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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Hyenaziti on 2025-02-27 17:56:32+00:00.
Trip Dates - Landed 2nd - Departed Feb 17th (15 Full Days)
This a long one so below is a list of the main points and learnings from the trip along with a TL’DR of our trip itinerary!
Background: This was our fourth trip to Japan. We are 35F and 38M living in the midwest. We both know some Japanese: Can read Hiragana, Katakana, very few Kanji but conversationally OK and can have very basic conversations in Japanese. We also know culture basics from research and having visited before. We are fairly active but not super fit. We are pretty savvy travelers but this trip definitely still taught us some things -
- Overall amazing trip. Hindsight is always 20/20. I wish we had more days in Tokyo as it’s my favorite place and there is always more to explore and revisit. Could have knocked a day off of Sendai to spend a day in Aomori. 2 nights in Hakone was pretty great. 1 more day would be great to see more.
- Cash VS Credit Card - I would say 75% of all the places we bought something take cards. I would say however 10% of the credit card places don’t take tap yet (still insert chip). There were a few times I thought I could just pay with my phone and couldn’t and had to use a different CC that I wasn’t planning on. Not a huge deal. The places that were cash only were tourist spots and small mom and pop food stands/stores. For cash we ordered $500 (which is a little more than ¥74k) from our bank ahead of time. We still have our physical Suica Cards (and we like using them thank you very much!), so we took out more money from a Konbini ATM and put ¥10k on them both (we completely forgot you can only refill IC cards with cash) and had around ¥3000 left on both cards when we last tapped. We also had a good amount of leftover cash when we came home so we took out way too much but we wanted to be prepared.
- We are not in our 20s anymore. The last time we were in Japan was 2019 (pre covid) and I was technically still in my 20s. That trip we stayed a month and explored 9 cities in the south and I don’t remember being half as exhausted or as sore as I was on this 2 week trip. I even kicked up my activity prior to the trip. We were tired and jet lagged. It sucked at first but we got through it and had a great trip!
- Google Maps and Google Translate are amazing! I will die on the hill that Google Maps is superior to all other navigational apps. Not once did it steer us wrong. As long as you pay attention and look at ALL the information you will be fine. And the advancements in the translation app since the last time I used it was amazing as well. The fact that you can translate live from someone talking is incredible.
- Using an e-sim VS pocket wifi - eSim all the way. Previously we used pocket wifi when traveling Japan and it was fine but if one person needed to go do something or there was an issue with it, it was like being dead in the water. We decided to each go with the Ubigi eSim this time and it worked flawlessly from the moment we both turned it on when we landed. Could not recommend it more. It was also much much cheaper than doing a travel pass through my carrier which is Verizon.
- Using Klook to book train Shinkansen train tickets was great! We happened to come upon an instagram video with a 10% off code, and the coupon was good for 4 times. Basically you buy your tickets on the app then go to the station to a particular ticket machine where you scan the QR code and it spits out your tickets! The app has great instructions too.
- Peak tourist season is interesting. I knew the festivals and the winter sports would draw a crowd, but we did not account for the Chinese New Year, so there were tons of foreigners everywhere. It never bothered me but it was surprising sometimes to be in Japan and hear entirely Chinese being spoken in an area sometimes.
- Hakone free pass is worth every penny. It’s ¥6500 for a 3 day pass and then it’s another ¥1200 for the Romance Car each way (optional). I think We used almost every type of public transportation in Hakone and only had to flash the cards.
- Shinkansen - We were thinking of buying a rail pass again (we did it for our month long trip in 2019) but we looked at the price of all the trips we were actually planning to take and it made no sense. So make sure you actually calculate your routes before blindly buying the pass.
- Gran Class VS Green Car - they really are quite different and Gran Class feels like domestic first class flying. You get a dedicated attendant, a light meal, unlimited drinks and snacks and slippers. The other passengers seemed to be mostly business folks but some other tourists as well. It was very quiet as well.
- Northern weather - It wasn’t that cold (never got below 25 degrees F), but it was snowy and icy. I remember reading this from others posts about the icy-ness and I am glad we got those detectable spike treads for our boots in Sapporo. We saw some other people take some falls at the Snow Festival. And while I say it wasn’t THAT cold we still had down jackets (mine full length), base layers, hats, gloves, waterproof boots, and warm socks. I think that really helped us be able to walk around all day and not feel miserable.
- Plans changed due to sickness - We kept our schedule VERY flexible, booking almost nothing in advance except for a food tour in Sapporo, a jean experience in Tokyo, and a concert in Saitama. We did a ton of “immunity boosting” before our trip and now I am convinced that stuff is not as reliable as I hoped… I am very grateful we are laid back travelers so when we got sick in Sendai there wasn’t much for us to worry about and we mostly rested in the hotel room. In hindsight I am going to keep Nyquil and other American cold remedies in our checked baggage (along with Pepto and ibuprofen) from now on just in case.
- Seeing a concert in Japan is super fun and everyone is very respectful and organized especially when exiting. Everyone seemed like they were just interested in having a good time. I saw on the floor there did seem to be a little mosh pit going on though. I wondered how hardcore it got in there haha…
TL;DR Itinerary -
Arriving Feb 2nd - Arrive to Haneda
- Hotel - The Royal Park Hotel Tokyo Haneda Airport Terminal 3 - 7.5/10
Feb 3rd-5th - Sapporo -
- Domestic flight to Sapporo via Haneda in the evening - Arrive Sapporo at night
- JR East Hotel Mets Premier Sapporo - 7.5/10
- Nijo Market/SnowFest - Super fun but very crowded and icy
- Great Seafood, good ramen, night parfait parlors, and milk!
- 3 hour airbnb izakaya tour - Very cool and fun (link in long description if interested)
Feb 5th-7th - Hakodate -
- Hotel - La’gent Stay Hakodate Ekimae - 8/10
- Great seafood and Ramen. Also good dairy
- Hakodate was quiet and laid back. No crowds. Snowy as hell!
Feb 7th-10th - Sendai -
- Hotel The OneFive Sendai - 7/10
- Explore Sendai - Big city vibes, lots to explore, lots of shopping
- Got sick laid low for a couple days, didn’t get to do our day trip plans
Feb 10th - Left Sendai - travel to Tokyo -
- Hotel Gracery Shinjuku (Godzilla hotel) - 7.8/10 (Honestly would have probably given this one a 7/10 BUT they held our luggage for the 2 days we went to Hakone because we were gonna stay there again. Literal game changer!)
- Did Jean experience at Betty Smith in Yebisu - 10/10 experience
Feb 11th - Explore Tokyo -
- Harajuku/Cat street- Always fun lots to look at. I like shopping the smaller vintage and secondhand stores. For the big brands and designers I like seeing what stores have Japan exclusive items
Feb 12th - Explore Tokyo / Linkin Park at night in Saitama Super Dome -
- Nakano Broadway - but a lot of stuff was closed. Still bought a figurine
- Seeing a concert in Japan is a super fun experience. Polite crowds, great show!
Feb 13th - Leave Tokyo go to Hakone -
- Purchased Hakone pass and Romance Car from Shinjuku Station
- Check-in to Hakone Ryokan Gora Hanaougi - 12/10 experience
Feb 14th - Explore Hakone -
- Took ropeway to Owakudani, bus to ship port (due to maintenance), ship to Hakone machi, walked to the Hakone Shrine, got Torii gate pic, got Unagi for dinner, the took the Tozan train to the cable car back to the hotel
- Didn’t get to go to the open air museum or visit any other onsen
Feb 15th - Train back to Tokyo -
- Check back into Hotel Gracery again
- Went out to Asakusa for custom hanko and other souvenirs
- Ate conveyor belt sushi for dinner in Shinjuku
Feb 16th - Last Full day in Tokyo -
- Revisit Yanaka Ginza
- Walk around Daikanyama
Feb 17th - Leave Japan :( -
- Had a few hours in the morning and early afternoon to venture out one last time. Get some last minute souvenirs.
- Got back to the hotel and took a Taxi to Haneda. From Shinjuku took about 45 mins
- Checked in quickly to check out the lounge and Fuji was visible from the windows … 😭
You can stop reading at this point, if you just wanted the gist of the trip. Below is the detailed trip with some links to highlighted spots (not affiliated just want to share)!
Arrived Feb 2nd - 7,017 Steps
- Check into The Royal Park Hotel Tokyo Haneda Terminal 3 - Rating: 7.5/10
- This was very convenient for many reasons. We were planning to leave for Sapporo the next day so why lug all our bags into the city just to bring them back 14 hours later. It’s a fine hotel. Small but you g…
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