This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/rcecap on 2025-07-20 16:10:08+00:00.

---

I just spent a day exploring Asuka (from Nara), and honestly, I’m still processing how incredible it was. It’s definitely not on the standard tourist radar—I didn’t see a single Western visitor all day. Most people I saw were Japanese tourists, plus a handful of Asian visitors.

If you’re into scenic rural landscapes and history/archaeology, Asuka is an amazing hidden gem I’d absolutely recommend. Not touristy, incredibly scenic and peaceful, with lots of history and archaeology.

Asuka is considered the birthplace of Japanese civilization— its first capital, where early centralized political structures, Buddhism, and cultural influences from China and Korea took root, and where the country name Nihon (日本) was first adopted.

I mainly went to check out the ancient historical and archaeological sites, but what surprised me was how scenic and peaceful the whole area is. I spent the day e-biking through terraced rice fields (along with bamboo groves and cosmos fields in bloom) and narrow village streets, all surrounded by mountains and dramatic Ghibli clouds today. It’s honestly one of the most pleasant casual bicycling days I’ve experienced anywhere.

Right next to Asuka Station, you can grab a English map from the tourist office to plan your day. There are numerous spots to see in the area, all reachable by bicycle. I rented an e-bike from Himawari Bicycle Rental, located next to the station, for ¥1,200 for a full day (they have a ¥200 digital coupon on their website). Return it by 5pm when they close. The area is hilly, so I would recommend an e-bike. Set off and spend the day exploring archaeological sites and small local museums, ride past rice terraces and through rural roads, stop for lunch or coffee, and just soak in the scenery.

The key archaeological sites such as Takamatsuzuka and Kitora have adjoining small modern museums which are quite nice to visit - modern, air conditioned and with plenty of artifacts, dioramas, multimedia exhibits, models, etc. Compared to Kyoto National Museum which I visited earlier this week, these museums felt much more intimate and “real”

---

they let you get close to the artifacts and history in a way the big places don’t.

For the history buffs, make a pit stop two stations before Asuka at Unebigoryo-Mae Station and visit the Archaeological Institute of Kashihara’s museum. It’s a medium sized museum that is super well designed and quite accessible to non-Japanese speakers. It covers the Jomon / Yayoi periods to the Kofun and Asuka periods, with special focus on local archaeological finds. Give yourself an hour there.

Asuka works easily as a day trip from Osaka, Kyoto or Nara. Depending on your train choices (local vs. express), you can reach Asuka in just over an hour to up to 1 hour 40 minutes one way. Absolutely worth it.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/zymox808 on 2025-07-19 21:58:15+00:00.

---

Appreciate all the advice and info here and on other subreddits that helped with shaping our itinerary. Sharing our experience to pass it forward, so someone else may find it helpful for their plans/ideas.

Context:

• Two teenagers who have never been to Japan. They want to see some of the sites posted on social media. Two parents who have been to Japan before and want to avoid crazy tourist spots.
• Minimize backtracking as much as possible.
• Index towards public transportation. No car rental.

11 day/10 Night Itinerary:

• Narita (1 night)
  • Overnight at hotel near airport, with early morning flight out to Hiroshima. Its cheaper and faster than taking shinkansen.
  • The optimal food option (cost, variety, quality, and effort) is to eat at Narita airport. Terminal 3 has a pretty good food court before security.
• Hiroshima (2 nights)
  • Peace Park and Museum: Solemn experience, worth it.
  • Miyajima: Floating Tori Gate and Mt. Misen. The ropeway up to Mt. Misen was closed due to maintenance, thus we hiked up. There is no water up on top except for two vending machines. Plan accordingly.
  • Shotengai: Are shopping street/arcades typically with a covered roof. Can find one in most Japanese cities has numerous dining and shopping options. Hiroshima Hondori shotengai has lots of shopping and dining options.
• Kotohira (1 night)
  • Ritsurin Garden in Takamatsu: Visited in the morning, few visitors, amazing Japanese Garden.
  • Kotohira Shrine (Konpira-san/Kotohiragu): This was a hidden gem, visited near closing and early in the morning. Very tranquil, not many tourists, there are many steps to climb.
  • There are numerous good rykoans with onsen and kaiseki here.
• Himeji (1 night)
  • Himeji Castle: Very impressive castle and grounds, you also get a small discount if you have any of the major JR rail pass.
  • Himeji shotengai, between station and castle. Seems to closed down earlier than other shotengai. Maybe caters more to the tourist vising for the day.
• Kyoto (3 nights)
  • Kobe: Day trip going from Himeji to Kyoto. Visited Nunobiki Herb Garden just right next to the station. Enjoyable, nothing too amazing. Took the ropeway up, hiked down. Thought the hike down was more enjoyable, i.e. waterfalls, quietness, nature.
  • Osaka: We bypassed it except for a night trip to visit Dotonbori.
  • Almost every sightseeing place we went to in the Kyoto/Osaka/Nara area were heavily packed with tourists. Tour buses were ubiquitous here. Early morning is best bet to avoid crowd, but there will still be tourists like us.
• Tokyo (2 nights)
  • Ueno Station: Based near here due to plan to ride Keishi Skyliner back to airport.
  • Teamlab Borderless: Great experience. More enjoyable if take time to slow down and immerse/interact with the exhibit.
  • By this point, the teens were scarred from the heavy touristy spots in Kyoto/Osaka, so changed plan to avoid super crowded areas and focused on shopping and enjoying the food.

Transportation Passes:

• Kansai Hiroshima Area Pass: The transportation cost between Hiroshima and Kyoto was comparable with or without the pass. However, the flexibility that the pass provided was what worked for us as we could hop on any JR train (including shinkansen) without spending time booking individual tickets. This saved a lot of time.
• Tokyo Metro 24, 48 or 72H Pass: As others have mentioned this was not a slam dunk decision. It only works on Tokyo Metro and Toei subway lines. Not on JR trains or buses. We got it and worked for us as we were based near Ueno station which has two metro lines there. It let us hit shopping areas away from the more touristy places. It required transferring multiple lines, but gave flexibility on when to make the transfer.
• Google Map: Is a very useful app, but doesn't filter by what pass you have and you'll need to know pass limitation outside of the app. We tried other apps and none were as good as Google Map with routing and on time info.
  • Kyoto <> Nara is serviced by two rail companies (JR and Kintetsu). JR rail pass only works on JR and not Kintetus. Google Maps would route us on both companies in a single trip.
  • Tokyo Metro and Toei subway lines are designated by a single letter, such as G = Ginza line, while JR lines are designated by two letters, such as JY = Yamanote line. Found setting Google Map filter (Options > Prefer = Subway) helped a lot but would suggest JR lines even in that setting.

Heat and humidity is oppressive in the summer:

• After experiencing first day of heat, we adjusted our plan to sight see in the morning and travel/shop/veg in the afternoon with another possible sightseeing trip in the evening. We adjusted the itinerary to build in slack for rest due to heat.
• Bring lots of quick dry clothes, not cotton. You are gonna sweat profusely. Can wash the quick dry overnight, wring it out with a towel and hang, should be dry by morning. However, I ended up doing it in the morning as the slightly damp clothes provided a nice cooling effect.
• Pack Light: We forward our large luggage to Kyoto and packed what we needed for first segment of trip in our backpacks. To keep backpack light, we had two quick dry outfits each. Used luggage lockers to store backpacks when day tripping and don't have a hotel.

Hope this travel report helps and happy traveling.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/LittleTinyBoy on 2025-07-19 01:45:20+00:00.

---

My family of 5 recently went on an 8-Day trip to Japan for the first time. I wanted to make a report/summary of our trip for both myself as a journey log and for reddit as a thank you to the community that has helped me so much. I hope this post can be helpful to other new travelers. So far, I have made a post to review my itinerary and a post of my revised itinerary. Now I will make a summary of the itinerary that was actually executed.

Context: Was always a dream to visit Japan ever since discovering anime. Did a lot of research about the places we were going to visit and the activities we were going to do and even the restaurants we could eat in. Made a lot of backups incase things didn't go as planned (It didn't lol). Learned basic Japanese phrases through YouTube and ChatGPT (The goat 2nd only to Google Maps) that would help me communicate with locals when eating, commuting, shopping and sightseeing.

Apps That I Used:

Google Maps - My general primary travel guide. It was almost always on or in my background checking if we were on track and on time.

Google Lens - Go-to translator/ information guide. Instant and relatively accurate.

ChatGPT - My preferred translator when I wanted to ask questions on the fly. Preferred it because I was able to provide context and made the translations more appropriate.

Japan Transit Planner - Used it whenever the trains got too confusing (mostly due to the local and rapid train schedules). Side note: Whenever I asked locals for directions on trains, they always used this app.

CardReader - To keep track of our 5 suica cards

Ecbo Cloak - Booked a reservation on our final day, so that we didn't have to drag our luggage around Tokyo. Highly recommend if you have large luggage.

NERV - An alert app for natural disasters. Thankfully never had to use it

Accommodation: We booked directly through a Japanese resident costing 11,600yen per night for a small 3-storey house complete with amenities in Kawasaki. Cheaper than a hotel booking especially for a family of 5 and imo more comfortable. Made our stay a lot more fun when we would buy bento and grocery food. The host was also sooo accommodating.

Things I learned: Be flexible. The first few days I tried my hardest to stick to the itinerary and in turn quickly tired out my family. I could keep going, but I realized this was our family trip so I made retroactive changes. I also greatly overestimated my family's willingness to walk long distances.

Small Gripes - As we were going in and out of Tokyo, it was baffling how the left & right walking etiquette kept changing. I've noticed only Tokyo walks on the left and the further you are from Tokyo, right side walking becomes the norm. Bus stops outside of Tokyo are very discreet. A few were basically playing hide & seek with us. Lack of shade. The fact that rain did not become a hindrance to our trip was both a blessing and a curse. The constant walking under the sun took a toll on my family. Changes had to be made due to this. This could be a tourist specific problem as everyone else would jump between being indoors and outdoors compared to us who would spend hours outside. The heat and humidity were fine like any SEA country, but it was the combination of long shadeless walks that became a problem.

Essentials: 1. Pocket Wifi - Must-have for stress-free navigation. Ninja Wifi suited our needs the best. 2. IC card - Must-have to avoid wasting time at ticket machines and getting stuck at ticket gates. Welcome Suicas are the best IMO as you can easily empty it out on your last train ride by choosing the option to top up the exact amount needed to exit the station. 3. Umbrella - Or any other thing to protect you from the sun. 4. Power bank - A small 10000 mAh one is enough to ensure your phone gets through the whole day. Your phone is your key to everything; don't lose access to it.

Summary: Amazing people. I've read some people say that the Japanese do not like foreigners, but I still went in with an open mind and made sure I would be able to communicate with them on a basic level. I was equally met with kindness and sometimes even more as there were instances where they would personally lead us to where we needed to be. Staff were almost always kind except for one tourist trap place we ate at. Amazing public transportation. When you factor in the volume of daily commuters they need to cater, it's amazing how efficient the system is. Even in the Outer Tokyo parts, they manage to provide great service. There were times when the platforms, exits, train lines, local vs rapid trains got confusing, but it was manageable and I was getting more accustomed as time went on. Amazing food. Don't be scared to try anything. Amazing culture. If you respect the culture, I promise you it's very worth it. We weren't perfect ofcourse, but everyone was very understanding.

Home Base #1: Okubo, Shinjuku

Day 1 (Start: 5PM) :

Early Dinner: Noseya (Abura Soba); Great first stop. Host/Chef was friendly and helpful. Lovely local soba restaurant.

• Shinjuku - Saw the cute 3D cat. Went to Alpen Tokyo to check out shoes and admire the baseball merch (All hail Ohtani-san)
• Shibuya - Shibuya Crossing photo ops and Starbucks for an aerial view; Saw Hachiko the goat; Shibuya Loft to buy stampbooks
  • PS: We bought stampbooks for us to collect eki stamps of train stations we would pass through. A memorabilia I cannot recommend enough as it is a fun experience and something you can return to and reminisce on. We also bought a Goshuin book for the same reasons, but for shrines and temples. Instead of being free like in eki stamps, goshuins cost 500 yen but you get to watch beautiful calligraphy each time.

**Day 2 (**~~7AM~~ 7:30AM) - Was also able to get the famous train-staff-pushing-you-into-the-train experience due to peak hours; Was very surprising and uncomfortable, but is now a memorable experience and a fun story to tell.

• ~~Hachiko Statue~~ - Removed as photos were adequate the night before.
• Tokyo Station - Extremely photogenic train station
• Kokyo Gaien National Garden - Was only able to view from the outside
• Tokyo Metro Govt Building - Beautiful cityscape, but there was a haze/fog surrounding the city.

Lunch: Blue Plate (Curry) - Amazing curry, beautiful blend of spices and herbs.

• Koenji - I expected we would've spent more time here, but the walking fatigue took a toll on my family. Adding the fact that they weren't too amazed with the local scenery, the stop was cut short.
• Nakameguro (~~Night~~ Afternoon) - Walked along Meguro River to Starbucks Reserve Roastery. Good coffee, amazing decor and layout.
• Shin-Okubo (Korea Town) - Due to the additional time we had, we were able to visit Korea Town which was nearby our stay. Okay place, was able to witness Japanese Police in action: Calm and used numbers to surround the alleged offender's car.

Dinner: Ramen Kagetsu Arashi - A ramen chain restaurant. Delicious cheap ramen. On the saltier side, but I've read that Japan prefers ramen to be salty.

**Day 3 (**~~7~~ 6AM) - Decided to leave earlier to avoid the morning rush as we were also moving to our second and last stay place.

Home Base #2: Shitte, Kawasaki

• Yamashita Park - Beautiful Park. Also saw the Hikawa Maru Museum Ship.
• Komachi Street - Lots of street food. Ate lunch here
• Tsurugaoka Hachimangu - Out of the 6 shrines/temples we visited, this was my favourite. The combination of very few tourists, beautiful scenery and watching the monk handwrite the calligraphy made the experience memorable.
• Hokokuji Temple - A serene bamboo forest.
• Shonan Coastal Beach (Sunset & Mt. Fuji) - Went to this beach hoping for a shot of the sunset and Mt. Fuji together. What made this spot memorable was enjoying the sea winds and cloudy views with friendly locals. I asked a local where would you generally see Mt. Fuji and he was very kind and helpful and although we only saw a silhouette of it, we stayed to chill and listen to a couple singing.

Dinner: Kinokuniya Shokudo (Seafood Donburi) - Local restaurant that apparently was one of the oldest in the area. Very friendly staff with family vibes. Delicious and fresh seafood. Affordable prices. One of the top places we ate in.

Day 4 (7AM, Travel to Hakone)

Lunch: Daiyuzan Line Station Cafe (Omurice) - Arrived right as it opened. Cool aesthetics as it originally was a train station and they maintained the theme. Pretty pricey omurice and hamburger steak, but it was high quality Ashigara beef and soft omelette.

• Amasake Tea House - 400 year old teahouse. Okay tea and desserts. Go for the vibe.
• Train to Gora Sta. (Hydrangea Viewing) - *Vibrant flo...

---

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1m3k4vx/first_time_in_japan_reflections_revisions_and_a/

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/FinSampuli on 2025-07-16 09:19:18+00:00.

---

Hey!

This autumn, I’m traveling to Japan for the second time. On my first trip, I visited Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka, so this time, I’m not spending much time in those areas. I'm planning my route to follow the fall foliage, traveling from Sapporo down to Nagoya. I’m a 30-year-old solo traveler, and this itinerary focuses on the places I personally find most important to visit. I also have many more spots saved on my map. I'll check them out if I have the time and energy. :)

I welcome ideas and improvements!

Here’s my itinerary:

29.10. – 3.11. | Sapporo Arrival in Sapporo. Planning to visit Maruyama Park, the Sapporo TV Tower, and the Sapporo Beer Museum. I’ll also do a day trip to Otaru, and maybe one to Asahiyama Zoo (still deciding!).

3.11. – 5.11. | Aomori Staying in Aomori and visiting the Nebuta Museum Wa Rasse. Might do a day trip to Lake Towada or Takayama Inari Shrine.

5.11. – 9.11. | Sendai Visiting the National Treasure Osaki Hachiman Shrine and doing a day trip to Yamagata to see Risshaku-ji Temple.

9.11. – 12.11. | Nikko Planning to visit Toshogu Shrine, the Tamozawa Imperial Villa, Sazae Temple, and possibly Edo Wonderland.

12.11. – 15.11. | Nagoya Highlights include the Toyota Commemorative Museum, Nagoya City Science Museum, and maybe Ghibli Park if I can fit it in.

15.11. – 17.11. | Nara Exploring Nara Park and nearby attractions.

17.11. – 18.11. | Mount Koya (Koyasan) Visiting Kongobu-ji Temple and Okuno-in Cemetery.

18.11. – 23.11. | Hiroshima Planning to visit the Peace Memorial Museum and Dome. I’ll take a day trip to Itsukushima (Miyajima) and another to Fukuoka to see a sumo match.

23.11. – 26.11. | Nagasaki Visiting the Peace Park and Atomic Bomb Museum.

26.11. – 29.11. | Tokyo Spending my final days in Tokyo—no specific plans yet, just taking it easy before heading home.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/ShinkansenSlide82 on 2025-07-16 02:33:30+00:00.

---

Just got back from Expo 2025 and honestly, it was a total letdown. Easily the worst part of our time in Japan. Here's what went wrong

• As most of you know, the official Expo site is a nightmare to use. It’s cluttered, hard to follow, and way more complicated than it needs to be. Making reservations felt like navigating a bureaucratic maze. The pavilion lottery system was just as frustrating, convoluted and unfair. We didn’t get access to any of the ones we were actually excited about.

• The event was absurdly overcrowded. It was clear that ticket sales were prioritized over visitor experience. Lines stretched endlessly, and half the time we had no idea what we were even waiting for. The website provided little in the way of helpful descriptions or previews. Yes, you can find unofficial videos on YouTube, but it’s baffling that the organizers didn’t provide better tools for planning. After waiting hours, we’d end up in pavilions like France (basically a giant ad) or Latvia (a wet wall)

• Inside the gates, crowd control was practically nonexistent. Seating was scarce, shaded areas were rare, and there were no indoor air conditioned places to sit and cool down.

• Accessibility seemed like an afterthought. There were no visible accommodations for guests with mobility challenges or physical limitations.

• Food was a joke. Limited choices, poor quality, and insanely long waits, and this might be forgivable if the food was actually good... It wasn’t.

• Pavilion content was often shallow and forgettable. After all that time in line, we were usually greeted with uninspired tourism videos or blatant corporate promotion. Even the Gundam experience felt lazy, only half of it had English subtitles. Why not all of it?

• We expected cutting edge tech, creativity, and forward thinking ideas. What we got was marketing fluff, tourism ads, vague messages, and filler content.

• We didn’t even stick it out. We left early, completely disillusioned and frustrated.

The whole thing felt rushed, mismanaged, and designed with profit, not people, in mind.

tldr: Skip the Expo. If you’re in Japan, use that day to visit literally any other city. We regret wasting our time there!

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Admirable-Dream-4271 on 2025-07-15 10:45:54+00:00.

---

Hi everyone!

I'm heading to Japan in September for work and planning to extend my stay a bit. I've put together a 10-day itinerary and would really appreciate any feedback, suggestions, or must-see recommendations!

---

Pre-trip

I'll arrive in Japan about 4 days early: 1 day for rest, and 3 days for work (mostly around Yokohama and Tokyo).

• Day 1 (Tokyo)
  • 09:00 - Sensoji Temple and Asakusa
  • 12:00 - Imperial Palace
  • 14:00 - Momat
  • 18:00 - Shibuya
• Day 2 (Tokyo)
  • 09:00 - Gotokuji Temple
  • 12:00 - Denim worksop
  • 15:00 - Disneyland
• Day 3 ( Mt. Fuji & Hakone)
  • Full-day private tour
• Day 4 (Tokyo)
  • 10:30 - TeamLab Planets
  • 12:00 - Tsukiji Market
  • 14:00 - Ginza (shopping)
  • 18:00 - Tokyo tower
• Day 5 (Tokyo)
  • Full-day - Ghibli museum tour
• Day 6 (Tokyo -Kyoto)
  • Free-day
  • 18:00 - shinkansen to Kyoto
• Day 7 (Kyoto)
  • 06:00 - Fushimi Inari Taisha
  • 10:00 - Stroll through the Higashiyama District
  • 14:00 - Nintendo museum
• Day 8 (Osaka)
  • 08:30 - Kyoto - Osaka shinkansen
  • Full-day - Universal Studios
• Day 9 (Nara & Uji)
  • full-day- Nara & Uji & Kyoto private tour
• Day 10 (Kyoto)
  • full-day: Cycling Katsura path - Arashiyama - bamboo forest

After the trip

4 full days in Kobe for work, then back to Tokyo for returning to home

---

This itinerary leans a bit theme-park-heavy thanks to my friend’s interests, so those days are non-negotiable 😊. That said, if you have any “you’ve got to see this if you’re in the area!” suggestions, I'm all ears!

I'm also working on a custom map filled with restaurants and cafes so we’re not scrambling to find food on the go.

Since we’ll be visiting during typhoon season, I’m trying to keep things flexible but most of the major attractions are already pre-booked. Any tips on what to do if plans get canceled due to weather? Backup indoor activities or general advice would be super helpful!

Thanks in advance!

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/herodotus67 on 2025-07-14 09:05:09+00:00.

---

This is Part 2 in my series of Japan travels, you can find the previous parts at the end of this post.

Mt. Fuji

So I decided while in Tokyo that I’d attempt hiking Mt. Fuji, as someone who has done his fair share of mountain / volcano hikes. I bought some gear at L-Breath Shinjuku Shop since I hadn’t thought to bring camping gear on my trip (I also later bought some gear from Montbell in Funiyoshida since I needed to go there anyway to repair my backpack - they were very helpful BTW).

The gear totalled ~£250 for a 1 person tent, roll mat, cooking essentials including camping stove. That sounds quite steep, but I’ll be using it on the rest of my trip and figured I’d save on hostels / hotels anyway by camping.

I booked a bus from Tokyo Station Yaesu South Exit to Kawaguchiko station using this website which I’ve talked about before (hit the translate button) https://secure.j-bus.co.jp/hon.

I then camped at Kawaguchi-machi New bridge campground by lake Kawaguchi. I called up to reserve beforehand using the hostel phone and they spoke perfect English. I expect you could just turn up though and pay cash, as long as it’s not too late in the day. The camp was pretty awesome, I was the only person there the first night, and the owners (a couple I believe) were very friendly.

As for the hike itself, I made my reservation for the Yoshida trail the day before using this website https://www.asoview.com/channel/tickets/r0Gpg8xllI/ and it encourages you to download the Mt. Fuji app for GPS tracking while on the trails https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/mt-fuji-gps-trail-map/id1572964303.

I caught the 6:40 bus from Kawaguchiko station to Fuji Subaru 5th Station (this is the same as the Yoshida Trail 5th Station). You can find the bus timetable here https://www.japan-guide.com/bus/fuji_season.html. I would recommend getting to the bus station ~20 minutes before departure because the queue grows quickly and you’ll either be standing or have to wait for the next bus in an hour if it’s too full. Also, as I’ll explain later, if you’re planning on doing the hike in one day like I did, I would STRONGLY recommend getting the earliest bus possible to give yourself the best chance of not hiking at night in dangerous conditions!

Once I got to the 5th station of the Yoshida trail (where most people start, and I would suggest starting from here because trust me it gets hard), I displayed my QR code for the reservation and was on my way. They didn’t check for proper gear like the website suggests they would, but you absolutely need it.

More than anything, you need to be prepared for all weather. Even in summer which is the best time for hiking it (July-September), you need clothes to keep you warm (hats, gloves, raincoat, trousers) even if you don’t end up needing them. It can get cold as you pass through the cloud cover, though when I went in July the wind was very welcome during the intense sweaty climb that I’ll now describe.

I’ll preface this by saying I’ve hiked Acatenango volcano in Guatemala, which many have described as the hardest thing they’ve ever done and I’d say Fuji was similarly hard, maybe marginally better. In my experience, volcanoes are always much harder than mountains because they are steep ascents the whole way. You definitely need to have decent fitness to do it in a day up and down, otherwise opt to do it over 2 days by booking one of the mountain huts in advance (I believe these get booked out quickly).

The way up is physically exhausting, but the way down is what will get you. You will make a choice between sliding down gravelly slopes, or contending with those ascending and clambering down the rock face that you scrambled up earlier. Pick your poison.

There are also a number of stations where you can rest along the way and purchase things like water, snacks, stamps etc.

Overall it’s an incredible experience, but the famous saying “a wise man climbs Mount Fuji once, but only a fool climbs it twice” definitely holds true. It’s a one and done in my books.

The Northern Japanese Alps

I spontaneously decided to go North to Matsumoto, where on the bus I started reading about Kamikochi and the Northern Japanese Alps. Google Maps isn’t much help in getting there, other than indicating that the buses from Matsumoto to Kamikochi must be reserved in advance. You can do this from the Matsumoto Bus Terminal.

You have two main options where both include buses, because Kamikochi BANS CARS to preserve its natural beauty; take a direct bus from Matsumoto Bus Terminal (National Park Liner) that departs twice per day at 5:30AM and 10:30AM, or a Kamikochi Line train from Matsumoto to Shin-Shimashima + a bus to Kamikochi. Both buses can be reserved here https://japanbusonline.com/en/CourseSearch/11600350001

There are more niche ways of doing it, like renting a car and parking near Kamikochi, at either Akandana car park and catching a non-reserved bus https://www.nouhibus.co.jp/route_bus/kamikochi-line-en/#timetable or Sawando car park https://visit-nagano.alpico.co.jp/timetable/kamikochi-sawando.

I ended up doing the former option because I wanted a car to see more of the Alps over a few days. You can also apparently get taxis in and out of Kamikochi to the car parks nearby, which I imagine people do when the bus lines are too long when departing, or if they miss the last bus which is usually ~5:30PM.

Despite the hassle of getting there. Kamikochi and more specifically the trails around it are so worth it. The Kappa-bashi bridge is cool but crowded with tourists. I suggest if you have time doing the walk to the Myōjin pond which is ~3.5km one way. The trail tells you to bring a bear bell, and many do.

As a side note about car rentals for the Alps, if you’re East of them in Matsumoto they book up in advance, if you’re West of them in somewhere like Kanazawa they’re easy to book the day before. As I’m doing a lot of this trip on a whim I of course didn’t have a booking in Matsumoto, but managed to finesse a car by waiting until closing time at Nissan rent-a-car for cancellations/no-shows and it worked.

For the rest of the Alps, I had an amazing experience in Hirayu no Mori in Hirayu Onsen, which I thought might be touristy because it’s quite well known, but no it was very traditional. Only about 700 yen too for unlimited time in the onsen, and the restaurant food was great too with it hidden in the forest so it had amazing views.

The Alps make for some pretty incredible driving. The towns are bubbling with hot water and springs. I see why people love skiing here with the skiing + onsen combo. The countryside is green and tranquil. I’d just advise to avoid some of the mountain passes because they’re a bit sketchy driving, especially at night, so just take the expressway.

You can visit the Shinhotaka Ropeway for the best views of the Alps, even without taking the cable car itself, and stop off somewhere by the Gamada river along the way for some swimming like I did.

Since this trip to the Alps was last minute, I randomly decided to stay in Takayama because it wasn’t far from the mountains and my god I’m glad I did. I had an amazing AirBnB host who was also into climbing, skiing etc and it’s a beautifully preserved Edo town. Almost every street, not just a district, is lined with the old wooden houses if that’s the side of Japan you’re looking for. Some cool forest temples too like Sakurayama Hachimangu shrine.

One thing I didn’t do was Nagano, I only passed through on the train, but it was one of the most idyllic looking cities I’ve ever seen, surrounded by countryside on all sides. The photos I took from the train as we overlooked the city almost look like anime it’s that pretty. Google doesn’t do it justice.

The final two cities I explored were Matsumoto and Kanazawa. You could probably do each city in a day, they have nice attractions you can find on Google Maps.

I’ll had some last few tips and things I’ve noticed, like I shared in my last post. You definitely need cash if you’re driving, some roadside places for food don’t accept card. It’s also best to bring hand sanitizer, as I’ve had a few times now in public bathrooms where there’s no soap, only water, for some reason. The traditional wooden houses in some of the places I mentioned like Kanazawa and Takayama are ofc not soundproofed, which creates these beautiful moments in the evenings where you hear the laughter and muffled conversation of those inside, it’s something special you have to witness. And more of a practical one; if you’re using Airalo for your eSIM, which I suggest you do, you won’t be able to make phone calls. If you need to (like I did to call up the campground), ask the hostel if you can use their phone or try looking up the place you want to call on social media (Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp) to make a free internet call which is worth a shot as a last resort.

Stay tuned for part 3 which will be Kyoto, Shikoku and Kyushu!

Part 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/s/K3F56IUpZX

Part 1.5: https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/s/PTkGeN5GsX

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/rezolution13 on 2025-07-11 00:56:37+00:00.

---

First have to start off saying that this is my first post ever on Reddit, and I’ve decided to post here as we wouldn’t have gotten through this trip without all the amazing advice, tips, etc. I found in this subreddit.

My wife and I have always wanted to go to Japan and even though our close friends and family thought we were crazy we decided to with our two kids (22 & 4 months) this past May. For anyone in the same boat wondering if it’s doable, believe me it is.. but it’s going to come with some hard times, so just be prepared and give yourself a little grace when things don’t go as planned.

For those curious, our trip itinerary consisted of the following: Landed in Narita (9pm arrival) Night 1 in Tokyo Day 2-6 Osaka (day trips to Nara and Uji) Day 6-9 Kyoto Day 9-15 Tokyo Late departure from Narita on day 15

Airplane We flew Zipair out of San Francisco, we are actually from the east coast but the flight cost to go west first and then fly out was still cheaper than flying out of the NY area. When flying with Zipair the toddler price is like 20% of the full fare and they’ll provide a seat and car seat for you to use. You also get priority for extra leg room, which was incredible since our oldest didn’t love sitting in the car seat for 11 hours. She’d get down walk around and play in the extra space. You will get split up though if traveling with four. They put me and my daughter on window and middle on the end row and then my wife and son middle and aisle in the middle section. So essentially there was one person in between us. They have to do it that way since the car seats can only strap into certain seats.

Like others have mentioned on here, you’ll just want to load up on snacks, snacks and more snacks. We brought a bunch of DYI activities for her to play with and then gave her a phone to watch her favorite Disney movies. One thing about Zipair, they don’t have screens, so you’ll just need to be prepared for that. She essentially commandeered my phone for half the flight. The flight really wasn’t too bad though. Our daughter is pretty active, she had a couple minor meltdowns because she was tired and couldn’t get comfortable in the car seat (fell asleep on me) and not wanting to be changed in the bathrooms, but other than that it went pretty well. We prepared for the worst and it worked out to be fine.

Stroller As many have advised you’ll want something light and that can fold up easily. So we opted for the Cybex Libelle 2 for this trip. We decided we were going to take turns carrying the baby in the carrier (Ergobaby) and use the stroller for our daughter. Could not have been a better decision for us. There were so many moments I thought to myself I’m so glad we didn’t bring the double stroller. Getting on and off crowded trains, navigating tiny streets and mass crowds, carrying it up and down stairs when we couldn’t find an elevator, folding it up and putting it under a table at a restaurant. Also, we noticed SO MANY other people were also using the same stroller. Felt immediately justified in our decision. Carrying our LO wasn’t really that bad, he weighed like 13lbs at the time. We took turns a lot, my wife would take him out to nurse or we’d take him out on the train during a long ride while he was awake. For the record, you can definitely do Japan with a double stroller. We saw many people doing that. It would just require a bit more work and probably be difficult in a number of situations.

Restaurants / Food Eating out with a toddler is quite an experience anywhere let alone Japan, and honestly not a super enjoyable one. We love food, and especially Japanese. One of the main reasons we booked the trip in the first place However, our toddler made each meal feel like a chore. I need to preface this by saying that we’ve never given our child a phone while at a restaurant to watch something, and we absolutely don’t judge those who do, it’s just not something we want to do. However, we honestly felt like we had no choice at times but to feed her quickly and then once she was done give her the phone so we could enjoy our meal. She’s just too curious and wants to touch everything, especially when trying to enjoy ramen at a counter only restaurant. Also, she got in the habit of drinking 80% of her water and then dumping the remaining 20% all over the table. Like pretty much every time we sat down to eat. So that was fun!

A few pieces of advice we wish we really considered and thought of regarding restaurants and food:

1. Make sure your kid is hungry. Too many times she’d been snacking and by the time we sat down she was just not hungry and wanting to play or explore.
2. Let your kid walk around before sitting down to eat. We kept her in the stroller for long periods of time before getting to a restaurant. Now that she was out of the stroller the last thing she wanted was to sit more.
3. Always have a toy or an activity, anything to distract. And if you have to hand over a device to keep your sanity then so be it. Our only rule was she had to eat before we gave her the phone. Once she was all done, she was able to watch her shows.
4. Always have snacks on you when traveling around. The convenience stores are usually readily available, but better to be safe than sorry. Also we saw a number of locals let their kids eat on the metros. Adults don’t, but if your kid needs a snack no one is going to give you a dirty look. Just remember to take your garbage with you.
5. Have a plan for breakfast. Far too often were we grabbing stuff to go at 7Eleven or FamilyMart and eating outside before starting the day. Go to a grocery store and load up on some things for breakfast to enjoy in the room. Will save you a lot of time, money and be less of a headache.

Hotels If staying at a hotel, be prepared to co-sleep. We learned that a lot of Japanese parents co-sleep with their young ones. You can definitely find hotels with a crib, but there aren’t many. We personally never had an issue and have done it from time to time back home, so wasn’t a problem for us. Just something to be aware of. Also, highly recommend staying at a place with an onsen. Our hotel in Kyoto had one and it was amazing. My wife and I took turns each night after the kids fell asleep. Honestly was one of the best parts of the trip. Very relaxing after a long day of walking around and corralling the kids.

Nursing Before our trip I’d had stumbled upon a recommendation to download this app called Mamapapamap Nursing Room App, which shows you nursing and changing room locations nearby. It’s totally free and run by volunteers. We used it everyday and really came in handy when we were in places that we weren’t too familiar with. Many department stores also have a place specifically for nursing or bottle feeding your babies. It was really nice knowing that no matter where we went there would be a place for my wife to go and nurse in privacy. At the same time, we spoke to a couple locals about nursing in public. They had told us that it is perfectly fine to do so and that they themselves have done it when they had babies. So every so often my wife did nurse our son on a park bench or restaurant, etc. however she did always cover herself with a light wrap to be polite.

Transportation Getting around Japan was fairly easy, even with two kids in tow. Having a small stroller definitely helped as I mentioned. We mainly stayed on the transit system, never rode a bus (wasn’t against it, just never needed to) and only took taxis a handful of times. Fun fact, it’s completely legal to have young kids sit on your lap while in a taxi. No need for a car seat, which is why we opted against taking them. However, supposedly a private car service to/from the airport isn’t considered a taxi, so that wouldn’t be allowed. But not 100% on that, so curious if anyone has any experience there. For all transit we both used a Suica card through the wallet app on our phone. Super easy to use. Only thing I’ll point out is you’re better off going to the counter when traveling on the Shinkansen or if using the Keisei Skyliner to/from Narita airport. It’ll save you the hassle of trying to figure things out on the kiosk yourself and if traveling with young ones that’s the last thing you need. Also, regarding the Shinkansen, I’d personally recommend to book ahead of time when traveling with kids. We took the advice that you can just show up and get tickets, which you definitely can do and we did. However, because of that we were unable to reserve seats that included the large luggage space since everything was booked up. I know some will mention luggage forwarding as an option, however we managed to get all of us packed into one large suitcase, plus our two backpacks, so we decided to save money and just roll with it. Other than that getting around Japan was a breeze. Google Maps was our best friend and made things super easy. We switched on the Accessibility setting on the app, as others have mentioned, to locate elevators as well. Although we did find ourselves wandering around a few times in search of them, but more often than not it was a non-issue.

Activities / Attractions Last thing, I wanted to point out a few places we visited that our daughter loved.

• TeamLabs Borderless Tokyo was a huge hit. She loved all of the different rooms and enjoyed following some of the art through the halls.
• Osaka World Expo was pretty awesome. We only got to go inside a few...

---

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1lwti6s/2_week_trip_with_2_kids_under_2/

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/ethanschoonover on 2025-07-09 19:12:12+00:00.

---

tl;dr: Having just gone to both over the past couple weeks I have a strong opinion that if you can only go to one, make it Borderless.

Our family went to both Borderless and Planets at high attendance times. We definitely enjoyed them but I came away with some specific thoughts based on the current state of the exhibits/experiences. (I researched this on reddit prior to our trip and wanted to provide this report based on our current 2025 comparison):

Borderless

• Despite high attendance, Borderless overall felt manageable, spacious, and not cramped. We waited almost no time to enter with our timed ticket (and even if we had the wait would have been indoors).
• Borderless felt clean despite the huge number of people cycling through. No small feat.
• At least one exhibit in Borderless was being repaired and thus was off limits. No idea which one it was and we didn't feel a lack (there was such a huge variety of rooms and experiences there vs Planets which really has just the four main sections).
• The video projection experience at Borderless felt better than planets. Newer? More projectors? Different video stitching tech? There were fewer occlusions/shadows based on where people were standing and the alignment of multiple projectors never felt misaligned.
• Tea room was slow to get into and while fun was the least important part of the experience. Felt the most gimmicky and while it was a nice way to end the experience I don't think you are missing much if you don't do it. If you can, sure, but not sure it warranted the wait.
• Overall Borderless gave us more of the experience of being in a cohesive, endless space of "things to be discovered and puzzled over."
• Hallways were the biggest bottlenecks but even then I never really felt like I was stuck waiting for others or constrained by other guests. I would have preferred 20% fewer attendees but even with the capacity we experienced it was fine. We never had to jostle for space.

Planets

• We had a timed ticket for entry just like with Borderless but we ended up waiting about 20-30 minutes outside in the queue for entry. Given the heat right now it was a pretty brutal way to start the experience.
• In general Planets suffers more from the "high traffic, high touch" problem many interactive museums have: it often felt much grimier than Borderless. A lot of the flooring materials had been patched with duct tape in places, for example. Not a big detraction from the overall experience but it just felt a lot more worn out at times than Borderless.
• In this vein, some of the non touch aspects also felt a little off. One of the aquarium rooms (draw creatures, they come to life) had video stitching that was out of alignment. It's trivial but it breaks the immersion experience significantly.
• The water experience was one of the best parts and obviously shared conceptual/executional DNA with the tea room at Borderless but was much more enjoyable. People were well behaved in the water room and it was also the most peaceful part of the Planets experience for us.
• I wish that we'd been able to take our shoes off just once and store them and our small personal bags in lockers and be done with it at the start (Borderless has a single bag check in comparison). However planets has you remove and store your shoes/bags in lockers multiple times and given the high number of attendees (many of whom were not practiced at shoes on/off, etc.) it was a serious bottleneck.
• We saw a lot more staff coming and going into back rooms which sort of broke the immersion experience. We'd be in a cool endless corridor and then suddenly a door would open with cardboard boxes stacked up on the other brightly lit side. Again, minor, but as a comparison Borderless just nailed more of this kind of thing.
• In comparison to Borderless the staff presence and sheep-dogging at Planets was a LOT more active/present. It was obviously necessary due to the design of the exhibits and how poorly people can behave in places like this, but it gave the experience more of a policed vibe which took just a bit of the spontaneous fun out at times. A "tragedy of the commons" problem that is hard to overcome in high touch exhibits but I ended up enjoying Borderless more as a result.

Our fav parts of Planets? Water room and flower immersion room.

Our fav parts of Borderless? Lily room, sphere/cube rooms, marching parade of weird creatures, overall sense of being in a real organic, dynamic, magical place.

Our least fav parts of both? People who didn't heed the briefing to try and be calm/quiet/keep-some-control-over-their-kids. Inevitable but selfish travelers are the worst.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Nederlandian on 2025-07-09 06:18:27+00:00.

---

PSA: Mt Fuji is NOT just a “sloping gravel trail”

OK maybe it’s on me but everything I read on Reddit before hiking mt Fuji led me to believe it wouldn’t be that hard…I was wrong. Now I consider myself moderately athletic (go to the gym and run regularly) I am definitely not an avid hiker, but I thought I’d be fine with some stairmaster training beforehand. We booked an overnight stay at the 8th station so we could see the sunrise and started hiking at 1pm, yes the first part was a gravel trail but it very quickly turned into climbing up a trail of volcanic rocks. I very quickly put my hiking sticks away and was using my hands to climb up these rocks. The steep hike and the rising altitude meant I was stopping every 20 steps to catch my breath. Halfway through the 7th station I got so tired but fortunately I became buddies with a guy also going at my pace and we slowly meandered our way up together. The cruel joke was I settled on seeing the sunrise from our 8th station hut and it was gorgeous, my mom hiked to the very peak at 1am but there was so much fog she didn’t even get to see the sunrise. Also the way down is a different route that’s all switchbacks and much easier, it is all loose gravel though so be prepared to slip and slide your way down :D

YES people do hike it very quickly and are probably way more fit/experienced hikers than me, I just wanted to put my two cents out there so future hikers know what they’re getting into and can prep properly!!

TLDR; it’s a steep hike on volcanic rocks in high altitude but definitely doable with some training and determination

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Atlantyan on 2025-07-06 18:01:47+00:00.

---

Hello!

I’ll be in Tokyo with some friends 11 days this coming mid-to-late November (after 10 days in Osaka and Kyoto). The plan below mixes the things we like: history, food, autumn scenery, videogames, anime / pop culture and nightlife. We will stay in a hotel next to Shin-Ōkubo Station.

I’m happy to walk all day, yet I still want to avoid unnecessary back-tracking. Could you please let me know:

1. Whether the areas groupings make logistical sense and avoid needless zig-zagging.
2. If I’m dedicating too much time to any one area, and how you’d optimise the route.
3. Whether the activities fall on the right day of the week. I don’t want to rock up when something’s closed.
4. Any autumn-specific tips (illumination events, foliage spots, earlier sunsets).

Thanks in advance for any tweaks or red flags you can spot!

Day 1 — Tuesday (Shinjuku)

• Morning
  • Hotel check-in
• Afternoon
  • Godzilla Head (Kabukichō)
  • Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building observatory
• Night
  • Omoide Yokocho

Day 2 — Wednesday (Asakusa, Skytree & Ryōgoku)

• Morning
  • Yotsugi Station (Captain Tsubasa statues)
  • Asakusa Tourist Info Center view deck
  • Nakamise-dōri
  • Sensō-ji & Nishi-sandō
  • Asakusa Yokocho food hall
  • Kappabashi kitchen-street
• Mid-day
  • Bandai Headquarters showroom
  • Ryōgoku Kokugikan (sumo arena)
• Afternoon
  • Kirby Café
  • Tokyo Skytree observation decks
  • Asahi Sky Bar
• Night
  • Hoppy Street izakaya lane
  • Sensō-ji at night

Day 3 — Thursday (Shibuya day & night)

• Morning
  • Shibuya Crossing
  • Hachikō Statue
  • Pokémon Card Lounge
  • Panoramic Gacha shop
  • PARCO 6F (Nintendo / Pokémon / Jump)
  • Uobei conveyor-sushi
• Afternoon
  • Anime Center Shibuya
  • Tower Records
  • Miyashita Park
  • Doraemon Café
  • Shibuya Sky rooftop
• Night
  • Nonbei Yokocho
  • Dōgenzaka nightlife area
  • Late-night Mega Don Quijote run

Day 4 — Friday (Nikkō day-trip & Shinjuku late-night)

• Day
  • Tōshō-gū Shrine
  • Kegon Falls
  • Shinkyō Bridge
• Night
  • Karaoke (Shinjuku)
  • Maruhan Pachinko
  • Shinjuku nightclubs (WARP)

Day 5 — Saturday (Harajuku & Shibuya)

• Morning
  • Yoyogi Park
  • Meiji Jingū Shrine
  • Takeshita Street
  • Cat Street walk to Shibuya
  • PARCO (part II)
• Afternoon
  • Gōtoku-ji (beckoning-cat temple)
• Night
  • Clubbing at WOMB

Day 6 — Sunday (Ginza, Tokyo Station & Odaiba)

• Morning
  • Uniqlo Ginza flagship
  • Nissan Crossing showroom
  • Mitsukoshi Ginza
  • Itoya stationery flagship
  • Ginza Lion beer hall
• Afternoon
  • Character Street (Tokyo Station)
  • Ramen Street
  • Pokémon Café (if we get a slot)
• Night
  • Unicorn Gundam statue (Odaiba)
  • Joypolis indoor theme park
  • Doraemon Store

Day 7 — Monday (Akihabara & Shinbashi)

• Morning (Akihabara)
  • Animate
  • Mandarake
  • Super Potato
  • GiGo & Namco arcades
  • Gashapon Hall
  • Radio Kaikan
  • LoveLive! Store
  • Yodobashi Camera
  • AKB48 Theatre (if tickets)
• Night (Shinbashi)
  • Kaiju Sakaba izakaya
  • Izakaya crawl
  • Godzilla Statue
  • Zouk Club

Day 8 — Tuesday (Fujikawaguchiko day-trip & Shinjuku)

• Day
  • Lake Kawaguchi Mt-Fuji views
  • Retro Bus loop (Oishi Park, Iyashi-no-Sato, etc.)
• Night
  • Kabukichō Tower entertainment complex

Day 9 — Wednesday (Ueno, Yanaka & Ikebukuro)

• Morning
  • Ueno Park
  • Ameyokō street market
  • Yanaka Ginza stroll
• Afternoon
  • Evangelion Store (Ikebukuro)
  • Animate
  • Sunshine City
  • NamjaTown
  • Sanrio & Capcom Cafés
  • Nihonshu Bar Gui Gui
  • Anime Tokyo Station Museum
• Night
  • Samurai Restaurant (Shinjuku)
  • Golden Gai bar-hopping

Day 10 — Thursday (Ghibli Museum & Akihabara nightlife)

• Morning
  • Ghibli Museum (Mitaka)
• Night
  • Maid Café
  • Anison DJ Bar Anime
  • Dear Stage idol bar
  • MOGRA club
  • Alchemist cocktail bar

Day 11 — Friday (Tsukiji, Imperial Palace & Roppongi)

• Morning
  • Tsukiji Outer Market
  • Imperial Palace East Gardens
  • Sailor Moon spots (Azabu-Jūban)
• Afternoon
  • Tokyo Tower
  • Zōjō-ji Temple
  • Shiodome City Center Sky Lobby
• Night
  • Tokyo City View (Roppongi Hills)
  • Evangelion exhibition
  • “Kill Bill” Gonpachi Nishi-Azabu dinner

Day 12 — Saturday (Departure)

• Morning
  • Hotel check-out
  • Transfer to airport

Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks!

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/reddwhatt2 on 2025-07-06 06:24:38+00:00.

---

My family of 4 adults went from 5/27-6/13 after not having been for 15 years (4th trip).

I wasn't sure I wanted to do a full trip report, but did want to give back to this community after learning from a lot of great posts. I know some of these are redundant to other posts.

Our trip plans changed pretty drastically a couple of times, including during the trip. Here's what the final look looked like:

Places visited

1. Tokyo - 2 days

2. Matsumoto - .5 day

3. Kanazawa - 2.5 days

4. Osaka - 2.5 days

a. World Expo - 1 day

5. Uji - 1 day

6. Nara - .5 day

7. Kyoto - 2.5 days

8. Tokyo - 3.5 days

Places that got scratched off at the last minute

1. Nagano - .5 day

2. Takayama - 1.5 days

3. Shirakawa-go - .5 day

4. Hakone - 1.5 days

Things I learned from Youtube

In addition to lots of Reddit posts, we watched lots of youtube too. The two best things I learned there were:

1. Use Expedia to book hotels (Kensho Quest)

As implied above, we made some drastic changes to our plans 2 days before leaving and a week into our trip. Using Expedia for all of my hotels made things super simple and easy. All of the reservations, messaging, & access codes came via Expedia. Canceling was super simple and I got my refunds right away. I would've probably tried to use AirBNB, or book directly or using various Japanese travel sites. 2. If the Wagyu (or Matcha) doesn't say what kind or rank, it's probably not worth mentioning (PiQtour Japan)

I know this is a bit of a silly thing to point out...There are wagyu (and matcha) signs everywhere and offering it as sushi, Sashimi, burgers, katsu, steaks, etc. PiQtour has a video on the diff types of wagyu and made the point that if a place isn't advertising it, it's probably average. We found this to be pretty true everywhere. We did finally get "real" wagyu when we ate Matsusaka wagyu @ Sugimoto @ Skytree and their regular wagyu and there was a massive difference. We unfortunately had wagyu at multiple places that didn't just live up to the expectation. BTW, I really appreciated PiQtours videos, she makes a lot of effort to uniquely share the story of what you're looking at, not just walking through the sites.

Shopping

1. Duty Free - some places took the Customs QR code to process a duty free purchase, but most places didn't. Don't forget to always have your passport if you place on shopping! Some of the places actually sealed the bag and told us not to open it while in Japan. Nobody at the airport ever seemed to check for any duty free purchases. Also, duty free doesn't apply unless you buy between 5000-5500 yen. Lots of places offered it though and it saved a lot of money.

IC Cards

1. Suica/Pasmo made life so much easier, not just for traveling but also shopping too.

2. Suica worked fine in Tokyo, Matsumoto, & Kanazawa (even on the buses). However, it stopped working in Osaka and I couldn't get it reset. When I returned to Tokyo, it still wouldn't work. Fortunately I didn't have that much money left on it.

3. In Osaka, we switched to using Pasmo. Worked great in Osaka, Kyoto, Uji, & Tokyo.

4. Add it to your Apple Watch or at least iPhone. Annoyingly, you have to choose one or the other. I loved using ICs with my Watch. So simple. You never had to bring up an app, wallet, or phone, just tap and keep walking. Each member in your party needs to have it on their own iphone/watch.

5. Don't forget to when recharging, Visa works for Suica, but not Pasmo. Pasmo worked with Mastercard, AMEX, & Apple Card (if I remember correctly). Pasmo not using Visa almost caused a huge issue for me. My adult kids only had Visas and therefore couldn't charge their Pasmo. Fortunately, I also use Apple Card and it was really simple to add them to my account on the fly in Japan.

Places I'd recommend

1. TeamLab Planets in Tokyo - Had a 7pm reservation and just barely made it through everything before they closed and kicked everyone out. Don't forget to wear pants you can roll up to your knees. Dresses are a bad idea there because there are mirrored flowers everywhere, plus the water. Heals are also a really bad idea. Book a month in advance.

2. Myouryuji (aka Ninja Temple) in Kanazawa - not actually a Ninja Temple, but very, very cool and ninja-like. All in Japanese, but you can follow along with the English booklet they provide.

3. Ninja Weapon Museum in Kanazawa - if you do got to Myouryuji, this museum is walking distance and pretty neat to see, especially if their staff is walking you through it (for free).

4. Osaka World Expo 2025 - yes we saw all the negative videos on YouTube and almost let those stop us from going. We're really glad we went, definitely worth it and the lines moved relatively quick.

5. Ishii Miso - Located in Matsumoto, the area is known for providing most of the miso in Japan. If you get the timing right you can catch a free English tour of the miso making process. Really interesting and very tasty. Make sure you eat in their restaurant and then grab some miso ice cream. We ended up buying a bunch of their 3-year aged miso as gifts.

6. Matsumoto Castle - we attempted to go to 3 castles (Osaka, Kanazawa, and this one), but as we learned later, Kanazawa's castle burned down and it's just the walls, and Osaka is really a modern museum inside. Matsumoto, however, was definitely worth it. It's one of the few original castles still standing. Keep in mind you have to take your shoes off, so wear socks, and be okay with climbing many steep stairs. BTW, if you go to Kanazawa Castle Park take the free English tour, it made a big difference in our visit, especially not realizing there wasn't a castle. Osaka Castle offered amazing exterior pictures too though, along with great views from the top. One of the trip changes I made was after learning their was an express train from Shinjuku to Matsumoto vs. Ueno to Nagano to Matsumoto.

Places to eat

1. Katsukura Tonkatsu - there are 3 locations in Kyoto, but we've only ever been to the main location. I've heard the Kyoto Station location is easier to get into though. Still the best tonkatsu we've had anywhere.

2. Pizzeria Osteria Capo - it was near our hotel in Asakusa and it was really great pizza. I haven't seen it on any of the Tokyo pizza lists, but it's definitely worthy. Also neat that the pizzaiolo was a woman. Definitely better than most pizza in the US we've had.

3. Pizzeria da Peppe Napoli Sta’ Ca” - this place is on all the lists for Tokyo and for good reason. Amazing pizza. A little bit out of the way for us, but worth it.

4. Ramen Takahashi Ueno - we were fortunate that most ramen we had was very different from each other and generally different than what we've had in LA. This place is a perfect example. At the time we happened upon it it looked like a Ramen Tour was just coming out and I think the reason is because these guys uniquely use a flying fish broth. We would definitely visit again if we're in the area.

5. Ume no Hana Uenohirokoji - this Kaiseki restaurant in Ueno was the most unique dining experiencer we had. We really enjoyed every course. We had to order ahead of time, but the menus were pretty straightforward and reasonable considering what we were getting. It seemed like everyone gets a private room.

6. Sugimoto @ Skytree - as mentioned above, amazing wagyu. Only go if you're going to splurge on the Matsusaka. The lessor wagyu is not worth it when you've had Matsusaka.

7. Tsukiji Market - we went 2 times and it was definitely worth it. Yes there were crowds, but it wasn't that bad. We really enjoyed getting bites here and there while walking through the stalls. Great sashimi, scallops, fried tamago, dried snacks, etc.

8. Ginza Sembikiya - if you've been looking into Japan, you've possibly seen how many and expensive their fruit can be. If you want to try some, check out this cafe (2nd fl) above their fruit gift shop that's been around since 1894. Really fresh and tasty desserts, especially if you need a break from the summer heat.

9. Kanazawa Curry Laboratory - In Omicho market. Granted we don't have a lot of experience with Kanazawa-style curry, but we really enjoyed our dinners. We did have to wait a bit in line, as it's a small place, but we were really glad we ate there.

10. Sushi Kishin - In Kanazawa's Nishichaya district and across from the Ninja Weapon Museum. Great Kaisendon, one of Kanazawa's specialities.

11. curry & tempura koisus - In Kyoto's Gion area, this curry place is like no curry place you've ever been. This was amaingly high-end and a truly unique experience. While the Curry Lab was really good curry, the experience in no way compares. One of our best meals.

12. Omicho Market in Kanazawa - similar to Tsukiji, we rewally enjoyed walking around and just grabbing bites here and there. Really fresh and tasty.

13. Ishii Miso - after catching the tour, be sure to eat in their restaurant highlighting miso flavors. Really good foodl, especially after seeing how they make it.

14. Takumi No Yakata teahouse - Uji has always one of our favorite places in Japan (especially during cherry blossom). If you didn't know, it's the birthplace of Japanese tea and all popular Matcha in particular. This last time we did a Matcha Experience and really enjoyed it. They teach you about Uji-cha and you get to choose Matcha, Sencha, or Gyokuro. Gyokuro was definitely the...

---

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1lsugbi/things_i_learned_from_527613_trip/

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Polarmodder on 2025-07-04 16:54:16+00:00.

---

Long time lurker here, I found the information on Kyushu travel rather sparse, so I thought I would give a brief summary of my experience in the region for anyone considering going.

Context: second trip in Japan, group of three friends (M, 20s), interested in history / culture, two of us speak basic Japanese (1 / 2 years of college level classes). None of us can drive so we only relied on public transit / taxis. Our schedules only overlapped in summer, hence visiting in June. We adhere to the creed that holidays are meant to be restful rather than intense, so you won't see many early mornings or very packed days (some activities could have definitely been condensed into a single day rather than spread out).

TLDR: Best region I've been to so far (despite the heat). Very warm people, nice sights, and way less tourists than in Honshu.

Itinerary: Fukuoka (5 nights), Nagasaki (2 nights), Kurokawa (2 nights), Beppu (1 night)

Fukuoka (Dazaifu + Nanzoin, Kagoshima, Yutoku Inari)

Day 0:

Arrived by plane, airport is right next to the city center (took 15mn by taxi to get to our AirBnB close to Kushida Shrine / Hakata Station). Varied sim stores and exchange counters present at the terminal if needed.

Day 1: Exploring Fukuoka

• Spent exploring the city under very heavy rain. Highlights included: Kushida shrine, Sumiyoshi shrine, castle ruins for city views. Canal city was only worth a visit due to its proximity to our AirBnB (good place to buy a second pair of shoes when your trainers are completely drenched), but otherwise IMO not worth the detour (I mean, it's a mall). Found the Nakasu food stalls kinda overrated (was in Taipei prior to this, so may have been biased due to the great night markets there), instead really enjoyed going into small izakayas / local shops in the Gion / Kushida shrine area.

Day 2: Dazaifu + Nanzoin

• Left BnB at 11:30. Took the train (from Tenjin) to Dazaifu, overall pretty easy, only IC cards are needed (total 40mn ish). Note that the transfer at Futsukaichi station may be quite short: if you understand Japanese the conductor will announce the platform from which the Dazaifu-line local departs from, otherwise mentally prepare for a few minutes of confusion and running as iirc the signage is not the best.
• Dazaifu shrine was nice but quite busy. Highly recommend visiting the far calmer nearby Tenkai inari shrine (only a 10-15mn walk away from the main shrine). Gave up on walking to Kamado shrine as the scalding sun and 32 degree weather was starting to make us regret the previous day's shower.
• Took a taxi from Dazaifu to Nanzoin temple (30ish min, iirc around 4-5k yen). From what I know, apart if you are part of an organized tour it is basically impossible to get (reasonably quickly) from one to the other by public transit. Plenty of taxis were waiting in front of Dazaifu station.
• Reclining Buddha was cool, and the temple complex had various interesting sections. Was surprisingly empty (probably due to the fact that it had began raining heavily again), but by now we had come to grow accustomed to being drenched (imo preferable to being boiled by the sun). Station is right opposite the temple, train runs every 30mn, only IC is needed. Got back to Fukuoka around 5pm.

Day 3: Kagoshima

• Left the BnB at 9:50, took the 10:20 Mizuho, arrived in Kagoshima at 11:36.
• Meiji Restoration museum was enjoyable, though very little English (furigana present if your Kanji are as rusty as mine). Cool statues and memorials are littered around the area, definitely worth walking around if you are interested in the time period. Found a very welcoming tonkatsu restaurant nearby.
• Terukuni jinja and the castle ruins are skippable, apart if you want a Kagoshima goshuin for your collection.
• Took a taxi from the castle ruins to Sengan-en (15mn, 1k yen). Used the GO Taxi app. Garden was worth the rather steep entry fee, with the visit of the residence being particularly interesting. Not particularly busy, and plenty of good photo spots with Sakurajima in the background. Variety of stores with local goods (tea, sweets...) present.
• Took a taxi from the garden to the ferry terminal (15mn, 1k ish yen). Ferry to Sakurajima leaves every 15-20mn, and was basically empty (we had the top deck to ourselves). You pay once you arrive on Sakurajima. Once on the island, we walked around a bit, visited Tsukiyomi shrine (which has a nice small observatory), before hopping back on the ferry. Despite not being able to do too much due to time constraints + lack of a car, taking the ferry to and from the island was a magical experience which I definitely recommend.
• Rode the streetcar back to the station. Note that they DON'T take nationwide IC cards, so make sure you have coins to pay the fare at the front when you get off. Was back in Fukuoka around 8:30 PM.

Day 4: Yutoku Inari Shrine

• My two acolytes ditched me to go shopping, so I took the 1:16 PM Kasasagi Ltd Express from Hakata to Hizen-Kashima on my lonesome. Quite the picturesque ride, with lush ricefields and sprawling mountains dotting the countryside.
• Was lucky enough to find a taxi waiting in front of the station, otherwise I think there is an hourly bus that goes to the shrine. Took 10ish mn, cost 1k yen.
• Very pretty inari shrine, with a nice view of the region at the top. Met two Japanese students studying the UK who showed me around, and then dropped me back at the station. Seems the inari god was truly on my side!
• Didn't want to wait hours for an express, so took the first local train that came to nearby Kohoku station, and from there took an express back to Hakata. A JR ticket machine is present Hizen-Kashima station, and will give you the fastest itinerary, so just follow its recommendations (though do be careful not to accidentally book a Shinkansen segment between Shin-Tosu and Hakata, it will only save you 10mn but cost an extra 2-3k yen + add an unnecessary connection).
• Overall a very worthwhile and relaxing day trip if you enjoy shrines and countryside views. Got back to Hakata around 6pm.

Day 5: Nagasaki I

• We couldn't forward our luggage to Nagasaki, so the train ride from Hakata was a bit of a pain. I tried to book oversized luggage seats, but they were all sold out / unavailable. I thus settled for green car, hoping that the additional cost would be offset by an emptier carriage. Relay Kamome had small bins over each seat, as well as a luggage rack which somehow fit all our stuff. Kamome also had completely empty luggage racks. I was not sure if we were allowed to use them, but (unlike oversized luggage spaces / luggage racks on the Tokaido shinkansen) saw no signage. On both trains, the green car was maybe 15% full, in both cases us being the only ones with suitcases.
• Settled in before visiting Oura Cathedral and the surrounding area**.** A good introduction to the cosmopolitan town that is Nagasaki as well as its deep history, and particularly unmissable for all Fate fans (iykyk). Shrine next to the cathedral was very pretty, though mosquito filled.

Day 6: Nagasaki II

• Left BnB at 11ish. Started with the Confucius temple, a quiet and interesting visit. Then proceeded to the Dutch slopes, though only contemplated the quaint houses from the outside. Ate lunch in Chinatown, which is worth a walk through but not much else IMO.
• Headed to Dejima, which, though mostly reconstructed, is nevertheless an intruiging glimpse into the history of the city and the lives of traders under the Sakoku decree.
• Walked to Sofuku-ji temple. Very nice looking, and was completely empty. Definitely worth the detour.
• Took the streetcar (nationwide IC can be used) to the one-legged Tori gate. Nearby Sanno jinja is skippable IMO (mosquito heaven).
• Took the streetcar to the Peace Park. Didn't visit the atomic bomb museum as had recently been to the Hiroshima one. Still an interesting visit, particularly when trying to guess the country of origin of the different statues spread across the park.
• Walked to Urakami cathedral. Unfortunately by the time we got there it was closed, but still got to see the damaged statues and ruins around the church.
• Took a taxi to Inasayama observation deck (20mn, 3k yen). Absolutely stunning view. If going by taxi, definitely worth asking the driver to wait 5-10mn for you to snap your photos, as there isn't much else to do and there were no other taxis waiting nearby (shared my ride back to the city with a tourist who had been stranded for 30mn+). Got back around 6:30 PM.

Day 7: Kumamoto + Kurokawa I

• Left the AirBnB at around 9:20. Shipped our luggage from the Yamato store in Nagasaki station to our Beppu hotel. Communication wise rudimentary Japanese and a printed hotel reservation confirmation was sufficient.
• Rode Kamome + relay Kamome to Shin Tosu, then switched to a Kumamoto bound Tsubame.
• This may be a bit controversial, but I was pretty disappointed by Kumamoto castle. Hordes of tourists (more than all previous Kyushu sights combined), large portions still under construction, interior exhibits only in Japanese. I had heard that they had mostly recovered from the earthquake, but to me it seems a lot was still lost. The whole thing had a disney-esque vibe, with the lack of trees making the sweltering heat difficulty tolerable. Nearby **Kato shrine...

---

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1lrnl4o/10_day_june_kyushu_trip_report_fukuoka_nagasaki/

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/herodotus67 on 2025-07-03 12:27:53+00:00.

---

I’m posting this to summarise my thoughts while travelling (part of) Hokkaido. It’s going to be as realistic and detailed as possible, with some highs and lows thrown in there that you can fight over in the comments.

Hokkaido is a land of ice and fire (any GOT fans?). It is perishingly cold in the winter, with Japanese people travelling there to ski its many mountains. But it’s also a fiery volcanic region, perfect for those drawn to hot springs and dramatic landscapes.

I landed in Sapporo. It has a winter theme to it, even in summer, with imagery of polar bears, penguins and snowflake manhole covers. As a city, it is honestly top 5 strangest I’ve ever visited. There is an enormous underground city with a huge network of tunnels. Everything you could ever need is sold in shops underground, so you could basically live there. And I think that’s almost the idea; as I said, it can be very cold in Sapporo, so I imagine the tunnels allow locals to shelter from the elements while still making it a walkable commute.

Very little to no English is spoken here, which is fine, you just need to get used to using Google Translate (download Japanese offline and Japanese Romaji keyboard so they can type on it). It came as a shock when I visited a bus station in Sapporo and there were no attendants, only Japanese signs and I was constantly getting lost in the underground maze. The first night felt like I may never find my way out of the city, trapped in a haze of neon ramen shops and dark tunnels.

Speaking of shocks, there are small differences that you need to get used to. I found out quickly that you need to tap your Suica card (download to Apple wallet for bus/metro) both on AND off the bus to be charged when I was shouted at angrily by a bus driver for not tapping off (this is not the case where I’m from, you just tap in and get charged a fixed rate). Also, for some reason one of the information points was beyond the barriers in the metro, which appear to be open, but when I tried to walk through to the info point they slammed shut and gave me a fright.

Some side notes about Sapporo; Odori park is nice, it’s the main square with Sapporo clock tower, Hokkaido university and its botanical garden, and Sapporo Factory are worth a visit. While there, I stayed in Hotel + Hostel Sapporo, which was very good for £11 per night and located on the Tanukikoji arcade.

Looking at transport out of the city, I had options of the bullet train (too expensive, a £50 train along the coast to Hakodate, a car rental, or a moped <50cc. As long as you have a standard driver’s licence that usually covers mopeds without a motorbike licence, and importantly an International Drivers Permit (you NEED to get this in your home country before arriving), then you’re good to go, and this is what I wanted to do. I had ambitions of purchasing a bike and driving it down South. After much back and forth with a motorbike dealership, using Google translate, it turned out that I needed to pay city tax at the city tax office in order to register the bike, which you CANNOT DO WITHOUT A RESIDENCY CARD. So you should basically forget about buying a bike in Japan. Of course, I did consider renting via rental819.com but they (and seemingly none of them) do drop off in a different location.

One of the ways people get around this (generally, not exclusive to Japan) is to register it in the name of a friend who lives in Japan. Of course, they would need to be living in the city you buy it, and pay the tax. Others get help from their hostel to register it at their address, but my hostel could not help me. I ended up going to the city tax office on a whim, but it didn’t work. It was an interesting experience though; I honestly feel that parts of Japan are stuck in the 80s with incredible amounts of bureaucracy and red tape. Even just walking into the tax office I felt like I was in the Soviet era (the underground tunnels fit this vibe too). Japan is strange in that some things are very advanced (famously the toilets) but other things feel retro like some of the decor.

Anyway, I ended up renting a car using klook.com and had no problems. It was booked through Orix and they spoke English when I picked it up. Now some things about my road trip in Hokkaido. I decided not to do Daisetsuzan national park because it was in the opposite direction of my destination (I’m travelling North -> South Japan). It looks great, but quite similar to Noboribetsu Jigokudani valley or Mount E which I will describe in more detail.

The trip went smoothly, Japanese driving is pretty easy (at least for me as someone who drives on the left). The speed limits in Japan are extremely conservatives. Almost every road, even ones that feel like they should be fast, are 50 kmh (30 mph). However, basically everyone on the road drives 10-20 kmh over the limit because enforcement is lax (watch me now get tickets in the post for following their lead). While there in summer, there were also lots of roadworks and closures, possibly because they can’t access some roads in winter due to ice.

As for my itinerary, I tried to visit Mt. Sapporo and Mt. Eniwa but couldn’t because of said closures. If you really wanted to, I did find trails for both (for Mt. Sapporo you can head towards Kudan Falls and should find the trail) but they warned of bears and to not trek it alone, so I didn’t. Lake Shikotsu you could probably give a miss.

However, Lake Toya is a must, specifically Shikotsu Toya National Park Silo Observation Deck where you get an incredible view. Another one absolutely worth the visit is Noboribetsu Jigokudani Valley (Hell Valley), and Oyunama Pond. They are active hot springs. Most people won’t do the walk to the pond but it’s only 10 minutes from the valley and it’s so worth it. I also saw some deer in the valley which was pretty cool (there are lots of deer in Shikotsu-Toya national park).

I then drove up towards Mt. Yotei, where I came across the thickest fog I’ve seen in my life. With about 2% visibility for an hour, I had my hazards on constantly. My guess is it can be like this quite often when the weather is hot plus the volcanic activity, so just beware. Unfortunately I didn’t get a great view of Mt. Yotei because it was clouded at the peak, but pictures online show it’s worth a visit. You can see it from Kyoguku and Kutchan.

I then spent the night in Otaru at an Airbnb which was a traditional Japanese Minka with a futon bed. You should definitely experience this while in Japan.

On my last day in Hokkaido, I drove the coastal route from Shakotan, to Iwanai, to Hakodate. There’s some pretty jurassic looking features of the coast that are cool to see. Once in Hakodate I went to the Seikan Ferry Hakodate Terminal and bought a ferry ticket on the spot. They go every 2-3 hours and I had no problem just turning up, though you can book on something like on the Seikan website or tsugarukaikyo.co.jp if it’s 2 days in advance.

Some final tips. Buy an eSIM on Airalo and activate it before you get to Japan, because there isn’t much public WiFi including airports. Japan is known for being expensive too, but that hasn’t been my experience. You can get lunches from 7-11 or Seicomart for <£5, and dinner at a decent restaurant for £6-11 including drink. If you are taking bullet trains or buy the JRP it will quickly add up, so look at buses instead.

Useful links Motorbike rental: https://rental819.com/ Car rental: https://www.klook.com/en-US/car-rentals Buses: https://12go.asia/en and https://secure.j-bus.co.jp/

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/MarkKleeb on 2025-07-01 20:06:09+00:00.

---

My wife (43F) and I (39M) had been planning our honeymoon which was postponed in summer of 2020 and we finally had the chance to take our Japan trip this June 2025. We own an arcade bar in Brooklyn NY, so we prioritized seeing arcades and arcade culture in Japan. She is also an animal lover and wanted to experience some of the places to see animals in natural environments (as well as a few cafes). We are also both cyclists and planned to travel out to the Seto Inland Sea to cycle the Shimanami Kaido. Here was our day by day itinerary if it helps anyone!

Day 1 (Tues)- Land in Narita, travel to Shinjuku

We decided to fly in and out of Narita since it was less expensive. Before the flight, we got eSIM cards and set up the Suica card in our Apple Wallets to easily travel through the train system. We landed and took the Narita express to Shinjuku station. We decided to stay in Shinjuku during both of our Tokyo legs due to the nightlife, bar and izakaya scenes. For the first 3 nights of the trip we stayed at the Shinjuku Granbell Hotel which was a little more expensive but we wanted a nicer place to decompress and adjust to jetlag.

Day 2 (Weds)- Shinjuku, Nakano Broadway

We woke up at 6am due to jetlag and checked out Don Quijote which was across the street. It's a little overwhelming so glad we got to see it before our big shopping spree later in the trip. At 11am we went to the Square Enix Artnia cafe, which is a cute gift shop/cafe attached to the Square Enix HQ. They have a small menu but I recommend it if you're a fan of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, etc. They open at 11 and it filled up quickly so recommend getting there as close to opening as possible.

Since it was a bit rainy we decided to go to Nakano Broadway which is a big indoor mall about 15 min from Shinjuku station. We spent about 3 hours here but were very exhausted from the jetlag. There's a lot of great stuff though, especially if you're looking for vintage games or anime/manga. We ate Tsukemen at Enji afterward which was incredible.

At night we went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Building to see the projection show. This show happens twice per night and highly recommend if you get a chance to see it!

Day 3 (Thurs)- Meiji Jingu, Shibuya, Harajuku

The weather was beautiful so we started with Meiji Jingu shrine. There were a lot of tourists but the park is beautiful. We walked through the park and over the bridge into Shibuya (this day was the most walking we did on the entire trip and it might have been a better idea to take the train). Went to Shibuya Parco to see the Nintendo, Pokemon, and Capcom stores. They were all SUPER crowded and a little overwhelming (we later found these same stores in Osaka and it was much more chill). Ate sushi on the top floor of Parco which was fine.

Walked through the Scramble (we're New Yorkers so this was kinda meh for us) and to I'm Donut? which had a surprisingly short line at that time of day. Grabbed some donuts and hopped on the train to Harajuku. Walked down Takeshita street - some highlights were 6% Doki Doki and Kiddyland if you're into the vibe of this area. My wife also got Onitsuka Tigers at their flagship store. We ended up grabbing a late dinner at Family Mart and crashing

Day 4 (Fri)- Travel to Imabari

We sent most of our luggage to Osaka and checked out of the Granbell with backpacks and headed toward the Shimanami Kaido bike trip. The Shinkansen bullet train goes to Fukuyama, where we found a bus that travels over the same route we'd be cycling (you can also take a train, but we wanted the scenic above-ground tour of the islands). This was all much easier than I expected. We bought the Shinkansen tickets the night before and got the bus tickets right at the station. We arrived in Imabari and checked into Cyclo No IE, which is a hostel/guesthouse for cyclists. The hosts were extremely helpful and showed us different routes for the bike path. We walked around Imabari and had Yakitori at a small local joint before going to bed early

Day 5 (Sat)- Shimanami Kaido Day 1

We woke up early and had a big breakfast before picking up our rental bikes across the street from the hostel. I purchased these in advance so all we needed to do was show our code and pick up the bikes along with locks, lights, and helmets. The first day was a bit overcast which was actually nice to bike in. Follow the blue line! That's my biggest suggestion for this ride. We went off track almost at the very beginning and it set us back almost 45 minutes. We intentionally went out of the way on the island Oshima to see a nice rose garden and eat at Cafe Shozan. The next island, Hakatajima, has a nice beach but the weather wasn't that great. We stayed on the third island Omishima at the Benton Guesthouse. They had a laundry which was much appreciated, as well as dinner recommendations nearby.

Day 6 (Sun)- Rabbit Island, Shimanami Kaido Day 2

The reason we stayed on Omishima was so that we could wake up early and take the ferry to Okunoshima or Rabbit Island. We brought a head of cabbage and some carrots and it was well worth it! Caught the earliest ferry (9am) so we could get there before the second half of the bike trip. The rabbits will absolutely swarm you for food. It was quite adorable and definitely recommend doing this as part of the bike trip if you're nearby. We got back to the guesthouse by noon and continued on our way.

The fourth island Ikuchijima has the most to see. It's also known for lemons, so I recommend getting a lemonade in town. It was VERY hot so we got out of the sun inside the Cave of 1000 Buddhas in the Kousanji Temple. The Hill of Hope was also worth seeing as part of this temple experience.

Since we spent so much time on Ikuchijima, we had to cycle through Innoshima and Mukaishima without stopping too much. We ended up getting on the ferry to Onomichi around 5pm and returned our bikes before the rental shop closed at 6pm. We stayed at a pretty basic hotel in Onomichi, the Kokusai Hotel which was actually nicer than I expected (and MUCH cheaper than the U2 hotel that they recommend for cyclists)

Shimanami Kaido Conclusions- the bike trip was incredible! It was 80 km (~40 miles) total split over two days. There were a few hills getting up to the bridges but our bikes had gears and it wasn't terribly difficult. We met some folks doing the entire ride in one day, though we stopped frequently to take photos and sightsee. Definitely worthwhile if you're a fan of cycling.

Day 7 (Mon)- Naoshima, Travel to Osaka

This was maybe our biggest mistake of the trip. The Shinkansen takes an hour to get to Osaka so we had a lot of time to kill before checking into our hotel, so decided to stop at Okoyama, drop our bags in a locker, and take the local train followed by a ferry to Naoshima. However we didn't realize it was Monday and ALL the museums were closed that day. It was also pushing 100 degrees.

We set out to walk the perimeter of Naoshima and got diverted by so many closed roads that we ended up on a pretty serious hike just to see one of Yayoi Kusama's pumpkins. We took photos, found a bus, and got back on the ferry. I'd say don't bother going to this island unless the museums are open! We also could have allocated way more time than a half day (it takes a while to get there and back)

Got to Osaka, had some shabu shabu and crashed at the Hearton Hotel in Shinsaibashi

Day 8 (Tues)- Osaka, Shinsaibashi, Dotonbori

Spent the day shopping around Shinsaibashi and had incredible Takoyaki and Okonomayaki in Dotonbori for lunch. Met up with some friends we knew at the RockBarCherryBomb in the evening. One of our contacts had a bar called Space Station, which is located in America-Mura and was filled with vintage game consoles and other video game art. Highly recommend if you're into retro gaming.

Day 8 (Weds)- Osaka, Namba, Teppanyaki

We walked to Namba in the morning to see the Yasaka Jinja shrine, then headed to DenDen Town to hang in the AC with one of our expat friends. (This area is sort of a mini Akihabara for you electronics freaks) On our way back we stopped for Omurice at Muguni which was one of the best things I ate on the entire trip. There's only 10 seats but it's worth the wait!

We had dinner reservations at Kobebeef Teppanyaki Rio which was our ONE dinner reservation of the entire trip. The dinner was incredible, we got a prix fixe of wagyu beef and a bottle of wine. Came out to around $400 USD for 2 people but totally worth it. Walked back to Shinsaibasi. Between Muguni and the Teppanyaki this was by far the best food day of the trip.

Day 9 (Thurs)- Nara, Travel to Kyoto

We again shipped our big luggage back to Tokyo and packed a small two day bag for Kyoto. On the way, we went to Nara Park to see the deer. Just like the rabbits, they were food driven. My wife got one pack of crackers and was immediately swarmed. We walked around to both shrines in the park. I'd recommend Todai-ji if you only have time for one (the giant Buddha is incredible) but just be aware both shrines have added fees to get inside.

After Nara we traveled to Kyoto where we were staying for 2 nights. Since my wife and I both have tattoos we decided to get a room at Soraniwa Terrace with a private Onsen since we were long overdue for an onsen after that bike trip. This hotel has a rooftop with complementary drinks at sunset and a foot bath. It's totally worth the spl...

---

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1lpbxdv/trip_report_15_days_in_tokyo_osaka_kyoto/

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/RedStarRedTide on 2025-07-01 00:41:12+00:00.

---

***Warning: this will be a long post***

This was my second visit to Tokyo, following a trip to Japan in November 2024 with some friends. After being absolutely captivated and enthralled on my previous trip, I booked another trip within a week and a half after returning. This was my first ever solo trip.

Day One (Sunday) - Landed at Haneda

I flew Japan Airlines and landed at Haneda at 5 pm. Unlike my previous trip, immigration and customs was quick (<30 minutes). I had my QR code ready but the airport set up about 20 kiosks for people to scan their passport and take a photo. The QR code wasn’t needed at all. However, baggage claim took around 25 minutes. It felt like my luggage was never going to appear. I began to get worried that the airline had lost my luggage. Most people from my flight had left the area but finally, my suitcase appeared. 

I quickly completed the essentials (wifi box, currency exchange, welcome suica) and rode the trains to my hotel, Sotetsu Fresa Inn Okachimachi in Ueno. The hotel rooms were small but clean and adequate. This room had an adjustable thermostat and air conditioning unlike my previous Tokyo hotel which only had central heating. However, the laundry facilities here were dreadful as there were only two combo washer/dryers for the entire 13 floors.

Day Two (Monday) - Kichijoji, Nakano

• Inokashira Park
• Kichijoji Shopping Street
• Nakano Broadway

Been seeing a lot of reddit posts talking about Kichijoji so i decided to check it out. Before that, I had an early 7 am breakfast at Komeda’s Coffee at Ueno. I took the train to Kichijoji Station and I walked around Inokashira Park but didn't go to the Ghibli Museum (i’m not interested in Ghibli). It was raining pretty hard so I was drenched walking through the park. There were very few people walking around so it was calm and peaceful despite the downpour. After leaving the park, I went to a 7/11 to buy an umbrella. Got coffee at Light Up Coffee and walked through Kichijoji Shopping Street. It’s a great walk with a variety of stores .It began lightly snowing which was awesome as I had never seen snow falling before. Circled around a couple times, bought some pastries at Linde Kichijōji, and hopped on the train to Nakano Broadway.

Perhaps it was due to the rain but there were less tourists in Nakano Broadway than I expected. The mall has multiple levels with many Mandarake stores dedicated to collectible figures and anime merch. There is also a supermarket on the lowest level. The surrounding streets and alleyways are filled with restaurants. I grabbed some curry at Garaku Nakano - it was soupy and delicious.

I got a haircut and shave in the evening which was refreshing.

Day Three (Tues) - Yanaka, Ueno

• Shinobazu Pond
• Nippori Station
• Yanaka Ginza/Sendagi/Nezu

Began my morning walking around Shinobazu Pond and Shinobazu Pond Benten. This is my second time walking the Ueno Park area and I love it for its peacefulness and green scenery. I walked all the way to Kayaba Coffee for breakfast. I walked in and got lucky they had an open table with no wait. The egg sando and mixed coffee and chocolate “Russian” drink was delicious and lightly sweet.

It was too early for the Yanaka Ginza stores so I made a detour to Nippori. I got ushered/roped into doing a fire prevention training hosted by the Tokyo Fire Department right outside the station and participated in a number of activities like fire extinguisher usage, crawling through a smoke-filled tent, calling the emergency line, bandaging wounds, etc. It was pretty hilarious and fun and I received stickers and a bath bomb for finishing everything. 

Afterwards, I went back to Yanaka Ginza. There are all lot of small restaurants, grocery stores, coffee shops, and places selling trinkets here. After an early ramen lunch, I walked from Yanaka Ginza to Sendagi, through Nezu, and back down to Ueno. It's definitely a lot quieter and removed from the bustling touristy areas. In my view, there wasn't anything notable but there were a lot of restaurants. It's a healthy walk, though. I went to Kintarō Sushi for a second lunch and filled my belly up with a sushi box and chirashi bowl. 

Unfortunately I felt a bit under the weather after sushi. I thought I had caught covid or something and went back to my hotel to take a nap. I felt much better afterward, and stayed in Ueno for dinner.

Day Four (Wed) - Shibuya

• Yoyogi Park
• Shibuya (west of Crossing)
• Nintendo World/Pokemon Center

Started off my day by Yoyogi Park by grabbing some pastries for breakfast at 365 Days. It’s a small, cute store with an impressive selection of sweet and savory pastries. I circled the park and made my way down to Shibuya to the Nintendo World/Pokemon Center in the Parco. Yoyogi Park is a spacious area with a huge field for dogs but I think Meiji Jingu next door is a lot more beautiful and suited for travelers. I didn’t get a chance to explore this side of the Crossing the last time I was in Tokyo, so it was nice to see the different stores and malls. It felt like a true downtown shopping district from an American city. Unfortunately, my eye was acting up (it was for the past couple weeks). I thought I had a tear in my retina. Thankfully, the Kato Eye Clinic by Shibuya Crossing accepts walk-in appointments so I was able to get seen. It was about 9000 or 10000 yen for a full exam. The ophthalmologist was wonderful and she spoke English (there is a language barrier with the staff). I got seen and there were no issues detected which was relieving. My eye was dilated which cut my day short but I was able to take the train back to my hotel.

I had an unagi set meal for the first time at Unatoto Unagi. It was very rich and filling and I’m glad to have tried it but it is a one and done thing for me.

Day Five (Thurs) - Daikanyama, Ikebukuro

• Starbucks Roastery
• Ikebukuro Chinatown
• Sunshine City/Pokemon Center

My plan was to originally visit the Starbucks Roastery and then Shibuya the previous day but I wasn't able to given my eye situation. This became a make-up day. I went to Okayama Denim in the morning, browsed some stores in the area, and then headed to Starbucks Roastery. I picked up some gifts for my family and had a nice cup of coffee and chocolate cake. My only complaint was this area is a bit difficult to access by train so some walking is definitely necessary but the area felt hip and high end.

After going to the Roastery, I took the train to Ikebukuro and walked through the different areas including Owl Street and Chinatown. This district seems a lot bigger than how it looks on the map and I hope to explore more of it the next time I return to Japan. Next, I went through the station to the other side and made my way to Sunshine City. Sunshine City was fun but overwhelmingly huge. I think it’s connected to an aquarium and an observatory too. There is a Pokemon Center here along with a large gachapon store.

Day Six (Friday) - Saitama

• The Railway Museum at Saitama
• Hobby Center Kato

As a train fan, I had to check out The Railway Museum at Saitama. This was probably one of the greatest museums I have ever visited. It’s huge, clean, and full of interactive exhibits. There is a huge room filled with preserved locomotives and rolling stock. There is even a mini track at the end of the museum where you can drive tiny versions of famous Japanese trains like the Yamanote line. You can easily spend half a day here and even a full day if you try all the interactive demos. Depending on where your lodging is, traveling to Saitama is actually kinda far (60+ minutes for me). But if you have time in your trip, I definitely recommend this museum.

Afterwards, I went to Hobby Center Kato, a model train store. This place is packed with model trains, parts, and structures—a model train enthusiast’s paradise! For dinner, I had some crazy good Chinese food at 羊貴妃羊湯館 御徒町. The lamb soup and skewers were perfect for keeping me warm on a cold and rainy day.

Day Seven (Saturday) - Harajuku

• Harajuku/Cat Street
• Omotesando

I always enjoy Harajuku and Cat Street. It’s just a fun place to explore especially if you’re into Japanese denim - Studio d’artisan, Pure Blue Japan, Momotaro, etc. you can find the whole gamut in Harajuku. I walked around Tokyu Plaza Omotesando Omokado but I’ll need to come back in the future to explore more. It’s extremely crowded but lively. I went to Ometesando Hills next - it’s all boutique shopping which isn’t my thing but the architectural layout of the mall is spectacular. I checked out the streets behind Ometesando Hills and went to another “viral” coffee shop, Higuma Doughnuts × Coffee Wrights Omotesando. I got the limoncello donut, chocolate donut, and the coffee of the day. It was good but social media overhyped this place. Checked out more stores including the Sugi Bee, Flying Tiger, and Herz. Capped off the night with a monster steak and hamburger patty at Monster Grill and drinks at 2nd Cooper.

Day Eight (Sunday) - Akihabara

• Akihabara
• Kanda Myoujin Shrine
• Yushima Seido
• Hijiri Bridge

Started my day off at Egg Baby Cafe when it opened. The egg sandwich was good but the fries were lukewarm which was disappointing. Maybe I’m just stupid but when the store opened, everyone rushed to save a table wit...

---

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1loo74n/trip_report_my_first_solo_trip_to_tokyo_31_314/

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/1hys12 on 2025-06-29 19:41:40+00:00.

---

Hello! This is my 5th trip to Japan, and this time I chose to go Yamaguchi. Just wanted to share my experience because of how much fun I had.

If you're a traveler who likes the bustling and crowd of Tokyo and Osaka, Yamaguchi would definitely not be for you. There's really absolutely nothing there if you are more keen on nightlife, shopping and activities.

But if you're someone who's really interested in the culture, history and geography of Yamaguchi. Why not put Yamaguchi as your next stop?

The well known Motonosumi Shrine was such a beautiful experience, with the sea breeze and the torii gates, as your head to the edge, you get to witness the duo colour of the sea below your feet as well as wild flowers blooming on the side of the mountain.

Akiyoshido Cave was so magnificently gorgeous that it felt unreal, as you head out to the entrance, or the exit depending on the way you enter, The way the outside world appeared to you through a crack with the scenery of foliage, and as you step outside, the beautiful turquoise water, walkway and trees. It felt unreal.

Hagi, a beautiful samurai town that offers a shopping street that has white castle walls as you walk down, and you get to witness the old samurai houses. As you continue walking on, you arrive at a beautiful beach and a castle ruin. There is a really big old building there right by the tourist centre that you would have to wear slippers indoors, and I thought I've seen old buildings at Meiji Mura Museum, Inuyama. But this looked way older. You can really feel the history of the place. To get there, you can enjoy taking a bus from Yamaguchi and watch as the bus cut through mountains and take scenic paths to reach Hagi.

Tsuwano (Not really Yamaguchi at this point, it's Shimane)

There is a special train called SL Yamaguchi, it's a Steam Locomotive that goes to Tsuwano from Shin-Yamaguchi during weekends! And vice versa. The train runs on coal and you get to enjoy a scenic ride, while the locals and train enthusiasts on the street will wave to you as you pass by.

You will reach a peaceful town that has many koi fish running through the shopping streets river, alongside with flowers blooming. Take a short hike, you would be greeted by torii gates high above the town as you peek in between the torii to catch a glimpse of the city. That is the Taikodani Inari-jinja Shrine. Continuing on further more, you can take a chair lift or hike up to Tsuwano Castle Ruins.

There's nothing there but a bench, and a impressive magnificient view of the whole area. There is something impressive about a bench alone, on top of the city and among the mountains.

At Yuda Onsen, a town famous for its foot bath and white foxes, why not drop by to soak your feet? The tourist information centre offers a 200¥ charge for you to soak your feet, indoors or outdoors whichever you prefer! The 2nd floor occasionally hold exhibitions too. LAWAKU, A wagashi shop at Yuda Onsen offers hands on wagashi making experiences as well.

The best and saddest part of this all is, there isn't much people in Yamaguchi. It's a really quiet area. I wonder if it's off peak season now that it's so quiet.

Even the tourist hotspots, there are people but it's in small numbers. It really brought back what it felt like to travel, instead of being in a beautiful place but squeezing to even walk.

You can breathe, take in the scenery, have the place to yourself.

I really enjoyed my time in Yamaguchi and felt that the scenery and food they had to offer is in nowhere lacking to the other Prefectures. That's the wonderful thing about Japan I appreciate a lot, every Prefecture has a beautiful place that doesn't lose out to each other at all.

It's probably due to the declining population as well, but every vendor and owners I have chat with, they always responded with 山口人少ないだから aka there isn't enough people in Yamaguchi.

It feels like there's a tinge form of sadness behind every conversation we have about the peacefulness of Yamaguchi.

I really enjoyed my time in Yamaguchi and think it's a place not a lot of people go to, heck. The one week I was there, the hotel I stayed in was mostly just Japanese salarymen coming to and forth, there were way more local tourists than international tourists. It's to the point that I actually get excited to see a foreigner like myself when I'm there.

It would be nice if this post makes you even just slightly interested to drop by Yamaguchi if given a chance.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/DrJWilson on 2025-06-28 15:07:20+00:00.

---

I recently traveled to Japan for a little over 2 weeks, and had an absolute blast! We did the golden triangle (Tokyo > Kyoto > Osaka), with the addition of Hiroshima/Miyajima, and a quick return to Tokyo before leaving. I don't quite remember where I got the idea (probably this subreddit), but I know Japan often has a gift giving culture rather than tipping, and so I brought little pins shaped like Texas (my home state!) to give to people who helped us throughout our journey. Here's who they went to.

1. I believe the first pin was given to one of our first Taxi drivers, Masayoshi-san. I cautiously started off with a "Ogenki desu ka?" which received a "Are you talking to me?!", but the conversation evolved and we had a great time talking. He apparently had owned his own sushi restaurant for over 20 years until he unfortunately had to shut it down due to Covid. But he reassured us that he loved being a taxi driver, and it shone through with his joy and friendliness. Upon hearing I was a nurse, he asked me if I was rich, and then said Japanese people don't have enough money to go to Hakone. I cautiously set a pin on the little tray on his center console, and he accepted it graciously. I had been studying Japanese in preparation for this trip, and wasn't sure how much it would actually help. Masayoshi was a test of my skills, and it proved very useful!
2. Thanks to a friend, we had tickets to see a pair of JPop/JRock bands in Shimokitazawa, and both of them were stupendous. I wanted us to get there early so we could get "good spots," but the venue is so small that anywhere you stand you have a good view of the stage and performers. For the second group, the bassist was a woman with great style who absolutely rocked. We went to line up for merch and I didn't realize for these so-called "smaller" bands, the members themselves peddled their own wares. I told her it was my first show, that I loved it, and gave her a pin. She put it on then and there.
3. We had made our way to a random udon shop, I think the tendon place I had wanted to go to had too long of a line. No matter, I remember seeing the sign displaying silky bukkake udon to be incredibly appetizing, and was excited for what was to come. While we were talking, I heard the little boy to our left ask his mom and grandma "A-, eigo?" I mustered up some courage, turned to them, and said "if it's okay, would he like one of these?" After some "yokatta"s, and "ii ne!", I saw him staring at the pin, holding it with both hands, and then utter "kakkoii..."
4. In Hakone, we originally booked a sort of hotel set up with an attached hot spring facility, but I decided to pivot to a more traditional ryokan that was closer to the station. Yaeikan ended up being a nice, quaint experience—perfect to return to after a harrowing bus ride. It was small enough that they knew us by the name of the room we were staying in, and we were attended to by a sweet woman who served us breakfast/dinner and an (what seemed to me) incredibly elderly man who set out our futons at night. I tried not to give pins to people just doing their jobs, but in our brief conversations you could tell she loved what she did. She put my pin on right away.
5. I believe we were in Nara, and looking over my pictures I realize that we followed a similar path as two Chinese tourists. We eventually ended up at a temple at the top of a hill, which aren't exactly uncommon. What was uncommon was how they revealed their fortunes, you bought it as a blank page, and they had blocks of ice you placed it upon, which revealed your fortune. One of these tourists was kind enough to show us how it worked, and was rewarded with a pin (which she may have thrown away at the next opportunity, who knows).
6. Once in Nara, we had the opportunity to meet up with a pal's old college friend. We set off for Nara park, and had a blast watching tourists (and each other) get chased by deer. Her boyfriend seemed kind of interested, so I bought a pack of crackers, hid them under my shirt until I shoved them into his hands as a surprise, and ran away. The resulting swarming was worth the 200 yen. We spent a lot of time dragging them around, from squeezing through a tiny hole at Toudaiji (I made it!), to waiting some time to see a (middling) mochi pounding show. I gave them both pins.
7. I was rushing through the train station and upon rounding a corner we heard wailing. A little boy apparently didn't want to leave, or maybe they had never wanted to come. I quickly retrieved a pin and brought it over, hoping new shiny thing would calm them down. We heard a brief lull, accompianed by "isn't that great!", before the wailing started up again as we left earshot.
8. On our last day, I was walking back from breakfast and passed by an unassuming liquor store right around the corner from our apartment. I poked my head in—it was half liquor store half person's office. Bottles filled the shelves, but it wasn't particularly well lit, and at the far end was a desk covered in paperwork and receipts. The place was lived in. I tried to explain in broken Japanese that I was looking for umeshu, plum wine, to bring back to a friend in the states. He brought me to their selection and recommended one of them. I paid, it was 1750 yen (barely 12 USD), but regretted not carrying my bag with me to give him a pin. Our place was around the corner though, so I ran over, grabbed my bag, and came back to an empty store. I yelled out "sumimasen!", and a younger fellow replied "hai!" and came on down the stairs. I tried to explain that I wanted to show my appreciation, first by calling them "ano hito" (that person), which received a quizzical look ("dare?"), before settling on "oji-san" (being careful not to say "ojii-san") which received an "ah! My father." I presented the pin with both hands and insisted he take it. I was too busy shyly escaping to see his reaction.

I really appreciated bringing the pins, I think it encouraged me to go out of my way to interact with locals and try for connection. There were plenty of times where I lamented the fact like I didn't have my bag, like at the Agata festival where we all shook this curious toddler's hand while walking through the crowds. Try it out next time you go to Japan!

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/MuffinDarling on 2025-06-27 19:17:17+00:00.

---

This sub was so incredibly helpful when I was planning our trip, so I wanted to do a write-up to help anyone else who may be feeling overwhelmed to get started! We were in Japan for ~2 weeks, with our kids (10 and 7).

Before the trip:

Flights and accommodations were booked in December/January for our June trip. I decided to go with Airbnbs for longer stays in Tokyo and Kyoto, and hotels for one-night stays in Nara and Universal Studios.

As we built the itinerary (aka the massive Excel spreadsheet), the goal was to have lots of options and lots of flexibility. This worked out really well, and it was nice to not be locked into too many things, and to choose how active we wanted to be on any particular day. We could switch the days around as needed (ie move a day trip a day earlier or later than intended because of rain). We also had a list of things to possibly hit on each day of the itinerary - sights in the area, shops we were interested in, restaurants that looked good, etc.

In March (~3 months before the trip), we started what we called "Japan boot camp." Everyone got new sneakers, and we went for family walks of 2-3 miles 2-3 times per week. I HIGHLY recommend this, especially if you're going with little kids! Ours were able to handle 20-30k steps per day while we were over there, there's no way we would have seen as much as we did if we hadn't been sticking to a walking routine. In retrospect, I would add more stairs (iykyk).

Also in March, we entered the lottery for tickets to the Nintendo museum.

In April, we began booking activities. We won the Nintendo museum lottery (yay!) and were able to purchase the tickets. We also booked tickets for the Gion Corner theater in Kyoto. On 4/28, tickets for Universal Studios became available for the dates we wanted to go, June 22-23. I was able to get Express passes for 6/22, but they sold out very quickly, so stay on top of booking if that's something you're interested in.

I secured our Pokemon Cafe reservations 1 month prior to when we wanted to go (search this sub for instructions on how to book - very useful information! It was a huge hassle).

6/10 we flew out from the US East Coast to Narita. ~20 hours of travel time. We landed around 3pm Tokyo time on 6/11, and customs, etc. was not bad at all. We used Visit Japan Web to generate a QR code for each of us, saving us from filling out the paper customs form.

We took the Narita Express into Shibuya, where we were staying in an Airbnb for this portion of the trip. It was in a nice neighborhood, about a 5 minute walk from the train station, and a 10-15 minute walk to Shibuya Scramble, shopping, etc. This was a great location to be based out of for us!

6/12 everyone woke up at 3:30am, so we walked to FamilyMart to pick up some breakfast. We left around 9:30 and headed to the Sunshine City mall in Ikebukuru, to check out the Pokemon center and the giant gachapon store (side note: budget for gachapon! They were EVERYWHERE, and so cool! All 4 of us came home with a ton). We also went to the flagship Animate store, then ate at Kura Sushi for lunch. We went over to Harajuku next and did a brief walk down Takeshita Street, where we got the giant cotton candy from Totti Candy Factory. We went back to the Airbnb for some rest after all that, then walked to Zauo, which is the fish for your own meal restaurant. It was fun, but very touristy. The kids had a good time, but it wasn't really worth the price in my opinion. We had way better meals on the trip, although the fish did taste very fresh.

6/13 we did a day trip to Kamakura and Enoshima. This day was probably one of my favorites of the entire trip, I highly recommend visiting if you can spare the day. We took the train from Tokyo to Kamakura and started by walking to the Sasuke Inari shrine (fox shrine). The kids loved this one, there are little fox statues everywhere, and a beautiful walkway with the red torii gates. We walked to Kotoku-in next to see the giant Buddha, then took the Enoshima Electric Railway to Enoshima. We ate a quick lunch at Lawson, then walked up what felt like 5,000 steps to Enoshima Shrine. We were heading to Iwaya Caves, but happened to be there during low tide, so we spent some time exploring the tide pools. The caves were very cool, I definitely recommend reading up on the lore before you go. It's very dark in some parts, so they give you a little candle and holder, which the kids loved.

We headed back to Shibuya after hiking back down, and ate at a ramen restaurant near our Airbnb (Oreryo Shio - it was excellent).

6/14 headed to Nihonbashi to get to that Pokemon center as soon as it opened and browsed until it was time for our Pokemon Cafe reservation. If you or your kids (so all 4 of us, in our case) are into Pokemon, this was so worth it. The presentation of the food is incredible, and the taste was very good for a themed cafe. The kids absolutely loved the Pikachu show.

We went back to Shibuya after and did some shopping.

6/15 went to Senso-ji to start the morning. We were there early and had a lovely time walking around the grounds and getting our fortunes.

We went to the Pokemon center in Shibuya after, intending to do the t-shirt design lab they have at that location. In retrospect, I would recommend getting there as soon as the store opens to secure your spot. We got there maybe an hour after it opened and it took over 3 hours for our turn. We ate lunch and did some more shopping while we waited. After the kids designed their shirts, it was another 90 minutes until we could pick them up.

We hadn't planned to do anything TeamLab, but we were able to get last-minute tickets for the evening for TeamLab Planets. I'm so glad we ended up going, it was so incredibly cool!

6/16 checked out of the Airbnb and headed for Tokyo Station, which is where we were catching the bullet train that afternoon. We left our luggage in a locker, and walked around near the Imperial Palace, then had lunch at Nemuro Hanamaru, a sushi train restaurant that was definitely worth the wait.

Side note here. The stations in Tokyo are huge. Overwhelmingly huge. We left our luggage in a little locker alcove near the Shinkansen ticketing area. We got about 50 feet away when I thought maybe I should drop a pin, but figured nah, we'll be fine. Huge mistake. It was an absolute nightmare trying to navigate the station to find that little locker alcove again. It took over 2 hours, rebooking the Shinkansen tickets for a later time, and some very kind ladies working at the tourist information center to help us find that locker. We finally made it to the train for Kyoto, and checked into the Airbnb that evening.

6/17 was mostly a rest day, with a few short walks around the neighborhood. We ate at the Coco Ichibanya nearby, which my son was obsessed with. Our Airbnb had 2 outdoor soaking tubs, so we spend a lot of time in those just recovering from the trip so far.

6/18 we did a day trip to Minoo Park. It's ~3km hike on a paved trail to the waterfall. Beautiful hike with some cool little shrines along the way. The waterfall was beautiful, and there are a few food stalls right next to it for a quick bite. There's also some restaurants along the trail. If you have an insect lover in your group, the Insectarium at the park was so cool. We had the place to ourselves, and the butterfly garden was beautiful. We headed back to Kyoto after that and had ramen for dinner in the station (Ippudo).

6/19 we did Arashiyama in the morning, and walked around the garden at Tenryu-Ji. Then we hiked to the monkey park, which the kids loved. For me, the view of Kyoto from the top made the climb to the monkey park worth it. We happened upon the kimono forest on the way back to the station, which was a neat little area. That evening, we went to the Gion Corner theater for a performance. I see some people complain that it's touristy, but for me, it was exactly what I wanted it to be - a short introduction to several different traditional art forms. There was flower arranging, Noh theater, tea ceremony, geiko/maiko dance, etc. The whole performance lasted ~1 hr, and they provide a translator with information about each act. After the performance, we walked around Gion at dusk, which was beautiful.

6/20 started the day at Fushimi Inari and ended up going all the way to the top (side note: before we started up, we found a tanuki statue at a shop, which is the one souvenir our son was desperate to get. We hadn't really seen any before this, so I'm glad we found one here). We ended up coming down a back way and wound up in a residential neighborhood that led us to Tofuki-ji temple and the Tsutenkyo bridge.

That afternoon was our reservation at the Nintendo museum. I loved it, the exhibits on the upper floor were very well done, and we had a great time playing on the giant controllers.

6/21 we left the Airbnb in Kyoto and headed to Nara. We dropped our bags at the hotel (Hotel Tenpyo Naramachi - I highly recommend this place, it was fantastic. Great location, great room, great service). We walked through the park to see the deer. They're very sweet and friendly. However, after watching other people buy the biscuits and attempt to feed them, we opted not to feed them ourselves. Next we went over to Todai-ji Daibutsuden and saw the giant Buddha, and ate lunch at another sushi train restaurant on the shopping street (Kaiten Sushi Totogin).

6/22 they brought a traditional breakf...

---

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1lm2i4h/june_trip_with_kids/

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/omchan on 2025-06-27 23:58:03+00:00.

---

I (33F) went on a 13-day solo trip to Japan in June 2025.

Itinerary

Osaka (home base) - Uji - Nara - Himeji - Kobe - Kyoto - Hiroshima - Miyajima - Fukuoka

The goal of this trip was to revisit places I’ve been to before now that I’m older and can appreciate them more and to see the highlights of places I’m visiting for the first time.

I was inspired by the trip reports posted here and decided why not try my hand at writing one up myself.

After I finished I realized this might be a bit lengthy…

Trip Report

Below is the outline and then some commentary for each day.

Days 1 & 2 - Arrival in Osaka

Afternoon

• Arrive at Osaka KIX from Toronto YYZ
• Hotel: HOTEL THE FLAG Shinsaibashi

Evening

• Shinsaibashi-suji Shopping Street
• Dinner: Yakiniku Like (Japanese BBQ)

Left Toronto YYZ just after 1 pm. I don’t sleep on airplanes. This means I drink a lot of coffee and keep myself entertained with the airplane wifi. I find that time passes quickly online when I’m reading the news and chatting with friends so the wifi is well worth the splurge for me. I flew Air Canada and complimentary wifi is currently only available on flights within North America. Air Canada long haul international flights won’t have complimentary wifi until 2026.

After the 14-hour flight, I arrived at Osaka KIX just after 4 pm. Cleared customs and since I brought one checked bag I headed to the luggage carousel. Pleasantly surprised by how quickly the line moved at customs as last year at Narita it took over an hour. The time it took for me to clear customs and get my luggage at the carousel was 25 minutes. I did have priority so that helped when deplaning and picking up my luggage.

I bought a ticket for the Nankai Limited Express at the ticket counter to Namba Station. From Namba Station I switched to the local train to get to Shinaisaibashi Station. The trip from airport to hotel took about 75 minutes. I checked in at HOTEL THE FLAG Shinsaibashi. This hotel was mentioned by several people on this subreddit in past threads asking for hotel recommendations in Osaka. I stayed in the Namba area during my previous visits (and it was great) and wanted to try somewhere new this time.

I had dinner at Yakiniku Like for some cheap Japanese BBQ. It is what you'd expect - it was cheap, fast, and satisfying. After dinner I went to Shinsaibashi-suji Shopping Street and the Uniqlo there to browse as the store close to my hotel had Osaka exclusive merch. While it was neat to look through, I didn't end up buying any of it though. And my goodness the number of people crammed onto the shopping street is wild lol, like holy moly! More than what I remember the last time I was in Osaka in 2023.

Day 3 - Osaka

Morning

• Shin-Osaka Station (pick up JR regional pass)
• Umeda Sky Building Lunch: IZUMO Unagi (eel bowl)

Afternoon

• Nintendo Osaka
• Pokémon Centre Osaka
• Tenjinbashi-suji Shopping Street
• Osaka Castle

Evening

• Dinner: Tempura Makino Namba
• Shinsaibashi-suji Shopping Street

I went to the Shin-Osaka Station JR ticket office to pick up my JR Setouchi Area Pass. Prior to my trip I purchased the regional pass on the JR West Company website and made all my seat reservations online. At the station I picked up my regional pass and all of my seat tickets for my trips from the agent.

After picking up my regional pass I made the short walk over to the Umeda Sky Building and bought a ticket to check out the day time view. Since I went at opening there were a handful of other people, not crowded at all. I’d imagine it gets crowded in the evenings.

Once I was done at Umeda Sky Building, it was another short walk for lunch at IZUMO Unagi for an eel bowl. I ordered the unagi tamago don. It was suuuper filling for me so I had a lot of leftover rice after I finished the eel and egg. It was nice that they use the leftover rice to form a rice ball for you to take take away. It is important to note that the shop was cashless so you either pay by IC card or by credit card.

After lunch I walked to Umeda Station to visit the Nintendo Store to see if they had any cool Nintendo Switch 2 accessories. Aside from some accessories I didn’t see anything noteworthy. I dropped by the Pokémon Centre Osaka to check out the merch selection. I’m not looking for anything in particular but I enjoy the nostalgia every time I visit so I make the time to pop into the stores whenever one is close by.

After the Pokémon Centre I took the train to the Tenjinbashi-suji Shopping Street. I walked the entire length of this street. It was crowded but it’s not shoulder to shoulder like the shopping streets in the Shinsaibashi and Namba areas.

Afterwards I went to Osaka Castle. I’ve been inside the castle before so this time I decided not to buy a ticket and stayed outside instead. It was pretty sunny and hot so many people were sitting in the shade and resting by the vending machine area outside the castle.

I took the train back to the Namba area and had dinner at Tempura Makino Namba. The family next to me had a lot of leftovers, they didn’t even touch their pumpkin tempura (my personal favourite)! It was kind of crazy how much food was wasted to be honest. Even locals who were waiting to be seated commented on the waste.

After dinner I capped off the night with another stroll down Shinsaibashi-suji Shopping Street.

Day 4 - Uji & Nara

Morning

• Travel to Uji
• Byodoin Temple & Museum
• Lunch: Nakamura Tokichi Honten (main store) (matcha buckwheat noodles)
• Byodoin Omotesando Shopping Street

Afternoon

• Travel to Nara
• Nara Park
• Todaiji (outside)
• Kasugataisha Shrine

Evening

• Sanjo Dori Shopping Street
• Dinner: Kamaiki (udon)
• Travel back to Osaka

This was my first time visiting Uji and my second time in Nara.

I took an early train just before 7 am to Uji. The trip was about 80 minutes from my hotel to Uji Station. From the station I walked to the Byodoin Temple which opens at 8:30 am. Since I was there at opening I got to do two loops around the grounds before the crowds started arriving. The ticket also included the museum so I got to check that out with a handful of other visitors as well. I did not purchase an additional ticket for the Phoenix Hall inside the grounds as it didn’t open until later in the morning when I have other plans.

At 9:40 am I headed over to Nakamura Tokichi Honten (main store location) for an early lunch as they open at 10 am. I took a number to queue and also queued up for their store for fun since I wouldn’t immediately be able to get into the cafe anyway. By the time I entered the store (5 minutes after opening), all the matcha sold out lol. So if you’re looking to buy matcha from their stores, be sure to start queuing waaay before I did. I didn’t have to wait long for my number to be called for the cafe. For lunch I had their cold matcha buckwheat noodles, matcha jelly, and an iced matcha drink. Relative to the average cost of a meal in Japan, it was a bit pricier with the total coming in to just under ¥3,000 but it was good.

After lunch I walked down the Byodoin Omotesando Shopping Street to pick up some matcha from the smaller shops and other souvenirs. Some of the shops had limits on the number of matcha items customers can buy. It was another hot sunny day today so interestingly I didn't see crowds on the streets. After walking back and forth on the shopping street a bit I headed back to Uji Station and took the train to Nara. The trip was about 75 minutes from station to station.

From the station I walked to Nara Park. The last time I was here I bought the deer crackers and fed the deer so this time I opted to just observe others. There were a ton of people on the sidewalks and at the park. From Nara Park I walked to Todai-Ji (didn’t go inside this time to see the Buddha this time) and instead explored the east side on my way to the Kasugataisha Shrine.

I stopped by Nakatanidou and bought some mochi. I had their mochi the last time I was in Nara and made sure to get some again. Perhaps I was starving at this point but the mochi was so good, more delicious than I remembered. As expected, the shop was crowded and was very popular. A lot of tourists asked about the mochi pounding but the staff pointed to a sign that indicated that the mochi pounding was over for the day. Not sure if they have a soft schedule (ie. done in the mornings) but something to note if this is something you want to see. I continued down Sanjo Dori Shopping Street and had dinner at Kamaiki. I arrived at the store 15 minutes before opening and there was a queue. However all of us were able to comfortably get seated inside with seats to spare. I ordered their shrimp tempura and udon.

After dinner I walked back to the station and took the train back to Osaka.

Day 5 - Himeji & Kobe

Morning

• Travel to Himeji
• Himeji Castle
• Travel to Kobe

Afternoon

• Lunch: Royal Mouriya (Kobe beef)
• Nunobiki Herb Garden
• Kobe Motomachi Shotengai
• Kobe Chinatown Nankinmachi

Evening

• Dinner: Roshoki (Chinese dumplings)
• Travel back to Osaka

This was my first time visiting Himeji and Kobe.

I took the 7:40 am Shinkansen (with a reserved seat) from Shin-Osaka Station to Himeji Station. Since I got to Himeji before the 9 am open time at Himeji Castle, I took my time and walked to the castle from ...

---

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1lm8zw5/13day_solo_traveller_trip_report_june_2025_osaka/

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/CommunityOk5345 on 2025-06-25 21:48:56+00:00.

---

Big thanks to this sub — so many of your posts helped shape our itinerary. This was a food-first, fall-season trip covering Tokyo → Fuji → Kyoto → Nara → back to Tokyo.

Travel Dates: November 19 – December 4

We booked ANA economy round-trip with points for both of us. Carried 2 checked bags + 1 carry-on each (in hindsight, way too much). Pre-reserved everything possible — restaurant bookings, train tickets, even luggage forwarding — and it made the trip smoother. Japan e-visa was straightforward, but I recommend applying early just in case.

Day 1 – Arrival, Sensoji, Ginza, Shopping and Fine Dining

Landed 5AM at Haneda, took a direct train to Ginza (great with bags). Hotel was 3 min from station. Picked up 72/48hr subway passes and used Suica via Apple Wallet (highly recommend).

Quick breakfast from FamilyMart and Lawson — egg sando, Famichiki, coffee (buy cup → use machine). Stocked up on Fibe Mini + veggie juice — helpful for digestion during travel.

Visited Sensoji early in light rain — peaceful, no crowds. Tourist center has a great photo spot. Nakamise shops were shut that early.

Lunch: Ramen Hayashida — clean chicken shoyu broth, they use duck to add a gamey richness to the flavor.

Back to Ginza: shopping at Mitsukoshi (free membership = 5% off), Ginza 6, TSUTAYA and Loft. Jet lag hit by afternoon.

Dinner at Tempura Kondo — precise, delicate tempura, seasonal ingredients. Formal vibe but excellent quality (they even change the oil mid-way). Sweet potato & Asparagus tempura was a standout.

Day 2 – Toyosu Auction, TeamLab Planets, First Omakase, Shinjuku + Omotesando, Yakitori

Started early with a 5AM taxi to Toyosu Market (plenty available outside hotels). We'd won the auction lottery and had a 5:30AM guided tour — highly recommend if you’re curious about the bluefin tuna auction. You’re taken right up to the action on a raised platform, and it’s fascinating to watch how fast and precise it all is.

Post-auction, wandered around the vegetable and seafood sections — lots to see beyond the restaurants. Breakfast queues were huge, so we grabbed snacks and coffee instead.

With time to kill before our 9AM Teamlab Planets slot, we visited Toyosu Manyo Club (great early-bird rate). The rooftop footbath with skyline views and natural spring onsen were perfect to unwind after the early start.

Teamlab Planets at 9AM was a great call — fewer crowds. Spent ~90 minutes exploring. Took the bus back to Ginza.

Lunch at Sushi Suzuki was the best nigiri of the trip — incredibly refined, and the progression was beautifully paced. Very little English is spoken, but fellow diners (local, bilingual) helped bridge gaps. Warm, friendly experience despite the upscale setting.

Afternoon in Shinjuku — checked out the observation deck at Tokyo Metropolitan Govt. Building, explored Omoide Yokocho, and did classic Don Quijote shopping. Then walked through Omotesando and browsed some flagship stores and boutiques — architecture alone is worth the visit.

Dinner at Yakitori Hirano in Ginza — casual but elevated, with a sake pairing that really worked. They use the Binchotan coal that burns with minimal smoke and odor, preventing flavor contamination of food. The Grilled skewers were perfectly timed and seasoned; fun counter seating and a chill end to a long day.

Day 3 – Coffee, Standing Sushi, Streetwear, Transfer to Kawaguchiko

Had a relaxed morning — dropped bags with the hotel for forwarding (super smooth, concierge handled everything). Started the day with lattes at Roar Coffee — great roast variety and you can choose your beans.

Late breakfast at Tachiguizushi Akira (standing sushi). High quality, fast-paced, and flexible — you can pre-select your favorites and can repeat pieces. We went heavy on uni and chutoro — no regrets.

Spent the afternoon in Shibuya and Harajuku — picked up running bibs for the Mt. Fuji marathon and did some streetwear shopping (Onitsuka Tiger, etc.). Fall colors were starting to pop — lots of bright yellows across the parks and streets.

Now for the tricky part: bus transfer to Kawaguchiko. From Ginza, we took the train to Shinjuku Station, then had to find the bus terminal — it’s in another building, a fair walk away, and located on an upper floor. Shinjuku is massive and confusing, and we weren’t expecting such a sprint before a race — plan extra time here.

Bus to Kawaguchiko got us in around 7:30PM. Most restaurants were closed, so we had stocked up on konbini snacks and bentos earlier. Ate in and slept early.

Day 4 – Mt. Fuji Marathon Fun Run & Ryokan

Checked out of our hotel in the morning — great balcony views of Mt. Fuji, with red and gold fall foliage all around.

Ran the Mt. Fuji charity fun run (13.5km) — stunning experience. Crisp weather (5–10°C, sunny), and by 10AM Fuji was completely visible, towering right ahead on the course. The race was well-organized with food/snacks post-run, and the medal + Mt. Fuji-themed swag (towel, tee, etc.) were top-notch.

After cheering on the full marathon runners, we checked out and headed to Ubuya Ryokan for a 3PM check-in. Got a room with a private onsen on the balcony — worth the splurge. Ended the day with a cozy shabu-shabu dinner and a long soak.

Day 5 – Fuji Sightseeing

Started with a traditional Japanese breakfast at Ubuya — grilled fish, miso soup, pickled vegetables, egg, and tea. Checked out and spent the day exploring the area.

Walked to Oishi Park for postcard views of Mt. Fuji over Lake Kawaguchiko — peak fall colors made it extra scenic. Had pastries at amazing Patisserie Esperance and tried Cremia ice cream.

Then hopped on the Fuji sightseeing bus, which loops around key spots like Maple Corridor, Kawaguchiko Music Forest, and Chureito Pagoda (you won’t hit everything in a day, but it’s a relaxed way to get around).

Dinner at Hotel - Ishiyaki Style — hot stone–grilled wagyu beef, rich and tender with seasonal side dishes. Simple, satisfying end to the day before turning in.

Day 6 – Mishima Shinkansen Saga, Arrival in Kyoto, Rainy Evening

Slow morning — soaked in the last views of Mt. Fuji before checking out. Had an early lunch at Chante le Vent in Kawaguchiko — cozy floral café with excellent Japanese-style curry and brewed coffee. Also started binging on local fruits, especially strawberries — so sweet and fresh everywhere from here on.

Took the bus to Mishima Station for the Shinkansen to Kyoto… and then came the chaos: we rushed onto the train and I accidentally left my backpack on a station bench. Panicked, but the train staff were incredible — they called Mishima Station, confirmed the bag was there, and we got off at the next stop to turn back. Sure enough, the bag was still untouched — the staff just smiled and said, "No one touches personal belongings here" Seriously impressive.

We lost about an hour but hopped on the next train using our same ticket (in unreserved seats) — smooth process.

Arrived in Kyoto, grabbed a quick McDonald's snack (shrimp burger + shaka shaka chicken — both worth trying), then checked into our hotel near Marutamachi Dori & Gyoen Garden.

Evening walk in the rain through Nishiki Market and Gion — the warm lights and reflections made it feel magical. Ended the night with a teppanyaki dinner at Steak Mouriya — Kobe beef cooked in front of you, perfectly tender, rich, and balanced. Took the bus everywhere in Kyoto — super efficient and easy to navigate.

Day 7 – Arashiyama, Temples, Fall Foliage, Kiyomizudera Illumination

Started early in Arashiyama — even at sunrise, crowds build fast in Kyoto’s major spots. Went first to Giōji Temple for a calm walk around its moss gardens. Then walked through Tenryuji Temple and its garden paths, surrounded by peak fall foliage — reds, yellows, and oranges everywhere.

Lunch at Shigetsu, inside Tenryuji — a serene Buddhist vegetarian meal served on floor mats, beautifully presented and deeply flavorful. Then wandered the main street for snacks and souvenirs (lots of sampling!). Had nice Taiyaki at Mamemono to Taiyaki.

Next: Ryoanji Temple — peaceful and uncrowded, with wide walking paths and a quieter vibe. Then to Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) — striking reflection on the pond, gleaming against the fall trees. Crowded but worth it.

Late afternoon in Higashiyama, visiting Yasaka Pagoda (Hōkan-ji) and sipping incredible matcha at Gokago — best we had all trip, ended up buying a lot (should’ve bought double). The narrow sloping lanes were buzzing with energy.

Walked up to Kiyomizudera for the night illumination — visually stunning with light filtering through the autumn leaves, but absolutely packed. Could barely move hands while walking, so we left sooner than planned.

Took a taxi (traffic was heavy) to Tempura Kawatatsu for dinner — cozy, 8-seat traditional spot. Tempura set meals with sake pairing, low tables, and a chill crowd. Lovely 2-hour dinner, with fun conversation from the locals.

Day 8 – Fushimi Inari, Philosopher’s Path, Soba & Kaiseki

Early start at Fushimi Inari — hiked halfway up under a clear blue sky. Peaceful and energizing. From there, we went north toward Yasaka Pagoda and Yasaka Shrine — fewer crowds than usual since many shops were still closed in the morning.

Stopped at Ippodo Tea Store for some excellent matcha and gifts, then kept walking north to the Philoso...

---

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

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/yneos on 2025-06-23 03:55:46+00:00.

---

I assume this will be too long if I don't break it up, so each day's details are in the comments below. Here is the outline:

June 10 Tokyo:

• Omoide Yokocho izakayas

June 11:

• Meiji Jingu
• Harajuku
• Samurai Time Restaurant
• Tokyo Tower

June 12 Tokyo:

• Kabuki Theater
• Imperial Palace East Gardens (failed attempt 1)
• Shibuya
• Karaoke

June 13 Tokyo > Kyoto:

• Sensō-ji
• Akihabara
• Imperial Palace East Gardens (failed attempt 2)
• Shinkansen to Kyoto
• UrBANGUILD

June 14 Kyoto:

• Gion
• Yasaka Shrine
• Teramachi-dori, Nishiki Market, and Shinkyogoku
• Yasaka Shrine at night

June 15 Kyoto:

• Nijō Castle
• Teramachi-dori and Shinkyogoku again
• Nintendo Store
• Kawai Kanjiro's House
• Komyo-in Temple
• Pokemon Store
• Fushimi Inari-taisha

June 16 Kyoto > Nagoya:

• Shinkansen to Nagoya
• Ghibli Park
• Osu area
• Maid cafe

June 17 Kyoto > Fujikawaguchiko:

• Meijō Park (Nagoya Castle exterior)
• Shinkansen to Shin-fuji
• Car rental from Shin-fuji to Fujikawaguchiko onsen ryokan

June 18 Fujikawaguchiko > Tokyo:

• Kawaguchiko Muse Museum
• Chureito Pagoda (passed)
• Oshino Hakkai (briefly)
• Eki Shrine
• Shinkansen to Tokyo
• Kichijoji
• Corn Barley

June 19 Tokyo:

• Inokashira Park
• Ghibli Museum
• Kichijoji

This was my second trip to Japan. One of my favorite aspects of travel is the journey between destinations. I love seeing the architecture and small details, decorations, landscaping, etc. That kind of thing doesn't really come through in trip reports. My wife wanted to go to Ghibli Park, and I encouraged her to do more Ghibli-related things (to make it a theme of the trip). It rained a few days, and it was really hot/humid the other days, but we had a great trip.

I always try to avoid strict schedules. There were a few things that required specific reservation times. Otherwise, I had places listed by priority and proximity, and we decided once or twice a day what our next steps would be. Lower priority stuff was starred on Google Maps so I might check it out if I was in the area. Navigating with Google Maps was usually good, but it let us down a few times - especially when walking required something like a pedestrian bridge or an underground maze. There were a few times we just couldn't figure out which "level" to be on. Maps was great for telling which platform for a train and even the specific car to board that would let us out near the best exit.

Throughout the trip, I enjoyed many onigiri, coffee, sports drinks, and snacks from 7-Eleven, Family Mart, Lawson and vending machines. We ended up at so many underground shopping malls while taking trains. It was easy to get distracted along the way. I wish I had found a few more weird items (shirts, toys, etc.) to buy, but it would have taken time. Maybe I should have researched for weird vintage shops.

Things to look out for: There is no consistency of when businesses are open or closed. Could be any day or any time. Be sure to check ahead of time. In general, I love the bathrooms. But the toilet paper is very thin and soap doesn't really lather if there is soap at all. June was hot and humid. We had clear umbrellas for the rain, but a solid umbrella would have been nice in the sun (I saw one umbrella that had a clear half and a solid half). Portable fans would have been nice. Trains are usually perfect. Buses were usually 5-15 minutes late (unless I was hoping it would be late of course). Ended up using Uber/Taxis a few times to save time. It can be nearly impossible to predict when to swipe Suica sometimes. For example, buses in certain towns might expect you to swipe when getting on and off the bus. Some are a flat fare that you only swipe once. Sometimes you have to swipe in to get to a Shinkansen. Then you can use the Shinkansen ticket to exit at the destination. But if you don't also swipe out the Suica, the card will get locked and you'll have to go to a fare adjustment station. There are many little ways to get confused like that. We once got locked into the train platform. It wouldn't let us swipe out!

Be careful not to get constipated! We realized halfway through our trip that we were not getting many fruits or vegetables for fiber. Plus it was hot and humid and hard to stay completely hydrated. We caught it in time and loaded up on prunes from a grocery store, but it could be a problem for anyone prone to constipation.

The only purchases I regret not making were a Watchman shirt from the show I saw at UrBANGUILD (and some of the venue's signature chopsticks) and more snacks to give as gifts (and a few more for myself). I grabbed quite a few chocorooms, grape candies, and Super Mario gummies - but I should have gotten more. I also wish I had a few more of the sake "juice boxes" (complete with straw). I tried to be prepared for the tax-free procedures, but I found out there was like a 5,500 yen minimum which I never really exceeded at one store. I didn't see how to do anything about it at the airport either. I'm still confused about that whole tax-free thing.

I'd recommend trying to leave the last day open if possible. Then you can maybe do something you missed or can take time shopping for stuff you didn't want to carry around the whole time.

There are a lot of abandoned umbrellas. I wonder where they all go. Consider trying to find one opposed to buying one if you see rain in the forecast.

I could tell some Japanese people were skeptical if I approached, but often the attitudes changed to smiles once I tried speaking Japanese. Try to learn some basic polite phrases, and have your question translated and ready to ask in Japanese. Then use the app to continue conversation if needed. Craft the most simple concise way to ask your question.

Japanese make an "x" with their arms/hands to mean "no" when Americans would shake our head, so I started doing that when appropriate.

Jet lag was pretty wild the 2nd day after getting back to the US. I was mowing at what would have been 4am in Japan and my body felt like Jell-O. Then I slept for over 12 hours lol.

Oh, right before I we said goodbye to my friend at Shinjuku Station, a guy walked by wearing a string thong that barely covered his bits. His torso was covered, but he was basically naked from the waist to his shoes.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Jaguar-Popular on 2025-06-22 04:16:41+00:00.

---

So on my trip to japan in early June, one of my bucket list is cycling in shimanami kaido and here is my report.

It took me around 6-6.5 hours going from onomichi to imabari with total distance of 78.3 km (took a little break sometimes and forgetting to turn on the smart watch). For the sake of giving you all the information so you can plan thetripi with your pace I'm gonna divulge some personal information : I am a 7-5 office worker who regularly jog once a week 5 km in 50 minutes, weigh about 95 kg(obese for someone my height)

I did it with e bike rented with reservation from https://www.shimanami-bike-rental.com/booking?lang=en , you can also go directly to the onomichi pick up point but I don't know whether you can get the e-bike that way though, so the e-bike have 4 mode eco, normal, road-trip and sport(though I can't remember the name exactly. basically e-bike motor help you so it's easier to pedal, from the bare assistance in eco mode, to easy pedal all the way on sports mode, the display monitor shows how much km left you can travel before the battery run out when you change between each mode(I spent half of the trip being stingy on eco and normal mode so I could use sport mode all the way on the last half of the trip)

Did it in 1 day because : 1. For me it's out of budget to stay in hotel between the island and 2. My main itinerary for this trip is just finishing the whole cycle from point to point so I don't really feel the need to stop and do some sightseeing(but it could be done, remember with me as a base line you could plan your trip accordingly, i'm sure many of you all in much better shape than me 😁😁😁)

So for the trip I'm staying at livemax hotel in Fukuyama, one for budget reason and one more reason i'll tell you on the end of this post.

IF any of you want to make sure your plan is feasible and want to look for more info you can go to the tourist information center inside of onomichi station, the lady who works there speake and understand English, maybe try to make it shorter sentence. For example I was worried that I'd be so tired halfway that I can't finish the trip, I want to ask how to return the bike then(since when you book you need to specify point of return) I just said "if I'm tired here (pointing at map), how return bike". She explained that I can return the bike on several point on the route and which point is better to give up (LOL) because some return place is near the local bus stop to ride back to onomichi. You can ask her anything basically, where to go to use the luggage forwarding service, to recommended restaurant in onomichi. 😁

I began my trip from Fukuyama at around 6 a.m going to onomichi by train. (No coffee shop open till i arrive to onomichi around 7 a.m ,sot bought onigiri at konbini, in Fukuyama nakau(Japanese chain restaurants) already opened, but was afraid will be too full to cycle. Picked up my bike, then going to the pier to ride the ferry between onomichi and the first island, the fare is 110 yen cash only, you pay it to the man on board. On the first island, you'll start to see the blue line which indicate the road to take, but keep an eye for the sign around the road, because sometimes the line get cut off (like on cross road) so getting lost is still a possibility.

As an amateur cyclist and an over thinker I brought plastic raincoat set(with pant) from home, but the konbini at onomichi and on the way along the island sell them too, only the coat though (yes, there are konbini located along the shimanami-kaido route, be at ease if you forgot to buy sunscreen, food,or cash). Tip: be sure to check the weather forecast in onomichi and imabari,those two city are located in different prefecture, so the weather can be different in the middle of your trip like it happened to me(sudden rain after the 2nd island).

Maybe it just me but the last 5km to imabari isn't eventful, it's just long road to to city without any view, kinda bumming out the atmosphere after that long and tiring trip.

Anyway I've reached imabari station around 2.10 p.m and waiting for the bus to Fukuyama (one of the reason why I'm staying there, cause there is a bus that goes directly from imabari to Fukuyama) you can take the bus 3 ways, 1. Buying the ticket directly at the bus kiosk beside the bus stop, 2. Take the paper ticket inside the bus, and pay cash (just search how to ride bus in Japan) and 3. Pay with IC card(icoca, Suica, etc) , tap when you go in the bus and before you got off the bus, the shimanami liner bus route is operated by few different company and not all of them accept IC though, here is the time table for the bus, green one is from Fukuyama to imabari and the brown on bottom is from imabari to Fukuyama just use Google lens to translate it, the "O" And "X" At the left column indicate which bus accept IC card as payment. https://www.chugokubus.jp/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/965fc31a1b03721058266e8b50536880.pdf

As you can see from the time table you can go from Fukuyama to imabari as early as 7 a.m and and as late as 8.55 pm, then back from imabari as late as 7.22 p.m . So it is possible to plan going along the shimanami-kaido either from onomichi to imabari or vice versa in 1 day. 👍👍👍

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/yusuo85 on 2025-06-20 18:19:23+00:00.

---

I posted a very rough itinerary a week ago and have since have taken on a few of the recommendations given by people and reworked a few things, at the moment I only have 2 days empty, One in Kyoto and one in Tokyo where I'm happy to fill a few things as suggested.

I'm interested in the pre-industrial history of Japan as well as the beauty with a side splash of the geek side of things, anyway, without further a do, here is my almost complete itinerary.

MODS- This is not AI generated, I have used japan-guide website to pick a few highlights and fill days, the things I want to do are included but was unsure on the names of temples so used the website to do alot of them. I say this as the last time I submitted it was removed as being AI generated, it is not AI generated at all, just a novice to this itinerary thing

Day 1 - Tokyo

Things to explore locally:

• Sensoji Temple.
• Nakamise Shopping Street
• Asakusa Shrine
• Tokyo Skytree
• Samurai Ninja Museum

Day 2 - Tokyo

• Yasukuni Shrine
• Imperial Palace
• Akihabara
  • Super Potato
  • Namco Akihabara
  • Mandarake Complex
  • Maid Cafe

Day 3 - Tokyo

• Shinjuku
  • Kabukicho (night)
  • Omoide Yokocho
  • Shin-Okubo Koreatown
  • Zenkoku-ji Temple
  • Gyeon Garden
• Shibuya
  • Lost Bar
  • Shibuya Crossing
  • Takeshita Street
  • Meiji Shrine Imperial Garden
  • Harajuku

Day 4 - Tokyo

• Sengakuji Temple
• Zojoji Temple
• Roppongi Hills
• Tokyo Tower

Day 5 - Tokyo >> Kyoto

• Kyoto
  • Nishiki Market
  • Yasaka-no-to
  • Rakusai Bamboo Park
  • Kinkaku-Ji Temple
  • Wagyu Steak Hafuu Honten

Day 6 - Kyoto

• Nintendo Museum (If I can get tickets)
• Shijo Bridge Walk
• Fushimi Inari Taisha (early morning)
• Kiyomizu-Dera

Day 7 - Kyoto

• Higashiyama
• Kyoto National Museum
• Gion
• Chionin Temple
• Kamo Shrine

Day 8 - Kyoto

• Follow up day (Empty Day / Rest Day)

Day 9 - Kyoto >>  Himeji >> Hiroshima

• Himeji Castle
• Arrive in Hiroshima around 7ish

Day 10 - Hiroshima

• Miyajima Island
  • Itsukushima Shrine
  • Goju-no-to
  • Daisho-in Temple

Day 11 - Hiroshima

• Hiroshima Castle
• Peace Park
• Shukkei-en Garden
• Mitaki-Dera Temple

Day 12 - Hiroshima >> Osaka

• Nintendo Osaka
• Namba
• Shitennoji Temple
• Kuromon Market
• Shinsekai

Day 13 - Osaka

• Universal Studio

Day 14 - Osaka

• Nara
  • Nara Park
  • Kasuga Taisha
  • Todaiji Temple

Day 15 - Osaka >> Kanazawa

• Kanazawa
  • Higashi Chaya District
  • Omicho Market
  • Kanazawa Castle
  • Nishi Chaya District

Day 16 - Kanazawa >> Tokyo

• Tokyo National Museum

Day 17 - Tokyo

• Day Trip to Kawagoe

Day 18 - Tokyo

• Empty Day, go back to Akihabara

Day 19

Fly Home

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Severe_Confusion4853 on 2025-06-20 21:58:28+00:00.

---

Hello.

We just got back from our vacation in Japan. Tips I found in this subreddit have been helpful in organising the trip, so I decided to give back with my share of thoughts, reflections and memories. There’s a summary at the end.

Suica (on an iPhone): worked flawlessly except for Kawaguchiko. This was strange because neither of us could use it on a bus from Mt. Fuji Station to Kawaguchiko Station nor on a sightseeing bus around Lake Kawaguchi. First time it happened we only had a 10 000 bill and the driver refused to accept it, luckily a local couple helped us out and exchanged it. Recharging didn’t work a few times around Kansai, had to do it again in a few minutes. Apart from that, it was also useful for shopping, vending machines (especially those which didn’t accept cards) and even some public parks and recreation.

Crowds (Tokyo): I’ve seen many posts about bad it supposedly is, but if you’ve ever visited any popular tourist spot in a major city, you’ll not be surprised. Have you ever ridden a metro in Rome? Here the congestion is the same, the difference is people’s behaviour. Here everyone is quiet, either on a phone or resting, no one is pushing you or trying to rob you just before the doors close (I speak from experience) and there is an order on a platform. You didn’t make into this train? You wait in line for the next one. Once, during afternoon rush hour in Akasaka, we saw bigger-than-usual queues and there were pushers (oshiya) on a stand-by. Same applies to JR lines (we have specifically chosen Yamanote Line during afternoon rush hour to have a comparison). One day stood out: we rode almost the entire Hanzomon Line to Tokyo Skytree and it was nearly empty, and only after we later made it to Nakamise-dori (the street leading up to Senso-ji) we saw what we can actually call a crowded place. Also the Tokyo Skytree was the only place where we had to wait longer than 5 minutes: we arrived at 10:30 AM and queued for 20 minutes (judging by the queue barriers, they are prepared to handle a lot longer lines), but by the time we got to the kiosk, the 11:00 AM combo tickets were sold out (there were plenty for the lower deck only). We picked the next available slot for 11:30 AM, but we were told to exit the line as our time has not yet come - fair enough. Turns out they make you queue once again, by going through the main entrance, this time in a different line with those who have their tickets reserved but not yet picked up, which is nonsense, because there is no separation right until you reach the kiosks (we skipped them). After they let you in, you form another line to the security gates (another couple of minutes) and then you queue for the elevators which in our case took another 20 minutes. After all, we made it to the first deck at 11:45 AM and spent and hour and a half altogether, including coffee with the view.

Crowds (Kyoto): the subway and various railways were not badly congested. The main streets seem to be a little bit crowded, but nothing serious. The tourist spots were packed, indeed. The first 5-10 minutes into Fushimi Inari-Taisha there is a sea of people wanting to take a picture for their online followers. The higher you go, the more they disappear until you have the orange gateways for yourself. Kiyomizu-dera, Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka are crowded, as well, but have you ever walked Oxford Street in London? You get the idea. We deliberately avoided the bamboo forest in Arashiyama, having learnt in this subreddit that it’s just not worth the trip. The Hankyu Raikway going from Kyoto to Osaka-Umeda turned out to be a great and cheap service, with a limited express costing 410 yen and the journey taking just 45 minutes. A popular choice, judging by the number of passengers, so if you happen to be in its proximity, it might be a better solution than JR’s Thunderbird (even though it’s 20 minutes faster, you still have to commute to downtown).

For a city much larger, Tokyo was simply quieter, more peaceful and harmonious than Osaka. Hardly anyone talked on a subway, there was an order to walking down the street or through railway stations, the locals seemed friendlier and more people spoke English (which is limited everywhere, anyway). Osaka felt grungy compared to Tokyo. While we enjoyed the walk through downtown and a visit to the castle, and Dotonbori was as colourful and loud as advertised, we feel like we wouldn’t miss that much if we decided to skip it. If someone is struggling to fit Osaka in their itinerary, devote your time to Kyoto and Nara, they offer more, as in something different, if you follow the Golden Route. Tokyo vs. Osaka is a no-brainer.

You’ll need cash even in some touristy spots (e.g. Sannenzaka), but you’ll be surprised to be able to pay contactless in some off-the-beaten-path places (e.g. a lovely pastry shop in Arakawa City). Cash is almost always necessary in shrines and temples - if you collect goshuins, it’s a must. For 15 days we needed roughly 70 000 yen in cash (paid with card whenever possible). Seven Bank ATMs take no fee for a Mastercard debit card all day long - just make sure your bank does the same (the ones allowing you to open additional currency accounts are the best - all you have to do is to have the desired amount exchanged in-app and you’ll never have to worry about finding a currency exchange office which thrive on poor exchange rates; whatever you do, make sure to block DCC and Surcharge in your settings).

Fuji Excursion train is a great alternative for someone who is not fond of riding a bus, but there is no way of getting tickets ahead of time (they sell out weeks ahead and you never know the weather), thankfully you can get on it without the supplementary ticket and the conductor will sell it at a normal price (for clarity, just show you tapped with Suica at the station). We took the 7:30 AM and it was fairly crowded (no chance of sitting down unless it’s a floor), but it was slightly worse on our way back (3:00 PM) - again, not the worst crowd we’ve ever witnessed. Navigating through Shinjuku Station wasn’t as bad as I’ve read here: it took as maybe 5-7 minutes to reach the right platform from the Marunouchi Line (we knew the platform number, so maybe additional three minutes might be needed for those not prepared). It is a two-hour long trip one way, quite possibly standing (we ultimately sat maybe for 1/4 of the way, as not everyone in the designated cars was going all the way), but it wasn’t the only time we had to stand and the experience was absolutely worth it.

You probably already know the food is good, so there is nothing to worry about digestion-wise. While it’s sensible to bring the essential medicine, we also brought some supplements in case of a bad stomach bug or worse. It was completely unnecessary, we kept ourselves hydrated with Pocari Sweat and smoothies from 7-Eleven. No aching, no illness or discomfort for half a month.

You also probably heard about the lack of garbage cans on streets. It’s true, but I’ll let you in on a little secret: every 7-Eleven, Family Mart or Lawson has them. And they are everywhere (all right, the vending machines are even more easily available). Even more wholesome was when we finished our meal and the personnel saw us carrying the empty package, often they took it away for us (without us asking for it).

We did 20 kilometres per day on average. Surely you can do less, but we walked the entire Chuo-dori and explored the shops, strolled down the Sumida or went through cedar forests on our way from Kurama to Kibune. Some metro transfers were as easy as going 10 meters straight, some required hundred of meters of walking, so by the time we got to our first point of interest, we sometimes had already done a few thousand steps. We didn’t have those fancy Onitsuka Tiger shoes a lot of people seem to be crazy about (yeah, their stores were hugely popular), we relied on our trusted sneakers. But I’ll give credit where credit is due: Shupatto bags are handy and I’m glad I read about them, otherwise I wouldn’t have bought them.

Shinkansen: no need to book in advance, plenty of seats for two people next to each other on a weekday morning from Tokyo to Kyoto. However, on a Sunday evening, the queue for unreserved cars in Hiroshima back to Kyoto was substantial. Not only people were standing in the corridors, but many were left on the platform. We saw the same at Kobe and Osaka stations. Make sure to have a reserved seat (you’ll have to wait a little bit at the kiosks) or prepare to queue, but even then you’ll not be guaranteed a seat.

Speaking of Hiroshima: we booked our tickets for the Peace Memorial Museum in advance via Klook for a late entry, hoping to avoid the crowds. Ultimately, we arrived an hour earlier (4:30 PM), so we asked if we can go in now, because there was no real congestion. There was no problem with it and we spent a good 2 hours on a normal pace. Surely, we didn’t have the museum for ourselves, but the lines were moving fairly smoothly. We still skipped a temporary exhibition downstairs, so I’m not sure how we would do it in 1,5 hours (the museum closes at 7 PM). Anyway, by far the cheapest museum we’ve ever visited and surely one of the most significant.

eSIM: we chose Ubigi over Airalo due to recent fraud reports and their supposedly good coverage thanks to being owned by a Japanese telecommunications company. The installation a...

---

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1lggago/15_days_in_tokyo_kyoto_and_osaka_with_field_trips/