This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/kitkat272 on 2024-11-21 22:21:43+00:00.
Way back when I took my first trip to Japan in 2019 this sub helped me out so much so I always like to post a report here. I’m not very interesting but I like to focus on things that maybe I would have liked to read about before going…
First Trip (August/September 2019)
First about me: I’m an American woman in my late 30s, I mostly travel alone but I meet up with friends who live in Japan sometimes. I do not speak Japanese (unfortunately!) I get really anxious about going to restaurants and stuff so this will not be a foodie report, foodies will be quite disappointed with what I eat in Japan. One of the major reasons I travel to Japan is because I’m really in to a certain idol group. I usually don’t go too into that in my reports but it was a huge part of my trip this time I’ll put a section about it after the main report for anyone who might be interested.
Day 1 to 6: Tokyo
I took the 1 AM flight out of NYC to Haneda. It landed in Haneda at 5 AM. There were pros and cons to this. I got out of security super quick and easy. I think I would have struggled with what to do so early in the morning if my friends didn’t invite me to their house.
- Staying in Ikebukuro
My friends live in Ikebukuro and I also stayed there. At first I wasn’t so sure about it because there are other areas with better rated hotels for cheaper but I came to really like it! I loved the Sunshine City mall and there were loads of places to eat. Also I personally found Ikebukuro station easy to navigate once you become familiar with the one exit to your hotel.
- CLAMP exhibit at the National Art Center
The only non idol thing I did these days was visit Roppongi to see the CLAMP exhibit at the National Art Center. The exhibit is over now but I guess the #1 lesson I learned this day is when people say go early believe it! I am a really lazy traveler and I thought “Hey I have tickets, how bad can it be?” Well I had to wait in line for a really long time. The exhibit itself was very crowded but seeing all the manga art up close was nice.
- Roppongi Hills
I also went to see the TV Asahi building (nice merch store!) and the Mori observatory on this day. I love viewpoints and I’ve visited one in Tokyo at sunset on all my trips (Skytree and Shibuya Sky on my last two), of all of them maybe Mori was the least special but I liked that they kept the rooms dark and had nice places to sit and view. The view of Tokyo Tower from this whole area is so nice too.
Day 6-8 Tokyo to Osaka to Kyoto
- Night Bus
My sixth night we took the night bus to Osaka. The bus had plugs for chargers which was great. Unfortunately the plug dug into my thigh the whole ride. Yeah my butt was kind of too big for the night bus. I got a little bit of sleep but not a ton. The best advice I saw before taking the bus was that when you get off during a rest stop to take a picture of your bus to make sure you get on the right one, I didn’t do it but when I was coming back from the bathroom I got a bit nervous!
- ART HOTEL Buffet
We went and had dinner at the buffet at ART HOTEL. They have different themed buffets and this time the theme was Black and White, it was really interesting. The lobby was really nicely decorated and the view was great.
Days 9-13 Kyoto (with day trips to Osaka and Himeji)
My hotel was near Sanjo which I loved, loved, LOVED. I know people dislike the subway network in Kyoto but I still really liked being near multiple train stations, I wanted to avoid having to ride the buses. It was a super walkable area too. I really liked Sanjo Metengai… I just love shopping streets.
- Nijo Castle
My first day in Kyoto I went to Nijo castle. I made a really big mistake though, I didn’t realize I needed to get a ticket for the Honmaru ahead of time. I decided to just go and see if it would be possible to get a day of ticket but the Honmaru was actually totally closed that day. There was a lot to see other than the Honmaru so it was worth the trip but it was also a super hot day so not really fun to walk around. I will be back!
- Osaka Day Trip
I took a day trip to Osaka to do some shopping… actually no, it was to see a NMB48 show, but I did some shopping first. I stopped off at the Hankyu department store, a tip here is the first floors are typical department store stuff but the upper floors get interesting. When I was there there was a Turkish festival going on and I bought some baklava. There were also some pop up shops and Starbucks on this floor.
What I really wanted was some Myakumyaku goods! After googling I saw Daimaru had a shop so I went over there. Daimaru has a floor with nice character goods shops, I liked their Sanrio section as well. I also spent some time in the Hands store there.
The NMB48 show was interesting. Unfortunately I forgot my light sticks!
- Walk around Higashiyama
I decided to walk from my hotel to Higashiyama Jisho-shi and back. The highlight was Okazaki shrine with the cute rabbits. I also really liked the Philosophers Path. Some other shrines and temples around here I had been to on my last trip so I tried to avoid them. This day was super hot! This also demonstrates what I loved about staying in Sanjo and in Kyoto, the fact that I could just walk out of my hotel and go, I didn’t have to worry about taking transport somewhere, I could just walk and have a really interesting day.
- Day trip to Himeji
I enjoyed Himeji a lot. In general I love castles and I love checking out the inside and outside. I’ve seen some people advise not to go inside because it’s bare or too crowded but I can’t imagine not going in. I exited through a gate that was only open for a limited time, when I saw it was only open in September I felt like I had to! This is another place I want to go back to, it was too hot for me to do much else here.
- Kenninji
I went here to see the dragon painting on the ceiling. I liked it and spent a bunch of time looking at the different art. The thing that really sticks out to me here though is all the security guards and stuff there were in the area, I guess they’ve had some issues.
This simply felt like a must to me. Of course I didn’t follow any of the usual advice and went in the middle of the day. It was crowded but I’m not too bothered by crowds. It was kind of just something to check off the list and I’m glad I went and got some goshuin!
On my last night in Kyoto I met with a friend that reminded me it was a holiday weekend and the trains were going to be super busy. I knew about the holidays but I didn’t even think about the fact I was there during silver week! I’m used to just booking the same day at the station and the trains not being too crowded. Worried, I tried using smartex but I couldn’t get it to work. The trains really were very crowded. At the station I decided to do a green car but I did wish I pre-booked.
Days 14-23 Back to Tokyo
We went there on the worst possible day. It was kind of rainy and also a holiday weekend but it was the only day my friend who really wanted to go could go. I really enjoyed the boat ride and making the name key chain. It was fun but really, really busy. I would kind of like to go back but during a weekday.
- Utsunomiya
I really wanted to go see the Oya History Museum. Getting there from Tokyo was kind of a long trip and I enjoy trains. The museum itself was cool but smaller than I thought. I liked seeing the Oya Kannon (another pic) nearby. I really feel like this is a place probably better seen if you’re already in the area, maybe with a car.
- Nihon Minka-en
Something I love going to in Japan is open air museums. I was torn between here and the Edo Tokyo one and ended up choosing this one. It was nice and I was really impressed by the first house but in the end I would probably rank it behind previous open air museums I’ve been to (MeijiMura and Osaka Farmhouse) only because you couldn’t really walk inside most of the houses, only look inside from the outside area. It was still great though! The plaques were really interesting and informative about where the house came from and the families who lived there.
- Sunshine City
I was staying near Sunshine City so I spent a lot of time there and really enjoyed it. The doughnuts at the Sesame Street Cafe were really yummy. There are lots of gatcha machines here in multiple places throu…
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