A gay couple’s 2-week honeymoon in Japan REPORT

I found it incredibly useful to read reports of what people actually did vs what they plan to do so here goes a fresh take.

1. Our 2-week trip was a bit different than what I typically see on here – we spent more time at clubs, bars, Pokemon and concerts – so I thought I might have a different perspective to share.

2. Our tolerance for touristy stuff, lines and crowds is negative 3, so here’s a perspective on that.

* Dates: Sept 10 – Sept 24
* Age: 1 couple – 30M and 42M
* Weather: HOT and HUMID
* Clothes: Tank tops and gym shorts most days. At night we sometimes work t-shirts and pants, but we were really hot walking around.
* Travel: we took trains and buses using our Suica card (love the Suica card), and bought at 14-day JR Pass. Except when we had luggage we splurged and took taxis. That little splurge really increased our level of enjoyment.

**Day 1 (Monday): TOKYO**

Our flight arrived to Haneda really late because we had to divert to Honolulu for a medical emergency. So we got in at 1am.

We used our Suica card and hopped right on the train to Shinjuku. We bought our JR Rail pass later at Tokyo Station and didn’t have to wait in line.

Hotel Amanek in Shinjuku
\- 8/10. really good price, new, comfortable, nice view. Very central to all of the late night activity. The area felt like it had a good mix of locals and tourists. Got it for $85/night.

Sushi at Yarou Sushi
\- 5/10. it was 2am and one of few places open. Don’t bookmark this one.

**Day 2 (Tuesday): TOKYO**

Tsukiji Market
\- 7/10. go early! We got there at 8am and blitzed through it. Lines got really long when we left. Nothing there is worth waiting longer than 15 min for in my opinion.
\- loved the kobe beef skewers, strawberry daifuku and mochi balls. Tamago (egg) was too sweet I thought. Seafood was good, but standing on the street in the hot sun is not how I typically enjoy eating sashimi.
\- we only got one of everything and shared. would recommend. you’ll get full.

Senso-ji and Asakusa
\- Super touristy stalls everywhere – we took the picture and got out. Didn’t feel relaxed at all.

Melon bread with ice cream at Asakusa Sakura
\- 8/10. Worth the hype. Really liked the crunch soft bread with the ice cream. There was no line in the morning.

Baby Castella (もちにゃん焼き 浅草本店)
\- 5/10. Cute bear shaped cakes. But bland.

Akihabara
\- 6/10. Went to Animate for anime merch. Electric Town for video game merch. and a gachapon place. Didn’t buy anything. It was fun, but nothing you couldn’t find anywhere else.

Ramen at Ramen Nagi in Golden Gai (Shinjuku)
\- 9/10. Hidden tiny, ramen spot. Up a tiny flight of stairs. We were there at 2:30 and there was no line, but a line when we left. No frills, cash only. It was delicious and unique setting.

Movie – The Boy and the Heron by Studio Ghibli (Piccadilly Cinema)
10/10 – It’s not out in the USA yet. We watched it in Japanese with no subtitles. It was a beautiful experience. Didn’t understand the words – but I could ‘feel’ what was going on. Might watch more movies in Japanese now – it was fun.

Drinks at the Gay District – Nichome
8/10 – we ended up making some friends at Aisotope Lounge, and we followed them to Eagle Blue where they have karaoke on weeknights. Singing karaoke we made even more friends and had a blast. We ended up seeing this friends often over the next 2 weeks.
\- Drinks in Japan are very affordable. In Nichome everyone buys drinks at the konbini (¥250) and then stand outside on the sidewalk and talk. Even in the club they were only ¥700. I thought this was really cool

**Day 3 (Wednesday): TOKYO > KYOTO**

Ramen at Ichiran
8/10 – the Ichiran in Shinjuku is open 24H, and we went at 8am so there was NO line. Perfect hangover breakfast. It was tasty. Its not the best ramen in Japan, but it was what we needed at the time. I like the customization options.

Shinkansen train to Kyoto (10:30 – 1pm)
I originally was worried that we were on such a late train, because we had a full day scheduled in Kyoto(this was the earliest train we could get that had seats available on the Mt Fuji side). But the night before was so much fun, and the train gave us a chance to recover and sleep, so I didn’t mind it.

Hotel Gozan
8/10 – very nice and modern hotel, and walking distance to metro and the market. Ultimately I think it was a bit too far from the action. I wouldn’t stay here again due to location. Got it for $100/night

Kiyomozu-dera
9/10 – beautiful temple complex with gorgeous views of Kyoto. The walk UP to the temple was full of tourist shops. So the crowds offset the beauty of this place a bit.

Snoopy Cafe
5/10 – got the chocolate shake. no flavor. did it for the gram

Starbucks (the historic one at Nineizaka)
10/10 for the building. Got the Osatsu Butter frapp. They are promoting it everywhere right now and its the only thing on the menu I saw that was unique to Japan. It’s actually delicious and tastes exactly like a sweet potato.

Studio Ghibli store
7/10 – Cute photo opp, but the merch is what you’ll see everywhere in Japan, including Narita. Not bad, just nothing unique to this place.

Apple Pie Lab
10/10 – Just up from Starbucks (like 2 doors down) is a thing called the Apple Pie Lab. They make warm apple pastries filled with custard. I don’t think it’s a Japanese food, but it was probably the best sweet thing I had in Japan. Absolutely delicious.

Hokan-ji Temple
9/10 – beautiful. but good luck getting a picture without 50 people in it. We got lucky and went down the hill a bit and got a good pic when there was a break in the crowd.

*Kawaramachi Area of Kyoto*

Kobe beef skewers at Gyu-Kaku
8/10 – I think we ordered the right thing. We didn’t get the AYCE, just the premium kobe beef plate. It was delicious, but nothing else that people were eating looked that great. Service was also terrible. We thought that since Gyu-kaku originated in Japan it would be better than the LA ones, but no, it’s not.

Gay bar at Apple
6/10 – a unique experience. There were 3 people in there and we had a nice, long conversation. It was more like a bar in someone’s living room. Met some nice people.

**Day 4 (Thursday): KYOTO**

*Arashiyama Area*

Bamboo Forest
7/10 – Got there at 8am and took pictures. It’s smaller than I imagined it to be. The longest part was setting up the tripod. Did get one iconic shot before the crowds came.

Tenryu-ji Temple
7/10 – Opens at 8:30 and we were one of the first ones in. Very pretty garden. Took a few pics. Left before it got busy.

Miffy Sakura Kitchen
6/10 – we bought the iconic Miffy bread. Took a pic. Didn’t taste great. Line was 20 min and we got there early.

Rilakkuma Tea House
8/10 – surprisingly delicious food for being ‘cute’. and the plates were adorable. This place made a lot of people jealous on insta.

Kinkaku-ji Golden Palace
10/10 beauty, 2/10 crowds – we couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Fake smiled for the pictures and booked it. It was hot. We were dying.

*Nishiki Market*

Gyoza at Kyoto Gyu-Collet
7/10 – would recommend the lamb gyoza. Beef were just ok. Chicken skewer was great.

Koe Donuts
4/10 – pretty, but bland and dry.

黄白白 jiggly cheesecakes
6/10 – pretty moist and eggy, but bland cake. Didn’t eat much of it.

Pontacho Alley
10/10 for ambience. We bar-hopped here, basically just going wherever there was room. We ordered high-balls and talked to the bartenders. A great time!

Gay bar at bell
7/10 – this is likely more fun on the weekends. The set-up was nice, but dead when we got there on a Thursday.

**Day 5 (Friday): KYOTO > TOKYO**
Shinkansen back to Tokyo at 8:30am

Shibuya Tobu Hotel
4/10 – the location was incredible, but not worth it for how run-down it felt. Got it for $100/night.

Shopping at Shibuya Parco
9/10 – for the Pokemon Center, Nintedo store, Namco store, street fashion shops. we had a lot of fun here.

Shubuya Crossing – it is what it is. Got a nice pic with the tripod. Then it started raining cats and dogs.

McDonalds to try the unique items
6/10 for unique items. Teriyaki Chicken sando was good. The spicy chicken ‘shaker’ tasted like a chicken nugget with a ramen seasoning packet thrown on it. The red bean and mochi pie was pretty ok. The soy sauce burger didn’t have much flavor.

*Harajuku*

Jordan Nike store
9/10 – very cool store with unique merch. cool collection of Jordan clothes and shoes. memorabilia, and an immersive basketball video experience. they did a great job with this, and there are only 3 in the world (Milan and Seoul)

Takeshita Street in Harajuku
9/10 – cute little street with fun unique shops and food stands. nothing was crazy expensive. They have the Sanrio store and Pompompurin Cafe, a lot of cool anime shops and street wear outlets. Crepe stalls. Unexpectedly spent a good amount of time here. It was fun.

SGClub in Shibuya
8/10 – this place was all foreigners. So in that sense it was lame. But the drinks were really (expensive) fun. our favorite was the Tom Yum Kick – a spicy, lemongrass, gin cocktail. It was so good I went back the next night for another one.

Gay bars in Nichome on a Friday night
10/10 – the neighborhood was hoppin’. Bars are small so people spill out into the sidewalk and small streets. Everyone bought their drinks at the konbini and walked around with them. It felt like a block party. Once inside people were dancing. Everyone was fairly nice. Eagle Blue, Eagle, King, Aisotope were the main ones.

**Day 6 (Saturday): TOKYO**

Coffee at Cafe Apero
8/10 – ADORABLE and modern spot. We just stopped while waiting for our lunch reservation. They really spent a lot of time on design.

Lunch at the Kill Bill Restaurant – Gonpachi Nishi-Azabu in Roppongi
9/10 – the ambiance is fire. The food we got was beautiful and tasted really good.. Loved the tar tar, shrimp dumplings, beef skewers, and the ice cream/mochi dessert

Observation deck at the Mori Art Museum
8/10 – the view overlooking Tokyo Tower is iconic. That’s why we chose this location. The outdoor area was closed however, hence the lower rating. There was a Disney exhibit also going on which was kinda cool.

Dinner at Omoide Yokocho (memory lane) in Shinjuku
7/10 – the ambiance was really fun. We found 2 seats and pulled up and had a cozy dinner with 2 other couples in a cute little alley. Fun to try once, but there’s better food.

Went back to Nichome for another fun night! Stayed out way too late haha

**Day 7 (Sunday): TOKYO**

Fluffy pancakes at Micasadeco & Cafe in Harajuku
9/10 – got there 10 min before opening and had one of the first tables. when we left the line was at least an hour. We devoured the pancakes (I got the seasonal chestnut ones). Beautiful and delicious. Recommend this place over Flippers, which we passed by and it didn’t have near the same charm as Micasadeco.

Music festival at Ultra Japan
10/10 – all-day music festival at Odaiba Beach. The crowd was incredible. Music was awesome (Trekkie Trax and Skrillex!). Food was meh. This is only once a year, but this was definitely a highlight.

Day 8 (Monday): TOKYO > NARA
Shinkansen down to Osaka (3hrs)

Hotel Vista Osaka-namba
10/10 – location was steps away from Dotonburi and the metro station. Hotel was new, clean, modern, full of amenities, and only $100/night. Recommend.

*Nara*
30 min train right (very picturesque) from downtown out to Nara

Mochi pounding and match mochi (Nakatanidou)
10/10 – only of the only tourist traps that didn’t have a huge long queue. Mochi pounding was cool to watch. mochi itself was only 150¥, and it was warm, and gooey and delicious.

Deer feeding
5/10 – there are deer everywhere. You don’t need to put deer on your schedule, they will come find you. We encountered them as we walked from the mochi pounding to Todai-ji temple. Most of the deer just sit there, but a few come up to you and are pretty aggressive. I recommend not holding anything in your hands and just walk fast. Definitely don’t need to buy the biscuits…I saw anyone with biscuits either get ignored or get mobbed by deer.

Todai-ji temple
9/10 – stunning. 2nd largest wooden structure on earth and a huge bronze Buddha statue inside. I’ve seen a lot of temples, and this one is worth going to. beautiful grounds and beautiful interior. Crowds of school kids are everywhere so just try to find a break between them.

Dotonburi
5/10 – hot take. I think its overrated…and least on this holiday Monday evening it was. Incredibly crowded. Anywhere worth eating is over an hour wait. The takoyaki is sub-par. To me it felt like being in Times Square – sub-par food catered to tourists. We tried some mid takoyaki, took pictures in front of the Glico sign, then dipped when we couldn’t find anywhere to eat.

Chuka-soba Fuji
9/10 – we asked a local for food recommendations and found this spot where we were the only foreigners (a good sign). Food was delicious. Soba and Ramen and delicious gyoza. Wanted to come again the next night but it was closed on Tuesdays.

**Day 9 (Tuesday): UNIVERSAL STUDIOS**

6/10 – first of all. To get your Nintendo timed entry ticket you need to show up and wait in line, and get your ticket scanned to get into the park (they let people in early), THEN when your ticket is activated you can request a time. No Universal employee could tell me this, so now you all know. We showed up 30 min before it opened. Go through the gates 10 min before it opened, and were able to request a Nintendo entry time of 10:20am. So we went to Harry Potter rides first. They were both 45 min wait times. When we left they were at 70 min.
\- Nintendo World is a nightmare. It’s so cute, but way too small. There’s a 20 min line to get in (even with timed entry), 20 min line to take a picture at the entrance, 20 min line to buy a wristband, 70-90 min wait for each ride, 45 min wait for the snack shack, multi-hour long wait for the cafe, and its even a 5-10 min wait for the little coinboxes so you can use your wristband. Its just lines everywhere, you feel like you can’t do anything. and you can’t leave because then you can’t come back.
\- we got some food at the snack shack, did the yoshi ride, bought a wristband and dipped out. We tried to do the other stuff like the cafe and the MarioKart ride, but we had already been there for 3 hours.
\- by mid-afternoon, evertything else in the park was also an hour wait. We ate at the one-piece cafe because it was only 30 min. Jurassic Park was 90 min. Spiderman was 100 min. We did the JujitsuKaisen 4D movie (pretty cool). and took a picture with Pikachu. Then ate at the Pokemon cafe in the park. Food was mid, but cute.
\- I hated that even the line to get a churro was at least 30 min. Just lines everywhere. It wasn’t very fun for that reason.

**Day 10 (Wednesday): OSAKA > TOKYO**

Pokemon Cafe in Osaka
9/10 – we unexpectedly got an opening time at the Pokemon Cafe. We showed up at opening (10am) and there were a few slots available. Very surprised and happy by this! It was adorable and we got some really cool souveniers. Food was ok.

1pm-4pm – Took the Shinkansen to Osaka in the afternoon

*Shimokitazawa – MY FAVORITE AREA*

Shiro-Hige’s Cream Puff’s (totoro)
?/10 – they sell out of the cream puffs by 1pm. So get there early. We got there right before closing 🙁

Bonus track area
10/10 – we walked down the path from the cream puff shop and stopped in the little cafe area near Bonus track and Tan Pen Ton. This area was the highlight of my trip. Cute little coffee shops, bakeries, record shops, etc. we bought some artisan highball drinks and sat and enjoyed the evening.

Izakaya at 呑み処 タナカたなか 下北沢店
7/10 – nice ahi sashimi and fried chicken. the other skewers were just ok. high marks since we were the only foreigners

Hookah ShiSha @ Shisha 2
8/10 – exactly what I wanted. laid-back hookah place surrounded by locals, and ratty couches, and manga. It was midnight and packed with people. A really fun vibe.

**Day 11 (Thursday): DISNEYSEA**

Things we ate:
Sausage gyoza bun – 8/10. Delicious with the spicy sauces
Matcha/white chocolate popcorn – 6/10. a few bites was good enough.
Sea salt shell ice cream – 4/10. Incredibly bland.
Long naan with beef filling – 5/10. Needed to be spicy.
Sparkling boba drink – 7/10. Nice with the jellies.
Toy Story alien mochis – 7/10. Very cute and pretty tasty.
Magellen sit down restaurant – 8/10. Very expensive but a delicious meal. Probably the best food I’ve had at a Disney park anywhere.

Rides:
Journey to the center of the earth – 8/10. New ride for me. really fun, but seems it could’ve been better. Not themed Disney at all
Indiana Jones – 8/10. Classic. Maybe better than the Disneyland one?
Raging Spirits – 5/10. Fun roller-coaster but not immersive at all and not themed Disney in any way.
Sinbad’s Voyage – 7/10. Catchy song. Its like Pirates and It’s a small world combined. and a movie that I don’t think exists.
Tower of Terror – 8/10. New story and they use the ride pattern from Twilight Zone so it’s really good!
Venetian Gondolas – 7/10. Unique Disney experience. They actually are pushing the boat themselves.
Ariel’s area – beautifully themed, but rides are all for kids. kind of like Bug’s Life area at Disneyland.
Didn’t do nemo or soaring or aquatopia or toy story mania as the lines were crazy by then

Overall I’d give DisneySea a harsh 7/10. It’s a beautiful park. The rides are just ok. The food looks good on TikTok but mid in real life. and it just didn’t feel like we were at a Disney park – nothing was Disney themed. But high marks to the fact that Disney knows how to have enough food stalls that the lines were like Universal.

**Day 12 (Friday): TOKYO**

Harry Potter Warner Brother’s Experience
8/10 – overall this location is giant! I think its even bigger than the London location. Its beautifully done. We spent way longer here than we thought we would, and really enjoyed it.

*Ikebukuro*

Shopping at Sunshine City
8/10 – for all the Pokemon shops and anime merch. A lot of unique stuff here.

Ramen at Mutekiya
10/10 – best meal of our trip. It was already a 45 min wait at 2pm so hopefully more people don’t go, but it was absolutely incredible. The meat, broth, noodles all so perfect.

Kobe beef at 焼肉ホルモン 龍の巣 新宿三丁目
9/10 – I’m a fan of this meal. The beef was incredible and they really made it very comfortable for us. Really like the staff. It was pouring rain outside and super cozy inside.

**Day 13 (Saturday): LEAVING**

The final day we spent getting souveniers and snacks from Don Quijote, grabbed one last ramen from Ichiran, and took the Narita Express to the airport.