After coming back from Japan, I've decided to write this post to primarily to selfishly document and consolidate my thoughts on a wonderful two-week trip to Japan but also with some hope that this post and any discussion can support others planning to visit Japan.

I wisely should preface that the below is my (26M) opinion traveling with my girlfriend (26F) from the UK. This was our first holiday in Asia and we have previously only travelled within Europe with one visit to the US. Other's experiences may vary and a 2 week trip is not enough to really form a complete, strong opinion of life in Japan

Trip Summary

A more detailed itinerary is included at the bottom of this post for those interested with a brief summary here. We did a very typical trip to Tokyo arriving on the 11th November, staying in Asakusa, leaving for Kyoto, Karawamachi (40 mins walk from Kyoto station) on the 18th November, and arriving back in the UK on 25th November. I would've loved to have spent more time and stayed in other cities, but overall this two week split worked perfectly for our interests for our first trip to Japan. We mixed in day trips to various places, including DisneySea, Kamakura, Enoshima, Hiroshima, Fukuoka (Sumo Wrestling Grand Tournament), and Nara.

Public Transport

Very clean, reliable, frequent and BUSY. Public transport in Japan is the busiest I have ever experienced, and you should expect to be pushed, crammed, touched and packed in, especially at rush hour. We found this tolerable and a non-issue but this may be more of a concern to others. I did not research private transport options, but it would be significantly more expensive and generally the city is not walkable. We were glad that we only had to manage a minor cold that lasted a few days during our trip, given the amount of coughing, sneezing and reported abundance of flu when we visited. I did find the personal hygiene and manners of people to be poor, with a lack of covering up coughing and sneezing. There were many people using masks, however.

Buy an IC card as soon as you arrive and top it up. Get cash at an ATM at nearest opportunity when arriving. Bringing Yen isn't needed, but you will definitely need cash for public transport and for some experiences. There are plenty of no-fee ATMs.

For the second half of our trip in Kyoto, it was a no-brainer to buy the JR west all area pass as we planned to visit fukuoka and Hiroshima. We made the rookie mistake of pre-booking and not bringing the same physical card (Card details must be on the card), don't do this. If you are not planning any extensive day trips, the card probably isn't worth it and I overestimated how useful it would be for traveling throughout Kyoto & Osaka. It was a shame that the JR pass couldn't be used on the majority of metros/buses, and the shinkansen from Kyoto to Osaka but this was insignificant in comparison to the money saved on the day trips that used the shinkansen. The pass was ~26,000 yen per person for 7 days, and without the pass, I believe I would have spent roughly double. In hindsight, staying in Osaka would have made traveling easier with this pass, I think.

If you do get the JR pass, do your research to make sure its worth it, book with a physical card and bring it with you! You don't want to mess this up as it can be a nightmare to resolve when you are there. Fortunately, the domestic only support still helped us as the tourist support was closed. We weren't in a rush, but it would be very stressful trying to sort this out if you had commitments on the same day. We saw extensive queues in the morning for rail support.

Cuisine

Controversially, I would rate the Japanese cuisine as relatively okay/below average in comparison to the cuisines throughout Europe. Not to say that we didn't thoroughly enjoy the majority of our meals, but after experiencing a wide range of food (sushi, ramen, miso soup, tonkatsu, curry, wagyu, etc.) we came to the conclusion that the food was delicious and a nice change, but ultimately less preferable to other European cuisines (Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, etc.). One great thing about the Japanese food in all areas is that it is great value for money and how healthy it is. Our favourite food was sushi and Japanese curry. Generally we found we could have a great meal with a couple of alcoholic drinks easily under £20 (4000 Yen) per person. I should also note that we decided not to eat at any high end/fine dining restaurants, and I have heard very positive reviews about some of these restaurants around Tokyo and Japan if you are willing to spend the money.

There is a no tipping culture, although I did see the odd spot here and there that collected tips. Despite no tips being expected, the service was wonderful and I had good experiences at almost every place I went to. Most places are very welcoming and accepting of tourists.

Shopping

I must first highlight my typical lack of interest in shopping however at some locations and after reading some reviews, I did decide to look at various shops. I am not a big shopper, but I spent more than I planned at both Gu and Asics. The former was a great shop, recommended by many with well priced, good quality clothes. The latter was motivated by a realisation that running shoes/trainers are better priced than the UK. I couldn't resist getting a new pair of asics gel kayano 32's for a price roughly £60 cheaper.

The tax free aspect couldnt be simpler, just make sure you have your passport at all times, and share at the till.

Booking and Reservations

All reservations I made are detailed below. Generally it was possible to book things on the spot or 1-3 days before the visit.

– Hotel in Tokyo, Asakusa, 105,000 Yen for 7 nights. Hotel in Kyoto, 104,000 yen for 6 nights. These were both booked ~5 months in advance. I did a last minute booking during our trip at a hotel 1 stop away from Rinku town for 5000 yen for 1 night.

-Return flights with a 1 hour stopover in China (16h journey from UK to Japan) booked also 5 months prior for 137,000 yen each. We flew with China Eastern and have no major complaints. I've only been on one long haul flight previously, with BA to America. The BA experience was definitely better

– I missed out on getting grand tournament tickets which I think were available ~1-2 months before the start date. I still wanted to go and therefore had to pay an inflated amount via viator, £53 each for a day of sumo wrestling in Fukuoka. I think the tickets would be less than half that price if you manage to book directly. I thoroughly enjoyed the sumo wrestling so I still found it worth.

– Teamlab, we went to borderless which I would definitely recommend. Pre-booking is available weeks in advance but I managed to book a few days in advance. I recommend pre-booking as early as possible to get the earliest time slot as it gets busy quickly, suprise surprise!

– Shibuya sky I would also recommend and booking was available 2 weeks before and was easy to get. I'm not sure how quickly these sell out, but they were definitely sold out on the day.

– DisneySea, we booked this a week or 2 before and I think this can be booked even a day or 2 out. We went on a weekday since it was cheaper. I think disneyland is the same.

– Sakurai Tea Experience – I found this while I was out in Japan but struggled to get a reservation. Fortunately I managed to book this just before we left on Day 8. Definitely recommend pre-booking for those that are interested.

Day by Day Itinerary

I didn't document this properly but I've recalled this as best as possible while it is fresh.

Day 1 – Arrive in Asakusa and explore

We definitely felt the jet lag but managed to not let it affect our plans. Be smart and don't expect to do too much in your first few days (He says as he soon plans to write about DisneySea on Day 3). We arrived at Tokyo Narita airport, got the train to Asakusa directly for ~1300 yen each (cash only) and arrived at the hotel at 3pm. We took it easy and just explored the main area in Asakusa and Senso-Ji. We had some ramen in the main area. It was the first ramen I ever had and I found it to be okay and somewhat underwhelming given previous reviews I read about ramen. However it was great value for money, filling and enjoyable.

Day 2 – Explore Ueno park and Tokyo National Museum

The park was great and the museum was okay. We aren't massively into art or cultural artifacts, but we still spent plenty of time in the museum and enjoyed it. We turned up and got tickets easily. We queued for an hour for tonkatsu in Ueno which was unnecessary. We tried tonkatsu once and didn't eat it again for the rest of the trip, it was enjoyable but nothing exciting (until curry is added). After exploring the park, museum and Ueno, we walked down to Akhihabara.

We aren't anime fans at all, with my knowledge and love ends at Yu-Gi-Oh and my girlfriend probably not knowing what anime was until we were on the flight out. However, we really enjoyed the atmosphere in Akhihabara and had a great time wondering around. We ventured into some arcades and watched some very skilled gamers at some of the guitar-hero like game.

Following no success on the claw machines in Akhihabara, we ended up in nearby taito city at Sushi Ko for… take a guess. It was one of our favourite meals. We were sat at the counter with welcoming and chatty locals watching a chef prepare our sushi. It was one of our more relatively more expensive meals but was still incredible value for money at under 5000 yen each with 4-5 alcoholic drinks and plentiful sushi.

Day 3 – DisneySea

The happiest place on earth destroyed us. We are active and healthy travellers who explore and spend a lot of time on our feet. This was one of the most taxing trips we've done with ~25000 steps on average per day. Despite this, the day out at DisneySea left us absolutely wrecked and we felt the affects for a few days at least. Despite this, I'm glad we went. I saw a kid with a portable stool and he definitely had the right idea.

I am not a massive theme park enthusiast but I went in with the mindset to have the best experience possible and to do as many rides as possible. We did not plan an optimal route for the rides, and there are other posts that detail this extensively. As a result, we did miss out on some rides but we really didn't mind. The queues were absolutely crazy, with queues for the most popular rides (Frozen, soaring, tangled) being ~2.5-3 hours for most of the day. There were a few rides closed on the day which likely made things worse. The queuing, standing and walking left our feet numb by the end of the day with pain that took some days to slowly ease. Everyone expects queues but the long queues did dampen the experience a bit. You can spend more money to skip the line for the more competitive theme parkers. Out of the rides I went on, I would recommend tower of terror, raging spirits, nemo, Sindbad. The latter 2 had minimal queues so shouldn't be missed. Having the story/audio being in Japanese does unfortunately take away from the experience a bit.

If there is a specific restaurant you want to visit, book ahead of time. I don't know how early you need to book, but on the day there were 0 options. We didn't want to spend time queuing for food aswell as rides, and there were plenty of places around that you could get a quick bite. The food was surprisingly not too expensive. We ate at new york deli and the food was pretty average but kept us going. I unfortunately didnt get to try out the popcorn but there were some interesting flavours. The show at the end on the water we found the highlight of the day, despite some reviews I read. Don't miss this. We saw some people camping hours before which is definitely a choice. The earlier show is okay but potentially skippable if you want to focus on rides more.

Day 4 – Borderless, Odaiba, and Shibuya Sky

We had the earliest slot at Teamlab Borderless and wondered around for over 2 hours. We really enjoyed the experience. From what I've read online, this is definitely the teamlab of choice. We then ventured over to Odaiba as we didnt fit this into Day 2 and had a look around. If our feet weren't ruined from the endless time on feet from the day before, we might have done a bit more exploring. We were happy to have a brief look around and go to the main shopping centres, including a great lunch and the strongest (and only) highball I have ever had in a Asian fusion restaurant, Moonsoon Cafe. Would definitely recommend.

We had a booking at Shibuya Sky for 8pm. In hindsight, I would have booked this earlier as we were a bit worn out from the jet lag and Day 3, but we had a great time. Prior to this, we went to a conveyor belt sushi. It was okay and cheaper than Day 2, although notably worse quality. We found Shibuya too busy, personally, and did not come back.

Day 5 – Harajuku, Meiji Shrine, and Shinjuku

On Day 4, we arrived at Shibuya too late to see the Meiji shrine so we decided to come straight back on day 5. We also had a walk through Yoyogi park which was really enjoyable first thing in the morning. We then took the train to Shinjuku and explored. Similar to Shibuya, we found this to be very busy and with no major redeeming qualities to return again. We ate at no meat , no life 6 for our first wagyu experience, which we enjoyed and found great value for money. They offered an unlimited alcohol drink option which was only 1500 yen per person.

Day 6 – Kamakura and Enoshima

We got the train and stopped a stop before Kamakura station to do the typical walk down towards Kamakura with stops at temples along the way. We really enjoyed our time here and would recommend it. There are some beautiful and charming temples out of the way that are very quiet. We ended up at wine republic in kamakura that did good pasta dishes and some tasty wine at a great price. On another day, we may have drank a bit more here but after doing this already at the end of day 5, we ended up with a small tasting, went to the great Buddha and headed to Enoshima. Enoshima was great and beautiful at night, definitely worth visiting. We did go up the sky candle and I think its worth. With some luck, you can see Mount Fiji. Unfortunately my luck was instead reserved for Day 7.

Day 7 – Final full day in Tokyo

For our final day we considered a few options, including DisneyLand, and Hakone. Ultimately we decided to do a bit more exploring and to revisit Akhihabara as we enjoyed that area. We ventured over to Minato city and did some shopping at Gu then ventured over to Akhihabara. There is not as much to specifically note on this day, however I am glad to share that I managed to succeed in my role as a boyfriend, and I won a big toy for my GF on the claw machine.

Day 8 – Sakurai Tea Experience, Tokyo -> Kyoto

We did a final walk around Asakusa before checking out and headed towards the Sakurai tea experience before we left for Kyoto. We finally had some Tokyo pizza at the Pizza Slice chain and really enjoyed it. We had an afternoon Sakurai tea experience and enjoyed ourselves, although it was relatively very expensive for 10,000 yen each, depending on what you choose. This place was well reviewed and I was a bit underwhelmed.

We then got the shinkansen to Kyoto which was easy to book, with trains running frequently. We got to the hotel late (after some troubles with the JR pass mentioned earlier) and ventured to a nearby dumpling place, Gyoza-dokoro Sukemasa, which was very nice and great value for money.