We’re from the UK; first time to Japan. We learnt a very small amount of Japanese a year before we set off. We visited Japan for 3 weeks starting 17th March. Here’s my review, I’ve used yen if I remembered the cost of stuff, otherwise good ol’ pound sterling – DM if you want any specific recommendations!
**Tokyo – 4 nights**
We landed at Narita airport and got the Skyliner into Tokyo.
Akihabara was a good place to stay and seemed central to the activities we wanted to do.
We visited the Owl Cafe in Akihabara which ~~was fun~~ seemed fun at the time and the owls seemed well kept with low light, low noise, rest time, etc. But having seen more information since going there, I wouldn’t go to an owl cafe again.
Yodobashi Akiba is huge – we spent 2 hours in there. It was nice to see the electronics in real life, we don’t get that as much in the UK anymore.
Tokyo Skytree was a waste of money – good views buy way too busy. I’ve been to lots of similar towers and not seen one that busy – the queue for the elevator back down ran around the entire viewing deck!
I wanted to do a sushi train type of place so we went to Uobei at Shibuya – that’s a lot of fun watching the food come out directly to you on the conveyor. I don’t think the quality was the best, but whatever.
Tokyo National Museum was interesting and I enjoyed learning some Japanese history.
Teamlabs Planets was alright, certainly interesting. You need to take your shoes and socks off, plus your legs will get wet up to knee height. Worth a visit.
We were literally about to depart the hotel/Tokyo when an earthquake hit – there was an emergency alert on one of our phones as it started. It was a small one (3 in Tokyo?) and was a gentle swaying of the building. Unfortunately it meant our first Shinkansen was delayed by an hour and a half – but as with most things in Japan, things just carried on as normal.
We dropped our bags for our first luggage forwarding at Tokyo station…
**Takayama – 2 nights**
We took the Shinkansen to Toyama (loads of leg room, recline…amazing), and then were due to transfer to the Hida Express for Takayama. However, I couldn’t pick up the train tickets for JR West…the machine was not picking up a reservation for my card (turns out numberless cards store a different number on the strip to what you see in the app – I use Chase for my banking and numberless is becoming common in the UK). I spoke to someone in the ticket office but their English was not great – they said to refund the original ticket online and buy a new one, which I did. We traveled to Takayama on the local trains instead of the express, which was fine – good views as you make your way into the mountains.
Once there, Takayama is a brilliant little town. It had snowed the day before we got there so everything was very beautiful. And it melted enough to not be a problem whilst we visited the temples and shrines, plus the Hida Folk Village.
The morning market by the river has a few little stalls to check out but my favourite bit was the old town houses – wander the streets and visit the shops (plus the Sake brewery! You get a sake cup and then pay 100 yen for each taster of sake).
Hida Beef is delicious – I got a few skewers from the small stalls plus some other bits.
We were going to do one of the circular walks up the hill near the centre but the snow hadn’t melted enough and we only had trainers on…
**Kyoto – 2 nights**
This time we actually got the Hida Express from Takayama to Nagoya, and then the Shinkansen to Kyoto (I had to refund and rebuy tickets again due to the card issue). As it had snowed again we got some really great views as the train weaved through the mountains.
Our bags had arrived at the hotel as expected (thanks Yamato).
Kyoto train, subway and bus system seems overly complicated in comparison to Tokyo – we got ICOCA cards here as working out where to go and fares was madness without it (we weren’t sticking around long enough for a pass to be worth it).
The Pontocho area was cool and we walked the Philosophers path – there were a couple of impressive temples along the route (Higashiyama and Nanzen-ji). And the old streets in Gion are also cool.
It was good to see Fushimi Inari but it was VERY busy (duh). In fact, Kyoto just seemed very busy with tourists, more so than Tokyo.
We did another luggage forward here, sending our suitcases ahead to Osaka.
Overall I thought Kyoto was a bit…grey. Maybe it was literally the grey, drizzly weather whilst we were there 🤷♂️
**Nara – 1 night**
A little trip down the line from Kyoto to Nara. There’s not loads to do here so 1 night was fine, but what we did do was enjoyable.
Just when I thought I was shrine-d out, I was taken aback by Todai-ji and the Giant Buddha. They are really quite something.
And then of course, the deer 🦌
I’d read differing things about feeding the deer but from what I saw, if they don’t want feeding they just walk away and have a rest. We got some deer crackers and walked away from the crowds to find some deer to feed, and a few came up to grab what they could. It was a pretty unique experience!
**(Yoshino) Osaka/Ichio – 1 night**
This should have been a day trip to Yoshino but the weather was wet and cold, plus the cherry blossom hadn’t appeared yet so we went to Osaka for the day instead (added in those bits in the Osaka section below).
In the evening we travelled south of Nara to a tiny village called Ichio and stayed at a Ryokan, a traditional Japanese house. This was a great experience – we were the only guests (main room, bedroom, toilet and kitchen off to one side, bathroom in different area). Whilst there were some modcons like WiFi and a TV, the building was genuinely old (1914) and was decked out as you’d expect – tatami mats, sleeping on the ‘floor’, floor seats, no shoes, etc. The beds were comfy though.
Our hosts gave us a Japanese evening meal (lots of fish and seafood) and then a western breakfast (think European continental).
The place was cold generally but a gas heater and heated mats/blanket made it all very cosy. It would have been nice to stay more than 1 night to experience the quiet of the place really and at around £100 a night it’s great value.
**Koyosan – 1 night**
The sun came out for the first time in a week – good timing as we headed into the mountains for a night at a Buddhist temple.
It’s a train ride then a funicular up to a bus station, and then a short bus ride to get to Koyasan (or you can go completely by bus). (Here’s where an IC card pays off as you can just scan in and out on all of these journeys).
Koyasan is a quiet little village with a couple of convenience stores and lots of souvenir shops. It’s a sacred place for Buddhism, where Kobo Daishi settled and also died, and as such there is a very large cemetery which is worth a visit – the sun made for some beautiful pictures amongst the tall trees. You don’t get a view of the surrounding mountains here but it’s a quiet, peaceful place.
If you want to experience a Buddhist temple, including a very filling Japanese vegetarian dinner, an onsen, Buddhist prayers at 6am, beautiful surroundings, sleeping on tatami mats and another very filling Japanese breakfast – this is for you! It was pretty good to see it – it felt a little tourist-y considering we’d done a Ryokan by ourselves the previous night…but good to try it once, eh.
**Osaka – 4 nights**
Earlier in the week we had come over to Osaka to fill a rainy day – we did a free walking tour, hosted by a local, which wasn’t super detailed but gave us a good idea about Osaka.
Osaka seemed easier to get around than Kyoto, although perhaps we’d just gotten used to navigating by then…
When we came back to Osaka following Koyasan, we spent an afternoon in Round1 Stadium. This has 4 floors of claw grabbers (PAYG), a sort of non-gambling floor (gambling is mostly illegal in Japan but people play slot machines and other games with tokens that you buy…you might win some toys) and then you pay a set amount for the remaining floors for 1, 1.5 or 3 hours. The other floors have an arcade game floor; sports like table tennis, badminton, virtual golf; and baseball batting cages – all included in the price. Everything is timed so if it’s busy, most games are time limited.
We did Universal Studios on a Friday – review and tips for that [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravelTips/s/g7oUczCdfp).
On a busy Saturday in Osaka we explored the ‘pop culture’ shops in one of the Pardon centres (including a Godzilla shop); stopped by a whisky shop and did a brief whisty tasting of Japanese whisky; wondered through America-Mura, which was too hip and cool for us but I understand the appeal to some; went to the Umeda Sky Building (this WAS a good observation deck and goes outside, which was different); rode the Don Q Ferris wheel (is that what’s it’s called?) which is fun, and a little terrifying (looks like it could use a lick of paint); and then we visited RoR Comedy Club in the evening which was in English but had both western and Japanese comics.
On a calmer Sunday in Osaka we took a brief stop at the Housing Museum (good if not small); wandered to but not into Osaka Castle – it was a nice warm day and the surrounding park was full of locals enjoying the day, which was nice to see! – added in Shitenoji Temple and Sumiyoshi Taisha Temple; wandered the tourist trap that is the Tsutenkaku area (did not have any skewer food from that area as all the reviews were poor) and then had a brief look at the Nipponbashi area for arcades and anime stuff.
Osaka was fun! There’s a lot to do and it felt buzzier/ friendlier than Tokyo in a way, although I liked both.
From this point on we had our suitcases with us till the end of the trip as we had booked the luggage space/rows on the Shinkansen.
**Hiroshima – 2 nights**
The warm weather continued as we reached Hiroshima on the bullet train (another rebooked ticket). We visited Shukkeien Garden – cherry blossom finally had arrived! This is a very pretty and peaceful Japanese garden park.
We walked across to Hiroshima Castle and went up to the top. As it’s a rebuilt castle really it’s just a facade, as the inside is a museum – interesting though.
We then walked down to the Atomic Bomb dome, taking that in and passing through the peace park before going into the museum. I was ‘looking forward’ to seeing these places, if that’s the right term, and there is something about being in the place where the first nuclear weapon was detonated. The museum focus is very much on what it did you Hiroshima and it’s people – there’s a bit about the why it occured, but more effort is put into the effect and why it shouldn’t happen again. It’s moving in parts but also juxtaposed with how peaceful the area is now.
All of the above was in walking distance and do-able in a day.
When in Hiroshima you have to try some Okonomiyaki – whilst you can get it elsewhere, I’m told that Hiroshima’s is particularly good.
The next day we took the train and a short ferry trip to Miyajima – this is a really pleasant little island where we took the cable car up the highest mountain – to get to the very top you need to walk for a further 20-30 mins but it’s worth it for the views. The shrine up here was also begun by Kobo Daishi, the guy from Koyasan.
Miyajima has a few shrines and temples, including a cool one that is at sea level. We saw it with the tide out but I’m assuming that the sea comes right up and underneath it. This then has a great view of the Torii gate that’s in the water – it was a cloudy day but it would look great at sunset!
**Tokyo – 2 nights**
And we finished the trip by taking a 4 hour shinkansen back to Tokyo, this time in the green car. Ok, standard class on the Shinkansen is pretty good and the green car doesn’t add a lot – you get a foot rest and a bigger, comfier seat. But for the longer trip it was nice to try.
Back in Tokyo, we did some exploring of Shibuya, Shinjuku, including Hirajuku, and a brief stop of Roppongi and Ginza.
Finally we filled in a final afternoon with Ueno Zoo – it was great to see Pandas in real life! We weren’t convinced by the rest of the zoo…a lot of the enclosures seemed small…
*That’s it* Absolutely loads done and eaten in 19 nights. I’ll do a post of tips separately but Japan is a friendly, majestic, crazy, peaceful and bonkers place all at once – I hope to be back one day!
by WolfOwlice