Trip Report: 13 days in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Hakone, and back to Tokyo

I’m long overdue in posting this report, we went last year, April 6, 2023 – April 18, 2023. I’ll do my best to keep it somewhat organized, but it’s harder now that things aren’t completely fresh. Most points will be very high level, but I’m happy to provide more detail in a private message if anyone has questions.

**JR Pass Note:** Our group of 4 had the regular, 7-day JR Pass during our trip, and it’s what allowed us to save some money on flights by going round trip from Tokyo. I know that the recent price change was significant (69% increase, last I saw) and makes it hard to justify unless you’re taking a TON of train rides. My recommendation is to avoid the JR pass and instead spend a little extra flying out of a different airport in order to avoid the travel time (and expense) of taking the Shinkansen back to the other side of the country. If you do elect to go for the JR Pass, note that the lines at the airport and every other major subway station are completely packed. We had budgeted 30 minutes to pick ours up (laughable) when we should have budgeted hours. My recommendation is to dodge the airport line, go to your hotel, get to another JR pickup location 30 minutes before they open the next morning and be at the front of the line. If you’re like us, you’ll be awake due to jetlag anyway.

**Day 1:** **Flight to Tokyo**. There’s not a ton to say about the flight, so I’ll use this day as an opportunity to give some travel related tips.

* Pack light and use hotel washing machines. We were surprised to find that every hotel had coin washing machines, and some even had them in the room. I’d have packed way lighter had I known.
* We went the portable wifi route, and we stuck together so we only needed one for the four of us. It worked great, but it’s worth noting that to return it, you’ll need to drop it at a mailbox *before* you go to the airport. Some airport terminals do not have a mailbox to accept portable wifi units, nor is there a counter to return them at. It’s a very expensive mistake to make.
* Trust Google Maps. The only times we got lost in major cities was when we thought we knew better that Google. Put in where you want to go, and pay attention to the subway color/number combos as well as the Platform number – very important you’re at the right platform, not just the right line and stop.

**Day 2:** Because you lose a day in the time change, this was really day 1 getting off the plane in Tokyo around 4pm. We had a lot planned for this evening, but we were all exhausted and it took far longer than expected to pick up portable wifi and get to our hotel, so we just got dinner around our hotel, which we found out was actually in Koreatown. We were trying to stay near Shinjuku, but messed up. I don’t recommend Koreatown – completely different vibes, and the dirtiest part of Tokyo we saw the whole time. The original plan was dinner at Ichiran ramen and then drinks and late night food at Omoide Yokocho AKA Memory Lane where they’ve got a bunch of bars crammed into a few little alleys. I’m sure it would have been fun, but jetlag got us good.

**Day 3:**

* Tsukiji Market – great call, must do in my opinion. The earlier you can get there, the better. The lines end up getting pretty long (on a Saturday at least) and we were able to try a ton of delicious food before it got too busy. Big win here, and I’ll be going again on my next trip.
* Gundam Center – **BIG** error on my part. Turns out that there are **TWO** Gundam centers in Tokyo. I booked tickets at one that was across the city, not the one that was near Tsukiji Market. We ended up not getting to experience this. I don’t know if it’s been shut down yet, but make note of which location you’re buying tickets for.
* Teamlab Planets – I’m pretty sure this is closed now. It was just OK. A cool experience, but probably not worth the time that we could be experiencing the rest of Tokyo.
* Pokemon Center Tokyo DX – We’re Pokemon fans and stopped into several of these, and they were all pretty fun but mostly the same experience. Would recommend if you’re a fan.
* Ginza – we walked around the Ginza area, which was very nice. I recommend it if you have any fashion lovers who want to get some shopping done. If I’m ever in Tokyo with my wife, this will be where we spend a day.
* Nihombashi station – we accidentally got off the subway here and stepped out into a really cool mall/food hall that was a totally unexpected thrill. If you’re in the area, I recommend stopping for a snack.
* Akihabara – We’re gaming/anime nerds (and proud), and expected this to be a huge feature of our trip, but it was a pretty big disappointment for everyone. It just felt kind of run down, and there wasn’t much of interest. You can find the Japanese version of many video games at Super Potato, or 200 stores that all sell the same anime figurines. I’d honestly pass on it completely if I were you – nerd or not.

**Day 4:**

* A note on Japanese Breakfast (not the band): We were surprised to find that most stores/restaurants in Japan don’t open until like, 10am. As a result, breakfast is mostly not a thing. I had some of the saddest (in a funny way) breakfasts of my life in Japan. Don’t try to wake up early and go to a Japanese diner for breakfast – they’ll offer you “bottomless toast.”
* Harajuku – A very lively area that felt a little too touristy for us. I’d probably recommend walking through it once – scoping out the stores – and then walking through the park just next to it to really experience peace after pure chaos. We went on a Sunday around midday, so that could be why it was so packed with bodies.
* Lunch was at a place nearby called Gyukatsu Motomura Harajuku. It was *phenomenal* but we had to wait hours in line for a spot at the bar. I later found out that there are identical restaurants in other cities that have no line, and we went to the busiest location by far. Don’t wait in line for this if you can go to another location at another time in your trip.
* Shibuya – We were fortunate enough to know a local who guided us through Shibuya and took us to some great spots. We got a beer at a brewery in Miyashita Park (a cool mall-like area with an open air park on the roof), walked a good bit sightseeing, then ended up at a really interesting place for dinner that he asked me not to share because it was already slammed with locals every night as it is. Sorry! Walking around Shibuya was great though – so many interesting areas.

**Day 5: Kyoto by Shinkansen**

* The shinkansen ride was great – a really cool experience. We got our ekiben (train bento box) and boarded. Thanks to this subreddit, we knew to get seats on the right side of the train when heading for Kyoto, so we got an awesome view of Mt. Fuji. It’s incredible.
* Wajoryomen Sugari – We got lunch at a ramen place we found on Google maps called Wajoryomen Sugari. Small place, basically no sign on the small door. If you *do* find it, it’s delicious and a great, quiet atmosphere. You put in your order at a self service machine at the end of a long, dark hallway that opens into a little open air courtyard/garden for waiting. You sit along the wall in queue and give your receipt to the guy at the bar when you’re up. Ramen was excellent.
* Hotel – We stayed at the Richmond Hotel Premier Kyoto Shijo, which I thought turned out great. It’s a straight shot down the road to a lot of good walking attractions.
* Gion and Kiyomizu-dera – We took a very long walk east through a mall that led toward the Kamo River, which has a nice walking trail next to it. Walked down for a while and crossed the river at Shijo-dori, which brings you into some historic buildings that are pretty cool. Walked through the Gion area – highly recommend – took us to the Hokanji Temple at around sunset. Things started closing up around then, which I found surprising, but the view was incredible. We kept the hike going up to Kiyomizu-dera and enjoyed it quite a bit. I recommend going earlier and maybe leaving around sunset, rather than arriving then.

**Day 6:**

* Fushimi Inari – If you’re down for a hike, I highly recommend this. Listen to what people recommend here: GO EARLY. It’s beautiful and peaceful, you won’t regret waking up before the sun. We had a somewhat unique experience, I think. We didn’t follow the tori gates up. Almost immediately after leaving the base, there is a side path up to a few little houses/huts. If you visit those, I think you’re supposed to go back down and follow the gates. We saw another path following the bamboo forest around the side of the huts and took that by mistake. It still leads you up the mountain eventually, but it’s a less defined path and probably added an hour. The trade off is you see some really cool shrines (and maybe memorials?) including some waterfalls. It’s a more intense path though. Not recommended if you’re out of shape (like me) unless you take your time a bit.
* Nijo Castle – I’d give this one a 6.5/10. Maybe not worth the entry fee, but certainly not a waste of time. There’s some interesting history they’ll explain to you – you’re walking around an ancient castle with gardens and a huge moat, so that’s cool.
* We spent the rest of the day trying out random food and visiting another Pokemon Center. It was pretty chill, but we had a big, early morning. It’s never a bad idea to build in some down time to just wander and eat 🙂

**Day 7:**

* Redemption Breakfast – the best breakfast we had in Japan by a long shot was from our hotel, The Richmond Hotel Premier Kyoto Shijo. It was buffet style but these little tiny servings of like 100 different things that were amazing. Don’t be too proud to eat at your hotel, it was incredible.
* This day was a lot of wandering that ended up being pretty cool. We stopped into a multi-story arcade (it just says ROUND1 on the map, that might be the name), looked into a cat cafe, and tried a lot of delicious food at random locations.
* Kyoto Tower – because we were mostly wandering, we saw Kyoto Tower and decided to walk there and go up. It was another cool experience that I wouldn’t say is a “must see.” But while we were in there, we saw a reference to the aquarium not far off.
* Kyoto Aquarium – This was a fun find! It’s in a nice park that we walked around a bit, and there were lots of cool sea animals from nearby. We really enjoyed it. There is a room in there that’s just got a huge wall of glass and little cutout benches that you can relax in while watching schools of fish swim.

**Day 8: Osaka**

* It’s a really quick train ride to Osaka from Kyoto, so it didn’t eat up much of our morning at all.
* Our hotel was Mimaru Osaka Namba North, which was fine, but we picked it for the location, just down the road from Dotonburi. Not super notable.
* Daimaru Shinsaibashi – It’s a mall with a bunch of cool stores for Japanese entertainment enthusiasts. There was a JUMP store that had merchandise for One Piece, JJK, Demon Slayer, etc. There was also a Pokemon Center, a trading card shop, and a Studio Ghibli store.
* Kuromon Ichiba Market – Delicious food, but man it was crowded. I don’t recommend any of the places where you’re packed in like a sardine when there are so many other places to get good food.
* Dotonburi – We spent the evening wandering the Dotonburi area. I recommend stopping for the meloncakes with ice cream. We went to a place that served fried everything that was pretty cool. Found a tiny bowling alley and bowled a round, got a picture with the Glico man, had some drinks, and went to bed.

**Day 9: Hiroshima/Miyajima**

* Second **BIG** error of the trip. Turns out Disney tickets are sold out well in advance. If you’re planning to go to Disney or Super Nintendo World, do yourself a favor and reserve tickets as far in advance as possible. Even the secondary sites were sold out. So we pivoted to an impromptu Hiroshima/Miyajima day trip.
* Miyajima – It ended up being an excellent pivot. I highly recommend visiting Miyajima. We got on a ferry over pretty early, which was a cool view by itself. Explored the island town a bit, ate some fun food (they’re known for their oysters), took some tori gate pictures, and then took a hike up to the ropeway for a ride to the top of the mountain. It’s a fantastic view, but there’s also somewhat rigorous hiking at the top. We decided to skip the hike in favor of spending some time in Hiroshima.
* Hiroshima – We only had a few hours here, and elected to spend them exploring the Peace Park. There’s a lot of history here, including a museum, dedicated to the city being bombed. Powerful stuff.

**Day 10: Shinkansen to Hakone**

* Hakone Travel Note: If you’re going somewhere less urban like Hakone, travel gets a little dicey. Google Maps no longer gives answers in the English alphabet, many bus stops will be entirely in Japanese. We almost took the wrong train and were saved by a helpful local. It took us sooo much longer than expected to navigate Hakone’s bus routes, and we got completely lost twice. I highly recommend a tour if you don’t have a car. Happy for those of you who figured it out on your own, but we couldn’t. There are Hakone day trips from Tokyo, but if you can find one that allows you to stay at a ryokan, that’d be perfect.
* Mikawaya Ryokan – we stayed at this beautiful ryokan. The service was outstanding. The food was very high quality, but very traditional, and we found we didn’t care for it. Worth a shot though! Our personal onsen bath was fantastic, with a wonderful view of the mountains. Unforgettable. My only real regret is not staying multiple nights.
* Check in is at something like 3pm. It’s a little difficult to fit much more than a Shinkansen trip in before that unless you know Japanese and can find your way around efficiently. We just enjoyed our room.

**Day 11: Shinkansen to Tokyo**

* **BIG** error #3 we spent the morning enjoying our room and the gardens, and figured we’d check out, then hit Motohakone Port to board the pirate ship and enjoy Lake Ashi. The issue is, there are no large bag storage lockers at the port. We showed up with our luggage and had nowhere to keep it if we wanted to get on the boat. So we weren’t able to do any of that fun stuff. It ended up being a good thing we didn’t try, because there were several buses that came by that were so full of people, we couldn’t even board. I’m telling you, Hakone is wonderful, but the transportation is a real showstopper. Lake Ashi is still beautiful and was worth the stop either way.
* It ended up being a travel day, we took the Shinkansen back to Tokyo and our hotel in Asakusa, Richmond Hotel Asakusa. The hotel was in a really great location and I liked the pick.
* Temples at Night – We spent the evening walking around the area, and found that visiting the nearby temples after dark was way cooler than during the daytime. They’re all lit up very well, the crowd is completely thinned out, and it’s just easier to enjoy. Highly recommend visiting the Hozomon Gate area after dark.

**Day 12:**

* Originally, this was to be a full day of Akihabara, but after our initial disappointment, we pivoted and just explored the Asakusa area. There is a great (busy) market to the south of Denboin that was a lot of fun to walk through.
* Origami Museum – It’s probably technically a museum, but it’s really more of a store. There’s some cute stuff, but I’d recommend dodging it.
* Tokyo Skytree – We walked over to Tokyo Skytree, which we found out was a really cool mall! They had a ton of fun pop culture stores like a Harry Potter store and a Kirby Cafe! It was a cool find.
* Ueno Park – We then met up with our local friend who volunteered to give us another tour, and we met in Ueno Park, which was nice, but not a must-see.
* Ameyoko Shopping District – We walked over to Ameyoko Shopping District, which had a lot of great little stops to eat and grab a drink. Fun atmosphere, and I imagine it’s a good spot to chat with locals if you’re interested.
* Marunouchi Square – We took a train to Marunouchi Square, which was a very cool sight. It’s got a very old train station in the middle of on of the most modern urban environments I’ve ever seen.
* We finished the night walking *under* the subway line, and our guide told us there are izakayas and bars for miles underneath it. It was a really fun walk and we had a lot to eat and drink to cap off our trip.

**Day 13: Back to America**

* Ichiran – We checked out of our hotel and grabbed lunch at Ichiran ramen before heading to the airport. I have to say, of the 4 bowls of ramen I had on the trip from various local places (all well reviewed), Ichiran was my favorite, and I can’t wait to go back. I can understand now how hipsters hate it. It feels kind of like fast casual ramen, but damn it’s good. It’ll be the first thing I eat when I get back.

**Overall Impressions:**

Initially I was pulling the trigger on this trip because I figured it would be once-in-a-lifetime. Not a chance. I’ll be back as soon as it’s reasonable to take another 2 weeks off. I loved Japan.

* Favorite city: Tokyo. I expected to like Kyoto a lot more, and it just felt a little worn down. Tokyo is very modern and lively and I could spend two full weeks there exploring.
* Biggest Regret: I should have scheduled 2 full days for Hakone. If you’re going to schedule a leg dedicated to relaxing and soaking it all in, you need to actually have time to relax.
* The people of Japan are very nice in the sense that they are extremely polite and courteous, but that is not the same “nice” that some of us in the States are used to. Nobody is going out of their way to talk to you, in my experience. They’re going to keep to themselves in 99% of situations. Be ready for very minimal conversation outside of your group.
* Try to avoid extremely busy areas and long lines. There’s so much to enjoy everywhere you turn – there is really no need to waste the time you have.

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I’d be happy to give clarity to anything above – It’s a long report, but I could go on at length about any specific item. Happy to share hotel info, tips, whatever. Last thing – pull the trigger! Pick some dates and get tickets, you won’t regret it.