Here's our trip report – we are a couple in our early 40s from Los Angeles, traveling to Japan for the first time. We went in early November for 17 days, looking for delicious food, colorful leaves (living in LA, we miss autumn a lot) and cool birds (I'm a birdwatcher). This was fun for me to write a recap so hopefully this is helpful for someone! I know I've enjoyed reading other folks recaps.
Day 1: Tokyo
- Arrived in the early evening, so didn't do much. We stayed at the Richmond Hotel in Asakusa while we were in Tokyo and loved the hotel (top tier buffet breakfast, great location) and the neighborhood (fun to explore, busy but quiet at night).
Day 2: Tokyo – Ginza / Akihabara / Roppongi
- Wandered around Ginza, got fancy coffee at Cafe L'Ambre
- Explored Akihabara and went to a maid cafe (Maidreamin – whole experience was very bizarre)
- Got fancy Yakinuku in Ginza for a friend's birthday who happened to also be in town
- Found a tiny bar in Roppongi (just called "Bar.") with the kindest and most fascinating owner, and really special drinks.
Day 3: Tokyo – Shibuya, Shinjuku
- Wandered around Shibuya, visited the Square Enix store and Shibuya crossing
- Wandered around Shinjuku, attempted and failed to get tickets to a new Japan Pro Wrestling match
- Took an Airbnb tour that we loved "Explore Shinjuku's Nightlife" – I can't recommend it enough. Got to try a lot of amazing food, particularly things that we'd never order on our own like habushu. At this point I made the goal to eat anything offered me in Japan and I only bailed once (see Day 8).
Day 4: Tokyo – Rest Day / Nakano Broadway
- We were feeling pretty tired at this point and it was raining, so we decided to take an easier day and sleep in, and then went to explore Nakano Broadway and look for fun souveneirs (we were shopping for a 15 year old who wanted a very specific Pokemon figurine and never did find it).
- We also took a nice walk along the river in Asakusa and visited Senso-ji temple at night.
- Most importantly we saw TWO TANUKIS on the power lines near Senso-ji and it was a highlight of the trip.
Day 5: Tokyo – TeamLabs Borderless / Tokyo Tower / Meiji Jingu / Harajuku
- Crazy day – we started early at TeamLabs Borderless. It was obviosuly awesome but as two people with motion sickness we got pretty queasy near the end and it took a bit to recover.
- Then we went up the Tokyo Tower and loved it – fun, retro vibes and great views.
- We went right after to Meiji Jingu shrine which was the perfect place to reset after a few hours of watching insane indoor projections. Here we learned that the vending machines can dispense hot drinks (very surprising if you're not expecting it!) and learned about the massive Joro spider (they were everywhere – also very surprising if you're not expecting them! But they are friends!). We also had our first of two sightings of the sweet potato man ("sweet, sweet sweeeeeeet, potaaaaatoooooo") and regretted not buying a sweet potato very much.
- We wandered to Harajuku which was fun to walk through but very crowded, and then went to our evening plans at Rokusan Angel (an epic burlesque show). We had mixed opinions on it but it was a fun spectacle for sure. Definitely bring earplugs.
- Stopped at a karaoke bar (26 bar) back in Asakusa for a nightcap and met a really fun bartender who learned English via American action movies.
- At this point it has been a very overstimulating day, time for another chill day? Just kidding, we're going to Disney!
Day 6: Tokyo – DisneySea
- I loved it. We weren't able to get on that many rides (the lines were crazy, several of the big ones were closed, and the fast past system only got us so far). But the theming was awesome.
- We went into DisneySea not knowing who the heck Duffy was and left with… more Duffy merch than I'd like to admit.
- Found some delicious Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki near Asakusa at this place https://maps.app.goo.gl/QjPRaJWxijjyJMt5A, with a really sweet older lady running the show. She gave us rice crackers when we left!
Day 7: Tokyo – Asakusa Food Tour / Rest Day
- At this point we are pretty burnt out so didn't have anything super ambitious planned.
- We did go on another Airbnb food tour of Asakusa and tried Monjayaki (among other things). Liked it more than expected!
- Then we did various souvenir shopping things we wanted to do before leaving town, like visited Kappabashi (loved it) and Akihabara again.
- We shipped our luggage to Kyoto at some point this day
- Ended the night at the most peaceful bar Bar Acoustic Radio
Day 8: Toyko -> Hakone
- It's time to go to Hakone with our backpacks! We took the RomanceCar to Hakone-Yumoto station and ended up doing the Hakone loop clockwise (highly recommend – way less people going this dirrection). Got the bus ride (the worst part honestly) out of the way first, and stopped at Hakone-machi-Ko.
- Then we walked between Hakone-machi-Ko to Motohakone, got some great Fuji views and fall leaves along the way (even better ones to come!)
- Took the pirate ship across the lake (VIP was totally worth it), wandered around the lakeshore there at Togendai-ko a bit and met a friendly cat, and then took the ropeway up to inhale too many sulfur fumes, eat black eggs, and get even better Fuji views.
- Our hotel Madoka no Mori was at the top of the ropeway so we spent the rest of the night there trying to get our money's worth (that place was pricey). The rooms and onsen were amazing. The kaiseki meal was really intense and maybe not entirely for us, but I'm glad we got to experience it once. I ate everything aside from steamed Shirako (cod milt aka fish testicles) in tofu soup. Visually and texturally it was just a bit too much (I did end up trying it deep fried later in the trip).
Day 9: Hakone Open Air Museum -> Kyoto
- We stopped at the Hakone Open Air Museum on the way to Kyoto and loved it. Do not miss it. We also had a beautiful day which didn't hurt. The fall scenery is really popping at this point too.
- The train between Gora and Hakone-Yumoto was SO cool. The scenery was stunning and the switchbacks were wild.
- We picked up the bullet train at Odawara which was great because the train passes through the station at 150mph which is just staggering to see. Like, we kept trying to get a video but it came by so fast. Odawara was also a fun town to explore, we walked around a bit and visited the castle while waiting for our train reservation.
- We get into Kyoto late, do a quick walk down Pontocho Alley, and go to sleep.
Day 10: Kyoto – Nanzen-Ji, Eikando, Philosopher's Path and another Food Tour
- In Kyoto we are staying at Gozan Hotel & Serviced Apartments. We liked it! The location (near Sanjo station) was particularly convenient.
- Our first order of business was finding fresh Baumkuchen at IKARIYA BEIKA KYOTO
- Then we decided to visit some less popular temples closer to our hotel – Nanzen-Ji (the aquaduct was incredibly cool – you can walk along the top of it for a long time) and Eikando (also a wonderful, scenic temple).
- Then we did a stroll up the Philosopher's Path. So pretty! So many trash cans!
- We then did another Food tour and also loved this one. We covered a lot of ground in the Nishiki market area and were yet again offered Shirako (we ate it this time).
Day 11: Nara day trip
- This was a really easy trip and the deer were very charming.
- Todai-ji temple was mind blowing and Kasugataisha Shrine was also really special (all the deer wandering through the lanterns were really cute)
- We had a nice udon meal outside at Mizuya Chaya and had to fight off the deer.
- Once back in Kyoto, we hit up Nishiki market and ate lots of little snacks until we were full, then visited the Nintendo store (fun!)
Day 12: Kyoto – Kiyomizu-dera & Nearby, Kyoto Station area
- We got to Kiyomizu-dera at 7 am and it was beautiful. I can only imagine how crazy it gets later in the day, though.
- We walked through the area nearby the Yasaka Pagoda and happened upon the Ryozen Kannon temple by accident while looking for a bathroom. We were intrigued by the massive looming Buddha and it was a delightful little spot. You can go inside the giant Buddha!
- From there we swung by Yasaka Koshin-do (the colorful temple with "hanging monkeys") and Sanjūsangen-dō (WOW – don't miss this one – the scale of the 1001 statues is incredible).
- Then we walked over to Kyoto Station (which we hadn't seen yet) and went to the top of the station – not sure why this train station decided to go so hard but it certainly went hard – 10 stories of escalators!
Day 13: Kyoto – Arashiyama area, Kinkaku-ji, MACHO BAR
- This day was very cold. We were FROZEN. But this area was awesome (although very crowded)
- Another early morning took us to the bamboo grove first (around 7 am, it was totally manageable) and then to the Monkey Park (very much worth the hike). I really did not expect them to play the Can Can over the speakers while feeding the monkeys but I'm glad they did.
- After taking 1 million monkey pictures we took a cab up to Otagi Nenbutsuji which was very crowded (not set up for crowds at all) but I think extremely worth it. The statues made it feel very otherwordly.
- We walked down the hill stopping at Adashino Nenbutsuji, Giōji Temple and Saga Toriimoto Preserved Street along the way. After Otagi Nenbutsuji there were no crowds at all. In general, the northern part of Arashiyama was really cool to wander around in.
- We took a cab from Arashiyama over to Kinkaku-Ji. I'm sure there were public transport options but at this point we were very cold and running out of steam and it was totally worth the time savings.
- It started raining a lot at Kinkaku-Ji but I loved it a lot. I liked how well set up for crowds it was – very streamlined. Also gorgeous obviously. I'd definitely recommend visiting it even though it's a bit out of the way.
- But the day's not over yet! We then had a late night reservation for Macho Bar, where macho men carry you into the bar, squeeze juice for your drinks around your neck, and make puns like "Arigato GozaiMacho". I'm sure it's not for everyone but we had the BEST time even as a heterosexual couple. It felt surprisingly wholesome and the guys working there were extremely silly.
Day 14: Kyoto – Kurama / Kifune
- We took the train up to Kurama to hike to Kifune (we had no plans to go to the onsen, so decided to go this direction). Unfortunately, my knee started to give out, so we ended up taking the cable car up to Kurama and then splitting up – I took the cable car back down and my partner finished the hike to Kifune.
- Even in the peak fall foliage period, this was really quiet (on a Wednesday).
- Once back in Kyoto we rested a bit, did a lot more shopping, ate a Mont Blanc (don't recommend) and hit up Bar Alchemist (excellent cocktails)
Day 15: Kyoto – Kodaiji / Fushimi Inari
- At this point, we are getting pretty exhausted, so this was a pretty easy day.
- We hit up the Samurai Ninja Museum (cute, fun) during the day.
- At night we stopped by Kodaiji Temple (lit up at night during this season) – loved it – and then Fushimi Inari. Fushimi Inari we weren't able to get very high up (my knee was great for most of the trip but by Day 14 it was donezo). There was basically nobody here at 8pm and honestly it was pretty creepy. We saw a woman who had tripped and busted her lip and that spooked us a bit. I don't know that I would recommend going at night – it was definitely cool, but it was the only time I felt a little unsafe in Japan (even though we were obviously very safe – it just felt a little like being in a horror movie!).
Day 16: Osaka
- We are fully exhausted at this point. We get an early start with our luggage, leave it in a locker at Osaka-Umeda and hit up the Umeda Sky building (very disorenting but recommended).
- We make it down to our hotel (Centara Grand – recommended, but pricey) and take an epic nap before venturing to Den Den town (wish we had gotten to explore it more) and Dotonbori (very crowded, not as much easily accessible street food as we were hoping for).
- Some day we'll come back and give Osaka a fair shot but this was not that day. We had a great trip but we were physically destroyed at this point.
Day 17: Fly home!
- There was an airport limosine from Namba to Itami airport that worked out really well for us.
- I really regret not having a mask on the plane because everyone was sick and we got hit pretty hard by it when we got home.
Some tips we learned along the way (probably a lot of repeats from other posts)
- A red light on a cab means it is empty and can pick you up. A green light means it is full. This is counterintuitive! Also, they will open the doors for you. Also, showing the driver the address in Japanese on google maps will save you a lot of trouble.
- The rentable portable chargers are easy and super useful (we carried around battery packs but probably would've saved a lot of trouble to just use the portable chargers you can rent)
- There is a lot more smoking outside of Tokyo, so if you are sensitive to it, enjoy your time in smoke free bars in Tokyo while you can. Also don't forget to offer to buy the bartender a drink!
- Knowing a few basic Japanese phrases made everything so much more smooth. For most transactions I was able to get by in Japanese with only 3 phrases or so.
- Learn basic eating manners (don't leave your chopsticks in food, don't wipe your mouth with the wet nap, don't pass food between chopsticks)
- If you are interested in Japanese beauty / skincare products, and you go to a larger drug store in a touristy area, the women working there will help you find what you're looking for and give you recommendations (it's really hard to find specific brands if you don't know what they look like).
- It is really fun to collect something while you are in Japan! For us it was gashopon (we came home with like… 70 of them, for us and for gifts) and omamori (protective amulets from shrines and temples – be sure to write down what it means immediately after because you will forget). We saw a lot of people getting Goshuin and stamps. We also regretted throwing away our temple / shrine tickets because that would have been a nice thing to collect.
Hope this was helpful to someone and certainly feel free to ask any questions!
by nopeskidaisies