Mid 20s couple here with a quick trip report. It’s my second time and my partner’s first time. Hit all the major stops and the trip went well. We’re from AUS so there wasn’t any major jetlag (2 hours ahead). Booked hotels ahead of time with JR Pass for 7 days. I’ve put levels on each day to express how tired/ easy the day went.
12/12 (Osaka) – Tiring
* Arrived in Osaka around 7PM, PTd to Hotel and had a quick bite at Yoshinoya. There was a bus from the Airport that you had to pay for but was really good experience. The bus had luggage storage so you didn’t need to carry them into your seats.
13/12 (Osaka D1) – Easy
* Morning:
1. Went to nearby Yodobashi Camera to buy a Steam Deck OLED since they are not sold in Australia. Couldn’t get tax free but they were selling out fast since they got stocked on the 12th. Overall, very happy to have picked it up and couldn’t find any others in any other store later down the trip.
2. Osaka Castle (Didn’t go in but took photos of the area. Was kind of packed but got some pics of the area. Spent some time walking about)
* Lunch @ Endo Sushi Kyobashi Branch. Highly reccd and it was our first sushi of the trip. Short walk away from Osaka Castle
* Evening:
1. Osaka Acquariam (Met some of my partner’s friends in the area and spent quite a bit of time in the Acquarium. Highly recc the ice cream soda float in the cafe located in the Acquarium.
2. Dinner @ Tempozan Market Place (Just next door to Acquarium, food court style and was pretty cheap. Had some stores nearby so we picked up some essentials like body soap, etc)
3. Osaka Ferris Wheel (Right next door and was pretty cool. Hardly a line late at night)
14/12 (Osaka D2) – Tiring
* Whole Day – Universal Studios
1. We booked a fast pass before hand so we had a set time for our rides. We got there early around 7:30am and was let in around 8:30am. You could go straight to Mario World without a ticket so I highly recc going early.
2. Lunch at the Mario cafe and it was pretty good actually for the price, highly recc lining up for it
3. Wide variety of snacks across the area and we managed to go on all the rides we wanted to go on. Also the day that the pyradactal ride stopped mid way… but we wasn’t planning on going to that ride luckily
4. After Universal, we got dinner at Unagi Kushiyaki. Rather than waiting probably 1hr30 in line, we got it takeaway and ate it in our hotel. Highly recc this option instead.
15/12 (Osaka D3) – Easy
* Whole Day:
1. Cup Noodle Musuem (Pretty cool and highly recc the video where they go over how the original maker came up with the idea/ how he managed to get it distributed
2. Amerika – Village (Was cool to shop around the area. I was into thrift stores so was cool to see some. Ticked of Rikuro Cheese Cake which I thought was okay. You can’t really eat it in the area and downstairs at the food court it says to only eat food bought on this floor so we went to maccas and got something small and ate it there)
3. Dotonbori (Super packed but was a nice area to walk. Plenty of street food)
4. Dinner @ Dotonbori Imai (Highly recc and you just need to go inside and put your name down on a list rather than wait. Spend the time waiting walking around)
5. At the end of the day we booked our JR pass shinkansen and activted it for the 16th. We managed to get seats and I highly reccomend doing this earlier/ when you arrive just in case it gets booked up
16/12 (Miyajima/ Hiroshima Day Trip) – Tiring
* Whole Day:
1. Took Shinkansen to Miyajima. Got a bento before to enjoy on the train.
2. Miyajima was cool to explore and had plenty of street food across the area. Spent a while taking photos and enjoying the scenery. Was raining a bit this day but got an umbrella from the hotel. JR ferry was included in JR pass but you had to pay like a 200 yen tax which was fine.
3. Lunch was at an eel rice restaurant in the area. I ate way too quickly and managed to get an eel fish bone stuck in my throat. Took me a lot of onigiri to swallow to get it out of my system. Don’t be me and eat like your like depends on it…
4. Hiroshima (Explored the area and we decided to skip the peace memorial musuem as we were kind of tired. We explored down town hiroshima instead and was cool to see the area. Got onomiyaki for dinner which was a great experience.
5. If I could do it again, I might split this into two day trips but we honestly enjoyed the experience so we were happy either way.
17/12 (Nara Day Trip) – Okay
* Whole Day:
1. Got to Nara and went up the main street and got street food.
2. We didn’t realise the Mochi Guys was closed today so should’ve checked social media ahead of time but it wasn’t the end of the world. We lined up for this udon tofu restaurant next to it instead which was very good. They had this udon tofu + shrimp rice set which was very value but also a lot of food.
3. Nara Park. Was really cool to see the deer and on this day there was a mini parade going on? Not sure what it was but it was cool to see. My advice if you want to feed the deers is after buying the snacks don’t bother feeding the nearby dear since there are sooo many food littered on the floor but to go out to the further side of the park and feed those dear. They will actually gobble it up. Seen so many tourists piff the snacks at the deer close to the store and maybe they were just full since we got there in the evening.
4. Got back and packed to travel to Kyoto. We stayed at Hearton Hotel Kita Umeda and highly reccomended it for the price, location and service. Cleaning was done everyday on request.
18/12 (Kyoto D1) – Tiring
* Morning:
1. Got to hotel and left our luggage there. Went to Nishiki Market for lunch. Really enjoyed the area and all the foods available. Explored Teramachi market nearby and got some clothes at some thrift/ 2nd hand stores.
2. We went to Shizen Ice Cream which was pretty cool experience before heading off to Kiyomizu Dera
* Evening:
1. We got there around Sunset and was cool experience walking around. Chilled at the Tatami Starbucks after and was a great experience. There wasn’t any line when we got there around after Sunset. You just need to find a spot first before going down stairs to order.
2. Had Kura for dinner and explored the Uniqlo/ GU nearby at Teramachi area which was a great experience. Kura had a line but uses a ticket experience so we went shopping in the mean time. Was a 45m wait.
19/12 (Kyoto D2) – Okay
* Morning:
* 1. Got to Bamboo Grove around 9:30AM and it was pretty packed. There was some spots where there was hardly any people for photos but it didn’t take too long to explore. We went to the nearby temples so that was a cool experience.
* 2. Arayashima Monkey Park. Was a cool experience feeding the monkeys and exploring the area. Didn’t spend too long in the area but it was defintly worth it imo.
* Evening:
1. Lunch – Coco Curry. We wanted to go to Fire Ramen Menbaka and went to the area only to find out it was closed on Tuesdays. So double check ahead of time to avoid that. We had time to go to the Railway Musuem but decided on skipping in the end.
2. Explored the Pokemon Centre in the area. There was Kyoto exclusive Pikachu plushies in the area but didn’t get any since we assumed there was some Tokyo exclusives. There was not so maybe pick some up here if you’re into that.
3. Had dinner at Kuchi Kuchi omurice. partner booked it in advance which was required. Experience was pretty good. Food is decent but its mostly for the experience and showmanship which was top notch.
20/12 (Kyoto D3) – Okay
* Morning:
1. Fushimi Inari Taisha. Got there around 9AM and was planning on doing the whole trek but just decided on taking photos and enjoying the area before heading off to Uji. It wasn’t that packed and managed to get some quality photos.
2. Uji – Was a nice experience and a chill area to explore. Bought plenty of matcha in the area. Reccomend buying the matcha here and most stores had tax free. There were plenty of cafes/ restaurants to enjoy so I highly reccomend this part of the trip!
3. Spend the night packing luggage and visitng Teramachi street again for some shopping/ exploring
21/12 (Kawaguchiko D1) – Tiring
* Morning:
1. Massive PT to Kawaguchiko but wasn’t too bad. Shinkansen is always a fun experience and the bus needed booking in advance which we did.
2. We walked to the Panaromic Rope way and enjoyed the experience there.
3. It was really cold so I reccomend warm clothes. We wanted to eat hotou fudou for dinner but both stores were closed but said it was open online… We maanged to find a nearby place that had the same style of food though with tatami mats and heating. That was a great experience instead and so so warm…
22/12 (Kawaguchiko D2) – Fuji Q
* Whole Day:
1. We had a hotel shuttle to Kawaguchiko Station and then caught the free bus to Fuji Q.
2. The roller coasters there are no joke and pretty exciting. I reccomend purchasing the fast pass for long lines as we had to wait nearly 2 hours for some.
3. It was a whole day experience and was very cool to explore. There’s lot to do in the area but a lot of it is doable without the need for fast pass tickets. A lot of food options as well.
4. Got back late and packed luggage for Tokyo.
Did not realise how much I wrote so I will be stop here at Kawaguchiko and continue the Tokyo portion in the next post sometime tomorrow!
Any questions, please ask
