First Timers – 2 week Honeymoon in Japan!

2 comments

1. Hey! Just finishing 2 weeks in Japan and my advice on Kyoto is carve out a few hours for a late night walk. Starting about 20:30 I walked to the Yasaka Shrine, then through Maruyama Park, down through Ninenzaka then grabbed a train to Fushimi Inari and made the climb at night. Honestly, one of the highlights of the whole trip. Kyoto at night is so peaceful and so beautiful but getting to Fushimi Inari at this time was beyond words. Barely anyone there, once I started climbing I saw another person maybe once every 10 minutes? The whole experience was amazing.

   Oh, Suicca/Pasmo/IC cards are currently on stop sell, a few main places like airports might have limited stock of the visitor one but it’s hit and miss. If you have an iPhone, using Apple Maps prompts you to add a travel card to your wallet and creates you a Suicca card… much easier than buying tickets constantly! (I’m sure Android has a similar offering, haven’t used though).

2. Congrats on your marriage and great choice of honeymoon location!

   I’ve not been to Nagano before and don’t have experience of that particular travel route, but it looks like a decent itinerary in terms of locations – a nice array of places without travelling too far or frequently.

   I’m surprised you don’t have all your accommodation booked yet if your wife is a planner though – I would be stressing out personally.

   >MOST IMPORTANT: Where is the best place to buy amazing Japanese culinary knives? This is one of my must haves! :). Any thoughts on this?

   A famous place is kappabashi street in Tokyo, also known as kitchen street. It has a lot of shops with kitchenware for restaurants, but I believe anyone can shop there. It’s very famous now, so I don’t know if it’s overpriced compared to other locations, but it might be worth checking out. It’s near asakusa and senso-ji, so you could combine these.

   >Days 1-5 (30th-Nov 3rd) will be in Tokyo. -would like to visit Disney land -Shibuya Crossing -Pokémon cafe (already have reservation) -Pokémon Centers -eat lots of amazing food. -open to lots of experiences!

   If you want to do Disneyland, buy your tickets and download the app ahead of time. Go to the park at least 1 hr before it opens (and go on a weekday). They often open the park gates early (how early depends on the day) and if you already have tickets you can go in. If not, you have to wait for them to open the ticket booths and buy them. It’s great if you can spare a day. My husband and I both loved it – it was way better than universal.

   Not sure what else to recommend in Tokyo as I don’t know what kind of thing you’re into. We liked Hanbeys – a showa-era style bar (we went to the one in Shinjuku). It’s very cheap, but small portions. We just had drinks and some yakitori as a snack. The aesthetic and atmosphere is very cool.

   You mentioned food, so my husband’s favourite meal in Tokyo was the ramen at kikanbo in kanda. Not too far from akihabara. It’s small, so go at an off peak time if you want to try it out. I don’t like pork so I wasn’t much of a fan, but if you like ramen it’s apparently very good.

   >Day 5 (Nov 3rd) – check out of hotel and head towards Nagano

   >Day 6 (Nov 4th) – head towards Matsumoto

   >Day 7 (Nov 5th) head towards MATSUMOTO KAMIKOCHI and TAKAYAMA

   >Day 8 (Nov 6th) head towards SHIRAKAWA-GO and KANAZAWA

   I’ve not been to Nagano, Matsumoto, or Kanazawa, but I really liked takayama and shirakawago. I’ve not been recently though so I don’t have much to add.

   >Day 9-11 (Nov 7th-9th) KANAZAWA to KYOTO. Spend a day or two in KYOTO Spend time here enjoy. -open to all experiences here!

   I advise at least 2 days in Kyoto, more would be better. If only two days, I’d recommend one in arashiyama and the other in east Kyoto – e.g. ninenzaka and sannenzaka, kiyomizu temple, yasaka shrine and maruyama park, and wander around the gion area. (Be aware that photos and filming are prohibited on many of the traditional gion geisha district streets – there are signs up. Don’t take pictures of the geisha/maiko if you see them.)

   >Day 11 (Nov 9th) head to Osaka -possibly Universal -aquarium?

   As I said, I preferred Disney to universal. It was still a fun day, but if you don’t have much time you might want to skip it. Up to you and what you’re into of course. Again, if you go, book tickets in advance and go early. Go straight to Nintendo world as soon as they open and you won’t need timed entry if its before the official opening time.

   I went to the aquarium in Osaka years ago and enjoyed it, but you might want to see more of Osaka itself.

   > I’m looking at the JRPass for the trains.

   I believe the jr pass has increased in price already, which would make it not worth it for your trip I think.

   >I’ve also looked into eSims (UBIGI- we both have iPhones) instead or portable WiFi.

   We went with ubigi and it worked well for us.

   >We kind of wanted to explore a bit more rural Japan and not just crazy cities. Definitely would like to stay in some Ryokans/Onsen possibly a private one. I wanted to be a bit flexible in case we wanted to stay some more time in a particular area! 🙂

   One of the highlights of our trip was a ryokan with private baths in the rooms (on the balcony) and other private baths that you could use first-come-first-served. Would definitely recommend a Ryokan stay. They’re nice for some r&r in the middle of a busy trip too. A mix of cities and rural is a good idea.

   >Are there other places we should check out instead?

   That would depend on what your interests are and what you’re looking to do, so I’m not sure.

   >What time should we catch trains in the morning to the next location?

   This also depends on how you’ve planned your days. If you have more things you need to do, leave luggage in the hotel (many front desks will keep them for you) and catch a later train, but if you have lots you want to do in the next spot, leave early. But be aware of rush hour on busy lines.

   >It sounds like there are lockers at the train stations for luggage?

   Yes. Big stations will have lots of lockers, but smaller stations might not have many.

   >Should we have hotels booked in advance or just kinda wing it the night before we leave?

   I’m not one for booking hotels while traveling because I worry about not being able to find something. With Japan, bear in mind the days will be busy and long. Do you want hotel bookings to be distracting you or to have to spend time looking for places to stay when you get back from a long day and just want to bathe and sleep? Also, if you’re shipping luggage (takkyubin), you’d need to know where you’d be staying.