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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/kahyuen on 2024-02-26 21:04:18.

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I just returned from my latest trip to Japan. Similar to the last time I went to Japan in November 2022, here's another long writeup of my experience.

BACKGROUND

• This was my fourth time overall in Japan, and once again I traveled to Japan alone. My primary focuses when traveling are photography and trying out local food.
• I did not get a JR Pass because of the price hike last year. Even with how many trains I needed to take for this itinerary, it did not add up to be enough to be worth it. Plus almost every one of my trains were shinkansen or limited express requiring reservations, so the convenience value of the JR Pass was basically zero anyway.
• I got an eSIM from Airalo, which was much better than getting a pocket WiFi. I used the 10 GB plan for 15 days and it was enough.
• I brought a large suitcase on this trip, but did not take it to all of my stops since my itinerary involved lots of one night stays. I shipped it from Sapporo to Kanazawa, then again from Kanazawa to Tokyo. In between those, when I was staying at hotels for only one night at a time, I just had a duffel bag. My suitcase carried all the clothes I didn't need and all the souvenirs I bought.
• Like all my trips, I had an itinerary all written out but had lots of flexibility. I didn't make any restaurant reservations this time around because of how much intercity traveling I had to do.

REPORT

2/9 SAPPORO

• Landed at New Chitose at 7:45am. I took a bus that stopped a block away from my hotel, Hotel Tokyu Stay Sapporo Odori. At this point it was 10am, and I dropped off all my luggage and headed back out to explore the city.
• First thing I did was visit the Sapporo Beer Museum. The museum itself wasn't all that interesting, but the tasting set from the beer hall was a nice start to the trip. I tried going to the restaurant here but they were full.
• Headed back downtown to get lunch. I tried going to Soup Curry Garaku, but they weren't accepting walk-ins. Down the street was Soup Curry King, and after a short wait in line I was seated. I ordered the pork curry which was a great filling meal to begin my trip with.
• After lunch I headed to Odori Park for the Sapporo Snow Festival. At this point the snow was really coming down and I was still adjusting to the temperature, so I couldn't take many photos without my hands freezing up. I walked a few circles around the park to see what I could. I decided to come back to the park later at night. I headed to Sapporo Government Building but it is under renovation. Then I saw the Clock Tower. Finally I went to a Rokkatei shop and picked up a few cookies there. At this point it was snowing hard so I decided to take a break at the hotel.
• I rested in my hotel for two hours before heading out to the Snow Festival to see it at night. The snow stopped and it wasn't windy so it was a lot more comfortable walking around. I checked out a few more sculptures and food stalls, and also went up to the top of Sapporo TV Tower.
• I wanted to get jingisukan for dinner. I considered going to one of the many Daruma branches but as I walked in that direction there was a restaurant across from my hotel, Hiratsuka, that had minimal wait so I just settled on that. I ordered a set with different cuts, plus green onion rice with egg, and a ridiculously really large lemon sour.

2/10 SAPPORO

• First thing in the morning I went to Hill of the Buddha. Spent about an hour at the park to see the Buddha statue and the moai statues, then got on a bus back to downtown.
• I went to Kani Honke near Sapporo Station for lunch. I got there just as it opened so I didn't have to wait even without a reservation. I ordered a variety of snow crab and king crab dishes including sashimi.
• After lunch, I walked around at Maruyama Park and Hokkaido Shrine. I walked back toward the train station after and took a bus to Sapporo Fushimi Inari. Not as impressive as the one in Kyoto, but still interesting to see in the snow. It's a hill, so walking to the top was a pain with the ice. It's interesting that they have so many signs here telling people not to take photos, but there's absolutely no enforcement for it so everyone does anyway.
• From that shrine, I walked over to the Mt. Moiwa Ropeway. The plan was to see sunset from the observatory. However just as I ascended the mountain and sunset was approaching, it began snowing and clouded the famous view from the top. Since there wasn't anything to see from the observatory at that point, I just bought some stuff from the gift shop. I headed back down the ropeway, and once below the snow clouds the view of the city was visible but it was difficult to photograph in a crowded cable car.
• I went to Ramen Alley for dinner, and checked out the ice sculptures in Susukino along the way. I initially considered Haruka but it closed its line as soon as I got there. I decided to go for Teshikaga. The only issue here was that the lines here were really unorganized because of how crowded every shop was, and I ended up lined up for a different ramen shop. After an hour of waiting in the wrong line, I shifted over to the correct line and waited another 30 minutes. Food was worth it though! I got the miso ramen and some zangi (fried chicken).

2/11 ASAHIKAWA AND OTARU

• The snow was coming down hard in Sapporo this day but I had planned on doing day trips this day, and it wasn't snowing outside of Sapporo. I took a train to Asahikawa at 8am. Once in Asahikawa I took a bus to the Asahiyama Zoo. The line for the bus was pretty crazy and I didn't get to the zoo until about 10:45am.
• Got to the zoo in time to see the 11am penguin march. It's really cute! But it happens really quickly, and it's a struggle against other tourists trying to give themselves the best view. The rest of the zoo is pretty interesting too so I'd recommend staying to see at least a few other animals. I had lunch in the cafeteria area and then went to see the polar bears, wolves, tigers, and red pandas. After a few hours at the zoo I headed back to Asahikawa Station and got onto the train around 3pm back to Sapporo.
• I then headed to Otaru. First thing I did there was the local branch of Popura Farm to try "Santa Claus' beard" i.e. ice cream served on top of melon. Was expensive but pretty good!
• Next I walked down to the Otaru Canal to see the Snow Light Path Festival. There isn't as much to see here compared to the Sapporo Snow Festival obviously, but it's really pretty when lit up at night, and not nearly as crowded. Definitely worth checking out if you can overlap your trip to see both festivals.
• Final stop of the night was dinner at Naruto. They are most famous for their fried chicken so I got that, as well as some sushi and grilled squid.

2/12 SAPPORO TO NOBORIBETSU

• This morning was also the Super Bowl back home! I had to follow it on my phone as I went around in the morning. I began by visiting Ohiso in Nijo Market and getting kaisendon and a grilled mackerel. After, I walked around in the market to try to buy some last minute famous Sapporo foods including a small box of fresh melon chunks. Then I went back to my hotel to finish packing and continue watching the game. At checkout, I had the hotel ship my luggage to Kanazawa.
• Around 11:45am I decided to get another meal, so I stopped by another jingisukan restaurant near my hotel called Matsuo. The jingisukan here was done differently than the one I had previously because they added sauce to the vegetables rather than just let them grill with the meat. Throughout all of this I was watching with my hopes up of a 49er victory in the Super Bowl.
• I had a reservation for Ryotei Hanayura in Noboribetsu, and they have a shuttle for customers arriving from Sapporo that meets at Sapporo TV Tower. It was still a bit early, plus the Super Bowl went into overtime, so I sat in Odori Park with my eyes glued to my phone. The game ended with a Niners loss, and, very appropriately, a bunch of snow from the tree branch above me fell on me as we lost.
• Got on my shuttle bus depressed about the outcome of the game, intent on boiling in my misery once I got to the onsen. Around sunset I walked over to Jigokudani, and then checked out some local shops before heading back to the hotel. I spent the rest of the night in the hotel, from eating the kaiseki meal to using the private onsen.

2/13 NOBORIBETSU TO HAKODATE

• I woke up early so I tried out the public onsen in the hotel with no one else around, then went to the breakfast buffet. Before I checked out of my room I used the private onsen once more as I finished packing.
• Next stop was Lake Toya. From Toya Station I took a bus to the lake. By the lake, I went to a popular but cozy restaurant called Boyotei and ordered a Hamburg steak. After lunch I walked over to the lake. I walked back to the bus stop after and took the bus back down to the JR station to take the train to Hakodate.
• I got to Hakodate just after sunset. I dropped off my stuff at the JR Inn Hakodate just next to the station, then caught a bus to try to go to Goryokaku Tower. I thought that the tower would still be open because the star shaped park had an illumination event that was advertised as ending at 7pm daily. However I got to the tower at 6:15pm and the signs said it had closed at 6pm. Seems kinda ridiculous that the illumination...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Big_Wrangler4003 on 2024-02-26 14:31:04.

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Hello everyone

My girlfriend and I are going to Japan in September. I've been twice before but this time will be special. I am a mushroom inspector and would like to get in touch with mushroom enthusiasts from Japan to go mushroom hunting. However, I have never been mushroom hunting in Japan before. Do you know a favorite prefecture where you can go mushroom hunting? Is there a community that deals with mushroom hunting and identification? If so, I would be very grateful for any help. Or have you ever been hiking and discovered mushrooms in the forest? Are there any regulations or laws about mushroom hunting?

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/EvokeLife on 2024-02-25 21:44:03.

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Today is the last day of my solo trip to Japan and just wanted to recount everything I did (weeb edition). Spent the the week in shinjuku while I loved my proximity to the station in the future wish I’d choose a different Less noisy location as I’m someone who doesn’t enjoy night life.

Day 1: Decided on Shibuya • shibuya crossing • One piece mugiwara store • Meiji Mingu Temple • Ended up in Harajuka and found Takeshita street • yoyogi Park • Returned to shinbuya and checked our Pokémon Center and Nintendo stores • Stopped by the Hachiko statue which I missed • Returned to shinjuku walked around for a little bit and went to sleep

Day 2: Random Day • Woke up and went to Hageni Park to check out the plum blossom trees • Caught a train to Pokémon centre DX (If Your only going to one this should be it) explored the area after •Went to check our nakano broadway but it was closed and there seemed to be guys with construction hats. • honestly just did some exploring today at night stopped at kabuchiko to get some pictures at night being a massive fan of the yakuza games.

Day 3: Akihabara and Senso ji day • Heard the train station announcement for kr our arrival in ueno and decided to hop off the train to see the park so I could see the pandas. My favourite animal tinder ended up being the Galapagos Giant Turtle. • Arrived in Akihabara cue nerding out and comparing prices at each and every place I was able to find overall whike I was still impressed I was less impressed than I hoped • Maid cafe - honestly I’m glad I did it because I can say that I have but honestly wasn’t really for me. • Finished the day with batting cages

Day 4: Break day • My introvert battery was in dire need of a recharge. Hung around the hotel and went out for food with some small leaves of shinjuku exploration

Day 5: Random • Tokyo Skytree in the morning • Odaiba in the afternoon. There was an idol performance when I arrived at odaiba which was very cool to see.

Day 6: Clean up • Went to Ikebukaro to check out animate and the location • Returned to akihabara sinced I missed Akiba culture zone second hand floor which was amazing and bought a figure I couldn’t stop thinking about •Visited an Onsen for about 2.5 hours and truly enjoyed it found myself not wanting to leave • Explored more of shinjuku

Day 7: I fly out • probably going to head to Shinjuku Gyeon National garden this morning and walk around for a bit. Grab a bite to eat then time to go and hit duty free at airport.

Regrets:

Not making Saturday which was the practically only clear day while I was here a hakon onsen day to see Mount Fuji closer.

I do regret not getting outside of Tokyo but the plan was always to stay in Tokyo and save the rest of Japan for a future possible trip.

Not trying more food while I was here.

Honestly while I wish I coulda seen Ginza and Roppongi hills though I think I’m happy with my exploration of Tokyo it would have been nice.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/thehomechef20 on 2024-02-25 15:00:38.

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Looking for advice. I was in Japan recently and basically since I returned, all I can think of is when I’ll be going back. My parents and I were having a chat about it, and the idea of going with them came up. I am excited about going on a family trip, but I don’t know how realistic it is. Although they can walk, they have some mobility issues which realistically would prevent them from walking more than 2-3k steps per day. That’s fine with me because I can wander off when they need to relax. But, I am concerned about walking in train stations, or walking long distances to visit temples etc. I want it to be a nice experience for them too. Has anyone done a trip like this before? Did you enjoy it? I am thinking that we’d spend a few days in Tokyo, and then head over to Osaka or Kyoto, or exclusively stay in Tokyo (Ginza probably).

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/hkayla303 on 2024-02-22 17:35:26.

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hello! forgive me if this is a dumb ask, but im going to Tokyo with my partner and i have Crohn's Disease. with my CD, my worst symptom is urgency so when i need a bathroom i need it fast.

what's the public toilet situation like in Tokyo? i have been doing research, but everything i found was quite a bit outdated.

thank you!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/faberge_legs on 2024-02-21 22:26:08.

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Please consider a visit to Kanazawa, the sooner the better.

This is my second trip to Japan. We traveled to Kanazawa at the end of January this year and were enchanted by its allure, surpassing even that of our visits to Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo.

Before going on our trip, numerous Redditors advised against it, citing reasons to cancel — namely the recent earthquake.

I’m so glad I didn’t listen.

I feel that this is often a knee-jerk reaction to a lot of disastrous events with limited exposure in Western media. Instead, I turned to Twitter and Instagram, seeking feedback from locals and using Google Translate to get an actual gauge the situation. Many locals urged tourists to come, aiming to aid earthquake relief efforts in the Noto Peninsula.

We made our arrangements, booked our hotel, planned our itinerary, and secured Shinkansen tickets upon arrival in Japan. Despite minimal structural damage in Kanazawa, tourism had taken a hit, granting us the city almost entirely to ourselves. The heavy snowfall in January, while stunning, added a touch of suspense to our trip. Initially, our Shinkansen train from Tokyo was canceled due to snow (NOT earthquake), but repairs were swiftly made…I guess overnight!

Upon arrival in Kanazawa, we noticed the clever sprinkler system that kept the streets clear of snow. It seems like Kanazawa’s city infrastructure wasn’t affected by the disaster either. Our stay at Hotel Intergate, complete with its own onsen, spacious rooms, and convenient location near shopping and Omicho Market, was a highlight. The absence of other hotel guests only added to our enjoyment.

We wandered around Seisonkaku Villa and enjoyed having the entire building to ourselves. I think without tourists, we were able to thoroughly enjoy stepping on and hearing the wood boards that deliberately creaked (mimicking the sound of nightingales — a technique samurais used to detect intruders). If it were crowded with people, you wouldn’t be able to hear the nightingale noise as clearly. The villa is otherwise peaceful, at times eerily silent.

Kenroku-en was dead quiet, save for the oldest fountain in Japan bubbling nearby. To enter, you need to pay a small fee. We saw several snowmen built by locals, and the paths winding through the park lead us through tall pine trees that shielded us from the falling snow. Adjacent to the garden’s entrance is the castle.

The castle grounds and park were very open space, and you can walk around for free. To enter the turrets, you need to pay a small fee. The internal carpentry is impressive and we loved the view from the top.

Among our favorite dining experiences was Okina Sushi (Okina Sushi - 2 Chome-1-5 Hikosomachi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa 920-0901, Japan) where the owners, an adorable older couple, gave us hospitality and authentic cuisine that left a lasting impression. They were so warm and welcoming, but I didn’t feel the same welcome or warmth from places like in Kyoto. The owners of Okina spoke very little English but made a huge effort, and we dined mostly with other locals. We ate there two nights in a row and the wife folded origami with us. Their menu was extremely reasonable (2500 yen for a large sushi set with soup and side dish), and they even fed us a lot of free dishes.

Kanazawa is known for its arts and crafts, and prior to my visit, I viewed local Stories on Instagram and came across a little shop that specialized in…ceramic cat figurines. The shop owner and I messaged back and forth in Japanese since my visit didn’t coincide with her opening hours. I find that if you ask, store owners will definitely accommodate and schedule a day/time for you to visit! If you’re into cats and handmade gifts, I recommend ComeComeCat (1 Chome-10-1 Higashiyama, Kanazawa, Ishikawa 920-0831, Japan). I came home with a giant bag of beautiful figurines, charms, and jewelry.

Another standout was Barrier (website) a beautifully conceptualized restaurant that surpassed our expectations in both ambiance and affordability. We had the entire restaurant to ourselves again, and the place was staffed by one person during to shortage and low season. We didn’t make a reservation. The concept of this restaurant allows you to transfer from “light to darkness” — the downstairs area was filled with white light and walls. As you go past the curtains to the left of the entrance and up the stairs, you’re in total darkness.

Dining was sitting on the floor, and you get to choose from a set course of seasonal dishes (3 dashi stock bowls, sushi, ramen, and dessert). We went with Option D with sake—totally recommend. I’d speak more on this experience but don’t want to spoil it for anyone else!

Kanazawa offers a blend of tradition and modernity, showcasing its arts, crafts, and culinary delights amidst a backdrop of warm hospitality and serene surroundings. I encourage you to visit, especially if you’re looking for a place that is a little slower-paced and less crowded with people so that you can enjoy Japan without the stress and queues.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/regal83 on 2024-02-20 14:46:31.

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If I intend to visit Yokohama for a half-day trip from Tokyo, what other destinations can I explore during the remaining half of the day?

Yokohama Spots I plan on seeing:

Red Brick Warehouse

Yamashita Park

Yokohama Gundam Factory

Chinatown

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Omaromaro on 2024-02-17 04:23:05.

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Hey! Me and my wife are going to Japan late May to early June. We're looking for advice and suggestions for our itinerary and if we're missing anything:

Day 1 (25 May) - Arrive in Tokyo

• Arrive at Narita airport 4pm

• Check-in at Asakusa lodging, dinner and rest

Day 2 (26 May) - Tokyo

• Explore Asakusa neighborhood and Sensoji temple

• Explore Akihabara area majority of day

• Kura conveyor sushi, then night market around Asakusa

Day 3 (27 May) - Tokyo

• Expore Shibuya PARCO Mall (visit Pokemon Center, Nintendo Store, Capcom Store)

• Shibuya Crossing, and eat lunch at cafe overlooking Shibuya Crossing

• Meiji Jingu Shrine

Day 4 (28 May) - Tokyo

• Early morning breakfast at Tsukiji Fish Market

• Odaiba Miraikan and/or Small Worlds Museum

• Walk around Odaiba Diver City, watch Gundam transformation

Day 5 (29 May) - Tokyo

• Kimi No Nawa pilgrimage (Suga Shrine, Yotsuya Station)

• Flexible (Find cafe nearby)

• Fancy yakiniku dinner at Wagyu Yakiniku PANGA Asakusa

Day 6 (30 May) - Tsukuba

• Make way to Tsukuba to visit Tsukuba Space Center

• Costco Tsukuba and Peony Garden

Day 7 (31 May) - Tokyo

• Explore Tokyo Skytree

• Souvenir shopping (Uniqlo Ginza and Akihabara)

• Souvenir shopping at Asakusa night market

Day 8 (1 Jun) - Travel Tokyo to Kyoto

• Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto

• Check-in to lodging in Higashiyama, Kyoto

• Explore neighborhood

Day 9 (2 Jun) - Kyoto

• Riverside hiking from Takao to Hozukyo

• Flexible/Maybe find private Onsen (need recommendations)

Day 10 (3 Jun) - Kyoto

• Fushimi Inari Shrine to the top before sunrise

• Kiyomizudera temple, Yasaka Shrine

• Philosopher's Path, Ginkaku Temple

Day 11 (4 Jun) - Travel Kyoto to Osaka

• Pack and travel to Osaka

• Check-in at Osaka lodging in Nishinari, Osaka

• Explore neighborhood

Day 12 (5 Jun) - Nara

• Early train to Nara and see mochi pounding

• Deer park to be terrorized by deer

• Todaiji Temple and watch sunset at Nigatsudo Temple

Day 13 (6 Jun) - Tomogashima Island

• Make way to ferry

• Explore and picnic on island

• Look for Summertime Rendering merch

Day 14 (7 Jun) - Osaka

• Explore Osaka (shopping + street food)

• Dotonburi area at night

Day 15 (8 Jun) - Osaka

• Maishima Seaside Park

• Kaiyukan Aquarium

Day 16 (9 Jun) - Leave from Osaka

• Leave via Kansai Airport

We are flexible, and will be adding Pokemon Cafe depending on when we can get the reservation. Also looking for other anime cafes, maybe Attack on Titan. Thanks in advance for any recommendations and advice!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/tangentize on 2024-02-18 01:35:42.

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I still have Japan on the brain after my husband and I came back last month from our honeymoon, so I figured sharing a trip report could give me a place to put down my thoughts and would be useful for others planning too. I lurked a lot on here and r/JapanTravelTips, which were both extremely essential resources leading up to our trip.

For this trip, it was our first time to Japan. We definitely wanted to go snowboarding, but otherwise we’re both really into anime/video games, tea, food (but I guess who isn’t into food), and nature, so those influenced what the rest of our activities were. We’re not really into nightlife/bars these days, so you won’t see much of that here.

I’ll give an itinerary overview of our trip for those just looking for the basics, and then get into details for any highlights/lowlights (spoilers for lowlights: flight cancellation, getting sick)

(starred items (*) are transportation/activities that were booked ahead of time, besides the obvious of flights/accommodations)

Day 0 (Thurs, 1/18): Tokyo [Asakusa]

• Arrive in Haneda at night
• Senso-ji (night version)
• Check into our hotel in Asakusa and crash (Asakusa Kokono Club Hotel)

Day 1 (Fri, 1/19): Tokyo [Asakusa / Ginza / Nihonbashi / Akihabara]

• Senso-ji (day version) + surrounding Asakusa side streets
• Breakfast: toast (February Cafe)
• Snack: Mister Donut
• Knife shopping along Kappabashi
• Snack: Daigakuimo Chibaya
• Lunch: conveyor belt sushi (Hinatomaru)
• Tea: Jugetsudo Tea Shop & Cafe in Ginza
• Pokemon Cafe/Center* in Nihonbashi
• Akihabara sightseeing + shopping (Kanda shrine, Animate, Mandarake, arcades, etc.)
• Snack: Magikarp taiyaki (Kurikoan Akihabara)
• Dinner: 7-11 tamago sando

Day 2 (Sat, 1/20): Tokyo > Kawaguchiko

• Breakfast: Quick stop at bakery
• Pokemon Center Tokyo DX (again)
• Lunch: ekiben from stand in Tokyo Station
• Bus* from Tokyo Station to Kawaguchiko Station
• Check into ryokan (Ubuya)
• Dinner: ryokan kaiseki
• Winter fireworks + onsen

Day 3 (Sun, 1/21): Kawaguchiko

• Breakfast: ryokan provided
• Kawaguchi Asama Shrine
• Lunch: Houtou Fudou North Main Shop
• Oshino Hakkai
• Dinner: ryokan kaiseki
• Winter fireworks (again)

Day 4 (Mon, 1/22): Kawaguchiko > Nozawa Onsen

• Breakfast: ryokan provided
• Bus* from Kawaguchiko Station to Tokyo Station
• Lunch: onigiri and strawberry sando from Tokyo Station, Fujiyama cookies from Kawaguchiko
• Shinkansen* + bus from Tokyo Station to Nozawa Onsen
• Check into inn (Residence Yasushi)
• Dinner: oden (En)

Days 5 - 8 (Tues-Fri, 1/23-1/26): Nozawa Onsen

These days were all pretty similar, so I’m condensing them, but main callouts

• Pick up rental snowboards at Nozawa Sports Thanx*
• Snowboarding at Nozawa Onsen Snow Resort (took one rest day due to sickness & bad winds closing down most of the trails)
• Exploring the cute village
• Private onsen at inn
• Friday dinner: Kamakura Village* in Iiyama (snow huts!)

Day 9 (Sat, 1/27): Nozawa Onsen > Tokyo

• Breakfast: inn provided
• Bus + Shinkansen* + subway to Shinjuku Station
• Drop luggage off at hotel (Yuen Shinjuku)
• Lunch: ramen (Ramen Hosenka)
• Snack: strawberry custard crepe (Pearl Lady)
• LisAni!LIVE* at Nippon Budokan (anime music concert, we went primarily for Yuki Kajiura/FictionJunction + LiSA)
• Dinner: FamilyMart Famichiki

Day 10 (Sun, 1/28): Tokyo [Shibuya]

• Meiji Jingu
• Brunch: Winter Festival in Yoyogi Park
• Shopping along Omotesando
• Snack: Higuma Doughnuts
• Tea: Sakurai Japanese Tea Experience* in Aoyama
• Shopping in Shibuya Parco (Nintendo Store mainly)
• Shibuya Crossing
• Shibuya Sky at sunset*
• Snack: strawberry daifuku from a pop-up spot in Shibuya Scramble Square
• Dinner: Jujutsu Kaisen Pop-Up Cafe* at BOX cafe&space GEMS Shibuya

Day 11 (Mon, 1/29): Tokyo [Kichijoji / Nakano Broadway / Shinjuku / Nishiazabu]

• Breakfast: onigiri at Kichijoji Station (Omusubi Gombei)
• Inokashira Park
• Ghibli Museum*
• Snack: pastry at Dans Dix Ans in Kichijoji
• Lunch: udon (Ibuki Udon)
• Shopping at Nakano Broadway
• ARTNIA Square Enix Cafe in Shinjuku
• Dinner: omakase sushi (Nishiazabu Taku*)

Day 12 (Tues, 1/30): Tokyo [Shinjuku / Ikebukuro / Marunouchi / Odaiba]

• Rooftop onsen at hotel
• Breakfast: French toast (Cafe Aaliya)
• Shopping at Sunshine City in Ikebukuro (Pokemon Center Mega Tokyo and Ghibli store mainly)
• Shopping in Marunouchi (Ippodo Tea mainly)
• Lunch: ramen (Ippudo Marunouchi)
• Gundam Base Tokyo & Unicorn Gundam Statue
• Snack: sweet potato taiyaki (Naruto Taiyaki Honpo)
• Final shopping at Haneda to get rid of physical yen and Suica balance

Planning Process

Figured I’d share this since it comes up a lot for how to even approach coming up with an itinerary, but I’ll try not to repeat what I’ve seen typically mentioned.

For me specifically, I’ll be upfront and say that my full-time job is a researcher, and considering I’ve wanted to go to Japan for a loooong time now (and had a trip planned in fall 2020 but had to cancel it), I researched a ton for this trip. I’ll admit it was probably overplanning, but I enjoyed it, though I’d definitely tone it down the next time we go now that I’ve got most of my initial must-dos out of the way.

A lot of comments around here also say they found their favorite parts of their trip through meandering or by accident. That all sounds very romantic, but I have terrible luck and didn’t want to leave it up to chance. There were multiple things that ended up on our itinerary that were very unlikely we were going to accidentally stumble upon unless I did the research ahead of time (e.g. Winter Festival in Yoyogi Park, JJK pop-up cafe, LisAni concert).

We still had open time in our schedule, but it was more like (and especially in Tokyo) "here’s the 10-15 things we marked as interesting in the area, do we want to do/eat any of these?" I’m definitely not saying that the more free-flow plans don’t work, they just don’t work for us (I have too much FOMO/had very specific things I wanted to do in Japan, and my husband doesn’t like aimlessly meandering in a city, he’s very goal-oriented, haha).

There were also a lot of things in our schedule that needed prior knowledge of the reservation process and being on top of things. Again, I kind of get a thrill from the process of getting those almost-unobtainable things if I care enough (convention/concert tickets fall into that category for example, or some achievements in video games), so this was something I was fine doing. It mostly meant marking my calendar for dates/times to be aware of, along with keeping notes about the process that I had read about. Happy to answer any questions here for things needing reservations on our itinerary, but there’s so many guides out there already for a lot of them.

TRIP DETAILS

Day 0 (or really Day -1):

We were supposed to leave Tuesday afternoon out of Seattle and arrive in Tokyo Wednesday night. That is until some drunk idiot bit a flight attendant on the flight from Tokyo to Seattle and the plane had to turn around, which meant we now had no plane. Yes, I’m still salty about this.

This basically threw out our original first day plans and left us in limbo of what was going to happen for 24h. I’ll spare the details on dealing with ANA, but this night was me basically panicking in an airport hotel, woo. (Side note: I had attempted to use the Timeshifter app that had been recommended here for reducing jetlag, but unfortunately this change erased those efforts so I can’t give a proper review there.)

The silver lining on this day was that I was able to re-book our Pokemon Cafe reservation which we were going to miss, and pushed it to the next day because there happened to be exactly one open time slot when I checked the website. (Thanks random person who actually canceled! I was also able to cancel my original reservation in the system, so hopefully someone else benefited from that.)

(new) Day 0: Seattle > Tokyo [Asakusa]

Once the ANA counter at the airport opened at noon, we finally were able to sort out everything and got ourselves on that day’s flight out to Haneda. We arrived at around 8pm Thursday night.

• Customs: I will say I was really surprised at how fast going through customs was; we had a <5min stop at the airport bathroom before starting that process (also this was my first realization that bidets were going to be everywhere, and they are awesome), but basically there wasn’t a line at all, and even our luggage was just spinning on the carousel waiting for us while everyone else had already moved on. Maybe we just got there at a really dead time?
• Luggage forwarding: We used Yamato to forward our snowboarding/heavier winter gear to Nozawa, and I’d say this line had a longer wait than customs, haha. I had printed out a list of our hotels’ addresses in both English and Japanese to share with those helping us fill out the form, which streamlined the process anytime we did luggage forwarding. We then just had our two carry-on bags each (backpack and spinner)
• IC card: We had gotten cash ahead of time from my bank before leaving Seattle, so it was easy enough to drop by the Welcome Suica vending machine and pay physical yen for a card since my husband has an Android phone. I was able t...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/astrolia on 2024-02-16 15:30:57.

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Currently battling insomnia after arriving back home.

In January, my friends and I were talking about the recently released Gundam SEED movie and joking about going to Japan to see it. I went to look at flights, and it turns out round trip tickets to Japan were $400 - $500, and there were some other nerd-related things going on. So uhh yeah I booked a flight over for a week in Tokyo. I was aware of the T-Swizzle concert, so I tried to avoid going on the yellow Chuo or anywhere near Tokyo Dome lol. I made it a point to (try to) eat "one good meal" per day to balance out the fact I was totally gonna go eat garbage collab food as well.

Friday, February 9th

• I landed in the afternoon, took the Skyliner to Nippori, then took the train to Akihabara to check in to my hotel, Super Hotel Premier Akihabara.
• Ate at Tonkatsu Marugo in Akiba. I got in line at 5pm; there were already people inside and I'm not sure when they had started letting people in. I got the fattier cut and wowie it all just melts in your mouth.
• Got a Persona 3 Reload taiyaki at Gigo Taiyaki. These were random (1 of 3 designs) + a random coaster. Got Koromaru taiyaki and Junpei coaster. Unfortunate; neither are Aigis.

Saturday, February 10th (Lunar New Year)

• Got up in the morning and went to Seagen in Tsukiji Market, which is run by Yamayuki, the tuna wholesaler. I got the tuna set with roe, and paid more to add on uni. Probably the best meal I had on this trip. I went and did a walking lap around Tsukiji and got tea, came back, and people had started to line up, so I got in line too. Unfortunately, it turns out all of these people were placeholders who were holding spots for larger groups lol, so it multiplied very quickly. I still got in the first seating, but yeesh.
• I was pretty full after Seagen and walked off the meal by going to Hamarikyu and had matcha + a sweet (it's a cute yellow daffodil treat right now) in the garden. Pretty chill.
• Took the train all the way to Ikebukuro to go shopping. I totally ate at the Ikebukuro Wendy's First Kitchen because of the P3 Reload collab, and that was the most I have ever spent at a Wendy's before in my life LOL. Even after the Yen to USD conversion, it was a bit yikes. The food was the normal Wendy's food with little flags of Reload characters on them, though I did like Aigis's mango tapioca. The citrus fries for the collab were also okay, but you really need to shake the bag around.
• I also visited fanfancy in Ikebukuro Gigo. This is a store for 'oshi' goods - you can buy holders for photo cards, little outfits for 10cm - 13cm plushies, frames for can badges, acrylic dioramas to decorate your character acrylic stands with. Very powerful store, tbqh. Lots of cute things. They also have dollhouse-like dioramas set up for you to pose your plushies in and take photos of them.

Sunday, February 11th

• Went to Tokyo Big Sight for Tokyo Fes. Specifically, I checked out Another Control (Atlus works) and Twinkle Mirage (Square Enix works). This was my first time going to a doujinshi event, actually. My spoken Japanese is pretty ass and I have a hearing deficiency in my left ear, so I just did my best to make small chat with the creators and bought stuff.
• Went back to Akihabara to drop off my crap then went to see the Gundam SEED movie at the nearby Toho Ueno Cinema. Uhh... that sure was an anime movie. Uhhhhh.
• For dinner, I went to Tofu Sorano in Shibuya and caught up with a friend who lives in Tokyo. We ordered a bunch of things, like the fresh tofu box (drool), and tofu skin with uni. I love uni.

Monday, February 12th

• Spent the day in Yokohama to go to Sea Paradise for the P3 Reload collab with some friends. Basically there was a stamp rally / scavenger hunt around the park, and you could also find cardboard cutouts of the main characters. The highlight of the thing was Aigis narrating the sardine fish show then talking about the < POWER OF BONDS > between the sardines afterwards. Girl turned into a Persona 4 character. As we found out, the collectible card bonuses you were supposed to receive for every [x] yen spent on collab food and collab merch had run out, but you could send away for them later, and this led to a 20min long battle against... idk, Japanese Bureaucracy??? in which I had to fill out multiple forms with my friends address, to which the bonuses would later be sent. Except we had 4 receipts, and this meant we had to fill out 4 forms even though everything was going to the same address. I feel like we should have just said fuck it, but after filling out the first form, you might as well keep going. Sob.
• We also started off the day by eating breakfast the Yokohama Wendy's with the P3 Reload Collab because obviously that's the natural way to start your day when you're going to a sea park for P3 Reload all day.
• After Sea Paradise, we went to China Town, which was decorated with lots of lanterns and other things for Lunar New Year. I demanded we get lotus root somewhere in China Town for dinner and we went around asking random restaurants if they had lotus root until we found one. Kinda still surprised this actually worked lmao. I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but they served us a nice fried lotus root "sandwich" with pork in the middle.

Tuesday, February 13th

• Did strawberry afternoon tea at Aman. Great view (Fuji poked its head out), and the tea was good. Loved the little desserts. However, I thought the scones were pretty damn mid.
• I had an ear cleaning appointment thing where they stick a camera-thing in your ear and show you what's inside then clean it out. Equal parts fascinating and equal parts gross lol.
• On the way to the salon, I noticed the Keio line had started selling P3 Reload train cards, so I came back to the station and bought a train card and went looking for the P3 Reload decal train lmao. I EVENTUALLY found it, but when I got on it, the announcements weren't done by Aigis... I've been lied to by the Keio line... They have made an enemy... I will not forget this...
• I saw the Golden Kamuy live action movie. Definitely a more enjoyable watch than SEED Freedom. A fairly faithful adaptation of the manga as well. (I had a crush on Hiroshi Tamaki when I was younger and watched the Nodame drama where he plays Chiaki... 🥵)

Wednesday, February 14th

• Since this was my last full day in Tokyo, I just went shopping and putzed around buying souvenirs and stuff before I left.
• Around 4pm I started craving sushi and decided to head over to Nemuro Hanamaru in Marunouchi Kitte. It's "conveyor belt" in that there is indeed a conveyor belt with some things you can pick up and eat, but most of the things you eat there, you order by writing them down on a sheet of paper then handing to the waiter. But as far as "fast conveyor belt sushi" goes, I think it's my favorite. Gets very busy around dinner time - I was #4 in line around 4:30pm, and there was a 20+ group wait by the time I left at 6pm.

Thursday, February 15th

• Due to massive FOMO cause I saw this place with a line outside of it every time I passed by, I went to Roast Beef Ohno in Akiba for lunch before I left. I liked it and the oxtail soup was good, but I would not recommend waiting 1 - 2hrs in line for this. I walked there from my hotel before they opened and was the first person in line. On the recommendation of a friend, I tried the onion sauce, so I guess I'll have to go back sometime else and try the wasabi.
• Went back to Narita via the Skyliner again.

Other Stuff

• Zipair: I flew Zipair's SJC to NRT route... You get what you pay for. This airline is cheap (was like $500 roundtrip for my SJC to NRT flight, and even down to $430 or so for LAX to NRT) and has free wi-fi on board, but a lot of add-on costs for stuff like a checked bag. Even water bottles have to be bought on the flight for 250 Yen. But even after add-ons, it was still quite affordable for me to compared to other airlines, especially on 2 weeks planning notice. The SJC route was particularly nice because I was flying on weekdays and it seems to be quite underused compared to LAX, so I was able to have 3 seats to myself both on my flight to Tokyo and my flight back. I imagine that's much harder to do on the weekends.
• Super Hotel Premier Akihabara: I stayed at this hotel for my week in Tokyo. Very short walking distance from Akihabara station and the main area with all of the arcades and whatnot. Very standard business hotel with the usual double size bed, small bathroom, and overpriced breakfast buffet. They also have a lounge with free drinks and alcohol after 6pm and the front staff said it was okay to bring non-hotel guest friends for free drinks during that. They also have a public bath, but this was kind of annoying to me cause the ladies bath only had 3 shower stalls lol. The other thing I felt was annoying was there only being 1 tiny elevator for a 13 floor hotel, but welp. Not the best hotel I've stayed at in Tokyo, but eh, availability was limited due to the concert, so eh I just grabbed something near a major station.
  • Down the street from the hotel, on the other side of the bridge, is a basement level Thai stretching/flexibility/yoga? massage place. I got a leg massage there cause damn dude walking around in Japan for a week really can kill your legs. They gave me a nice hot Thai tea after too.
• Steam Deck: I bought a Steam Deck to play P3 Reloa...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/ChoAyo8 on 2024-02-15 18:16:25.

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Link

The Hokuriku Ouen Free Ticket (ouen meaning “rooting for” or “supporting”) went on sale February 15, and is tailored for travelers starting from the Tokyo area looking to explore the Hokuriku region, which sits on the northern coastline of Japan’s main island of Honshu and is made up of Ishikawa, Fukui, Niigata, and Toyama prefectures.

The four-day pass includes a round-trip ride to/from Tokyo and the Hokuriku Ouen Free Ticket’s applicable area on the Hokuriku Shinkansen Line, making the initial departure station candidates Tokyo and Ueno Stations, and those in Hokuriku Kanazawa, Shin Takaoka, Toyama, and Kurobe Unazukionsen Stations. For the outbound ride, you can select from reserved seats on Kagayaki or Hakutaka-class Shinkansen trains, while the return to Tokyo is via Hakutaka unreserved seat.

Ordinarily, a one-way Shinkansen ticket from Tokyo Station to Kanazawa Station, by itself, costs 13,850 yen (US$94), or 27,700 yen (US$188) for the round trip. The Hokuriku Ouen Free Ticket, though, is priced at just 20,000 yen (US$136), so it’s already a huge savings, and that’s before you factor in the four days of unlimited free rides on trains within the designated area, which even includes a section of the Hokuriku Shinkansen.

The complete list of the Hokuriku Ouen Free Ticket’s free-to ride lines consists of:

● Hokuriku Shinkansen (between Kanazawa and Kurobe Unazukionsen Stations)

● Obama Line (between Obama and Tsuruga)

● Hokuriku Main Line (between Tsuruga and Kanazawa)

● Nanao Line (between Tsubta and Wakuraonsen [entire line])

● Etsumi Hoku Line (between Echizen Hanando and Kuzuryuko [entire line])

● Johana Line (between Takaoka and Johana [entire line])

● Himi Line (between Takaoka and Himi [entire line])

● Takayama Main Line (between Inotani and Toyama)

● IR Ishikawa Railway Line and Ai no Kaze to Yama Railway Line (between Kanazawa and Kurobe)

The Hokuriku Ouen Free Ticket can be purchased at major JR stations in the Tokyo area through the ticket vending machines, though it’s a safe bet that station staff will be happy to assist those who need help navigating the menu (the Japanese name/pronunciation for the pass is “Hokuriku Ouen Furii Kippu”). The pass will be on sale until March 11 and must be purchased at least one day prior to activation, with the ticket usable between now and March 15.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/the_judge_168 on 2024-02-15 18:18:01.

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Got a ton of great info from previous trip reports so hope this is helpful to those reading. Happy to answer any questions in the comments. Trip was last month in January. Travel schedule: Tokyo-->Kyoto /Osaka-->Tokyo-->Hokkaido-->Tokyo-->Hakone-->Tokyo-->Home

 

Background:

Late 20s / Early 30s M/F. I’ve been to Japan a few times but mostly Tokyo, the first time for my partner. We stayed with friends in the Tachikawa area while in Tokyo so this added ~2 hours extra travel time per day.

 

General thoughts on popular topics:

 

Prebooking: The things we booked before the trip: Studio Ghibli museum, Suntory Yamazaki tour, Nikka Yoichi tour, DisneySea lunch reservation. For Studio Ghibli we had many devices open and we were 115-9.8k in queue to get in. Most slots sold out within minutes if not seconds. For Yamazaki we missed the lottery period but we were able to get a first come first serve canceled tour spots. Disneysea the top restaurants were all booked out within 3 minutes. Nikka should be fine to book until a few days before. We debated restaurants but did not want the schedule / flow of travel to be interrupted to make a set reservation time so did not book any.  

Cash: We spent 95k yen in cash over 21 days. Most places took credit card and/or IC card. Would always carry a bit of cash in case but overall you should not need much, especially while inside Tokyo. Plenty of smaller restaurants would not have a card machine visible, but would take out if you asked to pay with a card. A lot of card machines would have a tap option but it would not work so you have to insert a card. Some machines do not accept the newer 500 yen coin as well, so you may need to swap it out. If you have a lot of loose change there would sometimes be payment machines in front of registers that let you dump a bunch of coins.

We withdrew from ATMS in convenience stores as those would accept foreign debit cards. We had no fee card but it seemed to be 110 yen or 220 yen each time we withdrew. Not all stores had international ATMs, especially once you got outside of Tokyo.  

Suica / train / bus:

We both had iPhones and loaded Suica cards before the trip. Super convenient and easy to refill on your phone. You do not have to unlock the phone to use, though a few times it would not scan and you would then have to unlock. Seemed to happen when Face ID wanted the passcode to unlock. We used Suica exclusively for all trains and buses and only bought physical tickets for Shinkansen, Haneda and Sapporo airport buses. Both Haneda and Sapporo airport buses took Suica, but we wanted to be safe in case. For some buses you have to tap on and off at the front, others are flat fee. You can see if it charges you a flat fee or says trip in progress. Also for JR stations if you enter and leave it charges you a 150 yen fee. We didn't want to walk in the cold one day and found that out.

As for Google maps and trains, the info for which car was fastest transfer was pretty nice. I found timing and pricing to also be pretty accurate inside Tokyo. In Hokkaido some of the prices did not match (usually was cheaper than what Google said). Also with snow cancellations and delays, Google did not have all the info so using the JR site was more useful. We were probably unlucky but we had multiple delays on trains / buses and cancellations due to weather and random events.

Another tip I would mention (probably more relevant to traveling from Tachikawa to Tokyo) is that Google did not seem to give the option to switch from a local train to the express train that skipped more stops unless there was more than a few minutes to transfer. In a lot of cases you can save 5-15 minutes boarding an express train. If a train stops and a lot of people walk to the other side of the same platform and wait and doors don’t close, there will usually be an express train soon.

 

eSIMS:

We used Verizon TravelPass, Ubigi, Airalo and T-Mobile 2g. Verizon TravelPass was the fastest and most consistent, but we only used the days we had banked for free. Ubigi was the next best, although I found it would randomly drop / lag in more crowded areas. Airalo was definitely slower than Ubigi but maybe a bit more consistent? I used 2g a few times when my Ubigi dropped and it was fine for a few quick map checks and iMessages. Of my 10gb allotment for Ubigi, 4.7GB was used for Google Maps (seemed quite high considering I downloaded offline maps), 2.3 for Safari, 1.6GB for System Services, 122MB for Google Translate. I ran a bit low so ended up buying 1GB more to be safe.Would probably buy Ubigi again in future even at double the cost of Airalo. On a side note, once we stopped using Verizon TravelPass we did have to do the sim lock trick to use Verizon number for iMessage.

 

Convenience stores and trash:

Most convenience stores have a small bar table line to eat and if not we ate outside in front if other Japanese people were doing so. All the convenience stores have trash cans as do many of the department stores. I never felt I had any issues carrying trash / bottles.The hot section was pretty nice for mornings and if you do not mind carrying around a larger bottle of water, it is much cheaper than a small bottle. We also went to grocery stores over convenience if that was an option for pricing and selection.

 

Japanese usage:

I know the basic phrases and can read some Kanji. I found if I started a conversation in Japanese they would then respond in Japanese and I would not be able to communicate so after the first day or two I just started in English with google translate. It saved a lot of time and got points across much faster. That said, compared to previous trips for me there were many more random people who could speak English and a few who were fluent. Reading Kanji was helpful both in train stations (not having to wait for signs to switch to English) and for general signs.

 

General food and restaurant thoughts:

I listed some restaurants that we enjoyed, really bad ones and slightly different places. Almost every meal was pretty good in general. We tried to eat at restaurants that were at least 50% Japanese inside / in line. I found that the 3.5-4.2 rating was the optimal range like others mentioned, and anything above 4.2 would be more tourists. For a lot of the recommended restaurants on social media the customers were 80-100% tourists.This was especially true in Kyoto and Osaka, as all the places we had down were all tourists. We did not have any specific foods we needed to try so we would just go with what we were craving at the time. Many restaurants you check in on a tablet to join the queue and it gives you a slip. Some slips have a QR code to scan to see where you are in line. You can usually browse shops around the restaurant and go back closer to your time.

Another tip would be a lot of restaurants (especially ramen) offer a mini / half bowl. This worked well for my partner as the normal bowls would normally be too much food on days we had second breakfast / elevenses and afternoon tea. A lot of restaurants (Tonkatsu / Tempura) also have an option for unlimited rice / miso soup so if you are fat like me make sure to get your second bowl.

Lastly, fruit is ridiculously priced compared to the US. We wanted to have fruit throughout the trip but held off most of the time due to cost. My partner did bring oatmeal to have for breakfast some days, and you can get hot water at convenience stores.

 

Luggage and laundry:

We had two backpacks (Allpa 35 and North Face Recon) that we used during the side trips. We did take an empty 22l suitcase to Hokkaido for food souvenirs but for the rest of the side trips it was backpacks only. It made trips much smoother not having to worry about luggage space and transport. We packed pretty light and the only item we didn’t use were flip flops since the hotels all provided slippers.

All the hotels we stayed at offered either free or coin laundry. Should note my partner got a few rashes from the detergent which I believe is a common issue.

 

Hotels / bed bugs:

We read a few reports about bed bugs right before we left so checked each hotel but all were pretty clean. All hotels had amenities on the first floor or on request. This was nice as you were able to just get the things you needed. Some of the hotels we stayed at used a machine to check in so check in times were a bit stricter as machines would not work before check in time.

 

Flights:

ANA Premium Economy SFO to HND.

ANA Economy HND to TSA, TSA to HND

AirDo Economy HND to CTS to HND

United Economy NRT to SFO

ANA SFO to HND: The ticket gives you basic United lounge access, which is a nice perk for premium economy. Service was good and flight attendants were really nice. First meal was box with tuna croissant sandwich, grandma’s cookies and banana. Second meal was an option of tempura or hamburg steak. They provided snacks (kit kats, arare snack mix and hard candy) as well as beer, wine, plum wine and champagne. Seats were ok and was about 75% full. Business was about 50% full.

AirDo: Bag drop was with ANA, seems most of things handled with ANA. Good service and only drinks for flight. Full flights both ways.

ANA HND to TSA to HND: Chance to get a Pokemon plane where you get a pokemon gift. Good service and happy with flight. One meal included. Full flight both ways.

United NRT to SFO: Long...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/childishgames on 2024-02-15 01:53:52.

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Just got back from 9 nights in Japan. I flew in and out of Tokyo (HND) and hit the following cities in the following order:

Tokyo > Hakone > Kyoto > Osaka > Tokyo

Pre Japan: I was in Los Angeles (flew in from NYC) for 6 nights for a work all-hands event. I stayed in LA for one extra day to do light tourism. During this trip I did a lot of networking (exhausting) and also went out to team dinners/happy-hours/bar hopping late night (also exhausting) almost every day of the trip. Being in Los Angeles cut down on my flight length and cost, which made it more feasible for me to get to Japan.

• Tokyo ( 3 nights )
  • Day 1: I arrived on my 32nd birthday, and part of taking this trip was a gift to myself and an attempt to avoid the pressure of making birthday plans at home. My flight was delayed 3 hours, but I knew that the night before, which allowed me to wake up at 9am instead of 6am. It also meant I arrived in Japan closer to 6pm instead of 3pm. Knowing I was going to be tired, I stayed at one of the more expensive hotels on my trip (still only $220 USD / night). The hotel was Hotel Century Southern tower, and I highly recommend. It was very nice and not too expensive. It was a high-rise hotel in Shinjuku with great views. Since I was absolutely dead from jetlag + the previous week, all I did was walk around the area around my hotel to get my bearings straight and get food at a local Japanese BBQ spot. I did forget to get money out of the ATM and had difficulty finding a spot to eat and order, but it was my first day. After dinner I stopped at 7/11 and picked up a few goodies and drinks to stock in my hotel room. I went to bed by 10pm
  • Day 2: Following a good night of sleep, I woke up early and took my sweaty LA clothes to do laundry nearby. All the instructions were in japanese and I tried to use google translate, but struggled. A japanese local who didn't speak english helped me out (we communicated mostly with body language) - and the detergent was out of order so he went back to his apartment to grab some and gave it to me for free. While my laundry was running I took a lap around the area and just enjoyed walking through quiet residential alleys and streets. A lot of charming sights, cool views of trains walking by, nice little flower gardens. Clean streets, etc. I came back to my hotel to finish my laundry and left the house dressed for cold weather and rain. I wore Uniqlo heat tech leggings and undershirt, a rain jacket, and a fleece northface, and Goretex boots that I bought in case we had rain/cold (this all cam in handy later). I went out to Shibuya to go shopping for clothes. Right before the rain started I stoped in Family Mart for an umbrella. I popped into a bunch of stores, then went to a fantastic conveyor belt sushi spot in a mall. I talked to a Korean girl next to me, and she recommended I try Okonomyaki in Kyoto/Osaka. When I left the mall, to my surprise it was snowing, which apparently only happens like once or twice a year in Tokyo. With my Umbrella + snow gear, I was well prepped. I spent 4 hours walking around shopping, and bought 2-3 items from cool vintage stores. I tried to get cool stuff that isn't necessarily found in the US. By this time it was pitch dark outside and the snow was coming down HARD. I came back to my hotel and instead of going out like I initially planned, I decided to just get food at the hotel restaurant because the snow was pouring, there was lightning, there was heavy wind, and I didn't want to wear myself out. The snow kept going all night and apparently it was one of the biggest snowstorms they've had in 10 years.
  • Day 3: After another early night to bed, I went to Asakusa to see the Senso Ji shrine. This was recommended to me by my hotel restaurant waiter the previous night. I didn't quite get there as early as I would've liked and there were lots of tourists, but it was still cool to see. I had to trudge through some slush, but by late in the day the snow was basically all gone. After the shrine, I walked to the Tokyo Skytree which had pretty amazing panoramic views of the city. On my way back to the hotel I was a bit of an idiot and messed up my navigation back home on the train, but I never took the wrong train or went in the wrong direction. Just got confused by the entrances. Someone at a vintage shop in Shibuya the previous day had recommended a ramen spot that he called the best in the city (Shiina Ramen). It opened at 6pm. They used a ticketing system and there was basically no wait and it was not expensive. Very good. Before I went there, I was so hungry that I went to an izakaya and got a few glasses of Sake + a few orders of dumplings. Afterwards I headed to Golden Gai (a few blocks of narrow alleyways and cool divey bars that fit 8 or so people). Lots of places had cover fees. It was basically all tourists - mostly Australians who were in Japan for ski trips. I noticed that most people were just kinda walking around looking for a place to go and not actually stopping inside. I spent an hour or two alone drinking 1-2 beers and looking for a spot to go. I met a few people that weren't really my vibe, and I was close to going home. Then I found a cool spot and several groups of 2-3 australians came in and we all got drunk together and had a really good time. Then a couple of cute girls came in and joined the group (sitting across the long table from me). I was almost about to call it a night and go home but ended up talking to the girl (she used to live in the same NYC neighborhood I live in) and we bounced to a Karaoke Bar. We stayed out until 3am and we ended up having a kiss at the end of the night, exchanged IG, planned to link in Osaka (but our timelines never matched up bc we were in different cities). I kinda have a travel crush and would like to see here again, but she lives far away. I got back to the hotel late.
• Hakone (1 night)
  • Day 4: After a night out and having a few days to adjust to jetlag, I thought it made sense to plan a relaxing day away for recovery. I took a train a few hours to get to Hakone and stayed at a mid-budget Ryokan (Motoyo Kansuiro) and found it to be incredibly beautiful, situated right on the river, great interior design, etc. Hotel check-in was at 3pm and the dinner was 6pm. This didn't give me any time to do anything in Hakone except stay in the Ryokan, and that was perfectly fine with me. I thought initially that Mt. Hood was going to be really easy to get to, but that would've been a whole other day trip. Either way, the traditional Ryokan experience was fantastic. I went down by the river and kicked my feet into the flowing river and just relaxed for an hour and watched the sunset. Then I enjoyed traditional japanese dinner served to me in my room. I put on the Yukata. It was great. Afterwards I headed to the Onsen nervously, but I was the only male in the Ryokan and had it all to myself. Even though it was like 4 degrees Celcius, the Onsen heated my body so much that I had to get out every few minutes and just relax in the freezing cold. But it didn't feel cold at all because my body temperature was elevated. It was great.
• Kyoto (2 nights)
  • Day 5: I woke up in Hakone early, got served my breakfast, took one last plunge in the Onsen, then checked out of the hotel, nearly forgetting my carry-on luggage. I took romancecar back on stop to Odawara, then Shinkasen to Kyoto. Mid trip I was seconds away from missing the transfer to a parallel train at one point, but managed to get on the right train in time. I got to my hotel at around 4pm which gave me just enough time to go outside, walk around the area by my hotel, walk around Gion, go to a random temple, and find an izakaya for dinner. The food was very solid and it ended up filling with lots of tourists - but a healthy mix of locals and tourists. The people I met at the bar weren't really my vibe - wanted to talk about politics that I didn't really agree with - but it was good to talk and meet with some people. I found out the next day that Kyoto nightlife is not very good, but I think going to a lively izakaya is the move in Kyoto if you want to drink and meet people. The bar scene is pretty whack (although I didn't have much time to truly navigate it)
  • Day 6: I woke up relatively early to get to Fushimi Inari, but again - not early enough to beat the crowds. I hiked to the top. This may sound controvercial to say, but I sort of found that once you've seen one temple in Tokyo/Osaka, you've kind of seen them all. But Fushimi Inari is a bit different - and I really enjoyed the hike to the top. The view wasn't anything crazy, but it was good to break a sweat and walking through the gates is pretty neat. I stopped at a fantastic French/Japanese fusion spot after. Then I walked along the river and sat down for a bit. When I came back I walked around what I thought was Nishiki Market but instead was just a massive outdoor mall with cover. I was honestly extremely impressed with the shopping. Some of the best military supply, vintage clothing, and general shopping i've seen in a while, and not the quality I expected from a commercial tourist area. I ended up buying some expensive sneakers at Graphpaper, then got a fish massage (cool experience, not too expensive) before heading home. Since it was Friday night I walked around looking for bars. Ended up meeting 2 really cute english speaking ex-pats living in japan and went to a bar with them after...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/a-a-run on 2024-02-13 22:11:32.

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Hi all!

Countless posts here and the discord community had helped me prep for my first Japan trip, so want to share a short trip report and hopefully it is somewhat informative to other travellers!

• Travel period: end of Nov - mid December 2023 (15 days)
• Cities visited: Tokyo-Hakone-Kyoto (+Nara & Uji)

Tokyo

To think I originally considered skipping Tokyo for this trip cuz it seemed overwhelming...it really blew my mind, in the best way possible. We spent 5.5 days in Tokyo and I thought that was just enough time.

Highlights

• Jiyugaoka & Sangenjaya - not so touristy and so walk-able, we really loved just exploring around, checking out different shops, grabbing a snack here and there. A quiet escape from the main attraction sites of Tokyo, I would definitely like to come back here!
• Shibuya Sky rooftop - we caught the last day of rooftop opening before winter closure and while it was extremely windy and cold, it was well worth it, it really is a great spot to see Tokyo at night. Btw we did the metropolitan building observatory as well, pretty cool as well.
• Ghibli museum - despite almost missing it thanks to Google Map giving wrong directions, this was great, very cool to see some early scripts of The Boy and The Heron and loved the vibe of the site! And Kichijōji was a cozy area to wander around.
• Tokyo national museum - I liked that it is not so overwhelming, while there are quite a few collections to visit, each has fairly manageable sizes. We like to visit museum first in a new place to learn about the history and this one was great.

Letdowns

• teamLab Planets - to each there own and I can see why people love it, I just thought it leaves more to desire, given it is: a) far from the center; b) steep entrance ticket price
• Takeshita Dori - thought there’s not much to it, a very short side street and didn’t find it particularly interesting

Hakone

Planned one night stay here to enjoy the onsen and I thought it is worth it though would try a less touristy onsen town next time around!

Highlights

• The onsen ofc - we stayed at Yama no Chaya, quite pricy but we loved it, the onsens are great and amazing service, food is overall ok, there are some highlights
• Open Air Museum - I thought this looked cool before going and then it was 10 times better when visiting, very diverse exhibiting and everything feels as though it is in the middle of nature (it technically is). Super pleasant and relaxing visit.
• Narukawa Art Museum - lovely exhibition and great view of the lake and Mount Fuji

Letdowns

The Hakone shrine where people take photo with the shrine gate and lake backdrop, extremely long queue so we skipped that, don’t recommend taking detour just for that

Kyoto - Nara - Uji

We spent about 6.5 days in and around Kyoto, it’s a generous amount of time and would have probably cut one day or so for Tokyo or another city.

Highlights

• Nara park - luckily when we visited it wasn’t so touristy, we picked a weekday and that could be why. The deers are amazing to see and especially how they just are scattered around a huge area and in temples etc. Nara also seems like a pretty liveable city
• Fushimi Inari Taisha - unless climbing is really not for you, I recommend to get there ~7/7.30 and climb to the top, it was nice to take the time there and enjoy the accomplishment of reaching the peak - quite a highlight of the trip! Also we combined it with Uji, I think it works really well
• The river cruise in Arashiyama - super fun ride and it was a solid 2 hours, we had really amazing weather and although we don’t understand Japanese the boat staff were still entertaining and we loved it!

Letdowns

• Arashiyama Bamboo Grove - it is not much more than a instagramable hot spot, it is quite small / short and very quickly packed with people, we did not enjoy it that much.
• Sagano romantic train - jam packed and was a short ride, while getting asked a couple times to take paid photos, could also be that the foliage was already fading in the area, thought it was not that great.

Some general tips and recommendations:

• Prep, prep, prep: as much as it might seem overwhelming, it really can make all the difference to your experience, of course you should leave some room for surprises and spontaneity, but I do recommend to plan well for your must-sees
• Send your luggage especially when you’re travelling far to smaller cities: in Kyoto city bus suitcases are not allowed, and in some places like Hakone it is simply dangerous to drag suitcases on really narrow roads that pedestrians share with cars
• Apple Pay: it is truly hassle free, really appreciated how easy and smooth this was
• Bring a reusable sealable bag for litter: there’s barely any trash cans in the streets especially in Tokyo, be prepared to take packages / water bottles with you

That’d be all for now - comment below if you have any questions!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/CrawDaddyMikaykay on 2024-02-13 03:04:38.

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Looking for some guidance on my itinerary. My husband and I are in our 30s, we both love anime and food. I'm trying not to have too rigid of a schedule, I don't want to spend my entire trip "planning" and rushing around trying to cram too much in. If there's a pop-up event for Jujutsu Kaisen, Demon Slayer, or Sailor Moon we'll make that a point to check out. I do have Celiac, so unfortunately I can't just walk in anywhere and eat, but have been using the FB Group 'Gluten-Free in Japan!' 

We're looking to go in October for 10 days, with 2 days of travel. Ideally the 2nd week since that's when our anniversary is and it's right after Chinese Golden Week. Flying ANA from D.C.

I've made several Google maps with all the places we're interested in, as well as any places I'm interested in eating. Obviously we won't hit up everything, it's just so I know what my options are. We both have Google Pixels and Verizon coverage. 

Any tips, recommendations, etc. will be greatly appreciated. Especially regarding the subway system. Thank you in advance!!

Day 0: Travel

• Travel from DC to Haneda Airport
• Exchange money, get welcome Suica/Passmo, eSIM/pocket wifi, transfer luggage through Yamato
• Planning on staying in a hotel near Shinjuku Station (depending on what time we get in, I will book the hotel for the day before so we don't have to wait for check-in and will alert the hotel staff prior to our arrival)
• Check in and go to the nearest konbini
• If there's time left in the day, check out Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden and Meiji Jingu. If it's too late, just wonder around and see what sparks our interest.

Day 1: Tokyo

• Go to Taito City to be at Benitsuru to queue up by 8am. This is one of the only things I'm planning as it books up for the day.
• Go to Senso-ji and Ueno Park until our reservation (or after, whatever)
• Go to Donguri Republic for the Ghibli Store
• Take line to Toshima City
• Check out the observation deck at the Tokyo Metropolitan Building
• Pokemon Center Mega Tokyo if we feel like it
• Buccaneer for a snack and some drinks (husband loves pirate themes)
• Yahatazushi for dinner
• Hotel to rest up then Golden Gai

Day 2: Tokyo - shopping

• Go to Chuo City
• Tsukiji Outer Market
• Pokemon Center Tokyo DX
• Mandarake Complex
• Akihabara Radio Kaikan
• Soranoiro NIPPON for lunch
• wondering/shopping/whatever catches our eye
• Gluten Free Kushiage Su for dinner
• Check out High Five and Folklore for drinks.
• Explore the area/bars until we wanna go back to the hotel

Q: Do you recommend going to the post office and shipping back your purchases, or just putting it all in a suitcase and lugging it around?

Day 3: Tokyo

• Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden and Meiji Jingu if we don't get to it the first day we arrive
• Shibuya Station from Shinjuku
• Shimbu Sakiya Ramen for lunch
• Shibuya Scramble Crossing
• Wonder around Shibuya
• Head over to Tokyo Tower and check out the area
• Rizlabo Kitchen for dinner
• Hotel to rest up and forward our luggage to hotel in Kyoto (Day 5)
• Back to Shibuya to go to the SG Club

Day 4: Hakone

• Head to Hakone-Yumato Station with our carry-ons/backpacks since we will forward our luggage to the hotel in Kyoto (Day 5)
• Hakoke Ropeway
• Hakone Sightseeing Cruise
• Hakone Shrine
• Amasake Tea House
• Mount View Hakone for lodging for the night and to get to experience a ryokan

Q. What would be the best/easiest way to get around Hakone? 

Q. Should we go to Kyoto from Hakone, or go back to Tokyo first? 

Day 5: Kyoto

• Hotel Chion-in Wajun Kaikan. Considering biting the bullet and just booking on Day 4 so we can just go right to our room.
• Wonder around Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka Path
• Starbucks Coffee - Kyoto Nineizaka Yasaka Chaya
• Philosopher's Path

Day 6: Kyoto

• Nishiki Market
• Tea Cermony either Camellia Flower or Kimono Tea
• Otagi Nenbutsuji Temple
• Melonbooks Kyoto for some shopping
• Engine Ramen for dinner

Day 7: Kyoto

• Early wakeup to get to Fushimi Inari before the crowds
• Once we've had our fill of Fushimi take a day trip to Uji
• Byodo-in temple and Tsuen Main Branch
• Just planning on wondering around Uji

Day 8: Osaka

• Once we get to Osaka Station, go to Namba Station
• Namba Yasaka Shrine
• Check into hotel (somewhere near Namba Station)
• Nipponbashi for shopping/exploring
• Genji-soba for dinner
• Maybe Tenma? Otherwise Dotonbori

Day 9: Osaka

• Kuromon Ichiba Market
• Osaka Castle
• Comeconoco Gluten-free Laboratory & Cafe for lunch (closed Mon/Tues, so may have to skip depending on the day)
• Dotonbori for shopping
• OKO - Fun Okonomiyaki Bar
• Drinking in Dotonbori

Day 10: Tokyo

• Go to the Post Office and ship out anything we bought
• Train back to Tokyo to Shinjuku
• Another hotel nearby Shinjuku Station
• Drinks/Shopping/whatever we feel like we want to see do. The plan is to just be back in Tokyo for the airport for the next day.

Day 11: Fly back to D.C.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/HugeRichard11 on 2024-02-12 02:26:46.

Original Title: Trip Report - Month in 2023 w/ lots of Pictures and Videos - Tokyo(Asakusa, Chiyo, Ueno, Akihabara, Odaiba, Yokohama, Shibuya, Shimokitazawa), Kyoto, Osaka, Kawaguchiko, Nara, Himeji, Kobe, Costco, and Anime!

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A late entry for this trip report as it actually was for last year, but I am planning on going on my next trip to Japan soon. So wanted to write about the places I’ve been and maybe I’ll figure out the places I’ve planned to go to in my next trip. Included pictures of attractions, maps, guides, views, etc.

Album for all these pictures if you don’t want to view them individually:

I broke down the Tokyo portion into different parts as it is just simply massive. Random fact is there are 23 cities comprised in essentially forming Tokyo. Each of those cities have their own charm and adventure that it truly is a place that you won’t ever get bored in for a long time.

Tokyo

Asakusa

This was the first place I stayed at and it was pretty amazing. Really has a great combination of old school traditional with a blend of the modern city. Insane amount of good restaurants many are mom-and-pop kinds which a few did not take credit cards. Good spot nearby other places like Tokyo Skytree, Ueno, and Akihabara. But not exactly central that it might not be a good base location if you travel further away often. My hotel has a restaurant recommendation map. Area like most of Tokyo cities is very crowded.

• Sumida River – I walked along this river path which seems to go on forever. Quite a nice place to go along for a stroll and it looks like they do a lot of nice landscaping for it.
• Senso-ji Temple – Probably one of the most popular temples to visit it’s very crowded which I experienced regularly since my hotel was right next to it. Still a great place to get the traditional temple shrine experience in Tokyo. You have to huff in that incense. Throw a coin in the donation box, make your prayer, then buy some charms or luck drawings.
  • There is a spot nearby south of the temple where you can take a picture of the whole temple for free called, Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center. Also has a year event map.
  • On the weekends there were food stalls available to the left of the temple. It has both the best juicy fried chicken and meat skewers I’ve ever tasted. I tried stalls at other tourist places I found these stalls and they really do not come close to this one.
• Marathon – Randomly one day I found all the roads blocked and a marathon going on. Stayed to watch for a bit while people waved to the camera, but it was an insane amount of people it literally never ended.
• Tokyo Skytree – It is close by Asakusa essentially a bit of a walk across the bridge to it. You can actually see where I took the first picture is between those two bridges. There’s two different elevation floor levels you can purchase. The slightly more expensive option is you pay to go at the very top which you have to walk up a spiral. The other is you stop at a floor a bit below that. Both are good options, but I decide why not go to the top. Was a cloudy day so the further out I saw was very foggy looked very apocalypse.
  • Kirby Café (Menu) – This is actually apart of the same building for the Skytree. The entrance is located outside on the 4th floor. I was able to easily get a solo reservation by checking the page the previous day since people cancel I assume daily. Food is good, but you obviously don’t come here for the food rather the theme presentation.
• WaterBus (Map Route) – This is a good option to take the water bus down the river to either Hamarikyu Gardens or Odaiba. Kind of expensive so would only do it once. Where you sit doesn’t matter since the best thing is going up on the top access and looking out into the river.
• Asakusa Kagetsudō Bakery (Google Maps) – Left of Senso-ji there is this bakery that sells Melon Pan sweet buns which are really good. They fill them with whatever ice cream you choose or can eat them as is. I got both a vanilla and matcha which were great. The vanilla and sweet bun were unsurprisingly extremely sweet.

Skipped: Didn’t skip too much as there isn’t much else, I wanted to check out besides maybe the Sumida Aquarium, but that would’ve been bundled with the Skytree or Kirby since it’s in the same building so more of a time constraint.

Next Trip Plan: Asahi Group Head Office Building, this is the HQ for Asahi Beer it has a rooftop bar with a nice views and drinks. Across the river with the iconic golden “foam cloud” on top of its building.

Chiyo

• The East Gardens of the Imperial Palace (Map) – Nice open area and garden grounds with some historical strategic defensive landscaping and buildings that made it interesting. Majority of the Castle was burned down here, so not much landmarks to visit it really is mainly a nice big area for a stroll with a few historical parts.
• Imperial Palace – The above gardens are a part of the Palace ground which is free to visit, but the Palace itself requires a guided free tour to visit the grounds. So I took a picture near the Seimon Ishibashi bridge which is iconic.
• Ginza – Nearby area well known for shopping, I stopped by and saw on certain months for the weekend afternoons they close the roads which is nice to walk around. Random Godzilla.
• Hamarikyu Gardens (Map) – Interesting historical garden which has quite a variety to it. After entering the bottom right entrance there is a very large flower field which often has some people taking pictures in. A couple rows of cherry blossoms with some free cat food on a rock! There are historic teahouses here along with a restaurant that sells tea and deserts in the middle of the pond, but I didn’t try it. Has an interesting contrast between historic and modern with the skyscrapers in the background.

Skipped: Imperial Palace Tour, I read reviews it’s not worth it since the tour is long walking around and is limited to looking at the exterior of government buildings since the Imperial Family still actually lives there.

Next Trip Plan: Tsukiji Outer Market, though keep hearing mixed opinions on it. Tokyo Tower / Zojo-ji Temple, bit unsure of what else there is besides taking a pic of the tower but still want to I guess. Mori Art Museum / Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, for the view I heard is pretty good.

Ueno

• Ueno Park (Map) – This park isn’t very large or has much nature spots. It basically consists of a large pond, a ton of museums, and the zoo.
• Ueno Zoo (Map) – The zoo is decently busy and you do see the animals pretty much guaranteed, but the reason and why many point out is the space the animals have seems rather small. You can see on the map the elephant enclosure where I was is just a square. Didn’t take any pictures of anything else besides the Panda since had to wait in line a bit to see it and I believe is the only worthwhile thing to see.

Skipped: Museums, overall I personally have become not as interested in going to museums overseas. Really don’t see a reason to visit them when traveling as I can go to the dozens back home. However, if I would go to one it would be the National Museum of Nature and Science, as it does look cool with the animal focus probably great place with kids.

Akihabara

• Akihabara Electric Town – I heard Akihabara is more towards recent anime shows and I do find that correct, but will say there is merch of very popular older shows occasionally in the reseller kind of shops if you look around. The area dedicated to anime isn’t very large from what I gathered as it’s mainly the radius around Akihabara Station for a few blocks to say Suehirocho Station. This is where you get the iconic feel that this place is about anime after that it goes back to normal Japan neighborhoods. It was decently busy since many of the buildings contain multiple floors of different businesses selling different kinds of anime merch on each floor, which helps keep it feeling anime focused while concentrated in an area....

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/wardXn on 2024-02-12 01:13:58.

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• I think I posted quite a fair bit of background information in my previous post here so I will not reiterate here for brevity
• Refer to link here for a map which details the entire trip based on an app tracker
• My goal is to provide datapoint for other parts of Japan that isn’t Osaka, Kyoto or Tokyo which I feel is well documented in this forum by other knowledgeable posters. Primarily, I intend to drive awareness for Shikoku, Shimane/Tottori and Kanazawa/Noto Peninsula which are hidden gems for people who would like to chance it
• Since 36 days is long, I intend to first cover Shikoku, Shimanami Kaido up to Hiroshima which is about 10 days.
• Special footnote/write-up is given for things that might be of interest e.g. getting sightseeing train tickets etc.
• If there’s interest for subsequent sections then I’ll consider making follow up posts for other sectors in due course (in particular, Shimane, Tottori, Kinosaki Onsen, and Kanazawa, Noto Peninsula).
• I include links to photos from my own (throwaway) blogger where applicable which I have originally shared with a few close friends; for now I will refrain from linking my blog in full as I do not think that is permitted. Please correct me if that is not the case.

Day 0 – Narita, Tokyo Station [Tokyo]

Touched down at Narita just after 1700 and cleared immigration at Narita Airport in 30 minutes. Was fortunate that the queue to redeem the JR Pass was also smooth, with under 20 minutes wait. All in all, I was able to get on the 1815 NEX train to Tokyo Station which is significantly quicker than my original estimate. Started to wait for the Sunrise Seto train arrival at around 2030; at that time there were already at least 3-4 other people in front of me queueing for the shower card. So if you want to shower on the train, get there significantly earlier before the official arrival time at 2150.I had managed to get the Single Twin bed which was barely enough space for me and my large luggage; bed was of the hard variety but I still had a pretty nice sleep overall. You are given one pillow and a pyjamas per bed so I got to have two pillows as a result. Slept all the way to Okayama where I was a tad too late to witness the train decoupling. Got some onigiri from Lawson to snack on since there’s no food options onboard to purchase.

SECURING SUNRISE SETO TICKETS – so you want to get those tickets…

There’s typically two ways of doing it: either by getting direct from the JR Midori-no-Maruguchi with a physical friend proxy right when the reservations are open at 1000JST [it’s so well-known that there’s a Japanese term for it i.e. 10時打ち lit. ‘strike at 10’], or getting it yourself online through the JRwest portal. I got mine through the latter, though I will note that you will need to be FAST to get it, like =< 1 minute fast from ticket selection to payment. The room reservation is only guaranteed when you make payment so you’ll need to do some dry runs if you are serious about it. I note that the Tokyo~Takamatsu/Izumo tickets sell significantly faster compared to the reverse route, so you might want to consider the reverse route for an easier time if you just want to ride it for the experience.

JR nationwide pass covers the basic fare, but you will still need the room reservation ticket.

Redeeming the tickets is simple enough – just retrieve it from an e5489 machine [JR west ticketing machines, specifically] and inserting your credit card that you have used for the reservation, as well as the reservation code. Do note that you can’t just retrieve it from those Midori-no-Maruguchis in Narita Airport or Tokyo Station as those are under JR East [I have been refused service by the staff on this matter]. Also, e5489 machines within Tokyo prefecture is limited so please check in advance where they are available.

Day 1 – Kotohira [Kagawa], Iya Valley [Tokushima]

Reached Takamatsu very early in the morning just before 0730. Managed to reserve all of the upcoming limited express trains via the e5489 machines, using the nationwide JR pass. The entire process of reserving ~9 limited express/Shinkansen tickets was done relatively quickly within 15 minutes; the only pet peeve I have is that you need to key in your passport number for every single reservation. There’s English option so no need to fret if you cant interpret kanji/hiragana/katakana. Took a train over to Kotohira to explore Kotohiragu. The view from the top overlooking the town is great, though the climb will be challenging if you’re not used to walking long distances (in my opinion, slightly difficult than the climb in Fushimi Inari, Kyoto). Also didn’t help that it was raining on the day. Had a nice sanuki udon meal along the shopping street. After that, I took the limited express Nanpu down to Oboke where I took the boat ride along the gorge. The train has a dedicated luggage compartment similar to the NEX thus no issue storing my luggage on the train. Innkeeper picked me up and drove me to look at the peeing boy statue overlooking Iya Valley before retiring for the night at the lodge [Kajiya Iya Romantei]. The lodging is undoubtedly one of the most memorable stays that I had in this trip, which in a sentence, is quintessential rural Japan living (and that is saying something for a ~36 day travel trip).

Day 2 – Iya Valley, Mount Tsurugi [Tokushima]

With the innkeeper gladly driving me around the valley, I explored some of the local hotspots such as the Oku-Iya vine bridges and the Nagoro Scarecrow Village. The scarecrow village was interesting in that it feels like a gloomy portend of most countryside towns/villages due to the ongoing ageing /depopulation situation in Japan. However, the main event was the snowy hike up Mount Tsurugi; due to its high altitude it was already snowing in mid-November. Took almost 2.5 hours to get to the top via the ropeway and down; there was somehow an eatery open near the top which was much needed for me to recharge before heading down. Ended the day with a scenic drive along Ochrai Village overlooking the valley.

Day 3 – Kochi [cityside]

Early start to the day, catching the first limited express train Shimanto at 0720 from Oboke down to Kochi. The morning view along Iya Valley was magnificent. After dropping my luggage at the hotel, proceeded to hit various hotspots such as Kochi Castle and Hirome Market to try out the seared bonito, before heading southwards towards Godai Observatory Post/ Makino Botanical Gardens. Ended the day with a visit to Kasurahama to look at the beach, as well as the Sakamata Ryoma Memorial Museum. While I didn’t manage to time my trip to coincide with the Sakamata Ryoma festival, I was still able to get on a time-limited scaffold structure to [view the larger-than-life size of him at face height](https://blogger.googleuser...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/RainClouds753 on 2024-02-12 23:16:08.

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Wow! This has been a long time in the making. My boyfriend and I went to Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka) back on April 25th - May 11th. This is going to be a long post, but I’ll try to bullet when I can. We went LAX - Haneda via All Nippon Airway, total $896 pp. Sorry for the formatting, I wrote this out on docs but the bullets didn't translate over!

Day 1 April 25th

Arrived in Haneda airport around 5 am - Personally I liked getting there so early, it gave us time to figure out the Wifi situation, get our Suica card, and it wasn’t busy as we went to our hotel. Thankfully, they let you leave your luggage there until the room is ready! Very useful.

Our first hotel was Roynet Hotel Ginza - very nice, I enjoy this brand of hotels.Ginza itself isn’t too fun imo, it’s more business-y and quiet, but it was a nice hotel and has tasty cafes around.

Our first food included Lawson: Amazing sandwich trio potato salad, egg salad, salmon dill. McDonalds: bacon potato fried pocket, fun. Cafe: Iced milk tea, iced coffee, apricot jam- SO tasty!Meandered around that massive 12 story Uniqlo, convenience stores, and then met up with our friends at Tower Records - It’s huge! I noticed a lot of places in Japan like playing Vinyl still? It’s fun!

Harajuku

• Weird seeing all those exotic animal places- otters, foxes, etc. I’ve done minimal research and it doesn’t seem too ethical?
• Totti Candy - Got the giant multi-colored cotton candy! I loved it.
• Kyushu Jangara for lunch - Got a window view of the street which made it fun to people watch, and the ramen was INCREDIBLE
• Walked around all the shops- Adidas, Galaxy Store, etc. and met up on and off with friends

Day 2 April 26th

This day we has a planned Tsukiji Fish Market Tour planned! I mistakenly thought it was more food-forward, but it was moreso about the history of certain shops/areas. However, we had a fun time and did get samples along the way - Wasabi peas (my favorite), dried squid, many beans, tomago. We were in a group with 3 other people, so we had a lot of time to chat and get to know each other.

After, we met up with 2 other US friends and one of the tour people hung out with us for the day! We tried eel, eel liver (I didn’t like), soda ice cream, wagyu skewer, whiskey, shochu, fried chicken, and CREMIA! If you’ve NEVER had Cremia and go to the tsukiji market, this was the best one I had. It was down a sketchy looking alley inside a building. It's 500 yen and is dispensed from a machine. I would literally kill to have this available in the states!!! I think about it all the time. It’s rich and fatty and perfect.

Overall, I loved the Tsukiji Market and would recommend checking it out! But I would 1. Go early or 2. Go on a day it rains. It was raining when we went (I did get soaked even with an umbrella), BUT it was a lot emptier compared to a beautiful sunny day I passed by and it was packed.

• Craft Beer Bar IBrew Ginza - Lunch after the market with some friends, got a beer flight and a bunch of table snacks. I’m not much of a beer person, so the quality was probably lost on me, but my friends enjoyed it.
• Imperial Palace Area - Walked around, took pictures, vending machine snacks, it was still raining on/off.
• Little Smith Bar - A friend’s dad recommend this place to him, so we went to check it out. I had a DELICIOUS tomato based drink and those little snacks that come with sitting at the bar, but overall we were kind’ve underdressed for how nice this place is - Definitely more of a sexy/date vibe here, not something to casually go to. Whoops.
• Went on a hunt to find somewhere to do my nails- everything was booked for days - Next time I plan to be prepared in advance and not wait last minute!
• Late night Konbini - Sandwiches, cold noodles, something we didn’t like, drinks, matcha latte before bed

Day 3 April 27th

Went back to the Tsukiji Fish Market for breakfast and got the same tuna nigiri we had the day before, along with some eel sushi. Went to the 3rd floor cafeteria and got an egg omelet. Delicious. We did get scolded by someone who said we couldn’t eat outside food in X area and made us move to Y area- But we were confused since we had both brought in food & ordered an omelet there. She also yelled at us in Japanese so I actually don’t know if that’s what she was saying.

Walked from there to the TeamLabs exhibit to meet 2 US friends and 1 friend who is from/lives in Tokyo. The walk there was BEAUTIFUL, we crossed over this bridge and it was peaceful to get some sunlight.

Okay, I feel like TeamLabs is a conversation I’ve seen on here a few times. This is specifically about the TeamLabs in Toyosu. Overall, I would highly recommend it, we ended up staying for about 3 hours. It definitely is both a social media picture place, but I feel like its very easy to do that for like 2 minutes, and then get engaged in the different exhibits at the same time.

Avoid the next list if you’d rather be surprised at what each area is like:

• Start by taking a trek up an inclined stream to clean your feet
• Crawl across inflated bean-bag like material, so fun to see kids running and older people crawling across
• The LED hanging white lights with mirrors everywhere, ethereal
• Cloudy water up to our knees, with projections of koi fish and cherry blossoms that would change as we interacted with them
• Inflated colorful balls everywhere, colors changed frequently
• Dome room that you could/were encouraged to lay down in to view floral blooming projections on the ceiling, my favorite room, visually relaxing
• Outside area with chrome eggs everywhere
• Infinity mirrors with living orchids around that would move higher and lower, stunning and smelled so nice. You go in groups so it isn't super crowded.

At the time we went, there was this extra exhibit area you could see if you ordered a specific ramen + drink combo, we all did and I have to say, the Vegan Ramen was FANTASTIC. I’m not vegan/vegetarian, but I do enjoy a lot of those foods. This was the best. It was so savory and flavorful and filling.

Akihabara:

• Intense anime stores that were like 8 stories high, not really my taste. I love anime but not like that.
• Beer Pong Bar Grove - Got some booze and snacks and went to play beer pong. As an American, you will not like this beer pong lmao it’s on a machine and you have to press a button to change turns and also there’s a timer and a worker who was off but just came to hang out was “showing us” how to play- !! I mean, I’m not going to say it’s wrong haha but it was certainly…different. But we liked hanging out with the staff and they did guest shots for us.
• Tried to go to a sake bar nearby where you pay by the hour and can sample X sakes, they told us they were booked.
• Met friends at Nabezo in Shibuya - Delicious hotpot, seemed fancier than the ones I've gone to in the US, sooo many food and drink options- AYCE. One of the broths we got I didn't care for, I believe it was the Sukiyaki. A little bland for me.
• Karaoke - I’ve only ever done karaoke where it’s public and in front of the whole bar, so this was a new experience for me! Fun with a big group.
• Ended the night at Tokyo Aburagumi Sohonten Shibuya - Late night noodles w/ chili oil. Small place, wouldn't really be for 'hanging out', but a great way to get some carbs and ending the night.

Day 4 April 28th

Changed hotels from Ginza to Shinjuku - Premier Hotel Cabin Shinjuku. It was a lot different from the very clean, quiet area of Ginza but it is SO FUN and I would want to stay in this area more, but I’m a very late night/drinking person. It was an INCREDIBLY small room though. And from the window view we saw a place called Gangbang. It’s different lol

• Ate lunch at kushiya monogatari - an AYCE deep frying place. They have meat, veggies, etc. and you get panko and batter. It was heavy but very fun.
• Checked out Muji, which we do have in LA but my bf has never been and I hate driving to LA and this was close. Got a thing of coffee, tea, and a soup.
• Kabukicho Tower - People watched, an Evangelion performance was taking place on a big stage with a DJ. We went to explore upstairs but soon realized there was nothing but the escalators kept going up?
• Met up with 2 friends from the states who also happened to be there and got food at Shogun Burger - honestly, it slapped, would eat here again. It also had the best high ball in a can I had the whole trip.
• Golden Gai area - 1st bar was nice and fun until some weird tourists came and totally killed the vibe by being really aggressive towards us/other patrons. 2nd bar owner did NOT want us there it seemed. 3rd bar was up on the second story and fantastic, I think it was called Cambiare was great- we ended up chatting with the bartender and other patrons the rest of the night.

Stumbled back to our hotel. One of the most fun drinking nights we had- would highly recommend staying nearby Golden Gai so you can drink and just walk back to your place.

Day 5 April 29th

• Sushiro for lunch - 6F of a building, and when you get inside you check in on one side of the lobby and get a ticket, then head to the other side and wait for that ticket number to be displayed and it tell you where to sit. Then you have a tablet to order and the food slides its way to you on this conveyer-type system. Basically 0 human interaction. We ordered like 30 plates and it only cost about $32 total I believe. It’s crazy. I know it’s...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Impossible_Lie_460 on 2024-02-11 20:39:23.

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Hello, does anyone have any recommendations on Japanese cultural activities to participate in? I already have a list of shrines to visit for my itinerary. I am not really a museum person (although if there are any that blew you away, feel free to share). My husband and I will be in Japan for the first time for about 28 days (April 10 to May 7). We will be in Osaka, Nara, Kyoto, Hakone, Kamakura, Yokohama and Tokyo. We are open to all suggestions. The main goal is to learn and try something new. These are some of the activities I have considered so far:

Osaka - Watching bunraku at the National Bunraku Theater

Kyoto - Miyako Odori at Gion Kobu Kaburenjo. I was able to buy tickets for 4/19. It comes with a traditional tea ceremony performed by a geisha.

Tokyo - Watching kabuki at Kabukiza Theater

Any tips/info on theater etiquette or tea ceremony etiquette for a tourist?

We will be in Tokyo during Golden Week so we are thinking about attending some festivals. I found Niku Fes (meat festival in Odaiba), Nakizumo Crying Baby Festival in Asakusa, Bunkyo Azalea Festival in Asakusa, and the Spring Festival in Meiji Jingu. Any other festival recommendations? How crazy should I expect festivals to be during Golden Week in Tokyo?

Other modern cultural activities:

Ryokan - We have a night in Hakone with an onsen and kaiseki

Stamps - I am thinking of collecting eki stamps and goshuin. Is it disrespectful to mix eki stamps, goshuin from Buddist temples, and goshuin from Shinto shrines all together in one book? Or should I do a separate book for each?

Karaoke (with a private room). Any chain recommendations?

Izakayas - I’m a bit apprehensive since we are introverts and don’t drink much. How was your experience?

Food markets - I have Kuromon and Nishiki on my list

Flea market - We will be in Kyoto for Kobo-san

This subreddit has been a wonderful source of information. Thanks in advance for your help!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/metafire18 on 2024-02-11 00:57:08.

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Hi there,

I wanted to share a program/itinerary that worked well for us and potentially for anyone looking for a good mix of "old/traditional", geeky, fun and yummy travel in Japan. If I had to do it all over again, I'd take the same route, because it was great!

I also try to write down some information that may be useful for others to save time and reduce anxiety :-) I think most of them have already been mentioned at least once on Reedit, though!

For the context, it was our first trip in Japan with my wife. 18 days including travel time. We wanted to go during November to enjoy autumn colors of mapple tree. It turned out that temperatures were abnormally high and autumn was delayed lol. We were still able to enjoy the autumn colors on the second part of our stay. For the record, the progress of autumn varies drastically from city to city. Kyoto seems to be the most advanced, I'd say (confirmed by a map/schedule found on site).

Stages

Day 1 * Our flight was at 9am and we arrived at Haneda airport (closer than Narita) around 7am the next day. We picked up our Pocket Wifi and loaded the Suica card. It's very practical to do it at the airport if you do it right. We stayed at Ginza during our stay in Tokyo. It's a nice place. Classy and quiet. Ginza is also very convenient for navigating the city, thanks to the nearby JR station. * Pokemon Center DX. There is a Pokemon Coffee in Ginza. It is not too packed in November. There is no need to book in advance IMO but we did not try to enter either. We did 3 or 4 Pokémon Centers during our trip in Japan. I can't think of a single one that stood out, either positively or negatively. They all offer something different in terms of decoration and are well worth a visit. * The Imperial Palace. There is a park with the foundations of a dungeon + small guardian houses. Not essential IMO but it does not cost much to go through. * We head then to Ochanomizu on our way to Akihabara. This place is full of music stores (guitars, basses, amps and stuff). As a musician, it's cool to see such giant displays for Gibson or Fender products. We then arrived in Akihabara to get a glimpse of the famous Electronic Town. During the week, the place is not packed at all. I would recommend to come at night time to see the neon lights. Also during the weekend, the streets are closed for the cars which make the experience different (and nicer). This place is a mix of maid coffee, arcade and Pachinko centers, IT stores and geek stuff. * We finished this first day with Ueno Park which is close to Akihabara. It's a nice park. It must be beautiful in Spring. This year, there was a delay for fall colors as the temperature were higher than ever in Japan (no snow in Mt Fuji either!!!). We went to the natural museum. If you did not have the chance to do a relatively big natural museum before, that's your chance. * Regarding food, we went to a ramen restaurant in the morning. We were not used to the ticket machine that is used in a lot of restaurant. The staff was not helping us much so quite disappointing experience to start but that was the only time we had to complain. Most of the time, staff in Japan are super nice and ready to help. We took ramen with shrimp tempura and it was super good. For dinner, we went to a Konbini (Family Mart seems bigger than 7 eleven I would say) and picked some Onigiri and Tayaki with custard. The food was very good value for our euros.

Day 2 * Big day with Shibuya in the programme. We started the day with Harajuku, the street of cosplayers and kawai culture. During the week, there are a lot of people in the street but not so many cosplayers. Nice experience though. You can pick some funny food here like fluffy pancake or barbe à papa. * We then headed to a zen experience at Meji-jingu temple. It was very nice. Not too many people during weekday. I would recommend to not go during the weekend if you are looking for a zen experience. The Yoyogi park just near the temple is very nice too. You are then near Shibuya. * Our goal was to first visit places like the Nintendo store. If you go in this building, I would recommend to go downstairs. There is a full floor of restaurants with an interesting ambience and a lot of choices. We then went to the cyberspace floor to visit the Nintendo store, Pokemon Center, Jump Store, Capcom Store, etc. One of the highlight of Tokyo for me as a big fan of video games and manga. A little disappointed by the Jump store which is rather small. In general, I was expecting bigger thing regarding "old and famous" shonen like Naruto and One Piece in Tokyo. Anyway, we spent a good amount of Yens here. * From here, you can take a door in this floor that lead outside where you can take nice picture in front of Mario Artwork and a sign "Nintendo Tokyo". Then take the stairs to reach a nice rooftop garden and have a view on Shibuya. I felt like I was in a cyberpunk city. We went then to another building where there is two big manga shops including Mandarake. Impressive quantities of manga and figurines. A must see before heading to Shibuya scramble crossing. * Shibuya scramble crossing is super impressive to see live. Of course, you need to cross it 1-2 times and feel the experience. You can enter the buildings near to have a higher view. There is a street full of restaurant near Shibuya. We went for food after saying hello to Hachiko.

Day 3 * Heading to Kamakura for the third day to have a little break from the big town. My advice would be to take the JR line to Kita Kamakura and then there is an interesting path to follow which is packed with temples, both buddhist and shintoist. * We visited a number of temples during the day, the names of which I've forgotten, sorry for that! * To eat, there is a big avenue full of restaurants. Do not hesitate to take small perpendicular street. We found a very nice family restaurant here with super good oudon and tonkatsu. Super cool experience. * Then we went to the famous bhudda and finished this journey with a view of the ocean. We were not able to see the Mt Fuji from the beach but I read that it may have good spot to view it on sunny day. From the beach, the train station is at 20min walk.

Day 4 * We went to Shinjuku for the afternoon. We visited the Gyoen Park. Very nice park with different styles of garden : italian, french and japanese. There was a chrysantem exhibition by the time. If you have the chance to see the 1000 thousands flowers style one day, its worth it!!! * We then went to Square Enix shop and coffee. The place is rather small but still cool with a lot of figurines from our favorite franchises including Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearth... We passed by the Square Enix building company without knowing it so pay attention. Apparently there is a stone with Square Enix writing on it. * We then went through Kabuchiko street. Interesting to see the volume of host/hostess coffee lol. We reach then Gigo (always fun to spend few hundreds yens in arcade game, the drum games are pretty funny), the Godzilla head, the 3D cat crossing (a must see of course lol). * Then, it was night time and we wanted to have a view of the whole city. We went to the Metropolitan Governement building. I recommend it. It's free to take the lift to the 45th floor. Super impressive view on many famous places and building of the city. * We ended the day with an activity you won't want to miss. We went to Omoide Yokocho after drinking few beers. This street is crazy. Its super tiny and packed with barbecue restaurants. The restaurant have 6-10 places where you can sit and enjoy street food. We went then to Gold Gai. Same concept but for sake and beer. One of the highlight of the trip for me.

Day 5 * On Sunday, we started the day in Ghinza visiting the Sony store and then went to Asakusa. Not sure if its the best idea to visit temples during the week end. The place was heavily crowded. The temple in itself is beautiful but the crowd may "ruin" the ambience here. We also did the big street food and souvenir shop street near the temple. Nice but again, too crowdy. * We finish the day at Akihabara as we did not had the opportunity to see it by night. We also found out that the city is closing certain streets during week ends including the main street of Akihabara. The feeling is different to walk on the center of such a big street. We did a couple of arcade games, a shop selling robots Gundam and others and a IT shop. * It was then time to say goodbye to Tokyo. Last night here and then we headed to Kanazawa.

Day 6 * First experience with the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kanazawa. Super nice experience. Cannot emphasise enough how much Japanese are organized when talking about public transportation. The Shinkansen is the point d'orgue of this. The little ballet of train preparation, people waiting in line and stuff is something to see and experience. * We arrived at Kanazawa in the morning. The city is very rainy it seems and we experienced it. We stayed in the train station few hours, booking tickets for Shirakawa-go for the day after, lunch and stuff. If you want to go to Shirakawa or others alpin small towns, book as soon as possible. It seems like the buses are full quickly especially the ones in the morning. * Then we headed to our first Ryokan of the trip. Ryokan is a must do if you have the opportunity. Sleeping in a Futon, siting on tatami,...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/daniraven844888 on 2024-02-08 22:08:47.

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Hello travelers! I was asked to make a review of my 3 day driving trip in Shikoku with my fiancee that we took in November.

We were originally going to spend the night in Beppu but found after a day of walking around, we were ready to ditch the tourists and take off to the island. We took the Uwajima ferry which was about 2.45 hrs from Beppu to Yawatahama. The pricing was roughly about 40 CAD a person and the ferry was really nice and quiet, with large areas to rest. You could upgrade to a private area on the upper floor, but we didn't feel that was necessary. There was a snack bar, small arcade, washrooms and you were allowed to step outside to smoke/vape. The ferry was very large and we did not experience too much movement.

We then took the train from Yawatahama to Matsuyama to pick up our car rental the next day. Through an app called ToCoo! That someone else recommended on here, we were able to get pick up in one city and drop off in another for a small surcharge (¥3000) which was super handy. We then drove the 2.5 hrs to Kochi city. It was a gorgeous drive, with tunnels galore and mountain views with little towns. Stunning.

Arrival in Kochi we had rented an air bnb in an old traditional house that was huge and gorgeous. Unfortunately at this time, my partner got a bad cold and we didn't do much that first night.

Next day: Ryugado caves - so cool! You take a giant escalator up the mountain to a cave that's about 2.5km long. Would not recommend if you are claustrophobic, have mobility issues or don't like creepy crawlies. Very hot and lots of stairs, but really neat. In total took about an hr. Below the cave is a little area with locals selling knives, fruits and local wares. Very good pricing.

Urado bridge to Katsurahama Beach area Local samurai hero Sakamoto Ryoma - statues and viewing points. This beach is known as one of the most beautiful viewing spots in Kochi. Umi no Terrace shopping area was full of local delicacies and souvenirs and nice little Cafe restaurants to stop and grab a bite. There is an aquarium but it we did not go in. Something about an aquarium next to the ocean always makes me sad. We left at dark and just went to a CoCo curry for dinner as the next day was drive heavy.

Next day : Kochi - Nagoro scarecrow village - vine bridges - Tokushima

We drove about 3.5 hrs to Nagoro. This was some of the most beautiful views of Japan I have ever seen. Little fishing villages nestled deep in the mountains, it was misty and raining a little, just adding the ambiance. Our little roomy made it all the way through the mountain roads which at a lot of times, were single lane roads.

Things to know about driving Shikoku :: The road often go down to one lane. There are mirrors on the corners to see if there is another car coming. Drive with caution. Look at the traffic boards. We used Google translate to assist as due to the rain, we were concerned about road closures. Our GPS did try to say the roads were closed a few times. They were not, the GPS just hadn't caught up with the times. So don't always trust it blindly. You will cross many bridges and go through lots of little towns that are beautiful and traditional. Obey and observe the lights. Some roads had lights at the beginning of them, due to one lane and road work you had to wait til the light went green. Be comfortable with heights as you are driving through the mountains, with sometimes nothing more than a tiny railing on one side.

Nagoro scarecrow village was amazing. We saw about 6 other tourists there. Everyone was respectful and kind. It was really emotional and poetic to see. If you haven't heard of it, check out Abroad in Japan or an episode of James May our man in Japan. Really was so worth it.

Another 40 mins down the road were the vine bridges. They were scary if you're scared of heights but peacefully set in a mountainside near a beautiful river. There were 2, plus you could go down and check out the water.

Drive to Tokushima took about another 3 hrs. We ended up passing through many more cool little villages and towns namely Oboke town which was all about yokai! They had lots of restaurants and places to stop and I was sad we didn't have more time to spend the night there and explore as I love anything with Japanese folklore.

Tokushima after dark was pretty quiet. We walked to the main downtown strip from our air bnb and found a nomihodai place with great food. I think it was 25$ CAD roughly for 120 mins all you can drink plus the food which was really well priced. Tokushima was extremely walkable and I wish we had more time but our flight back to Tokyo was the next day at 11am.

We experienced that English was not as prevalent on the island (obviously), but we were able to get by with Google translate and the little Japanese we know without an issues. Our pocket wifi worked like a charm the entire way with no isses. All in all we loved everything about Shikoku and would recommend to anyone who is looking to escape the city and see some gems of Japan. I can't wait to visit again! Thanks for reading this, if you got this far!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/MartinB105 on 2024-02-08 16:27:36.

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I did the Shimanami Kaido as part of my recent 16 day trip to Japan, taking place on days 10 and 11.

I arrived at the Onomichi Port Bicycle Rental place just after 08:00 from my hotel in Mihara. I've read that the bicycles here are low quality, but they're not much different than typical Dutch city bikes I've used for nearly half my life, so I think they're perfectly fine. They even had Dutch style wheel locks and dynamo powered lights! The cost was ¥3,000 per day, so ¥6,000 in total.

So after a quick ferry ride to Mukaishima (the first island), off I went amidst some light rain, cycling for my first time outside the Netherlands.

The first thing I realized is how much more dangerous cycling is in Japan. Despite all the talk of Shimanami Kaido being made for cyclists, the vast majority of the route is on normal roads alongside cars and other vehicles, with no separated cycle lanes, except for the bridges.

There also doesn't always seem to be clear rules about certain things, most notably when it's OK (or not) to cycle on the pavement instead of the road. Regardless, I actually did cycle on the pavement when possible because it felt a lot safer and there were practically no pedestrians using the pavements anyway, so why not?

A nice thing about the Shimanami Kaido is how almost the entire route is marked by a blue line painted on the road, with occasional markers indicating remaining distance to Imabari (the city where it ends). That doesn't mean it's impossible to go wrong, as the blue line does not extend into road junctions, and there's only small arrows before these junctions to indicate an upcoming turn that can be easily missed (as I did once or twice).

Now, although Shimanami Kaido is around 70km, I actually ended up doing around 90km in total, as my mid-point accommodation was a hostel on the far side of the Ohmishima (the fourth island), and I decided to detour around the north side of the island for some extra scenery rather than going directly through to the hostel, which added some extra time and distance to my journey.

Incidentally, getting to and from the accommodation was the only part of this journey that had hills that proved too difficult for me to climb on the bike, where I ended up having to get off and walk for a bit. I wasn't walking for miles or anything, but certainly not something I'm used to with the flat terrain of the Netherlands. This is probably why the map I was given at the rental place indicates these parts as orange "Intermediate Course", as opposed to the blue "Recommended Course" (there were also some red "Advanced Course" parts, but I didn't attempt any of those).

Staying in Ohmishima was an interesting experience. The town is small with limited accommodation options, especially on a budget, so I had booked a private single room in a small hostel, rather than one of expensive ryokans. Needless to say, the hostel was basic; a very small room with a place to hang my coat, a shelf to put my cycling helmet on (first time I've ever used one), and a single bed that you climb in from the end due to the walls on both sides. Compared to the hotels I stayed in during the rest of my Japan trip, this felt more like staying in someone's house.

Also for some reason, they had set the heating in the room to 26°C (79°F) when I arrived, so I had to shut that off immediately to stop the room from feeling like a sauna. Why the hell would anyone want a room to be that warm!?

After taking some time to rest and refresh, I decided to find somewhere to eat at around ~17:00, but Google Maps was showing nearly every restaurant in town as being closed for the day. In fact, I could literally only find one restaurant that was open until 20:00, otherwise I would've been stuck eating from the nearby Lawson, which isn't a terrible thing, but I'd rather take opportunities to try new places.

So off I went to the one and only open restaurant, a local okonomiyaki place. The town was eerily quiet with a relaxed atmosphere created by the gentle rain and the lanterns on the main street. I barely encountering a single person during my walk to the restaurant and back. The same was true of the restaurant itself, where I entered through a sliding wooden door to find a place devoid of customers and the old lady who runs the place behind the counter watching a small TV in the corner.

I'm guessing they get more tourists at other times of year, since despite seeming very local, she did have an English menu for me, so I was easily able to choose something. The okonomiyaki was very nice and also very cheap, although I did feel a bit awkward for being the only customer there the entire time, and not knowing enough Japanese to attempt any conversation.

Without much to do for the rest of the day, I had a slow wander in the park near the hostel before heading in for the night to look through my photos, catch up with my parents on a WhatsApp video call, and get an early night.

The following morning, I picked up some onigiri and a Monster from the nearby Lawson for breakfast before checking out of the hostel, and then was on my way again.

I completed the last three islands fairly quickly as I didn't want to hang around too much in the morning rain, but ended up spending a lot of time on the last bridge because the views there are just incredible, especially as the rain had stopped by then. Even in the January mists, it really is breathtaking to see all the islands and sea stretching off into the distance, and I couldn't help but stop many times to "just take a few more photos". I've really never seen anything like it.

Besides the views and the cycling itself, one other thing I love about the Shimanami Kaido is rolling down from the bridges, where the winding bicycle paths down to each island almost feel like a kind of "bicycle bobsled". I found myself using the brakes very frequently just to feel safe, which is not something I've ever had to do in the Netherlands.

After reaching Imabari station and dropping off my bike, my hotel was only a 10 minute walk away. The hotel in Imabari was actually the nicest hotel I stayed at during my 16 days in Japan, which was a pleasant surprise after the hostel.

The room was very spacious even by western hotel standards, and had an incredible view over the city from the 15th floor, with Oshima (the last island) visible in the distance, and it also included access to the onsen. I had to double check that I really only paid £50 for the night!

A few more things to note:

First: Regarding luggage: I left my case in a coin locker at Mihara station, where it's possible to use a locker for up to three days (it's written on the locker, but only in Japanese). I chose the locker instead of luggage forwarding to save money, which was a mistake, because it really inconvenienced my onward journey from Imabari to Hiroshima, and likely didn't even save me anything in the end.

See, when I was leaving Imabari, I had to take a "Highway Bus" to Innoshima Island (the 2nd island) to change to a local bus that would take me to Onomichi, where I could take a local train to Mihara to collect my luggage, then get the Shinkansen to Hiroshima. But Hiroshima was the destination of the Highway Bus I took from Imabari, so with luggage forwarding to my hotel in Hiroshima, I could've just taken that one bus for the entire journey, and it would've been cheaper and quicker than taking multiple buses and trains, and likely negating the higher cost of luggage forwarding.

I also had to spend some extra time in Mihara station because the coin locker broke and wouldn't open, so I had to get someone to help. They ended up having to use some tools to get it open.

Second: What you'll find on YouTube about the Shimanami Kaido is not a good representation of scenery of the entire route. Yes, there are a lot of nice views from and around the bridges, but there's also large stretches of the route along the islands just going through normal towns with old houses, factories, etc. that you won't see on YouTube.

Third: While I don't regret doing the Shimanami Kaido at a relaxed pace over two days (it gave plenty of time to take photos), I'd probably do the whole thing in one day and spend the extra night at the nice hotel in Imabari or Hiroshima if I did it again, since there really wasn't much to do in Ohmishima, and the hostel was very basic (and only marginally cheaper than the nice hotel in Imabari).

Fourth: I think it should be quite easy for most people to do the Shimanami Kaido one day as long as you start early enough. I'm 41 and not into sports or fitness, yet still found it pretty easy aside from the hills I encountered outside the recommended route.

Finally: I want to finish by saying that I really enjoyed doing the Shimanami Kaido in January. The cool temperature was nice for cycling, and I liked doing it with hardly any other tourists around. A greatly enjoyable experience overall. Recommended. Would do again.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/IMustSayThat on 2024-02-08 15:43:53.

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Hi everyone! This is the part 2 of our honeymoon trip report. You can find part 1 here, covering Osaka, Hiroshima and Miyajima.

Before I pick it up from where I left, a few more general thoughts:

• Google Maps: worked really really well everywhere we went. We got the Ubigi e-SIM before going so we had internet at all times, and google maps got us everywhere we needed. It even tells you which train car to get in so you're closer to you train station exit by the time you get out. Just once (on our way to USJ) it told us to stay in the train when we actually needed to change trains.
• Some places and restaurants will only take cash, so I would advise to always have cash with you. In the three weeks we were there we had to withdraw cash 3 times, and we got around 40,000-50,000 jpy each time.
• Before going we read about foreigners being denied entry in some restaurants or places with 'No Foreigners' signs - nothing like that happened to us in the entire trip. We were only asked to leave once from a shop in Matsumoto, because we were not wearing masks and we didn't have any on us, but the man was very polite anyways and if we had masks he would probably had let us stay.
• Jet lag: it took us good 5 or 6 days to get over it completely. So I would recommend having some food in your hotel room! If your jet lag is anything like ours, you will wake up in the middle of the night and you will be hungry.
• Buying food for the Shinkansen: every station is different, but from my experience it is better to buy food BEFORE you go through the ticket gate, as you will have more options. In a good few stations you will only find very small convenience stores and souvenir shops with not a lot of food options after the ticket gate, so If you see something you fancy eating, grab it before going in.

Now to the interesting part.

Day 6 - Himeji and Kyoto

• We arrived in Himeji by 9.30am and had our Shinkansen to Kyoto booked for 1pm, so we were there for 3.5 hrs and I think that was enough. We headed straight to the castle - you can get a bus from the train station or walk for 20 minutes, we decided to walk as it was a beautiful day and we wanted to see the town. There's no way of getting lost, you can basically see the castle from the train station and it's a big straight line getting there.
• Himeji Castle: we arrived at 10am and there was no queue. The visit itself was pretty quick - there's not a lot going on inside the castle. The interior is well kept and beautiful to see, but there's not much of an exhibition or information on the history, so you basically just go up all the floors, then back down and that's it. Still, the castle and the grounds are pretty impressive and I would recommend the visit. There is an English tour at 10am but we arrived too late for that (first come, first served), but I imagine the visit would have been more interesting in a tour.
• We bought the Himeji castle + Koko-en gardens combined ticket, so visited the gardens after leaving the castle. I do recommend going, especially if you're visiting during spring or autumn. We spent a total of two hours visiting the castle and the gardens.
• For lunch we had a Kobe beef burger at Kushiyaki Kobe Beef, a solid 9/10.
• We still had some time before our Shinkansen to Kyoto, so decided to walk around Himeji, just to find out that there's not much going on, the town is pretty dead. Most things worth checking are around the train station, so if you have any time to kill, I recommend spending it around the station and the shopping street close by (Miyukidori).
• We arrived in Kyoto, checked in to out hotel and rested for a bit. We got out for dinner and went to Aiba Curry. Such a good curry restaurant (9/10), so good we had dinner there twice.
• We then strolled along Teramachi-dori checking out the clothes shops, and walked towards Yasaka Shrine to see it lit up - it is really worth seeing it at night!

Kyoto hotel: Carta Hotel Kyoto Kawaramachi (6/10) - Excellent location, average room. I wouldn't recommend this hotel for a single reason: they told us they would handle forwarding our luggage to Tokyo upon check out, but when we arrived at the reception with our bags for checking out they simply decided they didn't offer this type of service. So there was a lot of unnecessary stress - checking out, going to a 7/11 to try to figure out the luggage forwarding and trying not to miss our reserved train tickets to the next destination.

Day 7 - Kyoto

• Early start to try and get some nice photos around Hokan-Ji/Yasaka Pagoda. We arrived right before 7am and there were about 30 people there. We then headed to Kyomizu-dera, arriving at 7.30am and leaving at around 8.15am - the place wasn't too busy, but there were A LOT more people there we we left than when we arrived.
• We then walked along Sannenzaka and Ninnenzaka, but because of the time all the shops were closed (most shops open around 10-11am according to the signs). So basically if you want to visit the above places with less crowds, you won't be there at the right time to check out the shops. There was a massive queue (50+ people) waiting for the Starbucks to open.
• We had brunch at Kacto (9/10 for the pancakes).
• We then visited Nishiki Market, arriving there at around 12pm. I almost decided to skip it because I was sure we'd seen enough markets in Osaka and Hiroshima, but I'm glad we didn't. This market is great. It was SO BUSY though. We spent around 2 hours looking at all the shops.
• We walked around Gion, then checked Chion-In temple and Maruyama park, which are cool spots, but not a must-see if your time in Kyoto is limited.
• Since we were close by, we decided to go back to Sannenzaka and Ninnenzaka. SO MANY PEOPLE, but we had fun checking out all the shops. We had apple pie at the Apple Pie Lab (10/10).
• At this point it was around 5pm and we decided not to do any more walking as we were already at 21k steps. So we just went back to the hotel and did some laundry, then went back to the Curry place for dinner.

Day 8 - Arashiyama

• To get there we got Bus #11 from Kawaramachi Shopping Street at 7am. There were only 2 empty seats in the bus and it's a 45-minute bus ride, so if you don't wanna stand, go early.
• Arashiyama Bamboo Forest: we arrived at 7.45am. Not a lot of people there, so we got some really good photos. We then walked around the park and checked the observatories, and left by 8.15am.
• We then visited Tenryuji Temple. It is located in a very beautiful garden, so we really enjoyed going there.
• We had tickets booked for the Sagano Romantic Train at 10am, so we walked to the train station and had breakfast at the Rickshaw Cafe (6/10) right next to it. Buy the tickets beforehand in Klook, as the ticket queues at the train station were MASSIVE. I recommend booking even-numbered C/D seats for the best views. The first train is at 9am, but I booked our tickets for 10am just to make sure we would have enough time to visit the Bamboo forest first. However, we could have easily boarded the 9am train if I had booked earlier tickets. I really recommend doing this, the views from the train are AMAZING.
• Once you get to the final train stop, you can get a train or a boat back. We opted for the boat - just follow the signs! A bus will take you out to the boat ride starting point. We didn't pre-book tickets to the Hozugawa River Boat Ride, and it took less than 10 minutes to buy tickets on the spot. It is a very slow boat ride (16 km in 2 hours), but I think it's worth doing it if you have the time. It was a sunny day, so the scenery was beautiful.
• Two hours later we were dropped off at Togetsukyo Bridge - I was shocked at the amount of people in the region. You could barely walk. We were starving but there were queues to get EVERYWHERE. So we decided to just leave. If you wanna check out the bridge and the shops around it, do it earlier, this was the busiest spot of the whole trip.

What I would do differently: Visit Togetsukyo Bridge and shops in the area right after Tenryuji temple. Then after that, get the Sagano Romantic train (with pre booked tickets for around 11am) and the boat ride. You would be done at around 2pm and could just head back to Kyoto.

• Back to Kyoto, we went to Kinkaku-ji Temple (Golden Pavilion). Honest opinion, I don't think it was worth it. The temple is a bit out of the way and VERY BUSY (like most things in Kyoto). So you are basically walking in a queue from the entrance to the exit, going around the temple and getting out.
• After visiting the temple, we got ramen nearby at Sabanji. 9/10, they only have one dish that comes in two sizes, a bit spicy for my taste but my husband loved it (hence the high rating).
• In the evening we had drinks at a rooftop bar. 10/10 for the views, 6/10 for the bar, as the staff ...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/MightyAwl on 2024-02-05 13:14:02.

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My partner and I had the most amazing Japan Trip this Oct/Nov. And I am feeling especially nostalgic on those cold February days and decided to share one of our absolute highlights of the trip. Our first day in Kyoto (accidentally) off the beaten path. The Kyoto-stretch was the one part of our journey I initially worried the most about as I've read about the crowds and was afraid that I wouldn't be able to warm up to the city. Our first day proved me so wrong, and I still think about the serendipity of that amazing day a lot and thought I would share!

We started off with a slow morning coffee as we reserved a slot in Saihoji Moss temple at 11am. We reserved our tickets only about 10 days in advance (via their website). Beforehand I heard mostly positive reviews (except for the price 25€/pP) and decided to book as I was so worried about the crowds and their reservation system guarantees a visit without crowding. We got there by bus and the area was already super different from "downtown Kyoto". We waited in line and were granted access with about 50 other people. This part was kind of sad though, as there were a few people who dindn't know about the temple's reservation system and were sent home. The first part of the experience is copying a sutra to "calm" yourself and get ready for the gardens. I looooved the experience and loved that the sound of the collective pen strokes on the paper. Once you were finished you could enter the garden. It definitely isn't huge, but it was super lovely. The sun at noon was so beautiful and I think I took about 200 pictures all of beautiful sunray patterns on the lush green moss. Some people seemed to not appreciate the atmosphere as much and practically sprinted along the path. We spent an hour there and absolutely treasured every moment.

Next we visited Arashiyama Monkey Park Iwatayama. And as much as I loved the park itself. The journey there was one of my absolute highlights that day. We decided to make the best of the sunny day and walked from the moss temple to the monkey park, starting with amazing coffee at the "Bamboo Coffee Kyoto" right next to the temple. It had a lovely outdoorsy vibe and very good drinks. The 40 mins walk from there to the park were so special! Until we were super close to the moneky park and the downtown area we didn't see a single person on the lovely streets. Instead we saw cute houses, serene landscapes, empty playgrounds, some less famous temples and could witness the non-touristy part of Kyoto (for the exacte route just check out google maps form Saihoji to the Monkey Park).

After the monkey park which was super fun we wanted to hit Arashiyama Bamboo Forest as I really wanted one of those famous pictures, but.....we could barely walk on the side walk as it was so busy in the area and decided that coming from Koya-San the day before we were not ready for that many people.

Instead we hit the bus and drove to a temple I stumbled upon on Google the day before: Otagi Nenbutsuji Temple. It is a temple on the outskirts of Arashiyama with 1200 unique and whimsical statues and the bus stops right outfront the premises. In the whole temple area it was only about 10 people exploring the amazing moss covered statues. I took so many pictures. There are statues of families, statues with cats, statues crying and laughing. It was an amazing place to explore. If you are up for a little bus drive I can 10/10 recommend.

As the bus only very seldomly drives all the way up to the temple and back to the city we decided to walk back down rather than wait for 30 minutes. It turned out we stumbled upon "Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street" a lovely street that transports you right back in time. The old houses were either still lived in or converted into lovely coffee shops where you can enjoy your matcha in peace.

After about 10minutes of walking we saw an entrance to another Temple "Adashino Nenbutsu-ji Temple" and decided to check it out for 500yen. It was super lovely and except for one other couple we were the only one's there (it was already stating to get dark by that time). We wandered around the beautiful area and I almost cried tears of joy as I saw they have a BAMBOO GROVE! My partner and I took some lovely pictures and non of them had to be staged around hundreds of tourists as there was not a single person close by.

We walked the rest of the path back to the city seeing other lovely temples, cute cafes and odd museums (for example a folk doll museum) but were to tired and happy to check them out further. Maybe next time...

Conclusion: get lost in Kyoto, it's the best!!!

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/KevinAlc0r on 2024-02-05 12:51:00.

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I went for a trip to Kawaguchiko today. The snow was unexpected but it was beautiful! We already booked a highway bus from Kawaguchiko to Shinjuku but due to the heavy rainfall the bus was suspended and we tried to get back by train, taking the Fujikyuko(?) line to Otsuki station and planning to transfer to JR Chuo Line. However, the JR Chuo Line is heavily delayed and suspended today, we don’t think it will move any time soon. We have been stuck at Otsuki for more than 2 hours with all trains not moving at all. The station staffs all said that there is currently no clear time when the train will move.

We gave up and exited the train platform and looked for hotels around Otsuki station but they are all full. I checked google maps and it said there are some buses operating from a nearby town but I don’t know how to verify if the bus actually operates at this weather. What should I do? Is there any bus app that I can use? All taxis won’t work to Tokyo either. I am planning to book a nearby hotel and go back to Tokyo tomorrow morning, any advices on how do I find which transportation will be useable tomorrow besides the train?