Hello, solo male traveller here, just back from three weeks in Japan, still in a bit of a daze so this might be a bit all over the place, but we’ll see how it goes. I visited Tokyo, Nikko, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Fukuoka, Osaka, back to Tokyo for home.Pre-trip planningI’ve been saying I wanted to visit Japan for years but kept finding excuses, but in Sep I finally just went ahead and booked the flights, meaning no turning back! I spent about a month planning where to go, and booked the hotels in October using Booking.com and paid for them over the next few months after paydays to spread out the cost. I opened a Chase bank account as there’s no charges for withdrawing (£1500 monthly limit for charge-free, but didn’t come close to withdrawing that much). I also booked a few workshops and visits ahead of time that I’ll come to later.
Packing
I pride myself on packing lightly, but even I cracked at the last second and took an extra jumper and t-shirt that I didn’t really need, then literally walking out of my house grabbed a pair of gloves (good idea) and a headlamp (ridiculous idea – I knew I was going to be doing some trekking and suddenly thought what if I get lost in the Japanese wilderness at night? I ended up forgetting to take it on the walks anyway)
I ended up packing:
1 x pair of shoes – Merrel Moab 3 GTX comfiest shoes I’ve ever owned. Bought in December and broken in ahead of March trip.
5 x pair of socks – schoolboy error in spending all that money on quality shoes then taking standard socks. Walked so much (example) and got a couple of blisters, so bought some quality walking socks. Should’ve bought them first with [how much I was walking](https://imgur.com/a/EMuZXFV).
1 x pair of jeans
1 x lightweight walking trousers
4 x lightweight jumpers (sweaters)
5 x t-shirts (3 cotton, 2 polyester running t-shirts that wrap up small)
5 x boxer briefs
1 x beanie
1 x coat
1 x ultralight foldable backpack – highly recommend, wraps up as small as a pair of socks and great for daily use
1 x plug adapter – didn’t really need, hotels had USB slots for charging. Ended up forgetting it anyway later in the trip.
cables for charging
iPad for reading
toiletries
[The finished bag](https://imgur.com/a/E2spOKY). Pretty happy with that, meant I didn’t have to use luggage forwarding as it was easy to carry on public transport. I wish I’d packed a collapsible umbrella. Didn’t realise how much it rains in Japan – hotels have umbrellas you can borrow but they’re full sized and can be a pain to lug about if it stops raining. Most places have storage for umbrellas as everyone uses them. Bought a cheap one at Uniqlo.
Useful apps – Papago, google translate, japan wifi auto-connect, naviguide, safety tips (didn’t need thankfully), Ubigi esim – bought the 10GB plan, used about 6GB, worked fine. Tried setting up in England night before I left but it kept crashing my phone which was a bit worrying, but when I landed I turned phone back on and it automatically connected and started working.
Did the Visit Japan Web thing the night before the flight, strongly recommend doing this. Flew from Heathrow for 14 bastard hours in economy, landed 9am at Haneda. Don’t know if I just got lucky but it felt like we were the only people there, breezed through customs thanks to the visit japan web thing, longest wait was 10mins to get my checked bag. Got cash out of the ATM, bought a welcome suica card from the machine next to the ATM and loaded cash onto it, five minutes later I was on the monorail into Tokyo listening to Death in Vegas and Jesus and Mary Chain like an absolute cliche. Marvellous.
Tokyo – six nights
I had six nights in Tokyo staying in Akasaka. I can’t remember exactly why I picked there (booked all hotels back in October not long after booking the flights) – I think I’d read that it was a bit quieter than other places and I thought it might be a less overwhelming way to ease into the trip. I quit drinking nearly 10 years ago so bars and whatnot obvs aren’t important to me, so can’t comment on that sort of nightlife, and I can’t really compare it to anywhere else, but I thought the area was great. It had plenty of life to it, great restaurants, three subways within 10 mins walking including one literally across the road from the hotel (Sotetsu Fresa Inn).
A note on hotels – I stayed in 2/3 star hotels with a couple of nights in 4 star. Prices were between £40 – £60, all were perfectly fine. All I needed was a bed and a shower. Rooms were generally small but no problem for a solo traveller, showers were all great. Some had Japanese breakfasts included which I liked. I found that Japanese people like to eat as early as possible so if you give it an hour it’s a bit quieter and there was always food available.
I *loved* Tokyo. Honestly I could’ve spent the entire three weeks there happily – there’s so much to see and to do, such a lively and amazing looking place, the public transport is amazing. The subway is a little overwhelming at first but you get the hang of it pretty quickly – I found it easier to look at station numbers rather than names, so for example if I was going from Akasaka-mitsuke station to Ueno on the Ginza line I’d be going from G 5 to G 16. But as has been stated a million times on here, google maps is all you need. Just be aware that sometimes it underestimates the time it takes to transfer between lines, so take that into account if you have a specific booking you need to make. But the great thing is if you miss one train there’ll be another in like 3 minutes. Sometimes the trickiest thing was finding the best exit but even if you take a different one than the one recommended you just have to cross a road or something, it’s not like you end up in fucking Narnia or something.
What I did. Museums – Metropolitan Art, National Museum, NM of Modern Art, National Art Centre, Mori Arts centre. All worth visiting – I felt Met Art was a bit smaller than I was expecting, there seemed to be several galleries that weren’t open unless I was being a moron and couldn’t find a way in. National Museum had some great stuff though I wasn’t that impressed by the special exhibition. Mori Arts was probably my favourite of the lot, had an interesting ecological exhibition. It’s also on the 52nd floor of the building so you get some great views over Tokyo.
Teamlab – I did both Borderless and Planets. I’d booked Borderless the week before and could only get 3pm on a Weds. I arrived at 2.30pm expecting a big queue but they let me walk right in. It was quite busy but not overwhelmingly so, and I really loved it (shoutout to the staff whose job it was to keep wiping off the fingerprints in the mirrored room, a Sisyphean task if ever there was one). I spent probably 90 mins there – it’s worth going back into rooms you’ve been in as they change over time. It would be an amazing place for kids too I bet. I went to Planets the next day and I have to say I was a little underwhelmed. Maybe because I liked Borderless so much I had high expectations, but it all felt very rushed and it was like being forced through each exhibit with little time to explore and some of them were pretty much the same as Borderless too. I was through the whole thing in half an hour – I spent much more time queuing up. This did have an unexpected benefit in that having more time meant I visited the nearby Maraikan Emerging Science museum which was amazing! Lots of interactive stuff with English explanations – if you’re travelling with kids definitely add that to the list.
I’d had a day trip to Okutama planned (more on that later) which had to be cancelled because of overnight snow, so I had an unexpected day. I went to Ginza – spur of the moment visited the aquarium there and didn’t like it, there were either a million fish in a little tube or one lonely fish in a small bowl. They weren’t even particularly interesting, just a bunch of slightly different goldfish. Felt sorry for them mostly.
As it’s such an impressive looking building I decided to go up the Skytree and was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. I got a ticket for sunset but if I did it again I would get one for later when it’s already dark. The sun basically fucked off without even a tip of the hat, or maybe it was too cloudy. Then it was just waiting for all the lights to come on, but when they did, wow, Tokyo does look amazing, and being that high up really gives you a perspective at how big the place is. Went to Senso-ji after that, it was fairly quiet at night. I happened to be there on a Sunday afternoon – it was not quiet.
A note on crowds – while researching where to go I’d come across so many comments about hordes of tourists everywhere that it was making me a little anxious, but honestly, it’s not that bad. Yes, it can get busy, but wherever you are there’s always an empty little side-street you can duck down if you get a bit overwhelmed. I didn’t experience anything worse than tourist hotspots in London, Paris, hell even Bruges on a weekend. Just make peace with the fact that you’re visiting one of if not the biggest tourist destination in the world. There are going to be people. [Dotonbori on a Saturday night](https://imgur.com/a/YtgjNsc) was probably the busiest place I went, it was like a slow-moving queue at times, but again, you can take a side-street and catch your breath. You’ll be fine.
I took a day trip to Kawagoe which I’d thoroughly recommend. I immediately got lost and stumbled across a little shrine called Tennen which was actually my favourite of the whole trip. Such a well-kept little garden with a koi pond and tree houses. Lovely. Kawagoe’s main street has these really old Edo-style buildings which are just beautiful and there is so much food to be eaten it’s just brilliant. Their thing there is sweet potato, and they put it in everything. Mochi? Stick some sweet potato in there. Pastry? Wrap it round. Ice cream? Don’t mind if I do spiralize some purple potato on it. It was the one and only time I joined a long queue of Japanese people just to see what the fuss was. It was for some sweet potato ice cream with a sweet potato crisp. It was fine, but not worth queuing 20mins for. Actually on my last day in Tokyo I found a place called Imo Pippi in Asakusa that does sweet potato brulee (among other things) which was amazing. I have quite the sweet tooth, as will become clear. But yes, Kawagoe is great, definitely recommend a visit.
Before the trip I was looking at what was in the Akasaka area and found a place called Suntory Hall which is a concert hall world famous for its acoustics. There just so happened to be something on while I was there so I thought I’d pretend to be all sophisticated and booked a ticket to see the Tokyo Philharmonic Ensemble Orchestra. It was amazing and if you like classical music I’d definitely recommend seeing something. But holy shit did the conductor guy milk the applause at the end. I know this for a fact as when it ended I checked my phone to see what time it was – we were applauding for 25 minutes. 25 FKN MINUTES! It was amazing and the final tune with everything going off was spectacular, but Christ on a bike did the clapping go on. Everyone got their own clap which is deserved I suppose, but there was like 300 of the fuckers. Some kid who hit a triangle three times got his own applause. Four guys playing fat bastard trumpets or maybe tubas I guess got three rounds of applause. They also kept leaving the performance and then coming back, three times that happened. Everyone else had to sit there even if they weren’t playing. Still wondering where they went. And the conductor, I guess he’s pretty famous, he looked about 90 years old (Ken-ichiro Kobayashi, 83 according to wiki), kept going as if to leave the stage then coming back and picking someone else out for their own little clap. Thank god the backing singers only got applause by section as there was about 150 of them, I’d probably still be there if the conductor had got his wish. Anyways, I’m starting to waffle. Great show and fully recommend a visit.
Hamarikyu Gardens on a gorgeous sunny day was great to walk around. Shibuya and Kabukicho when it was pissing it down at night had strong Blade Runner vibes, loved that too – that was probably what I thought of Tokyo before I’d visited, all the neon signs and so on. Ate custard-filled Taiyaki – amazing, bought what I thought was a sweet doughnut but turned out to be Kore pan or curry bread, which was the tastiest mistake I’ve ever made. Tonkatsu curry, ramen, souffle pancakes (though tbh, the ones I had in London were better, but different flavours here, matcha brulee was pretty amazing), yakitori chicken hearts, beef tongue. So much amazing food. The only thing I didn’t like was isobeyaki, weird texture and kind of fishy with the seaweed. But mostly everything was great.A note on coffee – I’ve seen some recent posts saying they couldn’t find good coffee, which I found very surprising. My experience was that there was great coffee all over the place, from chains (Tully’s ftw) to independent places. Maybe keep in mind that the pour over coffee I think it’s called can take quite a while. I’d nipped into one place for a quick drink and was still there 20mins later waiting for it to be served.
Just for fellow Brits/Irish – I didn’t want to be one of those saddos who takes tea bags with them but after a week I could’ve murdered a Yorkshire Gold. The one place I found that had English Breakfast tea served it with cream…
I just loved Tokyo so much. At nights I would just pick an area, put my earphones in and wander about marvelling at the sights and people watching. In a way I kind of wish I’d gone there last, as other cities didn’t quite live up to it. Amazing place.
Nikko – one night
A colleague who used to live in Japan helped me when deciding where to go, and one place she strongly recommended (due to me liking nature and walking etc) was Nikko. With my itinerary, I’d tried to make it so that each next stop was no more than 2.5 hours away so that I could leave really early or late and not miss a day by spending half of it on a train. Nikko pretty much immediately messed up that idea! But I’m really glad I went. In hindsight, I could’ve gone halfway through my Tokyo stay I suppose rather than in between there and Kyoto. You could definitely do it as a day trip depending on how much you want to see too. There’s a limited express train that’s a bit more expensive but is less than two hours compared to the cheaper one which is I think over three hours. I bought a Nikko all areas pass that included a round trip from Asakusa station to Nikko and any bus within Nikko and surrounding areas. I stayed overnight at Akarinoyado Villa Revage which was probably my favourite hotel of the whole trip. Lovely family run place, the owner, his son behind the counter, grandchildren running around the place – when I arrived they came running through saying ‘nice to meet you’ before giggling and running off again, very sweet. It also had two private baths which were perfect for soaking after a long walk.
The snow that ruined the earlier trip made this one absolutely magical. I arrived early, dropped my bag off and took a bus to Lake Chuzenji, wandered about and then got another bus to Ryuzu falls. I walked from there to Yudaki Falls, about 2 – 2.5 hours. I got to Yudaki falls to find a family of wild monkeys there, one of the highlights of the whole trip. One of the lowest followed shortly after when I reached the onsen town just past the falls and found the whole place closed! I hadn’t realised that Nikko is a summer resort place, so from Nov – April it mostly shuts down! I’d seen vids online of people completing the walk then soaking their feet in a hot natural spring while eating snacks from street food vendors. I got there and even the public toilets were locked. But I went for the scenery, and I certainly got that. I hadn’t found much about Nikko on this sub, but a few posts talked about how busy it was and how the traffic getting to Lake Chuzenji was so bad (there’s a really long winding mountain road) whereas my bus passed only a handful, so I guess that’s the trade-off: you go in season and there’s lots more to do, places to eat and so on, or you go out of season when there’s hardly anyone there, but less to do. There are still restaurants – it was my birthday while I was there and I treated myself to the most expensive steak I’ve ever eaten (11,000 yen!) at a place called Myogetsubo. It was also the tastiest steak I’ve ever had, and the restaurant itself was so picturesque it was just a lovely experience. There are other options on the menu for much cheaper too. Nikko also has world heritage site shrines that are well worth visiting. An amazing place and well worth a visit. Could be done in a day, but worth staying overnight I’d say.
The next day I visited the shrines then got the train back to Asakusa and a Shinkansen for Kyoto.
A note on shinkansen – I didn’t prebook any of my train journeys and had no problem getting a ticket from the machines at the stations. They also run like every five minutes. I was more worried about prebooking and getting stuck on the way to the station and missing the train than not getting a ticket (though from what I’ve read on here Golden Week would be an exception, probably other national holidays too). They also have so much [space for luggage storage](https://imgur.com/a/L9YtkKT) \- in front of your feet and above the seats too. A great way to travel, though my journeys went through lots of tunnels so maybe didn’t see as much between cities as I’d hoped. But still, I wish we had them here!
Kyoto – four nights
I didn’t have the best time in Kyoto to be honest. I arrived from Nikko early evening, checked in and then tried to get a bus. Two buses didn’t show up and then the third was so rammed I got off after one stop and walked the 40mins instead. Later at the train station (my fault completely) I got on a limited express train by accident which took me five stops past where I’d wanted to go. The next morning I went down for breakfast at the hotel and when I sat down the Japanese couple at the table next to me immediately stood up and moved as far away from me as possible before sitting down again. I’d experienced the whole gaijin bubble thing a few times on public transport but this was just so blatant it really got to me. I’d read that we westerners wear too much cologne that puts Japanese people off their food or something but that’s bollocks because the woman smelled like she’d slept in a lavender bush and there’s no way I smelled more perfumed than that. It was just so fucking rude and put me in a shit mood, which got even worse when the bus that was supposed to take me to Arashiyama didn’t turn up! I decided to fuck Kyoto off altogether and took a day trip to Nara, which was lovely and turned the day around. I ate warabi mochi which was probably the weirdest thing I ate – the place I had it served it in warm water for some reason so while the taste was good with the peanut powder and bean paste, the texture was like how I imagine eating raw jellyfish would be.
I’d booked myself onto some workshops in Kyoto. A Roketsu Dyeing workshop which was great, really relaxing and you get what you’ve designed and dyed at the end of it. A wagashi sweet making workshop, again fun and you get to eat what you’ve made. And a pottery workshop which was good but turned out quite expensive as I will be getting what I made shipped home. Seemed a waste not to. With the workshops I’d booked one in the morning and one late afternoon and had planned to visit several places in between, but just didn’t trust the public transport enough so ended up missing out on the Samurai museum and the botanical gardens which was a shame.
Made it to Arashiyama the following day and loved it, though the bamboo was probably the least interesting thing! There are also several little forests of it around so you can skip the really busy part and find some elsewhere. There are lovely gardens and shrines you can visit up the hill that give nice views too. Also visited the usual places featured on here like Kiyomizudera and Nanzenji. Walked around Gion, busy with queues for most restaurants.
Himeji Castle/Hiroshima/Miyajima
I decided to stop by Himeji Castle on the way to Hiroshima from Kyoto, it’s a pretty amazing place – really enjoyed wandering around it, reading about its history and also seeing the gardens there. I had one night in Hiroshima and one in Miyajima. I wished I’d had longer in Hiroshima, it seems a really cool and interesting little city. Because of the Himeji visit I had much less time and missed out on the peace museum which was a shame, I have heard that it’s really good. The atomic bomb dome is quite sobering and with the bell of peace gonging away it’s quite haunting. I had possibly my most favourite meal of the trip here – Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki. Strongly recommend!
I got the ferry from near the atom bomb dome over to Miyajima the following morning. You can get there for about 1500 yen cheaper by getting a train to Miyajimaguchi station and getting the ferry from there, but with my bag and general laziness I didn’t mind spending more. Miyajima is gorgeous and well worth visiting, though again you could easily do it as a day trip. I’d found a cheap traditional Japanese style room at a place called Oyado Tsukiusagi, a great little place with a lovely owner – she doesn’t speak English but is a whizz with Google translate so easy enough to communicate with. I’m glad I stayed overnight as it absolutely pissed it down the day I got there, only calming down after the last ferry left. It’s very busy before then but quiet in the evening, so was lovely to stroll down the front. One thing to bear in mind if you do stay over is that restaurants close very early. My host recommended eating no later than 6pm, though I actually had dinner at 5 in the end. There is a Lawson’s open until 9pm so I bought a few snacks for a late supper and for breakfast too (the place I’d rented had no food). The next day I climbed Mt Misen in glorious sunshine. Started early and passed I think three people on the way up? A few more at the peak. As I was coming back down that’s when the tourist numbers really started increasing, so if you’re going to go I would definitely recommend getting an early ferry. There are lots of deer on the island too, looked in better condition than the ones in Nara.
Fukuoka – four nights
This was another recommendation from my colleague who lived in Japan. I’m glad she did as I doubt I would’ve thought to come here otherwise and very happy I did, it’s a cool city – probably the most fashionable I visited, maybe even more so than Tokyo. Lots of different styles, goths and piercings, dyed hair, dudes in makeup looking fabulous. This might sound silly and I’m not sure it makes any sense, but I get the feeling that if you’re someone who ‘wants to see the real Japan’ then I think you’ll like Fukuoka. I haven’t really worked out exactly what it is you’re looking for, but it seems along the lines of ‘where the menus aren’t in English’, that sort of thing. I found there to be noticeably fewer western tourists, noticeably less English spoken outside of hotels, and noticeably less English signage. For what it’s worth, I ate at several restaurants with no English menus and I didn’t notice any improvement on meals served at places with English menus. Good food is good food, regardless. It probably says more about what clientele they’re trying to attract (or repel) than anything else. Tonkatsu ramen is their thing, nice meal. They have these Yatai stalls, like little izakayas in tents, all along the river, but there were massive queues for all of them so didn’t bother in the end. There are plenty of great restaurants to choose from.
A note on speaking Japanese. I spent the few months since I booked the flights trying to learn Japanese using Duolingo. While it’s a good app that helped me learn quite a few phrases, it didn’t prepare me at all for actually having a conversation. What would happen is that I’d ask a question in Japanese and the person would respond at full speed Japanese and I wouldn’t have a clue what they’d said. They’d then look at me like I was a moron for asking the question in Japanese when I clearly can’t speak it, which made me feel like an idiot. So I stopped trying eventually. I did learn though that if I started the conversation in English I could try and slip in some Japanese which I think people appreciated more. Probably my biggest regret of the trip was not being able to speak with Japanese people outside of a service setting, but it is quite a big ask to learn an entire language for a three-week trip…
I also went to see a game of baseball! It was only a preseason game but the impressive stadium was pretty full. Fukuoka won, the Tiger team they were playing were shit and didn’t even get a point. Watching sport in Japan is definitely a different experience to what I’m used to! Not in a bad way. I did find it funny the amount of rules you have to follow – no singing unless you’re in the singing stand, no insulting the opposing team (eh!? That’s half the fun!) It’s the first game of baseball I’ve ever seen so was googling the rules quite a lot. But I now understand that the seventh innings is [the inflatable sperm innings](https://imgur.com/a/nvoYZjk) which is good to know. Respect to the tiny women they employ who carry massive backpacks and squirt beer and dole out ice cream, absolute workhorses never stopping, always on the move, up the steps, down, back up.
There’s a nice beach and seaside park, also a couple of islands that I’d hoped to visit but didn’t have enough time. I took a day trip to Dazaifu just outside Fukuoka. I had planned to hike up Mt Homan but was knackered by that point and couldn’t face a four-hour hike. Instead I visited the Kyushu National Museum which was very impressive.
I ate the best sweet thing of my whole trip in Fukuoka, these little baked cheese tarts. I think the originals are called Pablo cheese tarts, this franchise was called BAKE CHEESE TART and have locations in a few cities in Japan. These tarts are unbelievably good, you have to try them. I ate one, went back into the store and immediately bought three more. Once I’d demolished them I seriously considered turning my coat inside out and putting a hat on so I wouldn’t be embarrassed about going back in for more. So tasty. I don’t think anyone makes them here in the UK which is devastating (if someone finds them let me know – I will travel!)
Osaka – two nights
Got an early train to give me a bit more time in Osaka, I’d also booked a Backstreets walking tour for the Friday night which I strongly recommend. We had a Slovenian guide who talked about some of the more taboo things about Japan/Osaka, the homeless problems, LGBT issues, we walked through the red light district, and ate some good food at an izakaya (niko dofu, delicious). As a solo traveller I wish I’d booked more of these in other cities as they’re great ways to meet people, something I’d struggled with elsewhere. Maybe that tour coloured my perception, but I found Osaka to be a bit seedy and grimy which I really liked! It’s definitely lively with a great food scene. Dotonburo has all the lights and street food, as mentioned previously it was incredibly busy. I visited the aquarium which was good, definitely if you have kids in tow. But go early – I got there as it opened and there was already a bit of a queue, as I left the queue was massive. It was a weekend though.
I got really lucky and managed to get a ticket for the penultimate day of the Sumo by using BuySumoTickets. It was great, though I wish I’d gone a little later in the day – there wasn’t that many people until well into the afternoon (it started at 10.30am). I had planned to go to the national museum of art but with the pouring down rain it seemed like every other bugger had had the same idea and the queue was massive, so sacked it off and went to the sumo earlier than planned. If you do go to the sumo there is an app called ‘A Day at Sumo’ which is very useful for explaining etiquette and so on. Most fights are over within seconds, but there are a few minutes of crouching, standing up, crouching, standing, thigh and tit slapping, face salting, armpit wiping – every now and then someone would get a round of applause for standing up and I had no idea what was going on. But from the app it sounds like what they’re doing is psyching each other out, so I guess if one of them has to lob a bit of salt across the floor then the other guy has got to him? It was a fun day though. Then off out for more food. Had some beef tongue on a stick that was tough as old boots but a milk tea jelly thing shaped like a cat that was supoib and made up for it.
Back to Tokyo – two nights
I had planned originally to have one night in Kanazawa but chickened out after the earthquake. I also wanted a day for souvenir and gift buying, and also for the cancelled trip to Okutama. I did this Forest Therapy thing which was okay, but don’t think it was worth the money (20,000 yen – cheaper if you’re with a group and not a billy nomates like me). It also rained throughout, but the guide was lovely and taught me how to recognise different Japanese trees and plants. Not sure what I can do with that info now I’m back in England but anyhoo.
I spent a night in a more expensive hotel right by Sensoji that had a public bath which was nice, bought a fancy kitchen knife from Kappabashi, one last okonomiyaki then back home from Haneda.
I do wish I’d visited Kanazawa and also Naoshima Island, but I suppose had I visited them I’d be saying I wish I could’ve visited Kobe and Hokkaido, and so on. This is probably a once-in-a-lifetime visit to Japan due to the expense involved. On that, here’s what it roughly cost if it gives you some idea for your own trip:
Flights – £1300
Hotels – \~£1300
Trains – \~£500
Day-to-day spending – \~£1500
So just over £4500 for the three weeks. Eek. Seeing it written down is a bit painful. It could definitely be done for cheaper, I did lots of workshops and the suchlike, but as I said, once in a lifetime, might as well go for it.
Random thoughts and tips
Konbinis often have bins. I’m amazed at how clean Japan is considering you can never find one on the streets. Maybe they’re everywhere but only the Japanese know where they’re hidden and are just laughing at us. Or maybe they have an inherent sense of responsibility and respect for the environment. Potato potato.
Japanese toilets have ruined toilets for me. Knowing that in all likelihood I’ll never own one of these modern marvels of bum-based gadgetry is quite depressing. Maybe one day I’ll buy one. A man can dream. A man can dream. I just don’t understand why they have such paper thin toilet roll – you end up using masses of it just to dry yourself. I’d heard that some people carry around an arse towel. Fk that.
Probably the best advice I came across before my trip was from one of [this guy’s videos](https://www.youtube.com/@japanunravelled). He basically said to remember that it’s *your* trip, not someone else’s. Just because one person went to X, ate at Y, got a photo at Z, doesn’t mean you have to. I met one person who couldn’t believe that I didn’t go to Mt Fuji but to me it’s just a big fucking hill that I’ve seen a million times in media. I’m sure it is lovely, but if I was going to go I’d want to climb it and that was never the plan, besides I saw it from the train to Nikko. You come across the odd pretentious nob jockey who says stupid things like ‘omg you haven’t even been to Nihon if you haven’t eaten (insert random foodstuff here)’. These people should be ignored at all costs. Do what you want! Eat what you want! Japanese food can be a bit challenging at times – one izakaya I was at served briefly boiled chicken (completely raw inside) that I would never try – and there was a couple of nights where I just wanted a burger and chips or a Mcdonalds. And judging by how many Japanese people were packed into them every night I’d guess they like them just as much! Besides, the teritama burgers are amazing.
I had a list of about 40 places I wanted to eat at before I went. I ended up visiting two of them, and only went to those because I just happened to walk past and recognised the names. If I went again I wouldn’t bother and would just do what I ended up doing – walk about until I found one that I liked the look of and that didn’t have a queue.
I read a lot before going about how you’re not supposed to eat on the move, but there were many times I had to so I could get to the next place on time. Nobody gave a toss.
I’d say majority of people still wearing face masks, but nobody bats an eyelid if you don’t.
Don Quijote is fucking nuts and I don’t know how anyone finds anything there.
Tokyo International Forum has a monthly flea market that happened to be on while I was there – it was amazing for souvenirs and gifts. I think it’s the third Sunday of each month.
Elevators don’t have sensors in the doors so they will close on you, you have to use the door open button. If you’re in a lift with other people one person will become the designated door open button presser, and you’ll be expected to press it while people exit the lift. It’s a high pressure job but I know you can do it.
Hotel staff (pretty much all service staff) will break their backs to help you out. They will invariably have good English and are great for tips on where to eat or what to see, or really any query. One of my aunts texted me a blurry picture of a piece of art she’s had for 20 years that had some kanji script that was partially cut off, and she’d never known what it meant. I asked a hotel receptionist and they ended up with a team of 3 of them working out the translation. Amazing stuff.
The [manhole covers are very pretty](https://imgur.com/a/heYKAQh).
For some reason it seems scary to go to upstairs or basement restaurants/cafes, but try them! The ones I went into were often quieter and easier to get a table.
Wish I’d done more group walking tours, a good way to meet people as a solo traveller.
Anyways, this turned into a bit of an epic but I hope it’s helpful to someone or at least been a bit interesting. Enjoy your trip!
by ahhtibor