Trip Report (long) – 17 days family trip Kyoto, Ghibli Park, Kawaguchiko, Hakone, Tokyo – May-June 2023

Primary goal is for this to be helpful for other parents with school age kids, so bear with me on tangents.

Family of 4 – parents and twin 7 year old girls. First time to Japan for everyone. Speak almost no Japanese. TONS of pre-trip planning, fueled mostly with tips and info from this awesome subreddit. Most of our days I had a pretty good idea of the highlights would be, filling in with shopping and eating options and random attractions.

# Logistic stuff and tips:

* Used USA Chase debit and credit cards everywhere with zero issues
* Used Ubigi eSIM on Android phones – used 6gb in 17 days
* Did a lot of cash recharges on our IC cards, which was a minor hassle; Android app to check IC balance very useful
* Google Maps worked really well almost everywhere except Kansai – navigating the multiple private railways, it fell flat. We used JapanTravel App there.
* We used taxis a fair amount (hailing, Uber, taxi stands) as for a group of 4 and the convenience factor, the modest increase in price was well worth it to us. Most was \~$70 Akasaka to HND; typically this was Y1200-2000 for a 2-5km ride.
* We packed light and did laundry. This worked out well. We each bringing a carry-on size luggage and a small backpack.
* Weather was friendly to us (other than the typhoon!) with typical highs around 22-24C and only intermittent rain/drizzle. Consistently humid.
* Watched YouTube videos and got my IDP to prep myself for driving on the left side of the road.
* My kids have a modestly adventurous palate, are usually willing to at least try something new but really leaned on noodles, soup, fried proteins, and rice in Japan.
* Typically, our kids ate konbini breakfast either standing outside the konbini or at our house/hotel; we just got coffee.

# Kyoto – 6 nights

5/27 – Arrived into KIX from the USA, headed to a machiya in Gion in Kyoto. VJW made customs & immigration a breeze – 45 minutes from plane deboard to out with bags. Picked up ICOCA+Haruka package for adults and an ICOCA card + Kansai day pass for the kids at the JR West office at KIX, line was about 15 minutes, cash only, so thank god our ATM cards worked. Grabbed dinner to-go at the Porta food hall below Kyoto Station, checked in to the check-in office for our house, then took a taxi to the house very near Kennin-Ji and crashed.

\[We rented a 2BR, 2-story machiya style house through “Machiya Residence Inn Kyoto” due to spouse’s intolerance of noise (no upstairs neighbors!), self-catering dinner, and laundry needs. This turned out great and would highly recommend. Careful with head injury risk if you’re over 5’8″ or so though!\]

5/28 – took advantage of the jetlag to go solo to Hokan-ji for “the photo” at 04:45 with just one other person there, and Ninen-zaka all alone. Incredible. Back with family, taxi’d to Fushimi Inari around 07:00, which was mercifully quiet. Made it to the “crossroads” for the view with a LOT of whining despite the awesomeness and foxes, and then back down to the pond. Then took a real path, but one that required literal bushwhacking nonetheless (kids enjoyed this), around the southeast of the pond past markers 58 and 57 toward a subshrine in the southeast of the mountain (Kobogataki, I think) which was stunning and empty. Returned through the bamboo forest there on the south side of Mt Inari, through now-massive crowds around 10:45.

Grabbed a taxi to the Ganko restaurant at Sanjo which was exactly what everyone wanted (ipad order, kids menu, great sushi IMO, no wait). Walked back to our house via the Kamogawa in beautiful weather for a nap. Spent a LOT of time and a medium amount of money at the Ghibli shop in Ninen-zaka then had our first run-in with a familar phenomenon: dinner for 4 with kids is difficult! “Settled” for an easy, English-friendly experience at Kyoto Bistro at the Park Hyatt which was quite excellent and satisfied all; the set menu was a great value, but the kid menu portions were comically small.

5/29 – After a konbini breakfast of onigiri and egg salad sandwiches and coffee for the adults, we taxi’d to Keage Station to go the “back way” to Nanzen-Ji along the canal, which was not hard to find. We got lucky this day, as it lightly drizzled the whole day, putting a damper on crowds (zero) and making the atmosphere incredible. The water bridge at Nanzen-Ji was incredible; Oku-No-In disappointed; the main gate of Nanzen-Ji was breathtaking. This phase of the day was not very engaging for our kids, not surprisingly.

We moved northward to Eikan-do / Zenrin-Ji in search of the “spiral staircase” which I did not know was inside. We bought goshuincho here and that went on to be a hit for my kids the rest of the trip – they looked forward to temples/shrines. Eikan-do is really impressive and even more so with almost no one else there; my kids loved the gardens and fish, the quiet in the temple buildings themselves, and the fun spiral staircase. The tea house was closed and we were hangry. We got VERY lucky almost stumbling into Breizh Cafe around the corner – we’ve had their crepes in Paris and these were incredible (though pricey!) and very kid friendly. Cider for adults, ice cream for kids. Walked a bit of Philosopher’s Path but it was raining for real.

Taxi’d to Teramachi covered shopping area and strolled and shopped, picking up snacks and coffee. Made a same-day reservation for Mipig Cafe which was not our favorite; it was relentlessly hectic with the staff constantly breaking up pig-fights (!!) and one of my girls threw a tantrum about not getting a specific pig – lol, lmao. To boost morale we walked into Puchi Marry Cat Cafe which was GREAT. Downpour now, I insisted on Ichiran Ramen with my kids and wife (who is pescaterian) chose elsewhere. The wait was \~30minutes, and I ordered a normal adult ramen for my kids, but they ended up refunding me most or all of their bowls’ cost (I couldn’t understand the explanation in Japanese) so yeah, Ichiran is kid friendly!

5/30 – Nara day. Gion-Shijo area is a GREAT area to stay in my opinion, but man the Keihan line with its Limited Express upgrade-only trains was confusing as hell. Arrived to Kintetsu-Nara station and did the usual stroll to the deer park and Todai-Ji. Todai-Ji was incredible though very disappointing the Nostril “is closed due to COVID” c’mon man it’s May 2023. Got goshuin here – my girls were enamored watching the calligraphers, some souvenirs, and had a picnic in the park east of Todai-Ji. (The deer go away permanently after a few stern SHOO’s).

Grabbed lunch at Mizuya Chaya, a wonderful little noodle shop with mostly tofu and udon, then got the bus back from Kasuga Taisha and walked over the mochi-pounding “show” at Nakatanidou. The mochi cakes were worth it, forget about the show! The couple dozen people who showed up to film the mochi pounding seemed quaintly uncrowded given how crowded things in Tokyo are, we would later learn.

I was lucky enough to have a friend in Kyoto willing to watch our kids for a few hours so my wife and I could have date night. We had a beautiful kaiseki at Kyomachi, out on the outdoor patio on tatami, in muggy 25C dusk setting – a wonderful experience. The staff were enthusiastic and careful; though the main grilled dish was A5 Wagyu, they carefully discussed with my wife how to work another fish dish as her grilled main. The kids had depachika bentos and a stroll with our friend, and after, I grabbed whiskies with our friend-babysitter at Bar Prost which, man, what a gem.

5/31 – daytrip to Osaka for Kaiyukan and Orix Buffaloes. Neither of these alone would have justified the travel time from Kyoto Gion-Shijo for us, but together, it added up to a LONG day with a lot of transit, as you’d expect. (being near Gion-Shijo again was great because you can just walk across the river to Kawaramachi Station for a totally different transit situation and vibe). After transiting from Kyoto to Dotonburi for the mandatory okonomiyaki (at Chibo, which I thought was good, and fast!), we made it to the Tenpozan/Kaiyukan area, rode the Ferris wheel, and got into the aquarium, which was truly excellent. I had secured the upgraded admission and “backstage” tickets and for the whale-shark feeding which at \~Y5000 for adults seemed like a steal, and the feeding was great. What a brilliant aquarium.

Next stop was one of my pre-trip high hopes – Japanese baseball. Well, best laid plans. Between the game being a pitcher’s duel, the complete lack of anything kid-friendly (like ice cream, other sweets etc), the lackluster food options in the concourse, the exclusive offer of beer/highballs by the wandering vendors, and the generally kind of flat vibe, this was not a hit with the other 3 members of my family, and we left, tired and a little frustrated, in the 7th inning, for a loooooong and multitransfer ride back to Kyoto. I will say the crowd participation was a LOT more than in MLB/USA, with drumming and singing from all over the stands. Sidenote – purchase and pickup through [JapanBall.com](https://JapanBall.com) was very smooth and even with their handling fee, these tickets were WAY less than you’d pay in the USA.

6/1 – passed through Kennin-Ji en route to Camellia Tea Ceremony which was wonderful and justifiably popular, and short enough that my kids could deal (though they didn’t like matcha, unsurprisingly). Kiyomizu-dera, and the street up to it, were PACKED and unpleasant overall. Naturally, my kids loved it; they got a goshuin, did the waterfall and gong rituals, and seemed to be getting the hang of how to act in a temple/shrine area.

We walked downhill through the Otani cemetery toward a taxi stand to head to Toei Kyoto Studio Park (Eigamura). This was a great, and extremely Japanese, experience, and one of the highlights of the trip for the kids. We got the “Attraction Pass” which allows unlimited use of 6 included attractions; this pays for itself if you do about 4 attractions and the kids got to do one or two of them twice. The food at the “ninja hideout cafe” was lackluster, but the 3d maze, ninja trick house, and escape the castle were all a hit. My kids insisted on going in the Cursed Doll Haunted House even though it says “recommended over 12 years old” and man, I hope they don’t need therapy when they’re older from it. This park was a really interesting experience being basically the only Western tourists there, and my kids discovered for themselves Kamen Rider and PrettyHolic which was great for later engagement in character-centric shopping.

After, we took the bus back to Kawaramachi area and had a major find at MoriMori Sushi Kawaramachi Garden, which had a great ipad ordering system, a bullet-train delivery system to make the kids happy, a kids menu, etc. We inadvertently ended up in the Eidon store, level B1 of the same building, which is a huge but not crowded toy store; amazing. I saw several things here I later wished I had bought for myself or souvenirs for others back home.

# Kyoto to Nagoya to … Shinshiro? – 1 night

6/2 – Typhoon Mawar was getting downgraded to a Tropical Storm by this point but nonetheless jacked up this day real good, with basically 0.5-1″/hr rain for 24 hours. We had a shinkansen from Kyoto Station to Nagoya and JUST BARELY made it there from Gion on time as there were no taxis and Uber quoted 15+ minutes. We DID make it – and yes, train vendor, yes I would like a coffee set with ice cream at 09:30. My kids were kind of unimpressed with the bullet train (!!) and we took Nagoya Metro to Hongo Station to pick up our car at Toyota Rent-a-car.

Loaded up in a Toyota Roomy, we headed to Ghibli Park. Easily a trip highlight despite the torrential rain. Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse was a dream for kids aged 2-10 I would say, with some areas leaning younger like 2-6 mostly and some older. The cafe is rad also, being Porco Rosso / italianate steampunk themed – GET the miso-cutlet “pizza”, you will not regret it. I would 100% go out of my way to Nagoya again for Ghibli Park, even as medium intensity Ghibli fans, especially if/when they open the outdoor areas to foreigners.

Our next planned step was to drive 3.5 hours to Kawaguchiko for 2 nights, and this first night did NOT happen. Due to flooding / risk of flooding, the E1 and E1A expressways were closed as was the shinkansen in Aichi. After a couple fails trying to use Google to find a way from eastern Nagoya area to Fuji area – including driving through some standing water and an unacceptable amount of hydroplaning – we called it and holed up in the Route Inn in Shinshiro, which, other than it being a businessman hotel with the family room a tiny room with 2 double beds for 4 Americans, was GREAT. It was our first Onsen experience and the izakaya in the parking lot (a 20-yard mad dash through torrential rain) with free drink tickets from the hotel was perfect; the kids loved the delivery robot and kid menu.

# Kawaguchi-ko and Hakone – 3 nights

6/3 – Woke up in Shinshiro to bright sunshine and dry roads, though the expressways only opened after about noon. Heading east through Aichi, we grabbed lunch at a rest stop, where I accidentally ordered 4 kekiage udons instead of 1; we all learned that kekiage udon is awesome. My girls also learned an almost literal meaning of “silver lining” as had the typhoon had blown out the humidity and cloud cover and we had beautifully clear views of Fuji from Shoji Lake and Tategohama Beach. We quickly checked out the Fugaku Wind Cave and had more fun just poking around in the Aokihagara Forest (not too far from the trail!) which my kids found very interesting due to the unevenness of the ground and moss and quiet. It’s really stunning! I found the Fuji highlands area one of my favorite parts of the trip – less crowded, more serene, cooler, and more of a “mountain resort” feel.

Checking in at Country Cottage Ban, the hosts didn’t charge us for our missed night (this is unthinkable in the USA) and the views of Fuji were stunning from our very generously sized “Superior Cottage A”. Made a Lawson run for dinner and called it a day.

6/4 – Mt. Fuji was out in clear skies and I took a beautiful morning jog along the N shore of Kawaguchi-ko. The Fuji Panoramic Ropeway had a \~1hr wait right at its open at 09:30, but when we came down at 11:30, there was almost no line! We checked out the Tenjozan peak and shrine, and the gong on the way, and my kids liked getting photos with the character statues up there, but Fuji was well shrouded in by this point and overall I found the ropeway to be somewhat lackluster. Headed over to the Fujisengen shrine which only my wife went up to the top of for “the photo” at Chureito Pagoda, while the kids and I had kekiage udon again at Fuji Sengenya, the noodle and gift shop right by the (free) parking lot.

A trafficky drive to Hakone-Yumoto and we checked into Hakone Airu for 2 nights, which really impressed me, and surprised me with its Balinese theme and mostly-Nepalese staff. Wonderful service and experience; we splurged for a top-floor room (“Mizuki”) and it was a truly great stay. They provided a toned-down kids version of kaiseki, still with hot pot but also with spaghetti and marinara, and other assorted kid-friendly dishes. (Same at breakfast – they offer Western or Japanese breakfast). As a rule, it was an enormous amount of food and excellent service at the 4 meals we ate here.

6/5 – Hakone loop was the plan and we got lucky with excellent weather, 20-25C all day and clear. Drove from Hakone-Yumoto to Hakone Open Air Museum which was also a trip highlight. The “net” playground and other overtly kid-friendly things hit the spot, as did the excellent and beautiful cafe. There were no taxis to be found at the HOAM, so we walked \~800m over to Gora to do the rest of the loop. Given the massive, \~9am breakfast at our ryokan we essentially skipped lunch, which caused some hangriness; my kids hated the cable car (“it’s just a regular train!”) but the ropeway was spectacular, including a stop at Owakudani whose gift shop is excellent. All of us loved the “pirate ship” which was surprisingly fancy on-board. There were basically no lines for any part of the Hakone loop that we did – lucky. We grabbed snacks and desserts in Motohakone by the port, then got a taxi back to HOAM to pick up our car (taxi Y3300; parking at HOAM Y500 for just shy of 6 hours total) and go back to the ryokan.

# Tokyo – 6 nights

6/6 – did some souvenir shopping in Hakone-Yumoto which I found quite charming and beautiful despite its touristyness. The manjyu (sp) at Kikukawa were incredible; I think we ate 15 between the 4 of us. Rental car dropoff at Odawara Station Toyota was very straightforward though apparently I was supposed to keep any refueling receipt, but the clerk just smiled and said it was ok.

Hopped on shinkansen to Tokyo Station. Stored as many of our bags as we could in a Y800 locker and checked out Ramen St and Character St. Rokurinsha there was incredible, with only a \~20 minute wait, and enough tourists coming through to be kid-friendly despite its cramped size and hectic atmosphere. Lots of slurping going on here! My kids LOVED Character Street. The small but well-stocked Ghibli shop was great and the Tomica shop was a hit. One of my daughters had latched onto Kamen Rider at the Toei Studio park in Kyoto and the other into PrettyHolic so there was plenty here to do and see without dropping coin.

With all our luggage, we decided to cab to our hotel in Akasaka, the Centurion Classic Akasaka, which was chosen primarily for being accessible with Chase Rewards points and offering a (relatively) huge room, the Akasaka Suite, that has 2 king beds and 3 couches and laundry and a fridge. This is not a lovely hotel by any means – worn and dusty – but the room and location worked well for us.

Akasaka unfortunately is not the most family-friendly area, being very businessy and after-work crowd. It was raining and we ended up at DO-ZO izakaya on B1 level of Akasaka Biz Tower, which worked very well for us and had a kids menu. (They delightfully put us in the furthest back corner possible, lol)

6/7 – We had arranged with Tokyo Greeters for a volunteer tourguide, who I briefly exchanged emails with and agreed on a brief itinerary of Meiji-Jingu, Takeshita St, and Kiddyland. Our Greeter was punctual and effective but for whatever reason – language barrier or other, I don’t know – barely spoke with us even when a direct question and generally walked 5-10m ahead of us at all times. He functioned like an “escort” literally taking us to the places rather than a “guide”. He declined offer of lunch, or transportation costs covered, or tip. An unusual interaction, and we parted after about 1.5 hours total.

Took the bus from Kiddyland / Omotesando to Shibuya. Lunch at Katsu Midori (aka Mawashizushi) Seibu was FANTASTIC for kaitensushi, very kid-friendly, a line that moved quickly (\~15 minutes). Highly recommend.

Weirdest interaction in all of Japan was a female German tourist who approached me speaking in German at Hachiko, asking to take a photo. She then proceeded to cut the whole line while I (aghast) quickly took a couple photos from an oblique angle and then started literally screaming at me as she didn’t like where I was taking the photos from. Wild.

Spent the rest of the day in Shibuya shopping at 109 and Mega Donki. Tip: the cafe at Intimissimi is great, a quiet place right in the middle of Shibuya. We had tickets at Shibuya Sky for 17:40 which was perfectly timed for sunset, expectedly crowded, but pleasant overall. I got a few hours solo free from wife & kids and went to Uokin Brewing in Shibuya, where I amusingly inadvertently ordered the hugest snails I’ve ever seen while being the only tourist in there apparently and the only solo diner (!).

6/8 – DisneySea day. Having bought the tickets on Klook the day before, it was pretty easy to scan them at the entrance and then QR scan them into the TDR app after forwarding the Klook email to my wife’s phone. As a chronic not-Disney-fan, I have to say, this won me over; a fantastic day and a highlight of the trip.

Lines for the top rides were mostly 60-90 minutes today and it seemed uncrowded. We used Disney Premier Access for Soaring, then learned that your USA credit card will only work once in the app and subsequent DPA’s have to be bought at guest services. Journey to the Center of the Earth was fantastic (wait said 65 min, was actually 45), and I really enjoyed Toy Story (used DPA), 20,000 Leagues, and Crystal Skull. Same-day, we booked a late lunch (14:45) at Magellan which was phenomenal; the set menu at Y10000 was excellent, great service, decent wine list, great kid optins, etc. Plus, the theming in there was impressive. Grabbed a late dinner at konbini on the way home.

6/9 – Took a taxi to Teamlab Planets, which was neither gross nor overrated in my opinion, but I do have to wonder what it would be like without cameras allowed. My kids loved the water sections, lights, and flowers.

Grabbed another taxi to DiverCity mall primarily for Gundam stuff – saw the 13:00 “show” (which is modest), ate at the great food court there (many places advertise kid meals), and I got to shop at the Gundam Base store while the rest played arcade games.

We hustled to 16:30 Pokemon Cafe reservations – this, my kids were not very engaged in (not huge Pokemon fans anyway, my fault) and I would lean toward this being overhyped for all but diehard fans. The Maruzen bookstore in Nihombashi had a pretty good selection of English language books including younger-kid manga, which my kids were into. We headed to Tokyo Station at \~18:00 on a Friday thinking it would be easy to get dinner; this was a bad idea. The “Yaechika” restaurant area was packed full of salarymen and salarymen-oriented spots and without reservations, we bailed on the idea of a proper sit-down dinner. We “settled” for the very excellent option of “The 3rd Burger” which was quite delicious and a nice departure from usual Japanese cuisine (mmm, cheese).

6/10 – with Ghibli Museum tickets at noon, we headed to Kichijoji for the morning and got konbini breakfast. We did the swan boat + rowboat rental on Inokashira Pond, which the kids loved, then wandered over to the museum via the small temple by the pond there. I must say, after 2 Ghibli shops and Ghibli Park I was kind of Ghibli’d out and we spent less than 90 minutes here; for me, Ghibli Park was so much more wondrous.

We stopped at Cafe du Lievre in Inokashira Park for lunch, for delicious crepes and salads in a kind-of-dingy building right in the park; highly recommend.

We raced across all of Tokyo to Owl Cafe Fukurou in Akihabara. This spot came so highly rated, but surprised me even so, with how lovely and serene and kind the owner/operators are. What a unique and surprising experience. My kids LOVED this and will probably be a lifelong memory.

Akihabara, otherwise, on a Saturday afternoon, was NOT for us. This was pretty much the only location in Japan where bathrooms were not easy to find, often tucked away on the upper floors of toy stores filled with men. I poked into a couple shops looking for Inuyasha merch for a friend back home, to no avail.

We crossed the city AGAIN, to Roppongi with the goal of getting dinner and making it to Sakurazaka Park. We had learned from experience that if we were hungry at 17:30 or so, with 4 of us and no reservations, just quickly grab any restaurant that looks decent because before you know it it’ll be 18:30 and everyone will be hangry. Afuri Ramen did the trick this time; there were several toddlers in there and one screaming baby (!) so yes it’s pretty kid-friendly, though not as remarkable as other food we’d had in Japan. Spent \~15 minutes at Sakurazaka Park before heading home.

6/11 – had left this day open for shopping etc. Started in Shinjuku which was not my favorite neighborhood, though the Neapolitan pizza place here 800 Degrees was fantastic and kid/tourist friendly. Wife wanted to return to Harajuku / Omotesando area, so the 3 of us got cotton candy and gachapons, found some Code Geass merch for a friend back home, and checked out the Togo-Jinja shrine while she shopped solo. The bathroom just off Takeshita St, on the path to Togo-Jinja, must be the filthiest one in all of Japan; perhaps the local authorities could consider a trashcan in this location.

The Nonara Pearl boba shop in the Laforet Building on Omote-sando serves special recognition for incredible people-watching from the 2nd floor mezzanine.

My wife was still on a search for ceramic bowls to have shipped home, and went off solo in outer Shibuya area somewhere. My kids and I hopped on the Hachiko Bus, spent some time in Taito Station at Shibuya Crossing, and met up for dinner for a return to Katsumidori Seibu Shibuya, which was again incredible, great vibe, so fun, and so kid/tourist friendly.

6/12 – return day. Got a taxi to HND. We were too early to check-in or dump bags. Pre-security at HND was a bit of a mess; it was dirty and stiflingly hot on the 4th floor mezzanine, and most of the food options were tiny yokocho-style restaurants. Like…does no one else at this airport have kids or luggage? Yoshinoya did the trick for us and our flight home was uneventful.

# Post-trip lessons:

* The top, top highlights for us were, in no particular order:
* DisneySea
* Owl Cafe Fukurou
* Hakone Open Air Museum
* proper ryokan onsen (Hakone Airu)
* seeing Fuji in clear weather / Kawaguchi-ko area
* Ghibli Park
* Eikan-do / Zenrin-ji
* Fushimi Inari
* Osaka Kaiyukan
* Kaitensushi generally – so fun
* Toei Studio Park Kyoto
* Staying in a machiya house in Kyoto
* Dinners, especially in Tokyo, for a party of 4 with kids and no reservations was usually difficult. This was somewhat self-inflicted. Lunches tended to be much easier.
* The recommendation for restaurants on the top floors of department stores was a great one. Depachikas didn’t work for us – too hectic, and we had to take the food home anyway, so why not just go to konbini?
* Waits are the norm for most anything in Japan, especially Tokyo. The Japanese are extremely patient with lines, and the lines move fast.
* Places, especially restaurants, are either clearly kid-friendly, or not at all. Many restaurants in Tokyo (maybe Gion too? I dunno) are not very kid- or tourist-friendly, being almost exclusively frequented by salarymen.
* Dining with diverse tastes (pescaterian, kids, omnivore) was difficult because so many Japanese restaurants do just one thing. I wished I had looked into izakayas more; my pre-trip assumption was that these are for salarymen to drink at, but we saw bigger groups and families at these usually.
* We saw very few children, overall! Very few Western tourists likely due to the season, and Japanese children in public were usually in school uniform to/from field trips or just on transit.
* The exchange rate for USD right now is extremely favorable; I was consistently surprised at how cheap things were, and the value for food was incredible.
* What an incredible safe and organized country. My kids repeatedly left their purses in bathrooms, on restaurant benches, and they would be there 10, 15, 20 minutes later. Unfathomable in the USA.
* The language barrier was even more difficult and considerable than I expected. I wished I had gotten a specific phrasebook for travelers head of time. Nonetheless, we got by with a lot of “kore kudasai,” sumimasen, arigatou gozaimasu, gestures, Google Translate on menus and signs, etc.
* As with many destinations, food and shopping options are almost better off the “main street” or off the beaten path, with shorter lines or better value or more selection.
* We spent a lot of energy trying to not eat in public or while walking. As the trip went on, we saw more and more tourists (and Japanese!) doing so. I still can’t square how there are so many konbini but most have nowhere to eat.
* I loved seeing Japanese workers do “shiso kanko” pointing and calling, which I was not previously aware of.
* Generally, this seemed to be a not highly touristed time of year. In Tokyo you can barely even notice tourists anyway, it’s so crowded.
* We brought a packable duffel and bought another medium-large duffel at Mega Donki. This was enough to get our souvenirs home, plus some!
* Next trip to Japan I would definitely rent a car again to get even farther off the beaten path, hopefully this time with some basic Japanese language skills.
* At night, it was consistently SO QUIET. Even in busy Akasaka, and around the corner from a busy area of Gion. I don’t know if it’s the window soundproofing or just Japanese culture. No noise issues at night at all.

​

​

​

​