First Timers Trip Report: A Hot 2 Weeks in Early September

Thanks to this sub for tons of inspo, as well as answering a couple targeted questions when needed. My wife and I took our (2 years delayed) honeymoon in Japan from September 1 through 16, spending time in Osaka, Tokyo, Hakone, and Kyoto. Included takeaways + tips, then highlights, impressions of each city, and finally a day-by-day that includes specific restaurants and impressions (when we remembered to write them down).

**Takeaways & Tips:**

* Don’t go in September. With one blessed exception, every single day was brutally hot – temperatures usually low-90s F with “feels like” often over 100. We managed it well, but if we could do the trip again, we’d wait until it cooled off a bit. Looks like another 3-4 weeks would’ve done it.
* Vending machines are your best friend. Best strategy is to buy 2-3 water bottles at a vending machine, drink them while walking to your destination, and repeat when empty. Also a good use of coins.
* [This bag](https://www.uniqlo.com/us/en/products/E456847-000/00?colorDisplayCode=09) was our MVP of the trip: big enough for water bottles / hats / mobile chargers / trash etc while being more accessible than a backpack.
* eSIM is absolutely the way to go, assuming your phone is unlocked. We used Ubigi. Both our phones worked with zero issues for under $50 (bought \~35 gigs total). Easy to set up, nothing to carry around / keep charged.
* Knowing 10 words of Japanese went a **long** way. Arigato gozaimas (thank you), sumimasen (excuse me), hai (yes), iyye (no), oishi (delicious), kudasai (please), mizu (water), gohan (rice)… Locals clearly appreciated that we were willing to try.
* Forward your luggage if traveling between cities. The few times we had to lug all our bags made it very clear how inconvenient navigating anything – especially public transit – with them is.
* Don’t be afraid of cabs. Yes, public transit is usually much better and always cheaper, but a strategic cab ride to save a half hour, get off our feet, or lug bags around, was huge. We probably took 5 cabs and spent under 10,000 yen total. Well worth it.
* Take breaks. Our best rhythm was to get up early, eat and caffeinate, do an activity from late morning through early afternoon (including lunch), go back to our hotel to rest a bit, then venture back out just before dinner into evening. Trying to shove too much in just wouldn’t work with how active you have to be in Japan (especially in the heat).

**Highlights:**

* Himeji Castle. Beautiful, striking, and powerful. Great history, neat tour. Must-do.
* Tokyo in general. What a fucking city. It’s as dense as Manhattan and as sprawling as LA, with better transit than anywhere in the states. Picking a neighborhood with 2-3 destinations and just wandering it was great.
* Sumo tournament & baseball game. Slice of life Tokyo stuff. Felt like we were the only foreigners, like experiencing something close to what you know but just different enough to be novel.
* Temple hopping in Kyoto. Details below but we went to like 8 temples without getting sick of them. We were both blown away and disappointed by both AAA-tier and smaller temples. Our 2 favorites were Sanjusangendo and Daikaku-ji, and neither one is in the “top tier.”

**Destination Impressions:**

* Osaka (3 nights): excellent vibes, easy transit, great food. Fewer attractions than other places, but a great first place to explore. B+
* Tokyo (7 nights): See above. A+, incredible city
* Hakone (2 nights): I wish we’d done 1 night instead of 2. Felt trapped in the ryokan by the end. Very beautiful, but not worth 2 out of 14 days. C-
* Kyoto (3 nights): Most frustrating, least foreigner-friendly, and hardest to get around… Still worth it because the sights are incredible. A-

**Day by Day:**

Day 0 (travel day to Osaka – staying in Umeda):

* Flew home -> YUL -> NRT -> Osaka (ITM). Rushed a bit through immigration/customs and recheck our bags at NRT before our puddle-jumper to ITM, but made it with \~15 mins to spare.
* Airport limousine bus from ITM to (near) hotel, realize lugging bags sucks. Checked into Umeda hotel, had room service, passed out.

Day 1 (explore Osaka – staying in Umeda):

* Amadeo coffee (delicious), Patisserie Mon Cher (pretty good). Train to cup noodles museum: super fun, but can’t eat what you make. Ramen for lunch at Ippudo (good).
* Wandered Amerikamura (super fun thrifting, hilarious t shirts), Shinsainashi (fine outdoor mall), and Dotonburi (wack, super touristy, felt like Times Square). Okinomiyaki dinner at Houzenji Senpai (pretty good).

Day 2 (Nara trip + final Osaka – staying in Umeda):

* Starbucks for breakfast and coffee (coffee same as US, food much better). Train to Nara to see Kofuku-ji (okay), Isuen garden (very nice), and Todai-ji (incredible). Made frenemies with Nara Park deer (very fun). Lunch at random katsu place in a shopping arcade (pretty good)
* Train back to Osaka, Museum of Housing and Living (cool). Tempura dinner at Hanagatami in our hotel (delicious)

Day 3 (Himeji Castle and Travel to Tokyo – staying in Toronamon Hills):

* Checked out of hotel, back to cafe Amadeo for coffee and toast. Subway to Shin-Osaka station, shinkansen to Himeji, stored bags in coin locker at Himeji station, bus from station to castle.
* Himeji Castle, including the “long gallery” with Princess Sen’s quarters. Incredible, an absolute must do. Bought bento boxes for the 3h train from Himeji to Tokyo. Boxes weren’t great, but edible. Train was lovely, including views of Mt Fuji.
* Got to Tokyo hotel via subway (confusing!), checked in showered etc. Found a delightful local hole in the wall for sushi: Sushidokoro Takeda (very good)

Day 4 (Tokyo: Shinjuku, Nakano, and Koenji – staying in Toronamon Hills):

* Ueshima Coffee House – Toranomon for breakfast and coffee (really good!). Subway to Shinjuku, shopping and gawking through multiple malls (electronics, clothes, luxury stuff, secondhand luxury stuff). This was neat to see, I bought some gifts, but I wouldn’t want to spend more time here. It’s basically a million malls on top of each other.
* Subway to Nakano, walk to Nakano broadway mall. Took hilarious booth pictures, lost the claw game, lunch at Dai Ni Chikara Shu Zo (not good), wandered the insane stuff in the mall. This was fun. Train to Koenji for thrifting, bought goofy stuff as well as my dream sneakers.
* Train back to hotel, happy hour, showered, dinner at a Cantonese Place in Toranomon Yokocho mall (delicious).

Day 5 (Tokyo: Ueno and Ginza – staying in Toronamon Hills):

* Hotel breakfast (meh), train to Ueno, coffee and matcha at Tully’s Coffee (fine!). Walked in Ueno park, went to Ueno zoo (beautiful surroundings, excellent vibes, pretty good zoo). Bistro Kouzo for lunch (good curry, OK steak), then toured Former Iwasaki House Garden; very beautiful but very hot.
* Back to hotel to freshen up / reset, then shopping in Ginza (Dover street market designer stuff, Uniqlo, Muji), then Michelin dinner at Ginza Kojyu (insanely delicious, especially the fish shoulder and wagyu beef).

Day 6 (Tokyo: Shibuya, Meiji Jingu, and Harajuku – staying in Toronamon Hills):

* Train to Shibuya, breakfast at Komeda (very bad, vibes critically poor). Walk to Shibuya scramble crossing, wandered to capsule arcade thingy nearby and bought a bunch “as gifts.” Fun!
* Took train and walked to Meiji Jingu shrine in Yoyogi Park, very serene and beautiful. Walked through the shrine to Harajuku, hit Takeshita street which was super packed and fucking gross, except the purikura photobooth) place which was so funny and fun. In and out of stores, lunch at Mokubaza (delicious curry, probably the best lunch of the trip).
* Drinks at Two Rooms Bar and Grill rooftop, walk to Meiji Jingu stadium, Yokult Swallows game (very fun, had chicken and beer (good for stadium food))

Day 7 (Kichijoji, Ghibli Museum – staying in Roppongi):

* Check out of first hotel, taxi to second to drop bags. Waited in line for \~20 mins for lunch at Imakatsu Roppongi (delicious, especially sesame sauce for cabbage). Train to Kichijoji, was mercifully raining and cooler. Musashino Hachimangu shrine, cemetery next door, and batting cages next door to that. All fun.
* Ghibli museum was special, especially the unreleased Miyazaki movie “I Bought a Star,” which was all in Japanese (no subtitles) but we got the gist. Train back to new hotel to check in, shabu shabu at Daruma (really good, but expensive). Tried to go to jazz clubs nearby but music was over, went to boomer cigar bar in the hotel which was more fun than expected.

Day 8 (Yoyoi Kusama museum, Daikanyama, Golden Gai / Omoide Yokocho – staying in Roppongi)

* Starbucks then to Yoyoi Kusama museum in random part of town. Awesome: cool installations and videos including little room for exactly one minute. Train to Daikanyama, Sushi Sato for lunch (good), saw a festival of chanting children pulling guys on a cart. Shopping at High Standard and Issey Miyake. Toured Kyo Asakura house, an old japanese style mansion. v neat.
* Train to hotel to rest, then happy hour at hotel (bad), train to Omoide Yokocho (“piss alley”) for yakitori skewers (fine) then to Golden Gai for drinks: Open Book bar had delicious cocktails. Cool vibes in the bar, though the neighborhood was a bit touristy and gross.

Day 9 (Senso-ji, Kappabashi Dougu, Sumo – staying in Roppongi)

* Up late, Starbucks in hotel, train to Asakusa. Senso-Ji (incredibly crowded and hot, nice shrine), walked to Kappabashi street for kitchen wares, cab to sumo stadium. McDonald’s for lunch. Teriyaki chicken sandwich was the best item we got. A sumo wrestler came in to pick up his food.
* Sumo wrestling tournament was awesome and unique. Pretty good stadium food and cheap beer/sake too. Back to hotel to freshen up, dinner at Savoy Pizza (fish pizza okay, supreme pizza delicious), gelato factory on the walk back to hotel.

Day 10 (Final Tokyo, travel to Hakone)

* Checked out of hotel, shipped luggage to Kyoto, udon lunch at Tsuru Ton Tan (delicious, enormous portions). Shinjuku station to take Romancecar to Hakone, bus from Hakone-Yumoto station to ryokan, cross suspension bridge, check in. Great room, hung out in hot tub. Teppanyaki dinner at ryokan (delicious; upcharge, but worth it).

Day 11 (Hakone)

* Up early for 8am Japanese breakfast. A little too foreign for us so early in the morning – food was pretty good but not what we wanted. Went back to sleep another hour, got bus to Hakone-Yamote station to do Hakone Loop. Boarded mountain railway towards Gora. Open Air Museum was a highlight of the day: beautiful art, beautiful grounds.
* Hustled a bit to lunch at Gora Brewery and Grill (beer was v good, food was p good). Took cable car way up into the mountains and got on ropeway (gondola) through the mountains including sulphur part. Great views of Hakone and Lake Ashi, but couldn’t see Fuji. Pirate boat across lake ashi was goofy as hell but we had fun. Hiked through the tourist “town” where it let off, saw some torii gates, and hiked old tokkaido highway a bit, then bus back to ryokan.
* Regular (non-upcharge) dinner at ryokan was fine. We were ready to leave Hakone at this point and wished we’d collapsed everything into one night.

Day 12 (travel to Kyoto and Kyoto intro – staying in Higashiyama)

* Western breakfast at ryokan (ok), checked out and bus/train to Odawara then shinkansen to Kyoto. Check into (gorgeous) Kyoto hotel, walk next door to Kiyomizu-dera Temple (very awesome, though packed) and walked around Higashiyama, got ice cream. Higashiyama was insanely crowded but still fun. Saw huge buddha at Ryozen Kannon despite temple itself being closed.
* Drink before dinner at hotel then walk to Gion (I think), kinda near Fushiki Market. Ichiryu Manbai – Teramachi for dinner (machine-order noodles – pretty good, though our second choice), then drinks at rooftop bar In The Moon, walk back to hotel for drink and bed.

Day 13 (Fushimi Inari, other Kyoto – staying in Higashiyama)

* Up early to get to Fushimi Inari “[Hidden Hiking](https://www.viator.com/tours/Kyoto/Fushimi-Inari-Hidden-Hiking-Tour/d332-63670P28)” Tour. Tour guide very nice, group fine. Hidden hike was awesome, saw 0 others until the top and no big crowds until very end. Lunch at solid noodle place we found near the shrine, then train to Sanjusangendo with the 1,001 buddhas, which was more impressive than Fushimi Inari to us.
* Walked back to the hotel, stopping for ice cream and souvenirs / gifts. Drinks at hotel for a few, then cab to KI NO BI gin bar for (delicious) gin flights. Tried to walk to food nearby and literally 6+ places turned us away despite some clearly having empty seats or being totally empty. Fuck that neighborhood. Ended up settling for Kitchen Gon which beat expectations (curry and katsu especially). Bought souvenirs and beauty stuff then walked all the way back to hotel.

Day 14 (Arashiyama and Temples – staying in Higashiyama)

* Up early, bus to (very slow) train to Arashiyama. Would find another way there next time, it took like an hour in heat/standing/waiting. Coffee / matcha and baguette sandwiches at %ARABICA Kyoto Arashiyama (delicious). Tenryu-ji temple was pretty, but SO hot. Left through North entrance through bamboo grove (neat, but not worth going to on its own). Walked to Gio-Ji moss temple. A little underwhelming. Walked back to Lawson to get cash and water, then to Daikaku-ji, our favorite of the 3. VERY beautiful temple and especially gardens.
* Cab to Kinkaku-Ji golden temple, different vibe than others (much more crowded) but insanely beautiful views. Cab back to hotel, ate lunch at lobby bar/restaurant (delicious, surprisingly), freshened up in room, started to pack/prep for travel tomorrow. Walked to Michelin-star dinner at Gion Matayoshi. Many very good dishes, a few incredible ones (fig + uni tart thing, unagi, shave ice). Good vibes all around.

Travel Home Day:

* Finish packing, continental breakfast at hotel buffet (p good), cab to Kyoto station, airport limousine bus to ITM, long wait, first flight. Long ass bus to terminal, duty free was a zoo but bought final gifts, boarded fine and took off on time. Long-haul flight was fine, home on time.