Me (28) and my wife (27) just returned from our 3 week holiday in Japan (12-31 May), I would to share some of my thoughts after the trip. We managed to visit quite a lot of places – Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Nara, Himeji, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Mt. Aso area, Kurokawa Onsen, Takachiho Gorge, Kanazawa, Tokyo, Fujikawaguchiko and part fo the Nakasendo trail (Magome to Tsumago). With all that being said, here are some of my impressions/recommendations.
1. We flew into Osaka, so I bought ICOCA at Namba station and it’s absolutely fantastic! You can pay with it for public transport in most major cities. Just one exception, we took a bus in Kanazawa and apparently some of the companies don’t accept IC cards, so make sure you have enough cash with you for buses in that case. We didn’t (We had only 5000 yen banknote so this was actually a problem).
2. We bought JR West All Area pass for 7 days which was absolutely worth it! We chose the option to retrieve the JR pass from a machine in Kyoto station and we actually had a big problem with that. We forgot the card with which we paid for the JR pass at home, we had in only virtually in our phones. It turned out that you are unable to retrieve the tickets withou having the card physically so what we had to do was to buy new JR passes and ask for a refund for the previous ones (which JR West kindly accepted). It actually says that you have the card with you when you are buying the JR Pass, to be fair, but just wanted to let you know that if you don’t have the card, there is no flexibility and you will not get your JR pass.
3. USJ was kind of disappointing. We visited when the Flying Dinosaur was closed for maintenance and the rides were honestly not that good. Mario Kart and HP: Forbidden Journey were very well done, but except for that, there was only the Hollywood, which was good as well, the waiting line was almost always more than 100 minutes (We went on Tuesday).
4. Every place in Japan has lots of regional souvenirs, you can go to almost any small town that is at least remotely interesting for tourists and they will have cookies/chocolate/tea/t-shirts etc. in regional colors. And not expensive at all! Japan is really great for souvenir shopping.
5. Kyushu’s nature is absolutely breathtaking. We rented a car for 2 days and went from Fukuoka to Mt. Aso, spent the night at Kurokawa Onsen and the next day we went to Takachiho Gorge and back to Fukuoka. The nature was absolutely incredible, everything was so green and beautiful. We were kind of sad that we had to leave Kyushu as there was so much more to explore there and everything looked awesome. Just a side note, if you’re coming to Takachiho gorge and plan to rent a boat, make sure to do it beforehand. We arrived on a weekday at about 11AM and the only boats available were for 4:30PM.
6. Kaiseki dinner is not for everyone. 🙂 We stayed at a ryokan in Kurokawa Onsen and a part of the stay was a kaiseki dinner. I knew I would probably struggle as I don’t eat fish and seafood, which turned out to be true. There was virtually nothing to eat for me except for a few vegetables and slices of beef meat in a hot pot. For the breakfast, we received a rice porridge with a side of plain rice, which we found quite weird, haha.
7. Kanazawa was fantastic – there was almost no one in the castle area, we also visited the Nagamachi District, which looked just like Kyoto but with no one in there.
8. Batting cages are awesome! This is one thign that we really enjoyed even though me and my wife never actually played baseball and baseball is not really popular in our country. There is a big one in Shinjuku, where we went three times, then once in Fujikawaguchiko and once in Osaka Round One. Cannot recommend enough.
9. Magome is awesome, if you have the chance, definitely visit this little town! So many cute shops and nice people, plus the nature is astonishing. Definitely recommend, even though it takes a little effort to get there!
I guess that’s more or less more, I am already looking forward to another trip to Japan, there’s so many interesting places to visit! Hopefully Tohoku and Hokkaido next time!
by Hromis