3-Week Solo Adventure from Tokyo to Nagasaki in Nov 2023 (with pictures)

In November 2023, I visited Japan for the first time, which was also my first solo trip and first trip in 6 years. I’ve wanted to go there for a long time, so I did a ton of planning and packed in a lot. I focused the trip on seeing and doing lots of interesting things, rather than relaxing, and it was AWESOME, hard to believe it wasn’t a dream. Itinerary summary: Tokyo, Nikko, Fujikawaguchiko, Kyoto, Osaka, Shimanami Kaido, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Ikeshima and back to Tokyo.

I had a low-mid (?) budget of AU$6000 for my 3-week trip (including flights), ended up under budget at AU$5200. Apart from one night at a ryokan, I spent the rest in small business hotels as I planned on being out all day anyway. I just looked for a private room, with its own bathroom and in a convenient location. It worked well for me. I got up early each morning, so I got to experience a lot of "overhyped" places without the usual crowds, they were all amazing and most were even peaceful! It was a pretty physically demanding itinerary, as I walked an average of 22k steps per day (up to 36k on one of the days!) and hiked up a few mountains. Not everyone is that crazy, but it seems lots of walking is inevitable in Japan.

I’ve been learning Japanese on and off for a few years, but I’m still pretty bad (around N4 level), so it helped with getting around, ordering food etc., but I rarely got to make conversation with anyone unfortunately. Speaking was pretty overwhelming at first, but I got the hang of it and every successful interaction I had in Japanese made me so happy.

Best things

• Food – The food was consistently delicious. I had a big list of things I wanted to try, and managed to try almost all of them, but I didn’t really plan any specific restaurants. The food was also much cheaper than I expected, but I do regret not splashing out a few times on a fancy wagyu and kaiseki dinner. My favourites were the simple egg sandwich from 7-11, and conveyor belt sushi places, pretty good quality, allows you to try lots of things without committing to a full dish, and surprisingly cheap. Pocari sweat was also a favourite.
• Trains & Stations – To some, they may just be a means of transport, but riding trains across this country was a continual highlight for me. Seeing a shinkansen fly past your station at full speed is unforgettable. I also really appreciated the train stations, while rather intense, they are well signposted and I could always quickly find my platform (finding the way out is another story…). In Tokyo, the train screens even show where the stairs/escalators are relative to your train door!
• Convenience stores – they’re so convenient… who would’ve thought? Food is high quality considering the price and all 7-11s have ATMs. Really missed them when I came back home.
• Days – My favourite days of the trip were the Nikko, Fuji, Ikeshima and Fushimi-Uji-Nara days, as well as the Shimanami Kaido and flight from Nagasaki to Tokyo. In general, I really liked the “themed” day trips, rather than doing a bunch of different stuff around the city.
• JR Pass – Saved me a lot of money, but also gave me a good reason to venture further out, which were my favourite moments. Very easy and satisfying to use, but sadly even min-maxing it is no longer worth the money after the price increase.
• Favourite city – Osaka, not really sure why, I just loved all the suspended roads and seeing Osaka castle on a quiet crisp morning made me want to live there. Tokyo was my next favourite, endless things to do, and really nice green spaces nestled amongst the skyscrapers. Kyoto was my least favourite, annoying to get around and very touristy, still beautiful and worth the visit.
• Favourite temple/shrine – Nikko Toshogu, honourable mentions: Byodo-in, Todaiji, Daisho-in and Kousanji. They all had something unique about them.
• Favourite adventure – Ikeshima
• Favourite garden – Koko-en in Himeji
• Favourite castle – Osaka castle (didn’t go inside though)
• Favourite restaurants – Kaitensushi Sakae in Osaka and Okonomiyaki Nagata-ya in Hiroshima.
• Favourite viewpoints – Shiratakiyama observatory, Inasayama observatory, and Shibuya Sky

Bad things

• Unplanned days – I left some days free of plans, following most advice given here, but personally these were my least favourite days by far. I didn't really know what to do so I’m interested in how other people go about filling these kind of days (I don't like shopping).
• Leg pain – I did too much walking on the first two days, and my hips and ankles suffered because of it. There is a lot of uneven/gravel paths at temples and it was hard to find places to sit down, especially in Tokyo, so I was standing most of the day. In hindsight, I should’ve gone back to my hotel to get off my feet for a bit. I was fine after the first week though.
• Tourists – Other foreign tourists were quite annoying at times, blocking paths and being loud. Can’t do much about it, but it was a shame given how considerate most Japanese people were.
• Some hotel bathrooms – I knew when booking that my hotels were going to be small, and I was fine with them for the most part. However, two of them were just too small, where I was banging my elbows on the walls, the toilet was about 80% the length of a normal one and I couldn’t close the shower curtain because the sink was in the way lol.
• Nagasaki buses – The opposite to all other transport I experienced in Japan, so dumb. Two buses can have the same final destination and the same bus number on the front, but take two completely different routes to get there. Be careful with these if you can’t read Japanese, the trams are much easier.

General Observations

• I didn’t need to get up as early as I thought to beat the crowds, a number of popular places were relatively quiet until around 9am. I still recommend waking up as early as you can though.
• Everything is massive! I was worried that by doing so much planning I would not be surprised by anything, but almost everything is far bigger and better in person.
• Japan has small interesting things around every corner. I’ll be in some shopping street, then boom, a random shrine or sculpture. Very different to where I live. Even in the literal sense, each corner/turn on the road down from Chuzenji (Nikko) had it's own name and image on a sign! Also lots of cool artworks and designs on manhole covers.
• I kept coming across stores with the same souvenirs and foods everywhere I went, even multiple times on the same street. It felt like a video game with re-used shop prefabs. There definitely are unique items so I would hold off on souvenir shopping until you’ve seen what’s around.
• Love the sound crows make in Japan
• Japan doesn't mess around with their rivers and canals.
• Everyone is very fashionable and there were tons of people wearing suits, even the uniforms of primary school kids were adorable and impressive.
• People stare a lot less than back home, even though I’m a foreigner
• Still a lot of smokers, especially in Osaka.

General Advice

• Language – I haven’t seen it recommended before, but if you want to learn a bit more than the usual basic words, you could learn how to read katakana (writing system primarily used for foreign words). Duolingo’s “characters -> katakana” section should be sufficient for this. It won’t help with speaking, but there is a surprising amount of English in Japan, it’s just written with different characters (kind of). It can also explain some funny mistranslations, like this sign I found. Don't fret though, you can get by with just English and hand gestures in most places.
• IC Card – There were massive lines for paper tickets at places like Kawaguchiko station, and you just skip them all with an IC card. I think they still sell Toica cards at Tokyo Station.
• Eki stamps – I collected 33 eki stamps over the trip, they can be pretty hard to find, and I felt a bit self-conscious looking for stamps amongst hundreds of people commuting to their jobs, so I mostly just got ones that I stumbled across. This site seems to be the best source for finding them (not all in English though). I probably won’t collect any more next time.
• Navitime – I used Google Maps a lot and it worked most of the time, but I found Navitime to be much more reliable in giving me specific platform and train numbers where google was vague.
• Telephoto lens – I’m no photographer, but I really liked all the photos I took with the telephoto (or 3x zoom) camera on my phone, they just feel more intimate and intentional (some examples). I found the opposite is true for the wide-angle lens, fits more in but the photos look meh.
• Abroad in Japan – Got a lot of inspiration from his YouTube videos, especially Ikeshima and the Shimanami Kaido, also just fun to watch.
• Ranking of physical difficulty (hardest to easiest) – Shiratakiyama hike (with bike), Mt Misen hike, Shimanami Kaido cycle, Arashiyama monkey park hike, Fushimi Inari hike.

Advice for Maximising Your Time

• Wake up early (5:30 – 7am) – one of the best things I did, especially in late autumn and winter when the sun sets at 4:30pm. Having no crowds x10 my enjoyment of a place, and is just far more relaxing. I gradually woke up earlier in the weeks before the holiday, so it wasn’t too hard.
• Put the most popular things first – list all the busiest places you will visit and put one or two on each day at the very start. Then fill the rest of each day with less crowded activities.
• Plan geographically – group the things you do by location (always check travel times, since distance on a map can be deceiving), and try to plan a path that minimises backtracking. Kyoto is a bit difficult in this regard.
• Well-connected accommodation – staying close to train stations allowed me to get around efficiently. Also makes it easy to drop-off luggage on the way to something else.

Cost

• The transport cost includes a AU$73 domestic flight and the 14-day JR Pass (AU$480), which covered about AU$720 worth of transport (AU$240 saving).
• I used credit card for about 60% of purchases, and cash for the rest. Debit Mastercard at 7-11 ATMs gave me a near-perfect exchange rate with no fees, highly recommend. If you get a "Temporarily out of service" and "can't contact issuing bank" error, you may need to select credit instead of savings (even for a debit card), caused me some panic on the first day.

Accommodation

• Sotetsu Fresa Inn Shimbashi Hibiyaguchi – 8/10, nice big desk, right next to the station, trains were quite loud but I slept through it fine and watching the trains and shinkansens go past from above was a highlight, felt like home by the end of my stay.
• R&B Hotel Kyoto Shijo Kawaramachi – 6/10, desk was too small, bit further away from transport than it looked on the map, nice breakfast
• Hotel Hokke Club Osaka – 7.5/10, pretty good
• Ryokan Setouchiso – 4/10, not great tbh, used the onsen/sento (basically just a normal bath), shared bathroom, thin walls and very loud, interesting experience and glad I tried it but would only go to a ryokan again if it was a fancy one. Accidentally kicked my slippers down the stairs a few times, they’re so hard to keep on! Also, the pillow was literally filled with plastic macaroni lol.
• Toyoko Inn Hiroshima Ekimae Ohashi Minami – 5/10, avoid this, bathroom was comically small, and the bed had the softness of two towels on a tile floor, the rest was fine though and it had a great view over the river.
• Hotel Cuore Nagasaki Ekimae – 8/10, sliding board instead of curtains, fancy breakfast.
• Sotetsu Fresa Inn Tokyo Tamachi – 6.5/10, bathroom was also a bit too small, nice blackout curtains though. Smallest overall room that I stayed in.

Full Itinerary

I tried to assign some categories to help you skim through. The not-so-obvious ones are 🔭= observatory and ⭐= miscellaneous. I haven’t listed all my meals and have left out time spent just looking around. I haven't edited any of the photos, but my phone does tend to oversaturate things.

Arrived at Haneda at 10pm, massive line at immigration, trains were packed and couldn’t fit on the first one so it was quite stressful, I squeezed onto the last train for the night and got to my hotel in Shimbashi at about 12:20am. Fumbled check-in, didn't know what I was doing lol, was easy though.

Day 1 (Nov 13) – West Tokyo

• 🔭 Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building – 9/10, amazing view and completely free, I found it amazing you can walk here from Shinjuku Stn completely underground.
• 🌲⛩️ Meiji Jingu – 9/10, massive park in the middle of a megacity, very peaceful, I would come here often if I lived in Tokyo. Walked here straight from the gov building, felt surreal strolling through the quiet backstreets of Tokyo for the first time.
• 🛍️ Takeshitadori – 3/10, just a very busy shopping street
• ⭐ Shibuya crossing and Hachiko – 5/10, cool to cross once or twice but not worth spending much time and looks better from up high in my opinion.
• 🛍️ Nintendo & other themed shops – 7/10, lots of cool loot to see, all at a premium though
• 🔭 Shibuya sky – 9/10, probably the best view in Tokyo, I went before sunset so I could see it during the day and night. I definitely went too early so I think the 4:30pm slot would be best (it sells out very quickly), it was just super cold and windy up there.
• 🍽️ Tsuru ton tan – 8/10, black sesame udon, quite visually striking, didn’t know what to expect but it was really tasty and came in a massive bowl. The restaurant has views over Shibuya crossing if you’re lucky (I wasn’t).

Day 2 – East Tokyo

• ⛩️ Senso-ji – 8/10, beautiful temple, koi in the stream nearby, surprisingly empty at 8:30am, none of the shops were open though.
• 🌲 Sumida Park – 5/10, – nothing special in autumn, but good view of skytree and the golden turd
• 🌲 Ueno Park – 7/10, massive pathways, open and refreshing, dynamic water fountains, not as interesting as Meiji Jingu though. There were people pulling around carts of toddlers, very cute.
• 🏛️ National Museum of Nature and Science – 6/10, some interesting stuff in here from Japanese wildlife to their space program, but I recommend just doing the national museum.
• 🏛️ Tokyo National Museum – 9/10, one of the best museums I’ve been to, it’s made up of multiple buildings and you could spend a long time here, but I didn’t see everything because I was all walked-out. The main Japan building was my favourite (katanas, samurai armour, pottery, tapestry etc.), and I loved how much detail they gave about everything. Highly recommend finding The Prince Takamado Collection exhibit if it's still there.
• 🍽️ Kura sushi – 9/10, first time at a conveyor belt sushi place, I even won a prize (some random anime pin, not worth), fully wooden interior, pretty cool concept and lots of different sushi to try.
• ⛩️ Senso-ji at night – 6/10, was busier at 6:30pm than when I went at 8:30am, and I think the red is more striking in the morning. Nice view of Skytree though.

Day 3 – Fujikawaguchiko day trip

• 🚄 Ltd express to Otsuki – 10/10, the train was like something out of the future and the view outside was awesome, got a colourful ekiben too
• 🚄 Fujikyu railway – 7/10, otsuki station was very confusing, nearly missed my train. The train was pretty rickety but had heated seats! Briefly saw Mt Fuji from out the window!
• ⛩️⛰️ Chureita Pagoda – 8/10, nice area and colours but Mt Fuji was covered by clouds and the famous temple seen in all those brochures wasn’t anything special.
• 🌲 Kawaguchiko – 8/10, the station was packed, massive line for the bus so I just walked. Lots of immaculate gardens (in regular people’s homes) along the way and found a few small shrines no one else was at. The lake was stunning and the colours here were amazing.
• ⛰️🔭 Panoramic ropeway – 8/10, the ropeway itself is pretty bad, 1hr wait and you get crammed in, but the view at the top is awesome. I got very lucky as Mt Fuji poked its head out for a few minutes while up there, it was covered by clouds for the rest of the day.
• ⭐ Tokyo Station – 9/10, massive older-style building amongst a skyline of modern skyscrapers
• 🍽️ Hakata Menbo Akanoren – 6/10, had my first ever ramen, it was okay, not much pork and quite unhealthy feeling.

Day 4 – Nikko day trip

• 🚄 Shinkansen to Utsunomiya – 10/10
• 🚄 Bus to Chuzenji Onsen – 8/10, nice mountainous view, but all the trees were brown at this point. Would be amazing in peak autumn, but the benefit is that there was barely anyone here.
• ⛰️⭐ Kegon Falls – 8/10, massive, beautiful waterfall, it was quite empty around here and not a whole lot to do, very cold.
• 🌲 Kanmangafuchi Abyss & area – 10/10, I was practically alone in this beautiful pristine location.
• 🍽️ Nikko Coffee – 9/10, had some delicious (gourmet?) omurice
• ⛩️ Rinnoji & Senbutsudo – 7/10, the Rinnoji treasure house was pretty meh and very small, but the garden was nice and still had lots of autumn colours, and senbutsudo was interesting but also small. It’s cheap and doesn't take long, so may as well see it while you’re in the area.
• ⛩️ Nikko Toshogu – 10/10, my favourite temple/shrine of the trip, the hand-crafted details were astonishing, a really refreshing and relaxing area too. There were more people here though.
• ⛩️ Futarasan Jinja and rest of the temple area – 8/10, very good but still outshone by Toshogu
• ⭐Shinkyo Bridge – 8/10, great colours
• 🍽️ Katsuya – 7/10, tasty, cheap, easy, salaryman central

Day 5 – Kyoto Temples

• 🚄 Shinkansen to Kyoto – 7/10, I was surprised to see the Mt Fuji side window seats were all taken 2 days prior, it was raining though so not much of a view anyway.
• 🛍️ Nishiki market – 6/10, not as big as I thought, very busy but wasn’t really a problem
• ⛩️ Chion-in – 6/10, accidentally ended up here heading to Yasaka, nice but not very memorable
• ⛩️ Yasaka jinja – 2/10, I actually walked past this the first time, because I didn’t recognize it, the orange paint looked pretty tacky to me and I was quite disappointed.
• ⛩️🌺 Kodaiji – 7/10, nice rock and moss gardens, not that memorable either though
• 🌺 Eikando Zenrinji – 8/10, went for the night viewing session, massive line before opening but the ticket staff were like machines, looks great in person but hard to take good photos at night.
• 🍽️ Rutubo – 6/10, nice atmosphere but I had to sit at a barrel… stylish, sure, but very uncomfortable. I had wagyu fried rice, tasty but barely any meat.

Day 6 – More Kyoto

• ⛩️🔭 Kiyomizudera – 7/10, went early (7:25am) and it was pretty empty, the big stage is impressive and has a great view over the city.
• ⛩️ Kinkakuji – 9/10, got there as it opened and it was already busy but not unbearable, I thought it would be overhyped but it really was spectacular, also more to see there than I expected.
• 🌺 Ryoanji – 8/10, interesting garden and really cool rock garden, they had a special sliding door exhibit with dragon artworks on them, super cool, not sure if it was permanent though.
• 🍽️ Casual Tempura Kawaramachi – 7/10, tempura shrimp bowl, food was good, restaurant was nice and bright, window seat looking over the street below.
• 🛍️ Ninenzaka & Sannenzaka – 5/10, simply too many people there to fully enjoy, the markets weren’t anything special. Probably the worst offender of my “re-used shop prefabs” comment.
• ⛩️🔭 Kiyomizudera at night – 4/10, crazy amount of people and didn’t look nearly as good as Eikando zenrinji so I didn’t go in again. There was some strange laser in the sky though.
• 🍽️ Nakajima Gyoza – 4/10, black fried rice and gyoza, pretty tasty, but the gyoza had a bit of an old oil aftertaste or something.

Day 7 – Arashiyama

• 🌲 Arashiyama bamboo forest – 8/10, got here at 8am and there weren’t too many people, I also thought it might be overhyped but it was really cool actually. Great view over a valley nearby.
• 🌺 Tenryuji – 8/10, nice garden, vibrant autumn colours and picturesque pond, I don’t recommend paying to enter the temple, you can see most of the inside without paying anyway.
• 🌺 Gioji – 8/10, small moss garden, I love moss so this was great, pleasant walk here
• 🛍️⭐ Arashiyama market and bridge area – 8/10, katsuya river and the area look amazing, these were also my favourite markets of the trip as they felt the most unique. Tons of people though.
• ⛰️⭐ Monkey park – 8/10, pretty tough climb up, but the monkeys at the top were cute and funny. Possibly the best view over the city too.
• Pontocho – went for dinner, but I just walked around for ages and nothing piqued my interest.
• 🍽️ Coco Ichibanya – 5/10, katsu and veggie curry, potato was powdery, but otherwise tasty.
• Sent my luggage to my hotel in Osaka – bit annoying but necessary for tomorrow to work

Day 8 – Fushimi, Uji, Nara

• ⛩️⛰️ Fushimi Inari – 8/10, got here at 7:20am and there were a moderate number of people, I allocated 3 hours here based on advice, but it only took me 1.5 hours to get to the top and back. Nice climb and atmosphere once you get past all the people at the bottom. I knew there was nothing special at the peak but it was hard to tell how far up I was, so I just kept going. Picture
• ⭐ Uji – 9/10, didn’t expect much but Uji was quite beautiful, felt like something out of a Ghibli movie. I found the souvenirs here to be much more unique. Lots of strange matcha dishes to try.
• ⛩️🏛️ Byodo-in – 10/10, cool looking temple (the one on the 10-yen coin), and there was this fancy underground sculpture museum, very cool display but no pictures allowed unfortunately. Had some matcha and wagashi (Japanese sweets) here too.
• 🌲 Nara park – 4/10, the park itself didn’t look great at this time of year and there was a bunch of construction, not many deer at the start either. The mochi sold at Nakatanido is so good!
• 🌺 Yoshiki-en – 8/10, great free garden and quite large, didn’t end up going to the paid garden next door because this was so good.
• ⛩️ Todaiji – 10/10, it’s MASSIVE, pictures don’t do it justice. All the deer were apparently hanging around this area, they were well-tempered for me, but one of them was definitely sexist.
• 🍽️ Warabe Yorokobian – 6/10, chicken & whisked egg soba for late lunch, tasty but longish wait
• ⭐ Osaka station – 9/10, it’s massive and I got lost a few times, but I really liked it since we don’t have any mega structures like these back home. Fancy modern hangout spaces around it too.
• 🍽️ Kaitensushi Sakae – 10/10, non-chain conveyor belt sushi place, no tablet to order from, so I just ate things that came by, slightly bigger and higher quality portions, really nice.

Day 9 – Castles

• 🏯 Osaka castle – 10/10, stunning castle, mote and grounds, this was my favourite castle aesthetically. There was no one else around, it was tranquil. I didn’t go inside though, since it’s just a museum. I entered from the north side, lots more people on the south side. Pictures
• ⭐ Osaka Aquarium – 4/10, earliest time slot was sold out online but I still got it by buying in-person (lined up before it opened). Much shorter than I expected, you pretty much circle the one big tank in the middle so you just see the same thing. I’ve been to better aquariums.
• 🏯 Himeji castle – 8/10, it’s much bigger than Osaka castle but doesn’t look as good in my opinion, seeing the inside of a castle was very interesting though.
• 🌺 Koko-en – 10/10, my favourite garden of the trip, lots of variation, all segmented into different themes and only 50 yen if you buy it with the Himeji ticket!
• 🍽️ Kawakita shoten – 5/10, ordered assorted yakitori, didn’t expect it to include chicken hearts, liver etc. Most of it was good, but the liver was pretty horrid.

Day 10 – Universal Studios Japan (USJ)

• ⭐ USJ – 8/10, got there 1h45m – 2h before opening but there were already lots of people in line. I didn’t buy the express pass, not worth it in my opinion as I still got into Super Nintendo World straight away, went on 6 rides and watched 3 shows. All the AR rides were really impressive and fun. Single rider is absolutely broken, got onto to some 70-90min wait rides in 5 mins or less, but I still had to wait the full time for others. Some lines are outside, bring sunscreen.
• ⭐ Shinsekai & Tsutenkaku – 5/10, cool tower but the area was pretty dead at night.
• ⭐ Dotonburi – 6/10, more lively but basically all tourists.
• 🍽️ Takohachi – 8/10, okonomiyaki, nice

Day 11 – Cooking class

• 🛍️ Doguyasuji – 7/10, cookware shopping street, pretty good, and cheaper than other places, bought some chopsticks and a dragon bowl here, one shop looked like a bomb went off
• ⭐🍽️ Cooking class – 8/10, we made two types of ramen and two types of gyoza, really interesting and well explained, best gyoza I had. Went for 3 hours. Booked on AirBnB. Pictures
• 🍽️ Kamesushi – 6/10, a higher-end but not too expensive sushi place, was a cool experience to sit in front of the sushi chefs. I messed up my order a bit, ordered a semi-expensive “assorted” sashimi platter after looking around and seeing other people with a whole range of fish, but mine wasn’t assorted at all, so I got some unagi too. I would come again though. Picture

Day 12 – Shimanami Kaido Part 1

• 🚲 The Red Bicycles Onomichi – 10/10, rented a road bike from here, and can’t recommend them enough. The bike was such a joy to ride, came with a padded seat and was only about $6 more than the normal rental place. The only downside is they don’t have a store in Imabari, so you need to return the bike at the same shop before 5pm (can be the next day).
• ⛩️⛰️ Kousanji – 9/10, unexpectedly good, similar intricate details to Nikko Toshogu and the reddest leaves I have seen. It was also a very unique temple grounds, with a cave down to “hell” and a marble mountain. Pictures
• 🍽️ Cyclist Sanctuary – 8/10, Karaage set meal, lots of elements, tasty, filling and good value, caution: everything was in Japanese and they call your order number in Japanese too.
• 🍽️ Inakamon – 8/10, felt a bit awkward rocking up to some small izakaya in what felt like the middle of nowhere as a foreigner, but they were accommodating. Had a yakiniku set meal.

Day 13 – Shimanami Kaido Part 2

• ⛰️🔭 Shiratakiyama observatory – 9/10, probably the best view of the trip, but it was a struggle getting up there, I had to walk my bike the whole way up, it was a 15% incline at some points.
• 🍽️ Café Terrace Nanohana – 8/10, hamburg steak set meal, very tasty and good value. Loved all the set meals I got along this ride, Japanese people be eating good.
• 🚲 Shimanami Kaido finished – 10/10, phenomenal experience with amazing scenery, a bit hard logistically and nearly didn’t make the cut for my itinerary but I’m so glad it did. I didn’t ride the full length there and back because I wanted to take my time and also needed to return by 5pm, so I ferried straight to Ikuchijima, cycled to Imabari, stayed back on Oshima, next day cycled to Tomoura port, ferried to Innoshima and rode back to the start. Ended up riding 87km across the two days (normal route is about 76km one-way I believe), it was difficult getting up hills, but the bike was so fun to ride (I’ve never ridden a road bike before).
• 🍽️ Tetsu in Okonomimura – 8/10, bit of a mirror maze in there, but tasty food and charismatic chefs. Didn’t realise it was a multi-story building.

Day 14 – Hiroshima

• 🌲⭐ Atomic bomb dome & peace park – 7/10, nice area, but seeing the building in person wasn’t much different to the pictures for some reason.
• 🏛️ Atomic bomb museum – 8/10, quite harrowing with lots of interesting stories and artefacts.
• 🏯 Hiroshima castle – 7/10, smaller than the others, but had it's own aesthetic. Didn’t go inside.
• 🌺 Shukkei-en – 9/10, 2nd favourite garden, the koi didn’t eat any of the food I bought though 🙁
• 🍽️ Nagata-ya – 10/10, already a 30 min wait in line at 4:45pm, but the seafood special okonomiyaki was delicious, best I had on the trip. Also got some umeshu which was very nice.

Day 15 – Miyajima

• ⛩️🏛️ Itsukushima shrine – 8/10, the main shrine is good, but the treasure hall was the highlight for me, small but high quality and had interesting info about the floating shrine’s construction.
• ⛩️ Daisho-in – 10/10, the colours were amazing here and it also felt quite unique
• 🍽️ Hexagon café – 8/10, had the special vegan curry, bigger than it looked in the image, very interesting, I haven’t had a curry like it before (had nuts in it).
• ⛰️🔭 Mt Misen – 8/10, hiked up the daisho-in route, pretty much the only person going up. Tough hike and took 1h30m, wasn’t a lot to see along the trail, but the view at the top was great. Took the ropeway back down, crammed in and facing backwards, but better than hiking down.
• ⛩️ Itsukushima shrine (low tide) – 8/10, you can go right up to it, actually looks quite wonky up close, very interesting. It was the only time returning to a shrine/temple paid off.
• 🛍️🍽️ Miyajima Omotesando – 7/10, people were going crazy over the Momiji, they were just alright to me.
• 🍽️ Sukiya – 7/10, gyudon, tasty and insanely cheap, somewhat small portion though.

Day 16 – Nagasaki (semi-unplanned day)

• 🚄 Shinkansens to Nagasaki – rode the new west Kyushu shinkansen, the seats looked fancy but are much less practical in my opinion.
• 🌲⭐ Nagasaki peace park – 3/10, lots of nice statues here, but it started raining and there were like 5 massive tour groups here for some reason. One tourist was spitting in the flowers 😫. I was pretty annoyed here, but I’m sure it would be much better at another time (maybe 7/10).
• ⭐ Gunkanjima cruise – 0/10, cancelled on me 1hr before the cruise due to “high waves”, even though it was a calm day. I was aware they often cancel due to weather, but would have been nice to give at least a few hours warning… Didn’t have anything else planned for the day.
• 🍽️ Mister Donut – 8/10, interesting chewy (slightly undercooked?) texture, I really liked it.
• 🍽️⭐ Shinchi Chinatown – 5/10, the Chinatown itself was tiny and almost everything was closed (it was 4:30pm), quite underwhelming, but the area around it was nice, especially Megane (glasses) bridge. I was looking around the local shrines and somehow ended up in the playground of some kindergarten lol, real Zoro moment, be careful out there.
• 🍽️ Menya Always – 8/10, had the lemon ramen and chashu bowl, tasty but not very lemony until the end, it worked well together though so maybe let it sit for a bit. The ramen egg was godlike.

Day 17 – Ikeshima

• 🚄 Bus to Konoura port – 8/10, spent a while making sure I didn’t get on the wrong bus… but the trip was nice, great view over the ocean and countryside(?). It was a bit sketchy at times, a big bus winding through the hills and skinny roads.
• ⭐ Ikeshima – 10/10, surreal experience, there was one other tourist on the whole island, dystopian overgrown buildings and rusted-out machinery, a bunch of friendly cats following me around everywhere. Also, some “friendly” looking spiders. Highly suggest taking the “bus” (van) to the other end of the island and working your way back to the port. There is a questionable amount of transport for such a remote location and so few passengers. Pictures
• 🌲 Inasayama park – 8/10, big park with a futuristic slope car going up and down the mountain. Took the slope car up, lots of space and really unique, much better than any ropeway I went on.
• ⛰️🔭 Mt Inasa observatory – 10/10, incredible 360 view, feels like you can see the whole of Nagasaki, could even see the peace park statue and my hotel, the night view was great too.

Day 18 – Domestic Flight and Odaiba

• ✈️ Nagasaki airport – 8/10, chill airport, had a rooftop observatory for watching planes take off.
• ✈️🔭 Flight to Tokyo – 10/10, perfect, spent the whole flight looking out the window, saw Mt Fuji (looks much better in person), most leg room I’ve ever had on a plane, and only AU$73 (US$48)!
• 🚄 Yurikamome line to Odaiba – 7/10, autonomous train that does a 360 loop and goes over the rainbow bridge, pretty cool. Got the Yurikamome day pass and made good use out of it.
• ⭐ Odaiba – 8/10, really fresh area in general, also hard to tell whether you’re on the ground or on some suspended platform
• 🍽️ Eggs’n’things – 9/10, eggs benedict, delicious, nice atmosphere, Hawaiian vibe, lots of other things I wanted to try on the menu.
• 🛍️⭐ Gundam store & statue – 9/10, the statue was super cool, and lots of cool figures to see in the store. The display of custom painted ones outshone the retail ones for me though.
• 🍽️ Kimkatsu – 7/10, plum flavoured katsu, quite tasty but not much plum and not much katsu
• ⭐ Team Lab Planets – 8/10, way more interactive that I expected, lots of people seemed to be there just for the Instagram pics though.
• ⭐ Night illuminations around Shiodome – 6/10, looked alright, but not as good as the pictures.

Day 19 – Misc Tokyo (semi-unplanned day)

• 🌲 Meiji Jingu Gaien Ginkgo Avenue – 8/10, stunning vibrant colours, can’t believe they’re planning on chopping these down for redevelopment!
• ⭐ Akihabara – 7/10, interesting and unique place, played some arcade games, don’t bother with the crane games, some gundam stores had better stock than the gundam base in Odaiba
• 🍽️ Sushiro – 9/10, another great kaitenzushi experience, each table even had its own pull-off bay
• ⭐ Tokyo tower – 9/10, looks really good at sunset (I didn't go up it)
• ⛩️ Reiyukai Shakaden – 9/10, if you’re in the area you have to go here, there was almost no one else here, super strange, dark and ominous, like some kind of spaceship. Felt like I was walking into some Zelda dungeon. Apparently it has a massive emergency water reserve underneath.
• ⭐ Roppongi – 6/10, fancy cars and a bunch of night illuminations
• ⭐ Midtown illuminations – 8/10, the best night illuminations I saw, they had these smoke machines covering the ground making for a cool atmosphere.
• 🍽️ Shake Shack – 7/10, pretty good but expensive. Black sesame shake was an interesting flavour, probably had a million calories though.

Day 20 – Misc Tokyo & Departure (unplanned day)

• 🛍️ Shopping in Tokyo Station – 4/10, I was looking for a specific dango shop I found on Google Maps and I could not find it for the life of me, I swear it was in the backrooms. It’s a maze and Google Maps is really unhelpful in multi-story underground buildings. Lots of unique and interesting food souvenirs, awesome place if you like shopping, but I don’t.
• 🛍️ Ginza – 3/10, didn’t have a plan, looked good but just shops, not my kind of area.
• ⭐ Shinjuku – 3/10, same thing, didn’t have a plan and was just wandering around a bit, I know I didn’t do Shinjuku justice on this trip. Easy place to visit next time though!
• 🚄 Asakusa ltd express to Narita airport – 8/10, this is so much cheaper than other options (skyliner was double, narita express was nearly triple), no transfers or reservations needed and is only 5-10 mins slower.
• ✈️ Narita airport – 8/10, quite a nice modern airport, but it’s just too far away, I would always use Haneda if it’s an option.

Sorry it's so long, but thanks for reading!