So this is my first trip report, but wanted to share because I think we went to some places that fewer people visit.
I am terrible at proof reading so please ignore any typos.
This was my daughter’s 7th trip to Japan. We’re both vegetarians, but will eat from shared cooking oil. I’ve rented a car in Japan before, so felt comfortable driving. We did laundry a few times because this trip also included a 1 week trip within the US, and not just our time in Japan, so had lots of clothes. We also travel heavy, as I like to shop in Japan and I like to bring gifts to multiple friends in Japan. (This trip I saw one in Kanagaewa-ken, 2 in Tokyo, and 1 in Osaka) I made some mistakes, possibly due to sleep deprivation and/or because of heat. We also lost a few days to unplanned friend visits because when I planned the trip, one friend hadn’t originally responded. For me, visiting friends in Japan, does trump sightseeing and shopping.
I have between 2B-3A curls, I will also be reviewing the shampoo and conditioner which were free amenities with our stays (spoiler alert, most were barely useable if you have curly hair.) I highly regret not bringing a satin pillowcase with me to Japan, we did look at Nittori, but I didn’t see anything appropriate.
We traveled during what should have been rainy season, but there was not a lot of rain, it was incredibly hot and humid. Most days the highs were in the mid 90s and with humidity it felt closer to 100.
This trip involved visiting or attempting to visit A LOT of Pokemon Centers as well as some doll stuff for those into fashion dolls.
I had planned to keep track of steps, but my phone is back on US time so it is no longer keeping track of the daily count correctly. Suffice it to say, we averaged 5 miles a day outside of our days in Tohoku where we walked considerably less, as we had a rental car. Cars really do you get you to walk a lot less. Even on days when I went to visit friends, we walked more than on the days we had a car.
Day 0: Flew SEA to Haneda on Delta. Our vegetarian options were Indian style despite my daughter’s being the only meal that was officially supposed to be Indian style. We flew Comfort+ which was definitely nicer than main cabin on ANA/JAL. ANA and JAL give you more to eat on the plane, and I missed having Japanese movies with English subtitles to watch on the flight. Neither of us really slept, because we can’t sleep well on planes.
Day 1 Arrival in Haneda. Deplaning, Customs, and Immigration took maybe 30 minutes, possibly less. This included waiting a little while for our suitcases. We then waited 30 minutes to set up our JR Pass. The line looked shorter than it was, and quickly grew while we were in it to a 1 hour line. If I had to do it over again, I would have waited until we got to Shinagawa Station, since it was super quiet and we weren’t starting the pass until a few days later. I should note now, as planned it was 6 of one half dozen of the other whether it made sense to get a Nationwide Pass for 14 days or pay out of pocket for Odawara to Kyoto/Kyoto to Tokyo and do a 5 day JR East Pass.Took the Keikyu to Shinagawa with two large check ins, 1 carry on and 1 violin, and exited to walk the maybe 5 minutes to the Strings Intercontinental. We checked into the room, dropped off our bags and admired the view. We then headed out to Shibuya where I failed at Google Maps, before we gave up and went to our favorite Starbucks in Harajuku to wait until our 6:45 pm reservation at the limited time 100th Anniversary, Oh My Box Disney Cafe. The Cafe had two savory vegetarian options, which is unusual for a themed cafe. The burger I got was awful. My daughter (and my friend who joined us) said the pasta was better (if you didn’t eat the vegan meatballs.) The set up was adorable, but the food was incredibly underwhelming. The Cafe is ongoing, but the Black and White period which we went to is now over. Went back to our hotel and crashed.
Shampoo and Conditioner were OK, but not great
Booked via Booking Intercontinental Strings Hotel
Rain: none
Day 2 Ate a delicious buffet breakfast at the hotel. I liked the peach juice and the pastries. My tween as usual, was the healthier one and got an omelet. The location for the breakfast is quite pretty and I would do it again. We checked out, sent the large bags to Kyoto via TakQbin and left the small bags with bell services. We went to Shibuya again, because somehow I’d messed up going to the Pokemon Center there. We checked out the Tsutaya first and this time made it to the Pokemon Center no problem. (I blame jet lag and heat, I can’t sleep on the plane.) We bought Pokemon booster packs, and then checked out the Disney Store.
We went back to Shinagawa, grabbed our bags and went up to Shinjuku to take the Odakyu line out to visit a friend. I was in a rush and stupidly got on the wrong Odakyu train, but figured it out before it was an issue and just got off at Sagami-Ono and waited for a train to the right destination. We hung out with my friend, and ate delicious food.
I did not spend any time looking at how long it would take to get to our hotel for the night in Hakone, which was a huge mistake. I thought the trip would take maybe 45 minutes to 1 hour. Instead it was more like 90 minutes to 2 hours. We arrived at the Original Fujiya Hotel close to 11:00 pm. We were exhausted, but I was not too tired to try out the new onsen they had added to the top floor of the Forest Wing. It was a pleasant onsen, but no rotemboro and definitely not the best I’ve ever been to.
Did not use shampoo/conditioner in room just in onsen area to wash myself and they didn’t work for my hair.Booked via
Booking The Fujiya Hotel Forest Wing
Rain: None
Day 3: Another delicious hotel breakfast. Originally, we had planned to visit Hakone the day before because my friend had been slow about responding to a meet up, but then we met my friend, so it through some things off. I was shocked that the Fujiya had two different vegan offerings, one if you wanted a Japanese style breakfast and a different one if you wanted Western. I’d heard the pancakes at the Fujiya were famous, but the one that were a part of our breakfast were more like a crepe, and not really what I wanted. We checked out of the hotel and headed back to Odawara. We went the slower way back via the Tozan line because I really wanted a better view of all the hydrangea along the tracks. Hakone is famous for its hydrangea in June.
Got to Odawara before our train to Kyoto and visited the Starbucks, which was full of foreign tourists.Took the shinkansen to Kyoto Station where we were met by a driver with a sign with our names on it. We’d booked the Hyatt Regency via a new website and our booking included a “free” transfer from Kyoto Station. We took our taxi from Kyoto Station to the hotel, checked in and were given an actual welcome gift. I was expecting something like origami, but instead it was fancy sparkling water and fresh cherries, yum! Our bags from Tokyo were waiting for us and after enjoying some AC we headed out.
Walked to the Keihan line and took it up to Keihan Shijo and then slowly made our way to the Kyoto Pokemon Center. The Pokemon Center was limiting booster packs. We also stopped off at Lush bought a bath bomb and priced out hair care products vs. the US. We then, went to the Disney Store, and just did some random shopping before walking back to the Keihan to get to Shichijo and walk back to the Regency. Ordered room service, because the Hyatt has folding tables they open in your room. It’s a trip. We also had a $100 credit to go through.
See previous onsen shampoo and conditioner review for Fujiya Hotel.
Booked via WhatAHotel Hyatt Regency Kyoto
Rain: None
Day 4 Ate breakfast at the Hyatt, they have an extensive buffet and they let you order from several main dishes in addition to the buffet (You can order several main dishes multiple times or vary them.) I want to say the options are: Japanese, various egg options, waffles, french toast, and off-menu avocado toast. Each time I ordered the avocado toast it was slightly different, but always vegan. We then walked down to the Keihan and took it to Fujinomori Station, though again I messed up and we should have gotten off at Sumizome Station since it is actually closer to Fujinomori Shrine. The walk was pleasant though, especially the part along the water. Went to Fujinomori shrine, got tons of hydrangea pictures and drank a lot of water, because at that point in the morning it was just stifling. We then walked to JR Fujinomori Station, and caught a JR train to JR Uji Station.
From JR Uji we walked to Mimurotoji because it’s a famous hydrangea temple and we really enjoyed it last time we visited it. My daughter was just exhausted from the heat though so we didn’t spend as much time enjoying the flowers as I was hoping. We went to the cafe and ordered shave ice and drinks, to try to cool off, but it really only helped so much. I took a few pictures, while she rested. We then walked back to JR Uji Station, and decided to do some shopping and sitting on trains because it was really hot.
We went up to JR Kyoto Station and grabbed a Special Rapid and went to JR Sannomoyia Station, and from there did a short walk to Kobe’s Licca Closet Small Shop. Despite the name, the shop is much bigger than the Small Shop in Tokyo and honestly the staff were much nicer too. Kobe also had a nice breeze which felt glorious.We jumped back on the train to go to JR Osaka to visit the Umeda Pokemon Center. The elevators were packed, the Center was packed and all the booster packs were gone so we left. To try to cheer my daughter up, we headed to Shinsaibashi to try their Pokemon Center. There was a 1 hour line to check out. But they did have booster packs so my daughter was happy. We took the subway to Yodoyabashi and then took the Keihan line back, because it lets you out closer to the hotel. We ate a late dinner at the hotel restaurant.
Shampoo and Conditioner were not great despite being some fancy brand
Booked via WhatAHotel Hyatt Regency Kyoto
Rain: threatened several times but there was none
Day 5 Another delicious breakfast before heading to Kyoto Station to catch a bus to Ohara. Sanzenin is another hydrangea temple, and I admit I hoped Ohara would be a little cooler. It was still hot and humid, but was much better than Kyoto proper. I was also hoping to escape any potential crowds, and Ohara was a lot less crowded than I expect Kyoto proper was on a Saturday. Our only really long wait was for the bus back to Kyoto. I expect on a non-week end it is less crowded. Ohara is known for its purple shiso and I got a soft serve mix of purple shiso and yuzu, I highly recommend trying it if you eat dairy. It had a great slightly sour flavor and my daughter teased me, because I kept talking about this ice cream for the rest of the trip. Sazenin had a great free teahouse and was just super pretty to walk around.
We went back to Kyoto proper and did some more shopping at Uniqlo.
Shampoo and Conditioner were not great despite being some fancy brand
Booked via WhatAHotel Hyatt Regency Kyoto
Rain: threatened several times but there was none
Day 6 After breakfast, we took a cab over to Kitano Tenmangu from our hotel for around 2700 yen. It was a little expensive, but I knew we would end up doing a lot of walking eventually. The 25th is a shrine flea market every month at Kitano Tenmangu. We walked around and looked at all the cool things for sale. Visited the shrine and looked for a charm to do well in school.
We then headed to Shonenji, a temple known for having services for deceased pets and selling charms for the welfare of your pets. The temple is known as a cat temple because the spirit of a cat helped save the temple from ruin. It’s a small temple, and there was a service taking place there when we arrived and we didn’t want to intrude. We bought two charms for our cats well being and walked to Imadegawa and took the subway to Shijo and did some shopping.
We went back to the Pokemon Center (the booster packs were sold out) and then went to Mumokuteki for food. My daughter did not like it the first time we visited several years ago, but enjoyed her meal much more now that she is 12. We both agreed that the tiramisu parfait was amazing. We went to Daimaru and did some shopping for new clothes for my daughter, and eventually got dinner at Kyoto Engine Ramen. We waited about 20 minutes only, but I have to say I was disappointed. I do like soy milk ramen, but I thought the late Cafe Proverbs 15:17 made a far superior soy milk ramen. My daughter doesn’t like soy milk ramen because she doesn’t like her ramen creamy.
Shampoo and Conditioner were not great despite being some fancy brand
Booked via WhatAHotel Hyatt Regency Kyoto
Rain: none
Day 7 This was our lazy day. After breakfast, my daughter relaxed in the room while I did a load of laundry at the 24 laundromat I’d seen about 1/2 mile away just on the other side of the Kamo River. It felt good making sure we had plenty of clean clothes to wear because my clothes were not really something I wanted to rewear without laundering as I had been sweating a lot. On my way back to the hotel with my clean clothes we finally got some rain, of course, though not terribly much.
Around lunch time we headed to Kyoto Station and took the shinkansen to Nagoya. My tween was feeling desperate about Pokemon booster packs, and I figured why not. We went to the Nagoya Pokémon Center and then tried Ming-tei Hao Hao for lunch, which was quite good. We then walked to the Nagoya version of Den Den Town/Akihabara and went to the Mandarake and some gaming stores. My tdaughter was shocked at how cheap Japanese 3DS games were. She went to a store that specialized in trading cards and bought a few and then we headed back to Kyoto. She was also a little put out by the adult shops, so it is something to be aware if you want to visit with kids.
Shampoo and Conditioner were not great despite being some fancy brand
Booked via WhatAHotel Hyatt Regency Kyoto
Rain: rained for around 20-40 minutes but then stopped
Day 8 We ate our breakfast at the Hyatt and then packed ourselves up. We sent one large suitcase via TakQbin to the Disney Ambassador Hotel and the other to the Tokyo Station Hotel. We then took a taxi to Kyoto Station and dropped off our bags at the Mitsui Garden Kyoto Hotel, where we were staying for 1 night.
We took the train to Osaka and re-checked the Umeda Pokemon Center, which now did have booster packs in stock. We waited in a long line to buy some and then took a subway to the Conrad Osaka to try their Chocolate and Cherry, USA themed tea. The location for the Conrad seemed great, the view from the restaurant was stunning, but overall I thought the food was much better at the Christmas themed buffet we had tried at the Ritz Carlton in December. The Ritz was also willing to make us savory items that fit our dietary restrictions, while the Conrad was not. The Conrad did do a great job of marking items though and they used a pig symbol for gelatin! I just thought most of the desserts were lackluster and just tasted “sweet.” The couscous was just sort of bland and the brie grilled cheese was just weird. Oddly enough the chocolate berry cupcakes were one of the best items. However, the theming made the experience extra fun as the buffet station was covered in US flags. We also found the “US flag” themed donuts hilarious, as I would not have considered them flag themed without the helpful placard.
We then headed to Denden town, as my daughter had decided that she did want to buy a Japanese 3DS so that she could buy Japanese 3DS games. This was much harder to find than I had expected and I was not super keen to go back to Nagoya the next day just to possibly get one. Denden town was another area with some adult shops my daughter found off putting and is another place to think about whether you want to bring kids. We lucked out though and eventually found one before we needed to meet my friend who lives in Osaka for Indian. We stayed super late and then went back to Kyoto. We could not get the AC in the Mitsui to work despite following the instructions, so slept very poorly.
Shampoo and Conditioner were OK.
Booked via Booking Mitsui Garden Hotel Kyoto Station
Rain: None
Day 9 We didn’t eat breakfast at the hotel but got waffles at Kyoto Station. We took the shinkansen to Tokyo, dropped off our carry ons at Tokyo Disneyland and headed back into Tokyo.We checked out Chara Street in Tokyo Station (so crowded) and went to the Nihombashi Pokemon Center. We then headed over to Harajuku for our Pikachu themed tea at the Strings Zelakova Restaurant.We had paid for the special package which included a limited drink, the sweet and savory part of the tea, and a chocolate Poke-ball dessert. The Strings apologized profusely because they knew we were vegetarians and had an actual vegetarian option, but had forgotten to prepare it for us. I was honestly just thrilled they had an option! We had the most amazing vegetarian jellies, which were just so refreshing on a hot day, and I got to try all 3 limited edition drinks, as we were given two additional ones for free. The mango one was my favorite. It was funny, most people didn’t seem to want to eat the outside of their melting chocolate poke balls, but I thought that was the best part. They also substituted raspberry sauce for my daughter because she has a minor mango allergy. 10 out of 10. If you’re going to Nagoya while the tea is still ongoing, and you want a Pokemon experience and are willing to pay more for it, do this over the Pokemon Cafe, the food is so much better, though the chocolate Pokeball was a Tokyo exclusive. I am now going to look at future afternoon teas at the Zelakova, even if they are not Pokemon themed.
We then headed over to Tokyo Disney to meet my friend and get settled in for the night because the next day was going to start our Tokyo Disney days.
Shampoo and Conditioner were OK.
Booked via direct booking on Tokyo Disney website, Tokyo Disney Ambassador Hotel
Rain: None
Day 10 I forgot about the oatmeal I had in my bags, so we headed to the parks hungry at around 7:50 to make our 8:15 early entry. I know 15 minutes doesn’t sound like a huge difference, but I would say, yes, yes, it makes a huge difference if you are trying to make it on as many rides as possible. We did use the TDR app on my Android (Pixel 6) phone and I had no problem using my US Visa card. I actually had an easier time booking things and getting things to work than my friend who lives in Tokyo and has for about 2 decades.
I immediately booked a Premier Pass for 9:00 am for Soaring, and headed over to Journey. We road Journey 2x, then went to our 9:00 am Premier Pass and went on Soaring. We bought some water and popcorn (and unlike the US parks, water is only a little more in the Disney parks vs. $4.30 per bottle!) After going on Soaring, we’d bought a Premier Pass for Toy Story Mania and we went over to that. I then bought a pass for just me to go on Tower of Terror, because no one else wanted to go on it. We got some more popcorn and some ice cream. I want to say it was maybe 10:30 am at this point.
Next we went single rider on Indy and at that point we’d pretty much gone on all the biggest rides in the park. I did buy a Premier Pass for Believe! Seas of Dream. We went on Nemo, Aquatopia, Sinbad 2x and someone gave us a line skip for 20,000 Leagues. We did walk-up to eat at Canaletto because I’d been unable to make a reservation for it. Unfortunately, this meant we were outside and I was just roasting. We’d eaten outside in the Winter and it had been fine, as our table was overlooking the gondola boats. This time we sat in this barely shaded area in the back of the restaurant and I felt both forgotten and like I was melting. We should have waited for an inside table. Believe! Sea of Dreams was really well done and I enjoyed it immensely. We did still have to get there quite early even with our premier pass reservations, but at least we got to sit for a good portion of the wait and the view really was nice.
Shampoo and Conditioner were OK.
Booked via direct booking on Tokyo Disney website, Tokyo Disney Ambassador Hotel
Rain: None
Day 11 I remembered the instant oatmeal this morning so we had that to help fortify us for Disney, but were running a little late and didn’t make it to the park until close to the 8:30 entrance time. This meant we entered the park with some of the general audience and the line for the new Beauty and the Beast ride was insane.We waited about 30 minutes for Baymax and I paid for Beauty while we were waiting for Baymax. We went on it next and I paid for Splash for later in the morning. I want to say our longest line was around 45 minutes for Winnie the Pooh.We ate a lot of popcorn, discovered that the Snow White ride was the OG version, where the witch is constantly trying to jump scare you and the ending of the ride is most unexpected. It was my friend and my daughter’s favorite ride and was the sleeper hit of the trip. We did Pirates and Space Mountain as well and I offered to pay for parade viewing but no one else was interested.
We had a lunch reservation at the Eastside Cafe, which was super tasty and had a delicious summer jelly dessert suitable for vegetarians. We got to watch Gaston interact with other guests but didn’t get to actually meet any characters. A little before 8 we collected our bags from the hotel, and headed back to Tokyo Station. We said good bye to our friend, and we went to the Tokyo Station Hotel where we would be staying that night and passed out. I think we went to T’s to grab a late dinner, because it’s my daughters favorite and it’s right at the station. (And since we had a rail pass, we could exit and enter as we pleased.)
Shampoo and Conditioner were not great despite being some fancy brand
Booked via Booking Tokyo Station Hotel
Rain: rained for around 20-40 minutes maybe, overall it was less rain than we had in Kyoto while I did laundry.
Day 12 We ate breakfast at the Tokyo Station Hotel in the Atrium, which is one of my favorite places to have breakfast. I was really disappointed because they were no longer offering their delightful French Toast and were instead doing toast with anko on it. There is nothing wrong with anko, but if you’re looking forward to French Toast, it’s not French Toast. I’d repacked our bags the night before and I left our two largest bags at the hotel for when we came back several days later and packed our two carry on sized bags for our trip to Tohoku.
We had planned to do some shopping in ikebukuro and visit the Pokemon Center, but there was an insane line just to enter the store! It looked like it was going to take at least an hour. The line was longer than a lot of the lines we saw at Tokyo Disney and this was just to enter the store, this wasn’t even to pay for anything! We also gave up on going to Pokemon Sweets because it too had a long line as did the Starbucks. I think if I had to do things again, I would have planned my Saturday differently. We went to Azone and to Dollyteria. We looked at some merchandise for a friend and eventually went to the Nakano Mandarake, because they have a really nice doll section. I’m pretty into doll collecting and have been for a long time. I wanted to check out the Ries, as I’ve been wanting one for almost two decades and with the dollar so strong this seemed like an ideal time. I hemmed and hawed and decided to wait.We eventually headed over to Tokyo Station, and went to the 2Foods Yaechika just outside Tokyo Station. I liked my meal but my daughter hated her fake chicken nuggets. My daughter has always been vegetarian and has never had actual chicken, so that was not the issue. They had an odd consistency and she was put off by the colorful dipping sauces. I had thought she should try the omurice instead. We then caught a shinkansen to Koriyama and checking into the Daiwa Roynet there. The room was much nicer than I expected and it did a great job of cooling off super fast. It also had an actual real window looking out on the station, which is always a plus.
Shampoo and Conditioner were OK.
Booked via Booking Daiwa Roynet Koriyama
Rain: None