TRIP REPORT: 2 weeks in Tokyo / Kyoto / Osaka / Nara / Kamakura / Enoshima Island

Hi all! I just came back from 2 weeks in Japan and wanted to share what my itinerary was, how achievable it was, and learnings for anyone who might find it useful.

* **GENERAL INFO**
* WHEN: October 3 to October 17; it rained a handful of days out of 13 days we were in Japan which made us adjust a few things
* WEATHER: mid 70s during the day, low 60s at night. Hot when the sun was out, very very very nice when there were a few clouds. Got pretty chilly and windy whenever it rained and at night! Very glad I packed a light jacket and would’ve packed a few more sweatshirts if I had known.
* WHERE: Stayed in Shibuya + Shinjuku for Tokyo, in Gion for Kyoto portion, and Namba for Osaka portion. All locations were very convenient.
* MONEY: Used mostly credit card (for restaurants, convenience stores, shopping); withdrew \~50,000 yen in cash between two people for temples, street food, luggage transport, and Suica reloads with only a handful of 10 yen coins left over by end of trip
* TRANSPORT: Loaded about 7,000 yen total on Suicas and was left with about \~1,000 yen at the end of trip; bought JR pass which was a big debate for me as I thought it wouldn’t save us that much money but it actually ended up saving us about \~$70 between round trip on the Shinkansen + local lines in Kyoto/Nara
* INTERNET: Bought 10 GB Ubigi eSim for both myself and my sister. I was the main navigator so I ended up running out of data halfway through and rebought another 10GB and used it all up by the time we were at the airport to go home. In comparison, sister had 3 GB left.

* **TLDR** **LEARNINGS**
* Something that surprised me was that shopping in Japan is very clear cut with the seasons. Where I’m from, even in the winter you can usually find a section in each store with lighter items like t-shirts, shorts, etc. But when I was in Japan, all the stores were selling exclusively Fall/Winter items. This applied to thrift stores as well. I ended up not buying much clothing because I didn’t have room to fit coats/sweaters in my luggage.
* I didn’t realize you had to scan in AND out of train stations. Had to talk to a station attendant because my Suica declined after I didn’t scan out of the previous station I was at and all transactions afterward were blocked.
* It’s true, there are no trash cans anywhere.
* The walk estimations on Google Maps are pretty optimistic, even for a fast walker. I always took about 5-10 minutes longer than the number it gave.
* The times for trains shown on Google Maps is when they LEAVE, not when they get to the station.
* After 5PM, there’s not a whole lot you can do in Kyoto. I also experienced restaurants in Kyoto closing at random — a lot of places I had saved were closed when I went even though there wasn’t any indication on their socials, storefront, or website. So for this reason, I recommend getting reservations for Kyoto. Outside of Kyoto, I had no problem finding places to eat without a reservation.

\- **ITINERARY RETROSPECTIVE -**

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* **DAY 1 – TOKYO**
* Planned:
* Land in HND at 4PM, load Suica, and take train to hotel in Shibuya and get dinner
* What actually happened:
* Landed at HND at 4PM, took an hour to get through immigration and customs (was a very smooth and easy to understand process since we used the Visit Japan app beforehand), took another hour to wait in line to get Suica cards and cash from 7 bank ATM at airport
* We ended up taking the airport bus to Shibuya Station as we had 1 piece of bigger luggage and it was very affordable (\~$15 a person)
* Shibuya was the most difficult place for me to navigate. Sometimes you had to use pedestrian overpasses, take elevators to get to a different level, or cut through station entrances/exits to get to where you need to go, and Google Maps doesn’t call that out for you. Got lost for about an hour trying to get to our hotel from where the airport bus dropped us off despite Google Maps saying it was a 10 minute walk 💀
* **DAY 2 – TOKYO**
* Planned:
* Morning at Meiji Shrine / Yoyogi Park if jet lagged
* Harajuku / Omotesando / Cat Street
* Shibuya Sky at 3:40PM and explore Shibuya afterwards
* What actually happened:
* Didn’t wake up too early so just went straight to Takeshita Street. Only managed to hit up a few of the vintage stores I had saved because I got too distracted exploring other cute boutiques in Omotesando / Cat Street. Really loved this area and could’ve spent an entire afternoon there.
* Ideally would’ve booked a sunset time for Shibuya Sky since I felt rushed to get back to Shibuya in time. Made the mistake of wearing a skirt and it was SOOOO WINDY UP THERE I was literally fighting for my life to not flash anyone. Please don’t do what I did and wear pants, lmao.
* Walked around Shibuya and got dinner at Gyukatsu Motomura and it was so good, worth the wait.
* **DAY 3 – TOKYO**
* Planned:
* Asakusa / Nakamise Street / Senso-ji
* cafe capyba
* Akihabara
* Miyashita Park or Nonbei Yokocho
* What actually happened:
* Got to Asakusa at 8AM and beat the crowds! Was so nice to explore Senso-ji and surrounding grounds freely. It did take a while for Nakamise Street vendors to start opening though, around 10\~11AM.
* Made our way over to cafe capyba at around 11AM. I didn’t realize it would be so popular (and that people go before opening to secure a ticket) and we ended up only being able to get a ticket for 2:30PM. So we wandered around the Tokyo Skytree area and explored some of the local shrines until it was our time to go back. The capybaras seemed very well taken care of and the visitors were limited to a few at a time to keep from overwhelming them.
* Got lost on the way to Akihabara and ended up getting there at around 5PM. 😅 But managed to hit up all the places we wanted to hit up there.
* **DAY 4 – TOKYO**
* Planned:
* Tsukiji Market / teamLabs Planets at 10:30AM / Ginza
* What actually happened:
* Ended up getting to Tsukiji Market at around 8 instead of 7 like I had planned. By the time we got there, the lines were ridiculous and some stalls had sold out for the day which was a bummer. The crowds were honestly overwhelming and made my experience not super great. We managed to get into a donburi place and ate there but didn’t try much else because the lines wrapped around the block.
* We made it through teamLabs Planets in exactly 2 hours. I thought it was cool!
* After teamLabs we immediately headed to Ginza and honestly, it was kind of just okay for me since I’m not into luxury shopping. We checked out the big Uniqlo there and that’s where I realized Japan is super strict with what season’s clothes are out on the floor. There were 12 floors, but what people don’t mention is every floor kind of has the same stuff. So it’s 12 floors of the same clothes spread out on different floors.
* We made our way over to Tsujihan in Akasaka for dinner. We waited only for 20 minutes at this secondary location and it was…. just okay. It was great value for what you pay though. I did hear that the Ginza location was better but I was not about to wait for 3+ hours in line.
* **DAY 5 – KYOTO**
* Planned:
* Bullet train to Kyoto at 7AM
* Nishiki Market / Ginkakuji / Philosopher’s Path / Nanzenji / Pontocho Alley
* What actually happened:
* We boarded the Shinkansen from Shinagawa station to Kyoto. It was surprisingly an easy process — no one even checked our ticket. Unfortunately couldn’t get Fuji view seats for this trip.
* It was raining by the time we got to Kyoto. Our hotel’s check-in wasn’t until 2PM so we checked out Nishiki Market and the surrounding shops until then. Nishiki Market was slightly less crowded than Tsukiji but still packed. There were a lot of stores and cafes to check out surrounding the market.
* By the time we got back to our hotel and dropped our stuff off, it was about 2:30PM and pouring rain 🙁 We made the decision to skip Ginkakuji / Philosopher’s Path since I didn’t think we’d have enough time to fully enjoy it before it closed and the rain would make walking not so pleasant. Instead we went to Nanzenji since it was closer. It was a very nice temple and the rain added an additional sense of peace to it.
* **DAY 6 – ARASHIYAMA**
* Planned:
* Arashiyama Bamboo Forest / Tenryu-ji / Iwatayama Monkey Park / Street Food
* Kinkaku-ji
* What actually happened:
* Once again it was raining, and we got to the Bamboo forest at around 7AM. There was barely anyone else around and the quiet of the morning + the bamboo + the rain was very relaxing. The bamboo forest itself is pretty small, but worth seeing if you have room in your itinerary.
* Tenryu-ji had a lovely garden and was worth seeing!
* The hike up to the Monkey Park was BRUTAL. I can’t believe people were pushing their strollers up there. They say it’s a 20 minute hike, but that’s only if you don’t stop at any point. It took us about 35 minutes with breaks in between to get all the way to the top. But the view once you get up there is worth it, moreso than the monkeys actually. The monkeys were a bit hostile, and I don’t blame them… haha.
* Took a taxi from Arashiyama to Kinkaku-ji with about an hour to see it before it closed, which I was fine with since you can’t go in. It was beautiful but we got there and saw it from a few different angles and that was about it, hahaha.
* **DAY 7 – KYOTO**
* Planned:
* Kiyomizu-dera / Sannenzaka / Ninnenzaka / Hokan-ji / Yasaka Jinja / Hanamikoji Street
* Kimono Rental at 10AM
* MY ONLY FRAGRANCE reservation at 1PM
* What actually happened:
* Woke up early and walked to Kiyomizudera around 8AM and beat the crowds again. It’s a beautiful temple with lots to see. I recommend getting there at this time. By the time we finished wandering around Kiyomizu-dera, Sannenzaka started to open up so it was perfect timing.
* Kimonos are ultra tight and the shoes hurt after walking for while so just be wary of that if you’re planning to do kimono rental as well. Ended up only wearing ours until 3PM (instead of until the return time of 5PM) because our feet hurt so bad.
* While I recommend MY ONLY FRAGRANCE for those who are interested in fragrance, I will say the reviews are disproportionately positive because they ask you for a review right then and there… lol
* **DAY 8 – FUSHIMI INARI / NARA**
* Planned:
* Fushimi Inari / Nara Park / Todai-ji / Nakatanidou
* What actually happened:
* Fushimi Inari in the morning and then Nara in the afternoon is more than doable. Didn’t feel rushed at any point.
* I loved Fushimi Inari. We got there at around 7:30AM and people were just starting to show up; stayed there until around 10. Since we went early, there wasn’t much of a crowd along the hike and there were so many shrine cats.
* I also really loved Nara. The deer were very pushy, but the female deer were more docile. Todai-ji is HUGE and worth a visit if you’re in Nara.
* **DAY 9 – OSAKA**
* Planned:
* Train to Osaka / Kuromon Market / Shinsaibashi / Amerika-mura / Orange Street / Dotonbori
* What actually happened:
* Kuromon Market was my favorite market of the big three. It was oddly not crowded at all, almost dead when we went (around 11AM) and although the food variety was smaller than Tsukiji or Nishiki, at least you could actually eat without waiting in ridiculous lines, lmao. The fatty tuna here was amazing.
* Afterwards we went on a thrift-hopping spree in Shinsaibashi/Amerika-mura/Orange Street. Sadly wasn’t very successful since a lot of items were pretty pricey but it was a good experience seeing all the different stores’ vibe and looking through the vintage designer.
* Dotonbori was so lively and although I’m sure locals hate it like New Yorkers hate Times Square, I loved the energy.
* **DAY 10 – OSAKA**
* Planned:
* Osaka Castle / Osaka Aquarium / Shinsekai / Namba Yasaka Jinja / Umeda
* What actually happened:
* Knew that I only wanted to see Osaka Castle and not actually go in, so we took a taxi and got to Osaka Castle at around 8AM and walked around the gardens and park. Definitely a good time to go if you’re not planning to go inside, there were only a few tour groups starting to show up at this time.
* Osaka Aquarium took us about 2 hours to go through and was totally worth.
* Shinsekai was a charming area to walk around, although smaller than I expected.
* We ended up not going to Umeda area and instead checked out Den Den Town.
* **DAY 11 – TOKYO**
* Planned:
* Bullet train back to Tokyo / Shimokitazawa / Shinjuku / Omoide Yokocho / Kabukicho / Golden Gai
* What actually happened:
* Got back to Tokyo at around 11AM, dropped our bags off at the hotel and headed to Shimokitazawa. First stopped by Shiro-hige’s Cream Puff Factory and got one of the last cream puffs. We didn’t dine in since the line for that was too long. Would recommend going earlier than we did!
* Checked out Shimokitazawa for the rest of the afternoon. I loved the vibe of this neighborhood and could see myself hanging out here with friends if I lived in Tokyo. However the actual thrifting was very American-core (lol) and expensive so I didn’t pick up that many things.
* Headed back to Shinjuku for dinner and tried to get Udon Shin but realized it was one of those restaurants where you had to line up before it opened to grab a time because they were sold out of seats. Instead went to Fuunji a street over which had a line that moved fast, and then walked around the iconic Shinjuku sights.
* **DAY 12 – TOKYO**
* Planned:
* Nakameguro / Daikanyama / Etc. Kept this day pretty open to do anything else that might have missed.
* What actually happened:
* It rained. A lot.
* Went to the famous Onibus Coffee in the morning to try to grab a coffee and a cute pic of the train station, but a bunch of other people had the same idea. After finishing our drinks, we got tired of waiting for a photo and left and got i’m donut ? which had a short line thanks to the rain. These donuts are worth the long wait that it usually has though, very light tasting and yummy.
* Loved the Daikanyama area a lot — felt very artsy. Checked out the Kyu Asakura house and a couple of art galleries to wait out the rain. I also spent forever at Daikanyama T-site.
* After the rain eased, we went souvenir shopping at Kiddy Land and Mega Don Quixote, and checked out Shibuya 109.
* **DAY 13 – KAMAKURA / ENOSHIMA ISLAND**
* Planned:
* Train to Kamakura / Tsurugaoka Hachimangu / Komachi-dori / Kotaku-in / Hasedera Shrine / Enoshima Island
* What actually happened:
* Kamakura/Enoshima Island was one of my favorites places I went to on this trip. A day is plenty of time to do both. No notes. Loved it.
* **DAY 14**
* Got one last matcha and spent the rest of our cash on snacks and gachas before going to the airport and flying home 🙁

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And that’s it! Can’t wait to go back. Hope this was helpful!