Solo Japan Trip – Highlights, Lowlights, Tips etc.

This is my second trip to Japan from 3rd March to 16th March.

I travelled with Air China from London to Tokyo with 3-4hr layovers in Shanghai. Website is terrible and it takes several attempts to be able to check in, only to not be able to get your boarding pass. Transfer at Shanghai was terrible. Spent the whole time in a queue. By the time I got through security, I had to run to my gate. Terrible but flights were cheap.

In Tokyo, I stayed at the Tosei Hotel Cocone Asakusa Kuramae. For me the location was good. Easy to get to from Narita. Good transport links (Ginza Line). Hotel room is a little small so not ideal for big suitcases. Has a public bath but it’s not tattoo friendly.

First 2 days, I did the majority of my shopping to get it out of the way. Went to Matsumoto Kiyoshi, Donki and Daiso. I was shopping for skincare, snacks and other little trinkets. Visited OK Store in Asakusa. It’s a cheap discount supermarket chain that offers tax free. Bought a lot of snacks here.

Visited an English speaking salon – Tokyo Baroque. Got a digital perm done with 10% discount for your first visit. Including the wash, cut and blow dry, it took around 3 hours. Salon is located close to Harajuku and Shibuya so afterwards I headed over there.

Booked a tour on GetYourGuide to see Mt. Fuji, Hakone, Lake Ashi w/ buffet lunch. In my opinion it wasn’t worth it. Only got up to the 1st station and couldn’t see Fuji. Spent the majority of the day on the bus. We didn’t get much time to explore at each destination. Lunch was mediocre.

Sensoji. I went at around 9am and already there were a lot of tourists. All the food stalls and market shops didn’t open till 10am. It’s a beautiful temple to visit and it was a short 10 minute walk from my hotel.

Yanaka Ginza – Yadorigi Cafe. Didn’t plan on visiting any animal/cat cafes due to concerns about animal welfare but stumbled upon one that rescues stray cats and all the cats are up for adoption. I could see that the cats were well taken care of and that they really cared. They also serve really delicious italian food. I stayed for 2 hours with a drink, main course and dessert for less than ¥3000. Cats were super friendly. I went at a quiet time/day and lots of the cats were happy to take a nap in someone’s lap.

Mt. Takao. Small mountain (599M) just outside of Tokyo. Made a last minute decision the night before to visit. Hiked up to trail 3 and walked through the forests of Takao. For the descent, I hiked down part of trail 1 before finishing off with the chair lift. Wasn’t easy but one of the highlights of my trip.

Shin-Okubo, Tokyo’s Koreatown. Loud and vibrant but very, very crowded. Initially wanted to do some skincare/make up shopping but I couldn’t handle the crowds. Picked up some ganjang gejang/raw marinated crab for dinner.

Tokyo – Sendai – Ishinomaki – Cat Island. Started using my JR Pass (expensive but for me it was worth it). Travelled up to Sendai via bullet train. Sendai was pretty boring. We wondered around the shopping streets trying to kill time before our dinner reservation at a yakiniku place. Sendai is famous for beef tongue so I gave that a try and it was pretty good.

Stayed at an Airbnb in Ishinomaki and got the first ferry to the island in the morning. Don’t bring lots of luggage with you because there was a lot of uphill walking and the roads can be quite steep. The Airbnb was a lovely traditional Japanese house but it was absolutely freezing. Outside temp at night was around -2C. Luckily the host prepared a kotatsu and heated blankets for us. Heated toilet seats were a nice bonus too. The host had 3 cats and 1 cat was especially friendly and very chatty.

I enjoyed visiting cat island. Weather was nice and skies were clear. We went on a nice walk across the island but some roads are pretty steep and will give you a bit of a workout. In terms of health, the cats weren’t any different to your typical stray. I didn’t see any cats with what looked to be major health issues. A lot of the cats were super friendly and super cute. There are a lot of signs saying not to feed the cats so it was frustrating to see some other tourists with cat treats and empty cat treats packaging littered in the public toilets.

Ishinomaki. One of the hardest hit cities during the 2011 earthquake. We visited the Kadonowaki Elementary School ruins which has been converted into a museum. They have preserved some of the school rooms so you are able to see the extent of the damage caused by the earthquake, tsunami and fires. It costs ¥600 to enter. Unfortunately the exhibits didn’t include much English so I did have to rely on Google translate.

Osaka. Tokyo – Osaka via bullet train using my JR Pass. Decided to have my base in Osaka and travel out to other places. Stayed at the Hearton Hotel Nishiumeda. Lucky enough to have a room on the quieter side but even then it was loud from being so close to the station. Not the best hotel I’ve stayed at. Room was dark and dingy. Carpet looked like it hadn’t been hoovered properly.

Dotonbori. Osaka is a good place for food and nightlife but unfortunately just not my cup of tea. Dotonbori looked gorgeous at night with all the city lights but it was super crowded and felt like a street with tourist trap shops. I can tick it off my list but probably wouldn’t visit again.

Fushimi Inari. Woke up super early to get to Fushimi Inari from my hotel in Osaka. Started the hike at 6am. Barely any other tourists around and so the hike was super peaceful. Started seeing more people when I got to the top and when I reached the bottom. Saw a couple of stray cats that were fairly friendly.

Hozugawa River Boat Ride. Price was ¥6000 so it’s a little expensive. I regret not purchasing the ticket on Klook when it was around £20 before the price increase. The ride takes around 1.5hrs and ends at the Arashiyama area. I got on the first boat of the day. River was pretty eerie with the morning fog rolling off the water. The sun came out later and it was a really scenic ride down the river. The boat men don’t speak much English so don’t expect a detailed guided tour. Towards the end, you pull up to a boat that sells food. I tried dango for the first time. They offered snacks, drinks, dango, oden and grilled squid.

Iwatayama Monkey Park. Entry fee is ¥600 and cash only. I made the mistake of not bringing cash so I had to go and find an ATM. The hike up takes around 20 mins and it involves climbing up stairs and steep paths so be prepared for lots of uphill walking. The view from the top was beautiful. You are able to feed the monkeys with a small pouch of apple/peanuts for ¥50.

Nara. Fed the deer at Nara park. You can buy a small set of deer crackers for ¥200. The deer are cute but can be aggressive when they see the crackers. They will nudge/head butt you to get your attention. Literally saw a deer head butt a guy before it bit his ass.

Abandoned JR Fukuchiyama railway hike. One of my favourite places I visited on my trip. Started from JR Namaze and ended at JR Takedao. Pretty easy hike except for the uneven terrain due to the railway tracks and rocks. Hardest part was finding the start of the trail. You have to walk through a busy highway tunnel which made me think I was walking in the wrong direction. You definitely need a good torch for this hike because of the tunnels. I bought a cheap ¥100 one from Daiso. Combined with my iPhone torch, it was just about enough. I definitely recommend buying a better quality torch as it is pitch black inside the tunnels. There are 6 tunnels in total and the 2nd tunnel was the longest and I can’t lie, it scared me (wasn’t a good idea to have watched the horror movie The Descent recently). Out in the daylight, the river scenery was stunning. I was alone for pretty much the whole trail. I only saw two people taking photos – one right at the start and one at the end.

Sushiro – if you’re not a sushi snob but love sushi, I would recommend this place. For a budget place, the sushi quality was great. Miles better and cheaper than what you can get in the UK. It’s fun to order off the tablet and have the plate delivered to you via the conveyor belt. I love fatty salmon sushi and two of the nicer, more expensive sushi places I went to didn’t have it on the menu.

Ichiran. Viral on social media but I have heard that it’s overhyped so I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. For me, it was the best ramen I had on my trip. It comes down to personal tastes and I liked customising my broth so that it was medium intensity. The broth at other places was too rich for my liking. It’s more expensive than other ramen places but for me, it was worth it. Paid for a noodle refill and I had to waddle out of the restaurant afterwards.

Kimchi. The worst thing I ate on my trip lol. I was craving sour, spicy kimchi but all the kimchi I tried was sweet with no spice. The worst offender was at the yakiniku place in Sendai. It was just sugary cabbage.

Tips:

– Pasmo. I added Pasmo to my iPhone wallet. Super easy to top up. You don’t need to open it up with face ID to use it, just tap your phone on the reader.

– Revolut. I used Revolut to exchange GBP into JPY for my trip. I kept an eye on the exchange rate and exchanged money when the Yen was at its weakest. No issues using my card or getting cash out with it. There is a £200 free cash withdrawal limit and that was more than enough for me.

– Tax free. I decided to open up the bags because otherwise there was no way for me to pack my suitcase properly. I kept the empty bags and receipts just in case. At the airport, I scanned my passport and that was it. No checks were done. A lot of people just ignored it and walked past. Wouldn’t necessarily recommend doing this as there is a risk they will check and make you pay the tax. If you can, keep it in the tax free bag.

– Train stations. Major train stations are massive with department stores attached. I had no issues navigating these stations and getting to the correct platform on time but I would recommend you leave some extra time just in case. When trying to figure out where you need to go, please don’t stand in the middle of the busy station with all your luggage. Move to the side or stand next to one of the pillars and out of the way.

– Mt. Fuji. On the bullet train from Osaka/Kyoto to Tokyo, reserve a seat/sit on the left hand side next to the window. If the weather is nice, you will be able to see Mt. Fuji.

– Comfy shoes. You will do a lot of walking when in Japan. Make sure your shoes are comfortable for walking long distances. You can also buy these cooling leg patches which were a god send. Combined with a hot bath at night at my hotel, I didn’t have a problem with aching feet.

– Be respectful. Don’t be those loud annoying tourists on the train. You are expected to get quiet on public transport. Please don’t leave your rubbish lying around because there are no bins.

– NERV app. I downloaded this while I was there just in case of an earthquake. Didn’t get any emergency alerts but still a little unnerving to get notifications about earthquakes nearby.

– Navitime. You can use google to figure the best trains to get but Navitime is also good, especially if you have a JR Pass. You can filter the search to see the routes that you can take with your pass.

– Pack light. It was easy for me to do laundry at the hotel but be warned that the dryers aren’t great. I hung everything up in the bathroom with the fan on. I personally didn’t have an issue with having to wait for a free washing machine late at night.

– Mobile data. I used Ubigi for my eSim. Use my code WEW6XY45 if you want 20% off. Didn’t have any issues with signal/connection except for in more remote places on my hikes. Easy to set up on my phone.

– Portable power bank. Very useful to ensure your phone doesn’t run out of battery.

– Travel adapters. I wish I didn’t bother buying one as I didn’t end up using it. You may still need one if you are bringing your own hairdryer, hair straighteners, shavers etc.

– Passport case. I bought myself a large, shiny passport case with small inner pockets to store my JR Pass and other tickets/seat reservations. I also kept my tax free receipts in there. You could also stick your airtag inside the case so in the event that you lose your passport, you can track it.

– Airtag. Lucky enough to not have issues with my luggage with the exception of a damaged zip. Put an airtag in my luggage just in case and for peace of mind.

– Pedestrian crossings. These look like zebra crossings here in the UK so don’t make the mistake of just walking across. Usually there will be a pedestrian traffic light above. Made this mistake once and got beeped at.

Culture shock moments:

– There are vending machines for cigarettes and alcohol. The cigarette vending machines require a Japanese ID but anyone could buy alcohol. There was an alcohol vending machine on my floor at the hotel in Osaka that was stocked with beer.

– Smoking rooms on train station platforms. Walked past a room crammed full of japanese business men smoking cigarettes with a couple people vaping in there. The door will open and out comes a cloud of fruit scented cigarette smoke.

– Waiting at pedestrian crossing when the red man is showing but no cars to be seen. Here in the UK, I would have just walked across anyway but in Japan, people would wait for the light to turn green.

– Japan has a reputation for being quite high tech but at the same time, they are stuck in the past. Perhaps this is another sign of an aging population? I learned from my Japanese friend that they are only recently getting rid of floppy disks. Yes. Floppy disks.

by HereLiesMissNobody