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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/glitterybean on 2024-12-30 22:07:35+00:00.

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Looking for some feedback on itinerary for 5 people - 14 day family trip with SO’s family (2 older adults and 3 younger adults), first time in Japan. My in laws tasked me with planning the itinerary, so please help me make this a good one. I want to be sure there is a good mix of site seeing, shopping, and exploring. This is a loose itinerary since his parents are a little older and may need time to rest between long walks. Here is a list of our cumulative interests: cooking, matcha, fashion, anime, Pokemon, Sanrio/Miffy/Studio Ghibli, and food.

The end of our trip is empty as a I ran out of ideas. I've also omitted breakfast, lunch, and dinner as we will likely decide these day off (Recommendations would be appreciated). Feel free to give recommendations for food/cafes or other places to visit and any advice on how to optimize this to make the trip go smoothly.

Day 1: Arrive in Tokyo (Arrival is early morning)

• Check into hotel
• Toyosu Wholesale Fish Market
• Tsukiji Outer Market
• Uniqlo Ginza Flagship Store

Day 2: Koto, Minato & Ginza

• teamLab Borderless (Tickets are already booked)
• Shopping in Ginza
  • Grand Seiko Flagship Store
  • Muji Flagship Store
  • Dover Street Market
• Imperial Palace

Day 3: Shibuya

• Meiji Jingu
• Yoyogi Park (tentative as season may impact how greenery looks)
• Shibuya Parco
• Shibuya Scramble Crossing/Hachiko Memorial Statue
• Mega Don Quijote
• Shibuya Sky (Tickets are booked)
• Omoide Yokocho/Golden Gai (Any insight on which would be better?)

Day 4: Asakusa

• Senso-ji/Nakamise-dori Street
• Shop around asakusa/try different desserts/cafes
  • Suzukien Asakusa (diff levels of matcha gelato)
  • Asakusa Kagetsudo (melon pan)
  • Chacha Futatsume (matcha mont blanc)
  • Sanrio Gift Gate Asakusa

Day 5: Tokyo → Kyoto

• Travel from Tokyo → Kyoto
• Check into hotel
• Nanzen-ji Temple
• Kyoto Imperial Palace
• Kyoto Gyoen National Garden (tentative as season may impact how greenery looks)
• Nishiki Market

Day 6: Kyoto

• Uji and Tea Town Historical Park (booked a Museum and Matcha experience)

• Fushimi Inari Taisha

• Kiyomizu-dera

• Nanzen-ji Temple

• Ninenzaka (Any insight on which would be better?)

  • Hokan-ji Temple (View of it can be seen from Ninenzaka)

Day 7: Kyoto

• Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
• Tenryu-ji Temple
• Kinkaku-ji Temple (His dad is very excited for this)
• Pontocho

Day 8: Kyoto → Osaka

• Travel from Kyoto → Osaka
• Check-in to hotel
• Namba Yasaka Jinjya Shrine
• Osaka Kizu Market
• Dontonbori

Day 9: Day trip to Nara

• Travel from Osaka → Nara
• Nara park
• Todai-ji Kagami-Ike Pond
• Kasuge Taisha
• Nakatanidou (Mochi Show)

Day 10: Osaka

• America-mura
• Stussy
• Pokemon Center Osaka DX
• Bape Store Osaka

Day 11: Osaka → Tokyo

• Travel from Osaka → Tokyo
• Check into last hotel
• Any recommendations for this day would be appreciated!

Day 12: Tokyo

• Kappabashi Street
• More recommendations for this last day in Tokyo would be appreciated!

Day 13: (This is a partial free day as we have a later departing flight)

Edit: Updated itinerary to include recommendations from comments; rearranged a lot of chaotic days. Our accommodations are unable to be changed as our trip is in a few days. This is my first time planning an international trip, so I'm still learning. Please keep the suggestions coming, especially if days still seem too full or if I can rearrange to make travel more efficient. Thank you all!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Nahojsen on 2024-12-28 15:54:09+00:00.

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Hey there!

Me and my wife are planning our first trip to Japan next October and we’re really excited! Here’s our preliminary itinerary. Do you think we’re missing anything, or is there something we should add? We’re aiming for a balance of nature and city experiences. When we traveled to the U.S. for a month, we found that we enjoyed the national parks more than the cities, so we're hoping to incorporate more of that vibe into this trip.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Day 1-2: Tokyo

Day 1: Arrival in Tokyo, check-in at the hotel. Beginning by exploring Shibuya, including Shibuya Crossing and the Hachiko statue. Taking a walk in Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. End the day with dinner in Ginza.

Day 2: Visit Meiji Jingu Shrine. Exploring Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa and Nakamise Dori. Taking a boat tour along the Sumida River. In the evening, visit Roppongi Hills from either Tokyo Tower or Mori Tower.

Day 3-5: Hakone & Fuji Five Lakes

Day 3: Take the train from Tokyo to Hakone. Exploring the Hakone Ropeway. Taking a boat trip on Lake Ashi.

Day 4: Visit Owakudani Valley to see the active volcanoes and hot springs. After lunch, heading to a traditional onsen.

Day 5: In the morning, take the train to Fuji Five Lakes. Take a walk around Lake Kawaguchi. In the afternoon, explore the Fujiyoshida area and visit Chureito Pagoda.

Day 6-8: Kyoto

Day 6: Take the Shinkansen from Fuji Five Lakes to Kyoto. Visit Fushimi Inari Shrine. In the afternoon, explore the Gion District and Hanami-koji street.

Day 7: Visit Kinkaku-ji. Continue to Ryoan-ji. In the afternoon, take a walk along the Philosopher’s Path.

Day 8: Take a day trip to Arashiyama and visit the Bamboo Grove. Take a boat ride on the Hozu River. Visit Tenryu-ji Temple and end the day with a hike through Iwatayama Monkey Park.

Day 9-11: Nara

Day 9: Take the train to Nara. Visit Todai-ji Temple and the Great Daibutsu. Stroll through Nara Park.

Day 10: Explore Kasuga Taisha Shrine. Hike up Mount Wakakusa.

Day 11: Take a day trip to Ise Shrine. Also, visit Oharai-machi street.

Day 12-14: Takayama & Shirakawa-go

Day 12: Take the train from Nara to Takayama. Explore the old town of Sanmachi Suji.

Day 13: Visit Takayama Jinya and Hida Folk Village.

Day 14: Take a trip to Shirakawa-go.

Day 15-16: Kanazawa

Day 15: Take the train to Kanazawa. Visit Kenrokuen Garden.

Day 16: Explore Kanazawa Castle, Omicho Market, and Higashi Chaya District. Try a teahouse.

Day 17-18: Tokyo

Day 17: Take the train back to Tokyo. In the afternoon, visit Odaiba or take a tour of Harajuku.

Day 18: Spend the last day in Tokyo exploring Asakusa and/or Tokyo Skytree.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/tr0p3 on 2024-12-29 12:14:01+00:00.

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I recently finished a one-month solo trip (Nov-Dec 2024) and decided to jot down some thoughts and experiences.

Itinerary Overview

Osaka - 6 nights. split into 3 + 3 with an overnight stay in Koyasan in the middle

Koyasan - 1 night

Kinosaki - 2 nights

Hiroshima - 3 nights

Kyoto - 5 nights

Kanazawa - 2 nights

Takayama - 2 nights

Kawaguchiko - 2 nights

Tokyo - 6 nights

Highlights - Kinosaki, Miyajima, Nara

Lowlights - Kyoto. Okay, maybe not a lowlight exactly; I'm happy I went, but I didn't enjoy it as much as the rest of the trip.

Itinerary

• Osaka 6 nights felt like the right amount of time here, especially that half of those days was spent on daytrips out of Osaka and the first day was just getting things sorted out - picking up the rail pass, booking train tickets etc.

Kaiyukan is 100% worth it. It may seem like a regular aquarium initially, but once you get to the main tank with the two whale sharks it's something else entirely. On my first day, I also did an organized food tour + red light district tour. A good way to meet some people and try some local food. The red light district is quite interesting too; a very different vibe from Amsterdam, for example.

Nara - Nara really surprised me and in a positive way. Yes, it's quite touristy but not even close to feeling as overcrowded as Kyoto. The parks are beautiful - it was peak autumn colors when I was there; the temples as well. And you get to feed some deer and/or watch people being chased by hungry deer :D. A really fun day out.

Himeji and Kobe - Not great, not terrible. One of the more forgettable days of this trip. I'd say if your time in Japan is more limited, you shouldn't go out of my way to see either of these. If you want to see an iconic Japanese castle, this is it. Inside you're walking in a long line through a wooden house with very not much explanation. Had to go for some A5 Kobe beef while in Kobe - I'm not a big beef eater in general, so while it'd be silly to say it wasn't good (it was; rich and buttery), it's far from being the best meal I had in Japan.

• Koyasan An overnight trip from Osaka. Staying overnight allows you to do the night-time tour of the Okunoin cemetary (needs to be booked in advance online) which was led by one of the monks and actually gave a lot of info on both the place as well as the buddhist teachings/philosophy. And then you spend the night in the temple, eat dinner and breakfast there and join in the morning rituals. Additionally, there's loads of other temples spread around the area. I think I enjoyed it more because it was right at the start of my trip; had it been towards the end of it, I might have been too templed-out to care much.
• Kinosaki The highlight of the trip. Also my first time in an onsen. The problem when traveling solo is that most ryokans seem to do room + food packages for 2 people, so I ended up booking a room-only package. That turned out not to be a problem as you can then buy breakfast and dinner separately on site. The ryokan breakfast was amazing and the kaiseki dinner (from sashimi to hida beef and snow crab) was the best meal I had in Japan. In the ryokan they show you how to wear your yukata, then you put on your clogs and join the other people making their way from one onsen to the next. There are 6 different ones open on any one day in Kinosaki (they rotate), ranging from small indoor one that's basically a large hot tub to a large outdoor pool with a waterfall. Spent two days chilling, eating great food and soaking in hot water. Bliss.
• Hiroshima Miyajima was another highlight of this trip. Beautiful scenery, gorgerous autumn colors, wonderful temples - especially once you get away from the main torii gate. The hike up Mt Misen is very rewarding too. Just be mindful that if you want to take the cable car back down, it closes quite early (around 4pm I think), so you cannot stay on top to watch the sunset and then ride it down.
• Kyoto In Kyoto you get to understand why some cities around the world are pushing back against overtourism. And yes I do see the irony in me, another tourist, complaining about it. Honestly, Kyoto felt like a Japan theme park somewhere in China and I think it becomes more bearable once you frame it like that. So go with the crowd, stand in line for the major "rides", get an ice cream, rent a kimono. Repeat the next day. The caveat, like elsewhere in Japan, once you walk a few blocks from the main touristy sights you tend to find yourself on half-deserted streets.

I found that only Kinkakuji wasn't crowded early in the morning; maybe because it's further away than the likes of Kiyomizudera or Fushimi Inari. It is quite stunning, especially once the sun is out. Fushimi Inari - it gets better when you hike higher up the mountain, past the herds of instagrammers in the first section.

Railway Museum - I decided to check it out one day to take a break from temples. I think it's better if you're there with kids as there's a LOT of interactive stuff aimed at kids, but other than that it wasn't anything special. Pretty light on English-language info too.

All in all, out of all the big cities - Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, Kyoto - Kyoto is the only one I don't really want to go back to.

BTW, if you're doing a daytrip to Uji, don't go early in the morning to try to beat the crowds. The temple may be open but the rest of town doesn't open up till around 11am, so you'll be standing around twiddling your thumbs.

• Kanazawa I was expecting a little bit more, having read about Kanazawa online, incl on reddit, before the trip. The samurai / geisha districts are both very small. The garden is pretty nice but, by now, you've probably seen a dozen similar gardens elsewhere. What is great is the seafood, which is amazing here. I loved the kaisendon (raw seafood on rice) which you can get pretty much everywhere.
• Takayama A change of climate and scenery. A small, historic-looking town - a lot more so than the historic districts in kanazawa - and in December it's covered in snow. Very picturesque. There's a nice hiking trail around town that takes you past some snow-covered temples & through fir/pine forests. Much like Kinosaki and other smaller towns, everything closes down and the place is dead by 6pm. While it's not that far from Mt Fuji, it's on the other side of the Alps, so getting to Kawaguchiko by train and bus will essentially take a full day. Express to Nagoya, Shinkaksen to Mishima, and a bus to Kawaguchiko - all in about 8 hours.
• Kawaguchiko Your time here will depend on the weather obviously. I got lucky with two days of perfect blue skies. I think you need to do Kawaguchiko overnight, as it's best early in the morning. By noon, the sun is directly above Fuji (in winter at least), which doesn't make for the best photos. Then, in the afternoon, the side of the mountain you see is hidden in the shadow. Also, early in the morning, you'll have the main sights like Chureito Pagoda pretty much to yourself. Beyond Chureito Pagoda, there's a hiking trail up to a viewing platform on top of that mountain. I was the only person there and only ran into some people on my way down around 10 am. Buses in Kawaguchiko start running around 9am, if I remember correctly, so if you want to get somewhere early you'll need to take a taxi. A ride from the lake to the pagoda was about $20. Taxis accept cards.
• Tokyo I had been to Tokyo before, so I wasn't doing that much sightseeing this time. The goal here was just to chill, eat and do some shopping. I liked staying in Akasaka. From Akasaka-Mitsuke station, it's just a few stops from Shibuja, Shinjuku and Ginza. Also, it's a more of a business area, so there's loads of restaurants and bars open and you'll see throngs of salarymen after work and hardly any tourists.

Uniqlo. I've been to a few of them, but ultimately I'd do all of my shopping in the Ginza flagship store. It does seem busier, and it may take some time to get up to the 10th floor, but once you know your size the rest is quick and easy. And they have everything here.

Onitsuka Tiger. The Shibuya one is obviously super busy, but there's another one at Narita airport. It's smaller, but if you didn't bother with the Shibuya one, there's another chance here.

TeamLabs. Borderless is an absolutely mesmerizing experience and you can get lost in it for hours. You're also free to roam around and return to rooms later; you're even encouraged to do it, as the rooms change over time. Planets, on the other hand, is a much shorter and linear experience. The locker / transition area between the different zones feels a lot more disorganized and chaotic too. Also be aware that you'll be up to your knees in water here :). If you need to pick one, go to Borderless.

MISCELLANEOUS

• E-sim I went with the e-sim from Klook and it worked perfectly everywhere. Setting it up was so straightforward too that it was basically a non-event. I recall having more difficulties setting up an Airalo e-sim on some earlier trips. I paid about $20 for a 1-month 20gb pack. In the end, I used about 5gb in total. I had downloaded offline google maps and the Japanese language pack for google translate, which probably helped reduce the data usage.
• Google Maps / Translate Both worked nearly perfectly. Google lens obviously is super useful in supermarkets etc where there's no English labeli...

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Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1houulp/reflections_after_a_month_in_japan_novdec_2024/

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/CaffeineCipher on 2024-12-27 19:31:14+00:00.

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Dear redditors, after continuous research, going through thousands of itineraries, I have managed to kind of create a 12-day itinerary, focusing on Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara and Osaka. Looking for helpful advice on this itinerary, if I'm missing out on something major, if I should try lesser-visited gatekept places (please DM for those reccos) and in general, whether the itinerary looks too much. I'm open to constructive criticism and will help me in planning better :)

31-Mar - Shinjuku hotel check in, Shibuya Scramble Crossing, Hatchicko Statue, Sunset + night views - Shibuya Sky, Shibuya Pokemon Centre, Dinner at Omoide Yokocho

1-Apr - Early morning Yoyogi Park, Teamlabs Borderless, Chou Dori Avenue in Ginza, Uniqlo, Muji, Itōya Stationary, Ginza SIX terrace, Explore Akihabara, Return to Shinjiku

2-Apr - Early morning - Shinjuku Gyoen - sakura, Meiji Temple’s Kitasando Torii - Meiji Temple park, Explore Harajuku area, Omotesando, Shibuya 106, Return to Shinjuku - dinner at Golden Gai

3-Apr - Morning - Akasuka Senso-ji Buddhist temple, Sumida park, Skytree Tower, Ueno park, Imperial Palace east garden, Chidorigafuchi Moat - night glow

4-Apr - Mount Fuji Day trip : Shinjuku to Kawaguchiko station / bus tour (can include Shibuya after 6pm if the trip gets over)

5-Apr - Day trip to Kamakari and Enoshima, Pub crawl night in Tokyo

6-Apr - Check out and take train to Gion Kyoto, Chushojima Station river canal - cherry blossom, Travel to Uji and explore - Try matcha, Ujikami shrine, Kodai-ji - night sakura, Return to Gion

7-Apr - Morning - Fushimi Inari, Keage Incline - sakura, Konkai Komyo-ji, Nishiki Market, Gion - Pontocho Alley, Kiyamachi Street, and Hanamikoji

8-Apr - Morning - Arashiyama Bamboo Forest / alternative place, Daihikaku Senkoji Temple, train to Kurama Station - Kuramadera and Kifune Shrine, Check out and travel to Osaka, Local travel in Osaka

9-Apr - Kyobashi bridge, Osaka Castle, Kintetsu Line to Hasedera Station - explore Hasedera Temple and Hase Town, Train to Yamato-Yagi Station and explore Imaicho, Kashihara Town - Fujiwara Palace Ruins, Train to Osaka

10-Apr - Kintetsu Line to Ikoma Station, Hozanji, Explore Ikoma Town, Train to Nara Deer Park - See the deers, visit Todaiji, Kasuga Taisha, Train to Osaka

11-Apr - Minoh Falls, Seven Slopes of Tennoji, Shitennoji temple, Train to Osaka, Explore Shinsekai, Tsutenkaku Tower

12-Apr - Try Shakuzen-ji temple, Explore Dotonbori in Osaka, Osaka pub crawl

13-Apr - Cover anything if missed, Check out

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Niko_is_ on 2024-12-23 21:42:31+00:00.

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I'll keep this short, but I think it is vital - Google Maps... everyone says it is amazing and YES, it is for train schedules, but not for walking. I spend hours circling in Kyoto and Osaka because the map would say I passed it when I hadn't even reached a turn, or didn't alert me to stairs (sometimes it did so it is capable). My location was on high-accuracy. The main thing, though, to save your sanity double check the local map of the station. For example, the map said to enter at Entrance 7, but it directed me and told me I arrived at Entrance 5, which was almost fully around the block from 7. I swear I am not dumb, I met another person on the plane back who agreed with me.

Osaka Aquarium- Completely worth it and even though the floor seems to direct you one way (arrows) through the aquarium to the exit, you can totally walk back in and go backwards and it's not against the rules (I wasn't sure since it was so specifically laid out).

TeamLabs Planets- I only needed 45 minutes, taking my time. It was about $25 USD? I think? So while I think it was very cool and I'm glad I went, mentally prepare if that short of a visit isn't worth the money for you. Maybe if you're with a group it will take longer, I went solo.

Skytree Christmas- They had so many cool Christmas decorations up!! Definitely go if you're in the area already or going before the new year. Also they have a Christmas market on the top of the Skytree shopping center. Shopping- I found so many things I wanted to buy there, but decided to wait until the end of my trip. Well let me tell you, I did not find many of those things again. So while I'm glad I didn't have to haul them around, I didn't see them elsewhere like I thought I would - I incorrectly assumed it was touristy stuff bc, Skytree, and they were chopsticks and chopstick rests. I definitely saw a ton of them everywhere, but if you fall in love with something, just get it.

Free Gifts that can be souvenirs- If you fill out guest surveys you tend to get a gift. I received a small hand towel from Rikugien (or a pen) and a pretty postcard of a bunraku puppet from the Koto Cultural Center (the only place I could find Bunraku show- they had excellent audio guides).

Koto Cultural Center- I didn't see this in any of my guidebooks, but they were the only ones where I could find Bunraku during my trip dates, and it was basically a local neighborhood as far as I could tell. No tourists. It was me and a bunch of elderly Japanese, with some little old ladies dressed up in their formal kimono for the afternoon show. Unexpectedly great English audio guide, it gave historical info while you waited for the show to start.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/supershrimper97 on 2024-12-22 21:48:02+00:00.

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Hi there!

I am visiting Japan with my partner for the first time March next year and have started to build a 19 day itinerary. I think we are pretty set on where we are going, the things we want to do and have hotels booked for each night, but open to adjusting this slightly if necessary. We're interested in exploring as much as we can, eating a lot of varied traditional dishes, but we're not too much bothered about shopping.

A brief overview: land in Tokyo (stay 1 night), travel to Osaka (4 nights), then onto Kyoto (4 nights), travel to Fujikawaguchiko (2 nights), and finally back to Tokyo (7 nights) for the remainder of the trip.

Please let me know if what we have planned is doable (especially the Kyoto days) or anything extra we can add to our itinerary. Your advice and help would be much appreciated, thank you!

Day 1 (2nd March) - land at Haneda

• Arrive into Haneda Airport at 10:30am
• Travel to Miyako City Tokyo Takanawa hotel, Minato City
• Maybe explore Roppongi/Minato City/Shibya Park (Tokyo Tower) depending on how we feel

Day 2 (3rd March) - travel to Osaka

• Morning shinkansen to Osaka
• Check into Hotel Elcient Osaka Umeda
• Osaka Tenmangu Shrine
• Osaka Castle
• Head to Denden Town/Dotonbori (Hozenji Yokocho)/Namba Park for the evening

Day 3 (4th March) - Osaka

• Umeda Sky Building
• HEP 5
• Cup Noodle Museum
• Namba Yasaka Jinja
• Shin Sekai

Day 4 (5th March) - Osaka (Universal Studios)

• Spend the entire day at USJ

Day 5 (6th March) - Osaka (day trip to Himeji)

• Morning train to Himeji
• Himeji Castle
• Koko-en Garden
• Return to Osaka and explore Tenma at night

Day 6 (7th March) - Travel to Kyoto

• Morning train to Kyoto (check bags into hotel)
• Nijō Castle
• Kyoto Gyoen National Garden
• Nishiki Market
• Kiyamachi/Pontocho

Day 7 (8th March) - Kyoto

• Arashiyama Bamboo Grove
• Iwatayama Monkey Park
• Gio-ji Temple & Moss Gardens
• Adashino-Nenbutsu-j
• Seiryoji Sagashakado
• Kinkaku-ji

Day 8 (9th March) - Nara (day trip)

• Kofuku-ji
• Isuien Garden
• Todai-ji
• Nara Park

Day 9 (10th March) - Kyoto

• Fushimi Inari Shrine
• Kiyomizu-dera
• Hōkan-ji
• Yasaka Shrine
• Tenju-an/Nanzen-ji

Day 10 (11th March) - Travel to Fujikawaguchiko

• Leave Kyoto in the AM and arrive at Fuji View Hotel at 2pm
• Cycle around Lake Kawaguchiko
• Chill at the hotel

Day 11 (12th March) - Fujikawaguchiko

• Mount Fuji panoramic Ropeway
• Chureito Pagoda - Arakurayama Sengen Park
• Honcho Street

Day 12 (13th March) - Travel to Tokyo (Shinjuku)

• Leave Fujikawaguchiko in the AM and arrive at Tokyu Stay Nishi Shinjuku
• Explore Shinjuku (Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden)
• Omoide Yokocho
• Kabukicho
• Shinjuku Golden Gai

Day 13 (14th March) - Tokyo

• Asakusa (Senso-ji temple, Nakamise Street, Hoppy Street)
• Akihabara

Day 14 (15th March) - Tokyo

• Chiyoda City (Imperial Palace)
• Ueno Park
• Yanesen

Day 15 (16th March) - Tokyo

• Explore Harajuku (Meiji Jingu, Takeshita Street)
• Shibuya Parco
• Shibuya Scramble Square
• Shibuya Centre Gai
• Shibuya Sky for sunset views
• Nonbei Yokocho

Day 16 (17th March) - Tokyo (DisneySea)

• Spend the entire day at DisneySea

Day 17 (18th March) - Tokyo

• Tsukiji Market
• TeamLab Planets
• Odaiba Marine Park
• Hamarikyu gardens
• Ginza

Day 18 (19th March) - Tokyo

• Free day to do whatever we feel like doing
• In the evening travel to Villa Fontaine Grand Haneda Airport

Day 19 (20th March) - Depart Haneda Airport in the AM

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Tsao_Aubbes on 2024-12-21 14:50:40+00:00.

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With the end of the year coming up I found myself with floating holidays that needed to be used. At the same time my sister had just graduated college and I was thinking about doing something to celebrate. Since I'm an airline employee and we get flight benefits I started looking at taking a trip; Tokyo had good odds so we went for it.

Ultimately we only had about 3 or 4 days to 'plan' so we didn't exactly have an itinerary. We just started off with a list of things we wanted to do and we took things day by day which ended up working out pretty well. Here's what we did:

Day 0 (the flight over)

• Get lucky and get Delta One seats on an A330neo, book hotel on inflight wifi without doing a ton of research. We ended up picking a hotel in Ikebukuro because it was cheap - the location was nearly perfect and we got super lucky with it.

Day 1

• We arrive at Haneda. Flight lands at 2pm, purchase an eSim and Suica, we're out and at the hotel by 5pm.
• Weather was beautiful, both for the day and the whole trip. It averaged 50f (50c) and sunny -- quite the adjustment from -5f (-15c) and snowing when we left Minnesota.
• Spend the evening exploring Ikebukuro, get food from a random place - delicious.
• My sister tries her first Strong Zero and I come down with a cold overnight.

Day 2

• Satisfied my symptoms are just a cold and not COVID or strep, have my sister grab me some cold meds. I mask up and move on.
• Sample vending machine coffee and take the train to Ueno park - see the park itself, associated museums and watch some youth leauge(?) baseball randomly.
• Hop back on the train, headed to Asakusa to see Senshoji temple and a taiko store that sis wanted to see since she plays in college.
• Afterwords, see some of Shinjuku, visit Map Camera, dinner (+ highballs), bed.

Day 3

• Take the train to Yokosuka and visit the Mikasa museum. We got to chat with one of the volunteers for awhile, apparently served in the USN on loan from the JMSDF and he spoke good English. It was very cool.
• Explore the park around Mikasa (very pretty), what we can of the USN base and Yokosuka.
• Accidentally take the local train back from Yokosuka to Yokohama, get rewarded with an empty train, front car seats and really pretty views. Accidental highlight of the trip, it was so nice.
• From there connect to Machida to see the Snoopy museum. You definitely get more out of it as a non American but it was still cute and our mom raised us on Peanuts, Far Side and Calvin & Hobbes so it was worth it either way.
• The museum is connected to a park and a mall so we explored both, got some Christmas shopping in, ate dinner and called it a night.

Day 4 - the "day trip"

• Take the train to Tokyo station, buy tickets for the Tokaido shinkansen and ride to Nagoya. The weather was good so we got a great view of Mt. Fuji and the surrounding countryside.
• From there connect to the Toyota museum and, without planning, accidentally (unplanned, I didn't even know it was there) ride Japan's only operational maglev - the Linimo line. They had some cute souvenirs too.
• See the Toyota museum - both the cars and the "cars as culture" section after (which was amazingly cool). Then we left two little cards for their wall at the end - I've got the Miata, sis has the Rav.
• Return to Nagoya, check out the castle and park, grab dinner then take the shinkansen back. Once in Tokyo, walk around the Imperial palace park (what we can anyway at night), take a meh panorama, head back to the hotel.

Day 5

• We decided to split up. My sister had some shopping to do and visited a costume museum - I went and did the JR East railway museum in Omiya
• Words cannot describe how much stuff the museum has, it's awesome. The pics don't do it justice. I particularly appreciated their working model traction unit and associated mechanical computer. The model railroad was an unexpected treat and it put the Chicago Museum of Science and Industries' railroad to shame (which is saying something). Spent some time chatting with one of the volunteers about working as a mechanic and things like that (he was a JR mechanic, I'm an aircraft mechanic) which was super super cool.
• After the rail museum we meet up in Shibuya, walk around and see the sights there and in Harijuku. After take the train back to Ikebukuro, grab dinner, beers in the park, bed.

Day 6 - day trip II

• We split up again, this time I go to the Honda Collection Hall in Motegi. I take a train out of Tokyo, rent a car, I ended up with a Yaris, and drive up. The drive itself was pretty even if it was hard to admire the scenery since it was my first time driving on the left, lol.
• The collection hall itself is wonderful it's not quite as big as Toyota but there's just so much to see. And as a long time Honda fan, current Honda driver/rider and former Honda employee it was something of a pilgrimage for me.
• After the museum, check out Motegi Raceway. Walk around the stadium and paddock, watch a track day and some open wheel racing.
• Drive the car back to Mito, try out Japanese McDonalds then take the train back to Ikebukuro.
• Have a beer in the park, decide to grab dinner, accidentally strike up a convo with a group of random Japanese dudes. We gave some beers, talk, have a good time then I head back to the hotel.

Day 7

• Final day. I was a bit hung over so I got a late start (~9am). I had been planning to forward bags to the airport but we missed the cutoff so I took the train to Haneda and checked my bag.
• I took the train to Carmakecorn's, a small Miata garage out in Edogawa so I could grab some parts for my Miata. After I visited PIT Autobachs and a motorcycle store next door and got some gloves as well as parts for my CX500.
• Take the train back to the airport, clear security (and accidentally forget to remove the 35mm film I bought from my carry-on..), get lucky and get Delta One a second time.

All in all, for basically winging the trip it turned out really really well and it was a great lesson for further international travel since this was A) my first time traveling with organizing the trip myself and B) traveling to a non-English country. I think probably the biggest strength of our trip was our flexibility and spending most of our time out of the very touristy areas, I found I enjoyed that a lot more, at least based off our short walk-around of Shibuya and Harujuku.

That said I do sort of wish we did more touristy stuff - or at least spent more time in the really popular places of Tokyo. I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it as much but I could at least say I did it. I also wish I was able to go out to more at bars night but being catching that cold quashed that. Next time for sure.

Either or it's just wistful thinking. The trip was still amazing and I really want to visit Japan again, though for next time I definitely want to get out of Tokyo. A smaller city could be fun but I was kicking around the idea of renting a motorcycle and touring the countryside. Riding the coast just sounds amazingly fun - though I'd want to learn enough Japanese to have a passable conversation before attempting something like that.

As a bonus, here's everything I got

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/RegularExpression637 on 2024-12-19 19:57:27+00:00.

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Hi everyone,

Me (F) and my sister are going to Japan next year in spring. For context: We’re both in our early 30s. This will be our first trip to Japan. We’re flying in from Europe. We're used to walking a lot while on vacation. The trip is from March 25th to April 15th, so 3 weeks.

I’d love some feedback on optimizing the route and activities. I’ve done my research and tried to organize things logically, but I think there are areas for improvement. Kyoto, in particular, has me questioning the order of visits and how to make the most of the experience by timing certain locations well. I’d appreciate your insights and suggestions for any adjustments.

When it comes to shopping, I usually only buy what I need, even on vacation. However, in South Korea, for example, I found myself buying a lot of cosmetics and skincare products. So I’m not sure what to expect from shopping in Japan or how much I’ll end up buying there.

Tokyo

• Day 1: Akasaka (our hotel location), Chidorigafuchi Moat (jetlag-friendly first day)
• Day 2: Gotokuji Temple, Meiji Shrine, Harajuku, Pompompurin Café, Shibuya, Shibuya Sky, Meguro River
• Day 3: Ueno Park, National Museum, Asakusa (Sensoji, Asakusa Shrine), Sumida Park
• Day 4: Arakuyama Sengen Park, Oishi Park, Oshino Hakkai (via a Klook tour)
• Day 5: Day trip to Kamakura & Enoshima
• Day 6: TeamLab Borderless, Shinjuku, Shinjuku Gyoen Park, Cinnamoroll Café
• Day 7: Ghibli Museum, Shirohige's Cream Puff Factory, karaoke in Roppongi
• Day 8: Nihonbashi, Kabuki Theatre

Kyoto

• Day 9: Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kinkaku-ji
• Day 10: Kiyomizu-dera, Kodaiji Temple, Maruyama-koen Park, Gion Tea Ceremony & Traditional Arts Performance
• Day 11: Philosopher's Path, Okazaki Jukkokubune, Miyako Odori, Nijo Castle
• Day 12: Osaka Castle, Umeda Sky Building, Dotonbori, Wonder Cruise, Shinsekai
• Day 13: Day trip to Nara (Nara Park, Kofuku-ji Temple, Naramachi, Higashimuki Shopping Street)
• Day 14: If we like Osaka, Sumiyoshi-taisha, Shitenno-ji, Tenjinbashisuji Shopping Street
• Day 15: Day trip to Himeji/Kurashiki or Ghibli Park (if the Ghibli Museum visit doesn’t work out)
• Day 16: „free“ day, maybe Arashiyama

Kanazawa

• Day 17: Nishi Chaya, Myoryuji Temple, Nomura Clan Samurai House, Nagamachi, Oyama Shrine, Kanazawa Castle, Kenrokuen Garden, Kazuemachi
• Day 18: Higashiyama, Geisha Performance and tea house tour at Kaikaro

Yamanouchi

• Day 19: Snow Monkey Park, Shibu Onsen Town, relax at a ryokan with private open-air bath and Kaiseki dinner

Back to Tokyo

• Day 20: Akihabara
• Day 21: Catch-up day for anything we missed or wanna do in Tokyo
• Day 22: Flight home in the morning

Specific questions:

1. For locations like Fushimi Inari, Kinkaku-ji, Philosopher’s Path and Kiyomizu-dera, which ones benefit the most from an early morning visit? Are there any places where timing matters less or more, so I can prioritize morning visits among them? Anything you think I should replace with something else?
2. My sister enjoys beach/coast walks. Are the beaches in Kanazawa suitable for this?
3. As you can see from my itinerary, we enjoy performances and cultural events (e.g., tea ceremony, Miyako Odori, Kabuki). Are there any other traditional activities or events in late March/early April that you would recommend, either in the places we’re visiting or nearby?

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/smashingtech on 2024-12-19 03:58:41+00:00.

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Thanks to a few posts here we were able to have a very nice and relaxed experience visiting Universal Studios in Japan today (Dec 19th 2024). Since those posts were so helpful to us, I thought I'd add to the body of knowledge.

As context we are not big amusement park people, the lines and crowds generally put us off, but we were visiting Osaka anyway, and the Super Nintendo World was something we wanted to try out.

We booked everything last minute (yesterday), using the official website to buy our '1 day studio passes'. We had no issues booking these with an Amex.

There were no express passes available, due to the advance notice that is required, and had no interest anyway. Our plan was to arrive at the gates early, as many here have suggested.

The cost for the studio passes was ~$60 each - great value considering.

We rolled in from Tokyo in the afternoon the day before, and stayed at the Park Front Hotel for the night, which is as close to the gates as you can get. We had a park view room so we could see the crowd gathering at the gates from our hotel room window. A nice bonus.

Breakfast at the hotel started at 6.15am, so we ate and arrived at the gates at 6.40am.

There were around 800 people there when we arrived, spread out across a wide semi-circular area.

Some of the people had lined up neatly, in lines, in other parts it was more haphazard. We picked a line to the far right side that was neat and organized.

We didn't wait long, the gates opened at 7.15am. We jogged over to Super Nintendo World along with everyone else (literally everyone) and once inside we made a beeline for Mario Kart: Koopa's Challenge, which is in Bowsers Castle.

TBH we had got this mixed up with Mine Cart Madness, but it didn't matter, as it was a thoroughly enjoyable ride, once you got the hang of it (you aim your 'shots' by looking in the right direction), and there was barely a line up. We literally waited just a couple of minutes.

We didn't bother with the power bands thing - seemed confusing and not particularly appealing, and after Mario Kart we opted for Yoshi's Adventure which is right next to the Mario Kart exit. A 5 minute wait time for that.

We wondered where all the people who had got in before us had gone and it became clear it was the new Donkey Kong Country attraction that opened a week ago. There was a 3 hour wait for that, so we simply didn't bother. If you are planning to try the Donkey Kong ride, I'd suggest you need to go to that first!

Walking out of SNES world we saw via the official app that the waiting time for Jaws (which is close by) was only 15 mins. Actually in reality it was no wait time at all. We walked straight in and got on the boat instantly. No cameras allowed on the boat ride incidentally.

After Jaws we wondered into the Jurassic Park area, which was close by, and went to the Flying Dinosaur ride to get our roller coaster fix. There was a 15 minute wait for that.

From Jurassic Park we walked over to the Harry Potter world and plumped for the Harry Potter Forbidden Journey experience, which was superb. It said it was a 30 minute wait but it felt like 20 mins, particularly since the walking through to it is an experience of itself.

That was actually enough for us - we stopped at Mel's Drive In for a bite to eat and one of the shops to pick up a couple of souvenirs and headed out of the park around 10.30. By the time we were leaving all the major rides were up over an hour wait time, even including Yoshi's Adventure (which isn't exactly the star attraction) at 75 mins.

Others may wonder why we only stayed at the park for 3 hours, but frankly 5 Universal Studios rides for $60 was good value for us, and we're just not into lines.

YMMV but we had a fantastic time and got exactly the experience we wanted!

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/InternationalAd6614 on 2024-12-19 21:58:27+00:00.

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Went around Osaka trying out different cocktail bars and sharing my experience here. This was towards the tail end of November, and was with a group of friends so had a fun time trying out a lot of drinks per bar.

Most of the bars we hit had 80%-100% bar seating. A couple of them had no menus, you just give them an idea how you want the cocktail to taste and they’ll mix you up a drink.

BAR NAYUTA: This was my favorite. They’re usually packed, we were almost sent away to their sister bar but we were lucky to be visiting right at the end of the tourist season so it was relatively less busy. No menu. We ordered about 15+ cocktails as a group in total and all of them tasted amazing. This had the most consistent quality out of the bars we experienced. The drinks had interesting flavors and the place had a lively vibe.

KIRIP TRUMAN: Loved loved loved their bestseller, the Earl Grey Cocktail. The notes in their drinks harmonize very well. Imo not as exciting jn terms of flavours but extremely well balanced. Had a lovely time chatting with the owner (he also recommended checking out Bar Shiki, their flavors are his favorite accd to him). Comes with a good view overlooking the river.

BAR SIMON: This bar is TINY. There were only 8 seats. No menu. The bartender working on our drinks was really up to a challenge and he really put in a lot of effort to make the drinks look and taste special. My favorite cocktail from the trip is from here. Whiskey is their specialty but they can work wonders on Gin as well.

BAR KARUDA: The biggest bar we were able to visit. No menu. They specialize in coffee cocktails. Wasn’t able to try out a lot of drinks but those I tried tasted like very very good coffee with a punch. It could be a personal preference but I feel like the coffee took centerstage over the notes I requested for in the drinks I tried.

PENDULUM CLOCK: They have an extensive menu. They seem to have seasonal drinks on a separate menu (slightly more expensive), these were fruity and almost tasted like fruit shakes. You could barely taste the alcohol but it’s definitely present. In general I find a lot of the bartenders in Osaka were very skilled at masking the taste of spirits when they want to. Had a pleasant experience but none of the drinks we tried really stood out in particular. The interiors were lovely though.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Comfortable-Line2502 on 2024-12-18 21:11:04+00:00.

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My husband and I (Late 30s) would like to visit Japan next year around October for about 2 weeks and are in the early stages of planning our trip. I want to make sure that what we would like to do/see is reasonable for the time that we’re there. We are okay with places that might be overly touristy since it’s our first time, and we enjoy video games, anime, museums, and nature. Here’s a rough draft of what we are thinking about doing so far:

Day 1: Travel

Fly in to KIX, take the Haruka express train to Tennoji station and check into a hotel nearby. Maybe walk around Tennoji park if we have a little time.

Day 2: Osaka - Castle

Visit the castle and spend a good part of the day exploring the area. Then head back down to Tennoji and visit the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts (if it’s open) and then try and visit Shin Sekai/Tsutenkaku tower later in the evening when it’s all lit up.

Day 3: Osaka - Exploring the city (Namba/Umeda)

Visit Namba Yasaka shrine to see the giant lion’s head, then explore Namba for a bit as we make our way over towards Denden town. Then we’ll go up to Hozen-ji Temple and Dotonbori. I don’t think we’ll spend too much time there as we’re not really into the nightlife/party scene. 

After that we’ll head up to the Umeda area to explore for a bit and visit the Nintendo Store/Pokemon Center Osaka, then make our way over to the Umeda Sky building and see if we can get up to the observation deck.  

Day 4: Osaka - Port Area/Leave for Kyoto

Check out of the hotel. Go to the port and explore the Tempozan Market Place/Park. Spend some time at the Kaiyukan Aquarium, then take the train to Kyoto. (I would like to try and take the Kyo-train Garaku, but it seems to only operate on weekends)

Arrive at Kyoto-kawaramachi station and check in at a hotel nearby. Visit the Nishiki Market and  Nintendo/Pokemon Kyoto stores.

Day 5: Kyoto - Arashiyama/Kiyomizu-dera 

Visit Arashiyama Bamboo Forest/ Kimono Forest/ Arashiyama Monkey park and spend the morning/afternoon there. For the evening, we can go to Kiyomizu-dera for sunset, then explore Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka and make our way to Yasaka Shrine/Gion 

Day 6: Kyoto - Fushimi Inari/ Uji?

Go to Fushimi Inari in the morning. I don’t think we’re in enough shape to go all the way to the summit, but I heard that going to Mitsutsuji and back down from there is a good alternative. We’d like to visit the Nintendo Museum in Uji if we are able to get tickets, but if we can’t I’m not sure if we just go explore Uji or somewhere else. We’re not big into matcha and that seems to be what Uji is known for.

Day 7: Kyoto - Kinkaku-ji /Imperial Palace/Nijo castle

Go up to Kinkaku-ji, then visit the maple garden at Kitano Tenmangu Shrine and do the Tatami Experience Workshop at Yamada Tatami Shop. Next we visit the imperial palace, Kyoto Gyoen National Garden and Nijo Castle. 

*Day 8: Leave Kyoto - I don’t know if we should go to Tokyo directly, or stay over for one night somewhere in between along the shinkansen route. I would appreciate any suggestions.

Day 9: Tokyo - Ueno Park/Senso-ji

We’ll stay at a hotel near Ueno and visit the park and museums in the area, then visit Senso-ji in the evening when it is lit up.

Day 10: Tokyo - Akihabara/Imperial Palace

We’ll spend some time in Akihabara, then go down and visit the Imperial Palace.

Day 11: Tokyo - Shibuya/Harajuku

We’ll go to Shinjuku in the morning and visit the Hachiko statue, then explore for awhile and make our way to the Nintendo/Pokemon stores. After that we’ll go to Harajuku to visit Yoyogi park and Meiji Jingu.

Day 12: We’ll take a day trip - thinking about visiting Enoshima/Kamakura.

Day 13: Travel Home

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/rconti on 2024-12-15 06:09:43+00:00.

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First off, I'm very verbose so I'm going to try really hard to make this brief and not detail everything we did each day; feel free to ask questions. I've never been particularly active on Reddit, but I got some good info from reading here, so I'm trying to give back a bit.

Background:

My partner and I try to travel at least once or twice a year, so we've got a reasonable bit of experience with international travel. Her job makes it hard to get contiguous blocks of time off, so when she gets the time, we find a place, and we go. We had second thoughts about going to a northern hemisphere destination so late in the year, after a sub-freezing trip to Europe a few years back, but we pulled the trigger on Japan and honestly can't imagine a better time of year to go. The fall colors were absolutely off the hook gorgeous everywhere we went. Skies were crystal blue most days, with only a spot of sprinkles on a day or two. Hearing humidity tales from others, seeing air conditioners placed in implausible locations (like, firing air towards a cable car waiting line), made me think it must be insufferable at times during the summer.

Japan has been on our list for a long time, but we didn't specifically have anything we wanted to see there. I had never been to Asia before, period, and I had some anxiety about finding my way around a country where I not only didn't know the language, but not even the character set. The way we travel is to look at a place, try to plan out a rough # of days in each area based on perceived number of things to do there, have ideas about what we want to do, and then sorta YOLO it from there. Meals, attractions, etc, we all figure out once we're there. We try to plan hotels beforehand (since we already have the rough dates), but in this case we didn't book our last couple of cities until we were in Japan.

Dates:

Wednesday November 27 - Friday December 13

Flight:

Our home airport is SFO. We looked at a few options (ZipAir, Hawaiian) before settling on JAL Premium Economy. They do roundtrips from SFO to both NRT and HND at almost the exact same time of day and same price, so we did SFO-HND on a 787. On the way there we hit the clearing price for a cash upgrade to business (with a "very weak" offer, lol). On the way home I didn't bother offering for an upgrade so we took our 2x config PE seats on the side of the plane.

Side note, any flight with 2x is so sweet if you're traveling with a partner. For this reason, even economy in a A350 is pretty awesome because the 2x config on the sides-- my last int'l trip (Ireland in July) was solo with a window seat on an A350 and I lucked out with an empty seat next to me.

Flying time SFO-HND was 11h05 on the way there and 8h06 on the way home; pretty painless with no issues at all. Excellent meals and service both ways. British Airways on the way there due to being in biz, and JAL Sakura on the way home from HND; available to biz, PE, and even economy but only for economy flexible fares.

Another side note, traveling around thanksgiving is so sweet when you're leaving the country. Security line at SFO was literally 1 minute for both pre-check and non-pre. We traveled on the same day last year (to NZ) and it was the same painless process.

Transit:

Didn't bother with a JR pass since it sounds like a bad deal these days.

Took mostly subway, light rail, buses, commuter rail. Bought mobile Suica cards on our iPhones on the way over, and topped up the same way as we went. Shinkansen between cities. 2 brief car rentals of 6h each for different reasons. Didn't bother with the smart-ex app for Shinkansen because it sounds like a dumpster fire of unhappiness and regret. Just bought Shinkansen tickets from a computer (twice), and 15-minutes-before in person, once, when the computer required a physical IC card and seemed unable to deal with people who didn't have one (Hiroshima).

Tokyo, 3 nights:

We stayed at the Royal Park Hotel Iconic Tokyo Shiodome (I think that's all the words) on the way in. It seemed reasonable to go with an 'easier' (read: western, more expensive) place to deal with on the way in due to a 17:00 arrival and not wanting to find something far from transit, or an AirBnB with a weird checkin process. Hotel was great, no notes. Right above the Shinbashi station, great location for transit although not a ton going on in the area.

Things we did: Futako Tamagawa (FTG) Parkrun, Meji Jingu temple, a cat cafe, Hamarikyū Gardens, Carrot Tower, Gōtokuji Temple (cat temple), Shibuya Crossing.

Hiroshima, 2 nights:

Grabbed a pair of green car seats for the Nozomi Shinkansen from Tokyo to Hiroshima. 4 or 4.5h, painless. Had bento boxes and various food and beer items we bought beforehand.

Stayed at the Hilton Hiroshima for something like $105US per night. Absolutely insane. Simply stunning hotel for an absurd price. One of the nicest places I've ever stayed. Looked brand-new. Got executive lounge access by virtue of being a diamond club member even though I've not stayed a Hilton in years-- just have diamond club through a work affiliation.

Things we did: Peace Memorial, museum, A-bomb dome. Okonomiyaki dinner at Hassei (highly, highly recommended). Whisky at Bar Little Happiness (ditto). Hiroshima Castle. Mazda museum (not recommended unless you're very specifically a Mazda fan and interested in seeing the museum cars).

Miyajima Island, 1 night:

Took the ferry from Hiroshima Peace Park to Miyajima island. The longer (45min) ferry seemed more convenient coming from our hotel, but on the way out (Miyajima to Kyoto) we elected to take the ferry to Miyajimaguchi and catch the JR Sanyo train to Hiroshima where we picked up the Shinkansen.

Miyajima island was on our list, but we hadn't planned on overnighting here until a friend pushed us to do so. We've had plenty of trips where we only spend a night or two in each location, and I was trying to avoid just doing 1 night stays but I'm so glad we made an exception here. Our friend was planning on staying at a different ryoken, but it was booked by the time we looked, so we chose Iwaso. Neither one was cheap, but staying at a ryoken was on my list, and this was the perfect place for it. Maybe sleeping on a futon on the floor is not the most comfortable thing in the world, but the experience was just spectacular. They took our luggage from the ferry, and we spent the day exploring the island.

We walked around the shops and the waterfront, explored the Itsukushima shrine, took a bunch of photos of the floating torii gate, and made our way up to the Daishi-in temple. This was out first hint of how truly special this place would be. The temple was absolutely stunning. The views from below, with maple tree colors everywhere, was truly a sight to behold, and it only got better as we hiked up and explored the grounds for an hour or so. From there, starting around 2pm, we hiked all the way up to the summit of Mount Misen, which took at least the full 2 hours advertised. There were so many place to stop and take photos, and shrines to see along the way. Hiking down to the ropeway took longer than expected, and we ended up having to run the last 1/8mi to catch the final 4:30pm ropeway car off the hill. I have no idea how they handle the inevitable people who miss the ropeway. Even knowing the distances involved, it all took a lot longer than we thought, and with dark and cold incoming, the hike down would have been extremely unpleasant and slow.

We really loved the ryoken experience; enjoyed the clothes, the baths, and the meals. Super relaxing and enjoyable. Dinner must have been 10 courses. Even breakfast was a production. In the morning, we checked out, did some more touristing, and hiked back where we had ourselves and our bags shuttled to the terminal.

Overall, Miyajima Island is one of the most spectacular places I've been, and I wouldn't even consider skipping it. If you're in the area, you absolutely need to see Daishi-in temple and experience the Mt Misen hike. The crowds in town and around the floating gate are, well, crowded, but it's easy enough to get away from.

Kyoto, 4 nights:

Took the ferry from Miyajima to Miyajimaguchi, short walk to the train station, JR Sanyo line to Hiroshima, Shinakensen to Kyoto. This was our first minor travel hiccup as the Shinkansen ticket machines here were unable to comprehend a person without a physical IC card. I think this is a difference between JR West and JR East. Stood in line, worked with a ticket agent who couldn't get us tickets on the next train because it was in about 10mins, so we caught one another 30mins later with assigned seats but sitting next to a random person due to the lateness of the ticket purchase. No big deal, just slightly confusing.

Kyoto was unquestionably the lowlight of the trip, and for the exact reasons we'd been warned of. Even on weekdays in December, it's crowded. I can't fathom coming here during peak tourist season. Even just walking the sidewalks of town, it's chock-a-block with people from storefront to wrought iron sidewalk railing. We're not into instagram foodie culture or any of that shit, so thankfully we didn't wait in any lines or anything, but, yeah, it's crowded.

That said, it was a really nice place to visit. We won't be back next time we visit because we saw what we needed to...

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This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/The48Laws on 2024-12-15 01:12:19+00:00.

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Just came back from my first trip in Japan of a little over two weeks. Super long post I know, but...

Day 1 (Tokyo):

• I arrive in Narita. I didn't bring any cash and I didn't buy a Suica card either. I bought an e-sim with unlimited data before departure.
• I had been studying Japanese for about 3 months at this point, ~2 hours a day on average, but once I got here it was like everything went out the window. I was so nervous to even mutter out "arigato gozaimasu" and everything I learned seemingly disappeared from my memory.
• I immediately take the Skyliner to Ueno and walk to my hotel.
• Then I go outside to explore Tokyo at night for the first time. I just walk around the neighborhood.

Day 2 (Tokyo):

• I'm up at like 6AM ready to explore. I try my first onigiri at a konbini.
• I want to experience "local" Tokyo culture so I head to a quieter shopping street in Koto.
• Everything was closed so I wander around for a few hours and sit down at a Lawson. The neighborhood is really quiet and cute.
• When the stores outside open around 10AM, there's a bunch of interesting stuff and I buy some dango and mochis to try.
• I check out the fruit markets because I love fruit. Immediately I'm utterly shocked by the absurd size of these persimmons. The photo doesn't capture if properly but I guess IYKYK.
• Here's a stall selling fried foods. Actually, looking back on it they looked really good in comparison to anywhere else I'd see later on in my trip.
• This store was busy as hell for whatever reason. It had a line wrapping around the corner.
• I go to Akihabara and visit Yodobashi Camera and Uniqlo.
• I eat my first restaurant meal Roast beef on rice.
• I head to Shimokitazawa. Didn't even know what to expect I just heard it recommend by many locals. It was mostly just vintage or highly curated "thrift" stores, but beautiful area. I felt a bit out of place fashion wise.
• I buy sushi at a supermarket before heading back to the hotel. I felt like I should have tried a restaurant instead but it still looked super fresh IMO.

Day 3 (Tokyo):

• For breakfast I try sukiyaki for the first time. I didn't know until after you were supposed to crack the egg in the bowl to dip the meat. I cracked it straight into the soup.
• I'm back in Akihabara because I realize I didn't even explore the main areas with anime/maid cafe stuff.
• I try a bunch of konbini snacks. Donuts, ice cream, parfaits.
• I see a giant cabbage, tuna head, super fresh looking sashimi at the store.
• I head to Ameyoko. This might be one of my favorite places in Tokyo to roam around. Just so lively and interesting even if it's a tourist hotspot. They also have great deals on Rorax's if you're interested.
• I go to Jinbocho book district. Famous for it's various stores with outdoor bookshelves.
• I visit 2k540, a small shopping arcade comprised of vendors from Japan who handcraft their goods. I buy some handmade daruma's. I'd always seen photos of these but never knew what they were until the lady at the shop explained them to me.
• I check into a new ryokan style hotel. This place actually sucked (and it had zero to do with comfort) but let's not get too deep into that...
• I get dinner from a konbini.
• After I chill out at the hotel I start to notice my ankle is swelling up real bad and is very painful. During the day I noticed some irritation while walking, but I guess with the blood pumping and adrenaline you don't notice the pain. Still not really sure what happened, but this was super disappointing as I was hoping to do the Shimanami Kaido. It still hasn't fully healed after my trip.

Day 4 (Tokyo -> Kyoto):

• I'm heading to Kyoto today. I do some last minute exploring around the neighborhood, grab a coffee and eat a bunch of konbini snacks again. Sweet potato donut, chocolate biscuits and an apple cake.
• First time on the Shinkansen. The seats were great, the train was relatively empty and the ride was quick.
• I arrive in Kyoto. First impressions? 1) The station is MASSIVE 2) It's SO crowded. Felt more crowded than anywhere I'd been in Tokyo. I hated it.
• My hotel was nice and modern, but right on Shijo-dori. Great for being right by all the action, terrible because it's right by all the action. My initial expectation of Kyoto was not this and I was disappointed. I guess that's partially my fault for not digging deeper into Kyoto but I also blame travel influencers for painting unrealistic pictures that look better for their vlog/posts.
• I just explore the neighborhood looking for quieter streets, but everything was pretty busy even several blocks in from the main roads. Lots of nice trendy and high-end looking shops, but definitely not the "old and rustic" vibe I was expecting. I see a small temple right off a main road.
• I grab a hamburger steak meal with karaage. It was decent.
• At this point I was feeling really down about Kyoto. It was far from my expectations and super crowded with tourists. I could hear more foreign languages at times than Japanese. I remember texting my friends "I might leave Kyoto tomorrow". But I told myself to try to keep a positive mindset.

Day 5 (Kyoto):

• The next morning off the advice of a Redditor, I decide to go to this spot (I forgot the name) to see the Tori Gates without the crowds of Fushimi Inari Taisha. I take a taxi 5AM to catch sunrise.
• Don't get me wrong it was a nice place to visit but I was expecting rows of Tori Gates like Fushima, and not literally two Tori Gates, the minimum to be plural haha.
• It was a park with a temple at the end. I noticed almost everyone I passed would greet me with an "ohayo".
• I'm in the northern part of Kyoto, I decide to walk all the way back so I can explore the "real" city and get a feel for the neighborhoods. There's a nice river nearby.
• I see a small farm and greenhouse right in the middle of the city.
• The neighborhood is really quiet and peaceful. There were a lot of small temples/shrines.
• I eat dessert at a local shop and some matcha.
• I see the biggest Family Mart I've ever seen and get my first fried chicken there. It was good.
• I walk down a really interesting shopping street. Everything was closed though, I wish I could have gone back another time, it looks like it would be fun.
• I get more dessert. I thought it was somewhere else I saw on Google but I got the name wrong and by the time I found out I was a bit too embarrassed to leave. The texture of the pancake thing was really good though.
• I find this random temple and I'm the only person there. Very cool. More pics [1], [2].
• I find another random temple, this time with a bunch of soccer players? Or some old traditional sport? More pics [1], [2].
• Kyoto is famous for grilled eel I believe, so I get some takeout as the restaurant was packed. It was like $50 or something, not cheap.

Day 6 (Kyoto):

• I made a reservation at Saihōji knowing they limit the number of visitors per day and really wanting to avoid crowds. They had the most beautiful temple there, but didn't allow photos. We did a quick calligraphy session before roaming the gardens. Pics [1], [2], [3], [4]. Really beautiful and quiet garden.
• Afterwards I grabbed lunch at a small local restaurant. Apparently this type of soba is a regional specialty. Made with sweet potatoes IIRC. It was decent, could use some meat or something. The staff were really nice though. Also got anmitsu for dessert. Another pic of the restaurant.
• I expl...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/MarvellousCrocodile on 2024-12-14 05:56:13+00:00.

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Trip Report: 7D6N Osaka-Fukuoka

This was my second visit to Japan but was my first solo trip. I didn’t know any Japanese. I was nervous and excited at the same time. The trip turned out to be very enjoyable overall despite some hiccups (I almost lost my passport on one day). Below is my trip report. Will definitely do another one next year, probably for longer duration and will probably learn some basic conversational Japanese too.

Day 1 (Osaka)

• Reached Osaka at 10:30am, cleared immigration for 1 hour, took another hour to get JR pass and IC card (the queues were quite long).
• Took Nankai Rapid Train to Namba, it was good. Took me awhile a figure out where my hotel is because Namba is so big (more like a Shinjuku version of Osaka).
• Checked in hotel and went for super late lunch at random shop at Namba.
• Went to get my Osaka metro pass, took me awhile to find the place too.
• Walked around Dontonburi & Shinsaibashi
• By 5pm, I nearly crashed due to lack of sleep from night flight so I went back to hotel for a nap and wanted to call it a day, but then I happened to see some clips of Xmas light-up in Mido-suji on TikTok. In the end, I went out again at 7pm, to stroll the streets to admire the trees and leaves.
• Came back around 9pm to wash up and sleep

Day 2 (Osaka)

• Got up at 6:30am and realised how short the day was in winter in Japan (basically 7am-5pm), had my favourite breakfast in convenience store (random Onigiri and black coffee)
• Visit a few parks (Nakanoshima, Minamitenma, Old Fujita House Gardens). I only planned to visit Nakanoshima but they are side by side long the river so I ended up walking along the whole stretch. Beautiful foliage sceneries, I took a lot of photos and some videos.
• I had bought some food from Don Donki and had lunch in the one of the parks, quite a new experience to me.
• Headed to Tennoji Park, there was a Xmas fair with lots of food and decorations), continue strolling, enjoying the beautiful foliage.
• Watched Tsutenkaku tower from nearby market and had late lunch in random shop there.
• Headed to Umeda Sky Building. From Umeda metro station, there was apparently a short-cut walkway to the building but somehow Google Map suggested for me to take a detour long the highway (lol), new experience walking in winter wind along high way though.
• Visited Umeda Sky Building, the transparent elevator, caught the sunset on Umeda rooftop then visited the Koji Kinutani Tenku Art museum.
• Back to Namba for dinner, visit Ghibli shop, and walking around looking for Eki Stamps. Took me awhile to search and found out that the Namba stamp is in tourist information centre, but I reached the centre at 8:01pm and it closed at 8:00pm lol. Disappointed, I took a few train rides to collect 2 stamps from Osaka station, lol.
• Back to hotel, wash up and sleep

Day 3 (Osaka - Fukuoka)

• Got up, breakfast with Onigiri & black coffee again (I’m kinda addicted to this combo), packed up and checked out, heading to Fukuoka
• I took 8:40am JR train from Shin Osaka to Hakata (Fukuoka) using Sanyo-Sanin region pass
• I stayed at an APA hotel by Gion Station (followed one of the video on Youtube of a solo traveller), put luggage at concierge and headed to Maizuru Parks
• Visited Maizuru and Fukuoka Castle Ruins, the foliage was much more beautiful in Fukuoka than Osaka, tbh, I was at awe (I live in Singapore and there was no such thing there)
• Came back to hotel to check in, re-organise my backpack and headed to Ohori Park
• The park was huge, seeing people cycling along the lake kinda made me want to rent a bike too. I missed the entrance time to Japanese garden (close at 4pm), so I was just strolling in the park and again admiring the beautiful scenery
• After sunset, I took random strolls in the streets of Daimyo, surprisingly there were not a lot of restaurants there and all the menu were in Japanese characters (I can’t read Japanese). I was relying on Chinese characters to guess the menu and instructions in ordering machine, lol. Had an interesting dinner, it’s called Bikkuri-tei Honke (based on Google Lens)
• Back to hotel, rest, wash up and sleep

Day 4 (Fukuoka)

• Got up, had Sukiyaki for breakfast and came back to a horror that my passport is not in my bag. But I still decided to go for the Klook day tour that I bought and figure out the passport thing later. In the back of my mind, I was kinda prepared to extend my stay in Fukuoka if needed, to re-do my passport.
• It was a good tour, cost saving on the transport. Visited Dazaifu, Frog Temple, Yufuin Village and Kirin Lake. I was also one of the lucky draw customer who got the free freshly made daifuku at some specialty shop near Dazaifu.
• Probably affected by the passport, my mind was a little dazed, I forgot my phone charging cable (for power bank use) and cash, so didn’t manage to take a lot of photos and didn’t get a try a lot of food neither, what a pity.
• Came back to hotel to the notification that my passport is at concierge (apparently it was dropped on the corridor after I checked in lols). I was super relieved.
• Went to Nakasu Yatai by the river, ate ramen, gyoza and had Japanese plum wine to relax, then visited Canal City for fountain light show and bought Ghibli stuffs again..
• Back to hotel, rest, wash up and sleep

Day 5 (Fukuoka)

• Breakfast at Lawson, with Onigiri and black coffee again (I’m seriously addicted)
• Headed to Nanzoin Temple and had lunch at nearby shop
• Spent my afternoon trying to find bike rental but failed. I couldn’t register Charichari because they don’t have Singapore number code in the list, tried my mom’s Vietnamese phone number and it didn’t work too. Found a physical rental store in the basement of Hakata station but it required 3-day in advance booking and there was no English instructions (only Japanese and Korean)
• I went to Teamlab Fukuoka, a minor hiccup happened on the bus. As I boarded the bus, I saw the girl in front of me not tapping her IC card, so I thought you only need to tap when alight, and I didn’t tap in. When I got out, my IC card of course showed errors, the bus captain only spoke Japanese, and I couldn’t understand a single thing he said. At first, I took out my cash to pay, but he shook his head. After a few seconds of staring at him and listening to his Japanese, I heard an English word “station”, so I made a guess that he asked what station I got on, and I replied “Gion-machi”. Thanks goodness, it was correct, he keyed in the station name in his machine and I was able to tap out with my IC card. I didn’t know how to say sorry in Japanese, so I just bowed and got off. From then on, I always remembered to tap twice on the bus, tap in and tap out, lol.
• I played for 1.5 hours at Teamlab, somehow they allowed me to play two rounds across all rooms.
• Ate sushi for dinner in nearby shopping malls, the selection of sushi were very interesting
• Back to hotel, rest, wash up and sleep

Day 6 (Fukuoka)

• My usual breakfast at Lawson
• Visited Tenjin Park, there was Xmas decoration but it wasn’t opened in morning
• I spent the rest of the day at Fukuoka Zoo & Botanic Gardens. It was a huge complex with beautiful animals and sceneries.
• Dinner at Tenjin, tried out big size Tonkatsu, super delicious.
• Went for some shopping of Japanese snacks

Day 7 (Osaka)

• Checked out from hotel and took JR train to Namba, Osaka
• Put luggage at coin locker and headed for lunch and some more snacks shopping
• Took Nankai Rapid to Kansai Airport, need to take another shuttle bus to Terminal 2 (which is very small), and you need to walk out to the plane (no bus) and they scanned the boarding pass at the building door to the plane (this was new to me). I was flying with Peach Airline, it was ultra-budget, first time trying this airline, so that explains.

A few interesting observations I had: (1) There are so many korean tourists, keep hearing korean almost everywhere I went, so at times I was able to know what’s happening by listening to the korean (I know conversational korean) (2) Restaurants serve a cup of cold water even during cold weather, no option of warm water, interestingly.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/RedStarRedTide on 2024-12-12 05:34:27+00:00.

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Hi everyone. This is my second time in Tokyo and I am very excited. I visited in November and did a good bit of touristy stuff like Senso-ji, Skytree, Meiji Jingu, Tokyo National Museum, Akihabara, Shibuya. Goal for this trip is to explore some new places and go back to places I didn't finish exploring.

I am looking for all feedback and recs. What districts would be the best to combine/separate? Are some days too packed/too empty? I'm worried about Yokohama particularly because it seems like a lot. Are the hikes in Kamakura difficult?

Thank you!

Day 1 Sunday (land at Haneda in evening)

Check in at hotel in Ueno (Okachimachi Sta.) - quick dinner somewhere

Day 2 Monday (Kichijoji/Nakano Broadway)

Inokashira Park

Kichijoji SUNROAD

Nakano Broadway

Day 3 Tuesday (Ueno/Yanaka/Sendagi/Nezu)

Ueno Park

Walk north to visit temples/shrines

Yanaka Ginza

Sendagi

Nezu

Day 4 Wednesday (Saitama/Ikebukuro)

Is there anything else notable in Saitama to check out?

The Railway Musuem in Saitama

Bonsai Village/Bonsai Art Musuem

Explore Ikebukuro

Sunshine City

Day 5 Thursday (Kamakura)

I am borrowing this itinerary from Japan Guide. Is this too much for someone who hasn't hiked very much? In summary it is:

Kamakura Station

Hasedera

Kotoku-in (Big Buddha)

Zeniarai Benten Shrine

Tsurugaoka Hachimangu

Komachi St

Day 6 Friday (Ueno/Laundry Day)

Just relaxing around Ameyoko

Maybe walk down to Akihabara for shopping

Day 7 Saturday (Shinjuku)

Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden

Hanazono Shrine

Isetan Shinjuku

Explore the shops and department stores by Shinjuku Station

Kabukicho

Day 8 Sunday (Shibuya)

I did the following route my last time minus Yoyogi Park and was super tired by the time I got to Shibuya Crossing. Any suggestions on how to tackle/manage Shibuya? I want to visit Western part of the Crossing because I did not get to see much last time.

Yoyogi Park

Takeshita Street

Harajuku/Cat Street

Ometesando

Crossing

Day 9 Monday (free day/shopping)

Day 10 Tuesday (tbd)

Tokyo Metro Museum?

Odaiba?

Finish in Ginza or ride the ferry back to Asakusa

Day 11 Wednesday (Yokohama)

Yokohama Landmark Tower/Port Museum

Kishamichi Promenade

Cup Noodles Museum

Red Brick Warehouse

Yamashita Park

Yokohama Chinatown

Motomachi or Minatomirai shopping

Day 12 Thursday (free day/shopping)

Day 13 Friday (fly home)

Go to Haneda

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/SweeterGrass on 2024-12-10 20:33:33+00:00.

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Trip Report: 19 Nights in November-December

Trip Report

I just returned from my first visit to Japan and wanted to get this down while it is all fresh in my mind. Since it was my first trip, I mostly stuck to places that have been well-traveled.

Nights 1 and 2 - Tokyo

My flight landed on time and I made it to my hotel in Otemachi around 4pm. After checking in, I took a train to Asakusa to see Senso-ji and the area. Beutiful at night. And crowded, but it was worth it since I got to cross it off my list and move on. Yea, some of this stuff was just about seeing things I'd read about in the years it took for this trip to come to fruition. If it wasn't overwhelming to me, I took quick looks and moved on, which is exactly what I did here.

Next morning I woke up early and went to Meiji Jingu. I was surprised to find the gates closed until 6:15 (sunrise), but I had the place virtually to myself and it was lovely. I walked from there to Shibuya towards the crossing and walked right past it since for some reason I thought it would be much larger and there'd be people, you know, crossing the street. Well, not at 8:30 there weren't. So I moved on, walking to the Mori building to go into teamLab Borderless, which was a cool thing to do when you have a somewhat jet-lagged and spaced out mind. Actually that was probably the best way to see it. Had a great dinner, went to sleep and then...

Nights 3 and 4 - Takayama

Got to Takayama via Nagoya at around noon and walked around that little beautiful post(card) town for a couple hours before getting my ride to a ryokan I stayed at about 20mins from the station. The autumn colors were ablaze and it was a pretty friggin' great intro into Momiji season. I had planned this trip to see some colors, but I did not expect to see much in Takayama, which usually goes technicolor a couple of weeks before I was there. But the gods shined their lights on me and the late summer heat pushed things back just in time. Thanks Global Warming!

My next full day in Takayama will always be one of my favorite days ever. Today I did the Higashiyama trail which wound through the hills in the north of town, where a bunch of temples are located, This is not a popular activity for tourists, and that worked out great for me. I spent about three hours wandering from temple to temple; each unique and surrounded by beautiful maple, ginkgo, elm, and keebler trees bursting with all the colors of the rainbow. So woke! Then I strolled back down into the main strip and visited the retro museum there, which was super cool and a couple of old teahouses. I don't drink so I can't really comment on all the Sake culture that goes on there, but it looks like there's a lot of it. But while I may not drink I do eat steak. And Hida beef was as good as advertised. So rich and creamy.

Night 5 - Shirakawa-go

The conventional wisdom around these parts is that Shirakawa is an amazing place to visit..for a few hours. Well screwing conventions and wisdom I chose to spend the night. Turned out to be one of the best decisions I made for the whole trip. When I got there via Nohi Bus at around 2pm it was raining pretty convincingly, but my inn had a small bus tour for guests and we rode up through the little main street to the observation area. By the time we got up there the rain had died down and the views of the grasso houses were pretty cool (the pictures are accurate!) I could see a lot of color in the hills trying to get their moment, but the darkening and graying sky kept things muted. I elected to walk from the observation spot back to the the inn which led me right through hobbit town. It was very very cool, and I stopped by a couple houses that allowed guests to visit for a small fee. The next morning the sun was a' shinin and the people had pretty much went poof! The village was quiet, the colors were getting their time to shine and snow covered mountains loomed the distant. The whole feeling of the area was like a dramatic scene from a movie where people sing, till and twirl on hilltops. The feeling was I was my very own wonderland. I loved Shirakawa...

Nights 6 and 7 - Kanazawa

Nohi Bus to Kanazawa in the morning. I got there and went straight to a 'geisha experience' I had booked months in advance via Airbnb. While waiting for my pre-paid moment to be with Japan's iconic ladies in white, I spotted one in the wild, which I thought was like seeing a white rhino on safari...rare and emotionally stirring (if you're like me anyways, who soley think of samurais and geiko when they think of Japan). I got the unique photo I wanted and enjoyed the the tea ceremony and short performance with the geisha I paid to see. That sounds awful..she was very nice and it was a very cool experience. The rest of the day I wandered around town, and then I went to Kenrokuen to see the night illuminations, which was beautiful and absolutely packed!!!. My first taste of mass-tourism on the trip. The next day I did a walking tour and visited the ninja temple. I'd skip it if you are on the fence. The day was really pretty and Kenrokuen in full foliage on a sunny day is a really special experience, despite the crowds. Woke up, bought some gold-leafed chopsticks and moved on to

Night 8 - Osaka

K. I didn't plan this one earlier on, but I needed a break. So I went to Osaka, which was on the way to the second half of my journey. I found a hotel and proceeded to chill tf out. Good call. I got a massage, ordered room service and went to bed early. The next morning I rented a car and headed down to..

Night 9 - Koyasan

First, the drive. So, I almost got killed driving on the wrong side of the road about 10 minutes in. I highly recommend doing the same, because it's a pretty efficient way to learn how to drive correctly if you're anything like me: American, and an idiot. From there on out it was mostly smooth sailing up a pretty mountain to the famous temple town. This is the day I had my first 'shit, I'm really here' moment. I'd been planning to come to Japan since pre-Covid, and had my first attempt cancelled because of the pandemic. My second try was cancelled due to illness. So this was my third go, and I'll just say on every itinerary I had put together, Koyasan was a part of it. So, five years late I finally arrived, saw the city sign and just got nearly lost it. All the hard work had finally beared fruit. It was something. And so was Mt. Koya. Very pretty, more fall foliage, a lot of temples, and unforutnatelty enough rain to cancel the night cemetery tour at Okunoin. This did not stop me from grabbing an umbrella and doing it myself, which may have been unwise seeing as I got lost and ended up walking around for two hours in the freezing rain with no idea what I was looking at except that there were stones and presumably bones everywhere. I did stumble upon the main shrine in the end and found the road, got back in my car, jumped in my temple's onsen, and defrosted in a very spritual way. Woke up, got out of bed...

Night 10 - Nara

Nara was awesome. Another one of those popular day trips I extended into the night. I cannot stress enough how smart it is if you have the time to do it this way. The difference in the experience of visiting popular sites without the crowds is striking and extremely rewarding. I was the first to walk into Kodaiji and also one of the first to wander Kasuga Taishi shrine, which is an amazing place. The deer were everywhere and my advice is to skip the deer park, and visit the other places. There will be deer there too, I promise. Overall, Nara is a very pretty and unique part of the world. Just a few really large main temples, some fun shopping streets, and nice older spots to wander through. I could and would do it as a day tour, but I'm glad I spent the night.

Nights 11-15 - Kyoto

So much is written about Kyoto, so I won't bore you with too many details. Kyoto was my favorite stop, but I could have done 4 nights instead of 5. Highlights for me were the autumn colors at Kiyomizu-dera, seeing the less touristy temples and doing the riverboat ride in Arashiyama (colors, colors everywhere on that ride), GEAR theater (it's such a fun and beautiful show), walking along the Kamo river at sunset, seeing the sunrise at Fushimi Inari, and shopping for knives at Pontocho and Nishi Markets. I also did a pretty cool samurai experience and learned that I am indeed, no samurai. There's a ton of other great things in this city like the Shirakawa canal and Philosopher's Path that are worth the time if you want a nice stroll. I also really enjoyed Ginka-ji and was blown away by the statues at Sanjūsangen-dō.

Nights 16 and 17 - Hakone

Okay, so I was on the fence here about this stop because it was yet another place on an already stacked itinerary, but I am so glad I did it. I spent two nights in a ryokan in Gora which was awesome. It had it's own onsen and the location was great. But what really made this worthwhile for me was seeing Fuji up close and personal. Taking the ropeway to the top for a perfectly clear view on a perfectly sunny day was unreal, and put a real cap on this whole trip. It was a perfect Fuji with the snow in the exact place I ordered it, and my 9000 pictures of that volcano can prove it. It was so nice I did it twice. Oth...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Excellent-Ruin3085 on 2024-12-10 18:36:29+00:00.

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Yesterday was my first time trying to buy Studio Ghibli Museum tickets. I just want to share my experience. Perhaps it will help others who are planning to go.

1. Tickets for the following month go on sale on the 10th of current month at 10am in Japan local time. For example, tickets for the month of January go on sale on December 10th at 10:00am japan time at this website
2. If you open the above website at 9:30am you will be RANDOMLY put on a virtual/online queue. My experience tells me there is no point in trying before 9:30am.

2.1 Here is my tips, I had 5 different browsers opened at different times (9:30am, 9:45am, 9:50am). And guess what?! The browser opened at 9:50am was the shortest queue (15min wait time). The browser opened at 9:30am was the longest queue (over an hour wait time). Maybe it was just a fluke but doesn’t look like “early bird gets the worm” ;-)

I only had to wait for 15 minutes in the virtual queue to buy my tickets. At that time, I could have any pick I want on the calendar. For curiosity sake, I checked another browser with a 30 min queue and there were still plenty of tickets left on any given day.

The transaction to purchase tickets was smooth. No glitches. I was surprised at how easy it was compared to what people had reported. Hope this helps.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Fudwick on 2024-12-10 21:13:27+00:00.

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Hi everyone, I wanted to post a trip report from our second time to Japan. We went in November for three weeks and basically followed the foliage throughout our trip. In general, we’re pretty aggressive with our trips and usually wake up on the earlier side and crash by 9 or 10pm. We’re not night owls or party people.

Day 1: 11/6: Arrival into Tokyo

We arrived in Tokyo, picked up our JR Pass, checked into our hotel. Went to go see Tokyo tower at night, get some food, then crashed.

Day 2: 11/7: Tokyo to Sapporo

We activated our 7-day JR pass here and started our travel day up to Sapporo. We took the Shinkansen to Hakodate, then the limited express to Sapporo. Our train left at 6:30ish in the morning and we got to Sapporo around 2:00pm. Since we were coming from the US, the early morning was perfect and this allowed us to rest the whole way. We sprung for the green car pass as well so it was nice and we didn’t have to navigate another airport while still getting the afternoon/evening in Sapporo. It started snowing about halfway on the limited express train and was beautiful to watch from the train. We explored Sapporo station area on arrival then checked into our hotel at 3pm. We explored shops around Sapporo and had miso ramen, which was the best ramen we’ve ever had.

Day 3: 11/8 Sapporo

We woke up, got some delicious coffee at “Love Espresso”, then went up the Sapporo TV Tower (worth it) then went to the old Sapporo factory mall, then the Sapporo museum and beer garden. Got Genghis Khan at the beer garden right when they opened at 11:30 am. You do have to get a reservation ticket from the museum but if you’re early there won’t be a problem. We then went back to the room to rest for a bit and catch a second wind before heading out shopping, exploring, and visiting the arcade. That night we had Yakitori near Odori park before calling it a night.

Day 4: 11/9 Sapporo to Hakodate

We woke up early and headed over to Hokkaido University. We like exploring college campuses when we travel and this was a nice one! There is a street lined with Ginko trees that was very pretty as well. We then checked out and hit up a street market for Oysters and a Salmon bowl (both some of the best seafood we had the entire trip). We took the limited express to Hakodate and got in around 5pm. We went out for sushi then walked around the red-brick storehouse district which had christmas lights and was quite pretty. Unfortunately our plan to go up to the top of Mt. Hakodate was squashed as the gondola was not working and could only be reached by private car or hiking, which we did not have time for. We called it a night after walking around a bit.

Day 5: 11/10: Hakodate to Hirosaki

We got up early in Hakodate and got a taxi to Cape Tachimachi to see the sunrise. Beautiful spot and made Hakodate feel worth it. We then got a Taxi to the old Public Hall and walked through the historic district back to the fish market where we had breakfast. Then we took the train to Hakodate Station and caught a 9:30 ish shinkansen to Shin Aomori. We then took a local train to Hirosaki and then dropped our bags off at the hotel since we were there a few hours before check-in. We went to the Roman Tea room for lunch (recommend) and then explored the Castle and two botanical gardens. Unplanned but it was the last day of their fall festival which was so fun to join. The leaves here were at peak and I got some amazing photographs this day. After that we made our way back to our hotel but got stopped by a Fuji worshiping cult. We didn’t go with them like they wanted but that was a notable experience lol. We did laundry this night at our hotel.

Day 6: 11/11: Hirosaki to Aomori to Morioka

Woke up early and explored the castle grounds again, then got coffee and breakfast at a little mom-and-pop place before checking out and catching a limited express train to Aomori. We only stayed in Aomori for an hour or so to do the Nebuta Museum and A-Factory. We planned on longer but got bored and decided to make our way to Morioka earlier (good call). Took the train to Morioka and checked into our hotel on arrival. Got Morioka Jajamen for lunch then went to the castle ruins and walked around before heading back to the room for a quick recharge. Then went out shopping and dinner at an Izakaya.

Day 7: 11/12: Morioka to Kakunodate

Spent the morning in Morioka and walked to Hoonji Temple. Got an early lunch at Karakoma (vegan place that was VERY good). Then took the train to Kakunodate. We booked an old Samurai warehouse that was turned into a little townhouse. It was huge and worth the experience. We walked around the village, got ramen for dinner, and called it earlier to recharge and enjoy our fancy accommodations.

Day 8: 11/13: Kakunodate to Sendai to Toyama

Last day of our JR pass so we made alot of use of it! Explored Kakunodate again in the morning then got the train to Sendai. We gave ourselves about 5 hours in Sendai so we got soybean milkshakes and went to the Zuihōden grave / temple area. Very pretty. Had lunch at an Izakaya that had lunch specials near the station. Got some taiyaki and shopped for a bit. Then got the train to the outskirts of Tokyo to transfer and go to Toyama. Checked into our hotel in Toyama and went out for Sushi (Toyama is famous for it).

Day 9: 11/14: Toyama to Takayama

Woke up early and explored Toyama. Went up the observation tower and visited the glass art museum (cheap and in a beautiful building/library). Then went to the Japanese sword museum and had Sushi again for lunch. Got our bags and headed by train to Takayama. For the first time in our trip we felt like we were in a tourist town and it was a bit of a shock lol, we adjusted (we’re also tourists afterall). We went to both the retro museums and had dinner a bit off the beaten path and it was very very tasty.

Day 10: 11/15: Takayama

Woke up early and walked to Hida no Sato open air museum. Highly recommend if you’re not going to Shinagawa-go like we were not. There is a wood carver there off to the side where you can see him at work and buy his goods. I got an owl and it is probably my most treasured souvenir from Japan. We walked back to our hotel and stopped to get some sweets and hit up the grocery store on the way. Then we went to lunch at Wabisuki (best soba I’ve had and I keep thinking about the duck soup I had). Then walked to Hie Shrine (another amazing fall foliage spot) and walked through the big park complex nature path area nearby to get back to the historic district. Hit up the sake brewery then went back to the room to finish up laundry and rest for a couple of hours. Went out for Takoyaki since most other places needed a reservation on a Friday night. Not disappointed though, the guy making them was from Osaka and was very friendly.

Day 11: 11/16: Takayama to Fukuji Onsen (Ryokan)

Slept in… whattttt. We were tired and the next day or so was about rest so we slept in a bit, got coffee and breakfast, then took the bus out to Fukuji Onsen where our Ryokan was located. Enjoyed the night there, had A5 Hida beef, did Ryokan things and called it a night.

Day 12: 11/17: Fukuji Onsen to Takayama to Nagoya

Woke up and had breakfast at the Ryokan, then took the bus to Takayama where we killed a few hours at a matcha shop and our favorite grocery store. Took the train to Nagoya and then checked into our hotel. Walked around Odori Park and went up the Electric tower (eh, ok to skip). Went out for udon then walked around and enjoyed the Christmas decor and shopped a bit before crashing for the night

Day 13: 11/18 Nagoya/Ghibli Park

We got Ghibli park tickets so that ate up most of the day. We got Unagi for dinner and purchased limited express tickets for the next day to Nagiso.

Day 14: 11/19 Nakasendo Trail day tripfrom Nagoya

We did the Nakasendo Trail this day but did it backwards from what most people do so it was mostly uphill. We walked from Nagiso, through Tsumago, then ended in Magome. Great hike, loved it, got soba for lunch in Tsumago. After getting back in Nagoya we did some laundry and went out for Yakitori.

Day 15: 11/20 Nagoya to Tokyo

This was our travel day from Nagoya to Tokyo so we checked out of our hotel and got a locker for our bags in Nagoya station. We then went to go explore Nagoya castle and the palace and got a healthy vegan lunch before catching the train to Tokyo. We stayed in the Nihonbashi area of Tokyo, it was quiet and the hotel was nice but a bit of a walk to the station. I definitely recommend being 5 minutes or less not 10 like we were from your closest station. It just added time when you want to be bouncing around. That night we went to Skytree to do tourist things and went to the aquarium. Had a burger because my system needed some western food at that point.

Days 16-21: Tokyo

Days 16-21 were in Tokyo. I won’t go into extensive detail here as this was mostly exploring different parts, going shopping, and having fun. My favorite places are Akihabara and Naka-meguro. Most overrated i think was Korea town, honestly feel like we have way better Korean food back in the states. I found that with the Vietnamese we tried as well. Japanese food in Japan is legit the best but I’d never tried international food internationally (if that makes sense) before and was kinda disappointed.

Day 21: 11/26

Last day with a late flight out of Tokyo so we explored the city in the morning before getting to the airport

Take a...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/TokyoExplorer27 on 2024-12-10 11:12:10+00:00.

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Hello, it's my second trip to japan, first time going to Nagano. It was only 4 days but I wanted to share my experience with you all because it was a lot better than I expected. I travel solo, originally from Spain.

DAY 1 - Zenkoji Temple. It was very beautiful. The temple grounds are very big and it feels very old and calm even with many people around.On the way to Zenkoji there are many shops and the overall atmosphere is very good. I also ate Oyaki which is typical from nagano.

DAY 2 - Togakushi. The path to the shrine is super beautiful. There were many big cedar trees and it feels like you are in a different world. There is also a Ninja museum that was interesting! I ate soba that day, it was my first time eating soba and it was pretty good.

DAY 3 - Countryside tour. There was some activity called "Picking Pears and Cook Onigiri" tour. A married couple in the countryside are doing it and it was a trully wonderful experience. You can see and pick fruits and vegetables in the farm in the outskirts of Nagano city.

They spoke in English and were very friendly. They live in a reformed warehouse. It's more than 100 years old. We also had lunch together, we cooked some onigiri together! Some Onigri and vegetable dishes were super good. I never had an experience like that, but it felt very close to what life in the countryside would be in Japan.

I happened to find it by chance, and I don't think it's very known, so I would like to share the link if somebody is interested in an experience like this:

DAY 4 - Obuse. I went manly for the Hokusai museum (I love the art), the city is also pretty and quiet. I was a bit tired so it was perfect for the last day. I ate some rice with chestnuts that day, I don't remember the name, but it was surprisingly good.

Conclusion

Nagano was a perfect escape from more busy locations like Tokyo or Kyoto. There is a lot of nature, even in the city, and getting to know some of the locals and getting closer to the rural life was an incredible experience for me. I guess it's not for everybody, but as someone who loves japan, I feel very lucky.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/tsemochang on 2024-12-10 04:16:29+00:00.

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Hi guys, I just wanted to share my itinerary for my recent Japan trip. I built my trip by reading similar threads here and wanted to share mine. It consists of boat rides, theme parks, attractions, food spots, temples and even a theater.

I tried to build my itinerary 2 sites/attractions per day as suggested here and still my feet and back hurt each night. One during day and one during night.

General suggestion of advice: The night we arrived to our hotel, I visited Donki to buy myself the body patch and foot pads that soothe aching muscles. I have mild scoliosis and on the second day, even standing on the trains, my back hurts a bit and there usually no bench so I have to suck it up. Every morning, before leaving, I put the body patch everywhere in my back to alleviate the pain.

Dress for the weather. In my home country, you can get away with dressing pretty much the same clothes all year round but man, 12°C is already cold. The wind will also make it so much colder. Check the temperature the week before your trip and make sure to bring the right clothes. For me, it was winter jackets, scarf and gloves.

I got by using the words "Sumimasen"(excuse me) and "Arigato Gozaimas"(Thank you so much). This is a bit of a challenge on other attractions because Belle on Beauty and the Beast ride wont speak english to you. I heard other foreigners in the line asking for subtitles but you are in Japan, what do you expect.

On the airport: I arrived in Narita airport. Dont forget to visit Japan website to declare your trip. We had other foreigners on the line that took too much time and was politely asked to fill up forms because they did not do this before arrival. They were shooed away in the queue. Fill these up and preprare to show your QR code to immigration.

After going through the long lines of immigration, use the atm to get money, get a welcome suica card(red card), load half of money to your suica and use it whenever possible. My mistake was using my credit card because after the trip, I realized my credit card charges around 2 USD per txn.

When you go to any JR station, get yourself a green Suica card - you can put your name on it so its awesome and it doesnt expire unlike the red welcome suica. So exhaust your red one until you can get a green one.

On getting around, just use google maps. It will say what station and platform to wait. Just look for arrows at the floor and the color for the signs. Its pretty easy. You can set settings also to use elevators only so dont be afraid. Just dont talk loudly on the train. Pls respect their culture.

Accommodation: We stayed at Apa Hotels and learned quickly that the term "Ekimae" means it is right beside the station. So if you dont like walking too much, book any hotels with "Ekimae". Every night, I soak my feet and body to a warm bath. It helps. The room is very small but I only use it to bathe and sleep so its fine. I only have a hand carry item and I used the 100 yen coin operated laundry machine on the 4th day to wash clothes. You can leave your luggage with them if you have spare time before or after the check in and they will ask you to go to a site that gives you a QR code to get back your stuff. I heard you can also arrange luggage transfer to other APA hotels but I only had a backpack so I wasnt able to use it.

Purchasing attractions: We used KKday and Klook app to book attractions. Sometimes, the day/time on Klook is not available so we used KKday. Generally, KKday is cheaper but Klook has more day/time available for example, the Shibuya sky day/time we needed was not on KKday but was on Klook. So check both and plan accordingly. Book these 2-3 months in advance.

Tokyo:

1st day: Asakusa Sumida River and Boat Cruise to Odaiba. What a fun way to sight see! Hanging out at Sumida river while waiting for our boat ride was an attraction in itself. Its so open and peaceful. And the boat cruise was so perfect for sight seeing. There's an open deck on top of the cruise perfect to hangout. We timed our boat cruise during sunset and it was amazing. So cold though. Below the cruise boat, there's seating but we stayed mostly on the deck. If youre cold, you can go below and still see things but with a mirror.

2nd day: Sensoji Temple, Team Lab Planets and Shibuya Sky Sensoji temple - dont forget to roam around for snacks/food around nearby areas and go inside the temple and have a fortune read. There's english translation how to do it and dont forget to put 100 yen coin. You need to tie the fortune paper and leave it in the temple if its bad fortune.

Team Lab planets - I honestly feel I can skip team labs. I enjoyed hanging out at Sumida river more than this.

Shibuya Sky was just OK. We didnt catch the sunset but it was still beautiful at night. Dont book this if you have fear of heights though. Its so windy up there.

3rd day: Disneyland Download the app the night before and scan your group's qr passes in the app to book timed attractions using the anniv passes. Its free. I heard you can use paid passes but we have no use for it. In the morning, we queued for around an hour for the Beauty and the Beast then they announced it was broken. We stayed in line to get to the castle but they gave us priority pass for any of the ride and got to check out inside the castle. During our lunch, I was checking the app if the Beauty and the Beast ride was open and it was! So after eating, we used the same priority pass to get into the ride. No lines! Thank goodness. It was the best ride in the park by a mile. Next best was Winnie the Pooh - it was so trippy and I dont know whats going on but still so wacky and fun.

(Osaka/Kyoto)

4th day: Flight to Osaka and explore Dotonbori and Namba at night. I used this day to just explore so I ate at a wagyu restaurant I booked in advance and just roamed in the area. I checked out the small hidden Hozen Ji temple which has the moss statue. I wanted to have a picture but somebody is deep in their worship that I had to restrain myself because they might find it offensive.

5th day: USJ By far, the most expensive attraction I did because I bought the express pass to skip the lines. I dont think you'll enjoy this park without the express pass because most of the attractions are 2 hours long wait time for the popular attractions. Nintendo World is still doable at night without the express pass because there's barely any lines even in Koopa ride. By noon, I had to lie down because my back was killing me. Was able to nap and lie down at the bench close to Demon Slayer ride while waiting for our timed entry. Just wanted to warn you that Demon Slayer ride is kind of intense. I saw other foreigner riders at end of the ride having their BP checked and the staff was asking me if I was OK. This is not a kid's ride I thought it was. I did ride the flying dinasaur ride but you know what you're getting into. The Demon Slayer one though, it took me by surprise.

6th day: Kyoto Daigo ji temple and GEAR theater. Kyoto by far has the quintessential Japan experience and I would say, it has the heart of Japan. Its just so gorgeous on autumn season. We had to use bus during this trip and it was so peaceful. In the morning, we visited Daigo-ji temple and it was so beautiful. The japanese garden and the pagoda at the end is so beautiful with the autumn colors. Most tourist are in Arashiyama area, Gion or Fushimi Inari so I wanted to skip that and pick a least touristy temple. I read someone here that this is her favorite spot and thank goodness I added this in the itinerary. At noon, we hangout by the river and it was so calming to people watch.

At night, we watched the GEAR non-verbal theater - also recommended by this sub and it was so magical. I truly recommend this because there's no lines. I wonder why Disney haven't bought the IP for this yet. Come in blind, best way to see it! Just book it if you're in Kyoto.

7th day: Shopping and Roam. Shopping at Namba area, had to buy a large suitcase for this to bring back home and finally had time to mingle with fellow travellers. I visited a foreigner friendly Karaoke, drink and hang, roamed Dotonbori and do shopping. Dont forget to eat Takoyaki - the best food there. Ate melon pan. Filled myself with whatever food I see. I also visited the tiger head temple a few minutes walk from Namba area called Namba Yasaka Jinja. Visited a Bic Camera building which is basically a mall. I visited Donki near Shin Sekai which was utterly chaotic (cant find the exit sign). I visited Shin Sekai which was dodgy to be honest, theres homeless people in the bridge but good photo op on the tower. I came across a pachinko area which is like a casino for them? Also dodgy to be honest.

In summary, I suggest to plan your itinerary around attractions or areas. Preferably one in morning and one in evening. And dont forget to plan food spots, shopping and give yourself some days to just explore or rest and people watch. I think the magic of Japan is really just finding little things like the small swan origami in your room and interactions with the locals. They are so polite and cute. I had encounter with a friendly chatty local on a Starbucks one time and how she and her friend will do a "free time Karaoke" at 11am. Its so cute. Also find time to shop at local groceries. I had the best strawberry in Japan in my life that I bought there. It was so sweet and juicy. Dont forget to eat famichiki on family mart - its reall...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/akakaiibaraaaa on 2024-12-08 17:30:46+00:00.

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It'll be our first time in Japan and we decided to go to Nikko for a day trip on December 26. We booked a limited express train, round-trip. We'd be arriving at around 8:30am and leaving at around 5pm so we basically have around 8 hours in Nikko. We initially wanted to see Kegon falls but seeing as how it's about an hour away from Tobu-Nikko Stn., we'd rather just stay near the town and I've seen from other threads that including it for a daytrip might make it feel rushed. Because of this, we only got the Nikko Pass (mainly for the basic fare required in getting the limited express tickets).

Is 8 hours too much though for just generally exploring the town at a leisurely pace near the train stations? For reference, here are the main places we were planning to go to:

Shinkyo Bridge

Nikko Toshogu (and Museum)

Rin'noji Temple

Nikko Tamozawa Imeprial Villa

Kanmangafuchi Abyss

Are there other places you might recommend that's not too far out from the station? Tyia!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/DoctorOfMathematics on 2024-12-09 08:14:21+00:00.

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As you can see a very packed itinerary. I actually avoided posting my plan on this sub because I knew it would be discouraged for being too busy. But honestly it worked out really well and I'm happy with how much I got to see.

Day 0 (Nov 24): arrive at Tokyo at night. Get some 7/11 food and go to bed.

Day 1 (Nov 25): Senso-ji, Asakusa, team labs borderless and Akihabara. Tried out that Instafamous fluffy pancakes place (meh) and Ichiran (yeah!)

Day 2 (Nov 26): Ueno (museums, etc), Shibuya, did some rock climbing at b pump, some shopping, Shinjuku, met a friend who lives in Japan for dinner. Some more shopping.

Day 3 (Nov 27): Meiji Jingu (favorite shrine in Japan!) Ginza, Imperial castle area, Intermediatheque museum, went to a viewpoint, etc.

Day 4 (Nov 28): Day trip to Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park. It didn't snow (it snowed the very next day 😑) but it was still absolutely fantastic. I was on the fence as reviews were mixed but a highlight of the trip. Returned to Tokyo and explored a quieter area of Tokyo (Yanesen I think?) to pick a nice dinner.

Day 5 (Nov 29): Morning train to Takayama. Had so much food at skewer stalls and stuff, walked around the historic neighborhoods, checked out some museums, onsen.

Day 6 (Nov 30): Morning bus to Shirakawa Go. Heavy snow gave it a unique vibe. Spent a few hours there and took another bus to Kanazawa. Explored Kenroku En, the fish market, and had some gold foil ice cream. Finally an evening train to Kyoto. That's 4 cities in a day! Busiest day of the trip but honestly it worked out very well. I had a limited list of things that I really wanted from all these places and I feel I really got everything I wanted.

Day 7 (Dec 1): Kyoto. Got my portrait done at the manga museum (an unexpected highlight, my favorite trip souvenir of all time, highly recommended). Fushimi Inari, climbing Mt Inari, explored Pontocho a bit. Went to a fancy ramen place with a 2 hour wait.

Day 8 (Dec 2): Day trip to Nara in the mornings. Amazing time with some deer, got the famous mochi, went to Todaiji and explored a bit idly. On my way back I noticed Uji was slightly along the way so I thought fuck it let's go. Went to the main temple (forgot the name) and then a smaller temple recommended on Reddit where I struck up a really lovely conversation with some old Japanese couples who taught me how to write my name in Katakana and Kanji, and we exchanged emails. Great experience. Had plenty of matcha and returned to Kyoto. On a whim walked into the Samurai museum (meh) where someone convinced me to take the Samurai class (also meh). Needless to say incredibly tired at the end of this day.

Day 9 (Dec 3): Arashiyama - crowds were super unpleasant. And then just kinda rested a bit and regained energy. Went to a Gion corner show and took an evening train to Osaka.

Day 10 (Dec 4): Morning/afternoon journey to Koyasan where I had an overnight temple stay booked. Didn't really do much this day but travel sadly due to some traveling/booking mishaps. Probably the only wasted day but even then got to participate in my temple’s evening ritual.

Day 11 (Dec 5): Morning rituals at temple. Koyasan exploration. Very small place so basically saw everything there was - the cemetery and the mausoleum were the highlight. Surprisingly good food. Returned to Osaka, explored Americamura a bit.

Day 12 (Dec 6): Osaka aquarium and Dotonbori area. Evening train to Hiroshima. I'll admit Osaka was a bit untapped but not a lot really jumped out to me while planning anyway which is why I went to Hiroshima.

Day 13 (Dec 7): Day trip to Okonushima (rabbit island). Felt like I was in the Mediterranean or something, great seascape. Rabbits were cool and the island in general was interesting. Went to Miyajima straight from there. Explored the main shrine and surrounding area, had some food. Returned to Hiroshima, had some Okonomoyiki (I think I prefer Osaka style!)

Day 14 (Dec 8): Hiroshima exploration - the nuclear bomb memorials and museum, and the castle. My return flight was actually in Tokyo so I took an evening train back to Tokyo.

Day 15 (Dec 9): Morning flight out of Japan.

I won't deny that it's super busy, but apart from Osaka (which I was never big on to begin with), I never felt like I missed much. In fact I feel very happy that I've managed to get such a broad range of experiences dowm in two weeks without things becoming too overwhelming or feelings too over planned - a lot of the overstuffing was due to spontaneity actually. I'll admit I did get tired at times and I did let myself relax when I needed to!

Overall absolutely fantastic trip, let me know if you have any questions.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/sh1nyburr1t0 on 2024-12-07 02:58:49+00:00.

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Hi all! My family (2 adults + 6 yr old) is planning a trip to Japan in Fall of 2025 and have been putting together an rough plan. We're planning to mostly get around via train (sadly the JR Pass doesn't seem like a good deal anymore) and would love some input on the plan. Appreciate any advice!

Days 1-6: Tokyo, Mount Fuji, and Hakone

• Day 1 : Arrival in Tokyo. Settle into Shibuya. Explore Shibuya Crossing, Hachiko Statue, and nearby shops and restaurants.
• Day 2 : Tokyo - Morning at Tsukiji Outer Market for sushi breakfast. Visit Pokémon Center DX in Nihonbashi and explore Akihabara.
• Day 3: Tokyo - Visit Meiji Shrine and Takeshita Street in Harajuku. Afternoon in Shibuya for shops and dinner.
• Day 4: Visit Mount Fuji. We're thinking this may be a good opportunity to book a guided tour but also up for exploring ourselves if it makes sense. Return to Tokyo in the evening.
• Day 5: Tokyo - Spend the morning at the Imperial Palace East Gardens. Open to suggestions of what to check out for the afternoon/dinner. Maybe some conveyor belt sushi, my son would love it! lol

Days 6-7: Kinosaki Onsen

• Day 6: Travel to Kinosaki Onsen. Check-in. Relax
• Day 7 : Spend the day visiting the town, onsen hopping, eating. Any recommendations on other things to do in the area?

Days 8-12: Osaka, Himeji, and Kyoto

• Day 8: Travel to Osaka. Explore Dotonbori and Namba areas for food and shopping
• Day 9: Universal Studios Japan.
• Day 10: Visit Himeji Castle. Maybe another good option for a signing up for a guide/tour?
• Day 11: isit Osaka Castle, Umeda Sky Building, and Osaka Aquarium.
• Day 12: Nara Day Trip. Tour again? Maybe?
• Day 13: Travel to Kyoto. Explore Fushimi Inari Shrine, Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, and Kinkaku-ji . Stay overnight in Kyoto.

Days 14-15: Return to Tokyo

• Day 14 : Travel to Tokyo. Last chance for shopping and food! Maybe checkout some more pokemon centers?
• Day 15: Departure from Tokyo

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/loveislandbruv on 2024-12-08 19:14:20+00:00.

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Hey everyone, my boyfriend and I visited DisneySea during our one week stay in Tokyo on Nov 26th and it was amazing!! I’ll preface this by saying we are not huge Disney fans, we appreciate it and were excited to go but we were NOT about to show up any earlier than 8:45am to get in the park considering it was a one hour journey from Shibuya and we had a fun cocktail bar night out the night before.

Even though we arrived at that time and there were already hundreds of people in line in front of us (actually got into park at 9:17am), we still got to do everything we wanted and left the park around 6:30pm.

We are from California, so we are used to a single park ticket costing $200 USD a head. Considering the DisneySea tickets were only $65 each, and we didn’t have any kids with us, we decided we will splurge on the Premier Access to skip those crazy likes and it was WELL worth it.

We used Premier Access to skip the line for: Tower of terror Journey to center of the earth Soarin Toy Story mania

We used the anniversary pass on Indiana Jones

We single rider’d Ragin spirits (definitely recommend this, the ride is so short and I feel like it doesn’t matter who you sit by)

The only thing we waited in line for was the carousel (15 min) as we killed some time waiting for our Indiana Jones slot, and luckily as I was refreshing the premier access page on the app around 3pm I landed premier access to the Frozen ride!!! At that point in the day I had totally given up on seeing fantasy springs and I was ok with it since we showed up to the park pretty “late” and I didn’t even think there would be any more passes for the day.

So we got to do the frozen ride and explore fantasy springs later in the evening and omg it really was magical!

All in all, we got to get good sleep the night before, got to the park at 8:45am, did 7 of the most popular rides without waiting in a single line and even got to see fantasy springs without really any prior planning. I think being proficient with the app and obviously being willing to spend $ on fast passes is really crucial to having a solid experience. On top of the tickets, we spent 9000 yen each (~$58 USD) to not waste a moment standing in line bored out of our minds and it was totally worth it, especially when the rest of our Japan trip took such a toll on our feet!!

I saw a lot of posts here prior to actually going that made me thing if I didn’t show up to the park at 7am I was basically going to be out of luck with fantasy springs and waiting in lines all day but I just wanted to give some hope to others that that doesn’t have to be the case :) it also helped we went on a weekday I believe! Thanks all for all the tips in here, helped us have an amazing day

EDIT: I should add that as soon as we got in the park there were premier access passes available for Peter Pan and frozen for quite some time. We opted for something else at the time naively thinking they’d be available later but then after 10am they were gone until 3pm or so when I luckily snagged a frozen pass. I did not see standby passes available for anything all day long.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Abyssight on 2024-12-08 08:22:05+00:00.

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I completed a two week trip in Japan in November 2024. This was my fourth trip and I had seen enough of Tokyo and Kansai already. So for this trip I wanted to explore other cities and some of the islands in the Inland Sea.

Day 1 - Osaka: By the time I got out of Osaka Itami airport, it was already night. I stayed at a hotel near Shin Osaka station in order to catch an early Shinkansen to Okayama the next morning.

Day 2 - Naoshima: I first shipped my luggage to the hotel at Takamatsu. took an early train to Okayama, changed to a bus to Uno port, and finally took the ferry to Miyanoura port on Naoshima. It was about 11am when I reached the island. The bike rental places were right across the ferry terminal and they all charged the same price for the whole day. Fortunately I managed to get one of the last e-bikes still available. It would have been difficult for me to ride up the roads to Chichu Art Museum without an e-bike.

My only reservation of the day was Chichu Art Museum at 14:00. This gave me some time to visit the Honmura side of the island where the Art House Projects were. I ended up visiting the Ando Museum, which was a rather small place that introduced the architect Ando Tadao. In retrospect, I probably should have visited the Art House Project places instead.

Riding from east to west towards Chichu was rough, even with an e-bike. I did not properly adjust the seat height and my calves suffered for it. By the way, the Benesse museum staffs do not allow people to ride their bikes along the coastal path where the Yellow Pumpkin is. Chichu Art Museum however was very much worth visiting, with its interesting architecture and art works, plus a rewarding view at its cafe.

The island notably did not have too many places to eat, relative to the number of tourists. I went to Chikurin 5 minutes before the old man opened the door. The man managed the entire place on his own and only served 8 guests for the evening. While the food was not the best I had for the trip, the place easily had the best vibe. It was just fun and relaxing to talk with other locals and tourists for the 2 hours I was there.

Day 3 - Teshima: There was only one item on the itinerary today: Teshima Art Museum. I took a ferry from Miyanoura port to Teshima, and quickly started exploring after picking up the e-bike I reserved ahead of time. This island was beautiful, with its old villages, farms along the hills, and the seas around it. After a few turns I found a scenic spot to take some photos. The Teshima Art Museum was amazing. Some people recommend against looking it up before going, and I'd agree. Take your time there. After the museum, I just rode the e-bike around the rest of the island. I'd suggest visiting the south side of the island. There are no tourist attractions but I liked the views there also.

I returned to Naoshima for the night. Dinner was curry rice near the hotel.

Day 4 - Naoshima, Takamatsu: Started the morning with a very nice cup of cappuccino. I rented an e-bike again, and revisited the Honmura area for Minamidera, which I should not spoil. I spent a bit more time visiting roads and outdoor attractions that I missed on day 2. Then I took the ferry to Takamatsu before noon.

Obviously I had to try udon in Takamatsu once I arrived. For the afternoon I visited the Shikoku Mura, a very good place to see historic buildings and artifacts from the region. Outside the museum, there was an infrequent bus that took me uphill to Yashima temple and observation deck. From there I could see the city, the hills behind it, and the nearby islands.

It took more than an hour to take the bus and train from Yashima to Kawaramachi, where my hotel was. The location was excellent, just one stop from Ritsurin-Koen and the harbour. The Kotoden line to Yashima also started there.

Day 5 - Takamatsu, Ogijima: Another early start to visit Ritsurin-Koen to avoid the crowd. This is the best garden I visited on this trip (out of two). The lakes, trees, bridges, and rocks are all masterfully laid out. The hill behind it forms a nice backdrop. Walking the entire garden took about 2 hours.

I had a beef udon for an early lunch with some tempura on the side. The place was popular with locals. The food was good and quite cheap even by Japan standard. I took a ferry to Ogijima. There is a village built along the hill facing the harbour. I really liked the view from the shrine at the top of the village towards the sea. The village itself noticeably has quite a few abandoned houses, and most of the locals are old, but there is a surprisingly nice school building.

I took a late afternoon train to Okayama. Unfortunately for me, there was a marathon in Okayama the next day and the hotels were expensive for the night. I ended up staying at a guesthouse about 15 minutes walk away from the station.

Day 6 - Kurashiki, Okayama: I spent the morning in Kurashiki to avoid the marathon. The main attraction was of course the historical quarter with the canal. The view was alright, and I took a nice photo or two. There was even a couple taking wedding photos on a boat. For me the shops selling denim products were more interesting. I saw a few rather unique designs that I did not recall seeing elsewhere. I would later regret not buying a jacket there.

In the afternoon I visited the main attractions Okayama had to offer. With Ritsurin still fresh in my mind, I was quite disappointed by Okayama's Korakuen. It just felt too open and flat, with only a handful of beautiful spots. I am sure it'd be much better during cherry blossom and peak autumn colour. The Okayama castle nearby was nice from the outside. Inside may be worth a visit if you are interested in its history.

Day 7 - Onomichi: Took a long local train ride from Okayama to Onomichi. Here I met up with my sister and a cousin (they each had other plans). The small city is beautiful and absolutely worth at least one whole day. We took the cable car up to the observation deck. The view from there is phenomenal. Then we slowly strolled downhill through some temples, stopping here and there for a drink or snack. The shopping street across the railroad had some nice shops and cafes to chill for the rest of the afternoon. The ramen lunch at Shoya was the best ramen I had for this trip, very much worth the 15 minutes wait.

Day 8 - Shimanami Kaido Onomichi to Omishima: We picked up a cross bike from the rental place near the ferry. With a reservation you can avoid lining up for too long. The short ferry ride (with dozens of school children) took us to the starting point on the nearby island. The routes are clearly marked the whole way. With the provided map and smart phone, it's very easy to navigate. There were uphill sections when approaching a bridge, but they were not hard to ride up with the cross bike. I saw other people struggle with those city bikes with a basket. So may be don't get those. The oranges and lemons from the local area are very, very good. And needless to say, the views are fantastic. We ended the day at Omishima, staying at an Airbnb guesthouse.

Day 9 - Shimanami Kaido Omishima to Imabari, Matsuyama: A special mention for the host because she kindly booked the dinner for us, and advised us to take a turn to the northern coastal path on Oshima. The hardest part of the cycling route is probably the uphill section on Oshima. We took the right turn as suggested at about halfway through the island. It took us to some shipbuilding industrial area, where we randomly walked into the best pastry shop that I can remember. After that was more great coastal views and the longest bridge of the trip. we ended the ride at Imabari station and took a bus to the Dogo Onsen area in Matsuyama. We stayed at a ryokan to reward ourselves with onsen and kaiseki ryori after two days of biking.

Day 10 - Matsuyama, Hiroshima: Visited the Matsuyama Castle in the morning. Being lazy, we took the ropeway to go up. The castle area is on top of a hill and the castle complex is quite large, with several watchtowers and gates. Inside there are some exhibitions with the usual armors, weapons, and other artifacts. From the top floor of the tenshukaku, one can see a sweeping view of the nearby area.

I also should mention the orange juice. There are quite a few places selling orange juice. Some offer a variety of orange juice. Some offer orange juice on a tap. I would soon come to miss the orange, hassaku, and lemon from this area.

The ferry to Hiroshima was quite a long trip, but the ship was comfortable with many types of seats to offer. There is even an area where you can lie down, if you like. We arrived in late afternoon. There was not much to do other than okonomiyaki (at Nagataya, expect long lineup) for dinner and some shopping.

Day 11 - Miyajima: Everyone knows about the famous torii gate in the water. We checked the high and low tide times and made sure to visit at both times. It was unfo...

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