Japan Trips & Travel Tips

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Ok_Biscotti_4070 on 2024-04-01 04:22:56.

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I just got back from 12 days in Japan, traveling with a family of four (kids 12 and 15). We got so many great tips from this Reddit thread, so I wanted to share back some insights and tips for other families.

Trip: Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara (day trip), Hakone - Gora, Tokyo - End of March 2024

We loved the MIRAMU apartment hotel chain. We stayed seven nights between Tokyo and Kyoto. The rooms were larger than traditional hotels, allowing our family to spread out a bit. The sleeping room with bunk beds were separated from a simple sitting room and a kitchenette by a sliding door or wall. The toilet and shower were also separate from the bathroom. In Kyoto, we had laundry in the room, and while we packed light, we could have gotten by with even less. I highly recommend it to other families. We booked these approximately five months in advance.

We shipped luggage between hotels one time. The hotel took care of all the paperwork and made it easy. It allowed us to travel between Tokyo and Kyoto with just daypacks (with one day's worth of clothes) and hit the ground running without the need to go directly to our hotel before exploring. The bags were in our room when we arrived.

We determined that we did not need a JR pass and just used IC (Suica) cards in Apple Wallet on every train trip. It was so simple. I added my AMEX to one kid's phone so they could easily recharge as needed using Apple Wallet (they cannot recharge with Apple Cash), but for the other minor, we needed to pick up a physical IC card (from an IC ATM) when we landed at Haneda airport in the arrivals hall.

In the Arrivals Hall: 1. Get pocket WIFI (we got a physical unit and did not reserve in advance). It's so cheap compared to phone plans. 2. Get cash. We always had 30,000 yen just in case, but we primarily used IC or AMEX. 3. Get a physical IC Suica card for minors from self-service ATM. Twenty minutes later, you can be on a train.

We bought Shinkansen tickets 2-3 days before travel using the smartEX app only to get 4 seats together or sit on the right side of the train. When you purchase, you can connect or "designate" your IC (download the Suica app to get your full Suica number) cards to Shinkansen tickets to streamline flow through ticket terminals in train stations, especially if you are going between local trains and Shinkansen…just tap and go. You don't need to print QR codes. If you don't do this, the friendly ticket station people will quickly get you through. There were always tourists getting this sorted.

Food was a big focus of our trip, but we only had one reservation (the hotel called for us on the same day). Many of the booking sites require payment in advance, and we were not interested in that level of planning. Since we have kids and we're operating on a totally different schedule, we opted to eat early dinners, usually arriving just after they open for the day. We ate at some really popular restaurants and never waited for more than 10 or 15 minutes, including restaurants with Michelin ratings. Our family had one vegetarian, and so we did a fair amount of research for friendly restaurants in each area and starred them in Google Maps.

Make sure you are fluent using Google Maps for navigation. It does a phenomenal job of navigating train stations, determining what exit #/name to enter/leave a station, what platform to be on, and even the best car for efficient transfers. After a few train rides, you'll be a pro, able to toggle the times and switch floors on the map. It'll tell you the basic information, but you'll still need to use the station signage to get where you need to go.

We booked an onsen in Hakone-Gora five months before our trip, but I think I should have done this earlier. Most of the small boutique onsens in the area we wanted to stay were already booked and several implied that they booked out a year in advance. The onsen was such a fun part of our trip that I recommend researching and booking far in advance. I also recommend at least two nights in Hakone to get the full experience and to allow multiple days to get good views of Fuji in case of weather (it rained for two solid days). The trains and buses are packed, and I do not believe Hakone should ever be done as a day trip from Tokyo; it would be exhausting. Go there and stay. We were there two nights and didn't even have time to do "the loop" because of all the soaking and leisurely dinners. The Open Air Museum is amazing…even in the rain and clouds.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Juggy2111 on 2024-03-31 22:41:29.

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Just finished a first time to Japan trip with friends, and thought I’d post a breakdown of the bits we liked, any tips we discovered and things we would change.

(Apologies for the wall of text to follow).

Going into the trip, I did an enormous amount of planning and research to know what places we could visit, when they were closed, if they needed reserving etc. It was a massive pain but honestly, it really paid off because it gave a really good structure for days and planning when to do what.

Flights: LHR-NRT via HKG (Cathay). Flights were great. But probably would be worth it going direct for UK peeps.

Luggage:

1 medium suitcase (checked) 1 small photography backpack (carry on) 1 very small golf shoe bag (carry on)

Suitcase had all my clothes exclusively. The backpack had my camera, lenses, travel plug adapter, 65w charger, cables and paper printouts. The shoe bag just had some trainers and socks. Basically to free up space in the suitcase for clothes.

This combo was pretty manageable. Never needed luggage forwarding and could carry the suitcase up stairs easy when needed.

Used Suica via Apple wallet. Never failed. Incredibly easy to top up, no machines needed. Worked in every location for transport. (Used Amex to top up).

Google maps was also incredibly reliable. It tells you entrance and exits, what line, whether it is local/express/rapid etc.

The only times it failed is when we made mistakes (buying subway tickets rather than train tickets), not noticing the station names are different (e.g. Ueno has multiple)

Reservations:

Ghibli - Sells tickets on the 10th 10am (Japan time). Had to slug it out. Queue-it placed me 6000+, still got tickets (just not on the day I originally wanted) Sumo - Sells tickets on the 10th 10am (Japan time). The website is shit. It will crash repeatedly. You basically have to brute force it and repeatedly go through the process of buying tickets from scratch until it works. Shinkansen - Bought ahead of time via SmartEx. Was super easy. Barely an inconvenience. Collected at Shinkansen ticket machine 30 mins before departure. TeamLabs Borderless - Bought as soon as available for date. Skytree - Waited until in Japan for weather report. Then bought ticket on the day at like 6am. Got sunset easy. DO NOT TRY AND BUY AT SKYTREE. The line was massive. If you don’t want sunset, nighttime will also be a great time for night city views. Also quieter Gundam Factory - Bought on the day. Didn’t do the dock and instead saw the show from the seating area.

Cities:

Yokohama - Loved Yokohama. Was incredibly cheap for Accomodation and food, had great locations for photography and a cool vibe at night. Really didn’t expect it to be as great as it was.

Tokyo - Also loved Tokyo. All the areas we visited felt distinct and unique, there was so much to do/see. A huge variety in things to do as well. Awesome for photography (Architecture and Cityscapes).

Osaka - Was decent. Not sure it was our kind of city. Ironic as it had some of our favourite activities. Food was good (but it was great everywhere tbh). Had a lot to do both during day and night.

Kyoto - rained heavily each day… but was still brilliant. Each of the areas we visited felt different, we didn’t get temple/shrine fatigue either. Didn’t feel busy either (probably because of the rain) but you can tell it’s more touristy.

Transport:

Trains/Subway - Super easy. IC card friendly, fairly cheap. Reliable and high frequency. In Tokyo, this is the way.

Buses - Also very easy (with IC). Usually flat fare per ride. Less reliable and frequent but honestly it’s hard to go wrong with the buses. The numbers are on the front. In Kyoto we only ever used buses.

Bikes - For a country famed for its politeness and order, it was weird to see how bikes are basically chaos on the footpaths/roads. Still not sure on the rules. Would suggest renting a bike for the Fuji lakes areas.

Day breakdown:

12 - arrival at 2pm. Travel to Yokohama. Eat food. Stay awake until night time to fight jet lag.

13 - Day trip to Kamakura. Started by beach and worked back to station. Saw the lot. Fuji, Big Buddha, bamboo grove tea. 33k steps. Most we walked. Fantastic area. Gundam Show in the evening. Also fantastic.

14 - Shibuya area. Meiji morning, Shibuya shopping areas noon, Ghibli museum afternoon. Ghibli museum was ace, and the Shibuya area was nice for shopping and generally chilling.

15 -move hotel + NE Tokyo (Akihabara, Ueno, Asakusa, Skytree) - Akihabara had some cool arcades, Ueno park was great although busy, Hokusai Museum was surprisingly good, Skytree was extremely busy (sunset) but the views were epic. Senso-Ji at night was awesome.

16 - originally planned to be nikko day trip. Did Kawaguchiko instead as it was clear. The Fuji views were immense. We didn’t rent bikes - that was a mistake. At night we stumbled into the metropolitan building light show.

17 - St Patrick’s day. Surprised by the sheer amount of events. Also- auld lang syne for st Patrick’s day? Is that a thing? Omoide Yokocho in the evening.

18 - travel to Osaka. Wandering Osaka. Umeda sky building In the evening - great views, extremely cold though.

19 - Osaka aquarium in the morning, Sumo in the afternoon, Dotonbori Evening. Aquarium was unreal. Absolutely massive. The Sumo was timed perfectly. Arrived just as main matches began. Saw until end. Awesome. Dotonbori was impressive. Massive sensory shock but was a cool area.

20 - Nara. The deer are cool. Todai-Ji impressive. Nara visitor centre was the true standout. Told us to forget the deer, go to see Ashura at kofukuji as it’s a national treasure. He was right. Also did a tea ceremony with them.

21 - Osaka castle in the morning then travel to Kyoto. Needed some rest as well. The castle was very pretty. And the walk around the grounds was nice.

22 - East Kyoto pt1 - Ginkakuji, Eikando, Nanzenji, philosopher path, Heian Shrine. All very good temples/shrines. Philosopher path was a bit sad without blossoms.

23 - East Kyoto pt2 - Kiyomizudera, hokanji, Kenninji, Yasaka Shrine. Rained heavy on this day, but again all the shrines/temples were awesome. The cloud dragons were a standout.

24 - Arashiyama - Bamboo Forest, Wander, Tenryu-ji, Jojakkoji, Seiryoji Temple, Daikakuji, Isu Pond. I’ll be honest, the rain didn’t help (although did make for excellent photography) but the temples carried this day. The bamboo and the river path were nice, but it was hard to enjoy the mountains with the rain. The temples were excellent though. More cloud dragons and basically empty.

25 - North-ish Kyoto - KinkakuJi, Ryoanji, Botanical Gardens, Nijojo. Still raining. Golden Pavilion was still awesome. Ryoanji was pretty quiet. Botanical gardens were amazing (the conservatory mainly). Nijojo was surprisingly expensive (a whopping £6.80 each). But inside it was great.

26 - Fushimi Inari and Byodin. Rained extra hard. This obliterated the crowd, only the brave remained. Was an enjoyable hike. Not many people tbh. Byodin was awesome as well. Museum+inside both were impressive.

27 - travel day. Tsukiji Honganji. This temple takes the cake for most enthusiastic helpers. By a mile.

28 - Odaiba. Was pretty dead, but still cool. Monorail, Fuji TV, Gundam, Docks, Big Sight. A treasure trove for photographers. Was pretty cool to see the presenters live as well.

29 - Teamlabs Borderless + Leave. Borderless was epic. Really enjoyed it. 2 hours just flew by.

All in all, Japan was fantastic.

Averaged 20k steps a day. (33k high, 11k low). 8.5 mile average. Temples are around 400-600 yen Meals vary between 1000-2000 yen each. You can spend more but you’ll quite easily find a ramen restaurant that will serve ramen + a soft drink for 1500 yen. A significant portion as well. Drinks vary from 650yen for beers to maybe 1400 yen for cocktails and some sake. This varies massively on the restaurant/bar. Buses are around 230yen flat fare. Subways are accurate on Google maps but usually between 180-440 yen depending on distance. Shinkansen Tokyo-Kyoto is around 12-14k yen. Coke bottles are 180 yen from vending machines. These machines are everywhere. Haagen-Dazs Ice cream is around 500 yen from vending machines. They are less common but still epic.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Dumbidiot1323 on 2024-03-31 20:12:07.

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Welcome (back) to the second part of my November "Journey Down South"! This report will feature my absolute favourite experience in Japan (and perhaps just my life in general) with the famous Shimanami Kaido cycling route that I undertook back in that November!

As always, you can check out my other reports down below.

Part 1| Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

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Okayama + Kurashiki

After finishing my hike along a portion of the Nakasendo trail, it was time to get the train from Nagoya to Okayama. I had been to Okayama in 2019 already and thus had already checked out the major sights, such as the Koraku-en (one of the top 3 traditional gardens in Japan) and Okayama Castle before, which I passed on this time around. The main reason I had a short stay over here was because I didn't really know where else to go after my Nagoya stay, truth be told. I revisited Kurashiki, which is famous for its canals and shopping streets featuring a whole lot of denim. I took these two days to just somewhat relax after the big hike beforehand, so I basically just strolled around town, checking out a few shrines along the way. If I were more of a window shopper or just more into shopping in general, I probably would love this place a lot more - but I feel that way about a lot of places in Japan that other people love (for instance: Shimokitazawa in Tokyo).

Not much to report here, I am afraid. If you are ever on your way down south Japan and are looking for like a day or two day trip, Okayama and Kurashiki are probably a good shout but don't expect anything super special. And apparently Okayama is famous for it's Horumon, so if you like that, I am sure you can find a good place here somewhere.

Onomichi

After my little break in Okayama, I went ahead to Onomichi, which is a port town closeby and one of the starting points for the aforementioned Shimanami Kaido cycling route. Many people usually take a train from Okayama early in the morning, go to Onomichi and start the cycle there but since I had time and wanted to start as soon as possible on the day of the cycle, I had decided to stay there for one night and check out the small town in peace. And I actually was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. There is a designated route to walk along 25 temples, most of which are on the city's hillside. Of course, most of them are rather small but there are a bunch with multiple buildings as well. I really liked walking along the path and seeing all the different temples and small shrines, although some of them are a bit off the route and lead through small residential areas. On top of that, you can get great views of the port and surroundings of Onomichi. At one of the temples, I found this particular cat just sleeping away. This cat looks almost exactly like my cat, which passed away in 2018. I choose to believe that this is her from another universe and that this was fate :P.

At some point, I went back to my hotel to properly check in and pack my necessary things for the cycle before shipping my large suitcase to my hotel In Hiroshima, where I'd be a few days later. Hotel staff was very helpful with that and forwarding my luggage was super easy (Sakura Hotel Onomichi Ekimae, for anyone who's interested). Once I did all that, I went back outside and made my way back up the hill to Senkoji temple, which has a park, museum and an observation platform - the latter being completely free. Since this is one of the highest points in the city, it offers the best views as well! Especially around sunset. I probably spent an hour or so up there and just watched the sun slowly disappear behind the faraway mountains, thinking about how "tomorrow", I'd be cycling around somewhere in the distance. Once the sun was gone, I slowly walked back down to the city, stopping along the way, taking a few pictures of the city at night, with the moon illuminating the town. There's also a whole lot of cats in Onomichi.

I ended the day with Onomichi's own version of ramen, although this was certainly one with not as much pork fat on top, but it was incredible. Because I wouldn't have much time to go for breakfast the day after (and I don't really eat breakfast in general), I got a few bananas for the cycle. Some sort of pseudo nourishment to have at least something in my stomach before the cycle began!

Shimanami Kaido

And then, the day I awaited for YEARS had arrived. I packed my backpack with all the leftover stuff (laptop, powerbank, chargers, change of clothes, bananas) that I did not send forward to my next hotel and checked out, walking towards the pickup point of my rental e-bike. I will not go into more detail about how the whole bike reserving went since I made a post about it back then. If you are interested in reading what it's like to do this cycle with pretty much no cycling practice for over a decade, check that out. For this report, I'd like to focus on the actual journey itself!

Once I got my bike, I got onto the ferry that takes you from to Mukaishima, which is the first, small island of the actual cycling route. The weather was AMAZING and I still get shivers when I think back at me on that ferry, watching the sun slowly rise, the hazy morning sky, my trusty steed...It really did feel like I was embarking on some grand journey at that time and it was a dream come true to cycle this route. The first island isn't that spectacular since you spend a while cycling along cars through the small city but once you hit the proper cycling route (which is always marked by a blue line on the road), you get to enjoy the incredible views around the Seto Inland Sea.

It really feels distinctively different from the rest of Japan. The flora is so much more tropical. I stopped a lot along the route, taking pictures of everything. For the sake of not cluttering up the thread too much, I am posting just a "few" photos but yeah...words can not describe how breathtakingly beautiful this place is. Cycling along the coasts, seeing the bridges, cycling over them, having even better views offered - it's incredible. It felt very rewarding to cross bridges I've seen from afar. Back when I cycled this route, there weren't too many people doing the same so I had most of the way to myself. Although one person sticks out to me - a woman who walked the route. Now, I don't know whether she walked the entire thing or just a portiong but certainly did make her way up one of the bridges and those have some killer inclines! We exchanged a few words and "Ganbatte'd" each other every now and then because sometimes she'd catch up with me when I was taking pictures; her pace was astonishing. Every now and then, I'd get some water or snack along the way from one of the konbini, using that time to take more pictures of course.

Around the halfway mark, I took a break at the cyclist sanctuary, which offers seating, food and everything else you'd probably need as a cyclist, I suppose. I was pretty hungry at this point and devoured this curry at what may be the most scenic place I've ever eaten at before continuing my journey. These maps were always a nice reminder of how far I was already and how much more I had to go. Honestly, 90% of this cycling route has beautiful sights. After taking this picture, I managed to actually fall over with my bike but didn't hurt myself in any major way but it was still somewhat funny that I actually fell when trying to get back onto my bike and not while cycling - which I was more concerned about considering how long it had been since I actually rode a bike. Anyway, as I approached the "final stretch" (which was probably still like... 15-20 kilometers), I checked my e-bike's juice and had more than enough to tackle the part of the cycle that isn't part of the official route but an absolute must see for me personally: Kirosan Observatory.

This one is located on a mountain, some 300 meters high, near Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge, the last bridge I'd cross on...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/ScythianCelt on 2024-03-31 22:41:55.

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I stayed in the Chofu area of Tokyo and on my last of 3 days there, decided to see something nearby. I went to the Jindaiji Temple and it was beautiful, serene, Tons to see and explore, there appeared to be monks that maintained it, and there are supposedly award winning soba. I’m sad I didn’t give myself more time here, I had to rush away after an hour. The Temple area is free. There is also a paid botanical garden I never got to see before it opened at 9:30.

Highly recommend as a quiet retreat! Easy to get to Chofu station, can either bus directly to the Temple from the station or take a 30 minute walk with google maps if you feel adventurous.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/wolfpaw68 on 2024-03-30 23:04:10.

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My itinerary was a pretty standard Kyoto/Tokyo trip so I thought I'd share something different: the logistics for traveling through Japan that I would have liked to know ahead of time. I'd consider myself an intermediate traveler, but I can get pretty anxious and I like to know as much as I can about how to actually do/get to what I want to see in order to reduce micro decisions on the trip. Hopefully this write up helps other anxious planners like me!

I'm going to focus on a bit of what we did to prepare, how we traveled from major city to major city, general travel advice, and what we did in a day and how busy that day felt.

Disclaimer: This is what we did and the decisions we made. This is by no means the only way or even the best way to go about traveling through Japan, but it is a way that worked for us.

We are an American couple in our late 20s/early 30s. We've traveled abroad before but I wouldn't call us world travelers or anything. We are very comfortable/familiar with public transportation. This information was valid for a trip at the end of March 2024.

Before the trip:

• Learned some travel phrases
  • My biggest uses were excuse me (sumimasen), thank you (arigatou gozaimasu), please (typically onegaishimasu), and two people (futari desu). But I was also prepared with do you speak English? (eigo wa hanasemasu ka)
  • You can also watch role plays of convenience store and restaurant interactions on Instagram and Youtube which are super helpful, especially if they give keywords to listen for
• Decided on passes
  • JR Pass - we did not get. I didn't even expense it out, with the increase in price everyone was saying it was not worth, and traveling around the Kansai region I saw non-JR trains that were more convenient
  • With our trip to Kinosaki Onsen it probably would have been worth it to get the JR Kansai Wide Area Pass, but ultimately decided not to solely because we didn't want to worry about picking it up and using it
• Decided on data
  • eSIM/SIM
    • Pros: don't need to worry about an extra item to carry/charge, do not need to pick up and return, the eSIM can be set up before traveling
    • Cons: evidently there can be some broadband/coverage issues with foreign phones, cannot use wifi calling or text (eSIM)
  • Portable wifi
    • Pros: better coverage, potentially faster, can do wifi calls, multiple people can connect
    • Cons: extra piece to charge/carry, cannot wander to far from each other or separate, have to pick up and return
  • For two people the prices were about the same for the trip, but you get more data overall with the portable wifi
  • We decided on the SIM cards for convenience, and because we are staying in the large tourist areas so we weren't too worried about coverage. I used an Ubigi eSIM and my partner picked up a physical SIM from Narita
• Packed efficiently!
  • We each had travel backpacks as our carryon which we packed two days of clothes in
  • We then packed 5 days into a carryon suitcase (resulting in 7 days of clothes for a two week trip with the intent to do laundry). I put that carryon into a trash bag then packed it into a large suitcase with extra shoes and two cloth overnight duffle bags
    • We ended up not needing the duffle bags
  • This reduced the number of bags we were shipping for the first half of our trip, but gave us a whole extra suitcase for souvenirs! We did have 2 checked bags per person for our flight, so keep that in mind
• A tip for getting tickets ahead of time: they queue! I missed Ghibli Museum tickets because I didn't realize they start queuing an hour before release... I only got on 15 mins early

General Info for Travel

Buses (Kyoto)

• You get on through a door in the back of the bus. When you leave make your way to the front, pay by the driver, and leave through the front door
• The buses take IC card, but if paying by cash you do need exact fare. There is a change machine by the bus driver
• When looking for a bus stop, Google maps should give you a stop letter. You can double check the letter is on the stop and this should let you know you are getting the bus in the right direction
• Multiple buses will stop at the same stop. Verify the number on the top of the bus is the number bus you should be taking. Some of the stops also have a little sign showing what bus was approaching the stop or was pulling up. It was helpful!
• There is a screen on the bus showing the next stop as well as an announcement. The screen would always show the romanji of the bus stop, and the announcement was often made in English as well (at least for the major tourist spots)
• When your stop comes up on the screen, you have to push the buttons littered along the side of the bus to indicate you want to get off
• The buses can get busy, but otherwise I had no issues with them!

Subway

• Similar to the buses signs/announcements are also in English
• Personally I used Google Maps as more of a guide, rather than actually following its walking directions. Particularly it is helpful with determining which station entrance/exit to take, which lines you need to take, and what stops you need to transfer at, but for actual navigation through the station I found following the station signs the easiest
• Sometimes the signs will not write out the whole name of the line you are looking for, especially if it is a larger station. Look on the far left of your Google Maps directions and it should give you a line abbreviation and a color. You should be able to find these on a sign
  • For example, the Yamanote line may also be depicted on signs as JY with a lime green border, or you may see a lime green line on the ground
  • If between the signs and Google Maps you are still having trouble, completely exit the station and load up Google Maps again to take you to the appropriate entrance, where you *should* now see signs for your line
• Google Maps will often give you a platform number and will tell you which train you are taking (e.g., Yamanote line for Shibuya/Shinagawa Platform 14). Double check your train before getting on. Make sure the destination on the train (e.g., local to Shibuya/Shinagawa) matches what is on your phone. In Tokyo the platform was always correct, but in some of the surrounding areas the train may arrive on the opposite side
  • Another way to make sure the train is going the right direction for the platform you are on (at least in Tokyo) is to check the next stop number. If underground there should be a sign on the wall directly across from you indicating the name of the current station and the stop number. Underneath will be the next stop with its stop number. You can (1) expand out the stops on your Google Maps and verify the name of the next stop or (2) check whether the stop numbers are going up or down in comparison with your stop
    • e.g. for (2), if you are currently at stop 21, the sign says the next stop is 20, and your stop is 11 you are taking the correct train! If your stop is 25 you'll want to turn around and take the train behind you
  • If you get on a train going the wrong way do not fret! You can simply get off at the next stop and cross to the other side of the platform to get the next train going the other direction
• There are different types of trains, such as the local, express, rapid express, limited express, etc. Anything other than the local will skip stops. Double check with Google Maps which one you need to take
  • Be aware that some limited expresses require extra tickets on top of the base fare
• When charging your IC card you need to do it in cash
• Signs are in English! We had no trouble navigating the stations

In general the transportation system reminded me a lot of Washington D.C. Taking public transportation was very easy. I only went into so much detail because I saw many people having trouble at the stations, and I know many people who have never taken public transport before. Do not be intimidated, after the first couple trips you will have it down pat!

Itinerary

In general we would be out of the hotel by 8 and back after dinner (typically sometime between 7-9)

Day 1: Flight/at the airport (Narita)/Tokyo

• Getting through immigration took about an hour I'd say. We filled out our forms ahead of time and had the QR code but paper forms and QR codes went in the same line so it didn't save too much time
  • Note: you need to fill out and get a QR code for each person. You can do it on the same account, you can just toggle the name at the bottom to change the code
• Dropped off luggage with Yamato (yellow with black cat logo) to ship to Kyoto
  • In Narita this was located on the first floor on the side opposite the info center
  • You will need your hotel's address and phone number
• Pick up money
  • There were ATMs near the info center
  • Interestingly, this is the only time a 7/11 ATM worked for us
• Picked up the Pasmo Passport (tourist specific IC card - valid for 30 days)
  • Located at the Skyliner and Keisei Information Center on the same floor as the trains
  • Line was very long
  • Before going anywhere you'll need to load it up with cash
• We stayed near Tokyo Station for the night so we took the Keisei Skyaccess

Day 2: Travel to Kyoto

• We woke up early (jetlag) and took the Shinkansen to Kyoto
  • We bought tickets at the station with no issue, the terminals were easy to use and had an option to change the language to English
    • Make sure you buy the ticket with base fare! It is just e...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/ereinu on 2024-03-30 22:04:14.

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Hi,

I'll be traveling to Japan from the end of May until mid-June (21 days) together with my boyfriend. We've never been to Japan, and I want to make the most out of our trip without overwhelming or undoable planning. Our flights and hotels are booked, so we can't make any changes in that regard, but perhaps someone can check if we have days with too much or too little planned. Suggestions for must-visit locations are welcome.

Sadly, I'm not the most physically active person, and I can walk a maximum of 10km on a good day. So, I hope to keep most days a bit below that to save my poor feet and back. We are not really night people, so after dinner, we will return to our hotel to recharge for the next day, and if we still feel up for it, we might go out but I didn't put it in the planning.

Our planning in Osaka seems a bit empty on days 15 - 17 should we combine more in a day and add an extra day trip to the planning?

Note: The place names are from Google, and I hope they are correct.

May 21st - June 11th

Tue 21st Day 1 (Tokyo for 7 days)

• Arrive at Narita airport at 8:30 (Tokyo time).
• Complete airport procedures (Pasmo/Suica card, Wi-Fi setup, etc.).
• Travel to our hotel in Asakusa and drop off our suitcases (check-in at 15:00).
• Explore nearby attractions such as Nakamise-dori Street, Senso-ji, and Don Quijote.
• Have dinner near the hotel

Wed 22nd Day 2 (Ueno park and Akihabara)

• Visit Tokyo National Museum and Ueno Park.
• Explore Kanda Shrine.
• Head to Akihabara Electric Town for shopping (Hard Off, Hobby Off, Mandarake Complex, Super Potato, etc.).
• Return to the hotel for dinner

Thu 23rd Day 3 (Shibuya)

• Visit Meiji Jingu Shrine.
• Explore Shibuya, including Shibuya Crossing and Nintendo Tokyo.
• Enjoy dinner in Shibuya

Fri 24th Day 4 (workshop and Shinjuku)

• Attend a sample food workshop in Toshima City (30min - 1hour long)
• Explore Shinjuku area, including Golden Gai and Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden.
• Have dinner in Shinjuku.

Sat 25th Day 5 (only if we can get Ghibli museum tickets)

• Visit Ghibli museum (if we can get the tickets)
• Lunch at a Cat cafe (temari no ouchi)
• Visit some stores near the cat cafe (mode off, hard off etc...)
• Visit another hard-off on the way bay near Koenji station (dinner somewhere)
• Return to the hotel

Sun 26th Day 6 (Ginza)

• Explore Ginza for shopping and sightseeing.
• Visit DiverCity for entertainment.
• Stroll through Kokyo Gaien National Garden.
• Enjoy dinner in Ginza.

Mon 27th Day 7 (Travel to Hakone)

• Visit the post office if needed to drop off parcel to send home
• Travel to Hakone for a day trip.
• Explore Hakone attractions.
• Have dinner at the hotel in Hakone

Tue 28th Day 8 (Travel to Kyoto)

• Travel to Kyoto.
• Drop off suitcases at the hotel.
• Visit Kiyomizu-dera Temple. (dinner somewhere) Return to the hotel

Wed 29th Day 9 (Fushimi inari)

• Visit Fushimi Inari Shrine early in the morning.
• Explore Nishiki Market. Dinner near hotel

Thu 30th Day 10 (Bamboo forest and Monkey park)

• Visit Arashiyama Bamboo Forest early in the morning.
• Explore Arashiyama Monkey Park.
• Visit Hard Off Katsura Store on the way back with the bus Dinner near hotel

Fri 31st Day 11 (shopping and Gion)

• Visit Pokemon Center Kyoto (5 min walk from our hotel)
• Rent a kimono in Gion
• Visit Ichiho, Yasaka-jinja shrine, Maruyama park (is this all do-able while wearing a kimono and Zori sandals?)
• Bring back the kimono (Dinner somewhere)
• Return to the hotel

Sat 1st Day 12 (Kyoto > Nara > Osaka)

• Travel to Nara in the morning
• Visit Kofuku-ji, Todai-ji, Tamukeyama Hachimangu Shrine
• Walk through Nara park
• Visit Kasuga Taisha
• Have dinner in Nara
• Travel to Osaka and check into the apartment.

Sun 2nd Day 13 (Osaka)

• Explore Osaka Castle.
• Visit Kuromon Ichiba Market.
• Explore Dotonbori and Shinsaibashisuji.
• Have dinner somewhere near Dotonbori/Shinsaibashisuji

Mon 3rd Day 14 (Osaka - Universal Studios)

Spend the day at Universal Studios Japan.

Tue 4th Day 15 (Osaka - Shinsekai market)

• Visit Shinsekai Market.
• Explore Shitennoji Temple.

Wed 5th Day 16 (Osaka - Den Den Town)

• Explore Den Den Town.
• Visit Super Potato.

Thu 6th Day 17 (Osaka - Minoh)

• Visit the post office if needed to send a parcel home
• Travel to Minoh for the day.

Fri 7th Day 18 (Osaka > Himeji > Hiroshima)

• Travel to Himeji and visit Himeji Castle.
• Take the Mount Shosha Ropeway.
• Visit a Hard Off on the way back.
• Travel to Hiroshima and check into the hotel.
• Dinner near the hotel

Sat 8th Day 19 (Miyajima)

Visit Miyajima Island and explore its attractions.

Sun 9th Day 20 (Hiroshima)

• Visit the Atomic Bomb Dome.
• Explore Hiroshima Castle, Shukkeien Garden, and downtown Hiroshima.
• Have dinner in Hiroshima.

Mon 10th Day 21 (Hiroshima to Osaka)

• Return to Osaka.
• Explore the southern part of Osaka.
• Have dinner in the hotel (hotel is near Kansai airport)

Tue 11th Day 22 (Departure from Osaka):

Departure from Kansai Airport at 10:00 Japan time.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/jololojololoj on 2024-03-30 01:27:59.

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Hello! I have created an itinerary for my 8-day trip to Tokyo, and I would appreciate any advice or assistance. Many thanks!

April 16

• Arrival
• Akihabara for dinner (since it's close to our hotel)

April 17

• Explore Taito

• Tokyo SkyTree

• Asakusa

• Tokyo National Museum

• Ueno Park

April 18

• Explore Shinjuku

• Shinjuku Gyoen

• Kabukicho

• Golden Gai

April 19

• Explore Minato

• TeamLabs Borderless

• Explore Shibuya

• Meiji Jingu Shrine

• Takeshita Street

• Harajuku

April 20

• Explore Chiyoda

• Jinbocho

• Explore Setagaya

• Shimokitazawa

April 21

• Explore Chuo

• Tsukiji Outer Market

• TeamLabs Planet

• The Advertising Museum Tokyo

• Ginza

April 22

• Explore Shibuya

• Shibuya Center-gai

• One Piece Straw Hat Store

• Shibuya Crossing

• Shibuya Sky

April 23

• Departure
• Akihabara for lunch

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This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/lilyintx on 2024-03-29 13:55:01.

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Reflection on trip to Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Osaka, Hakone, Tokyo.

Just got back! This was my 2nd trip (last trip March 2023) to Japan and we tried to visit more cities than last visit which was just Tokyo Osaka Kyoto and Nara.

This visit we did not get the Jr pass and just bought individual tickets for the Shinkansen and used our ic card. A recommendation for Shinkansen is go to the station, find the track you’re getting on, then buy tickets. Sometimes the stations are so big you could get lost in them, so I’m glad I never pre purchased tickets and had to rush. We bought some tickets (looked up the times before we left via google maps) 10 minutes before leaving and still could sit with my group- plenty of room! My feet never hurt I wore new balance 327 and used compression socks most days. I averaged about 18k steps per day and 10 flights of stairs. I’m not athletic at all and my feet killed me last visit- the right shoes matter. Also loved the ESim- we used Airalo which gave us 10gb over 30 days and I used it all almost. Cash is important to have as we found many restaurants only took cash. But if you don’t have enough cash move on to somewhere else, many places take card.

🌸We saw cherry blossoms all over Japan just not the full bloom.🌸

We flew into Fukuoka from the USA connecting at Haneda. This was by far the least touristy place of the entire trip. Staying near Hakata station, we loved the ease of travel visiting nearby places like Nanzoin temple and even taking the ferry to a few nearby islands. Within the city we did taxi frequently as the busses were not as fast or convenient. Our highlight was the SoftBank Hawks baseball game which is a much do if you’re in town during the season or preseason. We were by far standing out as the few tourists there. It was nice to not experience that craziness at the beginning of the trip. This is truly a peaceful and serene area. I highly recommend catching a ferry to Iki island or even taking the ferry to Busan if you have time. Tenza Hotel at Hakata station was our hotel, it was pretty good but no cleaning if you stay less than 3 days, they will replace towels though. I was ok with that. 2.5 days total there.

Next stop Hiroshima and we had to take the Hello Kitty Shinkansen! We got to Hiroshima and we stayed very close to the peace dome, which we found out has a ferry nearby that takes you from the canal to Miyajima Island. We arrived around 11am and stayed until 2pm walking around the island, visiting the temples, and waking down the shopping street which had beer, street food, and restaurants with delicious oysters. Back to Hiroshima and visited the peace park and sites around that area, then went into the shopping streets and left the next morning. The Knot Hiroshima was our hotel, highly recommend! Only one day here but I felt like we did a lot.

Kyoto is now becoming my favorite city, I love the look of the city and the culture. However the amount of tourists were insane. Almost ruined the trip! We stayed near Kyoto station and jumped back on the train to go to Yamazaki distillery for a tour and tasting. This was a major highlight as we are huge whiskey fans but it was a stressful experience to get tickets as it’s a lottery system. We got lucky and I can’t recommend this enough, you even get a chance to buy liquor at about $35 usd for a bottle- wow! Back to Kyoto and we went to several temples and shopping areas including Sannenzaka, Old Japan Starbucks, Nanenzaka, Kiyomiza Deru, Gion district and the big shopping streets nearby to visit the Nintendo store, loft, Uniqlo etc. All recommend. Nishiki market was a big letdown. The food was not that great and it was too packed. Loved seeing the Geishas and trying all the Matcha! Air bnb. Only 2.5 days here, I could have done more!

On to Osaka as we had tickets to the sumo tournament and that was our main reason to visit as I felt we had seen it all on our last trip. Sumo is just amazing to witness in person. We also went to Dontonburi, Shinsaibashi, Namba walk, and temples nearby. We loved the food in Osaka, but also had a disappointing time at Kuromon market, food has gone down in quality at most stalls. Air bnb. Only 2 days here and it was enough.

Mt Fuji on the Shinkansen is breathtaking I can’t imagine seeing it up close. I went to the larger window between cars to get better pictures!

Our next stop was Hakone to relax in the hot springs. They were so hot and truly rejuvenating. We didn’t want to spend $600 a night so we got a hotel and went to the day onsen where we rented a private onsen at Yuryo Hakone. Definitely worth it and 2 hours in a private room was the perfect amount of time. I felt rejuvenated and ready to finish our trip strong. Amazing food here at the pizza place -808 monsmare and sushi restaurant - nakamuraya. We stayed at Mirahakone right by the station and loved being able to walk the street - beware everything operates between 9am-5pm otherwise it’s a ghost town! Took the romance car straight to Shinjuku, it was a nice view, storage at the top but big luggage needs to go in the spot in between cars. One day only in Hakone, I could have stayed another day if I took a much longer trip.

Last stop was Tokyo where we split our 5 days into different neighborhoods. We were lucky enough to see some cherry blossoms at shinjuku gyoen and ueno park. We also visited the Gundam in Yokohama before it leaves which was a good experience possibly better at night, going up to the tower deck wasn’t worth it as you couldn’t see much, the view is better from the ground. We stayed at at Airbnb in shinjuku off the Yamamoto line. Shibuya sky is worth the stop but we had to buy tickets about 3 weeks in advance. I am a huge ghibli, Pokémon, Nintendo, hello kitty, dragonball nerd so we went to all those stores all over Japan and visited Bandai headquarters to get a picture with Goku. Sad we didn’t get ghibli museum or park tickets but oh well! I felt the stores were good compromises as every store has a different photo op. Ginza was my favorite neighborhood last visit but I think this visit I enjoyed Harajuku and Omotesando area the most for the shopping and cafes. We finally got into the amazing Uni restaurants at Tsukiji market and I highly encourage anyone who loves fish and uni to visit- Itadora Unitora. We also loved Ginza Bairin for their pork cutlets. A highlight meal was at T Nakameguro. Highest quality beef Ume, prepared as an omakase, truly mouth watering!

Overall I can’t wait to go back. I may have gone overboard on Japanese skincare and makeup, as well as matcha but I still didn’t get enough. What I would recommend is not to waste time or space buying all the snack souvenirs as they have them all at the airport, even the ginza or station speciality Tokyo bananas were at narita. You get them placed in duty free bags to take on the plane and you don’t have to worry about taking up space in your luggage. They also have so many other souvenirs that you can wait to buy everything until you get to the airport. Even the drugstore at the airport had all the beauty items, medicines and products you see on TikTok.

Side note: where can I order the delicious treats from Japan delivered to the US?

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/ahhtibor on 2024-03-29 00:09:50.

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Hello, solo male traveller here, just back from three weeks in Japan, still in a bit of a daze so this might be a bit all over the place, but we’ll see how it goes. I visited Tokyo, Nikko, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Fukuoka, Osaka, back to Tokyo for home.Pre-trip planningI’ve been saying I wanted to visit Japan for years but kept finding excuses, but in Sep I finally just went ahead and booked the flights, meaning no turning back! I spent about a month planning where to go, and booked the hotels in October using Booking.com and paid for them over the next few months after paydays to spread out the cost. I opened a Chase bank account as there’s no charges for withdrawing (£1500 monthly limit for charge-free, but didn’t come close to withdrawing that much). I also booked a few workshops and visits ahead of time that I’ll come to later.

Packing

I pride myself on packing lightly, but even I cracked at the last second and took an extra jumper and t-shirt that I didn’t really need, then literally walking out of my house grabbed a pair of gloves (good idea) and a headlamp (ridiculous idea - I knew I was going to be doing some trekking and suddenly thought what if I get lost in the Japanese wilderness at night? I ended up forgetting to take it on the walks anyway)

I ended up packing:

1 x pair of shoes - Merrel Moab 3 GTX comfiest shoes I’ve ever owned. Bought in December and broken in ahead of March trip.

5 x pair of socks - schoolboy error in spending all that money on quality shoes then taking standard socks. Walked so much (example) and got a couple of blisters, so bought some quality walking socks. Should’ve bought them first with how much I was walking.

1 x pair of jeans

1 x lightweight walking trousers

4 x lightweight jumpers (sweaters)

5 x t-shirts (3 cotton, 2 polyester running t-shirts that wrap up small)

5 x boxer briefs

1 x beanie

1 x coat

1 x ultralight foldable backpack - highly recommend, wraps up as small as a pair of socks and great for daily use

1 x plug adapter - didn’t really need, hotels had USB slots for charging. Ended up forgetting it anyway later in the trip.

cables for charging

iPad for reading

toiletries

The finished bag. Pretty happy with that, meant I didn’t have to use luggage forwarding as it was easy to carry on public transport. I wish I’d packed a collapsible umbrella. Didn’t realise how much it rains in Japan - hotels have umbrellas you can borrow but they’re full sized and can be a pain to lug about if it stops raining. Most places have storage for umbrellas as everyone uses them. Bought a cheap one at Uniqlo.

Useful apps - Papago, google translate, japan wifi auto-connect, naviguide, safety tips (didn’t need thankfully), Ubigi esim - bought the 10GB plan, used about 6GB, worked fine. Tried setting up in England night before I left but it kept crashing my phone which was a bit worrying, but when I landed I turned phone back on and it automatically connected and started working.

Did the Visit Japan Web thing the night before the flight, strongly recommend doing this. Flew from Heathrow for 14 bastard hours in economy, landed 9am at Haneda. Don’t know if I just got lucky but it felt like we were the only people there, breezed through customs thanks to the visit japan web thing, longest wait was 10mins to get my checked bag. Got cash out of the ATM, bought a welcome suica card from the machine next to the ATM and loaded cash onto it, five minutes later I was on the monorail into Tokyo listening to Death in Vegas and Jesus and Mary Chain like an absolute cliche. Marvellous.

Tokyo - six nights

I had six nights in Tokyo staying in Akasaka. I can’t remember exactly why I picked there (booked all hotels back in October not long after booking the flights) - I think I’d read that it was a bit quieter than other places and I thought it might be a less overwhelming way to ease into the trip. I quit drinking nearly 10 years ago so bars and whatnot obvs aren’t important to me, so can’t comment on that sort of nightlife, and I can’t really compare it to anywhere else, but I thought the area was great. It had plenty of life to it, great restaurants, three subways within 10 mins walking including one literally across the road from the hotel (Sotetsu Fresa Inn).

A note on hotels - I stayed in 2/3 star hotels with a couple of nights in 4 star. Prices were between £40 - £60, all were perfectly fine. All I needed was a bed and a shower. Rooms were generally small but no problem for a solo traveller, showers were all great. Some had Japanese breakfasts included which I liked. I found that Japanese people like to eat as early as possible so if you give it an hour it’s a bit quieter and there was always food available.

I loved Tokyo. Honestly I could’ve spent the entire three weeks there happily - there’s so much to see and to do, such a lively and amazing looking place, the public transport is amazing. The subway is a little overwhelming at first but you get the hang of it pretty quickly - I found it easier to look at station numbers rather than names, so for example if I was going from Akasaka-mitsuke station to Ueno on the Ginza line I’d be going from G 5 to G 16. But as has been stated a million times on here, google maps is all you need. Just be aware that sometimes it underestimates the time it takes to transfer between lines, so take that into account if you have a specific booking you need to make. But the great thing is if you miss one train there’ll be another in like 3 minutes. Sometimes the trickiest thing was finding the best exit but even if you take a different one than the one recommended you just have to cross a road or something, it’s not like you end up in fucking Narnia or something.

What I did. Museums - Metropolitan Art, National Museum, NM of Modern Art, National Art Centre, Mori Arts centre. All worth visiting - I felt Met Art was a bit smaller than I was expecting, there seemed to be several galleries that weren’t open unless I was being a moron and couldn’t find a way in. National Museum had some great stuff though I wasn’t that impressed by the special exhibition. Mori Arts was probably my favourite of the lot, had an interesting ecological exhibition. It’s also on the 52nd floor of the building so you get some great views over Tokyo.

Teamlab - I did both Borderless and Planets. I’d booked Borderless the week before and could only get 3pm on a Weds. I arrived at 2.30pm expecting a big queue but they let me walk right in. It was quite busy but not overwhelmingly so, and I really loved it (shoutout to the staff whose job it was to keep wiping off the fingerprints in the mirrored room, a Sisyphean task if ever there was one). I spent probably 90 mins there - it’s worth going back into rooms you’ve been in as they change over time. It would be an amazing place for kids too I bet. I went to Planets the next day and I have to say I was a little underwhelmed. Maybe because I liked Borderless so much I had high expectations, but it all felt very rushed and it was like being forced through each exhibit with little time to explore and some of them were pretty much the same as Borderless too. I was through the whole thing in half an hour - I spent much more time queuing up. This did have an unexpected benefit in that having more time meant I visited the nearby Maraikan Emerging Science museum which was amazing! Lots of interactive stuff with English explanations - if you’re travelling with kids definitely add that to the list.

I’d had a day trip to Okutama planned (more on that later) which had to be cancelled because of overnight snow, so I had an unexpected day. I went to Ginza - spur of the moment visited the aquarium there and didn’t like it, there were either a million fish in a little tube or one lonely fish in a small bowl. They weren’t even particularly interesting, just a bunch of slightly different goldfish. Felt sorry for them mostly.

As it’s such an impressive looking building I decided to go up the Skytree and was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. I got a ticket for sunset but if I did it again I would get one for later when it’s already dark. The sun basically fucked off without even a tip of the hat, or maybe it was too cloudy. Then it was just waiting for all the lights to come on, but when they did, wow, Tokyo does look amazing, and being that high up really gives you a perspective at how big the place is. Went to Senso-ji after that, it was fairly quiet at night. I happened to be there on a Sunday afternoon - it was not quiet.

A note on crowds - while researching where to go I’d come across so many comments about hordes of tourists everywhere that it was making me a little anxious, but honestly, it’s not that bad. Yes, it can get busy, but wherever you are there’s always an empty little side-street you can duck down if you get a bit overwhelmed. I didn’t experience anything worse than tourist hotspots in London, Paris, hell even Bruges on a weekend. Just make peace with the fact that you’re visiting one of if not the biggest tourist destination in the world. There are going to be people. Dotonbori on a Saturday night was probably the busiest place I went, it was like a slow-moving queue at times, but again, you can take a side-street and catch your breath. You’ll be fine.

I took a day trip to Kawagoe which I’d thoroughly reco...

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Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1bq9oie/trip_report_3_weeks_tokyo_nikko_kyoto_hiroshima/

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/smrglivac on 2024-03-28 18:20:23.

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Trip reports were so helpful for me when planning, especially for planning a trip with kids, so here is my report. This is a looooong trip report with a few general tips at the end.

I have three kids (12 year old boy, 10 year old girl, 7 year old girl). We are travelling from California. Kids and husband have never really traveled internationally. We squeezed in a lot in 9 days, but it never felt too rushed. I did a lot of research and planning, and I tried to plan only one or two things per day. I also tried to have a balance between things the kids would like (monkeys, deer, mini pigs, roller coasters) and things my husband and I would like (temples, castles, walking around). My kids ended up liking the temples way more than I expected.

Day 1: The plan: arrive Narita in the evening, get PASMO cards, take Narita Express to Shinagawa station, stay the night at Shinagawa Prince hotel. It all worked out smoothly. The hotel was directly across the street from the train station, which was really nice after a long flight. (In retrospect, we could have paid more to fly into Osaka since the first part of our trip was in Kyoto. It would have saved us from going into Tokyo the first night, then taking a train to Kyoto the next day. But I found a great deal on flights that went in and out of Narita, so it would have been hard to justify an extra couple hundred dollars x five people.)

Day 2: The plan: Shinkansen to Kyoto, Kiyomizu-dera, Ponto-cho. I did not reserve the train beforehand, as I could not get the app to take my American credit card. There are trains every ten minutes or so, but it was hard to find one with 5 seats together. All the trains within the next two hours only had middle seats left. We opted for green car seats (more expensive), which had plenty of open seats on trains leaving within the hour, and seats on the right side so we could see Mount Fuji! After arriving in Kyoto, we dropped off our luggage at our hotel. Then took a very crowded bus to Kiyomizu-dera. Wandered through Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka. This was our first experience in Japan, and the kids loved these streets. We ate food from a few street vendors for lunch. The kids also loved the temple itself. It was afternoon on a weekday, so the streets and temple were crowded enough that you couldn't get a picture without other people in the shot, but it was not so crowded that you were bumping into other people. The family was too tired for Ponto-cho, so we headed straight back to the hotel. My husband didn't want to brave the crowded bus, so we took a taxi home. We were asleep by 7pm.

Day 3. The plan: Fushimi Inari, Nara. Everyone was awake at 3am, tried to go back to sleep with various levels of success. Headed to Fushimi Inari around 8am. It was more crowded than I expected for getting their so early, but still not too crowded. The kids were not too impressed with the hike, but I thought it was nice. We then took a train from the station directly to Nara. The kids loved feeding the deer, whereas my husband and I thought it seemed a little like a glorified petting zoo. The deer closer to the train station were much more docile than the ones closer to Todai-ji. Some of those deer were quite aggressive, so I recommend doing the feeding at the first park you reach from the train station. Todai-ji was amazing and was a highlight for my husband and me. The kids were exhausted with all the walking this day, but even in their tired state, they were impressed with it and the giant Buddha. We also saw one tree blooming with cherry blossoms, so that was exciting for everyone. Took a rapid limited express train back to Kyoto (this train required reserved seats, for some reason that I was never able to figure out). Asleep by 7pm.

Day 4: The plan: Arashiyama and Iwatama monkey park in the morning, Ginkaku-ji in the afternoon. This was our last full day in Kyoto, so we shipped all our luggage (except for one small suitcase) to our Tokyo hotel. The staff at our Kyoto hotel took care of all of it for us. We left for Arashiyama around 8am. Not too crowded at the bamboo forest. We hadn’t planned on Tenryu-ji, but it was right there and the kids were excited to see it, so we went. It was so peaceful. The kids loved walking around in socks. I loved the gardens. It started pouring and we did the hike up to the monkey park in the rain. Everyone was crowded into the little indoor hut, so it was a bit chaotic viewing and feeding the monkeys. I would have been fine skipping the entire thing, but my kids thought this was one of the best parts of the trip, so I'm glad we did it. It poured on the walk down, and the walk back to the train station. Ginkaku-ji was vetoed by the family because they didn't want to walk around in the rain anymore. We went to Nishiki market instead, as it was a straight shot on the train and then indoors after that. This was our first really crowded experience where you were shoulder to shoulder with people. The vibe kind of fit the bustle of the market though, so we still all had fun. My older daughter does not like fish, and she got it in her head that everything had fish in it, so she refused to eat anything from the market. My son, on the other hand, ate all the crazy things he could find. Lots of good food, lots of fun.

Day 5: The plan: train to Himeji in the morning, visit Himeji, then shinkansen to Tokyo in the afternoon, Akihabara. Starting to wake up a little later. Checked out of our Kyoto hotel a little later than planned. Decided to take a shinkansen to Himeji instead of a rapid train to save an hour of travel time. Again, we had a choice between waiting a few hours to get seats together or booking a green car. We opted for a green car again so that we could get on an earlier train. We put our one piece of luggage and 5 backpacks into two storage lockers at the Himeji train station. After our train full of people, most of the lockers were full, so I was glad we got there relatively early (around 9am). By the time we got to the castle, it was closer to 9:30. It was not crowded at all. The kids loved climbing the steep stairs in socks. They enjoyed the castle way more than I expected. We spent about 2 hours total at the castle, then went back to the train station to book a shinkansen for Tokyo. We were able to book regular seats (not green car) and get seats together on the next direct train. By the time we arrived in Tokyo and made our way to our hotel, we were able to check in to our hotel. Our luggage from Kyoto was already in our rooms! We headed to Akihabara to look around. The kids had fun with some crane games until they gave up trying to win anything as they all seemed rigged. We spent way longer than expected at a gachapon place, and enjoyed the neon lights and walking around with the night time bustle of a city. This was our first evening where we were out past dark.

Day 6: The plan: DisneySea! We took a taxi there because public transport would have taken us an hour and we wanted to be there for rope drop. It was an amazing day. We got several priority passes, so we didn't have to wait in too many lines. The park is so big that it never felt crowded. I vowed to take the train home, but in the end, tiredness won out and we took a taxi. Both taxis were pretty expensive, but it allowed us

Day 7: The plan: rest in the morning, Harajuku, mini pig café, Shibuya, Tokyo Dome City in the evening. This was mostly a rest day. We went to Sushiro in Shinjuku for a late breakfast/early lunch. This was a highlight for everyone in our family. You order all your food on a tablet (in English), and then the food arrives via conveyor belt. Even my daughters who don't like fish found things to eat and enjoy. There were lots of families, so I never felt worried that my kids were being too loud (which I felt quite often during the rest of the trip). We made our way to Harajuku for a visit to the Mipig "minipig" Cafe. It was a little gross and stinky for me, but the pigs genuinely seemed to enjoy snuggling and being pet. My older daughter had lots of pigs to cuddle and this was her favorite activity of our whole trip. My younger daughter felt left out since not as many pigs cuddled with her, and so she cried about it for the rest of the trip. Murphy’s Law for kids. Afterwards, we planned to explore Harajuku and Takeshita street, but the street was too crowded. (It was a Saturday, so we kind of knew what we were getting into.) Shoulder-to-shoulder tourists and tour groups. The shops were cute but tiny, and it seemed like you could buy those things elsewhere. We had some crepes and then gave up. We went to Shibuya to see the Shibuya crossing and to shop at the Mega Don Quixote. The Don Quixote was packed and the tiny aisles made it hard to shop. My kids wanted to buy everything they saw, and I kind of regretted the whole thing. We bought a bunch of kit kats that were probably over-priced, but it was definitely an experience walking through the shop. (We much more enjoyed a trip to Bic Camera, although I’m not sure if they have the same selection of chocolates and candy). At the end of the day, we headed to Tokyo Dome City because my son wanted to ride the Thunder Dolphin roller coaster. We had checked the schedule a few days before, and it said the roller coaster would be opening that day. I should have checked it again because once we got there, we found out it was closed indefinitely. There was a baseball game about to f...

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TL;DR:

• Fushimi Inari (in Kyoto) and Miyajima (near Hiroshima) were highlights
• Stop often for street food
• Knowing a little Japanese helps, and so does Google Translate
• Get to the train station early if you don’t know it well
• Jet lag may reduce your itineraries on the first few days (took us ~5 days to get over it)
• Global Entry rocks if you’re a US citizen

Prep:

• Bought flights and reserved hotels in advance
• Made 2 restaurant reservations
• Reserved Pocket Wifi in advance
• Bought appropriate clothing (walking shoes, flight slippers, etc.)
• Sleep schedule change to combat jet-lag (not sure if this helped, see TL; DR)

Took 2 rolling bags, 2 backpacks, and 1 purse as carry-on - bought 1 duffel bag for souvenirs on the trip. We had planned for this, so we were ready for the additional weight!

Glad I brought: Sunglasses, Ibuprofen (should have brought more), band-aids, make-up, sweaters

Wish I brought: Warm weather clothes, heavy jacket, Tums, aquaphor.

Packing system: 5-4-3-2-1 (5 shirts, 4 pants, 3 sweaters, 2 shoes, 1 jacket and belt) - could have done less as we did laundry often.

We are two 30-something American home-bodies, one of whom is a polyglot (my husband), and both of us have a love of travel. This was our honeymoon - I am a “let’s go do things” type person, and my husband loves more relaxed travel and loves chances to practice the language, so we adjusted this as needed on our trip. We also didn’t do a lot of late night “going out”, in part due to jet lag and in part due to who we are as people.

We studied Japanese casually for about 8 months - we took a class for most of that together, then had individual tutors through italki, which has been fantastic. This helped a lot when speaking, but we definitely need to learn more Kanji!

We went to Tokyo - Kyoto - Hiroshima - Hakone on this trip in mid-to-late March. The weather was all over the place (sunny and in the 70s F, then down to the 30s and rainy / snowy), and although I brought what I thought was good clothing for the trip, the extremes were too much for me and my clothing, so I had to purchase additional weather-appropriate clothing. Luckily there were Uniqlos everywhere, so I could quickly get what I needed.

Day 1:

Fly out of Chicago to Tokyo Haneda Airport. Layover in Detroit

• Flew out w/ carry-ons only
• Were pretty jet-lagged right away, despite sleep-training for this for the prior 2 nights
• Took 3 trains to our hotel which was a pain w/ even carry-on luggage, next time may take a cab

TOKYO: Days 2-5

Day 2

• Checked in to Hotel Monterey Hanzomon
• Good overall accommodations in relaxed, centralized part of Tokyo by the Imperial Palace
• Bed was a little too small for us
• Picked up our Pocket Wifi, which was perfect on our trip, just a little spotty in basements and some indoor dining
• Family Mart dinner
• Relaxed and tried to sleep

Day 3: Tsukiji, Ginza, Imperial Palace

• Breakfast: Tsukiji Fish Market (outer-market)- highly recommend as a jet-lagged activity, as the earlier you go, the easier it is to go places
• Shopping in Ginza: Itoya stationary store! A must-see for fans of stationary and for easy-to-pack gifts
• Stopped for Coffee and a break
• Shopping: Tokyo Character Street in Tokyo Station!
• Nature Walk: originally wanted to do East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, but they were closed on the day we wanted to go (Friday)
• Late lunch / early dinner: Ginza Kagari in Tokyo Station - delicious Ramen, but was tough to find in Tokyo Station

Day 4: Shibuya

• Breakfast: At a chain-cafe close to the hotel, forgot the name!
• Nature Walk: Meiji Jingu (famous Shinto Shrine) - worth the trip, this was relaxing and beautiful, also paid a little extra to go to the gardens, which were lovely even though there wasn’t much yet blooming. We appreciated how relaxing this was in the beginning of the day
• Lunch at a Kebab place close to Takashita, which was outstanding, if not a little small-portioned (compared to typical US portion sizes!)
• Shopped at Uniqlo for hot-weather clothes for me and sunglasses for my spouse
• Snoopy Cafe in Harajuku for a quick cool treat and changed into hot-weather clothes
• Takeshita-dori - bought a dog outfit for my mother in law’s pup as requested, and enjoyed walking down the street and window shopping
• Kept walking to Shibuya Crossing and participated
• Hoshino Coffee to watch people cross - there was a bit of a line, but it was worth it to relax from the crowds.
• City Life: Hachiko Memorial statue - took a quick picture here of the pup.
• Shopping: Shibuya Parco, Tokyo Hands - we didn’t actually buy anything as most things were comparatively expensive and had long lines, but the Nintendo Store is great for die-hard fans who want merch.
• Went back to hotel
• Dinner: Tried to go to Shibuya Nonbei Yokocho, but weren’t confident enough in our Japanese speaking abilities and chickened out. Lines for food everywhere here were really long, so we went back and got Indian food at Mother India Hanzomon-Ekimae instead.

Day 5: Parks!

• Breakfast: Combini near hotel and 2nd breakfast at nearby hotel
• Rent paddle boats at Chidorigafuchi Park - nearly no one was there and we saw our first Sakura!
• Lunch: Sushi Go Round in Tokyo Station - we thought this would be more of a conveyor belt sushi type place, and although they had a conveyor belt, we sat right by the sushi chefs, so they just handed what we ordered to us, lol.
• Imperial Gardens! Very beautiful, but we went back to the hotel soon after because I was exhausted.
• We had planned to go to Uneo in the afternoon, but I ended up taking a 1.5 hr nap instead!
• Dinner: in Tsukishima Monja Street, which was fun to watch people make their own monja. We walked into the first shop that didn’t have a line, since we were hungry and didn’t know which ones were the best vs the worst, etc. Since we were new to this, one of the staff came over and cooked it on our stovetop, instead of us. Was a little embarrassing, but still fun! It was a lively atmosphere, and it was nice to see people letting loose a little!
• Grabbed some ice cream down the street for dessert.
• Did laundry at the hotel after

KYOTO: Day 6-11

• Day 6- TRAVEL from TOKYO to KYOTO - Finally got over the jet-lag on this day!
• Breakfast: Combini, EARLY
• Pharmacy trip
• Shinkansen to Kyoto - took a bit to get oriented in Tokyo Station, so we came about an hour early so that we wouldn’t miss our train
• You can totally eat on the shinkansen!
• It seems you can eat on a train if you’ve got a seat reserved, more or less. I don’t quite know enough to confirm, but that was my experience.
• Stayed at the Hearton Hotel Kyoto, which was centrally located and close to a train line and Nishiki, which we loved.
  • Bed was a bit larger here, which we appreciated, too!
• Relaxed and walked around Kyoto Gyoen, which was lovely and already had paths of blooming sakura.
• It was pretty cold, like about 30-40 deg F, so we decided to grab coats the following day at this point.
• Dinner: Giro Giro Hitoshina
  • Took a bus here, which was really easy to use due to the numbering system!
  • I think they were reservation-only, but we had reservations made about a month in advance.
  • Lots of restaurants from here forward were a bit of a hunt to find compared to more flashy, open restaurants in the US - a lot of the time it felt like we were intruding since doors were closed and windows had covers or had ricepaper over them, but that’s just the style. Once we got used to it, it was much less awkward.
• Taxied back to our hotel

Day 7 - Fushimi Inari!

• EARLY breakfast - Combini
• Fushimi Inari!
  • We got here around 8:30 AM - while it wasn’t packed, it certainly had a long influx of people after.
  • We took a path a little less traveled up the mountain, which was wonderful to have a little peace and quietness with fewer people. Lots of smaller, quiet shrines. We also saw a waterfall on this path, and the path had switchbacks, which was kind of funny and reminded us that we were in fact walking up a mountain.
  • We did the top loop about 1.5 times because of where we exited our up-to-the-top hike, but it was nice and we had a chance to stop and drink some coffee and people watch, which my husband loved.
  • This was one of my favorite parts of the trip due to the unique nature of the shrine and the relative peace on the way up. That being said, It wasn’t as crowded as Himeiji Jo or Shibuya, but there were still a ton of visitors, and the amount of people whose photography got in the way was pretty annoying.
• Lunch: Nishiki Market
  • Nishiki was a lot less crowded than Tsukiji, and was a lot easier to navigate.
  • I loved just stopping wherever looked good to eat!
• Shopping: Uniqlo (again) for warm coats - this was a must, as we didn’t have good rain gear or very good cold-weather coats. This definitely saved me for the rest of the trip!
• Back to Hotel to relax (originally wanted to do Philospher’s Path, but were pretty tired from the Fushimi Inari hike and the weather was getting worse - rainy)
• Dinner: Hatsune Sushi - small place run by husband and wife team, had a chance to chat with them about our trip and their business. It was nice to have a chance to try our Japanese!
• Nature Walk: Nanzen-ji Temple
  • By this time, the weather had gotten pretty rotten (raining, cold, windy), so we hailed a cab back to our hotel after seeing the outside of the temple since it was closed for ...

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Our two weeks in Japan!

We just got home and I want to do this while it's all fresh in my mind. So here goes!

Tokyo > Kyoto > Kinosaki > Osaka > Tokyo

We flew Zipair from San Jose to Narita. The flight was fine, nothing outstanding to note, but that's what you expect from a budget airline. There are lie down seats we'll spring for next time tho! There is no entertainment screen and their free Wi-Fi is absolutely laughable so bring your own entertainment. We didn't have their meals that you can prepurchase but the folks behind us said they were alright. We did order some sparkling plum wine and it wasn't overpriced at all for being booze on a plane. Very good. Definitely recommend. My only gripes with this airline is how fucking strict they are with luggage weight and staying in your specific seat. We opted to purchase extra carry on weight for one of us on the way there and checked baggage for one of us on the way back and it worked out well. They will absolutely weigh your all of your luggage so be prepared for that. We'll still fly with them next time though because for two people, we paid $1700 roundtrip.

We have T-Mobile so we opted NOT to do a pocket wifi and unfortunately our phones are still locked thanks to paying on them monthly so no esim, so we just used the international thingy they have and it worked great like, 95% of the time. Maps and Google translate were the bulk of what we used and we kept our social media browsing limited to wifi, which was available a lot of places. We didn't end up having to purchase the extra pass they offered either. So if you've got T-Mobile, use it.

Now onto our fantastic two weeks. My husband and I opted for a more chill itinerary as being rushed is incredibly stressful and we really wanted to take our time and enjoy Japan. We also had a very sick dog who we ended up losing 3 weeks before we left so our brains were mush. All last minute planning went out the window in our grief. We had full days where we had absolutely nothing planned. But it ended up working out well, as you'll see below.

Tokyo Day 1- arrived at 2pm, whipped through customs, purchased Narita Express tickets and got the hell out of there. We made it all the way to Shinjuku, which is close to our friends place. She had the stomach flu so our first night was in a little hotel about a 12 minute walk from Shinjuku station. Of course we went to go see things but it was mostly just overwhelming and overstimulating what with jet lag, the sheer amount of people, noise, lights and no familiar language anywhere. Went back to our room after hitting up the 711 for fun food, ate, then slept.

Day 2- up early, as expected thanks to jet lag. Went to the Studio Ghibli museum for the first entry at 10am. Was absolute magic! So glad we got to go. Then we meandered around Inokashira Park for a while. Found some early blooming sakura and our first temple. Had some conveyor belt sushi for lunch. Headed back towards Shinjuku to meet up with our friend and get settled in her place, then bounced over to Harajuku. Fun, loud, touristy. Found a ramen shop with the ticket machine out front and was able to order ramen with minimal stress. Had yuzu ramen! Highly recommend. Back to our friends house and to bed.

Day 3- jet lag is easing! Meandered to downtown Tokyo for a kaiseki lunch with our friend. We ate a lot of new things (like horse meat) and drank a lot of sake. Then we headed down under Tokyo Station to Character Street and ended up getting lost in the massive sprawling shopping area. It's like a whole little town down there. Very cool. Back to friends house for dinner and sleep.

Day 4 OFF TO KYOTO

We purchased our shinkansen tickets the day before and almost missed the opportunity to sit on the right side of the train to see Mt. Fuji, but we lucked out and found two seats. Absolutely worth it as Mt Fuji was out in her full spectacular glory! So cool. Definitely grab a bento box and a fun beverage for your ride. There is WiFi on the shinkansens as well, but no beverage/snack cart that I saw so make sure to load up on fun treats. Got to Kyoto and stayed at Sotetsu Fresa Inn. Enjoyed our stay there. Did a food tour that evening and can definitely recommend doing one of those. We were taken to places we never would've found otherwise.

Day 5- Kyoto

We braved Nishiki Market. I recognize it's pretty touristy but in the middle of a weekday it wasn't bad. Ate a bunch of fun stuff, including some of the best sashimi I've ever had in my life. Then went to the Kyoto City Museum of Art for the Takashi Murakami exhibit. If you're around before September 1st, you should definitely check it out. After the museum we walked over to the Heian-jingū Shrine then over to the Kyoto Imperial Palace gardens. Grabbed some onigiri and fun shochu drinks for the walk. Gardens were cool, but nothing was exceptionally note worthy except for the plum tree we found in bloom. Very beautiful. Walked alllll the way back down to our hotel, soaking in the sights, and stopping at Ichiran for some ramen. Not the best, not the worst, but having your own private ramen window where no one speaks to you except to give you your food was nice. They also do the ticket machine ordering.

Day 6- Kyoto

Leisurely morning then off to Minamiza Theater to catch some Kabuki. We stayed the whole show plus the dance act afterwards and it was quite the experience. Get the English audio guide! Well worth it. Minamiza is a historic theater too so it was all around awesome. Wandered down the main road in Gion to find ourselves at Yasaka Shrine. Hung there for a bit and then wandered back down to our hotel to refresh for the evenings activities. Grabbed more onigiri and shochu drinks for the walk. 🙈 Once 6pm rolled around, we went to Fushimi Inari. It was still very people-y but they were trickling out and by the time the sun went down, we found ourselves alone a few times while making our way through the gates. It was eerie and beautiful. We would've gone to the top but there were no bathrooms and I have a tiny bladder so hopefully next time we'll make it. Went and found a tan tan ramen spot for a late dinner and then a tiny tiny little sake bar where we drank ourselves silly with the owner, who was a little old Japanese woman who spoke very little English.

Day 7- Kyoto

Back to Nishiki Market to get more sashimi and oysters from that little fish stall we loved so much. If you go, you'll recognize it. They have a dingy little seating area in the back of it. It was so good and they were really nice! Afterwards, I let my husband talk me into the most corny thing ever : the samurai and ninja museum and experience. Y'all, I love this man, but oh my god. Unless you've got kids super into ninjas and samurai, skip it. It was super cheesy and expensive for what it was. Wandered around a bit, ate some more street food, then headed back for a rest and a bath, as my lower back was killing me. Stopped at a curry place for dinner (coco house is pretty solid) Then we did a free walking tour of Gion at night. Omg this was fantastic. We immediately saw a geiko right next to us as we walked into the side streets of Gion. She was so beautiful! Our guide was incredibly respectful and told us outright from the get go how to behave and about the tensions in Gion with tourists. He taught us all about the history of geiko and maiko and showed us some historical spots that we wouldn't have seen otherwise. Then we headed off to see some shrines and discuss the religious history of Japan. It was a 3 1/2 hour long tour and we saw SO MUCH I can't even write it all down. I highly recommend you do this tour. My husband and I went backwards basically after it was all done so we could see the sights with no people and it was incredible. We found another sake bar and had another wonderful time there and then decided to do one more walk through the side streets of Gion, just to see if we could spot another geiko. We were rewarded with a maiko! All alone, no one else, just us and her, and it took my breath away how beautiful and poised she was. Of course we didn't say one word to her, just let her be on her way. I love the geiko and maiko culture so this was very special for me, especially since after next month those side streets will be closed to tourists. Apparently, people can't act right. 🙃

Day 8 KINOSAKI ONSEN

Train ride up was lovely. Stayed at Sennen no yu Gonzaemon. The rooms were really cool as they were authentic ryokan style, complete with tatami mats and futon style beds. Only had an ensuite toilet but that was fine as all the onsen had showers and products to use. We got our onsen passes, jumped into our yukata and geta, and got to it. What bliss. It's awkward being on full display but you get used to it quickly. Bathe before going in, put your little white towel on your head and keep your hair out of the water. Dry off a bit with the little towel before heading back into the changing room. Onsen etiquette is simple. Don't forget to bring money with you so you can grab some milk afterwards (trust me on this) or pop into one of the little stores in-between onsens. We got the set breakfasts and dinners with our stay, and its crab season so dinner was fantastic. After dinner, we went back out to soak some more, then off to bedm

Day 9 kinosaki

Breakfast was very traditional and fun. Then we rented bikes to ride up to the beach. I have this thing where I have to touch the water near...

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Reddit Trip Report 3/12-3/23

Hi reddit! Y’all have helped me out so much on various occasions both before and during my recent Japan trip so I thought I’d try and return the favor with a trip report.

23F solo traveler here from the US here, first time to Japan, managed to get there at the end of shoulder season right before Sakura season. I hit all the highlights on the golden route and had an absolute blast!

Planning Essentials:

-Given the recent price jump, purchasing a Japan Rail Pass is a contentious subject because its value compared to buying individual tickets is much less than it was before. After much research, I opted to buy it and am glad I did. It was worth it for me because I ended up using the Shinkansen for Tokyo to Odawara, Odawara to Kyoto, Kyoto to Osaka (multiple times), Kyoto to Hiroshima, and Kyoto back to Tokyo (Shinagawa). While the monetary bang for your buck might be worth less than it used to be, the convenience is priceless. Not having to book individual Shinkansen tickets and being able to board the high speed trains on a whim was VERY nice—and I was also able to use the other JR lines as well.

-Suica and Pasmo: My original plan was to pick up a suica welcome card in Narita airport. With the card chip shortage in Japan, I had heard that they’re only limiting suica distribution to tourists. However, I quickly learned that it’s even more limited than that. To my knowledge, you can only pick up welcome suicas at Haneda. But no worries—they offer the Pasmo Passport in Narita! For those not in the know, Pasmo is the same thing as a suica—it functions as a subway card and reloadable instant cash card. Plus, it’s way cuter than the suica imo because of the adorable Sanrio characters!

-Major Attractions: Universal Studios, Tokyo Disneyland, TeamLabs, Pokemon Cafe, Osaka Aquarium. Because I’m from Socal, there was really no desire to check out disney and universal. However, I highly highly recommend booking tickets for those and the Pokemon Cafe BEFORE your trip—weeks in advance if possible! For TeamLab and the Osaka Aquarium, a couple of days to a week prior should be fine. If you’re going in the height of sakura season, maybe book a few weeks in advance.

Sakura Szn: While I may have avoided the wild crowds I’ve heard so much about in Japan during sakura season, I also avoided…the sakura :(. I was in Japan from 3/12-3/23 and didn’t get anything near full bloom. Many trees were still barren, and gardens like the ones in the Meiji Jingu or Sumida Park were colorless. Also, it snowed my last few days in Kyoto. There were still pockets of Sakura trees, especially in Nara! Just do your research. I think next time I go, I’ll either bite the bullet or go to Japan in fall to get the dramatic crimson landscapes.

Culture & Customs:

I was hugely obsessed with all facets of Japanese culture as a kid so I was fortunate enough to know some of these things going in, but there was so much that I had to learn once I was there. -Queuing Up: The level of patience that the Japanese possess is simply unparalleled by any other culture in the world! Even in the most crowded of train stations, they’ll queue up for the escalator instead of crowding it. You can tell how great a restaurant is by the length of its queue. If you have the time and patience and are undecided on a place to eat, join the queue to one of those restaurants. You’ll be rewarded. -The subway crush: On my second to last day in Japan, I boarded a local subway from the Arashiyama area back to central Kyoto. Complete opposite of the orderly and patient queues I just described. The subway car was packed in a way that I hadn’t even witnessed in Warped Tour mosh-pits or in India. I couldn’t move, my ribcage struggled to expand when I breathed, and my body was flung wherever the shaking of the subway car threw me. Truly terrifying. Being so short, I genuinely thought I would be crushed. The good news is that all it took to get out of that mess was one loud cry of “Sumimasen!” And the entire car parted as much as they could to let me off. But yeah, just be aware that that can happen, and keep your arms above your chest if you can. -Other subway etiquette: You might have heard of these ones: firstly, no eating and no talking on the phone in the subway. Ever. On longer haul trains and the Shinkansen, however, eating is allowed and encouraged! You’ll find special ekiben (bento boxes) in the Shinkansen stations optimized for snacking. If you must field a phone call in the Shinkansen, do it outside of the main passenger area and head near the doors and bathroom. Now let’s talk about priority seating and the women’s only cars. Neither of those are enforced, unfortunately. In the states, no one dares to sit in handicapped bus seats usually unless they’re handicapped. However, I saw so many able bodied young adults in the priority seating areas, which are reserved of the elderly, handicapped, and mothers with young children. So yes, you can sit there if the other seats are taken, BUT the moment you see anybody who looks like they actually need those seats, you better stand your ass up. Also, I was bummed to learn that the women-only cars aren’t really women only. I understand husbands accompanying their wives and kids, but for the dudes who were riding the train solo, take a damn hint. Sit somewhere else. Finally, I fell asleep on the trains more times than I’d like to admit—they’re quiet, calming, and they were blasting the heat. And that’s ok. Because the trains are so damn safe, and it’s so easy to get off at a platform and find the train heading the other way. Littering, Photos, Shoes, and other annoying things that we do as tourists: Be prepared to carry your trash with you since trash cans on the street are so few and far between. This discourages eating while walking or eating on subway cars. If you grab food at a roadside stand, please be courteous and finish it in front of the store or wait until you arrive at a sitting area. (this is the one rule I knowingly broke a couple times while shoving wasabi peanuts or a 7/11 onigiri down my throat while trying to make it in time for my train, so to all of Japan, I’m very sorry for that). But for the love of god! PLEASE! Don’t litter. This should be common sense. Also as far as photos go: rumor has it that Gion, better known as Kyoto’s geisha district, is closing to foreigners because of problems with the tourists swarming the geisha for photos. Don’t be an asshole. If you see a geisha or maiko, leave them alone. Better yet, offer a little bow their way. Same with a lot of areas in Harajuku and Shinjuku. Many stores selling alternative fashion clothes (ie: the Foret Mall) or Gothic Lolita style stuff do NOT want you taking photos of the shop workers or their wares. This is to protect the safety of the workers, who often have to keep their alternative lifestyles from family. Or just ask the workers if photos are ok. Also, shoes. Rule of thumb: when you enter a building and the floor is raised above the entry way, take yo shoes off. Often times, slippers will be available for you. I’m in Thailand now and I’ve found that the same applies there. Finally, eye contact. In the states, we’re taught to hold eye contact and give big smiles when greeting someone. The Japanese don’t fw that. When bowing to greet someone, be sure to avert your eyes, and don’t go crazy with the strong eye contact.

PSA about JAL & Yamato Shipping in the Haneda Airport: Somebody wrote an ENTIRE blog post about using the Yamato shipping service located in Terminal 3 of Haneda airport to ship things back home to the US. So naturally I mosied on over there to ship some things back to the states since I had hours to kill in the airport. And guess what?! You can only ship domestically. So I had to carry this stuff with me to Thailand. Good news is that the “stuff” in question is just a collection of old sweaters I had been planning to donate anyways after the Japan trip (it’s very hot in Thailand), but I managed to sell it to a street pawn shop of sorts in an alleyway in Bangkok. But if you’re stopping elsewhere after your Japan trip and want to send stuff home, I highly recommend going to the Japan Post and doing surface mail for budget shipping or heading to DHL or Fedex for more express international stuff.

Itinerary:

Day 1: Arrive in Narita 16:00, wait in lines for currency exchange, Pasmo, and NEX tickets. Got some dinner, found my airbnb, went to sleep.

Day 2 Shibuya, Harajuku, Shinjuku: Hachiko Statue, Shibuya Scramble Crossing + the wrong starbucks, Yoyogi park walk, Meiji Jingu, Ichiran in Harajuku, window shopping harajuku and Foret Mall and others, feeling poor in Jingumae area w the designers stores, sunset from Tokyo Met Government Building, bed.

Day 3 Imperial Palace + Asakusa: Imperial Palace Gardens and museum (because my dumbass didn’t book a tour of the inside in advance), wandering Asakusa, Senso-ji Temple, toy poodle cafe, sushi, Sumida Park, my first takoyaki, wandering the gambling halls and arcades in Ueno, and then drinking the night away at Golden Gai

Day 4 Hangover, TeamLab Planets, and Shinjuku Nichome: slept thru my checkout time at airbnb and awoke to a very pissed off host, packed my shit and headed to the next place I was staying (also Shinjuku), was revived from my hangover by Curry House Coco curry, checked out TeamLab Planets (I had no idea Borderless was back o...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Ultima_Boba on 2024-03-26 15:24:37.

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Hello,

I always enjoy reading trip reports in this subreddit, so I want to share some highlights from my solo trip back in January.

I shared the planned itinerary here:

Fanfest euphoria: Held in Tokyo Dome, the Final Fantasy XIV fanfest gathered thousands of player from all over Japan (and abroad). It felt unreal to be in the same room with our cherised producer & director Yoshi-P, the voice actors, and the whole team including master Soken, and we were hyping l the upcoming expansion together. The atmosphere was so great！ Due to the lottery system I only got a limited access to the event so I couldn't enjoy all available features, but just being there was already fun. Still got to grab some merchandises also. A bit sad though since my guild mates couldn't come to the event while most people were attending with their own friends.. :"(

For those who want to attend an event in Tokyo Dome, there are some hotels near the area but the price is quite high especially if you book it closer to the date. I chose to stay in Akihabara, only a few station away from Tokyo Dome so it didn't take long to reach, and the station entrance is very close to the venue. It was also fun to see so many people in the train wearing fanfest merch.

Edit: I also want to highlight the amazing concerts held at the venue. Keiko's piano performance was mesmerizing while the Primal's concert was so energetic and fun!

Cancelled Kanazawa Trip: I've made the itinerary before the earthquake in Ishikawa, but after the disaster occured my friend there assured me that her place was still fine for a visit, so I didn't have to change my plan. I bought the Hokuriko Arch Pass when I arrived in Tokyo, eventhough the chasier kept asking me if I knew the latest situation. Well lo and behold just the day before my trip to Kanazawa, my friend regretfully told me she and her daughter got Covid.... I didn't feel like going all the way to Kanazawa if I can't meet my friend, so decided to book a 1-day trip around Kawaguchiko instead. It was a great decision because the weather was clear and I got to see Fuji San clearly!

Where to stay: Convenience over cost saving So initially I was planning to stay in a hotel for 3 nights only - the rest will be in my friends place. When I arrived in Tokyo, I realized that moving around with big luggages by myself would take too much time and effort. The hotel I stayed was super close to station (Remm Akihabara) and the price is quite reasonable.... So I decided to keep staying there until the end of my trip. No regret! The room is small but enough to open a luggage, and it has a nice massage chair..! Really useful after daily walks... Its close proximity to the station became very useful as I can make a quick transit to drop my stuff before going to another place.

Transport: JR Pass + Pasmo Passport Although my Kanazawa trip was cancelled I couldn't refund my Hokuriko Pass because I already used it when I arrived. So this was a lost of over 20k yen, but it can't be helped... I tried to use the pass as much as I can when traveling using JR trains. But occasionally I needed to take metro which is not covered by the pass so I had to buy Pasmo Passport too.

Catching up with friends while enjoying the local foods Prior to the trip I contacted some of my friends who stay there and ask if they are interested to meet up sometimes. I ended up having 3 dinner meets up with different circles of friends through out the trip. It was really great to catch up and they also recommend really nice place to eat. I felt less lonely because of the meets up :)

Here is the detailed actual itinerary:

Day 1 (Saturday):

• Arrive in Narita in the morning
• Take the train (NEX + JR) to Akihabara, dropping off luggage at the hotel
• Noon: Explore Akihabara: Get lunch, Animate, Taito station, also buy discounted warm clothes in GU (I don't have warm clothes so figure would be more efficient and cheaper fo buy there). Oh and found out there is a small Square Enix Cafe really close to my hotel. They were having a Dragon Quest themed cafe and also got to buy some official merchandise there.
• Afternoon: Went to Tokyo Sky Tree, got a limited Natsume Yuujincho sweater at Earth Music and Evology, strolling around the river and had a tea and wagashi there.
• Evening: Dinner with friends at an Izakaya in Ginza

Day 2 & 3:

• Full-day event at Tokyo Dome. Wrote the impression above.
• Visited the Koishikawa Kourakuen garden during a down time on Sunday. It was interesting to feel the contrast of loud, crowded Tokyo Dome with the serene and calm atmosphere of the garden. It was nice although it was a bit cold.
• The food stalls inside venue area had long queues so I ended up buying food from stores in Tokyo Dome city. They are still delicious!

Day 4:

• Found a One-Day tour to Kawaguchiko from Klook at reasonable price. More pricey than going through normal train, but being solo, I prefer this way. Had to come to Shinagawa to get in the bus. The tour guide was informative and we got really nice travel buddies from other countries. The weather was clear so we got to see Mt. Fuji from all the places we visit. Felt blessed.
• We returned to Shinjuku at around 5 PM in the afternoon. Decided to take a walk around the area including the Kabukicho... and I ended up having a cup of coffee at Artnia Cafe before going back to the hotel.

Day 5:

• Morning: Took the free guided tour at the Imperial Palace. Didn't manage to book online so I had to come early to get the walk-in ticket (300 tickets available/tour). Make sure to bring a pen (or borrow someone's pen) to fill in the queue form. The guide was interesting and the scenery is good, though I am sure it's more beautiful during spring where the trees and flowers are blooming. When I was there it was kinda bare. Hence I skipped the free access to the palace garden.
• Afternoon: Explored Ueno area: Ueno Park, Tokyo national museum. Was very excited to recognize some manga and anime references at the museum (Bishamonten statue, that ancient clay statue in Doraemon movie, etc).
• Shopping for souvenirs at Ameyokocho.
• Evening: Dinner with some friends in Tsukishima area, the home of Monjayaki. When in Tokyo it's really worth it to try Monja!! The appearance may look questionable but the taste is sooo good!! We also went to Jonathan's afterward to continue catch up.

Day 6:

• Morning: Walked around Yoyogi Park and Meiji Shrine. It was way colder than the previous days (turned out Tokyo was snowing just a few says after my visit hmm), continued to Omotesando and Shibuya. Took the obligatory pic with Hachiko and got the 10 yen cake from Donki (was good).
• Noon: Mori Tower in Roppongi. The staff told me that the observation deck was used for an exhibition so the sceneries are disrupted... But I still went in anyway because it's a Tokyo Revengers exhibition which I am kinda familiar. Still got to see tokyo tower from the deck albeit from weird angle, but the exhibition was interesting so it was worth it.
• Afternoon: Emergency (?) return to Ameyokocho to get additional souvenir for my family, and then went to Eorzea Cafe in Akhibara. I really went all out as FF fan 😆
• Evening: Had dinner with friend at Yamachan and continue catching up. Went to Akibabara Donki to get last minutes additional souvenirs too ?they are open 24 hour open so such a saver).

Day 7 - Return flight to my home country.

Overall it was a very memorable trip despite some adjustment here and there. Wish I have stayed longer but hopefully there will be next time. For next trip for sure I want to visit Osaka, Kyoto, and the other areas.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/FireArcanine on 2024-03-27 13:45:15.

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Background

I'm a late-20s Asian Male who has explored the Golden Route (Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka) twice, with the most recent trip being in March 2023 Tokyo, Fujikawaugchiko, Kyoto and Osaka-Nara. I had considered the idea of exploring other cities, but a snap idea came to my mind: Why not try to see most of them, feel the local vibes and then decide which cities to further dedicate in the future? Thus, I made the spontaneous decision to cover as much as I could on Honshu and touch a bit of Kyushu and Hokkaido.

Furthermore, I won the Osaka Marathon 2024 lottery as well, and I had a wonderful time running the marathon and broke my personal best by at least 51 minutes.

This was solo travel, with 28-inch luggage, 2 backpacks (1 stored in the luggage) and 1 expandable bag.

This trip occurred from mid-February 2024 to Early March 2024.

• Accommodation: All accommodation was booked on Booking.com. As far as possible, I had tried to book my accommodation near the major train stations, and this proved to be an excellent idea as I found myself struggling just 5 days through the trip with my luggage weight. |
• Luggage Forwarding & Storage: This was not possible due to my itinerary which saw me on the move, jumping from each city to each city no more than 1-2 nights per city. However, on the way to Niigata from Osaka, I booked storage service on Ecbo Cloak to store my luggage for JPY6000 as my 28-inch had already maxed out storage. However, I was curious if Sagawa would support my storage, and to my surprise, Sagawa helped me out and my eventual Tokyo Hotel would hold my luggage for 6 days until I arrived in Tokyo, which meant I only paid the forwarding cost Sagawa charged. I did, however, unfortunately, lose the money from Ecbo Cloak due to their no-refund policy on the day of the booking.
• Transportation: 11 Shinkansens, 2 Special Limited Expresses and a whole of Train & Buses in total! With such a packed & tight schedule, I had considered the whole of Japan Rail Pass (21 days), but my gripe was that I was limited to Hikari and Kodama on JR Central's famous Tokaido Shinkansen. Furthermore, there were some trains where I wanted to try Green Class (Inaho Limited Express from Niigata to Akita) and Gran Class (Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto to Sendai). Therefore, I did the math and settled with:
  • JR Central Segments: Buying Tokyo - Nagoya, Nagoya - Shin-Osaka and Shin-Osaka to Tokyo exclusively on the SmartEX App.
  • JR West Segments: Milked the Sanyo-San'in Northern Kyushu Pass like crazy. Worth purchasing and saved A LOT of money.
  • JR East Segments: Bought the JR-East South Hokkaido Pass, but also bought individual tickets for the Green Class Inaho Limited Express and the Gran Class tickets. I also bought my Tokyo to Niigata ticket as a single journey here as well. In hindsight, I could have saved JPY9,000 and just bought the class ticket for the Gran Class. But I wasn't too sure and there was a lack of information, so now I know. I would have saved some money if I knew the combination.
• Cash: Most of my cash was exchanged before I arrived in Japan. I carried 50% on a Multi-Currency Card (think Wise/Revolut) and 50% cash. I managed to spend most of my cash first and found myself using the international ATM to withdraw about JPY20,000.

Cities Covered

1. Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture
2. Okayama, Okayama Prefecture
3. Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture
4. Miyajima Island, Hiroshima Prefecture
5. Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture
6. Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture
7. Kumamoto, Kumamoto Prefecture
8. Osaka, Osaka Prefecture
9. Niigata, Niigata Prefecture
10. Akita, Akita Prefecture
11. Aomori, Aomori Prefecutre
12. Hakodate, Hokkaido Prefecture
13. Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture
14. Matsushita (Bay), Miyagi Prefecture
15. Tokyo, Tokyo

I won't go into an exact detailed breakdown but here's a summary based on what I can say. If anyone has specific questions on a detailed part of an itinerary, let me know so that I can answer them!

Day 1: Tokyo & Nagoya

• Landed at Narita, Took NEX to Tokyo station & stored my luggage there.
• Dashed around Harajuku and Tokyo to wrap up some shopping.
• Took a 9 pm train to Nagoya, and had dinner with delicious Ekiben.

Day 2 : Nagoya

• Explored Nagoya Castle, Osu Kannon & Osu Shopping District, Atsuta Jinggu, Chubu Electric Power Mirai Tower & Nearby Shopping Districts.
• Food was mainly Konibini, but managed to try Nagoya's speciality - Miso - in my case, Miso Chicken Cutlet.

Day 3: Nagoya to Okayama

• Took a 10 am Nozomi to Shin-Osaka, Went out, got my JR West Sanyo-San'in Northern Kyushu Pass, and went back onto another Nozomi to Okayama.
• Explored Kibitsu Jinjna (Rural but LOVELY!) and went back to Okayama Station and transferred over to go to Kursashiki
• Explored Kurashiki Bilkan Historical Quarter (shops were mostly closed :( ) and the Mitsui Outlet and Area
• Food was mainly, again, Konbini & ended my day with a hearty meal from Nakau (So value for money!)

Day 4: Okayama to Hiroshima

• Explored Okayama Korakuen and Okayama Castle (slipped and fell here a bit lol due to the wet rocks) but the place was serene
• Went back to Okayama station, bought Kibidango and Okayama Peach snacks and took theNozomi to Hiroshima at Noon with lunch at Hiroshima Station (Oysters, yum!)
• Went straight to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and Peace Memorial Hall
• Stopped by Honodri Shopping District and had the best Oyster Okonomiyaki Soba EVER for dinner!

Day 5: Hiroshima (Miyajima Island)

• Took the train & ferry to Miyajima Island
• Walked around & in Itsukushima Jinja
• Walked to Momijidani Park & Misen Ropeway but it was closed for maintenance; Walked to Daishoin
• Walked back to Omotesando Street, and had the best Teishoku (Fried Oyster, Conger Eel and Beef) ever for lunch; had grilled oyster (Yum), Fried & non-fried Momiji Manju (they were so good I bought 2 boxes!)
• Commenced shopping on the same street for souvenirs & hung around the Itsukjinja shrine to the lowest tide possible. Took photos and left the island afterwards
• Went back to Hondori Shopping District & Hiroshima Station for final souvenir shopping

Day 6: Hiroshima to Fukuoka

• Stopped by Hiroshima Castle for the final stop
• Went to Hiroshima Station, took the Nozomi to Hakata (Fukuoka) in the afternoon
• Went straight to Sumiyoshi Jinja, Kushida Shrine, Kawabata Shopping District, and Tenjin Shopping District & ended my day in Canal City (Shopping Haven!)
• Food was mainly..another Ekiben (yes I'm trying as much as I can haha) and konbinis; didn't manage to try a lot due to moving a lot

Day 7: Fukuoka - Kumamoto - Fukuoka

• Took the Kyushu Shinkansen to Kurume, Fukuoka but realised not much going on in the city after visiting 1-2 nearby sites
• Took the same train to Kumamoto instead to visit Kumamoto Castle and the Suizenji Jojuen Garden, which was awesome! Kumamoto Castle was still rebuilding over the 2016 earthquake, so you could still see the traces!
• Grabbed Kumamoto Snacks and had a meat Kumamoto Bento (which was good!) to eat on the shinkansen back to Fukuoka.
• Went back again to Canal City to shop for my souvenirs, and had the best Strawberries from Kyushu and all of Japan.
• Went straight to Fukuoka Tower to watch the night view to wrap up the day. It was beautiful and I enjoyed my time.

Day 8: Fukuoka to Osaka

• Had konibini breakfast in my hotel and then took the Nozomi to Osaka in the afternoon. Grabbed a Kyushu Ekiben as it looked different from JR West's one.
• Checked into my hotel and went off to INTEX Osaka for the Osaka Marathon Expo.
• Went to Shinsaibashi afterwards to look around and subsequently settled for dinner at Sushiro.
• As I had already been to Osaka twice, I wasn't too fond of exploring the city.

Day 9: Osaka

• Rested in my hotel mainly for this day, and did my shakeout run along the O River.
• Went to Osaka-Umeda in the evening to look around and had dinner at Coco Ichibanya: I Ate Japanese Curry as my good luck meal for the Marathon. Also had one of the best strawberry parfait at the Hankyu Umeda shopping side.

Day 10: Osaka - Marathon

• Ran the cold, wet and windy Osaka Marathon finishing under 4 hours!
• Rested at the hotel and then spent the evening at Solaiwa Onsen Osaka Bay Tower. Had the Sashimi Ship Set for like 3980 Yen. It was massive! But I devoured it like crazy after the Marathon after all.

Day 11: Osaka to Tokyo to Niigata

• Left Osaka in the early morning to Tokyo. Grabbed souvenirs at Shin-Osaka Station as usual.
• Upon reaching Tokyo station, dropped my luggage at Sagawa (it was already 23kg /50 lbs and carried my travel bag and an expandable bag. Went to Shibuya to shop for something and went back to Tokyo station afterwards to catch my Shinkansen to Niigata.
• Reached Niigata to see that most of the station was renovating and terrible weather (wet + super windy)
• Due to the strong wind gusts and limited time, only managed to go to shop around Niigtata Station, Bandai City Center and Befco Bakauke Observation Deck Tower. Got knocked down onto the pavement with 55km/hr wind gusts with no one around me - that was super scary.
• I returned to the hotel afterwards and did my souvenir shopping at the shops that were limited but available at Niigata station.
• Had dinner at Royal Host beside the station - Had the best 250g hamburg ever.

Day 12: Niigata to Akita

• Left Niigata early to catch the Limite...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/lBRADl on 2024-03-24 17:03:01.

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We arrived at our stay in Shinjuku earlier. Looks like it's a love hotel during the day.

Two hours ago we got a call in our room from reception saying we had 3 people in our room and to come down right now. We said we didn't and to let us sleep. An hour ago we got a call on our hotel phone from a man this time saying we called a girl to the room, we said we didn't. 10 mins ago a girl knocked on our door and we told her we didn't call her. She said she's calling the police.

We got another call and the man said pay her or else he's sending security up to force us to pay.

Right now we are not answering any calls and keeping the door locked. Anything else we can do?

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/ib_examiner_228 on 2024-03-23 12:24:04.

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About me: 23m solo, first time in Japan. When I travel, I love exploring nature and the culture of the country. I managed to learn about a couple hundred words in Japanese, which as you will see later, improved my experience in Japan a lot. I don't like shopping, all I bring home from my travel is memories, pictures and magnets for my fridge. Also it's important for me to enjoy local food as much as I can. I'd never go to a McD's even if I was hungry and I'd try my best to find something that's actually unique to Japan.

My itinerary was quite fast-paced for a first timer. When I posted my initial itinerary here, many of you thought that it could be too much for me, suggesting the classic Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka itinerary. That would never work for me. I wanted to see more nature and get away from the cities for some time, especially after I read reports about how crowded some places are (like Kyoto) In the end, I believe I made the right choice, except that I should've rearranged my itinerary a bit, so that I would lose a bit less time and money on the trains. So, here we go.

Day 1: Arrival in Tokyo, Akihabara

I booked using award miles and the only option was BKK-ICN-NRT, with the first flight being a red-eye. I've barely had any sleep and wasn't feeling that great, but after a couple of cups of coffee on the second flight I was excited for my Japanese adventure.

At the airport, passport control and customs took a while because I haven't filled out the online forms in advance. Tip: don't be a lazy dumbass like me and actually do them! You will definitely save time at the airport. I arrived at 11am and was out of the airport at 12:20. My future plans were dependent on good weather and the forecast was promising, so I bought the Tokyo Wide pass at the airport (spoiler: it saved me roughly 10,000 yen), got myself some cash and took a local train to my hotel in Koiwa (~900 yen).

I stayed at Ryokan Fuji, which had the nicest host ever who even spoke some English. I really wanted to stay in a Japanese-style room, and given that it was cheap (28,000 yen for 4 nights) I really enjoyed it. The location isn't exactly the best, 20 minutes to Akihabara and 40 minutes to Shinjuku, but for the price I'm not complaining. The futon was comfortable enough, I slept well and had no back problems at all.

It was already 3pm when I made it to Akihabara. This is when I found out that most restaurants close at 2-3pm, which was quite unfortunate because I was pretty hungry at this point. I spent way too much time looking for a place, in the end I walked around Akihabara and at 5 I went to the closest izakaya and had my very late lunch. Honestly, walking around Akihabara didn't impress me that much, it's all a bunch of shops and arcades and the buildings were... normal, nothing impressive. I played at the arcades for an hour and found a yakiniku restaurant for dinner with wagyu meat. Now that was quite impressive, even given my absolute lack of yakiniku experience. I under- and overcooked the meat all the time and yet it was still very tender and melted in my mouth. I can't remember the name of the restaurant, but I paid roughly 6,000 yen for ~200-250g of meat.

Day 2: more Tokyo

I had a really long sleep and woke up at about 10am. I went to Senso-ji, roamed around the market to have a rough idea of what they even sell there, got myself a Tokyo magnet and enjoyed Senso-ji. It was so fascinating to me that there is this old temple in the middle of a huge city, in a lot of countries important historic and cultural buildings aren't preserved at all. I got myself a "bad fortune" which really sounded so terrible and I had no idea how to tie it to the rack :D but I managed to do it in the end, I didn't wanna take it with me at all!

I walked for about 20 minutes to the Tokyo Skytree. Didn't have any prebooked tickets (I hate planning my day to the hour), I stood in line for about 15 minutes. The views were amazing, but I wish I'd do this on a less cloudy day. It all looked a little too grey for me, and having been to the Burj Khalifa, I know how much better a city can look from up there when it's sunny.

I then took the subway to the Imperial Gardens only to find out that they are closed. I still roamed around the area and there are still some nice city views. The clouds cleared out, the sun was setting, I enjoyed the sunset and walked around in Ginza. It's a shopping district, and as I said earlier I'm not a big fan of shopping, so an hour later I found an unagi restaurant, which offered a kaiseki-style unagi dinner. It wasn't a proper kaiseki, it was basically unagi prepared with different ingredients. I loved it! I called it a day after dinner.

Day 3: Kawaguchiko

When I woke up, there was not one cloud in the sky. I didn't have to think twice and took the 9:30 Fuji Excursion train from Shinjuku to Kawaguchiko. Of course, I forgot to reserve a seat when I was at the airport, so I found a seat on the other section of the train to Otsuki and had to stand till Shimoyoshida, where I got off and walked up to Chureito Pagoda. Wasn't too difficult for me but there are a couple hundred stairs, a lot of people were taking breaks in between.

The views can't really be described with words. I'm so lucky that Fuji-san decided not to hide and the huge crowd at the famous picture spot was a clear indication of that. To be honest, I felt like people were there to post it on Instagram and show off. They clearly didn't fully appreciate the view, as they were quickly going down after taking their 'mandatory' 200 pics. I found a less crowded area and just stared at the view for about an hour before walking down to the station.

I took the next train to Kawaguchiko and got lunch at a sushi place very close to the station (Shaw's Sushi). They offered lunch sets which were basically sashimi bowls with rice. Absolutely delicious and so fresh. Don't go to the noodles place with a long queue, go enjoy some sushi instead.

I walked to the panoramic ropeway and found a nice 20-minute boat tour on the way. The only thing that wasn't great about it is that the tour only 20 minutes long. I would totally be up for 60 minutes, given the views from the lake. Again, the view is something that you have to see yourself. I can't and don't even want to describe it, just come and see it.

The queue for the panoramic ropeway was roughly 45 minutes. It was absolutely worth it because it's the only place that offers 360° views around the area. There is also a 6 hour hike to another mountain which I didn't go for as it was already too late. Again, I was fascinated by the view and spent about an hour at the top.

I made my way back to Shinjuku, had to stand till Otsuki again and by the time I arrived it was already dark. For dinner, I went to Yakiniku Like which is a chain yakiniku restaurant. Their slogan is "tasty! quick! value!" and they deliver on all 3. Yes it's not the best meat in the world, but it was still delicious. You can get sets with a soup, rice, kimchi and the meat itself for 1500-2000 yen. The only downside was that the meat portions were quite small and I had to order extra meat. Oh, and it wasn't very comfy to sit there, but as a solo traveler it was the perfect place to get some nice inexpensive and tasty food.

I walked around Shinjuku for about an hour and a half, enjoyed the evening city views and called it a night.

Day 4: Nikko

Unfortunately I woke up quite late at 10am. I took the Shinkansen to Utsunomiya and then a local train to Nikko. I didn't want to take the limited express from Asakusa because I'm a bit of a train nerd and this was my only chance to take the Tohoku shinkansen.

By the time I got there it was already 12:30pm, so I only had time for the shrines and temples. There are a lot of them and I loved the vibe of the quiet forest with several big temples. I even got to see a traditional prayer, however, I didn't understand much of what was being said. Seeing all the interesting places took more than I expected, in fact, it was already sunset when I walked back to the station. Nikko is a very unique place, you don't get to see anything like this in the big cities and I wholeheartedly recommend to come see it.

I got back to Ueno and went straight for Yakiniku Like again. Had a good time there again and went back to my hotel to pack my stuff.

Day 5: Ryokan time!

The ryokan is called Kashiwaya and it's in Shima Onsen. It's not so easy to get there: first you take a shinkansen to Takasaki, then a limited express to Nakanojo (it's possible to take this express from Ueno. I didn't) and then a bus to Shima Onsen. It's a very quiet place where you can relax after many days in a bustling city. Some of the staff speak English but don't expect much. This is where I got my first "nihongo joozu desu"! The dinner was very nice, maybe not Michelin star level but certainly very delicious. I relaxed in the onsen after dinner and went to sleep.

Day 6: Full day at the ryokan

It was my birthday and I was very much in the mood for it. The Japanese breakfast was impressive and I don't even know how I could manage to finish it all. I'd imagine that it's not how the Japanese have their breakfast every day, it took about 45 minutes to finish it all. I strolled around the town, but not for long as it was raining quite a bit. I had lunch at a local burger place (for some reason a lot of places were closed on ...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/IRENE_OH on 2024-03-23 11:52:46.

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Hi, all! Reporting on our family trip to Japan in case you find anything useful.

Background: Me: European, studied in Japan 15 years ago, was never able to go back after leaving due to working hard to build my career, starting a family, prioritizing other plans and life, in general. Husband: also European, never visited Japan before but very eager to see all the wonderful things I talked about 15 years ago. We were in our first year of relationship and did long distance while I lived in Japan. Boys: 9 yo and almost 6 yo (2 weeked shy of 6 yo), love gaming, heard about mom's Japanese life all the time so curious and excited to experience Japan themselves.

Our trip is an emotional one so we prioritized visiting special places for me, walking down the memory lane. Also, it's our family vacation so we adapted the itinerary and activities to our likes and dislikes and our leisure pace during vacations. Therefore, we ended up doing things a bit differently versus the very good advice found on this Reddit, still worked great for us.

Flight from EU was via Doha, Qatar, mid March. First long haul for my husband and kids, went better than I expected. Landed at Haneda very late, 10 PM but managed to get to sleep very efficiently soon after :D

What helped: I had bought Ubigi esim beforehand, activated it after landing, worked like a charm the whole trip, used about 7 GB of data on a 10GB plan. Husband had also booked a pocket wifi and asked for delivery at our hotel, found it there when we checked in. We did both esim and pocket wifi, as you can see, because sometimes we would wander around (ex. in Yodobashi Akiba me at the J beauty floor and him and the boys at the electronics floor :)) and wanted to have both flexibility and backup in case one option did not work well enough.

Then: we decided it was too late to get a taxi and pay the night surcharge and ride into Tokyo so we booked a hotel close to Haneda. We are 100% happy with that choice, hotel had free shuttle bus. So, as soon as we cleared immigration with QR codes, we took some cash from the ATM, bought 2 Suicas for adults and 1 for our 9yo (youngest rides for free since he is not 6 yet), loaded 5000 yen/adult and 3000 yen/child (we spent it fully) and shortly after hopped on the free hotel shuttlebus, checked in after 15 min and enjoyed a good night's rest.

I saw on this Reddit most people wake up too early due to jetlag, which is good to get to places early, if open. We are the opposite: coming from EU, we woke up late, which is very much in line with our schedule during weekends and holidays anyways. So we did not get to any place early. What we did instead was take it slow in the mornings, have brunch and good coffee at cafes near our hotels, chat with our kids (amazing to spend this time with them and discuss about where we want to go, what are their thoughts about Japan and other topics, very good bonding time).

Here's our itinerary:

• 3 days Tokyo West - stayed in Shibuya (except 1st night, as previously stated), explored by foot the whole area, Shibuya Crossing, Nintendo Store, ate amazing ramen in a randomly found place. I did not bother to cram many activities on the first day and didn't want to take the train anywhere even though we were in good shape after the flight.

Kids had saved up money and decided they wanted to spend it on Nintendo Switches, customized in Japan and much cheaper vs our own country.

What worked well for us in terms of accomodation and activities is to book hotels within walking distance of our major points of interests. This is why we split Tokyo time into West and East and stayed at different hotels.

Second day we walked to Meiji Jingu and Harajuku, very pleasant weather, 30 min from hotel to Meiji Jingu. On the way, each of us holds one kids' hand and we try to look at things around us and talk about them, find fun things to discuss, give the kids small jobs (ex. help me buy the tickets, interact with people at the counter or selling ice cream, taught them a few Japanese phrases, wash our hands and mouths before entering the shrine, ask them to pray for health, peace and good fortuner etc). Of course, they had times when they complained their feet hurt, we don't usually walk all day, sometimes we stopped at a cafe or had (more) icecream next to whatever we visited, sometimes we stopped at a playground and sometimes we went back to the hotel for a break. Adults enjoyed those breaks too.

Third day we (finally) took a train to Shinjuku, we all liked riding the trains :) and we asked kids to help navigate, look at Google Maps, count the stops, explained about being quiet on the train etc. Went up to see the views from Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building and then spend time at a playground nearby which had slides and other fun equipment. Went back to the hotel and wandered around again during the evening/night.

• 4 days Kyoto. We took the shinkansen. Luggage shipped beforehand via Yamato so travelled light with the kids. Bento boxes less yummy than I remembered, we did not buy them second time we took the shinkansen. Found shinkansen shaped candy, kids love them as souvenirs for themselves.

Kyoto is magical, for me! It's filled with amazing houses, people dressing up in kimonos and walking the streets, beautiful small shops, shrines and gardens and walkways, old mixed with new. I don't think you need to go from shrine to shrine, it's fine to pick 1-3 and enjoy.

Our family does ok with crowds outside. Inside is a different story and we do skip inside spaces like playgrounds if crowded. We are also not big on Disneyland or Legoland or amusement parks, in general so we skipped them on this first trip and prioritized other activities.

So, 1st day in Kyoto we simply walked around our hotel in Gion, ate whatever caught our eye, bought souvenirs and, amazingly, ended up walking Sannenzaka and Ninnenzaka both during daylight and evening. Caught the last open hour in Kiyomizu Dera and enjoyed the views.

2nd day in Kyoto we had a very slow morning, strolled through the streets to Nishiki Market, ate at various shops/stalls and then took a taxi to Kinkaku-ji. Amazingly beautiful to walk the pathways, not too crowded, actually...less crowded vs when I first visited as a student. Took a taxi back to the hotel area and stumbled on to a Michelin star ramen restaurant, had amazing ramen for a very good price, rested.

3rd day in Kyoto took the train to Fushimi Inari, climbed the stairs, not too crowded at around 12-1 PM, I guess people are eating at those hours. We did not climb to the top because...we did not feel the need to. Instead, kids prayed at a small shrine, and we preferred to take side paths going down, where allowed/signaled and safe. Went back to Gion, had snacks and coffee at a cafe, walked to Maruyama Park. Explored some small streets in the area.

4th day went to Arashiyama, saw the monkeys and walked some of the bamboo walk, sat on the river bank, ate more ice-cream!, went back to hotel, rested, went back out to see Pontocho area by night.

• 2 days: Nara and Kobe. Kids loved feeding the deer in Nara, save some cookies for the deer closest to the Todai ji temple, the ones at the park were full and not eager to eat :)) Kids loved going through the hole in a pillar at Todai ji, said to be the same size as Buddha's statue nostril and bring health and good luck. We loved the temple's idea to repair the roof: you can donate a tile and they ask you to write your well wishes, names and date on it by calligraphy brush. Hope our tile stays within the new roof for many years :)

Kobe is my former university town so we met my professor after 15 years, introduced the family, caught up on life, saw my previous dorm, cried a bit in nostalgia, walked to the port area in the rain, very romantic :))

My kids asked my professor if they can also come study in Japan. He's retiring in a few years so it was very emotional as he said he'll wait for them to choose Japan as their mother did.

• 3 days in Tokyo East, stayed in Ginza. Took the shinkansen again, non reserved seats, a bit challenging to sit together but we managed because we started at Shin-Kobe station. Osaka-Kyoto-Nagoya leg very crowded, many people standing on the isle.

Explored Ginza by foot, bought food, souvernirs, more Nintendo games, explored Akihabara a bit and rode the monorail to Odaiba on our last day. Loved the parks in Odaiba, kids played in the sand, we had quiet time and coffee :) Had one last epic sushi meal and departed from Haneda.

Japan is as amazing now as 15 years ago! Google Maps works well, you can get around so much easier as a foreigner vs 15 years ago, check restaurants, make reservations, there is more signage in English. 7/11 and Lawson and Family Mart are as useful and fun as I remember them, so are the various drinks machines and gachapon :) We all hope we can go back together again to spend time as a family exploring Japan.

Hope all of you going will have an amazing time experiencing its culture and people!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/marsmat239 on 2024-03-22 07:45:53.

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Today ends my 3rd of 4 weeks in Japan! 1 week from today I will be back in America. Here’s my trip this week:

Day 1 (Friday March 15) Went to Teamlabs Borderless. The art exhibits were pretty awesome, and complemented by smell in a couple areas! Otherwise this is a big instagram photo spot. Please be warned that if you have sensory issues or issues with flashing lights that you may want to skip this experience. There’s no real place to escape while there.

Day 2: Went to the Shinjuku national garden, and marveled at the landscaping. Afterwards went to Small Worlds where I got to see 2 rocket launches!!! Oh, and there’s an Evangelion exhibit. All models were detailed and they were everywhere! Ordered my most unique souvenir:a 1/35 scale model of myself! Shipping back home was more than the figure though lol.

Day 3:

Boarded my first ever domestic-international flight and flew to Naha! I thought it was nice that security gives you a pair of saddles to wear, though I wish I knew I didn’t have to dump my coke. In Naha I had a spam and egg onigiri! The Hotel Palm Royal Naha is central to everything, and has an soten, which has come quite handy at night.

Day 4:

Walked to Shuri Castle and took the Old Stone Road up. I didn’t know that the castle burned down in 2019, but it was pretty amazing seeing the work the Okinawan craftsman were undertaking to rebuild it. It’s still worth a visit.

From there I walked up to Urasoe Castle ruins and accidentally found the location of Hacksaw Ridge. The castle ruins weren't substantial on most sides, but still pretty cool.

I took Yui Rail back after this adventure.

Day 5:

I walked to the prefecture museum and had lunch. It was intetesting Okinawa showcase their previous role as a center for chinese and japanese allegiance, even going so far as paying tribute to both countries! The items in the museum are pretty amazing too.

From there I took Yui Rail/my feet to the Former Japanese Navy Underground bunker. The Okinawans showed the sequence of battle, some of the hardships the Okinawans had to face, and overall carried an antiwar message. If I had been here 2-3 weeks later, I would’ve had some additional context from the WW2 in Real Time YouTube series.

On my walk back I verified that you can only use Okika and not Suica/Pasmo, and booked myself on a tour.

Day 6:

I visited Cape Manzamo, Ocean Park, Nakijin Castle Ruins, and Pinapple Park with Okinawa Bus. I enjoyed the tour, but be warned-after April 1 they will no longer stop at Pinapple Park.

Cape Manzamo:a beautiful spot worth getting a photo at.

Ocean Park: I wish I had more time here. The aquarium was amazing. I have never seen Manta Rays that big, and they even had a whale! The dolphin tank and sea turtle tank in front seemed small, but it turns out they have rehabilitated several types of animals (including turtles), so they seem to know what they’re doing and want to care for marine life in general.

Nankajin Ruins: My 2nd favorite castle ruins after Shuri. I am 100% convinced BOTW was based on the landscaping and ruins found here.

Pinapple Park: I never thought about a Pinapple themed tourist trap before. The exhibits were corny (sorry, pinapply), and for some reason had dinosaurs. I loved the wine.

Day 7:

I purchased souvenirs and relaxed!

Day 8 (Friday March 22):

I took the ferry to Zamami for the day! This was honestly I highlight for me-I wish I planned a full night here. I hiked up to Takasuki first, and hit the remaining observatories in about 3 hours total (8 miles). Whatever observatory you visit will reward you with breathtaking views, and the road will showcase birds chirping and butterflies! I even saw a whale!

I didn’t get to do any snorkeling, which is one of my big regrets while leaving this island.

Overall: A success! Tokyo’s fun and all, but you gotta see other stuff in Japan too. I’m really glad I stayed as long as I have in Okinawa.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Draelmar on 2024-03-23 07:04:43.

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Last time I was in Japan I went out to a conveyor belt sushi place with a group of travelers I met at a hostel, and as I usually do at such restaurants in my home town, if I see a plate I want I grab it, regardless if I'm currently already eating a plate. I may have 2-3 plates I'm eating at the same time, depending on what pass in front of me.

But one of the fellow traveler freaked out, telling me it was a faux pas, and we're supposed to claim/eat one plate at a time.

I have a hard time believing it, but could not find info on Google about this. I'm going back to Japan next month and I'd like to be sure!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/desai2424 on 2024-03-21 18:42:54.

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TLDR: Highlight of our trip. Especially if you're vegan/vegetarian, some of the best food we ate in Japan.

My wife and I just came back from 2 weeks in Japan. Decided to spend the weekend in between Tokyo/Kyoto at Kakurinbo () since we were looking for something off the beaten path and avoid the insane crowds at some more popular places. Booked it based on some reddit threads and google reviews, but was a bit nervous initially. While it was a process getting there (2 trains, some last minute JR train ticket confusion etc), it was only 2ish hours from Shinkjuku and this ended up being the highlight of our trip.

First off, the location is stunning. Kakurinbo is hidden away on the top of Mt. Minobu near a large Buddhist temple complex. Absolutely peaceful with monks walking around , stunning views, blossoming trees, and you can even see Mt. Fuji. from the top. If you are looking to escape the craziness of the cities and have a nature get away, this is it.

Second, the staff and facilities were terrific. It used to be housing for traveling monks so all the rooms are traditional with Tatami mats and shared bathrooms, but it was extremely clean and beautiful. Koi ponds Japanese gardens surround the facility. The highlight was definitely the 100% vegan food they serve here. Breakfast and dinner are included and seriously some of the best food we've ever eaten. The staff were also incredibly thoughtful and kind.

Lastly, you can get a taste of what buddhist temples are actually like. They encourage you to get up early to experience the ringing of the bells and morning prayer w/ the Monks at 6am while the sun rises. It was straight out of a movie, but we attended morning prayer at the temple and the monks welcomed us happily. It was all so surreal.

All in all the entire experience was magical. We left feeling like it was all a dream and came back to the harsh reality of crowds and annoying tourists in Kyoto. Disclaimer, if you are looking for pure luxury and wanting to be pampered, this is not for you (don't get me wrong, I wanted that vibe and we got it at Momijiya () in Kyoto). This is for people who want something a little different, not Instagram highlights.

Anyway, had to write a review since it was so great, would strongly recommend. Happy to answer any questions folks might have.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/cxffeebr_ak on 2024-03-21 17:23:03.

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I'm thinking of arriving in the morning into Osaka Station, then I have a rough idea of where I want to check out:

• Umeda Sky Building • Osaka Castle • Namba Yasaka Shrine • Ebisu Tower Ferris Wheel • Shinsekai Market • Tsūtenkaku • Dotonbori area • Hozenji Yokocho • Tsūtenkaku

I'm trying to keep to places that are all within a few kilometers of each other, as my destination is really Kyoto and I want to hop on a train to my hotel there by the end of the day. Other than that, I have no real solid plan or timeline in Osaka.

I've never visited Osaka, please let me know if this is doable for 1 person in 1 day, if I should drop anything, if there's something I should add to my list, etc. I appreciate it so much thank you 🙏🏻

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/HereLiesMissNobody on 2024-03-21 10:00:14.

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This is my second trip to Japan from 3rd March to 16th March.

I travelled with Air China from London to Tokyo with 3-4hr layovers in Shanghai. Website is terrible and it takes several attempts to be able to check in, only to not be able to get your boarding pass. Transfer at Shanghai was terrible. Spent the whole time in a queue. By the time I got through security, I had to run to my gate. Terrible but flights were cheap.

In Tokyo, I stayed at the Tosei Hotel Cocone Asakusa Kuramae. For me the location was good. Easy to get to from Narita. Good transport links (Ginza Line). Hotel room is a little small so not ideal for big suitcases. Has a public bath but it’s not tattoo friendly.

First 2 days, I did the majority of my shopping to get it out of the way. Went to Matsumoto Kiyoshi, Donki and Daiso. I was shopping for skincare, snacks and other little trinkets. Visited OK Store in Asakusa. It’s a cheap discount supermarket chain that offers tax free. Bought a lot of snacks here.

Visited an English speaking salon - Tokyo Baroque. Got a digital perm done with 10% discount for your first visit. Including the wash, cut and blow dry, it took around 3 hours. Salon is located close to Harajuku and Shibuya so afterwards I headed over there.

Booked a tour on GetYourGuide to see Mt. Fuji, Hakone, Lake Ashi w/ buffet lunch. In my opinion it wasn’t worth it. Only got up to the 1st station and couldn’t see Fuji. Spent the majority of the day on the bus. We didn’t get much time to explore at each destination. Lunch was mediocre.

Sensoji. I went at around 9am and already there were a lot of tourists. All the food stalls and market shops didn’t open till 10am. It’s a beautiful temple to visit and it was a short 10 minute walk from my hotel.

Yanaka Ginza - Yadorigi Cafe. Didn’t plan on visiting any animal/cat cafes due to concerns about animal welfare but stumbled upon one that rescues stray cats and all the cats are up for adoption. I could see that the cats were well taken care of and that they really cared. They also serve really delicious italian food. I stayed for 2 hours with a drink, main course and dessert for less than ¥3000. Cats were super friendly. I went at a quiet time/day and lots of the cats were happy to take a nap in someone’s lap.

Mt. Takao. Small mountain (599M) just outside of Tokyo. Made a last minute decision the night before to visit. Hiked up to trail 3 and walked through the forests of Takao. For the descent, I hiked down part of trail 1 before finishing off with the chair lift. Wasn’t easy but one of the highlights of my trip.

Shin-Okubo, Tokyo’s Koreatown. Loud and vibrant but very, very crowded. Initially wanted to do some skincare/make up shopping but I couldn’t handle the crowds. Picked up some ganjang gejang/raw marinated crab for dinner.

Tokyo - Sendai - Ishinomaki - Cat Island. Started using my JR Pass (expensive but for me it was worth it). Travelled up to Sendai via bullet train. Sendai was pretty boring. We wondered around the shopping streets trying to kill time before our dinner reservation at a yakiniku place. Sendai is famous for beef tongue so I gave that a try and it was pretty good.

Stayed at an Airbnb in Ishinomaki and got the first ferry to the island in the morning. Don’t bring lots of luggage with you because there was a lot of uphill walking and the roads can be quite steep. The Airbnb was a lovely traditional Japanese house but it was absolutely freezing. Outside temp at night was around -2C. Luckily the host prepared a kotatsu and heated blankets for us. Heated toilet seats were a nice bonus too. The host had 3 cats and 1 cat was especially friendly and very chatty.

I enjoyed visiting cat island. Weather was nice and skies were clear. We went on a nice walk across the island but some roads are pretty steep and will give you a bit of a workout. In terms of health, the cats weren’t any different to your typical stray. I didn’t see any cats with what looked to be major health issues. A lot of the cats were super friendly and super cute. There are a lot of signs saying not to feed the cats so it was frustrating to see some other tourists with cat treats and empty cat treats packaging littered in the public toilets.

Ishinomaki. One of the hardest hit cities during the 2011 earthquake. We visited the Kadonowaki Elementary School ruins which has been converted into a museum. They have preserved some of the school rooms so you are able to see the extent of the damage caused by the earthquake, tsunami and fires. It costs ¥600 to enter. Unfortunately the exhibits didn’t include much English so I did have to rely on Google translate.

Osaka. Tokyo - Osaka via bullet train using my JR Pass. Decided to have my base in Osaka and travel out to other places. Stayed at the Hearton Hotel Nishiumeda. Lucky enough to have a room on the quieter side but even then it was loud from being so close to the station. Not the best hotel I’ve stayed at. Room was dark and dingy. Carpet looked like it hadn’t been hoovered properly.

Dotonbori. Osaka is a good place for food and nightlife but unfortunately just not my cup of tea. Dotonbori looked gorgeous at night with all the city lights but it was super crowded and felt like a street with tourist trap shops. I can tick it off my list but probably wouldn’t visit again.

Fushimi Inari. Woke up super early to get to Fushimi Inari from my hotel in Osaka. Started the hike at 6am. Barely any other tourists around and so the hike was super peaceful. Started seeing more people when I got to the top and when I reached the bottom. Saw a couple of stray cats that were fairly friendly.

Hozugawa River Boat Ride. Price was ¥6000 so it’s a little expensive. I regret not purchasing the ticket on Klook when it was around £20 before the price increase. The ride takes around 1.5hrs and ends at the Arashiyama area. I got on the first boat of the day. River was pretty eerie with the morning fog rolling off the water. The sun came out later and it was a really scenic ride down the river. The boat men don’t speak much English so don’t expect a detailed guided tour. Towards the end, you pull up to a boat that sells food. I tried dango for the first time. They offered snacks, drinks, dango, oden and grilled squid.

Iwatayama Monkey Park. Entry fee is ¥600 and cash only. I made the mistake of not bringing cash so I had to go and find an ATM. The hike up takes around 20 mins and it involves climbing up stairs and steep paths so be prepared for lots of uphill walking. The view from the top was beautiful. You are able to feed the monkeys with a small pouch of apple/peanuts for ¥50.

Nara. Fed the deer at Nara park. You can buy a small set of deer crackers for ¥200. The deer are cute but can be aggressive when they see the crackers. They will nudge/head butt you to get your attention. Literally saw a deer head butt a guy before it bit his ass.

Abandoned JR Fukuchiyama railway hike. One of my favourite places I visited on my trip. Started from JR Namaze and ended at JR Takedao. Pretty easy hike except for the uneven terrain due to the railway tracks and rocks. Hardest part was finding the start of the trail. You have to walk through a busy highway tunnel which made me think I was walking in the wrong direction. You definitely need a good torch for this hike because of the tunnels. I bought a cheap ¥100 one from Daiso. Combined with my iPhone torch, it was just about enough. I definitely recommend buying a better quality torch as it is pitch black inside the tunnels. There are 6 tunnels in total and the 2nd tunnel was the longest and I can’t lie, it scared me (wasn’t a good idea to have watched the horror movie The Descent recently). Out in the daylight, the river scenery was stunning. I was alone for pretty much the whole trail. I only saw two people taking photos - one right at the start and one at the end.

Sushiro - if you’re not a sushi snob but love sushi, I would recommend this place. For a budget place, the sushi quality was great. Miles better and cheaper than what you can get in the UK. It’s fun to order off the tablet and have the plate delivered to you via the conveyor belt. I love fatty salmon sushi and two of the nicer, more expensive sushi places I went to didn’t have it on the menu.

Ichiran. Viral on social media but I have heard that it’s overhyped so I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. For me, it was the best ramen I had on my trip. It comes down to personal tastes and I liked customising my broth so that it was medium intensity. The broth at other places was too rich for my liking. It’s more expensive than other ramen places but for me, it was worth it. Paid for a noodle refill and I had to waddle out of the restaurant afterwards.

Kimchi. The worst thing I ate on my trip lol. I was craving sour, spicy kimchi but all the kimchi I tried was sweet with no spice. The worst offender was at the yakiniku place in Sendai. It was just sugary cabbage.

Tips:

• Pasmo. I added Pasmo to my iPhone wallet. Super easy to top up. You don’t need to open it up with face ID to use it, just tap your phone on the reader.
• Revolut. I used Revolut to exchange GBP into JPY for my trip. I kept an eye on the exchange rate and exchanged money when the Yen was at its weakest. No issues using my card or getting cash out with it. There is a £200 free cash withdrawal limit and that was more than enough for me.
• Tax fre...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/SanChongus on 2024-03-20 04:02:49.

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Hi everyone,

I will be going to Japan in early May with my family and we are planning to do an overnight stay in Hakone. I have read other threads on their itineraries but am still confused on how to get to Hakone and the logistics of the Hakone loop in general. For reference, we will be heading from Tokyo and then plan to go to Kyoto after Hakone. Hoping for some tips + advice on how to go about this trip.

From our hotel in Tokyo to Hakone:

[Rygoku Station -> Shinjuku Station -> Odawara Station -> Hakone-Tozan Line -> Hakone-Yumoto Station -> Gora Station]

Question:

1. Is there an easier way to get to Hakone or is this route correct?

From Gora Station, do the Hakone Loop then head to our hotel:

Sounzan by Cable Car at Gora Station

Chokoku-no-mori Station -> Hakone Open Air Museum

Owakudani

Togendai Station

Pirate Cruise Ship

Motohakone Port

Hakone Shrine

Go back to Togendai Station via cruise ship

Hotel (Hakone Ashinoko Hanaori, which is supposedly next to Togendai Station)

Question:

1. Is this too much to do for the day?
2. Anything I should take note of or change?
3. To get to Kyoto, specifically Gion-Shijo station, I'm assuming we take the bus to Odawara Station -> Kyoto Station -> Shijo Kawaramachi station. Is this correct?

TIA!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Kidlike101 on 2024-03-19 23:46:46.

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Part 2

This is the second week of my Japan trip in Okinawa and Kansai. For week 1 spent in Tokyo please go HERE

As A reminder, I’m a solo traveler in my forties with a wonky right leg so stairs and inclines are a challenge for me.

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Day 8

In summery the hotel I was supposed to be staying at had closed its reception after 10 pm so I stayed at the Naha Tokyu REI instead. 10,200 yen for the night. I think the room was meant for two since it was a double but that’s all they had at the time.

Early morning, at around 7 am. I checked out and asked management to contact my hotel. The guy got very defensive on the phone saying they never got a late check-in request let alone responded to it, Also NO I can’t check-in right now, hours are 15:00 to 22:00, I can only check in then. Since I was scheduled for a day tour I left my backpack and coat in REI and decided to deal with the hotel afterwards.

I just want to note that leaving my coat behind was such a mistake. Temps averaged 17c but a VERY windy one, north wind at that so… yeah I was practically freezing. Too late to go back though as the tour started at 8 am.

I had booked the hip hop bus tour course A for $50. We started with an hour at the Nago Pineapple Park A bit cheesy but it was just one hour. Also the smell there is amazing, sweet pineapple plus fresh woodland. I admit though, that stupid pineapple song got stuck in my head and haunted my nightmares for a few days.

This was followed by a quick stop at Kouri Island where we could actually see the special sand on the beach. The sand in this island is star shaped, not containing starfish, the sand itself is shaped like stars. Something to do with the currents but I didn’t catch it. Just enjoyed the beach and salty sea air.

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium was the main stop. We arrived just in time for the dolphin show which was awesome. When I went to see the sea turtles they were feeding them earlier than scheduled so I got to see them race to grab the dead sardines. Didn’t know they were omnivores but it was so cool seeing them swim at top speed like that. Tried the pineapple soft serve here and it was just so good.

After that we stopped at Okashigoten Onna Branch which is supposedly a famous souvenir shop. I think they’re the ones producing those taro tarts that is a famous Okinawan souvenir because one window overlooked a factory line for them. Unfortunately it was a busy day and the queue was too long so we were behind schedule and it took time away from the next stop.

Cape Manzamo totally looks like an elephant’s trunk. This turned out to be the highlight of the tour. The cape at sunset was just beautiful and the sounds of the waves crashing relaxing

The tour ended at around 7pm and we waved goodbye to our lovely and very diligent tour guide. Heading back to the Hotel Kohala where I was SUPPOSED TO BE STAYING I psyched myself up to Karen! Totally going to Karen on them!

… Yeah, they won. The English speaker was an elderly lady who was so apologetic about the whole thing and genuinely surprised about the late check-in request that I dropped it. There was some communication problem and my request clearly fell through the gaps. I expected to have to pay for both nights but they only charged me for one at the early booking rates (6000 yen) so I really can’t be too mad. Plus the Room was REALLY nice and even had a washing machine.

Before ending the day I stopped by El Patio which is the restaurant next door. Mostly because they advertised pizza but that turned out to be a mistake as the “small” arrived in a tea saucer… tiny and practically dough it was so soft. However I noticed the other dishes that passed me by looked good so I took a chance and order a salad as well. This made up for the pizza it was so good. I learned later that pasta and Spanish omelet was their specialty but I was too full for more and left energized.

Took a stroll down Kokusai-Dori but it felt too touristy. Also most of the items were the same I saw in the souvenir shops during the tour so just enjoyed the vibe before turning in for the night.

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Day 9 (Saturday)

Woke up early so checked out and was off to see Shuri Castle

Two things. One, castles are usually built on higher grounds for defense purposes. The whole thing was uphill and stairs, stairs, STAIRS!!! Not the place for someone with a wonky right hip and busted knee.

Thing the second, the castle is under long term renovations. I legit climbed a hill just to see a large board with a digital painting of a castle… The gardens were beautiful and I ate some soft serve to soften the blow. Only later did I realize that was my breakfast lol. If you can climb to the top however the view is amazing. You can see all the way to the shore line from up there.

On the way to the station I found a retro vending machine that sold real Ramune. It tasted like medicine… from the 80s… that expired 40 years back! There weren’t any trashcans around so I kept drinking it too, ugh.

Next stop was Makishi Public Market. It was fun and had some unique stores, I was looking for a specific restaurant in the area though for lunch but never found it. Decided to just go into this little place run by an elderly couple (at least in their 80s) and have one of the set meals for only 850 yen. My order number was 10 so I was memorizing it in Japanese “Juu, ten in Japanese is Juu. Wait for Juu to be called” when an elderly voice called “numb-ah Ten-eh. Ourda numbe-ah Ten-eh!”. I was so touched by the effort.

Belly full I had a look around the shops. Actually found a branch of 2FR in the area. I can totally see people wearing a shirt saying “no sexual service” in Shibuya but where else are you going to wear that? Visited a local mall then the Naha Museum before taking a stroll down the main shopping street in Naha, Kokusai Dori, to get to the hotel and collect my bags before heading to the airport.

Jetstar from Naha to Kansai international in Osaka $75. This time I was given a window seat and notice something odd as the plane got ready to take off. As I looked through the window all the railway staff stopped what they were doing and were bowing as the plane moved, they didn’t left their heads until takeoff!!! Flight itself was comfortable and uneventful.

Plane landed In terminal 2 and from there I boarded the Haruka aka the Hello Kitty themed train to Kyoto for an ultra-smooth and quiet ride. Temperature was 2c when I arrived.

Tip JR has a special offer for foreign visitors. If you purchase an open one way e-ticket on the Haruka it’ll cost 2200 yen for a reserved seat. Which is almost half price compared to buying it on site. E-tickets are valid for 3 months from purchase and you can redeem it any time in the JR counter. They also sell the ICOCA card at the same counter so got one since it’s valid for 10 years. Also it was a special event one with an astroboy + Sakura design on it so I just had to. Checked into my hotel just past 11:30 so called it a night.

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Day 10 (Sunday)

Hotel Onyado Nono Kyoto Shichijo Natural Hot Spring: $100 per night. This was easily the best hotel. Lovely décor that’s modeled after a classic ryokan, you have to take your shoes off as you walk in because the floor is tatami, they are part of the Dormy Inn chain so a ton of amenities including three onsens per gender. The room itself was spacious with a unique décor including a wooden panel instead of curtains that looks like a rice paper Japanese door.

Because this kind of window lets in the light I was up around 6am so decided to try the buffet breakfast. Take about fancy! So many little dishes which again are supposed to be styled after a classic ryokan meal. Since it was still early I did the laundry and relaxed in the message chairs they provide in the relaxation lobby.

First stop of the day was Kameoka to board the Sagano Romantic Train. I did the route in reverse starting at Torokko Kameoka Sta. and ending at the Torokko Arashiyama Sta. right next to the Bamboo groove. Ride was great and we saw a few people taking the raft down the river as well. I think it would be nicer once the trees are in bloom but it was fun and the view amazing.

Aside from the grove I did visit quite a few shrines and temples in the area. A notable one was Mikami Shrine because it’s dedicated to hair. Just hair, if you want long shiny hair or you’re a hair dresser this is where you ask for it. They even sell charms in the shape of little combs with a spell written on it, super cute!

While the grove was really crowded, it was the weekend after all, the garden area was huge and rather empty so I took a little walk there. Found a few Plum trees still in bloom, the garden path lead to the river where you can rent a rowing boat. From there the path lead to the Togetsukyo Bridge. However that area was full of delicious smells carried by the wind from the path up ahead. I decided it was close enough to lunch time and followed it t...

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