So I'm going to be trying something different here, something I've been wanting to do but just wasn't sure how good I would be at it since it's not something I've done before. I guess you never really know until you try, so that's what I'm going to do... try. I'm just going to go over my trip/memories and give some recommendations based on what I experienced.
Travel is one of my favorite things to do, probably just below playing music which is my favorite thing to do. It's always been a dream of mine to see as much of the world as possible while I still can, a pretty expensive dream, but a dream nevertheless. I was lucky enough to have lived in Europe when I was younger and I was able to see a lot of pretty cool things in those years. I only wish I had been old enough to really appreciate the places I went to, not that I didn't find them fascinating but just that I feel like there are a lot of aspects I missed because I just didn't fully understand the position I was in. Moving back to the states, years would go by before I would be able to do that kind of thing again. In 2018 I found myself in the position to be able to travel again, and there was only one place I knew I had to go to. That place is Japan. A place I was fascinated by since I was a little kid. The flight was bought, and it was time to get ready.
Japan is a truly amazing place, one that I recommend to pretty much anyone. I really feel like there's something for everyone in this country. There's a ton of history to explore in this country, literally thousands of years of culture and stories that are waiting to be seen. It didn't take long for this place to win me over, just a day or two into my trip and I knew I was going to miss it once I left. My first trip to Japan was in September, I used the extra day off I had with Labor Day so I could stay a day longer there. It's not the best time to fly out to Japan, the flights aren't going to be cheap. It seems like the cheapest time to fly out might be March and April, around the time the Cherry Blossoms in Japan start to come out. The good thing about going in September though was how cheap the hotels were. Even a really nice hotel was affordable for me at that time, while in March it was a little over double the price for the same exact room. Also, the location was perfect right in Tokyo just a walking distance from lots of tourist attractions, and right next to the subway.
Tokyo has two major airports you'll be flying into, which are Haneda and Narita. Haneda is right in the center of Tokyo, so you'll have a lot less travel time to the city from there, while Narita is about 40+ minutes outside of the city and is a little harder to get to (but not too bad). I highly recommend getting a Japan Rail Pass which lets you ride a lot of the major rails in Japan (even the Bullet Trains) for 7,14 or 21 days as many times as you need. Also worth getting a Prepaid IC card for public transportation that you just scan and not have to buy individual tickets every time you need to travel around the city. It's also a good idea to carry around some Yen on you while you travel through Japan. Most places, especially in the cities, will accept cards but every now and then you might run into a situation where you need the physical currency. 100 Yen is equal to about 76 cents more or less, but I always just rounded up to 1 dollar to make it easier.
I ended up staying at an APA hotel, which is a pretty popular chain in Japan. I will say the rooms in Japan are pretty tiny unless you want to spend a lot more to get some extra space. My room was for a max of two people, but I think if there had been someone else with me there, it might have been a little uncomfortable. Something to think about if you aren't flying solo. The area I stayed in was Asakusa, which I recommend if you want to stay in a part of Tokyo that's a little more chilled out. Plenty of fun things within walking distance, including the Tokyo Skytree where you can get amazing visuals of the city day or night. Also not too far from the Disney parks if you are going there. If you want a little more of the Tokyo madness then maybe check out hotels in the Shibuya and Akihabara areas.
Day 1
Tokyo is a huge city with a ton of things to do. You could honestly spend a whole week in the city and have something new and exciting to do every day. Tokyo is separated into many different sections all with some awesome things to check out and different vibes. So naturally, my first stop was... just outside the city. Being a huge Studio Ghibli fan I knew the first thing I wanted to see was the famous Ghibli Museum on the edge of Tokyo. It's well worth the trip if you're a fan of the movies, though I'll; admit you'll probably only spend an hour there unless you plan on eating at the overpriced restaurant there with some long wait times. This is probably a good time to say that I used google maps a lot during my trip, it tells you exactly what rail lines to board and when as well as any changes you need to make. Public transportation takes some getting used to, but it's incredibly convenient and surprisingly clean and quiet. Japanese people are incredibly respectful and keep it quiet on the buses and trains at all times to not bother each other, so it's good to follow suit. Also, I got by with very little knowledge of the Japanese language. I knew a dozen phrases or so to get by, mostly common courtesy and a few questions if I got lost.
*The internet on my phone was pretty hit or miss but worked well enough to get by. If you need something more reliable it's worth looking into renting a pocket wi-fi to keep with you on the trip.
My next stop was Akihabara, which is a must-stop for any fans of Japanese pop culture. Lots of shops for anime, gaming, and music around this area along with some great arcades. I really recommend coming here at night if you want to fully experience the cool lights and sounds of the area, but still pretty cool during the day. I spent the rest of the day checking out shops and playing some arcade games. I was trying to save money on food, so I didn't go to a lot of the best restaurants in the area. There's a cool Final Fantasy restaurant in the area I hope to check out in the future. Thankfully there's plenty of good food around Japan that won't destroy your wallet. I stopped by Coco Ichibanya, which is a curry chain that's good and inexpensive. Also shoutout to 7-Eleven in Japan for lots of cheap meals that are actually pretty decent for a convenience store. If you're like me and want to save money on your food budget, stopping at a Japanese convenience store is great for some snacks and meals. They even heat the meals right at the store if you don't have a microwave in your hotel or want to eat right away. A convenience store named Lawson has some fried chicken that I couldn't stop eating, so there's that.
Day 2
After my first day in Tokyo, I headed over to Yokohama for the day. Yokohama is a big city on its own, worthy of a day trip from the big city of Tokyo. I headed first to the big mall called World Porters which is a nice place if you like shopping at unique stores for some gifts and souvenirs. There are also a ton of choices for food there, no chains, all local. Right next door is a small theme park called Cosmoworld that has a few coasters and the famous Ferris Wheel that lights up at night, each ride costs less than 900 Yen a ride (around 3-6 dollars). Just across the street from the mall and park is the Cup Noodles museum, which is pretty popular with tourists. It's only 500 Yen for the main tour, free for kids. A fun way to spend 2 hours especially if you have kids.
The last thing I saw in Yokohama was the Chinatown there. Not too far from the area I was just talking about, just a 25-minute walk is all. Okay maybe that's a little far, but there are some nice views of the port along the way and the city is just nice to walk around. It's well worth the walk, but you can always take a cab if you need to save energy. Chinatown in Yokohama is a cool spot with lots of interesting vibes and views. You'll totally want to see one of the big gates at the entrance, depending on what direction you come in from. And of course some good food in the area that's pretty cheap.
(Entrance to the arcade)
On my way back to my hotel in Tokyo I stopped at Kawasaki to check out one of Japan's biggest arcades Anata No Warehouse. It's a giant building, a little out of the way from anything else of interest, with multiple stories of arcade games, slots, cranes, and gambling. Sadly it closed a year after my visit so it's not a stop anyone can make anymore. Pretty sad because it had a really cool design and atmosphere, but I suppose it wasn't enough to bring in steady customers.
Day 3
(Fish full of cheese. As fish normally are)
A day trip to Kawagoe, a small town less than two hours on the rail from Tokyo. A really cool place to spend a day, as it has a mix of Edo-period buildings with some modern businesses around. This is the kind of place you'll be taking a lot of pictures because of how interesting everything looks. Great place to shop with lots of little carts selling great street food. There's even a Starbucks in an Edo-period style in the center of the town, right next to an old clock tower.
Day 4
Woke up early to walk around Asakusa where I was staying. It's a really nice area to stay in because for me it was pretty quiet most of the time and there's actually plenty to see around there. Mainly the famous Sensoji Temple that has a giant beautiful gate at the front called Kaminarimon. Right outside this gate is a long stretch of road full of shops that open up later in the day, really fun to check out and great for souvenirs and gifts if you're looking for any. From there you can cross the river where you can see the big Skytree tower and the Asahi Beer building and brewery. A good place to maybe stop by and rest, get a drink before you head to the Skytree to get the best views of Tokyo from above. Or if you're like me and don't really drink and are kind of a nerd, you can stop by the Kirby Cafe for some adorable, yet tasty meals right underneath the Skytree.
Later in the day I headed to the center of Tokyo, Chiyoda City. Admittedly not the most exciting place in the city, but still worth a visit just to see the famous Hie Shrine. It might be better to come early to see this area when it's not busy and you can take good pictures alone. The rest of the area is a lot of government buildings including the National Diet and Library buildings. A 2km walk away from the Shrine is the Imperial Palace, which is a pretty area to walk around but not a place I spent very much time in. They do also have free tours if you want to head into the garden area.
Day 5
Headed south from Asakusa into DiverCity. Get it? Diversity? I Don't know. But DiverCity is a big tourist area across the Rainbow Bridge. I promise you all of these things are real. There you will find a couple different malls and the big Fuji TV tower. It's actually a really cool-looking area, not just for shopping but that is the main draw here. There are a lot of great photo spots here like the aforementioned Rainbow Bridge, a giant life-size Gundam statue, the Tokyo skyline, and the Statue of Liberty. Yep. There was also a free Toyota car museum that was pretty interesting, but it looks to be closed now sadly. Inside the mall though, there's a giant Gundam store that sells tons of replicas and models, I bought a few to take back home.
Later on, I took the trains to the Shibuya area of Tokyo, where all the cool hip teens hang out, so you know... not me. It's a great place to feel the more modern culture of Tokyo, with more shopping and fashion around the area. There's of course the famous crosswalk and the Shibuya 109 shopping that's great for anyone who wants to get some Japanese clothing brands to take home. It wasn't my favorite stop, but still well worth visiting the area once. If you go further north of Shibuya you can also see Meji Jinhu, which is a really beautiful shrine surrounded by a nice park.
Day 6 & 7
Leaving Tokyo and taking the bullet train to Kyoto. It's only a two-and-a-half-hour trip to get all the way to Kyoto, which is pretty amazing. This is where your Japan Rail Pass really comes in handy as it includes the trip to Kyoto, though I recommend booking it in advance at the Tokyo station (it was one of the first things I did when I arrived in Tokyo). The next day and a half was spent exploring the city of Kyoto. It's a totally different vibe than Tokyo, as you can spend more time here diving into Japan's history. There are a ton of temples and shrines in the area to visit, all just a walk away from each other. I chose to just walk the whole city, which was probably not the best choice since it ended up being many many many miles. I was dead at the end of it all. Most of the historical places you can visit require an entry fee but it's usually like 500 Yen or less. There's also a really nice art museum I stopped at to get a break from the outdoors, well worth checking out if you like that sort of thing.
Kyoto is an amazing city, I only regret that I didn't put more time into seeing it. A day and a half was enough to see all the popular stops, but not enough to really take in everything I wanted to see. Sadly I missed out on the Monkey Park where you literally get to hang out with monkeys right next to you. I'll definitely go there next time. My hotel was right in the middle of the city, a HOTEL UNIZO. Not as nice as the APA chains, but still great for the price at the time.
Day 8
Just a short 20-minute bullet train ride away from Kyoto is Osaka (Japan Rail Pass eligible), another huge city with tons of things to do. This is the place I want to go back to the most because I feel like I barely scratched the surface with just one day here. Right from the station, I headed to Osaka Castle, which is probably the most famous historical spot in the city. Not only do you get a lot of great history, but some fantastic views from the balcony of the castle. The area surrounding the castle is stunning to look at, I imagine even more so when the cherry blossoms are there. It costs 600 Yen to enter the castle itself and climb the tower. Sadly the inside of the castle wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be. It's been turned into a very modern museum on the inside. It's still worth checking out as there's interesting history in there and as I said before, great views of Osaka.
My final stop was Shinsaibashi-Suji Shopping Street, which was one of the highlights of my trip. This is a long stretch of road full of what must be a hundred shops or more. It's got everything you could really want from great food to souvenirs. It's an amazing-looking place with lots of charm and great vibes. It all leads to this fantastic area full of quirky signs and shops selling amazing food and a great view across the river. It's one of my favorite spots in all of Japan for sure. One last stop at Don Quijote's to buy a bunch of Japanese candy to take back home with me, a popular chain store around Japan where you can pick up lots of snacks. This is a great area to try out some Kobe Beef or some Ramen like I did to not break the bank.
There is actually an international airport in Osaka, so if you want to fly out from there instead of having to travel all the way back to Tokyo you can. Though I can never find any cheaper flights that go there myself and when I do they usually have an unappealing schedule (like a long really layover in another city). The one time I found one for around 700 USD, it had an extremely long layover in China.
Finale
If I could change one thing I think I would spend a little less time in Tokyo and a little more time in Osaka and Kyoto both. It's pretty hard though because there's so much to see in Tokyo that even those extra days I spent there weren't enough to see everything I wanted to. But I got a great mix of historical and modern Japan. The thing about this country is that it's got so much to offer outside of the big cities that it truly needs a month of vacation time to really see it all. But if you're like me and only have about 8-9 days this was a great way to see the county for the first time. It definitely wasn't the last time.
Nice information and wonderful pictures ❤️
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