Trip report 14 days in Japan- don’t get food poisoning from 7/11!

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Firstly, sorry for how long this is. I’ve written some tips/suggestions based on my experiences and a breakdown of the itinerary if you don’t fancy reading a novel.

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**Background**

I had been planning to go to Japan for years, since before COVID. It was my dream travel destination, and during the lockdown, I made it somewhat of a hobby/obsession to research and plan the trip, creating multiple itineraries just for fun. Originally, I was planning to travel with my ex-boyfriend, but for obvious reasons, that didn’t go ahead. Instead, I convinced my younger sister to tag along. I scaled back the itinerary for my sister’s budget and chose to take a conventional route through the main tourist destinations, incorporating some things we were personally interested in. For this reason, I think this trip will reflect the itineraries of many first-timers’ journeys to Japan, and I hope it’ll be informative to those planning their first trip. Overall, it was a blast (albeit one major inconvenience!), and I’ll definitely be returning in a few years’ time.

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**Itinerary summary**

*Tokyo-Miyajima-Kyoto-Osaka-Nara-Tokyo*

Day 1- Tokyo- Yanaka Ginza, Nezu shrine, Ueno park, Ameyokocho, Kabukicho tower.

Day 2- Tokyo- Food poisoning. My sister shopped in Shibuya.

Day 3- Tokyo- Senso-Ji Temple, Nakamise street, Ginza, Tsukiji market, Teamlabs planets.

Day 4- Tokyo- Café Capyba, Kura Sushi, Shibuya Sky, Nintendo/Pokemon stores, Omoide Yokocho, Golden Gai.

Day 5- Tokyo to Miyajima shinkansen, ryokan dinner.

Day 6- Miyajima- onsen, ryokan breakfast, Miyajima shrine, cable car to Mt. Misen, Okonomimura in Hiroshima.

Day 7- Kyoto- Nishiki market, Gion, Yasaka shrine, Kennin-ji temple, Yasaka Koshin-do, ninenzaka/sannenzaka, Kiyomizu-dera temple, Pontocho.

Day 8- Kyoto- day trip to Osaka- aquarium, Dotonbori.

Day 9- Kyoto- day trip to Nara- deer park, rickshaw ride, Kodai-Ji temple.

Day 10- Kyoto- half day in Osaka- Osaka castle, Shinsekai, then Fushimi Inari.

Day 11- Kyoto- Arashiyama- monkey park, Tenryu-Ji temple, bamboo forest, Hozugawa boat ride.

Day 12- Kyoto- day trip to Universal Studios.

Day 13- Kyoto to Tokyo shinkansen- Harajuku/Shibuya souvineer shopping, Akihabara arcades and karaoke.

Day 14- Flight home.

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**Tips/recs for travellers**

Planning: We pretty much stuck to my itinerary for the trip, although it was non-stop, even after I scaled back the planning to make it more ‘relaxed’. My sister thought she could fit in workouts at the start of each day. Fat chance. Most days we walked over 20k steps. Don’t over-plan days. Do the ‘must-do’ things first and stay semi-flexible; you don’t know what your energy levels might be like. We had an open day at the end of the trip in Tokyo, and this was useful to do things we missed out on earlier.

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Utilizing Jetlag: We came from the UK and arrived in Japan at 7:30 am. It took us three days to overcome jetlag. On the third day, we both woke up at 3 am and, failing to get back to sleep, decided to visit Senso-ji at sunrise. This was a great idea. It was practically empty. We arrived at 6 am and stuck around until 10 am, watching the food stalls open and the crowds roll in.

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Sunset Spots: We ended up in some spectacular spots during sunset. We booked Shibuya Sky exactly one month in advance for the sunset hour, and it was so worth it! We then arrived on Miyajima Island as the sun was setting, probably the most beautiful sight of the whole trip, followed by sunsets at Kiyomizu Dera and Fushimi Inari.

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Luggage Forwarding: This saved us so much grief on our stopover at Miyajima. We forwarded our big luggage from our hotel in Tokyo to the one in Kyoto and took a day pack with us to Miyajima. I can’t imagine having done that trip through public transport with our huge suitcases.

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Shinkansen Tickets: Book ahead. We couldn’t book online as the Shinkansen booking site didn’t accept Visa. When we booked the same day at the station, we couldn’t get seats together or sit on the side to view Fuji. If you can’t book ahead online for the big trips, I’d suggest booking your Shinkansen journeys a few days ahead from the station ticket machine—especially if you have oversized luggage!

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Shinkansen Oversized Luggage Storage: We used this on our journey back to Tokyo. Get the storage behind the seats if possible. We used the storage lockers and struggled until staff arrived. The 4-number access code is your carriage and seat number (This isn’t clear upon booking).

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Teamlabs: In my opinion, Teamlabs Planets is overrated and a bit stinky. Walking barefoot through water felt gross and unnecessary, and I wouldn’t go as far as calling it ‘art’; it’s a light show and an Instagram op. I have heard Teamlabs Borderless is a better experience anyway and I think is reopening soon, so I’d suggest going there instead.

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Hotel Fridges: DO NOT store food items with cream in a crappy hotel fridge overnight. I faced the consequences, so you don’t have to.

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Eating Out: We didn’t plan any meals out ahead of time, and I think this was a mistake. I assumed literally everything in Japan would taste amazing, but this wasn’t the case. In touristy areas, there will be tourist traps of overpriced sub-par food. I’d recommend having a few food places planned and then walking slightly out of the super touristy areas to find places on the go. We had great experiences with chain restaurants Coco Curry and Ichiran Ramen.

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Breakfast: There aren’t really many places to go for breakfast. 7/11 and other conbinis are good, but it can get boring constantly having currypan, onigiri, and boss coffee. Luckily in Kyoto, we had a hotel with breakfast provided, which was lovely and mixed things up.

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Drinking: If you want to have a night out, you need to stay in the same area. We only properly drank on two of the nights in Shinjuku and Dotonbori but felt gutted both times that we had to leave early to go back to our hotels.

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**Best experiences**

Hozugawa boat ride: Probably our favorite thing we did in Kyoto!

Goshuin: Much more aesthetic and satisfying than eki-stamps. You won’t get temple burn-out because you’ll be on a mission to catch ‘em all.

Kennin-Ji temple: Underrated temple in Kyoto. It’s the oldest Zen temple in the middle of Gion, but not super busy.

Capycafe: An animal café where they treat them well. Very unique and cute.

Goldengai: Not overhyped. Get drunk and chat with strangers. Fun.

Karaoke: Pure fun. Gotta do it.

Ryokan stay: Got to mooch around in a Yukata and soak in a hot spring. Lush.

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**Trip report**

Day 1 Enduring a 14-hour flight from the UK, we managed about an hour of sleep on the plane and landed at 7:30 am. Navigating the airport, we acquired portable Wi-Fi and Pasmo cards, then hopped on the monorail and metro to our hotel, Hotel Tokyo Trip near Nishi-nippori station. Check-in wasn’t until 3 pm so we dropped off our bags and explored the local area. Feeling a bit greasy, we would have loved to freshen up, but we soldiered on. We wandered through Yanaka Ginza shopping street, considered a ‘hidden gem’ with its preserved Showa-era vibes. We walked to Nezu Shrine, where I picked up a goshuincho (temple stamp book) and got my first stamp. Continuing through Ueno Park towards Ameyokocho Market, we grabbed a pork sando and some candied strawberries and grapes, realizing how far we’d walked in a zombie-like state. Still not 3 pm, we trudged on towards Akihabara. We reached Akihabara but felt too fatigued to explore, so we took the metro back to our hotel. After a nap, I forced myself to get up as my sister was set on seeing Shinjuku on a Saturday night. We went to Kabukicho Tower, expecting live music, but it seemed we were too early. The vibe was cool, but the ramen was sub-par. I fell asleep on the metro and picked up an orange and cream sandwich from 7/11 for breakfast…

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Day 2 I ate the sandwich, and it tasted fine. Thirty minutes later, I was vomiting in the toilet. Remaining optimistic that I’d gotten it out of my system, I continued getting ready. Thirty minutes later, I was vomiting in the toilet. I gave up and crawled into bed, telling my sister to go on without me. My sister sent me pictures from Shibuya, where she was exploring the clothes stores. By her return, I’d mostly recovered but felt very fragile. Unsurprisingly, I struggled to sleep that night, having slept most of the day. My sister also had jet lag.

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Day 3 We woke up at 3 am and slowly got ready to head to Senso-ji. It was great with no crowds, and there was a mellow vibe. Locals came by to pray before work. We got our fortune, bathed in the incense, and took pictures as the sun rose. After exploring the area, getting some snacks and the temple stamp, the area around Senso-ji was very busy, so we headed to the Capybara Café. It was quite out of the way and unfortunately no slots were available at times we could make, so we decided to try again tomorrow (my sister really wanted to go). We headed to Ginza and looked around the shops but felt like there wasn’t much worth seeing. We then walked to Tsukiji Market and got some Wagyu sushi, which was AMAZING, and a giant prawn cracker. TeamLab Planets was booked for 3 pm which we thought was overrated. After that we just chilled in the hotel as we were so tired.

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Day 4 We got to Cafecapyba an hour early and met a Canadian couple who were also camping out. We ate breakfast and chatted while we waited so it wasn’t so bad. Many places in Japan have long queues. It was worth it and super cute but I wish we hadn’t wasted so much time trying to get in the previous day. We then went to Shibuya and got Kura sushi which was fun and really cheap but not the best quality. We had Shibuya Sky booked for 4 pm; this was a highlight as we caught sunset and saw Mt. Fuji! We got really good-looking cakes from the food hall under Shibuya Sky and ate them in Miyashita Park which was atmospheric and chilled at night. We wandered Shibuya but struggled to find bars to drink in. One we found on Google Maps that looked good was in a basement but turned out to be empty at 8 pm, so we hurried back into the elevator. We decided to grab drinks in Omoide Yokocho and eat skewered meat; this was fantastic, and we followed this with a trip to Golden Gai which was also great fun chatting with other travellers, and amazingly we ran into the Canadian couple again by coincidence! We were sad we had to leave before the metro stopped, as we would have stayed out all night.

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Day 5 We forwarded our luggage to Kyoto and took the shinkansen to Miyajima. As we boarded the ferry from Hiroshima, the sun was setting. We took stunning pictures of the Torii gate and deer with the sunset. On arrival at Iwaso Ryokan, we were shown to our room by a hospitable older lady who tried her best to communicate with us in English. She gave us our yukatas and informed us of dinner time. Dinner was challenging; it was very traditional, and everything tasted like the ocean and smoke. We tried our best, but most of it wasn’t to our tastes, and we are not picky eaters. It’s a shame as we paid a premium and expected the food to be delicious. The sake was good, though.

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Day 6 The onsen in the morning was luxurious, and luckily no one else was there, so we had a huge indoor and outdoor bath to ourselves. We then had breakfast which was somewhat more palatable than dinner. My sister asked our waitress if she liked the traditional food, and the waitress said she personally couldn’t eat it! Lol. We checked out, visited the shrine and shopping streets, and failed to get a rickshaw ride (which was the only other thing my sister really wanted to do other than the capybara cafe). The street food here was great; we had cheesy curry bread, matcha ice cream, and maple cakes. We then took the cable car to the mountain. When you get to the top, it’s an hour’s hike to reach the summit; this wasn’t worth it for us as it was too cloudy for a good view. I wish instead we’d spent our time going to visit Hiroshima Peace Park and Atomic Bomb Dome. We didn’t have time for this but did visit Okonomimura for okonomiyaki, which was soooooo good. We took the shinkansen to Kyoto, checked in (our luggage had arrived), and went to sleep.

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Day 7 Our first day in Kyoto, we headed to Nishiki Market. This was the first day I fully got my appetite back after feeling fragile, and I devoured rice crackers, prawns, beef tempura, mochi, dango, octopus on a stick, and fried chicken. We then wandered through Gion’s main street, crossed the bridge, and eventually hit Yasaka Shrine. We walked through it and got to a less busy area of Gion, stumbling across Kenninji Temple. This was a highlight for me as it was less touristy and is significant as the oldest Zen temple in Kyoto. You can walk through the tatami mat rooms and wooden bridges after taking off your shoes and view the stunning Zen gardens. Very tranquil. After this, we explored the shopping street around Kiyomizu-dera, which were understandably very busy. We got to Kiyomizu-dera at sunset, which was truly stunning. I picked up four temple stamps for my collection this day, which I was very happy about. We ate in Pontocho at a multi-course wagyu restaurant, which was one of my favourite meals of the trip and not too expensive, being around £50 per person.

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Day 8 We ate breakfast at our hotel (Kyoto Anteroom) and took the train to Osaka. We went to the aquarium at noon, which was the most impressive aquarium I’ve seen, and then headed straight to Dotonbori and started drinking. Again, we found it difficult to find decent bars even later in the evening, so we were mostly buying booze from 7/11 and messing around in arcades, enjoying the street performances, which were mostly blokes dressed as Spiderman doing bizarre antics. We ate Takoyaki, which was great, and a bowl of ramen, which wasn’t that amazing according to my sister, but I was too drunk to tell.

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Day 9 Slightly hungover, we took our time to get ready and got to Nara Deer Park at around 1 pm. My sister desperately wanted that rickshaw ride, so we prioritized this, and it was enjoyable although slightly scary when the guy was running downhill. Our driver was lovely and recommended us a delicious beef bowl place for lunch. We then had time to visit Todai-ji Temple and feed the deer, but we missed out on the gardens and the mochi-making show, which was a shame. We ate dinner at Coco Curry in Kyoto, which was actually my sister’s favourite meal of the trip.

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Day 10 This day was probably our least favourite. We were tired from being busy all week and felt a bit underwhelmed by Osaka Castle and Shinsekai. The castle is a nice sight, but once you’ve seen it, you’ve seen it. Shinsekai is trashy. I liked it in a way, as it was a side of Japan I hadn’t seen yet and reminded me somewhat of run-down British seaside towns with the offerings of funfair-style games, gaudy décor, and greasy food. Haggard locals stood by cigarette vending machines swigging beer. Influenced by the locals and the grease of kushikatsu, we decided to day-drink. This meant by the time we returned to Kyoto and headed to Fushimi Inari, we were feeling rather groggy. In retrospect, I would have done Fushimi first thing in the day to have the energy to make it to the top, although on the plus side, it was less busy, and we got to experience it both at sunset and in the dark. For dinner, we went to a ramen shop in Gion, and it was delicious.

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Day 11 We spent this day in Arashiyama. This was one of our favourite places. I ate three matcha ice creams this day, and I don’t regret it. The first thing we did was visit the monkey park, which we loved. Feeding the monkeys is cute, and you get a great view of Kyoto too. We then wandered through Tenryu-ji Temple garden and this led straight to the bamboo forest, which led straight to the ‘romantic’ scenic train ride. Unfortunately, this was fully booked, so we walked back to a different station to get a local train to the riverboat ride destination. The Hozugawa River Cruise is slightly pricey but lasts two hours, so you can really relax and enjoy the scenery, the banter from the boatmen, and some light white-water rapids. We ate sushi for dinner in Kyoto station, which has tons of restaurants.

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Day 12 We got up at 5 am this day to arrive an hour early at Universal Studios, which was worth it as we were near the front of the queue and gates opened 30 minutes early. We got on a couple of big rides with practically no queue and secured a timed entry for Nintendo World at 9 am. By 9 am, however, the queues for Nintendo World rides were well over an hour. Regardless, we still enjoyed the craziness that is Nintendo World. After we left Nintendo world the rides in the entire park were between 1 to 2 hours. Luckily, we had fast passes for some thrill rides, so we took advantage of these and then checked out the shows for the rest of the day. There was always something going on at USJ, which really made it a fun experience, but I found it lacking in rides, having only a few good thrill rides. It was also super expensive when you include the fast passes, which are essential if you don’t want to queue for 2 hours per ride. We ate okonomiyaki again at a restaurant near our hotel, which was really a hidden gem and my favourite meal of the trip.

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Day 13 On our final day, we took the bullet train back to Tokyo and used this day to visit Harajuku and Akihabara, which we missed out on due to me being sick. Takeshita Street in Harajuku was not worth walking through as it was super busy and just full of tat. However, some of the side streets in the area have cool vintage shops. We wanted to get fluffy pancakes here but failed as the queues were again an obscene 2 hours long. We decided instead to wait 20 minutes for Ichiran in Shibuya, which lived up to the hype. Tonkotsu ramen may be the best thing ever. We bought a bunch of souvenirs from Don Quijote and then headed to Akihabara, where we had some drinks, played more arcades (walking away with 2 huge Kirby plushies!), failed to enter a maid café as they were closing, drank a pint in HUB and sang karaoke until 10 pm. We finished the night off with a kebab and returned to Hen-na Hotel, where our drunk selves navigated check-in with some creepy humanoid robots before crashing into bed. As we made it to the airport the next day, Kirbys in tow, we were thoroughly shattered but absolutely satisfied.

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(TL;DR) The trip was a blast and Japan is an amazing place to visit, just don’t over-plan or store perishable foods in crap hotel fridges.