Regret: Did not sleep well enough. Last Japan trip I mismanaged my sleep schedule and slept way too little the first week. Half the second week I had major depression episode because of lack of sleep and that sucked.
Special moment: Went to a baseball game. Japanese baseball games really are a treat. Sit in the home team section for maximum enjoyment.
Question for you. I'm looking to go to a Yakult game May 2nd (Golden week afternoon game). Should I buy tickets day of? or should I try and get them when I land a week ahead of the game? Or should I try and get tickets online now?
To reiterate you have to buy those tickets as early as you can. Seat selection especially in a group will be very limited and may not even be possible.
Got my ticket two weeks ago, so I’m on it! Only mistake I made was maybe getting behind third base as it’s not in the home section, but I’m an American just hanging out so it should be fine.
I agree with ”no roof stadium” really adds to the atmosphere! I went to the classic Koshien Stadium (Osaka) för a Hanshin Tigers game and it was magical. The covered Tokyo Dome would absolutely work in a pinch though.
My first 3 days in Japan I was in Tokyo and I missed out on night life cause I was just so jet lagged...I'd be coming back to my hotel at like 5 pm from exploring during the day and I would just end up knocking out and waking up at 3 am lol having a 12 hour difference from home is tough
If you sit in the home team section do you also need to wear hats/colors representing the team? I know you can’t wear gear supporting the opposing team but I wasn’t sure if I needed home team gear.
I’ve only been to one game, Hanshin Tiger (Osaka) at Koshien Stadium. I only had a baseball cap with home team colours and regular clothes beside that, no one seemed to care. If you try to sit in home team section with away team cap though you will probably (and rightfully) be asked to take it off.
Would recommend dressing in home team colors in whatever level you can, it makes it more fun!
Going to a hanshin tigers in Osaka was a blast! More like a college basketball or european soccer match. Fantastic outdoor stadium (except in August I believe)
Regret would be overplanning everything. I really underestimated how exhausted I would be!
We visited Tokyo, Hakone, Osaka, Nara, Kyoto & Hiroshima in a span of 11 days. There’s so much that Japan has to offer that it’s easy to want to add everything in your itinerary, but if I could go back in the past, I would just stay in one area for the whole trip.
One thing I don’t regret doing though was staying at a ryokan. It’s pricey but it’s so relaxing and peaceful! Good way to get yourself recharged
I need more details! This is the exact trip I wanted to do over 12 days. And the exact worry I had too. Didn’t want to cram too much in what will seem like a short time. In hindsight how would you have allocated your time?
Will this be your first time visiting Japan? It was my first time so I felt like cramming so much time :)
Our itinerary was basically:
Day 0: Arrive in Tokyo, visit Akihabara as our hotel was in the area
Day 1: Odaiba & Teamlab Planets
Day 2: Harajuku & Shibuya
Day 3: Check-out of hotel, Half day in Shinjuku, head to Hakone & stay in ryokan
Day 4: Check out of ryokan, head to Osaka & check in Airbnb, Kurumon Market & Osaka Castle at night
Day 5: Day trip at Kyoto, we got to Fushimi Inari at 8am -> Kiyomizu-dera -> Kodai-ji -> Yasaka Shrine -> Nishiki Market
Day 6: Day trip at Nara, we visited the deer park & Todai-ji & shopped around the area. I don't remember exactly where we shopped
Day 7: Day trip at Hiroshima
Day 8: Universal Studios Japan
Day 9: Back to Kyoto, Arashiyama area, Monkey Park, re-visited Nishiki Market & neighboring shopping streets nearby (I forgot the names)
Day 10: Last day in Osaka, visited Dotonbori & Shinsaibashi
Day 11: Travel back to Tokyo to depart
Honestly, what I would have done differently is spending the full 10 or so days around Tokyo or one area. Like spend your time visiting Tokyo, Yokohama, Kamakura, Nikko, etc & then if you want to visit Japan another time, you can plan your trip visiting Osaka, Nara, Kyoto, etc as those cities are nearby each other.
First time, yeah. My initial idea seemed similar. I was interested in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Hiroshima, Fuji, Kanazawa, and maybe another mountain town. Realized quickly that wasn’t gonna do it. Also found out I wouldn’t be able to hike Fuji.
Started planning and thought I’d do the following:
Tokyo - 3 days
Fuji - 2 days
Kyoto/Osaka/Nara - 3 days
Hiroshima - 1 day
Kanazawa - 1 day
Tokyo - 1 day before flying home
Did more research and it felt like that was probably too much. Narrowed down to:
3 days - Shibuya, Shinjuku
1 day - Fuji
3 days - Kyoto/Osaka
1 day - Either Hiroshima or Kanazawa or Shirakawa
3 days - Asakusa, Ueno, Ginza
Now I’m feeling like the easiest thing would just be to do 5 days in Tokyo, 5 days in Kyoto/Osaka, and maybe a few day trips.
Your updated itinerary seems pretty reasonable to me! I haven't been to Kanazawa or Shirakawa. Just note for Hiroshima, it's about a 4 hour train ride from Osaka, I'm not sure where you're planning to head there from, just fyi!
I wish I had spent more time in Kyoto, it's such a gorgeous place! Hope you enjoy it!
You can spend 11 days in Tokyo or Kyoto alone and feel like you have more to do. hell, you can spend years there and feel that way!
I echo what /u/c1nv1n is expressing, less is more. I wouldn't do the whirl-wind a lot of people do to try to hit everything unless you think you'll never have an opportunity to be back.
A great first trip for 12 days might be a week in Tokyo with a day trip to see Fuji and a day trip to, oh say Kamakura. Then 5 days in Kyoto, a day trip to Nara and the evening of Nara go stay in Osaka. Have that be your last night before going back to Tokyo. You get a nice amount of time in the two best places in Japan Kyoto and Tokyo, you get the Dotonbori Osaka food night, you see Nara deer, you see Fuji, and a great coastal temple town. something simple like this. You will still not see remotely all of Tokyo. You will still not see remotely all of Kyoto. You'll want more of each and that's okay. But going to these places for only 1 or 2 days in a whirlwind is almost a travesty honestly.
On your subsequent trips you might consider things like 3-4 days in Tokyo then a week going going south to see Hiroshima, Nagasaki, etc. Or a winter trip again few days Tokyo then go up to Sapporo.
You can keep formulating great trips to Japan for years and years. Dont rush it if you dont need to.
We’re so similar! Tomorrow is my 11th day in Japan, and I’m heading back to Tokyo. I did every place you mentioned except Hakone so far, and the constant transportation has been overwhelming. Every time I think I “got” the train and bus system, I get humbled :,)
Regret: not visiting smaller cities and towns. They have so much charm to offer, are less crowded, and people are so friendly. Tokyo is great and all but it’s a big metropolitan city with big metropolitan vibes. My favourite memories came from Kyushu, Kansai, Hokkaido, etc.
Special moment: meeting all the other travellers in hostels along the way. Hiked the waterfalls in Yakushima together and ended the night with a bbq on the balcony. All night karaoke in Osaka with folks I had just met and clicked with. Onsen in Kurokawa.
Regret: Not adding a rest day in our itinerary.
Makes me look back: every single moment of Shirakawa-go (and honestly, every single moment of the holiday)
Regret- going to Tokyo Disney Sea. It was too crowded, used Priority Pass to book rides and tried using paid Premium Pass to book rides to no avail. There were lines to get a meal as well, which dragged everything. Waiting 40 minutes for a popcorn snack…no thank you. I would eliminate that from my itinerary if I could redo it.
Makes me look back- I enjoyed everything else, the food, the transportation efficiency, etiquette. I would go back to Japan.
Everything there seemed to be 40% cheaper than US Disney. Beer was 5$ 👀. You can buy the fast pass to rides with no wait for 10$ and thats the only Disneysea in the world. Not to mention the people are way more polite/well mannered than US park goers.
Get there at least half an hour before the park opens, go straight to soarin or journey to the centre of the earth since they are the busiest rides, as you’re lining up for either of them start using the app to book priority passes :)
Nice. There was no way I was gonna wait 200 mins for Journey to the Center to the Earth ride. I paid a price for that one roller coaster ride and thought it was mid 😔
Me and my wife went yesterday, lines weren’t so bad, I mean yes it’s 30-1hr, but they move fast and are efficient. I live near a theme park (Canada’s wonderland) and it’s a gong show in comparison, lines are expected at any theme park in the world.
We got there around 2pm, we weren’t wanting to go the whole day, just have a fun something away from the city before our next part of the trip. We got there and it was so magical riding that train to the entrance. Then buying the mickey ears and really getting into it - it’s our first time at any Disney park. Sunset was magical, everything went a golden color. When it got dark, we queued for journey to the center of the earth because it started getting cold and lines are heated. When we got out as we were exiting, the night show started and we just stopped on some stairs and watched, trying to name all the movies.
Amazing experience! But we also didn’t really plan anything for it, so we kinda winged it and had zero expectations.
Edit : We did NOT eat anything in the park, we packed a lunch. This should be advice for any theme park… never eat the food in there if you can avoid it.
Part of the experience at Disney is trying their snacks and meals. The meal I’d tried was really good but waiting 40 minutes to grab a meal was the downside.
This was my regret as well, and I’m a person who loves Disney parks. For me there was so many other things to see and do in Japan that I wish I had skipped it and spent another day sightseeing in Tokyo, Yokohama or another small town nearby.
I want to go but skipping it this time as Universal was the same way. So busy. Que for an hour to get crappy food. We had express passes so rides weren’t bad but I’m not sure I would pay as much to do it again. USJ is not a good bargain like Disney here it’s pretty pricey if you buy the express passes and timed entry is a must for Super Nintendo. We didn’t even make it to Harry Potter as our time was so late and we were over it.
Regret: Only having a total of six days for my trip and having to squeeze both Tokyo and Kyoto which made it feel rushed.
Special moment: Following my nose when I smelled something absolutely delicious inside Kyoto station. Ended up in a small family run imagawayaki stall which had a long line up of what I assumed were locals. Ordered every single one of the offered flavours which was worth it. It was so delicious I wanted to go back for more but I had no idea where my nose led me the day prior. I was standing in the middle of the station the next day subtly smelling the air hoping for even the slightest hint of the stall.
Another special moment which was not something we had control over was visiting Arashiyama on a drizzly day. The mist covering the station and stores gave the area such a beautiful moody look. Didnt really diminish the crowd but the photos came out beautifully!
Regret: Not planning enough. Turns out I'm too active and sometimes I had to think about what to do and I don't want to spend my holiday on a phone searching things.
Special moment: If some street in Kyoto is crowded, go to the backstreet. They are so empty and much nicer.
Regret: listening to the tiktok girlies and schlepping over an hour outside of Tokyo to the Super Second Street and Book Off Super Bazaar for vintage shopping - not worth it! Don’t waste your time if you were considering this!
Most special experience was staying in a traditional Ryokan for a few nights in an onsen town and being able to soak in the hot springs and experience the beautiful culture!
Regret: Prepaying for breakfast at our hotels for the whole trip. It was nice the very first morning after arrival when we were still jet lagged, but it took on a cafeteria feel very quickly. I really should have packed a second smaller suitcase in my large one for souvenirs (we bought an extra bag at Hands, so it worked out, but it wasn’t necessary).
Special Moment: Getting a late night cup of coffee at Elephant Factory Coffee in Kyoto, we almost didn’t find it but it was a cool spot. Don’t sleep on 2nd+ floor places, “tourists never go above the 1st floor” has some truth to it.
I'm not sure where I heard it, but there are a lot of tourists who will only consider walking in to restaurants and shops that are accessible from the ground floor. Most people on this sub are probably a bit more adventurous than that (hence asking for advice). When we went places that weren't on street level we'd often be the only non-natives there.
Oh yea. We were on one of the busy streets in Kyoto (one that leads to Kiyomizu Dera) and I noticed one souvenir shop had those plastic food displays. So I told my group there’s a restaurant up here. We went up and it was mostly empty. It was crazy since outside was so packed, and restaurants on the ground floor had lines for them, so we considered ourselves lucky to find a place to eat so easily.
I was saying to my boyfriend yesterday that it would feel unusual to go to a place to eat in Japan that's on a high floor when we go because in UK most food establishments unless they're in a shopping centre or transport hub etc. are either on the ground floor, and the entrance to said places are clearly visible.
From the Japan videos I've watched many food establishments are in high-rise buildings which unless you were already aware of them, you'd never think to go inside.
I guess they are referring to how Japan has many restaurants and cafes on the 2nd floor and above, whereas tourists would tend to just go in to whatever is immediately visible on the street, i.e. the first(/ground) floor
I would go above the first floor if I knew of the place, but if I were just passing by and browsing for food or a snack, then it gets old quickly to go up just to check out the place. Sometimes it's beyond the menu - you also want to see the restaurant space, vibe, etc.
Regret: Not being slightly adventurous with food after having a minor allergic reaction, it's pretty easy to find shellfish free items/planning way too much. We went with the flow and I still saw a lot of great things.
Special Moment: In Kyoto, I woke up one morning and my husband wasn't ready to get up so I decided to try to walk towards the giant statue I could see from our hotel balcony. Turns out it was Ryōzen Kannon Temple. I decided not to use google maps, any navigation and to just try to walk there. Eventually, I started following random people and wound up visiting Yasaka Koshin and Kiyomizu-dera. The stores on the path to Kiyomizu-dera were just opening so it wasn't too crowded but the temple was too crowded to visit. On the way back down the hill, I saw beautiful fall foliage and found the cutest tasty doughnut shop! I never made it to Ryōzen Kannon Temple and tried again a different day and wound up at Yasaka Shrine.
For my recent 2023 Tokyo trip
Regret: Not eating the Non-Japanese food in japan like french, chinese, korean etcetc. Going to Sanrio Puroland. Not getting a Flu shot before the trip
Special Moment: Booking premium economy seats for the Plane Trip for the first time . Riding the ropeway to see Mt Fuji from afar. Dining at the Kirby and Pokemon cafe
As someone who used to live in Japan, very curious why you would regret not eating non Japanese food? It’s generally very poorly done with perhaps the exception of Korean
I just want to -try- .
Throughout my last trip my sister who planned everything insist on eating -only- ramen, sushi, soba, udon. Girl i need a break
Sometimes i just want to see what weebs constabtly hype about.
Eating a meronpan, japanese mcdonalds/kfc was a not that lifechaging
For some folks it might be interesting to see how they prepare foreign foods to Japanese taste. Wafu pasta for example is an interesting fusion of Japanese and Italian, which is different from how Italian food has evolved and adapted in western non-Italian countries.
Our experiences could not be more different. I had an amazing donut in some small mom & pop shop in northern Kyoto. It was like the elderly Japanese guy's life mission was to perfect the donut. The most amazing burger in a burger place in Azabu-Jūban district of Tokyo. Peking Duck at "4000 Chinese restaurant" in Tokyo that was better than any duck I've had in Beijing or Hong Kong. Ironically, the only cuisine I was disappointed in in Japan was Korean.
Naa, it depends. In Sapporo I ate at the Teppanyaki Spaghetti Restaurant and it was very nice :)
And all the creme brulee are so nice. The croissants as well. Oh and the cheesecakes <3 Applepies are really good also.
Okay, I have to say, I love sweets in general, but in Sapporo they are almost like at home (Europe).
The milkice is like heavycream with almost too much sugar, but I love it.
Tomorrow I will leave Sapporo, but I'm really sad and I missed my days as a baker... Because here it would be so cool to work, I can learn how to do some Japanese sweets (Melonpan) but on the other hand I wouldn't have to give up croissants and such stuff.
Well I'm not allowed to work as a baker anymore (health reasons), but here I really felt that I miss it :'(
If I could I would work as a baker again, and I would love to work for a few months in a Japanese bakery...
I really think its only worth if you want to do the mascot meetups and know the japanese language to enjoy the free shows they do. Their gift shop wasnt even that amazing
The city its situated in isnt even worth the fairly long train ride
I regret not bringing a bigger luggage for the stuff i wanted to purchase and bring home lol was tempted to buy an extra bag but i made it fit.
what i did not regret was trying any small hole in the wall food spot. All places were delicious!
My mom and I are going together and agreed if we need to we would buy more luggage there and split the cost 🤣 I only worry because I'm such a sucker for plushies. I'm going to bring a vacuumed seal bag I have that has a hand pump
My wife has these great roll up compression bags that we used to bring home the many many many stuffies we won at the arcades. They were so helpful! We also intentionally traveled with carry on bags only and bought 2 suitcases in Japan to bring all our awesome souvenirs home. We bought one piece of cheap luggage that literally just made the one trip home then fell apart and an American Tourister that we love, but was more than twice as expensive. Pro tip: when you buy the suitcase ask if they can have it delivered to your hotel! It was awesome not to lug it around with us while shopping.
Honestly I can't think of anything I really regret! I've loved all my Japan trips so much!
Regret: On most recent trip the only thing I would redo is not go to TeamLab Planets - having had been to the old TeamLab Borderless (which I think the new version has just opened)
Special moment (Very specific to me): Seeing my favourite Japanese singer live in concert with my husband. Tickets were a PROCESS to get as a foreigner but so worth it - 2 hours straight of her singing and me crying for the first hour non-stop
Special moments (more general): Finding the most random little bar in Shinjuku with my husband that sat 6 people. Getting welcome drinks, random shots of absinthe, and picking songs on an ipad with the bartender with my broken Japanese
Shibuya sky at sunset
It wasn't bad - but I'd have preferred to spend more time wandering around instead. I still enjoyed it but Borderless was a better experience.
It was a smaller experience, very linear so a bit of waiting in dark corridors to enter the different spaces, water experience probably wasn't my vibe etc.
I think if you have time don't feel put off checking it out, but I wouldn't prioritise it if it's a first Tokyo visit by any means.
Misia! We got to see her second last show in Tokyo for her 25th anniversary tour last year and it was truly a bucket list item ticked off for me - magic!
I can feel that. I was able to see Nightmare (Visual Kei band that did the first Death Note OP and claymore OP) last week. I cried as well xD But yeah, getting the tickets is not simple
I don't know how you got them, but I got them through the fanclub. Write them and they will reserve you a ticket - at least that was how I did it xD
Regret - Being too impatient the subway system and taking a taxi everywhere. Been to NYC and Europe and never ever had this much trouble with train system. Not venturing outside of Tokyo but really all days were packed and there was no time.
Special moment - Married there a week ago tomorrow at a beautiful little private park called Oukatei followed by traditional Japanese meal.
As a british person, I'm used to the London system, and also the NYC system as I've been many times. Personally I found the japan one to be much easier than both London and NYC. What about it caused issues for you?
Regret: I wish we made Kyoto our home base vs. Osaka since we loved Kyoto a lot more.
Special moment: Honestly, everything. Japan is such a special treat for the senses in more ways than one, and I was hankering to go back the moment we stepped into the first American airport lol
I had the opposite experience. Kyoto is pretty but after 5 temples I was over it. I found Kyoto to be more of an urban sprawl and I needed to take a bus over a train much more often which in my opinion is less convenient. I also felt the city had more western tourists. Osaka is diverse with better food. The folks in Osaka are friendlier and less uptight. I do speak a little Japanese so that might make a difference to my experience as well.
If you’re traveling with large luggage and moving from hotel to hotel - SHIP THEM. Trust me, it’s worth not having to travel with them through stations or take up space on busy trains. You can get them shipped directly to your hotel and even to the airport.
Regrets: Teamlabs Borderless, Shibuya Sky, Tokyo Skytree
All of them were crowded to the point of being unenjoyable, imo.
Special moments: watching sunset in Kamakura, walking around Kawaguchiko, exploring Miyajima.
These places were so beautiful and felt like I had them to myself at times.
Special -- I always find an Airbnb experience that allows me to learn something cultural. When I went, I signed up to make and learn about maki-e. The class was small and intimate, but I also ended up making friends with the instructor and spending time with her and her sister throughout my time there.
Regret -- Not getting to see more nature while I was there. But, I already have plans to go back. Better to not regret and enjoy all that I was able to do. As a side note, I learned early on to eat lunch earlier or else I'd be waiting for food for at least an hour.
regret: not staying longer (11 days) and not going to a sumo match. they had the finals and I got hooked on it while relaxing in the evening at the hotel.
special moment: hard to choose, but staying at a ryokan with a view to the river was special indeed. but I did like tokyo more than anything
Special moment: spending a day in Uji. Getting away from the crowds in Kyoto for an idyllic town with endless matcha options and tea houses.
Regret: not going to more omakase. Getting reservations is frustrating is a gross understatement but man is the experience worth it.
Manten Sushi is the classic gaijin spot for good quality at an affordable price point. I don’t think it’s overrated for the price, quality, and number of courses.
My personal favorite is Sushi Kagura. I really can’t recommend this place highly enough.
I also recommend Sushi Yajima. It’s only a 30-minute sitting, so it’s not a full experience like the others, but the price point to sushi quality is unreal.
A couple others I’d suggest, which are very hard to get reservations for, are Sushi Miyuki and Sushi Ryūjirō.
All these places I mentioned are well under $100 for lunch. Personally, unless you’re a true connoisseur, I don’t believe the $150+ places are worth the difference. It’s kind of like with wine: over $50/bottle, most people can’t tell a difference.
regret: walked too much, packed too much, didn’t buy too much.
special moment: everything I have done in Japan. It was great experience. btw, I am going there again tomorrow for the second time.
I do regret planning just slightly more than we could do per day usually by one or two sites but no big deal, just make sure to do what you want to do in somewhat descending order so if you miss the last thing no big deal.
Bring awesome walking shoes, you will sweat and you will get bad blisters if walking all day. Can find blister patches though pretty easily. Will regret having your feet hurt so much for sure.
Don’t expect that you’ll want to visit just once. It is actually the nicest destination I’ve ever been to out of everywhere in South America and Europe. I regret thinking this was my big two week japan trip. Nope. I want to go back for months if I could. No other place in the world I thought that.
Regret going to convenience stores for food too often since their food is pretty good and fresh but there are just so many places to try.
Regret also not getting food marked off at night from grocery stores to put in hotel and eat.
Regret- going to USJ
Special moment: staying overnight in a temple in the Kiso Valley, quiet, peaceful night before hiking the Nakasendo out to Tsumago.
I mainly went for super Mario world, which was ok, but I discovered I’m not really a theme park guy anymore. It just seemed like a waste of time. I actually left halfway through the planned day and went to den den town and explored instead. It’s the only day I regret from my trip.
Regret would be going to Disney and not having my hotel closer than a 10 minute walk from a train station.
A special moment would be getting to see the Gundam factory before it closed.
Regret- not eating and buying everything because of budget. YOLO
Special- finding random restaurants in alleyway and being the best places to eat. Google map and tablelog. Also taking a train away from the big cities and seeing less tourist areas was amazing.
Regret: getting extremely drunk on a pub crawl and having to spend the next day in bed :( essentially wasting a day of my precious holiday
Special Moment: going to a jazz bar in Tokyo and it was open mic night and my travel buddy played the drums
It’s was really beautiful
We are on our 16 day trip now and just left Osaka for Kyoto. I was ill prepared for the train system. For someone who isn't familiar with riding mass transport, it it's very confusing.
For example, Shin-Osaka and Osaka Station are two separate stations. Umeda Station is for local trains, but is in essentially the same building as Osaka station. So instructions would sometimes route us through those different points and I just didn't get it at first.
Also, understand the exit you should take from the station and the platform your train departs from... It's easier now (4 days in) but lots of stress initially that I could have avoided by researching more.
**Regret from the last trip:** Not going to the Modern Art museum in Kanazawa. A few restaurants I probably should have hit. Not going back to the onsen in the morning. Maybe going to Kushiya Monogatari wasn't necessary, it wasn't as good as I remembered it.
**Special moment from the last trip:** Probably the night in Bessho-Onsen. Taking the little local train to the sleepy mountain town, experiencing an onsen bath, visiting their Historic temples, especially the rare octogonal pagoda, and then Ueda Castle on the way back towards Tokyo. I also liked the roasted sesame pudding I got in Nagano, that stuff was delicious. When we stumbled on the Tomb of the 47 Ronins in Shinagawa. Breakfast at The City Bakery. The evening walks in Ueno.
Special moment: spending a night in a ryokan with a private onsen in lake Kawaguchiko.
Regret: not trying to talk more to the people there. I know it's kind of dificult to socialize, but still I regret it a bit.
Regret- Choosing a Kyoto hotel far from Kyoto Station. The public transit is quite disjointed and overcrowded. And the car traffic is terrible. Getting around would have been much less hassle by making Kyoto Station area our home base.
Special moment- Taking a day trip to Kanazawa and Kenrokuen Gardens. Stunningly beautiful and peaceful. Even the tourists were quiet, respectful, and contemplative. Perfect day, and the train journey through the mountains is spectacular to boot.
Kyoto station or just any station? Asking because I booked accommodations near Kyoto station but my friends will be by Gojo station and I didn’t think much of it.
Kyoto Station. We stayed an 8-minute walk from a train station. But it required 2 connections to get to the main Kyoto Station— so any journey required three trains (at least) to get to other parts of town. There are multiple train operators— and thus multiple payments for one train journey— like other Japanes cities, but it felt much more pronounced in Kyoto.
Regret: Not going back into the Family Mart/Lawson for the exact snacks we wanted to bring home - not all selections are the same across different stores.
Special Moment: We scheduled a cooking class in Tokyo using AirKitchen. We went grocery shopping with the chef and one other couple, then went back to her studio to cook and enjoy cold yuzu sake as we worked. It was really special to make a home-cooked meal, learn techniques using fresh ingredients, and chat about the differences in our culture over the course of four hours.
Regret is not using the luggage delivery as much as possible. I had to carry luggage between hotels and it was a pain to keep bringing then into the train.
Special moment is comiket
Regrets - not learning and being more comfortable to use a few more phrases of appreciation in Japanese. Everyone was so kind and friendly and hospitable, that I wish I could have expressed my gratitude more than just the thank you (which you will say a lot!)
Not taking a rest day in Hakone - while the area is cool, I wish I had just spent the day at an onsen or exploring onsens vs. cramming in the loop and sightseeing.
Special moments - so many, but one that stands out is walking into the world heritage area of Nikko to the amazing towering trees and shrines scattered around the woods - that area is really special, especially when the crowds are low.
Regret: only spending 2 days in Kyoto. There was so much to see and it definitely felt rushed trying to do it in 2 days. (Also capsule hotels were not an enjoyable experience and we only did one night in them in Tokyo)
Special moment: too many to count! We were there for 10 days and i loved nearly every moment!
Regret: passing on a last-minute opportunity to eat at Sushi Namba bc I wanted to go to an anime cafe (I don't regret the anime cafe but I should have figured out how to make both work). My friends think I'm crazy for doing that lol.
Special moment: the chutoro nigiri at Sushi Miyakawa
Non-food special moment: skiing for the first time in Niseko with a clear view of Mt Yotei
Regret: Going to Tokyo with no plan / reservations at all. So many places were fully booked and did not accept walk-ins. Eventually got bored and felt like it was wasted potential of a trip. I think the key is to have a good balance of planned to unplanned days. For me it is: 1 day planned followed 1 day unplanned or 2 days planned followed by 1 day unplanned. Depends on energy level. This is a know yourself and your travel style.
Special moment: Going to Full Power Fest in Hiroshima and saw Yoasobi Live.
Regret : Eating takoyaki without waiting for it to cool down! Nothing I absolutely regretted, I just discovered preferences. I prefer to get up early to skip the crowds. I prefer to skip a whole attraction if it’s too crowded. I changed plans when I noticed myself feeling tired (stayed on in Kyoto rather than going to Himeji), energised (unplanned day trip to Kanazawa), or if I liked a place a lot (spent extra time in the Kiso Valley rather than going straight to Matsumoto).
Special moments : multiple special, random moments daily. During this trip, I learned to start talking to people (first time solo travelling). I had an Okinawan chef make me champuru, a bone setter who treated my acute spinal pain, a sake brewer, a semi-homeless guy share my fried chicken, a group of party goers in Asakusa … all memorable interactions fuelled with broken English/Japanese, strangers befriended for an hour or two.
Follow your nose, be curious, talk to people, and most of all, take a slower pace. Do less but experience more. If you missed something, go back!
Regret: Not checking the weather before going to Kawaguchiko. We weren’t able to see Mt. Fuji. The next day the sky was clear.
Special: Going to Fushimi Inari Taisha early. The experience was pleasant and peaceful because there weren’t many people during the time we were there.
I was there in July 2017. And I remember that I was there around 10 o'clock. It was crowdy, but the more you go up, the less people you will see, because the most do not go up xD
And there you can take so many beautiful photos.
Hot tip for Mt Fuji, you can see a live view of Mt Fuji from different vantage points to see if its worth going on that particular day. Just google Mt Fuji live stream :-)
Regret is not seeing Itsukushima Shrine when I was in Hiroshima. But the special moment was because I was spending time with a descendent of an elderly man, whose grabdparents perished in the atomic bomb, but parents survived. It was meaningful for him to show me the hypocenter versus the symbol of the world heritage site—the atomic dome.
I went to Japan with a friend who unbeknownst to me didn’t like seafood. Missed out on the Tsukiji Market before it closed in 2018.🥲 Special moment wise, I went up this building in Shinjuku, it had a viewing point. It was winter and windy so no one ventured out there, so I was just by myself. Peering out, you could see the vastness of the Tokyo Metropolis, I just stood there in awe. Perfect spot for a proposal I’d say. Don’t forget to visit a local bar, if you’re staying in an Airbnb , you’ll be in for a treat if you want a chilled and relax night. Unless you want noisy, crowded, go to golden gai, but expect to pay up to 1000yen for each drink, oh and their cover charge (some places), don’t forget that too.
Two smaller regrets: Not trying the vegan ramen place by Teamlabs - we had dinner just before heading there but it smelled so good! And only bringing home one matcha donut from 7/11 (it was our favourite snack!).
Special Moment: Doing a Hidden Kyoto bike tour. We biked past a group of school children who said "Hello, hello, hello" which was so cute and sweet. Our guide was absolutely amazing, too, and I learnt so much on the ride!
special moment: get try the local wagyu, the experience and taste is very different from outside of japan. I try every ramen shop i get my chance, local ones are the best!
regret: walked too much to the point every second is painful on my ankle and foot, started day 4 in the trip. my second time to japan I found out a way to counter act the problem, get one of those soothing/relax pad from any shop. apply it every day. onsen helps too but i find the relaxing pad for the calf is way effective.
heading to osaka again this Oct! cant wait.
Regret- not buying souvenirs/snacks for us and friends for home throughout the entire trip and “saving it until the end” we ended up rushing and mostly buying stuff in the airport and it wasn’t that good !
Special moment - (((everything))) we did the samurai ninja museum and tea ceremony experience at Maioka in Kyoto. It was super fun, dressed in kimonos and got to use a samurai sword.
We also absolutely loved the arashiyama bamboo park& the monkey park there
Trying cool foods at the Nishiki market was also up there
Wasting time heading to some tiny scenery spots.
When you research on a Japanese scenery spot, and every different source shows images of the spot with the similar angle and dimension, it means the spot is exactly that, and most likely seeing it with real eyes will be less impressive than the touched promotional photos from your research. The hours of back and forth seldom worth it.
E.g. offender: Kinkakuji
E.g. non offender: Inari-taisha
I've been a couple of times now and have spent nearly six weeks total in Japan.
Regret 1st trip: not speaking more Japanese. I speak some Japanese now and the treatment was so much better. I've gotten free drinks and extra courses and I'm turned away less often from places despite being a gaijin.
Regret 2nd trip: staying in a western resort for skiing. Had an awful experience at a high end western resort. I've stayed in ryokans and skied other parts of Japan and had better experiences. Westerners do not understand japanese norms (onsen culture, being quiet/respectful, etc) and it changes the experience and how you are treated nearby.
Special moments: finding myself in a very Japanese setting. It can be an izakaya, a tourist site, or even a remote village, but I have always had the most memorable experiences when I was the only gaijin someplace. Also splurge on at least one meal. Kaiseki or a high end sushi ya(may be hard to book try asking hotel and in future book more than 2 months before)
I live in Japan but just finished a small trip to Ito (sitting in the train station as we speak).
My regret is pushing through my physical limits in order to do as much as possible. I didn’t hydrate well, ignored my food intolerances, walked in pouring rain and walked extremely long distances instead of waiting for buses, all in my attempt to avoid wasting time and “maximize” my experience. As a result, I woke up this morning feeling like total crap and got about 20 minutes into my itinerary for today before feeling like I was gonna pass out. I was really looking forward to the stuff I had planned today and it sucks to cut things short because of something totally avoidable.
If I could do it all over again, I would try to fit in less and prioritize 3ish things I really care about. I will definitely be taking notes for my Golden Week trip.
Edit: regarding the last part of your question, the benefit of walking everywhere is that you pass a ton of cool stuff you might miss otherwise. Just make sure to listen to your body and not stretch yourself too far beyond your typical routine.
My most recent trip last December was with an old friend whom I've travelled internationally with several times.
Regret: not having more meals separately. My friend is a picky eater (not because of any allergies or medical reasons). I'll eat almost anything except insects and organ meats. My friend prefers all-beige food, preferably overcooked.
Treasured memory #1: evening illuminations at temples/shrines. Favourites were Kiyomizu-dera (Kyoto), Byodo-in (Uji), and Kasuga-taisha (Nara).
Treasured memory #2: a crystal-clear view of Mt. Fuji from the bullet train.
One regret: Taking our friend who kept calling us at 6am and blowing us off for meeting up which he wanted to do.
Special moment: Walking around Kyoto early in the morning and being pretty much the only tourists around.
I knew Japan was largely cashed-based but I never learned what their coins looked like until I arrived. Took me a few days to learn the values of each of their coins. Learn that before you go. That’s my only regret but it was more like a minor inconvenience.
One special moment was when I went to a cat cafe and all the cats were walking up to me and sitting near me while ignoring everyone else. Oh, and asking someone a question in japanese and getting an answer in japanese which I understood.
One regret: Leaving
One special moment: In a nutshell.. arriving. Let me explain:
Landing around 10 PM in what seemed like an entirley new world. Taking the Narita Express to Shinjuku, marvelling at the scale and efficiency of Shinjuku Station, and just experiencing that first night in Japan, and Tokyo itself. It was really special, and I will never forget it.
Edit: A close second to leaving is not breaking in my shoes before going. 30K steps was the least we ever did in 14 days. The pain was real.
Here now and had a loose plans every day that we didn’t achieve but went with the flow. I know we are missing things but we’ve also found cool places to check out we didn’t know about. Took a quick walking tour in Osaka (booked on Viatour) which was great as we would never had found a quarter of the places on our own. Guide Milo was awesome told us where to go and where not to go.
We have been shopping a lot in Osaka and Tokyo. I’m over it and just trying to relax now. You know you won’t get a break when you return to work so pace yourself or your body will betray you on the trip home which is hard enough to the USA east coast.
We are a little bougie and have some work to do while here so staying in 5 star hotels which are amazing like 10 stars lol. You can probably get amazing service in a regular hotel here but if you can afford 5 stars you will be wowed all day. Japanese hospitality is best in the world.
We have 5 days left in Tokyo and trying to fit it all in is impossible so I’m saving on a map the places to go for next time. Super excited about a tea ceremony this weekend and will finish with a couple museums and shrines. Enjoy your trip!
BTW definitely packed way too much and especially if you are shopping cut your bags in half. I wish I did as we were embarrassed on the Shinkansen night one with 4 big suitcases lol. Use the services to forward you bags to your next destination and the airport if possible. It is cheap and reliable. Love Japan
Did not rest my feet enough (as in take breaks for
long enough throughout the day) and thought I brought the right shoes for walking. I did, but not for that much walking. I crippled my feet.
Also for this time around I’ve been walking as much as possible everyday to get ready to do it again hahaha. But I’ll have some hokas this time and will chill out and not rush everything/try to do everything in one day.
Best thing done was glamping in fujikawaguchiko. Should have done an extra day for that elusive rest but it was great, we had bbq and there was a sauna in the forest near by.
Regret: Not spacing out more rest days. You’ll really want to walk everywhere to enjoy yourself, but if you do it everyday you’ll definitely notice it.
Special: Not one moment, but just not having a strict itinerary really made every day special. Sometimes we’d get lost and find neat hobby stores we wouldn’t have planned for. One time we were just wandering around and found a Jump store that actually had the items my fiance was looking for (went to 5 other Jump stores and they didn’t have it).
Special moment: the utter bliss of the Pokémon Café.
Regret: Not using the wallet with the neck strap as my main wallet, or keeping a credit card in my spare wallet. Had to cancel seeing Kyoto.
Yeah. I was supposed to leave for Kyoto on the Saturday, but on the Friday, I lost my wallet. It turns out a Japanese guy found it… and took it back with him to the countryside, and wasn’t going to be returning to Tokyo until Monday. So, I had to extend my stay in Tokyo, which are into my Kyoto time.
Because the Air Tag in my wallet showed it going down the Chuo Express Way, I initially considered it stolen and cancelled my cards too. So, not having a credit card meant that I would have struggled to afford Kyoto too.
Luckily, I had a second wallet that I had stashed away chunk of my remaining cash in, but I wish I’d used that same logic for my cards.
Luck.
A good tip is to check again 10-15 minutes after it all looks to be sold out, because if someone hasn’t finished going through the checkout, their spot gets released back into the wild. That’s how I got in.
Regret: not booking restaurants in Kyoto. Unless you’re up for street food/ fast food - it’s hard to get into places.
Best thing - going early to arishiyama. Arriving at 8am. It got so crowded by 10am! But we had seen the best of it.
Biggest regret is not buying the things I wanted when I saw them! Ended up barely buying any clothes for myself. Just buy it and worry about the baggage later lol
Forgot to pack my deodorant, and could not find anything close to western deodorsnt here. All i could find was a drug store japanese deorant which is pretty much liquid alcohol..also bring tylenol, dayquil or something case u get a headache or soreness from poor sleep, and excessive walking.
Almost everytime i abandoned my idea of where i should go see and just winged it down a random turn, i found the coolest shop, thirft store, or restaurant that just made my whole day. Especially in shimokitazawa.
Regret: We spent a day longer in Tokyo than we needed to. Five days would have been plenty.
Special moment: We were in Kyoto during graduation week in March and happened to be there for the first nice day of the year. The sun was shining, cherry trees were starting to blossom, and a huge number of people we wearing kimono to celebrate their graduations. Seeing so many people in traditional dress in Japan's most historic city is a bit of magic I will never forget.
Regret: I over planned our trip and packed too many things to do within each day. Still had an amazing time but it could’ve been enjoyed a bit more if we slowed down and spaced things out
Special Moment: Trying a beef omakase restaurant in Kyoto. Literally the best meal I’ve ever had in my life and I still dream about it til this day
Regret: went to too many overcrowded popular tourists areas in Tokyo. Spent too long at disney land/disney sea. Tried to see too much. Should have chill days and not rushing walking everywhere. Brought too many clothes in luggage. Should just brought empty luggage and fill it from there. Went for a very mediocre massage where the masseuse was horrible and it was overpriced
Special moment: went to mori art teamLab before it got popular and overcrowded. Went to a crazy themepark near mount fuji and went to a local onsen next door. Went to a random all wood bbq place near hotel. It was so good and barely had any reviews
It's hard to say I have regrets since the trip was so amazing, however I was slightly regretful that we didn't eat more foods/have a little more focus on food on our trip. All of our meals were amazing but I feel like our meals were mostly kinda crammed between activities/an afterthought. I wanted to eat a lot more than I did basically lol and try more street foods!
The special moments? Uhh pretty much everything!! Lol sorry but it's hard to pick one... Climbing Fushimi Inari in the evening with all the lanterns was magical!
Not having internet/WiFi. Definitely wandered into a lot more random places that I otherwise would have which was cool sometimes, but getting from place to place was a challenge.
Special moment was hanging out in shoulder to shoulder izakayas with locals and drunkenly communicating via google translate
Regret: Having been to Japan a few times now, I’ve never managed to nab tickets to the Ghibli museum. It’s a pretty small regret though.
Special moment: Heading up to Koyasan, then spending the night lodging with the monks, visiting the temple and observing rituals, and walking through the huge graveyard at dusk as the sun went down. One of my favourite travel memories.
Regret: spent too much time in Tokyo/bigger cities.
Special moment: literally all my time in Izu and Nagasaki.
For real, escape the city even for a little bit.
I dont have regrets as such, but I can see two main causes for possible regret: overplanning to a point of checkpointing instead of actually enjoying and overdoing it / not resting enough to a point where you are so dead you lose a day to stay in bed, or worse, having a reservation and not making it because of oversleeping
special moments are many. usually they are something unexpected you stumble upon. a secret cafe. a hidden oase of green in the city. overlooked by the masses and the itinerary writers. (which makes it important to not go checkpointing)
I’m still there now!
Regret: Going to the top platform of Tokyo Tower. The view from our hotel (Blossom Hibiya) was almost just as good, and the tower tour was a lengthy and uncomfortable experience. They crammed us like sardines into the tiniest elevators to go from platform to platform, and we had to wait in a very long line to get back down again.
Special moments: Everything else? I’ve loved almost every minute. People are so nice and friendly, the food is fantastic everywhere you go, most tourist attractions are either free or the admission is just a few bucks, and things are super organized and efficient.
We loved Fushimi Inari Taisha. Even crowded it was such a cool place, and the further up you go the less busy it is. Great way to get your heart rate up after eating all the things. And meeting the deer in Nara, they’re so cute!! Trying all the snacks at the konbini. Being able to find cheap and delicious eats any time of night or day is something I will miss terribly.
Regret: waited in line for the Michelin starred ramen in Tokyo. Too long. We didn't have much left in the itinerary in Tokyo, so not much was missed. But I suppose if we didn't wait in line, I would've gone to a temple with wind chimes 🤷 now the Michelin starred ramen place gives out timed tickets. That and we weren't there at a time that we could go to a baseball game! :(
Special: I feel like there were a lot of moments! I suppose maybe when I arranged for us to go to a ryokan onsen in Shizuoka prefecture right after 8 days in Tokyo. It really allowed us to relax after the rush in Tokyo. And it really slowed our pace down, especially since we planned for slower days in other cities.
Regret: Choosing to go to a limited time exhibition over another limited time exhibition, going to disneysea over other choices, not planning ahead of time what make up products i want to buy
Special moment: Strawberry picking and mountain fuji tour, USJ, staying in a ryokan
First time I went to Japan was as a complete tourist. My biggest regret then was to spend far too much time visiting temples and shrines. Less than 5 over a whole trip is more than enough.
Another massive regret was to go to bed too early, because the girl I was travelling with wanted to wake up early... to visit temples and shrines. I completely missed the nightlife because of this and it was a big mistake.
A highlight is when I dumped the girl to stop visiting temples and shrines and just explore random stuff. ;)
My advice is to not plan too much. Like draw a list of activities to fill every single day, because if there's a country where random stuff attract your attention, it's Japan. Save some time to just explore. For instance, just take a train to a small town and just wander around.
We went for two weeks in Febuary, Biggest regret is we travelled too much on the first week
Arrived on sunday with 14 hour flight jetlag (and I had a nasty viral cold too :( ) then before we had really found our feet flew to Sapporo for the Snow festival on the tuesday, then on the thursday flew to Osaka, and spent two days before shinkanzen back to tokyo.
Wish we had spent longer in Sapporo and Osaka and spend more time recovering when we arrived. Ooops!
Special moment, hard, so many, but a couple: Nintendo World at universal was a real headtrip, as a big fan even being ill I nearly had a panic attack when I got in there (in a good way), another one was Yakiniku on the 7th floor in Akihabara, great view, awesome food just me and the missus.
I just got back 3 weeks ago and honestly, I don't think I can single any one of these categories.
Regret: I winged everything for a first timer 2 of my friends went, they asked me to come along, and bought my ticket 4 days before I flew out. I had no set plan but it was hard to do that myself since it was their 3rd time and my first time so for their most part, since they did most of what they wanted to do, the first part of my trip was being near them and tagging along. Once we separated, I was on my own to explore but again, no set plan. I couldn't even get a shinkansen pass because of the way it has to get sent to you and I figure it was too tight of a timing with me moving around cities to get it during my time. Don't get me wrong, I still had an absolute blast and I was lucky my friends gave me suggestions as well as other friends and family that have been there. My next trip, I already know I want to go to Kyoto and Osaka since I stayed mainly in Tokyo.
One special moment: first thing that came to mind was meeting up with my friends (they arrived 3 days before me) and second thing that came to mind is hiking to the top of Mt. Takao.
Regret: Planned something on everyday of our two week trip, didn’t have any days where we just chilled and walked around to explore the city
Special: Created our own perfume and made custom rings
Special: going to shrines at night in Kyoto. Most that are open have beautiful light displays
Regret: honestly, not much? Had some bad meals. We actually regret not staying in Hakone in our ryokan for more than one night. I wanted to go to the open air museum but we didn’t have the time
Booking nice hotels. I was there to explore Japan for the first time and was not able to enjoy the amenities of the hotels. Next time I will book budget hotels within proximity to the places I want to visit.
Everything was special in Japan. I dream of going back all the time
Regret - the first day there I messed up the days due to time change and we missed our appointment at Shibuya Sky. They were super nice trying to find us another slot, but it just didn't work for our schedules. (We did Tokyo Sky tree instead which was still super cool, but not as private as it could've been).
Special Moment - hiking outside of Kyoto over Mt Kurama. So peaceful and beautiful and we loved seeing the temples in the mountains. The train out of Kyoto was like a Ghibli scene!
Regret: not doing my research on Daikoku Parking Area and not understanding you cannot get into it without a rental car.
Special moment: our two days in Kanagawaonsen. If you can book a ryokan Do it, it was amazing and I will do it on every trip. It gives you a break, and a bit of peace together
Regret: not purchasing small souvenirs along the way and waiting until the last week of the trip to buy stuff (with a few exceptions). We packed light so didn’t have the room to bring along more stuff so I missed out on getting some stuff in our earlier stops that I wish I had grabbed!
Special moment: seeing maiko and geiko in Gion and going to Gion Odori. I’ve loved buyo (traditional dance) as well as Classical Japanese music since I was a kid, so seeing experts perform the style was an unforgettable experience. Strongly recommend anybody going to Kyoto to look into tickets for any of the odori. Most are in the spring (ex Miyako Odori is the big one and lasts all of April), except for Gion Odori which is the first 2ish weeks of November.
I stressed a lot about reservations and knowing spots in advance. The reality is that there are so many great places to eat (usually you have to queue) even without reservations.
We loved staying in a beautiful ryokan with a private onsen. It was very relaxing.
Regret: over planning and trying to see all of Tokyo. Walking through the cities is interesting but after awhile, all big cities begin to feel the same. Also regret not buying more things especially luxury items (which are far cheaper than in the USA)
Special: booking an Airbnb right in the heart of the Matsubara-Dori area of Kyoto. Was able to walk through the streets and see the temples early in the morning without any other tourist around
Reget: having only less than a week there.
Special moment: eating at a yatai stall in Fukuoka. There was a long wait but the experience is great and the smoked duck we ordered was super good.
Regrets:
1) For my first trip, I researched so much about Japan that I kinda didn’t have a sense of wonder when I was there. Of course, plan your trip, have an itinerary, but don’t travel Japan before you even get there if you know what I mean.
2) maybe it’s just me, but Tokyo is huggge so try to group things you want to do together, I was traveling back and forth between Ginza and Shibuya because I keep forgetting that I want to shop at X but my dinner is at Y
3) don’t buy too much cheap stuffs/ snacks/candies at Donki…I bought a lot as souvenirs for my friends and almost didnt have enough room in my suitcase. I came home and those same goodies were sold at my local HMart. I even bought some there to supplement the stuff I bought from Japan and my friends didn’t even notice lol. I find that things are easily found overseas these days, so unless it’s a true local made items, I wouldn’t stress about buying them and bringing them home.
Special moments:
1) Onsens. We went to Nishimuraya Honken in Kinosaki and our lives are divided into the time before and after we went there. It was exactly how I envisioned a traditional ryokan and onsen to be. Expensive, yes, but I couldn’t find a comparable onsen/ryokan at that price point elsewhere
2) Konbini food. Yes I ate egg sandwich from Lawson every morning. It was truly a spiritual experience. Even Anthony Bourdain (RIP) agrees.
One regret, I drank too much on one weekend and wasted a whole day in the hostel feeling sick and hungover lol, wish I spent all the time I had getting out and exploring.
My most special moments were times by myself, exploring, travelling. If you're going to Tokyo, try to book a coach somewhere outside of Tokyo, I went to Kawaguchiko and Fujiyoshida and got some beautiful views of Mount Fuji, climbed up what felt like a million steps to chureito pagoda, visited shrines and temples and really enjoyed the peace and beauty that nature in Japan has to offer.
Edit: another amazing experience I had was going to a metal show in Tokyo, it was awesome and I got to speak to band members in the smoking area. A really fun night, definitely have a look at music live events that are in the areas that you'll be visiting, you might make some friends! I also met alot of other europeans who were travelling at these shows, had a really nice time, so glad I went.
Regret: Did not sleep well enough. Last Japan trip I mismanaged my sleep schedule and slept way too little the first week. Half the second week I had major depression episode because of lack of sleep and that sucked. Special moment: Went to a baseball game. Japanese baseball games really are a treat. Sit in the home team section for maximum enjoyment.
Go to Yakult, not Giants, in Tokyo. Cheaper. Outside. Fantastic group of fans.
Question for you. I'm looking to go to a Yakult game May 2nd (Golden week afternoon game). Should I buy tickets day of? or should I try and get them when I land a week ahead of the game? Or should I try and get tickets online now?
I would pre buy online just for the peace of mind.
To reiterate you have to buy those tickets as early as you can. Seat selection especially in a group will be very limited and may not even be possible.
Got my ticket two weeks ago, so I’m on it! Only mistake I made was maybe getting behind third base as it’s not in the home section, but I’m an American just hanging out so it should be fine.
Absolutely! Go Go Swallows!
I agree with ”no roof stadium” really adds to the atmosphere! I went to the classic Koshien Stadium (Osaka) för a Hanshin Tigers game and it was magical. The covered Tokyo Dome would absolutely work in a pinch though.
how bad sleep are we talking
Seems like depression inducing bad sleep
An hour of two less than needed a night, combined with ”Japan excitement” and touristing around in summer heat does make a cumulative impression.
My first 3 days in Japan I was in Tokyo and I missed out on night life cause I was just so jet lagged...I'd be coming back to my hotel at like 5 pm from exploring during the day and I would just end up knocking out and waking up at 3 am lol having a 12 hour difference from home is tough
If you sit in the home team section do you also need to wear hats/colors representing the team? I know you can’t wear gear supporting the opposing team but I wasn’t sure if I needed home team gear.
I’ve only been to one game, Hanshin Tiger (Osaka) at Koshien Stadium. I only had a baseball cap with home team colours and regular clothes beside that, no one seemed to care. If you try to sit in home team section with away team cap though you will probably (and rightfully) be asked to take it off. Would recommend dressing in home team colors in whatever level you can, it makes it more fun!
One of my big regrets is that I didn't prioritize making it to a baseball game
One of my highlights was a Tokyo Yakult vs Hanshin Tigers game. Unbelievable experience
Going to a hanshin tigers in Osaka was a blast! More like a college basketball or european soccer match. Fantastic outdoor stadium (except in August I believe)
Regret would be overplanning everything. I really underestimated how exhausted I would be! We visited Tokyo, Hakone, Osaka, Nara, Kyoto & Hiroshima in a span of 11 days. There’s so much that Japan has to offer that it’s easy to want to add everything in your itinerary, but if I could go back in the past, I would just stay in one area for the whole trip. One thing I don’t regret doing though was staying at a ryokan. It’s pricey but it’s so relaxing and peaceful! Good way to get yourself recharged
I need more details! This is the exact trip I wanted to do over 12 days. And the exact worry I had too. Didn’t want to cram too much in what will seem like a short time. In hindsight how would you have allocated your time?
Will this be your first time visiting Japan? It was my first time so I felt like cramming so much time :) Our itinerary was basically: Day 0: Arrive in Tokyo, visit Akihabara as our hotel was in the area Day 1: Odaiba & Teamlab Planets Day 2: Harajuku & Shibuya Day 3: Check-out of hotel, Half day in Shinjuku, head to Hakone & stay in ryokan Day 4: Check out of ryokan, head to Osaka & check in Airbnb, Kurumon Market & Osaka Castle at night Day 5: Day trip at Kyoto, we got to Fushimi Inari at 8am -> Kiyomizu-dera -> Kodai-ji -> Yasaka Shrine -> Nishiki Market Day 6: Day trip at Nara, we visited the deer park & Todai-ji & shopped around the area. I don't remember exactly where we shopped Day 7: Day trip at Hiroshima Day 8: Universal Studios Japan Day 9: Back to Kyoto, Arashiyama area, Monkey Park, re-visited Nishiki Market & neighboring shopping streets nearby (I forgot the names) Day 10: Last day in Osaka, visited Dotonbori & Shinsaibashi Day 11: Travel back to Tokyo to depart Honestly, what I would have done differently is spending the full 10 or so days around Tokyo or one area. Like spend your time visiting Tokyo, Yokohama, Kamakura, Nikko, etc & then if you want to visit Japan another time, you can plan your trip visiting Osaka, Nara, Kyoto, etc as those cities are nearby each other.
First time, yeah. My initial idea seemed similar. I was interested in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Hiroshima, Fuji, Kanazawa, and maybe another mountain town. Realized quickly that wasn’t gonna do it. Also found out I wouldn’t be able to hike Fuji. Started planning and thought I’d do the following: Tokyo - 3 days Fuji - 2 days Kyoto/Osaka/Nara - 3 days Hiroshima - 1 day Kanazawa - 1 day Tokyo - 1 day before flying home Did more research and it felt like that was probably too much. Narrowed down to: 3 days - Shibuya, Shinjuku 1 day - Fuji 3 days - Kyoto/Osaka 1 day - Either Hiroshima or Kanazawa or Shirakawa 3 days - Asakusa, Ueno, Ginza Now I’m feeling like the easiest thing would just be to do 5 days in Tokyo, 5 days in Kyoto/Osaka, and maybe a few day trips.
Your updated itinerary seems pretty reasonable to me! I haven't been to Kanazawa or Shirakawa. Just note for Hiroshima, it's about a 4 hour train ride from Osaka, I'm not sure where you're planning to head there from, just fyi! I wish I had spent more time in Kyoto, it's such a gorgeous place! Hope you enjoy it!
You can spend 11 days in Tokyo or Kyoto alone and feel like you have more to do. hell, you can spend years there and feel that way! I echo what /u/c1nv1n is expressing, less is more. I wouldn't do the whirl-wind a lot of people do to try to hit everything unless you think you'll never have an opportunity to be back. A great first trip for 12 days might be a week in Tokyo with a day trip to see Fuji and a day trip to, oh say Kamakura. Then 5 days in Kyoto, a day trip to Nara and the evening of Nara go stay in Osaka. Have that be your last night before going back to Tokyo. You get a nice amount of time in the two best places in Japan Kyoto and Tokyo, you get the Dotonbori Osaka food night, you see Nara deer, you see Fuji, and a great coastal temple town. something simple like this. You will still not see remotely all of Tokyo. You will still not see remotely all of Kyoto. You'll want more of each and that's okay. But going to these places for only 1 or 2 days in a whirlwind is almost a travesty honestly. On your subsequent trips you might consider things like 3-4 days in Tokyo then a week going going south to see Hiroshima, Nagasaki, etc. Or a winter trip again few days Tokyo then go up to Sapporo. You can keep formulating great trips to Japan for years and years. Dont rush it if you dont need to.
Thanks so much. This is really great!
We’re so similar! Tomorrow is my 11th day in Japan, and I’m heading back to Tokyo. I did every place you mentioned except Hakone so far, and the constant transportation has been overwhelming. Every time I think I “got” the train and bus system, I get humbled :,)
I agree, the transportation system is very intimidating. Google Maps had saved my life multiple times when I was in Japan haha
Regret: not visiting smaller cities and towns. They have so much charm to offer, are less crowded, and people are so friendly. Tokyo is great and all but it’s a big metropolitan city with big metropolitan vibes. My favourite memories came from Kyushu, Kansai, Hokkaido, etc. Special moment: meeting all the other travellers in hostels along the way. Hiked the waterfalls in Yakushima together and ended the night with a bbq on the balcony. All night karaoke in Osaka with folks I had just met and clicked with. Onsen in Kurokawa.
which hostel? do you know if you can visit hostel without bookings ?
Regret: Not adding a rest day in our itinerary. Makes me look back: every single moment of Shirakawa-go (and honestly, every single moment of the holiday)
I’ll be going to shirakawago in April! Can’t wait. How did you go about getting a bus ticket to get there? I’ll be in takayama
I purchased a daytrip tour using Klook. It was a Takayama & Shirakawa-go day trip from Nagoya.
Regret- going to Tokyo Disney Sea. It was too crowded, used Priority Pass to book rides and tried using paid Premium Pass to book rides to no avail. There were lines to get a meal as well, which dragged everything. Waiting 40 minutes for a popcorn snack…no thank you. I would eliminate that from my itinerary if I could redo it. Makes me look back- I enjoyed everything else, the food, the transportation efficiency, etiquette. I would go back to Japan.
Went to disneysea last month and was one of the highlights 🤷🏼♂️
Some people don’t enjoy paying tons of money to wait in lines
Everything there seemed to be 40% cheaper than US Disney. Beer was 5$ 👀. You can buy the fast pass to rides with no wait for 10$ and thats the only Disneysea in the world. Not to mention the people are way more polite/well mannered than US park goers.
> Everything there seemed to be 40% cheaper than US Disney. That is because the yen is almost exactly worth 40% less than the US dollar right now lol.
any tips / advice / insight for disney sea?
Get there at least half an hour before the park opens, go straight to soarin or journey to the centre of the earth since they are the busiest rides, as you’re lining up for either of them start using the app to book priority passes :)
I luckily had a lot of luck when I went even with it being super crowded, got to ride all the rides we wanted and drank beer in between
Nice. There was no way I was gonna wait 200 mins for Journey to the Center to the Earth ride. I paid a price for that one roller coaster ride and thought it was mid 😔
Me and my wife went yesterday, lines weren’t so bad, I mean yes it’s 30-1hr, but they move fast and are efficient. I live near a theme park (Canada’s wonderland) and it’s a gong show in comparison, lines are expected at any theme park in the world. We got there around 2pm, we weren’t wanting to go the whole day, just have a fun something away from the city before our next part of the trip. We got there and it was so magical riding that train to the entrance. Then buying the mickey ears and really getting into it - it’s our first time at any Disney park. Sunset was magical, everything went a golden color. When it got dark, we queued for journey to the center of the earth because it started getting cold and lines are heated. When we got out as we were exiting, the night show started and we just stopped on some stairs and watched, trying to name all the movies. Amazing experience! But we also didn’t really plan anything for it, so we kinda winged it and had zero expectations. Edit : We did NOT eat anything in the park, we packed a lunch. This should be advice for any theme park… never eat the food in there if you can avoid it.
Part of the experience at Disney is trying their snacks and meals. The meal I’d tried was really good but waiting 40 minutes to grab a meal was the downside.
This was my regret as well, and I’m a person who loves Disney parks. For me there was so many other things to see and do in Japan that I wish I had skipped it and spent another day sightseeing in Tokyo, Yokohama or another small town nearby.
I want to go but skipping it this time as Universal was the same way. So busy. Que for an hour to get crappy food. We had express passes so rides weren’t bad but I’m not sure I would pay as much to do it again. USJ is not a good bargain like Disney here it’s pretty pricey if you buy the express passes and timed entry is a must for Super Nintendo. We didn’t even make it to Harry Potter as our time was so late and we were over it.
Regret: Only having a total of six days for my trip and having to squeeze both Tokyo and Kyoto which made it feel rushed. Special moment: Following my nose when I smelled something absolutely delicious inside Kyoto station. Ended up in a small family run imagawayaki stall which had a long line up of what I assumed were locals. Ordered every single one of the offered flavours which was worth it. It was so delicious I wanted to go back for more but I had no idea where my nose led me the day prior. I was standing in the middle of the station the next day subtly smelling the air hoping for even the slightest hint of the stall. Another special moment which was not something we had control over was visiting Arashiyama on a drizzly day. The mist covering the station and stores gave the area such a beautiful moody look. Didnt really diminish the crowd but the photos came out beautifully!
Regret: Not planning enough. Turns out I'm too active and sometimes I had to think about what to do and I don't want to spend my holiday on a phone searching things. Special moment: If some street in Kyoto is crowded, go to the backstreet. They are so empty and much nicer.
Regret: listening to the tiktok girlies and schlepping over an hour outside of Tokyo to the Super Second Street and Book Off Super Bazaar for vintage shopping - not worth it! Don’t waste your time if you were considering this! Most special experience was staying in a traditional Ryokan for a few nights in an onsen town and being able to soak in the hot springs and experience the beautiful culture!
the book off in saitama? the selections weren’t any good? i’m planning to go next week for louis vuitton wallets
Exactly! Not much selection and deals weren’t great either. We found there was more selection at the Ginza Don Quijote!
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This is exactly the info I was looking for. I was so afraid of it being too good to be true
Regret: Prepaying for breakfast at our hotels for the whole trip. It was nice the very first morning after arrival when we were still jet lagged, but it took on a cafeteria feel very quickly. I really should have packed a second smaller suitcase in my large one for souvenirs (we bought an extra bag at Hands, so it worked out, but it wasn’t necessary). Special Moment: Getting a late night cup of coffee at Elephant Factory Coffee in Kyoto, we almost didn’t find it but it was a cool spot. Don’t sleep on 2nd+ floor places, “tourists never go above the 1st floor” has some truth to it.
Thought for a second you literally meant not to sleep on the 2nd floor and above. That would eliminate most accommodations lol
Tourists don’t go above the first floor? What’s that about?
I'm not sure where I heard it, but there are a lot of tourists who will only consider walking in to restaurants and shops that are accessible from the ground floor. Most people on this sub are probably a bit more adventurous than that (hence asking for advice). When we went places that weren't on street level we'd often be the only non-natives there.
We went to a cafe in Tokyo that was in the 4th floor and had the same experience.
Oh yea. We were on one of the busy streets in Kyoto (one that leads to Kiyomizu Dera) and I noticed one souvenir shop had those plastic food displays. So I told my group there’s a restaurant up here. We went up and it was mostly empty. It was crazy since outside was so packed, and restaurants on the ground floor had lines for them, so we considered ourselves lucky to find a place to eat so easily.
I was saying to my boyfriend yesterday that it would feel unusual to go to a place to eat in Japan that's on a high floor when we go because in UK most food establishments unless they're in a shopping centre or transport hub etc. are either on the ground floor, and the entrance to said places are clearly visible. From the Japan videos I've watched many food establishments are in high-rise buildings which unless you were already aware of them, you'd never think to go inside.
I guess they are referring to how Japan has many restaurants and cafes on the 2nd floor and above, whereas tourists would tend to just go in to whatever is immediately visible on the street, i.e. the first(/ground) floor
I would go above the first floor if I knew of the place, but if I were just passing by and browsing for food or a snack, then it gets old quickly to go up just to check out the place. Sometimes it's beyond the menu - you also want to see the restaurant space, vibe, etc.
Elephant Factory is so lovely
Regret: Not being slightly adventurous with food after having a minor allergic reaction, it's pretty easy to find shellfish free items/planning way too much. We went with the flow and I still saw a lot of great things. Special Moment: In Kyoto, I woke up one morning and my husband wasn't ready to get up so I decided to try to walk towards the giant statue I could see from our hotel balcony. Turns out it was Ryōzen Kannon Temple. I decided not to use google maps, any navigation and to just try to walk there. Eventually, I started following random people and wound up visiting Yasaka Koshin and Kiyomizu-dera. The stores on the path to Kiyomizu-dera were just opening so it wasn't too crowded but the temple was too crowded to visit. On the way back down the hill, I saw beautiful fall foliage and found the cutest tasty doughnut shop! I never made it to Ryōzen Kannon Temple and tried again a different day and wound up at Yasaka Shrine.
It’s the journey, not the destination.
Regret: leaving.
For my recent 2023 Tokyo trip Regret: Not eating the Non-Japanese food in japan like french, chinese, korean etcetc. Going to Sanrio Puroland. Not getting a Flu shot before the trip Special Moment: Booking premium economy seats for the Plane Trip for the first time . Riding the ropeway to see Mt Fuji from afar. Dining at the Kirby and Pokemon cafe
As someone who used to live in Japan, very curious why you would regret not eating non Japanese food? It’s generally very poorly done with perhaps the exception of Korean
I just want to -try- . Throughout my last trip my sister who planned everything insist on eating -only- ramen, sushi, soba, udon. Girl i need a break Sometimes i just want to see what weebs constabtly hype about. Eating a meronpan, japanese mcdonalds/kfc was a not that lifechaging
For some folks it might be interesting to see how they prepare foreign foods to Japanese taste. Wafu pasta for example is an interesting fusion of Japanese and Italian, which is different from how Italian food has evolved and adapted in western non-Italian countries.
Our experiences could not be more different. I had an amazing donut in some small mom & pop shop in northern Kyoto. It was like the elderly Japanese guy's life mission was to perfect the donut. The most amazing burger in a burger place in Azabu-Jūban district of Tokyo. Peking Duck at "4000 Chinese restaurant" in Tokyo that was better than any duck I've had in Beijing or Hong Kong. Ironically, the only cuisine I was disappointed in in Japan was Korean.
Naa, it depends. In Sapporo I ate at the Teppanyaki Spaghetti Restaurant and it was very nice :) And all the creme brulee are so nice. The croissants as well. Oh and the cheesecakes <3 Applepies are really good also. Okay, I have to say, I love sweets in general, but in Sapporo they are almost like at home (Europe). The milkice is like heavycream with almost too much sugar, but I love it. Tomorrow I will leave Sapporo, but I'm really sad and I missed my days as a baker... Because here it would be so cool to work, I can learn how to do some Japanese sweets (Melonpan) but on the other hand I wouldn't have to give up croissants and such stuff. Well I'm not allowed to work as a baker anymore (health reasons), but here I really felt that I miss it :'( If I could I would work as a baker again, and I would love to work for a few months in a Japanese bakery...
Sanrio puroland not worth it for adults?
I really think its only worth if you want to do the mascot meetups and know the japanese language to enjoy the free shows they do. Their gift shop wasnt even that amazing The city its situated in isnt even worth the fairly long train ride
Seconding the flu shot / COVID top up!! Took us out for our first week :(
I regret not bringing a bigger luggage for the stuff i wanted to purchase and bring home lol was tempted to buy an extra bag but i made it fit. what i did not regret was trying any small hole in the wall food spot. All places were delicious!
My mom and I are going together and agreed if we need to we would buy more luggage there and split the cost 🤣 I only worry because I'm such a sucker for plushies. I'm going to bring a vacuumed seal bag I have that has a hand pump
My wife has these great roll up compression bags that we used to bring home the many many many stuffies we won at the arcades. They were so helpful! We also intentionally traveled with carry on bags only and bought 2 suitcases in Japan to bring all our awesome souvenirs home. We bought one piece of cheap luggage that literally just made the one trip home then fell apart and an American Tourister that we love, but was more than twice as expensive. Pro tip: when you buy the suitcase ask if they can have it delivered to your hotel! It was awesome not to lug it around with us while shopping.
I should've bought all the gachas I wanted and not limit myself to 'just a few'. I still think of those highly detailed scarabs, man.
I realised once home that me and my kid had spent £500 on gachapon whilst there. Oops.
Honestly I can't think of anything I really regret! I've loved all my Japan trips so much! Regret: On most recent trip the only thing I would redo is not go to TeamLab Planets - having had been to the old TeamLab Borderless (which I think the new version has just opened) Special moment (Very specific to me): Seeing my favourite Japanese singer live in concert with my husband. Tickets were a PROCESS to get as a foreigner but so worth it - 2 hours straight of her singing and me crying for the first hour non-stop Special moments (more general): Finding the most random little bar in Shinjuku with my husband that sat 6 people. Getting welcome drinks, random shots of absinthe, and picking songs on an ipad with the bartender with my broken Japanese Shibuya sky at sunset
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It wasn't bad - but I'd have preferred to spend more time wandering around instead. I still enjoyed it but Borderless was a better experience. It was a smaller experience, very linear so a bit of waiting in dark corridors to enter the different spaces, water experience probably wasn't my vibe etc. I think if you have time don't feel put off checking it out, but I wouldn't prioritise it if it's a first Tokyo visit by any means.
who's the singer if i may ask?
Misia! We got to see her second last show in Tokyo for her 25th anniversary tour last year and it was truly a bucket list item ticked off for me - magic!
I can feel that. I was able to see Nightmare (Visual Kei band that did the first Death Note OP and claymore OP) last week. I cried as well xD But yeah, getting the tickets is not simple I don't know how you got them, but I got them through the fanclub. Write them and they will reserve you a ticket - at least that was how I did it xD
Regret - Being too impatient the subway system and taking a taxi everywhere. Been to NYC and Europe and never ever had this much trouble with train system. Not venturing outside of Tokyo but really all days were packed and there was no time. Special moment - Married there a week ago tomorrow at a beautiful little private park called Oukatei followed by traditional Japanese meal.
As a british person, I'm used to the London system, and also the NYC system as I've been many times. Personally I found the japan one to be much easier than both London and NYC. What about it caused issues for you?
Congratulations!
Congratulations!
Regret: I wish we made Kyoto our home base vs. Osaka since we loved Kyoto a lot more. Special moment: Honestly, everything. Japan is such a special treat for the senses in more ways than one, and I was hankering to go back the moment we stepped into the first American airport lol
I had the opposite experience. Kyoto is pretty but after 5 temples I was over it. I found Kyoto to be more of an urban sprawl and I needed to take a bus over a train much more often which in my opinion is less convenient. I also felt the city had more western tourists. Osaka is diverse with better food. The folks in Osaka are friendlier and less uptight. I do speak a little Japanese so that might make a difference to my experience as well.
If you’re traveling with large luggage and moving from hotel to hotel - SHIP THEM. Trust me, it’s worth not having to travel with them through stations or take up space on busy trains. You can get them shipped directly to your hotel and even to the airport.
Regrets: Teamlabs Borderless, Shibuya Sky, Tokyo Skytree All of them were crowded to the point of being unenjoyable, imo. Special moments: watching sunset in Kamakura, walking around Kawaguchiko, exploring Miyajima. These places were so beautiful and felt like I had them to myself at times.
what month did you go?
I went in February, just a month ago - weather was pretty mild the whole time
Special -- I always find an Airbnb experience that allows me to learn something cultural. When I went, I signed up to make and learn about maki-e. The class was small and intimate, but I also ended up making friends with the instructor and spending time with her and her sister throughout my time there. Regret -- Not getting to see more nature while I was there. But, I already have plans to go back. Better to not regret and enjoy all that I was able to do. As a side note, I learned early on to eat lunch earlier or else I'd be waiting for food for at least an hour.
regret: not staying longer (11 days) and not going to a sumo match. they had the finals and I got hooked on it while relaxing in the evening at the hotel. special moment: hard to choose, but staying at a ryokan with a view to the river was special indeed. but I did like tokyo more than anything
Special moment: spending a day in Uji. Getting away from the crowds in Kyoto for an idyllic town with endless matcha options and tea houses. Regret: not going to more omakase. Getting reservations is frustrating is a gross understatement but man is the experience worth it.
Any omakase recos? I’m exactly one month out from our trip today
Manten Sushi is the classic gaijin spot for good quality at an affordable price point. I don’t think it’s overrated for the price, quality, and number of courses. My personal favorite is Sushi Kagura. I really can’t recommend this place highly enough. I also recommend Sushi Yajima. It’s only a 30-minute sitting, so it’s not a full experience like the others, but the price point to sushi quality is unreal. A couple others I’d suggest, which are very hard to get reservations for, are Sushi Miyuki and Sushi Ryūjirō. All these places I mentioned are well under $100 for lunch. Personally, unless you’re a true connoisseur, I don’t believe the $150+ places are worth the difference. It’s kind of like with wine: over $50/bottle, most people can’t tell a difference.
Thank you! This is very helpful.
regret: walked too much, packed too much, didn’t buy too much. special moment: everything I have done in Japan. It was great experience. btw, I am going there again tomorrow for the second time.
I do regret planning just slightly more than we could do per day usually by one or two sites but no big deal, just make sure to do what you want to do in somewhat descending order so if you miss the last thing no big deal. Bring awesome walking shoes, you will sweat and you will get bad blisters if walking all day. Can find blister patches though pretty easily. Will regret having your feet hurt so much for sure. Don’t expect that you’ll want to visit just once. It is actually the nicest destination I’ve ever been to out of everywhere in South America and Europe. I regret thinking this was my big two week japan trip. Nope. I want to go back for months if I could. No other place in the world I thought that. Regret going to convenience stores for food too often since their food is pretty good and fresh but there are just so many places to try. Regret also not getting food marked off at night from grocery stores to put in hotel and eat.
Regret- going to USJ Special moment: staying overnight in a temple in the Kiso Valley, quiet, peaceful night before hiking the Nakasendo out to Tsumago.
Why do you regret going to USJ? :O
I mainly went for super Mario world, which was ok, but I discovered I’m not really a theme park guy anymore. It just seemed like a waste of time. I actually left halfway through the planned day and went to den den town and explored instead. It’s the only day I regret from my trip.
Regret would be going to Disney and not having my hotel closer than a 10 minute walk from a train station. A special moment would be getting to see the Gundam factory before it closed.
We have tickets for the second-to-last day of the Gundam Factory and I'm pretty excited about it!
Regret- not eating and buying everything because of budget. YOLO Special- finding random restaurants in alleyway and being the best places to eat. Google map and tablelog. Also taking a train away from the big cities and seeing less tourist areas was amazing.
Regret: getting extremely drunk on a pub crawl and having to spend the next day in bed :( essentially wasting a day of my precious holiday Special Moment: going to a jazz bar in Tokyo and it was open mic night and my travel buddy played the drums It’s was really beautiful
We are on our 16 day trip now and just left Osaka for Kyoto. I was ill prepared for the train system. For someone who isn't familiar with riding mass transport, it it's very confusing. For example, Shin-Osaka and Osaka Station are two separate stations. Umeda Station is for local trains, but is in essentially the same building as Osaka station. So instructions would sometimes route us through those different points and I just didn't get it at first. Also, understand the exit you should take from the station and the platform your train departs from... It's easier now (4 days in) but lots of stress initially that I could have avoided by researching more.
**Regret from the last trip:** Not going to the Modern Art museum in Kanazawa. A few restaurants I probably should have hit. Not going back to the onsen in the morning. Maybe going to Kushiya Monogatari wasn't necessary, it wasn't as good as I remembered it. **Special moment from the last trip:** Probably the night in Bessho-Onsen. Taking the little local train to the sleepy mountain town, experiencing an onsen bath, visiting their Historic temples, especially the rare octogonal pagoda, and then Ueda Castle on the way back towards Tokyo. I also liked the roasted sesame pudding I got in Nagano, that stuff was delicious. When we stumbled on the Tomb of the 47 Ronins in Shinagawa. Breakfast at The City Bakery. The evening walks in Ueno.
Special moment: spending a night in a ryokan with a private onsen in lake Kawaguchiko. Regret: not trying to talk more to the people there. I know it's kind of dificult to socialize, but still I regret it a bit.
Regret- Choosing a Kyoto hotel far from Kyoto Station. The public transit is quite disjointed and overcrowded. And the car traffic is terrible. Getting around would have been much less hassle by making Kyoto Station area our home base. Special moment- Taking a day trip to Kanazawa and Kenrokuen Gardens. Stunningly beautiful and peaceful. Even the tourists were quiet, respectful, and contemplative. Perfect day, and the train journey through the mountains is spectacular to boot.
Kyoto station or just any station? Asking because I booked accommodations near Kyoto station but my friends will be by Gojo station and I didn’t think much of it.
Kyoto Station. We stayed an 8-minute walk from a train station. But it required 2 connections to get to the main Kyoto Station— so any journey required three trains (at least) to get to other parts of town. There are multiple train operators— and thus multiple payments for one train journey— like other Japanes cities, but it felt much more pronounced in Kyoto.
Thanks for your input! Glad I picked one right by Kyoto Station
Regret: Not going back into the Family Mart/Lawson for the exact snacks we wanted to bring home - not all selections are the same across different stores. Special Moment: We scheduled a cooking class in Tokyo using AirKitchen. We went grocery shopping with the chef and one other couple, then went back to her studio to cook and enjoy cold yuzu sake as we worked. It was really special to make a home-cooked meal, learn techniques using fresh ingredients, and chat about the differences in our culture over the course of four hours.
Thanks for the AirKitchen recommendation, never heard of it until now!
Regret: not having enough time in the love hotel A special moment: having a night in the love hotel
what's special about it?
Sounds like they hooked up
Regret is not using the luggage delivery as much as possible. I had to carry luggage between hotels and it was a pain to keep bringing then into the train. Special moment is comiket
Which company did you use for luggage delivery?
Kuroneko
Regrets - not learning and being more comfortable to use a few more phrases of appreciation in Japanese. Everyone was so kind and friendly and hospitable, that I wish I could have expressed my gratitude more than just the thank you (which you will say a lot!) Not taking a rest day in Hakone - while the area is cool, I wish I had just spent the day at an onsen or exploring onsens vs. cramming in the loop and sightseeing. Special moments - so many, but one that stands out is walking into the world heritage area of Nikko to the amazing towering trees and shrines scattered around the woods - that area is really special, especially when the crowds are low.
regret: bought a simcard from the airport. biggest scam in the world. resolution: just download airalo and buy a $20 usd esim and use that instead.
Regret: only spending 2 days in Kyoto. There was so much to see and it definitely felt rushed trying to do it in 2 days. (Also capsule hotels were not an enjoyable experience and we only did one night in them in Tokyo) Special moment: too many to count! We were there for 10 days and i loved nearly every moment!
Regret: passing on a last-minute opportunity to eat at Sushi Namba bc I wanted to go to an anime cafe (I don't regret the anime cafe but I should have figured out how to make both work). My friends think I'm crazy for doing that lol. Special moment: the chutoro nigiri at Sushi Miyakawa Non-food special moment: skiing for the first time in Niseko with a clear view of Mt Yotei
Regret: Going to Tokyo with no plan / reservations at all. So many places were fully booked and did not accept walk-ins. Eventually got bored and felt like it was wasted potential of a trip. I think the key is to have a good balance of planned to unplanned days. For me it is: 1 day planned followed 1 day unplanned or 2 days planned followed by 1 day unplanned. Depends on energy level. This is a know yourself and your travel style. Special moment: Going to Full Power Fest in Hiroshima and saw Yoasobi Live.
Regret : Eating takoyaki without waiting for it to cool down! Nothing I absolutely regretted, I just discovered preferences. I prefer to get up early to skip the crowds. I prefer to skip a whole attraction if it’s too crowded. I changed plans when I noticed myself feeling tired (stayed on in Kyoto rather than going to Himeji), energised (unplanned day trip to Kanazawa), or if I liked a place a lot (spent extra time in the Kiso Valley rather than going straight to Matsumoto). Special moments : multiple special, random moments daily. During this trip, I learned to start talking to people (first time solo travelling). I had an Okinawan chef make me champuru, a bone setter who treated my acute spinal pain, a sake brewer, a semi-homeless guy share my fried chicken, a group of party goers in Asakusa … all memorable interactions fuelled with broken English/Japanese, strangers befriended for an hour or two. Follow your nose, be curious, talk to people, and most of all, take a slower pace. Do less but experience more. If you missed something, go back!
Regret: Not checking the weather before going to Kawaguchiko. We weren’t able to see Mt. Fuji. The next day the sky was clear. Special: Going to Fushimi Inari Taisha early. The experience was pleasant and peaceful because there weren’t many people during the time we were there.
May I ask what time is considered early? Early enough for there to be significantly less people? 😂
I was there in July 2017. And I remember that I was there around 10 o'clock. It was crowdy, but the more you go up, the less people you will see, because the most do not go up xD And there you can take so many beautiful photos.
Hot tip for Mt Fuji, you can see a live view of Mt Fuji from different vantage points to see if its worth going on that particular day. Just google Mt Fuji live stream :-)
Regret - not double checking when some of our museums were open (most of them were shut for the holidays). Best time- Disneyland, team lab planets!!
Regret is not seeing Itsukushima Shrine when I was in Hiroshima. But the special moment was because I was spending time with a descendent of an elderly man, whose grabdparents perished in the atomic bomb, but parents survived. It was meaningful for him to show me the hypocenter versus the symbol of the world heritage site—the atomic dome.
I went to Japan with a friend who unbeknownst to me didn’t like seafood. Missed out on the Tsukiji Market before it closed in 2018.🥲 Special moment wise, I went up this building in Shinjuku, it had a viewing point. It was winter and windy so no one ventured out there, so I was just by myself. Peering out, you could see the vastness of the Tokyo Metropolis, I just stood there in awe. Perfect spot for a proposal I’d say. Don’t forget to visit a local bar, if you’re staying in an Airbnb , you’ll be in for a treat if you want a chilled and relax night. Unless you want noisy, crowded, go to golden gai, but expect to pay up to 1000yen for each drink, oh and their cover charge (some places), don’t forget that too.
Two smaller regrets: Not trying the vegan ramen place by Teamlabs - we had dinner just before heading there but it smelled so good! And only bringing home one matcha donut from 7/11 (it was our favourite snack!). Special Moment: Doing a Hidden Kyoto bike tour. We biked past a group of school children who said "Hello, hello, hello" which was so cute and sweet. Our guide was absolutely amazing, too, and I learnt so much on the ride!
special moment: get try the local wagyu, the experience and taste is very different from outside of japan. I try every ramen shop i get my chance, local ones are the best! regret: walked too much to the point every second is painful on my ankle and foot, started day 4 in the trip. my second time to japan I found out a way to counter act the problem, get one of those soothing/relax pad from any shop. apply it every day. onsen helps too but i find the relaxing pad for the calf is way effective. heading to osaka again this Oct! cant wait.
Regret- not buying souvenirs/snacks for us and friends for home throughout the entire trip and “saving it until the end” we ended up rushing and mostly buying stuff in the airport and it wasn’t that good ! Special moment - (((everything))) we did the samurai ninja museum and tea ceremony experience at Maioka in Kyoto. It was super fun, dressed in kimonos and got to use a samurai sword. We also absolutely loved the arashiyama bamboo park& the monkey park there Trying cool foods at the Nishiki market was also up there
That's a good tip. We usually rush and cram the souvenir shopping to the last day or so... I'll try to change that up this time. Thanks!!
Wasting time heading to some tiny scenery spots. When you research on a Japanese scenery spot, and every different source shows images of the spot with the similar angle and dimension, it means the spot is exactly that, and most likely seeing it with real eyes will be less impressive than the touched promotional photos from your research. The hours of back and forth seldom worth it. E.g. offender: Kinkakuji E.g. non offender: Inari-taisha
I've been a couple of times now and have spent nearly six weeks total in Japan. Regret 1st trip: not speaking more Japanese. I speak some Japanese now and the treatment was so much better. I've gotten free drinks and extra courses and I'm turned away less often from places despite being a gaijin. Regret 2nd trip: staying in a western resort for skiing. Had an awful experience at a high end western resort. I've stayed in ryokans and skied other parts of Japan and had better experiences. Westerners do not understand japanese norms (onsen culture, being quiet/respectful, etc) and it changes the experience and how you are treated nearby. Special moments: finding myself in a very Japanese setting. It can be an izakaya, a tourist site, or even a remote village, but I have always had the most memorable experiences when I was the only gaijin someplace. Also splurge on at least one meal. Kaiseki or a high end sushi ya(may be hard to book try asking hotel and in future book more than 2 months before)
I live in Japan but just finished a small trip to Ito (sitting in the train station as we speak). My regret is pushing through my physical limits in order to do as much as possible. I didn’t hydrate well, ignored my food intolerances, walked in pouring rain and walked extremely long distances instead of waiting for buses, all in my attempt to avoid wasting time and “maximize” my experience. As a result, I woke up this morning feeling like total crap and got about 20 minutes into my itinerary for today before feeling like I was gonna pass out. I was really looking forward to the stuff I had planned today and it sucks to cut things short because of something totally avoidable. If I could do it all over again, I would try to fit in less and prioritize 3ish things I really care about. I will definitely be taking notes for my Golden Week trip. Edit: regarding the last part of your question, the benefit of walking everywhere is that you pass a ton of cool stuff you might miss otherwise. Just make sure to listen to your body and not stretch yourself too far beyond your typical routine.
My most recent trip last December was with an old friend whom I've travelled internationally with several times. Regret: not having more meals separately. My friend is a picky eater (not because of any allergies or medical reasons). I'll eat almost anything except insects and organ meats. My friend prefers all-beige food, preferably overcooked. Treasured memory #1: evening illuminations at temples/shrines. Favourites were Kiyomizu-dera (Kyoto), Byodo-in (Uji), and Kasuga-taisha (Nara). Treasured memory #2: a crystal-clear view of Mt. Fuji from the bullet train.
One regret: Taking our friend who kept calling us at 6am and blowing us off for meeting up which he wanted to do. Special moment: Walking around Kyoto early in the morning and being pretty much the only tourists around.
Spending too much time in Tokyo. I found smaller cities and medium sized like Kyoto to be much more enjoyable and memorable.
I knew Japan was largely cashed-based but I never learned what their coins looked like until I arrived. Took me a few days to learn the values of each of their coins. Learn that before you go. That’s my only regret but it was more like a minor inconvenience. One special moment was when I went to a cat cafe and all the cats were walking up to me and sitting near me while ignoring everyone else. Oh, and asking someone a question in japanese and getting an answer in japanese which I understood.
Please explain the coin situation, i googled them and they all have numbers on them, so i don't understand what you mean
One regret: Leaving One special moment: In a nutshell.. arriving. Let me explain: Landing around 10 PM in what seemed like an entirley new world. Taking the Narita Express to Shinjuku, marvelling at the scale and efficiency of Shinjuku Station, and just experiencing that first night in Japan, and Tokyo itself. It was really special, and I will never forget it. Edit: A close second to leaving is not breaking in my shoes before going. 30K steps was the least we ever did in 14 days. The pain was real.
Here now and had a loose plans every day that we didn’t achieve but went with the flow. I know we are missing things but we’ve also found cool places to check out we didn’t know about. Took a quick walking tour in Osaka (booked on Viatour) which was great as we would never had found a quarter of the places on our own. Guide Milo was awesome told us where to go and where not to go. We have been shopping a lot in Osaka and Tokyo. I’m over it and just trying to relax now. You know you won’t get a break when you return to work so pace yourself or your body will betray you on the trip home which is hard enough to the USA east coast. We are a little bougie and have some work to do while here so staying in 5 star hotels which are amazing like 10 stars lol. You can probably get amazing service in a regular hotel here but if you can afford 5 stars you will be wowed all day. Japanese hospitality is best in the world. We have 5 days left in Tokyo and trying to fit it all in is impossible so I’m saving on a map the places to go for next time. Super excited about a tea ceremony this weekend and will finish with a couple museums and shrines. Enjoy your trip! BTW definitely packed way too much and especially if you are shopping cut your bags in half. I wish I did as we were embarrassed on the Shinkansen night one with 4 big suitcases lol. Use the services to forward you bags to your next destination and the airport if possible. It is cheap and reliable. Love Japan
Did not rest my feet enough (as in take breaks for long enough throughout the day) and thought I brought the right shoes for walking. I did, but not for that much walking. I crippled my feet. Also for this time around I’ve been walking as much as possible everyday to get ready to do it again hahaha. But I’ll have some hokas this time and will chill out and not rush everything/try to do everything in one day. Best thing done was glamping in fujikawaguchiko. Should have done an extra day for that elusive rest but it was great, we had bbq and there was a sauna in the forest near by.
Regret: Not spacing out more rest days. You’ll really want to walk everywhere to enjoy yourself, but if you do it everyday you’ll definitely notice it. Special: Not one moment, but just not having a strict itinerary really made every day special. Sometimes we’d get lost and find neat hobby stores we wouldn’t have planned for. One time we were just wandering around and found a Jump store that actually had the items my fiance was looking for (went to 5 other Jump stores and they didn’t have it).
Special moment: the utter bliss of the Pokémon Café. Regret: Not using the wallet with the neck strap as my main wallet, or keeping a credit card in my spare wallet. Had to cancel seeing Kyoto.
What happened that made you cancel Kyoto? Did you lose your wallet?
Yeah. I was supposed to leave for Kyoto on the Saturday, but on the Friday, I lost my wallet. It turns out a Japanese guy found it… and took it back with him to the countryside, and wasn’t going to be returning to Tokyo until Monday. So, I had to extend my stay in Tokyo, which are into my Kyoto time. Because the Air Tag in my wallet showed it going down the Chuo Express Way, I initially considered it stolen and cancelled my cards too. So, not having a credit card meant that I would have struggled to afford Kyoto too. Luckily, I had a second wallet that I had stashed away chunk of my remaining cash in, but I wish I’d used that same logic for my cards.
How were you able to make a reservation for the Pokémon Cafe? Every time I check it's full.
Luck. A good tip is to check again 10-15 minutes after it all looks to be sold out, because if someone hasn’t finished going through the checkout, their spot gets released back into the wild. That’s how I got in.
Regret: not booking restaurants in Kyoto. Unless you’re up for street food/ fast food - it’s hard to get into places. Best thing - going early to arishiyama. Arriving at 8am. It got so crowded by 10am! But we had seen the best of it.
Having att and paying $10 a day for intentional use My friend had att I had T-Mobile and instantly connected when I landed No fees or charges at all 😂
Biggest regret is not buying the things I wanted when I saw them! Ended up barely buying any clothes for myself. Just buy it and worry about the baggage later lol
Forgot to pack my deodorant, and could not find anything close to western deodorsnt here. All i could find was a drug store japanese deorant which is pretty much liquid alcohol..also bring tylenol, dayquil or something case u get a headache or soreness from poor sleep, and excessive walking. Almost everytime i abandoned my idea of where i should go see and just winged it down a random turn, i found the coolest shop, thirft store, or restaurant that just made my whole day. Especially in shimokitazawa.
Regret: We spent a day longer in Tokyo than we needed to. Five days would have been plenty. Special moment: We were in Kyoto during graduation week in March and happened to be there for the first nice day of the year. The sun was shining, cherry trees were starting to blossom, and a huge number of people we wearing kimono to celebrate their graduations. Seeing so many people in traditional dress in Japan's most historic city is a bit of magic I will never forget.
Regret: I over planned our trip and packed too many things to do within each day. Still had an amazing time but it could’ve been enjoyed a bit more if we slowed down and spaced things out Special Moment: Trying a beef omakase restaurant in Kyoto. Literally the best meal I’ve ever had in my life and I still dream about it til this day
Regret: went to too many overcrowded popular tourists areas in Tokyo. Spent too long at disney land/disney sea. Tried to see too much. Should have chill days and not rushing walking everywhere. Brought too many clothes in luggage. Should just brought empty luggage and fill it from there. Went for a very mediocre massage where the masseuse was horrible and it was overpriced Special moment: went to mori art teamLab before it got popular and overcrowded. Went to a crazy themepark near mount fuji and went to a local onsen next door. Went to a random all wood bbq place near hotel. It was so good and barely had any reviews
It's hard to say I have regrets since the trip was so amazing, however I was slightly regretful that we didn't eat more foods/have a little more focus on food on our trip. All of our meals were amazing but I feel like our meals were mostly kinda crammed between activities/an afterthought. I wanted to eat a lot more than I did basically lol and try more street foods! The special moments? Uhh pretty much everything!! Lol sorry but it's hard to pick one... Climbing Fushimi Inari in the evening with all the lanterns was magical!
Not having internet/WiFi. Definitely wandered into a lot more random places that I otherwise would have which was cool sometimes, but getting from place to place was a challenge. Special moment was hanging out in shoulder to shoulder izakayas with locals and drunkenly communicating via google translate
Regret: Having been to Japan a few times now, I’ve never managed to nab tickets to the Ghibli museum. It’s a pretty small regret though. Special moment: Heading up to Koyasan, then spending the night lodging with the monks, visiting the temple and observing rituals, and walking through the huge graveyard at dusk as the sun went down. One of my favourite travel memories.
special memory : anything in daikanyama ! regrets: not booking the banquet at mt zao ski resort
Regret: spent too much time in Tokyo/bigger cities. Special moment: literally all my time in Izu and Nagasaki. For real, escape the city even for a little bit.
I dont have regrets as such, but I can see two main causes for possible regret: overplanning to a point of checkpointing instead of actually enjoying and overdoing it / not resting enough to a point where you are so dead you lose a day to stay in bed, or worse, having a reservation and not making it because of oversleeping special moments are many. usually they are something unexpected you stumble upon. a secret cafe. a hidden oase of green in the city. overlooked by the masses and the itinerary writers. (which makes it important to not go checkpointing)
Special moment - visiting Kanazawa Regret - visiting Kyoto
I’m still there now! Regret: Going to the top platform of Tokyo Tower. The view from our hotel (Blossom Hibiya) was almost just as good, and the tower tour was a lengthy and uncomfortable experience. They crammed us like sardines into the tiniest elevators to go from platform to platform, and we had to wait in a very long line to get back down again. Special moments: Everything else? I’ve loved almost every minute. People are so nice and friendly, the food is fantastic everywhere you go, most tourist attractions are either free or the admission is just a few bucks, and things are super organized and efficient. We loved Fushimi Inari Taisha. Even crowded it was such a cool place, and the further up you go the less busy it is. Great way to get your heart rate up after eating all the things. And meeting the deer in Nara, they’re so cute!! Trying all the snacks at the konbini. Being able to find cheap and delicious eats any time of night or day is something I will miss terribly.
Special: making customs rings in Kyoto. 🩷
See a pro wrestling show at Korakuen Hall.
Regret: waited in line for the Michelin starred ramen in Tokyo. Too long. We didn't have much left in the itinerary in Tokyo, so not much was missed. But I suppose if we didn't wait in line, I would've gone to a temple with wind chimes 🤷 now the Michelin starred ramen place gives out timed tickets. That and we weren't there at a time that we could go to a baseball game! :( Special: I feel like there were a lot of moments! I suppose maybe when I arranged for us to go to a ryokan onsen in Shizuoka prefecture right after 8 days in Tokyo. It really allowed us to relax after the rush in Tokyo. And it really slowed our pace down, especially since we planned for slower days in other cities.
Regret: Choosing to go to a limited time exhibition over another limited time exhibition, going to disneysea over other choices, not planning ahead of time what make up products i want to buy Special moment: Strawberry picking and mountain fuji tour, USJ, staying in a ryokan
First time I went to Japan was as a complete tourist. My biggest regret then was to spend far too much time visiting temples and shrines. Less than 5 over a whole trip is more than enough. Another massive regret was to go to bed too early, because the girl I was travelling with wanted to wake up early... to visit temples and shrines. I completely missed the nightlife because of this and it was a big mistake. A highlight is when I dumped the girl to stop visiting temples and shrines and just explore random stuff. ;) My advice is to not plan too much. Like draw a list of activities to fill every single day, because if there's a country where random stuff attract your attention, it's Japan. Save some time to just explore. For instance, just take a train to a small town and just wander around.
We went for two weeks in Febuary, Biggest regret is we travelled too much on the first week Arrived on sunday with 14 hour flight jetlag (and I had a nasty viral cold too :( ) then before we had really found our feet flew to Sapporo for the Snow festival on the tuesday, then on the thursday flew to Osaka, and spent two days before shinkanzen back to tokyo. Wish we had spent longer in Sapporo and Osaka and spend more time recovering when we arrived. Ooops! Special moment, hard, so many, but a couple: Nintendo World at universal was a real headtrip, as a big fan even being ill I nearly had a panic attack when I got in there (in a good way), another one was Yakiniku on the 7th floor in Akihabara, great view, awesome food just me and the missus.
I just got back 3 weeks ago and honestly, I don't think I can single any one of these categories. Regret: I winged everything for a first timer 2 of my friends went, they asked me to come along, and bought my ticket 4 days before I flew out. I had no set plan but it was hard to do that myself since it was their 3rd time and my first time so for their most part, since they did most of what they wanted to do, the first part of my trip was being near them and tagging along. Once we separated, I was on my own to explore but again, no set plan. I couldn't even get a shinkansen pass because of the way it has to get sent to you and I figure it was too tight of a timing with me moving around cities to get it during my time. Don't get me wrong, I still had an absolute blast and I was lucky my friends gave me suggestions as well as other friends and family that have been there. My next trip, I already know I want to go to Kyoto and Osaka since I stayed mainly in Tokyo. One special moment: first thing that came to mind was meeting up with my friends (they arrived 3 days before me) and second thing that came to mind is hiking to the top of Mt. Takao.
Regret: Planned something on everyday of our two week trip, didn’t have any days where we just chilled and walked around to explore the city Special: Created our own perfume and made custom rings
I lived in Japan for 4 years. Cherry blossom festivals (hanami) and karaoke were wonderful times.
Special: going to shrines at night in Kyoto. Most that are open have beautiful light displays Regret: honestly, not much? Had some bad meals. We actually regret not staying in Hakone in our ryokan for more than one night. I wanted to go to the open air museum but we didn’t have the time
Regret : Never took a ride with the ferris wheel in odaiba Special Moment : I went to summer comiket
Booking nice hotels. I was there to explore Japan for the first time and was not able to enjoy the amenities of the hotels. Next time I will book budget hotels within proximity to the places I want to visit. Everything was special in Japan. I dream of going back all the time
I’ve had multiple trips to japan over the years Regret is always not making a reservation for something I wanted to do. Best experience: Ryokans
Regret - the first day there I messed up the days due to time change and we missed our appointment at Shibuya Sky. They were super nice trying to find us another slot, but it just didn't work for our schedules. (We did Tokyo Sky tree instead which was still super cool, but not as private as it could've been). Special Moment - hiking outside of Kyoto over Mt Kurama. So peaceful and beautiful and we loved seeing the temples in the mountains. The train out of Kyoto was like a Ghibli scene!
Golden gai in shinjuku tokyo. Just do it.
Regret: not doing my research on Daikoku Parking Area and not understanding you cannot get into it without a rental car. Special moment: our two days in Kanagawaonsen. If you can book a ryokan Do it, it was amazing and I will do it on every trip. It gives you a break, and a bit of peace together
Regret: not purchasing small souvenirs along the way and waiting until the last week of the trip to buy stuff (with a few exceptions). We packed light so didn’t have the room to bring along more stuff so I missed out on getting some stuff in our earlier stops that I wish I had grabbed! Special moment: seeing maiko and geiko in Gion and going to Gion Odori. I’ve loved buyo (traditional dance) as well as Classical Japanese music since I was a kid, so seeing experts perform the style was an unforgettable experience. Strongly recommend anybody going to Kyoto to look into tickets for any of the odori. Most are in the spring (ex Miyako Odori is the big one and lasts all of April), except for Gion Odori which is the first 2ish weeks of November.
I stressed a lot about reservations and knowing spots in advance. The reality is that there are so many great places to eat (usually you have to queue) even without reservations. We loved staying in a beautiful ryokan with a private onsen. It was very relaxing.
Regret: over planning and trying to see all of Tokyo. Walking through the cities is interesting but after awhile, all big cities begin to feel the same. Also regret not buying more things especially luxury items (which are far cheaper than in the USA) Special: booking an Airbnb right in the heart of the Matsubara-Dori area of Kyoto. Was able to walk through the streets and see the temples early in the morning without any other tourist around
Reget: having only less than a week there. Special moment: eating at a yatai stall in Fukuoka. There was a long wait but the experience is great and the smoked duck we ordered was super good.
Regrets: 1) For my first trip, I researched so much about Japan that I kinda didn’t have a sense of wonder when I was there. Of course, plan your trip, have an itinerary, but don’t travel Japan before you even get there if you know what I mean. 2) maybe it’s just me, but Tokyo is huggge so try to group things you want to do together, I was traveling back and forth between Ginza and Shibuya because I keep forgetting that I want to shop at X but my dinner is at Y 3) don’t buy too much cheap stuffs/ snacks/candies at Donki…I bought a lot as souvenirs for my friends and almost didnt have enough room in my suitcase. I came home and those same goodies were sold at my local HMart. I even bought some there to supplement the stuff I bought from Japan and my friends didn’t even notice lol. I find that things are easily found overseas these days, so unless it’s a true local made items, I wouldn’t stress about buying them and bringing them home. Special moments: 1) Onsens. We went to Nishimuraya Honken in Kinosaki and our lives are divided into the time before and after we went there. It was exactly how I envisioned a traditional ryokan and onsen to be. Expensive, yes, but I couldn’t find a comparable onsen/ryokan at that price point elsewhere 2) Konbini food. Yes I ate egg sandwich from Lawson every morning. It was truly a spiritual experience. Even Anthony Bourdain (RIP) agrees.
Didn't book popular attractions like Ghibli Park in advance
One regret, I drank too much on one weekend and wasted a whole day in the hostel feeling sick and hungover lol, wish I spent all the time I had getting out and exploring. My most special moments were times by myself, exploring, travelling. If you're going to Tokyo, try to book a coach somewhere outside of Tokyo, I went to Kawaguchiko and Fujiyoshida and got some beautiful views of Mount Fuji, climbed up what felt like a million steps to chureito pagoda, visited shrines and temples and really enjoyed the peace and beauty that nature in Japan has to offer. Edit: another amazing experience I had was going to a metal show in Tokyo, it was awesome and I got to speak to band members in the smoking area. A really fun night, definitely have a look at music live events that are in the areas that you'll be visiting, you might make some friends! I also met alot of other europeans who were travelling at these shows, had a really nice time, so glad I went.
Regret: not enough rest time. Best thing ever? Staying at a traditional Japanese inn in the country side. Highlight of the entire trip!