Japan Trips & Travel Tips

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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Technojust on 2025-01-22 05:00:57+00:00.

Sorry this may be a wall of text, but hopefully someone will do a google search one day and find even just a sentence from this helpful for their trip. 

Context:

• 20M. This would be my third time in Tokyo, first time visiting everywhere else. Only decided to visit Nara, Enoshima, and Kamakura around 12 hours in advance.
• I am Asian so I look Japanese-passing. Know just enough Japanese to survive. Can slowly read Hiragana/Katakana. Only Kanji proficiency is from knowledge of basic Chinese characters.
• Booked in advance 5 restaurants (initially 6 but cancelled one) and 2 attractions.
• All solo except for time in Sapporo and during the Kikkoman tour.
• I centered my itinerary around me being a big foodie, collecting goshuin, and carrying a camera. I’ve built up a list in Google Maps of 100+ restaurants in Japan that I add to as I scroll Instagram or watch JapanEat.
• Grew up with US Northeastern winters, so Japan was not that cold, including Sapporo. All the walking and heating in buildings and subways probably helped.
• EDC - Aer City Sling 2: Camera (attached via S-Biner). Anker MagGo Power Bank 10K (highly recommend - small and maintained a healthy phone charge throughout 14 hr days). Airpods. Goshuin book. Uniqlo drawstring bag folded up in case of shopping. Wallet, passport, coin pouch.

D1 Wednesday: Arrival in Osaka

• 8:45: Landed at KIX (smooth connection from HND) and cleared everything. Decided in advance to visit Mt. Rokko in Kobe, and bought a special tourist transportation ticket at the KIX Tourist Info Center. Did not know the booth only opened at 9:00, but I was lucky to not have to wait long.
• 10:30: Dropped off luggage (one backpack) at the hotel (1 min walk from JR Namba Station. Planned to eat at a health-orientated teishoku restaurant but they open at 11:00 so I wandered around the area until then.
• 12:00: Walked down to Namba Yasaka Jinja. A small crowd but nothing crazy. Took some pictures and got a paper goshuin. Walked through Denden town and only went inside the Animate store. Walked up to Kuromon Ichiba market and ate seafood and takoyaki. Walked to Hozen-ji Temple, which was very quiet, and got a handwritten goshuin.
• 15:15: Checked into the hotel after walking in this circle. Got organized and refreshed.
• 17:00: Shopping in Uniqlo Namba City for some necessary items. Went back to the hotel to drop extra stuff off.
• 19:30: Arrive in Shinsekai via metro, much quieter than expected. The decorations were touristy but cool nonetheless. Had kushikatsu for dinner, but the doteyaki was the star.
• 21:30: Arrive at Okonomiyaki Moegi. Had their regular okonomiyaki and a negiyaki, and learned that just one okonomiyaki is plenty for a full meal. Restaurant was full but with only one local.

D2 Thursday: Surprise trip to Nara

• 5:00: Woke up due to jet lag, decided to take advantage of the extra time and go to the Nara deer park and Todai-ji. I had done a little research on a Nara trip but decided against it, so I was not going into this fully blind. Got on the 6:10 train to Nara.
• 7:00: Got out of the station in Nara and walked towards Todai-ji and the deer park. Extremely quiet with no one around, only a few ojisans and others. Then snow started falling and it was so beautiful and peaceful. Went to Todai-ji and saw the giant Buddha, and there were only two other visitors in the hall. Got a written goshuin. Completely silent with the snow falling outside.
• 10:00: Left the temple and walked to the main deer park area. Tour buses started arriving and it got really loud really quick. Immediately turned into the Nara you see on Youtube and expect of a tourist hotspot.
• 12:00: Back at the hotel and went out to an eel restaurant. Really crispy and tender Kansai style grilled eel but pricey. Multiple floors for seating, and it was just myself and a staff for the majority of my meal. Kind of awkward.
• 15:00: Go to Umeda for a 15:30 reservation at Yakitori Ichimatsu. Got the sake tasting set which included a really good one from Akita. Everything was really good, but the tail skewer was so good I ordered another one a la carte. The seating was around 2 hours. Made the reservation 2 months in advance via omakase online concierge.
• 17:00: Got lost for 2 hours trying to find a cafe and 551 Horai in Osaka Station City. Found both but it really wasn't worth it. 551 Horai is everywhere. Learned to not rely on Google Maps GPS and instead focus on surrounding buildings and floor maps.

D3 Friday: Kobe Day Trip

• 9:40: Arrive in Kobe Chinatown. Wandered around a bit and got the famous pork buns at Roshoki. They open at 10:00 so I waited for less than 5 minutes to order and get my food. Wandered and ate other foods which was mostly disappointing. Saw a massive line for Yun Yun fried baos while I was in a cafe, so I stopped by later and miraculously did not have to wait in line. It ended up being the best thing I ate in Chinatown.
• 12:00: Arrive at the BE KOBE sign. Walked around the harbor area and checked out the earthquake memorial museum. It was mostly exhibits but the preserved area was pretty impactful.
• 13:00: Reservation at Mouriya for Kobe Beef (booked 3 months in advance via online form and confirmed via email). A must try experience but a little underwhelming when taking into account all the hype. The quality of beef was excellent and the service was top tier, but I think you can get a more exciting meal at the same high quality for cheaper at a nice yakiniku place instead. After, I walked to Ikuta shrine 2 minutes away and got a special January goshuin.
• 15:00: Begin the journey to Mount Rokko Garden Terrace. With some assistance from a very kind bus driver, I made it up the mountain. It was completely empty and the only tourists I later saw were one Chinese family and a group of four Koreans. The only other people were ojisans and obasans, and staff. I mainly stayed on top of a small brick tower and went crazy with my camera. A mild snowstorm passed by just before blue hour. Hands and feet were freezing but the black magic known as Uniqlo heattech kept my body warm.
• 18:43: Took the bus down and arrived back at Sannomiya station around 20:00. Explored the food court of San Plaza (the same one from the series JapanEat is doing), and had dinner at a tempura place that JapanEat gave S-tier to (which I agree).
• 21:30: Went to Osaka castle straight from Kobe for some night photography. The only other people there were three tourists and some people walking their dogs. Even in the area outside the castle grounds, there was nobody around. Eerily quiet and peaceful.

D4 Saturday: Kaiyukan Aquarium

• 10:00: Arrive back at Osaka Castle for morning pictures. Extremely packed and I did not go inside. The view from outside was nice enough. Got a written goshuin from Hokoku Shrine outside the grounds, which had significantly fewer people.
• 10:45: Second in line waiting for Chukasoba Uemachi (Bib Gourmand) and seated at 11:03. Excellent ramen and a pork rice bowl which is lunch only. It was completely silent inside except for the sound of slurping noodles. This was somehow my first bowl of ramen this trip, so I only realized later how excellent this ramen was after I had other bowls throughout the next few days.
• 13:30: Entry into Kaiyukan Aquarium with a timed ticket I bought online 3 weeks in advance. I overlooked how bad the crowds would be on a weekend, but was spared the ticket lines. Inside, there were lots of loud children and couples. I found the squid, octopus, and jellyfish more interesting than the whale shark which was smaller than I imagined. The cafe’s marketing hit my weak spot for aquatic animals and I got a whale shark soft serve (ramune flavor, very average).
• 16:45: Embark on a quest to obtain instagram-viral honey donuts at Ronpaul bakery. Instead, I took the wrong bus and ended up at Ikea and in the middle of nowhere. Found my wa...

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