8.5 days where things go wrong.

To preface this; I have cutaneous lupus and a permanent malar rash. This gets a lot worse when I’m stressed, so you can imagine how my first international trip ever, running on no sleep and on the most uncomfortable economy seats went. Symptoms of a flare up include: My body turning completely red, swollen, and so hot that it physically feels like someone threw acid in my face. I am genuinely overheating during these episodes so I’m also dizzy and confused. In general, I have alcohol, sun, and temperature sensitivity due to lupus and tend to burn a lot hotter than most other people at any given time. This was especially jarring in Tokyo where most of the things to do take place inside, where they seem to turn the heater up to 100, or involve drinking.
We were also visiting from Denmark/Ireland, so comparisons to safety, cost, food, etc. is from that perspective and not the US.

**General tips:**
I recommend staying in one place. I truly regret trying to do both Tokyo and Kyoto in such a short trip, especially when at least two of those days were complete write-offs due to sickness. I ended up missing out on so much and pushing myself when I shouldn’t have because of how much I wanted to pack in, and ultimately I left Japan with a negative feeling that had nothing to do with the country and everything to do with my stupidity and illness. Most people won’t have the same issues as me, I know, but if you do; don’t book anything in advance even if it means you might miss out on very touristy things. Teamlab Planets, for example, still had evening slots available on the day most of the days I was there.
Popular food places like Kura Sushi and Happy Pancakes are PACKED at peak times. Just as an example of what I mean: Kura Sushi in Asakusa on a Saturday at dinner time had a three hour wait for two, and a two hour wait for a solo person. Happy Pancake had a literal tour bus pull up in front of it at 10 in the morning on a Saturday, and a line out the door by 12. Meanwhile, if you just go around the corner, you’ll probably find a similar place to eat without all of that madness (Elk Pancakes in Kyoto, and Sushiro in Asakusa. Both had very short if any wait times). Controversial take, but don’t feel bad if you don’t know what to eat or don’t want to line up for anything. 7-11 had bento that was indistinguishable to some of the stuff I got at restaurants at a fraction of the cost.
Airports in Japan are easy-peasy. We filled out the Visit Japan Web app and breezed through Kansai Airport in a few minutes. Leaving through Narita was easier and quicker than getting a domestic flight, as well. Similarly, public transport is so easy once you get passed the initial shock. Get your IC card and tap-in-tap-out until you have to refill. We didn’t bother getting a JR Pass because we only needed a one-way on the Shinkansen, so we bought our tickets literally ten minutes before the train left which was convenient.
The lack of bins is, in my opinion, highly exaggerated on this sub. I had no problems in Kyoto, Tokyo, or Nara finding bins for bottles/cans, and I might have carried around my onigiri wrappers for a bit longer but not by much. For a tourist walking 15k+ steps every day; the lack of seating is no joke, but I can also recognise that it’s the perfect amount of seating for people who live there. Tourist areas tended to have more seating than non-tourist areas for that reason.
Weirdly, I found taxis in Kyoto very affordable compared to the prices in Denmark and Ireland, but taxis in Tokyo were insane. Not sure what the difference was, exactly, but it was much more expensive in Tokyo.
**Mini hotel review:** *all booked through* [*booking.com*](https://booking.com) and paid for at the property.

**Tokyu Stay Kyoto Sanjo-Karasuma:** Loved this hotel. It’s a 2 minute walk from both the Karasuma and the Tozai line which takes you most places you want to go. The pillows and mattress firmness was jarring at first, but I got used to it and ended up having the best sleep here. The rooms are very clean, the bath is HUGE (seriously, you could fit an army in here, I think), and the convenience of having a washer/dryer and a microwave in the room is brilliant when there’s a 7/11 right next door. The hotel also has a restaurant but we unfortunately didn’t know about this until the check-out day because we stayed in the Annex and didn’t notice it only time we went into the main building.
**Resol Poshtel Asakusa**: Stayed here only one night because our other Tokyo hotel was booked out on the Saturday. I don’t know if this really counts as a ‘capsule’ experience, but it was pretty cool. Because I was staying with my boyfriend, we stayed in the ‘mixed’ dorm instead of the gender-exclusive floors. It was 99% men here anyway, though, but I felt completely safe sleeping in the room. I did decide to have a shower upstairs on the woman’s floor, but that wasn’t for lack of safety and more because I hoped they would have a hair straightener (they didn’t). 10/10 location, I would stay here again, but my boyfriend didn’t like it only because he doesn’t like hostels.
**Henn na Hotel Tawaramachi**: Mixed feelings on this hotel. I had a great view of the Sky Tree from my window which I honestly would have paid more for. The bath was big, the outdoor roof terrace was nice, and it was super close to a Ginza metro line. That said, it was a bit dirty, the amenities severely lacking, and the whole ‘robot’ thing is so overrated. You interact with a hologram twice during your whole stay but nothing else in between that is any different to any other hotel. I don’t know if it’s just the Family Mart attached to this hotel or if 7-11 had already spoiled me, but it was disgusting! The famous FamiChicki genuinely made me feel nauseous it was so greasy and tasteless. The ready meals were boring and also greasy, and the drinks selection was poor.
**Trip Report:**
**Tuesday 7/11**: Arrived in Kix at 9:45 after going more than 24 hours without sleep. Do not, under any circumstances, be an idiot like me and say “Oh, if I just stay up the night before, I’ll have no problem sleeping on the plane”. I didn’t sleep on the plane, it was a horrible effing plane and the entire trip from leaving my house to arriving in Kix took 20 hours because we’re not allowed fly over Russia anymore or something. By the time we landed, I was having a full-blown Lupus flare-up. Every time I stood still, I thought I was going to pass out and my face was so red and swollen, the person instructing me for the face scan asked if I was okay. Because I was the only one who understood any Japanese and did any research for this trip, but couldn’t remember my own name by this stage, everything went poorly once we got through customs. My boyfriend bought the Haruka tickets to Kyoto, but didn’t get the ‘regular’ ticket, as well (to be fair to him, it explicitly said DON’T buy the regular ticket, and the two women at the ticket machines also just told us to press the button for the express). Anyway, that didn’t work out well and by the time we got to Kyoto station, we had to pay double so it ended up being about 80 euro for two Haruka tickets which I wouldn’t have paid if I’d known. I was on my way out of this world, so we just got a taxi to the hotel near Karasuma Oike and proceeded to sleep the rest of the day which, while I regretted it, was probably for the best because I really believe that if I’d forced myself to do all the things I had planned that day, I would have ended up hospitalised. There was a 7-11 right next to the hotel so we stocked up on sandos and onigiri.
**Wednesday 8/11**: Woke up around 6am feeling much better. My face was peeling and raw and I’m sure I looked horrifying to everyone, but I was fine with that because I no longer felt like dying. We got the metro to Keage station and walked down from there through Murayama Park and all of the temples along the way. Murayama Park is truly so beautiful, especially when it was almost empty when we got there (the only people here were a few elderly couples and a few birdwatchers, both foreign and local). I wanted to go to Kodai-ji, but it was still closed by that time which was unfortunate. We ended up stumbling upon Ryozen Kannon which was beautiful. We had the place to ourselves while the monks did their thing inside. We then walked down Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka towards Kiyomizudera. Not much was open, but the streets were already full with Chinese tour groups and students on day trips (especially Korean students in full uniform, which I thought was interesting. In Ireland, we just went to the local farm for our school trips lmao). Got some great photos at Kiyomizu. It was still pretty packed, but not nearly as much as I’m sure it would become later in the morning. We walked back up through the Zakas again, and got some matcha tiramisu at Maccha House as soon as it opened. Walked around Hanamikoji/Gion for a while where we saw some maiko before getting a taxi back to the hotel for a rest before heading to Fushimi Inari later in the evening. It was pitch-black by the time we got there, but it was WELL worth it because there was some fire ritual happening which I hadn’t known about before. We watched that for about 30 minutes before very briefly walking through the Torii gates. It wasn’t as well-lit as I had expected from watching youtube videos of it at night. I couldn’t really see anything at all, so we only walked about ten minutes (where we met six different, very friendly cats) before heading back down to watch more of the main temple. Despite not being able to see much of the Torii Gates, I’d still recommend going in the evening if you feel up for it. It had a sort of spooky vibe at this time, and there was basically nobody there because they were all congregating down at the main temple to watch the fire thing. The cats were obviously a bonus, too.
**Thursday 9/11**: Arashiyama day. Got up early again and got the Randen to Arashiyama station. We walked to the river which was unbelievably beautiful with nobody around. We then got a taxi up to Otagi Nenbutsu Temple. This place was like another world and I could have spent all day here just taking in the view and all of the individual statues. We walked down from here to Adashino Nenbutsu-ji Temple which was great because the bamboo area here was completely empty and we got some beautiful pictures. Very serene here compared to the main bamboo forest. Continued walking down Saga Toriimoto Preserved Street where we stumbled across the cutest, most interesting shop. Basically, look for a mini recreation of the village that looks like something out of a Ghibli film. The ‘people’ are made out of moth cocoons, and this intrigued my boyfriend so much he went up these very narrow steps to the main shop which is run by the loveliest old man I’ve ever met. We had a very difficult but nice conversation with my choppy Japanese and his choppy English, but he said it was his hobby to raise moths and he liked to turn their cocoons and silk into art. We bought a tiny cat ornament from him, and I genuinely regret not buying more. If you happen to see this shop, please pay him a visit. The ornaments are more than reasonably priced and it’s my favourite souvenir from the whole trip. We were starving by this point, so we stopped into a little cafe ran by an old couple who didn’t speak any English but tried their best, anyway. We got curry soba which was amazing but very, very filling. Stopped into Gio-ji temple which is under-appreciated if, like me, you think moss is beautiful. Eventually made our way back to the main area by walking through the regular bamboo forest. It was around 11AM and I was expecting it to be disturbingly packed, but it wasn’t that bad. Don’t expect to get any pics without people in it, though, but since I got so many in Adashino, it wasn’t a huge loss not to get any here. Stopped into the Rilakuma Cafe and got a cute ice cream to eat by the river, and we sat here for about an hour just resting our feet before heading back to the hotel. I knew I forgot to do something here, but only realised afterwards that it was Tenryuji 🙁 Spent the evening walking around Kawaramachi/Nishiki Market where I found my favourite pair of Sketchers (the slip on ones) for the equivalent of 30 euros in ABC Mart.
**Friday 10/11**: Got Karasuma line directly to Nara from our hotel (so convenient). It was lashing rain on this day, more so than I’ve ever experienced in my life but we soldiered on. Started off walking to Tenryuji and explored the entire temple complex. We loved it, and the combination of the early start and the pouring rain meant we again had the place mostly to ourselves (only sharing it with the cutest group of kids who all said ‘hello’ in English as they passed us). Afterwards, we walked to Kasuga-Taisha, stopping to feed some of the deer along the way. Kasuga Taisha was my favourite part of the trip BY FAR because I got to see multiple priestesses here which, for me, was on par with seeing Geisha as I’ve admired them since I was a kid and Rei was my favourite Sailor Moon character. They were so pretty, but the sign said no pictures of them and I respected that. Anyway, the rain hit the roof in a certain way that caused it to flow over a set of lanterns and it was the most aesthetic thing I’d seen during the entire trip. It was like a waterfall and I’m not sure if it was designed that way on purpose but honestly would not have traded this trip for better weather. We spent a while here, too, before walking back through Nara Park to the Sarusawa Ike Pond. The rain was slowing down by now, which created a lovely mist across the mountain and the Kofuku-ji pagoda which was, again, very aesthetic. We walked through the shopping street, stopping to buy some cute stuff from Necoco along the way before heading back to the hotel to dry off. Spent the evening walking along the river and Pontocho where I was lucky enough to see some more cats.
**Saturday 11/11**: The beginning of the end for my enjoyment of this trip. Maybe it was the fact we spent the entire day out in the rain, but we both woke up with scratchy throats. Nothing serious, but annoying. Stocked up on Eve and something called Neo which was recommended by the nice woman in Matsukiyo. I had reservations for Happy Pancake on this day, but a busload of tourists rocked up just before we went in, so we decided to skip it and walked around the corner to a similar place called Elk which sold equally fluffy pancakes, but also had nice bubble tea and only seemed to be frequented by Japanese teenage girls. We then got the Shinkansen to Tokyo (didn’t get to see Mt Fuji, unfortunately) where we checked in to our ‘capsule hotel’ in Asakusa. The place was PACKED on a Saturday with partiers. Witnessed a man in a lobster costume having a dance off with another man in costume while an actual DJ belted party tunes all over the shopping street. Welcome to Tokyo! Just had a walk around this area and stopped in for some dinner and people watching.
**Sunday 12/11**: Checked out of Resol and headed to Henn na Hotel Tawaramachi where we dumped our luggage before heading to Sanso-ji. Wasn’t great, to be honest. Nakamise Dori was shoulder to shoulder packed, mostly with Chinese tour groups and Sanso-ji itself was nothing to write home about (more on this later). We walked over to Asakusa Station to get some luggage from Ginza Karen’s sister shop and picked up some Kagetsudo which I had been really looking forward to before heading back to the hotel to check in. Once that was done, we headed to Ueno to explore Ameyoko-cho. This was the only time in Japan I put my phone in a zipped pocket, but it was great. I actually loved this area and it’s comparatively sleazy atmosphere. Spent way too long in Niki no Kashi and my boyfriend bought a cheap jacket from one of the sellers that began falling apart the next day.
**Monday 13/11**: I was nearly dead by this point with sickness but I’m a fucking idiot and decided to push myself as much as possible, anyway. Got up early and got about five trains to Gotokuji temple, stopping along the way in Akasaka to walk through the Harry Potter area since I failed to get tickets for the studio tour 🙁 Gotokuji was fun, but it was a 20-minute walk from the station, 20 mins back, and about forty minutes just walking around the grounds. We’d already passed 10k steps by 11AM and I just wanted to go back to the hotel to sleep. Decided to press on and went to Harajuku which, honestly, I regret. I didn’t have fun here. Maybe it was a combination of sickness and sore feet, but also nothing here fit me and Takeshita was shoulder to shoulder packed. I was initially opposed to doing anything animal-related, but my boyfriend was missing our pets so we stopped into the cat cafe directly across from the Pompompurin Cafe. The cats looked well taken care of and happy. Unfortunately for me, the room was heated to 20 million degrees which must have been heaven for the cats! (none of the cats were declawed, they had tons of space to get away from everyone if they wanted to, all of the Japanese kids there were very respectful to the cats, they had full, fluffy coats and weren’t desperate for cat treats any more than other cats so they weren’t relying solely on visitor’s treats). After failing to find anything in Harajuku that would fit me, we headed to Shibuya where I had a reservation for Skytree for 5PM. We went to see the Hachiko statue, where we were accosted by three separate groups of “youtubers” wanting to know our favourite Japanese food. This was baffling and we turned them all away because I looked and felt like absolute shit, so I didn’t want to be on camera. They were very nice, though, and not pushy, I just couldn’t remember my name by this point let alone what my favourite food was! Anyway, I really regret how this day turned out because we spent the next two hours just sitting in Shibuya Scramble waiting for our time. I had so many places I wanted to visit in Shibuya but I just couldn’t move anymore. I ‘missed’ the sunset time for tickets when I booked, but I needn’t have worried because the sun set a bit later on this day and I got to see both the sun setting and Shibuya at night all within my 20 minute window!!! We saw the outline of Mt Fuji, which was neat, and Shibuya at night was as impressive as I always thought it would be. I had a good time up here, but was happy to call it quits and head back to the hotel with a hope that I could visit Shibuya again before going home.

**Tuesday 14/11**: No. Just no. Had planned on going to Ikebukuro, Yanaka Ginza, and Shinjuku on this day, but got to Ikebukuro and gave up as soon as we reached Sunshine City. First of all, why is everything indoors in Japan set to fifty million degrees? I was BOILING every time I stepped inside and then freezing when I got out. It was the same everywhere we went, from the subway to restaurants. We decided to just go to the Pokemon Center because we had to get some special Pokemon cards for my boyfriend’s co-worker’s kid, but it was PACKED with people, even during ‘off-peak’ hours. Madness. Visited a themed cafe we saw on our way back to the station (Milky Way Cafe), and then called it quits. Again, I regret how this day turned out but I was too sick and cranky for anything else.
**Wednesday 15/11**: Last day in Japan. Forced myself out of bed sometime in the afternoon to go to Don Quijote in Asakusa since I couldn’t get to the one in Shibuya. Eh, honest review; not that impressed with this shop. It’s narrow, messy, and not that cheap. The things I wanted to stock up on were mostly skincare and snacks, and both of these things were cheaper and more abundant elsewhere (Matsukiyo can’t be beaten for skincare, and Niki no Kashi was king of the snacks). Did have a very funny interaction with the cashier who took the piss out of me for accidentally throwing a yakisoba roll into the same basket as all of the tax-free stuff. Then walked to Sanso-ji again now that it was dark and all of the shops were closed, and completely different vibe to the first time. It’s lovely at night, all lit up. Highly recommend leaving this for after most of the tour groups have gone. Then went to Gu, which I didn’t have high hopes for as nothing in Harajuku had fit me but was shocked to find that the clothes here DID! I got a few XL dresses that were comfortably oversized.
**Thursday 16/11**: Flight was at 11 in the morning so didn’t have time to do anything but catch the Asakusa line all the way to Narita which was very convenient. Flight back was even longer because we flew over Canada and Greenland for some reason. My ear popped and nearly two days later, still hasn’t unpopped. Anyone know if I should just wait it out or should I get a doctor’s appointment? I tried to do the thing where you hold your nose and blow but nothing happened.

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All in all, I’d love to go back to Japan some day, but I’d probably save up for longer so I could stay longer and not fly economy. Kyoto was by far my fave of the two cities, so if I go back I’ll definitely be giving Kansai more of my time.