December 22, 2022 – January 6, 2023
Overview of our trip goals: My husband (30M) and I (29F) are first time visitors to Japan and were really excited to eat everything, go on a few trail runs, have a mix of planned and spontaneous outings. We enjoy wandering and stumbling upon places for food. We were partially traveling with a small group of friends who had been to Japan before, staying in the same general areas.
**12/22 – Haneda / Tokyo**
Flew into Haneda, landed around 3 pm, picked up JR pass. The line here moved surprisingly slow, so be sure to budget time here. Understandably a lot of folks were asking a lot of questions but we didn’t expect it to take over an hour waiting in line. We bought our pass from [japanrailpass-reservation.net](https://japanrailpass-reservation.net) which was great because they don’t need to mail you anything and you can very easily book and cancel shinkansen seats. Took an evening shinkansen to Osaka where we’d spend the next 5 nights. We stayed in Namba (right near Namba station) and absolutely loved it.
**12/23 – Osaka**
We had some magical snow flurries all throughout the day! We spent the morning walking around, getting our bearings. Tried okonomiyaki, toured Osaka castle, played pinball at Silver Ball Planet arcade, had boba at Elk, walked around Dotonbori, had ramen for dinner, and ended the night playing darts at Round 1.
**12/24 – Osaka / Kobe**
Took a trail to Kobe in the morning to run Mt Futatabi via Nunobiki. Gorgeous day out, super clear and could see the city and coast. The waterfalls were beautiful. We ate at Steakland for lunch and had a great experience, our small group all tried the tender Kobe beef. Took the train back to Osaka and wandered around Namba then Hommachi area. To celebrate Christmas Eve, we had reserved dinner at Ajikitcho Bunbu-an. Absolutely phenomenal experience – the food was exquisite, beautiful plating and presentation, everything was delicious and unique. Selections included abalone, tilefish, sea bream, tuna, urchin, squid, yellow tail, and others.
**12/25 – Osaka / Universal Studios**
Made it out to USJ and used advice from some earlier trip reports to get out there early and go straight to Super Nintendo World. It was still overwhelmingly crowded, but we still had a great time playing around with the wristbands. Made it to Harry Potter World, had some butter beer and browsed the shops, rode the Flying Dinosaur rollercoaster (very fun), and strolled through the whole park. We didn’t plan to stay the whole day but felt satisfied by the early evening. Made our way back to Osaka Castle to walk around the big illumination “Illuminage” to celebrate Christmas. It was beautiful and we had a blast taking photos all over.
**12/26 – Osaka / Kyoto**
Had breakfast and coffee at Marufuku Coffee, a cute old fashioned cafe with delicious pastries and pancakes. Made our way to Kyoto for the afternoon to see Fushimi Inari and wander around. Hiked to the top of Mt Inari and took a few side trails in some bamboo forests. I admit we should have spent more time in Kyoto but we were pretty exhausted/low energy and didn’t plan much, so we went back to Osaka for dinner. We found a tiny bar called Kotetsuya with delicious gyoza and a very friendly owner, definitely recommend if you can get a seat.
**12/27 – Tokyo**
Checked out of our hotel and got on a shinkansen with reserved seats to Tokyo. We had hoped to have a half day to explore but ended up having a funny experience with our hotel choice. I’d rather not dwell on it but we decided to cancel the reservation we had made about an hour after checking in, and booked a last minute place elsewhere. Long story short we relocated to Nishi-Shinjuku and met up with our friends in Shibuya to play some arcade games. Lots of konbini snacks today which were all delicious – onigiri, dorayaki, mochi, etc.
**12/28 – Tokyo**
Spent the morning running around Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden and stopping into the greenhouse (stunning flowers and plants). Sadly the teahouses were closed. Went to Oiwake Dango for an amazing selection of mochi skewers. We tried a lot of different flavors, highly recommend if you like mochi. Made our way over to Senso-ji Temple and shopped around Nakamise Street. Went to Suzukien Asakusa for the most incredible matcha gelato I’ve ever had – claiming “strongest matcha in the world.” The gelato options have a 1-7 range, 7 being the strongest. We tried a few different levels and 7 truly was stronger and quite delicious! We moved on to Skytree and ended up catching the sunset with a clear day, able to see Mt Fuji. We just bought tickets at the door and had to wait about 45 minutes to get to the 350th floor (we didn’t buy tickets to go higher). I spent some time shopping around the department store under the Skytree before we headed back to Shinjuku. We lucked out on seats at a bar in Golden Gai with some tasty meat skewers, followed by a sake bar where we had some sake flights. I can’t recall the names of either of these but both were in Golden Gai.
**12/29 – Minakami/Gunma**
We had reserved one night at Takaragawa Onsen Osenkaku (booked a few months in advance, and apparently we got the last room on that day) so we made our way to Tokyo station to hop on a shinkansen and then get the shuttle at Jomo-Kogen station. We really enjoyed the train ride because it was sunny but once we went through a long tunnel, the other side was snowy! We arrived in the early evening and got settled into our room with traditional tatami mats and donned our yukatas. We had time for a soak before dinner. This place was pure magic – multiple open air / rotenburo baths with varying temperatures (one was fairly lukewarm but the other two were plenty hot). With snow everywhere and starting to fall, it was beautiful. The dinner was an excellent kaiseki spread with yakiniku. Everything was seasonal and we thought it was delicious. We spent the rest of the night in all the outdoor baths and sitting under the snow.
**12/30 – Minakami/Gunma – Tokyo**
We got up early to spend more time soaking before breakfast and woke up to an absolute winter wonderland. It snowed at least 6 more inches and still going. To say it was breathtaking would be an understatement. Breakfast was great and after a quick indoor soak, we took the shuttle back to the station. Although it was a quick visit, we were satisfied with taking advantage of the time we had. Definitely worth the trip! We got back to Shinjuku midday and I decided to spend the afternoon shopping in Shinjuku/Harajuku areas. Although I am not personally into kawaii fashion or the more formal/feminine styles that seemed to be popular, I had a blast in the secondhand stores (Ragtag and 2nd St, to name a few) as well as some of the more interesting grunge/bohemian brands including Go Slow Caravan, Milkfed, Cube Sugar, Ripndip, and Double Name. After shopping, I met up with our group at Sushi Zanmai in Shibuya. Wandered around Shibuya for the rest of the night.
**12/31 – Tokyo / Mt Takao**
We decided to go up to Mt Takao via the Sagamiko side with a few locals our friends knew from previous trips. Gorgeous views on this sunny day, and we got soba noodles at the top of Mt Takao. It wasn’t super crowded yet, as most go to the shrines for New Years in the late hours to spend midnight and/or the sunrise from the summit. We had some of the best mochi dango I’ve ever had (white and black sesame as choices) at a food stall about part way down the trail (before the cable car) on the way to Takaosanguchi station. Grabbed some cake (really unique chestnut rum cake) and hot chocolate at Takao Coffee before taking the train back to Shinjuku. After freshening up at our hotel, we went out to Shibuya. We aren’t really into clubs or anything, and didn’t have any real plans or goals for New Years at all. We knew the Shibuya countdown wasn’t officially happening, but we just went to the scramble to see the crowd. After playing arcade games and getting some drinks, we made our way back to our hotel.
**1/1 – Tokyo**
We knew many things would be closed today and just planned to get some exercise. We used to rock climb a lot back in the states so we found a climbing gym that was open to spend the morning at (BETA climbing gym in Sumiyoshicho, Shinjuku City). The owner was super friendly and the gym was empty except for one other climber! Later we went for a run around Yoyogi Park. We thought we’d have a hard time finding dinner but there were a decent amount of places open east of Shinjuku Station, and we stumbled into Yakiniku En Shinjuku and had some great wagyu there. A random thing to note by now, is how much we loved Shinjuku Station and the food/snack options inside. The station is such a spider web of underground department stores and little restaurants/food stalls. Most of the time that we didn’t plan any meal or snack, we’d grab something on our way to or from wherever inside the station.
**1/2 – Jogasaki Coastline**
Trail run day! Took a shinkansen out to Atami and then a local train to Izu-Kōgen station. From there we took the Jogasaki Nature Study Course trail. The views are stunning – very unique basalt columns, tide pools, and amazing ocean views. Reminded us of a mix of tropical Hawaii and jagged Big Sur cliffs. We spent some time at the unexpected New York Lamp Museum & flower garden at the end of the trail; I actually really love Tiffany style lamps and the flower garden had some gorgeous tulips despite being winter. After making our way back to Atami, we strolled Tawarahoncho near Atami Station for lunch and ended up at a great seafood donburi place. Grabbed desserts and coffee jelly inside the station before heading back to Shinjuku. We had been craving tonkatsu ramen, so we went to Ichiran for dinner. The wait was about an hour but absolutely worth it – as casual as it is, we found the experience to be quite fun, the way the ramen is served through a window in your little cubicle. The ramen was incredibly delicious. Finished the night at Bagus pool hall near Shinjuku station for some pool and darts (although it was a bit overpriced, we still enjoyed ourselves).
**1/3 – Tokyo**
More shopping and wandering in Shinjuku/Harajuku/Shibuya, bouncing between department stores and boutiques, also starting to shop for gifts and souvenirs. Went to A Happy Pancake and ordered a passionfruit soda boba and pancakes with milk tea sauce – absolutely worth the \~ 30 minute wait. There were a lot of food stall vendors along Jingumae. We met our friends near Ueno Park for dinner and had some good ramen at Asahikawa Miso Ramen Bankara, then pool & darts at AIMS (really friendly owner, felt more like a locals spot based on the vibe).
**1/4 – Tokyo**
Stopped on C&C Curry (delicious) in Shinjuku station for breakfast on our way to TeamLAB Planets. We got there a little too early for our timed entry, so we grabbed some green tea and vegan rhubarb ice cream from the shop out front (also delicious). TeamLAB Planets overall was pretty incredible and definitely worth a visit if you like immersive art experiences; however, we found the crowd and constant megaphone announcements to distract from the experience. I understand they want to fill as many spots as they can, but I imagine if they had limited the amount of people going in at one time a bit more it would be much more enjoyable. The amount of influencer-style photo taking was mildly entertaining and we still enjoyed it despite the amount of people. We headed over to Kappabashi to shop for knives, chopsticks, and other tableware/gifts. Despite about half of the stores being closed for holiday, we still had much success in finding what we wanted, including a store that sold shokuhin sampuru (fake plastic food) – we bought a bunch of sushi pieces to give as gifts. We wandered by a sake store (Masukou Japanese Sake Store) that had tastings – friendly owner and great tasting sake. Got tonkatsu ramen at Ikkakuya Uenoten before heading back to our hotel.
**1/5 – Tokyo**
Tsukiji Fish Market! Although the inner market has moved, the outer market with food stalls and vendors was still lively. We snacked on octopus and squid appetizers before sitting down at Sushi Tomi (per a friend’s recommendation) which was excellent. For dessert, we came across a wasabi ice cream vendor where you could freshly grate your own wasabi to add to it. We were excited to try real wasabi – it is noticeably milder and a bit more earthy than what you likely have in a restaurant. We spent the rest of the afternoon just wandering around Shinjuku, shopping and snacking and seeing everything. We really fell in love with Shinjuku overall, we just couldn’t get enough. We know there are so many places to explore but it just felt right for us to get to know Shinjuku more intimately. That evening we had the opportunity to connect with a family friend, who happened to be in Japan at the same time and has apparently visited Japan 25 times from the states! She took us to her best friend’s bar & restaurant, which I couldn’t even find a Google listing for but somewhere near 2-chōme-12-8 Shibuya, Shibuya City (down a set of stairs). They served us a bunch of unique dishes including nattō bolognese and some kind of Burmese fried chickpea tofu while endlessly pouring us beer and sake. For the New Year, they had sumi-e brushes and paper to write your wishes for the year and they would hang them on the walls. Such a special experience.
**1/6 – Tokyo**
Departure day. Our flight was scheduled for 10:15 PM so we had pretty much a full day ahead of us before needing to get to the airport. We spent the morning getting a quick run in, checking out, and leaving our bags at the hotel. Per a recommendation from the family friend, we went over to Kichijōji for souvenir/gift shopping and it was great – I bought some really nice furoshiki, origami paper, plenty of unique packaged snacks and foods, and all sorts of other gifts for family and friends. Grabbed a shuttle to Haneda airport and arrived at 7:30 PM (we would have tried to arrive a little later but that was the last Airport Limousine shuttle from Shinjuku) We were happy to have made it through security fairly quickly because the few restaurants that were open were closing by 8:30. Poor planning on our part, we should have eaten beforehand. We grabbed sushi and made our way to the gate. Our flights home were uneventful, and made it home after a very very long day of travel.
Not sure if any of this input is helpful but happy to answer any questions about our trip!