[Trip Report, May 2023] 14 days in Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara with a large group – an unnecessarily long trip report w/ map

Hello fellow travelers! A few weeks ago, my friends and I concluded our two-week trip to Japan, and I can safely say it was one of the coolest adventures I’ve ever been on. This sub was immensely helpful in planning my trip (and kept me sane during the COVID lockdowns), so I’m hoping this Trip Report will serve as a small thank-you and as a way to give back to the community. I’ve also created a Google Maps of all the places we went to along with our paths traveled, so you can see how much we were able to accomplish in a day and what specific places I recommend. If you have any questions about anything, please reach out!

## Background

We are a somewhat large group of seven people in our mid-20’s, and mainly had an interest in food, culture, and sightseeing. About two of us are interested in anime stuff. I had previously been to Japan (lived there for some months a few years ago) and know a little bit of Japanese while the other six had never been and did not know any Japanese outside of “arigatou”. I planned the entire trip and only got a couple of specific requests from my travel companions, so I think I mainly stuck to the more classic “touristy” places.

## Quick Stats

**Walking:**

Prior to the trip I had a rather sedentary lifestyle, so I practiced walking ~10k steps/day which I think was a big help – my feet & legs didn’t get that sore compared to some of my traveling companions. If you plan on getting some nice walking shoes (which you definitely should), make sure to walk in them for a few weeks before bringing them on the trip to break them in.

* **Tokyo:** ~17,500 steps/day

* **Hakone:** ~8,900 steps/day

* **Kyoto:** ~20,100 steps/day (Kyoto was the toughest – it was the most amount of steps, the most “stairs”, and the most places that required taking of your shoes.)

* **Osaka:** ~15,400 steps/day

* **Nara:** ~18,000 steps/day

* ***Total Average:*** ~16,300 steps/day

**Budget:**

* In total, I personally spent about ~$3650, not including the flight tickets. This includes accommodations (split evenly between seven people), food, transportation, experiences, and souvenirs. I definitely went in with the mindset of “ball-out & splurge” while there and w/ average accommodations, so I would probably say this is a little on the higher end of spending. (Don’t be like me and spend your entire life savings on crane games.)

## Accommodations

Overall, I found Booking and Expedia to be the most helpful when looking for hotels (& ryokans) – you can search by price and area with their map. We elected to stay in hotels rather than AirBnBs since I didn’t want to worry about any specific rules and check-in procedures each place might have, and I think the prices were comparable in the end.

(I won’t go into too much detail about these places as per the subreddit rules – feel free to ask anything specific.)

**Tokyo:**

* **[Daiwa Roynet Hotel Nishi-Shinjuku](https://goo.gl/maps/eCcxox2GBAJwEW369):** Would recommend. Located in Shinjuku, great hotel with decent location (~5min walk to nearest station, ~15min walk to Shinjuku station).

* **[Asakusa Tobu Hotel](https://goo.gl/maps/kmS7Y1MFhePWNwgw8):** Would (probably) recommend. Located in Asakusa, amazing location (<1min walk to Asakusa station & Nakamise-dori/Senso-ji) but the rooms themselves weren’t great.

**Hakone:**

* **[Suiun (Ryokan)](https://goo.gl/maps/Utcty9YQvxx1Czk69):** Would recommend. Pricey, but an amazing ryokan experience w/ onsen, dinner, and breakfast included.

**Kyoto:**

* **[Tokyu Stay Kyoto Sakaiza](https://goo.gl/maps/WFNPP3CyoEuGAbUc8):** Would recommend. Great location, very close to train & bus stations, and only few streets away from Kiyamachi-dori (great if you’re interested in Kyoto night-life). Also right next door to a donut shop which we ate at almost every morning.

## Itinerary

## **[~ Click here to see the map. ~](https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=13rhax4gETSjec3RfFfk9epLOiCcc0No)**

## Tokyo

**Day 1: Travel Day**

* Landed at ~6pm, Immigration and Customs took only about ~30 minutes (we filled out Visit Japan Web prior). There’s an ATM right outside of Customs where you can withdraw cash.
* Took the Limousine Bus from Haneda Airport to Shinjuku. Great if you have lots of luggage, but slightly more expensive and took longer compared to the train.

**Day 2: Meiji Jingu, Harajuku, Nakano Broadway**

* (Originally we planned to go to downtown Shibuya after Harajuku, but due to rain we went to Nakano Broadway instead. IMO Meiji Jingu -> Harajuku -> Shibuya is one of the best ways to spend your first day in Japan.)
* Started the day at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building since our hotel was so close. Great views & totally free, not a long wait either.
* Meiji Jingu is amazing, a must-see. We elected to go to Meiji Jingu Gyoen as well, but I wouldn’t say it was worth it unless you enjoy gardens or more flowers are in bloom.
* Harajuku’s Takeshita Street & Cat Street are great, especially for foodies and shoppers.
* Nakano Broadway was one of my favorite places as someone who loves anime and easily spends money. I think it’s worth visiting even if you don’t particularly like anime, as it still has a ton of different kinds of shops, arcades, and restaurants. Those that do like anime will love the shear number of stores that sell cheap-ish anime merch from all kinds of series, old and new (compared to other places which I felt like only sold merch from the more recent popular shows).

**Day 3: Nakamise-dori Street, Senso-ji, Tokyo Skytree, Akihabara**

* Asakusa’s Nakamise-dori Street & Senso-ji Temple combo was definitely one of the coolest places we visited. Tons of food and souvenir stalls, plus the temple is absolutely gorgeous.
* We actually went during the Sanja Matsuri festival (which takes place on the 3rd weekend of May) so the crowds were even bigger than usual and there were a ton of dudes shouting and hoisting portable shrines. If you can make it to Asakusa during the festival, definitely go, but also try to reserve a day where you can visit the street & shrine without crowds if you have the time.
* Tokyo Skytree’s view are great but it was pretty pricey and a long wait (didn’t book in advance). They have some interesting picture-taking places at the top. If you’re just looking for nice views, check out the Metropolitan Government Building.
* We didn’t have much time in Akihabara so we just went in a few of the major stores (though I would later go back many times). I read that there was a bit of a consensus that Akihabara was dying out, but I still feel like for the average tourist it remains a spectacle – any store you go in is just filled with amazing/weird things.
* Check out 武装商店 (weapon replica shop), Radio Kaikan (best anime shopping experience), and the weird vending machines on the south side of the station.

**Day 4: TeamLabs Planets, Odaiba, Shibuya, Golden Gai**

* TeamLabs Planets was great. I’ve seen mixed reviews on this subreddit but I can safely say my friends and I had a blast. It’s similar to Meow Wolf for those who live in the US. It only took us about an hour to get through (might take longer if you take your time getting the perfect Insta photo). I recommend wearing shorts and to not wear skirts.
* Odaiba was fine, I think it’s skippable but so close to TeamLabs that you may as well give it a quick loop if you’re already planning on going there.
* Not much to say about downtown Shibuya, probably one of my favorite districts of Tokyo (next to Shinjuku), especially when it comes to shopping, food, and nighttime activities.
* Golden Gai is easily one of my favorite places in all of Tokyo. Definitely a “tourist trap” but so, so worth it. Some of the bars were “members only” and others had ¥1000 cover fees, so I recommend trying to hit up only bars that don’t have member signs and have <¥500 cover fees. For large groups, you may want to consider splitting up but we were able to fit in every bar we went to without doing so. I want to say you should check this area out even if you don’t drink alcohol, but I got the vibe that most bars required everyone to buy a drink, so keep that in mind. If you’re someone who’s trying to practice their Japanese, this is the perfect place to do it.

**Day 5 (Free day): Shinjuku, Sunshine City, Omoide Yokocho / National Art Center, Akasaka Palace**

* (For those traveling in large groups, try to plan some days where everyone splits up. It’s actually amazing how much you can get done by yourself compared to traveling with a large group, and it’s so much easier to find places to eat.)
* Sunshine City in Ikebukuro (and the surrounding area) was good fun, definitely a place I could spend a lot of money at. Great area for Pokemon fans.
* Omoide Yokocho is very cool, similar vibes to Golden Gai but the average clientele was much less touristy.
* I did not personally go to the National Art Center or Akasaka Palace, but I was told they were good fun.

## Hakone

**Day 6: Travel Day, Onsen & Ryokan**

* Took the Romance Train from Shinjuku Station to Hakone-Yumoto Station (bought the tickets day-of). I was told you should get tickets on the right side of the train in order to get view of Mt. Fuji, but it was raining so I can neither confirm nor deny.
* Walked to Hakone Yuryo, an amazing onsen experience. If you have time to only go to one onsen, I would recommend this place.
* Spent the day at our ryokan – if you can afford it, one night at a fancy ryokan with a traditional dinner/breakfast and onsen experience was one of the most unforgettable nights we had in Japan.
* Make sure you buy a Hakone Free Pass, either in Tokyo or when you arrive in Hakone. Whenever we got on any form of transportation, we just flashed them the ticket and they let us on – it’s so nice not having to worry about payment for every bus, train, ropeway, and boat.

**Day 7: Hakone Loop**

* Classic Hakone Loop (counter-clockwise). Started at Gora, took the ropeway to Owakudani Station, ate the black eggs and extended my lifespan, took the pirate boat across Lake Ashi, hung out in Moto-Hakone, visited the Hakone Shrine & Heiwa no Torii, and took the bus to Hakone-Yumoto & Odawara Stations before taking the bullet train to Kyoto (again, bought tickets day-of).
* If you want to take photos under the Heiwa no Torii (the big Torii gate in the water), keep in mind there may be a large line. We waited about an hour to take photos.
* Once our trip was over, everyone agreed that the two days we spent in Hakone were the best of the trip. I would happily spend weeks here, so please try to spend either a night or just do a day trip to Hakone – you won’t regret it.

## Kyoto

**Day 8: East Kyoto – Kennin-ji, Kiyomizu-dera, Tea Ceremony, Kodai-ji, Kiyamachi-dori**

* Note for Kyoto: Everything closes super early (I’m talking like 4-5pm) so try to get an early start.
* There’s absolutely no shortage of temples in Kyoto, and though I enjoyed the ones I went to, I’m sure that any temple you see on Google Maps is probably worth going to. Kennin-ji Temple was one of these temples that I just randomly saw on Google Maps, and of course, it was gorgeous.
* Kiyomizu-dera was extremely cool but also extremely crowded. Definitely worth the walk there (the surrounding area is great as well), but if you’ll likely be waiting in line for just about everything here and nearby.
* I made an appointment with [Tea Ceremony Nagomi](https://kyoto-nagomi-tea.com/en) a few weeks before our trip, and it was such a cool experience – I highly recommend this place. It’s located close to Kiyomizu-dera. They spoke English and explained every part of the ceremony, allowed us to take part in it, took photos of us, and overall were very kind. It was also the only place that wasn’t completely booked up for our trip, so try looking here if you’ve decided to do a tea ceremony last-minute.
* Kodai-ji and the next-door Ryozen Kannon were lovely. Wasn’t that crowded either.
* Kiyamachi-dori is a must-go street for anyone trying to do something past 6pm in Kyoto. Lots of different bars and eateries to check out.

**Day 9: West Kyoto – Monkey Park, Tenryu-ji, Bamboo Forest, Sagano Scenic Railway Trolley**

* The Monkey Park was a ton of fun, probably the place where we took the most amount of photos. Keep in mind it’s a bit of a hike to get to the top of the mountain (and you really only see the monkeys at the top), so I wouldn’t recommend this to those that would struggle to hike uphill for >30 minutes.
* Tenryu-ji was great, another amazing temple in Kyoto. Their garden leads directly to the bamboo forest.
* Overall I felt that the bamboo forest was cool but not a must-go by any means. It’s a pretty short walk and crowded.
* We saw some signs for the Sagano Scenic Railway Trolley and decided to go on it on a whim, and it was lovely. You just sit in a train for ~20 minutes with amazing views. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to take stunning pictures but whose feet are dead from walking.

**(Bonus – Fushimi Inari Shrine):**

* We went to the Fushimi Inari Shrine late in the evening after coming back from Nara on the 11th day. This area was easily one the highlights of the trip for me. The pictures of the thousand Torii gates you see on Google Maps does not do it justice. It’s quite the hike up, but the views as you go up are spectacular. We elected to only go up about halfway (there’s a few good turn-around points) and I was exhausted by the time we got down. It wasn’t very crowded when we went, so try going at night to beat the crowds.

## Osaka

**Day 10 (Day Trip): Osaka Castle, Dotonbori, Nipponbashi**

* Osaka Castle was incredibly cool. There’s a bit of a line to get in, and the inside is quite crowded, but it gives you a great opportunity to learn about the history of the area and there’s a lovely view at the top. We also went to the garden, but that wasn’t particularly interesting.
* We spent a little bit of time in Amerika-Mura, and this place is just crazy. Would recommend this place to any hip young folk.
* Dotonbori was crowded as expected, and the shopping and food around here is amazing.
* Spent some time at Sennichimae Doguyasuji Shopping Street – would highly recommend this for anyone in to cooking or are looking for souvenirs.
* Nipponbashi is a great place for video games and anime fans – tons of different stores dedicated to retro games, plus old and new animes.

## Nara

**Day 11 (Day Trip): Kofuku-ji & Treasure Hall, Deer Feeding, Todai-ji**

* Visiting Nara was easily one of my favorite days of the entire trip. I felt like we were able to cover all I wanted to see in one day, so I highly recommend taking at least a day trip here whether you’re in Osaka or Kyoto.
* We checked out Nakatanidou to see some mochi-making demonstrations, but the crowds prevented us from seeing too much. Regardless, the fresh mochi was amazing, and the whole street in this area has some amazing food.
* The Kofuku-ji Temple was a nice view, but the real highlight was the Treasure Hall. This small museum is filled with incredible treasures and some massive statues. Absolutely check this place out if you can.
* Feeding the deer in Nara Park was so fun. You can buy some crackers pretty much anywhere nearby and the deer will politely eat it out of your hands (some even bow!). The deer seemed healthy as well.
* Todai-ji Temple was incredibly cool. Inside the temple lies some absolutely massive Buddhist statues. We also went to the temples in the nearby area, and I want to shout out Todai-ji Nigatsudo (February Hall) which had an amazing view of Nara and was way less crowded than the other areas.

## Osaka (USJ)

**Day 12: Universal Studios Japan, Super Nintendo World, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter**

* As someone who absolutely loves everything Nintendo, I knew I had to check out USJ’s Nintendo World at some point during the trip. I freaking loved it. I’ll definitely say that going to USJ isn’t for everyone – if you’ve been to a theme park before, it’s exactly what you’d expect: long lines, lots of standing, and everything is overpriced. That said, the rides were fun, the food was surprisingly good, and I couldn’t get enough of all the Mario merch.
* Nintendo World gives a surreal feeling walking into the park – they did an incredible job decorating & designing. The park itself is pretty small and very, very crowded (we went on a Monday while it was raining and it was still packed). The park is comprised of three-ish rides and a bunch of “mini-games” that use the Power-Up bands they sell. Also, even though it’s called “Nintendo World”, it’s almost entirely Mario stuff (and some Pikmin easter eggs!)
* THE POWER-UP BANDS ARE ESSENTIAL! Without it, you can’t interact with everything around the park and you can’t do any of the mini-games, three out of the five of which are required to do the third major ride of the park.
* The Mario Kart ride was incredibly cool, and the Yoshi Riding ride was fun but certainly skippable. The mini-games are fun and quick (examples include pressing a button to hit a Koopa shell at the correct time and running around to stop alarm clocks to prevent Petey Piranha from waking up), but each had lines of ~15-30 minutes. The third ride, where you fight Bowser Jr. after doing three mini-games, was a blast and had no wait (since it’s quite the setup just to take part in it).
* The restaurant was amazing, the food was actually good and it looked super cute. If it’s crowded, try to get a ticket at the restaurant’s entrance ~2 hours before you want to eat. They’ll give you a time slot for you and your party to return.
* I’m not a huge Harry Potter fan, but I’d still say the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was worth checking out. The rides were fun, the butter beer was good, and the gift shop where you can buy your own wand was sick. Similar to Nintendo World’s Power-Up Bands, you can buy the wand and interact with random things in the park. I can’t say if it’s worth it or not since I didn’t get one, but I saw a lot of kids making things in storefront windows float and fire come out of chimneys, so it seemed cool at least. Also, this part of the park didn’t require Timed Entry Tickets (even though the app said it might).
* We did not purchase any sort of fast-pass, as they essentially double the cost of ticket. That said, if you have the funds it may well be very worth it for you, as we were only able to get on so many rides without them (each major ride easily had a wait time of ~1 hour).

**Notes on Buying USJ Tickets & Timed Entry Ticket for Nintendo World:**

* I was incredibly stressed about buying the right tickets for USJ and getting entry for Nintendo World. It ended up working out, but I think only because I was so prepped and ready. Here are some steps I did that you should follow:
* I used [this calendar](https://usjinfo.com/wait/sp/pre_callendar.php) to see how crowded USJ would be. It estimated 60pt, and I can say that was accurate. If you can, try to get tickets for a day with as few pts as possible.
* My foreign cards did not work with USJ’s ticket buying website, so I just bought tickets via Klook. No issues on that end.
* I downloaded the USJ app and registered my tickets on it. When you enter the park, you’ll still have to show the QR codes for each ticket from the PDF you get from Klook.
* On their website, it said their park opened at 9am. However, I had read that they sometimes open the park up to an hour before their online time on particularly crowded days. Sure enough, when we arrived to the front gates around ~8:15am, there were already people on the rides.
* When we got through the gates, I immediately went on the app and registered all the tickets for the next available time slot for Super Nintendo World, which was 11am. Then, at 11am, we were able to enter the park (they did not let us in even 2 minutes early).
* I think if we actually arrived at the park when it was supposed to open, we would not have gotten very good times at all and very likely may have had to skip Nintendo World. Try to arrive ~1 hour before the park says it will open. If you’re traveling from Kyoto to USJ like we did, we left around 6:30am and arrived at 8:15am.

## Tokyo

**Day 13 (Travel day):**

* Traveled from Kyoto to Tokyo via Bullet Train.
* Had enough time to do some souvenir shopping in Asakusa and Akihabara.

**Day 14 (Free day): Imperial Palace, Ameyoko-cho, Kappabashi Dougu / Tokyo DisneySea / Studio Ghibli Museum**

* Imperial Palace was okay, but I wouldn’t recommend it. You can’t go close to the palace unless you are on a guided tour, so otherwise you have to stick to the garden, which I didn’t think was particularly interesting.
* Ameyoko-cho was the perfect souvenir shop. So much candy and sweets I have never heard before. I absolutely filled my suitcase with snacks. I’d say you should definitely hit this area up if you’re looking for food to take back with you, or if you’re trying to find something for your friends/family back home. Specifically, I recommend Niki no Kashi, a two-story floor of new and old snacks that have no right to be as cheap as they are.
* Kappabashi Dougu is another great souvenir area – tons of cooking equipment and specialty stores. I bought several pairs of chopsticks which made for great souvenirs for friends.
* One of my travel companions went to Tokyo DisneySea, as she is in to both theme parks and Disney, and she absolutely loved it. Apparently, if you’ve never been to a Disney park before, you should go to Tokyo Disney, but if you’ve already been to one in another country, you should go to Tokyo DisneySea. That said, I imagine if you are really in to Disney then both parks would be worth it.
* A few of my travel companions went to the Studio Ghibli Musuem. They told me it was easily one the highlights of their trip, as big Ghibli fans. The museum goes not only into the past of Studio Ghibli itself, but also all of animation.
* (See the section below for how I got tickets)

## Other Random Thoughts

**Expanding on this Itinerary:**

* If you are looking for ways to expand this trip, I think the two main things I would add on are 1. Another day in Kyoto to explore the northern part, and 2. A day trip from Tokyo. I really enjoyed Kyoto and felt like ~2 days weren’t enough to explore it. As for the day trip, it would have been nice to explore some less crowded and less ventured places around Japan, as this itinerary is a bit on the generic side and there were plenty of tourists wherever we went.
* Overall, I would say these days were pretty packed. We got up ~9am, walked all day, and returned to the hotels around ~7/8pm. This definitely wasn’t a “stop and smell the roses” kind of itinerary, and while I think that was fine for me and my group, you may want to consider cutting a few things or spreading things out a bit more if you don’t want to be as rushed.

**Traveling in a Large Group:**

* If I had to give one piece of advice for traveling in a large group: don’t. With that said, here’s some real advice:
* Try to establish someone who will “lead” the group – this may sound dumb, but if you don’t, there’s a good chance you’ll be spending way too much time sitting around debating what to do, with everyone just saying “yeah I’m down for whatever”, rather than just picking a spot and going there.
* Don’t be afraid to split up and do things on your own or in a smaller group. I think everyone in my group was a bit too intimidated to be walking around on their own, but eventually you may just have to say that you’re going somewhere solo and you’ll meet back with the party at a later time. This is especially true when looking for places to eat. You can try to look on Google Maps to see if restaurants can fit large parties, but some of the best restaurants in Japan only sit like 8 people at a time, and if you want to eat at those amazing places you have no choice but to split up. (Check my map posted above – for the food places we went to, I mention if they are good for large groups.)
* I encourage everyone in the group to get some sort of eSIM or pocket WiFi – two out of the seven of us didn’t, and they constantly felt like they had to stick to someone who did have internet if they didn’t want to get horribly lost.

**Packing & Preparations before traveling:**

* I used Ubigi eSIM, would highly recommend. Cheap, easy to set up, and lasted the whole trip without issues.

* I bought [this foldable duffel bag](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096HR92TC) before the trip, entirely for souvenirs. If you plan on buying a lot of stuff, I highly recommend this so you don’t have to check a bag on your way to Japan and only on the way back. By the time I was leaving, I could just barely fit all my stuff in.

* Consider bringing a small day bag for drinks and trash while you’re walking around.

**Luggage Services – Takuhaibin:**

* The luggage transportation service, Takuhaibin, is amazing. We used it when traveling from Tokyo -> Hakone -> Kyoto, and sent are bags directly from Tokyo -> Kyoto. This proved to be an absolute necessity, as walking around Hakone would have been impossible with our bags. The staff at the front desk of our hotel was able to take care of everything. We didn’t use the service when we went from Kyoto -> Tokyo or Tokyo -> Haneda Airport, but honestly I wish we had, as getting on the crowded trains with suitcases was awful.
* When using the bullet train, we had some large bags but did not reserve any luggage areas since they were all sold out. There’s plenty of room both above and in front of your seats for luggage, so it wasn’t really an issue.

**Learning & Speaking Japanese:**

* If you’re someone who is studying/learning how to speak Japanese, there’s plenty of opportunities for you to practice. Particularly, I felt that bars were the best place to practice speaking, whether with the staff or other patrons. Everyone was very kind about my bad Japanese (I studied 3 years of it in college but have forgotten a lot of it), and I racked up over a dozen “nihongo jouzu”‘s by the end which I was very proud of. The most common phrases I used were simple things like ordering at a restaurant and asking people to take pictures of us. Don’t be afraid to speak broken Japanese if you’re just starting to learn, it’s amazing practice and an incredibly quick way to make friends with someone.
* I think most of my traveling companions were shocked by how little people actually spoke English. Most people knew basic words, but trying to ask them a slightly complex question resulted in blank stares. Before you go, try to know basic stuff like “sumimasen”, “arigatou gozaimasu”, “kore kudasai”, and “toire wa doko desu ka”.

**Anime Stuff:**

* Here are some of my favorite anime-related places I visited for my fellow weebs:
* (Tokyo, Nakano) All of Nakano Broadway
* (Tokyo, Nakano) JOJO-style bar DIO (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure bar. Super cool vibe, drinks were terrible. Check Twitter to see if it’s open that day.)
* (Tokyo, Shibuya) Pokemon Center Shibuya
* (Tokyo, Akihabara) Akihabara Radio Kaikan
* (Tokyo, Akihabara) amiami Akihabara 2nd
* (Tokyo, Akihabara) Lashinbang Akihabara New Store
* (Kyoto) Galleriapart
* (Kyoto) Surugaya Kyoto Ebisunocho Branch
* (Osaka) All of Nipponbashi
* I know Animate is a popular chain in Japan, but every one I went in to was pretty disappointing, so I wouldn’t recommend any of those. Try looking for smaller stores, especially pre-owned stores if you’re looking for figures.

**Ghibli Tickets:**

* If you’re trying to buy Ghibli Tickets but the international site says they’re sold out, don’t panic. I was able to buy tickets a few weeks before the trip through the Japanese ticket website with help from [this guide](https://quilt-behavior-fa7.notion.site/How-to-Buy-Ghibli-Museum-Tickets-for-Dec-22-Jun-23-5b5bdeeffe5641378354de3a258d3b49). You’ll need a VPN and (ideally) a way to translate a web page. In short, you create a Lawson Web account, buy a regular ticket through the normal Japanese site (after switching your VPN to say you’re currently in Japan) and say you’ll print it at a Lawson store. Then, when you go to Japan, visit any Lawson’s, go to the ticket kiosk, and hand the receipt you get to the cashier. Honestly, it was super easy and I’m very happy I didn’t have to stress about buying a ticket and getting in line through the international site as soon as it went live.

**Masks:**

* It was about 50/50 in Tokyo masks on/off, and closer to 80/20 masks on/off in other cities. Seems like mostly tourists and young people weren’t wearing masks. Definitely still a big thing there.

**Rain:**

* It rained a few days on us, as expected for late May travel. I recommend just buying an umbrella and continuing with your day as normal. Try visiting shrines, it’s a fun vibe with way less crowds. Nakano Broadway is a good rainy-day place to hit up as well.

**Must eat Foods:**

* Any bakery. Oh my god the bakeries in Japan were next level, everything was amazing.
* Okonomiyaki in Osaka. Try to find a place where they make it for you.
* [Shinpachi Shokudo Seibu Shinjuku branch](https://www.google.com/maps?cid=6150112603610863010) in Tokyo, Shinjuku. Amazing, delicious, traditional Japanese breakfast.
* [Shi-Fu-Do](https://goo.gl/maps/LmZYE4rsFY1vsZwx5) in Tokyo, near Akihabara. Absolutely amazing fish ramen, one of our favorite meals.
* Any Sushiro. I love Sushiro so much. Great sushi, super cheap, all delivered on a monorail.
* Any Ichiran. Some might say Ichiran is overrated, but it’s actually such delicious tonkotsu ramen. There’s no shortage of good ramen places in Japan so it certainly makes sense to try to branch out and try non-chain restaurants, but I think it’s okay to get a mix of both to get the true feel of eating in Japan.

That’s all folks! Sorry for the incredibly long post. Again, feel free to ask me any questions!