Japan Trips & Travel Tips

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/frozenpandaman on 2024-12-02 11:32:58+00:00.

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This is kind of crazy considering how long they've been around. A few months ago they essentially killed the Seishun 18 Ticket, a mainstay since the 1940s, making it all but useless for the very people it's supposed to be meant for. Then last week announced they were taking away a car full of unreserved seats on the Tokaido Shinkansen, and now this. Feels so insanely greedy and making everyone's experience all-around worse in effort to focus purely on profits. Not a fan!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/8o8asian on 2024-12-02 10:46:55+00:00.

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11 day trip report – Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe

Background: This trip was my wife and I honeymoon trip so I went all out in terms of booking first class flights and staying at relatively nicer hotels. Funny enough, I only spent money on the flights as I was able to book all of the hotels with points so luckily didn’t spend a dime on those. We also did not come to Japan with much of a plan in terms of doing specific things. We figured we hit up 2 cities each day and go where the wind took us. I did make some reservations beforehand and there were some places my wife and I wanted to shop/see but we didn’t make a minute by minute itinerary.

Day 1 ( Travel day)

Departed HNL to HND in the afternoon. Arrived at HND at about 5pm. It took us about an hour to get through immigration as at least 3 flights arrived at the same time as ours. Luckily, we were able to get our bags relatively quickly.

Took a taxi to our hotel, Andaz Toranomon Hills, and we arrived in about less than 30 minutes. It would’ve taken us an hour on the metro to get us from HND to Andaz and since we had our luggage, I figured it would save us some headache to take a taxi instead. I think I paid around $60 but it was worth it in saving time. I must say, Andaz is a beautiful hotel and Toranomon is a nice quiet neighborhood at night. We were pretty tired from the flight and were still getting adjusted to the different time zone, we decided to not do much exploring. The Big 3 convenience stores (7-11, Family Mart and Lawson) were right down the street from the hotel so we decided to get dinner from there. I made myself the egg sandwich with a Family Mart chicken and my wife and some onigiri and other snacks. We went to sleep pretty early so that we could wake up in the morning refreshed and ready for Day 1.

Day 2 (Shibuya & Harajuku)

Day 2 started with my wife and I waking up at around 6am as we were still getting adjusted. We decided that we would get an early start so I could find a Suica card. We headed to Tokyo Station first but I realized I looked at the wrong JR East center and it didn’t open until 830 and it was only 7am. We decided to come back later and head out to Shibuya.

We got to Shibuya pretty early and nothing was really open yet so we settled for breakfast at Café Gusto. It was a pretty nice place and we both had the hamburger steak and it was good for the price. We then went to the Don Quijote to look around. I went to Shibuya Station to inquire where I could get a Suica card and the worker told me I could get a personalized one at one of the machines just outside. Thankfully I was able to get a personalized Suica card to use. After that, we stood in line for our Shibuya Sky reservation which was at 10. Unfortunately due to the weather, the top roof observation and escalators weren’t open but the views from the indoor deck was still amazing. We then headed to the Shibuya Parco and went shopping in stores like Hands and checked out the Pokemon Center. Lunch as was at an Omurice place which was super good then we went to Harajuku for shopping. I think we spent at least 3 or 4 hours shopping before we finally had dinner at Red Rock Harajuku (my favorite place to eat in Japan now). After dinner, we did a little more shopping before heading back to the hotel to relax and get ready for the next day.

Day 3 (Odaiba, Tsukiji, Shinjuku)

Day 3 started the same way Day 2 started, both of us waking up at 6am. Luckily, Odaiba was pretty far from the hotel so we didn’t mind a longer train ride. We had breakfast at Bills Odaiba, eating the Ricotta pancakes and the Aussie breakfast which was super filling. We then walked to Diver City to see the Gundam Statue. During the time we were there, there was a car show outside the building so it was cool to see. Also saw the Fuji TV headquarters. After that, we took a taxi to Tsukiji, as it was pouring rain. Tsukiji wasn’t as crowded as I thought it was going to be, possibly because of the rain. Eating all the fresh seafood is great, especially the fresh crab. After staying there for about a couple of hours, we headed back to the hotel to get a short nap in. We headed to Shinjuku as I have never been there before. I saw all the main tourists stuff, Kabukicho, Godzilla head, Mega Donki, Takashimaya Times Square, 3D cat board, etc. Had dinner at Ichiran and after that, did some shopping and found a nice dessert place, Caramel Monday’s. Went back to the hotel after to get some rest and get ready for the next day.

Day 4 (Asakusa, Akihabara, Ginza, Shinjuku)

Finally got adjusted to the time zone and was able to sleep in a little. We headed to Senso-ji in the morning right as everything was opening. Got some omiyage on Nakamise Dori before we walked around the area to try and find lunch. Saw a nice tonkatsu place, Tonkatsu Toyama, which was a nice little shop. The tonkatsu was super good and the quality of it was great. We then walked to Fan Fun Street by the Bandai Namco offices to take pictures with the characters outside. After that, we headed to Akihabara because my wife needed some earphones. We went to Yodobashi-Akiba to get some headphones and also checked out Radio Kaikan. Dinner was in Ginza as we went to one of the restaurants at Ginza Six. After that, I took my wife back to our hotel as she wanted to rest for the night while I went out with some friends who just so happened to also be in Japan at the time. We went to Shinjuku and hit up some of the bars in Kabukicho. One of the places we went to was Beer Pong Grove, a super cool bar with karaoke, darts and beer pong. We hung out there for a few hours then went to Ichiran at around 2am for food. I was able to taxi back to the hotel and was able to get some rest for the night.

Day 5 (Shinkansen to Osaka)

I got only about 3-4 hours of sleep after the previous night and luckily we weren’t doing much as we had to catch the shinkansen to Osaka. My wife and I got a convenience store breakfast before we packed up our things and headed to Shinagawa station to catch the Shinkansen. The Shinkansen was a nice 2 and a half hour ride to Osaka and I ate a MOS Burger that I picked up before leaving Shinagwa. It was raining heavily so there wasn’t much to see outside. When we arrived to Shin Osaka, we took a taxi to our next hotel, the Conrad Osaka. After we got settled, we went to dinner at Sushiro, which I thought had more choices than Kura Sushi and thought the fish tasted a bit better. Due to the rain, we went back to our hotel and decided to have a night in and enjoy the view of Osaka from the hotel.

Day 6 (Osaka Castle, Umeda)

We got another early start to the day but luckily the hotel had complimentary breakfast service which we took advantage of. We then headed out to Osaka castle. It was a very overcast day but it brought very cool weather. We walked the grounds of the castle which was pretty cool and also saw the capsule display that they had in one of the buildings of characters like Godzilla, Kamen Rider and Ultraman. After spending a few hours at the castle, we walked to a Sukiya’s for lunch. Love those gyu-don bowls. After that, we headed to Umeda to do some shopping which took some time. We were super tired by this time and headed back to the hotel to rest. We were planning to go to Dotonbori but it began raining super hard again so we just decided to rest up and have dinner at the hotel.

Day 7 (Kyoto)

My aunty and her family live in Osaka so she and one of my cousins decided to show us around Kyoto. They picked us up from our hotel and drove us to the Kyoto area. Along the way we passed Yamazaki, and my cousin tried to get us into one of the tours of the distillery but they were sold out. Our first stop was Arashiyama, where we saw not only the bamboo forest but also the Togetsukyo Bridge and the Monkey Park. We had lunch at MUKU, which was a very interesting experience. We then headed to the Toei Kyoto Studio park, where they shot a lot of old, Japanese samurai shows. It was cool to see some of the sets from shows that I grew up watching. After that, we went to the famous Fushimi Inari Shrine. I was definitely interested to see all of the Tori gates but we didn’t make it far because of how tired we were lol. My aunty then took us to her house, which is about 30 minutes out of the main city in Osaka and we had dinner at a local yakiniku place run by an older husband and wife. I had some of the best wagyu meat I’d ever eaten. We hung out for a little after that at my aunty’s house before my cousin dropped us off back at our hotel later in the night.

Day 8 (Kobe)

My wife and I got a very late start to the day and our travels were finally catching up to us but we managed to get to Kobe at a pretty good time. We checked out Chinatown, Motomachi street, the Port Tower area, Daimaru and Ijinkan-Gai. We honestly didn’t stay here very long but we still managed to see a lot of cool things. We headed back to Osaka and met my aunty at Shinsaibashi because she wanted to eat dinner with us before we left for Tokyo. She took us to President Chibo for okonomiyaki and it was really good. She also gave us some gifts to take back home and also bought us a Rikuro Cheesecake LOL. We then went back to the hotel and packed our stuff again before we headed back to Tokyo.

Day 9 (Shinkansen back to Tokyo, Ginza)

We took a taxi from our hotel to Shin-Osaka station to catch our Shinkansen back to Tokyo. ...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Bregolas42 on 2024-12-01 12:43:48+00:00.

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Japan trip november 2024 ( 3 weeks)

Hi all! Just wanted to share my journey that me and my wife have had the past 3 weeks.

I am on my phone, in the lobby of the last hotel waiting for my taxi to take me back to Haneda airport, and won't be able to edit this for some time. Sorry for All the mistakes and miss punctuation..

Before I start I have to tell you a bit about ourselves, we are a couple in our 30s, come from the Netherlands and both of us wanted to go to Japan since ever we were old enough to know what travel is haha. We are both anime and rpg game junkies, love food and could not be more happy then to be inside a 500 year old building.

My wife grew up in a medium income household and I grew up in a pretty poor household. Due to a string of bad things happening and some lucky things happinging ( both my parents passed away last year and my wife's dad passed away a few years ago, but the housing market being the way it is and both our dad's owning small houses.. We suddenly have had a big increase in finances)

So we really wanted to make this a “once In a lifetime” trip and the budget was about 10k in euro. This is life changing amount of money.. But it was worth every penny.

Here we go!

Travel. Friday 8 Nov - Day 0

KYOTO

9 Nov - Sat Day 1: landing in Tokyo at 1:45pm, used Yamato transport to send out luggage to the hotel and then travel to Kyoto, with the shinkansen.

Hotel KABIN Kyoto: Amazing hotel! I highly recommend it! The room we had was fitted with a rain shower and the bed was big and clean.

10 Nov - Sun Day 2: , kiyomizu-dera temple eat in the streets of ninenzaka and sannenzaka yasaka shrine and next to it maruyama park explore gion district, ended the day with a visit to the Kyoto Pokemon Center ( a total let down to be honest and the worst pokecenter we went to) dinner was a high class unagi place that was super tasty!

11 Nov - Mon Day 3: Daytrip to Nara.Visit the Great Buddha at Todai-ji Nigatsu-do and Sangatsu-do (February and March Hall) Nandaimon (Great South Gate) Stroll around Nara Deer Park, Kasuga Taisha Shrine on way back to station go to Naramachi (Nara town) and here is omogi mochi pounding at Nakatanidou!

Thoughts on Nara : one of the highlights of our trip! Nara is great! The deer where sweet and loved the senbei, you do need to handle the deer with care.. We saw a lot of stupid people making huge mistakes and getting attacked, but this was 100 procent there own fault. If you have any basic animal handeling skills you will see that the Nara deer are the sweetest wild animals you wil ever get the pleasure to meet.

The temples and shrines were amazing! There was a little bakery next to the station that sold me the best melon pan I had all holidays.

The day ended with us going to a chicken place in Kyoto near our hotel that served some special kinda chicken.. It was amazing! Best chicken I ever had.

Nov 12 - Tuesday day 4:

early to Arashiyama Bamboo Forest then had an pleasent walk trough a movie stars garden, walking back we took a little boat trip on the river that took about 45 min. After we jumped In a taxi to kinkakuji temple (golden temple).

After the temple we jumped into a taxi to nishiki Market.. And this was not that good.. Certainly not compared to the other markets we went to later in the trip! It's still fun! Just don't expect to much.

That night we met up with a friend who was in Kyoto by pure luck! And had yakitori dinner In a super small local mom and pop shop.

Nov 13 - Wed Day 5:

Bit of an off day, my wife was overwhelmed and we had underestimated the amount of walking we were doing. So we took the morning off.

Around noon we went to the big tori gate shrine at fushimi Inari, and that was a bigger hike than we thought! But it was beautiful! Everything we read about it was true, at the bottom a boatload of people! Going up 30 minutes and you get space. Get to the big lookout point and you are basically with 10 others.

Getting back at the hotel and sending our luggage to Hiroshima trough an 7/11 close to our hotel.

Had some sushi for dinner, that was at the time amazing.. But thinking back on it., actually pretty mid haha ( it would be world class in the Netherlands.. But it turns out we where not ready for the real deal a week later).

Closing thought on Kyoto :

Wow! Just wow! Kyoto is amazing, it's the old capital of Japan and littered with the most beautiful temples and shrines, the people we met where a bit more stiff/rude then the rest of the country. ( my wife was called names for being big a few times by people/teenage girls who thought we could not understand Japanese).

Public transport was a bit confusing at first but Google maps will get you all the way where you need to go. Kyoto was the only city where we felt the “need” to take a taxi, because the stuff we wanted to see and do did not line up with public transport all that well. Taxi was not cheap, but compared to Dutch prices, very well worth it!

Trip to Hiroshima / Osaka

14 Nov - Thu Day 6:

Daytrip Osaka, Den Den Town shopping, Ghibli store, eating okonomiyaki in Dotonbori, and visit the monster hunter Cafe. sleep in osaka hotel Sosetsu Grand Fresa Namba.

hotel was fine, a typical “Asian” hotel. Clean room and nice bed,but small bathroom ( for me not enough room to comfortably shower). Right next to the famous street and 5 mins walk form the big running man sing.

Closing thoughts on Osaka:

40 min away and a completely different vibe from Kyoto! Kyoto was all culture, Osaka is where my gaming and Otaku heart started to bloom.

15Nov - Fri Day 7:

Getting on a train from Osaka to Himeji Castle, and here is the first small letdown of the trip.. Don't get me wrong, the catzke looks amazing, I can totally see why people are proud of it. But.. There is littery nothing inside.

I might be way to European for this.. But I would not go again.

Then a shinkansen to Hiroshima, hotel Kuretakeso Hiroshima Otemachi.

Dinner at an really nice tempura place.

Hotel in Hiroshima was almost a carbon copy of the one from Osaka, although there where 2 major diffrances.

1: the people, I have never met such nice staff in my life,big shout out to the staff of this place!

2: here we booked breakfast, and there was a option for unagi breakfast! On my best Japanese ( which is to say almost none haha) i told the old lady I loved eel and thought his eel was also very good! She now knew I liked eel. And.. Kept bringing me extra pieces! ( there was a limit of 3 pieces per person) bless this old lady's heart!

Hiroshima time:

16 Nov - Sat Day 8: breakfast at hotel, Hiroshima peace monument an museum.

Friend we met in Kyoto was also in Hiroshima to visit her parents. Lucky us! Her parents took us out to an okonomiyaki place to proof Hiroshima okonomiyaki was better then the Osaka one. Wel I can say there right! The dinner was amazing!

Back the hotel the misses was poofed and went to sleep early, I went out to get a drink and found this amazing bar! It was a great night and highly recommend anyone to venture out into Hiroshima and have sole fun with the locals!

17 Nov - Sun Day 9: breakfast at hotel, Hiroshima Day trip to Miyajima. Going to the island was breeze because the hotel staff booked a boat ride for us that started in the peace park ( 10 min walk from the hotel).

This island is not to be missed! It has deer again! ( also friendly, although you can't feed them and I think these deer where a bit more used to being petted then the Nara deer). We had some really good cakes/cookies the island is known for.

After that adventure we went out and got some dinner, sushi this time again and bam! When you don't expect it you run into the best places! Super cheap super fresh and delicious sushi!

Closing thought on Hiroshima: Before the trip my wife was a bit low on this city, it was far and she did jot really know what to do except see the peace museum.

Turns out it was one of the best things we did, the people where great, the food was somehow even better and the peace museum and park where made with such reverence and thought that it made me burst into tears. ( this is the only museum in the world where I have cried..)

18 Nov - Mon Day 10: breakfast at hotel, check out and from Hiroshima to Kanazawa by shinkansen to The Hotel Sanraku ( spoiler alert, best hotel of the trip!)

Dinner at a local izakaya that was again, amazing ( it's a theme.. Japan has great food)

Kanazawa 19 Nov - Tue Day 11: explore Kanazawa, Omochi market for breakfast, and this was by far the best market we have been to! 20 times better then those of Kyoto!

kanazawa castle. And kenrokuen garden, the garden is absolutely stunning! Done some shopping and ended the day with an meat restaurant that was oke. For the price we expected a little bit more.

Closing thoughts on Kanazawa:

Kanazawa is a gem! I wish I could have spend more time here. It's everything you will ever want from an Japanese city, amazing market, castle, gardens, food. I could heva spend my whole 3 weeks here and be happy.

Road trip to Tokyo 20 Nov - Wed Day 12: check out and Rent a car at kanazawa station (Toyota rent a car place behind the station)

Kanazawa to Takayama. In Takayama we visit Mura Folk Village and Sanmachi and eat hida beef for lunch.

Another hour's drive to sleep at hotel Kazeya in Kamikochi. Our first real ryokan!

Ryokan was great! Huge room (could say appartement) and had th...

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/abunni on 2024-11-30 14:17:12+00:00.

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Caveat that this is a long post but I hope it’s useful for folks! My partner and I like to travel with very packed itineraries and I’m very type A so I plan most things down to the hour. It was his first time but I’d been to Japan before, so I have experience in navigation etc. It also helps that I’m Chinese so I can read kanji which helps a ton with menus and signs etc. Also we’re from New York City so we’re used to public transportation and walking everywhere - that being said, my feet were still sore after the first two days. We spent 6 full days in Tokyo, Lake Kawaguchiko & Kyoto. Note that all prices below are for the two of us! —

Day 1/Arrival: Arrived HND at 5:25 and took public transportation to my friend’s apartment - arrived ~7:30. Took a quick shower and nap, and left around 9:30 to explore the area. Quick coffee stop and walked around the Waseda area. Headed to an omakase tempura lunch (shunkeian arakaki, Michelin 1 star) in the Tsukiji area. Lunch was amazing and lasted ~2 hours, easily top 10 meals of my life ($305). Then did harajuku, Meiji shrine, and shibuya crossing. Went back to friend’s apartment and finished the day with an easy 7-11 dinner (plus was still waaay stuffed from lunch). * Steps: 22k * Spend: $21 transportation, $325 food

Day 2: Headed to Tsukiji for brunch; it was super crowded and we were there for ~2 hours ($40). Wanted to go to the national museum but it was closed (bad planning on my part). Headed to Asakusa / Sensoji - walked around for ~1hr. Wanted to go to the imperial palace gardens but was also closed! Did the Korakuen instead ($4, which turned out great - they had a little stamp scavenger hunt in the park and you ended up with a beautiful postcard souvenir), then Akihabara, and then Tokyo City View ($22) in Roppongi. Went to Ginza for a little shopping appointment (we got his wedding band!) then finished off the day with a sukiyaki dinner at Kisoji ($87). * Steps: 27k * Spend: $17 transportation, $147 food, $26 sightseeing

Day 3: quick taxi ride ($25) to Tokyo station before hopping on the bus ($30) to Lake Kawaguchiko. We took a taxi as I just had zero desire to navigate morning rush hour commute with two carry-on suitcases. Took the sightseeing red line bus directly from the train station to our hotel (Ubuya) and dropped our luggage off. Weather was awful with no Fuji in sight. Did the ropeway ($13, which was silly in hindsight because there was nothing to see), maple corridor, and oishi park. Wanted to go to the kubota itchiku museum but closed (again). Checked into the hotel around 15:00 and spent time in the hot springs / chilled in the hotel lounge for the rest of the afternoon. Dinner was served at 18:50 - it wasn’t bad, but I was expecting slightly better food to be honest. The whole day was a slight bummer due to not being able to see Fuji, but the hot springs really cured my sore body/ feet. * Steps: 6k * Spend: $73 transportation, $18 food, $13 sightseeing, $452 hotel (1 night, inclusive of 2 meals for 2 people)

Day 4: woke up at 6:00 and lo and behold, the mountain!! For those of you debating whether Ubuya is worth it or not, it IS. This view from our bedroom was just insane, I easily stared out the window for 30 minutes. Went for a quick morning hot spring dip, then breakfast. Again - wasn’t bad, but expected slightly better. Checked out at 9:30 and the hotel shuttled us to the train station where we stored our suitcases ($6), then hopped on the train to shimoyoshida for arakurayama sengen park. Spent ~1.5 hours there, got amazing pics, then train-ed back to Kawaguchiko. Got on our bus ($30) to Mishima from there, then transferred to the Shinkansen at Mishima ($140). Everything was seamless and easy and before we knew it we were in Kyoto! Quick subway ride to our hotel (the new Four Points Flex - it’s clean and new but beware that it’s TINY! Staff were super nice though). Walked to a conveyer belt sushi place nearby ($27, food was nothing to write home about, but I love the concept), then a 20 min subway ride to Fushimi Inari Tasha. It’s indeed way less crowded at night, but deeper into the temple it started to get a bit creepy. Subwayed home and PTFO’d. * Steps: 16k * Spend: $186 transportation, $39 food, $6 luggage storage, $215 hotel (2 nights, no meals)

Day 5: late start today! We left the hotel around 9:30 and took a taxi ($13) to kiyomizu-dera. It was super crowded with a bunch of students on field trips. Spent ~1hr there, then walked around in the small streets of Gion. Waited ~20 min in line for Gyukatsu Katsugyu ($33, good and honestly well priced!), then took a long bus ride to Kinkaku-ji. Again, sooo many people but this temple was beautiful! Totally worth it. Spent ~1hr there ($6), then took a bus to the manga museum. Slightly overpriced tickets ($15) but was pretty cool - we missed out on slots for a manga-style portrait though (sad). 10 min walk back to hotel, then rested for a bit before heading to Nishiki Market and Pontocho. Had dinner at a great little izakaya in the alleys (kokodonemo, $44), then walked back to our hotel. * Steps: 20k * Spend: $18 transportation, $85 food, $21 sightseeing

Day 6: checked out of our hotel and left our luggage there, then took a train to arashiyama for the bamboo forest and tenryu-ji. Didn’t end up going into the temple but spent ~1hr in the bamboo forest / surrounding area. Quick stop at the rilakkuma cafe and the miffy cafe (obsessed with both, honestly), and enjoyed a fish cake snack by the river. Took a bus to Nijo Castle ($17) which was super cool to see for those of us who enjoyed watching Shogun on Hulu. Walked 20 min back to our hotel with a family mart fried chicken pit stop on the way. Scored two pairs of adidas sneakers for $50 total on a Black Friday sale, then collected our luggage and made our way back to Kyoto station. Shinkansen-ed to Tokyo ($186), got back to the apartment, and went for a quick dinner at a popular student spot nearby. Re-packed and got ready to depart the next day. * Steps: 19k * Spend: $199 transportation, $50 food, $17 sightseeing

Day 7/Departure: that’s all folks! If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading 😂 public transport back to HND for our morning flight out! * Steps: 3k * Spend: $9 transportation

— Spending summary * Actual shopping (ie things I needed and were cheaper in Japan than in the US): $2165 (95% of this was wedding band which is irrelevant to the trip) * Food: $664 * Accommodation: $640 (3 nights) * Distance transportation: $386 * Meals I invited my friend to to thank her for hosting us: $196 * Local transportation: $137 * Sightseeing: $77 * Misc: $26 (e-sim, luggage storage, etc) * Gifts for family & friends: $28 * Random shopping (ie things I didn’t need): $24 * Not including flight prices here as our tickets included onward flights to china

Overall it was a great trip and I’m super grateful to have had a friend who we could stay with in Tokyo and leave our larger suitcase with. Suica made transportation super easy and 8G of data on Airalo across the two of us was perfectly sufficient for 6 full days of traveling. And the favorable exchange rates definitely helped a ton!

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/borkathons on 2024-12-01 03:45:39+00:00.

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Hi All,

This sub really helped me plan and prepare for my trip to Japan, so I wanted to add some of my own tips in order to help others plan as they embark on their own travel adventure. Some items to note: I was in Japan this past October/November 2024. The tips/recommendations are derived from my experience and are just my opinions! To each his own. Now with that out of the way: I'm going to catalog my recommendations so you can skip sections you aren't interested in. Happy Travels!

A Couple Chill Areas to Stay in Tokyo

You are doing your research on where to stay in Tokyo and you are not sure the hustle and bustle of Shinjuku or Shibuya is for you. If you would like to step out of your hotel and stay somewhere a little less crowded, yet still have good train access and great food nearby, I recommend Asakusa. You get fantastic food (and shopping!) and you are still in a good area for accessing the rest of Tokyo, It also has good access from Narita Airport. Another area to check out would be Ebisu. It's the southernmost part of Shibuya Ward and also chill/less touristy. You also get an amazing amount of izakayas, restaurants and bars. You'll eat and drink well.

Get the Suica Card!

Talk about convenience. Before I left for Japan, I downloaded the digital card to the Apple Wallet on my Iphone and loaded 5,000 yen (~$33 USD). The entire trip I paid via Suica for my train/subway rides and anytime I went to a 711/Lawson's (frequent!). If you take a limited express train, you'll need a second ticket to purchase a reserved seat - you can pay for that with Suica as well. I always used the ticket counters to speak with an attendant. Made life easy. Also very easy to top off your digital card anytime.

You don't have to open your phone when you scan your digital Suica!

Going through a turnstyle at the train station? Just point your phone screen-down and it will register!

Lost at a train station? Ask an attendant.

By the turnstyles of almost every train/subway station I went to, there was a small room adjacent to the turnstyles and an attendant present. Be a good world traveler and learn how to say 'excuse me' in Japanese (Sumimasen) and they are more than willing to help you find your way. Also, if you walked into the wrong station (not the train line you thought you needed), that attendant can also help you get a refund and let you out. I know this because it happened to me. Ha.

Don't be afraid to get a cup of coffee at 711.

Scenario: It is 6am and you are wide awake. No one else in your party is. Coffee shops generally don't open until 11am. YOU NEED COFFEE NOW. Go get a cup at 711. It is pretty damn decent! Go up to the cashier and tell them exactly what you want (coffee, latte). Then go use the machine. Pretty easy to figure the machine out, but if you stand there long enough looking confused, someone is going to help you out.

Hiking Recommendation #1 - Choishi Michi Trail (Hike to Koyasan)

Koyasan was a highlight of the trip. Buddhist temple overnight stays, meditating with the monks, being served traditional vegetarian meals - what's not to like?

You can find plenty of info on the town on this sub. My goal is to let you know you can hike there via the Choishi Michi Trail. After debating a few options, we got off the train at Ki-Hosokawa because it allowed us about 4 hours (with stops) to complete the hike to the Daimon Gate at the edge of Koyasan. You can easily find trail maps of the area online. It was fall weather when we completed this hike - please check around online for seasonal/weather considerations.

Hiking Recommendation #2 - Ten-en Hiking Course - Kamakura

Great day trip from Tokyo and a great little hike in the hills down to town. Again, plenty of sites out there to get you aquainted with the area. If you decide to go for it, here's the route we followed:

Starting point: We took the Ten'en Hiking Course trail to Zuisenji. That takes about an hour. If you do that, instead of turning back to come out the way you went in, you can walk through town to Kamakura Station or the beach. On our way to the station once leaving the trail at Zuisenji, we found the most amazing bakery: Mon Peche Mignon. It's about 20 min from Zuisenji. You won't be disappointed if you find it! You've got a 10 min walk from the bakery to the station. From the station, it's a 20 min walk to the beach. Definitely worth checking out and watching the surfers. Again, all seasonal dependent - I was there in early November.

Tennis in Osaka, anyone?

Yep this tip is hyper specific! If you are looking to play some tennis in Osaka, go to the Utsubo Tennis Center. They take reservations for court time and you can rent both racquets and shoes. They are very friendly and there are a lot of courts there.

Final Tip - Explore!

Don't plan all of your meals in advance. Go wander around and see what looks and smells good! You'll probably have one of your best meals/experiences this way. Easter egg if you're still reading: Check out the izakayas near Nakano Station in Tokyo!

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Plastic-Act-7905 on 2024-11-29 19:25:36+00:00.

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My wife and I took a trip Nov 8-27. Posting rough itinerary and takeaways below.

Nov 9-16 Tokyo

• Biggest thing for Tokyo is prioritize and do what you want to do. I wouldn’t feel pressured to do certain things because even with a full week there was still so much we felt like we missed. Nov 9
• Arrived around 5 PM and just ordered Uber Eats to the hotel lol

Nov 10

• Teamlab Borderless - very cool, worth the hype
• Harajuku Thrifting - everything here was very expensive. Like even more than you would see in the US but I don’t thrift outside of like Goodwill in the US lol
• Harry’s Animal Cafe - I know there is a lot of hate about the animal cafes on here but if you are going to do one I would suggest doing your research. The Harry’s that we went to had conditions similar to what you would see in a US pet store so didn’t seem too bad

Nov 11

• Pokémon Cafe - really cool if you can get a reservation. Reservations open up 30 days prior but we managed to get one the day before ~10 PM Japan time. You can also lineup at the cafe (was no line when we were there)
• Ginza 6 - very very very bouje mall
• Ginza Art Aquarium - this was a skip for us if we had to do it again. Did the whole thing in maybe 20-30 min and tickets weren’t very cheap
• Ginza Shopping - GU and Uniqlo are GOATed shopping stores for men and women’s. Made us wish we brought another suitcase

Nov 12

• Ueno Zoo - Another pass for us. Cool to see a Panda but took up over half a day to see a lot of animals you can see at US zoos
• Senso-Ji Temple - this one is probably the highest on the list of temples we saw in Tokyo. Ton of food and vendors around the temple as well. We ended up hanging around here for dinner and did a batting cage afterwards

Nov 13

• Food Tour in Kichijoji - one of the best things we did our whole trip. Kichijoji was a great city that had very few tourists but was still upbeat. We did our tour with Culinary Backstreets. It was a little expensive but cool to see restaurants and food we wouldn’t have known existed
• Yebisu Christmas Plaza - from what we have seen, the US seems to do Christmas a lot bigger than Japan. There was a Christmas tree and some lights here 3-4 shops and the mall was pretty but kind of a let down

Nov 14

• Rabbicour Head Spa - my wife loved this so much. It was relaxing and a much needed break after all the walking we had been doing. Worth it for me as 2.5 hours of treatment between us both was ~$200.
• MiPig Cafe - this was the best animal cafe we went to from the animal treatment as well as experience. If you’re doing one animal cafe here, MiPig is good.
• Shibuya Sky - Very cool. Heard you only needed to do one sky tower and this one was worth it. We did it at night.
• Mixology Salon - very thoughtfully made drinks but location is a bit strange in the top floor of Ginza 6

Nov 15

• Imperial Palace - We went at 11 AM and didn’t realize you needed to wait in line for tickets. I would recommend doing research before you go here if you want to actually go in and see the grounds
• Yokohama - we traveled to Yokohama’s China town which was beautiful and had a lot of very cool buildings and architecture (again not many tourists here at all)

Nov 16

• Traveled to Kawaguchiko via Bus
• When I was researching hotels/AirBnBs around Mount Fuji I couldn’t find much but we found the most AMAZING place even looking it up after staying it was hard to find but it’s a private single bed villa with a sauna and hot tub with gorgeous Fuji Views. Phenomenal breakfast and dinner included. Very new so can’t find much info.

Nov 17

• Rented car and drove around Kawaguchiko Lake - this was probably my favorite day. Fuji is so beautiful and the drive around the lake all day with fall leaves was incredible. There was some festivals going on with food stalls and vendors. Would recommend staying in Fuji for at least a day in Japan. Gives a change of pace from the cities.

Nov 18

• Traveled to Kyoto via Bus -> Shinkansen
• Autumn Festival at Nijo-Jo Castle- this was something to do but was a little pricey for what it was. Castle was cool to see lit up but was a bit disappointing

Nov 19

• Cooking Classes - Booked through TripAdvisor and had a great class making Gyoza and Ramen
• Sanjusangen-do Temple - this was very cool. The 1001 golden statues were incredible to see but sad you couldn’t take pictures
• Tenjuan Temple - This one was also very pretty. A bunch of temples in this area. Garden was very scenic with beautiful Koi

Nov 20

• Fushimi Inari - Tried to wake up early for this one to avoid crowds. Arrived at 8:30 and there was still a decent amount of people
• Osaka Day Trip - We did the Aquarium (very cool and able to see the animals very close. Exhibits are very wide and deep) and then went to downtown Osaka. Side note: we got Rikuros cheesecake and thought it was mid/below average

Nov 21

• Arashiyama Monkey Park - top three coolest things we did. The hike up to the top is TOUGH but totally worth it once you’re up there. Monkeys are all free roaming and you can feed them through a fence.
• Arashiyama Bamboo Forrest- Very crowded but cool to see bamboo I guess
• Downtown Kyoto - Great shopping in downtown Kyoto. Kyoto t-shirts at the anime Store are very cool as well.

Nov 22

• travel to Kanazawa - Shinkansen
• Just did dinner, grabbed dessert, and headed back to hotel

Nov 23

• Tea Ceremony, Ring Making Class, and Pottery - fun classes all booked through TripAdvisor
• Omicho Market - if you are here you have to find the beef stand that sells A5 beef. The seared steak nigiri was one of the best bites of the trip

Nov 24

• City Tour- this was the only tour tour that we booked and I kind wish we didn’t. No shade to people that like tours but we would have probably found all the spots on our own and the cultural info wasn’t worth what we paid.

Nov 25

• Travel back to Toyko - Shinkansen

Nov 26

• Last minute Donki Shopping
• Shuttle to airport and flight

General Takeaways

• I learned a decent amount of Japanese (Duolingo) and it was helpful. I would try to learn a few phrases.
• We shipped our big bags three times and didn’t have any trouble. The hotels will handle most of it
• walking on the other side of the sidewalk takes some getting used to
• the cities are extremely crowded especially around rush hour. People will cram into the trains
• the fire trucks sound like an apocalypse. I was legit scared the first night when I heard one at like 4 AM. I thought it was an earthquake something
• people are so kind. Definitely ask for help if you need it
• Google/Apple maps is so helpful
• Suica Card on your iPhone is a must for subways soooo much easier (I didn’t understand how to do this when I first arrived but you just scan in when you enter the gate and scan out after and it charges based on where you scan in and out)
• don’t be too worried about societal rules just be respectful of others
• Generally, we didn’t wait in line for restaurants and still had plenty of very delicious food. That being said, make reservations where you can.

Happy to answer any questions anyone has! Overall, we loved Japan so much. Lot of walking and lot of people were the only real downsides but those were anticipated.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Zwanche on 2024-11-29 13:39:31+00:00.

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We (31M and 27F) will be visiting Japan in March next year for 3 weeks total. We’re super excited and our priorities/interests are nature, food and culture. We’re not really into shopping that much and not interested in nightlife. Since we sometimes get overwhelmed by large crowds we tried to switch between cities and smaller (hopefully less crowded) places.

We plan to do a lot of outdoor activities (hiking and cycling). We are aware that this is a bit of a gamble regarding the weather but we’re also used to cycling in the cold and the rain and have the appropriate gear. Of course we have limits but some rain won’t stop us.

My boyfriend is a huge specialty coffee nerd. We already found a few recommendations through this sub but they’re mostly in Tokyo. So if you have more please drop a comment. Same goes for restaurants. Usually we put all the possibilities into Google Maps (we’ll also check out Tabelog) and then decide the day of by proximity and mood.

Day 1: Tokyo, Fri

• Arrival at Narita Airport around 5pm
• Go to hotel, we’re based in Chiyoda
• Get dinner (7-11 etc)
• Maybe walk around a bit depending on time and energy

Day 2: Tokyo, Sat

• Grab breakfast from 7-11/Family Mart etc.
• Meiji Shrine + Meiji Jingu Gyoen
• Have a little picnic in the park
• Maybe do a free walking tour? Starts around 9:30am
• Harajuku
• Takeshita Street (stores start to open around 11)
• Cat Street (parallel street, less crowded)
• People watching, checking out stores
• Go south
• Shibuya
• Shibuya Scramble, Hachiko Statue
• Lunch somewhere
• Look around
• Shibuya Fureai (small botanical garden with coffee shop as an escape)
• Shibuya Sky at night/after dark
• Dinner

Day 3: Daytrip to Nikko, Sun (depending on the weather)

• This day is flexible and we’re planning on checking the weather in advance to choose the best day
• Grab a snack
• Start around 7am, arrive around 9:30am
• Shinkyo Bridge
• Nikko Toshogu Shrine
• Senjougahara trail (Ryuzu falls, Yudakai falls)
• Leave around 6pm, back to Tokyo around 9pm

Day 4: Tokyo, Mon

• Check out of hotel, lock luggage at Tokyo Station
• Grab a snack
• TeamLab Borderless (around 9am)
• Tsukiji Market
• Walk around
• Maybe another snack, but it’s supposed to be overpriced so maybe just checking it out
• Toyosu Senkyaku Banrai
• Asakusa
• Sensoji Temple
• Kaminarimon Gate
• Nakamise Shopping Street
• Hang around Asakusa
• Sunset Seto Express => Takamatsu (leaves around 10pm)

Day 5: Takamatsu/Imabari, Tue

• Either forward luggage from Imabari to Takamatsu or lock at station (opinions?)
• Takamatsu
• Ritsurin Garden
• Takamatsu Castle
• Have some Sanuki Udon (recs?)
• Take train to Imabari (3h)
• Check into hotel
• Maybe walk around a bit, depending on time

Day 6: Imabari, Daytrip to Matsuyama, Wed

• Check if it’s possible to take a bike on the train (I read that it depends on the time of year—any experience?)
• Matsuyama
• Either go by bike (50km) along the coast or take the train (1h) (also depending on the weather)
• Matsuyama Castle
• Dogo Onsen private bath
• Take the train back

Day 7: Imabari/Hiroshima, Thu

• Cycle Tobishima Kaido (~30km) to JR Nigata Station
• Take the train to Hiroshima (~1h)
• Hiroshima
• Go to hotel (we’ll stay checked in Imabari)
• Peace Memorial + Park in the afternoon/at night

Day 8: Miyajima, Fri

• Miyajima
• Check out, leave around 7am, arrive around 8
• Itsukushima Shrine
• Momijidani Park
• Maybe Miyajima Ropeway (depends on the time)
• Take the train back to Imabari
• Leave around 5pm, arrive around 8pm

Day 9: Shimanami Kaido, Sat

• Forward luggage to Onimichi
• Breakfast at hotel, get snacks for the day
• Shimanami Kaido Day 1
• Dinner at hostel

Day 10: Shimanami Kaido/Onimichi, Sun

• Breakfast at hostel, get snacks
• Shimanami Kaido Day 2
• Arrive at Onomichi + check into hotel
• Get dinner

Day 11: Onimichi/Himeji/Kyoto, Mon

• Forward luggage to Kyoto
• Take the train to Kyoto via Himeji
• Leave around 8am, arrive at Himeji around 10
• Himeji Castle
• Leave around 4pm, arrive in Kyoto around 6pm
• Check into hotel
• Get dinner and walk around a bit (depending on energy level)

Day 12: Kyoto, Tue

• Maybe rent a bike to get around at some point
• Fushimi Inari Shrine, Shin-ike Pond
• Kiyomizu-dera
• Sannen-zaka, Ninen-zaka, Gion
• Maruyama Park, Yasaka Shrine

Day 13: Kyoto, Wed

• Tenryu-ji Temple
• Arashiyama Bamboo Grove (maybe by bike)
• Rokuon-ji, Golden Pagoda
• Haradani Garden

Day 14: Kyoto, Thu

• Hike Kurama to Kibune
• Explore Kyoto by bike
• Philosopher’s Path
• Kyoto Handicraft Center

Day 15: Kyoto/Osaka, Fri

• Daytrip to Osaka
• Leave around 7am, arrive around 8am
• Leave around 8pm, back around 9pm
• Osaka Castle (maybe, depending on how much we liked Himeji Castle)
• Sakura on the riverbank
• Dotonbori, street food
• Feel the vibe of the city

Day 16: Kyoto/Nara/Kanazawa, Sat

• Check out, luggage forward to Kanazawa
• Daytrip to Nara
• Leave around 8am, arrive around 9am at Nara
• Nara Park
• Tōdai-ji Temple
• Nakatanidou, Mochi Shop
• Leave around 5pm, arrive around 8pm
• Check into hotel
• Get dinner/snack

Day 17: Kanazawa, Sun

• Birthday BF (any recs for something extra special?)
• Kenrokuen Garden + Castle, Seisonkaku Villa
• Omicho Market
• Higashi Chaya District (maybe tea ceremony)
• Explore + chill

Day 18: Kanazawa/Shirakawa-go/Takayama, Mon

• Forward luggage to Takayama or Tokyo (unsure yet)
• Check out, leave for Shirakawa-go around 8am, arrive around 10am
• Shirakawa-go
• Irori Restaurant for lunch
• Kyushu Coffee Haus
• Leave for Takayama around 5pm, arrive around 7pm
• Takayama
• Check into hotel
• Get dinner somewhere

Day 19: Takayama, Tue

• Miyagawa Morning Market
• Sanmachi Suji
• Hachiman Shrine
• Takayama Jinya
• Higashiyama Walking Course
• Explore + chill
• Dinner: Sakurajaya Restaurant

Day 20: Takayama/Tokyo, Wed

• Leave around 9am, arrive around 2pm
• Check into hotel (probably close to Ueno Station)
• Ueno Park
• Drift south
• Aki-oka
• Chabara
• mAAch
• Maybe Shinjuku (depending on time)
• Shinjuku Gyoen Park (Cherry blossoms by night)
• Tokyo Government Building (Enjoy the view)
• Walking tour at night?

Day 21: Tokyo/Fuji, Thu

• Daytrip to Fuji
• Leave around 6am, arrive around 8:30am
• Chureito Pagoda
• Lake Kawaguchiko, Oishi Park (maybe by bike)
• Leave around 5pm, back at Tokyo around 7pm
• If anything, Shinjuku again

Day 22: Tokyo, Fri

• Departure flight 10:45am
• Express train from Ueno Station (~2h)

Organize far in advance

• eSIM
• Suica Card App
• Immigration forms
• TeamLab Borderless Tickets
• Sunset Set Express Tickets

Organize days/1-2 weeks in advance

• Dogo Onsen, private onsen

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/WingdowsZeven on 2024-11-27 21:49:09+00:00.

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I just returned from a 26-day solo Japan trip focused on Kyushu and thought I should do a write-up for my trip as I did my last trip in 2023. I spent 18 days in Kyushu before heading to Seoul for 6 days and then wrapping it up with 3 days in Tokyo at the end. This is my third trip to Japan and second solo, so I just did what I wanted in my Tokyo days. This write-up will focus on my experiences in Kyushu. The main focus was food and sightseeing, with shopping scattered throughout the trip.

My flight was from YVR to NRT with Japan Airlines and was CAD$1,100. I landed in Narita Terminal 2 from YVR at 4:00pm and cleared immigration in about 20 minutes. I filled out my customs and immigration forms on the plane just before landing. Unfortunately, I shared my flight with two classes of Japanese students who were returning to Japan, and all had checked luggage, which meant waiting for my own luggage took longer than normal. I took my AER Travel Pack 3 with a Bellroy 6L sling onto the plane while I checked in my MUJI 75L suitcase with a smaller 32L carryon inside of it.

I cleared customs shortly after and I bought tickets for the Skyliner at 4:50pm from the machine. I had to travel to my hotel next to Haneda because my flight to Miyazaki was from there and settled in.

Weather

• The weather in Kyushu was spectacular. It was 20-25c everyday and the only day it “rained” was when I landed in Miyazaki. It was sunny and humid and I actually got tanned there. On most days, I wore a t-shirt and had to head back to the hotel to shower and change before heading out in the evenings again.

Expenses

• I took 300,000 yen (around CAD$2,500 when I exchanged it back in July) and ended up using it all for shopping and eating. Being Canadian, the only option for a FX fee free credit card was one from ScotiaBank, but I did not travel frequently enough to open the card just for this trip. There was also a FX withdrawal fee associated with my debit card so I wanted to limit using that as well. I took out an additional 100,000 yen from the 7/11 ATMs throughout my trip as well.
• I had exchanged my cash back when CAD$1 = 116 yen, back in July. Of course I took the risk that it could keep going higher, but it fell back down and was much lower during my trip.
• Cash was still the best form of payment in many areas that I was headed to. Many temples and related shops were cash only, parking lot payment machines were cash only, and many smaller restaurants and souvenirs shops I came across were cash only. Even at the Canal City Ramen Stadium, I watched some tourists get turned away because all the ordering machines were cash only.
• All my accommodations (hotels and ryokan), flights, and rental car fees totaled around CAD$6k. Along with my shopping and eating, I spent around $9k for the entire trip.
• For hotels, I stayed at mostly 3-star hotels which were more than sufficient.
• In Kyushu, I stayed at a few JR Kyushu branches. JR Kyushu Miyazaki, JR Kyushu Kagoshima, and JR Kyushu Blossom Hakata Station. In Kumamoto, I stayed at The Blossom Kumamoto. My average cost was CAD$150 a night as I did value having a bigger room and bed.

Transportation

• I had my Sugoca from my previous trip and used that as my main IC card. I loaded it with 5000 yen every so often to pay for trains and smaller purchases at convenience stores. It was a great way to avoid the dreaded 1 yen coin.
• I purchased a 5-day North Kyushu JR Pass and used it for my days there. With the JR pass, I did not reserve for any train and simply got on the next train available in the unreserved seat cars. For my trips from Miyazaki-Kagoshima and Kagoshima-Kumamoto, I booked tickets at the station the day of my departure for the next available train with no issues.
• Rental car costs averaged around $60~ per day. This was with the basic insurance option selected and the basic car tier.

Food

• As with my previous trip, I did not line up for any food or restaurants. I had ideas of what to eat and would look up options when I felt hungry. I defaulted to the massive food halls common in many larger stations and department stores.
• I had around three meals a day at restaurants, and often a late-night snack. The theme for this trip was food, so I made sure to try as many options as I could. I often ordered side dishes and drinks with my meal as well. Because of this, I averaged around 5000+ yen a day on food.

Driving in Japan

• I had three separate rentals throughout my trip, and they were with Times Rental and Toyota Rental. Both agencies were very easy to work with and had clear guidelines on the rules on renting a car. Both agencies had English versions of their pamphlets available.
• I recommend renting an ETC card to make toll driving easier and not having to pay for tolls individually at every toll gate. The ETC card is returned when the rental is returned and a printout of all the tolls you passed through is provided and you pay it at the rental agency.
• Bring your own car mount and car charger for your phone. I believe some agencies have some for rental, but they are limited and quickly rented out. Best to be prepared and bring your own.
• I used Google Maps exclusively for all my navigations as I didn’t want to mess with the built-in one.
• The biggest difference driving on the left side of the road is remembering to look right for your rear mirror and hitting the turn signals with your right hand instead. It took a few hours to get used to driving on the other side but after repeatedly chanting “to the left” every time I turned, it became second nature.
• Driving in the cities is the same as driving in any other city – I would avoid it in the city centre if possible. Thankfully, most of my driving took part in the more rural areas, where there is less traffic and much less stressful driving. Take it slow, be alert, and don’t be afraid to pull over into one of many roadside stops and convenience stores to organize yourself.
• Getting gas was very easy at the full serve stations. I pulled up and said three words: “mantan – full tank”, “regular – regular gas”, “genkin – cash”. The attendant handled the rest. As I was provided with Hybrid vehicles, fuel efficiency was really good, and I only paid around 9000 yen total in gas for the trip.
• I highly, highly recommend downloading the offline Google Maps for the areas you plan to drive in, especially if you plan to head out to some more rural areas. Sometimes, the cell signal will drop and having no maps either is a big stress.
• I noticed that on expressways and roads, most road signs are accompanied by English as well even in some of the more remote areas.

Miyazaki

Overall, Miyazaki is a very quiet and laidback city and reminded me a bit of home. It was big enough but also not Tokyo or Osaka big. There are not many people, let alone tourists, here and I guess you get that “real Japan” or “off the beaten track” vibe everyone asks for in every other post. When I was shopping at GU and asked for the tax-free process, they had to grab a manager and pull out a manual to help me. I stayed at JR Kyushu Miyazaki which is attached directly to Miyazaki Station in a very convenient location. The hotel itself was very nice, and I believe that it was built or renovated recently as there were USB-C ports in my room. I would 100% stay here again on my next trip.

Day 1

• My flight to Miyazaki arrived around 9:30am and I was out of the airport and off to pick up my rental car. It was ridiculously hot and humid, and the intermittent rain did not help. I picked up my rental at 10:30am and was off to my first stop of my trip.
• I drove down to Aoshima Island (around 30 minutes) and parked in one of the big parking lots. I walked through the city and across the sand bridge/beach. The views were stunning, and I made it to the shrine on the island. I spent some time exploring the shrine before heading back and grabbed some souvenirs and a crepe from Aoshima Crepe.
• The next stop was Sun Messe Nichinan to check out the cool Moai statues. Unfortunately, I only really took some photos as the rain started up and the wind was picking up as well. I wished that the weather was nicer to really take in the area, but it was super interesting seeing the Moai Statues!
• I drove down to Udo Shrine and was directed to an appropriate parking lot by a flagger using my broken Japanese and hand gestures. The shrine ground and the areas around it were stunning. I think this is my top 3 favourite shrine to visit. You walk through the main tori gate, over a small bridge, before descending down the side of the cliff to the actual shrine hidden in the cliffs. The sound of the waves crashing into the cliffs makes everything see so serene.
• Originally I was planning to drive down to Cape Toi, but due to the weather I decided against it. I drove my way back up to Miyazaki and spent the night exploring the station area. I grabbed some tomato broth ramen from a nearby shop and later on some sushi from the supermarket.

Day 2

• I left my hotel at 6:15am and started the drive up to Takachiho Gorge. I had rented a ETC card (recommended) so I did not have to deal with the hassle of stopping and paying tolls at the gates. The Kyushu Expressway, and I suspect many of the other expressways in Japan are similar, is one lane each direction with long distances between passing lanes. While the speed limit is 70, if you get stuck behind someone going...

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