Trip Report: Week 2/3 in September, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Hiroshima

Hello all! I’m back for week 2 out of my 3 week trip to Japan. You can read my previous post for more background, but we were in Japan for almost three weeks running around to a ton of different places. I really appreciated the info I got from others’ posts so wanted to write this up to give back to the community (and it works as a journal for myself as well!)

We got back a week ago, I tried to write more during the trip but it was too good and we were busy writing lots of postcards in our downtime! And then we had to take some jetlag recovery days.. etc

When we left off, we had just made it to Kyoto ahead of a typhoon hitting the Tokyo region. Whew, just in time! From there, we continue our trip plans as scheduled.

**Day 6: Arashiyama – The Royal Park Hotel Kyoto Sanjo**

Welcome to the start of LEG PAIN. We had a stint of a ton of accidental stair-master-esque trips all in a row, so you can keep that in mind as I read through this post.. but our first full say in Kyoto we went over to the Arashiyama area (hey, yama means mountain! it all makes sense now). We took a nice little trolley over to this area.

First stop was the bamboo forest, though we wandered a bit on our way and Google maps told us to go through the Tenryu area which is a paid area. They definitely have had many others do the same, as you could just pay a garden visit ticket price just to pass through, which was fine with us.

The bamboo forest itself was BUSY, but this was also on a Saturday so maybe that makes sense. The area is also a lot shorter/smaller than we expected, so it’s many people compressed into a small space. If you make your way in you can probably find photo room though. At the end of the forest there was also a sign that pointed to some temples that we did not do but it seemed like they were relatively close by so they might be worth it. I was amazed at how WIDE the bamboo was here!

Then we walked over to the Monkey Park after stopping for a lunch snack. Now, again, I planned spots but I didn’t plan for elevations. Prepare for hiking up a mountain (again, Arashiyama name makes sense now!). We probably only needed 30 minutes to get up but it’s a mixture of stairs and incline. Totally worth it though as we had good views of the monkeys! You can also feed them at the top which was a really fun experience. 100% would recommend. Also watching monkeys eat bugs from other monkeys is great.

Next, a youtube video I had watched recommended we visit Daihikaku Senkoji for a quieter temple. The best part of this is on our way we got some DELICIOUS yakisoba from some older women on the water. The worst part is.. we climbed up the same mountain we had just climbed up and back down. It was peaceful up there, and there’s a shrine dog (though we didn’t even see it!!), and it’s probably good to support your smaller temples, but I don’t think the extra stair master experience was best for us. YMMV though, it might be good to go off the beaten path. If I had redone today, perhaps I would’ve swapped for a full look at Tenryu, or looking at some of the other temples next to the bamboo forest.

We finished up with some shopping around the station, then headed back for more Nishiki shopping close to our hotel. Unrelated side note, the best place in Nishiki IMO was Daishodo which is a little woodblock print shop there, but know they close pretty early. We only had time to buy a small print but it inspired us to hunt for other prints at the end of our trip. 🙂

**Day 7: Fushimi Inari and Gion**

Day 7 was a Sunday so we knew things would be crowded again, and I’d heard recommendations to get to Fushimi Inari shrine earlier in the day to beat the crowd. We probably got there around 10:30, could’ve done better but it was ok for us and we weren’t the earliest risers.

Fushimi Inari is super cool.. and super popular! We loved it, but you need to navigate some crowds at first. There are a ton of tori gates to go through (and make sure you see the text on the back too!). You’ll want to keep going forward into the crowds thin out, then you can experience it with more breathing room or perhaps some photo room.

Adding to yesterday’s post, I didn’t realize this basically climbs up another mountain and it’s not just low around a temple. Until we kept going up and up and my legs were FEELING IT (and I can usually push through). At one point we asked around, heard we were still 30 minutes from the summit, and then we just turned around at a viewing point. Side note, my fitbit tracked 62 floors the previous day and 42 floors this day.. so we were moving. Regardless, I would recommend not turning back at the first turn back point, go forward a bit more so the crowds thin out a bit, but know that the full thing is a bit of a hike.

We finished out the day with some shopping around Fushimi, then went over to Gion for some shopping and wandering, then back to Nishiki for some Mos Burger (a Genki workbook fav!) and more window shopping. Again, I think Nishiki was my favorite, though Gion definitely does have more traditional buildings, and we did happen to see a Maiko run past us at one point.

My big recommendation for today is to visit Ajikyu restaurant. It is run by an older couples (80s?) and is very unassuming from the outside, but the food was very good. Sort of omakase style, the chef just asked if we wanted sushi or tempura and made a sushi plate for us to share. We had a great conversation with their poor English and our poor Japanese, but we made it work and heard some stories from them. It was one of the most meaningful spots of our trip, and I found it just from some google maps searching for “authentic” (lol) food spots.

Lesson: oof ouch my legs. Turn back before us, or make better decisions, or do research on how strenuous different things are. If I could change something from the last couple days, I’d reconsider Daihikaku, OR I’d have us turn back from Fushimi Inari sooner to save stamina, OR maybe there’s a better way we could’ve placed our days.

**Day 8: Heading to Osaka, Shitennoji, Osaka Castle, Namba – Hotel Monterey Grasmere Osaka**

Kyoto and Osaka sort of had crunched timelines, but Osaka more than Kyoto, so the goal was to head over from Kyoto to Osaka earlier in the day and hit the daytime activities. I thought this was going to be a JR line, but there’s a regular frequent line between Kyoto and Osaka that takes IC. Not sure if that would change our JR decision, but just know if you’re making that calculation that some of the lines in the Kyoto/Osaka/Nara area don’t require JR.

First stop was Shitennoji working around closing times and weather. Very pretty place and I loved the pagoda (but I’m a pagoda mega fan). There’s an option to walk up the pagoda, which, you guessed it, we did, and it was SO HARD just because we really hadn’t had a break the last few days. Ugh!! But pretty cool to be inside (but also very warm).

Osaka Castle was the next stop, and our first in the castle list. This one has been rebuilt before so the inside is now a museum (and even has an elevator!). The museum inside was pretty good, but it was not our favorite castle (see Himeji below), but I’d recommend it. Cool lookout, cool look, nice grounds.

By end of day we kept it easy and just got food at Namba Station. This might be like 1km of station, and there’s food and shopping. Our hotel is right next to the station so super handy for getting food or getting emergency McDonalds. We also wandered into Dotombori for a bit but not too long.

Lesson: kind of a different one, but I wish we’d had an extra day in this area, probably for Kyoto. We didn’t see the Golden Temple, or do the Kurama to Kisune hike, and I’m sure there’s much more. And Kyoto was one of our favorite cities!

**Day 9: Nara Park**

Today was supposed to be “wake up early and go to Nintendo World” day, but I needed to power sleep recover from all of these stairs, so we swapped Nara to today (perk of not buying tickets ahead of time). This was another trip where I thought it would be covered by JR pass, but in the end there was just a local line that goes right from Namba to Nara.

Right out of the station is a little shopping area where we wandered and got brunch. But the real treat obviously is the deer, which you see very soon out of the station (I bet they know to wander closer as that’s where the feeder people come from). Now, I knew you could feed the deer and they bow, but what I didn’t know is they can be a bit aggressive if you don’t feed them. They will chase you if they know you have food (happened to me), and they might bonk you if you don’t feed them quickly enough (also happened to me!). All in good fun though. If you don’t have anything, make sure to show your empty hands so they go bother someone else.

The other big thing was Todaiji, which was pretty neat since it has the (or one of the) largest bronze Buddhas. I will say at this point we were getting a bit tired from so many temples, but this one I think was worth it due to the size. There’s also a hole you can climb through in a pillar which a ton of school children lined up to do (which I would’ve done if I weren’t walking slowly from leg recovery :’) ). It looked like there were other temples/shrines in the area but we tried to keep today chill so we didn’t go out of our way for them. The rest of Nara was taking it chill and getting some matcha ice cream.

We stopped by Kuromon Market on our way back and got some nice wagyu on a stick and did more window shopping. Went back to Namba station to scope out the Muji suitcases (which I ended up buying a day later for souvenirs). Wandered Dotombori a bit more this time but again keeping it easy (Don Quijote wants me to walk up the stairs? hard pass…).

Lesson: Make sure to take breaks, or breaks will take you!! Honestly I was walking pretty wacky anytime I had to go down stairs this day.

**Day 10: USJ/Super Nintendo World, Osaka Aquarium**

Now, love it or hate it, but I knew coming to Japan I needed to go to Super Nintendo World. I am that person who loves pink yoshi and who has been traveling around Japan with a Pokemon Go Plus + tracker for gaming. So my wonderful, loving boyfriend agreed to waking up at 7am so we could get in line for the park around 7:30/7:45. I tried booking with the official USJ app but kept getting issues with the purchase from a US credit card, so eventually bought from Klook. Other sites mentioned people getting in at like 8:30/8:45 but they let people in starting around like 8:10. Then it was our game plan: get in, and make a beeline to Nintendo World.

Side note, one thing that was confusing to me was you can’t add your USJ ticket to the phone app until AFTER you’ve scanned into the park. I was trying to do so before but it said our QR codes were invalid, which made me worried my tickets weren’t working. But once you can scan into the park, THEN you can add your tickets to the app, THEN you restart your app, THEN you can get timed entry passes to Nintendo World. We got in as soon as we walked over.

Now listen, USJ was great but it was HOT. We went to the Mario Kart ride first to avoid the worst of the line, definitely worth it. Then did a bit of shopping. Then stood in some lines for minigames in order to get 3 keys to unlock the Bowser Jr. game. In hindsight, the minigames had lines much longer than they were worth, and the Bowser Jr. game was cute but probably better suited for kids. Still fun to get the experience in though. That said, we left around noon (skipped the Yoshi ride) so we could do the Osaka Aquarium in the evening (probably not others’ cup of tea since it’s $60 for half a day, but we had money to spend and we were ready for the aquarium).

The aquarium was GREAT. As an Animal Crossing fan, I now understand why all of those games have certain creatures in there. I think it was really neat seeing the different types of sea creatures and comparing with what we usually see on the US east coast. An added bonus was the aquarium had lots of stamps to collect as well (which had become a mini trip hobby). Honestly, I kind of liked the aquarium more than Nintendo World, but I think there was just an imbalance in hype vs heat.

Ended the day keeping it low key – went back to Namba to buy the suitcase and then we got McDonalds from below our hotel, but hey they had different types of burgers from the US so that’s kind of fun.

**Day 11: Osaka -> Himeji -> Hiroshima – Rihga Royal Hotel Hiroshima**

Today was a big JR travel day, but I had heard recommendations about making a castle pit stop along the way. We picked Himeji because a previous redditor suggested it over Okayama, and honestly this was our favorite castle stop out of 3 (Osaka and Hiroshima were the others) so this is my recommendation!

Hopping out, we took the bus (still recovering and looking for shotcuts) which dropped us right at the castle grounds and bridge. Like many other castles, this has the nice castle grounds to explore before getting to the castle itself. The castle ticket also had an option to purchase a discount ticket to the gardens next door which we did. And they had stamps, yes!!

Heading up starts with sloped outdoor walks, then eventually you go inside for a bit then hit an area where you remove your shoes to walk inside. This is the golden spot, because unlike Osaka and Hiroshima castles, this one hasn’t been destroyed and they kept real (though probably refurbished) interiors that you climb up and around. In total there are 6 floors of decreasing size, but it’s all wood all castle. Ladders are a bit steep and narrow but it’s worth it getting to the small shrine up top. There are some plaques with info around, but this definitely was our favorite just seeing the architecture inside. And there’s a great view up top. Definitely cool seeing real interior castle.

If you’re quick enough, there’s a garden next door as well. We probably had an hour or so to stroll through. Quiet and pleasant. I liked the seedling garden featuring seeds from the garden’s original era, and there was a nice flower garden. After that we did take the casual \~20 minute walk back to the station where we got lunch from the attached shopping area before grabbing a final train back to Hiroshima.

Our Hiroshima hotel was Rihga Royal Hotel (right next to the atomic bomb dome), which gave us a GREAT view of Hiroshima Castle lit up at night. Super neat. Also this hotel almost felt too fancy for my blood, but hey credit card points can get you anything I suppose! Instead of staying close to a station like we did in most other spots, this was a great central location around the things we did the next day. Like all other hotels, would recommend this one.

**Day 12: Peace Park, Hiroshima Castle, Shukkeien Garden**

If you know Hiroshima, you know the Peace Park is the big thing here. We got brunch at a nearby cafe and hit that area first, starting with the dome and the nearby park. Seeing the structure still standing is a bit incredible, and reading the surrounding info was enlightening to me. There was also nearby info on someone who had survived it (who comes to the park every single day I think?), we didn’t talk to them but that could be an interesting way to hear more first hand.

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum was our first goal, but we ran into Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall first and went in since it was free. Honestly, this was the most impactful part of the park for me. They have a digital rotating wall of all of the people whose lives were impacted, and you can search by name to find specific people. There was also a short movie showing on weather researchers and how their lives were impacted during the incident. Hearing the first-hand accounts was what cut the deepest for me. I don’t believe this movie will show forever but perhaps after this they’ll show another.

Afterwards, heading to the actual museum. This was definitely busier, almost too busy to see everything as there were queues even in the museum (maybe because it was Friday?). They have lots of things recovered and saved, like notebooks, clothes, and other personal items. There also do a good job at sharing the history – I definitely learned a lot about how different countries communicated during that time. I wish it weren’t so crowded so I could see the exhibits better, but maybe we’d need a better weekday for that.

Heading out of the Peace Park, Hiroshima Castle was our 3rd and final castle of the trip. IMO this was tied with Osaka, behind Himeji, as it was another castle that added a museum on the inside but allowed you to climb up and get a good view. The museum was fine but I guess I just liked the pure castle structure of Himeji! Like the others though, wandering the castle grounds is pretty cool to do, and the outside of Hiroshima was pretty cool.

Finally, we had an hour speedrun (really, walk with purpose) at Shukkeien Garden. I think this was enough time though we could’ve appreciated 90 minutes to slow down a bit more. There’s a nice walking path so you know how to see it all. Again, I am amazed with how big bamboo gets, and we also saw wild mini crabs running around! But the garden has a lot of different areas and themes which is neat. Apparently we missed this but I guess you can buy food for the koi or turtles as well – we just watched others feed which was good enough for us!

Finished out our day with a Pokemon Center visit and we found a nice sushi spot in the shopping mall building next door to us.

**Day 13: Miyajima Island**

Our 2nd full day for “Hiroshima” was heading over to Miyajima – just like everyone else on a pleasant Saturday! Things were a bit busy but you’ve got to have your weekends somewhere in your trip. For some reason I thought the commute was a lot quicker, but I think it was closer to an hour between walking to the station, taking the train to Miyajima station, and taking the ship to the island. If you have a JR pass, the connecting train and boat both work under that pass!

Right off the bat you’re tossed into Omotesando for covered shopping. We did some light shopping here and finally got a tornado potato and eel on a stick – both delicious!. We also started seeing deer, but if you want the big deer experience then definitely go to Nara, as I saw fewer deer and no feeding stations. However I DID see a deer eat some leaves and then.. a paper ticket to something on the island? Poor guy.

Our first stop was the Miyajima Ropeway as I saw that closed earlier than other things and I didn’t want us to miss the trip down no matter how long we went, and we had a late start so we didn’t get to the ropeway until around 1pm. The line was long but they gave out free fans you can use with various designs. The ropeway is definitely a nice way to get a pleasant view going up, and you get a nice view at a peak on the island! From there, you have options to hike to the actual peak, or to a midpoint, or to just head back down. We went part of the way to get to Misenhondo temple, which imo was worth it because there were lots of cool mini jizo statues, and other jizos with sunglasses instead of just the traditional red hats. Chilled, appreciated the scenery, then headed back to the shorter line back down.

Now we took longer up there than I thought, but that’s ok as we can speed through the other things! First was the floating tori gate… except it was low tide! And we were hungry! I took a picture from afar, but we also probably should’ve gone closer in the morning or whenever the tide is high for photos – oops! There was also a shrine next door that we looked at from afar, and I think I missed a pagoda somewhere. But we had a great oyster dinner back in Omotesando, then finished up with some final shopping.

One interesting detail to note, Google Maps was telling me the last ship off the island was like 5:45, so I panicked a bit and thought we might miss it and be stranded. But then later it told me that there WERE later ships off? I didn’t end up finding the last last ship, but you might want to keep in mind the time if you’re trying to leave after 5pm.

Lessons: if you want a nice floating tori gate photo, go earlier in the day. 😉

**Day 14: Hiroshima -> Hakone – Mount View Hakone (Ryokan)**

This was our longest travel day, and definitely the most important one to book tickets ahead of time for our JR pass. We went Hiroshima to Shin Osaka, then to Odawara, and we actually couldn’t sit together for the first leg (though we were across the aisle, so not the worst). I think I booked these on the trip to Hiroshima a few days prior, and I didn’t book most of our reservations too early just so I could get a sense of when we’d leave most days for travel, but if you have a larger group you’re trying to seat together, maybe try booking earlier than us (and for Spring you probably want to book even earlier).

Online travel guides didn’t give me the best idea of how the transit system worked, so here’s what I saw. After getting to Odawara station, you take a short distance train a few stops to Hakone-Yumoto. From there, you can either take buses, or if you stay in the Gora area (which we did not), you could probably take the tram. We stayed past Gora, so we took the bus 3 to our ryokan. I figured out the exact bus by some kanji matching on the signage, but there were also helpful attendants outside who helped tell you what bus and stop to take to get to your lodging – wonderful! Then from there, just take the windy bus up (I think for us it was 30-45 minutes of a ride).

We planned for an easy evening in so we didn’t do too much, except appreciate our ryokan! Definitely would recommend. Mount View was a good one, and my understanding is it might be a bit cheaper than some others since there wasn’t private dining. We ate our meals in a shared eating area, but each section was walled off so you still had privacy which was great! And the meals were BIG! We also got a room without an onsen in it (my understanding is some ryokans have this), but that is fine as the ryokan had private onsens you could rent (which we did that evening) and public onsens available at any time (which we didn’t end up doing but perhaps should have!). This was our first ryokan but definitely was a lodging highlight, and we’ve now convinced ourselves we need a set of those japanese floor chairs ASAP.

A final detail is Hakone closes up for the night fairly early. We took a post dinner (or was it pre dinner?) walk around but most things were closed. We did find a 7-11 open but that’s about it. Probably just a good time to appreciate dinner and a good onsen.

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And that’s where I’ll stop this for now! The last leg of our trip had our time in Hakone and some final time in Tokyo, which I will try to write up somewhat soon now that I’m not distracted with actually enjoying a trip. 🙂 Like with the previous post, feel free to share tidbits, ask questions, or add comments – happy to add onto the things I wrote up here!

Thanks for reading!