Trip Report: May 7th – May 17th: Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka

Hello everyone, appreciate this sub for all the leads and tips for my first trip to Japan. I will most definitely be going back. I’ll start with some background thoughts.

My initial itinerary post: [Initial Plans](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/11ngr4y/itinerary_check_may_7th_2023_may_17th_2023_tokyo/)

Random images from trip- [https://imgur.com/gallery/ax3Ynfk](https://imgur.com/gallery/ax3Ynfk)

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TLDR: Japan is great! Whatever you are worried about, don’t be!

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1) I got sunburned my first day after walking in Tokyo for 6+ hours. I left my sunscreen and chapstick at home and was like “I’ll just buy some at Don Quijote.” I ended up buying some days later in Osaka after it was too late.

2) Onebag Travel pack 3 (35L) by AER and Day Sling 3 (3L). Since I was doing a few fine dining places I brought some clothes I wouldn’t normally wear and felt I overpacked a bit. But I ended up only doing laundry once during the trip.

3) My intentions were to learn some Japanese to at least order food, but boy did I procrastinate and knew 0. I felt bad, all I knew were: Hello, yes, no, water, I’m sorry, excuse me and thank you. BUT the hospitality was very genuine everywhere I went. To make the experience a bit better, learn a few phrases or be comfortable using google translate and/or google lens.

4) I am 5’11 and at least 300+ lbs (I haven’t weighed myself in a year, I should do that). No one gave a flying fuck! But I was self-conscious for a reason. I did take someone’s advice on here and bought a seat belt extender for the airlines, just in case. I used it on all flights even though I probably could’ve squeezed in without it. Not sure if its because of the times I went out but I felt severely underdressed in Tokyo and it still made me self-conscious for some reason. AFTER going to Kyoto and Osaka, I stop caring. I also intended on walking everyday at least 2-5 miles to prep for this since I have a pretty sedimentary lifestyle. I was alright, the only real tiring day was my first full day in Tokyo where I walked 15 miles. My step counter said I averaged about 22k steps a day. Just pace yourself and drink plenty of fluids.

5) Again being self-conscious about taking my one bag onto the train station during rush hours made me consider using Yamato Transport, it ended up being a blunder and if it wasn’t for the hotel staff at both places I wouldn’t have been able to use it or get my bag in time (The receptionist at the place in Yokohama actually called Yamato Trasnport for me and had them expedite my bag to get there before I left for Kyoto). I should have just front-loaded the bag taking it from Ueno to Yokohama but I wanted to try using Yamato Transport. In Osaka and Kyoto I saw soooooo many people on the subways with multiple large suitcases! Even while visiting like Osaka castle I saw people dragging their luggage, blew my mind.

6) For the trip I mostly used yen and my suica, only at hotels and chain restaurants would I use my credit card. Had Charles Schwab and a Wise card (emergency back up) for withdrawing yen. Attached my coin purse to my sling, was great.

7) I had a decent idea of what I wanted to do and what was around in case something didn’t work out. I did not completely stick to my plans and was flexible for a lot of my plans and went with the flow.

8) I got everywhere in Japan by either walking, subway, trains or shinkansen. So google maps was a godsend, my buddy living there was jealous telling me it wasn’t like that for his first trip years ago. Also I never tried to figure out “the optimal” exit to get out from the station. I just took an exit to get out of the station, then proceeded to use google maps to point me in the right direction. Since I was solo traveling I didn’t mind and really enjoyed just roaming about. I did meet a few people for meals and events though.

9) Ubigi eSim- Had it set up and ready to go, I got 10g of data for 30 days for 17$. In the 10-11 days I was there I only ran through. 2.2g. I never listened to any music or watched any vidoes or anything on trains or while walking. I just took in the surroundings during the trip. It made me a bit sad to see so many tired people on the trains, napping all the time or glued to their phones but that’s our society. Also love the quiet trains.

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May 7th, 2023 – May 8th, 2023 (Tokyo)

PIT – JFK : Had plenty of time, so much time that I couldn’t even get my boarding tickets for about 2 hours until JAL opened up! JAL in service meals definitely better than I thought it would be and in general their service was nice. Customs and immigration took about 30-40 minutes. Already had Suica loaded and on my phone, went to an ATM and withdrew some yen. A group of Japanese people tried to interview me but I was tired and in a rush, it was weird. If you are tired, just ask someone at an information booth where to go, if I used my eyes I would’ve found the Keisei Skyliner was downstairs but I asked the kind ladies at the information booth. Also ended up just asked the lady downstairs at the Skyliner booth to buy me a ticket. I’m not sure if I got on the right Skyliner to this day, but I got on one, sat in my seat and the staff on the train even checked my ticket during the ride. Stumbled out of Ueno station to the park and after wandering around found my hotel. I did not go to Odaiba but instead just roamed around Ueno and ended up getting dinner from Konbini (FamilyMart) and was content.

May 9th, 2023 (Tokyo)

*Skipped Ueno Park and Ameyoko Shopping District*

Went to Kaminarimon Gate, Nakamise-dori Street, Senso-ji. Got there around 0830 and a lot of stalls weren’t open but it wasn’t too crowded either, expected to see tourists but didn’t expect to see so many kids in school uniforms roaming about. My favorite part was inhaling the incense, dunno why I liked the smell of incense burning. This would probably be the busiest temple I visited. Also there was a group of small school kids conducting a ceremony, chanting and carrying object(s) with elderly. By the time I left it was getting crowded, I also remember grabbing an extremely hot meaty bun for 300 yen and drinking a pocari sweat outside the main gate. Did some wandering about, got another quick bite from Lawson’s this time, roamed around the Don Quijote. Walked through Kappabashi street, it was still a bit early, so many shops weren’t open still but I didn’t plan on buying anything and walked back to my hotel from there to Ueno. Everything else for the day I did on a whim, which was go to **Tokyo government building observation (I recommend this)**, roam around Shinjuku, golden gai and Omoide Yokochō. I randomly stumbled upon Hanazono Shrine and it felt really eerie being there since it was completely different from Senso-ji. There were only a few locals there. Walked around Shinjuku for hours from sunset to night and just took in all the people and lights. The worst thing I had all trip was from a random event with like 5-6 food stalls. I ended up getting some spicy gyoza, the gyoza were dressed with DRY spice powder and oil. I know it wasn’t just me when a group across from me was also coughing and laughing at each other while trying them. It took 3 walkthroughs for me to muster up the courage to walk into a restaurant at Omoide Yokocho, the place I went to had menus in English, I still don’t know the name of the restaurant but everyone was so nice.

May 10th, 2023 (Tokyo -> Yokohama)

*Skipped: Harbor View Park Observatory*

My first blunder, sending my bag through Yamato Transport. This was also the first time I did not get off at the right station using the subway, I got off one station too early but just went backwards and it was alright. I saw signs for the Yokohama air cabin and was going to take it, it was closed for the day. Instead I followed everyone until I got to the Landmark Tower, which perplexed me and used my suica to enter.

**Yokohama Landmark Tower Sky Garden (Recommendation) -** I had some time to kill until checking into my hotel so I checked this observation deck out. One of the highest observation decks at 69F and on top there were also a few fish in tanks to see, a cafe, gift shop and seats (you can also get some wine or beer). Next time I go to Yokohama, I’ll probably go at night!

Going back down they drop you off at the 5th floor, where you can get some food. I ended up getting a bento, salmon, which they heated for me. Was worth it and headed to Cup Noodles Museum. I did not opt to make my own noodles or head factory, there was a huge crowd of school kids of various ages there and just learned about Momofuku Ando, which was enough for me. I just walked around the pier and enjoyed the sun and nice breeze. I’m not sure if it was just the day but there was a constant nice breeze in Yokohama that was refreshing.

Checked into my hotel, rested up and headed back out to the Gundam Factory. The main reason for coming to Yokohama. On the way there was Yamashita Park which had a lot of nice flowers! It was really amazing to see so many different types of people here, from foreigners to kids to old men just sitting around watching the Gundam. My time slot to get on the deck was around sunset. Spent a lot more time here than I thought I would but enjoyed it, headed to Chinatown, ate some very hot soup dumplings, walked around and went back to the hotel.

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May 11th, 2023 (Yokohama -> Kyoto)

*Skipped: Heian Shrine Nanzenji Temple, Philosopher’s Path, Higashiyama Jisho-ji, Kyoto Imperial Palace, Pontocho Alley*

I initially planned to leave at 0600 for one of the first shinkansen, my bag wouldn’t arrive from Yamato transport until 1000, checked out at and took the subway to shin-osaka to catch the shinkansen. This would be the first time I struggled this trip. I tried to use the first ticket machine area to buy a ticket but my mobile suica wouldn’t work on it, asked a lady at the station for help and she instructed me to go downstairs. I tried there for a few minutes even with english prompts and couldn’t figure it out, used the “assistance button” and someone popped up on my screen and helped me get my non-reserved ticket. Me still being nervous asked another station which platform to get on and was shown the way and missed the shinkansen. I wasn’t too upset, I just relaxed until the next one arrived. I arrived right on time to check into my hotel and got ready for dinner at Nikuryori Oka. Chef Yoshitaka Oka and his staff were very nice and made the experience that much better, there were only a total of 3 diners for when I went, including myself. If you want to taste what Japanese beef has to offer I would highly recommend this place. This wasn’t really part of my original plans but I’m very glad I had the chance to go! None of them spoke very much English, nor us Japanese, it was very simple to use google translate to communicate. After this I roamed around Gion and went to Yasaka-jinja shrine, its amazing at night. Would also walk through Nishiki market, completely empty, since I didn’t know it closed relatively early but it was still a sight to see. Overall everything planned for this day was completely scrapped but I still had a great time!

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May 12th, 2023 (Kyoto)

Slept in until 0730, planned on going to Arashiyama earlier to avoid the crowds. It wasn’t too bad when I got there, I saw some bamboo ended up scraping my plan to walk the trail since my buddy would be coming at noon, instead of at 1700 like I suggested. For me the view of a random cemetery was the best part of the bamboo forest. I ended up taking a back entrance of Tenryu-ji to avoid some crowds and it was a great idea. By the time I exited Tenryu-ji it was beginning to get crowded, before I left I went to Togetsukyo bridge. I literally just wanted to walk across it, on the other side there was a park and two nice ladies selling squid and fish. Bought a squid (800 yen), watched her grill it in front of me then proceeded to devour it while watching the river and people. I headed to Nijo castle after this and ended up getting trapped into walking the whole premise since I didn’t see one of the shortcuts out. Wasn’t a bad experience but just didn’t want to be late meeting with my buddy.

After meeting up with my buddy we went to Nishiki market during the day. Was a bit sad that we didn’t eat more food from stalls and probably would have if I was by myself. Was taken to Round1 which is like ufo machines, arcade machines, karoke, bowling. Its a decent chain and if you have time to spare would recommend checking out. Next few things were random, dinner reservation was at 1800 and we had a lot of time to kill. We checked out Kyoto City Hall (idk why we just looked at it), **Kyoto International Manga Museum which I recommend if you like manga** and the Museum of Kyoto. Although we didn’t enter the main entrance and somehow ended up at limited exhibit and was really not impressed and kind of sad.

Main event and reason was to dine at Noma Kyoto at Ace Hotel dinner. It was a very interesting experience and was very lucky to get a reservation for the pop-up. Ended up dining with my buddy and two random strangers to make a 4 top and the other two guests definitely made the dinner better.

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May 13th, 2023: (Kyoto -> Osaka)

*Didn’t follow any of my itinerary here*

I am very fortunate to have a friend that would let me bum on his floor for a few days and took full advantage of it. They live really close to Dotonburi, which made it even better! Not sure where I got the idea but I thought it only took 30 minutes to get from Kyoto to Osaka but I ALWAYS MESSED UP GETTING OFF AT AWAJI STATION TO SWITCH over and will never forget this now. Maybe took an hour to an hour and a half to get to Namba station and it took me a few walks to figure out that I could literally walk underground from Namba station to Nipponbashi station, a convenient tip for rainy days. For lunch we just did Kura or Convery belt sushi and walked around Nipponbashi Denden town, dotonburi and namba. Everyday up until this point was a sunny day, it would rain the next two days. Since my buddy is a local he had a few ramen places that he liked, we checked both of them out, both packed and lines had formed. So instead of wasting time waiting, we found a vending machine ramen place that was practically empty. This turned out to be a really good meal and now is my buddy’s go to place for ramen. With so many food options in Japan I wouldn’t really waste precious time for a meal, but that’s just my opinion. My friend would head back to his place and I would walk around in the rain and take some night pictures of the area, like the Glico sign.

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May 14th, 2023: (Oska -> Kyoto -> Osaka)

*Everything I had planned for this day got scrapped for a golden opportunity.*

A fellow foodie buddy introduced me to a few others that planned an event to meet an actual Geisha and somehow I was added to the group. Its not a very common since a Geisha’s schedule is so busy and even harder to get introduced to one as a foreigner. Our fixer was Peter MachIntosh and he gives a wonderful walking tour and information about Geisha and their culture, if this is something you can afford to do or have the opportunity I would recommend it. I would have lunch at Kawamura Ryori Hei (an ok meal) with the Geisha and was allowed to ask her questions. She spoke english very well but Peter was also there to translate everything if needed and also made sure I got refills on umeshu. After eating she performed a dance with the musician playing a shamisen and some games. Headed back to Osaka, rested a bit and then would eat dinner at a yakitori place. One of those all you can eat for 90 minute places. **I highly recommend the Umeda Sky Building, at night!** I thought, oh yeah, another observation building but was blown away and almost literally since you can go to the top OUTSIDE of the building. The view took my breath away and this wasn’t something I planned on doing, I just remembered that it was there. Roamed around Umeda a bit and then headed back to my buddy’s place to sleep.

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May 15th, 2023: (Osaka)

*Scrapped my whole plan to head back to Tokyo for an event on the 16th in Osaka*

I slept in and went to the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan, waited one hour to get in and during that time just walked around the Tempozan Market Place, got some food and hung around the pier. There were tons of kids here and that makes sense. For me the vibe was off and kind of felt bad for the animals, I thought about coming back on another trip for feeding time and their cruise line option so only spent about an hour here. Went to the Osaka Tenmangu next, again it wasn’t that busy compared to Senso-ji and I was fine with that. I remember watching a family take pictures of their kid and thought it was nice. Randomly walking I found my favorite sign, “Beware of crows.” All throughout the trip I could hear them cawing and I loved it. I love crows. Made my way to Osaka Castle, if you know your history on Hideyoshi Toyotomi I honestly wouldn’t recommend going inside and because of the line I almost didn’t but decided to. The vibe inside sucked, mostly because the interior was completely done and turned basically into a museum. No photos on certain floors and a lot of people. What made the experience better was outside there was a street performer playing music on a hand pan and didgeridoo. So I got a drink from a vending machine and just listened to him play. Went back to meet my buddy for okonomiyaki and takoyaki and rested for a bit before heading out at night again. This time I would meet with my food buddy and we randomly ended up at Mihara Steakhouse, Teppanyaki. Again one of those very intimate experiences, we just walked in and the head chef and his apprentice were just sitting there and we had a great meal. He spoke very little english but you could tell he was curious about us and attempted to strike up conversation. What I remember the most about the meal is the seafood for my dish, I thought he was killing it with the alcohol while making it but the level of acid on the dish was perfect and probably some of the best I’ve ever had!

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May 16th, 2023: (Osaka)

*Scrapped my whole plan to head back to Tokyo for an event on the 16th in Osaka*

Going to Sumiyoshi Taisha, I got off a station too early! Instead of getting back on, I decided to just walk for 30 minutes and this is what I really love about Japan since pretty much all the roads where I went were walkable. I passed through an area called Kohama and people were getting their shops ready for the day. Maybe I was just early but Sumiyoshi Taisha mostly had locals there, next time I visit I’ll try to plan around being there for sunset. One of my favorite signs they had said “Nuisance Ban” “No online games” and a slew of other things not allowed, I loved it. Next I made my way to Harukas 300, Umeda and Landmark Tower in Yokohama were better than here. Although, it might have been the kids running around and yelling but I wasn’t really impressed with this observatory. I saw a bunch of girls taking pictures with the posters of guys on the columns, maybe I’m missing something or the vibe wasn’t there for the day. The building itself has a large amount of shops if that’s what you are into but for me it was just “meh.” Next I headed for Shitenno-ji but on the way found another cemetery that I briefly looked around at but still felt nervous about being there so left quickly. I walked around Shitenno-ji to look at the center pagoda itself you paid an admission fee. It felt very serene there and I spent more time here for some reason. No pictures were allowed in most of the buildings, making the experience more enjoyable but harder to remember. I wanted to browse around sinsekai during the night but briefly stopped by. On the way back I randomly found an old school arcade, a gem! A random guy asked if he could play me in Capcom vs. SNK 2. He was from Hawaii, hopefully he’s having a blast too! Met my friend for a light lunch, the place he wanted to take me had a 30 minute wait, we opted not to wait and went to Sushizanmai. It didn’t disappoint us, there were only 2 or 3 other diners and the fatty tuna we had was great! Diner was at La Cime, a 2 Michelin star restaurant. This trip was about food and trying out fine dining and the dishes and service at La Cime was top notch. My palate sucks when it comes to wine but after doing two meals with wine pairings, I’m not really fond of them but maybe something for me to learn more about.

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May 17th, 2023: (Osaka -> Tokyo -> USA)

Originally planed to take a Jetstar flight from Osaka to Tokyo. Then decided to take a shinkansen at 0600 to Tokyo station. Ended up sleeping on the shinkansen, non-reserved seat. My buddy escorted me to shin-osaka and there were actual people to help you buy tickets and was easy enough to get a non-reserved seat. Immediately went to Ueno station and placed my bag into a coin locker for 500 yen, its something I wanted to try out and if you have a 35L bag it will fit perfectly in the 500 yen lockers. I must note that even at around 0900ish a lot of them were already in use. For a few hours I just walked around Ueno Park and the Ameyoko Shopping District and was content. Used the Keisei Skyliner to get back to Narita…I got there way too early. For some reason I wasn’t able to get mobile boarding passes and American Airlines did not open until 1530, I got there around 1230, flight left at 1830. There was a shopping and dining area and ended up getting a pork katsu and curry with plenty of time to spare until the airlines opened up. Go through security fairly quickly.

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If you have any questions- feel free to ask or DM me.

Last note, in the back of my mind I know I’m going back to Japan and probably fairly sooner than later so I was very flexible with missing things and just wanted this trip to be kind of a learning experience. A lot of the opportunities I was presented don’t really happen everyday and dropped whatever I had for them and I think that’s important when it comes to travel. Two people I talked to on the trip emphasized to me to travel as much as I can, while I can. One recovered from heart failure and other from cancer. I fully plan on traveling more frequently but being told to travel while I’m young by my elders really makes me want to get out there!