Hello everyone! Been a lurker here and have used this sub occasionally for a bit of inspiration, always nice to see everyone’s trips.
I (24m) did a 14 day solo trip in July 2023. I did my year abroad in Tokyo, though I got kicked out when COVID hit, and this recent trip was my third time in Japan. Having lived there and already done the classic Kyoto, Osaka etc trip when I was younger I wanted to see the less touristy places, hike and mix in bigger cities with small towns. I’m JLPT N2 so communication was fine and I used the 14 day JR rail pass. Slightly unrelated but while studying in Tokyo I was also a waiter (Gonpachi Nishi-Azabu aka the Kill Bill restaurant if anyone knows it), I had a Japanese bank account in which I saved my salary. I was home for a bit when COVID hit and so most of the salary I had saved ended up being stuck there in my Japanese account, the only way to get it out was in-person with my hanko stamp in Japan so this was a vindicating trip. The money I had earned paid for most of my accomodation and all my spending plus some extra.
I don’t really enjoy planning meticulous hour-by-hour itineraries (as you sometimes see on this sub) so I mostly went with the flow, asked locals for recommendations and would look up what to do on the day. I like just walking around and stumbling into things. Though I booked all accommodation beforehand.
DAYS 1-4 (Fri-Tues): Tokyo
Day 1:
– Landed in Tokyo Haneda at 3pm
– Got to hotel APA Higashi-Shinjuku and spent the evening walking around my old stomping ground, Waseda
– Dinner at SUKE SUSHI. This is an adorable sushi spot nestled in a residential area in Waseda run by 83-year old Akehide-sama and his wife. I used to go there weekly and so it was great to see him in good health. I was worried as he had been hospitalised right before COVID hit, so it was wonderful to see him alive and well and his usual cheerful self. Definitely pay him a visit!
Day 2:
– Walked around Shinjuku, I do love that place. I also booked my Shinkansen tickets for the coming week down to Wakayama prefecture and then Fukuoka.
– One of my favourite things to do as a student was find funky or just good vibe coffee shops to work in and explore the surrounding neighborhoods so I did some of that, also to escape the heat.
– I ate lunch at BUDOUKA in Waseda. Personally I think it is the best ramen in Japan, the thick and rich tonkotsu broth is killer. I then rested in the afternoon because I was comatose from BUDOUKA and it was extremely hot and humid.
– In the evening I had a date in Shimokitazawa (one of my favourite neighborhoods) with someone I had met as a waiter when I studied in Tokyo. We had had a great first date over three years ago now, then literally right after that COVID hit and I had to go home, so it was great to reconnect after all these years. I ended up having a late night so day 3 was uneventful.
Day 3:
– Woke up in the afternoon, hit the onsen and relaxed in my room watching sumo on the TV.
– In the early evening I walked around Ueno and Akihabara before hitting an izakaya for food and drinks with an old friend.
Day 4 (Monday)
– Went to the bank in the morning, pulled out all my money and closed my Japanese account. A mission that was three years in the making became a success!
– It was extremely hot again so I chilled at a coffee shop in the afternoon, read and enjoyed a peaceful moment.
– In the early evening I walked around Kichijoji and hit another izakaya with another old friend. There is a fair amount of izakaya-going in this post.
DAYS 5-7: Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage Trail
Day 5 (mostly travel):
– Took a 7am Shinkansen to Osaka, then from Tennoji I took a 2-hour local train to Kii-Tanabe peninsula. The views from the train were beautiful as it went along the Wakayama coast. From Kii-Tanabe I took a 2-hour bus to the beautiful and quiet Yunomine Onsen town, nestled in the mountains and featuring one of Japan’s oldest and most sacred onsen in which only two people can enter at a time.
– I arrived at Yunomine at around 6pm and stayed at J-Hoppers hostel. It was very comfy and has private onsens! I had dinner and drinks with some locals there and got an early night.
Day 6:
– I hit the road at 8am and hiked 2-hours from Yunomine to Hongu. I severely underestimated the heat, humidity and steepness of the trail, but most of all my ability to do this all with a 20-25 kilo bag (i’m backpacking Asia for a couple months so have a decent amount). I’m in good shape and have hiked worse, but the bag was just too much given the steepness of the trails.
– I sweat absolute buckets. It was a beautiful hike through the hills surrounded by trees. Hongu itself was also very nice as a village, with many historical shrines and temples to admire. I decided to put my bags in a coin locker and just walk all around Hongu in the afternoon and forego the second 4-hour hike, which was a good decision.
– At 4pm I took a couple buses to the small, cute and quiet Koguchi, where I stayed at Koguchi Shizen no ie, a middle school refurbished into a ryokan and it was absolutely adorable. I bathed in the river flowing through the town to cool down, had dinner and an early night. I would recommend this town for a night, it was the ultimate nani-mo-nai-mura.
Day 7
– I woke up extra early to take the first buses from Koguchi to Kii-Katsuura, where I dropped my heavy bags off. From Katsuura I was able to reach Nachi at 9am. Nachi has Japan’s tallest waterfall and is where one of the Kumano Kodo trails ends.
– I managed to hike 7-hours from Nachi back along Kumano Kodo (Okemogotori trail) towards Koguchi, made it over halfway and doubled back. The forest hike was beautiful and peaceful, and my fitness was vindicated as without the heavy bag I was fine.
– I stayed at Why Kumano hostel, and after the hike I hit a lovely onsen by the sea, and had dinner and drinks out with some hostel ppl, Katsuura has amazing fish!
DAYS 8-10: Fukuoka
Day 8 (mostly travel, and a late night):
– I took an early local train back along the coastline to Shin-Osaka, it was four hours but totally worth it for the great views again.
– From Osaka I took the shinkansen to Fukuoka, and arrived at Hive Hostel at 6pm.
– I rested a bit and went out to an izakaya for dinner, where I met some fun locals and drank the night away.
– I didn’t know it was happening, but there was one of Fukuoka’s main festivals on until 4am, so it was a late night indeed and a lot of fun.
Day 9: Hungover
– I slept in and was out of the hostel by 1pm. I had a very needed lunch at Ichiran Ramen which was great, I digested and had coffee at a Muji shop and got some clothes there too.
– After I went and saw the Fukuoka Castle Ruins and walked up to Atago Shrine (built in 72AD!)
– I hung out with hostel workers/guests in the evening and night for a few drinks and dinner, my brain was starting to get tired from all the Japanese though.
DAYS 10-12: Kurokawa Onsen
Day 10
– Bus to Kurokawa Onsen, where I arrived at Yumerindo Ryokan at 1pm. I walked around a bunch, napped and tried out the plethora of beautiful riverside onsen.
– Had a lonely dinner at the town’s “izakaya” and then beer and bed.
Day 11: The greatest scenery I’ve ever seen in Japan
– On the bus ride up to Kurokawa I had spied some beautiful, green rolling hills, very Miyazaki/Howl’s Moving Castle-esque.
– In the morning at around 8:30am I decided to walk in their general direction and it was honestly one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen in my life.
– If you want to do it (in summer for the greenery) walk to 平野台高原展望所, and then continue on the small path from there, it weaves through the green rolling hills and is simply amazing, pic related if possible.
– I hiked back though the forest and tried out more onsen on the way back into Kurokawa to relax. Yamamizuki was one of them and I would highly recommend.
– I stayed that night at Okunoyu Ryokan, had another lonely dinner, a late night beer and onsen and then bed.
Day 12: Scenic travel day to Nagasaki
– I left Kurokawa at around 10:30am and took two buses from Kurokawa to Kumamoto pier, where I then took a nice ferry to cross to Shimabara-ko.
– From there I took the cutest two carriage yellow train along the coast from Shimabara-ko to Isahaya. It genuinely felt like the train in Spirited Away and is probably the best train ride I’ve ever done, would highly recommend just doing it for the sake of it. It went along the coast, through small towns and across sprawling rice fields with the mountains in the distance across the water.
– From Isahaya I took the shinkansen to Nagasaki and arrived at HafH Hostel Nagasaki at 7pm, where I had dinner and drinks with hostel people in the hostel.
Day 13: Nagasaki
– In the morning some hostel people and I got up early and took a boat ride to Gunkanjima, a small abandoned coal mine island/town that looks like a battleship and once housed 5,000 people. It was one of the most densely populated areas in Japan and was abandoned in 1975, it is now a UNESCO site. It was very cool but we couldn’t get off the boat and walk on the island due to the waves.
– In the afternoon we visited the Nagasaki Peace Museum, Nagasaki A-bomb museum, and Peace Park.
– I then had my last dinner and night out at a great and cheap Izakaya covered in 50s, 60s and 70s Japan posters of all sorts, did a nomihoudai and such.
Day 14
– Flight from Nagasaki back to Haneda to then fly to Vietnam, and that’s it!
Thank you for reading 🙂
by TheGuyWhoDid1t