the primary vacation was a total of 21 days, 4 days in tokyo, then train to osaka for 2.5 days, yamazaki distillery, magome to tsumago for the nakasendo trail in a day, train to fuji for fujiQ for a day, then train back to tokyo to finish the trip with stops.
to start i am a very tall man at 6'8 was a fully prepared for inconvenience of size everywhere but honestly most places like bars or restaurants while tight or cramped are realistic and manageable in dimensions.
some tall man centric things that i learned.
1. absolutely go with JAL or ANA over any usa provider for airlines. JAL seats might be the biggest economy seats and i had minor legroom to spare on top of the superior service. i would also recommend to book on JAL because thats the only way to can get a assigned seat from purchase, and yes their website sucks, most japanaese to english websites are broken and barely work.
2. any idea you have about buying clothes in tall or XL or larger aint happening. i went to 10+ stores from western clothing to big n tall to workman stores and everything was either western prices for western brands or online for larger sizes.
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the only issues of with my height was entering trains, which i secretly enjoyed putting on a show of exiting for the packed trains. and very old buildings, like i went into a shop in magome, one of those 300 year old timber and they had a noren ( cloth divider) in front of a ceiling cross beam that i walked right into, my head smacked it so hard the building shook and the owner panicked.
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the japanese are too polite to gawk but once your past them they'll show there reaction. lots of blank stares and EHHHH. with hands raising to show height.
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i would recommend booking.com, they are the only website serving japan that you can reserve by bed size. i found a couple of king sizes thoughout tokyo.
let me provide some links that will be helpful
https://www.kimonomachi.co.jp/c/yukata/yukatamens/yukatamens_yukata/yukatamens_tanpin for mens kimono and yakata in extra large and bigger. ships from kyoto and took about 3 days to my hotel.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/vUNA1Xp2QqHaJeZ4A apparently where sumo wrestlers get their big clothes, styles were dated and kinda high but next door is a tabi shoe maker and is one of the last to make tabi shoes for larger feet(sumo wrestler neighborhood ). i went over but the shop was closed early so thats still up in the air
https://maps.app.goo.gl/UWoqzrSCBpKpccrq9
honestly, just went to uniqlo.jp and bought a ton of clothes online. the info from people online is confusing saying you need a JP account then pay at a store within a hour to then pickup at a later date. yeah that doesnt work, i went to pay at shibuya and clerk said its for japanese citizens only and wouldnt let me pay for my order. so i payed with my credit card online instead and had it shipped to the akihabrara store. no issues, it took about 6 days and picked up at the counter.
donki and other stores will have XL but starting at 25$, not that great of a deal .one unique idea i had was a military surplus would have larger sizes https://maps.app.goo.gl/KNYQ8exkpAjZhG259 they do have a ton of larger clothes but also a lot of full uniforms you can buy. honestly was a cool stop but a warning that they have a full nazi section and imperial japan section, caught me off guard.
fuji Q while neat with a nice hotel, was a bust, due to my height i could only ride 2 out of the 6 big rides and to rained that day so i walked around fujikawaguchiko instead.
i also was on a big whiskey hunt and was moderately successful if anyones interested ( WT 12, only found 1 bottle over 3 weeks) and the yamazaki distillery was great, tickets was a major hassle.
really liked kawagoe, last tues of the month they have a flea market on a temple grounds. lots of antique shopping while they are doing ceremony's in the background, very cool. nice day trip.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/jK8vZt5WrU3gYJsaA
my honest opinion was that tokyo was fascinating and i will be definitely returning but shibuya and shinjuku where just too much effort and overcrowded. akihabrara is hell for tall, large people and not worth it at all. ueno was cool and also asakusa was suprisingly nice. i walked from ueno to ikebukuro and so many beautiful niehborhoods in between.
p.s this is the cheapest luggage for hardcases i found. 9 bottles made it back unbroken and the luggage got banged up but made it. got a 60L for 40$ also had tons of affordable souvenirs and candy. honestly the busy popular donkis suck and l left each without buying anything. the smaller ones with locals were much better shopping experiences. https://maps.app.goo.gl/Po3vcd4xLviszMjq7
by jondis11