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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/lilyintx on 2024-03-29 13:55:01.

Reflection on trip to Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Osaka, Hakone, Tokyo.

Just got back! This was my 2nd trip (last trip March 2023) to Japan and we tried to visit more cities than last visit which was just Tokyo Osaka Kyoto and Nara.

This visit we did not get the Jr pass and just bought individual tickets for the Shinkansen and used our ic card. A recommendation for Shinkansen is go to the station, find the track you’re getting on, then buy tickets. Sometimes the stations are so big you could get lost in them, so I’m glad I never pre purchased tickets and had to rush. We bought some tickets (looked up the times before we left via google maps) 10 minutes before leaving and still could sit with my group- plenty of room! My feet never hurt I wore new balance 327 and used compression socks most days. I averaged about 18k steps per day and 10 flights of stairs. I’m not athletic at all and my feet killed me last visit- the right shoes matter. Also loved the ESim- we used Airalo which gave us 10gb over 30 days and I used it all almost. Cash is important to have as we found many restaurants only took cash. But if you don’t have enough cash move on to somewhere else, many places take card.

🌸We saw cherry blossoms all over Japan just not the full bloom.🌸

We flew into Fukuoka from the USA connecting at Haneda. This was by far the least touristy place of the entire trip. Staying near Hakata station, we loved the ease of travel visiting nearby places like Nanzoin temple and even taking the ferry to a few nearby islands. Within the city we did taxi frequently as the busses were not as fast or convenient. Our highlight was the SoftBank Hawks baseball game which is a much do if you’re in town during the season or preseason. We were by far standing out as the few tourists there. It was nice to not experience that craziness at the beginning of the trip. This is truly a peaceful and serene area. I highly recommend catching a ferry to Iki island or even taking the ferry to Busan if you have time. Tenza Hotel at Hakata station was our hotel, it was pretty good but no cleaning if you stay less than 3 days, they will replace towels though. I was ok with that. 2.5 days total there.

Next stop Hiroshima and we had to take the Hello Kitty Shinkansen! We got to Hiroshima and we stayed very close to the peace dome, which we found out has a ferry nearby that takes you from the canal to Miyajima Island. We arrived around 11am and stayed until 2pm walking around the island, visiting the temples, and waking down the shopping street which had beer, street food, and restaurants with delicious oysters. Back to Hiroshima and visited the peace park and sites around that area, then went into the shopping streets and left the next morning. The Knot Hiroshima was our hotel, highly recommend! Only one day here but I felt like we did a lot.

Kyoto is now becoming my favorite city, I love the look of the city and the culture. However the amount of tourists were insane. Almost ruined the trip! We stayed near Kyoto station and jumped back on the train to go to Yamazaki distillery for a tour and tasting. This was a major highlight as we are huge whiskey fans but it was a stressful experience to get tickets as it’s a lottery system. We got lucky and I can’t recommend this enough, you even get a chance to buy liquor at about $35 usd for a bottle- wow! Back to Kyoto and we went to several temples and shopping areas including Sannenzaka, Old Japan Starbucks, Nanenzaka, Kiyomiza Deru, Gion district and the big shopping streets nearby to visit the Nintendo store, loft, Uniqlo etc. All recommend. Nishiki market was a big letdown. The food was not that great and it was too packed. Loved seeing the Geishas and trying all the Matcha! Air bnb. Only 2.5 days here, I could have done more!

On to Osaka as we had tickets to the sumo tournament and that was our main reason to visit as I felt we had seen it all on our last trip. Sumo is just amazing to witness in person. We also went to Dontonburi, Shinsaibashi, Namba walk, and temples nearby. We loved the food in Osaka, but also had a disappointing time at Kuromon market, food has gone down in quality at most stalls. Air bnb. Only 2 days here and it was enough.

Mt Fuji on the Shinkansen is breathtaking I can’t imagine seeing it up close. I went to the larger window between cars to get better pictures!

Our next stop was Hakone to relax in the hot springs. They were so hot and truly rejuvenating. We didn’t want to spend $600 a night so we got a hotel and went to the day onsen where we rented a private onsen at Yuryo Hakone. Definitely worth it and 2 hours in a private room was the perfect amount of time. I felt rejuvenated and ready to finish our trip strong. Amazing food here at the pizza place -808 monsmare and sushi restaurant - nakamuraya. We stayed at Mirahakone right by the station and loved being able to walk the street - beware everything operates between 9am-5pm otherwise it’s a ghost town! Took the romance car straight to Shinjuku, it was a nice view, storage at the top but big luggage needs to go in the spot in between cars. One day only in Hakone, I could have stayed another day if I took a much longer trip.

Last stop was Tokyo where we split our 5 days into different neighborhoods. We were lucky enough to see some cherry blossoms at shinjuku gyoen and ueno park. We also visited the Gundam in Yokohama before it leaves which was a good experience possibly better at night, going up to the tower deck wasn’t worth it as you couldn’t see much, the view is better from the ground. We stayed at at Airbnb in shinjuku off the Yamamoto line. Shibuya sky is worth the stop but we had to buy tickets about 3 weeks in advance. I am a huge ghibli, Pokémon, Nintendo, hello kitty, dragonball nerd so we went to all those stores all over Japan and visited Bandai headquarters to get a picture with Goku. Sad we didn’t get ghibli museum or park tickets but oh well! I felt the stores were good compromises as every store has a different photo op. Ginza was my favorite neighborhood last visit but I think this visit I enjoyed Harajuku and Omotesando area the most for the shopping and cafes. We finally got into the amazing Uni restaurants at Tsukiji market and I highly encourage anyone who loves fish and uni to visit- Itadora Unitora. We also loved Ginza Bairin for their pork cutlets. A highlight meal was at T Nakameguro. Highest quality beef Ume, prepared as an omakase, truly mouth watering!

Overall I can’t wait to go back. I may have gone overboard on Japanese skincare and makeup, as well as matcha but I still didn’t get enough. What I would recommend is not to waste time or space buying all the snack souvenirs as they have them all at the airport, even the ginza or station speciality Tokyo bananas were at narita. You get them placed in duty free bags to take on the plane and you don’t have to worry about taking up space in your luggage. They also have so many other souvenirs that you can wait to buy everything until you get to the airport. Even the drugstore at the airport had all the beauty items, medicines and products you see on TikTok.

Side note: where can I order the delicious treats from Japan delivered to the US?