Trip Report – Hidden gems, Ghibli, onsen, and vegan + gluten free

My husband and I just got back from our first trip to Japan, 12 days in Tokyo, Nagano, Kiso Valley, Kyoto, and Hakone. We focused on urban exploring, onsen, villages, Studio Ghibli, and vegan and gluten free food. This subreddit was immensely helpful for my trip planning, so hopefully this report will be useful for folks who share the same interests or diet. I also used Atlas Obscura to find some out-of-the-way spots.

***Itinerary***

**Day 1** \- Landed at Narita at 4pm, made it to **Belken Hotel Tokyo**, got snacks from conbini and crashed out. Highly recommended Belken; although the room was small it was by far the most comfortable bed we had on the whole trip.

**Day 2** \- Walked through **Kichijoji** and **Inokashira Park** to get to the **Ghibli Museum**. Went to Shinjuku and walked through **Omoide Yokocho** but it started pouring, so ate lunch at **Wired Bonbon** then headed back to the hotel. Napped, then explored Tokyo Station area and had **T’s Tantan** for dinner

**Day 3** \- Watched the show at the **Giant Ghibli Clock**, then saw a performance at the **Kabuki Theater**. The kabuki was probably the most authentic cultural experience we had during the trip, and also one of the strangest. Afterwards we had lunch at **Ain Soph** and walked around Ginza, went to **Tir Na Nog** bar- highly recommend for anyone who likes unusual spaces, feels like you’ve walked into a fairytale. We also went to **Ginza Tsuboyaki-imo**, a little store that only sells Japanese sweet potatoes roasted in traditional clay ovens. Then we headed over to Akihabara, went to **Mandrake Complex** and **Maidreamin Cafe**. The Maid Cafe was also a uniquely bizarre cultural experience. We capped off our jampacked day by checking into the capsule hotel **Nine Hours Akasaka**, and getting dinner at **Gluten Free T’s.**

**Day 4** \- Checked out of Nine Hours Akasaka (which was a fun experience but had some issues with the hotel), into **Kin Ueno Hotel** (nothing special, fine for the price). Walked around **Asakusa**, went to **Senso-ji**, **Hikan Inari-jinja shrine**, and **Matsuchiyama Shoden shrine** (my husband loves daikon so he wanted to see the daikon-themed temple). Asakusa had some of the best souvenirs that we found. It was so touristy that I expected it would be overpriced and low quality, but there were some purses, pottery, etc. that were nicer than what I saw on the rest of the trip. Then we went to **Yanaka Ginza** and bought all the cat-themed items, then went to **Tofu Room Dy’s** for lunch. Then we headed to Ikebukuro, where I had a mini-breakdown from the combination of heat, crowds, exhaustion, and trying to find our way through a giant metro station that’s also a giant mall. Once I recovered, we went to the **Sky Circus** observation deck (fantastic, though crowded, and didn’t require prior reservations), and **Donguri Kyowakoku** Ghibli store. We tried to go to the **Swallowtail** butler cafe but couldn’t get in without a reservation. Went to **Vegan Bistro Jangara** for dinner, which was among the best food we had on the trip. We were planning to head to Shimokitazawa afterwards to try to find a show, but were too exhausted.

**Day 5** \- Activated our JR pass and took the shinkansen to Nagano. Ate soba at **Shinshu Juwari Soba**, a gluten-free soba shop just outside the station. Then we continued our journey to Shibu Onsen, where we stayed at **Kanaguya**. This was the highlight of our whole trip. Kanaguya is reputedly the inspiration for the facade of the onsen in Spirited Away, and it was indeed a magical place. It’s both majestic and funky, and we really enjoyed exploring its meandering hallways and eight different onsen. We also got a key to the nine public onsen throughout the little village, and bought a souvenir towel to stamp at each one. The village is extremely picturesque and we loved walking around in our yukatas and getas. The only downside was all of the onsen were extremely hot, like \~115 to 120 degrees. They had cold taps so at some of them I was able to get in by turning on the cold full blast and sitting directly under it. After our hot tub exploring, we returned to Kanaguya for an absolute kaiseki feast – they not only managed to accommodate vegan and gluten free, they served us the tastiest and most beautiful 20-course meal we could have dreamed of.

**Day 6** \- We took the train + bus to **Magome Chaya** in the Kiso Valley, dropped our luggage and ate some absolutely delicious gohei-mochi and rice crackers, then took a bus to Tsumago. We had intended to walk back from Tsumago to Magome on the Nakasendo Trail but messed up the stops/timing and only got to walk a small portion of it. It was so incredible that we’re adding walking the full Nakasendo Trail to our bucket list. Had dinner at **Haginoya**.

**Day 7** \- Went to the post office to have our luggage sent ahead to Kyoto, then took the train to Nagoya to go to **Ghibli Park**. My husband is a Ghibli fanatic so he loved it. As someone who enjoys Miyazaki movies but isn’t a die-hard fan, I’m not sure it would have been worth the time + effort + crowds. That took most of the day, then we took the train to Kyoto, checked into **BanA Alter Museum** in Kyoto (enjoyed staying in an art room), got dinner at **Engine Ramen**, walked around **Kiyamachi-dori** a bit, then crashed.

**Day 8** \- Went to the monthly flea market at **Todai-ji**, which was a wonderful experience. Bought some tea, jewelry, fabric, and snacks. Stopped by the **Witch’s House** on the walk back to the bus, which I thought would be a fun quirky store but turned out to be an extremely bizarre hoarding situation that felt like walking into a horror movie. Thankfully I made it out alive, but wouldn’t recommend. Walked around **Gion**, ate some **mitarashi dango mochi**, went to **Yasaka-jinja, Kodai-ji**, and **Kennin-ji**, then checked into **Laon Inn Gion Nawate** (fine, given the low cost). Had dinner at **Gion Soy Milk Ramen Uno Yokiko**, which was worth the long wait for the amazing gf gyoza and dumplings.

**Day 9** \- Went to **Arashiyama**. Walked through the **Bamboo Forest** en route to **Jojakk-ji Temple** and **Adashino Nenbutsu-ji Temple**, then headed back to **Tenryuji Temple Shigetsu** for shojin ryori. The walk through the temples and the little neighborhoods in Arashiyama was one of my favorite parts of Kyoto, and I was pleasantly surprised by the bamboo forest since people on this sub say it’s so overrated. It was crowded but not unbearably so, plus it was free and on the way to other sites we wanted to see. Afterwards we walked across the bridge to the **Monkey Park**, which was absolutely worth the steep climb. On the way home, stopped at **Taishogun Shopping Street** and saw a few monsters, though most of the shops were closed, then got vegan gf okonomiyaki at **Miyabi**.

**Day 10** \- Walked around **Nishiki Market** first thing in the morning. I had read online that it’s open 9 to 6 and best to get there early, but most of the stores were still closed when I was there and didn’t open till \~11. Then took the train to **Nara**. I was unpleasantly surprised by how difficult it was to navigate. The number of different train lines to choose from on Google Maps was very confusing, especially because most of them required two tickets, one to enter the station and a second for the train itself. It was also more expensive than I expected, perhaps because I didn’t do enough research into the best train. Nevertheless, we made it and were able to see the bowing deer, the utterly majestic Buddha at **Todai-ji**, and the mochi pounding at **Nakatanidou**. On the way back, went to **Fushimi Inari**, then to a reservation at the incredible **AWOMB**.

**Day 11** \- Took the train to Hakone, got sushi at **Hakone Kappei**, then went to the **Hakone Open-Air Museum**, which was one of the cooler museums I’ve been to. Then we took the bus and checked into Hakone Onsen Yuyado, where we got to reserve time both in the evening and in the morning in their nice onsen.

**Day 12** \- Went to **Hakone Yuryo**, which was heavenly. Opted for the public baths so that we could get the variety of the six different tubs (which were all a more reasonable temperature than the Shibu onsen), and also got to experience the very intense Loyly Service – a Finnish spa ritual that involves fanning aromatic hot steam around the sauna. Then, sadly, we took the train to Narita for a 6:30pm flight home.

***Restaurants***

We found it surprisingly easy to be vegan + gluten free\* as long as we planned out restaurants in advance, and had some of the best food of our lives. We tried a couple of times to wing it and find options at random restaurants but didn’t have success. I think if we were just vegan or just gluten free it would have been doable, but both required a bit of Happy Cow research and marking restaurants in advance on Google Maps. There were more vegan restaurants than we could possibly fit into our trip.

\*We’re not strict about gluten cross contamination when traveling, and we didn’t interrogate waiters about dashi or bonito when at restaurants or ryokans that made special accommodations for us.

* **Conbinis** \- We found great options at conbinis, and had onigiri, inari, mochi, and rice crackers for breakfast every morning and as snacks to take with us on busy days. Lawsons, 7-11, and Family Mart all had good vegan/gf options, didn’t seem like one was better than the others. ***Google Translate camera function was a lifesaver for reading ingredient lists.***
* **Wired Bonbon** \- Delicious curry, and they can make any of their decadent parfaits gluten free. It’s on an upper floor of the mall, hard to find if you don’t know exactly where you’re going. It was convenient since we were in the area, not sure if I would go out of my way for it.
* **T’s Tantan** \- Can swap out rice noodles, but there was still gluten in most of their ramens. The gf one was tasty, but not mind blowing.
* **Ain Soph** \- The Ginza location seemed to be entirely gluten free, which was a pleasant surprise. The pancakes were lovely and fluffy, and the bento was tasty.
* **Gluten Free T’s** \- The dumplings and ramen were meh, the kakiage and vegetable spring rolls were amazing. I’d recommend making reservations, we got lucky and snagged the last two counter seats but it was packed.
* **Tofu Room Dy’s** \- We had to walk here after not being able to find anything to eat in Yanaka Ginza, but we were very glad we did. The owner (Dy) is so kind and charming, very passionate about Peanuts (the comic) and tofu. The meal plate was delicious, especially the yuba. It’s a teeny tiny restaurant so we had to wait a long time for our table and the food.
* **Vegan Bistro Jangara** \- One of the best meals of the trip. Both soups were fantastic, and the grilled soy meat had a rich charred flavor that I haven’t experienced in any other vegan meats.
* **Shinshu Juwari Soba** (Nagano) – It was fun to be able to try an authentic local soba restaurant. For folks who are gluten free but not vegan, they also have tempura and soup.
* **Kanaguya** (ryokan in Shibu Onsen) – This was the highlight of the trip. They specially prepared a spectacular 20 course dinner that was vegan and gluten free.
* **Haginoya** (Magome) – It was hard to live up to Kanaguya, but they were very kind and accommodating, and the food was tasty and beautiful. As far as we could tell, they were the only restaurant in Magome open at night and willing to make a vegan + gf meal.
* **Engine Ramen** (Kyoto) – Delicious. Very crowded, had to wait about 15 min for a single seat at the counter, they were saying up to a 90 min wait for larger parties.
* **Gion Soy Milk Ramen Uno Yokiko** \- One of the best meals we had on the trip. Tiny place with an extremely long wait, but it was absolutely worth it, especially for the dumplings which had an authentic texture and flavor that I didn’t think I’d ever be able to find vegan + gf.
* **Tenryuji Temple Shigetsu** \- shojin ryori. A great meal in a lovely and historic location, very different experience being seated at tiny tables in a giant hall. We didn’t have any other shojin ryori so I can’t say whether this was better than other temples in Kyoto; there are a lot to choose from. We made a reservation but it turned out not to be necessary, there were lots of spots available.
* **Miyabi** \- This was a hole in the wall that seemed to be mostly locals rather than tourists, but they have a vegan menu. As far as I can tell, this is the only place that offers vegan + gf okonomiyaki. I’m not 100% positive it was gluten free, but the menu seemed to indicate that it was, and it didn’t seem glutinous at all. The texture was very different than normal okonomiyaki, but the flavors and sauces were delicious, and she even brought the package out to show us that they’re using vegan mayo. They grill in the middle of the table, which was fun.
* **AWOMB** \- This was the most expensive meal we had on the trip, but it was absolutely worth it (and still extremely reasonable with the exchange rate, much cheaper than a fancy meal in the US). The restaurant space itself and the presentation of the food were elevated to an art form, they serve incredible combinations of complex flavors, and it’s fun to make custom hand rolls. Reservations are required. Because we couldn’t understand most of what the waiter was saying, we realized too late that additional desserts can only be ordered within the first 30 minutes. That was ok though, because the set meal comes with a dessert and we were completely full by the end.
* **Hakone Kappei** \- No frills vegan sushi (inari and veggie rolls), very tasty and convenient to the Hakone Open Air Museum

***Honorable mention to places we researched but didn’t get to try***

* **ZIRAEL Vegan Restaurant** in Kyoto can make vegan + gf pierogis and dumplings if you contact them a few days in advance!
* **CHOICE Restaurant** in Kyoto, fully vegan + gf
* **Hale** in Kyoto looked great but we couldn’t make it work with their limited hours
* **Nukafuku** in Hakone has vegan + gf donuts!

**Lessons Learned**

* Our friends had given us ICOCA cards so we didn’t get any at the airport, but it turned out that they didn’t work and we didn’t have the energy/time to find a place to buy them in Tokyo. It was definitely a pain to have to make sure we had cash for tickets and to wait in line for machines, but it was doable.
* The Tokyo Metro Pass was an excellent value
* We used Ubigi e-sim and it worked very well. Didn’t even use half of the 10 gigs of data
* It was critical to make sure we brought an umbrella and a power bank with us when we left our hotel every morning.
* Having a little bag for trash was also helpful. I just used the coin pouch that’s built into my wallet for coins, it wasn’t as overwhelming of an amount as I was expecting based on this sub. My partner eventually bought a small cloth for wiping off perspiration/humidity.
* We bought a JR pass because the calculation sites said it was worth it, but I didn’t do enough research to use it to its fullest extent for the non-Shinkansen portions of the trip, so I’m not entirely sure if it paid for itself. But I also probably wouldn’t have had the energy to research the most cost-efficient options if we hadn’t had it, and it was easier than having to buy tickets, so I don’t regret it.
* We definitely overdid our itinerary, and my partner got sick by the end because we were pushing ourselves so hard. But there’s so much to see in so little time that I’m not sure what I would do differently.
* The culture shock I felt was mostly shock that a country could be so clean, safe, friendly, and efficient. It made it depressing to come back to the US, and as many people on this sub have said, I’m already daydreaming about our next trip.