Trip was April 21-May 1 and it was perfect timing. Weather was beautiful, able to see wisteria, nemophilia, and the tail end of cherry blossoms all in the same trip. The last few days that intersected with golden week were not an issue, on Showa Day the rush hour trains were not packed for obvious reasons, but it will be much busier this weekend and next week since that’s when most of the actual holidays fall. If your trip intersects with Golden week, I would recommend lining up golden week with being in Tokyo and planning transit that would have you relying on the subway at rush hour during the actual holidays like Showa Day as it was pretty empty during the morning rush, but obviously places like Disney will be more crowded so plan accordingly.
If you come during this time, we did a day trip bus tour to Ashikaga Flower Park to see the wisteria and to Hitachi Seaside Park to see the nemophila. Due to the longer winter weather the wisteria bloom was delayed by a bit and were not in full bloom when we went at the very beginning of the trip, but still bloomed enough to make it worthwhile, stunningly pretty. I would say I would aim for the last week of April instead of third week for better chances. If you are not into flowers, is probably not worth the full day it required but if you are it’s beautiful.
By far the most pricey hotel was our Hakone one, we stayed at Hotel Indigo Gora and did the private onsen. Spent two nights which I would recommend, unfortunately the second day was rainy and very foggy, so skipped the usual loop activities, but was still beautiful and atmospheric. Did the Open-air Museum and the Venetian Glass Museum instead which were both beautiful. If you are looking for a traditional ryokan this is not it, it is very much aimed at westerners, which meant it was the only hotel bed we found comfortable the whole trip. In addition to the private onsen, they have a rare mixed gender bathing suit mandatory onsen, so this is a great option for families. They don’t do kaiseki cuisine, instead the dinners that are included in the room rate are meat focused, but they have an a la carte option so good for picky eaters. Had the second best steak of my life here.
Best meat of my life was in Kyoto, at a place called something like Charcoal Fire Izakaya Julia Wagyu, the name is silly but the meat is serious. It’s incredible Matsusaka beef in a tiny intimate restaurant on the river run by a really lovely couple. There was no wait here and it was reasonably priced, the wagyu dishes were maybe $50 USD. Absolutely make this a priority in Kyoto if you are looking for great beef.
Kyoto itself was very busy on the streets particularly around Gion, but many of the attractions we visited were not that busy at the times we went. Highly recommend doing Fushimi Inari at night, it’s a completely different atmosphere, nearly empty, and incredible. Eikando Zenrin-ji temple/Kennin-ji temple were so beautiful and not many people, same for Tenjuan garden which is the prettiest garden we saw. If you can get tickets for Miyako Odori or one of the similar performances in other months, felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity, incredible way of seeing geisha and the performance of traditional arts you wouldn’t experience anywhere else.
Nara was also great first thing in the morning. Bring a bag to hide your deer crackers in and show the deer your empty hands so they leave you alone. Learned to give the crackers to isolated deer far from others otherwise if in a group the group will swarm you and in my case, bite my butt. The most beautiful shrine of the trip was in Nara in Kasuga Taisha which is spread across an old forest. The best curry was also here, Wakakusa curry.
In Tokyo, found Akasaka to be a great area to stay. Quiet enough but very central, never had to travel all that far, bit of a walk to some stations but once on, wasn’t on the train very long most times. If you are jetlagged and wake up super early, go to Meiji shrine etc at dawn, incredible atmosphere. In general I really enjoyed reading the ema at shrines and everybody’s wishes for the future-ranged from world peace to I hope my kid gets into this specific preschool to I hope bitcoin goes to the moon. In addition to the usual activities, went to Aoyama cemetery and put a little dog charm we got from a shrine on Hachiko’s grave. The best ramen we had was at Ginza Kagari Roppongi, a truffle chicken ramen with no wait. I prefer tori paitan or chicken based light broth so this was ideal for me. Many places don’t take reservations, those that do sometimes only take them over the phone. Check your credit card as they might have a concierge which you can use to make reservations at those restaurants that only take phone reservations in Japanese.
by mrdl76