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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Aellaisbad on 2024-08-13 23:34:01+00:00.
Last November I went on a trip to Japan with two friends for just over three weeks. I put a significant amount of prep into this trip and while a significant amount of it was unneeded, it allowed me to have a wonderful trip that I don't at all regret. Post is a bit late, but felt I should give back a bit before making an itinerary post.
This post's formatting and idea is roughly based on this wonderfully formatted post.
Background
We're a group of gamers with a nearly ten year age gap between us and significantly different interests that required a large amount of cooperation and sacrifice from all of us to make things work. In retrospect, doing more things separately would have been a better idea.
Myself: 29 y/o - History, Architecture, Culture, Nature, Photography, Anime
Dietary Restriction - Semi-Kosher (No Pork, Shellfish, etc)
Primary Interest - Shrines, Museums, Gardens, Exploration
Friend #1: 33 y/o - Food, Arcades, History, Culture, Music (Electronic)
Primary Interest - Arcades, Music, Wrestling
Friend #2: 24 y/o - Culture, Food, Anime, Shopping
Primary Interest - Weeb?, Music, Chilling (idk dude was vibing the entire time)
Statistics
Budget
Everything here is in USD. Exchange rate for most of the trip was around 149:1 - JPY:USD. Everything was split evenly and below is my personal spend, but I did sometimes spend for my friends without splitting it.
| Category | Spend | Information | |
|
|
| | Flight | $1798 | Premium Economy RT - United Airlines, nonstop to HND, return from NRT | | Hotel | $1837 | 24 Days, including Ryokan | | Transport | $278.91 | 2x Shinkansen, Suica, Domestic Flight - FUK > HND | | Shopping | $1495.20 | I spent way too fucking much LOL | | Food | $670.20 | | | Cash Spend | $394.43 | Almost all was shopping & food | | Attractions | $125.62 | Museums, Oberservation Decks, Events, etc | | Utility | $207.60 | Ubigi eSim, Travel Insurance, etc | | Total | $6820.17 | Numbers may not perfectly align |
Admittedly, looking back this was much more than I initially intended.
Funny Numbers
Total Spent @ Convenience Stores - $153.23 USD
Total Spent @ B-Side Label - $247.94 USD
Most Expensive Single Item Purchased - Anime Figure - $202.28 USD
Most Expensive Meal - 神戸牛 ステーキ仙 - $110.73 USD
Average Distance Walked
For myself and Friend #1, we had little difficulty handling the walking during the drip. I would, however, strongly recommend taking a pair of shoes you are used to walking longer distances in. I tried out a new sole for my shoes and this was a mistake that caused me to develop a blister in only 4 days. Good thing I brought my old soles.
- Tokyo - 9.31mi / 14.98km
- Kyoto - 9.92mi / 15.96km
- Osaka - 11.46m i/ 18.44km
- Hiroshima - 9.12mi / 14.57km
- Fukuoka - 9.86m i/ 15.87km
- Total Average - 9.14mi / 14.71km
Cities Visited & Photos
With hindsight, I'd have made Kobe a day trip, extended Hiroshima and Fukuoka a day, and pulled a day off of the final leg in Tokyo.
Tokyo - 4 Nights
Kyoto - 4 Nights
Ogoto-onsen - 1 Night
Osaka - 4 Nights
Kobe - 1 Night
Hiroshima - 2 Nights
Fukuoka - 2 Nights
Tokyo - 5 Nights
Daytrips:
- Yokohama
- Himeji
Accommodations
Nearly every reservation made on this trip was made through Booking.com. In hindsight, we could have saved around 100-200 USD over the full trip booking directly with hotels, with the main savings coming from Tokyo. Some hotels offer early bird or member discounts that really do come with savings. The only exception to our choice in hotels was in Kyoto where we stayed at an AirBnB in Higashiyama. Keeping opinions out of this so as not to break Rule #4.
Tokyo:
- Tokyu Stay Ikebukuro - Convenient Location. Ikebukuro was an amazing area to stay in.
- JR-EAST HOTEL METS Akihabara - Convenient location. Akiba was a boring area to stay in. Would not stay in Akiba again.
Kyoto:
- Tsukinowacho House - Excellent location.
Otsu:
- Biwako Hanakaido (Ryokan) - Ryokan.
Osaka:
- Hotel WBF Hommachi - Solid location.
- Osaka Excel Hotel Tokyu - Solid Location.
Kobe:
- Kobe Tor Road Hotel Sanraku - Alright location.
Hiroshima:
- Smile Hotel Hiroshima - Solid location, but requires walking.
Fukuoka:
- Hotel Grandolce Hakata - Excellent Location.
Impressions
- Tokyo is very clean, but very impersonal. As a city, I did not enjoy it all that much. As a vacation destination, however, it was lovely.
- Kobe was surprisingly dirty - for Japan. The amount of garbage on the streets surprised me as opposed to Tokyo/Osaka. It was the only city during my trip that I noticed was significantly less clean than other cities.
- Kyoto is absolutely lovely late at night and early in the morning. As a tourist in Kyoto, I can comfortably say I hate tourists in Kyoto. Hypocrisy, woo!
- Trains are so much quieter than in many other countries. Both the actual trains and the people, although the latter was expected.
- Japan is not as much of a cash society in the cities as I expected. The further out you go though, the more you'll need cash. I made it a rule to keep ~5-10k yen on me at all times.
Advice
- Garbage bins aren't that much of an issue. Either keep it on you or return it to where you got it. If you bought something at a conbini and eat it there, throw it out there. If you buy something from a stall in front of a shrine and eat it there, return your garbage there. If you take something with you, hold onto it. Stations and hotels usually were the most common places to throw things away.
- Multiple credits cards are really worth it. My AMEX worked online where my Visa did not. Where either of those failed, my Mastercard didn't. Having one of each came in handy. My AMEX was my most used card followed by my Visa. I used my Mastercard thrice.
- Schwab Checking was really worth it for pulling cash out of ATMs with no foreign exchange fee and the ATM refund. 100% worth it if its available to you.
- Ryokans can sell out quickly. Check when availability goes up and book then. There is also usually availability in the immediate 2-4 weeks that is easier to land due to cancellations.
- If you book your Shinkansen tickets on Smart-ex you can attach them to your IC card so you don't have to wait in line at the ticket machines.
- Get an eSim so you don't have to wait in line at an airport when you arrive. Most support tethering, so you won't need a wifi device.
- Use luggage forwarding services. Most hotels offer them. Just pay and forget. It'll show up at your next hotel without worry - just check with your hotel if that's okay first.
- Don't obsess over the Shinkansen/trains. Use flights when possible. 7h Fukuoka > Tokyo by Shinkansen vs 1h30m by flight + 30m baggage? No contest. And the flight is cheaper, too. Busses can be great too.
- Take a taxi if you're leaving Kyoto Station with Luggage.
- Don't book your Shinkansen leaving Tokyo Station immediately after rush hour. Taking luggage onto a filled train during rush hour is not fun for you or the people around you.
Reservations
I'll label all the reservations I attempted to get and the process that we went through to get them. We were not successful with all of them.
Booked without issue for 1h - 40m before sunset entry time about 6h after release of tickets directly with Shibuya Sky. We found that Klook's availability was delayed and as such did not make a sunset booking likely. We used the direct webket link that is now hidden in tiny text. This may have changed - hope so, because I hear many people have card troubles.
I slept in for this one and missed out. Decided not to bother and push it off to my next trip. After an hour there were no reservations left. Oops.
We didn't realize it was closed for a large portion of our trip so ended up booking for December. We had 3 people attempting to book and the sheer demand paralyzing the website prevented 2 of us from doing so. My mother ended up being the only one able to purchase the tickets despite being behind me in queue.
We were ready to go on this one - both Friend #1 and I. Sold out within ~50 seconds. Lag wasn't horrible, but we d...
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