Notes and Tips from my 12-Day Trip in Japan

Just came back from a 10-day Trip in Japan (second time visiting): 2 days in Sendai, 3 days in Nikko, and 5 days in Tokyo. Here are some of my notes/tips:

Packing Light:

All the hotels I stayed at (all budget hotels) had all the essential toiletries, even including face cleansers and lotions, as well as pajamas and slippers. So if you don't mind not using your own skincare products and want to pack super light, you can forego these things.

Transportation:

My itinerary included quite a bit of traveling via various modes of transportation: Shinkansen, local trains operated by different companies, buses, etc.

JR Pass: For the first 5 days of my trip I got a JR East Pass. I flew into Haneda airport but had to travel to T2's JR travel services office to get it. The pass covered the monorail from Haneda into Tokyo, and from there I took the Shinkansen north. Use the fare calculator on their website to see if it was worth getting it for your itinerary. For me it was.

Shinkansen: all the Shinkansen routes I took required reservation of seats (free with my pass), and I made the reservations in person at the ticketing windows just before the next train would depart. It was a pretty smooth process. I didn't have to reserve online days ahead but I can't say that for all Shinkansen lines. Some older trains didn't have luggage racks; just be ware of the if you're traveling with a big luggage.

Suica card: For the second half of the trip, which was in Tokyo, I got a Suica card. I got a regular one (not the welcome one) since that was what the machine sold. For the regular one, there is a 500 yen deposit. It's good for 10 years so you can hold on to it at the end of the trip, but I decided to return it. To return it, you'll get the 500 yen deposit back, plus whatever the remaining balance is less a 220 yen processing fee. Or you can spend all the remaining balance, then when you return the card, you'll just get the deposit back, which was what I did. I got to Narita airport, spent the remaining balance at a convenience store, then returned the card at a Suica Card return machine.

Other trains:

Part of my trip included changing from trains to Shinkansen to local trains. It may seem quite confusing at first, but fear not! Google map is an excellently accurate app, and the local ticketing offices were always super helpful. And, once you get the hang of things, you'll notice that all connections and trains run well together, even if operated by different companies!

Last but not least, always give yourself extra time to navigate these things, and don't be late as trains leave on time!

Smaller Places Worth Visiting:

Yamadera temple (close to Sendai) is a short hike in the mountains. The hike itself is dreamy as it meanders up a mountain with lush moss and a variety of trees and tiny caves. There are various temples dotted along the route until you reach the temple at the top. At this time of the year (end of Oct to early Nov) the leaves have started to turn colors as well!

Nikko: worth staying for at least two nights. Pick one of the many onsen hotels; it was an amazing experience! The first day we visited the world heritage Toshogu Shrine. It was incredibly crowded but very orderly. The second day we visited the Edo Wonderland, which surprisingly weren't nearly as crowded. It's like a theme park and has both paid and free experiences you can participate in as well as free shows you can watch. It was a great way to better understand the Edo period and the culture. We could've stayed one more night to do more hiking in this area or at least started one of our days earlier to fit some hiking in, but we enjoyed our onsen hotel too much lol

Misc thoughts:

Bring cash! And in smaller places and for buses, coins (for exact change) are super helpful to have on hand.

Edited to add one more tip: make sure you eat enough fiber (veggies and fruits, etc.)! I had a hard time lol