I am writing this sitting in a Ryokan located in Arimaonsen. We will be here until 4/5/23 when we travel back to Tokyo to catch a flight the next day.
Here is what we did and what worked/didn’t work about traveling to Japan with no plans at all other than ideas of what we wanted to do/see, during a peak tourist time, (look at a palace, enjoy the shrines, see the cherry blossoms, and eat Kobe beef in Kobe) [disclaimer, we had a $10,000 USD cash budget for this trip, so keep that in mind, I know if someone is on a tighter budget, planning a trip would be better)
We initially thought we wanted to try to see all of Japan, but learned that would be either expensive with air travel or we would spend a significant amount of time riding trains. So we scrapped that and spent about 2-3 days per stop.
Flew into Tokyo and got a cab to Akasaka / Minato City, our only pre-booked reservation of the entire trip. Spent the next day walking around Tokyo, picking up the JR pass, and stopping at places for food or to look at stores. We found pretty waterways lined with cherry blossom trees and some amazing food at small shops that didn’t have English menus. (Food is easy, point at picture, be ready to pay cash).
We wanted to see the Starbucks Rosting location in Tokyo (only 5 exist in the world), it when we got there, the wait time was 5 hours to get in. However, the trip there was beautiful, we saw a shrine and walked around. Plus lots of areas and parks lined with cherry blossoms. On the way back we stumbled past some nice pastry shops in Akasaka.
That night, we needed to book a hotel for the next two days. We wanted to do it near Mt. Fuji. For only $400 (last minute deal) we got 2 nights at Isawa-Onsen at a Ryokan. Next morning, we hopped on a train and went. The Ryokan was beautiful and the town was quaint and lovely. From a local, this was a popular spot for some Japanese people to vacation. We found an Izakaya for dinner right across the street from our Ryokan. The food was amazing and we learned the local food here was horse! Never thought of that, but my god was it good. Then, our first Onsen experience. Amazing. It is so nice and beautiful, you quickly don’t care about being nude around others.
The next day, we did a day trip to Fuji and walk around the town. It was cloudy, so we couldn’t see all of Fuji (the next day was clear (ugh!). Cute towns we stopped at along the way. On the way back, we tried to go to a restaurant, but they allowed smoking inside (I’m an asthmatic, so that was a no) so we went to 7-11 and got snacks and had a picnic under the cherry blossoms.
We decided to spend the next 2 days in Kyoto. Spent about an hour looking for a hotel for a reasonable price, but one that was still nice. (This was peak cherry blossom time there!) we got in and Kyoto was beautiful. We found more cherry blossoms and a very nice Izakaya (Apollo).
The next day, fluffy pancakes! We ate next to another group of American tourists. Now, let me get on my soap box for a second… Americans, if you are visiting another county, know their customs and social norms. These people were the loudest in the restaurant and the locals looked upset. They were talking (yelling) about American politics and sex scandals. No one wants to here that. You ruined an amazing breakfast for everyone in that room, a group of local older women did a sign of relief once you left.
There is a covered outdoor shopping area in Kyoto that was vast. You could wonder for days. We also stumbled on Yasaka shrine and noticed they were prepping a festival! There was a beautiful cherry blossom garden there also. We decided to come back at night and enjoy the festival and eat all the street food! Before that, we went to the tori gates of Fushimi Inari Taisha. That was just breathtaking. A real religious experience. We then went back to the festival, enjoyed all the street food called it a night.
The next day was the bamboo forest and just exploring Kyoto. Found a highly rated ramen shop and went there 30 minutes before they opened to queue. I noticed that a lot of places have lines, so getting somewhere early cuts down on the wait. AMAZING Kyoto style ramen!
Now here was our biggest hiccup and frustrating. Due to it being a high tourist time, everywhere for dinner wanted a reservation, but they were booked, or their online reservation system was down, difficult to use, or said to make a reservation in person. We went to over 10 places for dinner ranging from basic Izakaya to places that would charge us ¥30,000. We decided to see if Apollo would take us again. Otherwise, another 7/11 dinner. They did. I love that place. We were stressed and almost cried when they seated us. We then (since it was our second time here) ordered everything on their menu that we didn’t get last time. Then stumbled across a sake bar and tried 9 different sakes.
Ok, I learned my lesson: dinner reservations. So I made 2 reservations for dinner on Kobe for the next day and found another Ryokan for 2 nights. Kobe is beautiful and the beef is to die for. We ended up having 2 different Kobe beef dinners last night. Ryokan relaxation today, Kobe and Tokyo tomorrow and then back on a plane.
Ultimately, everything was super easy to navigate with Google maps. Subways were easy. Google and the signs tell you everything you need to know. If you still need help (I did twice—even got on a wrong bullet train) the station staff and police are extremely helpful and most speak enough English to help.
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What to do better next time:
– I would make dinner reservations in advance.
– Ryokan reservations more in advance would allow us to have had dinners there, but I am happy going out and enjoy different dinners.
Thinks that worked:
– winging it. I’m a firm believer that the best travel stories are from just going where the wind takes you. Even the stressful parks had a happy ending and now is a fun story!
Is winging it for everyone? No, but for us it worked. Having plans stresses me out more than going with the flow does. I think it comes down to budget and your personality type.
3 comments
First of, I am amazed how you only have 1 pre-booked accommodation. I can never travel that way (and moreso my budget can’t 😅). Somehow jealous of spontaneous people like you though.
I usually do 2-3 days in a place with interchangeable plans. I like knowing the general layout and plan visiting attractions in “bundles” but in Japan I tend to hyper-plan because of limited validity of JR passes and infrequent train times in the outskirts.
Eating situation seems terrible! That’s one part of my travel that I never thought about reserving tbh unless it’s for a particular view or experience. If I was in your situation I’d probabluy end up getting konbini or department store basement food.
I have now been in japan for the past 4 weeks (Tokyo for a few days but mainly in Kyoto region to visit my wife’s family)… I am not american first off.. so not defending any ethnicity/country but seeing through my travels here and everywhere else … I think that one shouldn’t generalize just americans being loud and rude, but I have seen my fair share of loud, rude and clueless Koreans, Chinese, Europeans, Canadians, Americans, latinos, and yes even Japanese, etc etc. It all comes down to the group/individuals in question who are either ignorant, uneducated or just having poor manners altogether. Unfortunately, you sometimes just cannot teach or change stupid and ignorant people. I have met my fair share of very nice Americans as well (plus all other ethnicity/country people)
But as you said just to be mindful and respectful of where you are at all times … even back in your own home country… just do as the normal regular locals do… some countries norm may call for more reserved/quiet behaviour whereas another countryË‹s norm may be more loud/outgoing… just donË‹t stand out and give your own ethnicity/country a bad rep
Before I went to Japan, I was a tad concerned about this dinner reservation advice given by many in this sub. But having spent 3 weeks there, I didn’t have to make a single reservation. I would have if it was simple, but given the language barrier and difficulty with online reservation, I didn’t bother to try. I eventually figured out that for good food, we had to queue, and we did, for about half an hour, half of the time. The other half, we were served immediately. Sometimes it was good, sometimes just edible. Just putting it out there that one can still get pretty good food without having to reserve. Note these were just ordinary places regular locals dined at… not Michelin anything.
About the loudness, my friend recently moved to the US (we are not Americans), and she told me how the locals kept telling her to speak up! She was already speaking pretty loudly, in her opinion.