Trip Report – Tokyo – Kyoto/Nara – Hakone – Tokyo/Disney

Pre-trip: 

Pocket wifi.    We pre-ordered a pocket wifi from foxwifi to our first hotel, and it was waiting for us when we got there. (The pocket wifi will come with a pre-paid envelope so you can just stick it in a mailbox on your way out). Some things to keep in mind — we blew through data caps probably because our icloud was on — all those photos and videos that “only upload when on wifi” will happily start to upload on pocket wifi. It was also hard to keep the teenagers from their social media/youtube consta-scrolling when they were on the pocket wifi. (side note: it would be REALLY nice if phones could let you mark certain wifis as “data-limited” so all the “upload when on wifi” things don’t intiate on those data-limited wifis). I would recommend: 1) get a pocket wifi per parent so you can split up and not lose signal, 2) turn off all the icloud auto-backup stuff for photos/videos, 3) potentially don’t give the kids access to the pocket wifi, perhaps just to your phone’s personal hotspot so you can turn off their access without turning off yours (I couldn’t figure out how to change the password on the pocket wifi SSID). I learned about e-SIMs late in the game so don’t know much but the downsides appear to be: 1) you have to have an unlocked/paid-off phone I believe? and 2) the e-SIM will not be your phone number but a local one so you won’t receive phone calls to your original cell number? Not sure on those points perhaps someone can comment. 

Smart Ex.   App for setting up and paying for shinkansen and long-distance train reservations. Very easy to use and will offer you discounts if you book ahead of time. 

Suica.     We have iphones so you can just add suica as an option in apple wallet. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207155    Then we could just tap the phone at the turnstile (you dont have to unlock the phone or hit any buttons, just physically tap the phone) and you could get in and out of all the public transport. Magic! You should also download the suica app (which is in japanese) for one reason — after you get suica into wallet, suica has issued you a suica card number in the background but you can’t retrieve it. If you download the suica app and open it after setting up apple wallet you will be able to hit the little “info” button and find the number. The number is good to have so you can link Smart Ex reservations to your suica card so you can just “bop” into the shinkansen too. Suica cards on phone wallet can also be used to pay at vending machines, convenience stores, and many casual restaurants. But I do not believe you can retrieve your unused balance after the trip so don’t top it up too much! 

Google Maps.    Unbelievably good at giving you the best public transport options (it will even tell you the number exit to use to exit a station so that you are closest to your destination). 
Language barrier. Konnichiwa, sumimasen, arigato gozaimasu. That’s all you really need. Google Translate/Lens helpful for the rest. 

Cash.    Got pinched by cash-only at Venetian Glass Museum (crazy because they have super expensive glassware shops and an upscale restaurant inside, all of which take credit cards) and had to walk half mile to an ATM. But overall could get by with credit cards or suica. A couple of cab drivers were cash only. Tokyo was almost universally OK with credit cards. 

Passports.  You’re supposed to have them with you at all times but no official ever asked. Was necessary to show all passports to check in to any hotel. Also useful to get tax-free purchases (minimum 5000yen purchase). 

Mask wearing.    Mask use has declined dramatically since January (friends of ours went earlier this year).  We did not feel stigmatized for not wearing masks. 

Reservations.   We didnt eat at any high end restaurants. Made zero reservations and had no problems getting great meals. Tokyo tower and teamlabs planets reservations I changed online last minute — no problem getting the times we wanted. Ghibli, pokemon cafe, kirby cafe seem to be limited and worth planning for. 
May 27 –    DEN to LAX, layover, overnight flight LAX-HND (Tokyo Haneda is much closer to downtown by comparison to the larger Tokyo airport – Narita). Before you land in Japan you can get QR codes to display on your phone at immigration and at customs to save paperwork: [https://vjw-lp.digital.go.jp/en/](https://vjw-lp.digital.go.jp/en/)

May 28 –    Lost day due to International Date Line (So don’t plan anything!)

May 29 –    Arrive HND 7am, check into hotel (we booked the previous night so we could nap — very rare to be able to check in early or check out late at Japanese hotels). We took Tokyo Monorail from airport to downtown, then taxis to hotel – the b Ginza hotel (the “b ginza” is a chain with multiple locations — basic but very nice; rooms are about 10x10feet in the part that holds the bed, so it is a bit cramped with luggage. beds/pillows were fine.). ). -9:30am meet with  Shoji our guide – found him on https://gowithguide.com/ . Chose him based on reviews and his availability for the 29th. He was nice and spoke good English; more of a navigator (getting us to and from sites via subway) rather than a talkative tour guide but that was fine.  We went to the Imperial Palace outer grounds, then Tsukiji Market for sushi lunch, Asakusa Temple, Zojoji temple all with the guide. Missed the famous onigiri place at end of Asakusa will have to go back! Dinner at the Happy Pancake — I couldnt figure out their web reservations, but at the ginza location they have a QR code outside that lets you get on waitlist (wait time was always much lower than what the website said). Happy Pancake was good but not extraordinary — almost entirely tourists dining there FWIW. We stayed at b ginza hotel — small rooms (10x10ft or so for the area the bed is in) but clean and nice. Would recommend. We got 4 rooms for our family of 5, and it was not unreasonably priced even getting 4 rooms. 

May 30     Teamlabs planet in the morning. Recommend! I guess it’s easy to get jaded/cynical about something like this — it is definitely “made-for-insta”, but we all enjoyed it a lot. I wish teamlabs borderless were open (temporarily closed while they change locations — should be open later this year). Will try other teamlabs locations in Japan if we return! Diver City mall and gundam statue. Statue animation was very tame — definitely don’t go out of your way to time that. Mall was great for the kids — character-based stores like Doraemon, Hello Kitty, Totoro. They enjoyed a VR horror escape room they have there – https://www.tyffonium.com/en/location/odaiba.html. Food court at Diver City was nice — lots of options. We then made our way back to the city, stopping at Hamarikyu Gardens — we were able to stop at the lakeside teahouse for tea and mochi — fantastic peaceful spot. Had tickets for Tokyo Tower at sunset — went to the upper deck. The tower itself is beautiful, like an orange Eiffel Tower, and the view was great. We were able to see Fuji poking out of the clouds. 

May 31  Started day with Willer tour of Inokashira Park with the included Ghibli admission. I had tried multiple times to get tickets on the website at the moment the tix dropped, but no dice. So ponied up for the guaranteed admission via Willer (https://willerexpress.com/en/theme-park/ghibli-museum/). Really you are paying for the walking tour but they include group admission to Ghibli. Tour was nice, actually! The park is pretty and there are some nice sights. Ghibli was great — worth the trip (it is far west in the burbs). We then went to CapyNeko Cafe (which is near same train stop as for Inokashira park) to see their capybara (and some cats). Kids loved it. Very cool and chill capybara and seemed well cared for. After returning to ginza we went to an owl cafe that evening — do not recommend. Seemed to be too many owls in too small a space. Was sad, really. 

Jun 1     Did an Iaido session with Edo Mugairyu (https://www.edo-mugairyu.jp/). Looks like you can book directly for 12000yen per person, but we booked thru Yanesen which meant Yanesen sent a tour guide. Cool experience dressing up like a samurai and using a sword to cut through bamboo. More pomp and circumstance than actual time cutting (you get to use a sword to do some stylized movements and later get to cut bamboo once). Memorable experience and photos. The sensei seemed to be very old school and the experience felt as authentic as that kind of thing can be when you are doing it as a tourist.  Walked through jimbocho area to look and see if any old woodprints were reasonably priced for us (answer: not for us!). Then made our way toward akihabara. Terrific ramen at Kikanbo ramen flagship (on a friend’s recommendation — was great ramen and ambiance). Then walked thru akihabara. Ended day at mitsukoshi dept store in food area. The basements of the dept stores have amazing confectionaries and prepared foods (though not often a place to sit — I guess it is all mostly intended for takeaway). 

Jun 2      Family was tired so I went solo on a quick run through of the Matisse exhibit at Tokyo Met Art Museum (excellent exhibit), the Tokyo National Museum, and went to see the pandas at Ueno Zoo (yes, all 3 in quick sequence). Those three areas are all within walking distance of the same subway stop. Family and I then met up in Shibuya at Hachiko statue — saw crossing, did shopping. Teenagers loved Shibuya 109 shopping tower. LOVED. Ate sushi dinner at conveyor belt place in Harajuku but belt wasnt running for dinner I guess — excellent sushi! [https://onodera-group.com/kaitensushi-ginza/grandmenu/](https://onodera-group.com/kaitensushi-ginza/grandmenu/)

June 3    Original plan was to leave on nozomi for kyoto at 8:30am but there was a typhoon that caused entire rail system to close down! Stressed to figure out how to get seats and not be unreserved on trains that might have hundreds of extra pax. Stood in JR Line for about 2 hours (kept trying to use the smart ex app to change my tickets, but it wasn’t reliable). Had to refund my original tix and pay for undiscounted new tix on a reserved 6pm train. So we killed time that day at Tokyo station – stood in line at the Kirby Cafe petit that is in the station — long line about 1.5hours I’d guess, but then they only let you buy merch. You can only buy packaged or fresh baked goods if you made a reservation. Line to pay was also long after you got your time in the store for merch. We also went nearby to super mario bros movie at Toho Hibiya. Theater was very nice. Ended day on bullet train to Kyoto at 6pm after grabbing some bento boxes in the station at Ekiben Matsuri (famous place with lots of different options including some boxes that self-heat when activated).  Arrive at Gate Hotel in Kyoto. This hotel was awesome — amazing location, beautiful building, nice rooms on larger size, terrific breakfast (e.g. fresh pressed OJ and melt in mouth eggs benedict) on top floor overlooking city thru wall to wall windows. Highly recommend.

Jun 4    Fushimi Inari (by subway) first thing. Tip: there is a chopsticks shop near the beginning of the path to FI. If you want a great, cheap, light, nonperishable gift to bring home then get personalized chopsticks with names engraved on them — you might need to be come back 1-2hrs later or next-day but it is a great way to knock out those gifts to bring back. Subway back to Nishiki market for lunch. Then cab to Ginkakuji Silver temple. Walked Philosopher’s Path to Nanzenji Temple.  Cab to Kojin stepping stones to walk across Kamo River. Then cab back to hotel. Kyoto isn’t as densely covered by subway as Tokyo so I suggest some well-timed cabs to cut down the travel time instead of figuring out the bus system. Saved us a ton of time in Kyoto. They only take 4 pax though (5+ vans are very few and far between) so we had to take 2 cabs as a family of 5. 

Jun 5    Cab ride to Daitokuji temple for private tour and tea ceremony with one of their monks, Dairik (has been there 9 years; spent a few years in US so english was excellent). He is the temple’s tea master so was special to have a tea ceremony by him in his home on the temple grounds. Then walk to Kinkaju golden pavilion. Cab to Monkey Park Arashiyama (lots of uphill walking) and Bamboo Grove (nice views of city, monkeys everywhere — if you can’t tell by now my kids like animal related activities). Subway back to hotel. 

Jun 6   Morning we did luggage forwarding to our Jun 7 lodging in Hakone. Forwarding is like magic. Generally takes an overnight so you have to pack a small backpack for one-night of clothing/toiletries; cost about $12-15 per bag. Ask the front desk — they fill out a bunch of paperwork, call the hotel you are sending it to to confirm your details, and then you can leave it there and carry on unencumbered for the day. So we all took a small backpack that day for day trip into Nara (train via Kintetsu). Pushy bowing deer (they will nip your butt to prompt you for food!) and amazing ancient Buddha statue at the Todaiji temple (kids enjoyed going through the nose hole — https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/buddha-s-nostril). Back to kyoto to stay in a ryokan for kaiseki dinner and the whole tatami mat thing. (I slipped out to go see Kiyomizudera solo,  which was amazing). Honestly, ryokan was a cool experience but WAY overpriced (both the room and the dinner were separately well over a hundred dollars per person for 5 people). I get that they are high-end-service places and ancient and so forth, but for me personally it was not worth it — a much cheaper additional night at the Gate Hotel would have been better for me. So I would say definitely do a ryokan at some point but maybe find a reasonably priced one. Again, this night we only had our small overnight backpack. 

Jun 7   Trek to Hakone. Hakone is great but somewhat hard to get to/from– we only did one night but I might recommend 2 nights just because of the travel. Cab to Kyoto station first thing, bullet train to Nagoya, transfer to bullet train to Odawara, then local train to Hakone Yumoto. Bought Hakone free pass (might not have been worth it for how much we used it — not sure) — machines only accepted cash for that, but there is a small office at Odawara where you can stand in line to pay with credit card. Then bus from Hakone yumoto to motohakone port on south side of lake ashi. Pirate ship across lake to togendai. Stop at hotel — hakone ashinoka hanaori which was amazing. Beautiful views and site. Luggage was magically \*in\* \*our\* \*room\*. Awesome (imagine having all that luggage for our very multimodal morning!). Took ropeway to owakudani for the volcanic black eggs (not sulfur-tasting despite appearances!) and then cable car down into gora. Local train one stop to open air museum which is magical. Awesome setting and artworks. Bus back to hotel. Dinner at hotel was all you can eat buffet in large dining hall, but had small-dish sushi and amuse-bouche type options galore and numerous main dish options. Delicious and filling. 

Jun 8    Forwarded luggage to Tokyo Disney Celebration Hotel. Breakfast buffet at Ashinoko Hanaori hotel was terrific too. Bus to Venetian glass Museum (absolutely wonderland-type indoor/outdoor museum). Bus then train to Hakone Yumoto. Took RomanceCar to Shinjuku from Hakone. Four seats across, and I was able to get kids and wife the four first seats in the front observation deck, so they were “driving” the train! Those seats were worth the romancecar surcharge. Was also nice to go straight to shinjuku rather than tokyo station and then having to figure out getting west. Mipig micro pig cafe in harajuku — a real highlight for the kids! Then hotel Apa — there are like 5 in a 6 block radius so make sure you go to the one you actually booked! Took us three attempts. Nice hotel. Small rooms like the b ginza, but maybe a step down in niceness? Check-in was cumbersome. Perfectly clean though. Would have preferred the b hotel again this night but oh well. 

Jun 9    Teenagers return to Shibuya 109 while my son and I go to Ueno Zoo (second time for me, first for him). Saw more of the zoo this time — polar bears, red pandas, chinese pandas, tiger, etc. Had lunch at the Taipei Cafe in Ueno station — amazing dumplings and food. Worth a visit if you are near there. Delicious. Made our way to Tokyo Disney Celebration Hotel by subway. At maihama station you can get a free Disney bus to go to your hotel. Celebration is a bit of a haul from the amusement parks — solid 15-20 min bus ride. Shin Urayasu subway station is one stop beyond maihama and closer to Celebration hotel (about 900-1000yen cab ride), so that is an option if you prefer to do something faster than the free Disney bus. This evening we did evening-entry to DisneySea. It was very reasonable — about $50pp I think — and we did a lot of rides and were able to see the water show. Very worth it! An ambitious traveler could definitely stay in tokyo all day and go to the parks 3 or 4 nights on the evening deal instead of going during the day. DisneySea is a unique place with unique rides — was definitely a cool experience.  Disney Celebration Hotel was nice — 5 people allowed in one room which is a plus (though cramped) – breakfast buffet was good (no mickey waffles, just pancakes with mickey stamped on them). 

Jun 10   Full day at DisneySea. Did the rest of the rides. Three-Toy-Story-Alien mochi was delicious.https://tdrexplorer.com/tokyo-disneyland-frozen-green-alien-mochi/  Rest of fam enjoyed trying out all the different flavored popcorn trucks (garlic shrimp, soy and butter, matcha and chocolate, caramel, etc). In evening wanted to get more chopstick gifts so subwayed into Tokyo Station to Nihonbo which is in the Tokyo Gransta section of the station — fewer chopstick option choices than the Kyoto place, and more expensive. Do the kyoto one if you can! If you want cool-flavored KitKats, tokyo station is also the best place for that — at the souvenir store near the bathrooms at the end of “Ramen Street” in the station. 

Jun 11    Half day at DisneyLand.  We were there at opening so we could speed into Beauty and Beast ride first thing, which was memorable. Did a bunch of rides before 1pm. Dropped pocket wifi in mail (there are several mailboxes in World Bazaar area of tokyo disneyland). Then walked to maihama station where there are airport buses you can just walk onto without reservation. For 1000yen per person they will take you and your luggage to Haneda, which is a good deal. The buses have wifi. There is a way to make reservations for those buses, but we never figured it out — would have been good to do since there were 5 of us, but it was not hard. At Haneda, food options are better before security so eat first before you go thru. Katsusen the katsu izakaya at HND was awesome. Past security the “Books + Drugs” store was not a bad place to get last minute souvenirs/snack food. There are also vending machines where you can use the last of your suica money. 
FIN
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