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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/cadencetimeletsgo on 2024-09-30 01:27:48+00:00.

*Japan absolutely slaps, so if you’re thinking of taking a trip there, just bloody do it! You won’t regret it!*

Trip Dates: Feb 29 - March 12, 2024

About Us: 1 female (Aussie vego) and 1 male (Canadian meato), iPhone users, VISA and MC holders, Intermediate skiers

General Notes

1. Luggage Forwarding Service: Use it! It’ll change your life. This efficient/secure luxury really made traveling around seamless. Couldn’t recommend it highly enough.
2. Cash: We withdrew 25000 yen in advance. This got spent quickly at markets, luggage forwarding, mom and pop restaurants etc. Often places do take card, but I’d definitely advise bringing some cash. That said, withdrawing from an ATM in Japan is easy and inexpensive (check with your bank) so it’s totally cool to rely on that if need be.
3. Shinkansen ticket booking: booking online in advance (once already in Japan) was a major fuckaround for us for a few reasons: we had to turn our Canadian sims back on to get verification codes, our credit cards would work with some websites and not others. Prepare for it to get confusing, but just go with the flow. You will end up with a ticket!
4. VISA vs MC: Often my Visa worked, often my MC worked. Sometimes both worked and sometimes neither worked. From our experience, there’s no method to the madness. My advice is (if you can) bring both. It’s Japan, so we never felt *stuck* - just had to patiently figure out which method of payment was going to work on any given day.
5. Narita vs Haneda: When booking flights, I was given both options. I decided to go with inbound Narita, outbound Haneda. Next time, roundtrip Haneda will be my preference. It’s much closer… like, it’s actually in Tokyo lmao.

Detailed Itinerary

Day 0:

• Flight from Toronto to Tokyo, Narita. 14 hours on Air Canada. Nothing glamorous but the only direct option from Toronto.
• We booked 6 months in advance and paid $1600 CAD return PP for economy.
• Food on board was gross but I was glad to have pre-ordered a vegetarian meal. The general offerings were dire and exclusively meat. It made us keen for 2 weeks of Japanese grub!

Day 1: 

• Landed and took the Narita Express straight to Shinjuku. This route was a little longer, but we preferred not having to change trains after such a long flight. We bought our tickets from a machine right before boarding using VISA.
• Using train wifi, we activated our Ubigi e-sims: 10GB for $17 USD. Plenty of data considering there’s also wifi everywhere. You WILL need access to the internet (especially for Google Maps) so make sure you’re hooked up.
• We checked into our hotel: Hotel Gracery, Shinjuku (the Godzilla Hotel). Tiny, clean room, which was all we needed since we were always out and about. Shinjuku is WILD. It’s so busy/bright/hectic/awesome/fun. Next time we’ll try another more low-key neighbourhood, but for our first time in Tokyo it was the perfect way to throw ourselves into Japan!
• We had a quick bite near the hotel, browsed some combinis (convenience stores) for snacks  (actually really yummy!) then ventured out to Shinjuku Golden Gai, an awesome string of tiny alleys filled with even tinier bars/restaurants. Highly recommend!

Day 2: 

• Woke up super early because jet-lag! Approximately zero coffee shops/ breakfast spots were open early, so we explored the streets (all very clean, go Japan!) and ended up grabbing breakfast onigiri from 7/11. Meat and veggie options, often labeled in English. Convenience stores became reliable, cheap options for meals we didn’t care much about (like breakfast).
• Added our Suica cards to our Apple wallets. This was shockingly EASY after a lot of confusion. If you have an iPhone, here’s how you do it: Make sure you are on wifi (not data). Go to your Wallet app. Click “add card” then “Transit Card” then “Suica”. Load up using the credit card you have stored in your Apple Wallet. Both VISA and MC worked for us. We loaded 1000Y increments regularly and easily. It’s much easier/faster than buying individual tickets for transit and you can use Suica for a bunch of things! We paid for ramen at a place that didn’t take credit cards with Suica! Also, forget about getting a physical version of the card. They basically don’t exist anymore for tourists. Just add it to your phone! Voila! (NB: you only need wifi for the initial set up. Reloading works fine with just data. One of the many mysteries of Japan!)
• Grabbed coffee and a snack from Blue Bottle Cafe. Right near Shinjuku station and pretty trendy looking.
• Ventured over to Akihabara (a very anime part of town). My boyfriend is a major Magic the Gathering fan so we went to bunch of nerdy stores. He could’ve stayed there all day!
• Had lunch at Tempura Rice Kaneko-Hannosuke in Chuo City. We waited over an hour BUT it was our favourite meal in Tokyo. The service and food were exceptional. As a vegetarian, it would’ve been impossible for me to eat here without at least having fish broth, so I decided to be a little bit *flexitarian*. They have a very basic English menu, so I chose the first option and traded my fish/chicken tempura pieces for my boyfriend’s veggies.
• There was a Byron Bay Coffee Company a few doors down. I grabbed a lamington from there while we waited in line. Not very Japanese, but as an Aussie who now lives in Canada I had to indulge.
• For dinner we headed to a side street in the quieter part of Shibuya called Kamiyamacho. It had a bunch of cool looking restaurants and the one we chose wasn’t great, but we’d definitely try others in the future. It had a very cool vibe.
• We saw one of the surreal Japanese gas stations (where the pumps hang from the ceiling!)
• After dinner we walked around Shibuya crossing. I thought it would feel more touristy but it was actually just BUSY AF.  I felt like I was in Lost in Translation. So cool.
• We also went into the mega Don Quijote in Shibuya and it was chaos but so fun. We bought a bunch of treats (like cheesecake Kitkats) and I dabbled in Japanese hair products.

Day 3: 

• Picked up coffee and quick breakfast from All Seasons Coffee, Shinjuku. I grabbed an egg salad sandwich from Family Mart. It was amazing. We planned to walk around Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden while eating, before remembering that walking while eating/drinking is taboo in Japan! We sat on a bench and ate, then began the pursuit of finding a trash can. There’s so few on the streets, but we found one in a convenience store.
• We then went to our 11am booking at TeamLabs Borderless, which we booked about a month in advance. It was completely sold out on the day, so book ahead! I’d heard mixed reports about both the area and the exhibit itself, but we LOVED both. The area is a cool, new section of town with interesting architecture. Initially, the exhibit felt a little small scale and we were ready to leave after about 40 mins. Then we discovered that there were a bunch of secret rooms we had yet to explore. I’m so glad we stayed, because what we found was mind blowing and so fun. Go in with an open mind and explore!
• We took the subway to Ginza, a fairly ritzy part of town with lots of great shopping, then ate lunch at Yomoda Soba Ginza Branch. This was our first experience ordering from a vending machine and we looked like true idiots for not understanding how it worked. But people helped us and the food was delicious. I ordered a vegetable soba soup.
• We hit up the massive Muji in Ginza. It was much cooler than any other Muji I’d ever been in. Highly recommend the matcha chocolate covered dried strawberries! We took advantage of the tax-free program here. If you’re interested, you’ll need your passport and won’t be able to use the items purchased until you’re out of the country (they seal them in a plastic bag) Worth it for the discount!
• We tried to go to the Pokemon Cafe but it was completely booked out for the day. Reserve in advance if you’re keen!
• For dinner, we ate ramen at Afuri Shinjuku Lumine. This is a chain but a really, really good one with vegan and meat options (most other ramen joints only had pork!) Don’t be discouraged by the fact that it’s in a food court. Plenty of locals were eating there and the line up was out the door. So yummy!

Day 4: 

• We started our day at Tsukiji Market. Very crowded, but fun. We arrived at 9:30am and it was already chaos, so get there early if you want to avoid crowds. We tried a bunch of viral foods here, like the omelette, strawberry daifuku (Mochi), wagyu beef (for my boyfriend), matcha and fish. The food was good but I’d say if you don’t go early (like 8-10am) it might not be worth it.
• We then caught our first Shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo Station. We had already sent our luggage to our destination using the hotel’s luggage forwarding service, a massive relief given how busy the station/train was. It was only $50 CAD to send both suitcases from Tokyo to Nozawaonsen. Well worth it!
• We purchased our tickets for the Shinkansen at the station, right before departure. If you can buy in advance, do it. It will give you a better chance of sitting together. We sat behind one another in the Green Cabin (a little more expensive). Just remember that it acts like a flight, so if you miss your train you will have …

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