Trip Report: 9 Days in Tokyo/Izu Peninsula

Just got back from a 9 day trip mostly based out of Tokyo near the end of March.

Some background:
This is my third time going, I’ve previously done the Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka loop and another trip based solely around Kyoto and Osaka. I found that I personally prefer to stay within a single region and taking day trips from there.

Day 0:
Got to Narita in the evening after a 12hr flight, took keisei skyline to Airbnb, ate some Lawson’s and went to bed

Day 1:
Leveraged jet lag to go to Ueno park in the morning. Sakuras were in bloom and not many people so it was a real treat. Picked up a goshuincho at Toshogu then had some karaage as food stalls started to open. Went to Akiba after and shopped around, ate lunch at Kikanbon and went to Kanda shrine. Shopped around Akiba until the evening, then went back. Ate kaiten sushi at Moriichi Tabata which was really good.

Day 2:
Went to Meguro river at 8am to try to get into the Starbucks reserve roastery, but lines already really long so we just walked down the river instead and looked at the sakuras. Had some coffee at a cafe and went to Asakusa for Sensoji which was crazy packed. Had monjayaki for lunch at Shichigosan which was really good. Went to kappabashi and got a nice whetstone and a fish scaler. Headed over to skytree and visited the pokemon center, had Isomaru suisan for dinner.

Day 3:
Took the Odakyo romancecar to Odawara to pick up our rental car, started to drive down izu peninsula. Stopped by for lunch at Hirosu right on route 135 and had kinmedai for lunch overlooking the ocean, absolutely gorgeous and the owner gave us a bad of oranges as a souvenir. Drove to Jogasaki coast and had a quick hike before going to our ryoukan Hinodeya. Took two hotspring baths and had a mini party with grocery store food and drinks in our room.

Day 4:
Ate the breakfast we booked and half-regretted cheaping out and not booking the dinner. Went to Izu shaboten park which would have been really great but it was raining and getting progressively worse. Had delicious hand made soba at Izu Koyosen and got our first try of real wasabi. Drove to Shuzenji and walked around a bit, then took the nishiizu skyline down to our second ryoukan Hinodeya at Toi. We had booked dinner at this location and it was probably my favorite meal of the trip. Took 2 baths here as well.

Day 5:
We had also booked breakfast and again it was fantastic. Drove down to koganezaki, Dogashima, then Sawada park. Doubled back and had lunch at Dogashima shokudou, I had the dried kinmedai for lunch which was good but doesn’t hold a candle to the fresh version. At this point low tide had finally come and we went onto the Tombolo land bridge which appears during this time and walked to the connecting island and back. We then headed to kawazu and walked a bit of the seven waterfall trail. We continued north, briefly stopping at Joren falls before getting to our last ryoukan Tatsuta. We booked their dinner which was presented in an outdoor dining area beside the river, and all the tables equipped with kotatsu making it a really unique experience and we loved it. Only had one bath before going to bed.

Day 6:
The booked breakfast is also beside the river under kotatsu and it was really nice to see the river in the morning sun. Drove back to Odawara and returned our car. We dropped our bags in a locker and went to Odawara castle, then I had an anago tendon at Kisen-sushi which was just incredible especially when it was only 900Y. Next we went to the kamaboko museum and did the make your own kamaboko and chikuwa experience which was surprisingly fun. We picked up our bags and went back to Tokyo by romancecar. Ate some of the best skewers ever at Motsuyaki Tatsuya near our airbnb at Tabata station

Day 7:
Headed down to kamakura and visited a few of the many shrines there, highlight was having tea at jomyouji. Had okonomiyaki and grilled oysters at Tsukui which was really great. We wanted to go to enoshima as well but it was rainy so we headed back to Tokyo and went to Nakano Broadway and bought some used haoris in the used clothing store in the basement. Had ichiran for dinner then headed back

Day 8:
Went to Teamlabs in the morning but it was really crowded despite it being a Monday so honestly it wasn’t that enjoyable. I thought the exhibits were just ok. Ate lunch at a soup curry place in Ginza which was pretty good and went back to Meguro to see the flowers in absolute peak bloom. The crowds were huge but it really was magnificent. Had dinner at and Izakaya, Motsuya at Nippori station which was really good.

Day 9:
Dropped luggage in a locker and did some light shopping at Shibuya. Made a quick visit to takeshita street, had lunch at Ippudo and headed to the airport by Keisei skyliner and went home.

Language: We were a group of 4, we could all read hiragana and katakana, and have some elementary level of vocabulary. My partner is fluent enough to kind of communicate with good listening skills developed from watching anime without subs, but had difficulties formulating complex sentences. Even though we could read, it doesn’t mean we could always understand what it was trying to say. We found menus at Izakayas to be particularly difficult with many contractions that were difficult to understand. We also prepared by learning some common names of fish (Aji, hirame, karei, etc. ) to help with menus.

Hotel: Airbnb in Japan isn’t what it used to be and normal hotels are probably the more competitive option these days, but I still prefer the flexibility an airbnb provides. We booked an airbnb at Tabata station in Tokyo, which might seem like a strange choice, but it was well positioned on the Yamanote line approx. equidistant between Shinjuku and Akihabara. It’s a really quiet residential neighborhood with some great small restaurants and almost devoid of tourists and we really enjoyed it. The airbnb came out to ~5000Y per person /night.
We hopped 3 different ryoukans on our trip through izu peninsula, two of which I booked by website, and one by Jalan. The cheapest was 7700Y/person no breakfast, and most expensive was 21 000Y.

Car: I’m from a country that drove on the right side of the road, so it was a bit spooky with the car, but it only took ~1hr to get used to it. Car rental was 2000Y per day and we bought an extra 4000Y optional insurance