Trip Report 1/29-2/11 (Tokyo, Kawaguchiko, Osaka, Kyoto, Kanazawa, Nagano)

Just came back from a 14-day honeymoon with my partner. Really sad to leave but had an incredible (and very busy!) trip. First time in Japan and loved so much of it!

**Overall Impressions:**

* Our feet really hurt! Everything was incredible, and we were definitely very excited, but I developed blisters during the first week. Would certainly echo the often-given advice to really REALLY be sure that you have comfortable shoes.
* My partner really loved all the destinations we went to (we got up 6-7AM every day), but for a more relaxing trip, I would recommend fewer destinations with more days at one location.
* Our favorite parts were off the main tourist trail, and we liked all of our traditional stays. There are many ways to see Japan, and I think there’s a lot of value in considering things to see based on seasonality and the things that mean the most to you. We made it a point to visit love/marriage shrines and winter/plum blossoms and enjoyed it a lot. Generally speaking we did not have detailed plans apart from the hotel bookings until 1-2 days in advance (but that is our style), and it was nice to visit some smaller spontaneous locations. We did not do too much shopping but I can imagine that it’s easy to spend a lot of time in certain places shopping if that’s what you enjoy.
* We liked the smaller crowds and can really endorse visiting certain attractions in the early morning / in the winter. Glad that we came in the off season!

**General Details and Comments:**

* Booked all hotels/lodging on [booking.com](https://booking.com) around a month in advance.
* Got a 1-week JR pass (activated mid-trip) for better value.
* Did duolingo intensely for about 2 weeks before traveling. Every little bit of it helped, especially in less touristy locations because we had several waiters who spoke only Japanese or there was no English menu). Google Lens helps but we actually had one menu where the font was too weird to be recognized. My partner and I are Chinese-American so we could somewhat read kanji (and that helped a lot), and learning katakana/romanji felt like it paid off. Knowing numbers are also useful because in some locations restaurants will call out orders by number. Most stores will ask if you want plastic bags when you check out.
* Ubigi eSIM (for my partner) and I was using $10/day roaming (to have phone calls in case), although there were many days I opted to not use data.
* Luggage forwarding with Yamato/Kuroneko was great. So happy that we did not have two large suitcases with most parts of our trip.
* IC cards are great. More places took credit card than I expected (especially in touristy locations), but we still went through a lot of cash.
* We used Google maps a lot but it’s not perfect. There were a few times when it didn’t seem to be aware of an earlier train that also worked fine. The shinkansen transfer times are often too tight if you’re looking at Google maps and stations can be confusing if it’s your first time there. A lot of stations are connected underground, and being aware of the underground routes can be really nice if the weather is bad.
* Contacting hotels/ryokans before arriving is a good idea; especially if they are preparing dinner (late check-in), of you are shipping luggage, etc.
* We were turned away from a number of restaurants (reservation only). However, we still had very satisfying and delicious food at places that did not require reservations. Since we are relatively spontaneous travelers, personally I enjoyed walking randomly into places, and the one time we made a dinner reservation somewhat limited our entire afternoon because we had to make sure we would make it precisely on time to our dinner reservation.
* Trains are very quiet. Most people are still wearing masks. Don’t eat while walking. Many restaurants ask that each customer purchase at least one meal/drink (so don’t count on sharing one coffee, etc.).

**Travel Log and Comments:**

* Sun 1/29: Arrived at Tokyo Haneda at 5:45PM. Took subway to hotel in Shinjuku. Ate udon around the nishi-shinjuku area.
* Mon 1/30: Got to Tsukiji Outer Market at 6AM (jet lag in our favor). Went to Toyosu Market around 9AM and personally thought there wasn’t much to see (but my partner really likes sushi/fish so maybe it was worth it). Got to Akihabara around 11AM and spent an unexpectedly large amount of time in Yodobashi Camera. Also walked through mangarake and an arcade. Got to Sensoji around 1PM and really enjoyed the Asakusa area as a whole for the afternoon/dinner. Went back to the hotel and power napped. During the night we walked through Omoide Yokocho and kabukicho. We were exhausted but somehow had a really enjoyable time doing karaoke until midnight.
* Tue 1/31: Walked from our hotel to Meiji Jingu around 8-9AM (probably an unnecessary walk…). Really liked the Marriage Trees and the park is quite green even in the January. Walked through Harajuku, Cat Street, all the way to Shibuya. We picked up and activated our JR passes in Shibuya. My partner unexpectedly did not like Don Quixote or Shibuya very much and we didn’t spend too much time there. My feet were already starting to hurt. Left for Yomiuri Land around 4PM (tried to leave before rush hour but it was already starting) for the nighttime illumination and it was probably our favorite part of of the day. Ate ramen for dinner after coming back to Shinjuku and tried to make it to the Tokyo Metropolitan Building, but we didn’t get there in time as the last entrance is earlier than the stated closing time.
* Wed 2/1: Checked out of the hotel at 6AM and asked the front desk to ship our luggage to Kyoto (for Fri 2/3). Took the 7:30AM Fuji Excursion to Otsuki and had some confusion because the JR pass exchange agent told us on Tuesday that we had to get off at Otsuki so we went through the transfer gate into the Fujikyuko Line (and waited 40 minutes for the local train). Retrospectively, we probably should have purchased a second ticket on the Fuji Excursion for the Otsuki>Kawaguchiko leg. We got off at Shimoyoshida (kept our smaller bags in coin lockers) and went up Arakurayama Sengen Park — cloudless skies in the morning and it was incredible. Checked in with our host in Fujiyoshida around noon (walked around 30 minutes; public transit isn’t as extensive here), as we rented a traditional house for the night near Honcho street. Our host only spoke Japanese and we communicated through Google translate as we got the house tour. Very cold at night (no central heating) but loved the kotatsu experience. We spent the afternoon around Kawaguchiko station and went up the panoramic ropeway and lake boat tour, but it was more touristy here and I liked Arakurayama Sengen Park better. Maybe the lake is better during fall foliage season, but we had excellent weather for Fuji viewing (they say the air is drier in the winter). Some clouds appeared later in the afternoon, so I’m glad we took the earliest train as people also say that the skies are usually clearer in the morning. We ate at a random local restaurant in Fujiyoshida and it was here that the waiter did not speak any English, Google lens did not work on the menu, and the waiter couldn’t give any recommendations when we asked for “osusume”… turns out it was a mostunabe restaurant and it was delicious.
* Thu 2/2: Took the 8AM bus from Fujisan station down to Gotemba. Very happy we opted to have our luggage sent to Kyoto because these buses aren’t suitable for large suitcases. Then took the local train down to Mishima (the view of Fuji is amazing from the Gotemba Line local train). Then caught the shinkasen at Mishima Station to Osaka. Got to Osaka around 3PM and checked into the hotel. Went to Shinsekai and it was a little depressing (lots of closed shops; feels like a bunch of the shopping arcades Osaka isn’t doing so well ever since the pandemic), then went to teamLabs botantical garden at 6PM. Walked through dotonbori at night.
* Fri 2/3: Had a more relaxing morning. Checked out at 10AM and kept our small bags at the hotel. Ate okonomiyaki for lunch and leisurely made our way to Kyoto by 3PM for check in (we were staying in a machiya; in general we loved all of our traditional stays). We didn’t know that setsubun was today but if we did maybe we would have tried to get to Kyoto earlier. Got to Fushimi Inari Shrine by sunset and almost got lost trying to do hike at night. It’s very easy to end up off on the main trail, but it was very cool to do it in the evening and it was my favorite part of Kyoto. It was quite empty in the shrine in the evening and we finished around 9PM, probably? Got ramen at kyoto station after coming back.
* Sat 2/4: Went to arashiyama around 8AM. Crowds started picking up around 10AM probably, so as usual, I think earlier is better. Arashiyama was alright (bamboo is a little less of a novelty for me and perhaps the views are better in a different season; BTW the bamboo forest at fushimi inari if you wander off the trail is IMO extensive and awesome). Went to Nishiki Market for lunch and walked our way to Gion/Yasaka shrine. We didn’t go into Yasaka shrine, but during our walk down to Kiyomizu-dera, we unexpectedly stumbled upon the roadside statues and found the Hideyoshi/Nene statues at Kodai-ji (which is marriage-themed, which we really enjoyed). We got to kiyomizu-dera for sunset, which is maybe only alright in terms of sunset views at this time of year (the angle isn’t perfect). Had two dinners in the gion area because my partner really wanted to eat kobe beef.
* Sun 2/5: Went to Kifune shrine and got there around 9AM. There’s no bus this early at Kibuneguchi (so a 30 min walk), but it beautiful because it was snowing lightly. Actually, it was really nice to have the snow here because Kifune is beautiful in the snow, and we were worried there would be nothing since Kyoto had nothing on the ground, but Kifune is higher up in the mountains. As with our pattern from earlier, we went to Kifune because it’s a marriage shrine and had a wonderful time (although it was very icey). Went back and stopped for fire ramen for lunch, then went to deliver our luggage to Yamato transport. Something to remark on here is that most Yamato transport locations aren’t open on weekends, so we had to take our luggage 10 minutes further to a 7-day-a-week location. Our host previously helped us fill out the forms on Friday when we checked in, but dropping the luggage off was up to us. Our host suggested 7/11 for weekend drop offs, but I felt more comfortable bringing it to a Yamato transport location because we were doing next-day delivery to our ryokan in Yudanaka (Nagano). For the late afternoon we went to Kitano Tenmangu for plum blossom viewing, and then went for kaiseki dinner near Nishiki Market (this was a reservation we made in the morning on google).
* Mon 2/6: Took the 8AM thunderbird to Kanazawa. Went to Omicho Market (my partner was adamant on eating snow crab), then walked through Kenrokuen Garden and Higashi Chaya. Then took an evening shinkansen to Nagano/Yudanaka and made it to our ryokan around 8:30PM (after dinner time, but we asked them earlier about late check-in and they prepared a bento box for us). The Yudanaka Dentetsu line is not in the IC card network so for this entire portion of our trip (buses, etc.) we used cash.
* Tue 2/7: Relaxing morning; did not leave the hot spring ryokan until noon. Walked our way from Yudanaka to snow monkey park via Shibu Onsen (where we stopped for soba), which is an hour walking but we took our time. Buses run more infrequently here. My partner was pleasantly surprised by the snow monkeys are enjoyed it a lot more than expected. I’m not sure when is the best season to see the snow monkeys but we had snow on the ground in February. Rode the bus back to the ryokan (breakfast/dinner included). Note: at our ryokan breakfast was from 6-7AM and dinner from 6-7PM (meal times not very flexible, so being on time is a thing). Rented the private bath for the two of us in the evening.
* Wed 2/8: Took a bus around 8:30 to Shiga Kogen where we spent the entire day. Rented skis (was surprised that they were also renting snow pants/clothes; if we knew we wouldn’t have packed all that). Shiga Kogen’s greens were actually a bit harder than what I’m comfortable with (they felt like blues), even in the “family” friendly Ichhinose area, but my partner thought the slopes/powder was great. It started snowing in the afternoon.
* Thu 2/9: Relaxing morning again. Took the train to Obuse where we visited the hokusai museum. Then went to Nagano in the afternoon (bought our shinkansen tickets for the next day because our JR pass expired) and wandered the city and made our way to Zenkoji Temple by nightfall, where they were holding the annual Tomyo Lantern festival. Got back to the ryokan in Yudanaka around 9PM (and again had pre-arranged a bento box since it was after dinnertime).
* Fri 2/10: Traveling back to Tokyo. We got an 8:30AM train from Yudanaka Station, and this time we had our suitcases with us (we did not ship this time because our flight is on Saturday and did not want to risk it arriving in Tokyo late; sometimes it is 1-2 days and we would have needed to ship on Wednesday if we wanted to forward our luggage). With the added luggage, we actually got on the wrong direction shinkansen at Nagano because we were cutting the transfer close and didn’t read the signs carefully. Had to change directions at Toyama and ride unreserved to Tokyo (it got very full in the unreserved car later on, so reserved seats are definitely the way to go… especially with luggage… but luckily we got seats). We checked into our hotel in Ginza around 3PM (took a taxi from Tokyo station due to suitcases). It was snowing/raining in Tokyo so the weather was not particularly great. My partner was feeling FOMO for our last night, so we still went out in the Ginza area for the evening, did karaoke again, and then went to Ikebukuro.
* Sat 2/11: Went to Hanegi Park for plum blossom viewing (plum festival was also starting). We actually ended up in the wrong park at first because we thought it was at Setagaya Park. Afterwards went to pick up our luggage at our hotel in Ginza and then took the Asakusa line to Haneda for our flight. We got to the airport three hours early but probably didn’t have to (security/immigration was very short).