini) in the morning. It can serve as a short-lasting kairo, and you also feel quite nice and warm after drinking it (oh, and it's tasty!).

2c) Neck Gaiters: I absolutely hated my scarf. It was itchy and it didn't actually make me feel warm. So I bought a neck gaiter from Amazon - it worked wonders. Out of all the winter gear that I got, this was definitely the best piece.

2d) Do NOT Underestimate Ground Ice: I very stupidly forgot my snow boots in Tokyo when I went to Chubu and it was bad. I can proudly say that I've never actually slipped*, but I was very close to that many, many times. I was extra cautious because of that and walked super slowly. The ice on the ground (that looks like snow, actually) is incredibly slippery and dangerous. Get boots with a good grip, not just for the sake of warmth, but to protect yourself from falling.

\Update: writing this from Sapporo, I did actually slip. Twice.)

2e) Wear Layers: Places indoors are usually heated, especially the suwbay stations (and the train itself, of course). Trust me, you do not want to stand there squished between dozens of people with your heavy coat on. Make sure you wear layers that you can always take off when you feel too hot.

2f) Dryness: The winter in Japan is very dry, so expect your skin, eyes, etc to get dry. To be honest, I don't really know how to deal with that, I just dealt with the effects. Use the proper skin products and maybe get some eye drops.

2g) Sunsets: The skies in Tokyo never seemed to have a single cloud. They were clear, bright and gorgeous throughout the entire time I was there (which is not a novelty in the winter in Tokyo). I have stunning & unfiltered pictures of sunsets that I took that could definitely be the best pictures I took the entire trip. I found the sunsets to be most beautiful at Odaiba for obvious reasons.

2h) Global Warming: Due to global warming, the winter is shorter, and most importantly, there's much less snow. I talked to an old man in Kanazawa who's lived there his entire life and he told me that they see less and less snow every year. Global warming also means that blossoms occur earlier - both cherry (Sakura) and more importantly (since it's a late winter blossom) the Japanese plum 'Ume'.

2i) Greenery: Take into consideration that most trees are bare and gardens are just generally grayer. I think they're beautiful either way.

P.S. - I had an umbrella in my backpack during the entire trip and I've never used it, not even once. It's not a coincidence since the winter is the driest season in Japan (in my country it's the wettest), but even when it rained on some days, my coat's hood did the trick.

3. Low Season =============

I visited Japan in October last year, during the high season. It was very touristy because of the nice weather, Halloween-themed spots, and beautiful autumn leaves. This time, I visited in winter, which is considered the low season. January, in particular, is the least touristy month of the year.

I most certainly felt and enjoyed that difference. I can safely say that the number of tourists from October at least doubled the number of tourists I saw this winter. It was much easier to get reservations to restaurants and attractions, and the streets felt calmer overall.

I will say that quite abruptly, on February 1st, I felt like the crowds doubled in size, and it stayed that way through February. It's not a surprise, since February is warmer and generally prettier than January (in Tokyo, at least). And don't get me wrong though. T...

---

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1iurtc9/3_months_in_japan_neverseenbefore_tips_opinions/

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/liltrikz on 2025-02-20 12:34:52+00:00.

---

Hello!

This is about the Kyoto section of my overall trip to Japan. We’ve all heard about issues with crowds in Kyoto and a supposed disdain starting to build around tourists in Kyoto. I was nervous about contributing to that, and of course nervous about breaking rules or doing something to disrupt the peace as a tourist. I know the big things like keeping your trash, not talking loudly or on the phone on public transport, etc, but I worry about what I don’t know outside of the research I’ve done. What if I do something and upset someone or are scolded by a local? Should I even go? Well, I went here is what I did:

Day 1: we(30m/31F) technically arrived on Thursday night, but Friday 2/14 was our first full day. We stayed in Gion 2 streets up from Shirakawa Canal. My girlfriend and I are fans of specialty coffee and we walked over to Weekenders Coffee and got a cup. It was good but kind of funny that there was construction happening in front of the shop with a literal jackhammer and it was maybe not as peaceful as usual haha.

After that, we walked to Nishiki Market around 10:40 and strolled through and sampled shrimp tempura and some Wagyu. I heard the Wagyu can be overpriced and not worth it but I can’t lie it was so tasty at the spot I went to. Melt in your mouth and buttery. I had two other skewers on my overall Japan trip and they weren’t as good as the one in Nishiki Market. It was $13USD which was pricey but thankfully I enjoyed it.

After that, we went to a nearby Onitsuka Tiger shoe store, as my girlfriend had wanted to buy a pair in Japan. She got a pair for $65(tax free!) and said it was cheaper than buying in the US due to import fees, etc. She was so happy to buy them. We then went to a nearby Kyoto soup curry spot at like 11:50am nearby Nishiki Market and it was delicious and affordable. We then walked through Pontocho Alley during the day when mostly everything was closed and then went to a nearby Blue Bottle for an afternoon cup of coffee.

We made our way to Yasaka Shrine at around 3:15pm and spent around 30 minutes there. We then walked to Heian Jingu Shrine and arrived at 4:15pm, which did have some construction going on but was still nice. We’re from the US and know of this place from the film Lost In Translation so we really liked being there.

That night, we went to a restaurant in Gion called spice32 for Japanese curry and we were the only customers once they opened at 6pm. It was a good meal!

Day 2: we left out for Fushimi Inari and arrived at the entrance at around 10:15am. It was a Saturday and the base area had a good amount of people. I didn’t feel overwhelmed or shoulder-to-shoulder with people. The first row of torri gates you walk through has a good amount of people, but it’s flat and a good place to see the torii gates for wheelchair users or people with limited mobility who can’t do all the steps up.

During the first part an elder Japanese man motioned to me to watch out for my head(I am 6,4/193cm) with a smile and a laugh and it made me feel at ease to have that local reassurance when I was so nervous about being intrusive.

With it being Saturday, there were few minutes we were ever really “alone” but honestly it was fine. Loved it. Beautiful and amazing place. Good amount of people, and I heard Chinese, Spanish, English, and French spoken so a lot of tourists, but it clears up a little the further you go up. But I mean a little lol I imagine if you want to be truly alone, you must go very early or late? Also, we didn’t go all the way up. We made it to the first lookout and then left. Don’t know why. We just didn’t care to go all the way to the top.

After we left Fushimi Inari, we ate some Kyoto Gyukatsu. We got in line right at noon and had food at 12:31pm. We then made our way over to the Sasayachō neighborhood to stop at a coffee shop called Blend. Great shop in a really pretty part of town. We then strolled back to Gion next to the Kamo River and it was so lovely. It was a sunny but chilly Saturday at 2:25pm and there were people out and just a really nice walk. We relaxed at home and then went to dinner across from our hotel at a place called Udon Main. Our first udon on the trip and it was so delicious and very affordable.

That night our hotel hosted a maiko event that we went to and it was nice. There was a translator for us to ask her questions and she played konpira with us. We then turned in for the night around 10:30pm.

This was supposed to be our third and last night in Kyoto but we were liking it a lot so we cancelled our two nights in Osaka and extended our stay in Kyoto! We know our pace is a little slower than others and we had more we wanted to see.

Day 3: this was Sunday 2/16 and we got up and left our hotel around 10:15am to walk to a cafe the barista at Blend recommended. Except…

It was the day of the Kyoto Marathon. We were almost to the cafe then saw we couldn’t cross the street due to the roads being blocked off for the marathon. We circled back to see if we could go around it. It would have been a really long detour so we said we will just change plans and go elsewhere.

We think “oh maybe we can take a bus” but it turns out the buses were running at a much different schedule or not doing the normal route, so we couldn’t do that. We said “well we probably can’t get a taxi here, so let’s walk a bit away in the other direction and see if we can get a taxi. We walk and then pull up the Go app and like…a huge portion of the area is blocked off so we can’t get a taxi haha so at that point we get an early lunch at an Indian place nearby.

“Okay we want to go to Nanzenji, let’s just walk in the direction of it” and so we walked. And we came to the finish line of the race at Heian Jingu. “Great! Surely we can finally cross near the finish line!”

Wrong. Japan sure knows how to secure an area haha. At this point, we go back to our hotel at 2pm and rest. We’ve walked almost 9000 steps and essentially didn’t do anything we actually wanted! We definitely weren’t prepared for this. We end up relaxing and ordering some healthy food from Uber Eats for dinner and staying in.

Day 4: we wake up and go to Kurasu for coffee around 10:15am. We then finally make our way to Nanzenji! We had a cab driver and barista say this was their favorite place in Kyoto, so we were looking forward to it. It was a Monday around 11:25am so there weren’t many people. We went to the top of the gate to see the panoramic view, saw the aqueduct, and the peaceful Hoju Garden.

We went to lunch nearby at Dragon Burger then went to a beautiful Blue Bottle for coffee. We then went BACK into Nanzenji to explore the side gardens and grounds.

We decided to head to Kiyomizudera and got there around 5pm. So many people on the streets leading up to the top! Lots of cars moving down narrow streets with people, too. This was one place we thought “okay this is a lot of people”.

It was nice at the top but wasn’t our favorite thing we did. We walked back down and at around 5:40pm we saw the beautiful Hōkanji on an essentially empty street because all the shops were closed by then. It made for a great photo and a really wonderful sight.

Day 5: wake up and went to 2050 Coffee around 9:20am and then got our stuff and went to the station to head back to Tokyo!

We really loved Kyoto and would’ve enjoyed staying even longer to explore deeper into the city outside those big sites. We hope to visit again and see some other major sites that we skipped for this trip. We just really don’t like to have a full itinerary planned, nothing against the places we skipped like Kinkaku-ji or Arashiyama.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/montanafat on 2025-02-19 15:02:22+00:00.

---

Hey everyone,

I’m currently in Japan for a week and would love to have a baseball catch while I’m in Tokyo or Kyoto. I played D3 college ball in the U.S., and while I’m not looking for anything super intense, I’d love to just toss a ball around and maybe even take some swings if possible. I don’t have any equipment with me.

I know baseball is huge in Japan, so if there’s a way to join a practice, rent a field, or even pay someone (a coach, player, or enthusiast) to throw with me, I’d be very interested. Open to any suggestions.

Has anyone done something like this before? Any leads would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/frozenpandaman on 2025-02-18 05:48:39+00:00.

---

Up until now you had to spend an extra 30 seconds typing in your name, sex, birthday, and ostensibly a phone number when buying an IC card from the machines in Tokyo.

As of March 1, this will no longer be necessary, and unregistered IC cards will be back on sale like usual.

This doesn't actually change much at all in practice, but maybe the "but JR East's so-called chip shortage isn't really over!" talk will finally subside, as everything's fully back to normal now!

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/MysteriousDog7640 on 2025-02-17 13:00:04+00:00.

---

I’m hoping to get feedback on activities we’re skipping in Kyoto. We have to make some tough choices and would love to hear arguments for/against!

Context: Two adults late 20s, first/second time in Japan; first time in Kyoto. Arriving from Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Miyajima (10 nights) and continuing to Osaka for 1 night before departing. Bags will be sent to our hotel in Central Kyoto so we can sightsee on arrival.

We want to hit the major tourist sites especially if this is our only trip to Kyoto, and are OK with full days and lots of walking. We mostly aren’t worried about crowds. Our interests probably align with the median traveller- “we like history, nature, and food!”

Itinerary:

Tuesday May 6

• Depart Miyajima in the morning
• Take the Shinkansen to Himeji Castle (Any recs for where to get oden, or other ideas for lunch? Would also be interested in how long people have spent at Himeji. Are there sites outside the castle you strongly recommend?)
• Depending on how long we spend at Himeji, considering two options 1) if we arrive in Kyoto by 4 and have energy, head directly to Kiyomizu-Dera and then see Gion/Yasaka Shrine in the early evening, but 2) if we arrive later we’ll just get dinner in Central Kyoto, maybe at Pontocho.

Wednesday May 7

• Start at Arashiyama, aiming to arrive by 8-9am. We’re prepared to be underwhelmed by the bamboo, but think we’ll enjoy walking around the park or Okochi Sanso gardens, and looking over the gorge. (Worth the fee for the gardens or is it a similar experience as the surrounding park?)
• After that, we’d walk over to the monkey park, then come back for lunch at Tenryuji Shigetsu (I’m vegetarian.)
• I’ve seen a few stores (pottery, taniku statues, etc) recommended on the north side of Arashiyama so we would walk up towards Saga Toriimoto Preserved Street and shop along the way. (Is this the right order of stops? Should we eat an earlier lunch and visit Saga Toriimoto first, and hit the monkey park in the early afternoon as our final stop before leaving the area? Trying to figure out what’s most efficient. Also, is Saga Toriimoto somewhere to spend time or just a brief walk-thru?)
• Evening plans pretty chill, just dinner - in Pontocho if we didn’t the night before. We could try to fit something else in here.

Thursday May 8

• Gion/Yasaka Shrine/Kiyomizu-dera if we can’t swing it our first day. (If this slot ends up free - unsure but currently leaning toward Nijo Castle or the imperial palace/national garden.)
• Early afternoon in Fushimi and visit the Gekkeian Okura Sake Museum. (Anyone have a good experience here or with another sake tour/tasting? We are interested in touring a brewery, and wouldn’t go to a tasting alone.)
• Go to Fushimi Inari in the evening. If we have time, we’d stop at Tofuku-ji before Fushimi Inari but wouldn’t stress if we can’t make it. We would try to start climbing by 6pm to experience Fushimi Inari at dusk (sunset 7pm.) Some sites indicate you need 2-3 hours to climb round trip, but it seems the consensus here is that you can do it much quicker. We could also go after dinner if our daytime plans take a lot of time.

Friday May 9

• Leave early for Nara, en route to Osaka.

Things we researched but are skipping because it was hard to fit into the itinerary:

• Philosopher’s Path - seems less worthwhile since we’ll be past cherry blossom season
• Kinkaku-ji, Ginkaku-ji, Nanzen-ji - all of these look very interesting but feel we have to prioritize against other shrines/temples unless there’s a unique reason to make the trek.
• Nijo Castle - We like castles, but will see Himeji and also maybe Hiroshima Castle earlier in our trip. Do folks think it’s a unique addition beyond the castles we will have already seen?
• Imperial Palace/National Garden - Near our hotel, but don’t see this recommended often. Would be interested if there were great seasonal blooms.
• Nishiki Market - We’d like to swing thru but don’t see ourselves in the area at the right times.
• Kyoto Railway Museum - only have a casual interest in trains but still think it looks cool, just not sure how to fit it in.
• Kyoto National Museum - visiting Tokyo National so deprioritizing.

If we end up with time for 1-2 more sites, what would you prioritize?

I’d love to hear the argument against these choices, or if I’m overlooking a convenient spot to plug them into our plans.

This community has already been incredibly helpful, so thank you!

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/reddithrowaway233 on 2025-02-16 20:02:15+00:00.

---

Context:

• 22 - was a graduation trip before I start work
• Partially with some friends, partially solo.
• First time in Japan
• From USA but ethnically Indian. Took some Japanese in college which helped a lot
• Vegetarian, but friends weren't, so separated for meals pretty often.
• What I brought: 1 carry-on and backpack. Overcoat, bunch of clothes, snow boots (needed for some places in the Alps), Asics Gel Kayano 14, meds, laptop.
• Pretty much planned the entire trip through Google Sheets (can share if needed), including vegetarian restaurants in all the cities.

Day 1: Landed in NRT

• Flight was delayed by like 6 hours so got through immigration in 45 minutes and went straight to my hotel (near Ikebukuro) and slept

Day 2: Tokyo

• Didn't plan this day at all so just did what I felt and went where I wanted to.
• Woke up hella early, got a protein shake from 7/11, checked out the area around my hotel, and went to a coffee shop in Shimokitazawa as soon as they opened.
• Walked around and checked out some thrift stores (didn't find anything too exciting) and got lunch.
• Went to Shibuya to see the Scramble and this anime I liked had a popup in the bookstore so got some posters.
• Went to Ginza to buy a gift that needed to be pre-ordered 2 weeks in advance and checked out some stores in the area (but didn't buy anything else)
• Got dinner and went back
• Random thoughts: The train from Ikebukuro to Shinjuku was packed like sardines with people shoving in which kinda took me aback.

Day 3: Matsumoto & Nagano

• Took a 9:30 AM bus to Matsumoto. It was lightly snowing when I got there which was exciting
• Got lunch and walked to the castle. It was so pretty. I paid 700 yen to go inside the grounds and in the castle. You had to take your shoes off so my feet were numb by the end of it. I enjoyed the inside but not sure if I'd go back in again.
• Had to kill a few hours in Matsumoto so went to a small shrine and got a goshuin book. Waited till the light show, which I thought was pretty cool, but it did feel weird seeing so many animations to a historical temple. If I had to re-do it, I probably wouldn't have waited the 3 hours to see it, and then have to wait another 45 minutes to get the train to Nagano, but that's your call to make.
• Took a short train to Nagano and checked into my hotel

Day 4: Nagano and Snow Monkeys!

• Bought the snow monkey pass at the station and took the first bus from Nagano to the monkey park (was planning on taking the second but made it in time for the first)
• I sat in the front and got off first and started walking up. It was a pretty long walk and not crowded at all early on. Seeing the monkeys was surreal. Def recommend
• Took the from the monkey park to Shibu Onsen and walked around. Such a pretty area but everything seemed pretty old and run down in Shibu, so I'm kinda glad I didn't stay there. Walked to Yudanaka, stopped at Obuse for sightseeing, and then went to Nagano
• Went to Zenko-ji, which was awesome, but I didn't pay to go all the way in. Got some lunch/ice cream there too. Definitely recommend the oyaki there.

Day 5: Togakushi Shrine

• Took the 9:30 am bus or so to Togakushi. The route was hella beautiful. Once I got to the middle shrine, there was like a 1.5 hour hike to the gates, and then further to the upper shrine. The snow was hella deep and my pants got kinda soaked. The cedar trees were breathtaking though so I definitely recommend it.
• Took the Shinkansen to Kanazawa. Got dinner and spent the night there
• Random Advice: They'll have a foreign help section in a lot of major stations and they'll always recommend the reserved seats, but I went with the unreserved seats since I'm a cheap fuck and noticed it was much less crowded and was able to get a set of 3 seats to myself.

Day 6: Kanazawa (Shirakawa-go day trip)

• I booked my bus trip about a week in advance since I knew it would sell out quick. I took the second bus in the morning and had about 4 hours there.
• I climbed to the viewpoint, walked around and checked out some of the houses, open-air museum, went to a shrine and temple, and got lunch. Definitely felt like 4 hours was too much and I ended up roaming around for a while till my bus got back.
• Honestly was super exhausted, so kind of just walked around the Higashi Chaya area and chilled in my hotel till dinner. This was mostly the last of my further-away day trips. The weather in Kanazawa is kinda ass and the annoying thing about it is the station is 20 minutes away from a lot of the hotels which are like 20 minutes away from the sights, but it's a small city so can't complain too much ig.
• Went to a random super tiny bar in chuo mishokugai and it was me and this Japanese couple there and I got to practice my Japanese with them. Probably the most immersive experience I had and they were so friendly which was awesome. I was worried before I entered since there was just a small Japanese menu outside and there were only like 6 seats inside and I didn't know how they felt about foreigners (I had to translate the name using lens and there were like 2 google reviews in Japanese), but I'm so glad I went.

Day 7: Kanazawa

• Checked out early and spent the day doing all the popular things in Kanazawa
• Went to Higashi Chaya to get the gold leaf ice cream and do some shopping, then walked around Kenrokuen, the DT Suzuki museum, and then the Nagamachi Samurai District.
• Took the afternoon Shinkansen to Osaka

Day 8 - 10: Osaka

• I'm kinda getting bored typing all this so gonna condense some more.
• Got a bit sick one day so took that day to rest and do my laundry
• Mainly did the popular stuff here: Dotonbori, Namba, Amemura, Osaka Castle
• Day trip to Nara: went to Todai-ji (absolutely magnificent), Kasuga-taisha Shrine, Kofuki-ji, and spent hella time feeding and petting the deer
• Random Advice: Don't wear your fancy Moncler puffer to Nara, a poor lady got hers ripped up :(
• Went to Kyoto in the afternoon and checked out Sanjusangendo Temple before checking in

Day 11: Kyoto

• Got to Kiyomizudera around 8 am. Not crowded at all. Crowds started coming in around 9am-ish. Would def do this as early as possible (probably earlier than me in Spring/Fall(
• Walked around Ninenzaka/Sannenzaka and took some photos of the Yasaka Pagoda. Then chilled in the fancy Starbies for a bit
• Went to Chion-in, Yasaka Shrine, and Heian Jingu before grabbing a very late lunch
• Walked around a park and along the river

Day 12: Arashiyama

• Probably my busiest day. Got there around 9:30 am and it wasn't super crowded but more crowded than anywhere else I'd been (besides Tokyo)
• Places I saw in order: Bamboo Forest, Tenryu-ji. Jojakko-ji, Gio-ji, Saga Torimoto Preserved Street, Otagi Nenbutsuji, Daikaku-ji, super late lunch, and Togetsukyo bridge
• Was bored so went to Fushimi Inari around 9:30 pm. I could hear boars making sound while walking up and was kinda scared but still went all the way to the top. Halfway has a very nice view and then the top is pretty cool too. Honestly, would've loved to do this during the morning as well, since I hardly saw any cats :(

Day 13: Kyoto

• Spent the morning just walking around Kyoto and exploring the city
• In the afternoon, I went to Kinkaku-ji since the sun was out. It was so crowded but so worth it, but it def wouldn't have been as nice without the sun, especially since it's so out of the way.
• Went to Kitano Tennmangu Shrine
• Random advice: Northern Kyoto is pretty far and not super accessible and there is sooooo much traffic after like 2:30 or 3 pm so I had to skip Ryoan-ji, which was one of the temples I wanted to see most since I got there pretty late. Plan this day accordingly. Also a lot of places like Ryoan-ji close at 4:30 during Winter as opposed to 5:00, so check the websites and not Google.

Day 14: Kyoto to Tokyo

• Went to Ryoan-ji late in the morning after checking out of my hotel since I HAD to see it. I'm so happy I did, it felt kinda cathartic
• Spent wayyy too much on matcha at the Marukyu Koyamaen store
• Took the train to Tokyo. Again, went unreserved since I'm cheap and ended up getting the E seat, but it got hella cloudy the closer we went to Tokyo and didn't see Fuji :(
• Went clubbing on a Sunday like a degen

Day 15 - 19: Tokyo

• Not really much to say here, did a lot of the standard Tokyo Stuff
• Visited Harajuku, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ebisu, Akihabara, Asakusa, Teamlabs Borderless, Pokemon Store
• Did a lot of shopping and spent way too much money on drip, plushies, and gifts
• Wish I spent more time in Tokyo def feel like I barely scratched the surface of the city
• Bought hella snacks at the duty free in NRT before flying back. Would recommend buying stuff here since I believe it's the same price as everywhere else and you don't have to worry about packing it. My favorite snacks were the Matcha Millifeuiele or however you say it and the Matcha mochi with whipped cream inside. My family loved the peach/banana kitkats and Royce chocolates.

Overall thoughts:

• Sorry for yapping so much I'm sure y'all seen a lot of the same advice so gonna try to share sum unique stuff
• You can buy hella cheap suitcases at Akky in Akihabara and they're kinda shit but cheaper than paying like $35 one way for a checked bag if you're not flying direct like I did. This helped a lot since I didn't want to carry a large bag a...

---

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1ir136m/january_2025_trip_report/

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/SomeGuyFromVault101 on 2025-02-15 08:43:57+00:00.

---

A big thank you to the travellers in this subreddit and r/JapanTravelTips who have imparted their wisdom and experiences over the ages; they have helped me and many others in planning our trips!

I’m from Australia, and this was my first time in Japan. I spent 2 weeks in Tokyo through university exchange, and then stayed an extra 10 nights to explore Hakone, Kyoto, Hiroshima, and Osaka. I already knew I would love the country before I went there, and I can safely say (having been to a few other places including the US and Europe) this was by far the best place I’ve ever travelled to. The culture is fascinating, the people are so considerate and kind (minus some foreign tourists!), and the food was legitimately some of the best I’ve ever tasted!

I can report that January is a really nice time to visit Japan. It’s a little cold (around 10 degrees Celsius during the days) but in the big cities it feels warmer due to all the buildings and the (really hot!) heating everywhere. The only places it got uncomfortably cold (low digits Celsius) were Nara and Hakone, so be prepared with thermals if you come in January, as those places mainly have outdoor activities!

The 2 weeks in Tokyo were a bit of a blur at times due to having to attend classes in Shinjuku, but I’ll do my best to recount each day. I also highly recommend visiting Tokyo as a student, as it was such an interesting vibe taking the train as a commuter in the morning and at times being squished in the train like a sardine! Even though the trains were amazing and frequent, I’m not sure how Japanese people do that every day!

4/1 - Arrive in Tokyo I arrived in the evening at Narita, and met a few other students and one of the teaching staff at the airport. For some reason, the uni recommended we take the skyliner and then a local train to our hotel in Ekoda. The skyliner was quite nice as it has reserved seating and there are spaces for luggage, however the local trains were sort of chaotic especially lugging around a big suitcase! Next time I’ll definitely take the airport limousine bus so I don’t have to worry about my suitcase. Thankfully it was around 7pm when we were on the trains so they weren’t that busy.

5/1 - Shibuya / Harajuku As part of our university orientation, all the students met at shibuya for a scavenger hunt! This was a bit silly but it was fun scrambling (ha) around shibuya and seeing the big sights such as the hachiko statue, the scramble (I thought it would be bigger, but it was still cool to see, although not as pretty as at night), the Disney store, and so on. I was feeling a bit jet lagged during this day, so our scavenger hunt became a bit blurry. At a later date I would return to shibuya at night which was a very different experience compared to the day. The tourists really seem to appear in droves at night, and I got the vibe that shibuya turns into part central when the moon comes out 😂 After the scavenger hunt, I checked out the miyashita park shopping outlet, which had so many options for food and souvenirs. I spent way too much money on presents for my family, and got a really nice “Shibuya” t-shirt with a drawing of the scramble. I also ate an unreasonably tasty pork bun and tempura chicken meal at a restaurant in the park. After this, I checked out Harajuku with another student. We went to Takeshita Street at around 4 or 5pm and it was genuinely unpleasant the amount of people wall to wall walking up and down the street. One thing that surprised me in Japan was that I rarely bumped into anyone, despite the overwhelming amount of people. Compared to Australians, who really don’t look where they’re going or if they’re in your way, Japanese people are hyper-aware of their surroundings and other people, and I love that. We did some souvenir shopping in some of the alleys of Takeshita street (cash only!) and checked out a “used” clothing store, which had prices that were definitely higher than I would have expected for used clothes! But this is Harajuku. Of course I had to try a Harajuku crepe. It was a bit tricky finding one without cream, but I managed to find a Nutella banana one which was decent! With the crepe success, it was time to retreat to the hotel and call it a night. But not before having a Katsu curry at coco ichiban, which became my favourite chain curry place in Japan! I’m now a convert of golden curry because of coco!

6/1 - Shinjuku / Ikebukuro First day navigating the morning trains at ikebukuro station! This station was absolutely packed, and there were so many amazing smells such as fresh croissants that would tempt me every day. Because we had to change trains at ikebukuro station to get to classes, I felt like I never fully explored the area, which was a shame as I missed out on trying the pikachu sweets cafe and many other things! Ikebukuro was a really nice area with lots of shops and restraurants! I would highly recommend staying here as it’s on the Yamonote line which makes it easy to get around Tokyo. Successfully making it to shin-okubo station, we walked to the university (about 10mins away). I used the digital suica card on my iPhone, which made it really easy to simply scan my phone through ticket gates, and top up my balance through Apple wallet. I will say that even though public transport is cheap in Japan, the price does add up especially if you are taking 2 trains each way, so budget more money than you think you’ll need for this! After university orientation (where we did some fun activities such as mochi-pounding and sake tasting) I went to Shinjuku station and then got lost 3 times in the station! It truly is a labyrinth of a place and (as our teacher let us know) the biggest station in the world! Thankfully I was pointed in the right direction by a few locals and made it out to the surface, on the way towards kabukicho! As I’m a fan of the Yakuza games, I had to check out the iconic cine city square. It was surreal wandering around kabukicho in real life after having run around the area so much in the games (props to RGG studios for how accurate they were able to capture the area in game!) I saw the Godzilla head and even though it’s a red light district, it felt pretty tame, there were no aggressive touts or anything like that. Of course, I also had to check out the Shinjuku batting cages as a fan of the yakuza games. This was an incredibly fun experience for me, as we don’t really have batting cages in Australia! For 400 yen, I got to swing (and miss) and have so much fun whacking baseballs. I had to pay for another round as it was so much fun! This worked up quite an appetite, so I got some amazing and cheap ramen from a local place that I couldn’t tell you the name of! The ordering machine was all in Japanese so I stood there looking dumbly at the machine. Before I could use google lens (genuinely so useful on this trip) a kind patron pointed to one option and said it’s the most popular. So I went with that and it was incredible, I believe it was a pork ramen with a hunk of fresh garlic and spring onion on top! It had just been starting to rain before I entered the ramen shop (it only rained once or twice in the whole 3 and a half weeks, the weather was really surprisingly sunny and clear for winter) so I had been using my umbrella. As I sat down in the ramen shop, I mistakenly placed my wet umbrella on the counter (!) and a Japanese man who sat down next to me seemed very upset! I quickly wiped off the condensation from the table and put the umbrella in my bag, but the man stood up and was visibly upset. Fascinatingly enough, he didn’t really look at me or direct his anger at me, but rather the store owner! I felt so bad, and the man refused to sit back down next to me, but after a short time he eventually left. “Sumimasen” didn’t seem to work here unfortunately! But I learnt a valuable umbrella lesson! In the evening, I checked out the Sunshine City department store in ikebukuro and the observatory, which had a really sweet view (but not as good as skytree) with a unique indoor “garden” space which seemed very popular with couples and families. At night, the lights were also dim and there was soft music playing throughout the observatory, it was a very relaxing way to end the day!

7/1 - Akihabara / Tokyo Dome After classes, I checked out akihabara with a few other students. I felt a bit rushed exploring this area and would love to go back another trip to see more of it. As someone interested in gaming but not anime, Akihabara was just ok. It was interesting seeing stores which were entirely devoted to trading cards, anime figures, and so on! But it didn’t really do much for me. There were some really nice bakeries and restaurants here though, and I managed to pick up a cheap copy of Dragon’s Dogma 2 at Book Off (however, if you’re using the wise travel card, be careful as book off declined my card, as well as 7/11 and Lawson! I’m not sure if anyone else has experienced this, but it’s a problem specifically with the wise visa debit card, as my normal visa debit worked in these places). I also ate an amazing katsu egg curry from a place called Hakuyotei Curry! After this, we checked out Tokyo Dome as they had a winter illumination… event? I was expecting a massive festival, but it was mainly a few attractions including a big igloo dome where you could take selfies and a long hallway of lights. It...

---

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1ipxa3e/trip_report_13_25_days_in_japan_january_2025/

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Dragonbird7 on 2025-02-13 14:23:16+00:00.

---

I took this trip in early November 2023. I can't believe that it has taken me this long to type up this trip report - but life happens. I planned this trip and booked hotels just a week before departure. A huge thanks to this wonderful community for helping me plan every detail of this trip, right down to booking tickets on the Resort Shirakami. I had a JR Tohoku Pass, which allows unlimited Shinkansen travel for five consecutive days. I focused on visiting only the top attractions (such as UNESCO World Heritage sites) in each place and always prioritized taking the earliest train to avoid crowds and maximize my time exploring at my own pace.

Day 1: Tokyo → Aomori → Hirosaki

• Early morning: Took the first Shinkansen from Tokyo to Aomori
• Until afternoon: Visited the Nebuta Warasse Museum and A-Factory in Aomori
• Afternoon: Took a local train to Hirosaki
• Evening: Explored the (seasonal) chrysanthemum flower arrangements outside Hirosaki Castle Park before grabbing an apple pie, picking up dinner at a supermarket, and settling in for the night

Day 2: Hirosaki → Akita

• Early morning: Rented a bike from a shop outside the JR station, visited Hirosaki Apple Park, and tried apple picking. It was an awesome experience.
• Late morning: Explored Hirosaki Castle (famous for cherry blossoms in spring) and sampled apple pies at various cafés. There’s even a guide ranking the best apple pies in town—worth checking out! Also visited Tsugaru-han Neputa Mura and watched a live musical performance.
• Afternoon: Returned the bike and took the Resort Shirakami scenic train around 2:30 PM to Akita (a five-hour ride). Spent the night in Akita. If you’re taking this train, make sure to select a window seat on the right for the best sea views. Also, take an early train if traveling in fall or winter, as it gets dark early—otherwise, you might miss the coastal scenery.

Day 3: Akita → Kakunodate → Sendai

• Early morning: It was raining, and I considered skipping Kakunodate. However, by the time I reached the next station, the rain had reduced to a drizzle. So, I quickly deboarded, took the next train back, and arrived in Kakunodate by 9:00 AM.
• Morning: Spent about 3 hours exploring the well-preserved samurai district. The Ishiguro Family Residence was a highlight. Picked up some overpriced sweets at a shop nearby, and as it started drizzling again, I quickly returned to the station, retrieved my luggage from a coin locker, and caught the Shinkansen around noon.
• Afternoon: Checked into my hotel (about 10 minutes from the station), then rushed back to catch a train to Yamadera to visit Risshaku-ji Temple
• Evening: The temple closes at 3:00 PM, so I climbed down quickly and took the train back to Sendai. Trains run about an hour apart, so plan your trip carefully.

Day 4: Sendai → Hiraizumi → Geibikei Gorge

• Early morning: Just missed the 8:00 AM Shinkansen to Ichinoseki and had to wait for the next one at 8:50 AM. From Ichinoseki, I took a local train to Hiraizumi, rented a bicycle, and explored nearby temples and Genbikei Gorge.
• Afternoon: Hurried back to Hiraizumi, explored Chūson-ji Temple (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), returned the bike, and caught another train to Geibikei Gorge. Managed to take the last boat ride of the day. Again, trains in this region are infrequent, so careful planning is necessary.
• Evening: Returned to Sendai

Day 5: Matsushima → Tokyo

• Morning: Took an early train from Sendai to Matsushima for a day trip. Enjoyed a Matsushima Bay cruise and explored Entsū-in and Zuigan-ji temples.
• Afternoon: Returned to Sendai for lunch. Took the Loople Bus, a sightseeing bus that makes a loop through central Sendai’s popular tourist spots. The full route takes about 70 minutes.
• Evening: Checked out and took the Shinkansen back to Tokyo

This trip was an amazing experience, and I enjoyed every minute of it as a solo traveler. I highly recommend visiting Tohoku in autumn - the region is less frequented by travelers but offers incredible scenery, rich history, and unique cultural experiences. My biggest challenges were the language barrier, infrequent public transport, and the difficulty of finding vegetarian/vegan options, but none of these would deter me from visiting again. Next time, I’ll just be better prepared. If you can, rent a car to explore at your own pace and visit places that aren’t easily accessible by public transport. Hope this report helps future travelers!

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/AutoModerator on 2025-01-25 00:01:00+00:00.

---

Are you traveling to Japan this month? Want to hang out with other Redditors while you navigate the country? Then this is the thread for you!

Please post any and all meetup requests here. Be sure to include:

• Your basic itinerary
• Dates of travel and cities you're planning to visit
• Your age and gender identity
• Your home country (and any other languages you might speak)
• OPTIONAL: Share some of your hobbies or interests!

We have a Discord server you can use to coordinate meetups and other activities. You can join the official r/JapanTravel Discord here! There are also monthly meetup/planning channels, so react accordingly, and you can create threads for specific dates/locations if you so desire.

In the past, people have used LINE to coordinate and plan meetups.

NOTE: Please only post meetup requests for this month. If you are traveling in the future, please reserve all meetup requests for the thread that corresponds with the month of your first date of arrival in Japan. This thread is automatically posted 7 days before the start of the month.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/cruciger on 2025-02-14 17:42:50+00:00.

---

Hello everyone! I am writing this trip report for a couple's trip we took this Jan/Feb.

• We are a couple in our early 30s, speaking some Japanese. My 5th trip and my wife's 2nd. (Our last was Golden Route last year)
• We travelled with carry-on suitcases and a collapsible duffel bag for laundry/souvenirs.
• Credit to this post for the formatting: Trip Report: Osaka, Nara, Kobe, Sapporo, Tokyo, Enoshima, Kamakura (Solo Foodie: 11 Days, 10 Nights, Jan 2025) : r/JapanTravel

Mo 27. Shinjuku → Matsumoto (Mitsubikiya)

• Arrived in Tokyo the evening before and took a limo bus to business hotel in Shinjuku.
• 7:00 – 9:38: Ltd. Express Azusa to Matsumoto. Booked at 6:00 but window/neighboring seats had sold out. Should have booked in advance.
• Wandered around aimlessly. There are lots of cute shops and cafés in the historical castle town, and the view of the Alps is spectacular.
• Lunch: Okinadou. “Western” restaurant est. 1933. Applesauce, pork steak, and beer, all local. Simple and great.
• Visited Matsumoto Castle. It’s pretty under construction. There is an archeological dig you can watch. Bad for photos but still worth a visit.
• Stopped by a bar for an afternoon drink and met some interesting people, which took over most of the afternoon.
• Dinner: Mitsubikiya. A soba restaurant with an assortment of local specialties: fresh Azumino wasabi, duck hotpot, soba, and Shine Muscat grapes. There are rooms above and behind the restaurant where we stayed. Delicious and cost-effective.
• Planned to visit castle illuminations but felt ill from jet lag and slept immediately instead. Still an amazing day!

Tu 28. Matsumoto → Okuhida Fukuji Onsen (Kakurean Hidaji)

• Simple and solid breakfast, coffee and oranges at a kotatsu, and check out.
• Went to Ishii Miso Brewery to do a tour, but tours don’t start until 11:00. Not sure if the website hadn’t been updated yet or if I just missed the info. I should’ve done this on Monday when most museums & historical buildings in town were closed. Also saw Matsumoto Timepiece Museum. Fun enough.
• Early lunch: Nakamachi Saryo for tea and fancy fruit sandwiches. “Tabelog Gold oyaki” popup at Shinshu Omiyage Base (if you see it, must-eat!).
• Bought some souvenirs on the way to catch the highway bus. There's a HUGE gift shop and food court under the bus terminal where I should have gone instead.
• 13:05 – 14:50: Bus to Fukuji Onsen. Surprisingly, the Matsumoto–Hirayu bus ride was one of my favorite memories of the trip. Monkeys running across the road as the scenery gradually gets snowier and craggier… stellar views.
• Checked into Kakurean Hidaji. I planned this week of the trip around visiting this ryokan and it was totally worth it. So peaceful and secluded. Barely saw any other guests. Almost all the staff spoke English. Dinner was MOUNTAINS of mountain vegetables, river fish, and wagyu, and baths had an amazing view.

Wed 29. Okuhida Fukuji Onsen → Takayama

• 9:46 – 11:10: Bus to Takayama. Delayed 45 mins due to snow.
• Lunch: Kyoya. A touristy local delicacies restaurant in an old house. Got hobo miso with Hida beef, and mountain veggies. Good food and great atmosphere.
• Sakurayama Hachimangu (gorgeous in snow), Float Hall (very interesting museum about town’s festival), Nikkokan (eh), Kusakabe Mingeikan (cool enough)
• The old town was pretty, but it varied between super touristy parts full of low-quality souvenirs and so packed that it’s hard to visit, and streets where everything was closed. Didn’t really like the vibe. Possibly due to Chinese New Year, but the crowds there seemed to be mostly non-Chinese.
• Hidatakayama Retro Museum & Showakan were small but great fun.
• Drinks: Japanese Pub Yu (excellent American-style cocktails), dinner at an izakaya.
• I was worried that a half-day was too short for Takayama, but I was good with that. I heard it’s “a small town” but it felt a lot busier than most places I visit.

Th 30. Takayama → Shirakawa-go → Kanazawa

• 7:20 – 8:10: Bus to Shirakawa-go. Purchased in advance. Takayama → Shirakawa-go buses were sold out for days.
• Shirakawa-go was totally abandoned, with shoulder high snow coming down fast. Even with an umbrella it was too wet to use my map or phone, and some directional signs were snowed over. So I got lost. I tried to go to Gasshozukuri Minka-en but took a wrong turn and ended up at “Three Houses Viewpoint.” The atmosphere is amazing and kind of creepy… On the way back, we ran into HUNDREDS of people (mostly Chinese-speaking), and a massive queue to store luggage. I was regretting booking our visit when most stores, etc. weren’t open, but going later would have its own challenges.
• 10:25 – 11:35: Bus to Kanazawa. No buses sold out today.
• Lunch: Notomae Sushi Morimori Sushi. This is a famous Kanazawa chain, with two locations near the station, conveyor or table service. There was a long wait for the conveyor so we chose table service. Our sets were stellar and covered most of the regional specialties I wanted to try here.
• Omicho Market, Kanazawa Castle Park, Kenrokuen.
• Pastry at Le Musée de H – did not enjoy. They seated us conspicuously in a corner and the flavour and texture were poor for the price.
• Terrible weather! Wet and windy. Normal for Kanazawa.
• 18:00: Fuwari (reservation). An izakaya with very good rep from Western food guides. Well-cooked and lots of regional specialties but it didn't really blow my mind all things considered.

Fr 31. Kanazawa

• Breakfast: Ippuku Yokocho at Omicho Market. A food hall with oden, grill, and fried food. Seems lots of idols went there and they play idol music. Lively and tasty. We wanted hot food because we were cold but there are also lots of sushi places here, including a Morimori that had almost no line at breakfast time.
• Walked to Higashi-chaya-kai and visited some tea houses, which were interesting and peaceful. Very nice shopping here, if a bit out of my price range.
• Lunch: Bistro Todoroki-Tei. 100-year-old Western restaurant. Fine food, great prices.
• Taxi to Nagamachi. Samurai house, Shinise Kinenkan. Taxi to the next destination.
• 15:00 – 16:30: Fukumitsuya Sake Brewery (reservation). Extremely cool tour where you can enter the factory and see sake brewing in vats (English supported, winter only.) Even though we’ve done multiple brewery tours, we learned new things!
• 18:00: RISTORANTE HARAGUCHI (reservation). Kaga delicacy ingredients prepared in Italian style. Stellar meal. Wonderful way to leave Kanazawa.

Sat 1. Kanazawa → Nagano → Tokyo

• 10:05 – 11:10: Shinkansen to Nagano. Originally planned to leave early and visit Zenko-ji and Snow Monkey Park. I waffled a bunch on this after our cold and crowded time in Shirakawa-go, but it was a perfect sunny day so we eventually decided to go.
• We would have made the 11:15 bus to Snow Monkey Park but it was full. Had to wait for 12:20 – 13:05. The shinkansen and bus area were a mess of tourists and luggage. Large coin lockers were full. Beware trying to store a big bag here in ski season.
• Snow Monkey Park! There were a LOT of people, very international. The walk through the snow-dusted cedar forest was gorgeous and peaceful despite the crowds. The park was TOTALLY WORTH IT. Hundreds of monkeys of all ages doing monkey things and getting right up close to you. There's a lot more than just the onsen. Extremely glad I decided to go.
• 15:50 – 16:35: Return bus to Nagano.
• Dinner: Meiji-tei. “Sauce katsu” and other regional specialties in Nagano Station. Horse sashimi and venison katsudon. Huge portions! Even as the only meal today I couldn't finish it. Drinks at Kamosu on the floor below (local wine, sake, cider, gin.)
• 19:05 – 21:00: Shinkansen to Tokyo and check into our hotel in Otsuka.

Sun 2. Tokyo (Shibuya / Shinjuku / Ikebukuro)

• Meiji Shrine. Peaceful and foggy.
• Tried to go to i'm donut Harajuku at 10:20 (open 10:00), but there was a big line. Walked to the Shibuya location by 10:40 (open 11:00) but there was also a big line, so we decided not to wait.
• Lunch and shopping in Shibuya and Harajuku. Shibuya was a bit of a pain with all the construction around the station right now.
• Namco TOKYO arcade in Kabukicho Tower. I wanted to check out this new barcade. The neon decor and VR rides were cool. Drinks took a long time even though the bar wasn't busy at all. Food, drinks, and games were extremely overpriced. We left pretty quickly.
• Finished shopping in Ikebukuro Sunshine City. (Also went to a bunch more...

---

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1ipg82l/trip_report_14d_winter_foodie_trip_in_japan_alps/

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/MultivariableTurtwig on 2025-02-14 14:56:54+00:00.

---

Hello! Just wanted to write about my Japan trip from mid-January to the end of the month. This trip became my favourite vacation ever! It was our first trip to Japan, so we went for the standard Tokyo-Osaka-Kyoto-Nara trip.

Being from Sweden I didn't suffer from the cold, in fact I even won a few degrees compared to where I live. Point is, don't let winter scare you from going to Japan, it's mild (as long as you don't go to the North I guess)! We only had 2 AirBnB accommodations: 1 in Tokyo (Shinjuku) and 1 in Osaka (Fukushima Ward). This worked really well, we ended up paying a total of around 350usd per person for 10 nights. I did quite a bit of research before the trip, so I had a rough idea of which areas I wanted to go to most days. I also tried to learn some basic Japanese on Duolingo and with a phrase book. Even learned hiragana/katakana, it occasionally helped with reading train station names before the english text came up but not much more. For the most part I feel you can survive with minimal Japanese, even though the English level in Japan seems low.

We were 8 people (friends), which is quite a lot for a Japan trip. We often had to split up to find space at restaurants for example, though it still went pretty well. Most of my friends shared a pocket wifi, but I went for an esim (Ubigi) since I sometimes liked to go and do my own thing! I recommend it, if anything I think that everyone should have like 1gb, in case they lose track of the person with the pocket wifi.

As a side note, I was particularly interested in shrines and temples this trip so I definitely went out of my way to see them. Did research about them before, so found out about collecting goshuin which became one of my main interests during the trip. I also of course tried my best to follow the correct etiquette at shrines/temples, although it felt like I (non-asian looking) stood out a lot when I did that. Still think it was fine though?

Tokyo

Day 1 (Harajuku, Meiji, Shibuya): we started the day at Harajuku and went through Takeshita street. Yes it's overrated but still fun for the vibes, it was in the morning so it wasn't so crowded. Right after we visited Togo shrine, like 100m or so away, and it was really cool seeing such a peaceful place right next to Takeshita. Then we went to Meiji, and where I bought my goshuincho. This was definitely the place where I had to wait the longest in line for goshuin. After that we walked to Shibuya and spent the rest of the day there, eating lunch and especially shopping. Shout-out to the Parco building with the Pokemon center and more, also bought an awesome phone case at Casetify. Also spent a lot of time at Loft, looove those decorative paper things that you fold out (not sure what it's called, but for example it could be a paper sakura tree that you fold out and it becomes 3d).

Day 2 (Asakusa, Ueno, Tokyo Tower)

We started the day (weekday!) somewhat early at Senso-ji, which was definitely the most crowded thing we did in Tokyo. Though it wasn't that bad, especially when you reached the temple itself. There's also nice things to see around the main temple. We went to Asakusa shrine which was right next to Senso-ji, as well as a tiny fox shrine (Hikan Inari) right next to it. Very nice goshuin with little foxes on it! Overall I liked the temple/shrines. After walking around Asakusa a bit we moved on with out day. Some went to the Baseball Hall of Fame, though I opted for Ueno Park (and yakiniku lunch at Ueno). There were some really nice shrines/temple, and I went to the National Museum. Honestly not really a highlight to me, it's cool but I think you can skip it especially if you've already seen many nice museums in your life. Then I joined my friends at Tokyo Tower and we stayed there quite a bit and saw the sunset. I can recommend it, maybe not the best view possible of Tokyo (heard Shibuya Sky is the best?) but the building is cool!

Day 3 (Shinjuku)

A lot of walking around/shopping in Shinjuku. Saw Omoide Yokocho, Godzilla head... Went to big stores like Yodobashi Camera with a seemingly infinite amount of floors, the day passed by quickly! Overall really cool part of the city. Went to Hanazano shrine which was very calm, can recommend.

Day 4 (Setagaya, Akibahara, Ueno again)

My friends spent the morning at the Metropolitan Government Building, while I went to Setagaya to see some bucket-list shrines (like an hour of transport, as I wrote earlier I definitely went out of my way to go to shrines). Started with Gotokuji temple, a cat (maneki-neko) temple. Highly recommend, although it is somewhat touristy despite being quite a way from the more central Tokyo. Then I walked like 30min to Sakura shrine, which was nice and was selling really nice omamori, goshuincho, etc. The visit was less worth it since it wasn't cherry blossom season, but I still got satisfaction from it. The 30min walk was one of the least touristy ones I did, but I still appreciated getting a little insight on the vibes of residential Tokyo. Then I joined my friends at Akihabara and we spent the whole day there looking at stores. I also of course went to Kanda Myoujin shrine, which happened to have some kind of show/ritual/ceremony (???) with masked people playing music, holding a hammer-like object. A lot of people there praying, definitely the most lively shrine experience I had, felt a tad bit out of place as a non-Japanese but it was interesting. We finished the day in Ueno park, since there was a food festival going on.

Day 5 (Mount Takao)

Many in the friend group were craving a nature experience at this point, so we hiked Mt Takao. We went on a weekday (important I think!) so it wasn't so crowded. The hike was definitely easy, even on the more "difficult" paths. Of course went through Yakuōin Yukiji Temple on the way. Ate some nice soba noodles around the top. I went to the monkey park on the way down, though I think it's very skippable, the monkeys didn't look that happy. I took the chair lift both ways, because I found it super fun having my legs out in the air (as opposed to being inside a cable car). Unfortunately too cloudy to see Fuji. Overall I recommend Mount Takao, but it's not an absolute must-do. Would not do it if you suspect that it will be crowded. We finished off the day at the onsen near the station, which was really nice and accommodating to us non-Japanese.

Day 6 (Shinkansen to Osaka)

Travel to osaka via Tokyo station, went very smoothly! We were in the non-reserved cart. We were quite tired when we arrived at the accommodation, so we didn't do that much. Did some sake-tasting at a restaurant nearby.

Day 7 (Osaka)

Osaka was the part of the trip that i did the least research on, mostly followed my friends' advice. Went to Umeda Sky for some views, was cool but maybe not a highlight of the trip. Then I went to some shrines: Namba Yasaka (awesome!), Hozen-ji. Also went to Isshin-ji temple which was pretty, though had an interesting interaction with the priest when I went to get goshuin. Basically she seemed very skeptical of me, and wanted me to read some japanese words that were relevant to the temple, and read a brochure. To be clear I really appreciated this, I was genuinely interested in temples and wanted to learn more. With that being said it was a bit scary because I felt like the whole conversation had a bit of a negative undertone... anyways also went to Shitennoji shrine because it happened to have a flea market around it that day! Was a very impressive complex. Then I joined my friends at Osaka castle, which is super pretty. In the evening we went to the illuminage show right next to the castle (I believe it's a winter-only event), which was fun. Then we ate dinner in Dotonbori.

Day 8 (Kyoto)

I left the accommodation in Osaka at 6:30AM (alone) and was at Fushimi inari shrine a bit before 8. I often felt alone in the Torii gate tunnels, and it was trivially easy to take pictures with no one in them. I've read some say that even 7-8am is too late to avoid crowds, but i definitely did (maybe because it was January?). Aside from the shrines on the way, the nature was really nice. At some point in the middle of the mountain I went off-path and was in the middle of a forest alone. Then when I was back at the bottom around 10am, tourists were flooding in and the torii gates were super crowded. At that time I found the "secret" bamboo forest, and was completely alone. Overall these 3 hours of Fushimi Inari + bamboo forest where my favourite part of the trip.

Then I went to the Ninenzaka/Sannenzaka and ate some street food, the pork buns were pretty nice. Then I visited Kiyomizu-dera at around 11-12. This part was definitely crowded since I didn't have the early morning on my side anymore, but it was still tolerable (less so on the streets leading up to the temple). Then I walked to some other places of interest, like Kodaji temple and had a brief stop at Gion. After that I made my way to Philosopher's path, in the pursuit of a less crowded calm place (recommend the Kyoto Travel Congestion Forecast). Ginkakuji was beautiful, and the path was indeed peaceful. Though it's probably much more worth going during cherry blossom season! Then as my phone battery started getting dangerously low I joined one of my friends at Nishiki market. Yes it's probably tourist-trappy but what I bought was nice, and the sight was s...

---

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1ipcdtf/10_day_japan_trip_report_january_2025/

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/lavender__town on 2025-02-12 22:34:48+00:00.

---

Itinerary Check - 2 Weeks in Japan (March/April 2025)

Hi everyone! I'll be visiting Japan for two weeks for my honeymoon and wanted to do a quick check to see if my itinerary looks reasonable. Open to any feedback or must-visit spots I might be missing! We had a 2020 trip planned we had to cancel so looking forward to a redo now for our honeymoon. It has been my dream for a long time to be in japan for sakura season.

A little background in case anyone wants to provide suggestions, we are in our 30s, and pretty open minded with what we like to do while traveling. We're mostly interested in wandering, the sights, cultural experiences, a little bit of shopping, and a lot of food along the way.

Tokyo (Arrival & East Tokyo)

Stay in Ueno - Starting off on this side of Tokyo for a quick stay with the ease of the Ueno station, while we adjust to jet lag.

• Day 1 (3/31) Ueno: Arrive 4:30pm at Narita, travel to our stay in Ueno. No real plans other than to deal with jet lag, explore as much as we can, go to 7/11, maybe make a quick stop at Ueno Park if time allows to see cherry blossoms.
• Day 2 (4/1) Asakusa: Exploring Asakusa, Senso-ji, Nakamise-dori, and Ameyoko Market.

Kyoto (4/2 - 4/6)

Stay in Shimogyo Ward near Nishiki Market

• Day 3 (4/2) Central Kyoto: Early train to Kyoto, Nishiki Market, Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka, Pontocho Alley.
• Day 4 (4/3): Fushimi Inari (heavily debating this one - will it be too crazy during this time of year?), Kiyomizu-dera, Higashiyama, Gion.
• Day 5 (4/4) East Kyoto: Ginkaku-ji, Philosopher’s Path, Nanzen-ji, Yasaka Shrine, Gion or Sanjo area for dinner.
• Day 6 (4/5) Uji & Nara: Visit Uji in the morning on the way to Nara (Todai-ji, Nara Park, Kasuga Taisha Shrine) for the rest of the day.
• Day 7 (4/6): Kyoto flex morning before heading to Osaka midday.

Osaka (4/6 - 4/9)

Stay in Namba.

• Day 7 (4/6) Namba: Evening in Dotonbori, Hozen-ji.
• Day 8 (4/7) Central Osaka: Kuromon Market, Nipponbashi, Shinsaibashi (maybe), Amerikamura, Shinsekai. This day is TBD depending how much time is spent in each neighborhood. Too much? Which areas should be prioritized out of these?
• Day 9 (4/8) Himeji: Himeji Castle & Kokoen Garden. Possibly Kobe? Depending on timing and how we're feeling at this point.
• Day 10 (4/9): Flex morning before heading to Hakone.

Hakone (4/9 - 4/10)

• Staying at a ryokan for onsen & relaxation. Give our feet a rest!

Tokyo Part 2 (West Tokyo) (4/10 - 4/13)

Stay in Shibuya.

• Day 11 (4/10) Shibuya: Arrive in Tokyo, explore Shibuya, Shibuya Sky in evening.
• Day 12 (4/11) West Tokyo: Meiji Shrine, Harajuku, Omotesando, Yoyogi Park.
• Day 13 (4/12) Shinjuku: Explore Shinjuku, Golden Gai, Omoide Yokocho. What else?
• Day 14 (4/13): Morning visit to teamlab Borderless. My husbands birthday! What else should we do in this area or back in Shibuya to celebrate?
• Day 15 (4/13): Last-minute shopping/exploring before flying home in the afternoon.

Questions:

• Does this all seem doable? Any recommendations or things I should tweak?

• Any restaurants I should book in advance during this time of year? I don't have any dinner reservations at the moment.

• Favorite restaurant suggestions in those areas?

• Any other fun activities you'd suggest?

Thanks in advance!

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/liltrikz on 2025-02-13 10:37:25+00:00.

---

Today I rode the Nozomi for the first time! It was a pleasant 2 hour and 15 minute ride from Tokyo to Kyoto. We had the seats on the back right of the cart so we had views of Mt. Fuji and space for our oversized luggage. Once we arrived in Kyoto and got ready to hail a cab with the Go app, I realized I didn’t have my phone! We went to Lost & Found at Kyoto Station and they said to come back in an hour after they’ve had time to work on the situation. They filed a report and we waited the hour at Kyoto Station.

We noticed after about 30 minutes that Find My showed my phone still being at Osaka Station, which was a great sign. We went back and they confirmed it had been found and they had a photo on a tablet of my phone! Huge relief. Luckily I still had a physical Suica from my first trip to Tokyo in 2023, as we had to head to Osaka from Kyoto to get my phone. My partner downloaded the Go Taxi app and we took our luggage to our hotel then we left for Osaka.

Not what I expected my first trip to Osaka to be, but what can you do? We made it to Lost & Found and handed them a receipt we were given back at Kyoto Station. They brought out my phone and a beanie I hadn’t even realized I left! If I was going to lose my phone, I got lucky in where I did.

We are heading back to Kyoto, very thankful for how thorough Japan can be with things like this!

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Icy_Display_3548 on 2025-02-09 12:21:25+00:00.

---

I’m on a mission to ride the entire coast of Japan by train mostly via local and scenic lines, avoiding the Shinkansen except for reaching my starting points or returning to Tokyo. My goal is to complete this journey over the next year, aligning with my PR application timeline.

At the same time, I’m working toward another train-related challenge: visiting all 800+ train stations in Tokyo. So far, I’ve covered 226 stations, which I’ve been tracking on r/WaitingForATrain.

Why I’m Doing This

• I need clear goals to make things happen.
• I’ve loved trains since childhood—while some people are into anime, my passion has always been railways. Exploring Japan by train has been a lifelong dream.
• My job is fully remote, so I want to take advantage of this rare opportunity to travel.

Each leg of the journey will be about five days long, with 3–5 hours of train travel per day. This keeps the pace manageable while allowing time to explore each region.

For this first segment, I focused on the northwest coast of Honshu, traveling from Niigata to Aomori.

Day 1: Tokyo → Niigata

I took the Shinkansen to Niigata and stayed at Global View Niigata, a business hotel right by the station. It’s like an APA Hotel but slightly nicer. The sento in the basement was great, though they’re strict about tattoos. The cold plunge and sauna were a solid way to unwind.

For dinner, I had some incredible ramen at this spot () known for its soy + ginger soup base. The crispy pork was a standout. Apparently, the owner has expanded into Tokyo as well.

Overall, Niigata had a strong salaryman vibe—it felt more like a business hub than a travel destination, but it was an efficient stop for my journey.

Day 2: Niigata → Akita

I took the Inaho Limited Express along the coast toward Akita. The views were stunning from the start, with near-constant ocean scenery. I considered taking the Hakushin + Uetsu Lines, but from the platform, I saw they were packed commuter trains. The Inaho was pricier but 100% worth it.

Due to bad weather, my train was canceled after Sakata, and we had to transfer to a JR Bus for the rest of the route to Akita. It was a bit of a letdown, but JR refunded the full fare and even provided additional compensation, which was appreciated. The bus ride was about three hours and still had some nice coastal views.

First impressions of Akita: small town, quiet, and incredibly friendly. People actually smile back when you smile at them—it’s wholesome.

I stayed at Hotel Kan-Raku in the Kawabata area, a 20-minute walk from the station. I picked this area because it’s supposed to have good izakayas and bars, but it wasn’t as lively as I expected. The hotel was new, budget-friendly, and APA-style with friendly staff.

Food & drink recommendations:

• Beer Flight: The owner is a craft beer enthusiast, with a great mix of local Japanese (West Coast Brewery) and U.S. beers.
• Nico: Doesn’t look like much in photos, but hands-down the best pancakes I’ve had in a while.

Akita’s regional specialty is Hinaijidori chicken, but honestly? I don’t get the hype. Tried it at a few izakayas, and it felt overpriced.

Day 3: Exploring Akita

Spent most of the day at Tsurunoyu Onsen, famous for its milky sulfur hot springs. Well worth the 3.5-hour round trip from Akita!

This also gave me a chance to ride the Akita Shinkansen, which was a treat. Tazawako Station, the transfer point, is a beautiful little station, and I recommend trying the local soft-serve ice cream—even in winter. The milk is thick and flavorful.

Onsen tips:

• Cash only (¥2,200 with towel pack). Get the towel pack!
• The mixed outdoor pool is not worth it; I tried it and ended up staying indoors because the water was hotter
• Last shuttle leaves at 3:20 PM.

Day 4: Akita → Aomori (via Resort Shirakami)

This was the part I had been looking forward to the most. I’ve spent 10 years dreaming about riding the Resort Shirakami, and it did not disappoint.

• The train itself: Beautifully designed with a great atmosphere.
• The views: Nonstop coastal scenery—exactly what I wanted.
• Onboard experience: The train was half-empty until Goshogawara, so staff let me move to better seats for the views. There was even a live musical performance in Car 1, which was a great touch.

Pro tips:

• Car 4 faces forward from Akita, and C/D seats have the best ocean views.
• At Higashi-Noshiro, the train switches tracks, so seating orientation changes.
• Car 2 has semi-private seating, and I’d try to book there next time.

The train makes a few stops for passengers to explore, like Noshiro, which was a nice break.

Honestly? I’d love to redo this trip more slowly—maybe spend a week exploring the Gonō Line region.

Day 5: Aomori

Aomori feels completely different from Akita. It’s small, but it has more energy, more tourists, and a stronger food culture—partly due to the nearby U.S. military base.

Where to eat:

• Dandeion – Great for meat lovers.
• Apple pie near the train station – Aomori is famous for apples, and this was a must-try.

I stayed at Richmond Hotel, a 20-minute walk from the station. Highly recommend—larger rooms than APA, a work desk, laundry facilities (with availability tracking on the TV), and free drinks on every floor. The hot apple tea was delicious.

Aomori transit tips:

• The bus system is a little confusing—routes are labeled with trunk line letters and individual line numbers. Double-check before boarding.

Onsen recommendation:

• Asamushi Onsen (via Aomori Tetsudo Line) – The station building itself has a great sento, plus several onsen nearby.

Day 6: Aomori → Haneda

I flew back to Haneda instead of taking the Shinkansen since it it was cheaper and faster.

Next time, I plan to continue my coastal train journey from Aomori down to Sendai. Looking forward to seeing more of Japan this way!

Final Thoughts

This was an amazing start to my journey. If you have any feedback on how I can make these posts more informative or valuable, I’d love to hear it!

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/suburuko on 2025-02-03 04:25:23+00:00.

---

Thanks to this sub, everyone who has contributed their itineraries and trip reports, and countless YouTube videos, I'm feeling confident about our first trip to Japan in late March. I would appreciate any feedback folks may have on our itinerary, and I have several specific questions noted at the end of the post.

For context, my husband and I generally take trips for outdoor destinations, so having more of a city focused trip is still something we're learning to adjust to. I'm trying to strike a balance each day between having several options planned, while not being overwhelmed in case we need a day to relax or if a spontaneous desire arises. I took a lot of inspiration from this trip report, with the goal of creating a low-stress trip where we have the opportunity to observe, learn and appreciate much of what such a different country and culture has to offer.

Day 1-2 (Travel to Osaka)

• Fly to Tokyo Narita Airport (leave Thursday March 20, lose a day and land the evening of Friday March 21 around 5:30pm local time)
• Get SUICA card, JR pass
• Debating whether to take the train from Tokyo to Osaka or take a domestic Peach Aviation flight
• Stay: Hotel Hankayu International in the Umeda area

Day 3 (Osaka)

• Rest / walk around Nakazakicho
• If we're feeling recovered enough from jet lag, check out the National Bunraku Puppet Theater or take a Tombori River Cruise
• Dinner in Dotonbori - find the fugu!

Day 4 (Osaka)

• Nara day trip (via JR or Kintetsu train)
• Tickets to the Grand Sumo Tournament at Edion that evening

Day 5 (Osaka to Kyoto)

• 1 hr minute train ride (Hankyu-Kyoto line seems to be the best option from hotel to hotel)
• Visit the Daigo Ji Temple
• Walk around Gion District (have heard specifically the west end near Kawabata-dori is the best space to see cherry blossoms if they're blooming)
• Tempura Lunch @ Yoshikawa
• Visit the Ginkakuji Temple
• Walk the Philosopher's Path in the evening
• Stay: Hotel Resol Kyoto Kawaramachi Sanjo

Day 6 (Kyoto)

• Fushimi Inari Hidden Hiking Tour
• Visit the Kinkaku-Ji temple or Saihōji (Kokedera) Temple
• Shinkyogoku Street for shopping
• Dinner in Pontocho Alley

Day 7 (Kyoto to Hakone)

• Train from Kyoto to Hakone (3 hrs via Tokaido Shinkansen to Odawara Station, then transfer to transfer to the Hakone Tozen to Gora Station)
• From Gora Station, take the Hakone Ropeway to Owakudani
• Take Hakone Tozen back to Tonosawa Station, walk to hotel
• Stay: Yamanochaya Ryokan

Day 8 (Hakone)

• Fun2Drive, my husband likes fast cars so we booked the Nissan GT-R Nismo for a 5-hour drive around the Hakone area (10am-3pm)
• Walk/Bike around Lake Ashi or just relax at ryokan

Day 9 (Hakone to Tokyo)

• Train from Hakone Yumoto to Tokyo (take the Romancecar)
• Walk around Yoyogi Park
• Lunch and strolling in the Shimokitazawa Neighborhood
• Shibuya Sky at sunset, then just observe the madness that is Shibuya Crossing
• Kabukicho Nightlife if we're feeling brave
• Stay: JR KYUSHU HOTEL Blossom Shinjuku

Day 10 (Tokyo)

• Morning walk to Meiji Jingu
• Walk around the fish market (Tsukiji Outer Market)
• Check out Teamlab Planets
• If we have the energy, check out the Imperial Palace or at least the gardens
• Spend the evening at the Bridge listening bar (hi-fi audio hangout)

Day 11 (Tokyo to Denver)

• Walk by the Sumida River and through Ueno Park or Shinjuku Gyoena Park to see the cherry blossoms
• Visit the Senso Ji Temple
• Nakamise-Dori shopping or walking around Kuramae neighborhood until we need to head to the airport
• Flight out of Narita at 6:00pm

Ok, so on to the barrage of questions that I've been itching to ask this group:

• Train vs. Domestic Flight: For Day 1/2, we have the option of either taking the train from Narita to Osaka, or taking a domestic Peach Aviation flight from Narita to Kansai. Both options would seemingly get us to Osaka around the same time - 10pm - but I'm leaning more towards the train since my understanding is that the Kansai airport is still 40+ minutes from Osaka proper, so we'd still end up having to take a taxi or train/bus once we land. On the flip side, with it being the first time we're in the country and trying to navigate the trains, I could also see us getting on the wrong train by accident and getting to Osaka late that way as well. Any advice would be appreciated.
• Shipping Luggage: I've seen all of the posts recommending that we use luggage shipping services. Does this sub feel like the advice stands if we each have a carry-on size roller bag and a backpack? Would you ship two roller bags between hotels or is that manageable enough to bring on the trains? I worry a bit about shipping luggage and it taking over a day to get to our next location, and based on other posts it seems like laundry is prevalent enough at hotels that we can get by with packing lighter.
• Meal Reservations: We don't have any specific meals planned out save for one or two - I generally prescribe to the idea of saving lots of spots in my phone and then just eating wherever is closest to us or if something looks good nearby. However, I've heard that reservations in Kyoto are a must. Is that the case? If so, are there specific spots in Kyoto anyone would recommend based on our itinerary? We are pescatarian, so down for all of the fish but aren't necessarily looking for beef curry spots.
• Veggie Ramen: On the note of food, we're really excited to eat ramen but I'm curious if there is much veggie ramen to be found. Is that a normal offering at ramen shops or would we need to seek out specific vegetarian ramen locations?
• Shopping Advice: We're not huge on souvenirs but there are a few things I'd be interested in bringing back. Specifically, I'd love to find a nice kimono, some pottery, good tea, perhaps a couple of nice pairs of chopsticks. Any great spots people would recommend to find those items beyond those I've noted?
• Music: We love a good listening bar with hi-fi audio equipment, along with jazz bars. Any recommendations for those types of spots to wind down in the evening in any city would be appreciated!
• Taiko: Has anyone ever done a taiko event in any of these cities? I tried to find something we could go attend but didn't have much luck.

If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate the time that everyone takes on this sub to provide such thoughtful advice! I look forward to being able to post a trip report when we return so others can hopefully benefit in the future.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/MonoCanalla on 2025-02-02 10:58:12+00:00.

---

I wrote this trip report in the hope to find people like me who dream about traveling to Japan and enjoy reading these, or that has been already and likes to see what other people did different and suggest how they could have done better.

So we made this trip in January because it was the only month we could have done it for some time. Been wanting to make this trip as the first time I visited Japan was September 2019, as I left it wanting to visit it again with all my heart. I almost bought a ticket for April 2020. On this trip report I will sometimes compare the trip I ended just a day ago to the one I had five years and a half.

Travelers: me (43m, Spanish), my partner (30f, Mexican).

-The lower back pain of Hell. I posted already on this sub or the other one asking for advice about this. While it’s true after around ten days the pain kind of went off (end of the trip, too bad), something funny happened around the middle of the trip. There is one of this “hidden” spots in Fushimi Inari in which people were praying to a pine tree. Or a sanctuary made around such tree. But the tree was raised high from its roots, in a way in which if left some space under the tree by which people were crawling trough. A message said that passing under the tree granted a relief on back and knee pain. I squatted and passed trough, and I didn’t have pain at all for the rest of the thousand of steps hiking up the hill of Fushimi Inari. Just after getting back to our hostel, I decided to take a walk around Gion and then that’s when I had back pain again. Coincidence?? I don’t think so!

-Take a flu shot. If you, like me, are prone on getting under the weather when it’s cold (I checked with my doctor, I’m fine), consider taking the flu shot (and covid shot since you are there) before trips like this, or actually every year anyways. I was exposed to people with the flu or under the weather back home, then my girlfriend kind of was under the weather the first days. First Tokyo days were very cold and windy, and soon after we went to Kiyomizu-dera on a rush because it was getting close to closing time. So we started walking uphill fast trough the street leading to the temple, dodging cars and people going down, and reached it on time to enjoy the dusk from there among Chinese influencers with fluffy jackets. As I was warm from the exercise, I took my jacket and scarf off, even though it was chilly. Then it started to rain. It was mild and didn’t take too long, but it was very humid. I knew that without the flu shot I’d be absolutely cooked after that, prob one week sick making my trip miserable.

-Crowds and over tourism . It was slightly more packed than my trip in 2019. While I saw much more westerners than then, we were still a huge minority. Still, in five years I see a change in Japanese people’s reaction. They are already used to having us around, and I can tell they are already tired and frustrated of not being able to communicate properly because their English or our Japanese. While like it’s said before, it’s nice and makes things easier to be able to say some basic and useful worlds in Japanese, I don’t think it’s necessary to stress out too much. I’m sad how I perceive over tourism is disrupting the flow of life in the cities I visited. I know the real problem is the abundance of airbnbs, so I always try to avoid them rather using booking.com, if that doesn’t cause problems of their own (I don’t know). I wonder if we are in a tourists bubble and still feeling the effects of post covid years, I wonder if people is gonna stay home for a while instead of traveling all thge time. 2021 and early 2022 was an amazing year to travel, cheap flights and cheap stayings. Now I think twice before considering to travel for leisure.

-Why the bad rep on Kyoto lately? “Overrated”? Walking around Gion is like walking around an outdoor museum. Every street, every corner, every perspective is incredible beautiful. I love how it’s full of hidden beautiful places.

-Shopping. In 2019, I left with much of the money I saved for the trip unspent. I was like “dude, I don’t need things, I’m fine”. Now, however, we saw so many things we wanted to buy and bring home. Incredible clothes, the food (sweets and curry mostly), and my beloved pottery. We went to a flea market and I found very nice antiquities, including a very nice singing bowl with a very beautiful note. But I found a stand from a pottery studio and bought some stuff. Visited another pottery studio in Gion and bought a cup after they made me the tour. I selected this pieces because I saw a different, more strong aura. However, I’d advise to plan your shopping well, because of course by the end of the trip I couldn’t buy something I really wanted. It was in Akihabara, an anime figure I’ve been haunting down since I decided (wrongly) not to buy it in 2019 for 200 euros. Now it was labeled as 300, and I wish I had the money available.

For clothes, our favorites were Uniqlo for the prices and the local unique collections, small japanese stores in Harahuku and Shibuya (that katana umbrella I didn't buy...). Small business shops in Shimakitazawa, the souvenir jacket store in Harahuku, and basically any store around Nakagyo Ward in Kyoto, like I Am Not Architect, and other shops I don't remmember the name. We focused of course in stuff we couldn't get elsewhere or that was crazy cheap, and we went crazy for shoes.

For my girlfriend it was aparently a big deal all the koprean cosmetics and skin care north of Shinhuku.

-Traveling solo. This time I had a travel companion and, well, while I was trying to create a vibe of silence and contemplation, we come from… let’s say vibrant cultures. We were… not loud, but not shy about talking to each other on the street, shops, etc… (not on the subway, and very quietly around temples if at all). However, the experience of traveling solo in 2019 was amazing and I recommended it to everyone. In general, traveling solo anywhere is always a good healing process and a means to take time to think or just be present (the silence and the new stuff your brain is fed with it's amazing; either way you are a better person at the end of the trip. But somehow in Japan it’s even better. I also love the hostel culture, meeting people and having a chat, making tea at the kitchen and offer it to anyone who’s around.

-Restaurants. I subscribe to the advice of just expiring neighborhoods and just following your gut. Smells good? Looks good? Go in. Some recommendations on these subs are ok. That way we really enjoyed curry koisus, engine ramen, Kamaiki, or Tsukemen Gonokami Seisakush. But other recs were not as good as any other restaurant on the neighborhood. If you are not impatient, look around and choose by yourself.

Train stations and shoppong malls normally have the best restaurants on the area, and Shimokitazawa has curry joints to die for.

Ironically, of course we planned to have good sushi, but we only enjoyed an ok sashimi on a shop around Tsukiji Market.

-Traveling in January. January was the only month I had time to travel, but otherwise I wish I had traveled another time. Even though I was a “mild” January by Tokyo standards, I didn’t enjoy the cold. Some areas with big avenues are very windy and it’s unpleasant. And more of the things we wanted to do were day things rather than night. Also, any big city you visit is more has a less happier mood during January or February. The foliage was of course not lush, and the streets, museums, and temples were crowded anyways despite being a month such as January, so not really much pros on going on January.

-Food. Because of budget reasons, we decided to have a good meal at a restaurant every day, and find something inexpensive for the other two meals of the day. However, by oing this you are on a risk of having a lacking diet daily. We stacked food from Seven Elevens, and tried to keep a balance between Japanese favorites like doriyakis with healthier choices like fruit smoothies. A nice breakfast from Seven Elevens can cost around 1000 yen/person. Later we found supermarkets which had some good inexpensive choices like sushi. In Kyoto, we spent slightly more than those 1000 each of us having late breakfasts at Nishiki Market. Our favorites were curry bread and matcha ice cream.

We are gym rats, so we were kind of sad our diet was so protein poor and so unbalanced for those two weeks. But some times can't be priorities on a Japan trip, can they?

-Airplane life: bless my aisle seat on my flight back. Flight luck is a lottery, it is really important who is sitting next to you in the flight and where you are sitting. For this one I had a young lady that somehow managed to watch tik toks on her phone during a long hour of the flight, perfectly audible outside of her headset. At the airport, control securitities are getting less strict, but depends where you are. We forgot to do our tax free thing at the airport and probably lost 30 euros, but what's done it's done. Also forgot to buy curry at the airport...

-On a miscelanious note, we loved the kitsunes at Fushimi Inari, the Ghibli Museum (again), the Nara Park for obvious reasons, but also the Nara mochis, the nice tea room and the gardens in the Shika Saru Kitsune building of Nara. Had a great time at Golden Gai (again), enjoyed a late dinner at a non google maps soba restaurant at Shinhuku with no tourists and full of fully tattoed japanese young guys (if you know what I mean).