Trip Report: March 16 – April 04

Long post ahead!

Towns:
Tokyo – 11 days
Kyoto – 4 days
Osaka – day trip
Nagano – day trip
Yokohama – day trip

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We (**F 52, M 45**) were finally able to fly to Japan! In March of 2020, 2 days before our flight was supposed to leave the US, Japan closed its borders due to COVID. We optimistically rebooked for 2021. Then rebooked for 2022. Lol – who knew it would take three long years to make it happen? We are a fairly well traveled couple (Europe, Australia, Caribbean) from Arkansas. (Shocking, right?)

Super HUGE shout out to this business “**Studio Muscat**” –We originally had tattoo appointments scheduled with Studio Muscat for March 2020. We had even paid over a $1000 USD in deposits. David, the shop person we were emailing with, was amazing. Despite it taking 3 years, they honored our deposit, and we finally got our tattoos on March 31, 2023. 😊

**On to the trip report:** Arrived from Dallas, TX to Haneda airport around 3:20 pm. Breezed through the airport quarantine, security, customs, immigration because we had both done our “Visit Japan Web” information and had all our screenshots ready. It did feel a bit like cattle being herded as we walked and walked and walked through the airport. SO many workers with the same job – pointing us in the right direction. We kept our phones on and the screenshots up so the workers could, at a glance, easily motion us in the right direction.

I had downloaded **Ubigi** on my phone before we left (we are both Android users – which Japan doesn’t seem to think exists. (haha) I’m a Pokemon Go player so I wanted the extra data and service! I was able to switch to the eSim upon landing, which was super easy and definitely helpful. Husband had to rely on the airport wifi which wasn’t the fastest (not surprising though given how many people were in the airport)

Based on a recommendation from this sub ([from travelers about our same age](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/11fgzwn/comment/jckhsj9/?context=3)), we had booked a car service through **Klook** to take us from the airport to our hotel in Asakusa. Messaging occurred via WhatsApp. They let us know where to meet the driver, even sending a picture of the spot to meet. Cost was 6400 yen. Super reasonable to us because we wouldn’t have to deal with our luggage on trains at near rush hour time.

Arrived at the **Asakusa Tobu Hotel** around 6 pm’ish. Check in was super easy and our pocket wi-fi was waiting for us (ordered from **Japan Wireless** in advance). We had booked a Twin B room (21.0 m2) for the duration of our trip so it would be a “home base” for us. Many thanks to Chase Sapphire travel reward points! The beds were pushed together so it was like having a king size bed. AND they were high enough off the ground we could easily stuff our suitcases underneath. We both had a carry-on and a checked bag. Plus, our backpacks. This made a HUGE difference in space in the room. I’m not sure if the hotel did this on purpose, but they put us on the 11th floor, which also happened to be one of the floors with laundry machines. We used those several times! Please note (US travelers mostly) that the machines aren’t kidding about capacity. Unlike the huge washer / dryers we have in the US, these small combo (wash/dry in the same machine) units aren’t meant for big loads. So, plan on multiple small loads, as needed. Especially if you have jeans with you! Jeans are basically a load, all unto themselves. These machines took 100 yen coins OR you could tap your IC card, which was cool.

I cannot praise the **Asakusa Tobu Hotel** enough. The staff were incredible, and the location was perfect for us. The Ginza line was literally across the street. The Asakusa line was a 3-minute walk down the street.

Dinner that night was from the 7-11 which was practically next door. There was also an Ichiran next door, which became a source of amusement for us. We would take bets on how long the lines would be. We had been looking forward to the konbini’s! Hubs was especially excited to try spicy fami chicki. HA And then it was crash and crash hard. Stupid jet lag. (Note – for all the hate Ichiran gets on this sub – it was still FAR superior to any ramen we had ever gotten in Arkansas!!)

I won’t go into a day-by-day b/c it would be too much.
Instead, here is the [obligatory photo link](https://charlesandwendy.smugmug.com/Vacation/Japan) and some highlights! 😊

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**My interests** – Temples and collecting goshuin. Anime: SpyXFamily, Ten Sura (Slime) related items, Shiba café, cat cafes, Ghibli, Starbucks Reserve Roastery, Ramen, and Sakura. Lots and lots of Sakura!

**\*Goshuin.** Thanks to an old goshuin post from [u/himekat](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/eu1v35/looking_for_interesting_and_unique_goshuin_and/), I had a TON of temple recommendations. I managed to fill up five (5) goshuin books and acquired a mini goshuin book with some amazing, tiny images.

The best temple experience, without a doubt, was at **Butsugan-ji in Tokyo.** It truly is a teeny, tiny hole in the wall temple. But after steeling my courage and ringing the door buzzer I had the absolute pleasure of meeting the temple priestess, Yamamoto. She invited me in, taught me the shrine chant, prayed with me, and then proceeded to visit for a solid ½ hour. Her practicing her English and me practicing my Japanese. And despite its tiny appearance, the sheer volume of goshuin available was overwhelming. I would have gotten every single one of them if I hadn’t though it would be incredible rude (especially since Yamamoto was doing them by hand).

I absolutely loved the experience of visiting so many shrines and temples, making offerings, praying, and collecting the goshuin. It was soothing to my soul. Well… maybe not the super busy temples and shrines. Those were a little stressful, but the smaller ones on the list I had (and the random ones we found by complete accident) were priceless memories.

We got lost wandering around the Kyoto Imperial Palace and happened to find the **Goou Jinja Shrine** – commonly known as the “Boar Shrine”. Since my zodiac is the boar, I thought it was quite a fortuitous find!

While in Kyoto was also had a lovely experience with a woman outside a stationary store in an off-beat area. As we were leaving, she insisted we come back so she could buy us something. That’s when I learned about “**omiyage**”. She didn’t speak English but she kept saying this word and Google did the rest. What a wonderful moment as this complete stranger insisted on gifting us these cute little paper lanterns from the store.

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\*Our **Ghibli** tickets were acquired via Viator (local booker was Japan Awaits). All the confirmation emails said the tickets would be sent to our hotel in advance. But they weren’t there when we arrived. It took some time to get this sorted out with the vendor. Messaging with Viator who sent the same things I had already filled out for Japan Awaits. Eventually, our tickets DID arrive at the hotel though. So, if you buy your Ghibli tickets through them, just keep this in mind. And, honestly, doing it this was still way easier than trying to get them through Ghibli via their online portal.

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\***Starbucks Reserve Roastery** – Be there before they open. Seriously. It’s an “assigned entry time” system based on when you arrive and how many are ahead of you. We went around 10 am one morning thinking we’d get tickets for an hour or so later. NOPE –3-4 hour wait. Granted, this was also peak cherry blossom viewing time on the river. We planned to be there by 6:30 am one morning (opens at 7). Even then, our entry time was 7:30. As many others have said, there is limited seating so it’s good to scope out your seats first. BUT that shouldn’t mean “throw your crap on a table and leave!!!!” Which is what everyone was doing. It was super frustrating. There were tables “taken” by people’s crap that I never saw anyone sitting at the entire 2 hours we were there. Go up to the 3rd floor and talk to the hostess at the door of the outdoor balcony. Ask for seating. If you are lucky enough to get a spot, they will seat you there on the 3rd floor OR give you a ticket for the 4th floor balcony. NOTE – the time on the ticket actually means “until \_\_\_ time”. Our ticket said \~9 am. We thought this meant we went at 9 am. NOPE – it meant we had a table on the 4th floor UNTIL 9 am. Lucky for us, the hostess noticed us waiting around and pointed this out. We still managed to get in 30 minutes on the balcony. 😊

**TIP:** the food was kind of “meh” but it was fun to try the different specialty Sakura items. The coffee and tea items were neat b/c you can’t get them anywhere else. It’s more about the experience than the taste.

**Funny side note –** I saw a Vlogger I’ve been following for a while (for their Japan content and cute Shiba Inu) on the 3rd floor balcony. They were clearly doing a video and I was highly amused to see it posted later that week. So yeah, if you follow any Vlogger’s there is a good chance you might run into one there! (Looking at you Kim Dao!) haha

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\***MameShibe Café Asakusa** – Another “line up before they open” to get your entry time ticket experience. It’s not so much a café as it is a big room with the Shiba’s running around. There are drinks available, but I didn’t see anyone bother with them. Your timed ticket gets you 30 minutes with the doggos and the staff does a great job of rotating people in and out of the space. I even saw them rotate dogs in and out of the room, which was interesting. If you like Shiba’s you know they are likely to ignore you more than anything else. But I noticed some folks brought in blankets and put them in their laps. Some of the dogs loved this and would curl up in their lap (legs outstretched but toes touching to create a space for them). I was super jealous of these people because I didn’t have a blanket! But the staff are attentive to this and if they see someone isn’t getting to interact, they will try to help. One nice staffer brought over a chew toy to me and coaxed a Shiba to hang out with me that way. They dogs are clearly well taken care of and, consequently, a bit attached to the staff members. Haha I got some great video and pictures but it’s not a “cuddle a dog” experience for the most part. You just have to accept that possibility going in.

**TIP** – there is another dog café on the opposite side of the street to MameShibe called Rio. Husband and I weren’t paying attention the first time and went to that café by accident. I say accident but it was a happy accident. They didn’t have any Shiba’s but had plenty of other dogs (Frenchie, Bichon, Mini-Schnauzer, Cocker Spaniel, Dachshund, etc.) who were way more friendly and playful and happy to hang out with you! Yes, buying food also helps. But watch out, the Frenchie is a hog and will knock the food out of your hand if you don’t watch him. 😊

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\***Cat Café’s -**We went to two!
**PuchiMarry in Kyoto & Cat Café Monta in Asakusa.**

Hands down PuchiMarry was our favorite. The kitties were friendly, the space was large with plenty of ways to interact with the cats. There seemed to be a wide range of ages in the cats. Some were super laid back and some were rambunctious kittens. They played and chased and ran around with the zoomies. It was hilarious.

Monta was… different. The cats were reserved. They didn’t mind getting petted, but they didn’t seek it out in the slightest. And it was clear they were super attached to the man who was working there. It almost felt like this was his home and his cats and he was paying the bills by letting strangers sit into his living room. It wasn’t a bad experience and I understand the food and drink options are terrific (we didn’t partake). But there was little interaction with the cats themselves.

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**Husbands’ interests:** Gundam, Sumo, Snow Monkeys, TeamLab Planets, Ramen, Evangelion.

\*We had tickets for **TeamLab Planets** the day after arriving in Tokyo. Odaiba is quite the train ride from Asakusa! Luck for me, my husband has an uncanny knack for navigating – on foot, subway, trains, etc. We were up bright and early (again, thanks jetlag) but it gave us plenty of time to get to the area. As someone who isn’t the most stable on both feet (ha) I would say the beanbag section of TeamLabs was my least favorite. It was like walking through quicksand. And while I loved the water room with the lights, the band aids floating in the warm water was super gross. The flower room was amazing, but they run you in and out quickly. Husband enjoyed Planets but he had truly wanted to go to Borderless and was super sad they had closed it before we were able to travel to Japan.

We did see the Unicorn Gundam do it’s thing at 5 pm which was super cool!

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\***The Gundam Base Store** in Odaiba– Be there before it opens. Husband was SO hyped to get some cool, exclusive Gundam but we went after TeamLab and by that point a lot of the exclusives were sold out. But they stock overnight! He went again later in our trip and was 2nd in line before opening. He bought so many we had to buy a full-size suitcase to transport them home. 😊

**TIP:** Show up first thing and wait in line for the store to open to get the super cool stuff.

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\***Sumo Tournament in Osaka** – We managed to get tickets for the ongoing sumo tournament in Osaka. It was towards the end of the tourney. Ordered the tickets on the sumo.pia.jp website. Picking up the tickets at Lawson’s was easy. Showed the clerk my email and they punched in the confirmation number – poof.. tickets printed! We had chair seats which worked out great. I wouldn’t have lasted in the box seats with no backrest. The hardest part was finding the seats! Let me tell you, based on how the stadium was numbered vs. the seat information – you’d have to be a crack code breaker to find it on your own. Luckily, there were plenty of event stewards around to help you find your seats! (We had a couple insist we were in their seats – turned out they did have the same seat numbers as us but on the opposite side of the gym!) Sumo is an experience! From the guy singing each wrestler’s name, to the salt they throw in the ring, to the judges getting tucked into their little black covered seats around the ring. 😊 We seemed to have a sumo super fan seated next to us. She had towels with her favorite wrestlers’ names printed on them. When that wrestler came out, she held up the towel and started screaming their name. At one point, a young couple came up and started talking to her and excitedly taking pictures with her. It was wild!

**TIP–** go to the tournament around 4 pm. This is when the event starts to get super exciting because the higher ranked wrestlers start coming out. The earlier matches are lower ranked. Still fun to watch but the place gets electric around 4 pm.

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\***Nagano Snow Monkeys (Shiga Kogen)–** This is a bit of a trip to take. If you plan on being in Nagano more than 1 day, you can purchase a “two-day transport+ Snow Monkey Park” ticket in Nagano station. Otherwise, just follow the signs for the Snow Monkey bus stop and you can purchase your ticket there. The bus ride took about 45 minutes and then you have another 30–45-minute hike up the mountain.

**TIP** – When the bus drops you off it isn’t super clear where you are supposed to go. You’ll see a café/museum in front of you. Just start walking, keeping the café/museum to your right until you hit a road leading uphill. Then start walking uphill. You’ll encounter the last bathroom (on the right) until you get to the park. Take advantage of the potty break, trust me. The path is well marked after that. Wear good hiking shoes because it can get muddy and rocky. It’s part hill, part stairs all the way up and mostly unpaved. When we came back down, there were “shoe washing” stations set up at the restroom. It was a nice thing to scrub off all the mud and dirt from our shoes. Also, on your way down stop by the café/restaurant before the bottom of the hill and treat yourself to a hot apple pie and cup of fresh apple juice (hot or cold). It was a perfect snack before the long bus ride back to Nagano station.

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\***Yokohama Gundam Factory**Boy did we pick the wrong day to go to this place! We hadn’t looked but the site is on a pier on the water. And if the weather is bad, well… it was like walking through a typhoon trying to get to the site. Our poor umbrellas didn’t stand a chance. The store is also super small and there wasn’t anything there that you couldn’t also get at the Odaiba store. Despite the freezing, driving rain and hurricane like winds we braved the outside to watch the giant Gundam come to life. It’s a cool experience. Even in bad weather.

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**RAMEN:**
We were both excited to try different ramen shops.

\*Best bowl of ramen?
**Misoya Ramen** **in Nagano**. A few minutes’ walk from Nagano Station. It’s a miso-based broth and you can get noodles made from locally millstone ground wheat. I had the regular miso and hubs had the spicy. We both finished off our bowls. Absolutely delicious and zero wait (we often ate at odd times, which helped).

\*Worst bowl of ramen?
**Yoroiya in Asakusa**. Known for their shoyu ramen and double yolk eggs. The broth was WAY too fishy for me to enjoy. The restaurant uses niboshi in their broth and (at least for me) the fish flavor drowned out everything.

\*Honorable mentions:
**Kagetsu Arashi** – We found this spot while wandering near Gyoen Park in Shinjuku. Yes, I now realize it is a chain but dang if the Golden Miso Ramen wasn’t freaking delicious.

**Ramen Takesaburō** in Asakusa. Husband had the Burning Dragon (can you tell he likes spicy?) and loved it. I had a ramen with tons of garlic. Maybe just a wee bit too much garlic.

\*Other places we went:
**Ramen Watanabe i**n Asakusa. I know it has a great reputation, but I found it to be “meh”.
**Ichiran** in Asakusa – as I mentioned before, don’t hate on me for this because Ichiran is still better than any ramen we can get in Arkansas. 😊 We went twice b/c there was no wait and we were super tired so it was convenient (right next to our hotel).

\*Place we wanted to go but ran out of time:
**Ikutaan Asakusa** – we passed by here multiple times, and it always smelled delicious.

We tried going to the **Ramen Museum in Yokohama** and it was a disaster. 60–90-minute waits for every single shop. So, we noped on out of there. When we left the lines had only gotten longer.

**Ramen tip** – the most popular menu item is typically the top left button on the machine! Google translate will help you sort out the names but if you want to roll the dice, top left is your best bet.

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\***BIGGEST SURPRISE FOOD HITS OF THE TRIP?**
**Fruit milk.** “Fruits au lait” found at 7-11. Weirdly delicious. And especially great for soothing any spicy ramen burn (per my husband) We found a different version of this at Family Mart but never found it at Lawson.

**Hot Yuzu Honey** from a vending machine. Of course, I got a sinus infection 3 days after we landed (stupid pollen). This stuff was amazing for my sore throat. I liked the Minute Maid and Dydo versions. I found two other brands which weren’t as good. IMHO

**Strawberry Yogurt Fanta** – Hubs loved it. Me, not so much.

\***NOT a HIT**\—
**Melon Shake**. It was like liquid cantaloupe and soooo gross.

It was so much fun checking out all the vending machines and trying different things!

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\***MEDICATION/PHARMACY TIPS**

Speaking of sinus infections. I always get one in March thanks to pollen, so I had packed a lot of medications from home. But I ran out before I was fully healthy and had to brave the Japanese Pharmacy. Google is your friend. Screenshot the pictures of the medications you need and look for them on the shelf OR show the clerk and they will help you find them. I found the Japanese medications to be less effective than ones from the US. But they still helped! It was interesting learning all the over-the-counter medications you can get in the US that are not allowed to be sold in Japan! Sudafed, I’m looking at you.

**Funny story** – I bought two meds. One for day and one for night. (again, thanks Google and this subreddit!) The pharmacy clerk looked at my purchases and then grabbed a little box. She spoke into it, then handed it to me to read. It said, “Do not take these at the same time.” I laughed and pointed at one box and said “Ohayō gozaimasu” then pointed at the other box and said, “Konbonwa” to indicate I understood. She burst into laughter and started nodding her head “yes” vigorously. Hey, even speaking limited Japanese, I was able to make my point. 😊

\***HOTEL RECOMMENDATIONS:**

**Tokyo – Asakusa Tobu Hotel**, twin b room.
As previously stated this was a great hotel with super kind and helpful staff and in a terrific location. They also helped us transfer our luggage at the end of our trip via luggage forwarding. The amenities were great. Loved the bathroom soap, shampoo, conditioner. And the extras provided meant we really didn’t need to pack our own things (but we had). Toothbrush, toothpaste, q-tips, cotton pads, hair scrunchie, etc. Great big tub for soaking a weary body.

**Kyoto – Cross Hotel**, standard twin room.
We LOVED this hotel. Not too far from a good subway line. Near a TON of good eateries. Right next to a cute Sakura lined stream that was illuminated in the evening. Super helpful staff. Great big tub AND – the bidet had warm water. Woooooo!!!

**Haneda Excel Hotel Tokyo**, deluxe twin room.
Okay – I SHOULD have booked the Royal Park Hotel at the airport because it is at terminal 3 (International terminal) and the Excel is at terminal 2 (domestic). That being said, Excel was still a nice hotel. I was disappointed you had to walk through the bathroom to get to the toilet though and you had to turn on all the bathroom lights for the toilet light to work. Kind of rough when you get up to pee in the middle of the night. 😊

\***NOT hotel recommendations:**

**Kyoto – Sakura Terrace,** corner double room\*\*.\*\*
This hotel looked good in the photos but wound up being a disappointment. Not in an area with a lot of food choices. The bathroom was all one unit and felt, almost, like it had been an add-on. There was a weird dip when you walked in and a feeling of instability in the flooring. The tub wasn’t good for soaking either. Which made me super sad. They did have an evening free cocktail thing that looked nice. And there was an onsen for men/women. BUT because tattoos were not allowed, neither of us could use it.

\***JR PASS -**
Rather than wait in line at the airport to get our JR Pass, we went to Ueno station and acquired it there. We weren’t activating it right away so this worked fine for us. We waited maybe 15 minutes? It was super easy and the folks there was great. They even booked our first train for us before we left.

**TIP-**
If you want to book your own trains at the machine, you must pair the appropriate JR pass with each passenger and their passport. It was a DUH moment for me when I finally realized the JR Pass tickets had the last few digits of the person’s passport printed on them! This revelation made things much easier. Lol

Those darn tickets though… man was it a pain to keep track of them. Since you must always carry your passport with you, my solution was to tuck each ticket into the respective passport.

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\***RANDOM FOOD RECOMMENDATIONS**

**Coco Curry –** Such a great place for a warm bowl of comforting Japanese curry. We wound up going twice.

**Royal Host** (thanks Martina from King Kogi) – all over
After so many ramen carbs, we wanted something with MEAT and I remembered this recommendation from Martina. We both had the hamburg steak set. It was more expensive than I expected but it hit the spot. I wouldn’t eat there twice, but once for the experience was good. If you are wanting something which might feel more like US based foods, it’s a good spot to hit up.

**Hoshino Coffee** – Shibuya
Who could pass up a good Eggslut Set for breakfast? 😊 Seriously though, the coffee was some of the best we had and the simple breakfast menu was appreciated.

**DAVIDE Coffee Stop** – Taito.
What a great little random find. Teeny tiny space but one of the best lattes we had in Japan.

**February Café** – Asakusa.
I wouldn’t wait to eat here but if you get there early and can walk right in it’s totally worth it. Tasty lattes and breakfast options. Husband had the croque monsieur and loved it.

**7-11** – Cold Ramen with Steamed Chicken & Seasame Sauce. OH MY GOSH. On late nights when we didn’t feel like going back out to a restaurant, we popped into the 7-11 next door and grabbed these for dinner. SO tasty!

**Asakusa Café-** Asakusa.
Climb up the stairs into a tiny café for some super tasty coffee. We wanted to order food but had a time limit and the sign said “food takes ½ hour to prepare” but the dishes we saw coming to other tables looked absolutely delicious.

**Santini** – Sumida City.
A super random find as we had been checking out Mukojima-Hyakkaen Gardens. They were clearly not used to random foreign tourists dropping in, which was funny. But they were super nice and we totally enjoyed our Italian style lunch sets. Husband had a spicy roast beef carbonara dish and I had a ham pasta with red sauce.

**Kuro Café** – Kyoto.
Overwhelmed by Nishiki Market? Pop over to this darling café for some original drink options and delicious deserts! Husband ordered the Strawberry Crush drink while I had the homemade ginger ale and we shared the cheesecake which had homemade whipped cream and blueberry compote. SO good.

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**\*Average steps/floors per day?**
25-35 thousand steps
20-30 floors

Fushimi Inari was 107 floors (we did go all the way to the top)
Soaking in the big bathtub each night was great.

**\*Packing tip**
Unless you have severe allergies to products, don’t bother packing basic things like toothpaste, saline, soap, shampoo, makeup wipes, etc. Either your hotel will provide it or you can get the Japanese equivalent at a local store. Save the packing space for souvenirs. 🙂

Sorry for such a long post.
If you made it all the way through, thanks for reading!