Two week trip report: Tokyo, Matsumoto, Kyoto, Nara, Osaka.

I came back from Japan (first time) on Thursday. Maybe someone thinks it’s interesting, despite the fact that I did just the normal tourist stuff. Here we go!

Day one [Tokyo]: Arrive at Narita airport. Get Travel-WiFi, and Suica-Card. Bus to Tokyo. Check-in at hostel, Arakawa City. Eat Ramen at small corner shop (pretty good). Sleep early.

Day two [Tokyo]: Visit the Tokyo Skytree. Nice view, cool mall. Asakusa-Shrine. Tsukiji Outer Fish Market (should have gone earlier). Shibuya crossing. Eat cheap conveyor belt sushi. At night, impress the locals at the Nonbei Yokocho or “Drunkards Alley” with the Bavarian alcohol tolerance. Drink with three middle aged women and some salaryman from Satsuma, who later insists on paying for everything. Miss last metro and wait for the first metro early in the morning.

Day three [Tokyo]: sleep way too long and swear to never drink again. Eat some food at a Korean restaurant. Visit Akihabara and some Retro-Video game-Shops there. Complete Metal Slug 3 in an arcade (which costs way too much, skill issue). Eat at the same small corner shop as the first day, because it was great.

Day four [Tokyo]: change hostel to a capsule hostel nearer to the Shinjuku bus station (capsule is too small and hot, wouldn’t recommend). Visit the Shinjuku Gyoen Park. Really cool if you’re a fan of plants. Visit a Maid Café in Akiba (a bit cringy, but funny and cute).

Day five [Matsumoto]: Start at 6am with the bus to Matsumoto. Plan for today is the Kamikochi-Valley, but it rains too much. Instead, visit Matsumoto castle and the Onsen in the town (cheap and really nice). Also, it’s Sportsday and the Soba-Festival is celebrated in Matsumoto. Eat delicous Sobanoodles. Check in at the Mitsubikiya hostel (recommended!). Eat Yakiniku at a small shop. Really cheap and the place has a certain working class charm. It’s basically a sports bar and there are only locals there. Go, Yamaga FC! Actually, I don’t see many westerners at all in Matsumoto, except for some hikers. The paying system in the buses is rather complicated at first.

Day Six [Matsumoto]: delicous traditional breakfast at Mitsubikiya. Take the national park bus (better make a reservation the day before) to the Kamikochi-Valley in the Japanese Alps. It still rains, but whatever. Looks like home, except for the monkeys. Really nice, but many (Japanese) tourists, despite the rain. Come back and check in at a Ryokan. Wear Yukata and feel comfy and cool.

Day Seven [Nakesendo/Nagoya]: enjoy gigantic all you can eat breakfast (including Japanese Curry and Salmon). Go via train to Nagiso, store backpack in train station. Bus to Magome. Hike the old post trail (Nakesendo) between Magome and Tsumago. Incredible scenery. Back to Nagiso, Train to Nagoya. Check in and eat tons of tebasaki chicken wings, alocal speciality.

Day eight [Kyoto]: Shinkansen to Kyoto, takes 30 minutes. Gotta go fast. Check in at “Yumeji Vintage Villa”, looks like a authentic Kyoto City house. Guy who runs the place and gives me the keys explains everything (house history, things in the neighbourhood) and promises to bring breakfast for the next three days later (lots of homemade bread, butter and Danone fruit Yogurt).Visit Kinkaku-ji with the famous golden pavillon. More Ramen. Visit the Funaoka Onsen, which is just a 10 minutes walk away. Looks very retro, built in the 20ies. Buy beer, watch weird Japanese TV in the holiday home.

Day nine [Kyoto]: eat streetfood at the Nishiki-market. Tons of temples. Gyon quarter. Eat various frozen fastfood I buy at the supermarket and cook in the holiday home, also chips in fancy flavours. By the way, Kyoto could use more subway lines, the bus system is totally overwhelmed.

Day ten [Kyoto]: Arashiyama. Vitit the monkey park (cute, but I saw wild ones in Matsumoto). Temples, bamboo grove. About a billion of tourists, me included. Rent a bike and go up to the Otagi Nenbutsuji Temple with its over 1000 small stone figures.

Day eleven [Nara]: Day trip to nara, with the Kintetsu line (not covered by JR rail pass, but I don’t have one anyway so this is the best option). Cute deer, the temple of Tōdai-ji temple with the huge Buddah statue was very impressive. Also they had a No-Play on a stage on the lake. Didn’t get it, but it had many yoooooooos. Back to Kyoto, eat Okonomiyaki.

Day twelve [Kyoto] : can’t walk anymore, too much pain in the feet. Visit the Fushimi-Inari shrine. Incredibly beautiful, but man, so many people. Tourist groups from South America are as usual the loudest and most disrespectful. The farer you go up, the quieter it gets. About halfway I give up, my feet hurt too much. Visit some tourist show at Gyon Corner, which I can watch sitting down. Really fun actually, they show different theater styles and play koto music. Eat rather expensive all you can eat (in 90 minutes) Yakiniku, grilling at the table over charcoal. The tongue was great, not a fan of the small intestine.

Day 13: [Osaka] train to Osaka. Visit the big aquarium and the big Ferris wheel at the harbour. Eat high quality sushi, I don’t recognise half of the stuff and I kinda wish I just ordered some tuna nigiri. Interesting, though. Strolling through Namba district. It’s full of life!

Day 14 [back home] train to the Kansai airport, back to Munich. 10 hour stay in Beijing, but well, the flight was cheap.

All in all an incredible journey. I planned what I’d do on the day before, except the stay in Matsumoto (and the rain ruined my plans there). If I’d go again, I’d cut a day of Kyoto and explore more of Osaka instead. After a while, temples and gardens aren’t that impressive anymore and Kyoto is so full of tourists it might as well be Disneyland. Maybe drink a few fewer Sake and beers on the second day. I’m glad I also visited the countryside a bit. Also, I could totally live inside a FamilyMart.

Costs: 1900 Euros for everything. (flights 759.99, ho(s)tels 458,90, around 700 for the rest)