Just came back with my gf from a recent trip (October 18th – November 1st) with a PACKED itinerary and wanted to share what i would do differently. This is my 3rd trip to Japan but 1st going outside of Tokyo. Tips summary at the end.
**10/18/2023 Arrival in NRT \~ 4:00 PM**
Was a breeze to navigate. Found a welcome SUICA machine near the NEX train ticket machines and bought 2. (i have a samsung otherwise wouldve used iphone app ) Hotel was in Shinjuku so we took the NEX train. Arrived at our hotel around 6-7pm.
**1st hotel, BELLUSTAR TOKYO review:** Located in Kabukicho tower right in the middle of all the action. We got a ballin $$$ room way up high, floor to ceiling windows with a big circular tub and view overlooking the city. The **only** hotel during our entire stay with soft pillows not the hard ones with beads in them. 5 stars from me!
**Location:** Kabukicho near Shinjuku station is very lively and safe. A lot of Japanese scouts chasing after women. The one Nigerian in this area said to my gf in passing “I have a good job for you”. More east of the hotel / station is a lot shadier looking and more touts. Safe but I would avoid.
We were HUNGRY. We go Sushiro 👍👍. How it works: You get a numbered ticket from a machine (has english), wait for it to be called on a screen. Then you scan it on another machine and it assigns you seat numbers. Everything ordered on a tablet. Lets just say we stuffed ourselves with good sushi for VERY cheap.
**10/19/2023 Asakusa, Yanaka Ginza, Nezu Shrine, Odaiba Round 1 + TeamLabs, Akihabara**
Asakusa: Started from Kaminarimon gate all the way to Sensoji. Tried some snacks and probably spent a little over an hour there.
Yanaka Ginza. I would **skip** this place, its just a short street with bunch of shops.
Nezu Shrine. If you have time, its nice to visit, otherwise skip. Has some mini tori gates for photos.
Spent the rest of the day in Odaiba. Gundam statue (not worth the wait to see it move). Mini sized statue of libery, and malls. We ate at **Gyukatsu Kyoto Katsugyu** 👍👍in Diver City. Spent about 1.5 hrs in Round 1 spocha before our TeamLab ticket time. Still fun as always, especially at the batting range. If we had more time I wouldve liked to go to Joypolis.
Went to TeamLabs at **7 pm**, still tons of people but that didn’t take away from the experience. Planets is widely different now then when I went in 2019/2020. Borderless closed but some of there exhibits are still active. Nice way to spend 1.5 hrs.
Akihabara. I dont know if it was the time we went (around 8:30/9pm), but it was completely different then i remember back in 2019/20. Its about 1/3 of the livelyness back then. Those giant SEGA buildings are now galled GiGo, with some of them closed. Visited Pop Life Department cause dildos. **Would skip.**
Headed back to Shinjuku and had dinner at **Tsurutontan Shinjuku** 👎. Its a chain, we have one here in NYC and its alright.
**10/20/2023 Mount Takao, Mori Art Museum**
Day trip to Mount Takao. Hiked up Trail 1 (the most popular one i think), and took the chair lift down. Clear day, up top you can see a tiny Mount Fuji in the distance. Never took the cablecar (dont be a pansy). Nice shrine to see up there and a few other attraction spots. Very easy hike. Spent a couple hours there. Do it.
Around 4pm we head back to Shinjuku and ate some ramen at **Ramen Takahashi Shinjuku Main Store 👍**.
Finished the day off at Mori Art Museum. **Skippable**. Had some McDonalds just to see the difference. Go to MOS instead. Got a happy meal toy of shinchan’s butt wiggling that made the trip worth it.
**10/21/2023 Meiji Jingu, Harajuku, Shibuya Sky, Shibuya shopping**
Checked out of 1st hotel, and dropped off luggage early at our 2nd hotel **La’gent Hotel Shinjuku Kabukichō.** “Cheaper” hotel just couple blocks from original one. Bed and pillows veryyyy firm. I had to use a memory foam my gf brought to sleep. But she loved their pilows. If staying here must get the bigger room. Separate soaking tub & shower / toilet (must have in Japan trust me).
After going to Meiji Jingu, we headed to Takeshita street for a quick visit. **1st timer, go otherwise skip.** Its more interesting to wander the back streets. We stumbled across Ota Memorial Museum of Art which had a collection of Ukiyo-e.
Headed to Shibuya Sky (advanced tickets required) around 3:40. Stayed to see the sunset and the night view. Its cool, do it. Ate at **Uobei Shibuya Dogenzaka** 👍the popular sushi restaurant there. Wasn’t busy at all. I still prefer Sushiro. Had matcha dessert at **The Matcha Tokyo Miyashita Park 👍.**
We stuck around to check out some malls. Got some cool little trinkets from those capsule machines. Its very overwhelming the amount of stores there are to pop in and look around. But damn we was tired so we went back to Shinjuku to check into our hotel and had dinner at **Zundou-ya ramen 👍.**
**10/22/2023 Hie Shrine, Art Aquarium Museum, Tokyo Character Street, Shibuya**
This was an open day so we just threw whatever in here.
Hie Shrine had lots of families dressed in traditional japanese clothing taking photos. Nice to visit if you have time.
Art Aquarium Museum is what you see in the photos online. Wouldn’t go out of my way for it.
Tokyo Character Street was fun for my gf to see snoopy stuff. Forgot where we ate, but we had dessert at **Mihashi – First Avenue Tokyo Station 👍.**
Finished the day off going back to Shibuya to check out some more stores.
**10/23/2023 Tokyo Disneysea**
K so lot has changed. No more fast pass. Download the app and once in the park you can buy some skip the line things for certain rides. There are some rides that have a free skip the line thing buy i didnt get a chance to use it.
Soaring Fantastic wtf? Soo lameee. **Skip**.
All the other rides were cool. Toy story one was especially fun.
**1st highlight** was Fortress Explorations. Its not even a ride, but a place tucked away that barely anyone visits. I only saw 2-3 other people there after sunset. Was a bit hard to find at first, but theres a planetarium like room. Worth it trust me bro. They moveeee.
**2nd highlight** was Believe! Sea of Dreams. Great show with fireworks. Exceeded my expectations. You can purchase the right to sit on the rock hard floor with a better view. Go earlier than time listed to secure a good seat for better view. Otherwise people camp out all sorts of places around the area to watch.
Food: We ate at the “middle eastern” cafeteria 👍 and some american burger place 👎 by the water.
**10/24/2023** **Day trip to Kamakura / Enoshima Breathtaking view of Fuji @ Sunset**
Scheduled this day trip for a day with good clear weather and it was perfect. **I absolutely recommend this day trip to anyone visiting Tokyo**, even if you have to sacrifice a day of Tokyo things.
We hit up:
* Kotoku-in for the Giant Buddha
* Hokokuji Temple
* Tsurugaoka Hachimangu
* Sasuke Inari Shrine
* Zeniarai Benten Shrine
* Kamakura Yuigahama Beach
Highlight of this trip was the sunset at Enoshima with Fujisan in the background: [https://i.imgur.com/blTiqmQ.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/blTiqmQ.jpg)
This spot is easy to miss and i found it randomly but you go up the stairs once you get on Enoshima island, and theres a small alleyway right that leads to some stairs back down. I just saw a couple go there and followed them.
We didnt have time to see the the caves and didnt go up the sea candle but we did see an illumination garden up there it was alright.
**10/25/2023 Kyoto, Nijo-jo, nishiki market, Kinkakuji Temple, Pontocho, Yasaka Shrine @ Night**
Took the shinkansen (booked tickets on Smartex) to Kyoto early in the morning from Shinigawa. Arrived in Kyoto around 11:30 AM. Dropped off luggage at our hotel **Oakwood Hotel Oike Kyoto.** It was like a studio apartment, big, had everything we needed. Location: only couple minutes walk from subway, same for bus stations. Walkable to pontocho, nishiki market, and yasaka shrine.
Visited Nijo castle and ate at **CoCo Ichibanya Horikawa Marutamachi 👍.**
What I didnt see mentioned online when i did research was that all the buses i took were flat flare. So we didnt need to tap to get on then again to get off, just once when exiting. So you get on in the rear door and tap near the driver when exiting. Also if the bus is too crowded, ive seen people exit through the rear and just go up to the front again to pay.
Took the bus to **Kinkakuji Temple** and arrived around 4pm. Was quite a sight to see as the sun was going down the light reflecting of the gold was intensified.
Headed back to our hotel area, stopped by Nishiki market which was meh. Checked into hotel, went for a stroll through Pontocho and Yasaka Shrine at night which has some cool lanterns lit up.
**10/26/2023 Fushimi Inari Shrine, Nara**
Woke up super early to avoid the crowds. Arrived at fushimi around 7 AM. Just a few people there. Hiked all the way up to the “summit” which is nothing special and you can easily miss it. Theres a loop trail up there and then you head back down.
Around 12 PM took the train to Nara. Fk the deers, they are cute but the real sight is Tōdai-ji and the giant buddha and sculptures. That makes the trip to Nara worth it alone.
We hit up Kasuga Taisha later and cool to see all the laterns. They had a dark room with laterns lit up which was nice.
Sunset at Todai-ji Nigatsudo. The light reflecting off the stone floors and lanterns at night were real nice.
**10/27/2023 Sannenzaka / Yasaka Pagoda Photograph Spot, Kiyomizu-dera, Kennin-Ji, Ryozen Kannon, Osaka Castle, Dotonbori, Tsūtenkaku**
Woke up super early and headed to Sannenzaka and the Yasaka Pagoda photography spot on google maps. There was a few people around 6:30 AM. Photos definitely looked better online than in person.
We then hit up Kiyomizu-dera and Kennin-Ji where theres a really big and cool dragon ceiling painting. Ryozen Kannon has a giant sculpture of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara that you can enter through the back that contains more Buddhist shrines inside. Did not know this place was a war memorial until googling it now.
Ate at **Gyukatsu Kyoto Katsugyu – Gion Yasaka 👍.**
Then a friend in NY was in Osaka so we made a visit there at night. Hit up Osaka castle, didnt go inside though. Then Dotonbori, ate some okonomiyaki, took picture with glico man, and went up Tsūtenkaku (def skip this).
If i had more time I wouldve went on the Tempozan Giant Ferris Wheel.
**10/28/2023 Saihō-ji (Koke-dera), Otagi Nenbutsuj, adashino nenbutsuji , Okochi Sanso Garden, Togetsukyo Bridge**
So we made a reservation two weeks ahead of time online for Saihō-ji (moss garden) on their website. You show up and they give you each a caligraphy brush pen and you trace a sutra before going into the garden. Nice way to start the morning.
Took a bus to Otagi Nenbutsuj which has tons of these amazing little stone sculptures. Walked down to Adashino nenbutsuji which contains a bamboo garden thats a better photo op than the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest.
For lunch we had soba at **Azasino** 👍👍
Visited the Okochi Sanso Garden, and ngl got lost a bit. Headed toward Okochi Sanso Gorge Observation Deck near the river, and the walked down along it till we were back at Togetsukyo Bridge.
Ate dinner at **MOS burger 👍** and **Chao Chao sanjo kiyamachi** (meh).
**10/29/2023 Kinosaki Onsen for one night**
Since I’m heavily tattoo’d (neck, full back, sleeve) we wanted somewhere that had tattoo friendly onsens and came across Kinosaki. Its a small onsen town couple hours away from Kyoto that has 7 public onsens that all accept tattoos.
We chose to stay at **Kobayashiya** ryokan which had a room over looking the river and also 3 private onsens me and my gf could use together that did not require advanced reservations. Staying at the ryokan provided us with a pass to all 7 public onsens until 3:30 PM day of check out. We were also allowed to pick out a yukata from a bunch of designs and wore them along with wooden slippers to walk around town. It was a nice break from our intense itinerary. We only got to try out one public onsen called Goshonoyu Onsen which had a waterfall on both the womens and mens side.
You were allowed to pick your time for breakfast / dinner from three options, so when it was time we returned to the room and they had someone guide us to a separate dining room. The food was amazing and left us stuffed. \*This town is not as popular as other onsen towns so it was pretty dead when we were there. Which wasn’t a problem for us, but if you want a more lively place this isn’t it.
**10/30/2023 Back to Tokyo & The Prince Park Tower Hotel**
Ate the included breakfast at the ryokan, spent an hour in the private onsen and took the train back to Tokyo.
We arrived around 6:30pm, checked into the Prince Park Tower Hotel. We had a room with a view and it did not disappoint! Corner room with the entire Tokyo Tower from our panoramic windows.
**10/31/2023 Last day in Japan**
Very chill day, we ate at sushiro again, went to Sengaku-ji to pay mah respectz to the 47 ronin, and went to Madarake in shibuya to buy some figures.
**Tips summary**:
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* When booking hotels be mindful of the mattress / pillows, it can be firmer than you’d expect elsewhere.
* Get rooms that have a soaking tub + shower with the little stool you can sit on that is separate from the toilet. Its such a nice thing to have after a long day outside.
* For quick breakfast, just grab something at the konbini (damn those egg sandos mmm).
* You really don’t need to know a single word of Japanese. I studied all the tourist basics for 3 months before my trip and only had to use suimasen once. Idk if its just me but since my last visits, it seems like every workers english has improved.
* The one restaurant that didn’t have an english menu, the waiter told us we can scan qr code and just use google translate. Really, don’t worry about food options.
* Tshirt weather in Mid to late october (Tokyo / Kyoto), with only a light jacket needed 2 days out of the trip.
* I wouldn’t plan to stay in Kabukicho again. After all day bouncing around I’d rather come back to some tranquility.
* Some IC card recharge machines in certain stations allow you to put any amount (the one i found looked like a giant pink tablet), so if you have a bunch of change you can dump it on there.
* Skip Yanaka Ginza, Akihabara, Art Aquarium Museum, Soaring Fantastic Flight at DisneySea, Mori Art Museum, Tsūtenkaku in Osaka.
* Go to Kamakura + Enoshima
* Being from NYC, im wary of any restaurant with a <4.0 rating on google, but Japan is an exception. I’d say 3.5 + is decent.
* Buses in Kyoto that we took only had flat fare. Enter at the rear, exit at the front. Pay when exiting.
* We ran into an issue once with the trains when transferring after shinkansen. We had to tap our cards then scan QR code from SmartEx app. but when we tried to use our ic cards again to exit, we had to speak to the train agent to reset something in the card for us.
* Don’t pack your itinerary like I did.
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