Aug ’23 Tokyo-Kyoto Trip Report

Tokyo – Kyoto -Tokyo

August 6th – 20th

I’ve probably rewritten this thing 3 times already because I’m a bit long winded when it comes to describing things. But I figured after lurking in this sub for so long and getting so much help from other people’s posts I ought to do a summary of my first trip to Japan as well.

This trip has been a long time coming. I went with my two friends, all three of us are women in our 30s from the US. This trip came from a combination of different things. One of my friends had been to Japan before in ‘16 and had been planning to go back before the pandemic hit. We decided we wanted to try and hit the 40th anniversary of Tokyo Disney since we’ve already done trips to Disney World and Disneyland together. And it was the 50th anniversary of Kamen Rider and literally hoping on a wing and a prayer that we picked the correct dates to be able to see the Exhibition.

I laid most of the groundwork with planning and booking the hotels. I’m a super planner so I basically just took what they wanted to see and put it into an itinerary. You’ll see from the report that we did a different trip from a lot of people, so I think some of you may get something out of that.

Rundown of the things we pre-booked:

Flights (United Airlines, Nonstop Roundtrip)

Airport Limousine

Hotel Metropolitan Ikebukuro

Hotel Kuu Kyoto

Grand Nikko Tokyo Bay Maihama

Kamen Rider the Diner

Kamen Rider 50th Exhibition Tickets

Toei Studio Park Kyoto Tickets

Tokyo DisneySea/Land Tickets

Round-Trip Shinkansen Tickets

Kimono Rental Reservations

Trip Overview:

Day 0 Sunday:

\- Flight from EWR to NRT. Left at 11:50am estimated to land at 2:30pm in Narita.

Day 1 Monday:

\- Landed a bit early in Narita. Immigration and Customs was quick, definitely do Visit Japan. Picked up Pocket-WiFI for my friends, I used E-Sim. Also grabbed Welcome Suicas and took the Limousine Bus into Tokyo where it dropped us off at our hotel the Metropolitan Ikebukuro.

\- After check-in, we headed walked over to a reservation at Kamen Rider the Diner. Food 4/10, atmosphere 10/10, immaculate. We were late but the place was dead before 8pm.

\- Stopped at the FamilyMart a block away from the hotel to pick up good food and then pretty much passed out as soon as we got back inside.

Day 2 Tuesday:

\- Headed to a Family restaurant that served Japanese and Western breakfast around 9:30am. Meal was great. I love a drink bar at a non-buffet restaurant.

\- Hopped on our first train from Ikebukuro Station to Shibuya. Using the trains was incredibly easy with Google Maps. The transit system is simply amazing, signs and station announcements were in both Japanese and English.

\- Wandered the back streets to get down to Takeshita Street. Did some unexpected clothes shopping. I’m a size 14 – 16 US women’s but found a lot of things I liked. Ended up coming home with half a suitcase of new clothes from the entire trip. We didn’t eat on Takeshita Street, the lines for food were the most crowded.

\- Found a Chinese noodle place for lunch. Sign outside said they had vegetarian meals (one of my friends is veg). When we sat down we were informed there was no vegetarian option. Would become a running theme.

\- Walked from Shibuya to Shinjuku to go to Tower Records. Picked up some Kpop CDs that would be too expensive to import. Headed back to the hotel after that, exhausted and hot.

Day 3 Wednesday:

\- Leisurely woke-up the next morning since we went to Ts Tan Tan in Ikebukuro Station for lunch. Food was okay, a great option for Vegans and I think my friend really enjoyed having actual options.

\- Took the train to Shibuya, it was drizzling a bit and it was a Wednesday so I don’t think we really got to see the crossing in all its glory. We joined a short line to take a picture with the Hachiko statue.

\- Went to Shibuya 109 to do some more shopping. If your interested in what the real trends are for young people you want to go there. Felt underdressed since it seemed the sea of young people definitely wear their trendy clothes to go shopping. Bought quite a few things here, and really enjoyed browsing. Customer service was excellent. Got drinks in the basement and then headed back to the hotel to drop off our purchases.

\- That evening we headed out to try and hit up some stores in Ikebukuro. Went into some small second-hand shop and then tackled the massive new Animate. Got a few things, but despite how huge the store is most of the mech is still just whatever anime is most popular now. Got a picture with an Ultraman statue though.

\- On the way back to the hotel, a very nice Japanese woman helped us get back to the train station. Awkwardly enough, we knew where the station was but we had gone down the wrong set of stairs and just didn’t want to walk back up them. She ended up helping us find an escalator and walking us back to Ikebukuro station.

\- One last stop at FamilyMart before he went in and went to sleep.

Day 4 Thursday:

\- Woke up and ate a FamilyMart breakfast in the hotel. Headed out to Nakano Broadway for You Know What (nerd stuff) and it did not disappoint. I adore the covered arcades in Japan, and it was so unique to anything I’d ever seen before. Ironically the most foreigners I’d seen was probably in the second-hand shops at Nakano Broadway.

\- I bought some things and some Things, but was especially happy with a cell from Kimba the White Lion. I thought the idea was so far-fetched that I hadn’t even put it down as a consideration.

\- We ate McDonald’s for lunch. Tried their Hawaiian-themed special meal. The shrimp-stuffed fish burger was odd. But the blue sprite drink and fries were good.

We made a quick night run in Ikebukuro where we went into an arcade, played some crane games (we collectively won something for me) and took a bunch of Purikuras.

Day 5 Friday:

\- Woke up and packed so we could ship our luggage to Kyoto for the next few days. Then we headed out to honestly one of my favorites places. A pastry shop in Ikebukuro station. Got some of the best food on the trip there.

\- We walked off to the other side of Ikebukuro station and hit up a few nerdy spots. Stopped in all the K-Books, Mandarake and Lashinbang. Anything on Otome Road.

\- Dipped into Sunshine City Mall and ended up spending more time there than anticipated.

\- We went to Namjaland, and I have to say… we love Namjaland. Explored Bandai’s Gashapon area and It was massively overwhelming.

\- Ended up at Coco Ichibanya for curry, which was really nice since they had legit Veg options for my friend.

\- Did some more clothes shopping and got a few pieces for work in some of the regular stores. Customer service at every store was excellent, could have spent all day shopping there. We ended up going to a girly high-end luggage and bag shop. I bought a nice carry-on luggage in a style that would have cost me a fortune in the US.

\- Ended up having to split up since we had spent more time in the mall than anticipated. I rant to PARCO to buy a few clothes items from WEGO and my friends browsed K-

Books one more time. They met me and bought a few things at WEGO and then we headed back to the hotel to get ready to head to Kyoto.

Day 6 Saturday:

\- Took the train with our carry-ons to Tokyo Station to catch the Shinkansen to Kyoto.

Stopped and the Pre-Cure, Kamen Rider and Ultraman stores while we were there. This station is definitely overwhelming. Lots of people with huge pieces of luggage trying to navigate small halls.

\- Got on the Shinkansen was a comfortable, beautiful ride. I honestly couldn’t tell if we were going faster than a normal cross-country train. I think the human mind stops comprehending it after a certain speed.

\- Arrived in Kyoto and it was much hotter than Tokyo. Hotel was a short less than 10 minute walk, but one of my friends was beet red by the time we checked into Hotel Kuu Kyoto. They had kakigori for guests checking in which was much needed.

\- I headed out alone to find the nearest 711 and get cash, then headed down to Kyoto Station. I ate an omurice (finally!) and did a little window shopping before heading back to the hotel. My friends eventually made it to an izakaya right near the hotel. When they came back we all went down to bathe and use the hotel’s onsen, it was fantastic.

Day 7 Sunday:

\- Got up early to head to Toe Kyoto Studio Park.

\- Toei Studio Park was very cute, pretty well-suited for domestic tourists with younger kids. There wasn’t a ton of information available in English so YMMV with what you’ll get out of it. We wanted to see the Kamen Rider suits and bikes as well as the Sentai and Pre-Cure exhibits. The sites were very cool, but the weather was scorching that day.

\- We got back to the hotel and I broke it to my friends that the only way we were getting to Fushimi Inari was that night. We dragged ourselves there and it ended up being perfect. It was much easier to hike as the sun set but we only made it about half way. Super nice coming down in the dark with less people around with all the shrines lit up along the way.

\- My friend and I stopped for Ramen inside the department store at Kyoto Station while our other friend went to an izakaya that had vegetarian bites on the menu.

\- Got back to the hotel and took another bath. The onsen was a life-saver each day in Kyoto.

Day 8 Monday:

\- Found the same chain pastry shop and ate there for breakfast in Kyoto Station before taking at least 3 separate trains out to Hirakta Park.

\- Sort of had a Dream Come True moment since we were going to see the Kamen Rider 50th Anniversary Exhibition. Obviously nothing was in English, but Google translate on the phone worked surprisingly well. And I was just enamored with seeing props and suits from all the shows. I’ve been watching Kamen Rider since High School and I never imagined I’d see any of it up close. It was a very well done exhibition.

\- After spending a few hours there, we headed back to Kyoto proper. We were supposed to head to Osaka, but a typhoon was about to hit. Got very lucky and made it back as train lines quickly started closing down in anticipation of the storm.

\- Ate a Ramen shop in the Station the night before heading to the hotel.

Day 9 Tuesday::

\- The typhoon hit and everything was pretty much shut down. We had paid extra for a Temple view from our hotel so we spent time watching other tourists braving the wind and rain to try and still vacation. Have to admire the Japanese system, they wouldn’t even issue a warning for the amount of rain we saw back home. I’ve driven in worse (which isn’t a good thing, just an observation).

\- Since everything was shut down we stayed in. My friends picked up some mediocre pizza and later we went to FamilyMart for snacks. Onsen again that night and then sleep.

Day 10 Wednesday::

\- Had to forward our luggage to our hotel at Tokyo Bay the day of, so we just made sure to have two days worth of clothes in our carry-ons.

\- We split up and I went to the Hagashiyama district because I was determined to do my Kimono Rental. I actually went to a different shop and pulled a bit of a ‘dumb foreigner’ but since it was just me they fit me in. The fitting took longer than I thought so I only got to wander around for about 2 hours since I had to get back to Kyoto Station for the Shinkansen.

\- I stopped at Yasaka Shrine and then walked to Kodaji Temple. I was able to have matcha and sweet at Kodaji before I had to hustle back to the rental place and get changed.

\- Turns out I didn’t need to rush. This travel day was absolute hell. For all the efficiency of Japan, when the Shinkansen train stops running its like the whole system collapses. Trains were being canceled, no one had answers, you could still buy tickets at kiosks for canceled trains, not enough crowd control especially since it was a holiday week. Eventually when trains started running they just told anybody who had a ticket to just get on any train. No one checked anything. Ended up standing in the aisle of a Shinkanesen for nearly 3 hours since they would slow down or even stop for 30 minutes at a time since the tracks were backed up.

\- Eventually we made it, frustrated, exhausted and gross to Grand Nikko Tokyo Bay Maihama. Our moods were lifted once we checked in, the hotel was absolutely grand. It helped that the shop was basically a convenience store and they had plenty of food and drink options.

Grabbed something to eat from the store, showered and immediately fell asleep after such an intense trip.

Day 11/12/13 Thursday/Friday/Saturday:

\- Our last three days were spent at DisneySea – Disneyland – DisneySea again respectfully. I’ll jot just a few thoughts since I know a lot of people in this sub are allergic to theme parks.

Lines to get into Disney in Japan are enormous and take a while to get through. People aren’t joking when they say you need to get there VERY early if you want to be near the front of the line.

\- Went 100% all in on Duffy and Friends merchandise. I got one Duffy and one friend (Linabell), and a bunch of other accessories. Definitely went crazy with merch here except for clothes, anything cute was gone.

\- Personally, I like Tokyo Disneyland over DisneySea. That’s more DisneyTalk though, so we’ll slide past that. Loved the organization for the Parades and the Shows. What I love is that cast members will actually help you find seats instead of just telling you can’t sit somewhere and sending you on your way.

\- Food was only so-so, but I think by this point I was burnt out on the Japanese flavor profile.

\- Hotel was lovely and convenient, I would definitely recommend it. I know a lot of people go for the Hilton or Sheraton because of their familiar brands. But Nikko was cheaper and just as luxurious in my opinion. Rooms were comparable to Western sizes if you were worried about that issue.

Day 14 Sunday:

\- Departure day, the Limousine Bus picked us up at our hotel. It took 30+ minutes just to stop at all the other Disney hotels so keep that in mind if you chose that option. Was super sad to leave, but had a fantastic vacation.

Already planning on taking my Mom in March and doing more touristy stuff that I missed out on.

I’m a bit long winded, so if you made it through kudos and I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to ask any questions.