No Budget, 4000 Word, Hot Takes, Trip Dissertation 9/29-10/13 (Tokyo, Kamakura, Hakone, Kyoto, Osaka)

Wanted to write this report since I used this sub a lot leading up to the trip and feel it will be helpful, but don’t feel the need to repeat the other great reports of all the shrines and common activities. I’m not going to give you all an hour by hour itinerary because most of it has been said already and frankly I don’t remember nor did I write everything down prior. This is partially by design – besides Team Labs Tokyo and omakase sushi, we had nothing concrete scheduled and did a lot of wandering. Also Japan Guide is an amazing resource for their itineraries if you’re looking for something to do, but need some guidance.

I (34M) went with my wife (28F) for the first time.

Interests: shrines, gardens, bonsai, nature, shopping (streetwear, vintage, video games/electronics, knives, art, etc), trying to avoid tourists, relaxing sometimes

Some general things I learned that I think everyone should know.

Packing, clothes, shoes – bring an extra bag or buy one so you have room if you buy anything. I packed conservatively compared to what I usually pack and had room in my medium hard shell luggage. We also brought a small carry on for purchases. You could buy a duffel/small carry on there, too.

I packed 6 plain neutral t-shirts, 5 pairs of neutral track pants, 1 pair of black jeans, 1 button up, rain shell, 1 hoodie, waterproof trail shoes, some rubber Birkenstock sandals, and a pair of black yeezy 700s plus my undergarments. The goal was to be able to mix and match everything without planning laundry. After the trip, I realized I could have been even more conservative. Unless you are going to a very fancy restaurant, you don’t even need to wear anything nicer than track pants and t-shirt. I wore my jeans once for the omakase sushi and didn’t put the button up on at all, but it was nice to have in case I guess. I wore the trail shoes (Solomon XT-6) after the Yeezys were hurting my feet after a few days and I should have just worn them the entire time. PLEASE PACK COMFORTABLE VERSATILE/NEUTRAL SHOES. There was no need to bring the Birkenstocks – all of our hotels had geta (wood sandals) for the balcony/baths. We did laundry twice – Tokyo hotel (Keio Plaza) had laundry service and took our clothes to a laundromat in Kyoto.

Luggage shipping is great. We shipped our luggage from Tokyo hotel to Kyoto hotel which can take 1-2 days while we went to Hakone with a few days worth of clothes in our backpacks. We decided against shipping luggage to the airport when we left. There ended up being a Yamato Transport kiosk literally right next to our Air Canada check in kiosk when we departed, but to be honest it was pretty easy carrying our luggage from Kyoto to Haneda airport.

Food and drink – I’m a very adventurous eater and besides horseradishy stuff (dijon, wasabi…), I will eat, or at least try, anything. If you don’t like wasabi, make sure you tell the chef or server you don’t want wasabi. I made a very dumb mistake of going to expensive omakase sushi underneath a small condo complex that had no cell service. After the first nigiri bite had wasabi, I didn’t know if it was considered disrespectful to ask for no wasabi (it’s not), so I just ate all the nigiri with the default wasabi the chef prepared, which wasn’t great to be honest.

Besides the omakase sushi (which we booked months in advance, please plan ahead), we didn’t plan a single meal. It’s been said on this subreddit, but it’s hard to find a bad meal. Japan has amazing produce and cooks/chefs take their jobs very seriously. Variation between 1 yakitori restaurant to another is very minimal. If you just google “ramen near me,” pick something with a 3.5-4.3 star rating. Japanese rate things on a different scale. If you see anything with a score above 4.3, be careful, it’s probably all tourists. My wife searched “ramen” when we were in Kyoto and she picked this very popular place with a 4.5 or something rating. We got there when they opened at 4:30 and the entire place was filled with tourists. There was maybe 1 table of Japanese high schoolers/college kids. And it was the worst ramen (but not bad) we had there by far. We weren’t interested in TikTok or Instagram bait. If you want to go to these types of restaurants, plan to wait or be left out if you didn’t reserve.

The language – So you can definitely get by not speaking any Japanese besides konichiwa ‘hello’ and sumimasen ‘sorry, excuse me’. I added oishi ‘delicious’ to my repertoire, too. Our experience was that not many people speak English or are not willing to try compared to what this sub claims, even in touristy areas. This isn’t a big deal, but you really need to have a good picture translate app for menus and get used to pointing. We didn’t have any issue navigating the language barrier, though, and everyone was extremely nice.

JR Pass – Here’s a rant. We did not get one, and I’m thankful we didn’t. For the life of me, I don’t know why this is a popular option. And we went before the significant price increase. Unless you are taking more expensive shinkansen trains many times, this thing is not worth it for a many reasons. Use one of the many JR pass calculators to see how much you would really save.

1. you have to use JR lines only. There are a ton of non-JR lines that offered faster or more convenient transportation for us.
2. google maps does not filter for JR lines. Yes there is an app (JapanNavitime or something) that will filter JR lines. Extra apps, more annoyances.
3. the JR pass is literally a paper ticket you have to bring with you at every turn style and keep with you. If you’re traveling for weeks, the risk of damage/loss/turn style eating your ticket exists and there are horror stories on this sub of those things happening. A physical or digital iPhone IC card is so so so much more convenient. We have iPhones and just added money to our digital Suica cards as needed. You can pull out your locked iPhone, scan it at turn style (or bus!), and you just walk through. Mindbogglingly easy. NOTE: you cannot use Visa to add money to a digital Suica card. Luckily my wife had a Mastercard back up that we both used to put money on it.
4. unless you are on a super strict budget, the savings are at most $100, maybe more if you use the shinkansen a ton? I would pay $100 to turn my JR pass digital and not have to worry about this little piece of paper for 2 weeks.

E-sim vs Wifi – E-sim is a no brainer. Wifi requires another device carried around between us at all times plus charging. We split up while shopping or exploring all the time and need our own independent data. We used Ubigi; it worked great and is easy to set up. Make sure you turn off roaming on your main line before you land. It takes a few minutes for the data to kick in upon landing. We were walking to customs when it finally turned on. The only times I noticed data go off was in the tunnels on the shinkansen. I ended up using 17GB over 2 weeks and I paid little attention to it. I was streaming hi res music, browsing reddit and the internet, navigating, etc. Only really used wifi in our hotels, but it’s offered at many restaurants, museums, etc.

Energy bank/extra battery – bring one that will at least recharge everyone’s phone once throughout the day. My phone was low battery by noon on many days from navigating, but I’m not sure if something funny was going on with my primary line trying to find service or something draining my battery quicker than normal.

Ok now actual trip. We didn’t have a concrete itinerary, just some of the neighborhoods of Tokyo to visit.

**Tokyo** \- Keio Plaza Hotel, Shinjuku, Tokyo – took Limo Bus here from the airport – was easy as we arrived around 6PM. Ticket kiosk lets you choose a time of departure and enters your hotel if it’s included in the stops.

Tokyo was cool, we spent 7 nights there. If we had gone to Nikko, 7 nights would have been ok, but could have done fewer in Tokyo proper to be honest. We went to way too many touristy areas at the beginning that burned us out. The smaller more suburban Meguro, Shimokitazawa, Asakusa, Ueno, and Kichijoji were amazing and would definitely stay in one of these areas if we go again.

In no specific order, some pros and cons and thoughts on each neighborhood we went to including areas of interest

Shinjuku – Hotel was here. Great hotel, awesome breakfast buffet with a view. Make sure you stay somewhere that offers breakfast – it’s amazingly convenient to roll out of bed and eat something before heading out for the day. Still 10+ minutes walk to Shinjuku station. Shinjuku was very meh, the Golden Gai and other alleyways are really cool, but packed with people. We just walked through and dipped. Way too many people and most of the restaurants in there are ass to ankles. The benefit of being close to a major train station is something overstated on this sub. You literally just need to be close to ANY train station that connects with a major one.

Ginza – Luxury stores. There was a Dover Street Market there (streetwear) which had a great aesthetic inside.

Harajuku – More streetwear vibes (BAPE, NEIGHBORHOOD, thisisneverthat etc). Cool area that I just got lost wandering in. I wear my clothes baggy (2XL) and I’m getting fat so there’s literally nothing at these stores that fits me anymore which was depressing, but oh well. Takeshita Street is a tourist death trap. We walked down it while everything was closed, then walked back through it to the train later in the day. Ironically, this was the only place I saw bonsai in 2 weeks in Japan. I saw 2 dying Japanese black pine bonsai at the entrance closer to the train on a railing going to some lower level stores. Ngl it was depressing.

Akihabara – Enjoyed it, the retro game stores were the highlight. Only went to a few though. Super Potato is the popular one. Mostly went because it’s called Super Potato. Everyone complains how much more expensive it is than the other stores – the games I was looking at were like $6 more expensive at Super Potato. Shrug. I bought the Super Famicon Super Mario Bros for $12, mostly for nostalgia, at Retro Game Camp. You can get by not understanding the game text. Would have liked some of the weird JRPGs, but if you can’t read Japanese, what’s the point? The shrine there was a boring city shrine (to a tourist, sorry, not meaning to offend). I like some anime, but am not an expert. All the stuff is in Japanese so it’s fun to look at, but again unless you speak Japanese you aren’t gonna buy a bunch of manga unless as a souvenir.

Shibuya – did not go. After being underwhelmed by Shinjuku and the other “bustling” areas, we spent our time elsewhere. We had tickets to Shibuya Sky while we were in Shimokitazawa or some other enjoyable neighborhood and just skipped it.

Ueno – Park and museum were fantastic. Go here.

Taito – next to Ueno after leaving the park – walked around, stumbled on this tiny ramen shop, Tokichiro, with some googling (yes it has 4.5 stars – the exception to the rule). This was the most divine ramen I’ve ever had. Bless that man’s hands.

Chiyoda – Imperial Palace was OK. It was early in our trip and much hotter and humid so it was a bit miserable. There were better shrines and historical attractions.

Asagaya – this was the quieter neighborhood our omakase sushi was located in, Sushi Shunsuke. Awesome experience, delicious fish, and service (besides the wasabi). We didn’t do much exploring here.

Asakusa – Old Tokyo, something more interesting including some shrines to break up the big city. As a tourist, I’m not a fan of most city shrines. I prefer a beautiful garden or some other attraction. Kappabashi street is in Asakusa which has the “popular” knife shops and kitchen wares. We had planned on updating our knives while here. We went to Tsubaya and a few others. Bought a chef, utility, and paring knife for us and a set for a friend from Tsubaya for close to $400 per set. They are not tax free. Allegedly you can bring the receipt somewhere and get a tax refund if you do it same day. I thought you could do it at the airport which is apparently too late. Oh well.

Shimokitazawa – cool “bohemian” area with nice coffee shops. I love vintage clothes and there must be 50 stores within a mile block. Finally picked up some XXL stuff for the fat American. See lots of complaints about the prices of vintage stores on here. Vintage store != thrift store (Salvation Army, Plato’s Closet, Good Will). They are expensive, but they’re curated so whoever does the buying for these stores spends a lot of time looking for a certain aesthetic. They don’t just take all your dad’s old clothes and put them on a rack.

Meguro – Starbucks Reserve was here, and the wife wanted to go. Not a big Starbucks guy, but this place (and Meguro) is very cool. They have food (sandwiches, pizza, pastries) and a balcony that overlooks a river lined with sakura trees. We sat here for a while then grabbed sushi at “Zushi” afterwards.

Kichijoji – This is the area where Ghibli Museum is. We didn’t get tickets, and it didn’t sound enjoyable judging by what some people have said about how touristy it is. There’s an excellent park here that was worth traveling for alone called Inokashira Park. It also has a zoo, but I’ve read and still read bad things about animal welfare in Japanese zoos, so we didn’t go.

Team Labs Tokyo – insanely touristy, very good time and interesting experience

We planned to do a day trip to Nikko, but I got shook looking at transport because it was early in our trip and it included buses and several transfers. It was also about 5 hours of travel round trip, so we just decided to skip it. In retrospect, we should have gone.

Went to Kamakura instead – beautiful shrines and gardens and an awesome way to break up all city stuff in Tokyo. We went to Kotoku-in (Giant Buddha) and Hasedera (mossy garden temple) – probably the two most popular ones.

**Hakone** \- Kinnotake Tonosawa Ryokan – shipped bags to Kyoto and took Romancecar to Hakone. 2 nights at an expensive private open air onsen ryokan. Incredible. If you want to spend time at a private onsen with private bathroom, you need to look well in advance, and they’re expensive. When we booked this place 2 months in advance, it was like $1200 a night between us. Don’t regret it because it was awesome. Large room, meals, 2 connected beds, top floor private onsen on the balcony overlooking the forest.

Another rant. I’ve read a lot on here that people regret spending 2 nights in Hakone. That’s crazy to me. They must be staying in a lower quality accommodation or trying to micromanage every minute of their trip. After 7 nights in Tokyo, 2 nights here was perfect to relax a bit. There’s no way you can spend 1 night here and truly enjoy your accommodation if you plan to do the Hakone Loop. Check in at most of these places is after 3PM and check out is 11AM – you don’t even get 24 hours if you spend 1 night. If you leave Tokyo early and work on the loop before checking in, you give yourself the evening and next morning to enjoy the accommodations. I guess if you’re on such a tight schedule this can work, but sometimes you just need some time to breathe and enjoy your surroundings.

We had our only wagyu meal here. They have a private, upstairs, just off-site restaurant where a chef cooked for us privately. Awesome experience. Hakone itself was great, do the loop. We saw Mt. Fuji on the train, but it was too cloudy when in Hakone. Stop at the Open Air Museum, but I don’t see the Hakone Museum of Art mentioned much. We actually did not go into the museum, but bought tickets just for the garden. Breathtaking and easily the most gorgeous garden on the trip with views of the valley and surrounding mountains in the backdrop. Make sure you get on one of the Lake Ashi boats in time; we luckily caught the last one around 4PM.

**Kyoto** \- Higashiyama Shikikaboku – 5 nights – this hotel was also amazing. Small, brand new, maybe 6 room hotel that serves breakfast in a quieter area just outside of the more poppin’ part of Kyoto. Right next to the subway. Rooftop with seating above all the nearby buildings and a reservable private open air bath. This place was equally as impressive as our ryokan.

We loved Kyoto. Should have spent an extra night here probably. Our hotel made some of the attractions walkable, but a bus stop was nearby for the others. Not going to go through all of the shrines we hit since they’re mostly the popular ones. I’ll comment on a few.

Fushimi Inari (Tori gates shrine) – We were gonna go super early (7am) to avoid people, but I was too lazy. We went in the afternoon on a whim since we had some time coming back from Arashiyama. It was filled with tourists as expected. Still nice, we only walked up for about 30 minutes then headed back. We weren’t in the mood for the full hike which I guess takes several hours. I thought it was still worth it even with all the people.

Yasaka Shrine – the exception to the city shrine…if you go at night. We skipped this during the day, but it stays open at night and they turn on all the lanterns and honestly it was incredible to walk around. Highly recommend going here after dinner or after Gion. Not many people as well.

Osaka Day Trip from Kyoto – I enjoyed it, wife did not. For the purpose of our trip, a day trip was perfect. The food in Osaka was great – we pretty much got off the train and did the itinerary from Japan Guide. Did Dotonbori and Nipponbashi Denden Town as well as some of the shopping alleyways.

Arashayama – we planned on skipping Arashayama, actually. The bamboo forest sounded like it was hoarded with people (it was) and heard if you saw some of the other groves it wasn’t much different (it was different, it’s much bigger and more impressive than the groves we saw so far). We needed some things to do so we just decided to go. It was great. We walked the bridge, skipped the monkey park (because they’re treated like shit), and figured we’d hit the shrine and bamboo forest. The Tenryu-ji shrine was beautiful then led to the bamboo grove. The real treat was the park and tea house at the end of the grove. There is a cost to go inside, I think about 1000 yen with a cup of matcha. This seems to keep people out. There is an easily hikable narrow trail/park through the mountain with some amazing views of Kyoto and some traditional buildings plus a tea house, I believe donated by a Japanese actor’s estate. We saw a handful of people on the trail. Worth coming to Arashayama alone. Afterwards we had matcha with a view of the bamboo.

Gion House – small cultural theater and 1 hour show with traditional music and performance arts including a small Geisha show at the end. Nice experience.

We took the trains back to Haneda with our luggage. It honestly wasn’t that bad carrying the luggage up/down a few flights of stairs and on the subway/shinkansen. Alternatively there are some elevators you can use.

Was a great trip and great experience. Look forward to going to the north and south of the country next time.