Phew! Whirlwind of a trip. We planned our trip for 3/18 – 3/30.
**Pre-Japan:**
* Booked premium economy seats with JAL. Sooo spacious. Couldn’t sleep though because it was kinda stuffy and warm in the plane
* Installed an eSim from Ubigi before we left. I initially bought 10gb and then had to buy 3gb more by the end of the trip 😅 I used Wi-Fi whenever it was available so idk how I used so much. Didn’t stress about it though because I spent probably $25 total for it, which isn’t bad at all
* We converted USD to yen before we left so once less thing to worry about when we got to Japan
**Hotels:**
* Tokyo (Shibuya Stream Excel Hotel): Loved our hotel and [the area around it](https://i.imgur.com/u6sPHq0.png). Literally in a mall so we would take the elevator down and have Starbucks every morning. There’s also a bridge that connects to the Shibuya station. Very convenient!
* Kawaguchiko (Kozantei Ubuya): Our splurge stay and god damn it, it was worth every penny. Imagine looking at a stunning view while soaking in your own personal [hot bath](https://i.imgur.com/Sc9WoFM.png) on your room’s balcony
* Kyoto (Cross Hotel Kyoto): The room was great! Best part was the street next to the hotel just [lined with cherry blossom trees](https://i.imgur.com/6kyxtdm.jpg). It made going to and from our hotel feel magical every time
* Osaka (Hotel the Leben): A little bit of a walk from the main places like Dotonbori but probably the best hotel room interior-wise. Felt very high end! Also, it was the only hotel we stayed at that had casting on their TV so that was nice!
**Food:**
* [This](https://i.imgur.com/HSZfV6I.jpg). [Was](https://i.imgur.com/V0Afxqe.jpg). [A](https://i.imgur.com/0msMVHs.jpg). [Foodie](https://i.imgur.com/lYAKhmw.jpg). [Trip](https://i.imgur.com/F4P5074.jpg).
* Everything was so freaking good. The only thing I wasn’t a fan of was our fancy [kaiseki course](https://i.imgur.com/HFegHk9.jpg) at our Kawaguchiko hotel. But this is only because I am a picky eater lol
**Tokyo:**
* Meiji Shrine: So serene and peaceful. The [walk to it](https://i.imgur.com/icr19Ls.jpg) was beautiful. We paid our respects and bought some charms for family back home
* Yoyogi Park: We just sat on the grass, drank and had fun people-watching. So many people were out having picnics under the cherry blossom trees!
* Harajuku: Unfortunately, this was not for me since I get anxiety with large packed in crowds. We went to one shop before making a beeline out of there. A lot busier than I had expected! We went in the middle of the day so I shouldn’t have been too surprised
* Shibuya Sky: Beautiful at night! We couldn’t get tickets for sunset time but we still loved it. You get a nice view of the [Shibuya scramble](https://i.imgur.com/ynYa2un.png) too!
* Ueno Park: We did a walkthrough but didn’t linger too long. We enjoyed it but we preferred the openness of Yoyogi Park more
* Sensoji Temple: The entry where the stalls start was very packed but the closer you got to the temple, the less crowded it became. [So huge in person](https://i.imgur.com/yKDUumC.png)!
* SkyTree: My husband and I are suckers for tall towers that overlook the city so we looooved it. We paid extra to get to the highest section of the tower which we thought was worth it. Seeing how [vast](https://i.imgur.com/eu6SPy1.png) Tokyo is makes you feel so tiny in comparison
* Akihabara: We went here at the end of a busy day so we were pretty swamped and didn’t explore as much as I thought we would. But just walking around and [soaking in the views](https://i.imgur.com/eZKxVHb.png) was nice
* Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden: Got there early so it wasn’t crowded at all. Definitely a must-do during [cherry blossom season](https://i.imgur.com/0XPe36P.png)! Loved seeing [nature and city](https://i.imgur.com/Xxw37kt.png) mixed together
* teamLab Planets: I didn’t look at any videos or photos prior so I could be completely surprised. I loved all of the rooms (shout out [flower room](https://i.imgur.com/WMA7QE4.png)) except the bean bag room. It smelled like feet to me haha My husband loved that room though. When people say teamLabs is a must-do, they weren’t kidding!
**Kawaguchiko:**
* We just walked around the area until it was time to check in. We pretty much stayed at our hotel until checkout. It rained both days so we were lucky to see Mt Fuji in the early morning before we checked out. The ropeway was closed due to the rain so we crossed that off our list
* We did try to go to a restaurant for lunch and got turned away when the worker went up to us and said “no foreigners” A little awkward and embarrassing but ended up eating at a cafe with some yummy pasta. So blessing in disguise, I guess!
* You don’t need to do much when you have views like [this](https://i.imgur.com/3tZoufH.jpg) and [this](https://i.imgur.com/OXZZ2oe.png) from your hotel room!
**Kyoto:**
* Arashiyama Bamboo Forest: A little underwhelming. I’m glad [we saw it](https://i.imgur.com/eqlKYVy.png) but I probably will skip it on our next Japan trip
* Arashiyama Monkey Park: Spur of the moment decision as we [walked around](https://i.imgur.com/gGwOuqT.png) Kyoto. Did not expect that uphill hike haha that kicked my ass but worth it once you get to the top and see the [monkeys](https://i.imgur.com/neN7MiR.jpg)!
* Fushimi Inari: Super packed at the beginning but lessens the further in you go. We got to the base of the mountain loop before calling it quits and turning back. It was raining so I wasn’t in the mood for another uphill trek 😂 But [beautiful and worth the visit](https://i.imgur.com/LbIAyvn.png) regardless
**Nara:**
* A short day trip on our way from Kyoto to Osaka but loved it! The [deer](https://i.imgur.com/a6OFN5R.jpg) were funny and bossy when they know you have crackers. One kept headbutting my husband until he gave up all his crackers!
**Osaka:**
* USJ: When the park says they’re open at 8am, get there at 6am. We got there at 7am and finally got through the entrance at 745am and it was already packed. Long lines for rides and food but surprisingly had a great time still. Express passes are HIGHLY recommended. Wizarding World looks almost identical to the Hollywood location but they had a cool lake next to the [Hogwarts castle](https://i.imgur.com/v6WiSJE.png). I’m a size 16 and wasn’t able to get on Backdrop/Hollywood Dream but was able to ride everything else fine. Flying Dinosaur was our favorite ride at USJ
* Dotonbori: Busy but fun trying all the different snacks! Lines tend to go quick
* Shinsaibashi: We pretty much gave up the rest of our Osaka plans and spent the rest of the time shopping around [Shinsaibashi](https://i.imgur.com/FDIf9as.png). It’s such a long stretch of stores that we easily wandered for hours
**Flying home:**
* Delta canceled our flight at 11pm at night after already delaying it for a couple hours and we had to find a hotel last minute. They rebooked us for 9pm the next night. The next day, we pretty much bummed around the airport until our flight. We were just so mentally done and wanted to go back home to our 1 year old who was waiting for us. On the bright side, I had amazing tonkatsu at the airport and the Delta premium select seats were so nice that I fell asleep for 7 hours on the flight back home
**Overall thoughts/tips:**
* Everyone was so stylish and cool in Tokyo and I felt very underdressed in comparison haha
* We averaged 25-30k steps per day. Prep yourself for this before your trip and get comfy shoes!!!
* I read that you would find yourself taking your shoes on and off a lot but with the places we went to we didn’t at all
* Use up your coins whenever possible! They accumulate up quick
* Lines for everything but expect that if you’re planning to go to the typical tourist spots or popular restaurants
* I recommend walking and just exploring whenever you can. You can discover beautiful gems like [this](https://i.imgur.com/YKseqgg.jpg) and [this](https://i.imgur.com/dPHh8Is.png) and [this](https://i.imgur.com/9w8QFbD.jpg) and [this](https://i.imgur.com/89eqOiR.png)
* We made a general itinerary when planning but felt comfortable changing it if we were too tired or if we just didn’t feel like doing it
* For parents of little ones, we went to a Nishimatsuya store and found super affordable and CUTE yukatas for our little girl at home. All the kid yukatas sold at the tourist spots were triple the price of the ones we found at this kids store.
* Luggage delivery between hotels was the best decision we could have ever done. I loved not having to worry about lugging our stuff around! We would just go to the front desk the day before we checked out and they would fill out the forms and calculate and collect the costs. We just kept a set of clothes in our backpacks for that extra day we didn’t have our luggages.
14 comments
I’m thinking about booking ubuya, how did you find the hotel?
Thanks for sharing! Sounds like a fun trip!
I’m curious, do you remember what’s the restaurant in Kawaguchiko that refused foreigners?
Awesome having pics with the report! Looks like they were shot on film?
Was the luggage delivery same day?
Luggage forwarding is soooooo nice! Loved it.
Thanks for the awesome pictured trip report! Any restaurants or food places you would recommend?
Do you know what the restaurant was called that turned you away? 🤔
Also sounds like you had a awesome time 😎
Nice package of photos. It reflects our 2nd trip there. Good itinerary.
As an aside, we just returned from our trip, mainly to Kyoto. I too bought an esim from Ubigi. 10gb. By day 7 I’d run out of data. HTF did that happen??!! Had to top up.
I dont know how they bill the data . ie do they knock off XX mb every time you hit browse no matter how small the amount you actually use?
I can go well over a month at home and not use anywhere near 10gb let alone in a week. It worked well but the data consumption was outlandish.
Were you tired after the flight from jet lag and not sleeping? How long did that last
How much were premium economy seats? Those were the two seaters on the side and only two seaters right?
Really love the pictures! Thanks for providing so much info too!
Was a traditional breakfast and dinner included in the Kawaguchi-ko hotel?
Sounds amazing! Thanks for this.
Was it a pain to get to Kawaguchiko? Considering going this week from Tokyo. Otherwise we might do a closer day trip.
How much does the luggage delivery cost?
Where have you gathered infos about this service?