# Preparation
I’m honestly a terrible planner, but in the months leading up to our trip, I passively watched YouTube videos and read posts in r/JapanTravel, which I’m sure helped on some level. My itinerary was very loose: I picked one neighbourhood/attraction to go to each day and then played the rest by ear. We prefer organic exploration at a relaxed pace rather than going off a stringent checklist, so this worked out quite well for us.
Both my partner and I had different personal goals as well. I wanted to buy specific stationery products, while he wanted to buy a second-hand Vita (and then that stretched to a PSP, Gameboy Colour, and a New 2DS XL for myself). We both share a mild interest in anime (really just One Piece) and some Japanese video games.
# General Thoughts & Advice
* Late November/early December was a good time for travel. It may have been good luck, but most days were sunny and clear, and it was relatively quiet during our first five days in Tokyo. Temps were mild in the beginning, but later in the month we had to start piling layers on. On our last two days of the trip, it was noticeably much busier.
* I would recommend booking certain activities and tourist attractions well in advance, particularly theme parks like Universal Studios or unique museum experiences like TeamLabs. These were places I’d planned to go to, but when I went to book tickets a few weeks ahead, they were all unavailable. Securing Disneyland/Sea tickets, on the other hand, wasn’t an issue.
* You don’t have to book a shinkansen too far in advance. It’s pretty easy to do from a major station, such as Tokyo or Kyoto Station, and there will be plenty of seats available if you book it the day before. But do what’s most convenient for you.
* If you’re staying somewhere for one or two nights, it’s worth using a luggage forwarding service to get your big luggage to the next accommodation you’re staying at after, and just bringing light luggage with your overnight essentials to your short stay. You don’t want to be handling heavy, chunky baggage while trying to fight your way in and out of packed transport. All our hotels provided this service.
* Wear supportive shoes, you’ll be walking a lot.
* Cash is absolutely essential in Japan, as you’ll be needing it to top up your IC card, pay for coin lockers (which mostly only take ¥100 coins), ticket machines at restaurants, small family businesses, etc. Always have cash and coins in your wallet so you’re prepared for these occasions.
* Coming from Australia, we were surprised to find the coffee in Japan was… not excellent. To be fair, I’ll acknowledge that Japan has a preference for black coffee, whereas in Australia your typical coffee order is a shot of espresso with steamed and textured milk. You really had to go out of your way to find a decent latte or cappuccino, because most of the chains we went to did not know how to steam milk and there was barely a hint of coffee taste. That said, some top-tier gems we found were Blue Bottle and Vermillion in Kyoto, and Ginza Café and Glitch Coffee in Tokyo. (I also developed a soft spot for Tully’s among the big coffee chains.)
# Onto the Trip Report…
So sorry this is absurdly long. Restaurants, cafés and eateries will be bolded and italicised.
**Day 1 – Nov 30: Tokyo**
Arrived at Haneda airport at 8pm. Not much time difference between Australia and Japan so we were awake the whole flight and just went to bed as normal when we got to our hotel. We stayed at **APA Hotel Hanzomon-Hirakawacho**, which looked and felt very budget, but was conveniently located. Very small room and the cleaning service could honestly be better.
**Day 2 – Dec 1: Shibuya and Shinjuku**
We had Shibuya Sky booked for (what I thought was) the early afternoon, so we did some exploring at Shinjuku in the late morning. Had the most delicious tonkotsu ramen ever in a small corner restaurant down a set of stairs called ***Ikkakuya***. They served me green tea in a glass so big I thought it was a pitcher and tried to pour it into a smaller glass (and got it everywhere, that was embarrassing). We also experienced our first Don Quijote and fell in love.
Then we made our way over to Shibuya. Walked through the crossing and had a quick look around before we went to Shibuya Scramble Square. Turns out I’d actually booked Shibuya Sky for around noon and the staff got a bit stern with us for missing our arranged slot, but they let us up anyway. The view of the city was honestly mind-boggling, it seems to stretch on forever. After that, we visited the Mugiwara Store, Mandarake and Loft, got some crepes from ***Dipper Dan***, and then grabbed some light dinner from a conbini on the way back to the hotel.
**Day 3 – Dec 2: Akihabara**
We weren’t expecting to find any good deals on second-hand consoles here, but we enjoyed having a look around nonetheless. We went to Lashinbang, Super Potato, Mandarake, Hard Off and pretty much any figurine store we walked by. I ended up buying a couple of One Piece figurines, but I later realised that there’s One Piece merch literally. Everywhere. It’s a big deal in Japan. Definitely could’ve saved a little bit of money buying them somewhere else.
We had lunch at ***C&C Curry Shop***, which was quite good. We also went to ***Honey Toast*** for an afternoon coffee/sweet based on a recommendation I saw online, but it was just okay. Icecream, whipped cream and honey on toast can only be so good. Dinner was at ***Matsuya*** which is known for gyudon, but I had a hamburger steak which was very delicious and comforting.
**Day 4 – Dec 3: Ginza**
After exploring Itoya and Ancora, we went to the ***Tsukiji Fish Market*** around lunch time and it was absolutely jam packed. Every restaurant and stall had a long line. I had some tuna sashimi, and some grilled eel and scallops, only because the lines for those places weren’t as long, but eating food in a busy street market is very stressful and hard to enjoy, so we moved on.
We later went to a café I bookmarked called ***Glitch Coffee***. There was a bit of a line as the place is only small and they have specialty beans that they walk every customer through, but since we had yet to have a decent coffee in Japan at that stage, we were willing to wait. A nice Japanese man talked to us while were waiting in line, apparently he was a regular and he hyped it up for us. It was pretty good but quite expensive, especially for the small serving sizes. I’d only recommend it mostly to enthusiasts and fans of pourover as that’s their specialty, though the lattes were good but had fewer options of beans. We paid about ¥1000 each for our drinks, but the prices apparently go up to around ¥3500 for a single drink.
Later that evening, we dropped off our things at the hotel and walked to Tokyo Garden Terrace Kioicho where we found a restaurant called ***”Handmade soba noodles restaurant SOBA Shiki.”*** It looked expensive on the inside with wooden latticework partitioning each table, but the food was reasonably priced and quite good. Light but delicious!
**Day 5 – Dec 4: Harajuku and Shinjuku**
Harajuku didn’t have too much to offer us, so this day felt like a bit of a wash. The main strip seems mostly catered to children, with crepes, candy, toys and cutesy accessories making up most of what was on offer. We didn’t see any tantalising restaurant options either, so we tried ***Mos Burger***. I had the Mos cheeseburger, and the cheese was like molten lava while everything else was very greasy. Meh.
We walked through Yoyogi Park to get back to Shinjuku. Because it was early, we managed to slip into ***Ichiran*** before a long line could form out the door. The ordering process is very efficient and foreigner-friendly, although the ticket machine did initially trip us up, but I can see why it’s popular with tourists. Food isn’t bad either.
**Day 6 – Dec 5: Nikko**
It was a little bit stressful figuring out the logistics of getting here, especially as our accommodation was about an extra hour train ride away from the attractions, but we used a luggage forwarding service to send our big suitcases to our Kyoto hotel the morning we checked out, and just packed a night’s worth of stuff with us to take to Nikko. We got a bit confused having to transfer between a standard train line and the JR line, so although I wanted to maximise our time in Nikko by getting there early, we ended up arriving at noon. We put our things in the coin lockers at Tobu-Nikko Station then set off to explore.
The only thing we had time for was the Toshogu Shrine, but at the very least it was a surprisingly large area with several points of interest, each with their own entrance fees. It was a bit overcast and drizzly, but if anything that made it more beautiful. We walked back to the station and had an early dinner at ***Ranburu Restaurant***—which seemed to be one of the few places open at that time—where I had a decent tempura udon. And then we hopped on the train to Kinugawakoen to get to reach our ryokan, **Kinugawa Onsen Hana no Yado Matsuya**.
For the price, it was a lovely stay with a view of the river right outside our window. We booked a private onsen as we were checking in. I don’t think it was real hot spring water unfortunately, but it was nonetheless relaxing. Would definitely recommend staying here, and I wished I’d given Nikko at least another day.
**Day 7 – Dec 6: Kyoto**
We’d prebooked our shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto at 11.30am, so we had to check out early to get to Tokyo Station an hour before departure. And good thing we did because we were scrambling to figure out how to get our tickets off Klook and where to actually get on.
With 10 minutes to spare, we made it onto the platform and enjoyed our first shinkansen experience. It’s very clean and spacious inside. The seat in front of you can recline all the way back without getting in your way, and there’s a hook over the seat to hang up something like a coat or a bag. We enjoyed a peaceful trip with a surprisingly good view of Mt Fuji a short distance out of Tokyo. If anything, I wish the bullet train wouldn’t be so efficient so we could stay on longer!
We got to Tokyo Station a little before our check-in time so we had a look around at the shops, then made our way to Kiyomizugojo Station. A short walk took us to our hotel at **Sotetsu Fresa Inn**, which compared to our Tokyo accommodation, was so much cleaner and more spacious. However their amenities were in one tiny room with not very many microwaves or washing machines, which were usually taken. Outside of that, we were very pleased with this hotel.
Since we had time, we walked through some backstreets to get to the Kyoto Traveler’s Factory, where I did some more stationery shopping. On the way, we passed through plenty of shops and restaurants that caught our eye, as well as the Nishiki Market and a shopping district. We noted them to return to another day.
For dinner we went to ***Nakau***, a fast food restaurant near our hotel, and grabbed some chicken donburi that were pretty good.
**Day 8 – Dec 7: Sannenzaka/Ninenzaka and Nishiki Market**
It took us about 30 minutes to walk to Sannenzaka from our hotel. Initially it didn’t seem too busy until we got onto the main street, where crowds were teeming. It could be a little annoying getting around, but for the most part we were able to browse the food and souvenir stores without too much hassle. We tried dango, camembert dorayaki and matcha madeleines. The dango was delicious warm and freshly made, and the camembert dorayaki was underrated. I can’t believe people weren’t lining up to try one of these!
We bought some presents to bring back home for Christmas, and then crested the hill to the pagoda, where there was a great view of the city. When we walked back down, we found a steampunk cafe called ***Punk a Vapore*** on the perimeter. It was small but cosy inside with nice decor, and you were given a bell to call for the barista when you were ready to order. It took a while to get our order, but the barista obviously put a lot of care into preparing our drinks and food. It was a nice little break from the crowds outside.
In the evening, we went to the ***Nishiki Market*** for some street food. We got there around 6-7pm but it wasn’t too busy, and a lot of places were closing up shop for the day. The only part that was bustling was the food alley. I had some tuna sushi and tempura, which was decent. Then we stepped stumbled into the massive Teramachi and Shinkyogoku shopping arcades adjacent. We wanted to explore it fully, but my feet and back were killing me, so we had to call it quits early and come back another time.
**Day 9 – Dec 8: Central Kyoto**
We planned to go to Osaka on this day, but because we woke up late, we figured we’d just explore on foot and see where our curiosity leads us. We walked to a large department store called Takashimaya and made one of the best discoveries of our trip: on the basement floor was a food market filled with ready-to-eat food of every variety, things like bento, katsu, confectionery, baked goods, sushi, etc. Apparently these places are called “depachika” in Japanese. We bought some things from one of the bakeries, and my favourite thing I had was an earl grey melonpan. I loved it so much we came back on two other occasions to have it again.
The rest of the day we just walked around and did a bit of shopping, nothing especially exciting. We had dinner at a ramen restaurant called ***Ichiryu Manbai*** and ordered some tsukumen, which was delicious, although the broth cooled very quickly. Probably why this is more of a summer dish.
**Day 10 – Dec 9: Osaka**
We got off at Nipponbashi Station and briefly passed through Kuramon Market, then stopped for lunch at a gyudon restaurant called ***Chikara Meshi*** that was pretty good. Then we kept making our way to Denden Town to see if we could get lucky and find some Vitas. We read online that there might be a good chance of getting one here, but if that were ever the case, they’ve been picked clean. We tried all the electronic stores but came up empty.
As it got a bit later, we walked to Shinsekai and had a look at the colourful restaurants and shops in the low light of the early evening. Then we hopped on a train to Dotonbori. It was extremely crowded, but nothing I wasn’t expecting, and I still thought it was worth the brief walk around the canal. Probably even better if you can book a gondola tour. We found a bar off the main drag and ate some yummy tapas for dinner, then headed back to Kyoto.
**Day 11 – Dec 10: Katsura**
One of the days I’d accounted for in my original itinerary plan was supposed to go to Universal Studios, but since I didn’t book it in time, we missed out, leaving us with another open day where I had no substitute plans. Since it was a Sunday and likely to be very busy if we went anywhere too touristy, I let my partner decide what he wanted to do, so he took us into the middle of nowhere for a riveting day of Hard Off bargain hunting.
But first, we spent the morning just exploring nearby our hotel and came upon two really fantastic places. The first was ***Blue Bottle Coffee***, which was hands down the best coffee we had in Japan. I’d highly recommend checking it out if you happen to be near one. And then just across the street was a restaurant called ***Hamburg Conel***, which as the name implies, specialises in hamburger steaks. It was surprisingly affordable, given how lovely the interior of the restaurant was, and the generous lunch set that includes a soup, side of bread or rice, and of course the hamburger steak with your chosen sauce, with the option to add on discounted drinks and dessert. It was lovely, would definitely recommend this place to anyone in the Kiyamachi area.
After that, we set off to Katsura Station and walked to the nearest Hard Off, which was about a 20 minute walk away. It was situated in a quiet industrial district, but it turned out to be a gem of a location, and my partner became the proud owner of a Vita and a PSP that were in pretty decent condition.
**Day 12 – Dec 11: Nara**
We basically just came for the deer, so after visiting Nara Park and buying some souvenirs, we felt like we’d done everything we wanted to do here. Google won’t show me the name of this place, but we had lunch at a low-carb restaurant that basically served thin cuts of meat on a big platter-like plate with a side of salad, but I can’t not eat carbs, so I got their curry udon instead. While it was still early, my partner wanted to check the local Hard Off which was quite a walk away from the station. They were pretty well stocked with handheld consoles.
Back in Kyoto, dinner was at ***Joys Table*** near our accommodation. I’m not sure what I’d describe the cuisine as, but I had a béchamel pasta and my partner had a grill set that came with thick-cut bacon, pork sausage, a hamburger steak, and some sides of rice, salad and a demi-glace sauce. The food was great, but unfortunately the smell clung to our clothes, so our wardrobe for that day had to be retired to the laundry pile.
**Day 13 – Dec 12: Kobe**
Our stamina and our energy was honestly shot at this point so we again woke up quite late and weren’t able to take advantage of a full day. I know it’s kinda shocking but we didn’t come here for melt-in-your-mouth high grade steak. We came for stationery! Or at least that’s why I wanted to go. We visited Nagasawa where I gave up hope on finding an affordable glass dip pen and settled on a Pilot Iro-utsushi instead. Spent the rest of the day looking around the Sannomiya area. We had lunch in a restaurant near the station’s exit. I can’t seem to find the name of the place on Google Maps, but it was right outside the west exit of Kobe-Sannomiya Station, near a donut shop, up a set of stairs. There was a ticket machine with no English menu but they had pictures, so we ordered with our eyes, and I had the most decadently delicious black pepper pork rice bowl. So fucking good, and the place was empty! Can’t believe it was being slept on.
The area was also pretty nice so it would’ve been good to spend a bit more time here but alas.
**Day 14 – Dec 13: Arashiyama**
I think one of my favourite days of the entire trip was visiting Arashiyama. I read some suggestions online to avoid this place because there are better bamboo groves, which sure, but that’s not all there is to appreciate here. The tourists were packed into the one little iconic strip of bamboo trees, but the nearby park was practically empty, despite being worthy of exploration in its own right. We walked down to the riverside and rented one of the rowboats, which was a lot of fun!
We got off on the other side of the river and had lunch at an udon restaurant, then had an uji matcha icecream. We then went up to the Monkey Park nearby. There’s something comical about walking towards the peak where the cute monkeys are while a voice over a loudspeaker tells you not to look them directly in the eyes *or else*. Aside from getting to see them up close, there was another great vista of the city from the top.
We walked back over the bridge to check out the souvenirs and snacks, then headed back to the hotel. Dinner was at some ramen restaurant I can’t for the life of me recall, but according to my notes it was basic anyway.
**Day 15 – Dec 14: Fushimi Inari and Kyoto Tower**
We spent our final day in Kyoto at Fushimi Inari. Like a lot of the other heavy tourist destinations we’d been to in Kyoto, it was completely inundated with people taking selfies at the first tori gate at bottom. But as you climbed higher, the crowds dispersed. I actually didn’t know Fushimi Inari was on the side of a mountain and I wasn’t keen on the 40 minute round trip to the peak and back, but my partner was game for it, so I trudged along. There were a lot of clustered mini shrines on the ascent, as well as several rest stops where you could drink tea and recuperate your strength.
I needed an energy boost so on a whim I stopped in a cafe called ***Vermillion***, which was a blessing of a find. They served fantastic coffee! Then we needed to refuel our bellies so we caught a train to Tofukiji Station and walked 15 minutes to the closest ***Coco Ichibanya***, which we were keen to try. Japanese curry never disappoints and we were very satisfied, especially with how customisable everything is.
We walked over to the nearby Kyoto Station to book our shinkansen tickets for the next day, then had a look in Yodobashi Camera. Felt too full for dinner and we had some snacks in the mini fridge at the hotel that needed polishing off anyway.
**Day 16 – Dec 15: Hakone**
Getting onto the shinkansen was completely stress-free this time, though I was disappointed to realise it would be our last one, since there was a cheap local train direct from Odawara to Tokyo Station. We caught a bus from Odawara Station to our accommodation at **Mount View Hakone Ryokan**, which took over an hour due to the traffic.
While checking in we booked a private onsen to enjoy before our kaiseki at 6pm. Our room didn’t have its own bathroom, only a toilet and sink. So we had to take advantage of the shower in the private onsen on both nights. The kaiseki was quite good, despite the small portion sizes I found it very filling. Also the private onsen had genuine hot spring water and a nice view of some bamboo trees, which combined with the drizzly weather, felt lovely.
**Day 17 – Dec 16: Hakone Open-Air Museum and Chusiji Falls**
We took a bus from our accommodation to Gora Station and walked to the Hakone Open-Air Museum in the morning. It was nice viewing the artwork with a beautiful mountainous backdrop. We had their all-you-can-eat buffet for ¥2200 per person, and they had a good variety of options, including curry, ramen, soba, fried chicken, grilled fish, pizza, etc.
We still had some daylight to burn so we walked to Chusiji Falls, which I won’t claim is the most impressive waterfall to ever exist. There was a hiking trail nearby to the top of Mt Sengen. It was a roll-up-your-pants type of hike, but all that there was at the top was a grassy clearing. We quickly made our way down before it got too dark, and made the pleasant walk back to the bus stop in the light rain.
**Day 18 – Dec 17: Odawara, Fujisawa and Tokyo**
We caught the bus back to Odawara Station from our ryokan, then made a few stops on our way to Ginza so my partner could look in the Hard Offs. The first was a 30 minute walk from Kozu Station, where I got a New 2DS XL in white and lilac in very good condition. Then we caught the next train to Fujisawa, where we had a late lunch at a ramen restaurant called ***Ohana***. Not bad but a little heavy on the garlic. The Hard Off here had less electronic goods, but it was also a Hobby Off and Off House rolled into one, with a Book Off in a separate building two blocks north-east.
We got to our hotel in Tokyo, **Hotel Sunroute Ginza**, at around 5-6pm.
**Day 19 – Dec 18: DisneySea**
Our first ever Disney park! We got to the park gates at around 8.15am and got in at about 9am. I didn’t understand how to use the Tokyo Disney Resort app at first, so it didn’t occur to me that you could book a free Priority Pass for certain rides every two hours. Also I would have been willing to pay for Premier Access for certain rides like Soaring and Tower of Terror. We spent a lot of the day waiting in line, but I didn’t mind it as much as I thought I would. We still managed to walk around and check out the park, grab popcorn and churros, watch some of the harbour shows, and sit down and eat dinner, as well as get on 6 rides throughout the day. It was fun and magical, but I would definitely do *many* things different to maximise my time if I could do it over again.
**Day 20 – Dec 19: Shibuya**
Our final night staying in our hotel, so we spent this day doing our last-minute shopping for souvenirs and Christmas gifts. We went to the Traveler’s Factory in Tokyo Station, then Loft and Don Quijote at Shibuya.
**Day 21 – Dec 20: Mori Art Museum and Skytree Town**
Our flight home wasn’t until 10pm that night, but our hotel graciously let us leave our luggage in the lobby while we spent our final moments looking around Tokyo. We went to the Mori Art Museum, which I thought would be more like an actual museum with a public gallery, but instead it’s more of an exhibition space with a hefty entry fee. We also went to Tokyo Tower, then to the Skytree Town to look at all the shops. At around 7pm we made our way to the Haneda Airport and bid sayonara to this lovely country!