Trip Report tips – 14 days (Mar 10-24) Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka

I got a lot of info from this subreddit. So I thought I might share a few tips we learned during our trip. Don’t know if my info will actually be helpful or new to anyone here but at least it’ll entertain me while I reminisce while writing about my trip.

The three of us spent six nights in Tokyo, four nights in Kyoto and three nights in Osaka and had a great time despite our inexperience as travelers in Asia. My daughter knew a little Japanese from her high school course. But neither my wife nor I understood a word. That caused some confusion at times, but for the most part, with some patience, it all worked out.

Before you go your airline will give you a bunch of digital paperwork. Pay attention to those. There’s a few pages to fill out but it makes the process a bit faster with the QR codes. There’ll be one for COVID screening. The other for your arrival into the country.

The luggage handling was efficient and our bags were already waiting for us before we arrived. Sometimes when it’s busy the staff will pile your luggage up in neat rows. Beware though as my “pile” was on the other side of the carousel and wasn’t easily noticed until I did a walkabout looking around.

The info booth at Narita airport is staffed with good English speakers. They were very helpful. The luggage transfer service is on the right side as you exit the luggage area. We decided to transfer our two big suitcases to our hotel instead of dragging them on trains/buses and thru town. It would mean a one day delay in getting it but as long as you pack your carry-on bags wisely you can survive one night without the big ones.

We decided to hold off on getting a sim card till we got into Tokyo in hopes it would be cheaper than at the airport (it was by about 1500 yen). I used the wifi to get directions to get to our hotel and off we went.

I pre-purchased train tickets for the Skyliner Express. Unfortunately you still have to join the line up to pick them up so other than the cost savings (about 15%?) it didn’t help with time spent in line. The train was big and had room for luggage. But we had a couple transfers later on.

For those of you not used to navigating big subways – pay attention to Google’s directions. The entrance to the subway is Google’s attempt at giving you the closest one to your direction of travel. Also pay attention to the station number and name/colour. The system is smart to add all these cues to help you figure out where you’re going and in which direction. It took us a while to figure out where to go for our transfer but the staff helped point us in the right direction. I guess it didn’t help that I got distracted by the wonderful looking/smelling bakery at the station as well.

It is worth it to use the train/subway system. The taxis are expensive plus you’re robbed of the experience of their immense/intense/exciting/confusing/efficient system. Even little things like how each subway station has it’s own seven second musical tune to let you know you’re at your stop and that the doors are likely closing soon. There are day tickets for 600 yen and 900 yen. The more expensive one covers more lines. You could also just reload your IC card and pay per trip if you are doing < 5 trips per day (roughly the break even point for us for the more expensive day pass).

Our fav food was at a chain restaurant – Gyukatsu Motomura. I was surprised how affordable it was for what you got (approx 1900 yen for small flash-fried rare steak, cabbage, dippings, mochi desert). Would probably be 25% more expensive at home for the same meal. The sushi was very good – even at the cheap conveyor belt places. The one we went to was a train that delivered to your table. Three of us were full after 2400 yen. The menu interface was not the easiest to navigate so be prepared to keep pressing different buttons till you find what you want.

Unfortunately we were too early to se the sakura in full bloom. But towards the end of our trip we did see a few trees that were just about to open. So perhaps early April next time will be perfect. It’s very weather dependent so each year will be different. They even have a sakura forecast on the nightly news that is very in depth and goes on for about 10 minutes before the actual weather forecast starts.

And for those who want to watch sports highlights, it usually starts off with the latest sumo results. When I was there it was the World Baseball Championships and that was huge news there as Japan won in dramatic fashion – effectively making Shohei Ohtani an immortal over there.

Of the three cities we liked Kyoto the best. It was less hectic, more quiet. It felt very historic and traditional, especially as we walked the streets and saw many people in kimonos, more than the other two cities we visited. Kyoto seems to shut down on week nights after 8 in many places so don’t expect the same all-night party that Tokyo and Osaka offer on a nightly basis. Tokyo is massive, super busy, and yet extremely orderly. Osaka is a bit more chaotic, maybe more character? It had amazing street food – pretty much every corner was filled with amazing looking restaurants for cheap prices in the area just south of Dotonbori.

if you’re going I wish you happy travels