How we did Japan in 2 weeks and Some Guidance on Planning your first trip to Japan
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Me and the View of Mt Fuji at Chureito Pagoda
Sensoji, Tokyo's Oldest Temple
Hello Lovelies,
If you follow along on my Instagram (where I am most active), then you'll know that the highlight of my year so far has most definitely been my recent trip to Japan at the end of April.
I visited my friend Fiona (who is currently living there) from April 26th till May 9th, 2019 and just had the BEST trip ever. You don't even need to bother asking me what my favourite country is, you already know it's Japan.
I shared a lot of pictures along with recommendations from my travels on my Instagram (if you're bothered to read through some lengthy captions) so you'll get a lot of information from my page. However, I thought that I'd write a blog post so that you can access all the relevant information in one place. So if you're thinking of jetting off to Japan anytime soon, this blog post is the place to be.
Me and a Buddah at Sensoji Temple
Me and the hanging Wisteria at Kameido-Tenin Shrine
View of Tokyo Tower from Shiba Park
Our Itinerary
I thought I'd begin this guide with the itinerary we based our trip off. After a lot of long distance phone calls and planning the logistics of our trip, Fiona and I managed to plan a very reasonable itinerary for our trip.
An overview of where we travelled in Japan
Travel Day - April 25th - April 26th 2019 - I flew from Dublin T1 to Tokyo Haneda with a layover in Paris Charles de Gaule with Air France (Total Travel Time of 16 Hours and 55 Minutes).
Day 1 - April 26th - Half a day in Tokyo exploring Shinjuku, Shibuya and Harajuku for the evening.
Day 2 - April 27th
- Team Lab Borderless Digital Art Museum - Click here to Book
- Wandering Odaiba (where Tokyo's own Statue of Liberty lives)
- Tokyo Tower
- Zojoji Tempe (The Temple where Wolverine was filmed)
- Exploring the nerd district of Akihabara at night
Day 3 - April 28th (Tokyo Pride 2019)
- Day trip to Chureito Pagoda / Mt Fuji (We took a train here)
- Evening wandering Nakameguro (there is a lovely cherry blossom viewing point here in the spring)
- Celebrating Pride in Tokyo's Gay District (we went to a club called Dragon Men)
Day 4 - April 29th
- Lazy Morning as we were Hungover
- Afternoon Travelling from Tokyo to Osaka
- Evening roaming through Dotombori District
Day 5 - April 30th
- Morning of Vintage Shopping in Nishinibashi, Osaka
- A visit to Osaka Castle
- Visited Tower of The Sun (However this was closed by the time we arrived)
- An Evening exploring Dotombori, going on the Ferris Wheel and Exploring the shopping streets
Day 6 - May 1st (A day in Kyoto)
- Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine
- Tofuku-Ji Temple
- Exploring Kyoto's Gion Region
- Kiyomizu-dera Temple
- Yasaka Shrine
- Karaoke in a Jazz Bar in the evening
Day 7 - May 2nd
- Half a day in Kobe
- Afternoon/Evening Travelling to Naoshima Art Island
Day 8 - May 3rd (Full day in Naoshima)
- Exploring the sites of the Art House Project
- Stop off for Fish Tail Burgers
- Benesse House Museu,
- Finding Random Art on the Island and relaxing on the beach near Benesse House
- Yellow Pumpkin
Day 9 - May 4th
- Travel from Naoshima to Hiroshima
- Hiroshima Dome
- Children's Memorial Park
- Hiroshima Castle
- Wandering Hondori Shopping District
Day 10 - May 5th
- Morning at Peace Memorial Museum
- Afternoon on Miyajima Island
Day 11 - May 6th
- Morning Flight from Hiroshima to Tokyo Haneda
- Lazy day relaxing at Fiona's brother's apartment
- Evening souvenir shopping in Shinjuku
Day 12 - May 7th (From Day 12 onwards I was travelling alone)
- Explored Asakusa region
- Sensoji Temple
- Walked around Ueno Park
- Nezu Shrine
- Meiji Jingu Shrine and Yoyogi Park
- Explored Tokyo's Food Lanes - Golden Gai and Omoide Yokocho
Day 13 - May 8th
- Kameido-Tenin Shrie
- Tokyo Sky Tree
- Pokemon Centre (For souvenirs)
- Shiba Park
- Harajuku
Day 14 - Travel Day - I flew home from Tokyo Narita with a layover in Amsterdam with KLM. Total Travel Time was 14 Hours and 55 Minutes.
In retrospect, I think we had a pretty good itinerary. If I could go back in time and change things I would definitely allocate an extra day for Kyoto in order to explore Arashima's famous bamboo forest and some of the other beautiful temples nearby. I would also have skipped Kobe and used the extra time we had in Naoshima to go to the other art island of Teshima.
In the next few sections of this blog post I am going to cover things like accommodation, budget etc. to give you some helpful information when you're taking your trip to Japan as a first time visitor.
Me at Osaka Castle
The Dotombori District in Osaka at Night
Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto
Accomodation
As ladies in our early twenties, we are certainly not millionaires so hostel world was a great place for finding accommodation options and we definitely found some great options for less than 50 euro per night.
On the day of my arrival, I stayed at The Almond Hostel & Café in Shibuya for about €40 for the night. It was a nice place and the café had a very chill vibe to it. It was a little far out to be super convenient but I would recommend staying here for a night or two.
For the next two nights we stayed in Fiona's brother's apartment which was quite close to Nakameguro.
When we went travelling, we set up base for 3 nights in Osaka. From there, we were able to travel to Kyoto and other places near by. We felt that it wasn't worth it to stay a night in Kyoto and lug our luggage around for 3 nights. We found a very good deal at the See U Hostel in Osaka which cost us around €70 for 3 nights.
After staying in Osaka, we went onto Naoshima where we camped for two nights. Fiona bought a small second hand tent for about €20. I would not recommend camping if you have limited space like we did and therefore could not bring lots of essential camping materials to keep warm and toasty. However, we ended up booking accomodation on the island too late and there was nowhere available to stay.
Our next stop was Hiroshima and we stayed at Backpackers K's House. This was one of the more expensive places we stayed at for about €150 each for the 2 nights. We ended up cancelling the second night and staying at the airport instead as we wanted to avoid paying a large taxi fair to Hiroshima airport.
Once Fiona and I went our separate ways, I ended up spending my final 2 nights at Hotel & Café 57 East in Asakusabashi. This was by far the most convenient place I stayed at as it was only a 3 minute walk from the nearest station and very close to both Akihabara and the Sensoji Temple. At €20 per night, I found this to be very reasonable. Please note that if you aren't a deep sleeper like I am, the nearby trains may keep you up.
Shinjuku, Tokyo
Akihabara District in Tokyo
My friend Fiona at Tofuku-ji Temple
Budget
The main costs you need to account for when travelling anywhere is Plane Tickets, Accommodation, Food, Transportation and Souvenirs/Attractions.
I came to Japan during golden week which is quite a busy time and therefore prices were a little higher than they'd usually be. I paid around €700 for return so you could definitely expect to pay €500-€600 for a roundtrip from the UK or Ireland. You should definitely subscribe to Jack's Flight Club to find some great deals on flights.
If you're travelling long distances, you will need to get a JR pass. Travelling on Japan's infamous bullet trains is quite expensive, but having a JR pass saved me about €100. I got a 7 day pass for about €238. You will need to get your JR pass before you enter Japan and you can order it from this website.
If you're just taking a short trip to Japan and not heading too far, you will still need a transportation card. I bought a Pasmo Card from one of the transportation machines in Haneda airport and topped it up. I found that I could use this card a lot outside of Tokyo too. Generally, I found that on the days I used the pasmo card I'd end up spending around €10. Another popular card available is the Suica Card. I found that this blog post gave very good guidance on how to get a card once you're at the airport.
Generally, a lot of the shrines and the attractions we visited were free, with the exception of some of the museums we went to. However, I did buy a shrine book and got a stamp from every temple or shrine I visited. I ended up with about ten stamps for 3 or 4 euro per stamp.
I probably ended up spending about €1000 euro for the duration of the trip plus the cost of the flights and the JR passes making my total expenditure for a two week trip around €2000. I saved a lot for this trip at the start of the year and it was worth every penny. If you're smarter with money than I am you might be able to do this trip or a similar trip for a lot cheaper.
The Beautiful Island of Naoshima
Me and Fiona at Yellow Pumpkin in Naoshima
Food to Try
I covered a list of food that you must try in this Instagram post of mine. But I'll leave the list here too for your convenience. The food in Japan is simply delicious and there are lots of different options for those on special diets also.
When in Japan I would recommend you try the following foods....
- Sushi (If you're on a budget conveyor belt sushi is still very delicious)
- Kobe Beef
- Beef Tongue (One of the nicest things I tried there)
- Noodles
- Ramen
- Tempura
- Okonomiyaki
- Yellow Tail Fish Burgers (if you happen to visit Naoshima)
-Yaki Tori
- Katsu Chicken
- Karaage Chicken
Hiroshima Dome
Me at Japan's only Floating Torii Gate in Miyajima
Souvenirs
Must buy souvenirs has been covered in this Instagram post. But I will include the list here for additional convenience.
Souvenirs to take home from Japan
1. A shrine book to record all of the shrines and temples you visit
2. Chopsticks to eat all the food
3. Origami Paper
4. A Daruma Doll (to make a very special wish)
5. A Tanuki Statue (A raccoon dog statue which represents good luck for businesses in Japan)
6. Mochi (an iconic Japanese snack. I would specifically recommend Tokyo Banana flavour)
7. Paper Lanterns
8. Kit Kats (the matcha flavour is delicious)
9. Ema (small wooden plaques you can find at many of Japan's shrines)
Hiroshima Castle
Me and the Chureito Pagoda
What we didn't see
I certainly didn't see everything I would have liked to see but you never can. I thought I'd dedicate a little section of the post with some other places you could visit on your trip. I am actually moving to Japan at the end of the month so I might be able to visit some of these places in the next year.
Tokyo
- There are many day trips that can be taken from Tokyo and had I the time, I would have loved to go to Yokohama which has a very cool Chinatown and a pot noodle museum. I would have also loved to escape to Kamkura to see the iconic Buddha which lives there and chill by the sea.
In Tokyo itself, I would have loved to go to the Tokyo Metropolitan Building to catch the views of that amazing city. I will definitely try to go up the building at some stage during our Tokyo orientation.
One of my lovely friends Noelina who lives in Tokyo gave many recommendations of day trips to take from Tokyo on this Instagram post we collaborated on. She posts some of the most beautiful photos of Tokyo and she is definitely worth following on the gram. If you are a lover of flowers, you'll enjoy her recommendations. She suggests heading to Shibazakura Flower Festival, Keisei Rose Garden and Ashikaga Flower Park which has the most amazing hanging wisteria in spring.
Kyoto
If I could replan the trip, I would allocate an additional day to Kyoto because there is simply too much to cover in one day.
Unfortunately we missed out on the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest and many of the beautiful temples which are close by including the iconic Golden Pavilion we all see on social media.
Teshima Art Island
Another place I would have liked to see is Teshima Art Island which is a close neighbor to the island of Naoshima. Naoshima was by far my favourite part of my trip because of how remote it is so I think I would have enjoyed Teshima also.
Hiroshima
Although I was generally quite happy with all we managed to do and see in Hiroshima, I would definitely have loved to spend a bit more time on the island of Miyajima. There is so much to do on this beautiful little island.
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I hope that you will find this post helpful when planning your trip to Japan. Feel free to contact me by email or on any of my social media platforms if you have any questions.
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