Overall, an incredible trip. I love how organised, clean, respectful and beautiful Japan and its people are. Also, the toilets. It is a religious experience and even public toilets are spotless. We did around 20K steps per day, with what I considered a ‘lighter’ itinerary. I bought some Croc sandals which I wore almost exclusively for the trip which were perfect.
Weather overall was really, really pleasant. We hit the front end of the rainy season and had two days of proper downpours in Tokyo, but it didn’t affect much except my pre-booking for Shibuya Sky sunset and drinks as they closed the roof! That was a shame, but not a massive loss to our trip. I tried to plan one main thing per day, and then have a couple of options or open ideas for the rest of the day. This meant we could explore at our leisure, and didn’t have too many itinerary changes or dashed expectations/hopes. I had a list of food we wanted to try or restaurants, and we tried to tick them off as we went along.
We didn’t have a single bad meal and especially loved everything we tried from 7/11 and Lawsons, which was most of our breakfasts and lunches.
There are no official COVID-related restrictions on travel, dining out or other activities. However, guidance encouraging social distancing, mask-wearing and other basic precautions remains in place. We found around 50% of people did not wear masks in public (excluding school groups), and about 2/5ths did not wear masks on public transport. We didn’t wear masks at all.
You must carry your passport or residence card at all times.
Google maps is your saviour. Follow it when it tells you what train car to ride in or what exit to take. Floor signs are great in stations telling you where to stand. Be respectful and queue.
********************
——-Pre-departure:——
Before you fly use the Visit Japan Web site for pre-flight procedures/QR codes. No need to fill out immigration and customs forms if you have screenshots of your QR codes (you need one for each).
Purchased a 7 day JR pass from the official JR site and made reservations for the day trips we knew we wanted to take. We are the kind of people who need things booked / locked in otherwise we become lazy. We picked up the JR pass and reservations from Osaka airport when we arrived. Do NOT lose the pass. The 7 days pass was totally worth it for our itinerary as we used plenty of shinkansen and JR trains. It was also easy to book other tickets from the machine, you need your passport number and the JR pass.
Ordered wifi to be delivered to our first hotel which was great and I charged it each night. It came with a powerbank but I didn’t need it – Japan Wireless.
Downloaded Suica into our Apple Wallets and loaded Y5000 to begin with. We topped it up every now and again toward the end of the trip. It was useful for suica-enabled vending machines and convenience stores too.
Opened a Starling (UK) account for good travel rates and it is a MasterCard. Visas won’t work properly in Japan, so do make sure you have other options.
********************
——We pre-booked/paid:——-
JR pass, USJ and express passes, Ryokan stay, Maiko tea ceremony, Omakase meal, Romancecar, TeamLabs, Shibuya sky, Imperial palace tour (booked on imperial palace household website 1 month in advance), sumo lunch experience.
Day 1 – Sun 21st May Arrive Osaka airport (we flew from South Korea) – night 1
The royal park hotel iconic – very nice. -Picked up JR passes and reservations.
-JR train from airport. Checked in. Grabbed dinner and drinks at hotel as we were tired.
-Picked up wifi at hotel.
*************************
Day 2 – Mon 22nd – Osaka day – night 2
AM – Himeji castle trip in the morning. Not a lot to see inside, but it was nice to go and see it. We also did the gardens which were beautiful, and left around lunchtime.
PM – headed to dotonburi / shinsekai street and had lots of street food. Takoyaki is a must – go further in as there are loads of stalls selling this. We tried the cheaper kobe, but next time I would splash out on a slightly better cut. We were also craving bubble tea so found one there, which was great.
**********************
Day 3 – tues 23rd – Hiroshima full day trip – night 3
-Had bento on the shinkansen. Headed straight to Miyajima via JR train and ferry (Miyajimaguchi). Spent time exploring and took long ferry straight to the Peace Park.
-Explored memorial museum/park. The museum was packed with school kids so was very busy, however it was very important to see.
-Ate Okonomiyaki @ Okonomi village where there are lots of stalls – very tasty. -An exhausting day, but we felt a day trip was good to see what we wanted to see.
**********************
Day 4 – wed 24th – Nara park day trip – night 4
-Jr train to Nara. Ate Mochi at Nakatanidou and fed deer and picnicked. Got nibbled a bit by the deer but it was a fun experience. They were bowing, as you see in the videos, but will get aggressive if you tease them as we saw people do – so do respect them and their space.
-We went to the UNESCO temples and shrines in Nara.
-PM – all you can eat sushi and Wagyu hotpot at Sushi Toshabushabu No . 8 Umedamise – really yummy and fast service. They weren’t great with English and didn’t have English menus, but you can use the translate app on the menu, and (on iphone) the translate function on the ordering webpage which worked fine – as they give you a unique QR to order. I booked it on Instagram.
**********************
Day 5 – thurs 25th – universal studios day – night 5 (5 nights Osaka total)
-USJ all day – we had booked express pass (7 rides) which included timed entry into Nintendo World. We primarily went for the Harry Potter section, which was great and so was the backdrop ride. It was busy but not crazy, we went on an off-peak day.
-For us the express passes were 1000% worth it as we didn’t need to turn up early, had a guaranteed 7 rides (we ended up doing 11 or 12) and felt like our time was well structured and we made the most of it. At the end of the day we queued again for the main harry potter ride which stated 70 minutes but only took about 45, which was a plus.
-We took some onigiri in our pockets as snacks. We decided not to queue for butterbeer, instead went into the Three Broomsticks and grabbed a bite and some butterbeer there, which was much faster. They also have seating with a view of the castle.
-I used the USJ site to buy the tickets as I could choose the timings I wanted. It worked with apple pay and Amex (I am from the UK if that makes a difference) – very quick and easy. We used the QRs on our phones.
PART 2:
Day 6 – Fri 26th – Kyoto day – 1 night
-At checkout Takkyubin (tak-q-bin) luggage to Tokyo to arrive on Sunday 28th – this was fab and very easy to arrange. We only took backpacks for our Kyoto and Hakone days.
-Royal park canvas Kyoto nijo – pleasant
-A whistle stop tour of Kyoto: Fushimi Inari shrine, it was packed so we stayed around 30 minutes.
-Bamboo forest (arashiyama) & monkey park. We did the monkey park first which we enjoyed a lot. The bamboo forest was underwhelming and only stayed in for 15 minutes.
-Tea ceremony – Maiko – with kimonos. Booked with Maikoya in advance. This was such a unique experience. Dressing up was the best part for me, but it was really cool to be able to ask questions of the Maiko and watch her do a performance. You get tea and a little sweet snack too, after her ceremony.
*************************
Day 7 – sat 27th – Hakone – 1 night
-Shinkansen from Kyoto to Odawara station where we bought free passes and then Hakone Tozan train to hakone – yumoto station. We walked to our Ryokan from there.
-Yama no Chaya – beautiful
-Room came with private onsen and kaiseki dinner & breakfast. Dinner was great but breakfast was far too much and a bit overwhelming for 8am. The experience as a whole was great, the staff were so pleasant and the onsen in the room was beautiful. We didn’t try their public baths but did snag a spot in the private one, which was bookable only for the first 8 check-ins that day, so worth getting there early.
*************************
Day 8 – sun 28th – Hakone – Tokyo night 1
-We did the Hakone loop clockwise with the free pass (bus -> boat -> ropeway -> cablecar -> train). It was a clear day so we has great views of Fuji, which was wonderful. It seemed this was the ‘quieter’ way round, but I don’t know if that was just what I wanted to believe. https://www.odakyu.jp/english/passes/hakone/ and https://www.hakonenavi.jp/international/en/access/osaka_kyoto
-Romance car booked to Shinjuku as it was closest to our hotel.
-Pm Tokyo night 1 at The Knot Shinjuku – very small rooms, but we wanted a cheaper option. The bakery is delicious!! We collected our bags.
-Ebisu Endou omakase experience (Y33,000pp). Booked using Omakase.in website. Chef spoke English which was a big plus. Excellent Nigiri – melt in the mouth.
***************************
Day 9 – mon 29th – Tokyo night 2
-It was pissing it down with rain this day. Shibuya sky was cancelled so we took it easy.
-Instead we explored around Shinjuku a little, went to Don Quixote for some snacks, and treated ourselves to McDonald’s dinner to try the Japanese differences – the shrimp burger is great.
***************************
Day 10 – tues 30th – Tokyo night 3
-Imperial palace tour – pre-booked. We overheard people who hadn’t booked had been waiting for 3 hours to attend the next tour.
-We downloaded the app to listen to the tour as the group was huge.
-Headed to Shibuya – Mags rooftop bar for a beer and a view of the scramble. Ate at Shibuya Gyoza which was very tasty.
-Golden gai for drinks – we went around 6pm so not much was open but we saw one bar with a few tourists in and had some great chats over some beers. A cool experience.
***************************
Day 11 – wed 31st – Tokyo night 4
-Lazy morning/lie-in and Team labs booked in the afternoon. A very cool place, and a unique experience. My favourite room was the room with the lights everywhere. You will get wet in this experience, so wear trousers you can roll, or shorts! There are also mirrors everywhere.
-Ichiran ramen for dinner – the Shinjuku one was pretty quiet. Very yummy.
-We went to the Government Metropolitan building in Shinjuku on the way back to our hotel, as they have observation deck views over Tokyo on 45th floor. We did it twice (at night and in the day) as it is free.
2 comments
PART 1:
Overall, an incredible trip. I love how organised, clean, respectful and beautiful Japan and its people are. Also, the toilets. It is a religious experience and even public toilets are spotless. We did around 20K steps per day, with what I considered a ‘lighter’ itinerary. I bought some Croc sandals which I wore almost exclusively for the trip which were perfect.
Weather overall was really, really pleasant. We hit the front end of the rainy season and had two days of proper downpours in Tokyo, but it didn’t affect much except my pre-booking for Shibuya Sky sunset and drinks as they closed the roof! That was a shame, but not a massive loss to our trip. I tried to plan one main thing per day, and then have a couple of options or open ideas for the rest of the day. This meant we could explore at our leisure, and didn’t have too many itinerary changes or dashed expectations/hopes. I had a list of food we wanted to try or restaurants, and we tried to tick them off as we went along.
We didn’t have a single bad meal and especially loved everything we tried from 7/11 and Lawsons, which was most of our breakfasts and lunches.
There are no official COVID-related restrictions on travel, dining out or other activities. However, guidance encouraging social distancing, mask-wearing and other basic precautions remains in place. We found around 50% of people did not wear masks in public (excluding school groups), and about 2/5ths did not wear masks on public transport. We didn’t wear masks at all.
You must carry your passport or residence card at all times.
Google maps is your saviour. Follow it when it tells you what train car to ride in or what exit to take. Floor signs are great in stations telling you where to stand. Be respectful and queue.
********************
——-Pre-departure:——
Before you fly use the Visit Japan Web site for pre-flight procedures/QR codes. No need to fill out immigration and customs forms if you have screenshots of your QR codes (you need one for each).
Purchased a 7 day JR pass from the official JR site and made reservations for the day trips we knew we wanted to take. We are the kind of people who need things booked / locked in otherwise we become lazy. We picked up the JR pass and reservations from Osaka airport when we arrived. Do NOT lose the pass. The 7 days pass was totally worth it for our itinerary as we used plenty of shinkansen and JR trains. It was also easy to book other tickets from the machine, you need your passport number and the JR pass.
Ordered wifi to be delivered to our first hotel which was great and I charged it each night. It came with a powerbank but I didn’t need it – Japan Wireless.
Downloaded Suica into our Apple Wallets and loaded Y5000 to begin with. We topped it up every now and again toward the end of the trip. It was useful for suica-enabled vending machines and convenience stores too.
Opened a Starling (UK) account for good travel rates and it is a MasterCard. Visas won’t work properly in Japan, so do make sure you have other options.
********************
——We pre-booked/paid:——-
JR pass, USJ and express passes, Ryokan stay, Maiko tea ceremony, Omakase meal, Romancecar, TeamLabs, Shibuya sky, Imperial palace tour (booked on imperial palace household website 1 month in advance), sumo lunch experience.
JR links:
https://japanrailpass.net/en/
https://www.japanrailpass-reservation.net
https://www.jreast.co.jp/e/downloads/pdf/mv_operation_e.pdf
*******************
Day 1 – Sun 21st May Arrive Osaka airport (we flew from South Korea) – night 1
The royal park hotel iconic – very nice.
-Picked up JR passes and reservations.
-JR train from airport. Checked in. Grabbed dinner and drinks at hotel as we were tired.
-Picked up wifi at hotel.
*************************
Day 2 – Mon 22nd – Osaka day – night 2
AM – Himeji castle trip in the morning. Not a lot to see inside, but it was nice to go and see it. We also did the gardens which were beautiful, and left around lunchtime.
PM – headed to dotonburi / shinsekai street and had lots of street food. Takoyaki is a must – go further in as there are loads of stalls selling this. We tried the cheaper kobe, but next time I would splash out on a slightly better cut. We were also craving bubble tea so found one there, which was great.
**********************
Day 3 – tues 23rd – Hiroshima full day trip – night 3
-Had bento on the shinkansen. Headed straight to Miyajima via JR train and ferry (Miyajimaguchi). Spent time exploring and took long ferry straight to the Peace Park.
-Explored memorial museum/park. The museum was packed with school kids so was very busy, however it was very important to see.
-Ate Okonomiyaki @ Okonomi village where there are lots of stalls – very tasty.
-An exhausting day, but we felt a day trip was good to see what we wanted to see.
**********************
Day 4 – wed 24th – Nara park day trip – night 4
-Jr train to Nara. Ate Mochi at Nakatanidou and fed deer and picnicked. Got nibbled a bit by the deer but it was a fun experience. They were bowing, as you see in the videos, but will get aggressive if you tease them as we saw people do – so do respect them and their space.
-We went to the UNESCO temples and shrines in Nara.
-PM – all you can eat sushi and Wagyu hotpot at Sushi Toshabushabu No . 8 Umedamise – really yummy and fast service. They weren’t great with English and didn’t have English menus, but you can use the translate app on the menu, and (on iphone) the translate function on the ordering webpage which worked fine – as they give you a unique QR to order. I booked it on Instagram.
**********************
Day 5 – thurs 25th – universal studios day – night 5 (5 nights Osaka total)
-USJ all day – we had booked express pass (7 rides) which included timed entry into Nintendo World. We primarily went for the Harry Potter section, which was great and so was the backdrop ride. It was busy but not crazy, we went on an off-peak day.
-For us the express passes were 1000% worth it as we didn’t need to turn up early, had a guaranteed 7 rides (we ended up doing 11 or 12) and felt like our time was well structured and we made the most of it. At the end of the day we queued again for the main harry potter ride which stated 70 minutes but only took about 45, which was a plus.
-We took some onigiri in our pockets as snacks. We decided not to queue for butterbeer, instead went into the Three Broomsticks and grabbed a bite and some butterbeer there, which was much faster. They also have seating with a view of the castle.
-I used the USJ site to buy the tickets as I could choose the timings I wanted. It worked with apple pay and Amex (I am from the UK if that makes a difference) – very quick and easy. We used the QRs on our phones.
PART 2:
Day 6 – Fri 26th – Kyoto day – 1 night
-At checkout Takkyubin (tak-q-bin) luggage to Tokyo to arrive on Sunday 28th – this was fab and very easy to arrange. We only took backpacks for our Kyoto and Hakone days.
-Royal park canvas Kyoto nijo – pleasant
-A whistle stop tour of Kyoto: Fushimi Inari shrine, it was packed so we stayed around 30 minutes.
-Bamboo forest (arashiyama) & monkey park. We did the monkey park first which we enjoyed a lot. The bamboo forest was underwhelming and only stayed in for 15 minutes.
-Tea ceremony – Maiko – with kimonos. Booked with Maikoya in advance. This was such a unique experience. Dressing up was the best part for me, but it was really cool to be able to ask questions of the Maiko and watch her do a performance. You get tea and a little sweet snack too, after her ceremony.
*************************
Day 7 – sat 27th – Hakone – 1 night
-Shinkansen from Kyoto to Odawara station where we bought free passes and then Hakone Tozan train to hakone – yumoto station. We walked to our Ryokan from there.
-Yama no Chaya – beautiful
-Room came with private onsen and kaiseki dinner & breakfast. Dinner was great but breakfast was far too much and a bit overwhelming for 8am. The experience as a whole was great, the staff were so pleasant and the onsen in the room was beautiful. We didn’t try their public baths but did snag a spot in the private one, which was bookable only for the first 8 check-ins that day, so worth getting there early.
*************************
Day 8 – sun 28th – Hakone – Tokyo night 1
-We did the Hakone loop clockwise with the free pass (bus -> boat -> ropeway -> cablecar -> train). It was a clear day so we has great views of Fuji, which was wonderful. It seemed this was the ‘quieter’ way round, but I don’t know if that was just what I wanted to believe.
https://www.odakyu.jp/english/passes/hakone/ and https://www.hakonenavi.jp/international/en/access/osaka_kyoto
-Romance car booked to Shinjuku as it was closest to our hotel.
-Pm Tokyo night 1 at The Knot Shinjuku – very small rooms, but we wanted a cheaper option. The bakery is delicious!! We collected our bags.
-Ebisu Endou omakase experience (Y33,000pp). Booked using Omakase.in website. Chef spoke English which was a big plus. Excellent Nigiri – melt in the mouth.
***************************
Day 9 – mon 29th – Tokyo night 2
-It was pissing it down with rain this day. Shibuya sky was cancelled so we took it easy.
-Instead we explored around Shinjuku a little, went to Don Quixote for some snacks, and treated ourselves to McDonald’s dinner to try the Japanese differences – the shrimp burger is great.
***************************
Day 10 – tues 30th – Tokyo night 3
-Imperial palace tour – pre-booked. We overheard people who hadn’t booked had been waiting for 3 hours to attend the next tour.
-We downloaded the app to listen to the tour as the group was huge.
-Headed to Shibuya – Mags rooftop bar for a beer and a view of the scramble. Ate at Shibuya Gyoza which was very tasty.
-Golden gai for drinks – we went around 6pm so not much was open but we saw one bar with a few tourists in and had some great chats over some beers. A cool experience.
***************************
Day 11 – wed 31st – Tokyo night 4
-Lazy morning/lie-in and Team labs booked in the afternoon. A very cool place, and a unique experience. My favourite room was the room with the lights everywhere. You will get wet in this experience, so wear trousers you can roll, or shorts! There are also mirrors everywhere.
-Ichiran ramen for dinner – the Shinjuku one was pretty quiet. Very yummy.
-We went to the Government Metropolitan building in Shinjuku on the way back to our hotel, as they have observation deck views over Tokyo on 45th floor. We did it twice (at night and in the day) as it is free.
***************************
Day 12 – Thurs 1st June – Tokyo night 5
-Asakusa – free walking tour https://www.tokyolocalized.com/asakusa-free-walking-tour-tokyo
-Government Metropolitan building during the day for views over Tokyo, as it was on our way to the station.
-Met friends for dinner and drinks (and karaoke). Dinner was at Daitsune Udon. I have no idea where we went after that.
*********************************
Day 13 – Fri 2nd- Flight home.
-The heavens opened again so we left our suitcases at the hotel instead of dragging them to the lockers in shinjuku.
-We attended a sumo lunch experience booked on Viatour. Very cool! We were hungover so didn’t wrestle them, but it was a fun lunchtime.
-Took Narita express from Shinjuku, and posted the wifi before going through security.
-Terminal 2 does not have many food/drink options once you go past security, just so you are aware! Especially after 7pm.