Japan Trips & Travel Tips

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/skibearz on 2024-03-28 18:07:45.

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TL;DR:

• Fushimi Inari (in Kyoto) and Miyajima (near Hiroshima) were highlights
• Stop often for street food
• Knowing a little Japanese helps, and so does Google Translate
• Get to the train station early if you don’t know it well
• Jet lag may reduce your itineraries on the first few days (took us ~5 days to get over it)
• Global Entry rocks if you’re a US citizen

Prep:

• Bought flights and reserved hotels in advance
• Made 2 restaurant reservations
• Reserved Pocket Wifi in advance
• Bought appropriate clothing (walking shoes, flight slippers, etc.)
• Sleep schedule change to combat jet-lag (not sure if this helped, see TL; DR)

Took 2 rolling bags, 2 backpacks, and 1 purse as carry-on - bought 1 duffel bag for souvenirs on the trip. We had planned for this, so we were ready for the additional weight!

Glad I brought: Sunglasses, Ibuprofen (should have brought more), band-aids, make-up, sweaters

Wish I brought: Warm weather clothes, heavy jacket, Tums, aquaphor.

Packing system: 5-4-3-2-1 (5 shirts, 4 pants, 3 sweaters, 2 shoes, 1 jacket and belt) - could have done less as we did laundry often.

We are two 30-something American home-bodies, one of whom is a polyglot (my husband), and both of us have a love of travel. This was our honeymoon - I am a “let’s go do things” type person, and my husband loves more relaxed travel and loves chances to practice the language, so we adjusted this as needed on our trip. We also didn’t do a lot of late night “going out”, in part due to jet lag and in part due to who we are as people.

We studied Japanese casually for about 8 months - we took a class for most of that together, then had individual tutors through italki, which has been fantastic. This helped a lot when speaking, but we definitely need to learn more Kanji!

We went to Tokyo - Kyoto - Hiroshima - Hakone on this trip in mid-to-late March. The weather was all over the place (sunny and in the 70s F, then down to the 30s and rainy / snowy), and although I brought what I thought was good clothing for the trip, the extremes were too much for me and my clothing, so I had to purchase additional weather-appropriate clothing. Luckily there were Uniqlos everywhere, so I could quickly get what I needed.

Day 1:

Fly out of Chicago to Tokyo Haneda Airport. Layover in Detroit

• Flew out w/ carry-ons only
• Were pretty jet-lagged right away, despite sleep-training for this for the prior 2 nights
• Took 3 trains to our hotel which was a pain w/ even carry-on luggage, next time may take a cab

TOKYO: Days 2-5

Day 2

• Checked in to Hotel Monterey Hanzomon
• Good overall accommodations in relaxed, centralized part of Tokyo by the Imperial Palace
• Bed was a little too small for us
• Picked up our Pocket Wifi, which was perfect on our trip, just a little spotty in basements and some indoor dining
• Family Mart dinner
• Relaxed and tried to sleep

Day 3: Tsukiji, Ginza, Imperial Palace

• Breakfast: Tsukiji Fish Market (outer-market)- highly recommend as a jet-lagged activity, as the earlier you go, the easier it is to go places
• Shopping in Ginza: Itoya stationary store! A must-see for fans of stationary and for easy-to-pack gifts
• Stopped for Coffee and a break
• Shopping: Tokyo Character Street in Tokyo Station!
• Nature Walk: originally wanted to do East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, but they were closed on the day we wanted to go (Friday)
• Late lunch / early dinner: Ginza Kagari in Tokyo Station - delicious Ramen, but was tough to find in Tokyo Station

Day 4: Shibuya

• Breakfast: At a chain-cafe close to the hotel, forgot the name!
• Nature Walk: Meiji Jingu (famous Shinto Shrine) - worth the trip, this was relaxing and beautiful, also paid a little extra to go to the gardens, which were lovely even though there wasn’t much yet blooming. We appreciated how relaxing this was in the beginning of the day
• Lunch at a Kebab place close to Takashita, which was outstanding, if not a little small-portioned (compared to typical US portion sizes!)
• Shopped at Uniqlo for hot-weather clothes for me and sunglasses for my spouse
• Snoopy Cafe in Harajuku for a quick cool treat and changed into hot-weather clothes
• Takeshita-dori - bought a dog outfit for my mother in law’s pup as requested, and enjoyed walking down the street and window shopping
• Kept walking to Shibuya Crossing and participated
• Hoshino Coffee to watch people cross - there was a bit of a line, but it was worth it to relax from the crowds.
• City Life: Hachiko Memorial statue - took a quick picture here of the pup.
• Shopping: Shibuya Parco, Tokyo Hands - we didn’t actually buy anything as most things were comparatively expensive and had long lines, but the Nintendo Store is great for die-hard fans who want merch.
• Went back to hotel
• Dinner: Tried to go to Shibuya Nonbei Yokocho, but weren’t confident enough in our Japanese speaking abilities and chickened out. Lines for food everywhere here were really long, so we went back and got Indian food at Mother India Hanzomon-Ekimae instead.

Day 5: Parks!

• Breakfast: Combini near hotel and 2nd breakfast at nearby hotel
• Rent paddle boats at Chidorigafuchi Park - nearly no one was there and we saw our first Sakura!
• Lunch: Sushi Go Round in Tokyo Station - we thought this would be more of a conveyor belt sushi type place, and although they had a conveyor belt, we sat right by the sushi chefs, so they just handed what we ordered to us, lol.
• Imperial Gardens! Very beautiful, but we went back to the hotel soon after because I was exhausted.
• We had planned to go to Uneo in the afternoon, but I ended up taking a 1.5 hr nap instead!
• Dinner: in Tsukishima Monja Street, which was fun to watch people make their own monja. We walked into the first shop that didn’t have a line, since we were hungry and didn’t know which ones were the best vs the worst, etc. Since we were new to this, one of the staff came over and cooked it on our stovetop, instead of us. Was a little embarrassing, but still fun! It was a lively atmosphere, and it was nice to see people letting loose a little!
• Grabbed some ice cream down the street for dessert.
• Did laundry at the hotel after

KYOTO: Day 6-11

• Day 6- TRAVEL from TOKYO to KYOTO - Finally got over the jet-lag on this day!
• Breakfast: Combini, EARLY
• Pharmacy trip
• Shinkansen to Kyoto - took a bit to get oriented in Tokyo Station, so we came about an hour early so that we wouldn’t miss our train
• You can totally eat on the shinkansen!
• It seems you can eat on a train if you’ve got a seat reserved, more or less. I don’t quite know enough to confirm, but that was my experience.
• Stayed at the Hearton Hotel Kyoto, which was centrally located and close to a train line and Nishiki, which we loved.
  • Bed was a bit larger here, which we appreciated, too!
• Relaxed and walked around Kyoto Gyoen, which was lovely and already had paths of blooming sakura.
• It was pretty cold, like about 30-40 deg F, so we decided to grab coats the following day at this point.
• Dinner: Giro Giro Hitoshina
  • Took a bus here, which was really easy to use due to the numbering system!
  • I think they were reservation-only, but we had reservations made about a month in advance.
  • Lots of restaurants from here forward were a bit of a hunt to find compared to more flashy, open restaurants in the US - a lot of the time it felt like we were intruding since doors were closed and windows had covers or had ricepaper over them, but that’s just the style. Once we got used to it, it was much less awkward.
• Taxied back to our hotel

Day 7 - Fushimi Inari!

• EARLY breakfast - Combini
• Fushimi Inari!
  • We got here around 8:30 AM - while it wasn’t packed, it certainly had a long influx of people after.
  • We took a path a little less traveled up the mountain, which was wonderful to have a little peace and quietness with fewer people. Lots of smaller, quiet shrines. We also saw a waterfall on this path, and the path had switchbacks, which was kind of funny and reminded us that we were in fact walking up a mountain.
  • We did the top loop about 1.5 times because of where we exited our up-to-the-top hike, but it was nice and we had a chance to stop and drink some coffee and people watch, which my husband loved.
  • This was one of my favorite parts of the trip due to the unique nature of the shrine and the relative peace on the way up. That being said, It wasn’t as crowded as Himeiji Jo or Shibuya, but there were still a ton of visitors, and the amount of people whose photography got in the way was pretty annoying.
• Lunch: Nishiki Market
  • Nishiki was a lot less crowded than Tsukiji, and was a lot easier to navigate.
  • I loved just stopping wherever looked good to eat!
• Shopping: Uniqlo (again) for warm coats - this was a must, as we didn’t have good rain gear or very good cold-weather coats. This definitely saved me for the rest of the trip!
• Back to Hotel to relax (originally wanted to do Philospher’s Path, but were pretty tired from the Fushimi Inari hike and the weather was getting worse - rainy)
• Dinner: Hatsune Sushi - small place run by husband and wife team, had a chance to chat with them about our trip and their business. It was nice to have a chance to try our Japanese!
• Nature Walk: Nanzen-ji Temple
  • By this time, the weather had gotten pretty rotten (raining, cold, windy), so we hailed a cab back to our hotel after seeing the outside of the temple since it was closed for ...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/omfgsquee on 2024-03-28 15:56:08.

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Our two weeks in Japan!

We just got home and I want to do this while it's all fresh in my mind. So here goes!

Tokyo > Kyoto > Kinosaki > Osaka > Tokyo

We flew Zipair from San Jose to Narita. The flight was fine, nothing outstanding to note, but that's what you expect from a budget airline. There are lie down seats we'll spring for next time tho! There is no entertainment screen and their free Wi-Fi is absolutely laughable so bring your own entertainment. We didn't have their meals that you can prepurchase but the folks behind us said they were alright. We did order some sparkling plum wine and it wasn't overpriced at all for being booze on a plane. Very good. Definitely recommend. My only gripes with this airline is how fucking strict they are with luggage weight and staying in your specific seat. We opted to purchase extra carry on weight for one of us on the way there and checked baggage for one of us on the way back and it worked out well. They will absolutely weigh your all of your luggage so be prepared for that. We'll still fly with them next time though because for two people, we paid $1700 roundtrip.

We have T-Mobile so we opted NOT to do a pocket wifi and unfortunately our phones are still locked thanks to paying on them monthly so no esim, so we just used the international thingy they have and it worked great like, 95% of the time. Maps and Google translate were the bulk of what we used and we kept our social media browsing limited to wifi, which was available a lot of places. We didn't end up having to purchase the extra pass they offered either. So if you've got T-Mobile, use it.

Now onto our fantastic two weeks. My husband and I opted for a more chill itinerary as being rushed is incredibly stressful and we really wanted to take our time and enjoy Japan. We also had a very sick dog who we ended up losing 3 weeks before we left so our brains were mush. All last minute planning went out the window in our grief. We had full days where we had absolutely nothing planned. But it ended up working out well, as you'll see below.

Tokyo Day 1- arrived at 2pm, whipped through customs, purchased Narita Express tickets and got the hell out of there. We made it all the way to Shinjuku, which is close to our friends place. She had the stomach flu so our first night was in a little hotel about a 12 minute walk from Shinjuku station. Of course we went to go see things but it was mostly just overwhelming and overstimulating what with jet lag, the sheer amount of people, noise, lights and no familiar language anywhere. Went back to our room after hitting up the 711 for fun food, ate, then slept.

Day 2- up early, as expected thanks to jet lag. Went to the Studio Ghibli museum for the first entry at 10am. Was absolute magic! So glad we got to go. Then we meandered around Inokashira Park for a while. Found some early blooming sakura and our first temple. Had some conveyor belt sushi for lunch. Headed back towards Shinjuku to meet up with our friend and get settled in her place, then bounced over to Harajuku. Fun, loud, touristy. Found a ramen shop with the ticket machine out front and was able to order ramen with minimal stress. Had yuzu ramen! Highly recommend. Back to our friends house and to bed.

Day 3- jet lag is easing! Meandered to downtown Tokyo for a kaiseki lunch with our friend. We ate a lot of new things (like horse meat) and drank a lot of sake. Then we headed down under Tokyo Station to Character Street and ended up getting lost in the massive sprawling shopping area. It's like a whole little town down there. Very cool. Back to friends house for dinner and sleep.

Day 4 OFF TO KYOTO

We purchased our shinkansen tickets the day before and almost missed the opportunity to sit on the right side of the train to see Mt. Fuji, but we lucked out and found two seats. Absolutely worth it as Mt Fuji was out in her full spectacular glory! So cool. Definitely grab a bento box and a fun beverage for your ride. There is WiFi on the shinkansens as well, but no beverage/snack cart that I saw so make sure to load up on fun treats. Got to Kyoto and stayed at Sotetsu Fresa Inn. Enjoyed our stay there. Did a food tour that evening and can definitely recommend doing one of those. We were taken to places we never would've found otherwise.

Day 5- Kyoto

We braved Nishiki Market. I recognize it's pretty touristy but in the middle of a weekday it wasn't bad. Ate a bunch of fun stuff, including some of the best sashimi I've ever had in my life. Then went to the Kyoto City Museum of Art for the Takashi Murakami exhibit. If you're around before September 1st, you should definitely check it out. After the museum we walked over to the Heian-jingū Shrine then over to the Kyoto Imperial Palace gardens. Grabbed some onigiri and fun shochu drinks for the walk. Gardens were cool, but nothing was exceptionally note worthy except for the plum tree we found in bloom. Very beautiful. Walked alllll the way back down to our hotel, soaking in the sights, and stopping at Ichiran for some ramen. Not the best, not the worst, but having your own private ramen window where no one speaks to you except to give you your food was nice. They also do the ticket machine ordering.

Day 6- Kyoto

Leisurely morning then off to Minamiza Theater to catch some Kabuki. We stayed the whole show plus the dance act afterwards and it was quite the experience. Get the English audio guide! Well worth it. Minamiza is a historic theater too so it was all around awesome. Wandered down the main road in Gion to find ourselves at Yasaka Shrine. Hung there for a bit and then wandered back down to our hotel to refresh for the evenings activities. Grabbed more onigiri and shochu drinks for the walk. 🙈 Once 6pm rolled around, we went to Fushimi Inari. It was still very people-y but they were trickling out and by the time the sun went down, we found ourselves alone a few times while making our way through the gates. It was eerie and beautiful. We would've gone to the top but there were no bathrooms and I have a tiny bladder so hopefully next time we'll make it. Went and found a tan tan ramen spot for a late dinner and then a tiny tiny little sake bar where we drank ourselves silly with the owner, who was a little old Japanese woman who spoke very little English.

Day 7- Kyoto

Back to Nishiki Market to get more sashimi and oysters from that little fish stall we loved so much. If you go, you'll recognize it. They have a dingy little seating area in the back of it. It was so good and they were really nice! Afterwards, I let my husband talk me into the most corny thing ever : the samurai and ninja museum and experience. Y'all, I love this man, but oh my god. Unless you've got kids super into ninjas and samurai, skip it. It was super cheesy and expensive for what it was. Wandered around a bit, ate some more street food, then headed back for a rest and a bath, as my lower back was killing me. Stopped at a curry place for dinner (coco house is pretty solid) Then we did a free walking tour of Gion at night. Omg this was fantastic. We immediately saw a geiko right next to us as we walked into the side streets of Gion. She was so beautiful! Our guide was incredibly respectful and told us outright from the get go how to behave and about the tensions in Gion with tourists. He taught us all about the history of geiko and maiko and showed us some historical spots that we wouldn't have seen otherwise. Then we headed off to see some shrines and discuss the religious history of Japan. It was a 3 1/2 hour long tour and we saw SO MUCH I can't even write it all down. I highly recommend you do this tour. My husband and I went backwards basically after it was all done so we could see the sights with no people and it was incredible. We found another sake bar and had another wonderful time there and then decided to do one more walk through the side streets of Gion, just to see if we could spot another geiko. We were rewarded with a maiko! All alone, no one else, just us and her, and it took my breath away how beautiful and poised she was. Of course we didn't say one word to her, just let her be on her way. I love the geiko and maiko culture so this was very special for me, especially since after next month those side streets will be closed to tourists. Apparently, people can't act right. 🙃

Day 8 KINOSAKI ONSEN

Train ride up was lovely. Stayed at Sennen no yu Gonzaemon. The rooms were really cool as they were authentic ryokan style, complete with tatami mats and futon style beds. Only had an ensuite toilet but that was fine as all the onsen had showers and products to use. We got our onsen passes, jumped into our yukata and geta, and got to it. What bliss. It's awkward being on full display but you get used to it quickly. Bathe before going in, put your little white towel on your head and keep your hair out of the water. Dry off a bit with the little towel before heading back into the changing room. Onsen etiquette is simple. Don't forget to bring money with you so you can grab some milk afterwards (trust me on this) or pop into one of the little stores in-between onsens. We got the set breakfasts and dinners with our stay, and its crab season so dinner was fantastic. After dinner, we went back out to soak some more, then off to bedm

Day 9 kinosaki

Breakfast was very traditional and fun. Then we rented bikes to ride up to the beach. I have this thing where I have to touch the water near...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/wokesloppygoblingirl on 2024-03-27 09:59:33.

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Reddit Trip Report 3/12-3/23

Hi reddit! Y’all have helped me out so much on various occasions both before and during my recent Japan trip so I thought I’d try and return the favor with a trip report.

23F solo traveler here from the US here, first time to Japan, managed to get there at the end of shoulder season right before Sakura season. I hit all the highlights on the golden route and had an absolute blast!

Planning Essentials:

-Given the recent price jump, purchasing a Japan Rail Pass is a contentious subject because its value compared to buying individual tickets is much less than it was before. After much research, I opted to buy it and am glad I did. It was worth it for me because I ended up using the Shinkansen for Tokyo to Odawara, Odawara to Kyoto, Kyoto to Osaka (multiple times), Kyoto to Hiroshima, and Kyoto back to Tokyo (Shinagawa). While the monetary bang for your buck might be worth less than it used to be, the convenience is priceless. Not having to book individual Shinkansen tickets and being able to board the high speed trains on a whim was VERY nice—and I was also able to use the other JR lines as well.

-Suica and Pasmo: My original plan was to pick up a suica welcome card in Narita airport. With the card chip shortage in Japan, I had heard that they’re only limiting suica distribution to tourists. However, I quickly learned that it’s even more limited than that. To my knowledge, you can only pick up welcome suicas at Haneda. But no worries—they offer the Pasmo Passport in Narita! For those not in the know, Pasmo is the same thing as a suica—it functions as a subway card and reloadable instant cash card. Plus, it’s way cuter than the suica imo because of the adorable Sanrio characters!

-Major Attractions: Universal Studios, Tokyo Disneyland, TeamLabs, Pokemon Cafe, Osaka Aquarium. Because I’m from Socal, there was really no desire to check out disney and universal. However, I highly highly recommend booking tickets for those and the Pokemon Cafe BEFORE your trip—weeks in advance if possible! For TeamLab and the Osaka Aquarium, a couple of days to a week prior should be fine. If you’re going in the height of sakura season, maybe book a few weeks in advance.

Sakura Szn: While I may have avoided the wild crowds I’ve heard so much about in Japan during sakura season, I also avoided…the sakura :(. I was in Japan from 3/12-3/23 and didn’t get anything near full bloom. Many trees were still barren, and gardens like the ones in the Meiji Jingu or Sumida Park were colorless. Also, it snowed my last few days in Kyoto. There were still pockets of Sakura trees, especially in Nara! Just do your research. I think next time I go, I’ll either bite the bullet or go to Japan in fall to get the dramatic crimson landscapes.

Culture & Customs:

I was hugely obsessed with all facets of Japanese culture as a kid so I was fortunate enough to know some of these things going in, but there was so much that I had to learn once I was there. -Queuing Up: The level of patience that the Japanese possess is simply unparalleled by any other culture in the world! Even in the most crowded of train stations, they’ll queue up for the escalator instead of crowding it. You can tell how great a restaurant is by the length of its queue. If you have the time and patience and are undecided on a place to eat, join the queue to one of those restaurants. You’ll be rewarded. -The subway crush: On my second to last day in Japan, I boarded a local subway from the Arashiyama area back to central Kyoto. Complete opposite of the orderly and patient queues I just described. The subway car was packed in a way that I hadn’t even witnessed in Warped Tour mosh-pits or in India. I couldn’t move, my ribcage struggled to expand when I breathed, and my body was flung wherever the shaking of the subway car threw me. Truly terrifying. Being so short, I genuinely thought I would be crushed. The good news is that all it took to get out of that mess was one loud cry of “Sumimasen!” And the entire car parted as much as they could to let me off. But yeah, just be aware that that can happen, and keep your arms above your chest if you can. -Other subway etiquette: You might have heard of these ones: firstly, no eating and no talking on the phone in the subway. Ever. On longer haul trains and the Shinkansen, however, eating is allowed and encouraged! You’ll find special ekiben (bento boxes) in the Shinkansen stations optimized for snacking. If you must field a phone call in the Shinkansen, do it outside of the main passenger area and head near the doors and bathroom. Now let’s talk about priority seating and the women’s only cars. Neither of those are enforced, unfortunately. In the states, no one dares to sit in handicapped bus seats usually unless they’re handicapped. However, I saw so many able bodied young adults in the priority seating areas, which are reserved of the elderly, handicapped, and mothers with young children. So yes, you can sit there if the other seats are taken, BUT the moment you see anybody who looks like they actually need those seats, you better stand your ass up. Also, I was bummed to learn that the women-only cars aren’t really women only. I understand husbands accompanying their wives and kids, but for the dudes who were riding the train solo, take a damn hint. Sit somewhere else. Finally, I fell asleep on the trains more times than I’d like to admit—they’re quiet, calming, and they were blasting the heat. And that’s ok. Because the trains are so damn safe, and it’s so easy to get off at a platform and find the train heading the other way. Littering, Photos, Shoes, and other annoying things that we do as tourists: Be prepared to carry your trash with you since trash cans on the street are so few and far between. This discourages eating while walking or eating on subway cars. If you grab food at a roadside stand, please be courteous and finish it in front of the store or wait until you arrive at a sitting area. (this is the one rule I knowingly broke a couple times while shoving wasabi peanuts or a 7/11 onigiri down my throat while trying to make it in time for my train, so to all of Japan, I’m very sorry for that). But for the love of god! PLEASE! Don’t litter. This should be common sense. Also as far as photos go: rumor has it that Gion, better known as Kyoto’s geisha district, is closing to foreigners because of problems with the tourists swarming the geisha for photos. Don’t be an asshole. If you see a geisha or maiko, leave them alone. Better yet, offer a little bow their way. Same with a lot of areas in Harajuku and Shinjuku. Many stores selling alternative fashion clothes (ie: the Foret Mall) or Gothic Lolita style stuff do NOT want you taking photos of the shop workers or their wares. This is to protect the safety of the workers, who often have to keep their alternative lifestyles from family. Or just ask the workers if photos are ok. Also, shoes. Rule of thumb: when you enter a building and the floor is raised above the entry way, take yo shoes off. Often times, slippers will be available for you. I’m in Thailand now and I’ve found that the same applies there. Finally, eye contact. In the states, we’re taught to hold eye contact and give big smiles when greeting someone. The Japanese don’t fw that. When bowing to greet someone, be sure to avert your eyes, and don’t go crazy with the strong eye contact.

PSA about JAL & Yamato Shipping in the Haneda Airport: Somebody wrote an ENTIRE blog post about using the Yamato shipping service located in Terminal 3 of Haneda airport to ship things back home to the US. So naturally I mosied on over there to ship some things back to the states since I had hours to kill in the airport. And guess what?! You can only ship domestically. So I had to carry this stuff with me to Thailand. Good news is that the “stuff” in question is just a collection of old sweaters I had been planning to donate anyways after the Japan trip (it’s very hot in Thailand), but I managed to sell it to a street pawn shop of sorts in an alleyway in Bangkok. But if you’re stopping elsewhere after your Japan trip and want to send stuff home, I highly recommend going to the Japan Post and doing surface mail for budget shipping or heading to DHL or Fedex for more express international stuff.

Itinerary:

Day 1: Arrive in Narita 16:00, wait in lines for currency exchange, Pasmo, and NEX tickets. Got some dinner, found my airbnb, went to sleep.

Day 2 Shibuya, Harajuku, Shinjuku: Hachiko Statue, Shibuya Scramble Crossing + the wrong starbucks, Yoyogi park walk, Meiji Jingu, Ichiran in Harajuku, window shopping harajuku and Foret Mall and others, feeling poor in Jingumae area w the designers stores, sunset from Tokyo Met Government Building, bed.

Day 3 Imperial Palace + Asakusa: Imperial Palace Gardens and museum (because my dumbass didn’t book a tour of the inside in advance), wandering Asakusa, Senso-ji Temple, toy poodle cafe, sushi, Sumida Park, my first takoyaki, wandering the gambling halls and arcades in Ueno, and then drinking the night away at Golden Gai

Day 4 Hangover, TeamLab Planets, and Shinjuku Nichome: slept thru my checkout time at airbnb and awoke to a very pissed off host, packed my shit and headed to the next place I was staying (also Shinjuku), was revived from my hangover by Curry House Coco curry, checked out TeamLab Planets (I had no idea Borderless was back o...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Ultima_Boba on 2024-03-26 15:24:37.

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Hello,

I always enjoy reading trip reports in this subreddit, so I want to share some highlights from my solo trip back in January.

I shared the planned itinerary here:

Fanfest euphoria: Held in Tokyo Dome, the Final Fantasy XIV fanfest gathered thousands of player from all over Japan (and abroad). It felt unreal to be in the same room with our cherised producer & director Yoshi-P, the voice actors, and the whole team including master Soken, and we were hyping l the upcoming expansion together. The atmosphere was so great！ Due to the lottery system I only got a limited access to the event so I couldn't enjoy all available features, but just being there was already fun. Still got to grab some merchandises also. A bit sad though since my guild mates couldn't come to the event while most people were attending with their own friends.. :"(

For those who want to attend an event in Tokyo Dome, there are some hotels near the area but the price is quite high especially if you book it closer to the date. I chose to stay in Akihabara, only a few station away from Tokyo Dome so it didn't take long to reach, and the station entrance is very close to the venue. It was also fun to see so many people in the train wearing fanfest merch.

Edit: I also want to highlight the amazing concerts held at the venue. Keiko's piano performance was mesmerizing while the Primal's concert was so energetic and fun!

Cancelled Kanazawa Trip: I've made the itinerary before the earthquake in Ishikawa, but after the disaster occured my friend there assured me that her place was still fine for a visit, so I didn't have to change my plan. I bought the Hokuriko Arch Pass when I arrived in Tokyo, eventhough the chasier kept asking me if I knew the latest situation. Well lo and behold just the day before my trip to Kanazawa, my friend regretfully told me she and her daughter got Covid.... I didn't feel like going all the way to Kanazawa if I can't meet my friend, so decided to book a 1-day trip around Kawaguchiko instead. It was a great decision because the weather was clear and I got to see Fuji San clearly!

Where to stay: Convenience over cost saving So initially I was planning to stay in a hotel for 3 nights only - the rest will be in my friends place. When I arrived in Tokyo, I realized that moving around with big luggages by myself would take too much time and effort. The hotel I stayed was super close to station (Remm Akihabara) and the price is quite reasonable.... So I decided to keep staying there until the end of my trip. No regret! The room is small but enough to open a luggage, and it has a nice massage chair..! Really useful after daily walks... Its close proximity to the station became very useful as I can make a quick transit to drop my stuff before going to another place.

Transport: JR Pass + Pasmo Passport Although my Kanazawa trip was cancelled I couldn't refund my Hokuriko Pass because I already used it when I arrived. So this was a lost of over 20k yen, but it can't be helped... I tried to use the pass as much as I can when traveling using JR trains. But occasionally I needed to take metro which is not covered by the pass so I had to buy Pasmo Passport too.

Catching up with friends while enjoying the local foods Prior to the trip I contacted some of my friends who stay there and ask if they are interested to meet up sometimes. I ended up having 3 dinner meets up with different circles of friends through out the trip. It was really great to catch up and they also recommend really nice place to eat. I felt less lonely because of the meets up :)

Here is the detailed actual itinerary:

Day 1 (Saturday):

• Arrive in Narita in the morning
• Take the train (NEX + JR) to Akihabara, dropping off luggage at the hotel
• Noon: Explore Akihabara: Get lunch, Animate, Taito station, also buy discounted warm clothes in GU (I don't have warm clothes so figure would be more efficient and cheaper fo buy there). Oh and found out there is a small Square Enix Cafe really close to my hotel. They were having a Dragon Quest themed cafe and also got to buy some official merchandise there.
• Afternoon: Went to Tokyo Sky Tree, got a limited Natsume Yuujincho sweater at Earth Music and Evology, strolling around the river and had a tea and wagashi there.
• Evening: Dinner with friends at an Izakaya in Ginza

Day 2 & 3:

• Full-day event at Tokyo Dome. Wrote the impression above.
• Visited the Koishikawa Kourakuen garden during a down time on Sunday. It was interesting to feel the contrast of loud, crowded Tokyo Dome with the serene and calm atmosphere of the garden. It was nice although it was a bit cold.
• The food stalls inside venue area had long queues so I ended up buying food from stores in Tokyo Dome city. They are still delicious!

Day 4:

• Found a One-Day tour to Kawaguchiko from Klook at reasonable price. More pricey than going through normal train, but being solo, I prefer this way. Had to come to Shinagawa to get in the bus. The tour guide was informative and we got really nice travel buddies from other countries. The weather was clear so we got to see Mt. Fuji from all the places we visit. Felt blessed.
• We returned to Shinjuku at around 5 PM in the afternoon. Decided to take a walk around the area including the Kabukicho... and I ended up having a cup of coffee at Artnia Cafe before going back to the hotel.

Day 5:

• Morning: Took the free guided tour at the Imperial Palace. Didn't manage to book online so I had to come early to get the walk-in ticket (300 tickets available/tour). Make sure to bring a pen (or borrow someone's pen) to fill in the queue form. The guide was interesting and the scenery is good, though I am sure it's more beautiful during spring where the trees and flowers are blooming. When I was there it was kinda bare. Hence I skipped the free access to the palace garden.
• Afternoon: Explored Ueno area: Ueno Park, Tokyo national museum. Was very excited to recognize some manga and anime references at the museum (Bishamonten statue, that ancient clay statue in Doraemon movie, etc).
• Shopping for souvenirs at Ameyokocho.
• Evening: Dinner with some friends in Tsukishima area, the home of Monjayaki. When in Tokyo it's really worth it to try Monja!! The appearance may look questionable but the taste is sooo good!! We also went to Jonathan's afterward to continue catch up.

Day 6:

• Morning: Walked around Yoyogi Park and Meiji Shrine. It was way colder than the previous days (turned out Tokyo was snowing just a few says after my visit hmm), continued to Omotesando and Shibuya. Took the obligatory pic with Hachiko and got the 10 yen cake from Donki (was good).
• Noon: Mori Tower in Roppongi. The staff told me that the observation deck was used for an exhibition so the sceneries are disrupted... But I still went in anyway because it's a Tokyo Revengers exhibition which I am kinda familiar. Still got to see tokyo tower from the deck albeit from weird angle, but the exhibition was interesting so it was worth it.
• Afternoon: Emergency (?) return to Ameyokocho to get additional souvenir for my family, and then went to Eorzea Cafe in Akhibara. I really went all out as FF fan 😆
• Evening: Had dinner with friend at Yamachan and continue catching up. Went to Akibabara Donki to get last minutes additional souvenirs too ?they are open 24 hour open so such a saver).

Day 7 - Return flight to my home country.

Overall it was a very memorable trip despite some adjustment here and there. Wish I have stayed longer but hopefully there will be next time. For next trip for sure I want to visit Osaka, Kyoto, and the other areas.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/FireArcanine on 2024-03-27 13:45:15.

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Background

I'm a late-20s Asian Male who has explored the Golden Route (Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka) twice, with the most recent trip being in March 2023 Tokyo, Fujikawaugchiko, Kyoto and Osaka-Nara. I had considered the idea of exploring other cities, but a snap idea came to my mind: Why not try to see most of them, feel the local vibes and then decide which cities to further dedicate in the future? Thus, I made the spontaneous decision to cover as much as I could on Honshu and touch a bit of Kyushu and Hokkaido.

Furthermore, I won the Osaka Marathon 2024 lottery as well, and I had a wonderful time running the marathon and broke my personal best by at least 51 minutes.

This was solo travel, with 28-inch luggage, 2 backpacks (1 stored in the luggage) and 1 expandable bag.

This trip occurred from mid-February 2024 to Early March 2024.

• Accommodation: All accommodation was booked on Booking.com. As far as possible, I had tried to book my accommodation near the major train stations, and this proved to be an excellent idea as I found myself struggling just 5 days through the trip with my luggage weight. |
• Luggage Forwarding & Storage: This was not possible due to my itinerary which saw me on the move, jumping from each city to each city no more than 1-2 nights per city. However, on the way to Niigata from Osaka, I booked storage service on Ecbo Cloak to store my luggage for JPY6000 as my 28-inch had already maxed out storage. However, I was curious if Sagawa would support my storage, and to my surprise, Sagawa helped me out and my eventual Tokyo Hotel would hold my luggage for 6 days until I arrived in Tokyo, which meant I only paid the forwarding cost Sagawa charged. I did, however, unfortunately, lose the money from Ecbo Cloak due to their no-refund policy on the day of the booking.
• Transportation: 11 Shinkansens, 2 Special Limited Expresses and a whole of Train & Buses in total! With such a packed & tight schedule, I had considered the whole of Japan Rail Pass (21 days), but my gripe was that I was limited to Hikari and Kodama on JR Central's famous Tokaido Shinkansen. Furthermore, there were some trains where I wanted to try Green Class (Inaho Limited Express from Niigata to Akita) and Gran Class (Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto to Sendai). Therefore, I did the math and settled with:
  • JR Central Segments: Buying Tokyo - Nagoya, Nagoya - Shin-Osaka and Shin-Osaka to Tokyo exclusively on the SmartEX App.
  • JR West Segments: Milked the Sanyo-San'in Northern Kyushu Pass like crazy. Worth purchasing and saved A LOT of money.
  • JR East Segments: Bought the JR-East South Hokkaido Pass, but also bought individual tickets for the Green Class Inaho Limited Express and the Gran Class tickets. I also bought my Tokyo to Niigata ticket as a single journey here as well. In hindsight, I could have saved JPY9,000 and just bought the class ticket for the Gran Class. But I wasn't too sure and there was a lack of information, so now I know. I would have saved some money if I knew the combination.
• Cash: Most of my cash was exchanged before I arrived in Japan. I carried 50% on a Multi-Currency Card (think Wise/Revolut) and 50% cash. I managed to spend most of my cash first and found myself using the international ATM to withdraw about JPY20,000.

Cities Covered

1. Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture
2. Okayama, Okayama Prefecture
3. Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture
4. Miyajima Island, Hiroshima Prefecture
5. Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture
6. Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture
7. Kumamoto, Kumamoto Prefecture
8. Osaka, Osaka Prefecture
9. Niigata, Niigata Prefecture
10. Akita, Akita Prefecture
11. Aomori, Aomori Prefecutre
12. Hakodate, Hokkaido Prefecture
13. Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture
14. Matsushita (Bay), Miyagi Prefecture
15. Tokyo, Tokyo

I won't go into an exact detailed breakdown but here's a summary based on what I can say. If anyone has specific questions on a detailed part of an itinerary, let me know so that I can answer them!

Day 1: Tokyo & Nagoya

• Landed at Narita, Took NEX to Tokyo station & stored my luggage there.
• Dashed around Harajuku and Tokyo to wrap up some shopping.
• Took a 9 pm train to Nagoya, and had dinner with delicious Ekiben.

Day 2 : Nagoya

• Explored Nagoya Castle, Osu Kannon & Osu Shopping District, Atsuta Jinggu, Chubu Electric Power Mirai Tower & Nearby Shopping Districts.
• Food was mainly Konibini, but managed to try Nagoya's speciality - Miso - in my case, Miso Chicken Cutlet.

Day 3: Nagoya to Okayama

• Took a 10 am Nozomi to Shin-Osaka, Went out, got my JR West Sanyo-San'in Northern Kyushu Pass, and went back onto another Nozomi to Okayama.
• Explored Kibitsu Jinjna (Rural but LOVELY!) and went back to Okayama Station and transferred over to go to Kursashiki
• Explored Kurashiki Bilkan Historical Quarter (shops were mostly closed :( ) and the Mitsui Outlet and Area
• Food was mainly, again, Konbini & ended my day with a hearty meal from Nakau (So value for money!)

Day 4: Okayama to Hiroshima

• Explored Okayama Korakuen and Okayama Castle (slipped and fell here a bit lol due to the wet rocks) but the place was serene
• Went back to Okayama station, bought Kibidango and Okayama Peach snacks and took theNozomi to Hiroshima at Noon with lunch at Hiroshima Station (Oysters, yum!)
• Went straight to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and Peace Memorial Hall
• Stopped by Honodri Shopping District and had the best Oyster Okonomiyaki Soba EVER for dinner!

Day 5: Hiroshima (Miyajima Island)

• Took the train & ferry to Miyajima Island
• Walked around & in Itsukushima Jinja
• Walked to Momijidani Park & Misen Ropeway but it was closed for maintenance; Walked to Daishoin
• Walked back to Omotesando Street, and had the best Teishoku (Fried Oyster, Conger Eel and Beef) ever for lunch; had grilled oyster (Yum), Fried & non-fried Momiji Manju (they were so good I bought 2 boxes!)
• Commenced shopping on the same street for souvenirs & hung around the Itsukjinja shrine to the lowest tide possible. Took photos and left the island afterwards
• Went back to Hondori Shopping District & Hiroshima Station for final souvenir shopping

Day 6: Hiroshima to Fukuoka

• Stopped by Hiroshima Castle for the final stop
• Went to Hiroshima Station, took the Nozomi to Hakata (Fukuoka) in the afternoon
• Went straight to Sumiyoshi Jinja, Kushida Shrine, Kawabata Shopping District, and Tenjin Shopping District & ended my day in Canal City (Shopping Haven!)
• Food was mainly..another Ekiben (yes I'm trying as much as I can haha) and konbinis; didn't manage to try a lot due to moving a lot

Day 7: Fukuoka - Kumamoto - Fukuoka

• Took the Kyushu Shinkansen to Kurume, Fukuoka but realised not much going on in the city after visiting 1-2 nearby sites
• Took the same train to Kumamoto instead to visit Kumamoto Castle and the Suizenji Jojuen Garden, which was awesome! Kumamoto Castle was still rebuilding over the 2016 earthquake, so you could still see the traces!
• Grabbed Kumamoto Snacks and had a meat Kumamoto Bento (which was good!) to eat on the shinkansen back to Fukuoka.
• Went back again to Canal City to shop for my souvenirs, and had the best Strawberries from Kyushu and all of Japan.
• Went straight to Fukuoka Tower to watch the night view to wrap up the day. It was beautiful and I enjoyed my time.

Day 8: Fukuoka to Osaka

• Had konibini breakfast in my hotel and then took the Nozomi to Osaka in the afternoon. Grabbed a Kyushu Ekiben as it looked different from JR West's one.
• Checked into my hotel and went off to INTEX Osaka for the Osaka Marathon Expo.
• Went to Shinsaibashi afterwards to look around and subsequently settled for dinner at Sushiro.
• As I had already been to Osaka twice, I wasn't too fond of exploring the city.

Day 9: Osaka

• Rested in my hotel mainly for this day, and did my shakeout run along the O River.
• Went to Osaka-Umeda in the evening to look around and had dinner at Coco Ichibanya: I Ate Japanese Curry as my good luck meal for the Marathon. Also had one of the best strawberry parfait at the Hankyu Umeda shopping side.

Day 10: Osaka - Marathon

• Ran the cold, wet and windy Osaka Marathon finishing under 4 hours!
• Rested at the hotel and then spent the evening at Solaiwa Onsen Osaka Bay Tower. Had the Sashimi Ship Set for like 3980 Yen. It was massive! But I devoured it like crazy after the Marathon after all.

Day 11: Osaka to Tokyo to Niigata

• Left Osaka in the early morning to Tokyo. Grabbed souvenirs at Shin-Osaka Station as usual.
• Upon reaching Tokyo station, dropped my luggage at Sagawa (it was already 23kg /50 lbs and carried my travel bag and an expandable bag. Went to Shibuya to shop for something and went back to Tokyo station afterwards to catch my Shinkansen to Niigata.
• Reached Niigata to see that most of the station was renovating and terrible weather (wet + super windy)
• Due to the strong wind gusts and limited time, only managed to go to shop around Niigtata Station, Bandai City Center and Befco Bakauke Observation Deck Tower. Got knocked down onto the pavement with 55km/hr wind gusts with no one around me - that was super scary.
• I returned to the hotel afterwards and did my souvenir shopping at the shops that were limited but available at Niigata station.
• Had dinner at Royal Host beside the station - Had the best 250g hamburg ever.

Day 12: Niigata to Akita

• Left Niigata early to catch the Limite...

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This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/lBRADl on 2024-03-24 17:03:01.

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We arrived at our stay in Shinjuku earlier. Looks like it's a love hotel during the day.

Two hours ago we got a call in our room from reception saying we had 3 people in our room and to come down right now. We said we didn't and to let us sleep. An hour ago we got a call on our hotel phone from a man this time saying we called a girl to the room, we said we didn't. 10 mins ago a girl knocked on our door and we told her we didn't call her. She said she's calling the police.

We got another call and the man said pay her or else he's sending security up to force us to pay.

Right now we are not answering any calls and keeping the door locked. Anything else we can do?

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/ib_examiner_228 on 2024-03-23 12:24:04.

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About me: 23m solo, first time in Japan. When I travel, I love exploring nature and the culture of the country. I managed to learn about a couple hundred words in Japanese, which as you will see later, improved my experience in Japan a lot. I don't like shopping, all I bring home from my travel is memories, pictures and magnets for my fridge. Also it's important for me to enjoy local food as much as I can. I'd never go to a McD's even if I was hungry and I'd try my best to find something that's actually unique to Japan.

My itinerary was quite fast-paced for a first timer. When I posted my initial itinerary here, many of you thought that it could be too much for me, suggesting the classic Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka itinerary. That would never work for me. I wanted to see more nature and get away from the cities for some time, especially after I read reports about how crowded some places are (like Kyoto) In the end, I believe I made the right choice, except that I should've rearranged my itinerary a bit, so that I would lose a bit less time and money on the trains. So, here we go.

Day 1: Arrival in Tokyo, Akihabara

I booked using award miles and the only option was BKK-ICN-NRT, with the first flight being a red-eye. I've barely had any sleep and wasn't feeling that great, but after a couple of cups of coffee on the second flight I was excited for my Japanese adventure.

At the airport, passport control and customs took a while because I haven't filled out the online forms in advance. Tip: don't be a lazy dumbass like me and actually do them! You will definitely save time at the airport. I arrived at 11am and was out of the airport at 12:20. My future plans were dependent on good weather and the forecast was promising, so I bought the Tokyo Wide pass at the airport (spoiler: it saved me roughly 10,000 yen), got myself some cash and took a local train to my hotel in Koiwa (~900 yen).

I stayed at Ryokan Fuji, which had the nicest host ever who even spoke some English. I really wanted to stay in a Japanese-style room, and given that it was cheap (28,000 yen for 4 nights) I really enjoyed it. The location isn't exactly the best, 20 minutes to Akihabara and 40 minutes to Shinjuku, but for the price I'm not complaining. The futon was comfortable enough, I slept well and had no back problems at all.

It was already 3pm when I made it to Akihabara. This is when I found out that most restaurants close at 2-3pm, which was quite unfortunate because I was pretty hungry at this point. I spent way too much time looking for a place, in the end I walked around Akihabara and at 5 I went to the closest izakaya and had my very late lunch. Honestly, walking around Akihabara didn't impress me that much, it's all a bunch of shops and arcades and the buildings were... normal, nothing impressive. I played at the arcades for an hour and found a yakiniku restaurant for dinner with wagyu meat. Now that was quite impressive, even given my absolute lack of yakiniku experience. I under- and overcooked the meat all the time and yet it was still very tender and melted in my mouth. I can't remember the name of the restaurant, but I paid roughly 6,000 yen for ~200-250g of meat.

Day 2: more Tokyo

I had a really long sleep and woke up at about 10am. I went to Senso-ji, roamed around the market to have a rough idea of what they even sell there, got myself a Tokyo magnet and enjoyed Senso-ji. It was so fascinating to me that there is this old temple in the middle of a huge city, in a lot of countries important historic and cultural buildings aren't preserved at all. I got myself a "bad fortune" which really sounded so terrible and I had no idea how to tie it to the rack :D but I managed to do it in the end, I didn't wanna take it with me at all!

I walked for about 20 minutes to the Tokyo Skytree. Didn't have any prebooked tickets (I hate planning my day to the hour), I stood in line for about 15 minutes. The views were amazing, but I wish I'd do this on a less cloudy day. It all looked a little too grey for me, and having been to the Burj Khalifa, I know how much better a city can look from up there when it's sunny.

I then took the subway to the Imperial Gardens only to find out that they are closed. I still roamed around the area and there are still some nice city views. The clouds cleared out, the sun was setting, I enjoyed the sunset and walked around in Ginza. It's a shopping district, and as I said earlier I'm not a big fan of shopping, so an hour later I found an unagi restaurant, which offered a kaiseki-style unagi dinner. It wasn't a proper kaiseki, it was basically unagi prepared with different ingredients. I loved it! I called it a day after dinner.

Day 3: Kawaguchiko

When I woke up, there was not one cloud in the sky. I didn't have to think twice and took the 9:30 Fuji Excursion train from Shinjuku to Kawaguchiko. Of course, I forgot to reserve a seat when I was at the airport, so I found a seat on the other section of the train to Otsuki and had to stand till Shimoyoshida, where I got off and walked up to Chureito Pagoda. Wasn't too difficult for me but there are a couple hundred stairs, a lot of people were taking breaks in between.

The views can't really be described with words. I'm so lucky that Fuji-san decided not to hide and the huge crowd at the famous picture spot was a clear indication of that. To be honest, I felt like people were there to post it on Instagram and show off. They clearly didn't fully appreciate the view, as they were quickly going down after taking their 'mandatory' 200 pics. I found a less crowded area and just stared at the view for about an hour before walking down to the station.

I took the next train to Kawaguchiko and got lunch at a sushi place very close to the station (Shaw's Sushi). They offered lunch sets which were basically sashimi bowls with rice. Absolutely delicious and so fresh. Don't go to the noodles place with a long queue, go enjoy some sushi instead.

I walked to the panoramic ropeway and found a nice 20-minute boat tour on the way. The only thing that wasn't great about it is that the tour only 20 minutes long. I would totally be up for 60 minutes, given the views from the lake. Again, the view is something that you have to see yourself. I can't and don't even want to describe it, just come and see it.

The queue for the panoramic ropeway was roughly 45 minutes. It was absolutely worth it because it's the only place that offers 360° views around the area. There is also a 6 hour hike to another mountain which I didn't go for as it was already too late. Again, I was fascinated by the view and spent about an hour at the top.

I made my way back to Shinjuku, had to stand till Otsuki again and by the time I arrived it was already dark. For dinner, I went to Yakiniku Like which is a chain yakiniku restaurant. Their slogan is "tasty! quick! value!" and they deliver on all 3. Yes it's not the best meat in the world, but it was still delicious. You can get sets with a soup, rice, kimchi and the meat itself for 1500-2000 yen. The only downside was that the meat portions were quite small and I had to order extra meat. Oh, and it wasn't very comfy to sit there, but as a solo traveler it was the perfect place to get some nice inexpensive and tasty food.

I walked around Shinjuku for about an hour and a half, enjoyed the evening city views and called it a night.

Day 4: Nikko

Unfortunately I woke up quite late at 10am. I took the Shinkansen to Utsunomiya and then a local train to Nikko. I didn't want to take the limited express from Asakusa because I'm a bit of a train nerd and this was my only chance to take the Tohoku shinkansen.

By the time I got there it was already 12:30pm, so I only had time for the shrines and temples. There are a lot of them and I loved the vibe of the quiet forest with several big temples. I even got to see a traditional prayer, however, I didn't understand much of what was being said. Seeing all the interesting places took more than I expected, in fact, it was already sunset when I walked back to the station. Nikko is a very unique place, you don't get to see anything like this in the big cities and I wholeheartedly recommend to come see it.

I got back to Ueno and went straight for Yakiniku Like again. Had a good time there again and went back to my hotel to pack my stuff.

Day 5: Ryokan time!

The ryokan is called Kashiwaya and it's in Shima Onsen. It's not so easy to get there: first you take a shinkansen to Takasaki, then a limited express to Nakanojo (it's possible to take this express from Ueno. I didn't) and then a bus to Shima Onsen. It's a very quiet place where you can relax after many days in a bustling city. Some of the staff speak English but don't expect much. This is where I got my first "nihongo joozu desu"! The dinner was very nice, maybe not Michelin star level but certainly very delicious. I relaxed in the onsen after dinner and went to sleep.

Day 6: Full day at the ryokan

It was my birthday and I was very much in the mood for it. The Japanese breakfast was impressive and I don't even know how I could manage to finish it all. I'd imagine that it's not how the Japanese have their breakfast every day, it took about 45 minutes to finish it all. I strolled around the town, but not for long as it was raining quite a bit. I had lunch at a local burger place (for some reason a lot of places were closed on ...

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This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/IRENE_OH on 2024-03-23 11:52:46.

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Hi, all! Reporting on our family trip to Japan in case you find anything useful.

Background: Me: European, studied in Japan 15 years ago, was never able to go back after leaving due to working hard to build my career, starting a family, prioritizing other plans and life, in general. Husband: also European, never visited Japan before but very eager to see all the wonderful things I talked about 15 years ago. We were in our first year of relationship and did long distance while I lived in Japan. Boys: 9 yo and almost 6 yo (2 weeked shy of 6 yo), love gaming, heard about mom's Japanese life all the time so curious and excited to experience Japan themselves.

Our trip is an emotional one so we prioritized visiting special places for me, walking down the memory lane. Also, it's our family vacation so we adapted the itinerary and activities to our likes and dislikes and our leisure pace during vacations. Therefore, we ended up doing things a bit differently versus the very good advice found on this Reddit, still worked great for us.

Flight from EU was via Doha, Qatar, mid March. First long haul for my husband and kids, went better than I expected. Landed at Haneda very late, 10 PM but managed to get to sleep very efficiently soon after :D

What helped: I had bought Ubigi esim beforehand, activated it after landing, worked like a charm the whole trip, used about 7 GB of data on a 10GB plan. Husband had also booked a pocket wifi and asked for delivery at our hotel, found it there when we checked in. We did both esim and pocket wifi, as you can see, because sometimes we would wander around (ex. in Yodobashi Akiba me at the J beauty floor and him and the boys at the electronics floor :)) and wanted to have both flexibility and backup in case one option did not work well enough.

Then: we decided it was too late to get a taxi and pay the night surcharge and ride into Tokyo so we booked a hotel close to Haneda. We are 100% happy with that choice, hotel had free shuttle bus. So, as soon as we cleared immigration with QR codes, we took some cash from the ATM, bought 2 Suicas for adults and 1 for our 9yo (youngest rides for free since he is not 6 yet), loaded 5000 yen/adult and 3000 yen/child (we spent it fully) and shortly after hopped on the free hotel shuttlebus, checked in after 15 min and enjoyed a good night's rest.

I saw on this Reddit most people wake up too early due to jetlag, which is good to get to places early, if open. We are the opposite: coming from EU, we woke up late, which is very much in line with our schedule during weekends and holidays anyways. So we did not get to any place early. What we did instead was take it slow in the mornings, have brunch and good coffee at cafes near our hotels, chat with our kids (amazing to spend this time with them and discuss about where we want to go, what are their thoughts about Japan and other topics, very good bonding time).

Here's our itinerary:

• 3 days Tokyo West - stayed in Shibuya (except 1st night, as previously stated), explored by foot the whole area, Shibuya Crossing, Nintendo Store, ate amazing ramen in a randomly found place. I did not bother to cram many activities on the first day and didn't want to take the train anywhere even though we were in good shape after the flight.

Kids had saved up money and decided they wanted to spend it on Nintendo Switches, customized in Japan and much cheaper vs our own country.

What worked well for us in terms of accomodation and activities is to book hotels within walking distance of our major points of interests. This is why we split Tokyo time into West and East and stayed at different hotels.

Second day we walked to Meiji Jingu and Harajuku, very pleasant weather, 30 min from hotel to Meiji Jingu. On the way, each of us holds one kids' hand and we try to look at things around us and talk about them, find fun things to discuss, give the kids small jobs (ex. help me buy the tickets, interact with people at the counter or selling ice cream, taught them a few Japanese phrases, wash our hands and mouths before entering the shrine, ask them to pray for health, peace and good fortuner etc). Of course, they had times when they complained their feet hurt, we don't usually walk all day, sometimes we stopped at a cafe or had (more) icecream next to whatever we visited, sometimes we stopped at a playground and sometimes we went back to the hotel for a break. Adults enjoyed those breaks too.

Third day we (finally) took a train to Shinjuku, we all liked riding the trains :) and we asked kids to help navigate, look at Google Maps, count the stops, explained about being quiet on the train etc. Went up to see the views from Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building and then spend time at a playground nearby which had slides and other fun equipment. Went back to the hotel and wandered around again during the evening/night.

• 4 days Kyoto. We took the shinkansen. Luggage shipped beforehand via Yamato so travelled light with the kids. Bento boxes less yummy than I remembered, we did not buy them second time we took the shinkansen. Found shinkansen shaped candy, kids love them as souvenirs for themselves.

Kyoto is magical, for me! It's filled with amazing houses, people dressing up in kimonos and walking the streets, beautiful small shops, shrines and gardens and walkways, old mixed with new. I don't think you need to go from shrine to shrine, it's fine to pick 1-3 and enjoy.

Our family does ok with crowds outside. Inside is a different story and we do skip inside spaces like playgrounds if crowded. We are also not big on Disneyland or Legoland or amusement parks, in general so we skipped them on this first trip and prioritized other activities.

So, 1st day in Kyoto we simply walked around our hotel in Gion, ate whatever caught our eye, bought souvenirs and, amazingly, ended up walking Sannenzaka and Ninnenzaka both during daylight and evening. Caught the last open hour in Kiyomizu Dera and enjoyed the views.

2nd day in Kyoto we had a very slow morning, strolled through the streets to Nishiki Market, ate at various shops/stalls and then took a taxi to Kinkaku-ji. Amazingly beautiful to walk the pathways, not too crowded, actually...less crowded vs when I first visited as a student. Took a taxi back to the hotel area and stumbled on to a Michelin star ramen restaurant, had amazing ramen for a very good price, rested.

3rd day in Kyoto took the train to Fushimi Inari, climbed the stairs, not too crowded at around 12-1 PM, I guess people are eating at those hours. We did not climb to the top because...we did not feel the need to. Instead, kids prayed at a small shrine, and we preferred to take side paths going down, where allowed/signaled and safe. Went back to Gion, had snacks and coffee at a cafe, walked to Maruyama Park. Explored some small streets in the area.

4th day went to Arashiyama, saw the monkeys and walked some of the bamboo walk, sat on the river bank, ate more ice-cream!, went back to hotel, rested, went back out to see Pontocho area by night.

• 2 days: Nara and Kobe. Kids loved feeding the deer in Nara, save some cookies for the deer closest to the Todai ji temple, the ones at the park were full and not eager to eat :)) Kids loved going through the hole in a pillar at Todai ji, said to be the same size as Buddha's statue nostril and bring health and good luck. We loved the temple's idea to repair the roof: you can donate a tile and they ask you to write your well wishes, names and date on it by calligraphy brush. Hope our tile stays within the new roof for many years :)

Kobe is my former university town so we met my professor after 15 years, introduced the family, caught up on life, saw my previous dorm, cried a bit in nostalgia, walked to the port area in the rain, very romantic :))

My kids asked my professor if they can also come study in Japan. He's retiring in a few years so it was very emotional as he said he'll wait for them to choose Japan as their mother did.

• 3 days in Tokyo East, stayed in Ginza. Took the shinkansen again, non reserved seats, a bit challenging to sit together but we managed because we started at Shin-Kobe station. Osaka-Kyoto-Nagoya leg very crowded, many people standing on the isle.

Explored Ginza by foot, bought food, souvernirs, more Nintendo games, explored Akihabara a bit and rode the monorail to Odaiba on our last day. Loved the parks in Odaiba, kids played in the sand, we had quiet time and coffee :) Had one last epic sushi meal and departed from Haneda.

Japan is as amazing now as 15 years ago! Google Maps works well, you can get around so much easier as a foreigner vs 15 years ago, check restaurants, make reservations, there is more signage in English. 7/11 and Lawson and Family Mart are as useful and fun as I remember them, so are the various drinks machines and gachapon :) We all hope we can go back together again to spend time as a family exploring Japan.

Hope all of you going will have an amazing time experiencing its culture and people!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/marsmat239 on 2024-03-22 07:45:53.

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Today ends my 3rd of 4 weeks in Japan! 1 week from today I will be back in America. Here’s my trip this week:

Day 1 (Friday March 15) Went to Teamlabs Borderless. The art exhibits were pretty awesome, and complemented by smell in a couple areas! Otherwise this is a big instagram photo spot. Please be warned that if you have sensory issues or issues with flashing lights that you may want to skip this experience. There’s no real place to escape while there.

Day 2: Went to the Shinjuku national garden, and marveled at the landscaping. Afterwards went to Small Worlds where I got to see 2 rocket launches!!! Oh, and there’s an Evangelion exhibit. All models were detailed and they were everywhere! Ordered my most unique souvenir:a 1/35 scale model of myself! Shipping back home was more than the figure though lol.

Day 3:

Boarded my first ever domestic-international flight and flew to Naha! I thought it was nice that security gives you a pair of saddles to wear, though I wish I knew I didn’t have to dump my coke. In Naha I had a spam and egg onigiri! The Hotel Palm Royal Naha is central to everything, and has an soten, which has come quite handy at night.

Day 4:

Walked to Shuri Castle and took the Old Stone Road up. I didn’t know that the castle burned down in 2019, but it was pretty amazing seeing the work the Okinawan craftsman were undertaking to rebuild it. It’s still worth a visit.

From there I walked up to Urasoe Castle ruins and accidentally found the location of Hacksaw Ridge. The castle ruins weren't substantial on most sides, but still pretty cool.

I took Yui Rail back after this adventure.

Day 5:

I walked to the prefecture museum and had lunch. It was intetesting Okinawa showcase their previous role as a center for chinese and japanese allegiance, even going so far as paying tribute to both countries! The items in the museum are pretty amazing too.

From there I took Yui Rail/my feet to the Former Japanese Navy Underground bunker. The Okinawans showed the sequence of battle, some of the hardships the Okinawans had to face, and overall carried an antiwar message. If I had been here 2-3 weeks later, I would’ve had some additional context from the WW2 in Real Time YouTube series.

On my walk back I verified that you can only use Okika and not Suica/Pasmo, and booked myself on a tour.

Day 6:

I visited Cape Manzamo, Ocean Park, Nakijin Castle Ruins, and Pinapple Park with Okinawa Bus. I enjoyed the tour, but be warned-after April 1 they will no longer stop at Pinapple Park.

Cape Manzamo:a beautiful spot worth getting a photo at.

Ocean Park: I wish I had more time here. The aquarium was amazing. I have never seen Manta Rays that big, and they even had a whale! The dolphin tank and sea turtle tank in front seemed small, but it turns out they have rehabilitated several types of animals (including turtles), so they seem to know what they’re doing and want to care for marine life in general.

Nankajin Ruins: My 2nd favorite castle ruins after Shuri. I am 100% convinced BOTW was based on the landscaping and ruins found here.

Pinapple Park: I never thought about a Pinapple themed tourist trap before. The exhibits were corny (sorry, pinapply), and for some reason had dinosaurs. I loved the wine.

Day 7:

I purchased souvenirs and relaxed!

Day 8 (Friday March 22):

I took the ferry to Zamami for the day! This was honestly I highlight for me-I wish I planned a full night here. I hiked up to Takasuki first, and hit the remaining observatories in about 3 hours total (8 miles). Whatever observatory you visit will reward you with breathtaking views, and the road will showcase birds chirping and butterflies! I even saw a whale!

I didn’t get to do any snorkeling, which is one of my big regrets while leaving this island.

Overall: A success! Tokyo’s fun and all, but you gotta see other stuff in Japan too. I’m really glad I stayed as long as I have in Okinawa.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Draelmar on 2024-03-23 07:04:43.

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Last time I was in Japan I went out to a conveyor belt sushi place with a group of travelers I met at a hostel, and as I usually do at such restaurants in my home town, if I see a plate I want I grab it, regardless if I'm currently already eating a plate. I may have 2-3 plates I'm eating at the same time, depending on what pass in front of me.

But one of the fellow traveler freaked out, telling me it was a faux pas, and we're supposed to claim/eat one plate at a time.

I have a hard time believing it, but could not find info on Google about this. I'm going back to Japan next month and I'd like to be sure!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/desai2424 on 2024-03-21 18:42:54.

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TLDR: Highlight of our trip. Especially if you're vegan/vegetarian, some of the best food we ate in Japan.

My wife and I just came back from 2 weeks in Japan. Decided to spend the weekend in between Tokyo/Kyoto at Kakurinbo () since we were looking for something off the beaten path and avoid the insane crowds at some more popular places. Booked it based on some reddit threads and google reviews, but was a bit nervous initially. While it was a process getting there (2 trains, some last minute JR train ticket confusion etc), it was only 2ish hours from Shinkjuku and this ended up being the highlight of our trip.

First off, the location is stunning. Kakurinbo is hidden away on the top of Mt. Minobu near a large Buddhist temple complex. Absolutely peaceful with monks walking around , stunning views, blossoming trees, and you can even see Mt. Fuji. from the top. If you are looking to escape the craziness of the cities and have a nature get away, this is it.

Second, the staff and facilities were terrific. It used to be housing for traveling monks so all the rooms are traditional with Tatami mats and shared bathrooms, but it was extremely clean and beautiful. Koi ponds Japanese gardens surround the facility. The highlight was definitely the 100% vegan food they serve here. Breakfast and dinner are included and seriously some of the best food we've ever eaten. The staff were also incredibly thoughtful and kind.

Lastly, you can get a taste of what buddhist temples are actually like. They encourage you to get up early to experience the ringing of the bells and morning prayer w/ the Monks at 6am while the sun rises. It was straight out of a movie, but we attended morning prayer at the temple and the monks welcomed us happily. It was all so surreal.

All in all the entire experience was magical. We left feeling like it was all a dream and came back to the harsh reality of crowds and annoying tourists in Kyoto. Disclaimer, if you are looking for pure luxury and wanting to be pampered, this is not for you (don't get me wrong, I wanted that vibe and we got it at Momijiya () in Kyoto). This is for people who want something a little different, not Instagram highlights.

Anyway, had to write a review since it was so great, would strongly recommend. Happy to answer any questions folks might have.

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/cxffeebr_ak on 2024-03-21 17:23:03.

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I'm thinking of arriving in the morning into Osaka Station, then I have a rough idea of where I want to check out:

• Umeda Sky Building • Osaka Castle • Namba Yasaka Shrine • Ebisu Tower Ferris Wheel • Shinsekai Market • Tsūtenkaku • Dotonbori area • Hozenji Yokocho • Tsūtenkaku

I'm trying to keep to places that are all within a few kilometers of each other, as my destination is really Kyoto and I want to hop on a train to my hotel there by the end of the day. Other than that, I have no real solid plan or timeline in Osaka.

I've never visited Osaka, please let me know if this is doable for 1 person in 1 day, if I should drop anything, if there's something I should add to my list, etc. I appreciate it so much thank you 🙏🏻

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/HereLiesMissNobody on 2024-03-21 10:00:14.

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This is my second trip to Japan from 3rd March to 16th March.

I travelled with Air China from London to Tokyo with 3-4hr layovers in Shanghai. Website is terrible and it takes several attempts to be able to check in, only to not be able to get your boarding pass. Transfer at Shanghai was terrible. Spent the whole time in a queue. By the time I got through security, I had to run to my gate. Terrible but flights were cheap.

In Tokyo, I stayed at the Tosei Hotel Cocone Asakusa Kuramae. For me the location was good. Easy to get to from Narita. Good transport links (Ginza Line). Hotel room is a little small so not ideal for big suitcases. Has a public bath but it’s not tattoo friendly.

First 2 days, I did the majority of my shopping to get it out of the way. Went to Matsumoto Kiyoshi, Donki and Daiso. I was shopping for skincare, snacks and other little trinkets. Visited OK Store in Asakusa. It’s a cheap discount supermarket chain that offers tax free. Bought a lot of snacks here.

Visited an English speaking salon - Tokyo Baroque. Got a digital perm done with 10% discount for your first visit. Including the wash, cut and blow dry, it took around 3 hours. Salon is located close to Harajuku and Shibuya so afterwards I headed over there.

Booked a tour on GetYourGuide to see Mt. Fuji, Hakone, Lake Ashi w/ buffet lunch. In my opinion it wasn’t worth it. Only got up to the 1st station and couldn’t see Fuji. Spent the majority of the day on the bus. We didn’t get much time to explore at each destination. Lunch was mediocre.

Sensoji. I went at around 9am and already there were a lot of tourists. All the food stalls and market shops didn’t open till 10am. It’s a beautiful temple to visit and it was a short 10 minute walk from my hotel.

Yanaka Ginza - Yadorigi Cafe. Didn’t plan on visiting any animal/cat cafes due to concerns about animal welfare but stumbled upon one that rescues stray cats and all the cats are up for adoption. I could see that the cats were well taken care of and that they really cared. They also serve really delicious italian food. I stayed for 2 hours with a drink, main course and dessert for less than ¥3000. Cats were super friendly. I went at a quiet time/day and lots of the cats were happy to take a nap in someone’s lap.

Mt. Takao. Small mountain (599M) just outside of Tokyo. Made a last minute decision the night before to visit. Hiked up to trail 3 and walked through the forests of Takao. For the descent, I hiked down part of trail 1 before finishing off with the chair lift. Wasn’t easy but one of the highlights of my trip.

Shin-Okubo, Tokyo’s Koreatown. Loud and vibrant but very, very crowded. Initially wanted to do some skincare/make up shopping but I couldn’t handle the crowds. Picked up some ganjang gejang/raw marinated crab for dinner.

Tokyo - Sendai - Ishinomaki - Cat Island. Started using my JR Pass (expensive but for me it was worth it). Travelled up to Sendai via bullet train. Sendai was pretty boring. We wondered around the shopping streets trying to kill time before our dinner reservation at a yakiniku place. Sendai is famous for beef tongue so I gave that a try and it was pretty good.

Stayed at an Airbnb in Ishinomaki and got the first ferry to the island in the morning. Don’t bring lots of luggage with you because there was a lot of uphill walking and the roads can be quite steep. The Airbnb was a lovely traditional Japanese house but it was absolutely freezing. Outside temp at night was around -2C. Luckily the host prepared a kotatsu and heated blankets for us. Heated toilet seats were a nice bonus too. The host had 3 cats and 1 cat was especially friendly and very chatty.

I enjoyed visiting cat island. Weather was nice and skies were clear. We went on a nice walk across the island but some roads are pretty steep and will give you a bit of a workout. In terms of health, the cats weren’t any different to your typical stray. I didn’t see any cats with what looked to be major health issues. A lot of the cats were super friendly and super cute. There are a lot of signs saying not to feed the cats so it was frustrating to see some other tourists with cat treats and empty cat treats packaging littered in the public toilets.

Ishinomaki. One of the hardest hit cities during the 2011 earthquake. We visited the Kadonowaki Elementary School ruins which has been converted into a museum. They have preserved some of the school rooms so you are able to see the extent of the damage caused by the earthquake, tsunami and fires. It costs ¥600 to enter. Unfortunately the exhibits didn’t include much English so I did have to rely on Google translate.

Osaka. Tokyo - Osaka via bullet train using my JR Pass. Decided to have my base in Osaka and travel out to other places. Stayed at the Hearton Hotel Nishiumeda. Lucky enough to have a room on the quieter side but even then it was loud from being so close to the station. Not the best hotel I’ve stayed at. Room was dark and dingy. Carpet looked like it hadn’t been hoovered properly.

Dotonbori. Osaka is a good place for food and nightlife but unfortunately just not my cup of tea. Dotonbori looked gorgeous at night with all the city lights but it was super crowded and felt like a street with tourist trap shops. I can tick it off my list but probably wouldn’t visit again.

Fushimi Inari. Woke up super early to get to Fushimi Inari from my hotel in Osaka. Started the hike at 6am. Barely any other tourists around and so the hike was super peaceful. Started seeing more people when I got to the top and when I reached the bottom. Saw a couple of stray cats that were fairly friendly.

Hozugawa River Boat Ride. Price was ¥6000 so it’s a little expensive. I regret not purchasing the ticket on Klook when it was around £20 before the price increase. The ride takes around 1.5hrs and ends at the Arashiyama area. I got on the first boat of the day. River was pretty eerie with the morning fog rolling off the water. The sun came out later and it was a really scenic ride down the river. The boat men don’t speak much English so don’t expect a detailed guided tour. Towards the end, you pull up to a boat that sells food. I tried dango for the first time. They offered snacks, drinks, dango, oden and grilled squid.

Iwatayama Monkey Park. Entry fee is ¥600 and cash only. I made the mistake of not bringing cash so I had to go and find an ATM. The hike up takes around 20 mins and it involves climbing up stairs and steep paths so be prepared for lots of uphill walking. The view from the top was beautiful. You are able to feed the monkeys with a small pouch of apple/peanuts for ¥50.

Nara. Fed the deer at Nara park. You can buy a small set of deer crackers for ¥200. The deer are cute but can be aggressive when they see the crackers. They will nudge/head butt you to get your attention. Literally saw a deer head butt a guy before it bit his ass.

Abandoned JR Fukuchiyama railway hike. One of my favourite places I visited on my trip. Started from JR Namaze and ended at JR Takedao. Pretty easy hike except for the uneven terrain due to the railway tracks and rocks. Hardest part was finding the start of the trail. You have to walk through a busy highway tunnel which made me think I was walking in the wrong direction. You definitely need a good torch for this hike because of the tunnels. I bought a cheap ¥100 one from Daiso. Combined with my iPhone torch, it was just about enough. I definitely recommend buying a better quality torch as it is pitch black inside the tunnels. There are 6 tunnels in total and the 2nd tunnel was the longest and I can’t lie, it scared me (wasn’t a good idea to have watched the horror movie The Descent recently). Out in the daylight, the river scenery was stunning. I was alone for pretty much the whole trail. I only saw two people taking photos - one right at the start and one at the end.

Sushiro - if you’re not a sushi snob but love sushi, I would recommend this place. For a budget place, the sushi quality was great. Miles better and cheaper than what you can get in the UK. It’s fun to order off the tablet and have the plate delivered to you via the conveyor belt. I love fatty salmon sushi and two of the nicer, more expensive sushi places I went to didn’t have it on the menu.

Ichiran. Viral on social media but I have heard that it’s overhyped so I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. For me, it was the best ramen I had on my trip. It comes down to personal tastes and I liked customising my broth so that it was medium intensity. The broth at other places was too rich for my liking. It’s more expensive than other ramen places but for me, it was worth it. Paid for a noodle refill and I had to waddle out of the restaurant afterwards.

Kimchi. The worst thing I ate on my trip lol. I was craving sour, spicy kimchi but all the kimchi I tried was sweet with no spice. The worst offender was at the yakiniku place in Sendai. It was just sugary cabbage.

Tips:

• Pasmo. I added Pasmo to my iPhone wallet. Super easy to top up. You don’t need to open it up with face ID to use it, just tap your phone on the reader.
• Revolut. I used Revolut to exchange GBP into JPY for my trip. I kept an eye on the exchange rate and exchanged money when the Yen was at its weakest. No issues using my card or getting cash out with it. There is a £200 free cash withdrawal limit and that was more than enough for me.
• Tax fre...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/SanChongus on 2024-03-20 04:02:49.

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Hi everyone,

I will be going to Japan in early May with my family and we are planning to do an overnight stay in Hakone. I have read other threads on their itineraries but am still confused on how to get to Hakone and the logistics of the Hakone loop in general. For reference, we will be heading from Tokyo and then plan to go to Kyoto after Hakone. Hoping for some tips + advice on how to go about this trip.

From our hotel in Tokyo to Hakone:

[Rygoku Station -> Shinjuku Station -> Odawara Station -> Hakone-Tozan Line -> Hakone-Yumoto Station -> Gora Station]

Question:

1. Is there an easier way to get to Hakone or is this route correct?

From Gora Station, do the Hakone Loop then head to our hotel:

Sounzan by Cable Car at Gora Station

Chokoku-no-mori Station -> Hakone Open Air Museum

Owakudani

Togendai Station

Pirate Cruise Ship

Motohakone Port

Hakone Shrine

Go back to Togendai Station via cruise ship

Hotel (Hakone Ashinoko Hanaori, which is supposedly next to Togendai Station)

Question:

1. Is this too much to do for the day?
2. Anything I should take note of or change?
3. To get to Kyoto, specifically Gion-Shijo station, I'm assuming we take the bus to Odawara Station -> Kyoto Station -> Shijo Kawaramachi station. Is this correct?

TIA!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Kidlike101 on 2024-03-19 23:46:46.

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Part 2

This is the second week of my Japan trip in Okinawa and Kansai. For week 1 spent in Tokyo please go HERE

As A reminder, I’m a solo traveler in my forties with a wonky right leg so stairs and inclines are a challenge for me.

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Day 8

In summery the hotel I was supposed to be staying at had closed its reception after 10 pm so I stayed at the Naha Tokyu REI instead. 10,200 yen for the night. I think the room was meant for two since it was a double but that’s all they had at the time.

Early morning, at around 7 am. I checked out and asked management to contact my hotel. The guy got very defensive on the phone saying they never got a late check-in request let alone responded to it, Also NO I can’t check-in right now, hours are 15:00 to 22:00, I can only check in then. Since I was scheduled for a day tour I left my backpack and coat in REI and decided to deal with the hotel afterwards.

I just want to note that leaving my coat behind was such a mistake. Temps averaged 17c but a VERY windy one, north wind at that so… yeah I was practically freezing. Too late to go back though as the tour started at 8 am.

I had booked the hip hop bus tour course A for $50. We started with an hour at the Nago Pineapple Park A bit cheesy but it was just one hour. Also the smell there is amazing, sweet pineapple plus fresh woodland. I admit though, that stupid pineapple song got stuck in my head and haunted my nightmares for a few days.

This was followed by a quick stop at Kouri Island where we could actually see the special sand on the beach. The sand in this island is star shaped, not containing starfish, the sand itself is shaped like stars. Something to do with the currents but I didn’t catch it. Just enjoyed the beach and salty sea air.

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium was the main stop. We arrived just in time for the dolphin show which was awesome. When I went to see the sea turtles they were feeding them earlier than scheduled so I got to see them race to grab the dead sardines. Didn’t know they were omnivores but it was so cool seeing them swim at top speed like that. Tried the pineapple soft serve here and it was just so good.

After that we stopped at Okashigoten Onna Branch which is supposedly a famous souvenir shop. I think they’re the ones producing those taro tarts that is a famous Okinawan souvenir because one window overlooked a factory line for them. Unfortunately it was a busy day and the queue was too long so we were behind schedule and it took time away from the next stop.

Cape Manzamo totally looks like an elephant’s trunk. This turned out to be the highlight of the tour. The cape at sunset was just beautiful and the sounds of the waves crashing relaxing

The tour ended at around 7pm and we waved goodbye to our lovely and very diligent tour guide. Heading back to the Hotel Kohala where I was SUPPOSED TO BE STAYING I psyched myself up to Karen! Totally going to Karen on them!

… Yeah, they won. The English speaker was an elderly lady who was so apologetic about the whole thing and genuinely surprised about the late check-in request that I dropped it. There was some communication problem and my request clearly fell through the gaps. I expected to have to pay for both nights but they only charged me for one at the early booking rates (6000 yen) so I really can’t be too mad. Plus the Room was REALLY nice and even had a washing machine.

Before ending the day I stopped by El Patio which is the restaurant next door. Mostly because they advertised pizza but that turned out to be a mistake as the “small” arrived in a tea saucer… tiny and practically dough it was so soft. However I noticed the other dishes that passed me by looked good so I took a chance and order a salad as well. This made up for the pizza it was so good. I learned later that pasta and Spanish omelet was their specialty but I was too full for more and left energized.

Took a stroll down Kokusai-Dori but it felt too touristy. Also most of the items were the same I saw in the souvenir shops during the tour so just enjoyed the vibe before turning in for the night.

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Day 9 (Saturday)

Woke up early so checked out and was off to see Shuri Castle

Two things. One, castles are usually built on higher grounds for defense purposes. The whole thing was uphill and stairs, stairs, STAIRS!!! Not the place for someone with a wonky right hip and busted knee.

Thing the second, the castle is under long term renovations. I legit climbed a hill just to see a large board with a digital painting of a castle… The gardens were beautiful and I ate some soft serve to soften the blow. Only later did I realize that was my breakfast lol. If you can climb to the top however the view is amazing. You can see all the way to the shore line from up there.

On the way to the station I found a retro vending machine that sold real Ramune. It tasted like medicine… from the 80s… that expired 40 years back! There weren’t any trashcans around so I kept drinking it too, ugh.

Next stop was Makishi Public Market. It was fun and had some unique stores, I was looking for a specific restaurant in the area though for lunch but never found it. Decided to just go into this little place run by an elderly couple (at least in their 80s) and have one of the set meals for only 850 yen. My order number was 10 so I was memorizing it in Japanese “Juu, ten in Japanese is Juu. Wait for Juu to be called” when an elderly voice called “numb-ah Ten-eh. Ourda numbe-ah Ten-eh!”. I was so touched by the effort.

Belly full I had a look around the shops. Actually found a branch of 2FR in the area. I can totally see people wearing a shirt saying “no sexual service” in Shibuya but where else are you going to wear that? Visited a local mall then the Naha Museum before taking a stroll down the main shopping street in Naha, Kokusai Dori, to get to the hotel and collect my bags before heading to the airport.

Jetstar from Naha to Kansai international in Osaka $75. This time I was given a window seat and notice something odd as the plane got ready to take off. As I looked through the window all the railway staff stopped what they were doing and were bowing as the plane moved, they didn’t left their heads until takeoff!!! Flight itself was comfortable and uneventful.

Plane landed In terminal 2 and from there I boarded the Haruka aka the Hello Kitty themed train to Kyoto for an ultra-smooth and quiet ride. Temperature was 2c when I arrived.

Tip JR has a special offer for foreign visitors. If you purchase an open one way e-ticket on the Haruka it’ll cost 2200 yen for a reserved seat. Which is almost half price compared to buying it on site. E-tickets are valid for 3 months from purchase and you can redeem it any time in the JR counter. They also sell the ICOCA card at the same counter so got one since it’s valid for 10 years. Also it was a special event one with an astroboy + Sakura design on it so I just had to. Checked into my hotel just past 11:30 so called it a night.

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Day 10 (Sunday)

Hotel Onyado Nono Kyoto Shichijo Natural Hot Spring: $100 per night. This was easily the best hotel. Lovely décor that’s modeled after a classic ryokan, you have to take your shoes off as you walk in because the floor is tatami, they are part of the Dormy Inn chain so a ton of amenities including three onsens per gender. The room itself was spacious with a unique décor including a wooden panel instead of curtains that looks like a rice paper Japanese door.

Because this kind of window lets in the light I was up around 6am so decided to try the buffet breakfast. Take about fancy! So many little dishes which again are supposed to be styled after a classic ryokan meal. Since it was still early I did the laundry and relaxed in the message chairs they provide in the relaxation lobby.

First stop of the day was Kameoka to board the Sagano Romantic Train. I did the route in reverse starting at Torokko Kameoka Sta. and ending at the Torokko Arashiyama Sta. right next to the Bamboo groove. Ride was great and we saw a few people taking the raft down the river as well. I think it would be nicer once the trees are in bloom but it was fun and the view amazing.

Aside from the grove I did visit quite a few shrines and temples in the area. A notable one was Mikami Shrine because it’s dedicated to hair. Just hair, if you want long shiny hair or you’re a hair dresser this is where you ask for it. They even sell charms in the shape of little combs with a spell written on it, super cute!

While the grove was really crowded, it was the weekend after all, the garden area was huge and rather empty so I took a little walk there. Found a few Plum trees still in bloom, the garden path lead to the river where you can rent a rowing boat. From there the path lead to the Togetsukyo Bridge. However that area was full of delicious smells carried by the wind from the path up ahead. I decided it was close enough to lunch time and followed it t...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/fairyranmaru on 2024-03-18 21:26:24.

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(edit- title should say kamakura instead of kanazawa oops !)

This was my third trip to Japan, and was actually intended to be a solo trip until the last minute when my BF decided to come along- so planning was a bit wonky! I tried to make this more of a laid-back trip without pressure to do too much. Regardless, we had a great time and I figured I would share our experience!

Important note; I'm vegetarian and my eating habits in Japan are basically "Objective: Survive" so don't get your hopes up for food recommendations in this post :,)

Our main interests for the trip were anime (specifically Yu-Gi-Oh lmao)/subculture stuff, shrines/goshuin collecting, and just exploring some new places we hadn't been to before.

Day 1

Our first mistake lmao. We had a layover at LAX that ended up being shortened to under an hour due to the flight's departure time getting moved up after I booked the ticket. But thankfully, our flight to LAX was on time and we managed to rush between terminals and make it to our flight to HND, albeit while boarding had already started. Having such a short layover is definitely NOT worth the stress, would not recommend. Always plan your flights with time to spare...

The flight was fine, but man the vegetarian meals suck. We got off the plane at around 3 PM and took the train to our budget ryokan in Yanaka. I've never been to the Yanaka area before, and I was really delighted by it! I would say it's a great option if you want something a bit removed from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo, though still a pretty convenient walk to a subway line and Nippori station, both of which served us well.

We walked around the Yanaka Ginza shopping street, ate some 7-Eleven snacks, and rested after our super long day of travel. I didn't realize beforehand, but the street was pretty heavily cat-themed, with many stores exclusively selling cat-themed goods and foods :3 There was also a cat café but we didn't visit it during our trip.

Day 2

Jetlag time, we woke up pretty early and had some 7-Eleven breakfast. We took a little walk around the neighborhood and saw a lot of residents starting off their day. Then, we headed to Nezu Shrine. It was gorgeous, would def recommend if you're looking for shrines in Tokyo. I loved the koi pond, rows of torii, and the shrine buildings. Plus, it wasn't crowded at all.

Then, we stopped by Nezu Cafe nearby and I had a rare sit-down meal of vegetarian chickpea curry. It was good!

It was still pretty early, so we kept up our shrine run and headed to Kanda Shrine. There was a fintech event going on there at the same time, which was pretty amusing, seeing all the people in suits running around. I guess due to its proximity to Akihabara, the shrine is very technology-forward, and definitely has more modern buildings inside compared to other shrines. It's beautiful though, another one i'd def recommend visiting!

As we wandered away from the shrine, we popped into a random used tech store where my BF bought some little things, and we peeked in a huge Book-Off. I did a little solo venture to the big Uniqlo/GU by Ueno Station and bought some clothes while my BF hung out in a nearby coffee shop. At this point, it was early afternoon, so we stopped back by our hotel to recharge and drop off our purchases.

We headed out again later, getting side-tracked by some small shrines in Yanaka and some yummy "cat tail" desserts from a vendor on Yanaka Ginza street.

We made our way back to Ueno, where I wanted to look in the huge Yamashiroya toy store, and found a few goodies. We exited and walked through Ameyoko Street, which was super busy but cool to see for the first time. We walked to Ueno Park and peeped the few early-blooming trees. We went to Kura Sushi for dinner, since my BF hasn't had conveyor belt sushi before and he wanted to try it. I popped in a CAN DO 100 yen shop, would recommend! I bought some useful things including new shoe insoles, and for the price, you can't complain :)

Day 3

We took a morning walk through Yanaka cemetery in the early morning on the way to Tennoji temple. Both were interesting to see but I wouldn't go out of your way for them, unless you're staying in the area.

We took the train to Tokyo Station and explored that a bit, then walked around the Imperial Palace grounds until it started to rain. We decided to do something indoors, and headed to Akihabara to browse the shops. We picked up a few Yu-Gi-Oh cards, but overall didn't find much else to our interests. (I feel this way every time, but Akihabara is honestly pretty underwhelming. You're better off going to Ikebukuro instead for anime shopping.)

We went back to the hotel, rested and showered, before heading out to Roppongi for an event I was highly anticipating; a concert by the visual kei band NIGHTMARE. As a fan of their music, this was an amazing experience for me!! Despite not knowing the furi (choreography/hand movements the crowd does during v-kei lives) I sat in the back and pretty much just observed/copied the people in front of me, and got the hang of it eventually. The concert was a highlight of the trip for me; I felt grateful that tickets were available overseas, since usually that seems not to be the case. :,)

Day 4

This day was super cold, so we layered up and took the train to Yokohama Station. This was my first time in Yokohama! When we arrived, it was super rainy, windy, and cold. We had a few hours to kill before the baseball game we were going to later, so we took shelter in the Marui City Yokohama Department Store connected to the station. Specifically, to check out the Suruga-ya and Lashinbang stores there. After our disappointment in Akihabara, I was unsure whether we'd find anything. But we hit the jackpot!! And by jackpot I mean a ton of cheap Yu-Gi-Oh merch, especially of my 2 favorite spinoffs, GX and 5Ds.

By then, it was time to head over to Yokohama Stadium for the Yokohama BayStars game. Seeing a baseball game in Japan was def a bucket list item for me, and I was thankful we were there for the pre-season at least. I loved everything about it!! The rain miraculously cleared up right as the game started, and the sun even came out. The people around us were super nice and were amused by our American-ness I think lmao. We ate a bunch of stadium food and enjoyed the game, which 'our team' won :) Afterwards, we bought a few souvenirs at the stadium's gift shop.

Then, we walked through China Town, which was super cool. We ate some street food/drinks and walked over to the Giant Gundam, because I heard it was being taken down at the end of the month and I felt like a trip to Yokohama wouldn't be complete without it... It was pretty neat; we weren't there at the right time for one of the more impressive movement displays (i think), but it was still super crowded. On the way out, a worker with really good English chatted us up and told us to submit a response on their google form, saying we should mention if the giant gundam made us want to buy gundam merch lol so clearly they're trying to convince someone to let them keep it open longer :)

The nighttime view of the harbor was gorgeous. We walked alongside it, returned to our hotel in Tokyo, and did laundry.

Day 5

We got some coffee at Yanaka Coffee, which was good but kinda expensive. We ate our 7-Eleven breakfast and though about what to do today. Usually, I'm the planner, but I'd found out I'm getting laid of from my job the night before and wasn't in the best state of mind. :,) We decided to do something chill, so we took the train one stop over back to Ueno Park and went to the Tokyo National Museum. The museum is neat, and there's even a garden around it that we strolled through. I was feeling somewhat better at this point, so I made the executive decision to go to Kichijoji since neither of us have been there before, and tbh I wanted to see the locations featured in Persona 5 lmao.

We got there a bit too late for the shrine in Inokashira Park to be open, so we took our time first going through the Sunroad shopping street. BF needed lunch so we stopped in an Ichiran and I got some plain rice for myself, which was weirdly the best plain rice I've ever had. Even my BF agreed it was unusually good. Then, we continued down the shopping street and peeked in a Book-Off that actually had figures at pretty good prices, a lot better than Akiba. We stumbled upon a taiyaki shop selling Magikarp taiyaki, so naturally we had to get some.

Then, we walked to Inokashira Park, which was beautiful, even in winter time. I'd love to come back here in the spring/summer. We strolled around and rented one of the row boats, which was really fun. (and also Yusuke is best p5 boy, gotta relive his social link lmao.) Seeing the groups of high school students try and fail to pilot their boats was super funny, and a group of boys yelled "HELLO!!!" to us and tried to challenge us to a race, but they kept going in circles :,D

We looked at the Benzaiten shrine from a distance, it's gorgeous from across the water. We're not particularly Ghibli fans so we didn't try to get Ghibli Museum reservations, but that's near the park too, and would be cool to visit another time.

Finally, we left the park and ducked into a Taito arcade on the way to the station. We played some rhythm games and had lots of fun, t...

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Pre-Trip

All bookings and the flight tickets were made and paid for at the start of September 2023. The yen being at its lowest + early booking prices made it possible for me to do this on a budget.

My main concern for the trip was my wonky right leg, I restarted my daily walks in December slowly building it up over time to where I can now walk 10 kms a day. Also I’m a pescatarian so printed out cards that said I can’t eat meat or chicken just in case.

Report will be broken down into two parts.

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Day 1

Singapore Airline: Multicity round ticket. $790 + $40 for seat selection. My trip started off on the wrong foot for sure. For one thing the plan was to transfer in Singapore airport to my Tokyo flight (also Singapore Airline) with a transfer time of one hour. Sadly the plane was delayed exactly one hour at take off so… yeah, I’m not catching my transfer. They really handled it poorly though. A rep met us at disembarking. His plan was to catch the next flight to Haneda, in 7 hours!!! To make up for the inconvenience here’s a $15 voucher to (and I’m not joking here) Burger King in the next terminal.

I don’t know why the others agreed to this but I put up a fight. Seven hours meant I would be arriving at Haneda during the night time after public transport has closed. I’d rather not pay $200 for a cab ride home, thanks. The guy acted like I was being unreasonable and look look a voucher ohhhhhhh. Yeah, no. When it was clear I wasn’t ok with this he finally relented and said there was a flight to Narita in two hours I can be switched to. It means I’ll lose out on the voucher though, I think it was his last attempt but I was ready to stuff the paper into his mouth at this point!

Anyway two hours later I was on the flight to Narita and they were nice enough to upgrade my seat to extra leg space. At least, I thought it was nice until I looked to the left and locked eyes with the one toddler in the entire cabin. 7 hours, the flight was 7 hours. Holy $%&!!!

Tired and cranky I land in Narita airport. Decided to time it from customs & immigration till I got out. Starting time was 5:00pm on the dot. Done by 5:12. Took maybe 10 minutes to get my bags and I was ready to leave the airport.

Hot tip, DO THE VISIT JAPAN WEB QR CODE. The lines are divided into three. One for people who haven’t done the immigration papers (VERY long). One for those that did (not long but the immigration office will stop and question them). Last is QR code, hardly 5 people in there and we never stopped anywhere. Just breezed through it all and once was shown my answers to the web questions to confirm them. Even the immigration officer didn’t stop me. Just looked up my web answers and applied the Tax QR code to my passport before letting me through.

I had some delay picking up the wifi since I had booked it for Haneda but eventually customer services sorted it out (Global wifi). Also the best currency exchange rate I got was at the airport. 158 yen per Euro with a 4 yen difference. Inside the city the best I ever saw was 149 yen with a 10-12 yen difference.

The one place where I was delayed was getting a ticket to the Keisei Skyliner. Line was 45 minutes long BUT aside from the tickets you can pick up the Pasmo IC card from the same counter. This turned out to be the best idea of the trip. An IC card is a must if you’re planning on jumping around a lot. It’s just so convenient and you can use it for small purchases in case you don’t have change… also get a coin purse. I was in Japan for five minutes and already had a small mountain of them.

One transfer later I was in Tamachi and checking into my hotel. I grabbed two onigiris and a sakura latte from Starbucks at the train station to be my first meal in Japan.

.

Day 2 (Saturday)

Hotel Gracery in Tamachi: $65 per night. I had my reservations with this one but it turned out to be rather nice. Room small but fine for one person. Clean with a rather large bathroom for a business hotel. My room also came with a view of the river which was just lovely. Best of all they really were a five minute walk from Tamachi station which I used almost daily.

For my first adventure I took a cab to Setagaya Park (Hanegi) to attend the plum festival. That 30 minute ride costed 7040 yen exactly so yeah, no more cabs after this lol!

The park itself was lovely, some plum trees still in bloom and quite a few food stalls and an activities section for the kids. Had my first taste of Takoyaki and the addiction begins!

Anyway at around 11 a cultural show started with an opening comedy bit staring yours truly. I forgot the exact line but the announcer basically said “Welcome everyone, friends, neighbors, coworkers and that one Gaijin (aka foreigner)” which got a laugh from everyone. The show was fun though, different traditional dances showcased from the slow but elegant to the more festive. Overall I had loads of fun and the atmosphere was friendly and relaxed.

After that I visited FUGLEN which is a coffee shop just outside the park. Smoothest coffee I’ve ever had! There was a promising looking Pancake shop close by as well but I was so full of festival food at this point that I just couldn’t.

Attempting to walk it off I tried to locate Gotoku-ji Temple. Which is when my wifi died because I forgot to charge it. It’s fine, the directions said walk straight for 15 minutes then turn left. How hard can that be?

So 45 minutes later, one elderly women kicking me out of the post office because no Japanese, one nice shop keeper giving me directions & a map to the temple all of which were in Japanese, one cyclist that also failed to read that map later I decided to call it. I think it’s the fact that the cyclist held the map upright, then sideways, then upside deciding this had to be the right way was what made me throw in the towel.

I back tracked to the last train station and decided to just get off at the first familiar sounding station. Which is how I ended up in Yoyogi Park that was also holding a festival. This one was massive in comparison with a kids show going on every hour or so. Looking through the stalls I did end up buying some nice homemade jam which smelled amazing. The star of the festival however was the Hokkaido Seafood stall. The place is so massive that there were plenty of food stalls and no lines but that was the only one with not one but TWO lines. One to pay and another to collect your meal. So I paid, turned out to cost only 100 yen so a dollar and headed to the collection line not even knowing what I bought. Turned out to be grilled scallops served is a real seashell as a dish. Dude… that had no right to be as good as it was for 100 yen!!! After trying a few other stalls I went back and got two more deciding this was going to be my lunch and then off to Meiji Temple.

Just be warned, it’s quite a walk to get there and all uphill. Also you can’t get to it from inside the park. Anyway my first temple so celebrated by getting my first Omikuji. It turned out to be a poem that translated to “Even the Mountain, with its peak in the sky, can be climbed so long as there is a path.”

Ended the day with a quick stop in Ginza Uniqlo & Daiso for some add-ons. By the way when you first land in Japan best avoid the konbini. I found most items I got from there in my day one frenzy for 300 – 500 yen all in Daiso, same brands in most cases as well.

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Day 3 (Sunday)

First stop of the day was Shinjuko as the Hanazono Shrine had a flea market scheduled. Five minutes in the station and already I was lost, seriously consider staying near a small station. The Major ones are confusing, over-crowded and a little insane! After finally finding my way out I came across another hurdle. Today was the Tokyo Marathon so the streets were closed, meaning that to cross I had to use the underground each and every time! Finally took a tumble on the second crossing and hurt my left knee. The wound was pretty bad and it took three days to properly scab over. Stopping by the first pharmacy along the way for first aid I limped to the shrine. It was so quiet I thought the whole thing was cancelled but no, the market was in full swing, everyone in Tokyo is just so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. After that I looked around Shinjuko for about an hour and tried some crane games.

From Shinjuko I headed to my main destination for the day, Chofu. I love GeGeGe no Kitaro so just had to visit the Chaya themed around the show there. Also it happened that today Jindaiji Temple was hosting a Daruma festival. This was more of a classic Japanese festival like you would see in anime with the catch the goldfish game and pull the rope from the knot to see what prize it’s attached to. A million and one food stalls all smelling amazing BUT the place was PACKED. The stalls were along a narrow walkway comfortable enough for one person yet there were four lanes going so it was near impossible to stop somewhere to look or buy anything. Anyway a few munches & one rather large Drauma later I found the Chaya! This was legit the first meal I had in Japan. Like, actually sat down for food instead of munching on street food as I went. Totally worth the trouble, the food was great, the merch cute and the little Kitaro museum charming. I left very happy.

Sadly I couldn’t visit the onsen in the area, Yumorinosato, because of my literal bleeding wou...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Aries37 on 2024-03-17 17:58:32.

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Background info

Me and my wife have just returned home from a fantastic 2 week trip to Japan in early March. We were first timers but spent a lot of time researching so hopefully this post will help others plan their trips as well. Planning for us wasn't about squeezing in as much as physicaly possible but rather to help us avoid wasting time getting lost or having to backtrack. You will spend a lot of time getting from point A to point B so having efficient routes will make a big difference.

We tried to get a balance of shopping, eating, sightseeing and themeparks and found that 2 weeks was the perfect amount of time for this. We were helped out by good weather with only 2 days of significant rain over the 2 weeks.

 

General tips

• Eat at weird times to reduce queue times at popular/well-reviewed places. If you are going at a busy time of year (like March) then you probably can't avoid queueing competely but you can at least reduce the queue times. 2-4pm seems to be best.
• Use an app like google maps or wanderlog to give yourself a choice of places to eat at each location you visit. I had pre-researched and saved a load of recommendations in each area. It then became easy to pull up the map and pick somewhere each meal depending on what we fancied eating at the time. For Tokyo at least we avoided reserving restaurants to give ourselves flexibility in the itinerary, but if you are looking for fine dining then you absolutely should book ahead.
• Shops and many restaurants open late in Japan (many open 10-11am). Therefore most mornings you may want to schedule sightseeing at a spot that doesn't require employees to be present (Senso-ji, Meiji Jingu, Fushimi Inari, Kiyomizu-dera all fit this bill) and save your visits to manned locations later in the day. Check opening times for everywhere you plan to visit beforehand.
• It is not an exaggeration to say that some Tokyo metro stations (e.g Tokyo, Shinjuku) are laid out like an international airport with multiple terminals each. They are HUGE and getting from one side to the other can easily take 30 minutes+ and it is very easy to get lost on the way as signage is not always very clear. Rarely you will find some parts of some stations to be entirely disconnected from the rest of the station and can only be reached via street level. Plan transfer and travel times accordingly.
• Ship your luggage between hotels if you have large or multiple large suitcases. You do not want to be carrying a lot of luggage around on Japanese public transport. Especially during rush hour.
• More than once several stores were out of stock of something we wanted to buy and we had to resort to using Amazon.jp. The reception staff at the various hotels we stayed at were more than happy to take deliveries (although I did email them beforehand to check). Amazon prices also tended to be cheaper but of course we wanted to support local business where we could.
• If you are looking for gaming/anime/gunpla/ghibli merch we found Osaka to be way easier to shop in. Tokyo at the moment is just flooded with tourists and places like Akihabara have been picked clean. Even the relatively unknown Gundam Specialty Store in Akihabara had very little left in the way of rare kits. Osaka stores were also just less crowded and stressful to shop in.
• Save your 100 yen coins where you can as these seem to be the most versatile. If you find a vending machine that takes copper coins take the opportunity to dump them all.
• Public toilets are everywhere in Japan. Check any large store, shopping centre, convenience store or station. They are clean and many have electric heated seats. I feel bad for Japanese tourists who come to the UK and encounter our public toilet situation for the first time.
• If you don't have one I suggest getting a credit/ debit card that doesn't have foreign transaction fees before you travel. We found that most stores apart from small eateries will accept plastic.

 

Day 1, Tokyo

• Landed 5:20pm at Narita. Took 50 minutes to get through customs with the QR code.
• Got cash from the ATM after baggage claim. If you have a card with no foreign fees then make sure you are paying in yen when given the choice and let your bank back at home do the conversion. DO NOT USE Dynamic Currency Conversion on the machine as the fees are significant.
• We then charged our IC cards (machines only accept cash for this)
• Took the N'ex to Shinjuku- makes sure you sit in the correct car on your ticket as the train often splits at tokyo station.
• Got to our hotel 8:20pm. Hotel was Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku. I'd rate it 8/10. Amazing location right next to to a small branch of Shinjuku station with access to 2 metro lines. For the main Shinjuku station you will need to walk 5 minutes at street level. Small but clean rooms. If I were to nitpick there was no safe in room and they used 1 ply toilet paper which disintegrated instantly on contact with moisture. Toilet seats were also an uncomfortable narrow oval shape and the bathroom ceilings were low. However the front desk were amazing and were happy to sort our baggage transfers between hotels.
• Dinner at Udon Shin (tabelog 3.72)- 10/10. This place apparently gets pretty long queues but we arrived about 40 minutes before closing and waited 15 minutes for seats. I got the hot udon soup with beef and shrimp tempura. Amazingly tasty yet light. Wife got the hot udon with black pepper, beef and raw egg yolk. Tasty but she found it a bit strong by the end. We shared a vegetable tempura set which was lovely.
• Went to 7/11 and bought snacks, desserts and drinks then crashed for the night.

 

Day 2, Tokyo

• Planned as a jetlag recovery/rest day
• Breakfast at the Yoshinoya chain in Keio mall (Tabelog 3.04), 7/10. We got a beef short rib bowl and cheese beef bowl. Wife found the cheese bowl a bit too heavy for the morning. Saw lots of salarymen who come in to eat alone and then dash off even on a weekend morning.
• Walked by Sumida river
• Visited Tokyo skytree- there was a sakura tree blooming outside which was crowded with people taking photos
• Tokyo Solamachi- many stores over several floors but not much looked interesting. Bought some stuff at the Pokemon centre. Contains the largest Ghibli store in Tokyo which was packed with people.
• Dinner at Kaiten sushi toriton (tabelog 3.54) 9/10. Sushi choices were a bit limited but really good quality and price. Great atmosphere as staff were fun and loud. Go earlier in the afternoon to get in the virtual queue. Ours took over 3 hours on a Saturday but thankfully you can just shop in Solamachi while checking the queue status online.

 

Day 3, Tokyo

• Breakfast at Kamo to negi (tabelog 3.75) 9/10. Came for the famous duck ramen. Great flavour in the duck meat but the ramen and broth were more bland. Arrived just before opening and waited 40 minutes but it was worth the wait as this was high on my priority list pre-trip.
• Walked through Ueno park- had a few cherry blossom trees in early bloom. Pleasant walk on a really sunny and clear day.
• Visited Ueno zoo- busy but plenty of animals. We spent quite a few hours here as my wife loves pandas. 40 minute queue to see the panda cub twins but no queue at all for the adult pandas who we revisited several times.
• Yamishiroya huge toy shop next to Ueno station- extremely busy, high prices but good variety. We bought some Ghibli merch.
• Ameyoko shopping district, walked through and was absolutely heaving with both tourists and locals at this point
• Rk540 artisan shopping arcade- disappointing as not much to see here which was reflected in how dead the area was
• Akihabara- On Sundays the roads become closed to cars. However every store was packed and it was difficult to walk down the aisles of any store. We went looking for a specific rare-ish gunpla kit and ghibli goods but many stores had no stock of anything in high demand.
• Dinner at Tonkatsu Marugo (Tabelog 3.76) 7/10 - 40 minute wait after arriving 10 minutes before they open at 5pm on a sunday. We both got the premium filet set. Pork was juicy and the batter was light. The pork came with a brown sauce that tasted a bit like HP sauce which neither of us particularly enjoyed. Ended up having the tonkatsu with salt alone which made it quite plain.
• Back to shopping in Akihabara but now it was getting late in the day and we didn't have time to check every store before they closed at 8pm. We made a mental note to come back later in the week on the planned flex day.

 

Day 4, Tokyo

• Harajuku- takeshita street. Quick walk through, didn't see anything that caught our fancy.
• Breakfast at Eggs n things (tabelog 3.45)- 4/10 cold eggs benedict and omelet with no flavour. Slow service. Avoid.
• Walked down Omotesando and shopped at Kiddy land - found some good Ghibli merch. Also spent 2 minutes walking through Toy sapiens which was neat.
• Shibuya, beelined to Parco- Pokemon, Jump, Nintendo, Capcom stores
• Muji, Loft (bought the mandatory nail clippers and umbrellas), Disney stores
• Shibuya crossing ended up doing this crossing like 5 times as our GPS went haywire and we couldn't find our late lunch spot
• Finally arrived at Katsumidori sushi (tabelog 3.47) - 9/10. 5 minute wait at 3:30pm. Embarrassingly kept forgetting to press the button to send the train...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/shiiroyasha_ on 2024-03-15 15:47:20.

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Hi there,

I'm visiting Japan and I have lost my wallet which had my credit cards, cash (sadly all of it) and suica card.

I have:

• gone to the police (filed a lost report)
• blocked my cards
• called my travel insurance

Passport is still with me.

Not sure what to do next as I will be needing to travel to other cities..

I'm here till the end of the month which isn't enough time to send a replacement (is what I'm thinking), however, is there a place where you can buy a suica/passmo using paywave/contactless payment? And train tickets?

Would like for some advice or help on what to do (I have read prior posts and I don't think cash advances or contactless ATMs are a thing from what I've searched up), however, I only have my Google pay and I don't think it will get me that far at all..

Sorry for the message and mess pulling a few strands of hair on this one

Thanks,

Edit: Tried to call the visa toll free line but no luck on getting a ring (non JP sim)

I have retraced my steps twice

Lost today late afternoon

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/First_Middle_Last-00 on 2024-03-13 21:59:54.

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Link to Part One of my Trip Report!

As I previously shared (copy and paste), I am sharing my personal experiences and opinions, which of course are going to be unique to me in some way and shared commonalities in others. Just because I did or did not like something or had issues / smooth sailing with something else shouldn't deter you or draw you in. Take everything with a grain of salt...we all like different things and experience things in our own unique ways :)

If you didn't read Part One (link above), I am a 30-35 year old female from Canada, first solo trip. I've been to a few European countries before. I live in a small town and am fairly unfamiliar with big city etiquette and public transit. I speak about 3 words of Japanese.

March 5 - this is where I left off - today was a travel day from Nikko to Kyoto, arrived around 1pm, stored my bags at the hotel - ventured to the Pokemon Centre, and on the way visited Higashi Temple and Pontocho Alley

March 6 - finally over jet lag! although still waking around 6am which is perfect for tourist stuff - made my way first thing to Fushimi Inari (climbed to the very top!) - saw Kiyomizudera Temple, Hokanji Temple, and the Yasaka Pagoda

Note: This was a great day--I'm not "fit" by any means, the climb to the top of the mountain was difficult but do-able--take lots of breaks, visit the offshoot mini-shrines, stop to just admire the beauty of nature and a crazy unique experience

Note: If you Google Maps "Yasaka Pagoda Photograph Spot" it will bring you to a street where you can take a popular photograph of the Pagoda and the old-style houses / cobblestone road...pretty neat

March 7 - this was probably my busiest day - started the morning at Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, visited Tenryuji Temple, walked the Togetsukyo Bridge, MONKEY PARK (by far the best experience every, for someone that loves animals), ventured to Kinkakuji Temple and finished by walking the full Philosopher's Path

Note: Be sure to check Temple opening times - visiting Arashiyama Bamboo Forest is best for early morning, but the Temples often don't open until 0830/0900, so you have to kind of wander around and make up time

March 8 - checked out of my hotel in Kyoto and travelled about 10 minutes by train to check into my Ryokan - more on that later - rested and enjoyed the traditional experience

March 9 - checked out of the Ryokan and made my way to the final stop in Osaka - arrived approximately 1pm and stored my luggage - found the Pokemon Centre (sense a theme?), visited Osaka Castle and also checked out the Animate Umeda

March 10 - woke up early to head to Nara - did ALL the Nara things (including Todaiji Temple) - fed the deer (more on the later!) - ran out of steam and returned to the hotel early to do some laundry

March 11 - last adventure of the trip to Hiroshima - what an experience that was - pretty big history buff, to read all the signage and be in the presence of a stain on history was overwhelming but necessary

As for Food and Accommodations:

Kyoto - Hotel the M's - 4.5 stars - very large room for Japan, bed was hella comfortable - no bathtub (bad for sore legs) but really nice walk in shower - all the required facilities and close to the train station

I had my first experience with Coco Ichibanya (thanks to whoever recommended that in the last post!). Truly fantastic. Tried some more authentic (North American-ized authentic?) sushi and still a big proponent of convenience store food...go to breakfast was the Red Bean Paste thing...so good.

Ryokan (Kyoto) - Kyonoyado Gekkou-an - 5 stars - I don't know where to begin...the two concierge gentlemen that welcomed me (literal welcome package) were fantastic, so friendly, so knowledgeable about the area and recommendations and history - the food...okay, so being that I'm not super adventurous I wanted to try the traditional experience so I paid some coin for this Michelin Star dinner and then opted for the "Western breakfast" to offset...my mistake, I'm sure an adventurous eater and/or connoisseur would love the dinner but it was just a little too much adventure for me - other than that, the interior design, facilities, staff...everything was friggin amazing and I cannot recommend this experience enough!

Osaka - The Rise Kitashinchi - 3 stars - by far the "worst" place I stayed - the room was smaller than Tokyo, the bed was very hard, the facilities were minimal, and I guess I didn't read the reviews good enough because the staff spoke 0 English which made everything so much more difficult - I think this is meant as a business hotel, so very minimalistic

As for food, I finally made it to a Sushiro (conveyor belt sushi) - awesome! So fun and I love how you don't have to interact with anyone, just use the tablet to place your order and bam! Food delivered right to your table!

Final Thoughts

Over the course of 14 days, I walked a total of 170km (avg 11-12 km per day). Make sure, for the love of your feet, ankles, knees, and back, that you have GOOD WALKING SHOES. Like old man, supportive, walking shoes. Thank me later.

Here's some thoughts coming at your hard and fast:

• Coins...so many coins...be prepared to hold them and use them!
• Pasmo / Suica - I had the Pasmo Passport, got it at the airport, super easy to use - reloadable at train stations and convenience stores (I used mine a lot to buy stuff at the convenience stores and even some shops along the way - just look for a sign near the till, usually it will say whether they accept IC cards)
• I found the bus lines (used in Nikko and Kamakura) to be confusing, but this is coming with someone with no public transit experience...I stuck to trains or good old fashion walking
• For all you folks nervous of the train stations, look up and down! Lots of signage on the floors, above your head, color coding, etc (very helpful)
• When using Google Maps for navigating trains, try your best to pay attention to the exit and entrance suggestions (highlighted in yellow) - it'll help you get closest to your destination or train platform
• I'm a fairly heavy data user - I opted for the 10GB Ubigi esim - I used just under 7GB in 14 days, totally seamless and easy to install/uninstall
• For any Pokemon lovers, cards were super easy to find at the Pokemon Centres (you have to go to the till to buy them) and also I found singles at Animate (and a pack at one of the 7/11s)
• If you're planning on visiting the typical tourist spots, don't try to do Arashiyama / Fushimi Inari on the same days, especially if you plan on climbing the mountain - both are jam-packed by midday and it's just not good for your body
• The train system in Kyoto was WAY different than in Tokyo - what I mean is, the Tokyo trains were in and out, very efficient, no stopping for extended periods (except maybe the JR lines or Shinkansen) - in Kyoto, trains often arrived 5-10 minutes before departure and sat and waited - threw me off a few times but if you're paying attention to signage and your train is next up, get on the train! otherwise you'll have to wait for the next one
• Japan seems to be very environmentally friendly and energy efficient - if you use the hotel laundry services, you may need a few rounds of the dryer, particularly if you have heavy articles of clothing
• Bring ear plugs! All of the hotels I stayed in had very little sound-proofing
• If you're as confused as I am with using the machines to buy train tickets (for JR/Shinkansen) - go to the ticket counter! I showed them my Google Maps of where I wanted to go and when, they did the rest and bam...tickets! Note: When you buy physical tickets, you get 2 (one is the actual train ticket and one is showing which districts you are going to/from) - you have to put BOTH of those in the gate machine at the same time and SOMETIMES you have to also scan your Pasmo...I had to ask for help a few times, it's ok, you're not the only one!

Over / Under rated: I forgot to say this in the last part, Kotoku (the big Buddha statue in Kamakura) is a can't miss! So cool. Arashiyama Bamboo Park was by far the most over-rated item on my list...took my like 10 minutes to walk the path...but it led (eventually) to Monkey Park, so that was awesome. Seriously, Monkey Park...what a fun place! The Golden Pavillion (Kinkakuji Temple) was beautiful and well-worth the visit. Fushimi Inari is another that is absolutely must-see (but please, go early). Philospher's Path would most definitely be a must-walk, in the late spring / summer / early fall. Still beautiful now, but I can well imagine the foliage and plant-life would make it stunning.

I sincerely hope that you enjoyed these reads and get something from it! Remember, if you think something is worth visiting then it is. It doesn't matter what I or anyone else thinks. And hey, if you don't like something or think it's over-rated, move on! I spent between 20 minutes and 4 hours at each of the aforementioned. Everything brought value to my trip, even if it was a short stay.

If you have any questions, please comment below! I'll do my very best to help!

Arigato!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/m_nxx on 2024-03-14 00:16:09.

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I have been looking at tours from Tokyo to Mt Fuji area but am curious if this is reasonable to do on our own.

-Train (2 hours) from Shibuya station to Arakurayama Sengen Park/Chureito Pagoda

-Walk (15 mins) to Hikawa Clock Shop

-Train (25 mins) to LAWSON

-Walk (15 mins) to Mt. Fuji Panoramic Ropeway

-Walk (45 mins) or Train (15 mins) to Kawaguchiko Museum of Art-Walk through Sakura Festival to Maple Corridor to Oishi Park

-Train (2 hours 50 mins) back to Shibuya station

We were considering a bus tour but the time limits are a turn off. We were thinking of hiring a car/custom tour which would be nice because the travel time would be shorter but would probably want to cancel if Mt. Fuji is hiding the day of our trip and won't be able to get money back.

My boyfriend is a photographer and loves to take photos and it would be nice to take our time. Recommendations on beautiful places around this area would be awesome!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/OneFun9000 on 2024-03-13 13:51:55.

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Intro

This was my fourth time in Japan, so there was very little pressure to see things, and a lot of the time we were revisiting things that we’d liked from previous trips (you can see these reports on my profile). The goal of this trip was to explore different parts of the Tokyo metropolitan area. To preface, I’m not a huge foodie and I don’t eat meat, though can put up with dashi in Japan. I’m almost never willing to line up for stuff because I’m terribly impatient, so I didn’t go to particularly famous places. My travel style is fairly easygoing, with rough plans plotted out on a map and deciding on the day itself exactly what to do depending on the weather and my mood. I enjoy shopping, so I did a lot of that.

Day 1

My flight with JAL was fine. Vegetarian special meal was shamefully bad (I complained when I got home and got an acknowledgement of that fact and an apology), but the standard meals were excellent, I’m told. I find the service on JAL a bit too “Japanese”, meaning that it’s pretty stuffy and deferential. The plane was showing its age too. I’d give them another chance in the other direction, because apparently their special meal catering out of Japan is very good.

It was too cloudy to see Mt Fuji this time, unfortunately. We flew very low right over central Tokyo and it’s a great city to look at from above.

Our plane arrived at sunset, and the lines for immigration and customs were short and sweet.

We took a taxi to our hotel, Keio Plaza in Shinjuku.

Unfortunately, sleeping on the plane for a few hours really threw me out of whack and that night I didn’t get a wink of sleep.

Day 2

Given that we got no sleep, it was a pretty easygoing day. We visited the Shinjuku National Garden, including greenhouse, which I have been to before but really enjoy.

The rest of the day was some light shopping and comfort foods. The hotel complex is huge, so we had some time exploring it too. The hotel seems really popular with package groups, so sometimes breakfast would be immensely crowded and other times almost empty. The hotel is decent, though a little old-fashioned. The staff were always very kind and friendly which I appreciated. The club lounge was a pleasant place to hang out in the evenings before dinner, with lots of little cakes and treats.

I can see why people find Shinjuku station intimidating, given it is the world’s busiest(!) but having commuted using some of the other top stations I didn’t find it too bad. You just need to keep moving and keep an eye out for the signs, for the most part they are pretty logical.

Day 3

Jet lag was still knocking me down, but I managed to sleep okay and watch the sunrise in the morning.

After breakfast in the hotel, we did some walking around and then went to the Tokyo Metropolitan viewing deck as it opened, which I definitely would recommend. There was a perfect view of Mt Fuji and it wasn’t too crowded.

The next activity was TeamLabs Borderless. Meh. 3/10. I don’t get the hype. I've made it three times in Tokyo without going to any of them and I don't feel like I missed out. One of the first exhibits you see is a cool, innovative light show, so I thought that would set the tone but it was actually by far the peak. It’s sold as being interactive but it’s not interactive for 99% of it, it’s just (actually fairly poor quality) projections on walls. It was funny to see how almost everybody was constantly touching the walls to see if it did anything but it didn’t.

One part of it where there were different moving projections on the walls and the floor gave me motion sickness, so at least I felt something!

It’s an accessibility nightmare too as it’s unstable ground and mostly very dark. I’m not sure how people can find themselves “immersed” in the art when you’re not allowed to sit down in the vast majority of it, and you’re spending time watching where you’re going and trying not to bump into crowds of people. You’re unlikely to get decent pictures because it’s so dark, so it doesn’t have that going for it either. The app is supposed to help you navigate and give you more information but it was very buggy and didn’t really work.

All in all, different strokes for different folks I guess but I really don’t understand the appeal.

Jetlag meant that I was able to get same-day reservations for the Kirby Cafe. It was totally on a whim since I’ve never even played a game but we thought it looked cute. For all people said the food was bad, I actually really enjoyed the pizza and the various starters! The science experiment drink was fun; I didn’t particularly like the centrepiece dessert because it was a very thick and fairly bland mousse, but it looked cool.

Day 4

21/21 Design Museum. This was much more my speed, with an exhibit on the history of typefaces around the world. Unique and interesting exhibit, and the surrounding gardens are lovely.

Lunch was at Daigo, a restaurant I’ve been to before which formerly had two Michelin stars but after a cull last year is down to one. That said, I actually enjoyed the food more the second time. Highlights included cold soba and crispy seaweed rice.

We headed to Ginza for some shopping.

Day 5

We took a day trip to Enoshima. We wanted to ride the suspended monorail, which was a lot of fun and surprisingly really fast. We had Hawaiian food near the shore, then walked to the island. It was a nice day but intermittently very windy, and you could feel the Sea Candle swaying slightly. I really loved Enoshima Island; it had quirky shops, lots of little cafes and beautiful gardens. I’d definitely recommend visiting if you have a free day and want to do something fairly relaxed. That said I can imagine at peak times that it gets very busy like everything else in Japan! We had some Japanese wine at one of the cafes in the gardens.

We had an Enoshima Pudding which is made with toasted barley, and it was delicious.

Later in the afternoon we took the Enoshima Electric Railway to Hase to see the Giant Buddha. I hadn’t realised that this railway was a tourist attraction in its own right and has featured in countless media, so when we crossed over the small bridge there was an army of people outside the train taking pictures. The buddha was impressive not so much in the size but in the construction and its history.

We headed back to Shinjuku where I’d reserved a place at Kura Sushi.

Day 6

We ventured out early to Odaiba to go to Small Worlds. Unlike almost every attraction it opens at 9am, which is a huge bonus!

I actually really loved Small Worlds. It was a little goofy but eminently enjoyable. Being there early meant that we had enough time to do all the interactive parts (basically pushing buttons and seeing what happens!) without feeling crowded. Maybe a little pricey for the size of the exhibit but I’d still recommend especially for older kids.

Then we had some okonomiyaki for lunch in DiverCity.

Later in the day we went to the department stores in Shinjuku. Dinner was at Sohonke Komatsuan, a soba restaurant at the top of Takashimaya. It was great, and had expansive views over the train lines.

Day 7

We had been aiming at a slightly less walking day, and failed! We wanted some Korean food so headed to Korea Town. We ended up in a place called Retro Dongmakgol. We probably over ordered but wanted to try lots of stuff. It was great, and the place had a really quirky vibe. The waiters spoke excellent English which caught me a little off guard because we were the only non-Asian people there.

We headed to Omotesando to visit some specific stores and bought some shoes. The main Harajuku thoroughfares were incredibly busy, so as usual we skipped it and took the side streets.

Dinner was a chilled affair in a family restaurant near the hotel.

Day 8

We headed out to the Open Air Folk House Museum. It was really lovely with lots of volunteers doing things like basket weaving, stoking fires. It’s a lot of walking though, and very steep in some parts, but I still really enjoyed myself. We stopped for a coffee at Coffee Kan, a kind of upmarket chain place which specialises in charcoal roasted coffee. They had quite delicious pancakes too.

For lunch we went to Oscar American Chinese which coincidentally I had seen recommended on this very subreddit that morning. It was amazing, though probably moreso for a European because if I lived in the US I’d find it maybe too authentic in that sense! It’s fully vegan buffet-style American Chinese food. The location is very hipster, and for some reason the merch seemed more in demand than the food! Shimokitazawa felt very hip and vibrant.

We went to Gotokuji Temple, which was a bit of a tourist trap for the cat-related section but the rest of the temple was really nice. More enjoyable actually were the side streets with some beautiful homes. I can see why people say to skip it but as a gentle wandering destination I liked it. We inadvertently caught the cat-themed train on the way back into the city, which was super cute.

Day 9

I always try to visit a weird attraction, so this trip I decided on the Museum of Package Culture. It’s on the ground floor of an office building, and the whole time we were literally the only people there, including zero staff! It’s free and reasonably i...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/slightlysnobby on 2024-03-13 02:47:54.

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First off, I hope this kind of trip report is okay. I wanted to write about my recent chance to visit the Yamazaki Distillery, partly for myself, and partly to update some of the wonderful and incredibly helpful trip reports about it that have been made in the past (since most are from before the renovation that happened last year - for example, there's now a lottery system and a few prices that I came across in my planning were out of date).

The Lottery

Actually, my wife grew up not twenty minutes from the distillery. She said back in her high school days, they'd get bored and wander around the place for fun - gone are those days. There is now a lottery system in place. I applied in January for March tours. There are a few English tours, but the majority are Japanese, of course. I figured weekdays had a better chance than weekends. You can enter up to five times, so I put down two English tours as my first preferences and three Japanese tours to fill the rest. I ended up winning a spot on my third choice, which was the first of the three Japanese tour preferences. Not sure if this was pure luck, or maybe competition wasn't too bad for those spots. If chosen, there is a 3000 yen admission cost that needs to be paid online within a week or so of the lottery results to guarantee your spot.

The Tour

It was a rainy day, which added to the atmosphere of the place. I've passed it on the train many times and always loved how it's just perfectly nestled in at the foot of that little mountain. Check-in was smooth. You them climb upstairs to the museum and gift shop. If you're early, you can check them both out. There is an app (IOS/Android) you can download which gives you access to an English audio guide. The tour guide spoke super basic English and only used it for pleasantries. I was able to follow along in Japanese until the fermentation room, but the combination of not knowing technical vocabulary, combined with trouble hearing the guide (her mic wasn't super loud) made me put in the audio guide. I would say the audio guide felt about 50% as comprehensive as what she was saying, and it was also hard to hear the audio, but it was informative nonetheless. The thing that stood out to me the most was the smell - everywhere was just divine, woody, toasty. The kind of smell that makes you want to come back in the dead of winter because it just warms up your soul. After walking through the distillery, there's the tasting. You get to try three components that make up the Yamazaki blend: a white oak cask malt, wine cask malt, and mizunara (Japanese wood) cask malt. This is followed by a taste of the Yamazaki Single Malt (Distiller's Reverse/NAS), and then a second taste of it, but this time you're given ice and soda and told you can drink it how you like. I made a highball, as did most others. There were some small snacks and chocolates to pair it with. As a last "surprise", we were told that all tour participants have the right to purchase one 700ml bottle of the Yamazaki Single Malt Distiller's Reverse. Judging by everyone's reaction, this was a very big deal. One bottle was 5000 yen. I did not buy one, choosing to spend money in the gift shop instead, I hope I don't regret it. Suntory has announced that they will raise the MSRP to around 7000 a bottle in April, and I see that the going price on Amazon JP is about 17,000 yen a bottle. So it might have been my last/best chance to get a bottle at the lower price.

Tasting, Part 1

After the tour, I immediately headed to the tasting room. You're allowed 6 pours per visit, although no more than 3 pours per order. Also, the aged pours are restricted to one glass per visit. It is cashless and only debit and credit cards are accepted (the gift shop does take cash though). I will put pictures of the menu below. There is a Yamazaki 18, Hakushu 18, and Hibiki 21 flight which someone last year said was 1800 yen, well it is now 3000 yen. The legendary pours are now 4000 yen, so a small price bump too. I went for the Hibiki 30 and Yamazaki 25. As mentioned, Suntory is raising the MSRP on these bottles in April, from 160,000 yen to 360,000. At least not in the near future, I don't know when I'll get a chance to try these again, so I wanted to make the most of the experience. I'm channeling a previous trip report someone else wrote by saying that, in a way, I was hoping I wouldn't be knocked off my feet by these pours, but they were both easily the best whiskys I've ever had, especially the Hibiki 30. I will be thinking about that one for a long time.

Gift Shop

I'd heard there was a 300ml bottle of minimal information Distillery Limited Edition Yamazaki, which I was excited about, but alas they didn't have any. Not sure if it's been discontinued, but there is a sign vaguely apologizing that certain products may not be in stock. Instead, there are two gift sets with 180ml bottles of Yamazaki Single Malt Distiller's Reserve, one with chocolate (price unsure), the other with a highball glass (about 3300 yen). I think it's one of each per customer. I got the highball glass set because I like that kind of branded glassware. I also got a coaster (some connection to the barrels - possibly recycled barrel wood?) and "grown up" Pocky snacks. I haven't mentioned it yet, but you get a souvenir tasting glass at the end of the tour too. At this point, a huge tour group arrived and stormed the shop, so I bought my goods and went back down to the tasting area, as I figured that's where the group would be swarming to next (I was not wrong).

Tasting, Part 2

I figured I'd use up my allotment of the six pours - err, well at least 3 more of them. The servers were new though, so there's a chance maybe they wouldn't have recognized me. Who knows? I was looking for something that wouldn't break the bank this time, so I got pours of Chita (200 yen), 2023 Yamazaki Limited Edition, and 2023 Hibiki Blossom Harmony (both 300 yen, they don't seem like regular menu items as they were listed on a seperate flier, so I figured I'd give them a try). The Chita was fine, I've had it before, but I mean going from a Hibiki 30 to the Chita... maybe I shouldn't have started with the good stuff haha. I enjoyed the other two a lot though, especially the Hibiki Blossom Harmony (if I ever come across a bottle at a reasonable price, I may be tempted). Despite it being the Yamazaki Distillery, I think I've developed a taste for Hibiki after this.

Anyway, sorry to drag it on. Hope it helps anyone planning to visit.

Price menu for the tasting room, and

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/lil_chunk27 on 2024-03-12 21:23:46.

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Just got back from 14 days in Japan. I found trip reports on Reddit super helpful and thought it might be nice to write one, sort of pass on the favour.

We are a couple in our 30s from the UK and this was our first visit to Japan. We are interested in food, art, museums and generally wandering, my partner is also really into video games. We really wanted to spend time exploring and enjoying ourselves, but weren’t necessarily aiming for a min/max approach. We are quite keen planners and did a lot of research on things to do in advance, but tried to give ourselves room to adapt and stumble across things. Neither of us are big nightlife people. We saved in advance and tried to put ourselves in a position where we didn’t need to worry too much about spending, but we also did do things a bit on the cheap like just getting konbini breakfasts.

I think I’ve also realized we probably aren’t very discerning since we loved basically everything.

Some thoughts below!

TRAVEL

• We flew with China Eastern Airlines with a stopover in Shanghai. Personally I think long haul flights are something to be endured rather than savoured so to my mind the flights and layover were fine for the price. Quite a funny selection of films on board with 2014’s Interstellar listed under “Hot new hits”. If you fly with the same airline, I would recommend downloading a few movies/shows to your phone to pass the time.
• We used Pasmo passports to get around. I think people generally prefer Suica but we’d read it wasn’t available at Narita and I don’t have an iPhone. I kinda feel it was much for muchness, and Pasmo worked fine and was convenient for us to top up.
• We pre-booked Shinkansen tickets from Tokyo to Osaka, and Kyoto to Osaka. Could not believe the size of the overhead luggage racks on the train - our cases were H75 x W50 x D30cm and fit up there.
• We used google maps to navigate and this worked well for us. We didn’t find the transport system too overwhelming (the station numbering on the metro is genius, why don’t more places have that?), but we DID find Japan’s unreserved love of the shopping centre built into/on top of train stations a bit overwhelming, like just constantly being expelled from a busy train into a Parco was a bit much. We started just trying to find a way out quickly and go from there rather than trying to get to the right exit.

HOTELS

• In Tokyo, we stayed in Sotetsu Fresa Inn Higashi in Shinjuku for the first stretch. The room was really tiny so we did have to regularly pull suitcases up onto the bed, but the location was really convenient for getting around, and also great when we’d had a long day and decided to eat near the hotel. Had a coin laundry and set up luggage forwarding for us.
• In Osaka, we stayed in Hotel the Flag in Shinsaibashi. This was a bigger room with a bigger bed which was nice, and again the location was great for getting around. There was a coin laundry and they did luggage forwarding for us. The only thing here was that the room didn’t have an openable window so it was really warm and dry, we both kept waking up with sore throats.
• In Kyoto, we stayed in Yu No Yado Shoei. This was a Ryokan and was really nice. It was a bit more away from it all but that actually suited us at this point in the trip. It had a tattoo-friendly public bath which we loved, so restorative after so much walking. We went everyday. The only drawbacks were that they couldn’t set up luggage forwarding and there wasn’t a laundry, and we probably should have checked this before booking, but we booked before we knew the luggage forwarding existed. It just meant when we got back to Tokyo we had to go to the hotel near Nippori first.
• Back in Tokyo, we stayed in Hotel Wagokoro near Nippori station. This was a really nice hotel, enough room to pack which was handy. Did not have a laundry but was opposite one, amazing bakery not far away.

PLANNING AND PREP

• We booked flights first and then worked from there on how to split the time and sort hotels. We booked flights when they felt most affordable/convenient to us, but actually think the timing was good - we caught the odd bit of early blossom but definitely felt like we would have found it overwhelming during the busiest periods in some places.
• For hotels we took some recs from the internet and friends but ended up basing the choice mainly on cost and locale as well as online reviews. In Kyoto we wanted to find a ryokan with a public bath which narrowed our options.
• To plan our itinerary, we set up a google map and started pinning things we were interested in over a couple of months, including attractions and places we might like to eat. From there, we started grouping things that were close together into possible day plans, and then put this into the Wanderlog app. We found Wanderlog quite helpful as it flagged when things were closed as we were planning. We did get the free trial of pro and played with the optimization features but ultimately decided it wasn’t worth it, but did like the app. We also updated it at the end of each day to record where we’d been.
• Splitting the time: We settled on bookending the trip with Tokyo as that’s where our flights were from, with 3 full days in Osaka (one of which was a trip to Nara) and 2 full days in Kyoto. I know lots of people say Osaka can be a day trip but we really liked it as a city, I actually would have loved to spend a full day in the Expo park where Tower of the Sun is, as we could have spent much longer in the Ethnology Museum and there were other museums there as well as beautiful gardens. I also felt like our two full days in Kyoto were really touristy and we didn’t see much of the city proper - these were great days and I wouldn’t have skipped what we did, but I was grateful for the day we arrived where we got to see a bit more of the actual city.
• Our main sources for recommendations were Reddit, Google (searches like “things to do Tokyo,” “Shibuya itinerary”), friends. I think it’s sometimes easy to get caught in loops and see the same things again and again, especially with recs on TikTok, and I do wish we’d done a bit more just looking at google maps to see what else was in areas, like in Arashiyama we would have planned in the Orgel Museum if we’d spotted it in advance of actually being there, but it didn’t get mentioned in any recommendation articles, we just saw it on the map when we were there and didn’t have the time.
• Duolingo: we both did 4 or so months of Japanese Duolingo in the run up which was sort of helpful, but I think we should have also done some specific phrase learning for travel. I felt like it would have been useful to know, for example, numbers 1-10 and I just didn’t make it that far in Duolingo, probably used more from the phrase book we took with us than that. Mostly we said please, thank you, excuse me and google translated anything where we needed help bridging the communication barrier.
• Planning food: we didn’t want to do much queueing, so we weren’t sure how much we’d follow recommendations online. We pinned some places to the map and often used them for ideas when we were out, but didn’t stick to them too much. We booked one meal in advance for my partner’s birthday, at Bird Land in Tokyo. In general, we would decide what we were in the mood to eat and just plonk that into google maps and go somewhere highly rated nearby. This likely means we didn’t discover the most interesting spots but ultimately this approach served us well, we enjoyed every meal. Where we ate is in the itinerary below.
• Booking in advance: we booked Umeda Sky, Tokyo Skytree, Sagano Romantic Train in advance. These were useful anchor points for our days but it was nice to not have too many commitments in place. We also booked the Ghibli Museum in advance – we had a few days we could do this which was helpful, and my partner set up booking over 3 devices when it went live. Ultimately I think this is just luck though, he got to be 67th in the queue on one device (others in the deep thousands) and so we got our first choice date. Would recommend having multiple cards you can pay with ready to go as one got rejected for an unknown reason but it worked with another.

PACKING

• We took one big suitcase each and half filled them so we could easily bring stuff back. We took clothes to last a week and then planned to do laundry while away. We did not plan to buy extra clothes there (we’re both tall and plus size). In the end, we could have probably taken a bit more as we did not buy nearly as much as expected (it looks like most “hauls” are clothes and cosmetics which just aren’t huge areas of interest for us).
• We took some medicine with us, like paracetamol, ibuprofen, because we figured it would be easier to take than to find there if we weren’t feeling well. Ibuprofen was good for sore feet.

OTHER THOUGHTS AND CONSIDERATIONS

• It was very dry! Not weather wise but like, the air? We didn’t expect this but especially the first few days in Tokyo it just felt like we were shriveling up, even in the rain. We ended up needing to buy moisturizer and lip balm and we got through nearly all of it trying to make our skin feel less like papyrus.
• Weather was colder than we expected, if you’re going at a similar time I would definitely take a good raincoat and options for light layering. Most shops and attractions have umbre...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/zzzzoooo on 2024-03-11 02:09:55.

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Hi,

I just got a scariest moment on my last day in Japan. I suppose to take the bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo, and catch a flight in airport later at night. When I went from Tokyo to Kyoto, getting the tickets from scanning the QR code in a machine was a breeze. By the way, I bought the tickets from Klook.

However, at Kyoto station, doing the same process in the machine with English as language doesn't work. It doesn't recognize the QR code and it keeps failing. I have to go to see an agent. Then she advises to redo the same thing on the machine but with Japanese as language. Then it works.

So, for anyone who has Shinkansen tickets bought from Klook (or maybe elsewhere), do NOT use English menu to print tickets in Kyoto.

This is written on March 2024. This bug might be hopefully fixed later.