I am admittedly a bit late with this trip report. As I sat at my desk reminiscing about the trip I decided now is better than never. To preface,...
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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/TheRealMallowpuff on 2024-09-07 06:00:17+00:00.

I am admittedly a bit late with this trip report. As I sat at my desk reminiscing about the trip I decided now is better than never.

To preface, this trip was me and my sister with a second sister joining around the midpoint. The goal was following the fall colors from Sapporo to Kyoto. I used this post as some inspiration for formatting.

I’d love to do a day by day report but it would literally be like 15 pages long.

Cities Visited in chronological order with summaries added to save space:

Haneda Airport - Kawasaki King Skyfront - 1 Night

  • A lot of people recommend not staying near Haneda and instead going straight to Tokyo, I think it’s definitely a time thing. If you have the time, stay near Haneda. The plane ride is exhausting, we hopped out and were in a Hotel within 20 minutes of leaving the airport. For us it was a question of stay near Haneda or fly straight to Sapporo, we were definitely glad to have stayed one night.

Sapporo - Villa Koshido Odori - 5 Nights

  • I don’t know if Sapporo is really underrated but it can’t be overstated how nice it is. It may be my favorite city we visited, and I am not even really sure why. It has big city vibes without being overwhelming. It’s laid-back but there is still plenty to do. Susukino is very busy at night, if you’re looking for nightlife you wont be disappointed. I can’t recommend Sapporo enough. A few places we went and really enjoyed:

Otaru - Hotel Torifito - 1 Night

  • Otaru was very enjoyable and was somewhere we wished we had gotten a second night. It’s beautiful, great food, and just relaxing. The canals were very nice, especially at night. We had some of the best Sushi we had in Japan here.

Hakodate - HakoBA Hakodate - 2 Nights

  • Hakodate was nice. It’s a beautiful city with some fantastic attractions. Outside of the well-known views, there’s not a lot to do. Also, I know this is very hypocritical, but this is the first time we noticed fellow tourists being frustrating. Before this there were very few tourists and nothing that stood out. Here there were a few instances of tourists being arrogant or disrespectful. Nothing super egregious just noticeable. Either way, I can recommend Hakodate for a short stay. Highly recommend checking out Mt. Hakodate, A few of the nice things in the area we visited:

Aomori - Super Hotel - 1 Night

  • Aomori and Akita were specifically picked because of the Resort Shirakami. With that said, we were pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed Aomori. We especially enjoyed the Nebuta museum and the morning market. I think it was my favorite of the seafood markets, and possibly my favorite breakfast.

Akita - Richmond - 1 Night

  • We didn’t have much time in Akita so I don’t have a lot to say about Akita specifically. I really liked the design of the Station however. Instead I will take this point to talk about the Resort Shirakami. It is definitely in the top 3 things we did in Japan. Many of the views were downright breathtaking, It was almost 5 hours long, from 1PM to 7PM ish. The last hour or so was after nightfall. It really was amazing. Fall is definitely the off season so the train was pretty much empty. This was fantastic, except the bar was closed which was a bit of a letdown. I know I’ve said this a couple of times throughout this report but I really can’t recommend it enough if you can be in the area at the right time.

Morioka - AirBNB - 1 Night

  • We didn’t pick Morioka instead we picked the AirBNB and it happened to be in Morioka. With that said, like Aomori, we enjoyed the city for sure. The downtown area was unique and quite interesting. The best thing without a doubt was Koiwai farm, which is right near. I am not sure I ever saw it mentioned in my research before the trip but it was great. Awesome views, ice cream, and pizza!

Sendai - Almont Hotel - 5 Nights

  • We picked Sendai as a break from the non-stop traveling before and as a gateway to Tashirojima. The moving around so much above wasn’t as taxing as we were expecting but it was still very nice to have 5 days in one spot again. Sendai itself was nice and the first “big-city” feel since Sapporo. Actually it felt much busier than Sapporo. Great food choices and lots to do in the area. Matsushima Bay was fantastic as well, it was great being so close so we could go multiple times. Some of things we did are listed below.

Tashirojima - Manga Ai-land - 1 Night

  • Tashirojima was one of the places I found early in my research and just had to go. I saw some mixed opinions with some people saying the cats were in rough shape and not to go if you like cats. I decided to give it a shot after seeing a lot of people rebut these claims. I am happy to say it was absolutely fantastic and one of my favorite places I visited in Japan. The cats around the two restaurants were well cared for and seemed to be quite happy. At the end of the day they are obviously fully outdoors with relatively little care, but the residents do their best to keep them all healthy and happy. The island itself was an experience. It is almost entirely abandoned with only a handful of residents remaining. All of the structures are still there, it is eerie to say the least.
  • Manga Ai-land itself was nice. The cabins are cute and cheap, the staff was helpful, the amenities were the bare minimum but they were there.

Yamagata - Daiwa Roynet - 1 Night

  • There is not a whole lot in Yamagata outside of Yamadera which is why we were there. We enjoyed Yamadera but the stairs are rough if you’re not in good shape. I won’t lie, I almost gave up a couple of times. I made it all the way up though, and the view was worth it.

Fukushima - Sankyo Hotel - 1 Night

  • We really just stopped in Fukushima because we needed to use a day before our AirBNB. We didn’t plan on doing a whole lot and we didn’t do a whole lot.

Aizuwakamatsu - AirBNB - 3 Nights

  • There is a lot to do here if you enjoy the sights and history. We stayed in a little AirBNB where we had a delicious homemade breakfast everyday which made the experience even better. They have a great bus system where you get a pass and it will bring you to every attraction with endless reruns. Some of the many things we checked out are listed below.

Hitachi - The Square - 1 Night

  • Hitachi is the sister city of our hometown which is why we decided to visit. It is actually a very nice little city though with a couple of unique parks including the Hitachi Seaside Park.

Tsuchiura - Celecton - 1 Night

  • Another thing I had learned about many, many months before the trip was the Tsuchiura Firework Festival. Somehow it lined up and we were able to fit it in. The festival was absolutely spectacular. However, to say it was busy would be the understatement of the century. I have never seen so many people in one place. We were lucky enough to have a hotel within walking distance, even if they did raise the rates 3x for the festival. I am confident we would have waited 4-6 hours to get back to Tokyo if not.

Tokyo - Henn Na - 2 Nights

  • We didn’t do very much for these first two days in Tokyo. Our 3rd member was supposed to fly in the first morning but was delayed until the next evening. Mostly we walked around and relaxed.

Nikko - Turtle Inn - 1 Night

  • Nikko was high on our list based on what we read of other peoples’ experiences. In reality, it was a bit disappointing solely due to the crowds. There were lines for every temple, just tons of people. More people than we saw anywhere except possibly some parts of Kyoto. The temples themselves were spectacular however.

Tokyo - Sakura Cross Asakusa - 5 Nights

  • Admittedly, we didn’t do a ton in Tokyo for these 5 days either. We walked around a ton, visited Senso-Ji since it was so close to our hotel, got a bunch of souvenirs from all around, saw Godzilla Minus One. Honestly, none of us really enjoyed Tokyo as much as other cities. It’s fun to walk around and people watch, there’s more food choices than you could ever eat, shopping is amazing, but for us I think it was a bit more than needed. I’d definitely go back, but 3-6 days is plenty.

Kyoto - AirBNB - 29 Nights

  • This was a long term stay to then make day trips or longer from. It was in Joyo-Shi which is pre…

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