Just got back from a two-week father daughter trip and wanted to share some of our experience in case it’s helpful for people planning their trips! We had such a good time. This is not everything we did, just some highlights.
General things:
* We got Goshuin-chos to collect goshuins at the temples we went to. This was really fun, a great way to engage with the temple, and a very special memento. Read more about them here: [https://www.tokyoweekender.com/art\_and\_culture/japanese-culture/a-beginners-guide-to-goshuincho-how-to-get-one-and-how-to-use-it/](https://www.tokyoweekender.com/art_and_culture/japanese-culture/a-beginners-guide-to-goshuincho-how-to-get-one-and-how-to-use-it/)
* Another fun quest was finding Pokemon manhole covers. [https://local.pokemon.jp/en/manhole/](https://local.pokemon.jp/en/manhole/)
* I put my Suica card on my phone and that was super easy. You can only do it if you have an iPhone but I recommend it if you do.
* We booked a few different day tours and experiences to meet people through Viator, Travelocity, and AirBNB. I liked the ones we booked on AirBNB the best.
* We never reserved seats on the shinkansen and that was always fine.
* The Wanderlog app was helpful for mapping out what we wanted to do and helping us find efficient ways to spend the day.
* Coffee shops and breakfast spots open later than we were used to–we ended up either getting breakfast at a konbini or at our hotels.
Tokyo:
* Activities:
* The only thing we didn’t really like was **TeamLab Planets**. There’s plenty written on it on this subreddit. I just thought it was kind of lame, I dunno, walking up an incline with water pouring on our feet did not feel like art to me. I found it overall claustrophic and it’s a pain in the butt to get to. But some people love it.
* I thought the **Imperial Palace** tour was cool! You have to get there at about 8:30 AM to get a ticket for a 10 AM tour, but the guide was great and it was neat to walk around inside the grounds.
* We visited the **Idemitsu Museum of Arts** (near the Imperial Palace) on a whim after seeing a poster–we loved it. Beautiful Japanese art, a smaller museum that follows the typical Japanese museum rules (no talking, no photos) and it has a great view of the Imperial Palace grounds. Plus they give you free tea.
* We went to a **baseball game** at the Tokyo Dome–so fun. If you go, try to get a towel to cheer along–we felt like we were the only people without a cheering towel. And heads up if you go to Hiroshima and wear your Giants hat, people will say something to you–Hiroshima really loves their Carps!
* **Hamarikyu Garden** was beautiful and we really enjoyed getting tea and looking out at the water. It’s right by the **Miyazaki clock** and not too far from **Tsukiji Market.**
* We made sure to go to **Ueno Park** because I read [Yu Miri’s book](https://www.amazon.com/Tokyo-Ueno-Station-Yu-Miri/dp/0593088026) and really liked it. It’s great, and the **Tokyo National Museum** is fantastic (we only did the Japanese wing).
* Food
* **Sakura Tei** (in Shibuya)–make your own okonomiyaki! It was so fun and the atmosphere is really great in there, cool murals and music. Affordable.
* **Tempura and Washoku Yamanoue – HILLTOP HOTEL**. Very fancy and delicious many course tempura restaurant. Come hungry, you will leave stuffed. Expensive.
* [**Kayaba Coffee**](https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/restaurants/kayaba-coffee) is near Ueno Park and has great coffee and desserts.
* **The Bellwood** is a great bar near Shibuya with a very small omakase sushi restaurant in the back. We were lucky enough to get a reservation for dinner and it was incredible. Pretty affordable for what we got.
* Accommodations: We stayed at **Hotel Niwa**, which was nice with a good breakfast, but tiny rooms. The neighborhood was quiet.
Hakone:
* Key Activities: Everything in Hakone was great and I am SO GLAD we had two days here. Of the top three things people see, I would recommend these activities in this order: **Ropeway and owakudani station**, **Hakone shrine** and **boat across Lake Ashi**, **Open Air Museum.** The Open Air Museum is cool, but if you are short on time I would cut it and do the other things. It’s a sculpture garden. You’ve probably been to sculpture gardens before. But have you ever ridden a cable car into a volcano with a view of Mt. Fuji? Probably not!
* Extra activities: If you’re staying an extra day, check out the Sengokuhara Susuki grass fields! We went at sundown and they looked almost silver. It was really cool. We also loved Gora Park–it was a great hike with a beautiful view of the lake, and if you’re over there, go to the Hakone Checkpoint too. We also went to the Lalique Museum which does not have any English so maybe not the best choice for us, but we enjoyed having tea at their Orient Express car with Lalique decorations. You may be excited to hang out at your ryokan and be in the onsen but there is only so much onsening you can do. Side note, I thought it was very fun to wear yukatas and I think the next season of The White Lotus should take place at a ryokan.
* Food
* We ate mostly at the ryokan but we did have lunch at **Daimasa Honten**, which was very very good. Near the checkpoint.
* **Tea at the Lalique Museum.** The food was fine, but the dining car was really neat. there is also a bakery right there and we bought a bunch of treats for our train ride to Kyoto.
* Accommodations: **Hanaori**. It was really nice but note the meals were buffet style rather than some of the more fancy schmancy fare you get at other ryokans. The onsens were great. I also got a massage and it was pretty splendid. I also liked that this ryokan was at the northern part of the lake–we were able to forward our luggage from the train station and go to the shrine and then take the pirate ship across the lake directly to our ryokan. The next day we could walk to catch the cable car.
Kyoto
* Activities
* A highlight was this $10/ person **Gion walking tour** we booked on Viator. I thought it was going to be lame because it was so big, but we learned so much. Also if you are interested in geishas, I recommend watching the Makanai on Netflix.
* Just walking around Kyoto is pretty magical. There are so many shrines and temples, and they are neat, but give yourself time to explore and wander too. My favorite temple was **Eikan-do** and I loved walking the **Philosopher’s Path**.
* We did a tea ceremony at **Camellia Flower**. It was pretty short, but we did find that it was helpful to have a little lesson on tea etiquette for future tea house visits.
* **Gear non-verbal theatre** was great! If you’re looking for an evening activity in Kyoto, highly recommend.
* Food
* We had lunch at **Tan**, which was delicious and special, highly recommend. Reservations required. [https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/kyoto-region/kyoto/restaurant/tan](https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/kyoto-region/kyoto/restaurant/tan)
* Accommodations: We stayed at **Sakura Terrace.** It was fine, affordable, relatively central. Great breakfast.
Hiroshima
* Activities: We did the normal stuff, **Peace Park and Museum**. We also did some **thrift shopping**, which was fun. I stumbled into an old schoolhouse that also served as a museum about the bomb–very moving.
* Accommodations: **Hiroshima Washington Hotel.** Fine overall but not very good breakfast.
Miyajima
* Activities: the **shrine and torii** (saw it both at high and low tides), hiked up **Mt Misen**, walked around the main shopping street.
* Accommodations: **Itsukushima Iroha.** Best place we stayed the whole trip. Beautiful, really nice staff, great location. Incredible dinner.
Osaka
* Activities:
* We did a day trip to **Himeji Castle**, which was cool to see. You get to walk through it and though there’s not too much to look at inside, it is pretty old and you get a nice view of the town. I love the Himeji mascot too.
* Otherwise we mostly just walked around and explored Osaka. We checked out a **cat cafe** (the cats are very fancy pure breds–I prefer the rescue cat cafes we have in the U.S.), played a lot of seemingly rigged **claw machine games**, and shopped.
* We had tickets to the TeamLabs Botanical Gardens but since we hated the Tokyo TeamLabs experience we skipped it.
* Our last temple was **Shitennoji** and this was the most challenging goshuin to collect–no English signs anywhere and the monks were in an office outside of the main temple area. But I prevailed and it’s a really beautiful stamp!
* Food:
* **Koryu**. Holy shit. The trip would have worth it for this meal alone. [https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/osaka-region/osaka/restaurant/koryu](https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/osaka-region/osaka/restaurant/koryu)
* Accommodations: **Hotel Grasmere Monterey**. Pretty decent! In the Namba area.