This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Global-Ratio2442 on 2024-05-08 01:54:23.

EDIT Made a typo, trip was from MARCH 31 - April 13 :)

I’ve combed through hundreds of trip reports and itineraries for trip inspiration, so hopefully my trip report could come in handy for a few people! Happy reading!

Background and notes:

First trip to Japan with my boyfriend and our first international trip as a couple. Japan has been a top destination for both of us. I’m an avid planner who has lots of anxiety about things not going right, and I typically like to plan fully packed days while my boyfriends is more go with the flow and likes to take his time to relax and enjoy the sights. I tried my best to find a happy medium for the both of us and overall, we had an amazing trip! We both packed one smaller suitcase + one empty check-in & duffle bag and we came back with 5 suitcases (thank u donki for coming in clutch with the suitcases)

A lot of the things on our trip might seem like places that are touristy and overdone but we’re tourists! and it’s our first time here so we didn’t mind waiting in line or going to really crowded places to experience things once. (Although some places were super overcrowded and it did get a liiiittle overwhelming sometimes).

Also we were kinda sad thinking we would miss the cherry blossoms because the prior predictions stated that they were going to be done and over by end of March, but luck was on our side and we were right at the height of cherry blossom season! I’ve never experienced something like this and seeing all the trees covered in them is something I’d never forget.

Day 1 (May 31)

  • Travel day, landed in NRT around 2:30pm. The flight was uncomfortable and mediocre but once you get through customs and get into the bustling airport nothing matters, the trip was starting!
  • Couldn’t resist getting a gachapon and stopping by the Lawson’s that was in the airport terminal for a little teaser for what’s to come.
  • We had originally planned to take the bus to the city but the bus would have taken about 2hr30min to get to our hotel compared to around 1hr20min by subway. After the long flight, we’d much rather get to the city as soon as possible. (Protip! Download Suica on your phone and load the card so that you don’t have to wait in a long line to buy a subway ticket! We thought the Keisei Narita Skyaccess was a special line and we wouldn’t be able to use our Suica cards and we ended up waiting in line but the kind worker told us we could just head on in)
  • Checked in at the Hotel Celestine Tokyo Shiba, settled and rested up for a bit.
  • Headed to Ginza for a dinner reservation at Ginza Chikamitsu which is known for specializing in a Yakiniku course meal. It was pretty pricey but definitely worth it. The meat quality and service was amazing. They even gave us a pack of mints at the end lol.
  • Did some damage at Uniqlo & GU, with the Yen prices right now with the addition of tax free shopping I might have went a little crazy, bought around 15 pieces of clothing for less than 200 dollars which is still insane to me.

Day 2 (April 1)

  • First full day, jet lag didn’t hit us too hard and we woke up around 7AM to get ready and head to Tsukiji fish market.
  • Tsukiji Market Takeaways:
    • 10000% get the tamago if you think you’d enjoy sweet egg. My bf and I tried to share everything on this trip so that we can eat as much as we can but this is the one thing I would not share LOL.
    • UniTora - We got lucky with the line, only had to wait about 20ish? minutes. Uni was good, but honestly get the bowls with a variety of different fish because just uni + rice can get a little boring.
    • Definitely head over as early as you can, it got super crowded around 10AM
    • I know most people say Tsukiji is overrated but my bf and I liked this market the most compared to Nishiki(Kyoto) and Kuromon(Osaka).
  • Took the bus to head over to our reservation in Small Worlds. Highly recommend, you can spend a couple hours here just looking at all the exhibits and finding small and amusing things, it’s great to see all the hard work and detail that goes into everything.
  • Visited the Gundam in Odaiba afterwards, sad that the one in Yokohama closed right before our trip but this didn’t disappoint! The size was still massive and there were cherry blossoms blooming nearby. Spent a few hours in DiverCity Tokyo Plaza mall afterwards and did some more damage shopping.
  • Tsujihan for our next meal around 4pm, made the journey to the Akasaka Arks Hills Branch and no line! The restaurant was less than half full the entire time we were there. If Tsujihan is on your list this branch is your best bet for no line.

Day 3 (April 2) - Tokyo Disney Sea Day

  • Woke up at 6am, took a taxi over to Disney Sea because from where we were staying it would have taken over an hour (with like 3 different subway transfers) to get there and we’d rather just pay for convenience.
  • Got there around 8am, waited an hour in line as the park opened at 9am (they didn’t open early this day). The morning crowds were insane! Never seen such lines at the Disneyland in California.
  • Disney Sea Takeaways:
    • Use the Disney Resort App and make sure to take advantage of the free 40th Anniversary Pass. If you have the budget to buy the Premier passes, I’d suggest that too. If you do end up buying passes to almost all the rides then you might be done with the park pretty quickly, we didn’t end up spending the entire day there. Left around 6PM - skipped out on the night show cause we were cold and tired.
    • The only line we waited in was for Aquatopia and 2000 Leagues Under the Sea.
    • Bring a jacket! It gets super cold at night, I’m thankful we didn’t get sick from how cold we were towards the end of the trip.
    • Food + Snacks are super affordable, we got to try almost all the popcorn because they were like $2. But honestly, the food wasn’t as good as everybody hyped it up to be.
      • Some of our favorites were the Gyoza Bun, Shrimp Bun, Matcha White Chocolate Popcorn, and the curry set from the restaurant at the Arabian Coast.
    • All the rides feel super short? Especially Journey to the Center of the Earth. If I waited in that 2+ hr line I would have felt scammed.
    • Overall, the park was super cute and enjoyable. Great first experience, not sure if I’d find the need to come again.
  • Took a taxi to Asakusa to try out Nabezo cause we were craving hotpot after a cold night. Got turned away because they were full for the night and we didn’t have reservations. I don’t know how but we somehow braved a 1hr30min line for Gyukatsu Motomura that was right next door. Great dinner and we made friends in the line with a sweet older couple from Europe. Was the food as good as everybody hyped it up to be? Yes. Would I wait in a long line again? Maybe?

Day 4 (April 3)

  • Woke up around 9AM was able to take our time to get ready to head out to Ginza. It was rainy this day but not enough to deter our plans.
  • I really wanted to try out Ginza Godaime Hanayama Udon. I’m a sucker for flat noodles and I love udon so this was a priority for me. Didn’t make it to first seating as a line had already formed when we got there and we had to wait around an hour but by the time we got in the line was insane behind us! Get there as early as you can to avoid the lines. Food was amazing and I loved the texture of the noodles and the tempura was great as well. Loved both the dipping sauces for the noodles too.
  • After our meal we headed to Asakusa for more eating and exploring! Even with the rain Asakusa was crowded. Bf and I honestly really enjoyed Asakusa; the temples and shops were so fun for us to explore.
  • Best bite at Asakusa were the little kinako dango skewers that they served with a small cup of (amazing) matcha. I still dream about this. We tried the Creme Brulee Sweet Potato and Imo Pipi and it was good, but not amazing.
  • For dinner we headed to Manten Sushi Marunouchi for their famous affordable omakase. As a couple who enjoys omakase in the states, where the price is $$$$, we wanted to see how a cheaper Japanese omakase would fair in terms of taste and quality.
  • Honestly, pretty good, but it wasn’t anything mind blowing. If you’re someone who hasn’t had a lot of exposure to omakase I would say this is worth going to as you’re definitely getting your money’s worth and the quality is still really good. Also our sushi chefs spoke a good amount of english and were great! Super enjoyable and entertaining when handing our food.

Day 5 (April 4) - Kyoto Travel Day!

  • This was the day I was most anxious about, I had little to no idea about how the Shinkansen worked and I knew Tokyo Station was going to be crazy. We got to the station around an hour before our departure time and at first it was really overwhelming as we had no idea where to go and where our train was. We had to ask a worker and they kindly guided us towards where we needed to be.
  • Once we figured out where to go we were set, bought a few ekiben and snacks for the ride. Not sure if we just chose the wrong kinds but honestly the ekibens were mid…and cold, probably would have been better to eat onigiris or buy food elsewhere.
  • After arriving, we checked into our Hotel, Hotel Intergate, located off the main street of Kyoto but still close enough to Nishiki Market and other hot spots.
  • Speaking of Nishiki Market, that was our next destination. We were overall underwhelmed wit…

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1cmqma1/trip_report_14_days_tokyo_kyoto_osaka_from_may/