Hello reddit community,
We have just returned from a fantastic 16-day trip to Japan. Here is our experience, I hope it helps some of you with planning your trip!
**Places visited**
· Osaka
· Nara
· Hiroshima
· Miyajima
· Himeji
· Kanazawa
· Takayama
· Tokyo
**About us**
Myself (36yr F), husband (39yr M), and our kids (10 yr old daughter & 7yr old son) from Melbourne, Australia.
**Likes**
beautiful nature, exploring new areas, shopping, anime (husband), Pokemon (kids & husband), Japanese food and culture. We went to Japan 10 years ago and visited Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Nara, & Hakone, so this time we wanted to return to some of our favourite places and experience some new ones. I know this is an unpopular opinion but Kyoto was actually our least favourite place of our last trip, so we opted to skip Kyoto for this one.
**May weather**
We specifically chose to travel in May as we wanted to avoid the crazy crowds in the peak times and have mild weather. The weather while we were there was average 21-28 degrees celsius, perfect t-shirt and shorts weather. In 16 days we had only 3 days with rain (2 days of off and on drizzle in Takayama, and 1 day of torrential rain in Osaka).
**Packing**
We wanted to pack light (no suitcases, because there are so many stairs and finding lifts is time consuming and involves a lot more steps). We took 4 x backpacks (1 each) and 2 x hiking back packs (for all our clothes). Packed clothes for 5 days. I packed 2 x jumpers and 2 x pants each, but 1 each would have been fine. 1 pair of good runners each. kids took 1 teddy each. 3 of our hotels we had washing machines in our rooms, and the others had a laundry room with coin machines. I did washing 3 times. Clothing wise, Japanese people dress very conservatively, so we took that into consideration when packing. Especially because I live in activewear normally. I saw no one wearing activewear at all!
**Flights**
We flew from in and out of Osaka from Melbourne, which we got on sale for $575 AUD return each person
**Transport**
We travelled exclusively on public transport. Mostly trains, Shinkansen between major citites, trams and some buses. We found public transport to be easy to navigate, well signed in english also, and frequent. My husband broke his foot badly 1 year ago and still has issues with it, and with 2 kids in tow we always opted for getting on a train to get us closer to where we needed to be, even if it meant transferring train lines a few times. The IC cards come in super handy for this!!. We saved so many steps each day by doing this, and saved a lot of complaints from the kids about tired legs!
*IC cards* – My husband and I both downloaded Suica cards in our Apple wallets on our iPhone, its super easy to do and super easy to top up. Had no problems topping up with AMEX or Mastercard that was in our apple wallet. The only issue we had with the digital cards is that you chew through so much phone battery taking pictures and videos and using google maps there were many days we were stressed about our phones dying. So make sure you always take a power bank with you just in case.
*Kids IC cards* – You cant get digital kids IC cards, and our kids don’t have their own phones either so I picked up 2 x kids ICOCA IC cards from the JR ticket office at Umeda station (osaka). Just make sure you have their passports with you. The kids fares are half the price of adults, so its worthwhile getting them for how much you use the trains. You can top up the cards at almost all ticket machines (cash only).
*Transport passes -* We purchased the JR West Kansai-Hiroshima area pass in advance online as this worked out cheaper for our itinerary than individual tickets. I picked up the pass from the JR ticket office at Kansai Airport station. Also purchased a 1 day Osaka-metro pass (820 yen for an adult) only on one day for moving around osaka alot. You can get them from any osaka-metro station ticket machine.
*Shinkansen Tickets -* I only booked our first shinkansen (Osaka – Hiroshima) in advance, online through JR west website, which i picked up at the airport station when we arrived. We booked most of the others either on the spot (No issues getting a seat), or through the Smart Ex app ( Tokyo – Osaka) We booked that one in the morning of the day we were travelling, and i’m glad we did as the train was almost full when we got on (5:47pm time).
**Language**
I know a little bit of Japanese ( from what i remember from learning Japanese in high school). My husband and the kids played on duolingo for a few months before hand. Most people in Osaka, Tokyo, and touristy places spoke a fair bit of english. But we tried to speak some Japanese where we could. We downloaded Google translate, and DeepL. The translation on DeepL was much better and a more accurate than google translate. The translate camera function is fantastic for shopping for food and working out how to use the washing machines etc. The Japanese people were always so happy when our kids spoke some japanese to them.
**Advance bookings**
*Hotels -* Some through booking .com and others direct to the hotel. We found the prices were mostly better when booking direct to the hotel
*Universal Studios -* 2 months before hand. we bought express passes and studio passes. i tried to purchase through the USJ website but had no luck with it accepting our credit cards. we tried AMEX, Visa, and Mastercard. gave up and purchased through Klook. Yes you can now select times for timed entries on Klook.
*DisneySea -* 1 month before. purchased through Disney site. nil issues.
*TeamLab Planets -* 2 months before, through official website
*Sumo -* We tried to get tickets to the sumo tournament for when we were in tokyo. We jumped online when the tickets were released, but the website crashed. After many many refreshes, when we finally got onto the site 1.5 hrs later, they were sold out for the days we could go 🙁
**Food – Restaurants**
We love good food, but don’t fancy waiting in line for an hour to have an instagram hyped food. We made no bookings for restaurants, and just stopped when we saw something that looked good. It often involved a lot of walking as its difficult to get a spot for 4 people in some tiny restaurants. Street food was great! We used uber eats a few times from the hotel which was great for fussy kids, super quick and was reliable both times. the food was great too! Breakfast was mostly combini, yoghurt, smoothies, waffles. We found that department stores had great food halls (usually basement level) for takeaway with everything from sushi, salads, fried chicken, dumplings etc. A good option for groups with different tastes, affordable and a nice change from the combini food. Coffee almost everywhere was terrible.
**HOTELS**
***OSAKA – May 14 – APA Umeda-Eki tower.*** A pretty standard business hotel, small. location was ok, close enough to walk from umeda station. In hindsight, I should have just booked a room at the airport hotel. kids were absolutely exhausted from the 2am wake up in Melbourne with no sleep on the plane (too excited), our daughter was in tears at the airport from exhaustion. our son finally fell asleep on the train which meant i had to carry him (25kgs) and luggage through the station and to the hotel. we got to the hotel around 10pm. (approx $220 AUD 1 x night)
***HIROSHIMA – May 15-16 – FAV HOTEL Hiroshima heiwa odori -*** Amazing! apartment style, great location, breakfast included. 2 x Queen beds in the room, washing machine and dryer. Would 100% stay here again if in Hiroshima. (approx $530 AUD 2 x nights)
***KANAZAWA – May 17-18 – Tsukuyomi Chuodori*** . A Japanese style vacation rental house. location was ok, a short bus ride to the main area, or you could walk. very quiet residential area, actually had the best sleep here out of entire trip, although it was bright at 5:00am as there is only shoji screens for window coverings. very steep staircase to the top floor, probably not suitable for very young kids or older people. (approx $330 AUD 2 x nights)
***TAKAYAMA – May 19-20 – FAV LUX Hida Takayama -*** great location. amazing apartment style 2 x queen beds + 2 x single bunk beds on top. Would 100% stay here again (approx $560 AUD 2 x nights)
***TOKYO – May 21 – 25 – Mimaru Asakusa Station -*** location is 10/10!! literally next to the subway line, food, shopping on the door step, sensoji temple like 200mtrs away. Apartment style 1 x queen bed and 2 x single bunks. This may also be an unpopular opinion but you don’t need to be near the Yamanote line in Tokyo. it was so easy to transfer to anywhere you want to go in Tokyo, the stations and different subway lines are so well signed and colour coded. I have stayed in Shinjuku and Tokyo station area before, and I would definitely stay in Asakusa again over those areas. (approx $1650 AUD 4 x nights)
***OSAKA – May 26-30 – Randor suites Namba -*** Location was great! right next to a subway line, literally 3 doors down. Or a 950mtr walk to shinsaibashi. Was a whole apartment, huge for Japan. We shared this with my Sister in-law and her 2 boys (aged 10 and 12) who joined us in Tokyo for the last half of the trip. (approx $1450 AUD 4 x nights (our share about $800 AUD for 4 x nights)
**BUDGET**
We didn’t really set a specific budget as we had been saving for a while. All up in total, with absolutely everything …flights, tickets, trains, food, accomm, shopping. It cost approx $16,000 AUD for a family of 4 people (1,600,000Yen). “Santa” got the kids new wallets and 10,000 yen each for xmas, so it was nice for them to work out what they wanted to spend their own money on.
**DAY 1 – OSAKA – tues 14th May**
**12,221 steps**
Flight from Melbourne – Osaka arrived 7pm
Through customs, baggage, JR tickets, got a 8:46pm (with 2 mins to spare) JR Haruka to Umeda (covered by the rail pass but you need a reserved ticket, which i got from the JR office when picking up the passes).
**DAY 2 HIROSHIMA – wed 15th May**
**18,787 steps**
I had booked a 1220 shinkansen from osaka to hiroshima. Which meant we had time for a restful slow morning ( only 1 hour time difference from Melbourne, so no issues with jet lag). We went to the Daimaru umeda and the pokemon centre, nintendo and some other shops, grabbed a bento box and on the shinkansen. We took our bags with us to the shops as we didn’t want to trek back to the hotel.
An easy tram transfer and 600mtr walk to the hotel. We had a refresh at the hotel and then walked to the peace Museum. Entry is free for kids and 200Y for adults, a must if in Hiroshima! it was busy in some parts as we were there around 4pm but have never been somewhere with so many people and so much silence. Followed by a walk around the peace park and atomic bomb dome. You don’t need to be into war history to enjoy Hiroshima. The whole area has the most amazing peaceful vibe. If I lived in Japan, Hiroshima is where it would be! Dinner at Okonomi-mura. Delicious hiroshima style okonomiyaki. get there early, most places were sold out by 7pm.
**DAY 3 MIYAJIMA DAY TRIP – thurs 16th May**
**23,589 steps**
Opted to catch the tram to Miyajima ferry station, which was longer, but cheaper and meant we didn’t need to transfer at the station, and also so we could see a bit more of the area out the window. you dont need to book the ferry in advance just get a ticket at the dock ( ours was covered by the JR area pass, still need to pay a 100Y tax for adults) ferry ride is about 10mins. We just walked through the streets poking in shops, eating some street food. The whole area is really beautiful and was busy but not over crowded. we wanted to ride the ropeway up to Mt Misen but when we got the the ropeway station it was closed due to strong winds. I was keen to go up so my hubby took the kids back into town and i did the 2.5km walk up the mountain to the look out. Do not attempt this unless you have a relative level of physical fitness, what starts as a nice meandering path following the river and waterfalls, quickly turns into 2km of stone steps up the mountain. it took me a bit over an hour to walk up and the view at the top is incredible. the trip down was much quicker, just be careful if you have bad knees. we left about 4:30 as we promised the kids we’d go to the pokemon centre. Went back to the hotel and got some uber eats for dinner, delicious ramen and gyoza
\* Mine and my hubby’s favourite day of the trip\*
\* Felt like we needed ½ to 1 extra day in the Hiroshima \*
**DAY 4 – TRAVEL TO KANAZAWA VIA HIMEJI – fri 17th May**
**12,993 steps**
checked out of the hotel and took our luggage to 7-11 to transfer to our hotel in takayama 3 days later so that we could do our himeji and shirakawago stops on the way. we managed to stuff everything into 1 hiking pack and cost $25AUD to send. we kept 2 days of clothes with us in our backpacks. booked a shinkansen to himeji at the station immediately prior to travelling (covered by the pass). Walked around himeji castle, its beautiful. we didn’t go inside as we were a bit pushed for time as we needed to check into our house by 7pm in kanazawa. but its worth the stop if its on your way. Our JR passes covered the trip to Tsuruga where we transferred to the shinkansen to kanazawa. We booked this on the spot and it was not busy. got to our house at 6:15pm, got some dinner recommendations from the house host and ordered through uber eats. hubby and i had curry kastu (kanazawa specialty) and got the kids some chicken and chips from a different place both delicious.
**DAY 5 – KANAZAWA – sat 18th May**
**20,719 steps**
We had lots of plans for the day, but our daughter was sick (vomiting) (she had a chest infection from when we left home) so we had aborted our mission and went back to the house, kids watched a movie on the ipads with hubby, and i went for a walk to the supermarket. I had fun browsing all the food for 1.5 hours. After lunch we went to Kenrokuen. The kids hated it, complained it was too hot and asked if we were ready to leave the whole time. it is a lovely large garden that is so well kept. However, we felt it lacked any real feeling (if that makes any sense). We had some obligatory gold leaf ice-cream at $10AUD each (Nothing to write home about, but of course its a good photo op). We skipped the market and the old district as our daughter was still feeling sick and hot, and opted for some shopping at kanazawa station. Of course pokemon centre. We enjoyed wandering the shops here for a few hours, got some happy pancakes, and dumplings on the top floor for dinner.
\* side note, buses in kanazawa only take cash ( No IC cards, except the loop bus takes IC)
**DAY 6 TRAVEL TO TAKAYAMA – Sun 19th May**
**15,910 steps**
We got up early to get the first bus to Shirakawago around 8:00am. Although we didn’t realise you need to reserve seats for this bus. I went to the counter and the first available bus was not until 1pm as the others were booked out. Also all the buses from Shirakawago to Takayama were booked out for the day. So we had to change plans and we jumped on a train to Toyama and then the limited express to Takayama. it was a 4min change over so we raced to the other platform and jumped in a non-reseved car. it was Packed, my son had to sit on my lap. The train ride is about 1.5 hours and absolutely stunning scenery. we arrived in Takayama, thinking we could tap our IC cards, but NO! No IC cards in takayama. luckily we paid the fare at the ticket window. however, we could only pay the Toyama to Takayama fare as they are different train line companies. Our IC cards, still said “In transit” so we had to fix that up when we went back to Toyama and pay the fare that we missed from not tapping off in Toyama. We learnt that it was super busy with tourists in Takayama so we booked our express train back to Toyama and the shinkansen to tokyo then at the station for the Tuesday. Checked into the hotel ” our bags from hiroshima were there waiting” walked around the streets of takayama, grabbed some dinner at a soba place and headed back to the hotel for an early night.
**DAY 7 TAKAYAMA – Mon 20th May**
**10,939 steps**
Walked to the morning market, had some hida beef sushi (AMAZING), Midarashi dango (salty dango, YUM!) the most amazing criossants, poked in the shops around the old town area. kids fed the Koi and trout in the river. ate the most amazing cotton candy from a little shop. tasted sake from a brewery. Dinner at Suzuya (amazing, best meal of the trip, hida beef sukiyaki!!!) get there early! we were there at 5:10pm and already a big line in front of us. They won’t serve any one after 6:30pm. we booked a spa and sauna room for 7-9pm at the hotel so headed back to relax.
**\*** Saw lots of lovely souvenirs, engraved chopsticks, holders etc that in hindsight i should have bought in Takayama…but i thought i’ll wait until Tokyo because it will be cheaper there… but I just didn’t find many nice souvenir shops in Tokyo or Osaka, or we would have had to go out of the way to go there.
**DAY 8 TRAVEL TO TOKYO – Tues 21st May**
**11,209 steps**
Took the 11:07 limited express back to Toyama and the shinkansen to Ueno. We arrived at the hotel in Asakusa around 4pm. Dropped off bags at the hotel and headed to Sensoji, the area around the markets and temple was packed. We met up with my hubby’s sister and her 2 kids (they had the room next to us at the hotel) we walked down the street and found a teppanyaki okonomiyaki restaurant that could seat 7 people. The food was yummy, although they mustn’t have trusted us with the kids to cook our own food as they cooked it all for us downstairs and bought it up already cooked. We went to the sky tree for yet another pokemon store.
**DAY 9 TOKYO – EAST SIDE – wed 22nd May**
**21,732 steps**
Exploring and shopping Shibuya, Harajuku and Shinjuku. We went through Shibuya scramble, wandered the streets and shops of Shibuya and Harajuku, looking at shoes, cosmetics, gacha, anime. We had dinner at TGI Fridays in Harajuku, mainly because we could fit all 7 of us together and there was something on the menu that everyone would eat, the food is as you would expect (we found it difficult to find places suitable for everyone as my SIL is vegetarian, her son is super fussy (has autism, will not eat new foods), and our son is fussy too). We then jumped on the train and headed to Tokyo metropolitan government building in shinjuku, its great for the free observation deck and light show. The light show runs for 15mins every half hour from 7pm.
**DAY 10 TOKYO – DISNEY SEA – Thurs 23rd May**
**31, 464 steps**
One of the only days we set an alarm for the whole trip. Caught a train from Asakusa at 7:15am and arrived about 8:10, grabbed a coffee from starbucks there and headed in. The line was already massive. We got through the gates around 9:20. This is everything we did
**Journey –** first ride of the day went straight there 45min wait *9/10*
**Indiana Jones –** 40^(th) anniversary pass *9/10*
**Tower of terror –** DPA *– 8.5/10*
**Raging spirits –** single rider line, 20 min wait *6/10*
**Soaring –** DPA, *10/10* amazing, we don’t have anything like this in Australia so we were all blown away, even the kids
**20,000 leagues under the sea –** 40^(th) anniversary pass *6/10*
**Toy story –** DPA – *7/10*
**Jasmine’s flying carpet** 5 min wait *4/10*
**Jumpin jelly fish** ***–*** 20 min wait, just the kids went on, they said it was boring
**Flounder coaster –** 10 min wait, surprisingly good for a little kid coaster, took my daughter on it again at the end of the day while the others went on Indiana again as she wouldn’t do any of the bigger rides
**Believe sea of dreams -** really lovely show, brought some of the Disney magic that is missing from the park.
Fireworks were cancelled due to wind. Overall we had the most amazing day!!! We got to do everything we wanted (with some careful pre-planning), the weather was perfect. The park is huge! We still didn’t see everything, with fantasy springs opening you definitely need 2 days to see everything. The park itself is so well done, every nook and cranny has amazing theming, but it does miss some of that “disney magic”. However, I think with the fantasy springs addition, the park will really have it all. The food is great…albeit very long lines. We ordered dinner through the Disney app and picked it up at a designated time which was a life saver.
**DAY 11 – TOKYO – Fri 24th May**
**18,504 steps**
We had a 10:30 timeslot booked for team-lab planets (knowing we didn’t want to have a too early start to the day following Disney) Team labs was lovely, hard to be blown away following the day at Disney but it was still a nice experience. It is certainly a photo opportunity rather than a place to actually learn about and appreciate the art. Either way everyone did enjoy it, and its much more affordable than the digital art galleries we have in Aus. We stopped at Ginza on the way back to go to a few shops and grabbed some lunch from the Matsuya department store food hall. The group split up here and hubby went to Akihabara with our nephew to look at anime stuff. I took our son shoe shopping in Ginza and then headed back to the hotel to do some washing. Took a nice walk along Sumida river and went to an early dinner at Ichiran ramen. It was yum, but not the best ramen of the trip. When the kids were in bed I headed to Don Quijote Asakusa alone to grab some things I wanted to try. It was so busy even at 11pm at night, don’t attempt with kids! the line for tax free registers took over 30mins to pay. I walked back through sensoji around 12:45am and it was so peaceful with no one else around.
**DAY 12 TOKYO – TRAVEL TO OSAKA – Sat 25th May**
**16,914 steps**
Last minute shopping in Tokyo. We split up, hubby took all the kids to some toy stores, and my SIL and I went shopping in Ginza. Originally I thought that Ginza was only high-end stores but found it to be the best place for shopping as they had all the major stores there, Uniqlo, Nike, Loft etc. 5:47 pm Shinkansen to Osaka. Arrived around 8:30pm to Osaka hotel.
**\*** an extra day in tokyo would have been nice\*
**DAY 13 – NARA DAY TRIP – Sun 26th May**
**21,335 steps**
We went for a walk in Nara park, Todaji temple and walked through the streets of Nara. We went to Nara 10 years ago and loved it, but this time just didn’t feel the same. It was so busy, smelly (deer poo), and just felt nothing like we remembered. That was a bit of a disappointment for me and hubby, the kids still seemed to enjoy it as they liked patting and feeding the deer, and looking in the souvenir shops. Dotonbori for dinner
**DAY 14 – OSAKA – Mon 27th** **May**
**21, 817 steps**
Went to Kuramon market in the morning. I loved walking through here (and i don’t eat seafood!!) there is so much amazing food here. definitely go with an empty stomach! Got some nice chopsticks. Explored Shinsaibashi, Dotonbori, Umeda, Pokemon store, shopping. Ate some street food. Tried to get an early night before USJ.
**DAY 15 – UNIVERSAL STUDIOS – Tues 28th may**
**24,352 steps**
Set the alarm early and arrived at USJ about 8:15am. We were through the gates by 8:30am. The weather forecast was rain all day….and boy did it RAIN ALL day. 110mm of rain it was horrendous! Hot tip, if it is expected to rain then definitely bring an umbrella for each person and a poncho! So much cheaper to buy in Osaka than the 1800Y they charge per person for a poncho at the park when you have no other options. They have really cool merch tho, way better than Disney.
We pre-purchased Express -pass 4 (variety fun) for our kids (they were too small for some of the coasters, or didn’t want to ride). The rest of us had express pass 7.
We had 10:20am timed entry for Harry potter and 5:40pm timed entry for Super Nintendo (although you didn’t need a timed entry on the day). When we got in hubby and my nephew raced over to Demon slayer (both big anime fans) and the rest of us went to Minions. We spent a lot of time in souvenir shops and seeing shows that were out of the rain. Flying dinosaur, Hollywood dream, & flight of hippogriff were all closed until 6:30pm when it finally stopped raining.
The rides we did
**Minion Mayhem –** waited 5 mins at the start of day, *6/10* due to motion sickness factor. My son would say 10/10 it was his fav ride. Went on again later in the day with our express passes
**Freeze ray sliders –** kids said *6/10,* I didn’t ride. Got straight on.
**Forbidden Journey –** Used our express passes and got straight on, pretty cool ride 8/10. Hubby hated it due to motion sickness and vomited as soon as he got off. Kids loved it. I took the kids on again at 7:30pm and walked straight on.
**Flight of the hippogriff –** managed to use our express passes when this opened about 7pm. 6/10, its fun but really short, the best part is the view of the castle.
**Flying dinosaur** – express passes, waited 5 mins. *9.5/10.* Amazing coaster.
**Demon slayer -** hubby said 9.5/10. Said it was pure fun the whole time. Coaster + VR. No motion sickness.
**Mario Kart –** Express passes. Waited max 10mins. 8/10
**Yoshi –** Kids used our express passes as it wasn’t included in theirs but we decided to go in the normal line and got on only a few cars behind them. A nice view of SNW but pretty boring otherwise 4/10
**JAWS –** 6/10. My daughters fav ride. She went on twice, 5 min wait all day.
**SING –** live show. Fun singing along to the songs.
**MyHero 4D –** in Japanese. Was still fun, and dry.
Had dinner at Hard Rock outside after we left.
\*adults preferred Disney and the kids preferred universal (even in the torrential rain)\*
\*our son’s favourite day (7yr old)
**DAY 16 – OSAKA -Home – Wed 29th May**
**17,070 steps**
Took our time in the morning packing and left luggage at the hotel. We stopped by shinsaibashi to grab a few things we wanted to buy, grabbed some lunch and then went to the Osaka aquarium. The aquarium is beautiful and the whole area near there is really nice too, they have a giant ferris wheel and legoland which we didn’t go to. Would have been nice to have a few more hours to explore the area. We headed back to the hotel at 4:30 to grab our luggage and got the Nankai airport express train to the airport. This was pretty straight forward and we managed to get a seat after a couple of stops. Flight home at 9:25pm
\* Our daughters favourite day (10yr old) (besides the flight)
If you got this far, thanks for taking the time to read. I hope you enjoy your trip
by ExactAbroad17