Sept 2019 trip report with food recommendations: 2 weeks in Tokyo, Akita, Kakunodate, Hirosaki, Sapporo, Noboribetsu, Hakodate

As I’m currently planning our next trip to Japan for 2021 and loving everyone’s recommendations, I thought I’d post a report from our 2019 trip in case it is helpful for others. I know we can’t travel right now but planning for a far off future is helping me get my fix! I’ve included our food and hotels and advice on attractions. This was our second trip to Japan, having previously visited the big attractions in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto in 2015. We’re a couple in our late 20s from London and focused this trip on visiting smaller towns and cities, lots of walking and lots of food.

**Transport:** We knew we wanted to visit Hokkaido and after we discovered the [JR East South Hokkaido](http://www.jreasthokkaido.com/e/) rail pass we pretty much planned our trip around this. I highly recommend this pass as it was so cost effective and flexible. As you get 6 days travel within a 14 day period, we could use it throughout our 2 week trip and didn’t feel the need to travel every day so we wouldn’t ‘waste’ a day as we would with the 7 day pass.

**Timing and weather:** We originally planned to go in October but pushed it back to early September to avoid the rugby world cup (we’re not rugby fans and didn’t want it to impact prices)

We’d been warned about the heat but as most of our trip would be further North we thought we’d be okay. It was very hot in Tokyo – I found it similar to other humid cities such as Bangkok or Singapore so it was manageable if you knew what to expect, drank lots of water and made air conditioned stop offs (London can reach 36℃ in summer but has essentially zero air conditioning, so we love cities that are actually set up to deal with heat!) The only days that the heat was almost unmanageable was Disneyland and Disneysea, where we were out in the sun from 8am to 10pm and running all over the place. If you plan to visit Disney during summer or early autumn I highly recommend staying in an onsite hotel so you can take a midday break and refresh. A typhoon also passed through Tokyo on our first day and we saw some transport disruption.

The weather in Tōhoku and Hokkaido was absolutely perfect and I would definitely recommend going in September. Sunny and warm days of around 24℃ and cooler evenings.

**Accommodation:** We stayed mainly in business hotels and a few ryokans. I always picked the hotel closest to the station as we were travelling so much, but transport was so efficient and stress free I should have looked more at attractions we wanted to hit instead. I always went for the cheapest smallest room as I knew we wouldn’t spend much time there (hotel rooms are small in lots of European cities as well so I think this is less of a concern for us compared to Americans) There were a few places where I maybe should have gone for the room category up so we could actually move around!

**Day 1 – Tokyo**

We left London at 3pm and landed at 10:30am the next day at Tokyo Narita. I got hardly any sleep on the plane, but I’ve always been hit badly by jetlag going to Asia so I was prepared for this and didn’t plan much for the first day. We ordered sim cards from [Sakura mobile](https://www.sakuramobile.jp/) and collected them from a counter in terminal 2 arrivals. This took longer than expected and it was past midday by the time we were leaving the airport. Our hotel room wasn’t ready so we dropped our bags and went to lunch before coming back to check in. We were very tired by this point and chilled in the room for a few hours then headed out in the evening to visit Senso-ji temple. It’s nice and serene in the evening with hardly anyone there and we took some cool night time pictures. We also visited the Don Quijote in Asakusa to pick up snacks and kitkats. That night a typhoon passed over Tokyo and there was lots of loud rain and wind – luckily we were so exhausted that we slept right through it!

**Food:** Lunch at [Rokurinsha](https://goo.gl/maps/hoHSjZsRVBrgXrMg6) in Tokyo station for dipping ramen. Queue was around 30 minutes but we were so excited for our first meal of the trip we didn’t mind the waiting and people watching. Recommended for the thick and chewy noodles and huge portions, I preferred the dipping ramen at [Fuunji](https://goo.gl/maps/4ueNpJMEwYVxX27P7) though. Dinner ended up being 7 eleven food and kitkats as we were so tired!

**Accomodation**: [karaksa hotel](https://g.page/karaksahotelTOKYOSTATION?share) for 4 nights as we wanted to be convenient for Tokyo station. The price was great (only ¥39,200 for 4 nights) but our room was so, so tiny that we basically couldn’t both stand up at the same time! I’d recommend it for location and clean and minimalist design if you get a room above a ‘Hollywood twin’

**Travel:** Airport limousine to Tokyo station as it dropped off right outside our hotel and we were tired. We had pasmo cards that we actually remembered to save from our previous trip for other travel around Tokyo.

**Day 2 – Tokyo**

I was short on holiday days for this trip, so spent the first day in my company’s Tokyo office. The only thing of interest was that the overnight typhoon had caused transport issues. I caught the Marunouchi line from Tokyo station and it was running fine but surprisingly empty. It turns out loads of other lines were down until 10am, so lots of people were very late to work. Something to keep in mind if you are travelling during typhoon season and need to get somewhere urgently! We headed to Shibuya for the evening as we wanted somewhere buzzing to walk around and grab dinner. We also bought tickets to Disneysea and Disneyland for the next 2 days at the Disney store in Shibuya

**Food:** [On-Yasai](https://g.page/onyasai-shibuya2st?share) for hot pot on the recommendation of a Japanese friend. All-you-can-eat hotpot and soft drinks was around £25 and it’s ideal for English speakers as you order extra food and drinks through the i-pads on the table.

**Day 3 and 4 – Tokyo – Disneysea and Disneyland**

I’m a big Disney parks fan and pretty much converted my partner when we visited Disneysea on our last Japan trip (despite him not liking Disney or theme parks!) so this time we visited both Disneysea and Disneyland. My advice is to definitely go even if you don’t like Disney, as the Japanese guests are just as much a unique and charming part of the experience. Just make sure you research the attractions you want to do and get there at least an hour before park opening. Unfortunately, jetlag had caught up with us and I failed to follow my own advice and we arrived 10 minutes after opening on our Disneysea day to massive crowds, which set our whole day back. It was super busy partly because the typhoon the day before meant everyone had deferred by a day and partly because it was the beginning of the Halloween season so you could wear costumes. Keep both of those factors in mind if you visit during September.

Disneyland the next day wasn’t nearly as busy and we got there an hour before opening and had a good head start on all the rides. The Japanese guests’ Halloween costumes were amazing and it’s worth going in September or October just to see this. We loved seeing a big group of princesses all eating curry rice at lunch.

**Food:** We snacked non-stop through the day as snacks were all adorably Halloween themed. We also somehow ended up eating curry both days at [Casbah food court](https://goo.gl/maps/CkQ4xhPPR6CyDJc3A) and [Hungry bear restaurant](https://goo.gl/maps/AVcp7kDLkoCjPGzX8), which were reasonably priced for theme park food and fixed our curry craving. Casbah is supposed to be ‘Indian style’ curry but it defintely just tasted like Japanese curry served with naan!

**Travel:** Train direct from Tokyo station to Maihama and then the monorail to Disney. Even though we were staying in the most convenient location to get there from central Tokyo I would stay on site if going during the summer due to needing a break from the heat during the day.

**Day 5 – Tokyo – Sumo**

When we knew we’d be in Tokyo during the sumo it became a mission to get tickets. We bought them online when they were released (which was around 2am UK time!) and they go very quickly. I originally tried to get tickets for Tuesday but they sold out by the time I got through to the page so I grabbed Thursday instead. [This site has a good guide to buying them](https://trulytokyo.com/how-to-buy-tickets-for-a-tokyo-sumo-match/) We got seats in the B area.

We arrived at Ryogoku at around 11am and stayed until 4:30pm. We would have stayed later if we weren’t catching the shinkansen to Akita that evening. It was so interesting watching the different levels of sumos as the day went on. Absolutely a highlight of our trip.

We arrived late into Akita and were immediately faced with a huge blow up Akita dog and multiple Namahage demon statues at the station. During this trip we really looked forward to seeing what the display in a regional station would be!

**Food:** Lunch at the restaurant in the sumo arena so we could try sumo food (chanko hot pot). Meals were all between ¥1000 – ¥1800. Dinner was our first train bento of the trip (we ate a lot these and always tried to get the local special)

**Accommodation:** [Dormy Inn Akita](https://goo.gl/maps/x4m9obaj7ec6ifPN7) for 2 nights. Reasonably priced, near the station and with a really nice onsen.

**Travel:** Activated our JR rail pass today to travel to Akita. We reserved seats on the day with no issue.

**Day 6 – Akita and Kakunodate**

Weather was beautifully sunny and not at all humid so spent the morning walking around Senshu Park and visiting the shrines. Chatted to a few locals who seemed surprised to see foreigners and asked where we were from. There were also several groups of adorable school children in matching hats taking lessons in the park. Akita itself was quiet and there weren’t many attractions, but we liked slowing down and experiencing a regional town.

Headed to Kakunodate around midday and enjoyed walking around the town and visiting the samurai houses and shops. It was serenely empty and we only saw a few other tourists so the atmosphere was wonderful. I’m sure it’s most beautiful in spring but it was lovely and green in summer.

**Food:** Tried the Kakunodate local cold udon at [this restaurant](https://goo.gl/maps/QSoajNgXRH26D87dA) for lunch. We found the area near Akita station limited for dinner but luckily the Seibu department store has basement restaurants so we ended up at a reasonably priced [Tonkatsu place](https://maps.app.goo.gl/hyDmJJe2ziJhiKBG9).

**Travel:** Used another day on our rail pass to get to Kakunodate and back. Train was very empty so no seat reservations needed.

**Day 7 – Hirosaki**

Left Akita early to travel to Hirosaki. I added a stop here to break up the trip to Sapporo and it was such a good decision. Aomori is so obsessed with apples and we found it so weirdly charming! We passed the massive apple statue at the station and walked to our ryokan to drop off our bags and head to Hirosaki Castle Park. We explored the park and saw the castle, stopping off for some apple pie and kakigori. Then walked to Tsugaru-han Neputa Village and saw all the floats and lanterns for the Neputa festival. There was a tour guide who spoke some english and the rooms filled with floats were spectacular – made me want to attend the festival. The museum desk then called us a taxi to take us to Hirosaki Apple Park to go apple picking. Loved this place – so many different apple varieties and hundreds of apple themed souvenirs! Stayed so long we missed the last bus back and weren’t sure how to call a taxi with limited Japanese so ended up walking back to town, which wasn’t so bad as we got a really nice look at the residential area.

**Food:** Dinner at this [Izakaya](https://goo.gl/maps/8FKXkRbUrd3Poujs7). No english menu or english spoken by the staff, so we went for the ¥1800 daily special and ended up with a beautiful selection of seafood. The chef was very interested in where we were from so definitely a time where we wish we spoke more Japanese.

**Accommodation:** [Ishiba Ryokan](https://goo.gl/maps/vR1BFJHJ7fKKVTpW6) for 1 night. Very old and atmospheric ryokan with the most charming owner. He spoke brilliant English and even insisted on driving us round town to recommend a restaurant for dinner

**Travel:** Used another day on our rail pass to get from Akita to Hirosaki.

**Day 8 – Sapporo**

Our biggest day of travel so far, but it was nice to relax on a train all morning and eat bento boxes. Arrived early afternoon in Sapporo and explored for a bit before heading to Odori Park and spending the rest of the day at Sapporo Autumn Festival. We were thrilled to find out we were visiting during a food festival and had a great time exploring the stalls and trying food from different regions in Hokkaido. Weather was a little cooler but still nice and warm into the evening.

**Accommodation:** [JR East Hotel Mets Sapporo](https://goo.gl/maps/yVCN7DnACzAm1DnR8) for 3 nights. Our favourite business hotel with great bathrooms right near the station.

**Travel:** Used another day on our JR pass. This was our most complicated day as we went from Hirosaki to Shin-Aomori to Shin-Hakodate to Sapporo and spent around 6 hours on trains.

**Day 9 – Sapporo**

We originally planned to take a day trip to Otaru today, but multiple days of lots of walking were catching up to us so we took a chill day instead. We mainly wandered around downtown Sapporo, ate delicious food and did some shopping.

**Food:** [A happy pancake](https://goo.gl/maps/zSQyg6Ppy7i4RKURA) to try Japanese souffle pancakes. So fluffy and so sweet. [Sapporo ramen republic](https://goo.gl/maps/diH9xS6LDJwiLfKs6) for dinner. A whole floor of ramen restaurants. We chose the one with unlimited eggs.

**Day 10 – Sapporo**

Spent the morning at Sapporo beer museum, although we did the free version without the tour and just headed to the beer hall after. Found the history of Sapporo far more interesting than the beer. Explored the area nearby and then took the subway to Ishiya Chocolate Factory. We thought this place was a bit overpriced (the ‘tour’ you pay for is basically a walk through that overlooks the factory) and very commercial touristy, but still had a great time because the whole thing was fake British themed and so it was incredibly entertaining to be British people there. There were phone boxes and a double decker bus and tudor houses and gardens all done in a slightly Japanese way so it all felt a bit surreal. We also had a Japanese couple stop us to chat and they were delighted when we told them we were English and wanted to shake our hands.

**Food:** [Sapporo Beer Garden](https://goo.gl/maps/DdQoDHfsqzfeijV39) for beer and all-you-eat [Jingisukan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingisukan) that we grilled ourselves. I’m sure this was quite a touristy place to try it but it was definitely delicious. [Fugetsu](https://goo.gl/maps/HwYHvDZwyYdCMtDw8) in Sapporo station in the evening as we were craving okinomiyaki. It was cheap and a great option if you’ve never tried cook-it-yourself as they had instruction videos at all the tables.

**Day 11 – Sapporo and Noboribetsu**

Spent the morning walking around Hokkaido University campus and visiting Hokkaido University Museum. It was free and interesting but there are very limited english exhibits. After lunch we headed to the station to get a bus to Noboribetsu. We were booked at ryokan so spent the rest of the day soaking in the onsen and eating.

**Food:** [Nemuro Hanamaru](https://goo.gl/maps/2LgL4qriBNajBTjt5) for a conveyor belt sushi lunch. We queued for about 40 minutes. Very tasty and well priced sushi and they had some great Sapporo specialities. We also picked up cheese tarts from [Kinotoya bake](https://goo.gl/maps/Po9uTPnHQEsyQsPY8) before we left. Dinner was kaiseki at the ryokan and was just as beautiful and seasonal as expected.

**Accomodation:** [Dai-ichi Takimotokan](https://goo.gl/maps/foS7FqEcw9e6UFdV6) ryokan for 1 night. We’d only stayed at small ryokans before so this place was a bit of a surprise. Lots of different types of onsens that all had different features and hundreds of rooms. There were a few Chinese tour groups that made it less than relaxing. It was a great one-off experience but we definitely prefer the smaller places where you can meet the owner.

**Travel:** We were planning to use a day of our JR pass to get to Noboribetsu but discovered there was a bus from Sapporo station that dropped off at all the local hotels. This was much simpler with luggage and only cost ¥1100 each.

**Day 12 – Noboribetsu and Hakodate**

We were up early for more time in the onsen and then set out to walk up Hell Valley and round Oyunuma Pond. The whole place smelled so much like sulphur and was spectacular with the steam rising. There were a lot of tourists and we also saw some school groups, but it thinned out as we moved further away from Hell Valley. We went back to collect our luggage then caught the bus to the station to continue on to Hakodate, arriving early afternoon.

We relaxed a bit too much after checking in to our hotel and then realised we wanted to climb Mount Hakodate before it got dark (we were often taken aback by how early sunset is in summer in Japan) We found the beginning of the route up with some help from an American guy who spoke good Japanese and led us to the tourist information centre to pick up a map. The climb was recommended to take over an hour but we raced up in 45 minutes to catch the sunset. The plan had been to take the ropeway back down, upon reaching the top though we found it had been suspended due to strong winds. Massive queues were beginning to form for the buses down and we knew we’d be waiting for ages, so we made the rash decision to hike back down in the almost dark. It maybe wasn’t the smartest idea; we used our phone torches for light and walked cautiously fast.

**Food:** We became mildly obsessed with Hakodate burger chain [Lucky Pierrot](https://goo.gl/maps/TW3ayBKUBjTkHj2a7) and ended up eating there twice over 2 days and buying branded t-shirts. It was definitely cheap fast food but uniquely Japanese and very delicious.

**Accomodation:** [APA Hotel Hakodate Ekimae](https://goo.gl/maps/VCuwuAYqaNTpnRM98) for 2 nights. Probably the cheapest hotel we stayed at and it did feel a bit run down. I also wouldn’t recommend staying near Hakodate station as the area felt deserted in the evenings.

**Travel:** Another day on our JR pass from Noboribetsu to Hakodate

**Day 13 – Hakodate**

Spent the morning exploring Hakodate morning market and having a seafood breakfast, exploring Kanemori Red Brick Warehouse and Motomachi Park area. Hakodate feels a bit like a bizarro European town due to all the European style buildings and the trams. In the afternoon we took the tram over to Goryōkaku and stayed until sunset. The whole place was beautiful at golden hour but we found ourselves quite cold after dark so had to retreat to the closest ramen restaurant.

**Food:** We had a super fresh ¥500 seafood bowl breakfast from a place in [Hakodate market](https://goo.gl/maps/RwWgZNfD2RngfRn58) and snacked on a few other local specialities from stalls. There was lots of themed Autumn food in September so I tried far too many pumpkin, sweet potato and chestnut snacks. We also bought some overpriced Hokkaido melon simply because our curiosity overcame us (I thought it was too sweet) We tried the famous sweet omelette cakes at [Pastry Snaffle’s](https://goo.gl/maps/SemVb6L63fREVXjs5) and were drawn into [Lucky Pierrot](https://goo.gl/maps/BMrsN71FSzDb8DjT6) again after we found out that each branch has a different menu.

**Day 14 – Hakodate and Tokyo**

We left early for another long day of travel fuelled by train bentos. The rugby world cup had started the previous day and we arrived back in Tokyo to find many more Western tourists than a week ago. We were staying in Shinjuku so went for a walk around the area and visited Meiji Shrine. As it was a Saturday Harajuku looked uncomfortably busy.

We had tickets to the Robot restaurant that evening, something we’d avoided during our first trip to Tokyo but now thought we might as well experience once. The whole audience seemed to be Scottish and Irish rugby fans, so although it was the most touristy experience of the trip the energy was great and we had a lot of fun.

**Food:** Wanted to try monjayaki so ended up in a [department store restaurant](https://goo.gl/maps/sdxkBMDngLLGCiPE9) in Shinjuku for more cook-it-yourself okinomiyaki and monjayaki.

**Accomodation:** [Hotel Century Southern Tower](https://goo.gl/maps/PJiJqWULEeYLpmvR7) for 2 nights. Our priciest hotel of the trip and definitely worth it for location and view.

**Travel**: Used the final day of our JR pass to go Hakodate to Shin-Hakodate to Tokyo. This was the first time we weren’t able to get seats together when making the reservation on the day of travel, so be aware of that if travelling on the Tohoku-Hokkaido Shinkansen on a Saturday.

**Day 15 – Tokyo**

Did some final shopping in Shinjuku in the morning and stopped by our favourite coffee place [Blue bottle](https://goo.gl/maps/udHRnBwqAmjuEHPPA). Visited [Nezu Museum](https://goo.gl/maps/CeXdkKv65y7MNwek6) in the afternoon and spent ages exploring the garden. Bring bug spray if you go in summer though as I was bitten like crazy! The cafe at Nezu had a long wait so we ended up walking to nearby [Sakurai](https://goo.gl/maps/gymxmfdCzccvpeQ26) and having a tea tasting instead. It was expensive but a lovely serene experience for the final day. Spent the evening exploring department stores and buyings as many packaged snacks as our suitcases would allow.

**Food**: [Katsukura](https://goo.gl/maps/ReAJrbfeKHYWt63n7) for Tonkatsu. Highly recommend this place for tonkatsu near Shinjuku station, it put the tonkatsu we’d eaten earlier in the trip to shame. [Ebisoba Ichigen](https://goo.gl/maps/9pP39jrBzwUwLTzq6) for the most delicious shrimp ramen. Our friend had recommended this place for Sapporo and I’m so glad we managed to squeeze it in.

**Day 16 – Tokyo back to London**