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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Junekri on 2024-04-18 20:24:51.

A big thank you to all the help I got on this sub while planning! Keep in mind that this is just one experience, your mileage may vary with any of the suggestions made.

INFO ON US: Mid 30s, this was my third trip to Japan (previously 2017 & 2018), my husband’s first, and I picked the Kyushu spots because his only request was somewhere ‘off the beaten path’. Kyushu is amazing! This was by-far my best trip, although to be fair it was also our honeymoon.

The post went long so I split it into two parts, the first being the Kyushu leg and the second being the Tokyo one.

THINGS I WOULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY:

  • We spent 6 days in Kyushu and 7 days in Tokyo, I would have preferred to add two extra days to Yakushima and one day to Kagoshima and spent less time in Tokyo. I love Tokyo and am glad we went but it felt very overwhelming and expensive after our experiences in the South.
  • Flown directly to Tokyo and then flown Tokyo to Fukuoka instead of having a layover in Hawaii. The extra five hours of flying really killed us, and made both flights feel longer. I incorrectly thought Hawaii was ‘on the way’ because my grasp of geography is tenuous at best.
  • Utilized coin lockers at train stations. A few days we lugged our backpacks/shopping bags around only to realize at the end of the day that we could have easily ditched them.
  • This may be controversial, but researched and had more alternative options pinned for restaurants. The days I put ‘find something good in X area!’ were our most disappointing food choices.
  • Not been afraid of buses. My last trips I had significant issues with navigating them (couldn’t find the bus stop, got on the wrong bus, bus came at weird times) but this trip it was incredibly easy, especially with the IC card. I planned some activities around avoiding the bus which was unnecessary.
  • Picked a 10AM time slot for the Ghibli Museum, when I came at 12 it was packed
  • This is going to seem very obvious, but moved around less in Tokyo. I got stuck with an AirBNB reservation that I didn’t cancel quickly enough, but oh boy were we tried of our luggage by the end.

GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS YOU MAY HAVE HEARD BEFORE:

  • The IC card made riding trains and buses incredibly easy and no matter where you get your card it will work anywhere in Japan that IC cards are accepted.
  • While many places take card now it’s important to still have backup cash available
  • The Charles Schwab checking account travel card has no foreign transaction fees and reimburses ATM fees at the end of the month. I also got lucky and ordered about $500 worth of yen from my bank while the rates were really good. For us $1500 USD each was enough for food, transportation, and souvenirs
  • Google maps worked well everywhere except a few rural areas. You do, however, have to be mindful of what floor a store is on!
  • On prior trips AirBNBs were cheaper/more convenient than hotels but this time I found the reverse to be true.
  • Out motto before leaving was ‘take half the clothes and twice the money’. We had a backpack and smaller rolling bag each, the roller bag was about half-full of clothing. We brought 6 days worth of clothes and did laundry twice, I brought detergent slips to use.
  • I planned by putting pins on Google Maps on everything I heard might be cool/was recommended/I found reading other trip reports and from there created my itinerary based on proximity. I also labeled the pins with different icons (one for food, one for stores, one for shrines etc). I was glad to have a ton of options as it allowed us a lot of alternatives depending on our mood. The itinerary had one or two ‘must do’ items each day and the rest we decided impulsively
  • It was really helpful to know basic Japanese and I have a slight suspicion we got seated a couple times because I knew how to correctly indicate there were two in our party. I had taken a language course online, it was mostly helpful for numbers and simple interactions but still worth the time I put in.
  • Google Lens seems to have improved and would now translate hand-written menus, although mysteriously my husband would often get better results than me
  • Almost everyone we interacted with spoke enough English for us to reach understanding, when we couldn’t we used Google Translate. A lot of people seemed to have Google Translate already downloaded on their phones.

DAY 0: Fukuoka

We arrived in the evening and breezed through customs and immigration, I think maybe it took 15 minutes total? Definitely use the QR code, we got to skip the only longer line because of it. After picking up our Namoca cards (the local IC card) and our pocket wifi we opted to take a cab to the hotel as my husband contracted food poisoning at the Hawaii airport and was feeling as well as you’d expect after spending 10 hours in an airplane bathroom.

We stayed at the Nishitetsu Grand Hotel. Really great location and service but the rooms were a bit outdated and we could not control the air conditioning. This would become a theme at many of our hotels! Most were set at something like 75 degrees so we baked at night. This hotel at least had a notice on the thermostat, the rest just had controls that did nothing or would only let us turn off the air temporarily before automatically turning it back on.

When we checked in I inquired about forwarding our luggage to Kagoshima and the receptionist suggested we send it two days early, which was a bummer as it meant we had to take two days worth of clothing in our backpacks. Not a huge deal, but something to keep in mind if you’re planning on forwarding luggage.

For dinner we went to Torikizoku, a very cheap yakitori chain. There was a small wait and the food isn’t spectacular, but it’s inexpensive and easy after a very long flight and you don’t feel bad only ordering a few items. After dinner we withdrew money from the 7-11 ATM, grabbed snacks, and called it a night.

DAY 1: Fukuoka

Despite staying up until 9pm we woke up at 430am. We both felt too excited to sleep anymore and decided to just get up and get breakfast tonkotsu ramen at the 24-hour Ichiran flagship store. We leisurely meandered along the river stopping to take pictures of small shrines and temples, the streets of Fukuoka are very peaceful first thing in the morning. Ichiran was unexpectedly busy, with a line forming by the time we left. It ended up being our least-favorite ramen of the trip but is by no means bad, just very heavy.

After returning to the hotel to rest for a bit I started what would become my daily tradition of tracking down a coffee shop for caffeine. I was surprised to find that many did not open until 9 or 10. This morning I went to Manu Coffee, and my attempts to use my Japanese reading skills were thwarted by the barista very nicely flipping their menu over to the English side. It’s a cool shop with eclectic décor and one of the best coffees I had in Japan, I wish I had picked up some beans.

At 10AM we had an Airbnb tour of Hakata Temples and Shrines, which I highly recommend if you’re in Fukuoka. The tour is run by a retired couple who do this for fun, it was just the four of us going to various locations. They were knowledgeable, funny, and generally a great hang. We learned a lot and it was nice to have insight into temples and shrines for the remainder of our trip. If you only go to one temple in Fukuoka I recommend Tochoji Temple for the giant wooden Buddha. It was here I acquired my goshuincho and got my first stamp!

After the tour we went back to the hotel to forward our luggage (an incredibly easy process, we showed them the next hotel address and paid, they took care of the rest) before going to Canal City Hakata for shopping and the fountain show. The mall has neat architecture and the show was charming but I wouldn’t go out of the way for it. I’ll say that after shopping in Tokyo I appreciate how uncrowded and calm it felt!

Finally we had dinner at Tempura Hirao and drinks at Citadel. The food at Hirao was good but not amazing, although our rating might be biased from how tired we were. The portions were GIANT, the price affordable, but the best thing was discovering that we liked shiokara (salted squid). It’s appearance was a bit off-putting, slimy and grey, but it tasted amazing with lots of yuzu flavor.

Citadel was the real standout of the evening. They had a large selection of homemade liquor including truly bizarre flavors like Bolognese. The one picture I took that night shows a flight of Orange Gin, Lavender Gin, and Oolong Tea Gin; and they have things other than gin, that’s just my favorite liquor. I’m not sure if the bartender is always this friendly or just wanted to practice her English but we spent over an hour chatting and laughing with her before calling it a night. Sit at the bar if you can!

Step Count: 29,611

DAY 2: Dazaifu and Kurume

We managed to sleep until 6am and spent a relaxed morning enjoying children’s television, another staple of our trip. We often caught one that had various Rube Goldberg machines, there was another with puppets and stop motion animation that we enjoyed. My favorite from the trip was a segment that explained menstrual cycles, it’s nice that it’s destigmatized!

After packing and heading out I introduced my husband to the joys of warm vending machine drinks and the ease and convenience of the Japanese rail system as we navigated to Dazaifu for the day.

Our f…

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