Hi all, this was my third trip to Japan, and it was late November/early December.
One of my favourite things to do is simply walking around, so if some days feel light that’s what I’m doing. With the exception of a few things I call out, most of the time for food I’m having some sushi, kushikatsu or soba somewhere. My travel style tends towards relaxed rather than hectic.
I’ve spent some time in this report talking about things that didn’t go *quite* so well. I’m not doing it to complain or whine, but just to give a different perspective and be helpful to others. I had an amazing time, so I don’t want people to think that the trip was bad!
**Tokyo**
**Days 1-3**
These were really acclimatisation days. Jetlag hit more than normal, so we did a lot of early morning walks and park visits, as well as some light shopping. One of my checked bags went missing on my flight, but thankfully it was delivered to the hotel the next morning. That meant my first priority was some pyjamas and toiletries.
A friend from my childhood happened to be in the city for a conference so we had a fantastic dinner at a **Gonpachi**. Some might say it’s a bit of a tourist trap, but the food is really good and caters for every dietary requirement. We just ordered a ton of things and shared. We ended the night at the bar on top of the **Asahi** building, which is a little old-fashioned but has great views.
I won’t dwell too much on Tokyo as I was mostly going over a trodden path, and if you’re interested you can read my other Tokyo trips on my profile.
***TLDR***: even though losing my luggage was a pain, the airport dealt with it really well and got us all the forms we needed to fill out, and the luggage arrived without incident on the next flight.
**Kyoto**
**Day 4**
I used the SmartEx app to pre-book the Shinkansen to Kyoto as we needed the oversize luggage seats. For some reason, this app is only available in certain countries so I had to use my American Apple account to download the app. Other than that, it was completely seamless. However, you need to make sure if you’re using QR codes that you disable Express Travel Card on your iPhone otherwise you might also tap in with your IC card which will mess things up. I realised it happened while on the Shinkansen, so when I reached Kyoto Station I explained the situation and the friendly attendant reset my IC card for me.
The train itself is fine. I understand the appeal of the Shinkansen if you’ve not taken many trains or no high-speed ones, but I have already done it a bunch of times elsewhere so it doesn’t feel more special than a regular train to me. That said, it was great to see Mt Fuji for a few minutes.
I’m not going to lie. I found Kyoto by far the most stressful place I’ve been to in Japan. Given that it’s the most historic of the big cities, it does feel ancient and the infrastructure just isn’t there to support the number of locals and tourists. The historic narrow roads aren’t fun to walk down when there’s buses flying inches from your face and thousands of tourists shuffling along in their wooden shoes.
Upon arrival at Kyoto Station we took a taxi to our accommodation, and I’m guessing we were very unlucky, but several times when we got taxis the drivers got lost! One driver even left the car for several minutes to get his bearings, leaving us in the backseat in the middle of the street!
***Highlight***: **Kodai-Ji Temple** was a fairly calm oasis in the chaos of Kyoto.
**Day 5**
We wanted to visit the **Imperial Palace** but unfortunately it was closed without advanced notice. We enjoyed walking the grounds though.
Other highlights from Kyoto included **Toji Temple** and **Kiyomizu-dera** (on the other side of the hill from afar, because when you’re in it you can’t see it!).
Kyoto’s not going to be for everyone. I was a bit whelmed by the temples after the first few, since they don’t really mean anything to me other than being pretty. And Japan isn’t short on pretty architecture in the first place. We ended up skipping most of the ones on the list.
Similarly, the **tori gates** while really aesthetic are mostly sponsorships from corporations. It’s effectively like walking through a bunch of ads. And shuffling around the **Gion** area just felt…performative? It was very pretty but it was just thousands of people trying to have photo shoots.
We also visited the **Suntory Brewery** for a tour (must be prebooked, but is free) which was a whole lot of fun. It’s really well-run and they give you a lot of beer to drink in a short time. Not particularly Kyoto-specific but I had a great time.
Conventional wisdom is that you should get up very early to see the sights before they get busy. But what that means is you really need to pick ONE thing that day, and whatever else you do on that day will be absolutely packed. I’m well aware I’m a tourist complaining about tourism, but I preferred seeing things from afar rather than being in it.
In the nice weather, it was just unbelievably cramped and claustrophobic to do anything, including just walking from A to B. Buses were regularly full and drove past stops. You could tell that locals were annoyed by all the tourists and I don’t blame them, but I feel like the municipalities are partly to blame because the bus routes are catering to both commuters and tourists when they could easily have been split more sensibly. I know that Kyoto is in enormous financial problems so those solutions might just be too expensive right now.
I think Kyoto requires careful planning, and you need to know what your priorities are. If you’re counting on seeing something, you need to make it your first port of call. I honestly felt a bit like I was missing something in Kyoto since so many people on here say it’s their favourite place in Japan, but I guess it’s just not for me.
**Osaka**
**Day 6**
On the other hand, I really enjoyed the day trip to Osaka, and it’s a perfect contrast to Kyoto. It’s got more people, but it’s got lots of wide open spaces and water which for me is a lot more relaxing.
We started out at the **Museum of Housing and Living**, which was quite fun and a good way to spend the morning. Afterwards we looked for okonomiyaki which took us to a location we didn’t know had a large line and with sunken cost setting in we decided to wait it out. I think it took about 40 minutes to be seated, which is way more than I would usually tolerate. The okonomiyaki was good, but not worth waiting in line for.
We took a walk to **Osaka Castle**, and rather than going in we went to the little shopping plaza on the grounds and to the top-floor bar. It was a glorious day and the castle looked beautiful. We hung out there for an hour or so, with perfect views and drinks.
It was getting close to sunset so we headed to **Umeda Sky**. It was quite a long line to get in, but we made it comfortably in time to watch the sunset. We did a little shopping in the streets below then headed back to Kyoto.
***TLDR***: I’d really like to spend more time in Osaka, it was a lot of fun and had great energy.
**Okinawa**
**Day 7**
We headed to Kyoto Station that morning to catch an express train to KIX, which requires both a ticket and a supplement to be paid onboard. The line for tickets was very long but fairly efficient, but it did mean it was a little bit of a rush to get to the right platform in time.
KIX airport was a breeze for domestic travel, with a bunch of nice food options post security (which is something you can’t always rely on as we found out later!). We had soba at **Sojibo** which was very tasty.
We flew to Okinawa, which took around 2 hours 15, and in that time there is no real onboard service, even in business class, other than a cup of (tasty) juice. Unlike in Europe there’s nothing to buy other than lots of calendars (?) so if you’re flying domestically on the main airlines, bring food and drink with you.
We got a taxi to the hotel, and checked in. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Naha, which is the tallest building in the city. It was a good hotel with friendly staff and a good breakfast. If you’re in a suite you can access the rooftop which was a pleasant place to watch the sunset most evenings.
To finish the day we walked down the main strip which is really fun and reminded me a little of Las Vegas, and it full of domestic tourists wearing all the iconic Okinawa merch like Orion Beer and Blue Seal ice cream shirts. We had dinner in **Norengai** which had live Okinawan music in amongst mini restaurants that was really awesome. It was a great way to start the trip.
**Day 8**
The second day we walked to the **Chinese Garden** which was beautiful, and mostly spent our time exploring the city on foot, going through the covered markets. It was pretty chilled day as we knew the next couple would be more hectic. We had some absolutely delicious soba at a place called **Sanraku**, next to the Regency.
***TLDR***: Okinawa will not disappoint if you like cats. I saw more than anywhere I’ve been in Japan! Every store and stall seemed to have its resident cat.
**Day 9**
We rented a car to do some more exploring. We first headed to **American Village**, which was bigger than I thought, and did some shopping. It’s kitchy but charming. Next stop was the **Cape Zanpa** lighthouse which offered great views, and had some Blue Seal ice cream next to it.
Afterwards we headed to **Cape Maeda** which was unfortunately cordoned off, but still had lovely views.
In the late afternoon we drove to **Seragaki Island** to have dinner at the resort there. It felt the most tropical of the places we went to that day, with its palm trees and exotic plants.
Once it became dark we headed down to the **Southeast Botanical Gardens**. They had spectacular light and sound shows, which I would have recommended wholeheartedly but is definitely clouded by the fact that there were animals kept in the gardens and some of the conditions weren’t ethical. Some seemed to be in distress at the noise and showed stress behaviours. I don’t think I would have gone had I known there would be animals there. It’s a shame because it was beautiful otherwise.
**Day 10**
We made an early start to the day by driving south of Naha, visiting **Senaga Beach** which was very aesthetic. It’s fun to watch the planes come in. Lunch was at a Okinawan buffet restaurant that had lots of fun local options. Afterwards we visited the **Himeyuri Peace Museum**. This was one of the most gut-wrenchingly depressing and horrifying things I’ve ever seen. That’s not to say I regret it, but it certainly didn’t put us in a good mood. It’s the site of a former girls’ school that was turned into a military hospital during the invasion of Okinawa in 1945, and the stories of the victims and survivors. Words can’t describe the emotional effect. We had planned on visiting the associated Gardens, but we were so upset we decided to scrap it and headed towards the shopping mall where we had rented the car to drop it off.
That night we headed to a small bar and drank to oblivion.
To top it all off, just as we were headed to bed there was a North Korean missile alert. I turned on the TV, which has dual-language for situations like this, and the messages were very alarming. Telling people to take shelter immediately, etc. Nobody else seemed to be taking it seriously as the streets down below were still vibrant! Maybe it felt worse because I was drunk and sad.
**Day 11**
This day was much less emotionally and physically taxing than previously! We spent it mostly looking for souvenirs, and strolling through the **pottery district** and its **museum**. It was a lovely way to spend the last day. We had dinner in an American-style diner called **Osakana Tiger** which had the best music and friendliest staff. Definitely would recommend.
Food highlights of Okinawa included seagrapes, anything shequasa flavoured and despite the purple sweet potato pies being everywhere, the corn and cheese pies made by the same company were soooo much tastier!
**Yokohama**
**Day 12**
We flew from Okinawa to Haneda, and made the mistake of going through security after dropping our bags, to find there was basically no food or drink other than a couple of poor options. This was different to KIX which had a lot of nice places to eat after security in the domestic terminal. Apparently before security is where everybody gets their food. Lesson learned!
We had fantastic views of **Mt Fuji** at sunset just before our descent.
We had **Shogun Burger** at the Red Brick Warehouse in Yokohama after checking into our hotel. This was a labour holiday weekend, and Yokohama was unexpectedly packed. We tried to get food from three or four different places only to be met with gigantic non-moving lines. This was a recurring theme the whole weekend unfortunately. This wasn’t for instagrammable or tiktok-famous places, these were normal family restaurants or chains that were in and around shopping malls. Luckily the burgers at Shogun were delicious (veggie options available), if a bit pricey.
**Day 13**
We headed to the **Cup Noodle Museum** as it opened and got tickets for the make-your-own experience for later in the afternoon. We decided to do the museum part there and then, and coming back later and re-entering wasn’t a problem. The Cup Noodle Museum is pretty dull to be honest and can be skipped. It’s a huge building but not much in it, except for kids, who I think would have a great time with all the interactive activities. The highlight for me was a shadow puppet-style room, though it had precisely zero to do with noodles!
Afterwards we headed to **Chinatown** which was a fun atmosphere. Really busy but a good energy.
We had lunch at **Choujou Hanten** which has an extensive vegan and vegetarian menu as well as meat options. We over-ordered a bit but it was good to try lots of things. We had some nice chai and bubble teas from the stalls nearby.
As it got to sunset we decided to take the **Ferris Wheel**, which was a perfect decision because it had fantastic views, and Fuji was visible for the final descent and is framed beautifully by the skyscrapers.
Dinner was at **Garlic Joe’s**, a restaurant themed around garlic. It was decent, but if anything I expected a bit more garlic flavour!
**Day 14**
This day was pretty stressful. It seemed like everything went wrong!
Just as the flight was opening for check-in… it was cancelled. We were rebooked on a downgraded flight eight hours earlier than our original flight. I had to spend cumulatively a few hours on the phone to BA to get us rebooked on something closer to what we needed, which was eventually delivered after a day of phone calls.
We had planned to do some shopping on this day so it didn’t throw off plans too much, thankfully.
We headed to a make-your-own okonomiyaki place, and after them showing us videos and having us read the guide, and despite having had okonomiyaki countless times before, a waiter came by and scooped it up and did it for us. I know he was trying to be helpful but it was really irritating since they made us spend a lot of time reading and watching the method, and we already knew how to do it. We also had planned to leave out the pork but he chopped it in. Once he left I took the pork back out causing everyone confusion and embarrassment.
After some shopping, we were hungry again and stopped at an Mos Burger as I had a craving. Unfortunately due to my own tiredness and stress I ordered the wrong burger and didn’t enjoy it. Entirely my fault but just another bad food decision this day!
We picked up some more souvenirs and gifts throughout the day, and went to a family restaurant in the evening. Unfortunately we hit three for three in bad food experiences when they forgot most of our order, and had to prompt multiple times before it came out 75 minutes after ordering. They were very apologetic and at this point I just found it funny.
The next day we got our rebooked flight on Lufthansa without incident and arrived home very tired.
**Conclusion**
It’s a shame the last day was so stressful, because before then any negative points were outweighed by the positives. In general, I would love to spend more time in Osaka and Okinawa as they were my highlights. Kyoto was beautiful though if I were to go again I’d just accept doing one thing that day before crowds got there. Yokohama was mostly fun though the stress of the flight cancellation clouded it a bit. Similarly to Kyoto I don’t really feel a need to go back unless it was for a festival or event.
If I were to do the trip again, I think I would skip one of the legs of the trip. I found visiting four places just a tad too much. The checking in/out, packing/repacking takes away some of the fun. Obviously it comes down to preference, as plenty of people travel even more and have a great time.
by OneFun9000