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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/2done4this on 2024-10-30 16:20:42+00:00.

Hi everyone!

I personally had looked at a ton of trip reports before my first trip to Japan, so hopefully mine can also help someone else out. If anything sounds robotic, please note that I did format this with ChatGPT so that my writing was more fluid and less of a fever dream due to my jet-lag.

Our 18-day trip was from October 8th through October 26th with 2 people . We did meet up with a friend who lives in Tokyo, so some items were booked for 3 people.

Budget wise, we kept most of our hotels between $65-$125 per night. We did splurge on 1 hotel in Takayama for $250 a night.

Itinerary: 5 days Tokyo (including arrival day), 1 day Matsumoto, 2 days Takayama, 2 days Kanazawa, 4 days Kyoto, 4 days Tokyo (including departure day). Our original plan was to do more day trips out of Tokyo (Nikko and Kamakura), but due to poor weather conditions, they had to be cancelled. Otherwise, I would have taken more days away from Tokyo and used them to go to Hiroshima and Miyajima.

General Tips/Thoughts

• Invest in Great Walking Shoes: We averaged about 13 miles (21 km) of walking per day. I did extensive research on walking shoes and ended up choosing the Asics Gel-Nimbus 26. They were an absolute godsend. We also brought another pair of tennis shoes but only used them once or twice.
• Avoid Unethical Animal Attractions: Please keep in mind that many animal cafes and attractions are not ethical and mistreat animals. If you plan on doing any animal-related activities, research ahead of time or consider other ways to spend your money.
• eSIM vs. International Plans: I used a 30-day, 10GB Ubigi eSIM that I set up in advance, and it worked perfectly throughout the entire trip. My partner opted for an international travel plan through his phone company, but it didn’t work as well as the eSIM.
• Suica and Pasmo Cards: Upon arrival at Haneda Airport, we wanted a physical, rechargeable transportation card. Walking towards the kiosks to get train tickets, you’ll see an information desk, where you can purchase your Pasma card (cash only, so pull the money out from a nearby ATM). Pasmo and Suica are essentially identical and can be used the same way. We loaded 10,000 yen onto each of our cards, which lasted almost the entire trip. You can also use your Pasmo/IC card to pay for food at convenience stores and a lot of vending machines.
• Many places were cash-only, so make sure to have enough yen on hand. ATMs are widely available, but it’s wise to double-check your cash before dining or visiting attractions with admission fees.
• Google Maps was incredibly helpful for trains and buses. We didn’t have issues navigating with it at all.
• Tattoo Policies: Our hotels did not allow people with tattoos to use their public baths. If you have tattoos, consider purchasing tattoo covers or booking tattoo-friendly hotels and onsens. We bought tattoo covers at Don Quijote while in Japan but wished we bought better quality ones before we arrived.
• When purchasing tickets or making reservations from a different time zone, double-check that the dates and times align with your intended schedule in Japan. We encountered an issue where, despite careful checks while in the U.S., our mobile tickets showed a date one day earlier once we were in Japan due to some websites not properly adjusting for time zone differences.
• Pack light and do laundry on site: Every single hotel we booked had coin laundry on the premises. I had packed light for an 18-day trip and still wished I had only packed about half since we had access to self-service coin laundry every single day. Not having the additional clothing in our backpacks would have spared us so much more room for additional souvenirs.
• Booking flexibility: Consider not booking all your hotels in advance unless necessary. You need to pre-book your first hotel for immigration purposes, but we noticed that hotel prices dropped significantly while we were in Japan. We could have saved a lot of money by booking hotels as we went. However, for remote areas with limited accommodation during tourist-influx seasons, you should book months ahead. Also, book bus tickets to and from rural towns that see lots of tourists a week in advance. If you’re sticking to main cities, leaving some hotel bookings flexible can save you money and give you leeway with travel.

Day 1: Arrival in Tokyo (Akasaka)

We arrived at Haneda Airport at 6:20 PM. After retrieving our luggage, we headed to the transportation kiosks near the metro to get our Pasmo cards. We navigated the metro to get to our hotel, Via Inn Prime Akasaka. I was worried navigating transportation would be difficult, but we found it extremely easy.

Day 2: Odaiba, Ginza, and Akihabara

We had a reservation at TeamLab Planets in Odaiba at 9:30 AM, so we enjoyed breakfast at the hotel and took a train, then a bus to the museum. We had a great time; while somewhat crowded, there weren’t too many people on a Thursday morning. Tip: Wear pants that you can roll above your knees!

Since my body woke up at 2 AM due to jet lag, I had checked online to see if we could grab a reservation for the Pokémon Café. We’d had no luck for a full month, but a slot opened up, and I was able to grab one for 1:30 PM that day! If you can’t get reservations ahead of time, look late at night or early in the morning once you’re in Japan to see if someone canceled last-minute.

With time before our Pokémon Café reservation, we decided to walk from TeamLab to the café (about an hour’s walk). Along the way, we crossed the Kachidoki Bridge to the Tsukiji Hongwan-ji Temple in Ginza.

We found a coffee shop called Bongen Coffee that had a small line. The wait ended up being about 45 minutes since the shop is small and offers a lot of coffee customization, making each order take longer. The coffee was delicious, but we probably wouldn’t have waited if we didn’t have excess free time.

Once we got our coffee, we walked to a local park to sit and enjoy it. From there, we made our way to the Pokémon Café. The café was adorable, and the food was decorated amazingly! Although the food was okay and very pricey, the ambiance made it well worth our while. We spent some time in the gift shop area afterward.

I have a couple of small tattoos, so I needed to buy tattoo covers to use the hotel’s public bath and other onsens we had planned. We walked through the streets of Akihabara, exploring the eclectic anime shops, and made our way to Don Quijote Akihabara. I can’t get the stupid store jingle out of my head.

Don Quijote ended up being the ONLY place I could find tattoo covers. However, these covers are extremely thin, and you need multiple layers to cover a tattoo completely. They’re also very sticky and hard to remove. Next time, I’ll buy thicker, reusable tattoo covers before going to Japan. You can also use surgical/medical tape, but I wanted something more inconspicuous.

As the sun was setting, we decided to walk back to our hotel, even though it was about an hour and 20-minute walk. We strolled by Kanda Myojin Shrine at sunset, which was absolutely beautiful and completely empty of tourists by the time we arrived. We then stopped at Hanzomon Gate near the Imperial Palace, enjoying the view of the water and city lights at night.

Day 3: Ueno, Asakusa, and the Imperial Palace

One of our friends lives in Ueno, so we met up with him at a café called Coffee House Katsura. We enjoyed a cheap breakfast set of coffee, thick toast with honey, boiled eggs, and salad to start the day.

After parting ways, we walked toward Ueno Park and discovered a school food festival we weren’t aware of. We sampled various vendor snacks before exploring the huge park and visiting the Tokyo National Museum.

From there, we walked down Ameyoko Shopping Street. Feeling hungry for ramen, we found a place called Karashibi Miso Ramen Kinkanbo Kanda Honten. It was back in the direction we had come from, but it looked so good we hopped on a bus to get there before the dinner rush. We arrived with a handful of people in line before us and waited about 20 minutes. It was so worth the wait—an amazing and filling bowl of ramen.

To walk off the food, we decided to stroll back to our hotel, exploring different areas of the city.

Day 4: Shibuya, Harajuku, and Shinjuku

We followed a suggested itinerary provided by u/Sipikay **(**found here), which ended up being perfect for us. The only difference was that we did this on a Saturday, so the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building observatory was closed.

Instead, we decided to be among the first people at the gate for the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. Despite generally avoiding chain restaurants, we wanted to see if there was a difference in taste and quality at Starbucks in Japan versus the U.S. As soon as the gates opened, we went straight to Starbucks to grab a window seat overlooking the pond and garden area. Tip: If you want a beautiful view while sipping coffee, arrive before the gates open to get a good seat.

While strolling through Harajuku, we found a restaurant called **Roast Beef Ohno Haraju…

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