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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/anonymousqueso on 2024-04-28 05:34:36.

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Hello! I’m planning to visit Hokkaido for the first time this summer and would really appreciate your advice! I’ve created a rough itinerary but considering I will be depending on public transportation for everything, I would like to know how feasible it’d be to cover the areas I’m interested in visiting. If you think there are some places that are or aren’t worth visiting, please let me know as well!

Also, I’m a foreign resident so I’m wondering if there’s any JR pass that’s still actively available? I feel like the passes are now only available to tourists?

Here’s my itinerary:

Day 1: Sapporo - Nijo Market for sushi and Historical Village

Day 2: Sapporo - (??????) Museum?

Day 3: Shiraoi - Leave Sapporo and take a 1hr train to Otaru. Visit Otaru Canal and observation deck. Leave Otaru and head straight to Shiraoi and stay overnight

Day 4: Shiraoi - Go to the Upopoy Museum

Day 5: Shiraoi - Visit Jigokudani (Hell Valley)

Day 6: Asahikawa- Leave Shiraoi and take 3hr train to Asahikawa. Visit Ueno farm (The Gnomes Garden)

Day 7: Asahikawa- Visit Asahidake Ropeway and go on a mini hike

Day 8: Last day in Asahikawa, last minute sightseeing. Take 1hr 40min train back to Sapporo.

Day 9: Flight back home

Thank you for your help!

edited moved Shiraoi and Otaru! Will add an extra day somewhere or maybe make it a 9 day trip now!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/watchstraap on 2024-04-27 16:16:08.

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Hey all. Wanted to share our recent trip as I found the trip reports here so useful while we’re were on our first to Japan. Especially with trying to gauge how much you can possible fit which I believe we were able to fit a lot (too much actually).

Context here, we are airline employees so everything was planned on the fly with nothing booked in advance (not even hotels). The plan was basically put together from other trip reports here and tips from friends.

Day 1: Canada/Shinjuku

Flew from Canada to NRT. Landed at around 4:30pm. Passed customs and was able to get on the Narita Express for the 6:30pm train. Checked in to our hotel around in Shinjuku at 8pm and explored the immediate area and had a late dinner at the 7/11. Early night.

8k steps

Day 2: Shinjuku/Shibuya/Harajuku

Woke up earlyish and got going at around 7:30am. Breakfast at 7/11. Visited Meiji Jingu and explored Tomigaya. Walked over to Koffee Mameya at 10:30am in Harajuku but the line was quite long so we continued to explore the area. Got a tip from friends to go to get souffle pancakes at mcasadeco & cafe. Got there 15mins before open and were second in line. Great ricotta pancakes here we thought. Continued to explore Harajuku and visit some shops and got coffee.

Spent the afternoon exploring Shibuya and did the regular touristy things like the crossing. Travelled back to Shinjuku and poked around the area bit. Went to Standing Sushi and headed back to the room for a break.

Went to dinner at Ramen Tatsunoya Shinjuku and waited for around 30 mins but was well worth it! After dinner we went to the Tokyo metropolitan building for a free view up high (Shibuya Sky was booked up for the day).

28k steps

Day 3: Ginza/TeamLab Planet/Gundam

7/11 breakfast and headed to Koffee Mameya 15 mins before open and were second in line. Wow, well worth a second shot at going.

Metro to Ginza to explore and see the Tsukiji Fish Market. Had a couple things and hung out for a bit and took the bus to our TeamLab reservation at 1pm (was able to buy tickets the day before). Spent about an hour on there then took the train to the Gundam in Diver City. Spent some time in the mall there looking at the shops.

Headed to Senso-Ji in the late afternoon then a quick trip back to the Shinjuku to go to the Gyoen National Gardens for the last of the cherry blossoms. Ate Soba noodles at Tokyo Aburagumi Sohonten Nishi-Shinjuku after a 15 minute wait. Another great dinner! Ended this long day here.

24k steps

Day 4: Lake Kawaguchiko

Took the bus from Shinjuku around 9am on this cloudy day. Decided to still commit to going to the 5 lakes region even with the cloudy weather. Didn’t get a peak at Fuji at all but had a good day in Fujikawaguchiko regardless. Had Hoto noodles at Haotou and were fans! Took the 6:30pm bus back but hit traffic and got back to Shinjuku around 9:30pm so we called it a night.

18k steps

Day 5: Kyoto

Relaxed a bit in the morning and booked the Shinkansen to Kyoto at around noon. Checked in to hotel near the Gion district and explored the area and walked over to Kiyomizu-dera. Finished the night with some ramen after visiting the market.

22k steps

Day 6: Kyoto

Got to the Bamboo forest around 9:30am and it was packed, wasn’t amazing but still worth the trip as we went to the Monkey park afterwards. Took the train all the way to Fushimi-Inari and went up about half way. Feeling tired today so we called it there and got some more ramen for dinner.

25k steps

Day 7: Kyoto/Nara

Started the day a bit late and got coffee at 2050 Coffee (delicious) and headed down to Nara arriving at around 11:30am. Visited the temples and hung out for the rest of the afternoon. Was able to make a dinner reservation the night before at Itoh Dining. 10,000 Yen for a course meal with some Wagyu. Understood we paid a premium here but the dining experience was great!

17k steps

Day 8: Osaka

Had French toast at Smart Coffee and then took the Shinkansen to Osaka. Held our bags at the hotel and went and explored the Dotombori market and then got some great Okonomiyaki. Went back to the markets for some more shopping. Was on the hunt for some vintage Seikos but couldn’t find much. Had some ramen and called it a night there.

26k steps

Day 9: The Big One (Hiroshima/Miyajima)

This was a last minute decision as we figured we’d rather spend the money for round trip Shinkansen tickets to Hiroshima instead of spending the day in Osaka.

Shinkansen at 9am from Osaka to Hiroshima. Visited the castle and the dome then waited for about 30 minutes for Okonomiyaki near the park. After lunch we toured around the gardens and spent about 1.5 hours in the muesem (this alone was worth the trip). Was around 3:30pm and decided we could make the trip to Miyajima. Was especially tempting because the cost of going via train/ferry was surprisingly low (akin to a more expensive metro ticket). We were able to make it to the island at around 5. Miyajima Brewery has a nice Hefe and oyster stout! Took the ferry/train back and caught a late Shinkansen back to Osaka. Called it a night there!

17k steps

Day 10: Back to Tokyo

Took the Shinkansen back to Tokyo and went to Glitch for espresso and visited the imperial palace. Made our way to Nakano Broadway for more watch hunting. Had ramen again at the same place in Shinjuku.

18k steps

Day 11: Tokyo/NRT

Had breakfast then headed to Akihabara to have a look around as we had time before our 6pm flight. Took the bus back to NRT soon after. Fin!

Overall I think we did well especially with packing our days with things that didn’t require anything to be booked in advance. One big change would be spending a night on Miyajima instead of Osaka but overall we are very happy.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/wardXn on 2024-04-26 15:39:20.

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• This is a continuation post from Part 1 here (Day 0~9, Shikoku~Hiroshima) and Part 2 here (Day 10~18, Hiroshima~Shimane~Tottori/Misasa Onsen~Kinosaki Onsen)
• Refer to link for a map covering Day 19~23 here and Day 24 here.
• This post covers between Kobe (Day 19) to Osaka with multiple day trips out (Day 24).
• This trip occurred during Mid-November to Mid-December (autumn season).

Day 19 – Kobe, Maiko Promenade, Akashi-Kaikyo Exhibition Centre/Bridge (Hyogo)

Made an early rainy start from Kinosaki Onsen towards Kobe via the limited express Hamakaze. As it was a very early departure (~0712), the owner kindly prepared my breakfast in a bento setbox which I was appreciative of, so that I can have my breakfast on the train. The ride down to Kobe took ~2.5 hours which was pretty long, though by starting the day much earlier, I maximize the amount of productive time I have for the remainder of the day. After dropping my luggage at the hotel, I made my way backwards to Maiko to visit the Akashi-Kaikyo Exhibition Centre which details the construction process in making the longest suspension bridge in the world [until recently]. Engineering folks would be interested in the details of maintaining such a bridge. Just beside the exhibition centre, the Maiko Promenade provides access a small section of the suspension bridge lower deck– it is really windy (and noisy with traffic rumbling above you) there!

The main item for the day was to join the Bridge World exhibit tour, which consist of a safety briefing, a site walk along the suspension bridge maintenance deck and taking a lift up to the bridge pylon i.e. the tallest point of the bridge. The entire tour costed 5k yen and took about 2 hours. Although the tour is entirely in Japanese (it is chaired by their own engineers), there is an English audio guide provided for you to explain certain aspects. My own opinion is that while the audio guide covers the main aspects, the extra tidbits/trivia mentioned by the engineers are not included (so its an added bonus if you have some Japanese listening comprehension). Also, you will need to be able to climb up some stairs so if you are unable to, you’ll have to give this a hard pass. The exhibit tour runs between April to end-November so you’re out of luck if you come during winter [I asked one of the staff why there was no session planned between December and March, and his response was that it was “too cold” to conduct said tour].

After the tour, I took a highway bus back to Sannomiya/Kobe. Incidentally, it was dinner time and a friend suggested that I try out Kobe beef since I’m already there. Although most steak establishments there require a prior booking ahead of time, I managed to find one named Mouriya that accepted walk-ins. In a word, it was delicious– a pain to the wallet at 12k yen no doubt, but its worth trying out at least once for the experience.

After dinner, I walked around the area on the way back to the hotel. To the hotel in question for the night, the La Suite KOBE which had a direct view of Kobe Harbor. One thing I have noticed while planning this entire trip is that there are very few 5 star hotels in Japan, and when I saw this and the offer price, I just decided to go with it just for the experience. After staying here for a night, I now understand what it takes to be considered as one, from getting a personal room tour by the hotel staff to extravagant room sizes to bottled ‘designer’ mineral water to jacuzzis. I must disclaim however, by saying that 3-stars hotels in Japan are typically very good for the value proposition. A great place to crash the night, if you have the money to splurge.

Day 20 – Kobe Maritime Museum, Himeji Castle/Koko-en (Hyogo), Minoh Falls (Osaka)

Breakfast at this hotel is done differently from other hotels – instead of a buffet spread, the hotel staff wheels a table directly to your room and you get to eat it in solitary peace – that certainly was a first for me. Before checking out, I made a stop at the nearby Kobe Harbour to visit the [maritime museum](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOmqEb6bYO2zohNCAbWMIJy50PsQjYk37i_CNTrjiWUHIeGk7SmqLbnjHGi...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Lonely-Possession909 on 2024-04-24 22:46:56.

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Short Version:

Me and my partner always rate our stays abroad. I think our final ratings say it all.

Japan

1. 8.5. (Food&Drink)
2. 9. (Views/Surroundings)
3. 9.5. (People)
4. 8.75. (Attractions)
5. 8.75. (Wow factor)
6. 9. (my enjoyment)
7. 9. (partners enjoyment)

total: 62.5/70

Our previous high scorer was Italy, with a 60/70. So Japan leads our league table of 22 nations.

Long Version:

First of all, Japan is amazing. My 22nd and by far my favourite country. Also, first time out of Europe (with the possible exemption of Turkey) so this may help less experienced/UK travellers particularly.

Day 1: Flew from Heathrow with Etihad, with a 2 hour stopover in Abu Dhabi. Flights were about £900pp once we selected seats together. Etihad planes and food were nice by my inexperienced standards (only flown ryanair before) but the staff were strangely passive aggressive at all times.

Anyway, after 20+ hours of travel and finally landing in Osaka my partner had been physically sick (who knows why) and my eyes got super sore and irritated from the aircon which wasn’t great.

We landed in Osaka around midday and collected our JR passes (Hiroshima wide pass, seemed best value for money, planned to activate later in the trip), added money to our suica cards (travel cards you can just use on iphone dead easily on the wallet) and took the train to our hotel.

After essentially collapsing at the hotel we woke up at night and walked 15 minutes to see Osaka castle all lit up. It was pretty awesome even in the dark and rain. Also got some eye drops from a chemist which was great. Don’t speak any Japanese but google translate made it easy enough.

Day 2: This time we went to Osaka castle in the day. At this point we were pretty amazed by everything, even a signpost in Japanese or a small bridge, so Osaka castle in daylight, full of in bloom cherry trees was amazing.

That evening we visited Dontobori, which is really how I imagined modern Japan. Drank several beers (Sapporo, Asahi, Suntory, Yebisu, Kirin, in order of my favourite lagers) and ate the octopus balls they have. Wasn’t for me but I like trying different things. Class evening.

Day 3: Universal studios. Mainly went for my partner, albeit I was interested in mario world. Have to say, it wasn’t great. Crazy busy, with more gift shops than rides (several closed that day). Mario lands aesthetic was great but it was small and lacking substance. Toadstool cafe had good food tho.

Day 4: We left Osaka heading to Hiroshima via Himeji. We sent our luggage ahead of us through our hotel which was great, made exploring so much easier and wasn’t too expensive (2ish thousand yen?). Arrived via bullet train at Himeji around ten. Himeji castle is f****g fantastic. And it wasn’t even busy. Insanely beautiful, fully in bloom blossom trees, I loved walking through the castle and gardens, even the tickets and brochures were awesome. 10/10 experience. We then went to Engyoji Temple on the bus from the castle. Here’s a tip. Board the bus in the middle, pay using Suica as you exit at the FRONT. Took the ropeway up to the temples and took a 15 min small hike to the temple complex. First temples in Japan and I was mesmerised. Seeing the temples used in the Last Samurai was awesome. Arrived in Hiroshima late and chilled.

Day 5: Immediate day trip to Miyajima. Got there really early using the JR Ferry (our 5 day JR pass now activated). Loved the deers everywhere and the shopping arcade is great. Hiked up the Daisho-In trail. The temples and little stops are great. Took an hour. Only blip was persuading my partner to keep going having seen the multiple signs warning about snakes. Busy at the top near the observatory but our route was so quiet. Took the rope way back down. 10/10 day trip.

Day 6: Visited Shukkei en Garden in the morning. Was great. So peaceful and we ate lunch at the cafe. Was giggled at for my terrible control of chopsticks but that’s fair enough. Then visited peace memorial museums and parks. Park was cool but museum was far, far too overcrowded and people (other tourists) were too loud. Didn’t really match the tone for me.

Day 7: Left Hiroshima via bullet train for Kyoto. JR pass only covered to Shin-Osaka from there I used SmartEX to stay on the same train straight to Kyoto station. Stayed near Nijo castle. Went straight out to Nishiki Market and explored the downtown. Could’ve been bad timing but it was so busy and hot (for us used to rain and cold) that we didn’t really enjoy it. Had a great meal at a place where we cooked our own stuff on an open flame that evening tho.

Day 8: Day trip for Nara to use our JR Pass as it was the last day it’d work. Went to Fushimi Inari at 7am en route. Even at this time it was busy and the constant photo taking I found jarring. Higher up was much better once the crowds thinned as was the differing descent route. Continued to Nara after on the same train line. Nara was amazing. Loved the temples (Kofuku-Ji, Todai-Ji, Kasuga Taisha). Feeding the deers was fantastic. Loads of great places to eat.

Day 9: Visited Arashiyama bamboo forest. It wasn’t that busy, but it simply isn’t a forest. It’s like the quarter of a football (soccer) pitch at best. Walked over to the monkey park and fed them which was good fun. Of note, Arashiyama really doesn’t open up till past 10am. If you’re there early you’ll be hungry. We did visit the Miffy bakery. Long queue but tasted good. Visited Golden Pavillion, cool temple, short to go around tho. Then the Kyoto imperial palace (cool and free) and finally Nijo castle as it was right next to our hotel. I did a short run around Nijo castle as the sun set. Loads of other runners. Great stuff.

Day 10: For this day I copied the temple walking route listed here: What To Do In Kyoto - A 3 Day Kyoto Itinerary - Nerd Nomads . Really enjoyed albeit feet were knackered and blisters were forming which would make me mildly uncomfortable for the remainder of the trip. 30k step counts everyday take their toll. Finished with a traditional tea ceremony at ‘Maikoya’. We both loved this. Getting in traditional dress was amazing even if the poses we were encouraged to do made it appear to my family as if we were having wedding photos.

Day 11: left Kyoto on the bullet train for Tokyo. Saw mount Fuji as we went past. When we arrived we took a chill before going around Shinjuku then visiting the golden Gai. Had some great but relatively expensive drinks.

Day 12: Woke up with loads of insect bites which sucked. I normally spray myself but forgot having been so drunk with my new Golden Gai friends. Don’t make this mistake! Visited the national museum which was really cool and Ueno zoo. Pandas were great but some of the enclosures (size, standard) made me a little uncomfortable in comparison to the space given in UK wildlife parks/zoos. Not sure i’d go again for that reason. Passed through Akhibara later and it was sound.

Day 13: Had a lay in then visited Shibuya. Yep. This place sure is busy. Shibuya sky was cool. We were both kinda exhausted with busy big cities at this point tho as had little interest in shopping. Both realised at this point our preference for temple/older style Japan rather than the big city centres. That’s just a personal preference i’m sure there’s many who are the opposite. In the evening went to TeamLabs Planet. Now this really was fun. Water exhibits soothed my blisters and insect bites too lol.

Day 14: With a day spare we took the train to Kamakura. Saw the big buddha, explored other shrines and stops. An awesome day trip. A welcome change of tone. Also, a fairly large bird of prey swept down and stole a man’s sandwich causing him to fall in the sand at the beach. This was excellent theatre.

Day 15: unfortunately it was home time. Back on the bullet train to Osaka from Tokyo. Sad faces. We will be back Japan.

As a side note; with Etihad we had access to the Etihad ‘Visit Abu Dhabi Experience’ getting 2 free nights stay at the Traders Hotel. Pretty insane deal to get it for free as a stopover en route home. Abu Dhabi isn’t really my type of place but I know that now. Also, Etihad staff really stepped up their hostility and awkwardness here. Not sure id fly with them again personally.

End comments:

All in all, probably cost us about 2.5-3£k each. It ain’t cheap but it’s definitely worth it and is much cheaper than the UK once you’re there. Amazing country. Loved the people. Loved the culture of things, silence on public transport, always helpful, always respectful. Watch out for insect bites and blisters, they suck. The cherry blossoms really do add to things. Chopsticks are easily learnt. You can go with zero knowledge of Japanese. Translate, basic phrases and a smile go a long way. Public transport despite appearing overwhelming is actually easy. For UK folks, you can’t jaywalk here. Even if there’s no cars, no one does. Carry a bag for your rubbish too. Oh and public toilets and toilets in general are amazing.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Suitable-Television9 on 2024-04-25 12:46:17.

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Me (32M) and wife (31F) traveled to Kansai Japan for the first time from 9/4 - 19/4. Here is our trip report and my personal travel tips.

PRELUDE

• Touched down Kansai Airport at 9.30pm.
• Took the Airport Limousine Bus to Kyoto Station.
• Reached hotel at 11.30pm.

Day 1 (KYOTO)

• Reach Fushimi Inari by 8.30am. It was already pretty crowded.
• Wife wasn't too interested after a while so we descended Mt. Inari and went to Tofukuji.
• From Tofukuji, we took the Keihan Line to Chushojima Station, where there's a river canal nearby that was full of cherry blossoms. Much less foreign tourist here too, mostly locals.
• Next, we visited Uji. Had cold matcha soba for lunch and went to Tsuen Tea Shop, which is the oldest tea house not only in Japan, but the whole world.
• Had more green tea desserts at Nakamura Tokichi and went to Byodo-in (the temple featured behind the 10 yen coin)
• Matcha stuff here were all just next level.
• Chill by Uji River and visited Ujikami Shrine.
• Took a walk to Tamakitei (famous bread shop in Uji) , but found out it wasn't open when we got there.
• By late evening, we took the train back to Kyoto downtown to Gion. Explored Pontocho Alley, Kiyamachi Street, and Hanamikoji. Had conveyor belt sushi for dinner.
• Visited Kyoto's Pokemon Centre.
• Kodai-ji for night sakura illumination.

Step count: 39,192 steps

Day 2 (KYOTO)

• Reach Sannenzaka and Ninnenzaka by 7am. Very few people around this early, and took a lot of crowd-less pictures of the traditional streets.
• Visited Kiyomizudera, the crowd started to build up considerably when we're done with this place.
• Had Arabica coffee at Ninnenzaka.
• Walked to Yasaka Shrine and visited Maruyama Park.
• Visited Chion-in Temple and head west towards Shirakawa River. Dropped by Tatsumi Bridge, Tatsumi Shrine and Shirakawa Lane. From there, followed the river towards Heian Shrine.
• Continue walking towards Keage Incline, took pictures of more cherry blossoms there.
• Headed towards north and visited Nanzenji Temple, Philosopher's Path, Honen-in and finish at Ginkaku-ji.
• Fu-ka, a good omurice place is just 5 minutes walk from Ginkaku-ji.
• Took a short hike at Yoshida Hill, there's a hidden dessert shop there (Mo-an), true hidden gem.
• Descent Yoshida Hill and visited Yoshida Shrine. Walked to Konkai Komyo-ji, a temple full of gravestones with a nice pagoda, it was quite a sight.
• Visited rabbit shrine Okazaki jinja. Bought some rabbit charms.
• Took a bus to Nishiki Market and did some souvenirs shopping.
• Had really good udon at Udon Tengu for dinner.
• Took the bus back to Gion and visited Yasaka Shrine again.
• Walked to Ninnenzaka and Sannenzaka. It was 9pm but the whole streets were just completely empty. Took a really nice picture of the streets with the pagoda.

Step count: 45,300 steps

Day 3 (KYOTO)

• Reached Arashiyama Bamboo Forest by 8.30am. Super crowded already.
• Passed Togetsukyo Bridge and walked along Katsura River. Hiked up and visited Daihikaku Senkoji Temple (awesome view of Arashiyama from up here!)
• Got back to Togetsukyo Bridge and headed to Denden-gu (a shrine with homage to Hertz and Thomas Edison)
• Walked back to Arashiyama Bamboo Forest. Did I mentioned that it was super crowded earlier? Now it's EXTREMELY crowded.
• Explored North Arashiyama area and Saga Toriimoto Preserved Street. Had unagi lunch at Ayu-no-Yado (best unagi we had in our lives)
• Visited both Otagi Nenbutsu-ji and Adashino Nenbutsu-ji.
• Walked to Daikaku-ji Temple. From there, took a bus to Kitano-Tenmangu Shrine. Visited Hirano Shrine.
• Had McDonald's for dinner. Tried the shrimp burger which wasn't available in our home country.
• Explored Kamishichiken (oldest geisha district in Kyoto)

Step count: 35,308 steps

Day 4 (KYOTO)

• Woke up at 5am on my own. Solo hiked the entire Fushimi Inari. It was a completely different vibe from Day 1. There were virtually nobody around, it was as if I had the whole shrine to myself. Words can't describe just how calm and peaceful this whole experience was.
• Walked back home and wife was up and ready. Took the train to Demachiyanagi Station, and from there hopped on to Bus 17, heading towards Ohara.
• Reached Ohara at 10.30am. Visited Sanzen-in (700 yen, the most expensive temple we've visited in our entire trip. But it was still worth it)
• Had really good curry udon and the specialty Sanzen-in udon for lunch at Ippukujaya Teahouse.
• Visited Jakko-in Temple.
• Walked around and explored Ohara Town. Really good countryside vibes.
• Took the bus back to Demachiyanagi Station. Visited Kamo Mitarashi Chaya and had the best mitarashi dango.
• Super good Omurice for dinner at Omura House.
• Headed back to downtown Kyoto and just explored around.

Step count: 39,403 steps

Day 5 (KYOTO >> OSAKA)

• Woke up at 5am on my own. Visited Kiyomizudera and solo hiked to Higashiyama Mount Peak Park.
• Walked back home and wife was up and ready. Checked out of our hotel and stored our luggage there.
• Took a train to Kurama Station and hiked Mt Kurama. Visited Kuramadera and reached Kibune. Visited Kifune Shrine.
• Took the train back to Kyoto Station. Had really good Ochazuke at Dashi-Chazuke En.
• Went back to the hotel, got our luggage and head towards Osaka via Keihan Line.
• Checked in at Osaka Airbnb. Had Ichiran Ramen for dinner.
• Explored Umeda area and had a good night view of the whole city at Umeda Sky Building.

Step count: 44,068 steps

Day 6 (OSAKA)

• Woke up 5.30am on my own and had a long morning walk around the city. Explored West Umeda area.
• Came back home at 9am and wife was up and ready. First stop of the day was Tenjinbashi Shopping Street & Osaka Tenmangu.
• Walked to the Osaka Mint Museum to see late blooming cherry blossoms. From there, continue on foot towards Osaka Castle and explored the park area.
• Randomly encountered a restaurant with full of Japanese salarymen standing while eating their meals in a rush. Decided to join in and despite the whole situation being super chaotic, the food was great and it was a very memorable moment, definitely a highlight of the trip!
• Had cakes and dessert at Gokan Cake House (Near Kitahama Station)
• Took a train and explored Dotonbori and Shinsaibashi.
• Walked south and explored Den Den Town. Visited the famous Namba Yasaka Shrine.
• Had the best Onigiri in our lives for dinner at Onigiri Gorichan.

Step count: 43,676 steps

Day 7 (NARA)

• Woke up 5am on my own and had a long morning walk around the city. Explored Kyobashi, Osaka Business Park and Osaka Castle.
• Came back home at 9.30am and wife was up and ready. Took the Kintetsu Line to Hasedera Station. Explored Hasedera Temple and Hase Town.
• Had the ABSOLUTE BEST udon meal here in Hase at 与喜饂飩 (food were all prepared on the spot upon order, so we had to wait a while to eat. And it was so worth the wait!)
• Took the train to Yamato-Yagi Station and explored Imaicho, a very well preserved traditional merchant town. And the best thing, there were no tourists at all!
• Walked around Kashihara Town. Visited Fujiwara Palace Ruins.
• Took the train back to Osaka and had Tsukemen for dinner at Tenjinbashi.
• Visited Dotonbori again, this time during night.

Step count: 37,667 steps

Day 8 (NARA)

• Woke up at 5am on my own and walked around town. Visited the virtually empty Dotonbori.
• Came back home at 9am and wife was up and ready. Took the Kintetsu Line to Ikoma Station.
• Switched to the cable car and rode up to Ikomasanjo Amusement Park.
• Visited Hozanji (one of the best temples we've visited in the entire trip)
• Explored Ikoma Town. After that, took the train bound for Nara Deer Park.
• Dropped by Yamato-Saidaji Station on the way and visited the street where former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated. Flower beds were made around the site to honor him.
• Continued to Nara Park and did the usual stuff here - See the deers, visit Todaiji, Kasuga Taisha.
• Took the train back to Osaka. Had very good Okonomiyaki at Hirokazuya Higashidori for dinner.

Step count: 37,186 steps

Day 9 (NARA - SOLO WALKING)

• Today was the day my wife and I had our own me-time. I chose to explore Nara, while she decided to chill and shop around Osaka.
• Woke up at 4.30am. Caught the first train and headed towards Tenri, Nara. Visited the Tenri Church.
• Completed the entire south part of Yamanobe no michi, starting at Tenri & ending at Sakurai Town. Explored some shrines along the route - Isonokami Shrine, Yatogi Shrine, Hibara Shrine, Omiwa Shrine.
• As I was entering Yatogi Shrine, a farmer old man approached me in his motorcycle and personally gave me a tour in the shrine. I used Papago to translate his words and communicate with him. He even taught me how to pay respects in the shrine - ringing the bell, clapping your hands together and take a bow. Such a really awesome & unique experience.
• Had Miwa Somen for lunch, a regional food only found in Nara.
• My wife reportedly had the best pancakes of her life at Marufuku Coffee, near Dotonbori.
• Continued walking south, passed by Kashihara and explored Asuka Village, once the capital of Ancient Japan.
• Visited Asukadera, the first temple in Japan.
• Lots of tumulus around the area, the most famous one being the Ishibutai Tumulus.
• Continue walking and arrive at Takatori Town. Wanted to take a hike to visit Takatori Castle Ruins and Tsubosakadera, but sun ...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Useful_Beautiful2891 on 2024-04-24 05:39:02.

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Hi! I am looking for feedback on our day Tokyo Itinerary. Our trip is in the first week of October. After this we continue on to Kyoto and Osaka but we don't have that planned out in detail yet.

We are in our mid-twenties, neither of us really drink and are mostly looking forward to eating our way through Japan! There is a bit of shopping we'd like to do but we are pretty picky but we don't feel the need to go into every store.

For food, we have a few places flagged that we would like to try but happy to abandon those plans if we find something better when exploring or depending on hunger! Breakfast will likely always be 7/11, Lawson, or Family Mart.

We would prefer when things aren't super crowded but we also are pretty patient and experienced travellers so we understand this is all part of the game :)

Obviously, we tried to make this as flexible as possible so we may do things slightly out of order especially if we get hungry or whatever!

Any advice or tips is helpful. We have an extra day right now we may use for a Nara or Hiroshima day trip from Osaka but we could also add it to Tokyo as well (any thoughts would be appreciated!)

Day 1

• Arrive at HND around 6:30pm
• Customs, etc
• Train to hotel in Ginza and sleep

Day 2

• Transit to Asakusa (as early as we can!)
• Explore Senso-ji and surrounding streets
• Lunch in Asakusa
• Potentially Asakusa Gyukatsu
• Look for some souvenirs at Kappabashi Street
• Dessert/Treat around Nakamise-dori Street if we feel like it
• Transit back to Ginza, stop at Character Street if we aren't too tired, if we are go straight back to hotel for a rest
• Grab dinner in Ginza, explore a few stores if we have the energy

Day 2

• Transit to Shibuya
• Do one of the early Shibuya Sky timeslots
• Walk through Shibuya Scramble
• Explore a few stores as they begin to open
• Lunch somewhere in Shibuya
• If we want to do a bit more shopping, do that now!
• Walk to Daikanyama
• Explore the neighborhood, visit T-Site and maybe a coffee shop/dessert place
• Grab dinner around here if we aren't too tired or head back to rest then go for a later dinner in Ginza

Day 3

• Transit to Meji Jingu and visit the shrine
• Grab lunch in Harajuku
• Potentially Roast Beef Ohno Harajuku
• Explore Takeshita Street
• If we feel like shopping more, go to Omotesando Hills & the surrounding area but we can also skip
• Head up to Shinjuku
• Explore Shinjuku
• Visit Kabukicho
• Eat Dinner
• Walk through Golden Gai & Omoide Yokocho
• Not interested in drinking or eating here so just a walk through
• Transit back to Ginza

Day 4

• Day trip to either Kawaguchiko if weather seems clear or Kamakura if the weather is not clear

Day 5

• Walk to Tsukiji Outer Market early in the morning
• Visit anywhere we didn't get to above or if there is anything extra we want to do
• If we get through everything, either visit Shimokitazawa or Akihabara potentially!
• Book an Omakase experience for this night

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/xxDeG on 2024-04-22 17:33:23.

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This is probably a dumb question but I'd just like to make sure. We can do the Hakone Loop counter clockwise for a day trip right?

As in:

take Shenjuku romance car to Odawara Station then to Chokokunomori Station

• hakone open air museum

-to gora station > cable car up to Hakone Ropeway Owakudani Station

-vibe at mt fugi sightseeing

• cable car down to Togendai station
• take pirate ship to Motohakone Port

-Hakone Shrine, Soga Shrine, Amulet booth, Oratory, Inari Shrine

• dinner

-Bus/train back to tokyo

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/1rule on 2024-04-21 12:46:05.

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We (me 44F and my friend 30M, both Belgian) flew with Lufthansa from Brussels via Frankfurt to Tokyo, return was Osaka via Munchen to Brussels.

Arrival :

Flight was uneventful, arrived around 6pm at Haneda where we picked up our mobile wifi from sakura mobile (we pre ordered a limitless 2 week AP, it worked flawlessly).

Then we picked up Pasmo pasports from the counter at the airport and each loaded 5k yen on to them.

Process was easy, staff were super friendly.

We took a limousine bus to Tokyo Kabukicho tower and walked to our hotel from there (wich was like 15 minutes from there) GLOU Higashi Shinjuku. Simple but clean and comfy rooms.

After checking in we walked around the neighbourhood a little, went to eat at this little place in a basement where everything costs 300yen (it was great).

Came upon Hanazono shrine (wich was awesome at night with all the blooming sakura trees).

We walked trough Golden Gai and past all the touts, this was the only neighbourhood we didn’t like, way to tourist trappy tbh. (The touts left us mostly alone, some assumed we were a couple and wanted to take us to a "nice couples bar", we just ignored them).

Day 1:

We are both wrestling fans, so i got us tickets for NJPW Sakura Genesis at the Ryogoku Kokugikan, but since it started in the late afternoon, we used the morning to take the subway to Senso-ji Temple and walk from there. There was a crowd, but it was doable and the temple is very nice. We crossed the Sumida river and walked to the stadium trough Yokoamicho park.

Had lunch near the stadium (a menu with Udon noodles, really good).

After the wrestling show (was great) we took the subway back to the hotel.

Day 2:

We had booked Teamlab Borderless at 3pm (via Klook) today, so we took the metro to Ropongi in the morning and walked from there, just sight seeing and shopping. Saw a few shrines along the way and had FamilyMart lunch on a bench in a little park. Teamlab was awesome, we both really enjoyed it, there were alot of people, but it wasn’t too crowded I thought.

Afterwards we had dinner in Azabudai Hills.

Day 3:

We walked to Shinjuku and all the way to the Meiji shrine, shopping and sightseeing, just taking our time to enjoy Tokyo, after the shrine we went to the Nintendo and Pokemon stores at Shibuya Parco. We returned with the subway to the hotel and had dinner in Shinjuku.

Day 4:

We took the subway to Akihabara and went shopping there, had McDonalds lunch and in the afternoon we took the subway to the Imperial Palace where we walked the park around it. It was really nice and we were very impressed by the scale of the city standing there.

Day 5:

Checked out in the morning to take the Shinkansen to Osaka (pre booked with Klook).

We took the subway to Tokyo station, had some breakfast there (really nice sandwich and cheesecake smoothie) and at noon we boarded the Shinkansen. Really smooth ride to Shin-Osaka and then another subway to Shinsaibashi, our hotel was Shinsaibashi ARTY inn, a very cheap but extremely nice hotel right in America-mura (we absolutely loved this neighbourhood). We highly recommend this hotel.

In the evening we walked trough Dotombori a bit, went to see the Glinko man and had Karaage for dinner at a bar called Dragon Punch.

We also found a really nice 70’s rock bar called Phoe-be, very close to our hotel, we went there often for drinks at night, really friendly owner and nice atmosphere.

Day 6:

Went to Osaka port today, we had reservations for the Aquarium Kaiyukan in the afternoon (also Klook). We took the subway there and explored the neighbourhood, had lunch in the little mall at the aquarium, went tot he Lego store there. The Aquarium was busy but we both enjoyed it a lot, the sharks are cool, we really like watching the otters and the pinguins.

In the evening we had dinner in Dotombori, Fumo smoke parlor (amazing food).

Day 7:

Took the subway to Osaka Castle and walked around the park and the castle grounds (really nice, very touristy).

In the afternoon we took the subway back and went to DenDen-town for some shopping.

Had diner at a BBQ place in the evening (not bad, nothing special).

Day 8:

We took a local train to Kyoto today, we decided on the East side of the city and went to see Nanzen-ji temple and walked north over philosopher’s path (it was a little too crowded there but very nice with all the falling Sakura leaves).

We also had really good Breton crepes and cidre there for lunch (place called Breizh).

In the evening we took the same train back to Osaka.

Day 9:

We took a local train to Nara today, we walked towards Todai-ji temple. It was very crowded, but the temple and the buddha are really impressive, highly recommend visiting.

We walked back trough random streets and just enjoyed the scenery.

Day 10:

We stayed in Osaka today and took our time to shop for souvenirs, went to DenDen town again, did karaoke and in the evening we had a nice dinner at a little Udon place.

Day11:

Early flight home from Osaka to Munich, we had to land in Vienna to refuel cause of the bad weather.

Notes:

I used Booking.com to book the hotels. Booked the flights with the lufthansa website. Used klook for teamlab, shinkansen and aquarium. Used buysumotickets.com for the NJPW Sakura Genesis tickets. We each spent about 800€ on food, drinks, souvenirs and transport during this holiday. Used googlemaps for getting around, worked flawlessly.

The Japanese were all super nice and helpful, we learned early to combine the few japanese words we knew with very simple english and some pointing. In a few cases we just used google translate and showed the japanese text, it allways worked out.

Didn’t have a single bad experience with anyone there, Japan is an amazing country, we had an excellent holliday and we’ll definately come back in the future.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/devinprayyy on 2024-04-22 00:22:51.

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I (44m) took my 9 year old daughter to Japan for ten days. We spent six nights in Tokyo, 3 in Kyoto and one more night in Tokyo. This was her first time outside the USA and my first trip overseas (only ever been to Canada).

Just thought I give my account for anyone who might find it helpful.

I had just 2 objectives for this trip.

1. Have my daughter experience some culture and see what the world looks like outside of the US.
2. Have fun.

My daughter loves anime, pokemon and nintendo. I’m a love history, architecture and a big baseball fan. So Japan seemed like a good choice for a place to visit.

I didn’t do a ton of planning. I just made a list of activities in each city we both wanted to do and just let each day’s be somewhat spontaneous. The only things I preplanned for was hotel reservations, the CupNoodles museum and a Giants game. Everything else we just decided to do day of. I don’t know if this was the best approach, but it worked out ok for us.

Day 1. Arrived in Tokyo. Got in around 1pm. We were a little jet lagged so didn’t do much. After checking in to our hotel around 3:30 we walked around Asakusa (where our hotel was) for a little bit then got dinner at a 7-11 (fried chicken, curry bread a croquettes) which was all surprising good and chilled out for the rest of the night.

Day 2. Explored Shibuya, Ginza and. Akihabara. Shibuya was fun. We discovery a capsule store and bought a bunch of capsule toys. We did the scramble, visited Hachiko, and spent time checking out the various stores.

We went to Ginza but didn’t stay long. I didn’t realize it was mostly high end stores and there wasn’t much that appealed either of us so we made our way to Akihabara. My daughter loved it. Tons of arcades, claw machines and capsule toys. We spent a lot of time just playing videos games.

Day 3. Went to the Senso-Ji shrine. I liked it a lot more than my daughter but I kind of forced her to go along with it. We burned some incense and lit candles at the shrine. Luckily she humored me and I think enjoyed at least some of it. We took our time and took lots of pictures. We got lunch there and then did some shopping. Our hotel wasn’t too far away so went back there to chill for a before coming back to check out some more of the shopping areas. Overall it was a pretty full day of sightseeing, eating and shopping.

Day 4. Went to the CupNoodles museum. We did the workshop where you make ramen from scratch. This required a reservation. My daughter absolutely loved it. She likes to eat ramen and to cook so doing this was really fun for her. We did the rest of the museum which she also really enjoyed. Personally I didn’t love it and would never do it on my own. I thought it was more for kids than adults. In total we spend about 4 1/2 hours there. After we rode the ferris wheel at cosmo world which was ok but nothing too amazing. Then we went back to the hotel for a bit to chill and then went out for conveyor belt sushi for dinner.

Day 5. Giants game at the Tokyo Dome. My daughter is not much for baseball, but she didn’t mind it too much. She did get bored though as the game went on. I had a great time. I was surprised how different Japanese baseball is from America. The game itself is the same, but the fan experience is quite different. It felt more like a soccer game with singing, chanting and drumming continuing through the entire game. No national anthem, 7th inning stretch or yelling at the umps. I think I prefer American baseball because that’s what I’m used to, but still had a great time. After the game we checked out Toyko dome city and rode some rides but didnt do the huge roller coaster. After that she was too tired to do anything else so we just got some street food (meat on a stick- I forget what it’s called) and crashed at the hotel.

Day 6. Just wandered around Tokyo. We kind of fell in live with the metro and my daughter loved taking it. She also wanted to try navigating herself. So we pick a few places to go. I gave her basic instructions on how to there and she led the way. She got turned around a few times but eventually found her way. She had a lot of fun just figuring where to go. We went to the tsukiji fish market for lunch, Shibuya (again) and Shinjuku because I wanted to see Godzilla. We discovered the Eki stamps earlier so bought a book and went on a hunt to find as many stamps as we could. It was a fun full day of train riding and walking.

Day 7. Shinkansen to Kyoto. The bullet train was awesome. I so wish we had something like that in America. We got the reserve seats and we got to see Mt Fuji. Got to Kyoto in the afternoon. Our hotel was right by the Nishiki market so we spent the rest of the day checking out the shops and got dinner there.

Day 8. Arashiyama - bamboo forest and monkey park. We took the bus out there so we could see the city along the way. Took about an hour from our hotel. The bamboo forest way really cool though not all that big. Calling it a forest might be a bit of an exaggeration but was still pretty cool. There were quite a few people but not as crowded as I heard others describe. Lots of people with selfie sticks and tripods trying to get the perfect picture which was kind of annoying but otherwise we enjoyed it.

After that we walked to the monkey park. Not a huge place but I enjoyed the hike to the top and the view of the city from there was great. The monkeys were funny and we got to feed them.

After monkeys we rented a row boat and paddled around the river. It was relaxing and nice to get away from some of the crowds and get to take in the pretty scenery. It was a pretty full day for us at that point so we just took the bus back to the hotel and I hate to admit got McDonalds for dinner.

Day 9. Shrines and arcades. We had one more full day in Kyoto and I wanted to see both the Yasaka shrine area and the Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine. I knew doing both would be a tough ask for my daughter. So I got up super early in the morning and went to Yasaka by myself while my daughter slept. It worked out great. There was hardly anyone there and I was able to get some great photos and see everything I wanted to and was back with the whole day still ahead of us.

After I got back we headed out to Fushimi Inari. Had a great time there and she actually love walking through all the gates and just looking at all the stuff. There were a lot of people and many selfie sticks again but it was too bad. There were times when the crowds thinned out and it was a nice peaceful walk.

Next we headed back to town and went to Round 1 for bowling and video games. The arcade there was awesome. We don’t have anything quite like that or nearly as big where we live so we had a ton of fun playing games.

We were pretty worn out by that point. So just went back to the hotel after getting some food from 7-11.

Day 10. Back to Tokyo. We took it easy in Kyoto for our last morning there. Had breakfast at the hotel, checked out the nintendo store which was much better than the one in Shibuya which was insanely crowded and then made our way to the train station.

Got back to Tokyo in early afternoon and just took it easy. Went back to Akihabara for our last night. Played lots of video games, did a little shopping and had a nice Sushi dinner.

Day 11. Had an easy morning, checked out of the hotel had lunch and strolled though ShibaKoen park before heading to airport

Overall, we had an awesome time. I’m so glad we picked Japan for our first overseas trip. It’s a lovely country with beautiful scenery and wonderful people.

Main takeaways

• The language barrier wasn’t much of an issue. A lot of people spoke English and when they didn’t I just used Google translate and that worked fine. Everyone I encountered was helpful and patient with me.
• Getting around was so easy. We took trains or buses everywhere. Rarely did we wait more than 5-10 for a bus or train. I don’t know why anyone would take a taxi or uber in Tokyo.
• Safety. I’ve never felt safer in a big city than in Tokyo. It really surprised me. Also very clean and public bathrooms were everywhere. It’s not like that where I live.
• Many trips reports I read leading up to our trip sucked. I guess everyone has a different idea of what they want their trip to be or what their preferences are but so much advice people give is just plain bad. People also like to complain about the dumbest things. So take these trip reports (including this one) with a grain of salt.
• Most things in Japan were pretty cheap compared to where I live. I thought I was going to spend a lot more money than I actually did.
• There were a lot of things I wish I could have done on this trip but couldn’t with a 9 year old. I would have loved to get more adventurous with restaurants and go out to some bars. I would have loved to see more shrines and temples, but had to remind myself a few times that this trip wasn’t all about me. It was about having an experience with my daughter and she had an absolute blast.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/allycakes on 2024-04-21 16:06:06.

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Hello everyone! I got back from Japan just over a week ago and well it's taken a bit of time to write up this report because traveling with a two-year-old is exhausting. It's been awhile since we took a big trip with her and let me tell you, traveling with a fully mobile two-year-old is wayyy harder than with a partially mobile one-year-old. I know there are a lot of reports on here already so mine below is probably going to focus more on the toddler/child aspect; I hope this might be helpful to other parents preparing for their trip!

I also want to thank this sub for their feedback on my original itinerary. I ended up reworking my itinerary from what I planned (I had us originally ending in Okayama as well as staying a night in Nara on the way to Kyoto) and I think things went a lot smoother because of the changes!

Osaka (1 Night)

General Impression: Osaka was our first city and I liked it way more than I thought I would! We only stayed one night though and looking back, I would have maybe stayed longer and gone into the Osaka Castle as well as visit Team Labs.

Accommodations: We stayed at the Hotel Elcient Osaka Umeda. Location was excellent - very close to Osaka Station. The room was on the smaller side but that was fine for us for one night. Best part of the hotel was the free, on-site spa! We had been travelling for two days and it was a nice way to relax.

Sites:

• Kids Plaza Osaka: After all that travel, we decided to take it easy and give our toddler a chance to run around by going to the Kids Plaza Osaka. Highly recommend! Our daughter loved it and there was activities for kids of all ages. My only suggestion is if you have younger children, stay close as despite all the signs and announcements to not run, there are a lot of kids running around who will knock your kid over if you’re not careful.
• Waterfront: We kept it easy it later by walking down the waterfront. It's a nice walk and there were a ton of food stands. No cherry blossoms unfortunately but still pleasant and relaxing, plus gave another opportunity for our toddler to get some of her energy out.

Food: For dinner, we went to a shopping area near Kids Plaza Osaka and got some delicious okonomiyaki from a little restaurant run by these two older women. We got a more traditional okonomiyaki with beef and then one with yakiudon - so good. I only slightly regret getting okonomiyaki and not something else because when we went to Okayama the next day, the majority of restaurants around us in Okayama were okonomiyaki restaurants.

Okayama (2 Nights)

General Impression: I enjoyed Okayama but I will say if you are going, be prepared that there is almost no English. Most menus are in Japanese only. We were able to make it work with Google Translate but there was one Izakaya menu that was extremely complicated and definitely gave Google Translate a run for its money (we ended up ordering the couple of food items that we could figure out what they were). Everyone was still very polite but just know that it will be more difficult with limited to no Japanese.

I also wish I had done more shopping here! The shopping areas were way less crowded than in Kyoto and they had some interesting shops I didn't see later in the trip.

Accommodations: We stayed at the Grand Base Okayama Ekimae which did cause some travel struggles (which I'll detail below), but the hotel itself was great in terms of location (just five minutes away from Okayama Station and close to a lot of food) and the room was a really good size for Japan. We had two double beds which meant we could switch off who got to sleep with the toddler at night. The room was definitely not soundproof by any means - you could hear a ton from both the street and within the hotel. It did have a nice cooking area and fridge which is great with kids. There was also no bathtub; our kid is fine with showers but I know that can be an issue with younger children.

Sites:

• Korakuen Gardens: The Korakuen Gardens were nice but I wasn't blown away. Our daughter did like them a lot, especially getting to feed the koi fish and to navigate little bridges. I think the gardens are probably lovelier in other times of the year when more is in bloom.
• Kurashiki District: The Kurashiki District was definitely the highlight of the Okayama portion of our trip, even though it unfortunately rained almost the entire day. The historical district was beautiful and there were a lot of nice stores with local artisan products. The temple gives a nice view and is very peaceful. If you want a historical experience without the crowds, this would be my recommendation.
• Momotaro Museum: We went to the Momotaro Museum in the Kurashiki District mostly to get out of the rain but also because the area is a possible origin of the Momotaro story (though that is up for debate). This museum is more of an optical illusion museum than a Momotaro Museum I would say. I thought it was cute but our toddler hated it. It is small and tight and pretty dark and she doesn't really enjoy dark places.

Food: The food was good here but we only had one great meal and that was in the Kurashiki District. As mentioned, it was raining and we found this cute place that did curry and desserts. The curry was amazing (especially on a rainy day) and the strawberry parfait we got our dessert was one of the best things I've ever tasted. We did get some pretty tasty ramen from a place where you had to order through a vending machine which was a fun experience.

Kyoto (6 Nights)

General Impression: Overall, I enjoyed the Kyoto. However, people aren't joking about how busy certain areas can get. I would compare areas like the Gion District, Fushimi Inari, and some of the shopping districts to Times Square level of busy which can come off as overwhelming (especially when you are with a young child). However, there are a lot of areas that are not busy at all that are just as beautiful and those were the parts I ended up liking most. We walked a lot instead of taking transit and I thought it was a great way to see more of the city.

Accommodations: In order to get more space for not a huge price, we ended up not staying in a super central location - we stayed at the Stay Sakura Kyoto Gyoen East near the Kyoto Imperial Palace. The location worked out for us! It was pretty close to several subway stations, including the one we needed to do the Kurama-Kibune hike. Plus because it's a chain, you could drop off your bags at their Guest Centre near Kyoto Station and they delivered it up to your specific hotel.

The room was smaller than the one we had in Okayama but it still had enough space for all our bags. It had a really nice large bathroom - the tub even had a tv in it which let me tell you, our toddler loved.

Sites:

• Komo River Walk: One of the great things about our hotel was how close it was to the Komo River and the trails that run alongside it. The cherry blossoms were blooming when we were there and the river is a great place to view the cherry blossoms without all the crowds.
• Fushimi Inari: Like everyone said, get to Fushimi Inari early. It was already pretty busy when we got there at 8 but it was crazy when we left around 10. The first part of the Fushimi Inari hike is pretty accessible if you want to go with the stroller, but farther up, you will need to fold up your stroller or go back. I liked the hike but admittedly started to get annoyed with the number of people who expected you to stop so they could get their "perfect" picture without people in it; please don't do this. It's way too busy. There are definitely opportunities to get photos without people in it the further you go.
• Miyako Odori Geisha Show: Since we were coming in early April, I decided to take the opportunity to book tickets for one of the annual Miyako Odori shows and man did I get nervous closer to the show based on how our toddler was acting on this trip. I had booked seats in the upper balcony towards the doors in case we needed to get up and leave if she didn't behave. It fortunately went super well! My toddler loved the show and was pretty quiet except for a few “wow”’s here and there (she was even quieter than an adult woman behind us who talked off and on throughout the show) until she fell asleep about halfway through.
• Gion District: I didn't really enjoy the Gion District because of how crowded it was, especially after we had experienced the much more peaceful Kurashiki District. If you really want to see a geisha or a maiko, I would recommend either going to a show like we did or booking a tea ceremony.
• Kurama to Kibune Hike: On the Saturday, we did the Kurama to Kibune hike which was one of my favourite parts of the trip. Even the train ride was fantastic. I recommend starting in Kurama though you can go either way. For this hike, we left the stroller at home and just used the baby carrier. The toddler loved climbing the stairs all the way up. We were able to time the hike so she fell asleep on the way down; the hike down was pretty steep trail and I would not have been comfortable with her walking it. If you like hiking, this would be my recommendation.
• Nara Park: I was nervous going to Nara based on some of the descriptions of how aggressive the deer were; however, we ended up having no issues with the deer at all! They were mostly pretty chill and our toddler had a great time feeding one. The pa...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Dumbidiot1323 on 2024-04-20 12:41:01.

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Welcome to the fourth and final part of my November travels. Recapping this month has been the most fun yet for me and in today's report, I will be talking about my visits in Nagasaki, Kumamoto and Kagoshima! Mountain views, horse meat and a small volcano eruption will make an appearance in here - in text and picture form!

As per usual, the other reports are down here:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8

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Nagasaki

Getting from Fukuoka to Nagasaki by train was kind of annoying if I recall correctly. Had to take the Relay-Kamome train first and then switch over to the Shinkansen and I remember being slightly confused by the platform numbers for the different trains coming in but perhaps I was just a bit dumb that day since I never had problems with this before. Nevertheless, I arrived in Nagasaki without any delays, dropped my stuff off at the hotel and immediately started exploring the city! Two full days in Nagasaki were more than enough for me on this trip.

The first place I checked out was Dejima, the district where the former Dutch trading station was located. It was also the only place Westerners were allowed to be in in the country at that time! But as with a lot of places I wanted to see during my year in Japan, some buildings were being renovated and/or covered up so I didn't get to take pictures that were worth it, which was a bit sad. There are a few exhibitions in the individual buildings within the district, showing off some of the Western influence on this particular part of Nagasaki.

From there, I took a quick walk around the port because I am a sucker for ports and the nice scenery they provide. Inasayama can be seen from down there as well. One thing to note is that Nagasaki is incredibly walkable as far as cities go because a lot of the sights are concentrated in a few spots, which made walking from the port to the Glover Garden super easy. The slopes around this side feature a lot of Western buildings yet again. The "Dutch Slope" leads uphill and there are a lot of shops and bakeries around; Castella in particular being advertised a lot because Nagasaki is somewhat famous for it (for good reason!). Glover Garden makes for a nice little walk around, offers great views of Nagasaki and obviously also has Western influenced architecture to boot. A short walk away are Sofukuji and Kofukuji, two Chinese-inspired/founded temples. At the time of being there, they were very quiet and I saw at most a handful of people. Maybe that was because of borders only having recently opened back then or because people just don't go there? Either way, worth a short visit in my book. Obligatory "random photogenic cat" picture here.

Meganebashi is pretty much right next to those two temples and fairly unimpressive. But if you want to have that picture for Instagram and you're in the vicinity anyway, why not check it out? Especially because one of my favourite yakitori places in Japan is next to it. The owners are very talkative, the prices were good and the food was great. Of course, yakitori alone didn't satiate my hunger so afterwards I hit up Ramen Hiiragi because it looked intersting on Google maps, particularly the tomato ramen which I ended up going with. Now, I absolutely loathe eggplant but I couldn't exactly not eat those but they were fried and the tomato broth covered the usual eggplant taste well so it just felt like crunchy something. The ramen itself was amazing, however! I rarely finished ramen bowls completely because it's incredibly unhealthy but I couldn't stop myself from drinking all of this broth. Definitely recommend this spot and if you go there, make sure to ask the staff for a paper apron because you will need it. That was the first day in Nagasaki done - I bought some chocolate castella at one of the shops around the slopes earlier in the day and devoured that in my hotel before going to sleep.

The second day started out with a trip to the Chinatown...however, I do not have any pictures of it whatsoever. I remember it not being as large as I expected it to be and felt quite a bit disappointed even, which may be the reason I didn't take my phone out to take pictures. I've only got one nikuman from one of the corner stores there, it was alright and a bit pricy - so perhaps more of a tourist spot? Maybe someone more knowledgeable about Nagasaki can tell me whether my assessment of it was right and correct me.

I was hungry rather early in the day for once and once again opted for ramen because I found another somewhat unique place on Google maps serving lemon ramen. I chose the tsukemen version and it was decent, nothing super special. Maybe the ramen would have been the better choice. From there, I moved over to the Confucius Shrine - which was one of the most colourful ones I have seen up to that point! There's an exhibition inside showcasing a lot of Chinese pottery and the like and very much worth checking out in my opinion.

Of course I couldn't go to Nagasaki without visiting the peace park and the museum. Compared to the ones in Hiroshima, these were both smaller in scale and I must say I "enjoyed" Hiroshima's museum more, whereas I thought the statues in Nagasaki had more of an effect on me. That being said, highly recommended to check both out if you are ever visiting the cities. As I had seen most of the things I wanted to see by this point, I decided to head over to Inasayama, which is accessible by ropeway from Fuchi Shrine station, which was a bit confusing to find at first. Since it was only about 4:30pm, sunset was a bit off so I stayed up on the observatory for a good while.

I sat down, admiring the view of the sea and the islands in the distance (one of which is the famous Gunkanjima, which can be seen ever so slightly from up there but probably not on photos I took) and sort of started to once again get a bit sentimental. I was sitting on top of this mountain, almost half a year had past since I arrived in Japan, I've had lived there and travelled to Sapporo and all the way down to Nagasaki and it just sort of hit me again that this was, infact, real. It might sound dramatic (and I will have many more melodramatic moments!) but to me, it was a fairly emotional moment because if someone had told me I'd do that sort of thing 5 years before that, I'd have called them crazy.

Either way, the sun started to set ever so slightly, poking through the clouds until it eventually disappeared, giving way to the amazing night time view of Nagasaki. Alongside Hakodate and Kobe, Nagasaki has one of the top 3 night time views in Japan. I'm still missing the Kobe one but I can barely decide between Hakodate and Nagasakis. Right now, I'd lean more in favour of Nagasaki. I wish I had a better camera at the time to capture the view from up there because my phone took garbage ones at night time so this is the best I can provide. Also, the observatory gets really packed around night time so if you want to get a good spot to take pictures from, be sure to get there a bit early and just secure yourself a spot because before you know it, someone with a tripod and the most expensive camera you've ever seen will take it and not move for 2 hours.

I made the mistake of only wearing a sweater that day, which was good enough on the "ground" but certainly not good enough to be on the peak of that mountain after sundown, so once I had taken enough pictures, I made my way back down and walked a long while along the riverside until I arrived back in Hamamachi for my final meal in Nagasaki, which ended up being sara udon at Manpuku. Sara udon is basically a dish consisting of a base of crispy noodles which have another layer of "normal" noodles topped with a variety of vegetables...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/tbone338 on 2024-04-19 22:22:43.

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Simply for people’s information. Yesterday, April 19, 2024, I was able to go to the JR EAST service center at 8pm to get a regular Suica card. It was the same center where you exchange for the JR rail pass. The assistant asked if anyone was here for Suica. My friend and I raised our hands and he pulled us out of line and helped us separately.

You can only load a max of ¥2000 at the time of purchase. You can immediately go to the charge machine after and load up to ¥20000.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/PollutionCommon3414 on 2024-04-19 19:57:41.

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We enjoy more fast-paced traveling. We like to do a lot of activities and seeing a lot of sights. I have a rough itinerary for the first leg of our Japan trip, starting in Tokyo. Like many, this is a food-driven trip for us so we're excited for all the street food, ramen, and sushi. We also love getting cocktails and beers and have that baked in to most evenings even when not written. We aren't really anime or Pokemon fans, so while very cool and interesting innately, it is less relevant to us culturally. Also big into coffee and matcha, so we enjoy exploring to find cute cafes and drinks.

Previous trips, we organize our activities into Morning and Afternoon chunks and make it so that we only ever are in one area for each time to avoid totally overworking ourselves. However, with how busy and big Tokyo is, we worry that transiting across the city (say Shinjuku to Asakusa, with walking to the station included) will eat up a lot of our time and energy regardless.

I would love some thoughts on it if we're trying to do too much or too little, or are missing important things you would recommend! Thanks everyone :)

Day 1 - Thursday

• 5:30 PM: Arrive at our hotel in Shinjuku
• Walk around Shinjuku
• Omoide Yokocho Dinner
• Golden Gai Drinks

Day 2 - Friday

• 8:00 AM: Tsukiji Outer Market
• Ginza shopping
• Ginza Art Aquarium (if time, day-of tickets)
• 12:30 PM: Lunch Omakase: Sushi Fukuju OR Sushi Izakaya Banya OR Sushiteppammaruginza OR Manten Sushi Hibiya OR Sushi Kazuya (whichever has a short line / availability)
• Hotel to relax
• Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
• Takashimaya shopping
• Ramen Tatsunoya Shinjuku

Day 3 - Saturday

• 10:30 AM: Teamlab Borderless
• Walk to Tokyo Tower
• Zojoji Temple
• 1:00 PM: Hotel to relax
• Takeshita Street Harajuku - late lunch
• Yoyogi park
• Meiji Jingu Shrine
• 6:30 PM: Shibuya Sky Sofa Seats (slot booked 6:30-6:50, sunset at 6:43, hoping to get there a bit early to queue)
• Dinner in Shibuya
• Mega Don Quixote Shibuya
• Evening shopping at Miyashita Park + drinks in Shibuya

Day 4 - Sunday

• Explore Nakameguro
• Onibus cafe
• I'm Donut
• Travelers Factory Store
• Starbucks Reserve Roastery Nakameguro
• Hotel to relax
• Ameyoko Shopping District
• Picnic at Ueno Park w/ 7eleven & vending machine food

Day 5 - Monday

• Explore Asakusa
• Senso Ji Shrine
• Nakamise Dori souvenir shopping
• Eel Onigiri at Unana
• Melon Pan at Kagetsudo
• Sumida Park
• Suzukien Ice cream
• Kappabashi street (if we have time) for kitchen shopping
• Beers at Hitachino Brewing Lab Kanda Manseibash

Again, any advice from the seasoned pros here would be really great. We dont totally know what to expect and whether our fast paced style we enjoy will work or not.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Semirhage527 on 2024-04-19 16:57:30.

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I’m incapable of using chopsticks. Should I travel with my own fork? Is that rude or is hoping restaurants to have one presumptuous? I used to be right handed but MS rendered my right hand unusable and while I’ve gotten great with my left, using chopsticks is asking a lot of my non-dominant hand lol.

Food is a central highlight of the trip and I don’t want to be rude.

Edit - thank you everyone for setting my mind at ease! I’ll definitely be taking at least 1-2 travel sets of silverware!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Junekri on 2024-04-18 20:24:51.

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A big thank you to all the help I got on this sub while planning! Keep in mind that this is just one experience, your mileage may vary with any of the suggestions made.

INFO ON US: Mid 30s, this was my third trip to Japan (previously 2017 & 2018), my husband's first, and I picked the Kyushu spots because his only request was somewhere 'off the beaten path'. Kyushu is amazing! This was by-far my best trip, although to be fair it was also our honeymoon.

The post went long so I split it into two parts, the first being the Kyushu leg and the second being the Tokyo one.

THINGS I WOULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY:

• We spent 6 days in Kyushu and 7 days in Tokyo, I would have preferred to add two extra days to Yakushima and one day to Kagoshima and spent less time in Tokyo. I love Tokyo and am glad we went but it felt very overwhelming and expensive after our experiences in the South.
• Flown directly to Tokyo and then flown Tokyo to Fukuoka instead of having a layover in Hawaii. The extra five hours of flying really killed us, and made both flights feel longer. I incorrectly thought Hawaii was 'on the way' because my grasp of geography is tenuous at best.
• Utilized coin lockers at train stations. A few days we lugged our backpacks/shopping bags around only to realize at the end of the day that we could have easily ditched them.
• This may be controversial, but researched and had more alternative options pinned for restaurants. The days I put 'find something good in X area!' were our most disappointing food choices.
• Not been afraid of buses. My last trips I had significant issues with navigating them (couldn't find the bus stop, got on the wrong bus, bus came at weird times) but this trip it was incredibly easy, especially with the IC card. I planned some activities around avoiding the bus which was unnecessary.
• Picked a 10AM time slot for the Ghibli Museum, when I came at 12 it was packed
• This is going to seem very obvious, but moved around less in Tokyo. I got stuck with an AirBNB reservation that I didn't cancel quickly enough, but oh boy were we tried of our luggage by the end.

GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS YOU MAY HAVE HEARD BEFORE:

• The IC card made riding trains and buses incredibly easy and no matter where you get your card it will work anywhere in Japan that IC cards are accepted.
• While many places take card now it's important to still have backup cash available
• The Charles Schwab checking account travel card has no foreign transaction fees and reimburses ATM fees at the end of the month. I also got lucky and ordered about $500 worth of yen from my bank while the rates were really good. For us $1500 USD each was enough for food, transportation, and souvenirs
• Google maps worked well everywhere except a few rural areas. You do, however, have to be mindful of what floor a store is on!
• On prior trips AirBNBs were cheaper/more convenient than hotels but this time I found the reverse to be true.
• Out motto before leaving was 'take half the clothes and twice the money'. We had a backpack and smaller rolling bag each, the roller bag was about half-full of clothing. We brought 6 days worth of clothes and did laundry twice, I brought detergent slips to use.
• I planned by putting pins on Google Maps on everything I heard might be cool/was recommended/I found reading other trip reports and from there created my itinerary based on proximity. I also labeled the pins with different icons (one for food, one for stores, one for shrines etc). I was glad to have a ton of options as it allowed us a lot of alternatives depending on our mood. The itinerary had one or two 'must do' items each day and the rest we decided impulsively
• It was really helpful to know basic Japanese and I have a slight suspicion we got seated a couple times because I knew how to correctly indicate there were two in our party. I had taken a language course online, it was mostly helpful for numbers and simple interactions but still worth the time I put in.
• Google Lens seems to have improved and would now translate hand-written menus, although mysteriously my husband would often get better results than me
• Almost everyone we interacted with spoke enough English for us to reach understanding, when we couldn't we used Google Translate. A lot of people seemed to have Google Translate already downloaded on their phones.

DAY 0: Fukuoka

We arrived in the evening and breezed through customs and immigration, I think maybe it took 15 minutes total? Definitely use the QR code, we got to skip the only longer line because of it. After picking up our Namoca cards (the local IC card) and our pocket wifi we opted to take a cab to the hotel as my husband contracted food poisoning at the Hawaii airport and was feeling as well as you'd expect after spending 10 hours in an airplane bathroom.

We stayed at the Nishitetsu Grand Hotel. Really great location and service but the rooms were a bit outdated and we could not control the air conditioning. This would become a theme at many of our hotels! Most were set at something like 75 degrees so we baked at night. This hotel at least had a notice on the thermostat, the rest just had controls that did nothing or would only let us turn off the air temporarily before automatically turning it back on.

When we checked in I inquired about forwarding our luggage to Kagoshima and the receptionist suggested we send it two days early, which was a bummer as it meant we had to take two days worth of clothing in our backpacks. Not a huge deal, but something to keep in mind if you're planning on forwarding luggage.

For dinner we went to Torikizoku, a very cheap yakitori chain. There was a small wait and the food isn't spectacular, but it's inexpensive and easy after a very long flight and you don't feel bad only ordering a few items. After dinner we withdrew money from the 7-11 ATM, grabbed snacks, and called it a night.

DAY 1: Fukuoka

Despite staying up until 9pm we woke up at 430am. We both felt too excited to sleep anymore and decided to just get up and get breakfast tonkotsu ramen at the 24-hour Ichiran flagship store. We leisurely meandered along the river stopping to take pictures of small shrines and temples, the streets of Fukuoka are very peaceful first thing in the morning. Ichiran was unexpectedly busy, with a line forming by the time we left. It ended up being our least-favorite ramen of the trip but is by no means bad, just very heavy.

After returning to the hotel to rest for a bit I started what would become my daily tradition of tracking down a coffee shop for caffeine. I was surprised to find that many did not open until 9 or 10. This morning I went to Manu Coffee, and my attempts to use my Japanese reading skills were thwarted by the barista very nicely flipping their menu over to the English side. It's a cool shop with eclectic décor and one of the best coffees I had in Japan, I wish I had picked up some beans.

At 10AM we had an Airbnb tour of Hakata Temples and Shrines, which I highly recommend if you're in Fukuoka. The tour is run by a retired couple who do this for fun, it was just the four of us going to various locations. They were knowledgeable, funny, and generally a great hang. We learned a lot and it was nice to have insight into temples and shrines for the remainder of our trip. If you only go to one temple in Fukuoka I recommend Tochoji Temple for the giant wooden Buddha. It was here I acquired my goshuincho and got my first stamp!

After the tour we went back to the hotel to forward our luggage (an incredibly easy process, we showed them the next hotel address and paid, they took care of the rest) before going to Canal City Hakata for shopping and the fountain show. The mall has neat architecture and the show was charming but I wouldn't go out of the way for it. I'll say that after shopping in Tokyo I appreciate how uncrowded and calm it felt!

Finally we had dinner at Tempura Hirao and drinks at Citadel. The food at Hirao was good but not amazing, although our rating might be biased from how tired we were. The portions were GIANT, the price affordable, but the best thing was discovering that we liked shiokara (salted squid). It's appearance was a bit off-putting, slimy and grey, but it tasted amazing with lots of yuzu flavor.

Citadel was the real standout of the evening. They had a large selection of homemade liquor including truly bizarre flavors like Bolognese. The one picture I took that night shows a flight of Orange Gin, Lavender Gin, and Oolong Tea Gin; and they have things other than gin, that's just my favorite liquor. I'm not sure if the bartender is always this friendly or just wanted to practice her English but we spent over an hour chatting and laughing with her before calling it a night. Sit at the bar if you can!

Step Count: 29,611

DAY 2: Dazaifu and Kurume

We managed to sleep until 6am and spent a relaxed morning enjoying children's television, another staple of our trip. We often caught one that had various Rube Goldberg machines, there was another with puppets and stop motion animation that we enjoyed. My favorite from the trip was a segment that explained menstrual cycles, it's nice that it's destigmatized!

After packing and heading out I introduced my husband to the joys of warm vending machine drinks and the ease and convenience of the Japanese rail system as we navigated to Dazaifu for the day.

Our f...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/kagurabbit on 2024-04-18 00:56:12.

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Hello! I'm a wheelchair user planning to travel to Japan in 2025 with family. This will be my first time and for context, I use a power wheelchair and I'm not able to stand or walk. I understand that Japan doesn't have the ADA like the U.S. does, so I already know that there will be things that are inaccessible to me (older buildings, stairs, cramped quarters etc.).

Even so, I believe Tokyo can still be somewhat accessible with malls, transportation, public restrooms, and barrier free hotels. I'm starting to put in some research. Does anyone have experience traveling in Tokyo with a wheelchair? What kind of destinations are wheelchair accessible? Any advice on accessible travel in Tokyo would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/KronicalA on 2024-04-18 19:03:41.

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Hi all,

I've just returned from Japan, I spent two weeks there with family. 5 nights in Osaka, 3 in Kanazawa and the remainder in Tokyo.

Overall, I enjoyed it but was also disappointed from a foodie point of view due to lack of access. It was nice to be given priority to lifts, you get treated with some respect and not just thrown to the side. People didn't really stare, other than curious kids. Bathrooms were always clean and didn't run into the issue of having to wait to enter, able bodied people didn't use them unlike every other country I've been in so far and had to wait for them to walk out. Gloves would be recommended if you're pushing a lot, your hands get dirty pretty quick but not as bad as London streets (they make your hands really filthy). Never had an issue where lifts were broken down or out of service.

Would I return? Yes, especially since there was a lot I didn't get to see.

Recommend it? If you want to go mainly for site seeing, yes. For a food experience, nope.

Helpfulness? Everyone was helpful, especially when I needed help onto a train.

Accessible hotels? I booked it during peak season so I had no choice but to get what I was given, I left it too long and a lot of places were fully booked. I'll probably book Daiwa Roynet for future travels in Japan.

Osaka (including Nara & Hiroshima):

• Stayed within umeda area, it was busy every night but it wasn't too hard to traverse and get around people.
• Stayed at Ibis, the bathroom door was too small for my commode to pass through but room had a lot of space.
• Couldn't find a lot of restaurants to get into that didn't have steps.

Kanazawa :

• Nothing like Osaka with tourists or being busy. Everything was flat and easy to get around on the roads.
• Stayed at Daiwa Roynet, by far one of the better universal rooms, spacious and easy enough to get around with a wheelchair and commode.
• Restaurants still weren't too accessible, there were the ones within the shopping centers which are easy enough to access due to flat entrance

Tokyo :

• Busy like Osaka but still easy enough to get around, outside of peak hour.
• Stayed at a Sotetsu hotel, bathroom was awful. For a universal room, I couldn't reach the shower (had to have a sponge bath)and it lacked a roll in shower, plus didn't have hot water from the hand held shower head.
• A lot more restaurants around that had ramps for access but the doors were narrow leaving me unable to enter. Surrounding wards had pretty much the same issue but a lot of places turned away other tourists while we were allowed in (not sure if they felt sorry for me being in a chair)

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Upstairs-Ad7261 on 2024-04-18 09:26:22.

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I went to Japan for about two weeks in mid March. Despite the record high number of tourists, it is probably the best time I’ve had in my life thus far. It was a magical and otherworldly experience. I even found some commercials on YouTube that I quite liked on Japanese tv so I could listen to them whenever I was missing Japan. Tonight, I decided I was really missing the jingles of the Tokyo metro. I loaded up a video on YouTube of the Yamanote line and just listened for a little bit. I then opened up my YouTube shorts to a recommended video of more ambient sounds. For whatever reason, the slow “bing.. bong” broke the camel’s back and I bawled because of how much I miss this county. I’m currently in my Junior year of college so I’m hoping I can apply for JET soon. It’s the only thing keeping me together right now. Has anyone had any similar experiences? I’ve never felt this strongly about a place before. I’ve been on plenty of vacations around the US and even once to Mexico, but none have driven me to feel so strongly.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/CoolishChikin on 2024-04-18 01:10:31.

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Your absolute number 1 favourite thing you've done in Japan? Can be anything, can be anywhere, I just want to know. So if something beautiful, like the night view on top of Mt. Inasa in Nagasaki, is the most fun you've had, I'd love to hear about that too.

I have been to Japan twice, and I will be going to Japan again very soon. I was making an itinerary and just thought that this might help.

Also, I'm pretty sure mine was either climbing Mt. Fuji, or walking through Fushimi Inari in the dead of night with a bunch of friends, trying to scare each other, and actually getting scared because of the rustling of the monkeys and the boars there.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/lilnicksossa on 2024-04-17 00:50:02.

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Hello everyone, this is my trip report for my 1 week trip to North Kyushu. The cities me and my partner stayed in were Beppu and Fukuoka, with day trips to Yufuin, Nagasaki, and Kumamoto. We went from March 26 thru April 3rd, before flying to South Korea. These cities we visited aren’t nearly as popular as the golden route ones (but definitely still touristy), but I think I enjoyed my time here more than my last trip to Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka. This post will be long but I want to be detailed for those planning to take a similar vacation as me. I found researching things for North Kyushu to be a bit more difficult, simply because there isn’t an abundance of information on them as there is for Tokyo and such. Hopefully my report here can help or inspire others to visit the underrated Kyushu island!

General Tips: Suica on the apple wallet is super useful. You can load up on the fly and see all your transaction history. You can also load it up with tiny amounts like 60¥, which I did so that I could leave with 0 left on the card.

JR North Kyushu pass is a great deal. Its 15000¥ and covered our trip from Beppu to Hakata, day trips from Hakata to Nagasaki and Kumamoto, and of course covered local trains such as the ones to Nanzo-in and Uminonakamichi. This also gives you 6 seat reservations I believe. We didn’t reserve a seat once and were fine in the unreserved cars, just line up early!

This one is said alot but I didn’t think I would need it: bring 2 pairs of shoes, or at least one really comfortable and FITTED one. Especially if you visit Nagasaki, walking up and down those slopes is a blister machine.

Finding food is very easy if you just walk around for a bit, especially in Fukuoka. If you wait for a bit into the night, there will be food stalls scattered about. If you’re picky, looking up food in Japanese helps you find stuff quick. This took us an embarrassing amount of time to realize.

English usage was pretty decent here, made it around fine with the occasional need for a translator app.

Airalo e-sim is great, had no issues. They have a regional e-sim that works in both Japan and Korea.

Flight Day

• We decided to fly into Oita airport from Austin TX to start off our trip. Due to weather we had flight delays, which made me worry that there wouldn’t be any buses and that we’d have to pay the expensive taxi to Beppu. Luckily it seems they make sure to have buses on standby for the latest arrivals.
• Oita airport was cute and quick to get out of after landing.

Day 1: Beppu Hells

• Started w/ Beppu Park. The park is beautiful and has many bamboo trees, cherry blossoms, plum blossoms, and many beds of colorful flowers.
• We then attempted to visit the Global Tower a few minutes walk away, but it seemed closed off, despite their website saying they were on normal business hours. We visited again the next day and it was the same
• We took a bus to Kannawa for our first hell: Umi Jigoku. This is the most popular one and has a big gift shop. Look for the onsen bath salts!
• All the hells cost 450¥ to enter, or you can buy a general ticket that allows you to enter into all 7 for 2250¥, so after 5 hells you save money. The first 5 are all right next to each other with a few minutes of walking. The last 2 are farther and would need a bus. We didn’t plan to go to the last 2 so decided to not get the big ticket even though we spent the same amount. However I wish I did because it’d have been a cool souvenir and each hell has a unique stamp that you collect on there.
• After the hells we decided to go to Hyotan onsen. Super popular and very hyped up, don’t know why it didn’t occur to me all the private onsens would be booked. If you want a private onsen, book ahead!
• After taking the L on Hyotan onsen, we went to the also very popular Jigoku Mushi restaurant where you cook your food using the hot spring steam. Of course, there was a 90 minute wait at the time we arrived, so we ended up eating somewhere else.
• I HIGHLY recommend walking a few minutes past the Jigoku Mushi restaurant to a little spot called “別府温泉フルーツファーム”, you’ll see signs with bananas outside their building. They have some incredible banana soft serve, I had to go back twice for more.
• The last thing we did was walk from the soft serve place to Kifune Castle. Its a small castle, but its only 300¥ to enter and it offers beautiful views of Beppu. You can also enter the inside and see some art and even touch a white snake. The tour guide there spoke decent English and was super cheerful. Fun little castle that looked cool and had nice views, definitely a bit of a tiring walk up hills to get to it.
• After this we returned to our airbnb and rested. We ate dinner at the big red BBQ Yakiniku place next to the Beppu tower. It was good and not super pricey.

Day 2: Yufuin

• The bus to yufuin is about an hour. You drive through windy roads on the mountains so bring some motion sickness medicine. The day before, I had seen a few Yufuin bound buses filled to the brim at about 10am, so we got to Beppu station as early as possible. They ended up putting us on a nice charter bus directly to Yufuin for the same price
• It was rainy on this day but we still enjoyed walking through the small town. There were many smalls shops and restaurants lining the main street. We explored around for a while and eventually ended up at the Floral Village. Its a pretty small area but all the buildings are small ghibli themed shops, each building is its own movie store. (There was a totoro shop, Kiki shop, etc.) Great for pictures.
• There were also a lot of animal cafes around Yufuin. We went to one in the floral village that had bengal cats, and for a little extra, you could get a duo ticket to enter an owl forest. The bengal cat cafe was decent, but the owl forest really made me sad. The Owls each sit on a perch but they are chained at one of their legs to it.
• After seeing the floral village and all the shops (as well as the snoopy themed cafe and shop), we walked down towards Kinrin lake. It was a nice little lake to get some final pictures on before we left back to Beppu. There was a nearby onsen that we visited (thanks to our airbnbs recommendation, he was a great host “beppuairbnb”) called Nurukawa and got a private room for an hour for about 2000¥. It felt great as we spent the whole day in the chilly 45° rain
• We intended to visit the Beppu ropeway today but it was closed due to the windy weather
• Once we were back in Beppu, we finished our day at the YouMe town. The was a uniqlo and a GU here that we shopped at.
• We did walk through the Sol Paseo Ginza and Yayoi Tengu streets. We visited once in the morning and once a bit later at night. Both times were pretty dead, but maybe we came at bad times.

Day 3: Travel to Hakata

• We took the JR limited express to Hakata, it was about 2hours and 40minutes. We bought the 5 day JRpass for 15000¥ and activated it on this day so this ride was covered by that.
• After arrival in Hakata, I was really hoping we’d find a locker for our luggage but sadly we couldn’t, which I sort of expected.
• We rolled our suitcase through Hakata to canal city. We only spent a little bit here to eat, see the water show, and see a few shops. None of the stores really interested us, but there was a good tonkatsu restaurant we ate at.
• Then we rolled our suitcase through to Kushida jinja, which was a pretty little shrine with a cool art statue thing
• And then we rolled over to Tochoji temple, which had a really pretty pagoda. We then walked next door for some soft serve then waited until airbnb check in opened. We took a bus to Tenjin, and finally were able to drop off our bags
• After this, we decided to shop around Tenjin, specifically the Shintencho district. Tenjin reminded me alot of Harajuku. A lot of good thrift stores and high end brands, but not as over crowded.
• If you’re a fan of Japanese street wear brands like Human made and Bape, check out the FR2 store here for similar street wear.
• For other fragrance heads out there like me, “Nose Shop” in Iwataya has a lot of good niche (zoologist, nasomatto, nishane, etc.). We picked up a nasomatto fragrance for a good price after tax free and exchange rate. Tsutaya bookstore also has all the Jscents. We picked up Hanamizake and Roasted Green Tea. You can also find all the other good designer brands in the department stores

Day 4: Nagasaki

• we decided to start our second day in Fukuoka with our day trip to Nagasaki. This city is definitely a foot killer in my opinion. Pretty hilly and we did a lot of walking. But we also opted to walk to most places because I really wanted to just enjoy the city. I found it very beautiful and it was probably my favorite day trip.
• We started at the Atomic bomb museum and the peace park, definitely worth the experience. Its graphic, heart wrenching, and eye-opening. Can spend 1-2hours here depending on how much you read, it was pretty packed when we went.
• We then took a bus to Suwa shrine. Lots of stairs here but worth it. Great view of the city, has a little zoo, a pretty pond filled with koi fish, and a cool series of Torii gates.
• We then walked to the Megane bridge, was very pretty and photogenic
• We then walked to the Shinchi Chinatown. Sadly we came during the restaurants’ down time before dinner, so we couldn’t eat anything nice but it all looked delicious. Cool street with some panda themed souvenir shops and a cool Ghibli store. We...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/lifefreak9 on 2024-04-16 16:33:34.

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Hello, everyone! I’m visiting Japan for the first time the first two weeks of July (16 days total) and I’m planning to spend most of my time in Tokyo and Kyoto, I don’t want to rush, just explore the cities. However, I’d like to make day trips to visit other cities such as Nara. I’d love to go to places like Shirakawa or Miyajima, but they happen to be so far, I’ve seen it can take 5 hours or more to get there. So, I want to ask you: are there other beautiful towns I can visit, that are maybe up to 2 or 3 hours away? Should I take some time to visit places like Shirakawa even if they’re that far or maybe should I leave them for another time I visit Japan?

Thanks for your help!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/kmrbtravel on 2024-04-15 02:01:16.

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About Me

I'm a 25 y/o female traveller from Korea/Canada. I visit Japan 3-5x each year and wanted to share my itinerary/tips/recommendations. My most recent trip spanned a week in Barcelona (I'll be writing a trip review for this soon!), then four weeks in Japan (Dec. 23 - Jan. 19). I will be returning to Japan again this week.

Why Japan so often? My best friend moved to Kyoto in 2018 and her brother is a Japanese citizen, which allows for me to get free accommodations. More importantly, I used to compete in a Japanese martial art and return every few months for events related to this.

I also majored in Japanese history with a specific interest in Japanese architecture. I haven't seen as many pieces as I'd like, but I'm really into historical shrines/temples and pieces created by my favourite architects, so I don't think I have great itinerary suggestions for those with kids or travellers who aren't too big on shrines and temples.

I also unfortunately have very little food recommendations as my friend cooks at home and I am usually too busy seeing things to eat :( I'm also gonna get slapped for this, but I'm not huge on Japanese food, either.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT suggest travelling like me. I had a dumb and crazy itinerary because it was (1) very last minute, (2) I had to be back before a Tokyo trip on Jan. 9, (3) I come back to Japan frequently enough to sacrifice bad days and do stupid planning here and there.

Overall, I took about 20-30k steps per day, every day, which was extremely hard on my body. It's a terrible idea, don't travel like me, but I'm writing this in case people wanted to know how a psychopath travels. And in case it wasn't obvious, I don't drive. I also do not take the Shinkansen because I am broke doing dumb things like this.

This post is also obviously very long and has a LOT of information. Please read whatever section is most relevant for you :)

My current goal is to visit all 47 prefectures. 8 down, 39 to go!

Edit: after further consideration, I've taken out my Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka itinerary as I don't have any unique recommendations. However, they will definitely come back when I write my shrine megareview. I actually finished this trip in Osaka after my friend accidentally locked me out but I didn't do anything new or interesting there except for one temple.

—

Preface: MIE (October 2023) - Ise

I visited Japan in late October to catch a tournament, but decided to do an impromptu trip to Ise because it's a really important place for me personally!

• Ise Jingu
  • Ise is an iconic city in Mie for one of Shinto's most important shrines—Ise Jingu. One of its most characteristic features is how the main shrine gets rebuilt every 20 years or so, an amazing way to preserve tradition in the essence of modernity. When I went, there were barely any foreign tourists but a ton of locals and still quite busy. Keep in mind that the main sanctuary cannot be seen due to its sacredness. You can catch a glimpse of the rooftop, but it is up to you to decide if that is worth it or not. The loop is pretty nice and there are other shrines that are visible, but the main structure is hidden.
• Futamiokitama Jinja + Meoto Iwa (Wedded Rocks)
  • I was in Ise on Oct. 31 but the weather was extremely warm (I was in a t-shirt and sweating). However, the clear blue skies, the view of the blue sea, blue skies, the rocks, and the frog statues of Futamiokitama Jinja were stunning. The shores are really clean and neat and it makes for a serene, picturesque walk. You can take a bus that goes directly from Ise Jingu to the rocks.
• Ise was ultimately a day trip for me (from Kyoto) and I climbed Fushimi Inari afterwards in the evening. I don't recommend doing both on the same day (clocked around 32k+ steps), but Ise can be a decent day trip if you wish. I'd like to spend more time here and do more things next time, so recommendations are always appreciated :D

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NATIONAL TRIP 2024

I know I've always wanted to visit all 47 prefectures, but I didn't think I was going to start my 'zenkoku tour' (national tour) on such short notice. After spending New Years with my friend and her family, I made the impulsive decision to visit Izumo (my favourite city) and Hiroshima—and at that point I figured I could visit all the other prefectures as I headed up.

The biggest problem was that we had booked buses for a Tokyo trip on Jan. 9, which left me Jan. 2 - Jan. 8 to travel. Naturally, this meant I wasn't going to be able to enjoy all prefectures extremely thoroughly, but I was intrigued by the idea and thought 'fuck it, let's roll.'

My friend was unfortunately working, so I was alone for this leg of my trip (Mie, too).

SHIMANE - Izumo

• The night bus from Kyoto to Izumo takes around 8 hours, but if you are in Hiroshima, the bus is only three hours long. I can't suggest people to go out of their way to visit Izumo from Kyoto or Tokyo, but if you're in Hiroshima and are running out of things to do, IT IS WORTH CONSIDERING.
• Funnily enough, I have never been to Nara, but I've been to Izumo twice. You might see me commenting on this subreddit because I am basically free advertisement for the city of Izumo and always encourage people to go especially if they're in Hiroshima or Okayama. I just really love everything here.
• Shimane is the second least populated prefecture in Japan, but it is home to one of the most iconic and important shrines for Shinto—Izumo Taisha (more officially known as Izumo Oyashiro). The giant shimenawa is beautiful, iconic, and is a personal favourite sight in Japan for me.
• Izumo is also, in my opinion, the best city to do a day trip. There are five main points of attractions you can do in a loop: Izumo Taisha, Inasa Beach, Hinomisaki Jinja, Hinomisaki Lighthouse, and eating 3-tiered soba (famous in Izumo).
  • I have done a (1) Hinomisaki Lighthouse → Hinomisaki Jinja → Inasa Beach → soba → Izumo Taisha loop and I have also done a (2) Izumo Taisha → Inasa Beach → soba (or soba then Inasa Beach) → Hinomisaki Lighthouse → Hinomisaki Jinja loop.
    • They both have their advantages and disadvantages. The biggest issues are that most soba places close at 2 PM(!) and buses in the countryside are much less frequent, so planning is essential. Most hotels are around the Izumoshi Station area, which is far from Izumo Taisha/Inasa Beach, which is very far from Hinomisaki, so bus times must be considered in advance if you want to make it to and back for any of the three locations.
    • If you pick (1), you'll have an excess amount of time at Hinomisaki assuming you take the first 7 am bus, but not a lot of time at Inasa Beach (most soba places close at 2 and are closer to the entrance of Izumo Taisha, around a 15 min walk, unless you want to go back and forth). I only pick (1) because I want to spend the most amount of time at Izumo Taisha (at the end of the day), without having to worry about bus times to Hinomisaki.
    • If you pick (2), it is possible you won't have time to climb the lighthouse depending on when the last bus is and might have to rush the lighthouse + Hinomisaki Jinja loop. YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS THE LAST BUS AT HINOMISAKI as you will be stranded, but I ultimately recommend this route, depending on how much time you take to eat soba and see Inasa beach.
• HINOMISAKI LIGHTHOUSE
  • On a bright blue day, it is beautiful in photos as the white contrasts harshly against the blue. You can also climb the inside of the lighthouse (not recommended for those with mobility issues, as the steps are narrow and deep, and the last part is essentially a ladder).
  • Unfortunately when I went for the second time, it was grey and cloudy and the white did not contrast the sky effectively. On this note, I do not recommend Izumo when it rains. It is such a picturesque place, and the grey skies (while dramatic and moody!) isn't how I'd recommend visiting for the first time. It didn't dampen my love for it, but I think it might for other tourists.
• HINOMISAKI JINJA
  • The path from Hinomisaki Lighthouse to Hinomisaki Jinja is beautiful and an awesome walk away from the chaos of Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka. There's also an island with a singular torii gate (Fumishima) that I believe is home to a protected(?) bird species. Overall, I'm a fan of the sea, the lighthouse, the pine trees, and the jagged rocks. Even on matsuri days, I find Izumo to be a really quiet, serene place away from the chaos of the trifecta cities and the lighthouse/jinja path is very peaceful.
• IZUMO OYASHIRO
  • Personally, I think the shimenawa makes Izumo Taisha the most beautiful shrine I've ever seen, but I'm well aware I have weird tastes. There are two buildings, both with shimenawa. You're not looking at the right one (especially if you enter through the 'usual' entrance/path) until it makes you say 'what the fuck, that's absolutely massive!' It is usually a really quiet, almost deserted-feeling area, but during any matsuri time, it's vibrant and busy and fun with your typical street vendors and people milling about.

Izumo as a whole I think will be a hit or miss for most people. If this is your first time in Japan, I'm not sure if I'd recommend it as it's hard to access and really quiet. But if you're a shrine freak or have the same, weird tastes as me, I highly recom...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/tkara99 on 2024-04-15 15:44:59.

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I (25M) was going to do this trip back in 2021 (BASc Grad Trip) but ended up getting delayed due to COVID. Finally was able to do it these past few weeks as a MASc Grad Trip instead with a nurse friend of mine (24M).

Honestly I had zero complaints for the whole trip, a lot of things fell in place and worked out a lot better than we originally thought they would. In terms of weather, our one day trip to Mt Fuji was clear skies (the only hiccup being icy roads so we could only get as high as the 4th station). For rain, it only ever rained on days we were traveling between cities. This worked out nicely since those were treated more as shopping/exploring days rather than outdoor activities. We never really had any issues getting around from place to place (thx Google Maps) and the train system only took a day or two to really get used to. We also arrived in Shinjuku when the cherry blossoms just started to enter full bloom which was wonderful (this continued into Kyoto and Osaka).

In terms of hotels, they weren't bad. The one we stayed at in Shinjuku probably being the worst (fairly small, and very noisy at night). The rest had zero issues other than the one in Kyoto where we probably went through 10 room keys due to the keys continually not working. We also probably could've found something cheaper for Kyoto but in terms of options we had (booked through travel agent) this was one of the cheapest choices. Overall was a very nice hotel to be at location wise for us. Osaka was one of the best hotels and also one of the cheapest which was interesting.

Cost wise, the whole trip ran around $6200 CAD ($4500 USD) for the two weeks after all expenses were accounted for. Some things we couldn't avoid (plane rides being March 30th to April 12th were needed due to my buddies time off) and for first time travelers to Japan we wanted at least a comfortable hotel to stay at (looked into Airbnbs but decided to pass on them). Could have cut costs in souvenirs and food, but ultimately I'd say you are better off spending a little bit more and truly enjoy yourself than try to save $500.

Costs (all in CAD per person roughly):

Plane - $2000

Hotels - $1400

Shinjuku - E Hotel Higashi Shinjuku (3 nights - 639.37 CAD)

Kyoto - Hotel M's Est Shijo - Karasuma (4 nights - 1,114.52 CAD)

Osaka - Hotel Keihan Tenmabashi Ekimae (2 nights - 312.78 CAD)

Tokyo Mitsui Garden Hotel Otemachi Tokyo (3 nights - 735.00 CAD)

Day Trip - $200

Trains, Attractions, Souvenirs, Food - $2550

Trains \~ $400

Souvenirs \~ $1000

Food, Drinks, etc \~ $900

Attractions \~ $250 

\*These are estimated with Trains and Souvenirs being most accurate.

Trip Summary

March 30 (Sat):

• Took a plane from Toronto to Narita airport (14 hour flight) leaving at noon and arriving the next day.

March 31 (Sun): Arrival

• Landed in Narita around 4pm local time, spent about 2 hours getting through customs and collecting luggage. Spent some time after this roaming around the airport a bit and figuring out how to get on the Narita Express to Shinjuku.

• Arrived in Shinjuku around 8pm and checked in hotel by 8:30pm (15min walk from station, but all the neon lights had us distracted). Hit a McDonalds across the street from hotel (got the Samurai Burger) and went to sleep shortly after.

April 1 (Mon): Shinjuku/Shibuya

• Started day off at Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden (arrived there at 9am, garden opened at 9:30am) and explored around the park. Was able to get nice pictures of and with the cherry blossoms before crowds got too big. The cherry blossoms at this point were in full bloom everywhere, and it was honestly stunning to actually see. We enjoyed some matcha ice cream toward the end of our visit.

• Headed toward Shibuya after this to visit Shibuya crossing and different stores (One Piece, Pokemon Center, Jump Store, Nintendo). Got Omurice from a restaurant/café near the Pokemon Center.

• In the evening, we headed back to Shinjuku to see more of the area before it got too dark. Saw the Godzilla head, the famous KFC from JJK (those who have watched the anime understand), and just general walking around the area since we couldn’t the night we arrived. Visited a couple shrines once it became dark out which was really cool to see them illuminated and empty. Might’ve also sat at the Cat sign near the station for a good 10 minutes.

April 2 (Tues): Mt Fuji Day Trip

• Did a tour for Mt Fuji/Hakone for the day. Started off by visiting Mt Fuji (couldn’t go up to 5th station due to icy road conditions, managed to get to the 4th though). Was a near perfect day with almost no clouds. This was followed by a lunch at a hotel/restaurant (food was ok) with a drum show. Then went to Lake Ashi for a boat ride (was a quick ride, got off at first stop) to the Hakone ropeways. Was slightly pressed for time at the ropeways (guide ended up giving us an additional 20 minutes) so once on top of Mt Hakone we ran to Hakone Mototsumiya Shrine (view of Mt Fuji and surrounding areas from here was breathtaking). After this we headed back to Shinjuku (experienced some trouble with other tourists figuring out the Shinkansen from Odawara Station so that set us back an hour almost).

• Got standing bar sushi once back in Shinjuku, was a fun experience. Spent some more time walking around Shinjuku then called it a night.

April 3 (Wed): Travel to Kyoto

• Got breakfast at a “Mom and Pop” shop near our hotel. Was probably some of the best food we had all trip. Then spent the morning making our way to Kyoto from Shinagawa Station (why we didn’t just go to Tokyo station you are asking? I couldn’t tell you but ultimately we had zero issues with leaving from here, probably ended up being easier). Arrived at our hotel by 1pm and dropped off our luggage to explore around.

• First visited the Pokemon Center in Kyoto since it was down the street from our hotel (if you haven’t caught on by now, this will be a re-occurring trend) and hit a Starbucks for some Matcha Latte’s and small snack.

• Went back to hotel to check in and then headed out to Nishiki Market to get food/souvenirs. Went back to hotel by 8pm-ish and called it a day.

April 4 (Thurs): Kyoto - Fushimi Inari & Kiyomizu-dera

• Early morning waking up at 5:30am and got to Fushimi Inari by 6:30am taking local transit. Spent about 3 hours from the time we arrived at Inari station to the time we left. Crowds were nearly non-existent when we arrived and got to peacefully walk up and down the mountain with little traffic. We were able to get some quality photos which was nice. Waited around at Fushimi Toyokawa Inari Shrine Hongu for a local shop to open to buy some souvenirs (didn’t open till 9am I believe) but was worth the wait! The owners of the shop were very kind and friendly.

• Headed to Kiyomizu-dera at 10am and explored around the main street at different shops (Ghibli store, etc). Got an early lunch at a ramen shop before heading out to the main temple. This was a slightly funny experience because we were there 10 minutes before they opened, and the one employee apologized for us having to wait. This was followed up by the other employee making fun of him for apologizing while they were walking away from us (or at least that’s what it sounded like). Food didn’t disappoint. We then headed to the main temple and did most of what it had to offer.

• On our way back to the hotel, we visited the tatami-floored Starbucks. Most seats were taken but we happened to find an open spot to sit and rest our feet while enjoying some beverages. Also visited Hōkan-ji Temple which was fairly busy with people trying to get that “perfect picture”. We avoided the Gion area because of the tourism/the changes the city is making to tourism there. Thought it would be best avoided and plus we already had a long day at this point.

• After a quick break at our hotel, we visited a few other stores (Nintendo Kyoto, Don Quijote, and other department stores). One part of the trip for me was finding a Seiko watch as part of a Graduation gift for myself which I ended up buying one in Kyoto. Had slight buyers remorse when I found a SEIKO × JR WEST 25TH ANNIVERSARY JR 500 KODAMA in Osaka for about 500 CAD but in the end I am happy with the piece I got. Called it an early night after this (this was also a common trend of the trip, waking up 5/6am and going to sleep around 8/9pm).

April 5 (Fri): Kyoto - Arashiyama

• Arrived at the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove by 7:15am to walk the grove and surround parks. It was surprisingly busy but not overcrowded by any means. The walk was relatively short through the grove but we then did the Arashiyama Park Kameyama Area and followed that by walking down Katsura River to the Togetsukyo Bridge.

• We then went to Tenryu-Ji Temple for 8:30am to do the garden and main building. The gardens were wonderful, with a fair number of cherry blossoms and other flowers. The main building was also quite nice and provided some great photo spots.

• After this, we went to the Monkeypark across the bridge we visited early. We got there around 10:30am and spent the next hour or so going up and seeing the monkeys.

• At noon we headed back into Kyoto for lunch and then visited Kyoto Tower. It was fairly cool to see the different temples and shrines at the top of the tower, and the city as a whole. After this we went back to Kyoto Station to climb (I might’ve made my friend climb it all in...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/mark01254 on 2024-04-15 11:54:38.

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Start: Narita Airport, April 3rd, 2024

3 people, including me.

Only had a rough itinerary, we didn't have much time to plan. Sakura timing was a shot into the blue but we got lucky.

Renting and driving a car in Japan - easier than expected!

We were a little nervous about renting a car in Japan and driving in a country we've never visited before. But it turned out to be super easy and straightforward. We were welcomed with kindness and got picked up by the car rental agency at the terminal.

There was no surcharge for registering additional drivers. International driver's license issued by Austria was accepted without a translation in Japanese thanks to a bilateral agreement. International driver's license issued by Germany was only accepted with an additional translation on paper in Japanese (expensive). Definitely make sure you have these documents ready before renting the car.

Regarding tolls: you can rent a toll card ("ETC card") from the rental agency for just 300 JPY for the entire trip. Highly recommended, you can just drive through the "ETC" gates at any expressway and it registers the toll to be collected. 1400 km, of which ~1100 km on toll roads (expressways) ended up in a total of 28,900 JPY (~ 180 € / USD) Gas is currently really cheap, we got regular gas for as low as 165 JPY per liter at some places. Fueling the car at self service stations is also the same as in every other countries, have your phone ready to translate the screen. Fuel types are color-coded, so almost impossible to mistake.

Being 3 people, even including tolls and gas, the rental car was still cheaper than 3 rail passes together, and since we had accomodations quite far off the grid, it allowed us more flexibility.

Left-driving traffic did take a few hours to get used to, but Japanese drivers are VERY patient and other drivers would always let us merge when we had troubles switching lanes at intersections etc.

Even parking is pretty straightforward. Almost all accomodations, restaurants and stores offer (limited) parking space. In the cities, you can't just park anywhere, you have dedicated pay parking lots that turned out to be super easy to use: you drive onto your prefered numbered parking space, then an automatic barrier will come up in front or under the car after ~ 3 min., and you can just walk away. When you come back, you type in your parking space number at the machine and pay the amount. Usually they have rates for 30 min., 1h and 24h maximum charge for parking. In Tokyo, we paid 900 JPY for 24h of parking, which we considered a great deal compared to European cities.

The only challenging city for driving and parking was Kyoto. Narrow roads, slow traffic, hardly any space and many tourists and cars at the main attractions. But whenever we were stuck backing out of a full parking lot, someone came rushing to our car to help us back out safely into traffic. I've never encountered such attentiveness for others in any other country.

The expressways are great and save you a lot of time. The speed limits are not always obvious, especially because to our surprise, hardly anyone sticks to them, so we decided to just flow with the left lane traffic to be safe.

There are plenty of tidy rest areas on the expressways offering food, coffee and WiFi.

April 3/4/5: Narita to Fujoyoshida - Restaurant experience instead of Mt. Fuji

Having picked up our little Nissan, we drove straight from Narita to Fujiyoshida. Our accomodation was not directly in the city but on the very outskirts, which turned out to be perfect, because after a long noisy flight we found ourselves in a peaceful Tatami room facing the rainy forest and a sakura tree in bloom. They use heavy blankets and rice pillows for the beds and I slept like a baby on these.

The weather was rainy and not a sign of Mt. Fuji, so we tried some local restaurants and had fantastic Hōtō noodles, a speciality from Yamanashi area. We were extremely hungry and ordered 4 pots for 3 people, and they came back twice to confirm our order. When the food arrived, we realized why they double checked, because one pot is already big enough to be shared by two non-competetitive eaters.

We also learned our first lesson: In busy areas, especially during Sakura time, you should definitely make a reservation, expect lines and also expect restaurants to take the last order/guests 30-60 minutes before the actual closing time. They also might be randomly closed on Sundays during Sakura. Opening hours/days on Google Maps are hardly reliable. We also realized that reviews in Japan are rather strict. Anything that had "just" 4-star reviews was perfectly fine to eat- 5-star reviewed places were often packed.

My 2 companions are vegans, and there are hardly any Japanese restaurants that offer specifially vegan dishes. But no matter where we went, they were super helpful and always tried their hardest to find a vegan solution for them. We also realized though, that fish isn't always considered as non-vegan, so there's that.

Despite the rain, it was very nice to wander around the city, Fujikawaguchiko lake, and we visited Fujiomurosengen Shrine. The cherry blossoms were still closed at this time.

We also explored some of the nearby towns and found beautiful little shrines everywhere and even stumbled upon a spring celebration ceremony at one of them.

April 5/6: Halfway stop at the shore to Nara and a waterfall

We booked an Airbnb halfway to Nara at a small town at the shore. On the way to the south, we stopped at Shiraito waterfall a wonderful waterfall located at the bottom of Mt. Fuji. 500 JPY for parking, otherwise no admission fee and definitely worth to spend 1-2 hours visiting. On clear days, you have Mt. Fuji as a backdrop. Again we had a wonderful Ryokan located off the beaten path in a small village near the sea. Cherry blossom was in full bloom there and people were incredibly friendly. I highly recommend you to check out some of the little towns in Gamagori, Hamamatsu or south Aichi area.

April 6/7/8: Nara Park

Full cherry blossom in Nara! We had an accomodation close to Nara Park. Around 8-8:30 am the park started filling with visitors and remained full until sunset. For me personally, it was too busy, nevertheless it's a unique experiece to be allowed this close to wild deer and the Park is home to absolutely magnificient ancient temples. My favorite one to visit was Nigatsu-do temple, which is located at the very top of the western park side and is not as full as the large Todai-ji temple. And obviously the famous Sakura pavillon in the park.

Nara offers a great variety of restaurants. My friends found a specifically vegan restaurant for their dinner, I had the best sushi of my life here, at a place called Sushi Ichi.

Regarding our narrow total time frame, 2 days in Nara were perfectly fine to spend without being too rushed.

April 8/9/10: Kyoto

Arriving at our hostel, located at the very northwest end of Kyoto, we realized how much we underestimated the size of Kyoto. We were at least a 45-50 min. drive away from the main attractions. A car is not really helpful in Kyoto. I caught a cold and spent the first day in Kyoto in bed. My friends went to bamboo forest and even in late afternoon, they said it was too crowded. I wish someone would've told us that there was a lesser known little bamboo forest just 10 minutes drive away from our hostel.

The second day was rest and recovery day due to pouring rain. Did some grocery shopping and meal prepping.

On our last day in Kyoto, we woke up to clear blue skies and sunshine - the first time since our arrival in Japan. With the time being still early, we headed to Fushimi Inari-Taisha shrine and even hiked up all the way to Mt. Inari. Surprisingly, it was not as crowded as expected, but on the way down around 9:30 am, the place started to get incredibly full.

Around noon, we sat down for ramen at Fukakusa Ramen Toriton.

As much as we would've loved to stay in Kyoto, getting a new chance to see Mt. Fuji had a higher priority, so with a tear in our eyes, we made our way to Fujiyoshida.

We were not disappointed when we got our first clear view of Mt. Fuji from the highway. It's absolutely impressive, majestic and looks beautiful with the snow covered top.

Maybe it's personal preference, but I don't regret sacrificing a Kyoto day for Mt. Fuji. To get the Kyoto experience, 2 days are not enough either way, so I think 3-4 days would've been the actual minimum.

We managed to see Mt. Fuji in evening light from Shiraito waterfall.

April 10/11/12: Lake Saiko, Mt. Fuji, Aokigahara Forest

This time we had an accomodation in Saikonishi at lake Saiko. Beautiful peaceful area from where you can still see Mt. Fuji a little. In the morning, we managed to get some wonderful shots with Sakura near Oishi Park and then went to the famous Chureito Pagoda.

Similar to Kyoto, getting up early pays off. At Chureito Pagoda, we paid 1,000 JPY for parking but it was almost directly at the entrance. They have a 5-min slot system, so only a certain amount can visit the platform for 5 min and then the next group can go up etc. Everything is very well organized and it wasn't too busy in the morning.

Sakura at the pagoda was still not in full bloom, so we noticed how even within one area, there can be trees that already have leaves next to trees that hav...

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I thought I would post a couple of thoughts on travelling with a Vegan friend as aNon-Vegan on my recent trip (March to April 2024) because I had a little difficulty finding similar info ahead of the trip. I hope that this, in some way, helps the next person on their journey.

My itinerary btw - Tokyo, Nagano Region (12 days (we did lots of skiing in Hakuba)), Gifu Region (5 days), Kyoto (5 days), Osaka (2 days), Tokyo (5 Days)

TLDR: You can find Vegan food most places, but finding both vegan and non-vegan options in the same restaurant is not easy.

I was travelling with a vegan friend, but I am not vegan myself. I don't mind vegan food, probably half my meals at home are vegan just by virtue of not eating meat every meal.

But as an avid foodie and cook, I was in Japan for the food—sashimi, ramen, sukiyaki etc. So when it came to meals, snacks, and even getting coffee, it was quickly a painful experience. Our journey also included time in regional Japan, tiny towns, and hiking in the mountains. Even in the touristy areas there, there just aren't many vegan options.

There are only so many coffee shops you can walk to in a regional centre like Takayama before you have to accept that there is no one with oat or soy milk. ( I suggest learning to like black coffee).

There are vegan restaurants all across Japan, but in most places we found (regional and cities), it is either all vegan or all "normal" food. We really struggled to find places that had both options and where one wasn't compromised, and one of us was clearly not getting a full experience. Google/Happy Cow etc still isn't well set up to find "Vegan options available" or "Vegan-friendly" rather than just fully Vegan places.

You could probably have rice and a handful of vegetable sides, but that's not a real meal and not fair when there is killer vegan ramen a 5 min walk away. Language barriers also did not help in finding the random option that may have been available (even with my basic Japanese or my friend's vegan card to show servers).

It also meant we were not able to quickly duck into a cool-looking Izakaya together to grab some food. For some people, that is fine, but it put the brakes on a lot of what I had wanted to do going into the trip.

As we were just friends travelling together and not partners, we ended up going our own ways for food a lot.

I guess the point of this is to suggest you set your expectations early. It's still not "easy" to find vegan food and most places do not have a vegan option in addition to their normal fare.