Trip report – First time to Japan (13 days – Tokyo/Kyoto/Hiroshima)

My partner and I (late 20’s) got back from our first trip to Japan last week. We had a blast. This sub was super helpful so figured I’d post some of my thoughts and recommendations from the 13-day trip.

**Trip summary:**

Pretty standard first trip itinerary: Tokyo for 6 days, Kyoto for 5 days (with an overnight trip in Miyajima), then one last night in Tokyo. Flew in and out via Narita airport. We went from April 9 – 22 in an attempt to avoid both the cherry blossom and Golden Week crowds.

**General thoughts & tips:**

* Data: I got the 10GB e-sim plan from Ubigi. I primarily used data for Google Maps and ended up using under 3GB for the 13-day trip. Would get the 3GB plan next time although the 10GB was still cheap.

* Queues: We only had to wait in line once for food, and that was only for about 20 minutes. Queues are not a problem when getting food unless you’re set on visiting a specific popular restaurant. There was one specific place we wanted to try (Asakusa Gyukatsu) but the line always had a minimum of 15+ people even during the week at around 4pm. We opted for a nearby tonkatsu place instead (Tonkatsu Toyama) which was fantastic and had no wait time.

* Parks: they ended up being a big highlight (and necessity) for us. They were a great escape from the noise and crowds. By day 3 our feet and legs became quite sore and brief foot breaks throughout the day became necessary. Parks were one of the only public places where seating was available for us to rest for a bit. In Tokyo we visited Ueno park, Yoyogi park, Shinjuku Gyoen, Inakoshira park, and some smaller parks. They were beautiful and well-kept, and we really enjoyed people-watching and having snacks while visiting them.

* Museums: we visited Tokyo National Museum, the Hiroshima Peace Museum, and Ghibli Museum. I really enjoyed/appreciated the latter two but the Tokyo National Museum was not really for me. My partner is more into history though and enjoyed this museum quite a bit. One note about museums is that although they seem like they would be a good opportunity to rest your feet, I found the slow walking hurt my feet more than if I was walking around more quickly outside. In the future I would have done that museum on a day when my feet weren’t bothering me as much, especially considering how huge it is.

* Observation towers: we went to the free observation deck in the Tokyo government building. I didn’t go to Shibuya Sky so I can’t compare the two, but I really enjoyed the view of the city. Seeing the massive urban sprawl of Tokyo was crazy. Worth the visit IMO.

**Accommodation:**

* Tokyo: we chose to stay in Asakusa (Hotel Gracery Asakusa) and loved it. Just one train ride (Narita Skyaccess) from the airport to our hotel. The Ginza line also directly connects Asakusa to popular areas like Ueno, Akihabara, and Shibuya which made navigating the transit system much less overwhelming for our first few days in Tokyo. The Asakusa area was also tons of fun to explore – our hotel was just a 5-min walk from Senso-ji and it was lovely going to the temple grounds early in the morning with the place mostly to ourselves.

* Kyoto: we stayed about a 10-min walk northeast from Kyoto station (Hotel M’s Est Nanajo). 10 minutes seems short in theory but when you’re tired and sore it feels pretty long. Next time we would probably stay a bit closer to Kyoto station or maybe closer to the Gion/Hirashiyama area where there’s more action. Being near Kyoto station was useful for day trips to Nara, Arashiyama, and Hiroshima though, plus the hotel was right next to Kiyamachi-dori and the Kamo river.

* Hiroshima: we stayed in a ryokan on Miyajima (Miyajima Seaside Hotel). It was a unique experience and I loved being near the sea, watching the deer roam outside the hotel grounds, and staying in a traditional room. However, the in-room dinner was very much out of our comfort zone and I’m not sure that we would choose to do that again. That being said, it was a neat experience trying a bunch of foods and dishes for the first time, and the presentation was lovely.

**Food highlights:**

* Curry & Cafe 香炉里 in Nara was my #1 meal in Japan and first time trying Japanese curry. It’s a tiny shop nestled in a residential area of Nara and the owners are so sweet. The pork curry was fantastic and cheap. We were gifted little origami deer on the way out.

* Icchan ramen in Kyoto. I think someone recommended this place on this subreddit. I had spicy coconut curry jerk chicken ramen and it was the best ramen I’ve ever had.

* Awajishima Burger Nishishinjuku in Shinjuku. We took several ‘western’ food breaks while in Japan and the burger and onion rings here was delicious. Our last dinner in Japan.

* Not a meal but there is a sweet called Momiji manju on Miyajima shaped liked maple leaves, and I loved these. They are like little cakes with various fillings including bean paste, chocolate, and custard. Worth a try if you visit Miyajima.

**Attraction highlights:**

* Senso-ji and Kiyomizu-dera: both temples were beautiful and quiet before the crowds arrived in the early morning. Kiyomizu-dera in particular was huge and there was so much to explore and see. Seeing the temple light up as the sun rose over the hill was lovely.

* Miyajima: walking around the island at night and in the morning was really serene. Even during the day it was not overly crowded, although we did visit on a weekday. I preferred seeing the tori gate at low tide and we enjoyed walking on the beach and watching the little creatures in the tide pools. We unfortunately passed on the ropeway/hike up to Mt. Misen though so I will have to try this another time.

* Yanaka/Ueno: one of my favorite areas in Tokyo that we visited. Ueno park is beautiful. We took a walk from Ueno park to Nezu shrine, and then from Nezu shrine to Yanaka Ginza via a small, scenic zig-zagging path through a residential area littered with plants. Yanaka cemetery was also very pretty.

* Ghibli museum & Inakoshira park: the museum’s temporary exhibit featured Future Boy Conan. We had not seen this series before so watched part of it before our Japan trip. The exhibit was fantastic and watching part of the series beforehand enhanced our appreciation of it. If you go I recommend getting familiar with the special exhibit theme before visiting to get the full experience. The park surrounding the museum is also lovely and we took a break to try dango from a small shop for the first time here.

* Northern Arashiyama: we got to Arashiyama early in the morning and started by taxiing up the hill to Otagi nenbutsu-ji (only 1000 yen). This temple is small but beautiful. We enjoyed looking at all of the various statue expressions and mostly had the area to ourselves. Afterwards we walked down through Saga Toriimoto and visited Adashino nenbutsu-ji – there is a small bamboo forest here that we had all to ourselves. We enjoyed this much more than the bamboo forest by the river, which was packed by the time we got there. There is also a small pottery store in the area (Kotouen) with some lovely pottery pieces and tanuki figurines.

Overall we had an amazing trip and are already planning a future trip to Japan. Hope these notes come in handy for some other first-timers.