24-day solo trip, October 2023

This sub was so helpful in planning my trip! As a neurodivergent (autism/ADHD) solo traveler, I thought I would share some thoughts from my experience that might help others. (Please note that everything here is just my personal experience.) My main interests are video games/anime and landscape design/gardens, but I also like offbeat museums, historic districts, and shopping at small/local places. Although I’ve done a lot of international travel, this was the first (and longest) solo international trip I’ve taken.

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My total budget was about $8,115 (US dollars) for 24 nights. The breakdown was $3200 for ANA Premium Economy flight, $2820 for hotels (did use some CC points here), $360 for a 14-day JR pass, and $1735 for food/shopping/misc. I splurged on room and flight upgrades but did not go to any high-end restaurants or shopping districts.

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I opted for a modified Golden Route: HND → Yokohama (3 nights) → Kurashiki (4 nights with day trips to Onomichi and Okayama) → Kyoto (6 nights with day trip to Hikone) → Takayama (3 nights with day trip to Hida-Furukawa) → Tokyo (8 nights) → NRT.

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I organized the trip this way for several reasons. First, I didn’t want to split up my time in Tokyo. I also wanted to alternate larger cities with smaller places. Finally, I wanted to give myself a ‘soft landing’ in Yokohama so that I could acclimate to Japan in a calmer environment than being dumped headfirst into the chaos of Tokyo. I figured staying there first would be a bit more ‘familiar’ and less daunting because I’ve played a LOT of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, which is set in Yokohama. Scoff if you must, but this strategy really worked for me!Highlights:

Yokohama

* I stayed at the Hotel New Grand, which is right across from Yamashita Park. Historic luxury hotel with great service; highly recommended.
* Harbor View Park/America Yama was an unexpected sleeper hit. Great views of the Gundam from the top of the hill and the Fragrance Garden in the Sunken Flower Bed was absolutely incredible, despite the fact that most of the roses were past peak. Walking down the hill through the Western cemetery and then through Motomachi was also really fun, as there weren’t many people around and it was very scenic.
* Sankeien Garden was staggeringly beautiful and definitely worth getting a taxi to see it, though I believe there are also buses that run nearby.
* Chinatown and Yamashita Park are both worth a visit, especially in the evening. The rose garden in Yamashita is incredible even after the roses were past peak.

Kurashiki

* I stayed at the Grand Cocoe Hotel, near the station. Very new and clean, great breakfast; recommended.
* The canal district was really rewarding. I got there early on a Saturday before many of the shops opened, so I was able to get some great shots of the canal before the crowds set in. Also, the Momotaro Karakuri Museum was charming, but I love funky old museums.

Okayama (day trip)

* Okayama Korakuen was beautiful, although I happened to visit on Sports Day so it was quite crowded. Much more open than Sankeien garden with sweeping vistas and views of the castle. Alas, I ran out of steam and was not able to make it inside the castle itself but even just seeing the building up close was worth the price of the ticket.
* Because I was there on Sports Day, there was some sort of festival happening in Ishiyama Park. Lots of food vendors and there was a stage setup with idols and mascots doing little songs and things, plus tons of groups of teenagers in sports uniforms wandering around. I had no idea what was happening but it was fun to stumble on it.

Onomichi (day trip)

* There’s a relatively new boardwalk/linear park along the water, connecting the station to the center of the town, which was lovely. It ends at the ferry parking lot from Yakuza 6. I did not see Onomichio, alas. /s
* The view from the top of the ropeway is incredible. I made the mistake of walking the “wrong” way back down the hill though. If you opt to walk down, make sure you go through the Paths of Literature/Cat Alley and not the way marked as ‘to the station’ on the maps. There was nothing to see aside from 10 million uneven and frankly dangerous stairs. Not sure how I made it down without falling.

Kyoto

* Stayed at the Daiwa Roynet Ekimae. Fantastic room and bathroom, good breakfast, great location; highly recommended.
* My favorite day was in Arashiyama. A few years ago a redditor posted detailed instructions on how to start the day at Otagi Temple and following those guidelines was very helpful. The bamboo grove at Adashino Nenbutsuji was incredible and practically deserted even mid-morning. (Honestly I would have skipped the ‘official’ Bamboo Forest altogether except that I had to pass through on my way to the station.) The Kyoto Folk Doll museum was another pleasant surprise — a bit rundown, but interesting exhibits if you like miniatures and antique toys, plus there’s a stellar little garden that you will probably have all to yourself. Okochi Sanso Garden was interesting – not so much a garden as a series of overlooks and scenic areas linked by woodland paths.
* I enjoyed the Garden Museum Hiei but I would only recommend it to people who really like flower gardens — it is a bit out of the way (stellar views though!)
* I went to Fushimi Inari just after sundown and while I had some enjoyable moments along the torii gate trail, it was a bit disappointing in some respects. Even after dark, the entrance was completely mobbed and the bathrooms were gross and full of trash.

Hikone (day trip)

* Great day trip from Kyoto for those looking for a smaller-town experience. The castle and associated Genkyu-en gardens were great and the historic district had lots of interesting food stalls and shops.

Takayama

* Stayed at Eph Hotel. Small boutique hotel very close to the station. Amazing hinoki cypress bathtub and great little room, good breakfast in the cafe; highly recommended.
* The historic district was quite extensive and loaded with great shops and restaurants. I ducked into the Showa Museum, which was a little run down but if you like 40’s-80’s nostalgia, you might enjoy it.
* Hida no Sato was beautiful though I would have liked to see more in the way of active historic re-enactment.

Hida Furukawa (day trip)

* The Festival Experience museum and the Craft Museum were both very interesting, though the Craft museum is focused on woodworking and carpentry so if that’s not your thing, you can probably skip it. The historic area was peaceful while I was there and the koi canals along the roadways were very cool.

Tokyo

* Stayed at remm Akihabara. Close to the station but needs a major renovation; not recommended.
* In Tokyo, I prioritized visiting Edo-era gardens over some of the more traditional tourist activities. Kiyosumi and Koishikawa Korakuen were my favorites. Shinjuku Gyoen and Hamarikyu were also good but I think I was getting burned out by gardens a bit by the end!
* The Ghibli museum was amazing and I also enjoyed Inokashira Park. Kichijoji was a bit crowded for my taste but it was fun to walk through Harmonica Alley even during the day.
* I also visited Shibuya, Shinjuku, Jimbocho, Yanaka, Ueno, Asakusa, and Akihabara, but I didn’t do anything of interest aside from the normal shrines/shopping areas.

Overall Challenges:

* Due to poor balance/proprioception and sensory overload, moving through crowds is difficult for me so it’s hard to enjoy dense urban areas. I also didn’t realize just how much mental/physical energy navigating the crowds would take. Between the crowds, jetlag, and physical fatigue, I crashed hard every day around lunchtime and needed to come back to my hotel to recover for several hours. By the end of the trip I had gotten to the point that I could bounce back enough to do a simple outing in the evening, but not every day. This obviously cut into my itinerary and I ended up skipping quite a bit of the things I had planned.
* Staying in Akihabara for 8 nights was also a mistake. Although my hotel had great access to the station, the area was too dense for me. In retrospect I would have chosen a more low-key location along the Yamanote line and I would have reduced my time in Tokyo in favor of smaller cities.
* Physical exertion and the heat were also a challenge. Being overweight, I worked very hard in the months prior to the trip to overcome some chronic back pain issues to be able to walk a mile or two at a time. This really paid off — I had very little back pain even walking 7 miles a day, though my feet did get sore. However, it was much warmer than I thought it would be in October. Also, it turns out that I get flushed when I’m in crowded situations, which made me even hotter. After a few miserable days sweating my butt off in long pants I ended up getting a sewing kit at Daiso and hemming three pairs of my pants into shorts. (Being a bigger guy, the options to buy clothing were limited.) Even with that, I was a sweaty mess pretty much every day which made me self-conscious, especially on trains and subways. I did laundry a LOT and showered twice a day.
* I found that Google’s “live” assessment for how busy a place was to be hit or miss. Sometimes it would say a place was less busy than usual and it would be packed. Since I was trying to avoid crowds where possible, this was a bit annoying.
* This is really only for fans of video games but I found that visiting sites from Yakuza or Persona 5 really wasn’t all that great unless the place itself was interesting. So while Yamashita Park and Chinatown in Yokohama are worth a visit, Isezakicho was just kind of… there. (Though I did see a soapland on a side street, which made me laugh.) If I had a chance to do it all over again I would not have prioritized finding game spots IRL.
* One big blunder I made was in misunderstanding the meaning of “laundry service” in my Tokyo hotel listing. I thought this meant there was a washer and dryer for guest use but nope, it meant paying 5000-10000 yen for the hotel to do the laundry for me. The closest coin laundry was only about a 15 minute walk, but I had to do laundry twice while I was in Tokyo, which ate up a lot of time.
* For my first shinkansen trip from Yokohama to Okayama, I didn’t reserve a seat. Big mistake! It was standing room only until Mishima and there was no room on the overhead racks for my luggage. Also, I didn’t realize that ekiben need to be stored flat, so by the time I was able to eat, the little container of salad had dripped mayo over half the box. Ah well.

Successes:

* I spent about a year studying Japanese before I went on the trip and I am SO glad I did! Being able to tell a shop owner or museum curator “this is a nice place” or “this is interesting” was so gratifying and it seemed to be very much appreciated. Also, in shops and restaurants, even if I didn’t know the exact words people were saying, I could usually grasp enough of the meaning to get by. Pimsleur was the most useful language app for me, but I also liked Rocket Languages and LingoDeer.
* I purposely kept my plans loose so that I could adjust on the fly and to take my limitations into account. Yes, I was disappointed that I didn’t have the energy to see Hiroshima, Kanazawa, or Osaka, but that just means I have plenty to see on my next trip!
* I also did a TON of positive self-talk and was constantly patting myself on the back for things like finding the right train platform or whatever. It feels a little silly at first but it made a big difference. I also discovered that wearing a face mask makes it easy to hide it when I did deep-breathing exercises on trains and such.
* Where possible I upgraded my hotel room and opted for the hotel breakfast, which cut way down on decision fatigue in the morning. Also, when trying to decide where to eat in the evening (when I was usually tired) I found that searching for ‘English menu’ or ‘tablet’ in the restaurant tab of google maps helped narrow down the options.
* To get familiar with the day-to-day details of train stations, conbini, restaurants, etc, I binged many, many ‘how-to’ videos on youtube. Another great help was the book “Your Guide to Japan” by Amy Crabtree, aka CakesWithFaces. In many cases things were still a little different from what I was expecting, but having a basic familiarity going into these situations really helped with my anxiety.

My biggest piece of advice is to plan a vacation that YOU will enjoy, not just what a generic tourism site tells you to do! I skipped a bunch of the “must-see” places because I know it would have been a waste of time and energy and I don’t regret it a bit. In the same vein, if it turns out you don’t enjoy something you thought you would (in my case video game locations, but this could be shrines or shopping or museums), have backup plans in mind so you can do something else.

Edit: formatting