Sharing my trip report, as well as some tips and tricks from our 12-day trip to Japan. I took the trip with my husband, both in our 30s, from the EU.

Overall, we really loved it, especially Kanazawa part, despite some hiccups towards the end (got a food poisoning in the ryokan and the experience there was overall underwhelming). We would love to be back in a few years to explore more. No weird situations during the trip, except some intense stares from kids and old people, especially in Kanazawa (I'm a tall, blonde woman with a lot of tattoos). We decided to avoid certain super touristy spots and activities on purpose and honestly, when we come back one day, I would love to steer clear even more, as the best experiences we had were in a little more understated places 😉

The plan came together mostly on the go, usually a day in advance, taking the weather into account. We didn’t prebook ahead of time, the Shinkansen tickets we always booked or bought a day before. We initially wanted to fit in another day trip from Kanazawa, but ended up staying there longer instead – and even then, there wasn’t enough time to visit any of the local museums. There’s just so much to see everywhere.

We mostly got around everywhere on foot, occasionally taking a metro using a Suica card picked up at Haneda, and for cross-city trips we took trains – single tickets bought online or at ticket machines. If you move between the hotels/cities, use the luggage-forwarding service, I mean it. It's super convenient, cheap and it will be easier for you and everyone else around you.

During our walks, we usually wandered into smaller, random streets, popped into minor temples, little shops, and even tiny local museums (for example, in Kanazawa’s samurai district there were several of those). We also made plenty of snack stops for some ice-cream, mochis or some taiyaki 🙂

Day 1

Direct flight: Copenhagen – Tokyo Haneda

Day 2

Morning landing on Haneda – check-in at Asakusa Tobu Hotel (very nice hotel, super convenient location) – walk around Asakusa and Ueno areas

Day 3

Walk through Ueno Park – Toshogu Shrine – stroll toward Yanaka, passing a bit through Sendagi, exploring local temples, cemeteries, and small shops (my favourite part of Tokyo from what I've seen, though I'm aware we saw like 1/10th of it) – Imperial Gardens (we only managed to see the East Gardens and nearby areas, as the rest was closed that day due to Sports Day) – walk to Tokyo Main Station for dinner – stroll to Ginza to see the architecture and go to Ginza Natsuno to pick up some nice chopsticks

Day 4

Shibuya crossing – checking out the Hachiko statue (without queueing up for a photo) – walk toward Shinjuku – Yoyogi Park – Meiji Jingu Shrine – Yadorigi Café in Yanaka (one of the only ethical cat cafes in Tokyo, so if you plan to visit such an establishment, try this one)

Day 5

Wagashi-making workshop and tea ceremony in Asakusa, wearing kimonos (I'm torn on whether I recommend it, it was good value for money for sure and in a way enjoyable, but it was a bit rushed at moments, my hair was done terribly (I didn't complain because staff was very sweet and also we were pressed on time, didn't want to hold the whole group) and if you're a lady larger than EU size 36/S your kimono choice will be significantly worse) – Senso-Ji – evening scenic cruise on the Sumida River with kaiseki dinner (I recommend such an experience, even though the food was not that good)

Day 6

Travel from Tokyo to Kanazawa via Hokuriku Shinkansen – check-in at Hotel Forza Kanazawa (another great hotel situated conveniently mid-way between the station and main attractions) – we didn’t do anything else that day; it was pouring so hard that after a 15-minute walk, water was literally spilling out of our shoes

Day 7

Ozaki Shrine – Oyama Shrine – Ishiura Shrine – Kenroku-en Garden including Seisonkaku Villa (both are must-see!) – Higashi Chaya District (a bit of a tourist trap, in my opinion, most of it is boring shops selling more or less the same stuff, the Samurai district is more interesting, though smaller)

Day 8

Tour of the Myouryuji – Kanazawa Castle and park – Nagamachi District – Nishi Chaya District

Day 9

Day trip by train to Takayama with a transfer in Toyama (buses were sold out for daaaays after) – Hida No Sato open-air museum – Showa-Kan Museum (surprisingly fun place!) – Sanmachi Suji District – return to Kanazawa (we had planned to see more, but scaled it back due to bear warnings and sightings in the area)

Day 10

Travel from Kanazawa to Hakone (technically to Miyanoshita) via Kanazawa – Tokyo – Odawara, then bus to the ryokan (Hakone Ginyu – a disappointing experience that I outlined in a separate post) – soaking in the onsen and kaiseki dinner. A tip: if you travel to/from Odawara to Hakone/Miyanoshita, do yourself a favour and take the train, not the bus – it gets stuck in traffic and is overall a terrible experience because people bring huge luggage into a super crowded bus, you stand squeezed like a mackerel and getting out is a nightmare.

Day 11

Scenic train ride from Miyanoshita to Odawara – local train back to Tokyo – Akihabara (my husband wanted to check out a few places, my least favourite part of Tokyo we've seen) – check-in at Mercure Hotel Tokyo Haneda (fantastic hotel with a great breakfast, super spacious rooms for Tokyo standards)

Day 12

National Museum – last walk and shopping around Asakusa

Day 13

Return flight from Haneda Airport

Our impressions of Japan

Pretty much everywhere, the service is top-notch – that’s simply the industry standard in Japan – but for a European, it’s striking how many staff there are, even in places where we wouldn’t expect any. Like a person whose entire job is to stand all day at the entrance of an underground corporate parking lot, or someone assigned just to a certain type of ticket machine at a station, or a person holding a sign and giving directions. In shops, there are often twice as many clerks as in Europe, and it’s impossible to walk through a shop without drawing someone’s attention. You’ll never be left without help, that’s for sure, but if you prefer a more hands-off shopping experience, you might feel a bit overwhelmed at times – I resigned from some cosmetic shopping because the shop assistants would follow me everywhere and put every single cream or make-up on me.

People were really kind and helpful, but I think that what you give is usually what you get. Even though English proficiency isn’t great – many people don’t speak it or are afraid to, thinking their English is “too weak” – communication is perfectly manageable with a mix of English, basic Japanese phrases, and Google Lens when needed. We never ran into any real problem. Signs for tourists in transport, stations, and museums make it nearly impossible to get lost. Google Maps is your best friend.

The streets are spotless – you could honestly eat off the seats in the metro. During our stay I saw maybe four pieces of litter on the ground (though perhaps nightlife districts like Roppongi are less pristine; we didn’t check). The downside is that outside hotels and some trains, there are practically no public trash bins – a legacy of the 1990s terrorist attacks – so you have to carry your rubbish with you. Since everything in Japan is wrapped in plastic, often twice or thrice, a small bag for your daily trash is highly recommended. There are almost no benches on the streets, save from the parks.

Food

I think the truly local flavors appealed to me a bit less than I expected. Purely vegetarian or vegan options are not that easy to find (surprisingly few tofu dishes or restaurants!), and one has to be cautious – many places consider dashi or bonito flakes (both fish-based) to be “vegetarian.” When getting a vegetarian set in a sushi restaurant I got a soup with a mussel swimming in it – fine for me, as I'm a flexitarian with a vegetarian preference, but an exclusive vegetarian could struggle. For anyone with food allergies: be wary. There’s a lot of bare-hand preparation in izakayas and sushi bars, ingredients are often stored together, and many places can’t guarantee allergen safety – and they’ll tell you so themselves.

What I did love were the desserts – especially Japanese-style versions of European sweets: light, delicious, just perfect. And the sweet local snacks with red bean paste, or dango – so good! We also ate quite a bit from konbinis (as all tourists do, I guess). Cheap, surprisingly varied, and even more surprisingly tasty. Any respectable Japanese person would probably faint hearing this, but out of all the onigiri I tried (and I tried a lot in different places), the absolute best one was the tuna mayo from Lawson xD

Be aware that in a lot of cafes and restaurants all guests have to order something (no splitting one order between two guests) AND additionally everyone has to order at least one drink, it's super common.

We're not into fine dining, didn't want to book any restaurants in advance not to restrict our wandering and most kaiseki/omakase experiences did not offer vegetarian options anyway, so we didn't dine in upscale places. Let me share my opinion about some spots that we have tried, though:

Tokyo:

Hitotema – a small bakery in Yanaka Ginza, absolutely yummy!

T's Tantan – vegan ramen, their spot on Tokyo Main Station. Very hard to find, you need to go through the gates. Tasty, hearty, a big portion, though nothing to write home about. Super nice staff. Huge props for making a vegan ramen, though when the vegan options are so hard to come by in Tokyo.

Taiyaki Sawada – best taiyaki, conveniently located. Fresh, hot, custard or red bean recommended. Cash only.

CoCo Ichibanya – we tried their curry spot near Harajuku. Will not rock your world (I prefer the Indian curry), but it's tasty and you can customize absolutely everything in this curry – plus they have a vegetarian version – just be careful to order a vegetarian sauce, not meat sauce with vegetables (which is also labeled as 'vegetarian' xD)

Dolce Festa Asakusa – wanted to try the fluffy pancakes. They were good, though slightly overpriced.

February Cafe – went there for Western breakfast one day, it was really good quality and portions, prepare to queue up, though.

Vegan Eat Tokyo – convenient location, on a pricier side for what it is, but it was good and filling.

Cafe Veloce – it's a chain and nothing too special, but we used it a few times to grab a black tea and a really good cheesecake

Plus some small cafes/sweets spots in Yanaka which names I don't remember, but they were cute.

Kanazawa:

Yabuken Soba – Really good handmade hot and cold soba, served by a mother-son duo. Very small place, cash only. The serving lady is super sweet.

LaniBowls – Exceptionally friendly staff serving fresh, tasty bowls with tons of mouthwatering toppings. A must have on a warm day such as the one when we visited.

Ebisu Sushi – One of the most exceptional meals I have ever had in my life. My husband got a classic menu, I asked for a vegetarian platter (though beware if you are an exclusive vegetarian, it may not be fully vegetarian, there was a mussel swimming in my soup). It was all more than perfect – the food, the service. We felt truly pampered. I won't say any more, so that I don't spoil it for you, just go there, you won't regret it. Cash only.

KuriSalo – Western breakfast spot, close to the Samurai district. They have nice sourdough and good croque monsieur.

Gelateria Ritorta – small portions and charging extra for a cone, but the gelato was tasty and they were serving some pretty unusual flavours

Slow Luck Vegetable Bal – not fully veggie, but plenty of veggie options. Fusion cuisine. To me, it was just okay, but my husband absolutely loved it.

We really wanted to try Aburaya and their special noodles as well, but the day we wanted to go, they were closed, unfortunately 🙁

Takayama:

No Name Coffee – very pretty little spot, serving really good waffles

Public transport

It’s fantastic – and heavily used by the locals, meaning car traffic isn’t nearly as bad as you’d imagine for such huge cities. Everything is clearly marked, including transfers between lines and modes of transport; after one or two rides, you’ve got the system figured out. The only thing that could be more intuitive is the ticket-buying process for trains (online tickets have to be picked up at a physical machine anyway and don't be surprised if the machine prints like 8 tickets per person for one journey).

What surprised us

1) The constant 'Buy, buy, buy!' Shopping malls are enormous, and even smaller stores have an overwhelming range of goods – to the point that it sometimes killed my desire to shop; too much choice! The streets absolutely bomb you with text, sound, and color, sometimes from several floors at once in the livelier districts. In parts of Tokyo, the sheer amount of stimuli can cause a sensory overload – if you want to know what I mean, look up Yodobashi Camera or, heaven help us, Donki. Thankfully, Japan isn’t only about such places 🙂

2) Tradition is very much alive in Japan. Local craftsmanship is carefully preserved – Kanazawa is known for gold leaf and Kaga-Yuzen, Takayama for sarubobo dolls, Kutani for its unique porcelain, Hida for silk. Every region has its own ceramics, chopsticks, and more. You can really see the pride the Japanese take in their culture and history. It has its darker sides, of course, but none of that affected us during our trip 😉

3) Everything in Japan seems to have a mascot – the local police, train lines, even shrines. They use them a lot for information and promotion, and I’ll admit: I’m completely defenseless against this kind of marketing. I want all the little frogs from Gero!

4) The number of elderly people (80–90 years olds, by the looks of it) still working was striking – not just as small business owners but also as regular employees and manual workers. And we noticed that in Japan, whatever your job, you’re expected to always be doing something – or at least look busy. Shop assistants, guards, waiters – they never sit down. If there are no orders, they’re cleaning, labeling, organizing. Work in customer service there is definitely not easy. You can also tell how much people work just by looking at the metro: even around 8 p.m., it’s still full of office workers heading home after starting at 8 in the morning.

5) Toilets – everyone’s heard of Japan’s famous toilet technology – the remote controls, the panels. You can laugh, but once you’ve used one, you’ll forever feel uneasy thinking about our barbaric European bathrooms. There’s real magic going on there. One day, we’re getting one – I swear.

6) Shrines – my favorite was probably Oyama Shrine in Kanazawa, with its lovely garden and small pond full of carp. The best ones are the smaller temples – the ones you can enjoy without the crowds. They have a wonderful atmosphere and often serve as community gathering places. We saw quite a few, but honestly, I could’ve seen many more 🙂 I didn’t expect to like them this much. Just one tip – if there's a sign NOT TO take photos of the inside of the shrine, just don't do it. Like, seriously, I have seen so many people blatantly ignoring those signs, it was infuriating.

7) Prices – surprisingly reasonable. The biggest expense is, of course, the flights – usually quite pricey. Shinkansen rides aren’t cheap either, but metro fares, restaurant meals, souvenirs – even the beautiful ones – all cost less than we expected, unless you’re going for fine dining. Hotels were also much more affordable than in comparable European trips (Vienna, London, Edinburgh etc.), and the standards were excellent.

What we didn’t like

1) The attitude toward animal welfare is very different in Japan. There are tons of “animal cafés” with cats, dogs, owls, otters, capybaras, hedgehogs, even pigs – and the vast majority are not run with the animals’ well-being in mind. You can buy puppies or kittens in pet shops, displayed behind glass like hamsters or rabbits sometimes are in Europe (and the care standards are probably just as questionable). Some restaurants even serve live seafood. I’d recommend avoiding any animal-related businesses in Japan, including the zoos, as truly ethical ones are very rare.

2) Nature in Japan is breathtaking, but if you’re scared of wild animals or insects, do your research before venturing outside big cities. Once you step beyond urban areas or even at the outskirts of some places, surprises like snakes, mukade (giant centipedes), or bears are quite possible – not to mention hornets or huge cicadas. We visited Hida No Sato in Takayama and while it was breathtaking, my husband almost stepped on a big live snake in one of the houses, while being just in his socks.

3) Sidewalks can be very narrow – sometimes they don’t exist at all, and you walk along the road marked only by a line of paint, sharing it with cyclists and pedestrians who can’t quite decide whether to stick to the left or the right 😉

Oh, and a tip at the end. If you buy a traditional fan with metal in it, they will not allow you to bring it in the carry-on luggage, learned that the hard way 😉

Yeah, I think that's it for now. If you have any specific questions, shoot 🙂