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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Neoncloudff on 2024-07-25 20:52:11+00:00.
GIGANTIC POST INCOMING!
I was blessed with the rare opportunity to take my first legit big boy vacation with three other friends to explore Japan for the very first time. We departed on 6/26 and returned on 7/19 (yes, we were smack dab in the middle of all the Crowdstrike stuff leaving Japan and it SUCKED), for a total of 24 days in the country. It was absolutely magical and as I write this I am crying a bit - Japan is honest to goodness the best place I’ve ever visited and am already trying to figure out when I can visit again ASAP.
This trip came with a lot of challenges, and I want to share the various learns and esoteric tips that we found to be insanely helpful! Feel free to ask me any questions - the little things are always the trickiest to get a clear answer on from randoms online, and with the trip this fresh in my mind I’m happy to share anything that can help your trip be amazing!
I’ll break down our journey into three sections:
- Building the trip of our dreams
- Itinerary and recommendations from our adventures
- Tips and Tricks!
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Creating the Trip:
- The idea of going to Japan has been a long time desire for each member of our group, and we really began to plan in earnest a year before the trip began (June 2023).
- We originally used Google Maps and a shared group to start plotting locations/restaurants/attractions we wanted to go see and do.
- We later found out about Wanderlog, which is an outstanding collaborative tool especially if you’re going as a group. You can create custom categories that helps keeps things organized, add costs and notes to each place, create an explicit day to day itinerary, and so on. We moved all our Google Maps locations to there and never looked back.
- We met as a group for an hour each week to work on the trip via Discord. Consistency is key!
- For our trip, we blocked out a chunk of days for each city and then filled in the rest with food/activities, focusing on exploring a different part of a city each day. This really helps to focus people on what to do and where we were.
- Once we settled on the dates for our trip, we bought our plane tickets in December 2023 (roughly six months out). We flew United, IAD -> SFO -> KIX (Osaka). Flying back: HND (Tokyo) -> ORD -> IAD (original plan, 2024 Crowdstrike outage made an absolute mess of our travels back to the States). Plane tix round trip were $2273.
- This was my first international trip in a long time, so a few things about flying in and out of the country as US citizen:
- As of 6/26/2024, we did not need a Visa.
- Get the boring stuff like passport and Real ID out of the way early. You’ll thank yourself later.
- Flying to Japan with a Domestic connection was super easy. Checked bags were automatically routed to KIX after our flight out of SFO.
- Once at KIX, Customs and immigration was so simple. Do the Visit Japan Web immigration declaration prior to arrival to make things super quick. Customs and immigration took 10 minutes at KIX, totally painless.
- Once we had lodgings and plane tickets locked in the reality of the trip really started to sink in and people started participating more actively in the trip planning process.
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Itinerary
While I love simply exploring a brand new place, having a mix of structured activities on some days in combination with “free” days worked well to discover the unexpected while also hitting the “must do” stuff. Below is our whole itinerary with brief remarks for each place (and time estimations for places!)
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June 26 -> June 27
Travel Day to Japan! Plane landed 2:50 PM local time, which really worked well since it takes some time to get bags, get oriented, get some cash and IC card, and make your way to your lodging. It forced us to stay awake until about 9 PM or so.
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June 27 -> July 1st - OSAKA
Lodging:
June 27 - Land in Osaka, check in, and explore close by.
Lodging for us was really close to Dotonbori, which took about 1.5 hours with our bags on the train from KIX. We hit up a Matsuya beef bowl shop for dinner before we crashed. Our first proper meal: Dirt cheap and delicious.
June 28 - Wander around Osaka, soak in the sights and sounds
Explored Dotonbori in earnest, discovered the wonders and delights of Don Quijote, went to the Osaka Pokemon center, had 511 Horai pork buns, bought games and trading cards at EdiOn, discovered how much we loved Gacha! Really got immersed in the city and it was delightful!
June 29 - North Osaka - Osaka Castle, Umeda Sky building
Osaka Castle (4 hours) was delightful - take your time to read about its incredible history. Gorgeous views and lots of energy here. We ended up at a mall by Osaka Station to get some lunch and cool off, then went to Umeda Sky Building (3 hours) an hour or so before nightfall. Incredible views and seeing the city at night is breathtaking.
June 30 - Minoh Park, Cup Noodle Museum, and Kobe for Dinner
Took the train up to Minoh Park, got a delicious breakfast at . Took the leisurely hike up to Minoh Falls (3 hours) which was gorgeous. Hiked back down and took the train to the Cup noodle museum (2 hours). The factory was chaotic but fun, and the museum part was small but still worth going to. Then we took the train to Kobe and went to Royal Mouriya for an exquisite dinner to experience A5 beef (2 hours). Highly recommended. Pricey!
July 1 - Osaka Aquarium AM, Osaka Explore PM
Osaka Aquarium (3 hours) has tons to see, the main tank with whale sharks is awesome. It was a rainy day so maybe a bit more packed than usual. Came back to Dotonbori area, got some food at an izakaya (tablet ordering), and wandered the city before it started pouring buckets.
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July 2nd -> July 8th - KYOTO
Lodging
Hotel in Kyoto - , 384 Kawaranochō, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, 604-0837, Japan
July 2 - Train From Osaka to Kyoto, then keep it local
Took local trains to Kyoto and checked into our hotel. Spent the day wandering about, finding cool places to eat and visit. Walked down the Kamo river in twilight, utterly beautiful. Got Gyoza at a little itty bitty place, cheap and absolutely delicious.
July 3 - Kyoto Wander Day - Shopping, eating, and soaking in Kyoto sights
The Nintendo Kyoto store was one of the nicest licensed stores I’ve ever been in. Hit up Nishki Fish Market for local eats, a local video game store, then headed towards Gion but got distracted by a hike at dusk at Yasaka Shrine. One of the most serene places we found!
July 4 - Biking around Kyoto, Nijo castle, Kamo River Soak, burgers!
One of our group twisted an ankle and another got heat exhausted from the day prior, so me and another group member rented ebikes as a spur of the moment idea. This was INCREDIBLE. Kyoto is lovely to bike around, and we really got explore so much more than just walking. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. We rented from Kon’s Bicycle, a chain in Kyoto. We went to Nijo Castle (it was HOT) but definitely worth going for the historical significance. We biked around the suburbs of Kyoto and found a lovely small cafe stuck in an alley, then made our way to the Kamo river and soaked our feet. Maximum refreshment. It was July 4th in Japan time, and as Americans we were craving burgers. We met as a group at Upit Burgers in Kyoto. Put so many American burgers to shame honestly. Terrific staff and insanely good onion rings. Vibes were on point!
July 5 - Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, Jojakkoji hike, Kyoto Backstreets
Got up super early to get the Bamboo forest before the crowds. While small, definitely worth visiting. Beautiful landscapes and is a great break in the shade. We then just decided to wander and went on a temple hike at Jojakkoji. Quiet, away from tourists, really beautiful and most covered in trees and lush foliage. Wandered our way back after some curry and took the train back to chill out the rest of the day.
July 6 - Nara, Todai-ji, and legit Katsu
Took the train to Nara (about an hour) and fed the deer! We half expected this place to be swarmed by tourists, but after you make your way deeper into the park things thinned out nicely. Genuinely fun to feed the polite deer. PRO TIP - Stick the senbei crackers that you feed the deer in your armpit and show empty hands to curious deer. They will ignore you (mostly) if they don’t see anything in your hands! Started wandering about and ended up at Todai-ji, which was just stupendous. The larger than life sculpture gave me chills. Had some legit Katsu at a local joint for lunch as well, absolutely delicious. Also we got some McDonald’s late at night. The Japanese menu was unique, but otherwise it was mostly mid.
July 7 - Matcha morning at Ippodo, Kyoto Pokemon Center, Fushimi Inari Taisha
Went to Ippodo as a group to get legit Matcha for the first time (at least for me). It was intense but definite…
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