Here's the first part of my travel diary from our recent Japan honeymoon. We’re a couple from the USA in our late 30s/early 40s and it was our first time in Japan (and Asia). I do all the travel planning and love to read about other folks' travel experiences when I’m planning, and I always keep a little digital travel diary when we're traveling, so I figured I’d post it here. It’s bonkers long, so skim or skip and maybe I’ll post the rest later.
Thursday:
Travel
Friday:
We arrived at Tokyo HND earlier than expected (3:00, instead of 3:25). Baggage claim, customs and immigration were fast and efficient. We pre-booked a taxi and, with traffic, it took about an hour to get to our hotel (ICI Hotel Ueno Shin Okachimachi). It was nice not to have to deal with luggage on the train with my dumb airplane brain. We checked into our very clean, very teeny tiny room, freshened up, and headed out. We walked about a mile to Ramen Daishi for Shoyu ramen (with wontons) and a Sapporo. Everyone else in the place was a single dude and these guys slurped their ramen down so fast. How do they not burn their taste buds off?? The staff was nice and helpful and the ramen embodied their catch phrase "aiming to be the pinnacle of the ordinary." Then we walked over to Kanda Myoujin Shrine which was beautifully lit up at night. Lots of locals stopping by after work. Then on to Akihabara for arcades, a photo booth that produced some of the most haunting, facetunned photos you've ever seen, a Magikarp taiyaki from Kurikoan, and a beer from Hitachino Brewing Lab. Stopped at 7-11 on the way back for cash, an ice cream, and breakfast/coffee we tossed in the fridge for the next morning. We went to bed around 11.
Saturday:
I was up from 3 to 5am jet laggin, but still managed to clock 6 hours of sleep. Pre bought conbini breakfast and Japanese infomercials in the hotel to start the day. It was a drizzly morning but nothing too bad so we walked about a mile again but this time to Senso-Ji. We got to the Asakusa Tourist Culture Information center right as it opened at 9 and saw the temple and view from the observation deck. I also got my first eki-stamp (good fun-bring a little notebook!). Then we walked through Kaminarimon Gate and grabbed some kibidango (warm, little mochi skewers covered with roasted soybean flower) along Nakamise-dori. We washed our hands, made an offering and a prayer, got our fortune, and bought a goshuincho and hand drawn goshuin (temple stamps, my favorite souvenir- I'll treasure these forever). Then we walked to Matchamon for a matcha latte. My husband got the seasonal one with salted foam on top and it was SO good. Then we got a unagi onigiri at Asakusa Unana (loved it), popped in and out of some shops, bought some probably over-priced chopsticks (but we loved them), and headed to Kura Sushi for lunch. Cheap, fun, tasty, and fast. Around the corner to the Asakusa Batting stadium where we each hit 20 balls and played some arcade games.
My husband had seen the Asahi headquarters from the info center that morning and was obsessed that they built it to look like a beer, so we headed there to have a beer in the Sky Room next. It was a nice walk across the river and maybe a 20 minute wait for a seat. We got window seats and drank our Asahis admiring a beautiful view of cloudy Tokyo. We headed down across the river to the Ginza line to buy Passmo cards (we're lowly android users) and hop on the train to Meigu Jingu Stadium. We headed to the team shop where we got all the swallows gear. Then down the street to Caffe Veloce (coffee chain) for a little pre game pick me up. My husband went to the bathroom to put on his Swallows shirt and hat and when he came back, the two ladies at the table next to us squealed and kept saying "Kawaii! Kawaii!" It was adorable. Very kawaii. Then we went to meet up with the tour group we were watching the game with. We could have done it on our own, but going with the group was a really nice way to meet some other travelers and the guides helped us learn the cheers, explained the game, and let us borrow some bats and umbrellas for cheering purposes. We ate karaage and gyoza and drank like 50 beers from the beer girls. The Swallows won in the 9th inning with a walk off home run and the crowd went bananas. Everyone was cheering and high fiving and it was one of those nights that was so amazing and memorable that it made the whole trip worth it. I fell asleep on the train home.
Sunday:
Awake from 3 to 5 again. This time with a lil headache from what was possibly too many Asahis at the Swallows game. Took the morning slow and headed out to Jonathan's for breakfast. We got one Japanese breakfast and one American breakfast (New Orleans style! what does it mean?!). Very reasonably priced, unlimited drinks from the drink bar (coffee, tea, juice, soda...), and an adorable little robot delivers your food. We walked up through Ameyoko and stopped at a drugstore to buy sunscreen and vitamin C serum, Marishiten Tokudaiji Temple to touch the lucky boar and get another goshuin, and to some candy shops. Then on to Ueno park where there was a very cool antique market. We found a few treasures (and also happened upon a show where a real monkey was walking on stilts-was that real or a dream?) and then walked through the lotus pond to Shinobazu no Ike Temple for another Goshuin. This was definitely our most jet laggy day (and the slight hangover probably didn't help) so we needed another pick-me-up. We headed to Matcha and Espresso Miyano-Yu. On the way we saw a bunch of little kids in traditional dress pulling a drum and drumming. It was super cute. At the cafe we got a coffee float and a matcha float and sat on the tatami mats in the converted bath house. If you are someone chasing the coolest cafes, this one is for you. Great vibes, everyone there was way cooler than us.
Feeling revitalized, we walked the wiggly streets towards Yanaka Ginza. Lots of cute shops, galleries, beautiful homes. We made it to Yanaka's main shopping street which was crowded and lively. We grabbed a lemon sour from Echigoya Honten (a little liquor store/bar) and a Yanaka menchi (fried beef cutlet) and chicken cutlet from the butcher shop next door. We stood at the milk crates outside of the liquor store and drank and ate and people watched. It was a really good moment. The food from the butcher shop was absolutely delicious (we tried the famed Famichiki later and this chicken was 10x better). They sure know how to fry things here. We continued down the street, popping in and out of the shops, and on to a proper sit down lunch at Sampota Cafe Nombiriya. We sat on the tatami mats again (it is so nice to take some shoes-off breaks!) and ate a squid ink Omurice and a thai curry. Then we headed over to the Asakura Museum of Sculpture. This is the artists Asakura's home and gallery. Beautiful Japanese home with the most lovely courtyard garden. Also, the first time I got to walk through a museum in socks and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The women working there were so kind and helpful.
Once we finished at the museum, we took a wander through the Yanaka Cemetery, headed through Ueno park as the sun was setting, and popped back out to a very lively, lit up Ameyoko (different vibe than when we'd been there that morning). I had made a reservation at Mominoki House (a foot bath cafe), so we headed there. We sat with our feet in the hot water, drank tea, and got 10 minute massages. An hour here was exactly what we needed. I highly recommend this place. We weren't super hungry so we opted to skip dinner and just do dessert. We found a second floor dessert shop and shared the biggest strawberry and cream kakigori and a mango coconut pudding served in a whole coconut. Both of these were so fun because it was like an archeological excavation. You're eating one thing and then you hit a layer of jelly, then red bead, then strawberry. You never knew what was coming next. Delicious. We strolled through Ueno a bit more and then walked home for a 9pm bed time.
Monday:
Had a brief night time wake up, but not as long as the other nights. We had coffee in the room and headed to Tsukiji Fish Market for breakfast around 8:30. The vibe on the train is very different between a weekend vs a weekday morning. We finally experienced the train silence everyone talks about. Not a mariachi band or kid selling candy bars for his basketball team in sight. The market was fun but definitely a little more expensive than the prices I'd seen elsewhere. We had many of the classics (sushi, tamago, Wagyu skewer, daifuku mochi, melon, scallops, matcha/hojicha, crab claws, was there more?). Everything was super tasty. The one thing we had that we didn't like was Cremia ice cream. I was really looking forward to trying this, and maybe I was too full, but it was way too fatty tasting for me. I did love the cone though. After we were done at the market we checked out the Tsukiji Hongwan-ji Temple (very different from any other temples we'd seen so far) and walked over to Ginza for some shopping. We started at Ginza Six. Tsutaya Books on the 6th floor is a must for any book or art lover. The rooftop garden was also lovely. We grabbed a beer and edamame at Ginza Lion Beer hall (super cool German design) and popped around to some other shops. Our favorite was Beams. We also made stops at Hōdō Inari Jinja (teeny tiny shrine in an alley, yes they have goshuin) and the Pola Museum annex (little free gallery with a beautiful exhibit "Invisible Garden" that runs through November 8th). Then on to Montbell to buy trekking poles for an upcoming adventure. Finally we headed over to Sushi Yuu for our dinner omakase reservation. It was super fun and delicious and we got to try so many things we had never had before. Our favorites were a tomato with dashi jelly, grouper sashimi, monk fish liver pate, and ikura sushi. We headed to the hotel with a quick stop at 7-11 for a 9pm bed time.
Tuesday:
Originally we had planned to head to Osaka first thing this morning, but we heard about a Philadelphia Eagles bar that was hosting a watch party for the Eagles game, and my husband is a huge fan. I had already bought our tickets for the Shinkansen, but it was super easy to change them in the Smart EX app. We packed our bags, got truly jammed onto the metro (this is the one time I felt like maybe we should have opted for a cab, sorry commuters), and headed to Philly Tokyo. The place was packed, everyone was super nice, and it was the owner's birthday! We had a cheese steak, a pretzel with cheese, and watched the game (they lost). They have leaned hard into the Philadelphia theme. Very cool experience.
From there, we walked over to Tokyo station to catch our 1pm train. I'd heard so much about how confusing the station is and how people get lost all the time. So I gave my husband the same pep talk I give him before we go to Costco on a Saturday afternoon: “We're on the same team, if we get overwhelmed we just pull over, we're not racing old women to the samples etc. etc.” I think we lucked out by walking in the right entrance because it was actually incredibly easy to navigate. We grabbed bento boxes and got coffees on the platform from a very fun vending machine where you can watch the coffee being made on a little screen. Then we loaded up and headed to Osaka. The journey was quick and smooth and the bento boxes were genuinely super good. We transferred to the local train and rode that to Namba station. Then walked 10 minutes to Caption By Hyatt Namba (booked this one with points). I'm not kidding when I say this room was more than twice as big as our one in Tokyo. We grabbed a happy hour drink at the hotel bar, then walked up Shinsaibashi to go to Parco for a few stores we wanted to check out (Torch Torch for Fromsoft souvenirs, Ghibli Store for the photo opps, and Pokemon Store for some gifts). We walked back to Dotonburi, took pictures, and headed for dinner. We wandered down some of the cute, lit up alleys just south of the canal and ended up at Okonomiyaki Okaru. We had to wait about 10 minutes for a table. We got pork okonomiyaki and shrimp yaki soba. They make the okonomiyaki right at the griddle at your table and draw a cute design on top with mayo. So delicious, great vibes, one of my favorite Japanese meals. We wandered back to dontonburi for dessert at Strawberry Mania, gachapons, crane games, and wandering. Just walking around Osaka was awesome. Every street and alley had something to see. Back to the hotel for a 10:30pm bed time.
Wednesday:
We started the morning with Mister Donut, fruit, and coffee (bought the day before) in the hotel room. We rode the train up to Osaka Castle and arrived shortly after 9. We walked in, admired the grounds, read all the informational signs, and headed into the castle. I had bought tickets on Get Your Guide so we were able to scoot right in. Cool historical information and artifacts inside plus a fun samurai photo opp (for an extra 500 yen I think). We really enjoyed the floor all about the Summer War and the observation deck at the top. By the time we were finished in the museum, it was packed with school groups and bus tours. Definitely go early if you want to go inside. We headed to the Stone Wall Museum next, which is included with the museum ticket and just a few hundred feet away. There were like 5 people in there. We really enjoyed the informative videos in this museum because they gave a much clearer history of the castle. We wished we had gone here first and then to the castle. You also get to see a piece of the original wall from the 1500s. It only takes about 15 minutes and is well worth it. They fully convinced me the walls are the coolest part of the castle. We stopped at Hokoku Shrine on our way out of the castle. Very peaceful, lots of pinwheels, pretty hand drawn goshuin.
We were getting hungry and decided to head back to the hotel area to find lunch, but on the way to the station our noses took us into Joto Curry. It was the absolutely right choice. Delicious. Mostly folks on their lunch breaks. Then back to the hotel. We grabbed our laundry and headed two blocks away to a laundry mat to toss it in. We set a timer and went out to explore Kuromon Market. We were pretty full but had room for a strawberry shortcake mochi from Naniwaya (delicious) and a coffee from Korekore (adorable). We collected our laundry and headed back to the hotel for a nap. After we rested, we headed towards Shinsekai. We stopped at Kopimal Coffee for a local craft beer from Minoh Brewing. This cafe/bar was so cute and cozy and had loads of guest books where people from all over the world had drawn and written about their experiences. We loved the vibe. Then on to Shinsekai for a food tour with Hungry Osaka. We had so much fun. Great crew, good information, a ton of tasty foods, and maybe too many sours. Our favorite tastes were the fried chicken skin, the Yakiniku, and the clapis sour. We stopped at a drug store on the way back for sunscreen and bug spray for the next part of our journey. And then back to the hotel for an 11pm bedtime.
Thursday:
We were leaving Osaka today (too soon, we had really enjoyed it). We needed to recombobulate our luggage to forward our carry-on suitcases and continue for the next six days with just backpacks. Things were already very tight. A new suitcase may be in our future. We checked out around 10am, the kind staff at our hotel helped us forward our luggage six days ahead to Kyoto, and we headed back to Kopimal Coffee for breakfast. We had been so charmed by it the night before and had to go back for breakfast and coffee. Their lemon coffee was very good and the owner is just so nice. Next, we walked over to Namba Yasaka Jinja Shrine. My husband had no clue what made this shrine special and was blown away by the lion head. We took the train over to Tennoji Station and bought tickets for the 1:32 train to Kii Tanabe. We had a bit of time before our train, so we headed to the 10th floor of the attached mall and made a lap to look at all the restaurant options. It's fun to see all the model food. We settled on udon. I got the cold udon and my husband got the curry udon-both tasty. The cold udon was so refreshing on a hot day. Back in the station, we grabbed Starbucks. I got a special Pikachu honey latte which was very cute and came with a sticker.
We headed to our train and took off to the south! It was a nice train ride and, since it was a little slower than the Shinkansen, you could really enjoy the view of the Japanese countryside. At one point, they made an announcement that we were about to see a "magnificent view" of the Pacific Ocean and the train slowed down so you could soak it all in. Obsessed. We arrived at Tanabe and headed to the tourist information center to collect maps, a bus timetable, and stamp booklet for the Kumano Kodo (a Pilgrimage hiking route through the Kii Mountains). We got our first stamps and headed out to explore Tanabe. It's a sort of sleepy, seaside city. We stopped at Ichie for delicious chiffon cake desserts (we grabbed two extra pieces of cake for the following day) and then went down to the coast to see the ocean. We headed back to check in at our accommodation at Guesthouse Nagi. Very cute, simple spot. Two tatami rooms above a cool craft beer bar. We swung over to Aritoshi Shrine, 7-11 for breakfast and lunch for the following day, and then back to Nagi for some local craft beer and a snacky dinner at the bar. I had an Ume Ale that was delicious (this area is known for their plums). We met some fellow pilgrims at the bar and a local did tell one of them very directly to be quieter. We headed up to bed around 9.