Hi everyone, my partner and I travelled Japan for 5 weeks in January-Feburary 2020. I finally want to share some highlights from my trip.
Please let me know if you have any questions or would like any general tips! I love to talk about it 🙂
**Tokyo (9 nights)-**
* We stayed in Kameido. There was not another tourist in sight but it was still a very quick train ride to the centre of Tokyo
* Visited the staircase from the movie Your Name. It was the first time we got away from the city and into a residential area. We met some cool people doing a photoshoot who took our photo for us.
* Ghibli museum and Pokemon centre were great fun
* Air-soft gun bar, it wasn’t something I enjoyed, but my partner had a blast. Definitely not something you can do here in Australia.
* Had fun exploring Akihabara, the arcades and the crazy shops
* Enjoyed walking around the Yanaka district and cemetery. Had a great meal and craft beer in a gorgeous old Japanese building
* Teamlab Borderless was very busy but so much fun. We went late enough that there was no line to get in.
Food highlights:
Yakitori bars
Lawson’s
Don Quixote for super cheap drinks
**Nagasaki (4 nights)-**
* Without planning we somehow ended up in Nagasaki during the Chinese lantern festival. It was absolutely beautiful. China town was full of beautiful lights and lanterns.
* We stayed in a 100 year old house on Dutch slope Nagasaki.
* We caught a ferry to the abandoned Battleship island. Althought we weren’t able to dock I really enjoyed the ferry ride and the island! It’s crazy to think how many people lived in that tiny space.
* It was Australia day so we went to a tiny bar that had an Australian flag displayed outside. It was all Japanese people in the bar. We had a great night playing drinking games and talking with the bartenders. We stumbled home around 5am.
* We went up the rope way to Mount Inasa for beautiful views over Nagasaki. It’s definitely worth grabbing a beer and snack at the restaurant to watch the sunset over the city.
* We went to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. Hard to describe but it was very sad and moving. The peace park is beautiful.
Food highlights:
First time having Sushi in Japan. Amazing!
**Hiroshima (3 nights)-**
* We went to the Atomic Bomb Dome and Peace park. Unfortunately, a loud school tour destroyed the peace. We didn’t go to the museum as we were still emotionally drained from the Nagasaki museum.
* Miyajima island was beautiful. The view from the top of the mountain and ropeways is unreal, loved the deer and there are many beautiful peaceful trails to walk.
Food highlights:
Lemon sours!!!
No Gyoza No Life
Okonomiyaki
**Hemiji (stop off)**
* Stopped off at Hemiji on the way to Osaka. I loved it and almost wish we stayed a night.
* The castle was awesome outside and inside
* On the way to the castle we had the best burgers we’ve ever had in our lives. Weird I know!
**Osaka (5 nights)**
* Unfortunately, I was sick while in Osaka so we didn’t do much.
* Went to the markets and the aquarium
* We then went to a bar and my partner challenged some Japanese business men to a game of darts. He smashed them, but then got his arse handed to him by the bartender. Continued to play drinking games with them all night.
Food highlights:
Yakitori and crab sticks at the market
Yakiniku. Best meal we had the whole trip. The waiters spoke no English and the entire menu was japanese writing- no pictures. We used Google to get them to recommend something and continued to order more and more. We went to many yakiniku restaurants but no others were quite as good
**Koyasan (1 night)**
* I really didn’t think this would be our kind of thing but Koyasan was magical!
* Staying at the Buddhist temple and watching the morning ceremony was such a cool experience.
* If you are here make sure to walk around the temples at night, there was not another soul around (except a black bear that ran past us!).
* Also had our first Onsen experience. Daunting, but so relaxing
* We woke up to our first and only day of snow in Japan! It was my partners first time ever seeing snow.
* We spent the morning wondering through the snowy cemetery before moving on to Kyoto. It was so quiet and peaceful.
**Kyoto (4 nights)-**
* Now it was my partners turn to get sick so we didn’t do as much here either
* We enjoyed the monkey park and the bamboo forest
* Fushimi Inari Shrine was great. It was very busy down the bottom but as you get closer to the top or if you steer off the main path gets quieter
* Had some great craft beer in Kyoto
**Kanazawa (3 nights)-**
* Loved Kanazawa. Our Airbnb host was lovely and picked us up from the train station and gave us a driving tour.
* Enjoyed wondering around the castle and the Kenrokuen botanical gardens.
* The old districts and ninja temple were very cool
Food highlights:
Fell in love with Hida beef sushi.
We went to a sushi train recommended by our host where you order off a tablet and the sushi gets sent to you on a little shinkansen sushi train. So cool! I still dream about that delicious fatty tuna.
**Takayama (2 nights)-**
* Takayama was beautiful, I loved all the old streets and the morning market.
* The walk up to the castle ruins is nice and gets you away from the hoards of tourists
* We spent a great night with some other Australians playing card games in a small bar
* We went to a special winter night opening at the Hida Folk Village open air museum. We were greated with free hot milk sake and had the whole place to ourselves. All the tradional houses were lit up with lights, so beautiful. One of my favourite nights from the whole trip.
Food highlights:
Sake
Sake cheesecake
Fancy cocktail bar
We went to a tiny Tempura place. Never realised tempura could be so amazing. The tempura assortment was made and given to us fresh, one piece at a time.
Gyoza
**Hakone (2 nights)-**
* Unfortunately the only glimpse we got of Mount Fuji was on the train there.
* We stayed at an affordable ryoken with private open air baths. We went in them each evening, they opened up into a bamboo forest as it poured down with rain. Hakone was worth the time just for this!
* The fog made for a very eery/ cool atmosphere on the lake.
**Tokyo (another 3 nights)-**
* Enjoyed the Imperial Palace gardens
* We went to a rock bar and met two guys who had been living in Japan for a long time. We shared different music and got late night yakitori with them. Stumbled home at 6am.
9 comments
Was the rock bar Rock Bar Mother in Shinjuku? That place absolutely slaps.
We are planning a trip (hopefully) for February, and are spending part of it in Takayama. I’d love to hear your recommendations for Takayama, especially food! How was the weather when you were there, compared to elsewhere?
I’m curious what ryoken you stayed at in Hakone, if you don’t mind sharing! I am looking for an affordable one and that sounds nice.
Thank you for sharing! Would live to know how you were received by locals in general. Is everything open again?
Would you be willing to share where you stayed in Koyasan and Hakone. Both sound nice!
Omg, thank you for posting this! I’m planning a 2 month trip to Asia and the bulk will be in Japan. Do you think 5 weeks was the right amt of time? How was the weather when you were there?
Hi, can I ask where you guys stayed in Kameido? I would love to stay around Kinshicho/Kameido area the next time I visit Tokyo. Love the vibe the last time I was there visiting Tenjin Shrine. And yes…KAMEIDO GYOZA!!!! 😀
How much did it all cost? Amazing trip!
Sounds awesome. Where did you stay in Takayama and Kanazawa? Also what was the name of the sushi train restaurant in Kanazawa?