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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Pineapple__Squish on 2024-06-14 15:31:06+00:00.

In November 2023, I visited Japan for the first time, which was also my first solo trip and first trip in 6 years. I’ve wanted to go there for a long time, so I did a ton of planning and packed in a lot. I focused the trip on seeing and doing lots of interesting things, rather than relaxing, and it was AWESOME, hard to believe it wasn’t a dream. Itinerary summary: Tokyo, Nikko, Fujikawaguchiko, Kyoto, Osaka, Shimanami Kaido, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Ikeshima and back to Tokyo.

I had a low-mid (?) budget of AU$6000 for my 3-week trip (including flights), ended up under budget at AU$5200. Apart from one night at a ryokan, I spent the rest in small business hotels as I planned on being out all day anyway. I just looked for a private room, with its own bathroom and in a convenient location. It worked well for me. I got up early each morning, so I got to experience a lot of “overhyped” places without the usual crowds, they were all amazing and most were even peaceful! It was a pretty physically demanding itinerary, as I walked an average of 22k steps per day (up to 36k on one of the days!) and hiked up a few mountains. Not everyone is that crazy, but it seems lots of walking is inevitable in Japan.

I’ve been learning Japanese on and off for a few years, but I’m still pretty bad (around N4 level), so it helped with getting around, ordering food etc., but I rarely got to make conversation with anyone unfortunately. Speaking was pretty overwhelming at first, but I got the hang of it and every successful interaction I had in Japanese made me so happy.

Best things

• Food – The food was consistently delicious. I had a big list of things I wanted to try, and managed to try almost all of them, but I didn’t really plan any specific restaurants. The food was also much cheaper than I expected, but I do regret not splashing out a few times on a fancy wagyu and kaiseki dinner. My favourites were the simple egg sandwich from 7-11, and conveyor belt sushi places, pretty good quality, allows you to try lots of things without committing to a full dish, and surprisingly cheap. Pocari sweat was also a favourite.
• Trains & Stations – To some, they may just be a means of transport, but riding trains across this country was a continual highlight for me. Seeing a shinkansen fly past your station at full speed is unforgettable. I also really appreciated the train stations, while rather intense, they are well signposted and I could always quickly find my platform (finding the way out is another story…). In Tokyo, the train screens even show where the stairs/escalators are relative to your train door!
• Convenience stores – they’re so convenient… who would’ve thought? Food is high quality considering the price and all 7-11s have ATMs. Really missed them when I came back home.
• Days – My favourite days of the trip were the Nikko, Fuji, Ikeshima and Fushimi-Uji-Nara days, as well as the Shimanami Kaido and flight from Nagasaki to Tokyo. In general, I really liked the “themed” day trips, rather than doing a bunch of different stuff around the city.
• JR Pass – Saved me a lot of money, but also gave me a good reason to venture further out, which were my favourite moments. Very easy and satisfying to use, but sadly even min-maxing it is no longer worth the money after the price increase.
• Favourite city – Osaka, not really sure why, I just loved all the suspended roads and seeing Osaka castle on a quiet crisp morning made me want to live there. Tokyo was my next favourite, endless things to do, and really nice green spaces nestled amongst the skyscrapers. Kyoto was my least favourite, annoying to get around and very touristy, still beautiful and worth the visit.
• Favourite temple/shrine – Nikko Toshogu, honourable mentions: Byodo-in, Todaiji, Daisho-in and Kousanji. They all had something unique about them.
• Favourite adventure – Ikeshima
• Favourite garden – Koko-en in Himeji
• Favourite castle – Osaka castle (didn’t go inside though)
• Favourite restaurants – Kaitensushi Sakae in Osaka and Okonomiyaki Nagata-ya in Hiroshima.
• Favourite viewpoints – Shiratakiyama observatory, Inasayama observatory, and Shibuya Sky

Bad things

• Unplanned days – I left some days free of plans, following most advice given here, but personally these were my least favourite days by far. I didn’t really know what to do so I’m interested in how other people go about filling these kind of days (I don’t like shopping).
• Leg pain – I did too much walking on the first two days, and my hips and ankles suffered because of it. There is a lot of uneven/gravel paths at temples and it was hard to find places to sit down, especially in Tokyo, so I was standing most of the day. In hindsight, I should’ve gone back to my hotel to get off my feet for a bit. I was fine after the first week though.
• Tourists – Other foreign tourists were quite annoying at times, blocking paths and being loud. Can’t do much about it, but it was a shame given how considerate most Japanese people were.
• Some hotel bathrooms – I knew when booking that my hotels were going to be small, and I was fine with them for the most part. However, two of them were just too small, where I was banging my elbows on the walls, the toilet was about 80% the length of a normal one and I couldn’t close the shower curtain because the sink was in the way lol.
• Nagasaki buses – The opposite to all other transport I experienced in Japan, so dumb. Two buses can have the same final destination and the same bus number on the front, but take two completely different routes to get there. Be careful with these if you can’t read Japanese, the trams are much easier.

General Observations

• I didn’t need to get up as early as I thought to beat the crowds, a number of popular places were relatively quiet until around 9am. I still recommend waking up as early as you can though.
• Everything is massive! I was worried that by doing so much planning I would not be surprised by anything, but almost everything is far bigger and better in person.
• Japan has small interesting things around every corner. I’ll be in some shopping street, then boom, a random shrine or sculpture. Very different to where I live. Even in the literal sense, each corner/turn on the road down from Chuzenji (Nikko) had it’s own name and image on a sign! Also lots of cool artworks and designs on manhole covers.
• I kept coming across stores with the same souvenirs and foods everywhere I went, even multiple times on the same street. It felt like a video game with re-used shop prefabs. There definitely are unique items so I would hold off on souvenir shopping until you’ve seen what’s around.
• Love the sound crows make in Japan
• Japan doesn’t mess around with their rivers and canals.
• Everyone is very fashionable and there were tons of people wearing suits, even the uniforms of primary school kids were adorable and impressive.
• People stare a lot less than back home, even though I’m a foreigner
• Still a lot of smokers, especially in Osaka.

General Advice

• Language – I haven’t seen it recommended before, but if you want to learn a bit more than the usual basic words, you could learn how to read katakana (writing system primarily used for foreign words). Duolingo’s “characters -> katakana” section should be sufficient for this. It won’t help with speaking, but there is a surprising amount of English in Japan, it’s just written with different characters (kind of). It can also explain some funny mistranslations, like this sign I found. Don’t fret though, you can get by with just English and hand gestures in most places.
• IC Card – There were massive lines for paper tickets at places like Kawaguchiko station, and you just skip them all with an IC card. I think they still sell Toica cards at Tokyo Station.
• Eki stamps – I collected 33 eki stamps over the trip, they can be pretty hard to find, and I felt a bit self-conscious looking for stamps amongst hundreds of people commuting to their jobs, so I mostly just got ones that I stumbled across. This site seems to be the best source for finding them (not all in English though). I probably won’t collect any more next time.
• Navitime – I used Google Maps a lot and it worked most of the time, but I found Navitime to be much more reliable in giving me specific platform and train numbers where google was vague.
• Telephoto lens – I’m no photographer, but I really liked all the photos I took with the telephoto (or 3x zoom) camera on my phone, they just feel more intimate and intentional (some examples). I found the opposite is true for the wide-angle lens, fits more in but the photos look meh.
• Abroad in Japan – Got a lot of inspiration from his YouTube videos, especially Ikeshima and the Shimanami Kaido, also just fun to watch.
• Ranking of physical difficulty (hardest to easiest) – Shiratakiyama hike (with bike), Mt Misen hike, Shimanami Kaido cycle, Arashiyama monkey park hike, Fushimi Inari hike.

Advice for Maximising Your Time

• Wake up early (5:30 - 7am) – one of the best things I did, especially in late autumn and winter when the…

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