{"data":{"items":[{"id":"1f58b7b7-2e38-4827-b59c-129c20377681","excerpt":"9 Day Japan Trip (first time) mid April 2025 (Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Dorogawa Onsen, Tokyo) — I’ve been meaning to write this for a while, and I owe this sub one after all, as a good chunk of my preps came from here. So here you go, returning the favor. Hopefully someone finds this useful… or at least mildly entertaining ","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1rd2up4/9_day_japan_trip_first_time_mid_april_2025_osaka/","role":"pricing","weight":1.381045,"occurredAt":"2026-02-24T02:51:08.000Z","sourceKey":"reddit","sourceName":"Reddit","credibility":0.62,"venue":"JapanTravel","intent":"pricing_complaint","painScore":0.44,"sentiment":0.6555024,"confidence":0.959059,"matchedPatterns":["frustrating","too_expensive","manual_process"],"statement":"I grabbed my last peach drink from a vending machine (man I miss hambaiki so badly...) and an overpriced sushi box...and that was it.","title":"9 Day Japan Trip (first time) mid April 2025 (Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Dorogawa Onsen, Tokyo)","body":"I’ve been meaning to write this for a while, and I owe this sub one after all, as a good chunk of my preps came from here. So here you go, returning the favor. Hopefully someone finds this useful… or at least mildly entertaining 🙂\n\n**A bit of a background.**   \nI’ve been dreaming about this trip for a solid decade, but for various reasons it kept getting postponed. My main connection to Japan actually comes from cooking. I love to cook, Japanese food in particular.  \nUnlike most “weeaboos” whose love for Japan starts with anime, manga, and video games, mine started with ramen (…okay, and video games too 😁). I’ve always loved the dish, and that obsession pushed me to start learning Japanese back when there were basically zero decent ramen related English resources online. And once you start learning the language, you inevitably fall deeper into the culture.  \nI’ve been self-studying Japanese for quite some time now and consider myself around a solid N4 level (advanced beginner), but until this trip, I’d never had a real chance to use it.  \nFinally, in 2025, everything lined up and the long-awaited trip was booked.\n\nThere were three of us:  \nMe (44), my wife (39), and our oldest daughter (15).  \nWe decided there was no point (or money) in taking all the kids — we have two more — so instead we’ll take them to Japan one at a time when they hit the “right age.” That means two more future trips for me. Tragic, I know.\n\n**Preps.**\n\nLodging.\n\nWe went with Airbnb. For several reasons, but cost was definitely a big one.  \nUnfortunately, we were locked into a specific travel window (wife is a teacher, kid is a student), aka US spring break. To make things even more fun, the week we were to arrive was the opening week of the World Expo. As a result, prices for even basic business hotels went absolutely feral.\n\nSo we started looking at alternatives, and Airbnb was the obvious choice.\n\nMy wife managed to find brand-new hosts in both cities, people who had just started and didn’t yet have a pile of 5-star reviews. That worked very much in our favor price-wise.\n\nRoughly:\n\n* **Osaka:** $65–70 per night for three people (10-minute walk from Namba)\n* **Tokyo:** about $90 per night (5–7 minutes from Asakusa station)\n\nMy personal take on Airbnb:\n\n**Pros**\n\n1. Cheaper (at least in our case, but probably in general).\n2. Bigger space. Like… WAY bigger than your average business hotel.\n3. You actually stay in a residential neighborhood, which is cool if that’s something you want to experience.\n\n**Cons**\n\n1. You miss hotel perks: amenities, breakfast, room service, etc.\n2. No luggage storage before check-in or after check-out. If timing is bad, you have to figure out where to dump your bags. Not a disaster, but mildly annoying.\n3. You can’t ship luggage via Kuroneko (Yamato) from hotel to hotel. That could be a dealbreaker for some, but for us it wasn’t a big issue.\n\nTransportation.\n\nJapan’s public transportation is phenomenal. Hands down. This is something I’m definitely going to miss.  \nAll three of us used virtual IC cards on iPhones which was super convenient. Only advice: watch your battery. You really don’t want to end up somewhere unfamiliar at night with a dead phone and no backup.\n\nWe also used taxis pretty often. Yes, taxis in Japan aren’t cheap, but sometimes they just make sense, especially with a group. Short distances (\\~2 km), everyone tired, shopping bags in both hands… totally worth it. We used the TaxiGO app or just flagged down an empty one.\n\nWe also rented a car for a day.  \nNot exactly common for first-time tourists, but I insisted. I just wanted the experience, and for us it actually made sense. Getting an IDP from AAA was about $15, if I remember correctly.\n\nShinkansen (aka bullet train)  \nWe did a one-way Osaka-Tokyo ride.  \nOne mistake I see a lot on this sub is people arriving and departing from Tokyo, then spending a ton of time and money on a round-trip shinkansen to Kansai. If you’re planning to visit Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Kobe - why not start or end your trip there instead?  \nUnless:\n\n* You really, really love trains (and yes, they *are* great), or\n* You scored a ridiculously cheap round-trip flight compared to multi-city airfare\n\n…it’s usually smarter to avoid doubling back.\n\nIn our case, we flew into KIX (Osaka), took the Shinkansen to Tokyo, and flew out of Narita. That alone saved us easily $300+ just on train costs.\n\nTo the travel daily breakdown.\n\n**DAY 1. ARRIVAL**\n\nAfter about 18 hours in the air, we landed at KIX in Osaka - our first hub for the first half of the trip.\n\nWe arrived around 4 pm, so our Airbnb was already available. It took about an hour to get to Namba Station. The first mildly cringy moment: three dudes from LA were being **SUPER loud** on the train. Like, “entire car knows your life story” loud. I’m a firm believer in *when in Rome, do as the Romans do*, so this was… jarring. Thankfully, this was the only time I witnessed behavior like that during the whole trip.\n\nOn the way to the apartment, we stopped at 7-Eleven to withdraw some cash (Charles Schwab is pure gold) and grab snacks (mentaiko onigiri = my everything). We unpacked and immediately realized: nope, no one had the energy to explore or even go out to eat tonight.\n\nSo we did the most logical thing - walked to the nearby supermarket and bought dinner there. I got sushi, the ladies got katsu, plus strawberries (which I already miss deeply) and some random snacks.\n\nThis was also my first real-life Japanese conversation: I asked a clerk where the umbrellas were (it was raining that night). And… it worked. Felt very good to confirm that years of studying hadn’t been completely wasted.\n\nWe marched back to the apartment, exhausted but buzzing with excitement, ate dinner, had dessert (I fell in love with muscat grape KORORO gummies for life), showered, and crashed.\n\nWell, *they* crashed.\n\nI, however, took a short solo mission to the nearby BOOK OFF, hunting for volume 16 of *Yotsubato!* which had come out a few months earlier. No luck, apparently still too new for the used shelves. But hey, more conversation practice with the store clerk, so I’ll call that a win 🙂\n\n**DAY 2. OSAKA**\n\nBecause of our tight schedule, we only had one full day to enjoy Osaka.\n\nI woke up around 4 a.m. Yes, jet lag is a real bitch. It hit me hard for pretty much the entire Kansai part of the trip, while my wife and daughter somehow powered through from day one. I still don’t understand how that works.\n\nNot wanting to fight the jet lag or wake up the family, I went out to explore the sleeping neighborhood solo. I wandered back toward the station, through nearby shotengai (covered shopping streets) and side roads. Everything was closed except for Ichiran, which runs 24/7. The place was about half full - actual locals this time, not a tourist line wrapping around the block - and I had my first bowl of ramen in Japan. A proper moment.\n\nI strolled around a bit more until my wife called to say they were up. On the way back, I grabbed onigiri, egg sandwiches, and other viral konbini stuff because obviously that’s mandatory.\n\nOur Airbnb was literally a one-minute walk from Namba Yasaka Shrine - a beautiful Shinto shrine with a massive lion head. It’s packed with tourists during the day, but thanks to jet lag I got to see it crowd-free. I picked up my goshuin there on the day we left Osaka.\n\nOnce everyone was ready, we headed to Kuromon Market for street food. We stopped at a [cafe](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=bede90b8188dd9b2&sxsrf=ANbL-n6MZKwQeZJZ701jrCSNl4qRLC0sqg:1771808162099&kgmid=/g/11x1zv6_rx&q=Heumoot+Cafe&shem=dlvs1,shrtsdl&shndl=30&source=sh/x/loc/uni/m1/1&kgs=62cd82333b8453d4&utm_source=dlvs1,shrtsdl,sh/x/loc/uni/m1/1) on the way for coffee and a full breakfast - one of the few places in the area that opens early. 8 a.m. is apparently ambitious in Osaka.\n\nFood-wise, Kuromon was a bit of a disappointment, honestly. One of only two times during the entire trip that I didn’t love what I tried. The takoyaki in particular (and I **love** takoyaki) just didn’t hit. That said, I still enjoyed the market itself - the stalls and the atmosphere were great. There was an awesome stand selling hard-to-find ramen ingredients, but I hesitated and thought, “I’ll buy that in Tokyo.”  \nNarrator voice: *He did not buy it in Tokyo.* Big regret.\n\nNext stop: Osaka Castle. We took the subway and had a really nice walk around the grounds. It was late April, so cherry blossom season was mostly over, but there were still a few trees hanging on with some petals left.\n\nI also bought myself a goshuin-cho (a stamp book) at a nearby shrine.\n\nThe second half of the day we spent in Shinsaibashi - well, *the girls* spent it shopping. I served as a highly motivated pack mule. I picked up some souvenirs, a few gachapon capsules, and called it a day because shopping is not really my spiritual path.\n\nFrom Shinsaibashi we walked to Dotonbori, and wow… it was **packed**. I expected crowds, but not *that* level of human density. I blame the World Expo. Lines everywhere, people shoulder to shoulder - very uncomfortable. I stopped at the iconic canal spots for some photos and paid my respects to the Yakuza game series, and then we bailed.\n\nFrom that moment on, I adopted a personal rule: **never wait in restaurant lines.** Walk a few minutes in any direction and you’ll find something good. This rule worked flawlessly for the rest of the trip.\n\nWe took a cab home and I have to say, Osaka taxi drivers were great: friendly and chatty (unlike the ones I met in Tokyo…). We recharged ourselves and all our devices and went back out to find dinner.\n\nWe stumbled into a neighborhood [yakitori place](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=209f97d1b10e0358&sxsrf=ANbL-n6Heom3rzDqffErXke9HqHTzUXB2w:1771812273633&kgmid=/g/11c58qgx6q&q=YumeTori&shem=dlvs1,shrtsdl&shndl=30&source=sh/x/loc/uni/m1/1&kgs=128554a646ea3b0d&utm_source=dlvs1,shrtsdl,sh/x/loc/uni/m1/1) that turned out to be excellent. No tourists, just a few locals. Great selection - my favorites were hearts, liver, and gizzards. There were also plenty of highballs involved.\n\nWe originally planned to finish the night in Shinsekai, but we were completely wiped, so we just walked around our neighborhood a bit and called it a day.\n\n**DAY 3. NARA and UJI**\n\nThe day started exactly like the previous one: me waking up in the middle of the night. At this point, I accepted my fate and decided to repeat the routine.\n\nA quick Google search revealed another 24/7 [ramen place](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hanamaruken+Hozenji/@34.6678952,135.5025551,19z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x6000e714c6711bd9:0xa86546d344153371!8m2!3d34.6679045!4d135.5030584!16s%2Fg%2F1tdn3zvy?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDIxOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D) near Dotonbori, so off I went. On the way, I passed a small park near our place that still had quite a few cherry trees in bloom, totally unexpected and very peaceful.\n\nI had tonkotsu ramen at Hanamaruken and then wandered through an almost-dead Dotonbori. Completely different vibes compared to day/nightime, and honestly… I liked it much more this way.\n\nI even stumbled upon a [tiny little temple](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=209f97d1b10e0358&biw=1920&bih=945&sxsrf=ANbL-n6iSEdw29__tuSAmqvoPTeZvvfzMg:1771813261190&kgmid=/g/121q4cw6&q=Hozen-ji+Temple&shem=dlvs1,shrtsdl&shndl=30&source=sh/x/loc/uni/m1/1&kgs=7fe4a1bae64e5c87&utm_source=dlvs1,shrtsdl,sh/x/loc/uni/m1/1) squeezed between buildings - super atmospheric, the kind of place you’d miss completely during normal hours.\n\nOnce again, my wife called to say they were up and ready. I headed back, we packed up, and left for Nara - easily the most anticipated stop of the trip for my daughter.\n\nWe had breakfast at the shotengai near Nara station (once again, the only place open that early) and then did the classic Nara routine. We fed the deer with shika senbei (deer crackers), got assaulted, butt-rammed, and lightly bitten a few times, visited several templ","offTopic":true},{"id":"be737910-76f7-4bce-a401-925f5f32a2c7","excerpt":"Japan Golden Route Travel - My Advice, Final Thoughts, and Full Itinerary for Inspiration. — Hey all. Just returned from Japan a few days ago after a 2 week trip and wanted to provide a SitRep and some advice and itinerary ideas for those looking to travel. This is a very comprehensive guide and itinerary I wrote out *","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1tee80t/japan_golden_route_travel_my_advice_final/","role":"pricing","weight":1.3142354,"occurredAt":"2026-05-16T00:31:51.000Z","sourceKey":"reddit","sourceName":"Reddit","credibility":0.62,"venue":"JapanTravel","intent":"pricing_complaint","painScore":0.41269493,"sentiment":0.375,"confidence":0.9303038,"matchedPatterns":["frustrating","too_expensive","missing_feature","still_cannot","manual_process"],"statement":"**I didn't spend as much time in Kabukichu as I expected** \\- The bars are meh, very overpriced compared to what I was used to seeing, and I didn't care for the \"girl\" bars or whatever they call them.","title":"Japan Golden Route Travel - My Advice, Final Thoughts, and Full Itinerary for Inspiration.","body":"Hey all. Just returned from Japan a few days ago after a 2 week trip and wanted to provide a SitRep and some advice and itinerary ideas for those looking to travel. This is a very comprehensive guide and itinerary I wrote out *by hand. Not written by AI.* A few things to note beforehand.\n\n\\- This was an entirely solo trip. My friend was supposed to come, but he already went to Aruba and couldn't afford another long haul trip in the same year while he pursues his masters degree.\n\n\\- I've been through Asia in general about 4 times, so I'm familiar with many of the commonalities out there. (looking at you 7-Eleven).\n\n\\- Much of my itinerary came from inspiration from reddit, so yeah thanks guys!\n\n\\- If it matters, I am Jamaican-American. Look more Jamaican though.\n\n\\- Shinkansen tickets were booked a month in advance. (Primarily for Mt. Fuji views during Golden week).\n\n\\- I didn't intend to book during Golden week, in fact I was trying to avoid it and go during the middle of May. But I failed at getting sumo tickets for the May 10th tournament, and my mom wanted me home for mother's day, so I had to move it up a week.\n\n\\- My interest lie within a bit of culture, sightseeing, a lot of bars/nightlife, and A LOT of shopping. Things like finding rare collectibles you can't get anywhere else in the world. (I have a trophy case of rare shit I get during my travels).\n\nHotels Picked and Reviews.\n\nHotel#1: The Kanzashi Tokyo Asakusa. Great hotel, rooms are well sized for 1-2 people MAX. Not recommended for families. I picked the hotel room with city view of the Tokyo Skytree. Absolutely worth it IMO.\n\nHotel #2: Hotel Monterey La Frere - Osaka. This was a reddit recommendation. The most expensive of all the hotels. Absolutely worth the penny. This place really felt like a 5 star. The ONLY downside is that the nightlife and things to do are not near the hotel, usually 1-2 train stops away. Unfortunately this hotel is next to Kitashinchi, which for those that are not aware is a big \"underground\" night life area, completely locked off from foreigners. I spent most of my nightlife in Dotonbori.\n\nHotel #3: Sotetsu Fresa Inn Higashi-Shinjuku Ekimae. Probably the worst in terms of quality of the 3. It's not \"horrible\" but compared against all 3, this one I'd rate the worst. I picked it primarily because of the proximity to Kabukichu and the local Chuo train line which was literally next to the hotel. Very convenient for transit, but definitely like a 2-3 star hotel at best.\n\nItinerary:\n\n\\- April 24th Departure (JFK). I was returning from BOS for a work trip and had to go straight to the other terminal to leave from JFK. Had my bags with me. Departure time around 1:30AM EST.\n\n\\- April 25th - (somewhere over the pacific) zzzzzz.\n\n\\- April 26th - Landed at Haneda around 4AM JST. Jet lag isn't really a problem for me anymore, so I grabbed my bags after passing through security and went straight to get my eSIM and Suica. I grabbed the signature suica with your name on it. Welcome Suica is no good for me as I already knew I would be visiting Japan again. (I later switched to Digital Suica in Apple Wallet). Visited the onsen in HND to warm up the legs a bit. Wasn't in a rush, since check in was not till 3PM JST. Roamed Asakusa for a few hours before returning to the hotel room after dinner at a ramen shop.\n\n\\- April 27th: First half of this day was dedicated to mastering the trains and transfer routes at major stations, Ueno, Shinjuku, Shibuya. I'm glad I spent time working on this because the trains are not hard to figure out, but the stations and navigating them incorrectly, can really ruin your day. Took me about 4 hours or so to get the hang of the big stations. Worth noting I am from Manhattan, so I had a headstart in learning the metro. It wasn't too hard. Second half was getting lost in Asakusa and accidentally running into Senso-Ji. Took some photos, got some local Wagyu and then left. Some light shopping in Akihabara. (first mistake of my trip). Lots of mandrake complex shopping.\n\n\\- April 28th: [Tokyo Sightseeing Guided Tour. Bus and River Cruise (Japan Panoramic Tours)](https://www.expedia.com/things-to-do/Activity.a370600.activity-details/). Places covered - Senso-Ji (already saw it lol), Tokyo Skytree, Meiji Shrine, Imperial Palace, Matcha pitstop, and Tokyo Bay Cruise. Worth the money. I enjoyed it, but some may prefer to do this on their own. I like getting a burst of \"everything\" in a single day. Stopped by a local ramen place for dinner then back to the hotel.\n\n\\- April 29th: McDonald's breakfast. (I had a good chunk of fast food during my trip, only because I make it a habit to try all the usual fast food places to see the differences between the US, Thailand, Cambodia and many other places I've visited). Took the local train to Tokyo Station and hopped on the Shinkansen to Osaka. Arrived in Osaka by 4pm JST. Checked in by 4:30pm. Spent the remainder of the day roaming Osaka streets to get a feel for the 2km radius of the area.\n\n\\- April 30th: [Kyoto Guided Day Tour](https://www.expedia.com/things-to-do/Activity.a490782.activity-details/) \\- Meetup at Tulley's Coffee Kyoto Avanti-Shop. Places hit; Kiyomizudera Temple, Sanju-san-gen-do Temple, Tenryu-ji Temple, Kinkaku-ji Temple, Torii Red Thousand Gates or whatever it's called, Fushimi Shrine, Bamboo forest. Again, I like guided tours, worth the penny for me. Some might want to do this at a slower pace. Dinner at another very small wagyu shop on a shopping street. Can't remember the name, it was next to the Uniqlo by Don Quijote.\n\n\\- May 1st: Full open day for getting lost in Osaka, and dedicated shopping day. Went to Don Quijote, accidentally stumbled upon DenDen Town (didn't even know it existed) bought a few things, went to as many shopping streets as I possibly could, went to Dontonbori (found the cool nightclub there), checked out Osaka Castle, Daimuru, Shinsaibashi shopping street, went to Namba, and whatever other malls were in the area. I think this was my biggest walking day at like 42,000 steps. Dinner was at another local place serving Takoyaki. Lunch was Okonomiyaki. Breakfast was 7-11. Spent probably more than I should this day. (2nd mistake). This day was rained out too if I remember correctly.\n\nMay 2nd: [Hiroshima Guided Day Tour](https://www.expedia.com/trips/egti-XBJ-MCF-WITT/details/YTE1NzAxZDctNjE3MC01ZTE3LWIxYzItMWRkY2JiNzZkMTVhOzYyMzhlOTQwLTNiMTktNDAzMS1hMWIwLTMyODk2YjJiY2Y5ZF8wXzUxOTAyODY0XzUxOTAyODY3) \\- Meetup at Hiroshima Station next to Starbucks. Note: Shinkansen tickets were booked separately by myself, the tour company did not do this for me. Arrived at Hiroshima by 9:30AM. Tour started at 10AM. Locations visited - Miyajima Island, World Heritage site visits, Atomic Bomb Dome, Itsukushima Shrine, Omotesando Street (lots of food tasting here, I think by the time I visited as many food places as I could, I spent north of like $50 on local food within like 4 hours. Tour ended at 5PM JST. Spend the remainder of the day trying local food and more Okonomiyaki. Departed Shinkansen by 7:30pm to the hotel. This was against reddits advice of doing Hiroshima in 2 days rather than a day trip. I’m from NYC guys, I’m used to hustle and bustle, it’s a norm for me, so a day trip was enough and I’m glad I decided to go with my gut on this one. My preferences may not be for you though.\n\nMay 3rd: Full Roaming Day of whatever I wanted. Took my time this day, woke up a bit later to get some sleep since I was a bit drowsy. Roamed out to venture Osaka to the western areas for a few hours, took a local train to Kobe to try some food there. I didn't plan to go to Kobe at all, but glad I did, food was incredible. I may come back and dedicate a large portion of my trip to just Kobe again. I loved it here. Back in my hotel again by around 9PM.\n\nMay 4th: Full Day at Universal Studios Japan. Nothing much to say, it was an entire day at USJ. Fun day. Worth noting, I did not go on every ride since I didn't care to, but I went to the rides I wanted to go on and I was satisfied with that. I did NOT purchase the pass to get on rides faster. Surprisingly it was not needed even for Golden Week. Super Mario World (the mine cart ride or whatever it's called) had a 5 hour wait. Yeah no thanks. Skipped it. Went home around 8pm. This was my very first time at any Universal park. Never even been to the US one. Ended the night late at Nightclub Gala in Dontonbori and hung out with some cool Australians and another dude from the UK. Trains stopped running so I took the taxi. (Taxi was still cheaper than NYC taxis even with the inflated 12AM prices lol)\n\nMay 5th: 7-11 breakfast, then Shinkansen from Shin-Osaka to Shin-Yokohama station. Checked in to the 3rd hotel by 3pm. Went straight to Shinjuku to get a feel for the area. TOUTS GALORE! (Thank you again reddit for the warnings on this. The touts are certainly there, usually to the right area of Hotel Gracery. Very seedy. A simple polite \"fuck off\" shoos them away. Dealt with this a lot in Laos, Qatar, Cambodia and Thailand so not a surprising experience for me).\n\nMay 6th: [Mt Fuji Arakurayama Guided Tour](https://mountfuji.tours/tokyo-mount-fuji-internet-celebrity-one-day-tour-12417.html) \\- NGL this day was like a 6/10 for me. I had already gotten REALLY good shots of Mt Fuji. but wanted some more close up shots of this place. Fuji decided to be shy and it was fully clouded off by 11AM. I got a few solid photos at 10am right when it was still partially visible but after that, it was gone lol. This is a luck of the draw, there's no way to really predict how good or bad this tour is gonna be. Regardless $48 risk is a good risk for me, and I made the most of this day as best I could.\n\nMay 7th: Sumo Experience Show - Yeah I took the watered down sumo experience since getting tickets was impossible and I moved my trip up a week so I'd be missing the main tournament. It was a great experience! Went back to Akihabara to grab some last minute cool finds. Sumo show was over by 1PM, then went to Shibuya (spent most of the time here), and Ikekuburo.\n\nMay 8th: Final Shopping Day - Returned to Shibuya since I knew most of my last minute \"wants\" would be in Shibuya. Found a cool star wars pop up store. For those in Japan still, this shop is open from now until July 1st. It is under the glass building on B1F (or B2F just follow the printed signs for \"star wars pop up store\". This is a very \"only in japan\" exclusive stuff here for star wars fans. I bought a darth maul leather varsity jacket. Already got compliments on this jacket back home asking where I got it from. Stopped by Nintendo, Godzilla store, SEGA store, One Piece, basically anything anime you could think of. Took the train further east and went to Nakano Broadway by recommendation of another fellow New Yorker. Holy shit, I didn't think it was possible to see SO MANY MANDRAKES in SINGLE AREA. Had to be at least 16 of them or maybe more. Dinner was at Peter Luger steakhouse Tokyo. Very high end restaurant, usually $200/person. Made the mistake of showing up with a star wars T shirt and everyone else around me are Japanese salary men in suits lol. Oh well.\n\nMay 9th: Final farewells, got breakfast twice lol. Went to HND and hung out at the lounge to try some more local food before flying back at 7:30pm JST and landed at....well 7:30pm EST the same day.\n\nMy Advice and Important Information:\n\n**Money** \\- Cash was not as \"King\" as I expected it to be. I brought NO cash when I landed and did not do any conversions. I can literally count on 1 hand the amount of times I used cash. My VISA was king (Capital One Venture X - no foreign transaction fees). When I did need to extract cash, I used my Capital One Debit card (also no FX fee). Cash was taken using 7-11 ATMs. (thanks again for this advice reddit as I didnt know).\n\n**Shopping** \\- I live by a very simple rule when I travel...If you want something. DO NOT WAIT to buy it! I made this mistake in Qatar, a","offTopic":true},{"id":"24e568ad-5b3d-48b1-8dcb-e181dd0d5b05","excerpt":"Trip Review - Japan 30 Days as 40 year old Travelers (Oct 28 - Dec 2) — Hello!  We are just wrapping up our trip and wanted to give back to the community that helped me plan this trip!  We were in Japan for roughly a month with a mission of a bit slower travel than a lot of the itineraries I see.  We had such a wonderf","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravelTips/comments/1pgsf0d/trip_review_japan_30_days_as_40_year_old/","role":"demand","weight":1.2965786,"occurredAt":"2025-12-07T20:17:29.000Z","sourceKey":"reddit","sourceName":"Reddit","credibility":0.62,"venue":"JapanTravelTips","intent":"tool_discovery","painScore":0.31632346,"sentiment":0.3164557,"confidence":0.985,"matchedPatterns":["looking_for","terrible","frustrating","missing_feature","praise"],"statement":"**Salt:** There is an odd lack of SALT in Japan.","title":"Trip Review - Japan 30 Days as 40 year old Travelers (Oct 28 - Dec 2)","body":"Hello!  We are just wrapping up our trip and wanted to give back to the community that helped me plan this trip!  We were in Japan for roughly a month with a mission of a bit slower travel than a lot of the itineraries I see.  We had such a wonderful time and will definitely be back.  \n\nThis is long but I hope it is broken down into logical sections and helps someone with their trip.  Happy to answer questions too :)\n\n\n\n# Itinerary:  \n\nTokyo > Hakone > Kyoto > Kinosaki Onsen > Hiroshima > Takayama > Kanazawa > Tokyo > Seoul, South Korea\n\n# General Notes, Observations, Tips and Tricks:\n\n1. **Shopping:**  It's **EXTREMELY** hard to fathom and express the sheer VOLUME of shopping that exists in Japan.  It's overwhelming.  There is just. so. much. stuff.  I live in Chicago, I am very familiar and been around shopping my whole life but this is just a complete other dimension of stores and shopping.  Don Quiote kinda makes me twitchy and have heart palpatations ha, it's noisy and stressful to me.  Some stores that you could check out:  Bic Camera (it has way more than camera stuff), Seria was the best 100 yen store we went to, Loft, Muji, 4 Hands\n2. **Asking for the Check:** Quick way to signal for the check = Make an X with your index fingers\n3. **Language:** Make it a goal to learn 1 new word or phrase everyday and practice\n4. **Shuppato Bags:**  I had my eye on and purchased 2 of these bags from Don Qiuote at the start of the trip and they were CLUTCH throughout the trip.  The small size was perfect for throwing in my purse as an additional \"out bag\" when we purchased something.  The medium was a great size for laundry and taking on the train.  We used them constantly and are one of my favorite souvenirs.  Everyone I know wanted one :)\n5. **Uniqulo Round Shoulder Bag:**  Bought this for $9 and it was the best purse for the trip.  The right size, held plenty but was not heavy when full, small outside pocket for easy access to hand sanitizer, buckle strap so you could hang other bags from it, unisex looking for either me or my husband to carry.\n6. **Hand Sanitizer:**  The \"no towels\" in the bathrooms was annoying and carrying a towel was bulky.  We brought sanitizer and used it a lot after bathroom and transit.  I'd recommend anyone going to bring some.  You will want it.  \n7. **Hakone Route:** In Hakone, this might be dependent on where you choose to stay but we found it way less crowded to do the \"reverse loop\" which means travel the farthest from our hotel and taking the Boat Ride first.  The lines going the opposite direction were much more crowded.\n8. **SIM:**  My husband and I got 10gigs of Data for our trip which was enough.  We used Airalo and Nomad and they were great. Ubigi was a fail for compatibility with our Pixel 10s\n9. **Bicycles:** People BIKING in the sidewalk is maddening.  Weaving in and out of people was a constant stressor and accident waiting to happen\n10. **Bidet Flushing:**  When in doubt, usually the TOP LEFT most button will  flush the toilet, it also usually has a swirly little icon on it.\n11. **Umbrellas:**  Yes, there are a lot of umbrellas in Japan but they are NOT super cheap!  If you are looking for a cheapy compact one, Daiso has the cheapest most compact umbrella for 700 yen\n12. **Upgrading to Deluxe or Superior Rooms:**  When you have a bit more room in your budget instead of looking at different hotels, opt for DELUXE or SUPERIOR room types which might be only marginally more expensive.  These will be bigger and overall more enjoyable for longer stays.\n13. **Salt:**  There is an odd lack of SALT in Japan.  I was desperate for some on eggs, meat and other things (they treat eggs more like a sweet thing vs a savory thing).  I am considering a pocket sized salt and pepper shaker for future trips.  I know this sounds insane but it would really have made a huge difference.\n14. **Massage:**  We got some type of massage every week.  Inexpensive and worth it to aide your body.\n15. **Views in Gion Kyoto:** Reserve sunset bar at Park Hyatt. Get the special highball cocktail on the first page of the menu.  Beautiful setting and the cocktails are not even that expensive.  We went 2 nights in a row\n16. **Amazon:**  Amazon works great in Japan and has a lot of the same stuff you see in Don Quiote and the cosmetic stores.  Start a basket and have it delivered to your final hotel to save money and sanity when shopping.  The prices are usually the lowest I found.  \n17. **Train, Luggage and Transportation:**\n   1. **Train Ticket Lines:** Ticket machines are often crowded and have a line, so come early or stop by the station the day before to buy tickets.  It usually a lime green colored machine.\n   2. **Green Car (First Class Train Tickets):**  We found these totally worth it, especially for rides over 90 mins.  Seats are nicer and bigger with nice foot rests, car is quiet, less people, fewer sick people we discovered with less coughing and hacking noise.\n   3. **Seat Selection:**  Do not sit in the first row if the sound of doors opening and closing or rubber sqeaking bothers you as much as it does me :)\n   4. **Hakone Romance Observation Car:** If going to Hakone from Tokyo DO NOT BOTHER with the Romance Car Observation ticket.  I don't understand how this was such a big \"to do\" and race to log on to get these tickets.  The car is literally no better.  Instead, just book a seat on the RIGHT side of the car for the chance at Mt Fuji views. We got clear skies and got to see her from the train.  \n   5. **Luggage Forwarding:**  Definitely worth it.  In expensive and flawless experience.\n   6. **Luggage on Trains:** Big suitcases (bigger than carry on) fit overhead so long as you can lift them or there is usually space to put them in front of your legs when seated.  I still recommend just forwarding luggage vs bringing it on the train\n   7. **Taxis:**  NOT super expensive.  Use them when you are dog tired, old, cold or just need a break.  Compared to the US, the taxis seem cheap. \n\n\n\n# Hotels and Nights Stayed: \n\n* **Tokyo (4 Nights)** \\- Good length, could have done 1 more night honestly with travel/jet leg eating into your time and just generally getting your bearings being in Japan for the first time.\n   * ***Hotel Toronoman Hills*** (cash) -  Enjoyed the AMEX Platinum perks, breakfast was delicious, room we very comfortable and a metro being in the same building made for a very easy introduction to Tokyo.  This area of Tokyo is pretty flat and walkable to Ginza.  In hindsight, I am very glad we chose to stay in this area to start the trip as it was less overwhelming than Shibuya and Shinjuku.  Would stay again.\n* **Hakone (2 Nights)** \\- Good Length\n   * ***Hakone Ginyu Ryokan*** (cash) - I will give more commentary below on Ryokan but overall, I think 1 visit here was enough.  Would not return.  \n* **Kyoto (8 Nights)** \\- Easily could have added 1-2 more nights\n   * 6 Nights: ***Hyatt Place*** (points) - Clean and comfortable room, spacious enough for 6 nights.  Hotel has nice sofas and tables in the lobby to spread out at.  Near a metro line but not one we took often...the bus was a bit more annoying but we survived.  Negative was our room overlooked a brick wall so rather depressing after 6 days.  Laundry was a battle to get access to with only 3 machines and high demand.  Would stay again.\n   * 2 Nights: ***Park Hyatt*** (points) - As you would imagine, this was amazing.  A special treat amongst the hotel stays.  Would stay again (obviously :)\n* **Kinosaki Onsen (2 Nights)** \\- Good Length\n   * 1 Night: ***Nishimuraya Honkan RYOKAN*** (cash) - I will give more commentary below on Ryokan but overall, I think 1 visit here was enough.  Breakfast was fantastic. Would not return.  \n   * 1 Night: ***MIKUNIYA (room only)*** (cash) - We booked their suite room (only 1 on property) that was maybe the coolest room of our trip (mix of traditional/modern).  We opted OUT of the dinner which was the right call for us.  The room price alone was quite reasonable for the room size and quality.  Would definitely book the Suite again here.\n* **Hiroshima (5 Nights)** \\- 4 Nights would have been ok\n   * 2 Nights: ***Dormy Inn Annex*** (cash):  We had 5 nights booked here and had to cancel and go to the Hilton.  This was the worst hotel of our trip.  Felt run down, the bed was terrible, pillows awful.  Room small and it was NOT cheap!\n   * 3 Nights: ***Hilton Hiroshima*** (cash): Saved us from the Dormy Inn.  This hotel was great.  Spacious room, beautiful views from higher floors, comfortable bed and pillows.  The only downside was it was a little bit of a farther walk to the A bomb dome/Peace Park area with not the most convenience transit options, so a bit more walking than would be preferrable.  Great perks with the Hilton AMEX, free buffet breakfast that was great.  Amazing Happy Hour deals in the bar, 50% off drinks including Veuve Cliquot champagne.  Would stay again. \n* **Takayama (3 Nights)** \\- 2 nights would have been ok\n   * ***Hotel and Spa Gift Takayama*** (cash): This place was affordable and super close to the train and everything you want to see in town.  One of the better Onsens we used, felt new and modern.  Beautiful mountain views from the lounge area outside the Onsen on the top floor.  Superior Twin Room was a decent size.  Would stay again.\n* **Kanazawa (2 Nights)** \\- Good Length\n   * ***Hyatt Centric*** (points):  Couldn't be more convenient to the train.  Very spacious room.  Comfortable bed and pillows.  Would stay again.  \n* **Tokyo (3 Nights)** \\- Good length\n   * ***Hyatt Regency Tokyo*** (points):  Rooms were recently renovated so the room was nice and pretty good sized.  They offered shuttles to Shinkuku Station which is a solid 15 minute walk so that was helpful.  Overall, I don't think Shinjuku is really for me but the hotel was ok.  Right now, Shinjuku is under a lot of construction with a large roads/infrastructure project underway by the main station.  It made getting around more complicated and Google Maps didn't know all the detours.  Overall, I am thankful we did NOT start out trip here.  It's just a bit overwhelming and definitely would have been hard to step into that madness day 1 of being in Japan.  I would MAYBE stay again.\n* ***Seoul (5 Nights) - Definitely need more time in Seoul...for another trip!***\n   * ***Four Points Sheraton Ganghnam*** *(points)*\n\n# Ryokan\n\nI was very excited about the opportunity to try a traditional Ryokan with Kaiseki dinners and Onsens.  Of the 3 main components of the Ryokan experience here is what we liked and did not like about them.  In the future, I would book a ROOM at a ryokan to enjoy the inn aspect and the Onsen but would opt OUT of the Kaiseki meals.  The meals are a SIGNIFICANT cost to the experience and I just did not find that much enjoyment from them.  I'd much prefer to save the money and dine elsewhere.  \n\n1. **Onsen:**  The best part of the experience.  VERY HOT water.  It was amazing in Fall and definitely something we loved.  It would probably be more of a waste in the summer, I can't see the hot water being super enjoyable.  \n2. **Traditional Rooms:** Tatami mat room with futon mattresses were an OK part of the experience.  I liked the Futon with the extra fluffy duvet more than my husband.  While we did not have any challenges I could see this experience being difficult for older folks.  First, there is nowhere to really \"relax\" in your room.  There might be a few chairs but no sofa and the beds are put away during the day (you might be able to ask to have them put out early).  Second, there is nowhere for your luggage that isn't the floor so that means bending/squatting to get what you need.  There may not even be a tall enough chair in which to sit on when getting dressed in the morning.  \n3. **Kaiseki Dinner:**  I would liken the dining experience to that of a Michelin prix fix meal.  It's a long dinner, a full \"production\" if you will.  The food it unique, beautiful and inve","offTopic":true},{"id":"88488cc4-74d9-4c07-a8b2-286b35ceac88","excerpt":"Trip Report - Solo Female November 20 - December 5, 2025 — A little late but I love reading about other trip reports and wanted to post my own. This ended up being way longer than intended but I'll try my best to section it out for ease of reading. There's also a TLDR of my fav and most memorable experiences.\n\nThis was","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1vuwnyc/trip_report_solo_female_november_20_december_5/","role":"pain","weight":1.2255799,"occurredAt":"2026-08-21T23:51:54.000Z","sourceKey":"reddit","sourceName":"Reddit","credibility":0.62,"venue":"JapanTravel","intent":"problem_report","painScore":0.495,"sentiment":0.5498392,"confidence":0.8197859,"matchedPatterns":["terrible","frustrating"],"statement":"Traffic was horrible even that early and arrival ended up delayed by about 40mins.","title":"Trip Report - Solo Female November 20 - December 5, 2025","body":"A little late but I love reading about other trip reports and wanted to post my own. This ended up being way longer than intended but I'll try my best to section it out for ease of reading. There's also a TLDR of my fav and most memorable experiences.\n\nThis was my (33F) 3rd time to Japan but 1st time solo. My 1st trip was a 2 month home stay program back in high school where I spent 1 month in Tokyo and 1 month in Tokushima. 2nd time was in 2023 where I took my parents around a slightly modified golden route loop (Tokyo - Kanazawa - Kyoto - Tokyo). This time around I did the golden route again to see the places I had previously missed.\n\nThis trip was Tokyo (5 nights) - Hakone (2 nights) - Kyoto (4 nights) - Osaka (4 nights)\n\n \n\n#### **Some quick little details about me for those interested.** \n\n* My Japanese listening comprehension is somewhere between N4 & N3. My speaking skills are a very stutter-y N5. Almost all of the conversations I had were in Japanese. \n* I can read Hiragana and Katakana with a tiny bit of Kanji. The Katakana in particular was very handy to know and was used often, usually when looking at food menus.\n* I have some pretty bad social anxiety so unfortunately no bars or social spaces for me\n* I'm not particularly fit but I do exercise somewhat regularly so my days of 25K+ steps weren't too much of an issue outside of sore feet. \n\n \n\n#### **Main goals of this trip were:**\n\n* Visit more out-of-the-way places I didn't previously get a chance to see\n* Hunt for good autumn leaf viewings\n* Prioritize finding local handicrafts\n* Eat as many sweets as possible (mainly parfaits) \n\n \n\n\n#### **General things I personally found helpful or convenient. YMMV:**\n\n- I'm a planner and need to have at least a basic idea of what each day could look like. I found Wanderlog useful for organizing ideas \n- Omairi.club is amazing for finding what kind of goshuin is currently offered at each shrine and temple\n- I have a Charles Schwab account for travel, specifically because all ATM fees get refunded. It's nice being able to pull out whatever amount I want without worrying if I'll need more later. Also a credit card with no foreign transaction fees\n- I went with Verizon's international data plan so I could have full use of my phone. It was also useful for when I had my layovers in Taipei\n- Taxis were great when I had luggage or needed to get to more obscure areas. I used the TaxiGo app with Uber as a backup\n- I made sure every hotel I stayed at had a bath. This absolutely saved me after long days\n- I got a pass holder for my Suica to make it easier to quickly grab from my purse. I have an android phone so digital wasn't an option sadly\n- Smart Ex is great for booking shinkansens where available. It let me easily change my trains whenever and tied to my Suica for when I needed to scan at the gates\n- The JR pass isn't worth it anymore, but a regional pass can be. I got the Kansai - Hiroshima Area Pass which paid for itself in one trip \n- Unexpected benefit of traveling as a solo woman. The seat next to me was empty when reserving a highway bus seat. These were on sold-out buses\n- More of an observation, but people tended to be warmer towards me when I spoke Japanese. The reactions would continue to get better the longer the conversation went\n- I used Katakana a lot. Both for reading and for when I needed to write my name down\n- I brought a Nanobag just in case and I'm pretty sure I ended up using it almost every day\n- Saying \"orimasu\" when you're stuck on a packed train and need to exit will usually get people to move out of the way fairly easily. It essentially means \"I'm exiting here\"\n- A small coin pouch specifically for coins. It's very easy to end up with too much change\n- I didn't make any food reservations, opting to just look at nearby options whenever I got hungry. IMO this was the best way to do it since it gave me both freedom of time and freedom to eat whatever, whenever.\n\n \n\n#### **TLDR of my favorite and most notable experiences:**\n\n- The autumn night walk through Showa Kinen Park was absolutely gorgeous and is probably my favorite experience in Japan to date\n- As a snake lover, the snakeskin charms you can get at Hebikubo Shrine were totally worth the trip\n- Falling from E-scooters hurt. I'm gonna stick to bikes from now on\n- The goshuin at Ichiryuin Temple are exceptional and could be art pieces on their own. This is my new \"must visit\" every time I return to Japan\n- The Tori no Ichi festivals are super crowded, but the vibes are amazingly positive. I love the kumade I picked up\n- Senbei waffle cookies are the best thing ever\n- Relaxing in an outdoor onsen under a light drizzle of rain is absolute bliss\n- Did you know that huntsman spiders make a loud thud when they fall?\n- The black eggs at Owakudani are just an overrated, normal, hard-boiled egg that happens to have a black shell\n- Karafuneya Coffee Honten has 150+ parfaits, enough said \n- Women's ultimate weapon gacha. Also buru buru\n- I got to make my own custom umeshu at one of the Choya stores. I now make umeshu at home\n- The fall colors at Saihoji Temple were lovely. The moss garden is probably even more impressive during the warmer, wetter months\n- The older couple at Mayumura in Arashiyama were an absolute delight\n- Getting sick while traveling sucks. There is also an absurd amount of options for cold medicine\n- When they say there are daruma everywhere at Katsuoji, they literally mean *everywhere*\n- Osaka's vibe tended to have a quirky charm to it compared to Tokyo's vibe which tended to be more sterile and cold. I frequently found myself feeling more at home in Osaka\n- Daishoin on Miyajima island was exceptional, even among all the other temples I have visited\n- Watching the deer chase people in Nara is peak entertainment \n- Taxi drivers are some of the most kind, welcoming people I have ever met in Japan \n\n \n\n---\n\n \n\n#### **Hotels stayed at with thoughts**\n\n \n\n- **Tokyo: Dormy Inn Premium Ginza**\n\n   I've stayed at a few different Dormys in previous trips and I can easily say that this was one of the nicer ones. It's still a newer hotel, having opened in 2023 so everything in the building was still fresh looking.  \nThe black-water bath was an interesting experience and was an absolute lifesaver for my sore muscles at the end of the day.  \nBreakfast buffet was mostly on-par with most other Dormys which is to say fairly good but nothing exceptional. They did offer raw eggs and toppings for tamago kake gohan which was nice.  \nLocation was a little out-of-the-way which was rough when I was trying to get back with sore feet or when I needed to do a pit-stop to drop off shopping bags.  \nStaff were super helpful when I wanted to send my larger luggage ahead to Kyoto.\n\n \n\n- **Hakone: Hakone Kowakien Mikawaya Ryokan**\n\n  Surprisingly I was allowed to book one of the villas for my 2 night stay. Unfortunately they were in the middle of building renovations so the whole front of the main building was hidden behind construction scaffolding.  \nThe villa did have a slight musty smell to it, but I personally didn't mind. The outdoor bath was nice to relax in, but the water temperature was only warm at best. The indoor bath was much hotter, but neither were at the scorching levels of Dormy.  \nBreakfast and dinner were good, but nothing amazing. There was also not much food variety between my 2 days.  \nOddly enough, this was one of the only places during my whole trip where most of the staff continued to speak to me in English even if I was responding in Japanese. This was a little annoying since I was trying to get my speaking practice in.  \nI also had the unpleasant experience of meeting a huntsman spider when it fell out of the top of a sliding door track in the villa when I opened the door. I got jump scared. By a spider. It sucked.  \nLocation was easy enough to get to if taking a bus, but far enough away that middle of the day pit-stops were not an option.\n\n \n\n- **Kyoto: Dormy Inn Premium Kyoto Ekimae**\n\n  Overall was an average Dormy experience. Everything was good but the hotel was starting to show some age.  \nI was also unfortunately given a room under the baths, so I got the pleasure of hearing dull scraping from chairs or stools at all hours of the day.  \nThere was also a ton of street traffic noise at all times which, while not a problem for me, I could definitely see it being disturbing for light sleepers.  \nLocation was super convenient since it was right across the street from Kyoto station.  \nI had ordered a few items online a week prior and they had no problem receiving and holding the package until my check-in. The only requirements was for my reservation name and check-in date to be present on the label. \n\n \n\n- **Osaka: Miyako City Osaka Hommachi**\n\n  This was more of a proper hotel with some slightly larger rooms and a private balcony. I had requested a high floor when booking and got put on the 12th floor which provided a pretty decent city view.  \nThe bathroom in particular was very nice with a standard Japanese style shower and a very deep bathtub that I took full advantage of every night.  \nHotel itself was very quiet and I rarely found myself waiting for an elevator.  \nLocation was far enough away from the main streets that the area didn't have to deal with crowds but was close enough that it really wasn't much of a hassle getting around with the subway.  \nThere was a grocery store pretty much next door that was open 24/7 and offered a decent variety of bentos and also had a McDonald's on the second floor. \n\n \n\n---\n\n \n\n# Tokyo (5 nights)\n\n## Day 1: Arrival day\n\n- After landing in Narita around 1PM I grabbed some cash from an ATM, grabbed a one-way NEX ticket to Tokyo station and was on my way.  \nThe plan was to also pick up a green Suica, but the JR office at the airport had a sign stating that they were only offering Welcome Suicas to tourists so I decided to try my luck at Tokyo Station. Turns out the JR office there also had the same signage, but I was still able to get my green Suica from one of the near-by ticketing machines that can print IR cards.   \n- I impulsively decided I wanted to get my nails done, so I booked a last minute appointment for gel nails at NailQuick in Akihabara. I absolutely do not recommend them at all; the specialty design looked nothing like the example, the 3D elements fell off the next day, and they started chipping not even a week later.  \n- I picked up my stored luggage, took a taxi to the hotel, then headed back out to the Harry Potter Shop in Harajuku.  \nFor my Harry Potter fans, this was honestly a really nicely designed 2-story store that wasn't too crowded and they also offered exclusive Harajuku labeled items. \n\n \n\n## Day 2: Shrines, Shibuya, Mt. Takao, and Showa Kinen Park\n\n**Note:** Almost every location I visited today was around a 1 hour train ride each way so a lot of time was spent just commuting.\n\n \n\n- I started off the day by heading over to Sakura Shrine at around 9am for their limited goshuin and lace omamori. The shrine itself is nothing special outside of sakura season, but the area was very peaceful.  \n- I love snakes, so I had to go to Hebikubo Shrine next. It wasn't snake day so I sadly couldn't see their sacred snake, but I did get an absolutely gorgeous Year of the Snake goshuin that's white and gold on washi paper. They also had a variety of snake skin omamori, including a little bottle key strap that contains a small gold coin, a piece of snake skin shed from their sacred snake, and your choice of a variety of gemstone pieces.  \n- Next was Shibuya with the intention of making a food pit stop at Komeda's Coffee. Had a social anxiety moment looking for the door and ended up finding a cute omurice restaurant to stop at instead.  \nI stopped by the 109 since I was in the area. I will say that Shibuya crossing was *so* much worse then I remember from 15 years ago. Some are","offTopic":true},{"id":"2ae5cc6e-1e1a-42ce-9dd8-497db5453ae2","excerpt":"Recs People Don't Talk About Enough - First Trip To Japan — I just came back from a 2-week trip (Oct 11-25, 2025) & want to give back to this reddit community with **some piece of advice that was NOT listed on reddit** & I wish I knew about it earlier. For context, me and my fiance (20-somethings) stayed 7 days in Toky","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1oigffq/recs_people_dont_talk_about_enough_first_trip_to/","role":"pain","weight":1.176874,"occurredAt":"2025-10-28T17:55:09.000Z","sourceKey":"reddit","sourceName":"Reddit","credibility":0.62,"venue":"JapanTravel","intent":"feature_request","painScore":0.48,"sentiment":-0.3,"confidence":0.7951852,"matchedPatterns":["wish","too_expensive"],"statement":"Make sure to research the proper shrine etiquette (bow before entering and after leaving the gates, do NOT walk in the center of the road, how to pray, etc.) * Here is a short list of places we personally **did NOT enjoy**: Shinjuku Golden…","title":"Recs People Don't Talk About Enough - First Trip To Japan","body":"I just came back from a 2-week trip (Oct 11-25, 2025) & want to give back to this reddit community with **some piece of advice that was NOT listed on reddit** & I wish I knew about it earlier. For context, me and my fiance (20-somethings) stayed 7 days in Tokyo (Shinjuku area), 6 days in Osaka (near Namba Daikokucho station) and 1 day in Ine (a small village in Kyoto prefecture). All bookings were made through Expedia and Jalan.net. \n\n# Prep: Money, Hotels, Internet, Suitcases\n\n>**Money:** Get the Wise card or other travelling card with better exchange rates. 1000% WORTH IT! Order it early since the physical card takes weeks to be shipped. Wise offers fast delivery, which worked out for our timing. \n\n>**Hotels:** Book them EARLY, at LEAST 6 months prior as they get expensive VERY fast. Even booking 6 months prior, while choosing a place, the price has increased literally in our eyes as we were searching through Expedia. It is key to book a place no further than a 15-minute walk to a station, the closer - the better.\n\n>**Packing:** PACK LIGHT! In our experience, we just packed a few t-shirts with us and came back with 2 suitcases full of snacks, clothes, accessories, souvenirs, skincare, etc. \n\n>**Pocket Wi-Fi:** If you rent a pocket wifi (which I did since my phone is locked and does not support e-sim), the battery dies pretty fast. Whenever you don't use it, simply turn it off until you need it. In my experience, 1 GB/day was enough for texting + Google Maps but if you don't want to stress about internet and you have the funds, get more data for sure. The pick up from Haneda airport and drop off at Kansai airport were smooth and easy.\n\n# Tips on Exploring Japan\n\n>**Japan validates foreign student ID's (for museum, theatre discount entry, etc.)**\n\n>**Limousine Bus or an Easy and Effecient Commute Airport -> Hotel:** In Tokyo, from Haneda airport to our hotel in Shinjuku, we took a limousine bus for $24 CAD for 2 people (luggage included) for a stress-free comfortable commute after a long flight. The buses depart quite frequently, so we easily purchased the tickets at the station 10-minute prior the departure.\n\n>**Don Quijote:** Overrated, mostly overpriced and insanely overpacked during the day. Pro tip: while you are jetlagged from the flight, visit it LATE at night and it will be a pleasant experience. Pro-pro tip: for cosmetics (SPF creams, make up, etc.) hit any local pharmacy, it is much cheaper. \n\n>**Food and Snacks:** Instead of visiting a 7-11 or any conbini, check out a local supermarket. Food will be MUCH cheaper and BETTER. \n\n>**Shinkansen:** Book up to a month early, if possible. No one really shares that shinkansen has a discount system depending on how early you book. For example, we enjoyed premium \"green\" cart for the same price of the \"average\" one, which is twice cheaper. However, be ready to commit to the departure time and arrive to the station early. We were expecting to find such a BIG thing like Shinkansen easily but the Tokyo station was HARD to navigate in our experience (we found it harder to navigate than the shinjuku station). I would suggest arriving at LEAST an hour and a half earlier to check out some cool shops at the station, grab a bento, and arrive to the shinkansen train stress-free. \n\n>**Visiting Mt Fuji (From Kawaguchiko Lake):** There are many places to visit Mr. Fuji from but I can only speak of our experience at Fujikawaguchiko lake. First, the tickets for the express highway bus from Shinjuku sell out FAST, espeically if Mt Fuji's visibility is more than 6. Overall, Mt Fuji's visibility is better early mornings so book the earliest tickets (arrival @ 8 am or 8.30 am) at LEAST 2 days in advance. Do not EXPECT to actually see the mountain (as it's climate fluctuates throughout the day and you may feel dissapointed) so INSTEAD, focus on exploring the gorgeous nature. Pro-tip: find an e-bike stand next to the station and explore around. They sell out FAST. At 8.30 am there was already a small line. For us, 3 hrs of cycling and 4 hrs at Fujikawaguchiko was enough to enjoy but not too much to get bored. \n\n>**Use Luggage Delivery Service & Please, don't rely on \"wheelchair-accessible\" setting on Google Maps** in search for elevators/escalators at the stations, it is often misleading. If possible, use the luggage delivery. From Tokyo to Osaka, our hotel took care of our luggage that took 2 days to deliver. I believe, they can deliver in 1-day but hotels required 2 days (I assum to avoid dealing with potential delays). 2 large suitcases were $60 CAD one way. \n\n>**Yes, you CAN bring the transparent conbini umbrella on your flight back.** I cannot speak for all airlines but with Air Canada we had no issues bringing two 70 cm umbrellas with us. For more context, we just brough them with us and did not register them in any way prior. No questions asked. We were not sure if it would work out, so we were ready to leave them in Japan in case if security will tell us so. However, there were no issues. Just sharing our experience, don't take it as a rule.\n\n# Defining Affordable Shopping + Recs\n\n>**Shopping:** If you are travelling on a budget, **DO NOT TRUST the tiktok/reddit suggestions for \"affordable\" shopping**. Of course, \"afforable\" may mean different things but in our experience all the popular shopping suggestions were WAY TOO EXPENSIVE. Harajuku - $200 or $300 CAD for a piece of edgy vintage clothes and $100 for a vintage t-shirt. Overall, if you are into \"Harajuku\" fashion I would suggest to lower your expectations (unless you have the funds) as the Harajuku fashion seems to be not popular or even dead in Japan nowadays. Now, American (Hip-Hop-ish) style is in local fashion, based on my obsrvations. And if you are a guy, be prepared that most malls cater only to women. For example, Shibuya 109 was very expensive and had 99% WOMEN clothing shops (my fiance was a bit upset). BEWARE of limited size options. I wear \"S\" in North America but was shopping \"M\" and \"L\" in Japan. Most shops do not offer \"L\" and larger sizes at all, unfortunately. \n\n>**Affordable Shopping Recs (In Our Experience)**: **Clothes (the price ascending)** \\- Workman (a solid clothing recommendation where locals ACTUALLY shop at), Kinji Used Clothes (a well-curated thrift with affordable items), GU (much cheaper than Uniqlo and is Uniqlo's sister company), WeGo (street fashion for young people but beware of VERY limiting size options: Japanese S and M **ONLY**), Uniqlo, Muji. I also suggest simply stopping by nice boutiques at the stations, where you will see many locals shop.  **Cheap jewelry and hair accessories** at Luna Eath ($2-5 per piece and don't expect any \"fine\" metals). **Home decor and home stuff:** Daiso, Natural Kitchen (has many cute small figurines \\[not anime or game collectibles but just adorable home decor stuff\\]), Standart Products, Hands, Muji. \n\n# Thinking of Learning Japanese?\n\n>**Been there, done that.** For some context, I bought a course, and in 2 months I learnt Hiragana and Katakana and some vocab HOWEVER I didn't find it useful since it was nearly not enough for a conversation and my reading and processing was too uneffecient and slow, so I used google translate instead. I personally don't regret learning bc it was fun but I would not suggest it unless you 1) need it for immigation / work purposes; 2) are serious about committing for at LEAST 6 months or 1 year. For example, my fiance didn't learn anything apart from a couple basic words and he was just fine with English only.\n\n# Personal Highlights:\n\n**Tokyo:**\n\n* **Weekend markets:** I enjoyed the one near Hanazono Shinto Shrine in Tokyo. Vendors start arriving around around 9 am.\n* **Cycling at Fujikawaguchiko**, exploring it's west side near Yagizaki Park and **deeper to the west**. The east side has mostly hotels only, nothing interesting personally for me.\n* **Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum**, Tokyo (on a weekday it was not crowded at all).\n* **Singing in a karaoke bar.** I visited [this](https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Restaurant_Review-g1066444-d33087889-Reviews-Kyobashi_Himitsu_Club-Chuo_Tokyo_Tokyo_Prefecture_Kanto.html) one on a weekday around 8pm and it was fun. \n* **Picking a non-popular nice neighbourhood on Google Maps** to explore for an interesting (and non-crowded) experience instead of following an overhyped and overcrowded TikTok itinerary. For example, I enjoyed Nihombashi and Meguro-Aobadai neighbourhoods in Tokyo. \n* **Praying in shrines of interest** (for us they were money / marriage-focused). Make sure to research the proper shrine etiquette (bow before entering and after leaving the gates, do NOT walk in the center of the road, how to pray, etc.)\n* Here is a short list of places we personally **did NOT enjoy**: Shinjuku Golden Gai (OK to swing by but found it outdated, crowded, and overpriced (tourist-oriented). Rock Bar Mother (I saw some recs on reddit but found the place stiff, crowded, with very POOR ventilation, and the music was way too loud for me and my fiance). Akihabara seemed outdated so I suggest checking Ikebukuro area for anime and gaming stuff. \n\n**Osaka (as the main base):**\n\n* **1 night stay in Ine** (a small fishing village in the Kyoto prefecture) overnight in a \"funaya\" house and booking e-bikes, cycling around the rice fields. This trip may be BORING for someone as the village does not offer much entertaining but the nature is gorgeous. If you would like to visit, pack ALL your necessities with you as the closest supermarket will be in an hour bicycle ride one way. The stay can be booked through Jalan net and we commuted via an [\"Japan Bus Online\"](https://japanbusonline.com/en/AreaSearch2/5271004/8432164) from Osaka (namba station) to Ine. If you are interested in commuting via this express bus, make sure to arrive at the pick-up spot early since the bus stop is tricky to find. Follow their location pin attached in the email confirmation. \n* **Kyoto GEAR theatre**, front seats. \n* **Half-day trip to Nara.**\n\n# Was Japan Overcrowded? Final Piece of Advice (The Most Important One)\n\n>In terms of being \"crowded\", Japan seemed just FINE for us simply because we deliberately  chose NOT to visit most recommended spots to avoid the crowd fatigue. In my experience, from someone who is VERY much into the japanese culture and who was japan-planning thoroughly, NO, you do NOT need to see EVERY. SINGLE. SHRINE you see on YouTube or TikTok. NO, you do NOT need to try matcha or ramen at THAT ONE SPECIFIC SPOT that influencer recommended. Japan is a country full of gorgeous historical places and delicious food so trying to see all the \"must\" see places from bloggers, influencers, etc., will only bring crowd fatigue, fear of missing out, and potential dissappointment.   \n  \nInstead, I would suggest pin-pointing locations on Google Maps that serve your area of interests & bonus points if the reviews share that the place is not crowded or empty! Leave some days for doing NOTHING and simply exploring the way you feel like that day! Most importantly, don't have unrealistically high expectations (and remember that all these videos online often do not represent real crowds, fatigue, etc.) and do not put yourself under pressure. In Japan, you CANNOT miss out bc great architecture, good food, and shopping is EVERYWHERE. Enjoy yourself and enjoy exploring! :)\n\n  \nP.S. I do not use reddit frequently so I may not respond to your questions, just wanted to share my pieces of advice and experiences. Hope it helps!","offTopic":true},{"id":"2111ae18-ceb6-4178-a71c-cc25758b7fec","excerpt":"Anniversary Trip across Tokyo, Kyoto (and Ohara), Sapporo (and Noboribetsu) in April — Got a lot of advice from Reddit, and also really liked reading everyone else's trip reports, so I thought I'd try to make a trip report of my own in case someone, somewhere, wants to read it! Trying to mostly go by the things that st","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1t11eb3/anniversary_trip_across_tokyo_kyoto_and_ohara/","role":"request","weight":1.1700759,"occurredAt":"2026-05-01T18:17:29.000Z","sourceKey":"reddit","sourceName":"Reddit","credibility":0.62,"venue":"JapanTravel","intent":"feature_request","painScore":0.36,"sentiment":0.55572873,"confidence":0.8603499,"matchedPatterns":["wish","frustrating","urgent"],"statement":"* We then, on getting back, had about an hour and a half at the Tokyo National Museum, which is a super cool museum I wish we hadn't left for so late a rainy day.","title":"Anniversary Trip across Tokyo, Kyoto (and Ohara), Sapporo (and Noboribetsu) in April","body":"Got a lot of advice from Reddit, and also really liked reading everyone else's trip reports, so I thought I'd try to make a trip report of my own in case someone, somewhere, wants to read it! Trying to mostly go by the things that stuck out to me most, although it's kind of disorganized; it's vaguely in order of events. Hopefully this helps someone!\n\n# General/Everywhere Stuff\n\n* Goushin are really, really worth it. I never got tired of visiting temples and shrines, seeing the differences between other places we visited, and then collecting the goushin. I suspect this is why I personally loved visiting every temple possible (I was collecting them) and my husband started to feel like they were blending together (he was not).\n* My husband having a real camera felt very worth it to us; we're in the process of going through photos to make an album. I suspect that and the goushin book will be my favorite souvenirs because they tell the story of the whole trip!\n* We used like, a LOT of cash. Part of this is that we had physical Pasmo cards and had to load them with cash, part of this was the aforementioned temples, part of this was several restaurants we went to that only took cash, but ultimately we used way more cash than I even thought we would. ATMs were pretty common though so this wasn't really a problem, just noting that needing plenty of cash remains real. Also, 100 yen and 500 yen coins are pretty useful, don't underestimate the power of coins along with bills.\n* I couldn't get Go Taxi to work with any of my credit cards, so we ended up using Uber 90% of the time and having the ryokan concierge call a cab for us in the one case that didn't work. As many people on this sub point out, it calls an actual cab, not an Uber. Honestly, I prefer that to a lot of Uber drivers I've gotten in the US... Tips still aren't expected even though the app asks you to give one so just ignore it. We didn't need to use them much, though, even in Kyoto.\n* According to my Fitbit, we averaged probably around 17k steps per day? So a bit less than a lot of people talk about doing. We also did less per day than a lot of people probably do, though, half because my husband and I are pretty out-of-shape (I tried to fix this prior to the trip but I underestimated my goal), half because my allergies decided to be evil and get me sick (they do this yearly but April is a month early so I was unprepared). For whatever it's worth I also don't feel like we \"missed out\" by not pushing it.\n* Honestly, it may be worth it to take your clothes to an actual laundromat and not the hotel laundry. None of the hotel laundries we ever used dried our clothes for shit, but the one time we went to an actual coin laundry they had a giant drier that dried all our clothes in a single one-hour cycle with no issue whatsoever, which ultimately saved way more time than hiking there with a luggage full of clothes took. I'd say maybe we got unlucky with our hotel laundries but I see lots of other people complain about this too, so.\n* Lots of things in Japan either don't open until 11 AM or close at like 4:30 PM (or both). Check the hours for things before going. Generally, temples and temple offices tend to close early and shopping streets and cafes tend to open late.\n* You really don't need to show up to a domestic Japanese flight earlier than like, 45 minutes in advance, security is ridiculously quick. Showing up earlier to explore the malls in the airports though is fun. I wouldn't risk it on the international leg though.\n* We brought two checked bags and two small personal item sized backpacks with us. At least one backpack was necessary to have all the stuff we needed day-to-day. For us, the checked bags were necessary, although we purposefully left them a bit emptier than usual in an attempt to fit all of our souvenirs later... which failed we ended up buying an additional carry-on rollerbag for cheap from Don Quixote. Honestly, having the checked bags wasn't really a problem? The one big transfer from Kyoto to Sapporo we forwarded our bags for, but otherwise we just kept them with us and it wasn't really a problem. If you're staying further from a station that connects to the airport and/or shinkansen and don't want to take cabs though I can see how some wouldn't like it. \n\n# Tokyo (the first time)\n\n* We landed at around 2:30 PM, giving us a bit of the afternoon to explore, although we were SUPER dead this day so we didn't do anything too high-key, just walking around Ueno Park.\n* We stayed in Ueno, which was awesome, I recommend it for everyone. We arrived on April 5th, which was the tail end of cherry blossom season, but still nice enough we got to see them at the park! But as nice as the park is, the Ameyoko area really felt like the highlight of Ueno; Ameyoko itself and all the streets near there were really cool to wander around. The other highlight was that Ueno is a really well-connected station, especially to everywhere the metro goes, so it was easy to get places from there.\n* We did an onigiri-making class our first real day early in the morning. Highlight to me might be me mentioning I'm from Pittsburgh and discovering the Japanese chef who was teaching the class through an interpreter knew where that was because he played hockey as a kid and was a Penguins fan as a result. Small world!\n* Asakusa might have been my favorite other place we just sort of wandered around on streets on, even if we got rained on when we did. Getting to Senso-ji early is worth it; even if Nakamise-dori isn't really open by then, because even arriving at like 9, tour groups were already showing up. \n* Skytree was cool, even if it was raining—not my BEST decision ever but we were wet and it was indoors and nearby haha. I didn't find going up to the higher deck really worth the money though, just the main decks were fine.\n* The Skytree Town mall was full of cool stuff. It was the first Pokemon Center we went to, but there were a lot of other cool nicknacks. My personal favorite was a store that sold those fake food models you see everywhere; I got a keychain that is a piece of pork belly, and my husband got a sushi magnet.  \n* I enjoyed Teamlabs Borderless! I hadn't been spoiled for most of the rooms and wandering around and discovering things was really fun; the best rooms were typically ones you had to wander off the main trail to get to. I thought it was worth the time to go to, I know this one is polarizing so I thought I'd add my \"yeah we had a good time\" onion to it.\n* Zojo-ji and the various views of Tokyo Tower nearby were also really cool. We didn't go up the tower because honestly I just wanted to see it from the outside to feel like we were in Tokyo.\n* Nezu Shrine was beautiful mainly for the nice neighborhood you walk to get to it and for the azaleas. I'm sure it's also pretty when the azaleas aren't blooming, given we got there at very much the very beginning of azalea season so a lot of them weren't, but if you're around when there are azaleas you have GOT to go there.\n* Akihabara was cool but probably one of the most overwhelming places we visited; it didn't help that Google Maps could not seem to decide which side of the station we were standing on at any given time. There was a Yugioh pop-up shop and I got the coolest duel disk plan t-shirt and a Linkuriboh coin purse, AND I found in one of the stores a Matikanefukukitaru plushie from Umamusume, so it was worth it. \n* This is when I realized I hadn't actually brought headphones I could use in the rhythm game machines and was a bit too overwhelmed to buy some so I didn't get to play any Maimai or Chunithm in Japan. My favorite game is Wacca though and I never saw it anywhere (probably because it's dead) so it's not the end of the world.\n* I did lose some money at a claw machine though. The one I was playing definitely had the grip strength rigged but whatever I got the horsie in the end.\n* We went to a fancy tempura place because I was hyped by the idea of high-end tempura, a thing I couldn't get in the states. It was... fine? I could tell it was really good and he made it in front of us but all of the courses being tempura made it blend together a little. Probably one of the two meals I regret spending as much money on...\n* The other was much cheaper, but was an izakaya on Ameyoko that after I sat down I realized was definitely charging us tourist prices but I felt too awkward to get up and leave about. They were, for some reason, playing random nightcore music on their playlist though, so that was a fun adventure while we were eating.\n* By contrast, Kamo to Negi is worth the hype that duck ramen might be one of my favorite things I ate on this trip. *Really* good stuff.\n* We also went to this little cafe right next to the metro entrance and right underneath our hotel (the Mitsui Garden Hotel Ueno) that was actually open at 7:00 AM and delicious, their breakfast set with the cheesy bread was fantastic.\n\n# Kyoto\n\n* The bullet train ride from Tokyo to Kyoto was easy. However, I'm going to note that for some reason, on the train was some of the worst I felt all trip? This is when my allergies started to appear.\n* After dropping our stuff off at our hotel we went wandering. I was rained on, sick, and unhappy, so I made us stop in the nearest cafe we saw. It was a vegan cafe. I got bad pizza. Not even bad because it was vegan, bad because the crust was like, weirdly soft? However this was enough to bring me back to life. IDK I remember this bad pizza more than I remember a lot of our meals because of the context surrounding it. Don't underestimate the power of bad pizza I guess.\n* Teramachi-dori was really awesome, it might be my favorite of the covered shopping streets we saw. I got a bunch of tea from a shop there, some delicious taiyaki, and my husband and I got some nice chopsticks together before he bought a watch from Kuoe Kyoto. It was also a super fun place to just wander. \n* We also did a tea ceremony, wagashi-making, and kimono wearing experience from Maikoya which was... fine? It was fine. This is when I realized I really, really love various wagashi/tea sweets though. I'm going to miss various soft bean paste snacks and tea...\n* This is when I had Fucking Meltdown The First One about being sick; I sent my husband to the pharmacy and he came back with what the pharmacist recommended. Used to how this normally went in the states, I resolved to just Power Through It the doctor would be useless. As a result this was also a conbini food night. I had an egg sandwich. Honestly, not enough pickles for a good egg salad, though I understand why the folks who don't like relish like them, lol.\n* If you take one thing from our Kyoto leg, it's that ***Saihoji is so worth it oh my god***. Genuinely gorgeous, the atmosphere is calm, silent, and reflective, the gardens are so pretty, copying the sutra was super worth it, and as a bonus the goushin you get there is really awesome. But like, this was worth paying for entry and waiting for the entry. This genuinely might be my favorite temple we visited it was SOO nice and SUCH a good entry into the first Japanese garden we went to. The area it's in is so quiet compared to the rest of Kyoto too; yes there are tourists to be clear but comparatively it is no contest.\n* The monkey park was... more of a hike than I thought. My hot take is that the monkeys were cute but mostly okay, but the VIEW? That was genuinely spectacular and it's worth the hike for that.\n* Tenryu-ji was also really, really cool. Some of the smaller sub-temples were open as well while we were there; one we saw a monkey playing at a pond through the window of! The gardens here were also all gorgeous and, for being on such a busy street in Arashyama, it was strangely quiet?\n* I thought Fushimi Inari was super worth it; we went around 8:30 AM, and it was already very busy, but you don't even need to go all the way up to start getting quiet and empty parts. We didn't ","offTopic":true},{"id":"79525e65-8e63-4a3c-b53d-c082828950ae","excerpt":"Wrapping up 16 days between Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hakone. Thoughts and take aways. — Travels: 6 days in Tokyo (Chiyoda and Shinjuku as home bases), trips around different areas of the city (Ginza, Shibuya, Minato). 3 days in Osaka, full day trip to Kobe. 4 days in Kyoto, day trip to Nara. 3 days in Hakone at a resort.\n\n","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1t7rzjz/wrapping_up_16_days_between_tokyo_kyoto_osaka/","role":"request","weight":1.0830476,"occurredAt":"2026-05-09T02:18:45.000Z","sourceKey":"reddit","sourceName":"Reddit","credibility":0.62,"venue":"JapanTravel","intent":"feature_request","painScore":0.31544247,"sentiment":0.28118393,"confidence":0.8233333,"matchedPatterns":["wish","missing_feature"],"statement":"Makes me upset at our lack of public transit back home lol.","title":"Wrapping up 16 days between Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hakone. Thoughts and take aways.","body":"Travels: 6 days in Tokyo (Chiyoda and Shinjuku as home bases), trips around different areas of the city (Ginza, Shibuya, Minato). 3 days in Osaka, full day trip to Kobe. 4 days in Kyoto, day trip to Nara. 3 days in Hakone at a resort.\n\nPurpose and focus: honeymoon trip, focused mainly on shopping/site seeing/eating.\n\nFirst and foremost, I’d like to say the Golden Route was gorgeous. Definitely a tourist heavy route but absolutely lovely and incredibly enjoyable. We arrived at the beginning of GW and spent nearly the entirety of it in Tokyo, something I will get into momentarily. I speak loose Japanese and can’t read quite literally any of it but we found that there were VERY few times where we were lost/confused. As many others have said translation apps have gotten good enough to hold basic conversation and enables you to get around without much issues. We are both fairly introverted but found conversation at small shops pleasant and rather fluid. eSIM was not needed if your provider has international data (my wife has Verizon and I have TMobile) but we found that the eSIM was MUCH faster in comparison to TMobile.\n\n\\*\\*Immediate thoughts, the good:\\*\\*\n\n\\- Food: To nobodies surprise there is good food everywhere. We had no issue finding meals in any city and actually found ourselves paralyzed by the plethora of decisions more often than not. Some places had lines, we waited in a few, but didn’t find any massive margin of quality/service between those with a queue and those without. We did find that small cafes/restaurants off the beaten path offered more polite/talkative staff as opposed to the busy fronts in populated areas. Our biggest regret BY FAR was the booking of Michelin star restaurants. They are so abundant in Tokyo and Osaka that we had 7 dinners at Michelin establishments, would say whole heartedly they were \\*NOT\\* worth it. Will speak to this later. Only two we felt were very much worth the price and experience were “Otsuki” in Osaka and “Tinc Gana” near our first hotel. Both very cool, very friendly staff, good portions, and incredible food.\n\n\\- Travel: We found travel to be extremely easy. We never bought the rail cards or anything, just paid cash when we got the station. The machines are easy to navigate and there was always staff to help. Our first train ride we forgot to put our ticket back in at the end, the security politely requested our ticket and showed us the proper way. Zero issues after that. Even during GW we never missed a train due to being over crowded, we were never “crammed”, although we usually stood and opted to allow children/elderly our seats. We got lucky as there were never any delays either. Uber/taxi is cheap compared to where we lived in the states and we opted to take that multiple times after some dinners/drinks due to the overall time investment (30 minutes between train/walking vs 7 minutes and $6 for an uber, for example). Super simple. Makes me upset at our lack of public transit back home lol.\n\nLuggage shipping: Absolutely incredible and makes me to a certain degree also upset at the lack of availability at home. To ship between our hotels was anywhere from $30-50 for 3 decent sized bags. We would pack up our backpacks and just carry that between home bases. Every hotel received our luggage without issue, although not every hotel was able to ship. Finding a store front was quick/easy and staff was always super helpful. Shipping from the HND airport was an absolute breeze. Made travel SO much easier and less stressful all around.\n\nSite seeing: My oh my, so much! Everyone was right, there was SO much to do that you could easily spend months in each area and not run out. I wish we had been more specific and selective with our choices prior to the trip. We came in with “must, want, would be cool” priority for places and effectively ran an open itinerary. Woke up each morning, looked at places, and planned a rough route. Worked very well but because there was so much to do/see we felt as though we left a lot on the table despite starting everyday at 7 and ending almost everyday around 9-10pm and 30k steps later. Seriously endless possibilities. TeamLab Biovortex was INCREDIBLE. We cannot recommend it enough. Truly a highlight of our trip.\n\nHotels and people: In general locals were incredibly polite, staff everywhere were super friendly, and shops off the beaten path were usually inquisitive. All our hotels were clean and kept well, we had two that were rather expensive (Bellustar Tokyo and Madoka NoMori) but we found that those really set themselves apart with size/amenities/views. We would have been very pleased with any of our other hotels in general, but we splurged a bit for our honeymoon.\n\nShopping: Some areas were chaos and others were super simple in/out. Really depended on the area. Overall prices were cheaper for most items, although a few were not much of a gap. I purchased a Grand Seiko significantly cheaper than it would have been in the states and my wife got a lot of toys/collectibles that were legitimately half priced of what we could find online/home. We got some quality knives that were about equal price as home/online from reputable dealers but it was cool to watch them put together and hand sharpened/polished. Tons of tourist shops if you’re into that, usually fairly cheap. Some areas around landmarks in Kyoto and Tokyo definitely had the tourist upcharge though for things like ceramics and clothing so be aware of what you want and look around a bit.\n\nGolden Week: Way blown out of proportion IMO. We read so much ahead of the trip and psyched ourselves out so bad that we both had anxiety showing up but quickly found that it wasn’t any better/worse than any other time. The crowd density/distribution was the biggest difference IMO. During GW most of the people we saw were Japanese with smatterings of other nationalities, following GW it was mostly foreigners with the occasional school trip at cultural sites. \n\n\\*\\*Immediate thoughts, the bad:\\*\\*\n\nPeople: I know I know, a tourist complaining about other tourists but bear with me. We both love Japanese culture and researched quite a bit for awhile leading up to our trip. We were consciously making it a point to be polite and adhere to local courtesies. But my god the amount of people who seemingly come to Japan and treat it like an amusement park or all inclusive resort is insane. We personally witness multiple times people who would play music at shrines or hang on the structures/posing questionably for photos, “Karens” that would argue anything/everything with staff as if they aren’t 1 of 5million people in the immediate vicinity, and overall entitled people would believed that they personally were the priority and everything was catered specifically for them (think “the world revolves around me” type). Loud yelling on trains, taking photos of people/children just living their lives, incredibly pushy on walk ways or for photo ops. Just overall lots of disrespect. It made us feel immense sorrow for locals and people who had to put up with this type of stuff daily. We lived in a big city for 7 years and this was 100x worse than anything we experienced. On a plus side though we never witnessed any fights or altercations so there’s that!\n\nRestaurants: As stated earlier, we heavily regretted booking almost all of our Michelin restaurants. Slow, food was not much of a cut above, and they were SO slow. Not a single one outside of Otsuki and Tinc Gana was completed in under 3 hours and portions/taste would have been bested at many of our other selections. Out of them all was one called “Abysse” that I cannot condemn enough. The seating was cheap and not cushioned at all, the entire 9 course meal was 3:45 so dishes were coming out roughly 20-30 minutes apart, and no single dish wowed us remotely. Charged per glass of mineral water to boot, which was minimal fee but still felt bad when looking at the receipt.\n\n\\*\\*Observation/Recommendations\\*\\*\n\nHotels: Not a bad thing per se but something that was far outside our preference. We booked kings at every hotel assuming they would be kings, but instead they were twins pushed together with a thin topper. Again only the 5 star resorts had a true king. I am 6’1” and often found my feet off the end or close to unless I pushed myself almost to the headboard. In addition beds in Japan are VERY firm compared to in the states. I prefer a firmer mattress but these were well beyond anything I normally enjoyed. If you’re a back sleeper, this is a dream for you. If you are a side/stomach sleeper you will wake up in pain likely.\n\nBreakfast/Lunch: This was a culture shock that I don’t know how we missed with everything we read prior. Breakfast places don’t usually open until late morning as breakfast is traditionally eaten at home with family in Japan, which means finding something earlier is neigh impossible. We thought it would be rare but it was honestly much harder to find morning food than we thought. Due to the 13 hour time change and our desire to get up to see things before they got busy we were usually showered and ready for the day around 7, the earliest cafes we found open were generally 8am and served sweets/coffee with limited proteins. Not the biggest deal, we ended up buying fruit and granola bars for the morning after the second night just to have some sustenance prior to starting our walks. We never really got into the routine of eating a full lunch early, instead opting for 1ish. A fair warning is most shops close between the lunch rush and dinner crowd. We found many closed between 2/3pm and opened close to 5/6pm. Not a big deal but definitely something to anticipate as you go hunting for food.\n\nShibuya/Shinjuku: The outskirts areas of both were very cool but the core downtown areas were just not worth it in either of our opinions. Again we’ve been around crowds but nothing like this. Think main stage during peak performance at a national festival x10. It was just constant chaos and we both felt so overstimulated by the time we left. Some people will read that and think “hell yeah” and some will think “absolutely not”. We read up ahead of time but didn’t picture it being as crazy as it actually was. Truly no forewarning does it justice. Golden Gai was alright but nothing really special IMO. Cool little area with tiny bars where you can always find a place to sit/drink but the purpose we found is to engage in conversation with those around you rather than just enjoy the vibes with your own company. Extroverts wet dream right here, not so much for the introverts looking to catch a buzz with chill people. In comparison we thought Kyoto and Osaka were INCREDIBLY tame, with Hakone/Nara/Kobe being a leisurely stroll in the park.\n\nDialogue: Although learning Japanese is not needed, I think knowing a few polite conversational pieces goes a very long way. (Excuse my spelling) Gochisousama Deshita, itadakimasu, ippon namimas ka, etc were phrases my wife learned and practiced saying properly and it opened up dialogue at MANY bars/restaurants. She would usually have to refer to me or the translation app after but the entire mood would noticeably shift to a more pleasant tone following.\n\nXenophobia: Only putting this out there because it’s been a topic on this sub lately (seemingly). We only experienced xenophobia twice total, both in Kyoto, and displeasurable discourse maybe 3 times also in Kyoto (think someone scoffing at you, coughing \\*at\\* you, or shoving). The xenophobia was blatant, we had walked into a bar the first night and the bar tender rather aggressively said “no foreigner, go away” and shooed us out. The second was while showing up for a yakitori reservation (made with my very white American name) and the chef told us “leave, no foreigner” after we had already been sat down. While these all stung a bit we did not take it to heart, as explained earlier we had witnessed SO much disrespect by tourists prior to this tha","offTopic":true},{"id":"31d6fd0b-8e0f-4f10-ae4b-aadb447815f8","excerpt":"Three Weeks in Japan on a Brompton: Tokyo, Kyoto, the Shimanami Kaido & Too Much Convenience Store Chicken —  \n\nHi all,\n\nJust a summary of my trip. I'll try to keep it brief, but I'm happy to expand on anything if people would like more detail. Feel free to ask any questions.\n\nThe main reason I'm writing this is to giv","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravelTips/comments/1v6kzbv/three_weeks_in_japan_on_a_brompton_tokyo_kyoto/","role":"demand","weight":1.0646516,"occurredAt":"2026-07-25T21:48:22.000Z","sourceKey":"reddit","sourceName":"Reddit","credibility":0.62,"venue":"JapanTravelTips","intent":"tool_discovery","painScore":0.23467658,"sentiment":0.6857143,"confidence":0.8622919,"matchedPatterns":["looking_for","frustrating","missing_feature","praise","product:railway"],"statement":"I saw plenty of shrines and temples elsewhere during the trip and never felt like I was missing out.","title":"Three Weeks in Japan on a Brompton: Tokyo, Kyoto, the Shimanami Kaido & Too Much Convenience Store Chicken","body":" \n\nHi all,\n\nJust a summary of my trip. I'll try to keep it brief, but I'm happy to expand on anything if people would like more detail. Feel free to ask any questions.\n\nThe main reason I'm writing this is to give something back for all the great advice and tips I received from Reddit when planning my trip. Hopefully some of you will find this useful.\n\n**About Me**\n\nI'm British, in my mid-30s and comfortable travelling solo.\n\nI enjoy socialising, seeking out fun experiences and a bit of adventure wherever I go. That said, I can really only recharge my batteries when I'm by myself, so solo travel suits me perfectly.\n\nMy budget was generally mid-range throughout the trip.\n\n \n\n**Trip Details**\n\n**Dates:** 1–20 July 2026\n\nThis was technically outside the peak season, and many places actually felt closer to low season in terms of visitor numbers and overall busyness.\n\nThis was a three-week solo cycling holiday. Photography was an important part of the trip, although it didn't significantly influence my itinerary or determine where I went.\n\n**My Interests in Japan**\n\nFood and everyday life were my primary interests.\n\nI know this may be sacrilege to some Japan enthusiasts, but I have little interest in anime or manga, and I wasn't especially motivated to visit countless temples and shrines. A significant portion of what attracts many visitors to Japan was therefore somewhat lost on me. But that's the beauty of travel: everyone experiences a destination differently.\n\nThis trip was very much about experiencing the country, its neighbourhoods, its people, its food, and its atmosphere.\n\n**Language**\n\nMy Japanese was extremely basic — borderline non-existent.\n\nIn hindsight, learning more before travelling would have been beneficial. However, life was doing what life does, and I simply didn't have the capacity to take on a new language beforehand.\n\nFortunately, Google Translate proved more than adequate and I never found language barriers to be a significant problem.\n\n**The Cycling Element**\n\nI brought my Brompton folding bicycle with me and used it extensively throughout the trip.\n\nThe bike was a deliberate choice. I wanted to explore neighbourhoods rather than just attractions, travel via side streets instead of main roads, avoid crowds, get around more efficiently, and discover places I would never have otherwise encountered.\n\nIn total I cycled over 400km.\n\nIt also helped offset the considerable amount of beer, rice, noodles and convenience-store snacks that inevitably became part of the daily routine.\n\nMost importantly, it allowed me to experience Japan in a completely different way. Rather than simply moving between tourist sites, I felt immersed in the places I visited and saw much more of everyday Japanese life.\n\n**Photography Gear**\n\nPhotography was a big part of the trip, so I travelled with two film cameras and around 14 rolls of film.\n\n**Canon A-1 (35mm, 1978)**\n\n**Lenses**\n\n* 50mm\n* 28mm\n\n**Film**\n\n* Kodak Gold 200\n* Kodak Portra 400\n* CineStill 800T\n\n**Pentax 645N (Medium Format, 1996)**\n\n**Lenses**\n\n* 75mm\n* 55mm (purchased in Japan)\n* 45mm (purchased in Japan)\n\n**Film**\n\n* Kodak Gold 200\n* Kodak Portra 400\n\n \n\n**Tokyo (Round 1) – 6 Nights**\n\nMy first stop was Tokyo, where I spent six nights in total. I deliberately split my accommodation between a capsule hotel and a hostel, as I wanted both a chance to recover from the flight and an opportunity to meet people.\n\n**Shinjuku Kuyakusho-mae Capsule Hotel (1 Night)**\n\nI booked this for my first night primarily because I wanted somewhere quiet to decompress after a 14-hour flight.\n\nThe hotel delivered exactly what I was looking for. It was clean, quiet and comfortable, and the capsule experience itself was part of the appeal. It felt very much like the classic \"Tokyo capsule hotel\" experience I'd seen on television and read about before travelling.\n\nThe hotel also had a traditional sento-style bathing area. As a first-timer, it felt incredibly foreign at first, but after a few minutes I settled into it and actually enjoyed the experience.\n\nThe location is excellent, although I never intended to stay for more than one night. Personally, I wouldn't choose it as a longer-term base simply because of how compact everything is. That said, if you're travelling on a tighter budget, it would be absolutely fine.\n\nAt around £20 for the night, the value for money was exceptional. I'd happily stay there again and would definitely recommend it.\n\n**UNPLAN Shinjuku Hostel (5 Nights)**\n\nThis was where I really wanted to stay.\n\nMy goal was to find the most sociable hostel possible: somewhere I could meet people, have a few drinks, go out, and experience Tokyo's nightlife with other travellers.\n\nAfter doing my research, Shinjuku seemed like the obvious area, and UNPLAN appeared to be the best fit for what I wanted. It absolutely lived up to expectations.\n\nI stayed in a shared dorm as private rooms weren't available. The room was made up of capsule-style bunk beds, with perhaps sixteen people sharing the space. It wasn't my ideal setup, but given that this was my first-choice hostel, I was happy to compromise.\n\nThe hostel had a large social area on the ground floor and an excellent bar in the basement. If you're looking for a sociable environment, this is exactly the kind of hostel you want. They regularly hosted events, although some were private functions that guests couldn't join.\n\nOne highlight was the organised bar crawl, which was exceptionally well run and great fun. The evening started with all-you-can-drink sessions, games and karaoke in the hostel bar before heading out into Shinjuku. We visited several bars and finished at a club, making for one of the most enjoyable nights of the trip.\n\nI met some fantastic people during my stay and had plenty of memorable nights out with my hostel friends. Golden Gai became one of my favourite areas in Tokyo and was probably one of the highlights of the trip from a social and nightlife perspective.\n\nOverall, I'd happily stay there again and would strongly recommend it to anyone looking for a social hostel experience.\n\n**General Thoughts on Tokyo**\n\nI know some visitors try to cover as much ground as possible, but I took the opposite approach.\n\nI only explored a handful of areas and was perfectly happy wandering around at my own pace rather than racing between attractions. Partly this was due to jet lag and feeling slightly overwhelmed by the scale of Tokyo. I remember thinking, \"Where do I even start?\"\n\nI also knew I'd be returning later in the trip for a second round in Tokyo, so there was no pressure to cram everything in.\n\nOne of the biggest time sinks was camera shopping. I spent two full days browsing camera stores around Shinjuku and eventually picked up two lenses that I would never have expected to find sitting on a shelf back home in the UK.\n\nKabukicho was great fun if you're interested in bars, nightlife and people-watching. The only caveat is to be aware of the Nigerian touts and scammers. My strategy was simple: don't engage, don't respond, and keep walking. Ignoring them entirely seemed far more effective than trying to be polite. I'm fairly sure I even witnessed two young, drunk tourists being scammed, which ended in a confrontation down a side alley.\n\nA few other highlights:\n\n* The Shinjuku batting cages were surprisingly fun.\n* I visited ATOM and at least one other club whose name escapes me. Both were enjoyable.\n* I rarely go clubbing at home, so it's still enough of a novelty to feel exciting when travelling.\n\nDespite its popularity with tourists, I absolutely loved Golden Gai. The atmosphere, character and intimacy of the tiny bars gave it a unique charm. Every visit felt different, and I never had a bad experience there.\n\nMy advice would simply be to sit down, order a drink, and be open to conversation. Some of my best evenings came from chatting with complete strangers, and the friendliness generally worked both ways.\n\n**Food Recommendations – Tokyo**\n\n**Sushi Keika, Ginza**\n\nI treated myself to a high-end omakase experience at Sushi Keika in Ginza.\n\nThis was my first ever omakase meal, and it delivered exactly what I had hoped for. It cost roughly £150, which felt reasonable for the quality of the experience.\n\nIf you're looking for a traditional high-end sushi counter experience, I'd happily recommend it.\n\n**Kaiten Sushi Misaki, Shinjuku**\n\nFor the complete opposite end of the spectrum, I also enjoyed conveyor-belt sushi in Shinjuku.\n\nIn reality, the process is highly automated: you order via a tablet at your seat and your food arrives on a conveyor system directly to your counter.\n\nIt was good value, filling, tasty, and felt like a classic Japanese dining experience. Whether it was aimed partly at tourists or not didn't really matter to me — I enjoyed it regardless.\n\n**Cycling**\n\nDespite this being a cycling-focused holiday, there wasn't much riding during this first Tokyo leg.\n\nThe only meaningful ride was a 6km journey to Tokyo Station to catch the Shinkansen for the next stage of the trip. The real cycling adventure would begin later.\n\n \n\n**Kyoto – 3 Nights**\n\nAfter the intensity and social whirlwind of Tokyo, Kyoto felt noticeably slower, calmer and more relaxed. I spent three nights here and, perhaps unsurprisingly, my pace of travel slowed down as well.\n\n**Piece Hostel Sanjo**\n\nI stayed in a private room with a double bed at Piece Hostel Sanjo.\n\nThe hostel was excellent value for money: modern, clean, comfortable and staffed by genuinely friendly people. It struck a nice balance between feeling like a hostel and feeling like a hotel.\n\nOne of its standout features was the rooftop terrace and bar area. Unfortunately, during my stay it was almost deserted every evening. That may have been partly because I arrived on a Monday and was there during the quieter part of the week. At its busiest, I probably counted around a dozen people.\n\nAs a result, there wasn't much opportunity for spontaneous socialising. That suited me just fine, though. After five nights of hostel life, bar crawls and late nights in Tokyo, my social battery was running fairly low, so I was content to keep to myself.\n\nOverall, I had a very comfortable stay with no complaints whatsoever. I'd happily recommend it.\n\n**General Kyoto**\n\n**Kyoto Railway Museum**\n\nOne of my favourite attractions was the Kyoto Railway Museum.\n\nIf you have even a passing interest in trains, engineering or transport history, it's well worth a visit. You learn a lot about the development of Japan's railways, including the history and evolution of the Shinkansen network.\n\nThe highlight for me was the Shinkansen simulator. For around ¥100 and ten minutes of your time, you get to play the role of a bullet train driver, complete with a railway cap and jacket. Your challenge is to arrive at the station accurately and on time. Childish? Absolutely. Fun? Also absolutely.\n\n**Cycling to Kifune Shrine**\n\nI cycled up to Kifune Shrine, which was a fantastic ride.\n\nBy the time I got there, however, I understood exactly why most people choose to use public transport.\n\n**Funaoka Onsen**\n\nOne of my best discoveries in Kyoto was Funaoka Onsen (technically a sento rather than an onsen, as I understand it).\n\nIt felt incredibly authentic and became my favourite place to unwind after a day of cycling. I enjoyed it so much that I returned the following day. Conveniently, the men's and women's sides swapped over, allowing me to experience a completely different part of the facility.\n\nAn interesting observation: on my first visit, perhaps only 5% of visitors appeared to be tourists. The following day, that figure felt closer to 50%.\n\nEither way, I loved it.\n\n**Food in Kyoto**\n\nKyoto was the only city where I pre-booked most of my evening meals.\n\n**Hirobun**\n\nThis is the famous restaurant you've probably seen on Instagram, where somen noodles flow down bamboo chutes above a mountain stream.\n\nYes, it's touristy.\n\nYes, I knew it was touristy.\n\nAnd yes, I wanted","offTopic":true},{"id":"d9b20ce8-b151-44b6-9d21-e78c3ce6affb","excerpt":"Full Trip Report - First Time, Early-to-Mid March, Tokyo & Kyoto, with 6 Month Old Baby (Part 2 of 3) — ***\\[Day 7 - March 14th - Kyoto\\]***\n\nPlaces Visited:\n\n* **Shinagawa Station**: Travel day. Woke up, packed the last of our bags, and took a taxi to Shinagawa Station in order to take the shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyo","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1s6ocs0/full_trip_report_first_time_earlytomid_march/","role":"demand","weight":1.0573452,"occurredAt":"2026-03-29T07:08:10.000Z","sourceKey":"reddit","sourceName":"Reddit","credibility":0.62,"venue":"JapanTravel","intent":"alternative_search","painScore":0.2325,"sentiment":0.4637224,"confidence":0.8578865,"matchedPatterns":["wish","cant_find","looking_for","alternative_to"],"statement":"When I had done some pre-trip research, I had heard mention of how Rakusai Bamboo Park was a much quieter and less busy alternative to Arashiyama.","title":"Full Trip Report - First Time, Early-to-Mid March, Tokyo & Kyoto, with 6 Month Old Baby (Part 2 of 3)","body":"***\\[Day 7 - March 14th - Kyoto\\]***\n\nPlaces Visited:\n\n* **Shinagawa Station**: Travel day. Woke up, packed the last of our bags, and took a taxi to Shinagawa Station in order to take the shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto.\n* **Dean & Deluca (Shinagawa Station)**: We were hungry, but there weren't too many food options open when we arrived at Shinagawa Station around 9 AM. Our options were limited to a small handful of places, and we settled on Dean & Deluca because it didn't seem as crowded as the other places (but it was still crowded). Drinks were surprisingly good, food was okay, but seating is way too crowded in my opinion. That being said, I think the window seats (the bar seating along the windows) is a great people-watching spot. Even though our objective was to quickly eat/drink and catch\n* **Nishiki Market**: After checking in to our hotel, we decided to check out Nishiki Market. I think it's something worth checking out just so you understand the vibe there, but I'd say to temper expectations. We liked that the market is covered, so rain wouldn't be an issue (at least, within Nishiki Market). We weren't blown away by anything here. In fact, I was really disappointed by a sit-down sushi restaurant we stopped by (I can't remember the name). Their fatty tuna was... gross. It seemed like it may have been sitting out for a while. We also tried a tempura place that I thought was average. Everything was pretty average to me.\n* **Gombei (Gion):** When traveling, my wife is generally interested in Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurants. That's how we ended up here. We got there around 5:00 PM. There was only one other party (two ladies) there. The soba portions were good, and I'd rate the soba as above average. We're more used to buckwheat noodles (that have a brown/wheat shade of color), whereas these noodles were more of an off-white shade. Either way, we approve of the soba. Separately, I ordered a chicken noodle soup dish (I'd describe is as udon noodles inside a chicken soup). I didn't like it at all, but I was hungry enough to reluctantly eat it all. The place has a dated feel, probably because of the tatami style seating. As I hinted earlier, this place is above average... but, I'm torn about whether it deserves its Michelin Bib Gourmand distinction.\n* **Yasaka Shrine**: We weren't too far from Yasaka Shrine, so we decided to check it out.  We got there around 6:00 PM, and although it wasn't completely dark, the lanterns were lit. Even though it was semi-crowded, there were pockets of areas where we could find some peace. However, our baby was starting to get really fussy, so we left after spending only about 15 minutes there.\n* **Don Quijote**: One of my friends really wanted me to buy him a bunch of Mintia mints, so I figured Don Quijote would have them. By this time, it was probably around 8:00 PM, and we were in our hotel room. My wife gave me permission to explore, so I decided to make it out to a Don Quijote. Sure enough, they had the mints (though, not all of the flavors). I also ended up buying some medicine here because I was starting to feel moderately sick. One interesting note is that you apparently have to buy medicine on the same floor as where you picked it up. Medicine was on the second floor, so I thought I was allowed to walk the medicine down to the first floor and pay for it there (since that's where the entrance was). I was directed back up the stairs and to the second floor cash registers.\n* **McDonald's**: I was unusually hungry, so I decided to hop over to a McDonald's before getting back to the hotel. I ordered a Shrimp Filet-O burger and fries. I thought the shrimp burger was very average (even though I heard good things about it). On the other hand, the fries were excellent.\n* **Other comments**: 1) I think travel was starting to wear down on my body. I had a very mild sore throat at the beginning of the trip, seemingly felt better in Tokyo, but then felt worse as I got to Kyoto.\n\n***\\[Day 8 - March 15th - Kyoto\\]***\n\nPlaces Visited:\n\n* **Fushimi Inari Taisha**: One of our favorites from the trip. We had ambitions of getting here sometime between 6:00 AM and 7:00 AM. Of course, with a baby, that can be a challenge. We got here around 7:45 AM, thinking that it would already be super-crowded. Surprisingly, it wasn't, so we made our way up to the well-known path of torii gates. At the very base, there were a good number of people. However, the small crowd thinned out as we made our way up. We even had a few photos where you could barely make out other people in the photo. We didn't make it all the way to the top (I think we got to around the Kumataka Shrine, where there was a small body of water) and then turned back. As we were turning back, we noticed that there were significantly more people coming up. As we made it closer to the entrance, it was definitely getting crowded. If we had come when it was more crowded, then I don't think we would've enjoyed here as much.\n* **About Us Coffee Fushimi Inari**: This struck us as more of a tourists spot than a locals spot. We got here around 8:30 AM. Service was kind and friendly - very welcoming and English was not a problem for staff. Drinks and food were okay, but nothing spectacular. There is seating on the second floor with some flower decor. Not a bad place to visit if you're in the area.\n* **Tofuku-ji Temple**: We didn't quite explore the entire temple area, but we did pay (I think around 1,000 yen) to walk up the steps to the top of a temple here. The one big downside is that they didn't allow photos at the top, which was a bummer. But, on a clear day, the views from the top is nice.\n* **(THISIS)SHIZEN**: This place is mostly known for its ice cream, which is shaped like flowers. We got drinks here, which were okay. We did see other customers getting the ice cream and taking a bunch of photos with their ice cream.\n* **Traveler's Factory Kyoto**: I had no idea what Traveler's Factory was until I started researching for the trip. Then, I found out that they have some really cool notebooks, notebook covers, and stationery. I also found out that certain locations have special edition notebook covers. Since we were in the same plaza that had the Kyoto location of Traveler's Factory, I asked my wife if we could check it out. Given the popularity of the Kyoto special edition notebook cover, I was expecting there to be people standing in line before it opened. Well, it turned out that I was the only one standing in line (I got there at about 10:55 AM - it opened at 11:00 AM). I bought the notebook cover, as well as some additional notebook inserts (I love writing) and a Kyoto-themed brass tag. The cashier asked me if the purchase was for myself (I assume because there are people who resell and flip them for a profit). Even after some more people came in, I was somewhat surprised that they didn't seem interested in anything in relation to special edition items. I'm not sure if that was the norm, or if I just happened to come on a day where it wasn't as busy. Either way, it was a pretty cool experience.\n* **green bean to bar CHOCOLATE**: This was in the same plaza (Shinpuhkan) as (THISIS)SHIZEN and Traveler's Factory Kyoto. We were walking by and saw this place. It looked welcoming, so we walked in. There were plenty of samples, and the staff were super friendly and invited us to try different flavors without making us feel guilty. My wife loves the yuzu taste/flavor, so we bought a couple of the yuzu-flavored chocolate. I think they had a special edition flavor (sakura) while we were there, but we didn't try it.\n* **Gyoza No Ohsho**: The food here was meh. I don't know if it was the items we ordered, but we weren't impressed. The gyoza was so-so, the omurice was strangely a bit sweet for us, and I think we got a mapo tofu dish that was probably the best out of the three dishes but wasn't enough for us to want us to come back.\n* **Other comments**: 1) We really liked the Shinpuhkan shopping plaza. There were a few other places there we wanted to check out (Cafe Kitsune and Beams in particular), but we just didn't have time.\n\n***\\[Day 9 - March 16th - Kyoto + Day Trip to Nara & Uji\\]***\n\nPlaces Visited:\n\n* **Sanwa Coffee Works**: We stopped by here for breakfast and caffeine. I picked out this place in advance because I had read in the reviews that it was spacious, and the vibe in the photos looked decent. Both were confirmed upon arrival. I got a cafe latte and my wife got the matcha latte. Drinks here were on the more expensive side (my wife's matcha latte was around 2,000 yen - around $12.50 USD). Even by LA standards, that would be a pricey cup of matcha latte. That being said, the matcha latte was one of my wife's favorites throughout the trip (and my personal favorite). It had gold flakes sprinkled on top, so I don't know if that's why it was so expensive. We also had a banana bread with salted caramel, as well as a croque monsieur. Those were okay - I think I liked the banana bread more than I liked the croque monsieur. I liked the vibe here a lot - quiet, natural sunlight, spacious. If I were a local, this would probably be a place I frequent a lot. Staff here were generally friendly, though there was an individual who seemed either distracted or a bit checked out. As expensive as the drinks were, I'd come back here again if in the area.\n* **Nara Deer Park**: We arrived at what we thought was the main part of Deer Park (at around 12:45 PM), but we soon realized that we were on the outskirts of it. We were trying to figure out where to buy food for the deer, so we kept following the crowd. We still didn't see any vendors, so we decided to stop by a vending machine and let my wife pick a random drink. She ended up picking a Minute Maid canned drink that I think was aloe and white grape. I don't know why, but we both thought it was super delicious and refreshing! From there, we kept walking up and following the crowd. Finally, we saw a few vendors. One was selling crackers for the deer (as I recall, it was 200 yen - or about $1.30 USD - for a pack of eight flat, circular crackers), and I think another one was selling sweet potatoes (though, I imagine that was for human consumption and not for deer consumption). I bought two packs of crackers, one for me and one for my wife. We noticed that the deer were very curious and really good at sensing other people who had crackers, so we decided to hide the crackers as much as possible so as not to attract too much attention from the deer. It seemed to work for the most part. Whenever there was a deer that we wanted to feed, we would slowly approach it, bow to the deer (the deer will usually bow back, but not always), and feed the deer. To maximize feeding, I usually cracked each cracker in half so that I would have 16 servings instead of 8 servings. The only downside to doing this is that the crackers are very crumbly, so you might end up with smaller fragments in the process of trying to create smaller pieces. For us, one pack of crackers each was enough. Overall, the deer were pretty tame. We did see signs saying \"Beware of the Male Deer\" and other signage saying that the deer could bite, kick, head-butt, or knock down people. I personally didn't experience any of those or see anyone else who did. The worst thing I saw was deer that would constantly follow people even after being fed (which happened to me once), which wasn't too bad. It was honestly a cooler experience than I imagined (I went into it thinking it was such a tourist trap type of thing to do and was skeptical about it), but I found it to be peaceful. The novelty of the deer bowing got old pretty fast for me, but it was a nice stroll around the park. I forgot to mention that we were afraid that our baby might be too low to the ground on a stroller the deer around, so we transitioned into me baby wearing our daughter so that she was higher up (just in case any deer decided to get aggressive).\n* ","offTopic":true},{"id":"fadae386-f6ad-4b79-bad8-c4ea9ce680e6","excerpt":"[Trip Report – April 2025 Babymoon while 5 months pregnant – Two weeks in Tokyo, Kanazawa, Takayama, and Osaka – Long post with 70+ pictures!] — This was our third trip to Japan in three years. I wrote a report for our first trip in 2023 here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1b8l91p/april\\_2023\\_honeymoo","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1sa6zvt/trip_report_april_2025_babymoon_while_5_months/","role":"request","weight":1.041352,"occurredAt":"2026-04-02T04:01:03.000Z","sourceKey":"reddit","sourceName":"Reddit","credibility":0.62,"venue":"JapanTravel","intent":"problem_report","painScore":0.24,"sentiment":0.82653064,"confidence":0.8398,"matchedPatterns":["frustrating","praise"],"statement":"We walked past a lot of understandably frustrated passengers who had been waiting all day and looked genuinely confused about why we were cutting the line.","title":"[Trip Report – April 2025 Babymoon while 5 months pregnant – Two weeks in Tokyo, Kanazawa, Takayama, and Osaka – Long post with 70+ pictures!]","body":"This was our third trip to Japan in three years. I wrote a report for our first trip in 2023 here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1b8l91p/april\\_2023\\_honeymoon\\_two\\_weeks\\_in\\_tokyo\\_kyoto/](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1b8l91p/april_2023_honeymoon_two_weeks_in_tokyo_kyoto/)\n\nBackground: My wife and I are in our early 30s, and we flew into Haneda airport on a nonstop flight from Dallas, Texas. My wife was five months pregnant during this trip. We played around with a lot of different ideas on what we wanted this two-week trip to look like. We debated checking out Hokkaido, Kyushu, Tokyo with lots of day trips. We opted to keep the new experiences more inland as we were flying into Tokyo and my wife’s one pregnancy craving was Rikuro’s Cheesecake in Osaka.\n\nLike the last report I wrote, this report skips over most of the normal, touristy activities as you’ve probably read about those ad nauseum. The focus here will be mainly on rating/reviewing the food, drinks (although we drank much less this go around), experiences, and accommodations.\n\n \\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n**Monday, April 21 – Tokyo:**\n\n* **Hotel: Hyatt Centric Ginza Tokyo (5/5)** – We converted Chase credit card points to Hyatt for this stay. Some folks will tell you that this isn’t the best value points-wise or that it’s much cheaper to stay at a local hotel brand. While both statements are true, we wanted to use our points and we wanted to stay in Ginza, it ended up working out perfectly for us. Besides, for our style, we’d much rather get three nights at an above average hotel stay vs. one night at an uber luxurious stay. The room was spacious, room service was swift, and the location couldn’t be beat.\n* **Food:** **Chao Chao Gyoza (2/5)** – We REALLY enjoyed the Osaka location a few years ago. The chain has blown up considerably since then, and the vibe at the Ginza location just didn’t hit the same for us. \n   * [\\[1. Gyoza\\]](https://imgur.com/dTcuBrQ)\n* **Miscellaneous:**\n   * We flew Japan Airlines (which flies direct from DFW to HND!) and we used the bid system to purchase an upgrade to Premium Economy. Well worth it for myself and a pregnant wife, especially considering we didn’t want to purchase business class in cash. Our airline knew that my wife was pregnant and had us board the plane before the first-class passengers, they also gave us adorable souvenirs for our little one on the way.\n      * [\\[2. Baby Souveniers\\]](https://imgur.com/ohcvQzI)\n   * Once we landed at Haneda, we asked the airline staff for a maternity keychain which turned out to be SO handy. My wife kept the keychain on her backpack and throughout our trip, people were extra considerate to her when they noticed it. \n      * [\\[3. Keychain Pic\\]](https://imgur.com/0oBLUwZ) [\\[3.5 Keychain Pic #2\\]](https://imgur.com/nVr2GMJ)\n* My wife had an “easy” pregnancy up to this point and hadn’t experienced many symptoms. After arriving in Japan, the combination of long travel, jet lag, and pregnancy left her exhausted on the first night. Over the course of the trip, we shifted the itinerary to prioritize comfort… more room service, more sleeping in, and a slower pace overall. Was a great pivot.\n\n**Tuesday, April 22 – Tokyo:**\n\n* **Experience: The Making of Harry Potter (5/5)** – If you’re a Harry Potter fan, this is a must-do. It’s essentially a museum that walks you through how the movies came to be. It’s a three-to-four-hour tour with massive movie sets, props, costumes, interactive exhibits, themed restaurants and cafes, and so much more. They recreated film sets including the Great Hall, Hogwarts’ moving staircases, the Ministry of Magic, Diagon Alley, and other staple Harry Potter locations. Really, really recommended. We went before lunchtime on a weekday, and it wasn’t too crowded. Bonus – the train stop to get here is in a quiet, residential part of Tokyo. You can’t help but feel a sense of Japan magic as you walk through the streets toward the park.\n   * [\\[4. Diagon Alley\\]](https://imgur.com/UEmUBkb) [\\[5. Privet Drive\\]](https://imgur.com/hpOnTlP)\n* **Food: The Making of Harry Potter (2/5)** – It tastes like theme park food, costs like theme park food, but it looks pretty. Reminiscent of our time at the Kirby Café a few years back.\n   * [\\[6. HP Food\\]](https://imgur.com/EJk2Cl6)\n* **Food: Yakitori Sei (3.5/5)** – For the price, this was a fun set menu Yakitori experience at a relatively affordable price point. This spot is very popular on TikTok, and while the food was good, looking back on the meal a year later, it didn’t feel very memorable. Admittedly, we were jetlagged and super tired going into dinner, and we had to force ourselves to make it to the reservation as we were meeting some friends for dinner. Literally the only part of the meal I REALLY remember was the raw tomato served with salt. The tomato was sweet and tangy and really shined when paired with salt. It was a perfect palette cleanser between heavier meat courses. Would I go again? Probably not. Did I regret going? Definitely not.\n   * [\\[7. Chicken Skewers\\]](https://imgur.com/3pDbQ40) [\\[8. Tomato (bomb)\\]](https://imgur.com/FwK5aTW)\n\n**Wednesday, April 23 – Tokyo:**\n\n* **Experience: Suitengu Shrine (5/5)** – Rainy day in Tokyo, we grabbed some konbini snacks, found shelter from the rain, and munched on the first onigiris of the trip! Afterward, we headed to the only shrine in our itinerary for this trip, Suitengu. A shrine dedicated to safe childbirth. Vibes here were immaculate. The rain coupled with the sounds of city traffic created an atmosphere of quiet contemplation. It become one of the more memorable moments of the trip. We took a breath, appreciated where we were, and prayed for what’s ahead. We met a nice Japanese couple and we all took each other’s photos. Good memories.\n   * [\\[9. Suitengo Shrine\\]](https://imgur.com/yAsj6Vr) [\\[10. Doggos\\]](https://imgur.com/kKBUFlK)\n* **Drink: The Beer House (3.5/5)** – Popped in to meet up with friends and escape the rain. The beer was good, the beer cocktails were better, and the service was even better than that. No complaints.\n   * \\[Sorry no pics\\]\n* **Food:** **To The Herbs (4/5)** – After some shopping in Shibuya, we were craving Italian. In case I didn’t make it clear in my last report – ITALIAN FOOD IN JAPAN IS ELITE. Prices were reasonable given the location. We sat along the bar by the kitchen and watched a chef fire multiple pizzas in a beautiful emerald green pizza oven. I ordered a pasta with ikura and basil (5/5) and my wife got the margherita pizza (4/5). \n   * [\\[11. Pizza Oven\\]](https://imgur.com/C6x9bs1) [\\[12. Margherita Pizza\\]](https://imgur.com/fQ83q46) [\\[13. Ikura Pasta\\]](https://imgur.com/ZCXq2kL)\n* **Random Story:**  My wife and I spent a week in Japan last year (which I didn’t write a trip report for), and I’m reminded of a pizza restaurant we went to in Kyoto. We stood in line as there was very limited seating and the owner ran a very short dinner service. We were talking to an italian family of three in front of us, a husband, wife, and their three year-old. The wife was venting about how her toddler and husband absolutely HAD to eat pizza at least once a day, which was eating into their itinerary. Turns out they’d found this spot earlier in the trip and were back for the third day in a row. When it came time to seat everyone, the owner spoke Japanese to the people at the front, Italian to this family, and English to us. Just another level.\n\n**Thursday, April 24 – Tokyo to Kanazawa:**\n\n* **Food: Room Service @ Hyatt Centric Ginza (4/5)** – Mmm, pancakes. Somewhere between Western and Japanese style. The best part was that the food was delivered within 20minutes of our room service call.\n   * [\\[14. Room Service Pancakes\\]](https://imgur.com/IHNRpBD)\n* **Food: Ekiben (4/5)** – All day, I could eat this all day. Generous portion of ikura & salmon over rice.\n   * [\\[15. Ekiben\\]](https://imgur.com/DqipOzK)\n* **Hotel: Hotel Forza Kanazawa (4/5)** – Situated right outside Omicho Market and a quick ten-minute walk from Kanazawa Station, this was home for the next few days. We loved the coffee/matcha machine in the lobby. Rooms are on the smaller side, but that’s about what you’d expect from a Japanese hotel.\n* **Food:** **Kanazawa Temakizushi Coil (4/5)** – After some shopping and a lot of walking around town, we headed to this DIY temaki restaurant for dinner. The restaurant provides seaweed and rice on a sushi mat, you pick six ingredients, and then it’s a choose-your-own-adventure to roll your own handrolls. On the way there, the air had this subtle, crisp freshness to it – presumably blowing in off the Sea of Japan. I also tried the Ginger Liquor from the Kanazawa Brewery, SUPER refreshing, somewhere between a soft drink and alcohol, and very easy to sip alongside sushi. Unfortunately, my wife was starting to feel nauseous, so I quickly finished my food (and most of hers) before we paid and headed out.\n   *  [\\[16. Temakizushi\\]](https://imgur.com/OOpLcKn)\n\n**Friday, April 25 – Tokyo to Kanazawa:**\n\n* **Food: Konbini Snacks (5/5) –** no pictures but in case anyone expecting reads this, my wife wasn’t doing too well with food the night prior or this AM. We were saved on both occasions by small snacks from the Konbini. Readily available, plenty of variety, and a good mix of light and heavy foods.\n* **Experience: TK Photography Kanazawa (5/5) –** We made a last-minute reservation (less than 24 hours’ notice) for a maternity shoot / couples photos with TK, and we were so lucky he had availability. He picked us up from the hotel at 9am and took us on a half-day tour of Kanazawa, with a photoshoot woven throughout. We visited the Higashi Chaya District, Shima Teahouse, Kanazawa Castle, and Kenrokuen Garden. TK speaks fantastic English (he spent over a decade in London) and is incredibly knowledgeable about the area, having grown up here. The photos were stunning and the tour itself was great. In addition to the tour, TK was a great conversationalist. We talked about the initial Trump tariffs and how Japan was feeling about them at the time. We also asked whether it was true that pregnant Japanese women still ate sushi. He thought for a moment: “I suppose some might. The women in my life didn’t, and I would have felt weird if they did.”\n   * [\\[17. TK Photo 1\\]](https://imgur.com/DddV4mD) [\\[18. TK photo 2\\]](https://imgur.com/nYlcvZE)\n* **Food: Basement of Kanazawa M’za (4/5) –** After the shoot, my wife was pretty tired so she went to lay down in the room while I found us some food. I initially walked through Omicho Market and while I would have loved to sit down for a chirashi bowl, I was on a mission to find some food for my wife! The market is almost entirely fresh seafood, so I ended up in the basement of the nearby Kanazawa M'za department store and grabbed some premade meals. We ate in the room and it was a lovely little lunch.\n   * [\\[19. Department Store Food is goooood\\]](https://imgur.com/AtkbMqF)\n* **Drinks: Tea House Sakura (5/5, Vibes 5/5!!!) –** Our last trip report, we had the pleasure of visiting a few of the Asia’s Best 50 Bars. This time, we were on the hunt for great tea spots. We happened upon this quaint, cozy tea shop that had space for maybe 8 seats along the bar. It’s run by a warm couple who lives upstairs, while running the tea house/restaurant below. We had a dinner reservation later so we skipped the food and went with their five-course tea sampler. Delicious!!\n* We had a good conversation with the wife (with the help of google translate) about life in Kanazawa and our shared love of cats. Sadly, she’s allergic, but she leaves food and shelter out regularly for the local strays. While we were here. one other patron came in after work and ordered a hamburg steak. As soon as she ordered, the husband grabbed some risen dough and s","offTopic":true},{"id":"47092ccd-4d0f-4b0d-99af-1188177191d1","excerpt":"75 Days in Japan: Trip Report - Part 1 (Aug 1st - Aug 28th) — Hey everyone, it has been a while since I took my solo trip to Japan in August 2025 (at the time of writing, at time of posting it has been a year 😭), and I figured I would finally write about it like I had intended to when I came back. I will go through eac","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1vlreoh/75_days_in_japan_trip_report_part_1_aug_1st_aug/","role":"pricing","weight":1.0272996,"occurredAt":"2026-08-11T19:29:15.000Z","sourceKey":"reddit","sourceName":"Reddit","credibility":0.62,"venue":"JapanTravel","intent":"pricing_complaint","painScore":0.48,"sentiment":0.63670415,"confidence":0.69412136,"matchedPatterns":["too_expensive"],"statement":"There was one from Vagabond which really caught my eye, but the art here was simply far too expensive, I couldn't really justify the price.","title":"75 Days in Japan: Trip Report - Part 1 (Aug 1st - Aug 28th)","body":"Hey everyone, it has been a while since I took my solo trip to Japan in August 2025 (at the time of writing, at time of posting it has been a year 😭), and I figured I would finally write about it like I had intended to when I came back. I will go through each area I had visited, and highlights of each area of course.\n\nI planned the entire trip essentially by myself, with some tips from this here reddit and other places as well. I had initially planned to go for 6 weeks by myself, however I had the opportunity to do a one month internship in Tokyo, so I ended up going for 10 weeks (75 days), which allowed me to see essentially everything I wanted to in Tokyo by staying there for a whole month.\n\nI won't describe most things in order I saw them as I tended to go back and forth between some areas, so for ease of writing I will simply mention relevant things I did later in the month as I go. When it comes to general tips like most reports tend to do, I didn't really compile them into one big list, they're just sprinkled throughout the post as they came to me when I was writing up the report.\n\nIt turns out that I had a lot of thoughts to write down regarding this entire trip, and it ended up being multiple parts long, and considering the 40k character limit on reddit I will likely post the remaining parts later down the line to avoid spamming the sub! In this first part I will discuss my month in Tokyo!\n\nI will preface that I am horrible when it comes to food and finding restaurants, so although I do have some food recommendations, they were few and far between with my indecisiveness! I am also a massive anime fan, so whenever I had the chance to go to an event or saw something by chance, I absolutely took it. Anyway here's the (pretty detailed) breakdown of each area I visited:\n\n(August 1st) - Flight and Arrival to Tokyo:\n\n* I had departed from London Heathrow from Terminal 5. It was my first ever long haul flight, and I did not select my seat, decided to risk it and let it give me a random one. By some miracle I was randomly upgraded to Premium Economy just before boarding, so that was a pretty big whiplash for me, ended up sitting next to this Japanese man that spoke pretty good English, and it turned out that I would be staying very close to his hometown in Nakatsugawa, Gifu (I initially planned to stay a night there but changed my bookings around 20 or so days into the trip). It was cool to talk with him for a couple hours before we retired to the movies!\n* When I landed in Haneda, it turned out my eSIM did not work when I activated it, which made getting to my hotel in Shinjuku much more stressful than I anticipated. I got the Holafly eSIM for 76 days as my friend recommended it being good for his trip to New York, either way after I somehow made it to my hotel I was on the livechat to fix it for almost two hours, and just before the chat timer ran out I managed to get it working.\n   * The problem was a wrong code entry in the settings of the eSIM, however after that initial hiccup the eSIM worked absolutely perfectly the entire time until my departure, with no hiccups anywhere from Tokyo all the way to Hiroshima and back, so I highly recommend it, assuming it will work for you when you arrive!\n* As for finding my hotel in the mess that is Shinjuku, here is my first and most important tip. **ABSOLUTELY DOWNLOAD OFFLINE GOOGLE MAPS FOR THE GIVEN AREA!** This absolutely saved me on this first day, as it worked decently enough even without data to make it from Haneda to Shinjuku, and use the very laggy location feature to geo-locate my hotel around Shinjuku Gyoenmae. Although this situation was stressful, I must say I was more excited than stressed, as trying to figure out this puzzle of finding my hotel was honestly pretty fun to me.\n* At this point I had already been awake for around 50 hours, however I still went out to an Izakaya welcome party out with the internship group after a brief 2 hour nap in the hotel, which was honestly the best first Japan experience I could have gotten while barely conscious, unfortunately I don't remember the name of it as it was on the fifth floor of the most random building ever!\n\n(August 2nd) - Shibuya, Harajuku, Shinjuku:\n\n* The first proper day started with an orientation event with my internship, which included going around the main touristy areas of Tokyo. We had first travelled down to Shibuya for a meeting, and then did a sort of 'egghunt' up to Shinjuku.\n* The first location was of course Shibuya Crossing, and I am afraid to say that it is indeed just a crossing. The hachiko statue was also absolutely packed so I must say I did not enjoy Shibuya all that much, especially in the 35c degree heat. Harajuku was closeby, and it was honestly even worse than Shibuya IMO. Absolutely packed and way too commercialised.\n* Meiji Jingu shrine was pretty cool, but nothing special really, especially compared to Kyoto and random countryside shrines. It also closes way faster compared to other things in Tokyo (5pm), so it took me three tries to finally visit it properly.\n   * I must also mention that I was the team leader for my group, and I very foolishly got off one station early on the Yamanote line to walk to Meiji Jingu instead of going to the closest one, thinking it looked like a short walk on maps. Don't make the same mistakes as me. **Google maps distance can be extremely deceiving** (especially in Kyoto), and I ended up making my group walk for like an hour all the way around Meiji Jingu in almost 35c degree heat, safe to say they probably still hate me for that.\n* After the event finished, me and my two best friends from the internship went to Shinjuku Gyoenmae garden, and it was absolutely the best part of the day. Super beautiful and serene right in the heart of Tokyo, 100% recommend to check it out.\n* That night was also the first konbini haul from FamilyMart (which is the best of the three btw, fight me) - The first FamiChiki I tried was an absolutely transcendental experience, it was the most incredible chicken I had ever tried.. I must admit it does start to get old after having it 50 times, but my god do I miss it these days. The melonpan was likewise incredible, and although it is a meme among tourists, it really is just that good. Perfectly rated.\n* A lot of this month I spent walking around Shinjuku Gyoenmae at night (not the garden, the entire area), between 10pm-2am and I gotta say it was my favourite thing to do. The area really became like a second home to me. The Shinjuku Gyoenmae station is my GOAT, the Marunouchi line is pretty well connected to go anywhere you need in Tokyo really.\n   * For those wondering, I did end up learning like 70-80% of Shinjuku station after like 3 weeks, and I could almost find my way out pretty fast towards the end 😂It really is like a rubix cube, everytime you arrive at the station it changes the entire layout to a place you've never seen before.\n\n(August 3rd - 4th) - Akihabara, Ikebukuro\n\n* After locating my internship office in Chuo City I instantly headed to check out Akihabara like any anime enjoyer would, and I have to say, it is still an amazing experience for what it is. I came back to Akihabara at least 7 times throughout this trip just because I enjoyed exploring all the little stores and seeing what I could find.\n   * The best stores I will recommend for finding the largest amount of variety and choice would be: 1. *Radio Kaikan*, 2. *AmiAmi Main Store* 3. *AZone (AkibaZone)*. All three are in pretty close proximity of each other and have the best selections. Outside of that all the smaller little stores have some hidden gems as well, so if you are into this type of stuff I highly recommend exploring the little stores as well.\n* I also visited Ikebukuro, as many people these days say that it is what Akihabara used to be, with lower prices than current Akiba. I cannot comment how Akiba used to be before the rise of anime popularity, however it is absolutely not better than Akiba, and from what I saw the prices were ever so slightly lower.\n* Same thing goes for Nakano Broadway, sure it has a really cool retro vibe, however unless you are into only the biggest anime series like One Piece, Naruto, Dragonball etc, you will not find very much of other series. Sure, a gem shows up every once and again, but it is very rare, and I deem Akiba to still be the best place for anime shopping or exploring, especially if you are short on time.\n* As a massive Steins;Gate fan, I also did the pilgrimage to see most of the areas from the anime, and it was so fulfilling as someone who has been obsessed with this series for over a decade. The S;G cafe was also the only maid cafe I went to, and it wasn't really cringe at all, it was pretty chilled out compared to what I've heard about maid cafes. Highly recommend for other fans! (I also ended up buying a Kurisu figurine for around $300 on impulse.. I don't regret it but I still haven't unpacked it 6 months later 😭)\n\n(August 5th-7th) Asakusa, Asagaya, Yanaka Ginza\n\n* I visited Asakusa very late in the day, I believe around 8 or 9pm after work, and I must say I most likely got a far better experience than I ever would have during the day. When I arrived there was still some tourists, however after an hour it felt like I essentially had the whole place to myself, and took some of my favourite solo photos while here, so I highly recommend coming here late in the evening during the weekday for sure.\n* The Asagaya star festival was happening around this time, and I went with a friend to see it. It wasn't anything special really, just a lot of decorations around the Asagaya Shopping Street, and some cool lanterns too.\n   * However, we later wandered aimlessly around Asagaya and found a big park, wandered around some seemingly very bougie residential area, and quite frankly it's one of the most memorable times of the trip for me. In general, walking around aimlessly at night in Japan no matter where it was, was absolutely my favourite thing to do throughout the trip.\n* Next day I explored Yanaka Ginza, however I came pretty late and majority of things were already closing. It was a somewhat rainy day and the vibes were immaculate here for sure. Nice place to come and explore around if you have spare time. I must mention that I also stopped by Nippori Station to check it out, and also had some absolutely amazing Udon here right by the station at [Udon Oniyanma Nippori](https://maps.app.goo.gl/VLnG4ZTrztuS5K6YA), highly recommend checking it out!\n\n(August 8th - 11th) Kawagoe, Mt. Takao\n\n* First weekend consisted of a day trip to Kawagoe, which was a nice taste of the outskirts of Tokyo. All it really is, besides the historic Kawagoe bell tower is just a shopping street, with some cool temples scattered around like the love shrine. I think it was only fun for me because of the company, probably would not recommend to a solo traveller, unless you aren't going to Kyoto and such, in which case you can consider coming here.\n* The next day was a rest day and did not do much really besides hanging out with friends, and finding the most hidden Michelin Guide Udon restaurant right behind our hotel. It is called [Kirimugiya Jinroku](https://maps.app.goo.gl/iobQaRYVkwjNNbeY6) and it was absolutely brilliant. Easily top 2 Udon I had in Japan, highly recommend to check it out as it is pretty close to centre of Shinjuku.\n* The following Monday was Mountain Day, which is a public holiday I believe, and we went to Mt. Takao with the group as a day trip. It was the most perfect day with great visibility, and high likelihood to see Mt. Fuji at the top. I would say Mt. Takao was the first taste of the real Japan I got on the trip, as there was very little tourists here (at least not western tourists), and it was honestly such an awesome hike up the mountain. We even managed to catch an actual Buddhist ritual around 2pm, and that was so magical with the singing reverberating through","offTopic":true},{"id":"444376d0-f3f0-4c72-b8c7-f30b8d0f0463","excerpt":"Trip Report: November 25 – December 5. 2nd Solo, 3rd Overall. Kantou (and a brief few hours in Niigata). 30 arcades visited. — I wrote a post here for my first solo trip in May 2024, but I never got around to writing a second post for my trip with my wife in October 2024 (so if I make any references to “we” in this pos","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1pfu5br/trip_report_november_25_december_5_2nd_solo_3rd/","role":"demand","weight":1.018212,"occurredAt":"2025-12-06T17:02:49.000Z","sourceKey":"reddit","sourceName":"Reddit","credibility":0.62,"venue":"JapanTravel","intent":"tool_discovery","painScore":0.33,"sentiment":0.76363635,"confidence":0.7655729,"matchedPatterns":["cant_find","missing_feature"],"statement":"After a few days of searching for a small fan while shopping, I couldn't find anything at a size and price that I was happy with, so I ended up using this method every night.","title":"Trip Report: November 25 – December 5. 2nd Solo, 3rd Overall. Kantou (and a brief few hours in Niigata). 30 arcades visited.","body":"I wrote a post here for my first solo trip in May 2024, but I never got around to writing a second post for my trip with my wife in October 2024 (so if I make any references to “we” in this post, it’s referring to us being on this prior trip). For reference, it’s here (https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1cv5fqi/trip_report_0505_0517_mainly_tokyo_iidx_traveling); I will try to keep my writing more direct and plain this time. For this visit, the timing presented itself such that I had a milestone achieved, so this was something of a celebratory event, and if I didn’t go now, I likely wouldn’t be able to be back until May 2026 at earliest, and with the way things are across the world at present, it had a now-or-never feel to making the trip.\nHome base: Sugamo, same as prior trips. \n\nTarget: Get my third 関東覇王 badge in IIDX, requiring visits to all of the Kantou prefectures for at least one play. Also, visit another arcade further out. Fulfill a shopping list that requires stops at a few specific locations. Beyond that, no hard itinerary was set.\n\nWeather: Overall, I don’t think I could have been more fortunate in being here than now. Temperatures were mostly 15 °C during the day and 5 °C at their lowest at night, with only a few drops of rain to be seen on some days. For the majority of the time, the temperature and sun exposure were at an exact spot where walking around felt fully comfortable, and I rarely broke a sweat. \n\n*Tuesday, November 25*\n\n**Sugamo**\n\nThe flight out from O'Hare left at 5:30 PM, so I knew that today wouldn’t give much of an opportunity to do anything upon arrival other than check in and sleep. I left the Haneda gates at 11:00 PM, and I was surprised by the Yamanote crowd at that point. I took a brief walk around near the hotel, as there was little else to do, and I had two small discoveries. One was that there is a nearby Seiyu with a 24-hour section. On our second trip, we discovered an Okashinomachi store in Omiya, and I didn’t realize it had several other locations, including Sugamo. Noted.\n\n*Wednesday, November 26*\n\n**Oyama, Tochigi. Tamado / Shimodate, Ibaraki. Kashiwa, Chiba.**\nI did take flu vaccines a few weeks before the flight, and the prior news and threads made me apprehensive about exposure; sure enough, I woke up with a sore throat sensation and other allergy symptoms. I did remember to bring some TheraFlu packets with me, and I took those along with some Emergen-C supplements as part of my usual morning vitamin regimen; placebo effect or not, nothing worse than this ever developed, thankfully. One thing I did forget to bring – anti-perspirant deodorant, so let’s add that to the shopping list. \nI rely on white noise for sleeping, and the hotel didn’t allow for temperature control beyond increasing the heat, so I had no source of noise from an indoor fan to use. The room was stuffy enough when I arrived, so the only option they mentioned was to open the window. This works well enough until it’s 4:00 AM and people are doing trash pickup at street level, making a lot of noise that carries right in. The solution I had was to find a 12 hour white noise clip on YouTube and play that on my phone overnight. After a few days of searching for a small fan while shopping, I couldn't find anything at a size and price that I was happy with, so I ended up using this method every night.\nGiven the uncertainties regarding wellness and anticipating travel lag, I resolved to make my longer day trips first and then keep things local at the end. The weather forecast indicated that some rain was expected in Niigata today, so I started by covering the relatively northern areas of Tochigi, Ibaraki, and Chiba. First stop, Oyama. This felt largely the same as it did in October 2024. An interesting encounter was a local scrapper driving around that used a loudspeaker to rattle off a prerecorded list of items it was accepting as it moved. When I arrived at the early hours of that day, it was an interesting sensation to hear only that voice echoing through the streets. Due to bag restrictions and not having any coins at the moment, a second-hand store that we didn’t get to visit was the Fujishoten, so I made sure to go there this time. It had less in the way of manga and games and more clothes. It also had an large adult section that I didn’t bother to look at. Next over to the Surugaya, and I was able to find an original tamagochi in its box among other items. The IIDX play at Apina Oyama was expectedly quiet. On my prior trips, I made my Ibaraki stop at Miraidaira, but that arcade is now closed, so I needed to find a new spot that would align with train accessibility. The Mito line has a terminus in Oyama, so I used that to go to Tamado and walk to Apina Shimodate. A lesson learned here is to cross streets where you can see the crossings, because it may be a while before you can find the next point to get across. Someone was playing at Shimodate upon arrival, but we politely exchanged turns once so that I could get my badge and get moving. The internal air temperatures at both Apina locations were very warm. I walked into the Book Off there before getting back to the Mito line and didn’t see anything interesting. From here, I resolved to get the Chiba badge knocked out, so I rode Mito further east to board the Joso Line from its terminus at Chikusei. The cars on Joso are one single unit that rides on one single rail, where the trains will move off track at stop to let the opposing traffic go through. Two quaint relics on this car were a digital LED board to show riding prices between stops, and an automated machine to accept printed tickets, but neither were in operation. At the third stop of Kurogo, a local school class boarded at once, so it became extremely crowded inside. I had to stand in a pack all the way down to Moriya. Transferred using Tsukuba Express to Nagareyama Otakanomori, then used Tobu Urban Park line to get to Kashiwa. I had to stumble around a bit to finally remember how to get to the basement to find Kashiwa Gulliver’s, and there were a few people in line to play IIDX, so I kept moving since I knew that there was a Taito Station nearby. Got the third badge today. I knew the day was wrapping up, so I swung by the Bic there to knock some things out. One item that I found was a proper mahjong set, and that becomes rather burdensome to carry around. The onsen was very welcome this evening.\n\n*Thrusday, November 27*\n\n**Niigata-shi / Iwamuro, Niigata.**\n\nThe weather forecast indicated 60F and no rain, so I made my way for Niigata. Today’s destination is an arcade that I have seen frequently mentioned in my personalized feeds: Playhouse Erina. I used the hotel’s phone number and address for registration through eki-net, and I was able to successfully link it to my phone’s Suica card. Then, I simply ran searches on the inbound and outbound trips to pay for digitally validated tickets, and I was set. I braced for problems on both directions and never encountered them – it seems that once you clear the gates bound for the shinkansen, you’re indeed good to go. When travelling outbound, once you go beyond Takasaki on the Joetsu shinkansen, the scenery becomes very picturesque, with several town areas oriented along various elevations and mountainous terrain in the backdrop. I arrive at Tsubame Sanjo and briefly ride the Yahiko and Echigo lines to arrive at Iwamuro. From here, it is a full fifteen-minute walk to reach the arcade, and this isn’t just a fifteen-minute walk among stores or houses – it is a fifteen-minute walk on a paved road that cuts through rice fields. A recent thread I’ve seen on Reddit discussed Japan’s current overtourism issues, and a poster logically stated that nobody would come to Japan to see the rice fields of Niigata. I have now seen and walked through these fields, and I can confirm that they are indeed rice fields located in Niigata. True facts. While walking out, I did take a moment to record an Echigo train going through the intersection – the view is a half kilometer away, the train runs on the ground through a small village with a large mountain in the background, and the sound of the crossing pierces cleanly through the air as you stand amongst nothing but rice. It was like being in a living postcard. Notably, the weather could not have been more perfect – an exactly desirable temperature, light cloud cover, and still air; a great day for a walk. I arrive and have my plays. I do carry around one power bank, and sadly, by the time that I made it there, I only had maybe 25% remaining on my power bank, so pictures were kept to a minimum, lest I lost all power and would become truly stuck without having my phone. The location is not particularly large, but it has an excellent selection of new and older Bemani machines, as well as a second room featuring several other older games and multicabs. Before leaving, I expressed my thanks to the owner, and he inquired about having a social media account – I showed him the post I made, and I confirmed that he reposted it later that day. Thanks. Between the timing of the connecting trains, the shinkansen on the way back, and the amount of power on my phone, I wanted to make sure to leave soon enough so that I wouldn’t get stranded. I had some time to walk around Iwamuro and take pictures, and it was very evident that they were not expecting to see someone like me there. A local stray cat did come out for some petting; that was nice. The local small grocery and snack shop by the train station only takes cash, as expected. I make it back to Tokyo proper by about 8:00 PM, and I resolved to get a second power bank immediately so that I wouldn’t encounter similar difficulties in the future. I went to Ikebukuro and visited the flagship Bic store to find one that would work with my phone. As it uses a Lightning port, it was difficult to find one that had that plug natively built into the unit. I suppose most of them assume you'll use a universal cable to connect the bank to the phone. While here, I played a round at the Taito Station near the train station, so I earned the Tokyo badge, and it left me with three more to go.\n\n*Friday, November 28.*\n\n**Takasaki, Gunma. Omiya, Saitama. Kawasaki, Kanagawa.**\n\nWhile planning the trip and days out, I contemplated including these first two stops on my way back yesterday, since they all connect to the Joetsu shinkansen, but given the timing and power issues yesterday, I devoted these stops to a separate day. For some reason, Google Maps tried to have me stay on the Utsunomiya line as I moved out to Takasaki; in my research before the trip, I scouted Koga as a place for my Ibaraki stop, and I’m glad that I did that, because the train’s announcing it was bound for Koga was my clue for me going the wrong way now. The mistake was quickly fixed at Toro, but I was still mad that I knew that Google Maps was wrong and still blindly followed it anyway. It was rather windy at Takasaki that day, with plenty of leaves being blown around as I made the walk to the store. In all three trips I’ve made to date, Mandai Shoten Takasaki has proven to be a location that has goods that I do not see anywhere else, and the prices are reasonable as well. Among the fun items that they had were blind bags of various used games for 1500Y, so I picked up a Z-Rated bag for PS4. IIDX play was good here. Back down to Omiya by midday, had my IIDX play there, saw nothing great at that Book Off, then resolved to get down to Kawasaki and finish the badge run, as I anticipated being back in Omiya in the future, and I had enough time now. One item I preplanned was to have the final location badge earned at a different prefecture from the prior trips; the first was finished at Gunma, the second was at Chiba, and this was completed at Silk Hat Kawasaki Dice. I finally found a good screen for plays at this location and enjoyed my time there. I went to check its Book Off, but they dec","offTopic":true},{"id":"b0b9e8ac-833a-43e6-9111-7f845089ba32","excerpt":"Japan, you were amazing! — I just came back from a short six-day trip to Japan with my girlfriend(our first time!!) and thought there would be no harm to share our itinerary with you all through a trip report:) Regarding the length of the trip: i recently moved to China from Europe, which makes short trips like this to","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/1qwp47k/japan_you_were_amazing/","role":"request","weight":0.9916667,"occurredAt":"2026-02-05T15:59:54.000Z","sourceKey":"reddit","sourceName":"Reddit","credibility":0.62,"venue":"travel","intent":"feature_request","painScore":0.36,"sentiment":1,"confidence":0.7291667,"matchedPatterns":["missing_feature"],"statement":"The historical objects were indeed interesting but a massive lack of (historical) background information regarding everything displayed made it less worthwile than initially hoped.","title":"Japan, you were amazing!","body":"I just came back from a short six-day trip to Japan with my girlfriend(our first time!!) and thought there would be no harm to share our itinerary with you all through a trip report:) Regarding the length of the trip: i recently moved to China from Europe, which makes short trips like this to nearby Asian countries much more viable than before!\n\n  \n**Day 1: Horyu-ji temple and duty-free shopping in Kyoto** After arriving at Kansai airport on the earliest morning flight from Shanghai me and my girlfriend hopped on the train to Horyu-ji station. From there it’s only a short walk to the UNESCO world-heritage temple with the same name, famously housing the world’s oldest wooden building (it’s pagoda). We were also able to witness a trio of monks chanting in one of the smaller side-temples, which felt really intimate since we were the only ones admiring. All in all a very positive experience and a great first introduction to Japan, even more so because we had the temple grounds all to ourselves (the occasional Japanese schoolgroup nothwithstanding). Perhaps because of the period of our visit (late January) or the relative inaccessability of the temple (on the outskirts of Nara)? Anyway, it was time to make our way to Kyoto through a combination of trains for some scheduled duty-free shopping. Afterwards we went to our hotel. We opted for a private room in a small hostel located near Higashiyama subway station, which proved to be a perfect location accessibility-wise: easy connection to Kyoto railway station and rest of the city, while still being only a short walk away from Kyoto’s main historic neighborhood Chion and its temples.\n\n\n\n**Day 2: Historic Kyoto and its temples**\n\nWe decided to wake up at 5 in the morning to make it in time to Kiyomozu-Dera, one of Kyoto’s “must-see”-temples, before their 6am opening time. Fortunately this temple was only a short 15-minute walk away from our hotel, allowing us to browse the old “Chion”-neighborhood without any time-pressure. And boy did it deliver: the streets lined with traditional architecture were empty, we even had the famous view towards Hokan-Ji temple’s Jasaka pagoda all to our own! **(Picture 15)** Afterwards we made it just in time for sunset at Kiyomizu-Dera, whose combination of ancient wooden architecture and city views blew us away.**(Picture 6)** Its “Otowa-no-taki falls”(no more than a small stream with a minuscule shrine built around, from which you could drink) were a  highlight for us: seeing devotees drink from it, immediately afterwards claiming to feel “cleansed and healed”, was fascinating. Me and my girlfriend then made it to the further-away northwestern part of Kyoto through a combination of metro and bus to visit some other temples: Kinkaku-Ji**(Picture 3)** and Ryoan-Ji. Kinkaku-Ji, better known as “the golden temple” because of its gold-clad exterior, with its ornately sculpted gardens was definitely the visually more impressive out of the two, while Ryoan-Ji’s stone garden offered some more tranquil vibes. With night creeping in it seemed like a good idea to try some sushi in what we wrongly regarded as being a ”local spot”. Our meal at Musashi sushi nevertheless tasted very good, as proven by our stack of more than 20 empty plates next to the sushi belt:) \n\n  \n**Day 3: Daytrip to Ine fishing village (Pictures 5, 9-11, 13 and 17)**\n\nWe decided to dedicate our third day to a fishing village called “Ine”, which is home to some rather unique-looking homes called “Funaya’s”. These houses, adjacent to the harbourfront, were designed to protect boats from weather and decay, with the ground floor acting as a functional dock/garage and the top floor serving as a home. After exploring the village and taking a “local cruise” (25 minutes on a small fishing boat while the former fisherman-driver entertains us with stories about his youth in the village, how the surge in tourism changed his way of living, the boathouses etc and we also get the chance to feed some seagulls) we headed towards a restaurant named Kajiya, where we had the best sashimi and freshly caught grilled fish ever! Can’t recommend this place enough! Then we opted to rent an e-bike to explore the nearby fishing villages, which boast the same kind of architecture but without the crowds, and they didn’t disappoint in the slightest. An elderly woman, who happened to be cutting some fish on the lower part of her “Funaya“-home, welcomed us inside for some tea and a tour of her home**(Picture 10)**. One tip: skip Ine altogether and head to the nearby villages! Another tip: spend the night in Ine or one of the villages nearby, since a tiring daytrip from Kyoto like we did (departing at 6am and returning at 11pm) isn’t worth it after all.\n\n**Day 4: Kyoto national museum+ (transport to) Shirakawa-Go**\n\nIt only made sense to see some of the artefacts once housed in the temples visited by us on our first two days, so that’s what exactly what we decided to do on the morning of day four by visiting the Kyoto national museum. The historical objects were indeed interesting but a massive lack of (historical) background information regarding everything displayed made it less worthwile than initially hoped. Afterwards we ate some gyoza for lunch at We then took the Shinkansen HSR to Nagoya, where a bus to the village of Shirakawa-Go awaited us. This village, located in a region which receives guaranteed heavy snowfall during the winter months, is famous for it’s farmhouses in the “Gassho-Zukuri“-style. This architectural style, characterised by their steep thatched roof and exceptionally spacious set-up, is a direct result of the challenges and needs this remote region posed for its inhabitants. The steep roof to easily shed off the huge amounts of snow, the large size (with multiple attics to extend its floorplan even more) to maximize the space used for raising silkworms (their main industry; since rice-farming wasn’t viable in these high-altitude regions). UNESCO designated Shirakawa-Go, along with the smaller villages of Ainokura and Suganuma, as  world-heritage because of their preservation of this architectural style. It took us nearly three hours to reach the village from Nagoya, and after checking in into our guesthouse we decided to explore the snowed-under village by night. Normally it’s off limits for visitors after 5p.m., but there is an exception if you’re staying in one of the Gassho-Zukuri:) It’s hard to describe how it felt to wander its snowy alleyways and to find the viewpoint to be empty without falling into cliché’s… let **Pictures 2, 8, 16 and 18** speak for themselves.\n\n  \n**Day 5: Shirakawa-go and Ainokura (Pictures 1, 4 and 12)**\n\nWe woke up to a drastically changed Shirakawa-go the next morning. With the daylight came the hordes of tourbuses filled to the brim, the empty village streets felt more crowded than even the busiest temple in Kyoto, mobile souvenir and ramen shops were set-up in a frenzy and the viewpoint was filled with hundreds if not thousands of tourists… the peaceful atmosphere of yesterday evening seemed to be further away than ever. Totally confused we googled if the village experiences this on a daily basis. An apparent lack of research made our visit collide with one of the only day of the year the village gets lit-up at night (for which you need to make a reservation up to 6 months in advance), hence the enormous amount of visitors,… To be honest: i don’t know if this “light-up”-event is worth it, since the village seemed to be lit-up sufficiently the night before. We decided to visit one of the Gassho-Zukuri house museums, which offer a glimpse into life in one of those homes and the silkworm-raising industry. Then we took a local bus to the even smaller Gassho-Zukuri village of Ainokura, where we planned to spend our final night in Japan. This hamlet, and the scenery and feeling of remoteness surrounding it, felt even more special compared to Shirakawa-Go. Especially the walk from the bus stop to the village, through a snow-covered forest that eventually opened up while approaching the village, and its viewpoint by night, felt like a fairytale (cliché but okay). The Gassho-Zukuri architecture remained the same, though it’s upper floors served a different purpose compared to Shirakawa-go since Ainokura specialized in the craft of papermaking instead or raising silkworms. There isn’t much to do/see other than to walk around the village, which felt satisfying enough. The same closure time applies to this village, which can only be avoided by staying overnight. \n\n  \n**Day 6: (Transport to) Osaka (Pictures 7, 14, 19 and 20)**\n\nA brutal 5-hours plus travel day, but necessary to make the plan to get at least a glimpse of Osaka work. Departed Ainokura at 05:20am and arrived in Osaka at 11pm. Immediately took the metro to Osaka castle, which obviously is a rebuilt instead of the real deal, but nice enough since it was our first Japanese castle. Catching some vitamin D in its sun-covered moat park after spending the last two days in the cold and snowy mountains was pleasant as well. Then headed towards Namba Yasaka Jinja, a distinctive Shinto shrine shaped in the form of a lion’s head (which is said to swallow evil spirits and bring good luck). From here we walked towards the iconic Tsutenkaku tower, inspired by the Eiffer tower designed to be the piece de resistance of an early 20th-century casino neighborhood, now the centerpiece of the “tourist trap”-district. Fascinating to walk through, though you gotta be careful to not be run over by some “Mario kart in real life”-participants. We passed through Denden town (famous for its stores selling everything related to TCG’s/manga/…, ofcourse we had to hunt for some gems) on our way to Dotonbori, after which we made our way towards Kansai airport for our evening return flight to China.\n\n  \nFeel free to ask any questions, though we definitely didn’t stray from the typical ”first time in Japan”-tourist circuit:) ","offTopic":true},{"id":"9ebc5102-1e11-4b4d-8a4a-9d0f3e28cb04","excerpt":"2 week japan trip report and tips! more uncommon things to do in japan :) — A bit of a belated trip report! I went in the beginning of November and stayed for two weeks, from the 2nd to the 17th! I went with two of my friends and we stayed in Tokyo, Hakone, and Osaka (with day trips to Kobe and Kyoto.)\n\nI tried writing","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravelTips/comments/1pv1794/2_week_japan_trip_report_and_tips_more_uncommon/","role":"pain","weight":0.95706666,"occurredAt":"2025-12-25T00:27:37.000Z","sourceKey":"reddit","sourceName":"Reddit","credibility":0.62,"venue":"JapanTravelTips","intent":"problem_report","painScore":0.48,"sentiment":0.8677686,"confidence":0.64666665,"matchedPatterns":["frustrating","product:neon"],"statement":"There was a really funny moment where my friend was slightly drunk and I was playfully annoying her, so she gave me a thumbs down, but the chef behind the counter pretended he thought it was about him and said \"oh I'm sorry the food wasn't…","title":"2 week japan trip report and tips! more uncommon things to do in japan :)","body":"A bit of a belated trip report! I went in the beginning of November and stayed for two weeks, from the 2nd to the 17th! I went with two of my friends and we stayed in Tokyo, Hakone, and Osaka (with day trips to Kobe and Kyoto.)\n\nI tried writing out this post by going over what we did day-by-day, but it ended up way too long, so i’m just going to go over highlights and general takeaways and how we planned our trip. We’re three women in our mid 20s that are into anime, geeky stuff, and Japanese fashion.\n\nThe trip was pretty underplanned. i had looked into a lot of stuff when we first decided to go months ago, but by the time our trip was set i was extremely busy with school and other nonsense, so I ended up going much less prepared than i wanted to be. despite this, I think it turned out pretty incredible. I had some big ideas of what i wanted to do during the trip (idol concert, getting my nails done, kimono rental) and some neighborhoods we wanted to go to. I was able to schedule and plan out the bigger ideas a few days ahead of time, and then we planned what neighborhood we’d be in and what stores we’d go to around these things, usually the day before. When we got back to the AirBNB, I would scroll reddit and make a big list of stuff that we could do in the neighborhood we were planning on and then we usually ended up getting to 30-60% of it. \n\n* We spent a LOT of time clothes shopping. My friends wanted to get full lolita outfits, and I wanted more clothes in general. I really loved the **Marui Annex** in Shinjuku for clothing (as well as an incredible art store that had tons of prints, keychains, etc from different artists) and **Laforet** in Harajuku for the same thing but with a bigger selection. Sadly I also really wanted shoes but size 9 womens is too big to fit into almost anything we saw and i didn’t end up getting any I could wear, but up to size 8 should be fine. (**ACDC Rag and 6% Doki Doki** were also great stores in Harajuku for Decora fashion, while out in Koenji there is a store called **Hayatochiri** with expensive but really incredible salvage fashion designed by artists, brightly colored streetwear that I didn't buy but spent ages just looking at.)\n* I got a sketchbook on the first day of the trip at **Ginza Itoya**. **This was the best purchase of the entire trip**. I'm out of practice drawing, but I still had experience doing live people sketching in cafes and on public transit, and I figured i’d be spending a lot of time on public transit on the trip. Drawing in my sketchbook was so much fun and also lead to some great interactions with locals, i am so happy about it. ([if you're interested in seeing some of my drawings i posted a few of them here!](https://postimg.cc/gallery/jJ88fnQ))\n* Aside from wanting to go shopping, I also wanted to see live performances. we went to **Harumiya Gardens** on our first full day for the nighttime illumination and moon viewing festival and happened to catch a small Sato Kagura performance, which was incredibly cool. we also got cute little rabbit lanterns on a stick we could carry around through the gardens, and on a whim decided to walk from the gardens to tokyo tower, which was a 40 minute walk. Maybe that was a rough first day for my feet but it was just a really fun and low key night and the pilgrimage to tokyo tower was so much fun.\n* I also ended up going to a small **jazz night at Cafe Itoule** that I saw being advertised at a cafe we ate at in the morning. It was super low-key, the space only had room for like 20 people, and they were all older Japanese ladies, I was the only tourist there. It was super fun and I was sketching during the performance and the women in the audience were super into it and pushed me to show it to the band etc, it was just a great evening and fun music!\n* There were also people at restaurants and on the train who liked my sketchbook and one lady even took a photo of my drawing I did of her and her daughter. The sketchbook was really the MVP of the trip!!\n* I wanted to go see a small **Idol performance** and I used the advice in [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/jpop/comments/19dhzob/comment/kj6c46i/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) to find a venue that worked, we got to see two groups perform, Congratulations and Meteor Shower Curtain. It was so weird and funny being the only women in the audience but the girls were so cute and interacted with us a bit and I was like, I get it, I get why you'd come to these to get the girls to smile and wave at you.\n* We went to Ikebukuro/**Sunshine City** on a day that there was a convention going on, so even though I wasn't going to the convention there was open areas where lots of cosplayers were walking around. Super busy, but amazing to see the cosplays and I got photos with a few characters I liked!\n* We also went to **karaoke** in Akihabara at **Karaoke Pasela Akihabara Showa-dori**, we were just planning on going to a big chain one we saw on the way to the station but I found a review for one that had apparently legendary ice cream honey toast (it was really good) as well as themed rooms like an Neon Genesis Evangelion themed room. we didn’t get the NGE themed room but it was still really cute and great vibes\n* We got INCREDIBLE **sukiyaki** at **しゃぶ晃**, near where we were staying around Mozennakacho station, we stayed there for like 3 hours until we ran out of broth and water and it caramelized on the pan. The man running the place was very cool and spoke a lot of english, he answered a question we were asking between ourselves about what one of the ingredients in our bowl was (a rice cake) that I didn’t even realize he had heard. It came with a sweet blueberry jelly dessert and was just perfect, one of the best dinners of the whole trip.\n* **Cafe/Pain de Joel Robuchon** had fantastic pastries, I loved the duck confit pastry. **Coffee Kan in Mozennakacho** also had great coffee and pancakes to start our day with.\n* We were originally going to do **kimono rental** in a Kyoto day trip, but i decided to do it in Hakone instead. It was hard to get up in the morning and get from Tokyo to Hakone in time since the train going up the mountain was so packed (and we were hungover lol, maybe our bad) but once we did the kimono rental it was so fun and magical. We only wanted to do it for a few hours for photographs and stay nearby so we could take it off easily, because I knew the shoes would be painful. Instead of trying to go to shrines for photographs we just went to the nearby Gora park and looked around the greenhouses, which was really nice because we could spend exactly as much time as we wanted there, as well as sit down in lots of places in the gardens and eat at the nice cafe there. We were also the only people wearing kimono there and we got complimented a lot, while lots of people are wearing kimono in Kyoto since theres so many rental places and so many tourists. \n* There was also an extremely funny interaction when i was getting my kimono getup taken off, since I have frizzy brown hair. The single woman who was running the rental place was struggling with my hair getting tangled around the hair ties and she had to call in an assistant to help it get taken out and it took like 20 minutes. My friends used google translate’s voice function to tell what she was saying, and told me later she was saying “It just keeps turning into a fuzz ball. you know they make products for this right?” and when the assistant said my hair was pretty like Aurora from Sleeping Beauty she said “I thought aurora was blonde though..” which was incredibly funny to find out afterwards.\n* **Hakone Kyuan** was just incredible, a great Ryokan to stay at for one night. the 7 course dinner was incredible, i ate the wasabi on it’s own despite hating spicy food because it was just that good. We rented out the private onsen and the website said it was 40 minute timeslots but no one told us that in person, I think we were the only one renting it for the night so we were able to stay for like twice the time and lay half in/half out of the bath, spray ourselves with cold shower water while being in the hot bath. All the rooms are so lovely and came with their own hot spring/bathtubs too, and we woke up early to watch the sunrise from our bath. I also got a great drawing of the mountains from our room and my friend looking out the window, and then we found a stamp set at Gora station that I stamped into the corner of the drawing, it’s one of the favorite pages I got in my sketchbook.\n* When we were in Osaka we ate at a great sushi place that also had grilled fish and a small **Omakase** experience at **Sushi Sakaba Teppei**, something I wanted to do but I was worried I was too picky and would offend the chef, but they offered just five pieces of nigiri as a course and I was able to eat all of it! The vibes there were great and it had great fruit wine. There was a really funny moment where my friend was slightly drunk and I was playfully annoying her, so she gave me a thumbs down, but the chef behind the counter pretended he thought it was about him and said \"oh I'm sorry the food wasn't good\" and then she desperately tried to tell him she loved all of it and everyone laughed with how frantically she was trying to correct herself.\n* I also went to a **nail artist** and got my nails done! She did a great job and was fun to talk to and work with her for my design. She also at one point asked me about American Cartoons, specifically asking me if Rick and Morty was a children's show and telling me she loved the show, and then put on Rick and Morty on an IPad for us to watch together which was hysterical to me.\n* **Comma Umeda** was a great Italian place with great Snow Cheese pasta, and **Chandeleur** was an incredible crepe place that sadly only does reservations on Sunday so we couldn't go twice.\n\nOverall it was just a great trip, there was even more great moments and stuff that we got to do but I don't want to overload the post any more. I'm definitely already considering going back for a more art-focused trip, we did a lot of shopping which was great but I'd be interested to focus on going to museums and shrines and drawing more outdoor environments and architecture. Here's some small advice from my trip:\n\n* I got a [huge bag at the Wiggle Wiggle store](https://wiggle-wiggle.co.id/cdn/shop/files/Reusable_Shopper_Bag_-_Super_Market_L_6_800x.png?v=1732359678) and it was super useful for the trip, if you're planning on doing a lot of shopping getting a big bag that you can consolidate shopping bags into by the end of the day is very helpful.\n* Don't get an AirBNB, I figure if you're here you already know this but my friends wanted to so I went along with them, but it was a longer walk to the station and worse accommodations and only one room key made it harder to split up when we wanted to. Also we had to go to a Yamato office to do luggage forwarding and haul our luggage back for a huge walk, it would have been so much nicer if we could have just sent the luggage between our hotels from our hotel room. \n* If you're planning on doing scrapbooking and saving paper goods/flyers/tags/etc from the trip, make sure to have a dedicated area to put all your stuff like a folder, it was definitely very hectic and chaotic to pack and find all the stuff I wanted to keep from the trip\n* Keep a list of the places you went! I'm having to find them now through using the location data of my photos and looking up on google maps where I was after the fact, would have been much easier if I just wrote everything down!","offTopic":true},{"id":"f5a8fc12-54b9-4697-9073-a95f79829056","excerpt":"17 Days in Japan by Train: Tokyo, Osaka, Koyasan, Kyoto, Kanazawa — What Was Worth It, What I’d Skip, and Practical Tips from 2023 — # TL;DR\n\nWe spent 17 days in Japan traveling mostly by train, with stops in Tokyo, Osaka, Koyasan, Kyoto, and Kanazawa. The highlights were Kyoto, Koyasan, the food, and the ease of trave","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1u731qz/17_days_in_japan_by_train_tokyo_osaka_koyasan/","role":"pain","weight":0.84853417,"occurredAt":"2026-06-16T04:09:32.000Z","sourceKey":"reddit","sourceName":"Reddit","credibility":0.62,"venue":"JapanTravel","intent":"problem_report","painScore":0.48,"sentiment":1,"confidence":0.5733339,"matchedPatterns":["frustrating","product:railway"],"statement":"Moving through trains and metro stations with big luggage is annoying.","title":"17 Days in Japan by Train: Tokyo, Osaka, Koyasan, Kyoto, Kanazawa — What Was Worth It, What I’d Skip, and Practical Tips from 2023","body":"# TL;DR\n\nWe spent 17 days in Japan traveling mostly by train, with stops in Tokyo, Osaka, Koyasan, Kyoto, and Kanazawa. The highlights were Kyoto, Koyasan, the food, and the ease of traveling by train. Osaka was fun but one night was enough for us. Kanazawa was nice, but after Kyoto it felt more skippable. If we could redo the trip, we would spend 2-3 more days in Kyoto.\n\n# Trip style\n\nCouple/friends trip focused on food, temples, walking, ryokan stays, and train travel. We moved around quite a bit, so luggage and logistics mattered a lot.\n\n# Route overview\n\n* Madrid → Tokyo\n* Tokyo: 1 night\n* Osaka: 2 nights\n* Koyasan: 1 night\n* Kyoto: 4 nights\n* Kanazawa / Shirakawa-go: 2-3 nights\n* Continued onward after that\n\n# Things we did before traveling\n\n# JR Pass\n\nWe bought the 14-day Japan Railway Pass online before the trip. It arrived by mail in 3-4 days. Once in Japan, you need to activate it at a JR ticket office, and you must bring your passport. The 14 days start counting from the activation date.\n\nActivation took us around 15 minutes, so do not leave it too tight before a train. If you use it for 2-3 Shinkansen rides, it can pay for itself. It also works on many trains and some metro lines, although sometimes the fastest route is operated by another company, so we occasionally paid separately.\n\n# Luggage\n\nBring less than you think. Moving through trains and metro stations with big luggage is annoying. We each brought one large suitcase and one backpack, but I would recommend bringing just one suitcase if possible.\n\nHotels and ryokans were very good about storing luggage before check-in or after checkout, which was extremely useful.\n\n# Cash, cards, and Revolut\n\nWe exchanged money for yen at the airport on arrival. Having cash was very useful because many places and taxis did not accept cards. Convenience stores like 7-Eleven and FamilyMart have ATMs, but they may charge fees.\n\nRevolut Premium helped because it allowed higher monthly withdrawals and higher foreign-currency card payments.\n\nAlso, ask stores for the tourist tax discount. Many offer around 10% off and will ask for your passport.\n\n# Airport forms and QR codes\n\nBefore arrival, we filled out the required forms with personal details and COVID/vaccine-related information to get QR codes. This saved time at the airport.\n\n# Health and medicines\n\nBring basic medicines like ibuprofen, paracetamol, and anything else you normally use. It can be hard to explain what you need at a pharmacy in Japan. Also check how your travel insurance works, because healthcare can be expensive.\n\n# Portable Wi-Fi\n\nWe rented a portable Wi-Fi device through eConnect / Pocket WiFi. We had it delivered to our first accommodation and returned it using a prepaid envelope at a post office. We got the 1GB-per-day plan and it was more than enough, even with some laptop use for emails and work.\n\n# Day 1-2: Madrid to Tokyo, then Tokyo to Osaka\n\nWe flew from Madrid on Thursday, February 2, at 6:35 p.m. with KLM, with a 2.5-hour layover in Paris. The flight from Paris to Tokyo was around 12 hours. We arrived in Tokyo on Friday, February 3, at 7:30 p.m.\n\nWe landed at Haneda Airport, which is around 40 minutes by train from central Tokyo. We did not activate the JR Pass yet because we were staying 17 days and the train from Haneda into Tokyo was cheap. Narita is farther, around 1.5 hours by train.\n\nWe spent only one night in Tokyo, staying with a friend in Omotesando. The next morning we walked around Yoyogi Park, Shibuya, and Harajuku.\n\nWe tried to eat at Ichiran in Shibuya, but both locations had lines of over an hour, so we skipped it and ate at another noodle place that was very good and cheap.\n\nIn the afternoon, we activated the JR Pass at Shinagawa Station and took the train to Osaka.\n\n# Osaka hotel\n\nWe stayed at the Swissotel near Namba Station. It was very good and super convenient, although there were cheaper options.\n\n# Osaka dinner\n\nWe walked around Namba and had dinner at a yakiniku place:\n\nYakiniku Izakaya Zonozono  \n[https://maps.app.goo.gl/jNjp6LdDy69bdo4HA?g\\_st=ic](https://maps.app.goo.gl/jNjp6LdDy69bdo4HA?g_st=ic)\n\nAfter dinner, we went for drinks and then to a small techno club recommended by a friend.\n\n# Day 3-4: Osaka\n\nWe visited Osaka Castle. The weather was amazing, and we ate in a nearby park.\n\nWe often bought quick food from convenience stores like 7-Eleven. Common go-to items were egg sandwiches, rice crackers, and rice balls. At first it felt odd, but you get used to eating on the go because there is not always time for full meals.\n\n# Osaka sushi\n\nWe had dinner at Sushi Takuma. I recommend booking seats at the counter and ordering individual pieces rather than the full menu.\n\nSushi Takuma  \n[https://maps.app.goo.gl/crvdgDJyi47y4D7p7?g\\_st=ic](https://maps.app.goo.gl/crvdgDJyi47y4D7p7?g_st=ic)\n\n# Random local breakfast spot\n\nBecause of jet lag, I woke up very early and hungry. I found a tiny local place where nobody spoke and you sit alone at the counter eating noodles, rice, and soup. I do not know the name and it does not appear properly on Google, but it cost around €4.\n\nDropped pin:  \n[https://maps.app.goo.gl/47aQop6esJDcxGMT8?g\\_st=ic](https://maps.app.goo.gl/47aQop6esJDcxGMT8?g_st=ic)\n\n# Osaka verdict\n\nOsaka was fun, but one night would have been enough for us. The castle was nice, but after seeing Kyoto later, it felt less impressive.\n\n# Day 5-6: Koyasan\n\nFrom Osaka, we went to Koyasan, a Buddhist temple town in the mountains. The route involved train, funicular, and then bus. Everything was covered in snow and it was beautiful.\n\nWe stayed in a ryokan run by Buddhist monks. The stay included meditation, joining the monks for prayers, sleeping on tatami mats, wearing a yukata, and using the onsen. The food was fully vegan. It was tasty, but not something I would normally choose.\n\nEko-in Temple  \n[https://maps.app.goo.gl/RRgtqjbVz3qS76k36?g\\_st=ic](https://maps.app.goo.gl/RRgtqjbVz3qS76k36?g_st=ic)\n\nWe also had a good meal nearby:\n\nことぶき食堂  \n[https://maps.app.goo.gl/h85ZdQHGxNNCFrLt7?g\\_st=ic](https://maps.app.goo.gl/h85ZdQHGxNNCFrLt7?g_st=ic)\n\nKoyasan has spectacular walks, but we could not do many because of the snow. I would have liked to walk from the funicular area up to Koyasan, which is around 5 hours, but that is probably better in another season.\n\nThe cemetery is spectacular. Koyasan felt like the Vatican of Japanese Buddhism.\n\nWe stayed one night and then went to Kyoto the next afternoon.\n\n# Day 7-10: Kyoto\n\nKyoto was the highlight of the trip. We stayed at the Kyoto Granbell Hotel in Gion and loved the area. Gion is very pleasant for walking around small streets, temples, restaurants, and cafés.\n\nFor my birthday, we stayed one night at Hiiragiya, a very well-known ryokan in Kyoto. It was a more special experience.\n\nKyoto Granbell Hotel  \n[https://maps.app.goo.gl/xNPPuVrv3TkTosQY8?g\\_st=ic](https://maps.app.goo.gl/xNPPuVrv3TkTosQY8?g_st=ic)\n\nHiiragiya  \n[https://maps.app.goo.gl/K5fDmU5HGiJPGKyv5?g\\_st=ic](https://maps.app.goo.gl/K5fDmU5HGiJPGKyv5?g_st=ic)\n\n# Things we visited in Kyoto\n\n# Kamo River\n\nI ran several times along the river path heading north. It was beautiful. It is also a great walk. I would recommend doing a guided bike tour if you have time.\n\n# Imperial Palace\n\nBook tickets in advance.\n\n# Kennin-ji\n\nZen temple close to Gion. Very easy to visit from the hotel.\n\n# Kiyomizu-dera\n\nWalk from Gion up to Kiyomizu-dera through the small streets, temples, pagodas, shops, and restaurants. The whole walk is beautiful, and the views from the top are excellent.\n\n# Fushimi Inari\n\nWalk up the mountain through hundreds of orange torii gates. The full walk to the top took around 1 hour.\n\n# Arashiyama\n\nThe bamboo forest is pretty but smaller than expected. We liked the town around it, but it was not the top highlight of the trip.\n\n# Kinkaku-ji\n\nThe Golden Temple was incredible. 100% worth visiting.\n\n# Nishiki Market\n\nCovered market street with lots of food stalls and small places to eat.\n\n# Kyoto food recommendations\n\nExcellent sushi:\n\n先斗町寿司よし乃  \n[https://maps.app.goo.gl/D88pocH3vBh5psi78?g\\_st=ic](https://maps.app.goo.gl/D88pocH3vBh5psi78?g_st=ic)\n\nGreat meat and fish:\n\nItoh Dining  \n[https://maps.app.goo.gl/CGUxUD3fT5kGWr988?g\\_st=ic](https://maps.app.goo.gl/CGUxUD3fT5kGWr988?g_st=ic)\n\nVery good ramen:\n\nMusoshin  \n[https://maps.app.goo.gl/YsVNfE29ANr1xCoG7?g\\_st=ic](https://maps.app.goo.gl/YsVNfE29ANr1xCoG7?g_st=ic)\n\nRamen near Kiyomizu-dera:\n\nらーめん いち喜  \n[https://maps.app.goo.gl/FUvYL2WEb4JoGtYr5?g\\_st=ic](https://maps.app.goo.gl/FUvYL2WEb4JoGtYr5?g_st=ic)\n\nBar for beers, whisky, cocktails, and snacks:\n\nBar Liquor Museum Pontocho  \n[https://maps.app.goo.gl/5dsqMi5Rwum5h39v8?g\\_st=ic](https://maps.app.goo.gl/5dsqMi5Rwum5h39v8?g_st=ic)\n\nBeautiful café with Japanese-style food and a strawberry cream sandwich:\n\nZen Cafe  \n[https://maps.app.goo.gl/V5mNT22dVUjr37iQ9?g\\_st=ic](https://maps.app.goo.gl/V5mNT22dVUjr37iQ9?g_st=ic)\n\nAmazing ramen near the Imperial Palace:\n\nRamen Daiei  \n[https://maps.app.goo.gl/7cSJcAT5cHfyfiJj8?g\\_st=ic](https://maps.app.goo.gl/7cSJcAT5cHfyfiJj8?g_st=ic)\n\n# Kyoto verdict\n\nWe would have stayed 2-3 more days if we could. Kyoto was the place where we most felt we had unfinished business.\n\n# Day 11-13: Kanazawa and Shirakawa-go\n\nWe went north to Kanazawa, sometimes described as part of the Japanese Alps route. You could probably do it in one day. Honestly, after Kyoto, Kanazawa felt somewhat skippable to us.\n\nWe visited a beautiful white castle, gardens, and an old traditional house district. The city is very well preserved because it was not heavily affected by the war.\n\nFrom Kanazawa, we visited Shirakawa-go, a mountain village with traditional thatched-roof houses. The village itself is worth around 2 hours, but getting there takes about 1.5 hours by bus each way.\n\nThe best surprise was finding the best sushi of the trip so far inside Kanazawa Station, in the food court area. It did not appear on Google and the name was only in Japanese.\n\n# Overall takeaways\n\n# What I would definitely do again\n\n* Spend several days in Kyoto\n* Stay in Gion\n* Do a temple stay in Koyasan\n* Use trains as the main way to move around\n* Travel light\n* Use luggage storage at hotels and ryokans\n* Bring cash\n* Rent portable Wi-Fi\n* Eat at small local places, even when they look intimidating\n\n# What I would change\n\n* Spend less time in Osaka\n* Consider skipping or shortening Kanazawa after Kyoto\n* Add 2-3 more days in Kyoto\n* Bring less luggage\n* Plan some meals but leave room for spontaneous places\n\n# Biggest practical tip\n\nDo not underestimate logistics. Japan is very easy to travel in, but moving between stations, hotels, train platforms, and cities with luggage can get tiring. Pack light, activate the JR Pass with enough time, and use luggage storage whenever possible.","offTopic":true},{"id":"1d573562-44d9-4edf-95dc-5bad7a70a23a","excerpt":"14 Days in Nov 2025 - 118 places to see & eat at in Osaka, Kyoto, Hakone, Tokyo - PART 1 — My girlfriend (now fiance) and I just came back from Japan last week. This trip report is to 1) journal our experience and 2) and share that experience with others so their future trips to Japan can be more amazing. Happy to answ","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1pwzaha/14_days_in_nov_2025_118_places_to_see_eat_at_in/","role":"demand","weight":0.78668433,"occurredAt":"2025-12-27T14:37:14.000Z","sourceKey":"reddit","sourceName":"Reddit","credibility":0.62,"venue":"JapanTravel","intent":"tool_discovery","painScore":0.12,"sentiment":0.9104478,"confidence":0.70239675,"matchedPatterns":["looking_for"],"statement":"* If you’re looking for a photographer, I recommend Thomas who is Kyoto-based and has a great eye and aesthetic (Instagram, and fellow redditor).","title":"14 Days in Nov 2025 - 118 places to see & eat at in Osaka, Kyoto, Hakone, Tokyo - PART 1","body":"My girlfriend (now fiance) and I just came back from Japan last week. This trip report is to 1) journal our experience and 2) and share that experience with others so their future trips to Japan can be more amazing. Happy to answer questions!\n\nMy first report was for my [first trip back in March 2024](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1c23f7d/march_2024_2week_solo_trip_report_osaka_kyoto_uji/).  This time, I have my tips first followed by our detailed trip report, and with better formatting inspired by [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1ermgvc/trip_report_nov_dec_2023_tokyo_kyoto_osaka/)\n\n# Tips and recommendations\n* Hotels\n * Booking.com seemed to have the best availability and pricing compared to Expedia and Airbnb.  I also took advantage of using Rakuten’s link during the ‘travel week’ promo, getting 8% cashback, though the cashback seems to take a while…\n * Other than Tokyo, many accommodations had free cancellation up to the month before or even up to 3 days before.  This is helpful if you want to remain flexible, e.g. check for new/cheaper availabilities.\n * Booking.com also had the ‘private bathroom’ filter which my girlfriend was adamant on.\n * I recommend checking as early as you can.  If something looks good and has free cancellation, book that and keep shopping around.\n * I checked roughly every 2 weeks leading up to our trip. Around the 1.5 month mark, the availability of places that fit our criteria significantly dropped.  Another interpretation: the price for similar places/locations were at least 20% more expensive.  My guess is the sweet spot is 3-4 months before.  Your mileage may vary!\n* Shopping\n * If you know Chinese and you are shopping at touristy spots, many staff are/speak Chinese.  We encountered it quite frequently at drug stores, the Reddit-popular suitcase store Ginza Karen, and Don Quijote.\n* Food\n * If there is one singular food recommendation from this whole report, it’s Himawari Sushi Shintoshi!  Affordable and good conveyor belt sushi.  Read about it in the Tokyo Food section.\n * Don’t sleep on the chain restaurants.  Personally, I really enjoy Tendon Tenya for tempura.\n * Tabelog is a fairly reliable rating website for food in Japan, just know that their algorithm works differently.  It seems like businesses start at a 3, then move up based on the ratings of power users, who have the most impact.\n * If you need more fiber in your diet (likely so), most konbini have ‘Fibre Mini’ drinks or the ‘in’ peach/grape jelly packs.  The jelly is good but slightly difficult to slurp.  If you want to be more economical, I would recommend buying the sticks of powdered fiber (dextrin) at a drugstore.\n* Trains\n * Some tips for getting to/on the right train, do the following checks:\n     * Are you at the right numbered platform?\n     * Is the train color/letter correct, either on hanging signage or the train digital sign?\n     * Does the time match what's on Google Maps? Some trains share the same platform, or you might need a Local, Express, etc.\n     * See if signage at the platform mention the next stop, does that match the next stop on Google Maps? Signage to look for include signs, pillars, and walls, like the walk across the platform if underground.\n * Try to exit from the correct gate, this will save time waiting at lights outside or dealing with the weather. If a station is big enough, it may take 15-20 minutes just to get back on track from exiting the wrong gate.\n * If you have time waiting for the train, for many trains, Google Maps will list exactly the ideal train car(s) to enter because it minimizes the walking needed when you arrive.  Basically, you're doing the walking you have to do anyway before you get on the train.\n* Luggage\n * Coin lockers are a lifesaver, especially if your previous/next accommodation can’t hold your luggage, or you won’t have the time to drop it off.  Most stations will have coin lockers, though most lockers seem to be taken by midday.  If using the coin lockers at Hakone-Yumoto Station, the lockers upstairs and downstairs/outside were quite contested, but if you’re willing to walk a little, there’s some across the street at the Hakone Tozan Bus Information area.  If using the coin lockers in Oshiage station, there should be an area that has escalators up to Solamachi mall, at the bottom is a konbini and lots of lockers.\n* Preparation\n * I used the Ubigi eSIM card, 10GB of data for $17 before discount. Pretty easy to download and install. 10GB was perfect for 2 weeks.  Connectivity was pretty good, though sometimes it was spotty, while my GF’s was fine (she also used Ubigi).  It was difficult to find a working discount code but mine is CHTSB37D to get 20% off.  You can’t make money off the referral code but if you ever refer others with your code, you get a 50% off code (only lasts 6 months, perfect for the semiannual trip to Japan 😅).\n* Other\n * Google Translate's camera feature was amazing, great for anything written in Japanese, like menus.\n * It’s not great for translating longer sentences, e.g. if I wanted to ask someone for something fairly specific.  I actually found ChatGPT to be better at this.\n * If possible, find moments to sit and rest your feet!  This is especially important if your schedule is fairly packed.  For us, the only times we got to sit was at restaurants, and transportation (if there was even a seat), otherwise you’re just constantly on your feet for everything.\n * I like bringing Reese's peanut butter cups as an omiyage gift. I would give these to people who were extra helpful or kind. They don't have anything close in Japan from what I could tell. And all of them were super appreciative of it. Easy to pick up a pantry pack on Amazon.\n * Weather-wise, mid-November was great.  It was no longer humid, but not too cold either.  Jackets needed for morning/evening, otherwise midday was pretty good.  We got to see the fall colors (momiji) though the hot/prolonged summer seemed to have pushed back peak momiji.  If I could choose a more ideal 2 weeks, I think I would’ve targeted the 2nd half of Nov, or last week of Nov/first week of Dec.  We didn’t have a single day of rain, so I’m not complaining!\n * If you’re looking for a photographer, I recommend Thomas who is Kyoto-based and has a great eye and aesthetic ([Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/mightytom/), and fellow [redditor](https://www.reddit.com/user/mightytom2020/)).\n\n# Background\n* My second time in Japan, and my girlfriend’s first time. Both Asian American and coming from Houston with basic Japanese vocabulary.\n * My (35M) interests: tea, ceramics, food, culture\n * Girlfriend (32F) interests: stationary, cafes, Pokemon, food, culture\n* Flight booked June (5 months before) using 110k points each via United website. Using points at least gets us Economy, which is 2 checked bags and choosing our seats.  Decided on an open-jaw flight so we can save a little money/time having to take a roundtrip Shinkansen.\n* Hotels booked July (4 months before) using booking.com.\n* Since she was going to all the cities I previously went to last year, outside of Hakone, I gave her priority as to the schedule.  Our schedule was made up of all the things she forwarded me that she found on Instagram, then I added the major attractions (temples, neighborhoods, etc) that I thought she should see on a 1st trip to Japan.\n\n# Itinerary Overview\n* Day 1-3 Osaka\n* Day 3-7 Kyoto\n* Day 7-8 Hakone\n* Day 8-14 Tokyo\n\n***\n\n# Accommodations\nThe only non-negotiables from the GF was a private bathroom, and a nice traditional ryokan when we’re at Hakone.  We’re fairly low maintenance, so didn’t opt for any actual ‘hotels’.  Outside of splurging on the ryokan, I prioritized cost and location.\n\n* Yeah Room Namba (Osaka) - 3/5 - $99 total for 2 nights\n > A small apartment that’s fairly central (Namba area) and very cheap!  A few steps away from a Lawson, and very close to Denden Town.  Unfortunately, bidet didn’t work, which I communicated to the host but they opted not to fix during our stay.\n\n* Platinum Yasaka (Kyoto) - 3/5 - $445 for 4 nights\n > Also a small apartment, but located very close to Gion/Yasaka Shrine, [Ninenzaka](https://imgur.com/Cz2ixMs), Sannenzaka, and Kiyomizu-dera.\n\n* Gyokutei (Hakone) - 5/5 - $538 for 1 night\n > Built in the 50s on the grounds of a former elementary school.  Slightly hard to find, with plenty of reviews all highlighting this; however, this ryokan was fantastic, a good mix of modern and traditional.  A little [garden and pond](https://imgur.com/gAWNSS0) in the middle.  Only a few rooms are available on the property.  Two [public baths](https://imgur.com/vmLaEXy), one for each gender, and will alternate morning and evenings, though both baths are fairly similar.  Tatami mats, with plenty of space and 2 little ‘rooms’, which we didn’t even use, and a mini kitchenette (though I think the staff use this for setting up for the meals).  I believe each room has a private bath (hot spring fed!), either can have a stone tub or [cypress wood tub](https://imgur.com/qNaZixn)!  All the staff were very kind and welcoming.  The stay came with a kaiseki dinner and traditional Japanese breakfast.  NOTE, the food is very seafood-forward, with some being out of my Americanized comfort zone - I had to give my shirako (fish sperm sacs) to my GF.  I would happily recommend this ryokan to friends & family.\n\n* Green Sea Oshiage (Tokyo) - 2/5 - $490 for 6 nights\n >  It’s an apartment within this complex but seems to be managed by someone else.  There was a raw sewage smell in the kitchen area that wasn’t quite fully addressed.  Otherwise, decent space, and fairly close to the Skytree.  Next time I think we’ll try for Asakusa or Ikebukuro, to be a little more central.\n\nNext time, I think I will consider hotels due to some convenience factors: (1) dropping bags off pre-check in, (2) leaving bags post-check out, (3) someone on-site to arrange luggage-forwarding, (4) more certainty of laundry equipment/services.\n\n***\n\nThis time, I won’t organize by day, but by Location and Category (activity/food), just for organization/readability, and to make it not seem like we were able to fit so much in each day (we kind of did, but several places were spontaneous and/or a quick visit.  However, it is chronological within each Location & Category.\n\nExplanation of my ratings:\n> 5/5 - I would highly recommend it to friends, family, and strangers on reddit.  Also, it’s a strong chance I’d go ahead in a future trip, in lieu of trying something new.\n\n> 4/5 - Would recommend.  May visit again, unless there are other things to see and do that competes with this (opportunity cost is important to consider!)\n\n> 3/5 - Somewhat recommend.  It’s okay, worth a visit if you’re in the area.  I probably would not visit again;  to me, a trip to Japan is too expensive/infrequent for it to be filled with places that are just “3 out of 5”.\n\n> 2/5 - Not particularly worth the visit.  Something about this experience was lackluster.\n\n> 1/5 - I would go out of my way to tell people to avoid this.  Terrible experience.\n\nFor food, I have also included the Tabelog score:\n> 3.0 - average.\n\n> 3.5 - very good.\n\n> 3.6 - you'll start to see lines, and prior to opening. Start checking online to see if reservations are required.\n\n> 3.8 - very tough to get into. The ones that didn't have reservations, had insane lines.  For example the 3.86 donut shop in Kyoto last year, I waited almost 2 hours in the rain, and that's after arriving 40 minutes early.\n\n> 4.0 - seemed to apply mostly to high end sushi/kaiseki, e.g. you gotta know someone to get on the list.\n\n# Osaka Activities\n\n* **Various card shops** - 2/5\n\n > Since my last trip, the GF got into collecting Pokemon cards, so I figured I’d check out the Japanese cards at the shops in Denden Town (basically the Akihabara of Osaka), given we were staying so close.  Given the current craze, I wouldn’t recommend it, unless you want to see","offTopic":true}],"breakdown":[{"sourceKey":"reddit","sourceName":"Reddit","count":16}],"total":16}}