This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Plastic-Act-7905 on 2024-11-29 19:25:36+00:00.
My wife and I took a trip Nov 8-27. Posting rough itinerary and takeaways below.
Nov 9-16 Tokyo
- Biggest thing for Tokyo is prioritize and do what you want to do. I wouldn’t feel pressured to do certain things because even with a full week there was still so much we felt like we missed. Nov 9
- Arrived around 5 PM and just ordered Uber Eats to the hotel lol
Nov 10
- Teamlab Borderless - very cool, worth the hype
- Harajuku Thrifting - everything here was very expensive. Like even more than you would see in the US but I don’t thrift outside of like Goodwill in the US lol
- Harry’s Animal Cafe - I know there is a lot of hate about the animal cafes on here but if you are going to do one I would suggest doing your research. The Harry’s that we went to had conditions similar to what you would see in a US pet store so didn’t seem too bad
Nov 11
- Pokémon Cafe - really cool if you can get a reservation. Reservations open up 30 days prior but we managed to get one the day before ~10 PM Japan time. You can also lineup at the cafe (was no line when we were there)
- Ginza 6 - very very very bouje mall
- Ginza Art Aquarium - this was a skip for us if we had to do it again. Did the whole thing in maybe 20-30 min and tickets weren’t very cheap
- Ginza Shopping - GU and Uniqlo are GOATed shopping stores for men and women’s. Made us wish we brought another suitcase
Nov 12
- Ueno Zoo - Another pass for us. Cool to see a Panda but took up over half a day to see a lot of animals you can see at US zoos
- Senso-Ji Temple - this one is probably the highest on the list of temples we saw in Tokyo. Ton of food and vendors around the temple as well. We ended up hanging around here for dinner and did a batting cage afterwards
Nov 13
- Food Tour in Kichijoji - one of the best things we did our whole trip. Kichijoji was a great city that had very few tourists but was still upbeat. We did our tour with Culinary Backstreets. It was a little expensive but cool to see restaurants and food we wouldn’t have known existed
- Yebisu Christmas Plaza - from what we have seen, the US seems to do Christmas a lot bigger than Japan. There was a Christmas tree and some lights here 3-4 shops and the mall was pretty but kind of a let down
Nov 14
- Rabbicour Head Spa - my wife loved this so much. It was relaxing and a much needed break after all the walking we had been doing. Worth it for me as 2.5 hours of treatment between us both was ~$200.
- MiPig Cafe - this was the best animal cafe we went to from the animal treatment as well as experience. If you’re doing one animal cafe here, MiPig is good.
- Shibuya Sky - Very cool. Heard you only needed to do one sky tower and this one was worth it. We did it at night.
- Mixology Salon - very thoughtfully made drinks but location is a bit strange in the top floor of Ginza 6
Nov 15
- Imperial Palace - We went at 11 AM and didn’t realize you needed to wait in line for tickets. I would recommend doing research before you go here if you want to actually go in and see the grounds
- Yokohama - we traveled to Yokohama’s China town which was beautiful and had a lot of very cool buildings and architecture (again not many tourists here at all)
Nov 16
- Traveled to Kawaguchiko via Bus
- When I was researching hotels/AirBnBs around Mount Fuji I couldn’t find much but we found the most AMAZING place even looking it up after staying it was hard to find but it’s a private single bed villa with a sauna and hot tub with gorgeous Fuji Views. Phenomenal breakfast and dinner included. Very new so can’t find much info.
Nov 17
- Rented car and drove around Kawaguchiko Lake - this was probably my favorite day. Fuji is so beautiful and the drive around the lake all day with fall leaves was incredible. There was some festivals going on with food stalls and vendors. Would recommend staying in Fuji for at least a day in Japan. Gives a change of pace from the cities.
Nov 18
- Traveled to Kyoto via Bus -> Shinkansen
- Autumn Festival at Nijo-Jo Castle- this was something to do but was a little pricey for what it was. Castle was cool to see lit up but was a bit disappointing
Nov 19
- Cooking Classes - Booked through TripAdvisor and had a great class making Gyoza and Ramen
- Sanjusangen-do Temple - this was very cool. The 1001 golden statues were incredible to see but sad you couldn’t take pictures
- Tenjuan Temple - This one was also very pretty. A bunch of temples in this area. Garden was very scenic with beautiful Koi
Nov 20
- Fushimi Inari - Tried to wake up early for this one to avoid crowds. Arrived at 8:30 and there was still a decent amount of people
- Osaka Day Trip - We did the Aquarium (very cool and able to see the animals very close. Exhibits are very wide and deep) and then went to downtown Osaka. Side note: we got Rikuros cheesecake and thought it was mid/below average
Nov 21
- Arashiyama Monkey Park - top three coolest things we did. The hike up to the top is TOUGH but totally worth it once you’re up there. Monkeys are all free roaming and you can feed them through a fence.
- Arashiyama Bamboo Forrest- Very crowded but cool to see bamboo I guess
- Downtown Kyoto - Great shopping in downtown Kyoto. Kyoto t-shirts at the anime Store are very cool as well.
Nov 22
- travel to Kanazawa - Shinkansen
- Just did dinner, grabbed dessert, and headed back to hotel
Nov 23
- Tea Ceremony, Ring Making Class, and Pottery - fun classes all booked through TripAdvisor
- Omicho Market - if you are here you have to find the beef stand that sells A5 beef. The seared steak nigiri was one of the best bites of the trip
Nov 24
- City Tour- this was the only tour tour that we booked and I kind wish we didn’t. No shade to people that like tours but we would have probably found all the spots on our own and the cultural info wasn’t worth what we paid.
Nov 25
- Travel back to Toyko - Shinkansen
Nov 26
- Last minute Donki Shopping
- Shuttle to airport and flight
General Takeaways
- I learned a decent amount of Japanese (Duolingo) and it was helpful. I would try to learn a few phrases.
- We shipped our big bags three times and didn’t have any trouble. The hotels will handle most of it
- walking on the other side of the sidewalk takes some getting used to
- the cities are extremely crowded especially around rush hour. People will cram into the trains
- the fire trucks sound like an apocalypse. I was legit scared the first night when I heard one at like 4 AM. I thought it was an earthquake something
- people are so kind. Definitely ask for help if you need it
- Google/Apple maps is so helpful
- Suica Card on your iPhone is a must for subways soooo much easier (I didn’t understand how to do this when I first arrived but you just scan in when you enter the gate and scan out after and it charges based on where you scan in and out)
- don’t be too worried about societal rules just be respectful of others
- Generally, we didn’t wait in line for restaurants and still had plenty of very delicious food. That being said, make reservations where you can.
Happy to answer any questions anyone has! Overall, we loved Japan so much. Lot of walking and lot of people were the only real downsides but those were anticipated.