We traveled to Japan for two weeks during end of Jul and early Aug: Tokyo (4 days) -> Kyoto (3 days) -> Kinosaki Onsen (1 Day) -> Osaka (3 Days) -> Tokyo (3 days). I think just a quick look on the itinerary, we could've done less days in Tokyo or at least done a day trip. But since it was my boyfriend's first time in Japan (it's my 3rd), I wanted to hit all the must-visit tourists spots/traps (Asakusa, Shibuya Crossing, Tsukiji Market, etc.). It's a right of passage.
Note: It is hot. It is a different kind of demonic humid hot. The moment we touched down we bought sunbrellas and cooling wipes – we also brought hand held fans. These were must haves and life savers. We would be drenched in sweat, so much that we would go back to the hotel mid afternoon to take a shower to de-stick.
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Tokyo:
We loved staying at Ikebukuro – just accessible enough, not overly busy, and we loved Sunshine City (good variety of shops). Honestly nothing was incredibly memorable for me – I enjoyed Meiji Jingu the most. Also trending spots like Menchirashi (Carbonara Udon) and Iyoshi Cola were mid – when we went there were no lines so we stopped by. Definitely not worth waiting more than 20 mins. I made it a point to not stand in line for hours for food spots.
Surprisingly I loved the chain restaurants. I fell in love with Komeda Coffee – their morning combo with a coffee + bread, omg the bread is so soft. I loved it so much I bought their water glasses as souvenirs, only around 1100 yen for the pair. But I had to search high and low, not every store carries it. You can also purchase their mugs and other glassware.
We had omakase at Manten Sushi Marunouchi and it didn't blow us away. I was really full at the end. But I had diarrhea right after we paid the bill, so do what you will with that information.
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Kyoto:
Kyoto was our favourite – we liked the pace and people. And to think I was considering skipping it cause I heard it was super busy and overcrowded. Maybe it's timing but it just wasn't true. Possibly due to the World Expo happening in Osaka, we found the hotel options cheaper in Kyoto and was less busy than Osaka.
I think the busiest part we hit was Sannenzaka Slope up to Kiyomizudera Temple, but even then it wasn't terrible. If you've been to Macau and been to Ruins of St. Paul's, that is way more crowded.
I was going to skip Arashiyama Bamboo Forest cause I heard there were insane crowds, and I don't care to wake up super early to visit spots. But we visited a bar and the bartender told us it's not really that busy – even if we go at 9AM. We took her word for it and went the next morning, arrived a little after 9, and she was right! What I didn't know was that it's super short, like not even a kilometer long. Although it was super beautiful, that shocked me, I was like "This is it?" I couldn't believe it. A 40+ min bus ride for a 10 min walk. Also the Okochi Sanso Garden at the end of the bamboo forest, can be skipped.
The Arashiyama monkey park was a bit disappointing and honestly a little scary (didn't want to make the monkeys aggressive). The hike up there is also quite gnarly in the heat.
We visited music bar Beatle momo – it's a trending jazz bar on tiktok. Honestly just go to any other local bar. The place was busy and you need a reservation, we were lucky to just walk in. We also saw the owner/DJ get angry/frustrated with their foreign workers/servers which didn't make us feel good.
We also did the bulk of our shopping at Kyoto which was shocking (I thought we would go crazy in Osaka)- maybe cause it was less stimulating and overwhelming we could actual enjoy the shops.
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Kinosaki Onsen:
I think better off just going to Hakone, honestly. There's 7 onsens you could visit within the town with the onsen pass provided by the ryokan – but nothing was spectacular. Most only had 2 types of hot baths. The best onsen was at the ryokan (Nishimuraya Hotel Shogetsutei) we stayed at, had 2 hot baths, one cold bath, a sauna, and massage chairs. We balled out at the ryokan – got a nice room and had the kaiseki dinner served in the room. The service was incredible. The kaiseki dinner lasted almost 2 hours, but alas I also had diarrhea right after. I was just sad the two most expensive meals on the trip we had ended up with me having diarhhea. Next time I would just stay at a ryokan in Hakone and skip the Kaiseki Dinner.
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Osaka:
Wow busy. So incredibly busy. We stayed in America-mura, just north of Dotonbori, so maybe that skewed our perspective. I do think the food overall was the most delicious in Osaka.
Just visit the exterior of Osaka Castle, no need to go inside.
Also we last minute decided to go to Universal, and maybe cause I had low expectations – I loved it. We just bought the regular tickets the day before and arrived around 11AM. It really wasn't as busy as we feared (again maybe cause of the World Expo). We waited around 40 mins for most rides – the longest we waited was 70 mins for harry potter. We didn't go to Nintendo World, cause we didn't know we had to get timed tickets hahaha oops. I thought we could just enter the area, but not ride rides. We left around 5PM.
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Review:
On our next visit I would only revisit Kyoto. We loved Round1, we got the bundle and totally worth. We also loved the cozy jazz bars everywhere we went.
by KidishBambino