Trip Report- 8 Days in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto

Long Post

Hello! I got back today from Japan. This was my first time, while it was my boyfriend’s second time. This was a last minute decision (we decided to go in March) and was for our 5th anniversary. I planned the itinerary and was the main navigator of the trip. Here is the rundown of our trip:

**October 11, 2023 Wednesday**

We landed in Haneda around 3:30 PM. We took United and honestly it wasn’t that bad. The airplane food was acceptable. They had a lunch menu and a breakfast menu for our second meal. I slept a lot so I could start our activities right away once we landed. We got our pasmo cards and took the Keikyu line to our hotel… At least that’s what I thought. I mixed up the stops and got off at Asakusa and not Asakusabashi, which is where the hotel was. We had reservations at the Kirby Cafe at 7PM and it was already almost 6 so we decided to just go straight to the Solamachi instead. Honestly, I was pretty upset I messed up but this was the only time I did that the whole trip. The train system is super daunting when you see it online, but in person it is straightforward. Just don’t get frazzled and be aware of your surroundings! Watching walkthrough videos of big stations helped me too.

Kirby Cafe was awesome. My boyfriend and I love Kirby and that cafe was on the top of our bucket list. We had to wake up at 3AM the month before to reserve seats the exact day it opened. The Kirby Cafe opens reservations for the following month every 10th? of the month at 6PM JST. The whole store is decorated immaculately, even the smallest corners have Kirby motifs. My boyfriend ordered the burger set with the souvenir plate and I ordered the Maxim Tomato soup and the Carby Cake. The soup had the really smoky taste and had pastas the shape of different characters in it. The burger was alright, but you’re really only getting it for the plate which is absolutely adorable. We got to choose from 2 different designs. The star of the show was the Carby Cake. It’s a strawberry mouse. Really light and fluffy and very, very adorable. Afterwards, we checked into our hotel and got some stuff from the Lawsons attached to the hotel.

The hotel we stayed in was pretty cheap ($50/night) but not the best. The bathtub sometimes flooded the bathroom a bit, there was no room cleaning, and we’re pretty sure there were bed bugs. However, it was cheap and literally a couple minute walk from the JR station. I wouldn’t stay there again but overall, it served its purpose.

**October 12, 2023 Thursday**

Our first full day in Japan. We weren’t affected by the jet lag, surprisingly. We woke up around 8AM and got ready to go to Ikebukuro. We went to Sunshine City and beelined to the Pokemon Mega Center. This was certainly my favorite Pokemon center we went to. Afterwards, we hit up the Kiddyland and Sylvanian Families shop. I love Sylvanian Families (they’re called Calico Critters in America) and if you do too, you need to visit one of these stores. This one is the newest I think and it was so cute. There were big dioramas of whole Sylvanian towns as well as sets I’ve never seen before.

At noon, our friend from America met up with us. We planned our trips so that we could meet at least once in Japan. Seeing your friends in another country is surreal. We went to CoCo ichibanya which is so much cheaper and higher quality here than in America. Afterwards, we went to the Animate flagship. Throughout the trip, we found ourselves hitting up almost every Animate in every city we visited. This one surprisingly didn’t have many items I really wanted, but I did pick up a few deco items for my buttons and photocards. Afterwards, we walked to Amavel, which is a small clothes boutique. I’ve followed them for years so of course I dropped big money there. I ended up wearing the outfit I boughtl later in the trip and it was so worth it. We had a snack at Wendy’s for their collaboration with Honkai Star Rail. Our friend left when we finished. My boyfriend and I decided to head to Akihabara. Electric Town is amazing at night. We blew some money on claw machines but saved our actual shopping for Saturday. For dinner, we went to Sushiro. The fish was much better than conveyor sushi in the states. What we ordered probably would have run us $20+ but was only $11 here.

**October 13, 2023 Friday**

Today was Shibuya day. We woke up at 7AM and headed to Meiji Shrine. This was an impromptu addition to our itinerary but worth it. It was one of the highlights of my trip. The walk through the forest was so calm and peaceful. I made sure to submit my prayers in the box but I wish I bought a wooden plate to hang with everyone else’s. If you have a chance, do it. You can buy them at a shop that also sells charms and lucky amulets. Afterwards, we walked to Harajuku which hands down, is my favorite place from this trip. I love Japanese fashion and seeing Tenshika Street in real life was stunning. I didn’t see many “crazy” outfits, but didn’t expect to, though there were a few nice Lolita coords. I wore an Ouji style coord that was surprisingly not unbearable to wear while walking so much. We went to Yoshinoya for lunch and I tried raw egg for the first time. It’s really good. I wanted to take home Japanese eggs so badly but I know that is absolutely not feasible. We did some very irresponsible shopping and just enjoyed our surroundings. I did notice quite a few touts, but they didn’t approach us. At the beginning of the street, there was a PSA on the speakers warning tourists about them too.

Late afternoon we headed to Shibuya. I love that the trains are so punctual. Sometimes I timed our departures just right and as soon as we got to the platform, the train arrived. The JR Yamanote line is awesome. As someone who takes the metro a lot, I can appreciate good public transportation. It’s also important to note, we had the JR Pass which we purchased in August before the price hike. If we’d missed that deadline, the JR Pass would not have been worth it for our destinations. Shibuya was amazing. I wish we got more shots of the scramble crossing at night but by the end of this day, our feet hurt so much that we just couldn’t. I heard that if you go to the Magnet, there’s a free observation deck if anyone wants to check it out. Went to the Parco for the Nintendo Store but they didn’t have the new Oatchi plush from Pikmin 4 so I didn’t get anything. We checked out Tower Records which is a musical fiend’s dream. I collect CDs and found so many cool albums like Silent Hill 2 soundtrack. We got some boba and had Ichiran for dinner. I enjoyed it, but I did get a stomachache later that night. I’m not sure if it’s from the ramen or the milk tea. We hit up the Shibuya Animate and just walked around the city at night. This is also where I first visited Don Quijote and honestly, the hype is so real. I got a few makeup paletes and gifts for friends back home. Some things in Don Quijote were cheaper than flagship stores where they came from (like Sanrio). This would not be the last time that damn penguin took my money.

**October 14, 2023 Saturday**

This was our “weeb” day. We woke up a little later– 9AM. We could tell that our bodies and wallets were starting to fall behind our ambitions. However, we didn’t let either of those things get us down. We headed back to Electric Town and hit the claw machines once again. Don’t be like us and play claw machines first thing in the morning. We blew like $100 for one figure which we won in the end but still this was not a wise decision. After getting that figure, we went to Radio Kaiken. I love this place. I’ve seen so many YouTube videos of AmiAmi, it was awesome to go in person. However, the best store there IMO is KBooks. They had Madoka Magica stuff which surprised me as it’s such an old anime. I picked up a lot of things there. They also had loads of Love Live merch and other older animes. Afterwards, we had a snack at Family Mart then walked around Akihabara. My boyfriend ended up trying one of those maid cafes and I went to Mocha Cat Cafe. The cats were all very calm and didn’t look stressed. Everyone treated them with respect. Seeing them certainly made me miss my own cat though so I did get a little sad (also it’s quite expensive I think it was like $15 for 40 minutes?). My boyfriend enjoyed the Maid Cafe and said that the omurice dish he got was pretty quality.

We went back to the hotel for a short bit to drop off our stuff and freshen up then it was back on the train to Namba. We went to this Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure themed dive bar. It was very quaint and you can tell the owner is very passionate about the place. They play different JoJo episodes and are pretty foreigner friendly. The menu has English translations, though what’s in the speciality cocktails is not detailed so it’s all a surprise if you get those. The bartender was heavy handed too. I was gone from 2 cocktails. Overall, good vibes. If I were to visit again, I’d want to explore Namba more. There were lots of bars and izakayas that looked interesting. Please note that many of these places have service fees automatically added to your bill. The JoJo cafe for example had one of 800 yen.

**October 15, 2023 Sunday**

We took the Shinkansen to Osaka. We departed from Tokyo Station which was mad crazy on a Sunday afternoon. We wanted to look around the station but all the coin lockers were in use so we had to lug our stuff around the whole time. The station is huge and a bit overwhelming. I got lost a couple times. Ordering Shinkansen tickets is pretty easy from the Kiosk though. You can switch the screen to English and it’s straightforward.

The ride to Osaka was one of those rare moment that I felt truly at peace. After the last hectic days of navigating, planning, and exploring, I finally felt like a could take a deep breath. When going to Osaka, I sat on the right side which is more scenic imo.

Shin Osaka Station was another confusing one for me. If you’re going on the Midosuji line, follow the red tape on the floor. That line also isn’t JR so you need an IC card or ticket. We ended up not using our JR Pass at all when traveling around Osaka. When we finally found our hotel, we found it was literally a few steps from the subway entrance. This hotel was the same price as the last one, but so much better. It was very modern and clean. There was a free public bath and a breakfast buffet. My boyfriend loved the public bath.The room was a bit smaller but the bed was more comfortable and no bed bugs. We rested for a bit before going to the Starbucks Reserve then to Dotonbori. We had takoyaki from a stall that was honestly mid. We then went to an okanomiyaki restaurant where we got Osaka style okanomiyaki and an egg bonito roll. The restaurant had a policy where each guest had to order at least one food item which I noticed was common for Osaka. We went to the Dotonbori Don Quijote which was a mad house. I recommend going to the mega one in Shinsekai instead.

**October 16, 2023 Monday**

We decided to forego Fushimi Inari because my boyfriend’s knees were hurting and I didn’t think it’d be wise to go up all those steps and risk an injury when we still had 2 days left. Instead, we went to DenDen Town. Don’t expect it to be Akihabara, but it was cute. It’s really hard to find a public bathroom here. We went to McDonald’s for lunch but mostly for the bathroom. I really enjoyed the shrimp burger. The fries tasted exactly like home. We went back to Dotonbori in the evening and tried some more street food including much better takoyaki. We ended the day with Kura sushi. I think I liked Sushiro better.

**October 17, 2023 Tuesday**

We woke up early to travel to Kyoto and ended in Arashiyama at around 9AM. The total travel time from Osaka to Kyoto was around an hour. By the time we got there, it was already very crowded. We visited the Rilakkuma Cafe and Miffy Bakery but didn’t buy food from either due to the crowds. The bamboo forest was stunning and a nice shelter from the sun. It was pretty crowded but as you go further in, it thins out a bit. I know some people think it’s overrated but I honestly enjoyed myself. There is a certain kind of peace walking through the forest. I put my noise cancelling headphones in when I got overwhelmed by the amount of people and it made everything much better. Afterwards, we took an hour long bus to central Kyoto, did some shopping, then had lunch at a place called Soba Matsuba. I got the cold soba with tempura. It was so good I wanted to cry. I highly recommend that place. My plate was 2000 yen. After lunch, we headed to My Only Fragrance because I made a reservation to make my own perfume. I saw the place on TikTok and have been really into fragrances so I had to try it. On the way, we passed the pagoda and took photos of it and the surrounding streets. The perfume making was fun. It cost around 55 dollars and took 30 minutes. You have to make a reservation though. After that, we walked through the Kyoto streets as the sun set and sat by the river for a bit. We saw huge fish in the water and 2 herons? in the water. We got a matcha tiramisu and soft serve at Macca House. The matcha was really bitter but I enjoyed it. I can see why others wouldn’t though. These desserts weren’t sweet at all but I didn’t mind. We saw a Loft and decided to go in. This was my first time in Loft and I blew so much money on stationery. We ended up taking the wrong bus but made our way back to the station after a bit though it was frustrating. Navigating Kyoto was the biggest challenge for me. I think it’s the buses.

**October 18, 2023 Wednesday**

Today was our last day in Japan. We left Osaka early and I spent my last couple hours of free time in Shibuya. I wanted to see the scramble crossing one more time. I walked around the city a bit and through some stores. I didn’t really have a plan but I’m glad I got to see Shibuya again. It is my favorite city I visited. We took the Keikyu direct line to Haneda airport which was around 300 yen each. Our last meal was dipping udon at the airport which was pretty good and reasonably priced.

**Budget**

Here is what I spent:

780- Flight
250- JR Pass
226- Food
225- Hotel
899- Souvenir

Total: 2381

Overall, this was an awesome trip. I have many more thoughts and truly think this experience changed me as a person, but this is the basic rundown of everything. If I were to change anything, I would spend a bit more on some clothes that I decided against and visit the Kewpie Mayo museum. Hope you enjoyed and good luck future travelers!