Trip Report: Solo 22M, first time in Japan for one week (with photos)

Hey everyone, I just wrapped up a two week vacation going through Japan for one week then South Korea and Singapore. For a little more context, I’m an introverted 22M that graduated college about a year ago and that’s been working since. I’ve done a couple of short solo trips in the past, mostly stateside, but this was the first ‘big’ one that I planned myself. I bought all the plane tickets about six months advance, and then started putting together a rough itinerary a couple months out. Because this was my first trip, I didn’t set anything in stone although I had a general idea of what I wanted to do.

My focuses on this trip were mostly a mix of food and my hobbies (personal audio, photography, watches, and anime). Mostly just a bunch of nerd stuff; I’m not really a historical or cultural buff if I’m being 100% honest, so this is the stuff that I’ll mainly be talking about.

# Overview

Generally, I really liked Japan. I hung out with a friend for two days in Tokyo, and then another friend for three days in Osaka (with a day trip to Kyoto). A couple of the other days in Tokyo, I met up and went drinking with some people off Discord which was cool. But even during the times when I was by myself, I didn’t feel particularly lonely – there’s plenty to do in Tokyo and lots of other people who are solo. Unfortunately, I can’t really remember what I did chronologically (I didn’t follow my itinerary to a T), so I’ll just throw out a bunch of topics and my experience.

**Travel Style**

Something that I really wanted to challenge myself to do is onebag (or 1.5 bag) this trip. I used my GoRuck GR2 with a Peak Design 6L sling (carrying my Sony A7IV camera) inside. I’d leave the GR2 at my accommodation, then just take the PD 6L sling out with me for the day. But the decision to bring one bag really paid off on the first day. I landed early in the morning, and I was able to [visit Tsukiji market](https://imgur.com/EcG9ncT) and [TeamLab Planets](https://imgur.com/Ez06BEq) without double-tracking and dropping off my bags first at the hotel. The storage lockers they have at the stations made this even easier.

**Picture Tips**

If you want to get good pictures while you’re solo, the best tip I can give is to find other travelers and offer to take some photos for them. Take a bunch so they’re more likely to do the same. This is a pretty useful foot in the door technique because you can’t take a tripod everywhere and there’s certain angles you won’t get otherwise. Ask the mainland Chinese girls if you can because they love taking photos and they know what’s up.

**Not speaking Japanese**

Speaking of ethnicity, some of the locals are xenophobic (which is not surprising given that the country is overrun with tourists). This isn’t true for a lot of locals in Japan, and no one will explicitly say you’re a dirty gaijin, but I picked up on it more than a couple times. It doesn’t help that I’m East Asian, so a lot of the time the locals would start speaking to me in Japanese. Then I could read their expressions and change in demeanor when they realized I didn’t speak Japanese.

**Food**

I think what I’ve read holds up. Almost all of it is decent, and notably, you can get it for very cheap compared to the USA. One of my favorite meals ended up being a [pork cutlet curry at a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant called Ken’s Curry](https://imgur.com/w0VLibA) or something like that. [Another highlight was an all-you-can-eat meat place called Yakiniku 298 for $8 in Osaka.](https://imgur.com/Qusb6qF) Pretty sure I made them lose money, which would be nearly impossible in the USA haha. The sweets in Japan are awesome, they’re all really light so you can eat a crap ton. But I was really excited to try some boba here, and found it to just be average, maybe slightly above average.

More food pictures:

[super fluffy pancakes](https://imgur.com/vFTUBso)

These were incredible. Super light and just tasted high quality af.

[donuts from Hocus Pocus (vibes here were immaculate btw)](https://imgur.com/Yh9BaLG)

This place had some crazy expensive, high-quality donuts. I think one of the ones I tried was steamed which was interesting. That said, the donuts at the Mister Donut were just as enjoyable in their own way, and I’d say this place was more about the vibes for me.

[mango + vanilla soft serve (taken before it dropped on the ground rip)](https://imgur.com/DheceI0)

[matcha soft serve](https://imgur.com/FByTR94)

[truedan boba (I’d say this was a 6/10 at best)](https://imgur.com/ncCkJAT)

**Shopping**

If you’re into the stuff I am, you’re going to have a blast in Japan. The camera stores are insane in Japan and they have so much stuff (couldn’t find a Fuji X100V, though, which was kind of disappointing). Most of it is standard MSRP, but I’d recommend checking out used stuff which you can find for better prices than in the US. Nakano Broadway is pretty crazy in terms of watches if you’re into that, but be aware that it’s predominantly Rolex. Omega was probably the second most popular brand that I saw. [E Earphone is probably the most stacked audio store I’ve visited.](https://imgur.com/k7EcRUv) And if you like Uniqlo’s stuff, definitely buy stock up in Japan because it’s almost 40% off compared to US prices. [Highly recommend visiting the flagship store in Ginza.](https://imgur.com/AjOGUEQ)

**Hotels**

I finally had my [first capsule hotel experience in Osaka (at J-Ship Capsule Hotel) – I wanted to try it at least once.](https://imgur.com/A4nJCNV) It was also like only $40 a night which was tough to pass up. Honestly, the accommodations were really clean and I can see why this is a popular option for solo travelers. But the capsule itself was claustrophobic, and I don’t really see myself using one of these again for more than an overnight (I stayed for three nights). There was a public bath at both of the hotels I stayed at in Japan which was a pretty cool experience too.

**Weather**

You probably already knew this, but you’re going to walk a lot. I did about 20K steps every day. This wouldn’t be a big deal normally, but the heat was absolutely brutal this time of year (late August) – about 100F factoring in the high humidity. I’m really glad that I packed four pairs of shorts and only one pair of pants because I only wore the latter the first day. Sunblock was a must-have, and I saw a lot of people carrying around umbrellas to block out the sun. Contrary to what I’ve read online, I also saw a lot of locals wearing shorts, just not the shorter 5-7” inseam that’s more popular in the USA.

**More photos (locations and attractions):**

[Akihabara](https://imgur.com/ESzxz8G)

This was a fun place to be, but I wouldn’t really recommend going here if you’re not into anime. It’s definitely doable in one day because once you’ve seen one store, you’ve basically seen the rest. However, there are some niche stores for specific series which I thought was pretty cool. I also saw a hentai art exhibition here (like literal hentai paintings in frames on a wall) which I thought was pretty funny.

[stayed in Akasaka in Tokyo which I felt like was a pretty chill, upscale neighborhood](https://imgur.com/KMlIduA)

[Suga shrine (this is from the Your Name anime)](https://imgur.com/bZEZKtF)

For the shrine, I definitely recommend going here early in the morning. I got there when there were only a couple people and was able to get a couple really nice shots. This is a very different experience from a lot of other attractions which are overloaded with loud tourists. Everyone here was really quiet and introverted, set up tripods, and basically just took turns getting photos lol

[Shibuya Sky](https://imgur.com/NI2pjqD)

I think this was definitely worth it even if I wasn’t able to lock down the more desirable sunset timeslot. Definitely purchase further ahead of time if you want that. Anyways, it’s an incredible view and going up the elevator to the top is pretty cool experience too (look up while on the elevator, and through the glass ceiling, you’ll see each floor has a light that zips by as you go up).

[Harajuku](https://imgur.com/yjOi8gw)

Honestly, this street probably would have been a lot more exciting if I was still a teenager. It’s very pop-y and vibrant with a lot of trendy shops and teenagers hanging around.

[Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto](https://imgur.com/REG9JP8)

I got a really nice shot, but this attraction wasn’t really exciting because it was completely overloaded with tourists.

[Fushimi Inari](https://imgur.com/G2VeQM7)

My friend and I hiked all the way to the summit in \~100F weather. Absolutely the most brutal day of the trip for me. But the crowd thins out the the higher up you go, so the better your chances of getting a good pic. FYI: the summit looks exactly like all the other checkpoints lol. I think the best view was at a checkpoint about halfway up.

[Osaka lightning photo](https://imgur.com/L3LNBVs)

[Osaka lightning photo #2](https://imgur.com/Zk2J5ln)

This was probably one of my luckiest photos the whole trip. It was raining extremely hard outside when my friend and I were coming out of a sushi restaurant, and I happened to snap a couple photos at just the right moment. You can see the lightning hitting another building’s lightning rod a few hundred meters away, then the reflection as it hits right above our building!

# Some Additional Reflection

My diet was pretty garbage the whole trip. I drank boba and matcha lattes every day, drank alcohol most days, ate as many sweets as I wanted, and probably consumed between 3-4K calories a day. Now that I’m back, I just checked on the scale and I’m basically the same weight as I left. Bottom line: it’s difficult to gain weight in these countries unless you’re just taking taxis (and you definitely don’t want to do this in Japan because it’s $$$).

As for whether I’d do more solo travel, I think I learned a lot about myself from this trip. I definitely started getting burned out near the end of the trip, and it felt like I was running out of things to do. There were a lot of points where I just wandered around, found a cafe, and crashed for a couple hours. I didn’t necessarily dislike these points, but in the future, I’d slap more things on my itinerary as ‘just in case’ items. I’d also probably scout out better cafes in the future because sometimes I just went into the nearest one (or even a McDonalds).

I hung out with friends for a lot of days and met a lot of new people, but loneliness also definitely hit me more than a few times. I don’t think I ever truly hit it off with the new people I met. I enjoyed my conversations with them, but implicitly I knew I’d probably never see them again. And honestly, it kind of felt bad seeing all the couples around, especially in South Korea and Singapore. Maybe I just had less things to do in these countries, so this is what I fixated on. But on the next trip I take, I might try going with a friend to stave this feeling off.

# Other things that didn’t go well:

* Messed up and didn’t activate Google-Fi properly in the US, so I had to buy a SIM card for data or pay $10 a day to use my Verizon roaming plan.
* I wasn’t able to withdraw cash from 7-11’s ATMs using my Chase credit card because I needed to request a PIN ahead of time. Recommend bringing a debit just in case. My friend in Osaka ended up having to bail me out.
* It started raining super hard in Osaka on my last day there and there was a point where we were worried that the train system would get shut down. Luckily, it never came to that.
* I cheaped out and didn’t want to buy a SIM in South Korea because I thought public Wi-Fi would be super easy to find. This was not the case at all; I eventually succumbed to just using my cellular roaming plan on my last day there.
* I’d definitely consider bringing a pair of flip-flops in the future. I only brought one pair of running shoes and when they got wet, it was miserable. Not many people wear flip-flops in Japan, but plenty do in South Korea and Singapore.
* Sometimes I had too much free time and it felt like there was a lot of wandering around aimlessly. I’m pretty risk averse, and it turns out my buffer times were overly generous.