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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Infamous_Lab7531 on 2024-11-22 14:38:07+00:00.

I went to Japan for the first time in October of 2024 and I thought my report could be interesting for some people who are considering to visit Japan (especially solo) themselves.

A bit of context first: I am from Germany, 28 years old, and have never been outside of Europe with the exception of two trips to the US in 2022 and 2023 so traveling solo to Japan was a big deal for me and I spent a lot of time planning every single detail of my trip. I like Japanese video games and anime, but I have also been interested in Japanese culture in general for quite some time. The main focus of the trip was seeing the big cities, art and history, and trying as much different Japanese food and drinks (including fine dining) as possible.

I don't want this post to be too long so instead of going into detail for every single day I will write some general impressions, a few things about each city, some details about food and drinks, and things I would do differently next time. Feel free to ask questions about any details in the comments though.

General impressions of Japan

Japan is probably one of the best countries in the world for solo travel. The vast majority of restaurants allow solo diners, finding a reasonably priced hotel room isn't too difficult, and a lot of things that are commonly seen as group activities like karaoke or seeing a movie are normalized to do solo. I already know that I will return many times over the course of my life and I will probably travel solo (or with a s/o) most of the time. I know that xenophobia in Japan is currently a hot topic, but I haven't experienced any discrimination to speak of. Some people might be reluctant to speak much English, but that has cultural reasons and they won't generally refuse to talk to you. That being said, I am a white dude and my experience is not universal. The only truly uncomfortable part of my trip was jet lag. It wasn't bad flying to America so after my first successful night I thought it was gone, but that was not true at all. The second night I went to a couple of bars, forgot to set my alarm clock, and slept until 2PM. The following days were pretty bad and I was constantly tired. I will definitely be more careful next time.

Tokyo

Tokyo might be my favorite city in the world. I haven't been to NYC in two years though so it might be recency bias. Everything is so clean, trains are reliable and on time, people are considerate of each other, and it's not nearly as loud as you'd expect considering the amount of people that are in the city. People generally speak English, but it's still a good idea to learn some basic Japanese for everyday interactions. EDIT: This is mostly true for people who work in customer service, but not necessarily for everyday Tokyo residents. Also if you actually want to have conversations with Japanese people that go beyond ordering food at a restaurant you should definitely learn some Japanese. END OF EDIT. I returned around a month ago and I still miss this city every day. Some attractions I enjoyed were the Tokyo National Museum which has a couple of really interesting exhibitions and a beautiful garden, Akihabara which is a must as a gaming or anime fan, DisneySea which has enough unique rides for people who've been to Disneyland or WDW before, and (somewhat surprisingly since everyone only ever talks about Shinjuku and Shibuya which were also great though) Ginza at night which has a lot of nice bars, restaurants, and izakayas. A lot of the places in Ginza are a bit more expensive though.

Kyoto

A lot of travelers and locals I spoke with told me they love this city, but I probably won't return anytime soon. It's really pretty and I can definitely see the appeal, but the tourist destinations were so crowded that I didn't enjoy visiting them a lot. Some of the side streets in Gion and Arashiyama are incredible though. Nijo Castle was disappointing and I wouldn't recommend visiting unless you have a lot of time in Kyoto. I just thought it was a bit boring. Kokedera (moss temple) is pretty close to Arashiyama and I enjoyed my time, but it's one of the most expensive activities of my whole trip at ¥4,110 and the whole visit only took around one hour. Public transit is pretty bad compared to Tokyo and I took a lot more taxis in Kyoto than in Tokyo. I think everyone should visit the city at least once to see if they like it or not. Just do everyone else a favor and actually stay in Kyoto for a few days because the amount of tourists in the city would not be nearly as bad if people did that instead of only staying for a day and returning to their hotels in another city.

Osaka

I only spent one day in Osaka during my time in Kyoto. I saw the Umeda Sky Tower, Osaka Castle, and spent some time in Dotombori before moving on to my dinner reservation and returning to Kyoto. I enjoyed my time in the city a lot and I will definitely return next time. Umeda Sky Tower was really cool despite the Osaka skyline not being particularly beautiful. It's a bit pricey at ¥2,000, but I thought it was worth it. Osaka Castle is very pretty from the outside, but the museum on the inside was a bit underwhelming for me personally, especially since it was so crowded and the view from the top isn't anything special. Dotombori has a great vibe and I wish I had spent the full evening there.

Food and drinks

Restaurants and bars are always one of my top priorities when traveling so Japan was obviously not different. I spent a lot of time researching the best places to visit so I can try as much different Japanese food at a high quality as possible. What really impressed me was how high the standard is in Japan. You can really just walk into any random shop and be served food that is at least good, if not excellent. This is what I miss the most, the fact that you can easily get cheap and high quality food everywhere. Germany is unfortunately not like that at all. I definitely recommend trying more than just konbini food, ramen, and sushi. I loved the Chinese gyoza places, katsudon, tempura, yakitori, and even "western food" like curry and hamburg steak.

If you care about fine dining, these were my highlights:

• L'Effervescence, French, ***, tabelog silver, ~¥50,000 including alcohol free pairing

• Takayama, Italian, *, "excellent", ~¥50,000 including champagne and wine pairing

• Kiyama, Kaiseki, *, tabelog silver, ~¥50,000 including sake pairing

• Gion Nishikawa, Kaiseki, **, tabelog bronze, ~¥50,000 including sake pairing

As for bars, I visited a ton in Tokyo and not as many in Kyoto. My favorites were High Five, Folklore (!!!!!, incredible drinks and relaxed atmosphere), and Ben Fiddich, but memento mori, Tokyo Whisky Library, The Bellwood, and Bees Knees in Kyoto were great as well. I didn't have a single bad cocktail and some of them were are among the best I have ever had. I especially like the "fresh fruit cocktails" which usually use in-season fruit and a matching spirit. I had one with fresh grape, brandy, and champagne and I could have had ten more. Not that it would be advisable to do so.

What would I do differently?

I would definitely be a bit more careful with my jet lag now that I know how much it affects me. Try to sleep as much as possible the first few nights and not drink as much alcohol early on. What I would also change is the trip length. 13 nights simply isn't enough considering the flights were 14-15 hours. Next time, I will spend three weeks in Japan. I will also book fewer restaurants in advance to have some more space for spontaneous meals. Other than that though, I am pretty happy with my preparations. I got an esim for internet, activated it immediately, once I left the plane, got a suica card on my phone, withdrew some cash at an ATM, and was pretty much ready for Japan once I got into my first train. Packing light and doing laundry on my own didn't take a lot of time out of my trip and it meant I could travel with only a carry on.

I definitely recommend everyone go and visit Japan. It was the best trip of my life and I am already thinking about the next one.