Oct 2023 improvised solo trip report 17 days Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka (+Enoshima, Sakai, Himeji)

I recently went to Japan for the first time (Oct 16-Nov 2). For the first two days, I was joined by friends whose trip coincidentally overlapped mine, while I was by myself for the rest of the trip, so it was mostly a solo trip.

Paradoxically, my trip was both underplanned *and* overplanned. I first started researching my trip all the way back in April, spending months reading countless itineraries and trip reports on r/JapanTravel in order to get ideas for what to do and see comments about what different places were actually like and whether they were worth going to.

My philosophy was to focus on a few things that had to be booked long in advance (DisneySea, USJ, Teamlab Planets), and I left the rest of the schedule mostly blank, instead compiling a list of ideas for things to do, figuring that for things that don’t require advance booking, I could just decide what to do as I went, and adapt to unexpected circumstances or how I was feeling in the moment or any new things I came across during the trip and wanted to do.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have that many ideas, and then I forgot to bring the list with me to Japan *anyway* (it was saved on my computer at home), so I had to continually improvise and research new places to go during the trip. Additionally, I was way too indecisive on hotel planning, and left for Japan with only the first five nights booked. And then I procrastinated *again* in Japan and checked out of my first hotel before I’d managed to book a second hotel, which was pretty scary.

Overall, it worked out pretty well, although I spent a lot of free time during the trip researching travel plans and trying to decide where to go, and more advance preparation might have saved some of that time. Additionally, I probably paid more than necessary for hotels due to booking at the last minute. But having the flexibility was really nice as well.

This post is divided into two parts, first with overall thoughts and tips about traveling in Japan and then my itinerary (what I actually did, not what I planned) and thoughts on the attractions I went to.

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# Notes and tips

## Japanese

Knowledge of Japanese is not required, but it is helpful sometimes. If you don’t speak English *or* Japanese, you’ll have a much harder time, but in that case you wouldn’t be reading this anyway.

I’ve been studying Japanese for the last four years and am near N2 level, so I can understand it pretty well, although my speaking ability is worse. What I’ve discovered is that unless you’re completely fluent in Japanese, there’s little call for speaking Japanese, because routine transactions are set up so you don’t need any Japanese and for anything complicated, you’ll need to resort to Google Translate anyway. That being said, it was pretty useful to be able to *understand* Japanese on occasion.

If, like me, you look white, everyone will assume that you don’t speak any Japanese, and e.g. pull out the English menus if available. If they speak any English, they’ll use that, otherwise (more common) they’ll speak to you in Japanese, but it’s standardized enough that it doesn’t matter anyway. When ordering food or buying tickets or whatever, you typically just point to what you want on the menu and present payment if applicable. Whenever you enter a restaurant or amusement park ride, they’ll want to know how many people are in your group (nanmei?), so you just hold up the appropriate number of fingers. (In the case of an amusement park ride, you’ll see everyone ahead of you in line doing this as well.)

If you buy food at a shop which has seating, they’ll first ask whether you want to eat there (tennai) or take it to-go (mochikaeri). Note that the tax for food is 8% for takeout and 10% when eating on-premise. Additionally, there aren’t many places to eat food if you get take-out (see below).

If you get take-out, they’ll next ask if you want a bag. If you don’t get a bag, they’ll still wrap every individual item in a little bag. If you do get the bag, they’ll then put all the wrapped items inside a larger plastic bag to carry, which is convenient if you’re getting multiple things and don’t otherwise have a good way to carry them. There is an additional charge for the bag, but it’s only 3 yen, effectively free.

Whenever you get in trouble and need help, it’s time to break out Google Translate. Japanese people will sometimes type or speak messages into their phone to translate for you, and you can do the same on your own phone the other way. You can also prepare a message on your phone before asking for help, which makes things a lot easier.

I didn’t *completely* avoid speaking Japanese, but it would normally just be a few words or a simple phrase at most, much like any tourist might say. A couple times, I tried to ask for help in Japanese, only to get a response in English. Other times, I struggled to be understood and realized that using Google Translate would be easier and faster anyway.

However, it’s still useful to be able to read Japanese. It’s not necessary, since Google Translate’s camera mode can handle most things. In fact, despite being able to read Japanese to some extent, I relied on Google Translate a lot in order to save time and effort when reading anything long (e.g. museum signs) or with unknown words, or written using difficult fonts, etc. Google Translate is also really useful for learning the details of the menus posted in front of restaurants. But it was nice to be able to read simple things that aren’t worth pulling out your phone for, like random signs or ads.

A useful phrase to know is 現金のみ (cash only), which you’ll often see on signs at shops.

Additionally, it’s also useful to be able to understand spoken Japanese. At amusement parks, all the rides are in Japanese (obviously), and I was sometimes able to understand them, which was nice.

## Esims

Following the Reddit consensus, I got an Ubigi e-sim, which worked pretty well. There were a few points where coverage dropped out, but it worked probably at least 99% of the time. I got the 10 GB plan, and used 3 GB of it during my trip. That was mostly just Maps, Google Translate, etc. I didn’t do any video calls over mobile, though I did upload a lot of photos.

**Warning**: Be sure to buy a plan for the right country (Japan)! The ubigi plans are country specific, and I somehow accidentally bought a plan for the US instead, which meant that once I landed in Japan, I was stuck without any internet access when I needed it most. Fortunately, I eventually managed to figure out the problem and bought a new plan for Japan the following morning, at which point it worked great, but it still caused me a great deal of hassle my first night, and cost a lot of time wasted on troubleshooting (as well as an extra $18.60).

## Payments

Since my debit card charges high fees for foreign cash withdrawal (plus ATM fees) and my credit card has no fees (and in fact provides rewards), I tried to use my credit card whenever possible and minimized use of cash/Suica.

As an Android派, I couldn’t use virtual IC cards, so I just withdrew a bunch of cash and got a Welcome Suica card on arrival. I periodically added cash to my Suica card whenever the balance got low, but otherwise kept it in cash so that I could use it for true cash-only places as well.

For my purposes, there were basically three kinds of shops: ones that take credit card, ones that are cash-only, and ones that take cash or Suica, but since I had to reload Suica using cash, I considered the last basically equivalent to cash-only anyway.

Many shops do take credit card, but there are also a lot of shops that are cash only, particularly in touristy areas. For example, all or nearly all the shops I saw around Sensoji, Enoshima, and Dotonbori were cash-only. And vending machines and laundromats are nearly always cash only. Also, all the Mister Donuts take Suica but not credit card (except the one in DiverCity, which does accept credit card for some reason).

Here’s how to tell whether a shop takes CC:

* Anything at Disney or USJ will take CC.
* Look for a list of payment icons, either at the front of the shop or by the register. This will be a white box with typically dozens of icons for different payment systems (Japan has a *lot* of payment types). If you see the Visa icon (or whatever kind of CC you have), you’re good. If not, you’re out of luck. You can also look for the Suica icon here, though that’s harder to spot.
* Look for a “cash only” or “現金のみ” sign. If you see that, it’s obviously cash only.
* If it is a vending machine, laundry machine, coin locker, or a restaurant that uses the ticket machine system, it’s almost certainly cash only.
* If it’s a temporary food stall, it’s almost certainly cash only.
* If it’s a permanent shop with a register but no visible list of payment types by the register and no cash only sign, it may or may not be cash only. You can try CC but be prepared to have to pay in cash. Or you can just ask upfront to be safe.
* Museum admissions usually but not always take CC, so same as above.

As for how much cash to get, this will be highly dependent on each person and what they do. But for what it’s worth, I went through 34k in cash (including Suica expenditures) over my 17 days in Japan. A lot of that was ride fares, but I also went to cash-only shops and restaurants from time to time, did laundry several times, etc.

## Rail passes

I considered getting a JR pass pre-price hike and just activating it on arrival. However, the Reddit consensus was that it was rarely worth it even pre-price hike, and I was also put off by the fact that it only covered a subset of the trains in Tokyo and does not cover Nozomi trains (if you’re going to Japan to ride the bullet trains, you might as well take the fastest one you can to see what it’s like).

Personally, I think it’s best to just get an IC card and use it everywhere. That way you have maximum flexibility and convenience and don’t feel bad about wasting money whenever you take a train not covered by the pass. My friends bought the Tokyo Metro pass and said that they “felt scammed” because they often had to pay for tickets on other rail lines anyway.

## Walking
Every post here will tell you that you’ll be walking a lot in Japan, and it’s true. I got fancy new walking shoes a month before leaving to prepare. I didn’t try to track steps at all, but my friends said that we walked *12 miles* the first day according to their app.

I wasn’t worried, since I’m pretty fit as I don’t own a car and walk everywhere in my daily life. However, being on your feet all day is still very tiring. I think standing is actually worse than just walking. I’m the kind of person who spends hours trying to read every sign at a museum and gets tired before reaching the end, and that happened repeatedly on this trip as well. Even though I sat down to rest frequently, it was still very tiring.

Also, I got four blisters on my feet early on, which didn’t help. Fortunately, they went away again after a few days.

## Luggage

I traveled very light, with everything in a backpack, in order to simplify flights and hotel changes, and did laundry four times in Japan. It worked reasonably well, although the extra weight probably didn’t help as far as getting tired from being on my feet for long periods goes.

## Navigation

Google Maps is a godsend. It’s not perfect, but it makes navigation vastly easier than it otherwise would be. Here are a few tricks to make the most of it.

* Checking walking directions to the first station or transfer is annoying because you have to tap on the map and zoom in every single time you check your phone. Allow extra time when going to an unfamiliar station for the first time. You probably won’t make the train that Google expects you to.
* Consider just asking for walking directions to the first station (much nicer UI) and then getting directions again once you arrive.
* If part of the journey is a long distance train, you’ll usually only have one choice for that departure, which should be evident from the list of suggestions. If you’re taking shinkansen from Tokyo, you need Tokyo station. For Osaka, you need Shin-Osaka. For the Skyliner, you need to go to Ueno, etc. It’s easier to just get directions to that intermediate station and then use the ticket machines to find the next express train when you get there.

## Trains

* Trains in Japan are extremely punctual. The worst delay I ever saw was two minutes. Even without the stop listings, you can normally tell when to get off just from the time listed in Google Maps, assuming you caught the same train it expected you to.
* If you’re familiar with the station or there’s good signage, you can sometimes catch a train *earlier* than Google expects. Trains are usually very frequent.
* Google Maps will show e.g. “10:40, also departs at 10:46”, in which case the train is every 6 minutes and you could also catch it at 10:34 if you happen to be that early.
* Where to go in the station:
* For most non-JR trains, the signs will show the same color coded symbol and name as what Google Maps shows
* For JR trains, there will be a single gate for all JR trains, and the signs will just be the green JR. Once inside, look for the right platform number or for the name of the specific line you’ll be taking.
* Use the time on the train when you’re nearing your destination to memorize the line, platform, and departure time of the next train you’ll be taking, in order to ease transfers. If you have to walk, pay attention to that as well.
* Some transfers will just have you go from one platform to another with no fare gates (e.g. one metro line to another)
* Most transfers will have you exit the fare gates and go through another gate in the same station. You should be able to just follow the signs.
* Some transfers have you physically walk outside to another station building. In that case, look closely at Google Maps to get an idea of where to go.

## Buses

It took me **45 minutes** and ten attempts to catch a bus from Kyoto station my first time (I could have *walked* faster than that). Fortunately, a few tricks make it relatively easy to successfully catch buses with Google Maps.

* Google Maps unfortunately won’t tell you the code for the bus stop you’re supposed to go to, which is problematic in an area like Kyoto station which has dozens of different bus stops. It shows the approximate location on the map, but that may be the middle of a street with bus stops on both sides.
* The bus name will usually be a number followed by a bunch of kanji. That number is the key. Bus stops will typically have a sign listing which routes stop there, so you can check if you’re at the right stop. Make sure to check the listed departure time as well to confirm you’re taking the right route *in the right direction*.
* For Kyoto station, there are tons of buses everywhere leaving every couple minutes. Google Maps will keep suggesting one of several different route numbers. Just look until you see a bus with the right number and see where it stops, or until you find a matching number on a bus stop sign, and wait for the next bus there.
* Sometimes there will be multiple bus stops in the same place serving different companies. Check them all.
* In some cases (Sakai) there are no bus numbers. Look for a bus at the right time in the right place.

## Limited Express

* Limited express trains require a separate ticket – you can’t just board them with your IC card. “Express” and “special express” do not. If in doubt, google it.
* Find a machine in the station and buy your ticket. It’s very easy, and they take credit card.
* You can buy tickets in advance, but I had no issues buying last-minute tickets at the station for the shinkansen and Skyliner. Worst case, you don’t get a window seat.
* The one exception was Keio, where the machines were hard to find and had no tickets for hours, forcing me to abandon my plans to visit NAOJ. If you’re taking Keio, good luck.

## Food

* Ramen is *everywhere* and super cheap.
* I had **fluffy pancakes** four times, at Flippers (Shibuya), French Toast Factory (Yodobashi Akiba), Hoshino Coffee (Kawaramachi) and A Happy Pancake (Sakaihigashi).
* Hoshino’s were very different from the rest and pretty bad. Presumably they use a different recipe. The other three were similar, although AHP had worse topping choices (seriously, whose bright idea was it to put *grapefruit* on pancakes?!).
* Long lines at Flippers, no wait at the others. Tourists *never* go to Sakai, Tokyo AHP locations might differ. FTF is probably your best bet to avoid waiting since it’s less famous.
* From what I’ve seen, it’s impossible to get regular American pizza anywhere in Japan. Japanese pizza is Italian style, usually Margherita or Genovese. Even the NYC-themed pizza place at USJ only has Japanese style pizza. (Cue tons of Redditors chiming in on how to get proper pizza).
* I had ice cream many, many times in Japan, but it was generally disappointing.
* For some reason, soft serve is extremely common, while normal ice cream is rare.
* The only soft serve worth getting is **Cremia**. Look out for the distinctive Cremia cone sign. I saw it offered at DiverCity Amara, Enoshima, a cafe near Osaka Aquarium, and Dotonbori, so it is around but not that common. Cremia is noticeably more creamy than regular soft serve, so it’s worth trying at least once.
* Lots of places advertise special Hokkaido milk soft serve, but I didn’t notice anything different about it.
* The only real ice cream options are Baskin Robbins and Blue Seal. BR has fewer options than the US though, and they’re generally simpler. Nothing with say, brownie bits.
* Bakeries selling cheap pastries are common, especially at train stations. Quality is hit or miss, but they’re a good breakfast and takeout option.
* Best onigiri I had was Omusubi Kenbeiei at ISP.

## Misc
* Always keep a spare 100 yen coin handy. Many museums (NHK, Fukagawa Edo, Osaka Housing & Living) plus USJ Sadako’s Curse have free coin lockers where you put in a 100 yen coin and get it back when you leave.
* The Yurikamome train around Odaiba runs on elevated tracks and offers stunning views of the area. It even goes over the Rainbow Bridge at one point. It is driverless, so you can also go to the first or last car and look out the ends.
* Best place to eat takeout is nearby parks. They usually have water fountains to fill empty bottles as well.

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# Itinerary

## Oct 16 (Mon)

* Disembark at Narita at 19:59. Made it through customs at 20:31, so about half an hour. It would have been a few minutes faster if the e-sim were working, but instead, I had to stop and connect to the airport wifi instead (in order to sync the Visit Japan Web info to my phone). Visit Japan Web makes the process very streamlined.
* Next I searched for an ATM to withdraw cash (it’s behind the Mario stuff in the middle) and tried to get an IC card (two floors down by the train area). Google said the Suica deck closes at 7pm while the Pasmo desk closes at 9pm. It was already closed at 8:56 when I got there, but the guy told me to just go to the Welcome Suica machines instead. It turns out you can get a card from the machine at any time of day – very easy.
* Skyliner + Yamanote to my hotel, **Toyoko Inn Tokyo Uguisudani Ekimae**, checked in at 22:35. Got little sleep due to jetlag.

## Oct 17 (Tue)

* **Shibuya Scramble**. I looked for the Hachiko statue but never saw it.
* **Flippers Shibuya** – Arrived at 10:28, (it opens at 10:30). Seated at 11:17 (49 minute wait, but would have been only 22 minutes if we were even once space earlier in line). After lunch, I booked the **NAOJ Dome Theater** for Saturday.
* Went back to **Shibuya Sky** just in case they had tickets left (they were already sold out for the day). Passed the scramble a second time, explored the area more.
* **Yoyogi Park**, **Meiji Jingu** (impressive)
* Ramen place in Shinjuku for dinner, then explored the north side of Shinjuku Station around sunset.
* **Tokyo Tower** – Going up to the top of Tokyo Tower was an **utterly miserable experience** and I wouldn’t recommend it *even if it were free* (and they charge 3k!). The elevators are slow and very small, so there’s huge lines for each one, and it takes three separate elevators to get to the top. It took us **45 minutes** from buying tickets to reach the top, and most of that was just standing in line with nothing to do while already very tired after a long day on our feet. It’s also **very cramped** at the top with nowhere to sit. You just look around for a minute or two and then get *back* in line to go down, which was a 10 minute wait just for the first elevator.

## Oct 18 (Wed)

* **Teamlab Planets** at 11. Some rooms were lame, but three (the LED room, the water room, and the flower dome) were mind-blowing experiences, and worth the price of admission alone. Some people on Reddit complain about the smell, but I didn’t notice any smell. Unfortunately, it ended on a bad note, as after the lame moss garden, we were stuck in the flower room, with increasingly large groups piling up, staring at the wall of flowers and not knowing how to proceed. Eventually, they explained that you’re supposed to approach and the flowers will lift up on their own, but that barely worked, so I had to crawl under them.
* Took Yurikamome to the Statue of Liberty and then went to **DiverCity**. Got to try Cremia and Mister Donut for the first time, and we saw the Gundam robot “transform” (not very exciting, and I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way for it, but if you’re there at the right time already, you might as well.) Unfortunately, I lost my sunglasses there. The information desk filed a lost property report for me and said they’d call the hotel if they found it (spoiler: they never did).
* **Hama-rikyu Gardens**
* Explored remains of the Tsukiji Outer Market around sunset. Obviously everything was closed by then. Got fresh toasted dango at a shop nearby which was amazingly good. Went to a tonkatsu restaurant for dinner which I didn’t like at all.
* Walked through **Ginza** (cool to see) and visited the **Yurakucho Godzilla statue** (pretty lame).
* **Ameyayokocho** – stopped at a giant toy store, got crepes at Marion Crepes (disappointing).

## Oct 19 (Thu)

* My first solo day. Spent the morning relaxing at the hotel and doing laundry.
* Looked around **Toranomon Hills** and visited my company’s Tokyo office (obviously not applicable to most people).
* **NHK Museum** – almost everything is Japanese-only, but still pretty cool to see. Some signs in English on the third floor.
* Explored the **Shimbashi station** area before going back to the hotel.

## Oct 20 (Fri)

* **DisneySea** – [See dedicated my Trip Report post here](https://www.reddit.com/r/TokyoDisneySea/comments/17cs7m6/disneysea_trip_report_oct_20_2023/).

## Oct 21 (Sat)

* Checked out of Toyoko Inn in a panic, as I hadn’t managed to book a second hotel and didn’t know what to do. I went to **Shinjuku Station** to explore in the meantime. It turns out the part we’d seen on Tuesday was only a small portion of the whole station complex.
* Fortunately, they had free wifi there and I booked **APA Hotel Ikebukuro Station North**, hoping that the “pay on arrival” option would work even though advance payment didn’t. I spent a while exploring the station and nearby areas and got some disappointing ice cream and a cinnamon roll from a coffee shop.
* My main plan for the day was to go to the **National Astronomical Observatory of Japan** and the Dome Theater show in Mitaka. Unfortunately, I was unable to buy limited express tickets to Mitaka and was forced to abandon that plan, and again spent hours sitting in the train station, trying to decide what to do.
* I eventually went to **Sensoji**, which was pretty cool, albeit very crowded. Got yakisoba and frozen pineapple on a stick from the stalls there. The yakisoba was good but the pineapple seems like a dumb gimmick.
* Successfully checked into the Ikebukuro APA, and then went out to the nearby Baskin Robbins to see what BR is like in Japan.

## Oct 22 (Sun)

* Spend morning at the hotel relaxing and doing laundry again. Local ramen place for lunch.
* **Fukagawa Edo Museum** – Pretty cool, but there are no signs in the main museum area. There were volunteer Japanese tour guides going around talking to the Japanese visitors. I wish I’d been brave enough to ask for a tour instead of just trying to overhear them.
* Went to **Akihabara** to see what it was like and ended up spending the whole evening just looking around Yodobashi Akiba. Bought a pair of cheap socks at Daiso on the 7th floor and got dinner at **The French Toast Factory** on the 8th. Then got waffles at Manneken on the way out and took them to the nearby park.
* There was a shop advertising croissant taiyaki, which I was really curious to try, but it was cash-only, so I skipped it.

## Oct 23 (Mon)

* Got lost and wandered around Ikebukuro Station, bought Onigiri at **Omusubi Kenbeiei** – the best onigiri I had on the trip. Took them to Ring Park to eat, then got lame soft serve at the cafe there.
* Spent the afternoon in **Enoshima**.
* Enoshima is a cool place. I’d heard it was “an island practically made out of stairs”, which is true, but it was a lot less bad than I expected, despite carrying a backpack the whole time and not bothering with the escalator.
* Note: The escalator only covers the initial assent anyway. You’ll still have to climb back up after going down to the caves on the far end, and that’s even steeper.
* I spent the morning researching Enoshima, but that was largely pointless, since it’s a small island with a path along the middle that passes everything, so you can’t miss anything.
* My favorite part was the tidal rock “beach” and caves at the far end of the island. The garden was lame and I didn’t bother going up the Sea Candle.
* If I had to describe Enoshima in one word, it would be “accomodating”. I was surprised by the number of benches and restrooms, and it is absolutely *covered* in restaurants. They’re all cash-only though. I got the famous octopus crackers, but didn’t have enough cash left for anything else. (Fortunately, the cave admission takes CC at least).

## Oct 24 (Tue)

* Withdrew more cash from the ATM, breakfast at Mister Donut.
* Looked around in **Animate Ikebukuro**.
* Went to **Tokyo Station** and looked around, then took the shinkansen to Kyoto.
* The Tokyo Station area is incredibly boring compared to every other major station. Instead of being surrounded by shops and restaurants, there’s just wide streets, parks, and giant skyscrapers.
* All window seats on the right (Fuji) side were taken and I’d thought I’d missed my chance, but by pure chance, I went to the bathroom and happened to be looking out the window of the restroom car just as we passed Mt. Fuji.
* After going through hell trying to catch a bus in Kyoto, I finally made it to my hostel, **The Millennials Kyoto**. I chatted with some other guests there and we went out for ramen together.

## Oct 25 (Wed)

* Woke up very early (06:09) for **Fushimi Inari** (arrived 06:51). Went down some dead-ends while hiking around the mountain, finished around 09:20.
* Tried to go to Kiyomizudera, but accidentally entered the southbound side of Fushimi Inari Station and decided to make the most of it by visiting **Fujinomori Shrine** instead.
* Fujinomori has a cool collection of ancient guns and armor on display, though I had to use Google Translate on all the signs.
* Didn’t see *any* other tourists there. I felt like I was intruding. Definitely an off-the-beaten path spot.
* They must get some tourists though, since the sign at the entrance to the Hall of Treasures was in English (I wouldn’t have even known it was open otherwise).
* Tried to go to Kiyomizudera again, and carefully entered the northbound side of the station this time. Unfortunately, while walking towards the temple, I saw **Otani-Honbyo**, a giant temple complex in approximately the right area, and mistook it for Kiyomizudera and went in. There were plenty of other foreign tourists there though, so perhaps I wasn’t the only one who got confused. It was pretty boring to see though, and I was by then extremely tired. I walked all the way back to the hostel since I didn’t trust the buses and got shaved ice at a random place on the way.
* Returned to the hostel in the early afternoon, took a nap, did laundry, researched Kiyomizudera online and realized that I’d gone to the wrong place.
* Went out to **Hoshino Coffee** at night for fluffy pancakes – very disappointing. Also stopped at a sandwich shop just around the corner, also very disappointing.

## Oct 26 (Thu)

* Slept in, arrived at **Arashiyama Bamboo Grove** at 08:09. Fortunately, this turned out to be perfect timing, since monkey park doesn’t open until 9am and the bamboo grove only takes 20 minutes to go through. If I’d gone any earlier, I’d have been left waiting for the park to open afterwards. As it was, I wandered around the adjacent park and hiked up to the gorge overlook, and arrived at the monkey park around 09:10.
* **Arashiyama Monkey Park** – This was pretty cool. The monkeys are only up at the top, but when you get up there, they’re everywhere, and you can see them pretty close. Sometimes one will wander right past people. The summit also provides a nice view of Kyoto.
* Spent the rest of the day at **Toei Movie Village** (~11:07-15:09).
* Overall, I felt like it was pretty lame. Maybe it’d be more interesting if you’re actually familiar with the Toei franchises featured (Kamen Rider, Pretty Cure, Oshi no Ko, etc.)
* I got the ticket that includes entry to six attractions. I went to five of the attractions (all except for Ninja Training Dojo SWORD N’ GO, which the staff advised me was for kids) just for the sake of getting my money’s worth, but they were all underwhelming except for the Laser Escape.
* The park is constantly crowded with various groups of Japanese school children on class trips to the point where it’s probably 95+% kids and teachers.
* One group came up to me and asked me if I spoke English and asked me questions (What is your name, where are you from, name a tourist attraction in your country) and told me they’re from Komono in Mie and asked if I’d heard of Mie. They had a sheet of questions printed in Japanese and English, and a sheet for me to write down the answers (I think they were supposed to write down the answers themselves, but they had me do it instead.) Then they gave me an origami crane and the teacher took our photo. It’s interesting that I’d be someone’s English homework.
* Explored **Kyoto Station** and watched the sunset from the rooftop terrace. There’s a huge area of the station that isn’t easy to find, but it is very impressive, with the giant stairs lit up at night, the skyway, etc.

## Oct 27 (Fri)

* Woke up very early (06:01) for **Kiyomizudera** (for real this time), arrived at 06:39.
* After Kiyomizudera, I spent a while (07:42-08:02) sitting on the sidewalk, researching on my phone to try to decide what to do next. I spent a lot of time on trains or at the hotel researching travel plans, but sometimes I would have to do it in less opportune places.
* Walked to **Ninenzaka Starbucks** (15 min line) and got some pastries.
* There’s only one tatami mat area. Most of the seating is regular tables and chairs, although there isn’t much of that either. I sat at a small set of two-person tables and ended up talking to a guy from Costa Rica at my table (in English).
* Walked to **Yasaka Shrine**, took some photos, then to the adjoining **Murayama Park** and then **Chion-in Temple**.
* Got a “Sakura Waffle” at a cafe in the park, which was just regular soft serve ice cream with a bit of pink dust on top, pretty lame. No idea why soft serve is so ubiquitous in Japan.
* Chion-in turns out to mostly notable for its *huge* staircases. Be prepared for a hike here.
* Next, I went to **Nijo Castle** for several hours, which was very cool, although as usual, I was very tired by the end of it. Got a slice of apple pie and ice cream at the teahouse by the castle, which took CC to my surprise.
* Relaxed back at the hostel for a while, and then went out to explore all the covered shopping streets by the hostel while it was raining, **Meitengai**, **Shinkyogoku**, **Nishiki**, and **Teramachi**.
* Nishiki turned out to be a mistake. It’s a huge tourist trap in a literal sense. It is narrow and extremely crowded, to the point where you sometimes can’t move. I’d recommend avoiding it if you can. It reminded me of the first part of the Nakamise in front of Sensoji.
* Blue Seal ice cream and crepes near the end of Teramachi was the best ice cream I had in Japan (not that that’s saying much).

## Oct 28 (Sat)

* Checked out of the hostel and went to Nara.
* The **Nara deer park** was very cool. There’s also a lot less poop than I expected from the way people on Reddit talk about it, although you do have to watch where you step.
* Went to **Todaiji**, but I was tired and felt like I was just going through the motions to take photos of the giant Buddha.
* **Nakatanidou** – a disappointment.
* Arrived at 13:25 when they were selling already made mochi and got in line to buy one. It’s cool that the mochi was still warm and soft when they handed it to me, but it’s just ok.
* Afterwards, I caught the tail end of a mochi pounding (~13:30) but I could barely see anything due to the crowds.
* I strongly recommend avoiding Nakatanidou and just watching videos of the mochi pounding on Youtube. It’s a much better experience and you won’t have to deal with crowds that way.
* Went down to the end of the other covered shopping street, then walked a kilometer across Nara (pretty boring) to get to the eastern train station to head to Sakai. Google Maps told me to transfer to a non-existent train, but I made it to Sakai eventually.
* Went up to the **Sakai City Hall Observation Deck** to see the kofun (ancient burial mounds). Sadly, you can barely see anything, even from 21 floors up. All you can see is elevated green patches of trees, but you can’t see the moat or distinctive keyhole shape from that height.
* Walked around the covered shopping streets nearby, but nothing was open except bars – it seems like the restaurants are only open at lunch and dinner, and I was in between. While trying to leave, I stumbled on **A Happy Pancake** at the train station and ate dinner there.
* Traveled to Osaka and checked in to **APA Osaka Umeda Eki Tower**.
* I was amazed the moment I arrived in Osaka, at the giant buildings and neon lights and crowds everywhere. It was so nice to be back after staying in Kyoto for so long. To be fair, it’s not like Osaka is like that all the time (or Tokyo, for that matter). I just happened to arrive in one of the busiest areas (Osaka Station/Hanykuu/Umeda) on a Saturday evening while everyone was out partying.
* Later that night, I went out again to explore the area (still buzzing as late as 9pm, something unthinkable in Kyoto) and got udon at a small shop.

## Oct 29 (Sun)

* **Osaka Aquarium**
* Arrived at 11:16, got in line and bought my ticket at 11:25, which gave me a timed entry for 12:15.
* Got Cremia at a nearby cafe and malassadas at the food court while I waited, which turned out to be perfect timing for my entry time.
* The aquarium was pretty cool too. As usual, I spent several hours there and got pretty tired by the end.
* Went to **Shittennoji**, arriving at 16:06, with just a bit of daylight left. I was originally planning to go to Shinsekai first, but had to skip that due to lack of time.
* The Turtle Ponds at Shittennoji have a *lot* of turtles. It’s pretty cool.
* Got yet more taiyaki at Tennoji and took them to Tenshiba park to eat. It was cool to see all the other groups picnicking on the lawn at Tenshiba at sunset.
* Finally made it to **Abeno Harukas** and went up to the top and looked around for a while.

## Oct 30 (Mon)

* Limited express train to Himeji. The tickets were very confusing and I had to ask for help several times, but fortunately, I managed to make it.
* **Himeji Castle** was pretty cool, especially all the museum exhibits in the western bailey. As usual, I spent several hours there and got very tired by the end, so I didn’t even bother looking for the gardens that are included in the ticket. I went back to the station and got ramen for lunch, after which I felt better.
* **Osaka Museum of Housing and Living** – I worried this might be redundant with the Fukagawa Edo museum, but it was still very interesting because a) the model village shows different things and b) it has signs in English (and QR codes to a website with explanations in English).
* Viewed sunset from the rooftop terrace of the hotel (34th floor).
* Later in the evening, went out to **Dotonbori**. It’s cool to see, but a lot smaller than I expected and very touristy. It feels like everything is overpriced and cash-only there.

## Oct 31 (Tue)

* **Universal Studios Japan** – [See dedicated trip report post here](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/17kztyt/usj_trip_report_oct_31_2023_with_wait_times/)

## Nov 1 (Wed)

* Took it easy since I didn’t have anything left planned other than Sumiyoshi.
* **Sumiyoshi Taisha** – basically just traveled down there, took a bunch of photos, then left. Only spent around nine minutes (11:12-11:21) at the actual shrine. Got some pastries at the station bakery and took them to Sumiyoshi park for lunch – disappointing.
* I was originally planning to stay at a manga cafe my last night, but chickened out and just booked APA Ikebukuro North again for the last night. I took the shinkansen back to Tokyo and chilled at the hotel, still trying to come up with ideas for things to do in my remaining time in Japan.
* Considered Golden Gai but ended up just staying home and went out to Ikebukuro station for donuts late at night.

## Nov 2 (Thu)

* **Imperial Palace Eastern Gardens**
* Surprisingly interesting, even without the tour. There’s a lot of signs in the gardens explaining the history and notable features.
* There’s a security check at the entrance, so be prepared for that. Unfortunately, as I’d checked out of my last hotel, I was carrying everything in my backpack again. After I took a bunch of stuff out, the guard asked “just clothes?” and let me through. Not like I was carrying anything forbidden anyway.
* **Joypolis** – Joypolis is probably more cool to look at than to actually participate in. I ended up only riding two rides, the roller coaster and the river raft simulator, neither particularly notable.
* Spent half an hour (~14-14:30) just sitting at the Joypolis cafe, trying to decide what to do next. Ended up leaving and walked to **DiverCity** one last time, after first stopping at the train station to load up my Suica card with all remaining cash.
* By pure chance, I arrived at the Gundam robot entrance right while it was transforming (14:59), so I got to see that a second time.
* Got donuts at Mister Donuts again, unsuccessfully tried to ask the information desk if they ever found my sunglasses, got Cremia at Amara again, tried tsukemen for lunch.
* Tsukemen is just ramen with extra work for worse results.
* Sadly didn’t have any time left to look around, since I wanted to leave for Narita airport several hours early, just in case.
* Arrived at checkin around 18:45 for a 21:30 flight. The checkin, security, and immigration process was unbelievably fast and painless, with all three parts being practically instant. The whole process took 15 minutes, and most of that was me just trying to *find* the security area.