15-day Trip Report: Shimizu, Kyoto/Osaka, Hakone, Nagoya, and Tokyo (some pics, mostly food). Long Post!

My wife (36F) and I (35M) went on a 15-day trip. We are both Americans and speak very little Japanese. This is our second trip to Japan. We are both adventurous eaters and will basically eat anything at all. We’re both in decent shape so we are okay with lots of walking. We didn’t plan this trip super strictly and other than general location we just let our legs and trains take us wherever. Honestly, we could spend a month in Osaka/Kyoto or Tokyo and stil have lots to see and do.

#**Tips:**

* Use Luggage forwarding services like Yamato to save yourself trouble. We saw way too many people lugging around 700 lb backpacks on trains.
* You can skip the JR pass, except in rare instances you’ll save money or at worst break even not getting it and you’ll be on some lines which don’t use it (quite a few don’t). You also are more free on the itinerary.
* ShinkansenEX app is a lifesaver, it’s worth using. You can skip the lines, you don’t need a JR pass to not wait.
* Get a pasmo/suica. It’ll expedite your life. You can get a pasmo at the airport. We had Suica cards from our last visit, I forgot where we got them.
* If, like me, you have Verizon then you can set up international service and skip the portable wifi, just connect like normal in Japan. We got 4g-5g in most places. We always had internet without worrying about one more thing.
* Google maps will get you where you want to go for the most part. Though do be aware that occasionally it got a bus station name wrong.
* Don’t only rely on google maps for finding food. Tabelog is good for ratings/finding places. But even then, you’ll often find you’ll see bars/food just by walking around that didn’t show up. People miss good spots by relying on it.
* Be polite, be accommodating. We saw many tourists not getting what they wanted by being rude, loud, or angry. Learn basic niceties.
* Cash is still handy, especially outside the Tokyo area. You’ll need cash.
* Don’t be afraid to hoof it way off the beaten path and just experience places, culture, and people. Your itinerary isn’t law.
* October is perfect for weather, I highly recommend it over September.
* Lockers are your friend, make liberal use of them and you won’t have to lug around much.
* Translator apps are great. My pixel has a good audio translator and we made liberal use of it when our limited Japanese couldn’t cut it.

#**Trip Itinerary:**

* Arrive in Tokyo
* A day in Shimizu
* Five days in Kyoto area (Osaka, Nara)
* Stop in Nagoya on the way to Hakone
* Two nights in Hakone
* Five days in Tokyo area (Yokohama)

Preface: these are abbreviated highlights from memory. Every vacation has more nuance than any summary.

#**Dawn of the First Day: Arrival.**

We arrived at Haneda airport in the late afternoon. We have Suica cards and load them up to get us around for a bit. We also download the Shinkansen EX app for later.

We know jetlag is a bitch so instead of heading out we just crash at a hotel in Shinagawa. We did try to sleep at Japanese times on the plane which helped alleviate this some. I feel bad for people who don’t try to acclimate before arriving, jet lag can be rough when it’s a 13-hour time shift.

For dinner we just eat light and [grab some convenient store food and beer.](https://i.imgur.com/jdVf2PK.jpg) Nothing crazy. Easy day. The hotel has a gigantic in-room tub, which was nice for a soak.

#**Days 2-3: Tokyo to Shimizu to Kyoto. Main Activity: Itasha Show**

In the morning we send our luggage straight to Kyoto via Yamato. We take one outfit for the next day in our backpacks.

Originally we planned to take the shinkansen from Shinagawa to Shizuoka station, but we decided to go do some light shopping near Tokyo station since I forgot batteries for my camera. At Tokyo station we hit up a cafe that serves pretty solid coffee and [spaghetti napolitan](https://i.imgur.com/S9nnJ0M.jpg) which is something filling to get us through most of the rest of the day. I thought it wouldnt be good but turned out to be quite nice.

From there we grab a Shinkansen to Shizuoka station. I highly recommend the app: we tied it to our IC cards and just bought tickets via app and then tagged through the Shinkansen gate with our cards. No lines, no fuss, and fairly cheap.

We arrive at Shizuoka station and take another train to Shimizu. This is a relatively suburban/rural fishing town. This is not a large city and definitely not a tourist location. We are the only non-Japanese people I see the entire time we are there: we stand out quite a lot and people, especially teens, stare which I don’t mind but it was funny.

We check-in to the hotel and explored the area. We went to see the waterfront in anticipation of tomorrow’s Itasha car show. Still full from napolitan, we don’t eat much.

Shimizu is pretty and you can see Mt Fuji from the shoreline which is nice. The people are polite and reserved, you can tell there’s much less hustle and bustle here than in Tokyo or Osaka.

For dinner we hit a [yakiniku place near the hotel. It’s a chain I believe, but it had good reviews on tabelog and was quite tasty.](https://i.imgur.com/OJYRJT2.jpg)

In the morning we wake up early, grab the hotel breakfast which was included. It’s pretty good and in a buffet style. For the price ($5 ea) it’s amazing, really. [We then head over to the waterfront for the car show.](https://i.imgur.com/oeVMW6M.jpg)

[The show is neat but rain is coming.](https://i.imgur.com/AoFOaCX.jpg) We get our fill quickly before the storm and head out to go to Kyoto. There’s a soccer game in the area so the fans are out in force, which is fun to see.

With the app in hand we just grab a quick shinkansen ticket from Shizuoka to Kyoto station. We arrive in Kyoto and head to our (much nicer) hotel to check-in. We rarely stay at nicer joints, so this is a change of pace for us. The staff are attentive, almost overly so, and polite. Being travel-weary and tired from a day of Shimizu it feels almost bad to be in a nice place looking as we do.

We grab some food in the Gion area. It’s [traditional Kyoto style sushi (sabazushi) which is THICCCCC kelp wrapped around mackerel](https://i.imgur.com/BPum2Ap.png). It’s quite good though difficult to bite through. The sushi is tasty and has a sort of a gooeyness to the kelp around it. It’s different but I like it. [We also got a small box of pressed sushi with it that was quite good.](https://i.imgur.com/U4pD2Vl.jpg). This was take-out as the restaurant was under renovation, but it was VERY good nonetheless.

[It’s rainy and chilly](https://i.imgur.com/BOcop0v.jpg) so we grab some umbrellas and my wife buys a nice cloak. We go around taking some pictures and seeing the vast hordes of tourists of which we are a part. We end up at a craft beer bar that’s quite good and then go pass out for the full Kyoto trip to come.

#**Days 4-8: Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka.**

**Day 4: Kyoto. Main Activity: Kiyomizu-dera and Nishiki Market.**

[The weather is clearing up now](https://i.imgur.com/TlfMlw9.jpg) and it’s quite cool. The rest of the trip will find us with clear skies and highs in the 70’s, hard to complain about that.

We grab breakfast at a cafe nearby [which has amazing french toast](https://i.imgur.com/AkRcd8g.jpg) in a cozy shop then head over to [Kiyomizu-dera](https://i.imgur.com/b03PY0I.jpg) for the overlook of Kyoto and a gorgeous shrine. I highly recommend getting here early as it’s busy then and busier later.

From there we head to Nishiki Market and do some shopping. We end up hitting the market stalls and eating tons of [random bits and skewers throughout the market](https://i.imgur.com/uyfqy0E.jpg) while drinking a [a little](https://i.imgur.com/1wt7hyr.jpg).There’s some fun souvenirs for family/friends here and we pick up a few neat things for ourselves. After that hike up the hill to Kiyomizu we crash hard for the next day.

**Day 5: Imperial Palace and Arashiyama**

Our legs were destroyed from the prior day so we decided to take it easy on this day. This turn out to be a fucking lie.

[We hit up a nearby cafe for coffee and bread before we head out.](https://i.imgur.com/7qiOUJZ.png) [We go to the imperial palace to find… it’s closed!](https://i.imgur.com/DgbgizP.jpg) Yay… it was an unplanned closure. I guess the prime minister was randomly coming by or some other political official. We take a few shots of the exterior and instead go drink a bunch of morning sake at a nearby brewery. Great place, I recommend it.

From there we go to Arashiyama. It’s an easy train ride and we still arrive fairly early in the day. [We hit up the Rilakkuma cafe](https://i.imgur.com/S7r0y1f.jpg) for some silly [food](https://i.imgur.com/zQl2sJC.jpg) and fun. The wait isn’t terrible, only 30 minutes.

[We walk to the bamboo forest,](https://i.imgur.com/szWWaKp.jpg) hang out with the other tourists and chat with some. It’s pretty and fun. [We end up climbing to the overlook](https://i.imgur.com/B5Zxmce.jpg) which has no one else at it and then take the back path down to the river, it’s pretty and quiet.

This ends up eating up a lot more time than we anticipated due to the extra hiking. We head back to [Kyoto station and grab one of the best meals of the entire trip for me: eel!](https://i.imgur.com/flbUoep.jpg) Goddamn do I love eel and this place is fucking good.

**Day 6: Fushimi-Inari and Osaka**

Waking up we hit up a different nearby cafe for breakfast. [This one has various sandwiches/toasts/omelettes](https://i.imgur.com/QsiXFqM.jpg) with quite good coffee. It’s cozy next to a stream.

From there we hit up Fushimi-Inari, [the true madness zone.](https://i.imgur.com/kzC4jKG.jpg). We arrive early but it’s already quite busy. [We do the normal tourist looking around the front and then begin our hike to the top.](https://i.imgur.com/SNt1NTX.png) We go through the first few torii gates, but then see an old broken path to the side.

[The broken path](https://i.imgur.com/YHN7rTw.jpg) leads [to a much older, mostly unkept, shrine.](https://i.imgur.com/Jhn4oUh.jpg) The box is empty so my wife tosses in 200 yen (our only coins atm are 100 yen coins) and we do a quick prayer. From this point until we get close to the top (from the back way) we do not see another person at all.

I’m not spiritual, so I assume there’s a rational explanation for an oddity as we walk the back paths. Both of us hear what sounds like a large animal running right next to us, I mean RIGHT NEXT TO US, but neither of us sees anything. It also has a loud panting, like a large dog. This area is kind of open and we both stop dead in our tracks and look around. We see nothing. I can’t stress how loud the rustling of leaves and panting noise was though, extremely strange and we both made jokes about it for the rest of our time in Kyoto.

[This route takes us through some less-well kept areas and a bamboo forest.](https://i.imgur.com/dZDnObT.jpg) We end up going up extremely steep steps to the top which destroys our legs. [We make it and find the rest of our tourist brethren,](https://i.imgur.com/de6tiZ9.jpg) albeit diminished compared to the shrine entrance.

We make our way back down through the torii gate and are glad it’s a much easier route, haha.

It’s only the early afternoon so we take the train into Osaka for some shopping and sightseeing. [We get there around 2ish and hit Osaka castle.](https://i.imgur.com/v9YG8vw.jpg). It’s pretty cool and I really enjoy the museum portion. I know most people only go straight to the top for their ‘gram, but I do recommend the museum.

[We then go hit nipponbashi for shopping and the CSM exhibit.](https://i.imgur.com/5p299mi.jpg It kind of has the feel of Akihabara but from 15 years ago. I really like it actually. We found some neat treasures and now it’s getting late.

[There’s a fun Okinawan-style izakaya open so we go there and have a good time. The food was good](https://i.imgur.com/feSjriT.jpg) and I won a free piece of tofuyo. I’d never had tofuyo before, but it was pretty interesting in flavor. It startles you at first how strong it is, but I liked it.

We take the train back to Kyoto, it’s an easy 45 minutes and not a problem.

**Day 7: Osaka**

This day and the next we’ll be getting the hotel breakfast. A good rule of thumb in Japan is always choose [the Japanese breakfast](https://i.imgur.com/tnU9Gm8.jpg), never the western. [This holds here where I see the western breakfast looks bland and forgettable, while our Japanese breakfast looks and tastes home-cooked by the kitchen’s resident grandma and is actually very good.](https://i.imgur.com/a8oyK9o.jpg)

We went back to Osaka to see one of the more unusual sites of our trip: [The Tower of the Sun](https://i.imgur.com/lnuzbAR.png) in the ‘70 Expo park. It is truly a weird thing but very cool. There’s almost no one in this park. We had no idea you could go inside the thing, but a very nice man who works there sells us tour tickets right outside it and we go inside. [The inside of this thing is what Charles Darwin would see in a fever dream. It’s very cool.](https://i.imgur.com/Hvgurok.png)

The rest of the park is beautiful. [The flower garden is the busiest area](https://i.imgur.com/S8FOSYF.jpg) with lots of hobby photographers setup with very elaborate setups for the flowers. Oddly, we are the only tourists we see here, I guess it’s a bit far outside Osaka and has no JR lines to it.

We take the train into Osaka proper to hit up more shopping and more sites. We got to a cat cafe. [Unlike most, this one is specifically for rescue cats](https://twitter.com/officia86839977) and it’s adorable but sad. They are great cats and you can adopt them! They have a little train that goes around and the kitties attack it.

[The Dotonbori area is cool and at night we do go see the billboard/signs which are neat, though overrated.](https://i.imgur.com/O66p4pc.jpg) I’m not sure why this is the most crowded place we go to in Japan, [but it’s PACKED. ](https://i.imgur.com/captR48.jpg)

Deciding to flee the crowds, we step into the department store basement to [grab quite good Korean-style fried chicken.](https://i.imgur.com/CvE0XfA.jpg) It’s empty here because the stores are ostensibly closed, but the basement is not? But you can only get to it by asking security to let you to that area specifically. This works out nicely for us, but I have no idea why this is the setup.

Thus the day ends with us stuffed with chicken riding back to Kyoto.

**Day 8: Nara**

We got up early, grabbed food, and hit the train to Nara. It’s a quickshot and we get there quite early. I forget my camera and to charge my phone, so not a lot of pictures, mostly my wife has all those.

The deer are comically aggressive and cute. It’s fine as both my wife and I can handle them, but we see many tourists who can’t get harassed by them, which is pretty bad.

We do a lot of walking here and hit a [ton of various shrines/temples.](https://i.imgur.com/uWC3qZZ.jpg) [For lunch we get some amazing parfaits as well as mochi.](https://i.imgur.com/4SXcxdG.jpg). We eat various other little things, too. I love how much random stuff you can find in Japanese cities while walking. I think we are in an off season or just ahead of the crowds as most places are relatively empty. That works for us.

There’s some sort of political thing happening so we do take a minute to watch a media shitstorm unfold before heading back to Kyoto.

In Kyoto we want to know what the memes are about so [we go to 551 Horai.](https://i.imgur.com/qkVF6SO.jpg) Honestly they were really good buns. I doubt I’d wait in a long line for them, which apparently happens, but I would wait the 5 minutes we did wait.

We go hit a bar and drink some more beer before packing. For the next day. We

#**Day 9: Travel and Nagoya Pitstop**

We pack enough clothes for two days in our backpacks and send everything else to Tokyo via Yamato. This way we can arrive at the Hakone Ryokan pretty much empty-handed.

We take the Shinkansen to Nagoya and then from Nagoya to Hakone. Nagoya is neat, it’s got a different, more laid back vibe compared to Osaka or Tokyo.

[In Nagoya we swing by the castle](https://i.imgur.com/r0XCwXL.jpg). It’s very cool and we get nabbed by a random volunteer guide: Naoki! He’s a very sweet older man. Honestly, I recommend the guides, he told us a lot we wouldn’t have known and helped us navigate the grounds. We were also the only ones he was guiding, so it felt like a personal guided tour.

[We then hit up a really cute coffee shop](https://i.imgur.com/Il39wgk.jpg) near the Castle before grabbing our next train to Hakone.

We [arrived at Hakone](https://i.imgur.com/Qb5i6W6.jpg) and head to [our gorgeous Ryokan a bit later than originally intended.](https://i.imgur.com/EZsD0lK.jpg) But they have staff waiting for us outside. They nab us and lead us in, explain all the room workings, and prep our dinner for us. The dinner is AMAZING. I can’t stress how fucking good this food is. [They serve “kanegawa beef,” ](https://i.imgur.com/ysPjrt4.jpg) which is the best beef I’ve ever had and yes I’ve had authentic kobe wagyu. Note, these are 9-course meals, so [each course seems small](https://i.imgur.com/Q9P3SkR.jpg), but believe me that by course nine you are stuffed.

Then begins the long soak in the hot spring tub in our room. We both make liberal use of this the entire time.

#**Day 10: Hakone**

[We both get the included breakfast and choose the Japanese breakfast which is massive and delicious.](https://i.imgur.com/hrmnN7a.jpg)

From here we decide to see the nearby mountain/volcano at Owakudani. First we do a quick soak in the tub, why not? We catch the wrong bus to the Gora station, but it’s no big deal. We get off the one we’re on and walk up the side of the mountain on old crazy concrete steps. There’s a crab here, he is our friend, we say tearful goodbyes to him.

[We get to Gora and take the cable car to Sounzan and then the ropeway to the mountain](https://i.imgur.com/SVRKwQY.png). We know a bus goes all the way up, but this seemed more fun and pretty.

[It’s cold as hell up on top of the mountain and the clouds are mostly blocking the far away views, but it’s still gorgeous. ](https://i.imgur.com/2z3EVrQ.jpg) [Yay volcano eggs!](https://i.imgur.com/OWSY2DZ.jpg)

We make our way back to Hakone-Yumoto station for some [light shopping](https://i.imgur.com/UDBAbhg.jpg) (mont blanc) before getting back to the Ryokan for dinner. The bar here is open so we grab drinks on the way in before going for a soak and wardrobe change (kimono/yukata) for dinner.

Once again dinner is phenomenal. They gave us sake in our room so we drank that while watching the mountains from the patio then passed out.

#**Day 11: Hakone to Tokyo**

The morning brings breakfast, I opt for the western one out of curiosity. It’s good, but again, a mistake as the Japanese one is superior so i get to watch my wife’s meal in envy.

We do a last hot tub soak, especially our poor legs, and head to the station. A cozy and great stay. To be honest two nights was warranted for relaxation and we could have spent multiple days doing outdoorsy stuff in the area. Not certain why people would think two days is too long.

When we get into Tokyo, we’re staying in Ebisu because the hotel was very nice for how cheap it was, but it feels like a downgrade after the Kyoto and Hakone places. Our bags are in our room. On paper the hotel is close to the station, but the gigantic hill to it says otherwise. I guess a pro-tip is making sure there’s not a titanic hill between your hotel and the nearby station.

[We decide to head over Akihabara](https://i.imgur.com/Q0uHFdx.jpg) for a [quick beer, food](https://i.imgur.com/j9ZpjhM.jpg), and streaming some claw machines to our friends back home who are awake for some fucking reason. The hitachino brewery on the river here is great.

#**Days 12-15: Tokyo, Yokohama**
**Day 12: Ebisu, Yokohama and Shinjuku. Gundam Base!**

Ebisu feels like a fancy district. Everyone dresses nicely and is wearing brand everything. I say this in comparison even to Shinjuku or Shibuya. It’s not really our speed but that’s fine.

We grab food nearby, I’m a sucker for sweet breads and coffee then set out for Yokohama and the Gundam Base.

It’s about an hour long trip. Not too bad. [The Gundam Base is cool as hell.](https://i.imgur.com/lsblCZf.jpg) We saw the Odaiba Gundam on our last visit and this ones’ a good bit different. Very impressive. We pick up some swag here. We see there’s a cup noodle museum nearby and decide to head there. It’s a super fun, albeit short and cheap, museum. Worth a fun visit if you’re already in the area like us. Plus the cup noodle inventor is responsible for my survival in university so I owe him one.

We head back to Shinjuku and do some shopping and sightseeing, it’s hectic and we visit many places, buy a lot, people watch, see weird things. [We also grab some monjayaki](https://i.imgur.com/4r9UxcR.png) which is really good actually. We have a very good okonomiyaki place near our house at home, plus we know monjayaki is the Tokyo specialty. It’s great! Maybe we should have done monja street.

**Day 13: Ikebukuro and Akihabara**

Yay cafes, I guess we like them. Plus you can just find them everywhere and walk in. Ikebukuro is for a sunshine city and otome road trip. We did the Nakano Broadway on our last visit, let’s change it up.

Sunshine city is MASSIVE and very neat. The gacha mall place is cool, [the pokemon center here is TITANIC.](https://i.imgur.com/ZHM8BfF.png) We spend way too much time on gacha and cranes before hitting up the surrounding area for stuff that was very targeted at women.

From there we head to Akihabara for more shopping, but this time diving deep for the finest treasures. My wife has very eclectic tastes in figures I guess. We start at the big animate there, the usual. But we go many places and go way off the beaten path into basements and attics that seemed confused to see us gaijin hunting down some secondhand goods. Food ends up as skewers and beer.

[This leads to Mogra](https://www.twitch.tv/mogra) which is fun, as expected. Just a great place to chill to DJs with other nerds and drink lots. We finish that late and go crash.

**Day 14: Shibuya/Harajuku and Akihabara (again)**

I am VERY hungover on this day. Thank god I’d brought ibuprofen and bought pocari sweat.

Different mornings, different cafes. [This one is in Harajuku](https://i.imgur.com/8qUGyv5.jpg), a very cute classy place run by an older man who makes IMMACULATE coffee drinks. I liked it a lot. We then hit up the bear cafe (people in bear suits, not actual bears run it) to [grab some donuts](https://i.imgur.com/mszxYhF.jpg) for later.

Harajuku is as you’d expect. I find a vintage watch and my wife buys a ton of clothes on the side roads. The main road has become such a tourist spot of people not buying shit that the good clothing seems to have moved off it.

We head into Shibuya for more shopping/sightseeing. We wander in and out of shops, cafes, and bars before getting tired of it and heading back to Akihabara for some arcades, claw machines, more treasure hunting, and streaming to our friends. For various reasons some of our friends can never travel so they like the personal discord streams. I win BIGLY at the claw machines and walk out the victor.

[We swung by a little sushi place nearby and it’s very good. Not the best sushi I’ve ever had, but very good for the price.](https://i.imgur.com/gtYebjh.jpg)

We then hit up Donqi to buy a gigantic piece of cheap af luggage to pack all our shit into for the trip home. This night will be spent packing shit into the luggage.

**Day 15: Asakusa and leaving.**

Our flight is not until 6pm. We decided to grab breakfast and head to Asakusa for a bit. We’ve done the whole sightseeing last time we were here and that was during golden week so it was quite done up.

Still, it’s pretty and nice. We found some souvenirs and other stuff. My wife buys her yukata she wants for around home at a secondhand shop. The shop operator here is probably the best example of how not being the rude tourist gets you further. She’s dismissive of us, pointing at the sign saying they don’t rent kimonos. We remain polite and show genuine interest in buying something, she then lights up and her mood shifts. She helps my wife tie it/try it on and we purchase it. As we leave we can hear an Australian man arguing he wants to rent a kimono (it says you can’t rent there) so I now understand her mood.

We take our time at a nearby bar, it’s a bit early so we’re the only ones there. More skewers!

We head to the airport. It’s a direct flight so we load up on duty free alcohol. [**The end!**](https://i.imgur.com/LyPT1vn.jpg) We kinda stopped taking pictures in Tokyo, I think it was just mostly stuff you experience more than take photos.