trip report – our 2 week trip to Japan in March 2023

Hi everybody,

it’s been merely a few weeks now since we’ve returned from our 15-day trip to Japan and I decided on writing a trip report asap while the memories are still fresh! This has been sitting in the drafts for a few days now already and I hope that I have included everything that coud be of interest to you by now.
Trip reports from other users were very helpful for me when it came to planning our holiday so I hope that some of you might find something useful in this post as well.

Since it was our first trip to Japan, we took things pretty slow, checked out most of the typical tourist spots, ate a lot of food and focused on having a good time without stressing ourselves out about our original itinerary. We are very happy with how everything went!

We averaged \~ 15.000 steps daily (with 10.000 steps on some days and 21.000 steps on others) which I think might be on the lower end of the range. Comfy shoes are a must!

**Preparations**:

We booked our flights and most of our accommodations in November 2022. Overall, we spent about ¥187.342 on accommodations, I’ll break this down for you below.

We got the 7-day JR Pass and SUICA cards before we left for Japan as well as \~ ¥60.000 in cash – taking that much cash in ¥ with you is not necessary at all, though as a safety-loving person I would recommend taking a small amount just in case. We brought some EUR with us as well, which we exchanged in Tokyo, and got the rest of the money we needed during the trip at Seven Bank ATMs with our credit card.

The 7-day JR Pass (\~ ¥30.000 p.p.) barely broke even for us ~~but I would probably get it again~~ (have to revise since I just read about the upcoming price increase – would definitely not be worth it like that anymore).
It was very convenient to just hop on whatever Shinkansen (excl. Nozomi and Mizuho) suited us and not care about buying tickets beforehand. It definitely wasn’t of much use for us within the cities, so getting a SUICA as well was a must.

**Accomodations**

* Tokyo: Sotetsu Fresa Inn Ueno-Okachimachi
We got one of the bigger rooms for our first stay in Tokyo (5 nights) and a regular sized one on the last two nights we stayed there and paid ¥74.602.
The location was perfect for us and the hotel itself was pretty decent as well, I’d book it again. They stored our luggage for the time we weren’t in Tokyo which was very convenient.

* Kawaguchiko: Hotel Asafuji
We paid ¥30.855 for 1 night and 2 people incl. dinner and breakfast.
The room was had in this Ryokan was very cozy and had a view on Mt. Fuji, the staff incredibly kind and helpful and the onsen bath was amazing! I would stay here again.

* Yamanakako: Teiensaryo Yamnakako
We paid ¥19.635 for 1 night and 2 people incl. dinner and breakfast which was incredibly cheap!
I have only good things to say about this. The building might be a bit older, but it’s very charming, the garden was gorgeous and the owners were some of the kindest people we met on our trip. Can wholeheartedly recommend this to everybody who doesn’t insist on staying only at the newest, most modern hotel.

* Osaka: Tabist Hotel Asiato Namba
We paid ¥ 16.798 for 2 nights.
The location was great, the (very small) room was clean and it was pretty cheap. My biggest issue with this hotel was the fact that you couldn’t open the (tinted) window at all and also couldn’t control the AC individually for your room. The air humidifier was our saving grace but tbh I was happy to leave after 2 nights. It’s okay for a short stay but the window/AC issue would prevent me from staying longer.

* Nara: NARA Visitor Center and Inn
We paid ¥7.500 for 1 night.
I still can not believe how cheap this accommodation was considering how much it had to offer. We had a wonderful, huge Japanese-style room with attached shower/toilet and with a view of the Sarusawa-Ike Pond and the Five Story Pagoda. The hotel had a public bath in the basement where you could soak after a long day, a kitchen on every floor that you could use, and the staff members of the hotel as well as the Visitor Center were very kind and helpful. Absolutely amazing value for money.

* Kyoto: Laon Inn Gion Nawate
We paid ¥37.961 for 3 nights. It was an alright hotel with a great location and a fair price, would probably book it again.

**DAY ONE – Arrival in Tokyo**

We arrived at HND airport at 08:40am and since we had registered on Visit Japan Web before and uploaded our vaccinations certificates as well as Customs and Immigrations stuff, leaving the airport was a quick and easy process. I don’t think it took us longer than 45 minutes to leave the Arrivals area with our baggage in tow.

We charged our SUICAs with ¥80.000 – ¥90.000, which – in combination with the JR Pass – turned out to be the perfect amount for our trip. I paid a few drinks with it in the end and had about ¥300 left on it when we left Japan.

We also got our JR Pass at the airport, which I wouldn’t recommend to anybody who wants to get it done quickly – unsurprisingly, there was quite a queue. We set the activation date on the 7th day of our trip.

Afterwards we took the train to our Hotel in Ueno-Okachimachi and spent the rest of the day keeping ourselves awake by strolling through the neighbourhood and Ueno Park. We were exhausted after the long journey and in the evening, we had no energy left to search for a place to eat at and got conbini food instead, which actually was pretty amazing and exciting on it’s own! I could have easily and happily eaten nothing but tuna-mayo onigiri for the rest of our stay.

**DAY TWO – Asakusa**

Thanks to keeping ourselves awake until \~ 11pm on our first day we barely felt jetlagged. Nonetheless we had decided to take it slow on our first full day and took the subway to Asakusa to checked out Sensoji, Nakamise-dori and the surrounding areas. The whole area was very beautiful, the weather was great and the amount of people was high but tolerable. We admired the shrine, took some nice photos, drew our fortunes and strolled through the various small shops in the area.

We spontaneously ate our first bowl of Ramen at [One Dragon Tan Tan Noodles](https://goo.gl/maps/ejAChuTpzo9Jc56t8) (very welcoming atmosphere and the Miso Ramen was delicious), drank a Matcha Latte from [Kukurihime Coffee](https://goo.gl/maps/GtXVjvs19jFP8gX1A) (tasty! seemed to be very popular with teens and young adults) and tried a few pieces of Sushi at [Sushiwaka Kaminarimon](https://goo.gl/maps/uKgFgn5diEUShRsg7) (very convenient that they allow you to order just a few pieces).

In the evening we walked over to [Gyukatsu Ichi Ni San](https://goo.gl/maps/WTbGB8tL5zRDEJGM9) in Akihabara and enjoyed extremely delicious Gyukatsu! It’s a little basement restaurant, we nearly overlooked in when we arrived at \~ 06:15 pm and there was only one person standing in line in front of us. When we left there were about 20 people queuing outside.

For the rest of our trip we tried to get lunch and dinner at odd times to minimize queuing time.

**DAY TWO** – Harajuku, Shibuya & Shinjuku

It was a bit of a slow start into the day but once we managed to get going, we headed straight towards Meji-Shrine. The surrounding park is pretty serene and quiet, a stark contrast to the surrounding city life, and the shrine with the massive Torii Gates leading up to it was very impressive. We took the opportunity and checked out Meiji Jingu Gyoen as well, you have to pay a small fee for it, but we thought it was worth it despite none of the famous irises being in bloom.

Originally, we’ve been meaning to check out Yoyogi-Park as well, but ultimately decided against because it had become noon already. Instead we walked over to Takeshita Street and looked around a bit – it was absolutely packed and a pretty interesting and intense area, but nothing to linger at for a longer time if you aren’t into shopping and crowds. We bought a few small souvenirs and moved on towards Shibuya.

It might have just been my mood on that day but Shibuya wasn’t really for me. I loved checking out the Hachiko Memorial and thought Shibuya Scramble was pretty awe-inspiring, but overall, I wasn’t entirely comfortable with it. Stepped into Shibuya 109 and some other store and bought a few clothes and then headed onwards to Shinjuku for dinner.

We went to [Tatsunoya Ramen](https://goo.gl/maps/kCgAYvCkt4bdngWP7) where I got the Tsukemen Motsu Special and boy that was a great decision! Perfect noodles with a delightfully flavourful broth. Once the noodles were eaten, they reheated the broth and put some rice as well as spring onions into it. Yum!

We walked back to the station through Omoide Yokochō (pretty atmospheric) and then drove back towards our hotel.

Regarding Shibuya: I know that many people love to stay in this area when they are in Tokyo and I’m sure it has many upsides, but for me it was the best decision to base near Ueno. It’s way cheaper and definitely less intense (but not at all dead in the evenings), which I personally prefer, and I like how close it is to Asakusa and Akihabara!

**DAY THREE – teamLab Planets & Akihabara**

We had bought tickets for the timeslot at 10:00 am at teamLab a few weeks prior. When we arrived, there was quite a long line already, but their crowd management was excellent – we were able to enter after about 20 minutes and none of the rooms seemed overly crowded. I don’t want to spoil too much but I can tell you that we had lots of fun!! It was such a cool and unique experience and I would recommend it to everybody who stays in Tokyo for a few days. Make sure to check out every room completely, there are a few hidden smaller rooms that we had completely for ourselves since were overlooked by most people.

We also didn’t have any other issues regarding the behaviour of other tourists or trash left at the exhibition – I’ve read about that in a different post earlier. We might have just been lucky? (or others have been very unlucky)

All in all, we spent 1 ½ hours at teamLab.

Afterwards I fulfilled my lifelong dream of eating the fluffiest pancakes possible at [A Happy Pancake Ginza](https://goo.gl/maps/ZFU2BMzCdeHpyzvt6) – they looked great, I got the Sakura version with pink whipped cream and some ice cream, but they tasted just okay. If you want to go there, I recommend making a reservation, their website is easy to access (you don’t need a Japanese phone number for it) and there were a bunch of people waiting for a spot to open in the hallway that we could just pass like this.

Once afternoon arrived, we made our way to Akihabara. We had wondered a lot about the popularity of Gacha and Crane Games before, thinking that we didn’t get the appeal – turns out we were very wrong about that lol. We spent a lot of time touring the different stores, always on the lookout for the cutest and funniest keychains and left Akihabara a lot of ¥100 coins lighter but a bag full of keychains, plushes and figurines richer (our day at Akiba also marks the start of my addiction with mofusand stuff, these kitties will be the death of me).

For dinner, we went to [Nabezo Asakusa](https://goo.gl/maps/wkwsYRCLV6PJZ22o8) to try Shabu Shabu for the first time ever. While the food itself was pretty tasty, we were also a little stressed out by this meal because we had no clue what we were doing – I’d recommend trying Shabu Shabu nonetheless, just watch a YT video about to do it before!

**DAY FOUR** **– cooking class**

On day four, a Saturday, we went to one of the southern districts of Tokyo for a cooking class at a private family home by a Japanese couple. Cooking class doesn’t describe it that well actually – it was much more than that! We learned how to fold Origami cranes, prepared Matcha, learned how to write our names in calligraphy and cooked up absolutely delicious Udon, Sushi and Tempura. It was a great experience during which we learned a lot about Japanese hospitality and daily life; if anybody is interested in how to book this just send me a DM!

After returning to our hotel, we took one last quick walk through Ueno Park. The cherry blossoms were starting to open up more and more and looked great together with the lanterns that were draped all over the park.

**DAY FIVE – Kawaguchiko**

We packed our backpacks, left our bigger pieces of luggage at the hotel in Tokyo at checkout and boarded the bus towards Lake Kawaguchi. I had booked the bus tickets before we went to Japan already and it was a really convenient and cheap way to get from Tokyo to Kawaguchiko!

We arrived at around 01:30pm, checked into our wonderful Ryokan and explored the lakeshore before heading up the Mt. Fuji Panoramic Ropeway. Fuji-san itself was a little shy on that day and did not entirely get out of his cloud blanky, but the view of the Lake made it worth it anyways. We hiked down Mount Tenjo instead of riding the ropeway again, it was a pretty relaxed walk that didn’t take us longer than 40 minutes. I also got a small package of the adorable Fujiyama Cookies at the backery beneath the ropeway.

We returned to our Ryokan, put on our Yukatas and were presented with a very elaborate, well thought out dinner. It was delicious (even though I realized Sazae is not my favourite food in the world), my favourite part was the hotpot dish – the staff explained to me that it had been prepared with milk, miso and butter. After dinner we got a good soak in the accomodation’s onsen baths. After some initial awkwardness about being butt baked it was immensely relaxing!

**DAY SIX – Yamanakako**

We awakened to a view of Mt. Fuji without any clouds covering it at all! Call me a hopeless romantic but it really took my breath away. Admittedly, we were pretty lucky, Mt. Fuji often is not visibile at all during March, but I’m so happy we took our chance and would always do it again.
After heading out for a walk and eating breakfast, as staff member of the hotel dropped us off near Kawaguchiko Station and we took a local bus towards Oshino Hakkai. The village of Oshino with the several crystal-clear ponds and Mt. Fuji in the back was quite a sight, and we weren’t the only ones who thought so – the little village was absolutely packed. We got some dango and ice cream, snapped a few pictures and then walked towards Yamanakako Flower Park, which was not that spectacular since no flowers were in bloom at the time of our visit.

From there we took the bus to our next Ryokan. The owner showed us our huge, cozy room with a view of the beautiful garden and then his father took us out on a spin to the most beautiful photo spots around the lake! It was an incredibly kind thing to do, we got many wonderful pictures and saw places we otherwise would have had no chance to see.

We were presented with a delicious dinner once again, relaxed a little in the massage chair and the public bath and went to sleep early.

**DAY SEVEN – Journey to Osaka**

Once breakfast had been served and eaten, the owner of the Ryokan dropped us off at the bus stop from which we took the Highway bus to Mishima Station at around 11 am. The tickets for this bus I had booked beforehand as well and I would recommend doing this to everyone who wants to go to Kansai Region after staying at Kawaguchiko or Yamanakako since there aren’t too many options regarding public transport available into that direction.

At Mishima Station we bought some Ekibento and hopped on the Shinkansen towards Shin-Osaka. The Shinkansen ride was a cool experience, we were super impressed by the speed of the train and the legroom!

We arrived at Osaka at around 4 pm, checked into our hotel, rested a bit and then explored the area and Dotonbori. Got my first Taiyaki at [Naruto Taiyaki Hompo](https://goo.gl/maps/q9chcjXcEN4pxMN19) and loved it! Also tried Takoyaki at [Takoyaki Juhachiban Dotonbori](https://goo.gl/maps/xiKxJ4Y5SjqG8Q5eA) (got the version with extra much green onion) and while I thought it was pretty alright, I didn’t get Takoyaki again on this trip. Dotonbori overall was a super interesting area, but there were very long lines in front of most of the restaurants. Since we were kinda pooped from the long bus/train rides, we decided to call it a day, got some small snacks at a Fami and went back to the hotel.

**DAY EIGHT – Kuromon Market, DenDen Town, Namba Yasaka Shrine, Osaka Castle & Shinsekai**

We started into the day at Kuromon Market whose entrace was directly next to our hotel – very convenient! Tried some grilled salmon at a shop run by an elderly gentleman who prepared it in the most diligent manner, it was absolutely lovely. Also got some eel and a strawberry daifuku.

When I researched DenDen Town before our trip, it often was compared to Akiba. I kinda see why people would make that compariosn, even though it was way less lively than Akiba, it was a nice change of pace, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to include it in my itinerary.
I don’t regret going there though, since we otherwise would never have found [Kopimal Coffee](https://goo.gl/maps/pHX24aPstLqZPDBF6)! A tiny, atmospheric café within a labyrinth of small alleys that we found on chance at Google Maps. A few art books of Chihiro Sakurada decorated the tables and my obsession with Mangetsu coffee shop was kindled. I drank a delicious Cold-Brew with homemade lemon syrup.

After a short detour to Namba Yasaka Shrine we headed on to Osaka Castle. We didn’t enter the castle itself and roamed around the adjacent garden/park instead – the weather was amazing, the sun was starting to set and created the most wonderful lighting and view of the city and the castle.

In the evening, we took the subway to Shinsekai and sadly I have to report that it seemed pretty dead to me. Very few people on the street, the Tsutenkaku Tower was not lit up and the famous fugu lantern was gone as well since the shop has been closed. We left again pretty quickly and had emergency dinner at CoCo Ichibanya which was way better than I had expected!

**DAY NINE – Nara**

After what seemed like an endless streak of dream-like sunny and warm days, reality caught up to us in the shape of a day of endless rainfall. Equipped with fashionable see-through plastic umbrellas from Don Quijote we made our way to Nara. At this point we had bought quite a bit of stuff and both of us sported one or two tote bags in addition to our backpacks – switching hotels became a little more annoying by now. Despite that we don’t regret staying on night in Nara – we loved our hotel there and were glad to be able to explore a bit after it had gotten dark and the rain had faded a bit.

We got Mochis at Nakatanidou, briefly checked out Kofuku-ji and Nara Park before entering Todai-ji, a very atmospheric place that impressed us a lot. Sadly, we were too exhausted to go and see Kasuga-Taisha afterwards and made our way to our hotel for a little rest.

Dinner of the day was later eaten at [Genkishin (Nara)](https://goo.gl/maps/2ZcApBFoDrmPW7tZA), we enjoyed two nice bowls of Chicken Ramen with Gyoza/Beef-don as sides there.

**DAY TEN – Travelling to Kyoto, Maruyama Park, Philosophers Path**

We started the day in a Starbucks (I was immensely surprised by the amount of Starbucks in Japan!) and after a not-so-quick shopping trip at Necoco (a very cute cat-themed store in Nara) we made our way to Kyoto. We dropped our stuff off at our hotel in Gion and walked over to Maruyama Park. To our surprise the cherry blossoms were in full force here already and we had a pretty good time there.

We then went for a lunch to [Uno Yukiko](https://goo.gl/maps/adQfCyF83c8ZTAAN8). For Ramen, this meal was a bit on the pricier side – but vegan food is hard to find in Japan and overall, it was a good experience, so I’m not mad about it. I got the sesame flavoured soymilk dandan noodles seared soymilk cheeze on germinated, fermented brown rice – pretty fancy and quite delicious! My partner wasn’t into it as much as I was though.

After a short but intense food coma we managed to kick ourselves in the butt and took a bus towards Philosopher’s Path. Taking the busses usually went pretty okay for us in Kyoto but public transport in general was way slower and less dependable than in Tokyo or Osaka, so keep that in mind when you plan your Kyoto trip. Philosopher’s Path was very idyllic and picturesque, and I bought a second hand Haori at a tiny shop at the northern part of the Path that was run by an elderly man who sat in the backroom and ate instant ramen while watching sumo on a tiny tube TV.

We walked back to our hotel, past Nanzen-ji (not much to see here since it was dark already) and the beautifully illuminated Chion-in (I think it was some kind of art installation), and called it a day.

**DAY ELEVEN – Kitano Tenmagu Shrine, Kinkaku-ji, Arashiyama**

By coincidence I had found out months ago that a flea market is held at Kitano Tenmagu Shrine in Kyoto on every 25th of the month. Took some convincing on my part to get my partner to give it a try, but it was worth it – we both loved it a lot! It’s quite the big market, spread out around the shrine and the adjacent streets, with all kinds of stalls – there was food, clothing, decorations…we bought a few nice souvenirs here got ourselves some snacks.
At the market we also met an elderly puppet artist, all dressed up in a nice suit, that took out a wonderfully crafted knee-high triceratops for a walk. Fun!
Definitely recommend everybody to pay it a visit you are in Kyoto on the 25th.

At early noon, we walked over to Kinkaku-ji. It’s a nice area but it was packed and the pathways don’t leave you any options to stray away from the crowds, so it feels very touristy. We liked it but didn’t stay too long.

Onwards to Arashiyama! Lined up for a bus, rode it until the train station and took the train towards Arashiyama station. I only saw the Kimono Forest out of the corner of my eye – I thought we’d return there later and check it out more thoroughly then, but things went differently in the end, a bit of a pity.

We walked from the train station towards the riverside and got Soba with Tempura for lunch at [Arashiyama Yoshimura](https://goo.gl/maps/rnw35i9Dj52tMFNm8). I loved the tempura and the view from the restaurant was gorgeous! The foresty hills at the other side of the river had speckles of Sakura trees all over them. I got myself some Tofu soft serve for dessert on our way to the Bamboo Forest, which was pretty good too.

The bamboo forest was nice even if not overly eventful. The crowds had thinned out a lot already and we were able to take a nice walk through the bamboo forest as well as the adjacent Kameyama Park. I definitely liked the Arashiyama area better than expected, especially the park was wonderfully peaceful!

We got lucky and randomly caught a bus towards Gion on our way back towards the train station. The ride took about 1 hour, the flat fare of ¥230 definitely paid off here! We got a quick fastfood dinner at Mos Burgers which was quite good.

**DAY TWELVE – Nishiki Market, Kyoto Gyoen, Kiyomizu-dera**

Oh rainy day… on day twelve it was – at least until the evening hours – raining cats and dogs nearly the entire time. Originally, we had planned to check out Fushimi Inari in the morning, but with all the rain we didn’t really feel like it, besides I was a bit worried about climbing the slippery stairs in the rain.

It might not have been our brightest moment to visit Nishiki Market instead because obviously we weren’t the only ones who thought it might be a nice option on a rainy day. The only time on our trip where there were too many people for it to still be enjoyable. We bailed pretty quickly, browsed a nearby mall for a little while and stepped a few metres into Kyoto Gyoen.

We then headed back towards Gion in hopes of brightening up the day a bit with a bowl of Ramen at Gion Duck Noodles, but the line was just too long. Still a little disappointed about not getting to try duck ramen, but oh well.
We went to [Hanamichi](https://goo.gl/maps/VqvRkDSPDZcVaEah6) instead and got Yakisoba, Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki and teppanyaki sweet potato – we liked all of it a lot, the sweet potato will always have a special place in my heart, and the owner of the tiny shop was very charming.

After freshening up a little at the hotel, we headed off towards Kiyomizu-dera via Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka. I made the terrible mistake of buying on of these cheese-filled ¥10 coins made of batter at a food stall at Maruyama Park on our way there – I don’t know what got into me, it was easily the worst food I had on the entire trip.

Night had fallen at this point and Kiyomizu-dera – which was illuminated as part of a special night illumination event at this time – as well as the area around it was gorgeous. The view of the city from the temple was truly spectacular. We got to try Shiso soft serve from a shop below the temple and bought a Totoro canvas puzzle at a cute little Ghibli shop. The day was saved 😊

**DAY THIRTEEN – Fushimi Inari, back to Tokyo**

At 7am we left our hotel and headed for Fushimi Inari. We were a bit on the clock since we didn’t want to arrive in Tokyo too late, so we didn’t hike up to the mountaintop of Mt. Inari, and despite the early hour, there were quite a few people on their feet already, but it was beautiful nonetheless!

We headed up towards the crossroads, managed to take some great pictures on the way up and down and bought a small red Torii gate with two adorable fortune foxes for our home. I’m really am so glad we didn’t leave out Fushimi Inari.

After returning to the hotel and checking out, we got on the Shinkansen back to Tokyo were we arrived at \~ 2 pm. Checked in at Sotetsu Fresa Ueno-Okachimachi again, dropped our luggage at our room and spent the rest of the day at Asakusa because we had liked it so much on our first visit.

We shopped a bit and went for dinner at [Kura Sushi Asakusa ROX](https://goo.gl/maps/dswt7AqpQ5ER3ex16), supposedly the biggest conveyor belt sushi place in Japan. We honestly had a lot of fun here, ate a lot of pretty tasty sushi, accidently tried Natto (which *really* wasn’t my thing) and paid around ¥3.000 in the end, which seemed pretty cheap to us all things considered. We went there at a bit of an odd time, which was a good call, when we left there was a quite long queue.

**DAY FOURTEEN – Ikebukuro/Bouldering in Akiba, Ueno**

My partner and I parted ways for a few hours in the morning of our last day – he went to check out a bouldering gym in Akiba and I rode the Yamanote Line to Ikebukuro because I wanted to see the Animate flagship store there as well as the Bandai Namco Gashapon Department Store.

Tbh I spent a big part of my time trying to navigate Sunshine city shopping mall… also paid the “Pokémon Center Mega Tokyo” a visit with the intention of buying gifts for my friends at home, but the line for checkout was astronomically long lol. Same thing went for the Animate, cool store, but the queues were just ridiculous.

Once my partner joined me, we got our last bowl of Ramen for this trip at [Mutekiya](https://goo.gl/maps/NJ5BbXAHLPPcJ9nK9). I got the No. 1 from the menu with some fresh garlic and it was heavenly. Going there for our last big meal was an excellent call. We returned to Ueno, took a last walk through the park and spent the rest of evening trying to fit all the stuff we bought into our suitcases (miraculously, we managed to do it in the end).

**DAY FIFTEEN – Departure**

Got up at 5am, made our way to the airport via the Monorail (which actually was a pretty scenic ride) and boarded our plan back to home sweet home.

Feel free to ask any questions you might have! We loved the trip and I’m catching myself daydreaming about our next visit to Japan already…