Our Route Through Japan - 18 days
Our 18 day route through Japan
Tokyo
Kyoto
Hiroshima
Fukuoka
Karatsu
back to Tokyo
Let’s talk some practicalities
Japan is hot in October
You know those beautiful scenes of the leaves changing in the crisp autumn air overlooking Mount Fuji? yeah. that’s in your mind. bring your clothes for hot weather. I brought jeans. That was a big mistake. Huge. I ended up buying “Fabric Freshner” from the French Laundress and used it all extending the wear of my 2 warm weather outfits.
You need a Rail Pass to take the bullet train (called the Shinkansen) (details later)
Japan is the most lovely place to get around. Like, the rest of the world should learn a thing or two about train schedules.
Bring an empty suitcase you need to buy everything.
Get a Wifi dongle! (details later)
I’m basing my notes off my Bullet Journal and am just intro'-ing some places here in case I write more later! Also it only adds up to 17 days because the first day was just arriving.
Days 1-3 Tokyo
We stayed in an APA - Hotel Pride Kokkaigijidomae. APA is pretty basically great, so would recommend!
Day 1: Shibuya
Famous for its busy streets it was really fun.
There is a Mikkeller there! Now we’ve been to Mikkeller in Reykjavík, Copenhagen, Berlin and Tokyo. Fuck we’re cool.
Day 2: Tsukiji Fish Market & Ginza
I ended up dealing with jet lag & had to leave the fish market before trying a skewer of little octopi which is a major life regret. Then Kyle & I bought matching sneakers in Ginza, (Ginza is the oooh la la high end shopping), home of the Flagship Uniqlo.
Day 3: Teamlab Borderless
Cross the rainbow bridge and get yourself into the weirdly wonderful world of interactive light art. Feel free to follow up by seeking more craft beer in a weird little mall (Kyle keeps saying a special thing about Tokyo is you could be next to the best thing and you’d never know unless you know. It could be a tiny room up on the 4th floor, you’d have to know. (at home we know. there. we were tourists.))
Important note! Teamlab Borderless is all about mirrors on mirrors on mirrors. Don’t wear a skirt! There’s mirrors on the floor.
Day 4 - 6 Kyoto
We stayed at HOTEL UNIZO Kyoto Shijo Karasuma. It was fine, but certainly nothing to write home about.
Day 4: To Kyoto
Bullet train and Ramen. We just did the basic one recommended in the Lonely Planet, but this is where Ramen comes from!
Day 5: Kyoto Fushimi Inari Taisha
you know that famous orange shrine on the cover of all the Lonely Planets? This is it!
Only, it’s the most busy tourist place I’ve ever been to, and I totally sweat through my cool pants that I wore to match the shrine.
Which to be honest, I’m fine with. I just wasn’t expecting it to be so busy or so hot. Colour me surprised on both accounts.
Day 6: Day trip to Nara
To see the deer! They bow to you and then you give them a little deer snack. And if you don’t do it fast enough, little fuckers will bite you! Also a little surprise.
Day 7 - 10 Hiroshima
Stayed in a Nest Hotel, and would 10/10 recommend- affordable, clean, cute!
Day 7: Kyoto Station
Mostly a day on the train - ya know - check out at 10am, walk to transit, get to the station, take the train kind of day… but that’s ok because Kyoto station is actually really fun. It has wonderful ramen vending machines and the first time we tried conveyor belt sushi. Lots of lockers to store your bags while you wander around checking out new sticker purchases.
Day 8: Peace Memorial and Soupless Ramen
Hiroshima is known for their soupless ramen! Which is ramen that you dip into sauce instead of the other way around. It’s really great, a lot of the top ranked places will have picture diagrams of how to order and eat and from there you become an expert. We started to realize that using Google and searching for “ramen” nearby usually gave us a really great place to stop and eat (other terms we Googled were: bar, chicken wings, shoe shopping…)
Hiroshima is also the place of the first A-bomb, and the memorials there are largely built as symbols of peace, which is such a wonderful reframing of the tragedy - may we find meaning and growth. For example, The Peace Flame has burned continuously since it was lit in 1964, and will remain lit until all nuclear bombs on the planet are destroyed.
Day 9: Cozy Sunday in Matching PJ’s
We were on vacation, and Nest Hotels provide these super cute little PJs (I say little because, look, they were not designed for us.) We only ventured outside for food, and we finally got to try soufflé pancakes and have more okonomikyaki (fried noodle pancakes)
Day 10: Shukken Garden
I’d been spending pretty much every day eating and shopping, shopping and eating, and was starting to feel a little gross about myself, so we whisked ourselves away to a gorgeous garden in the city for a needed moment of zen.
The Koi there - made me realize why people love koi. I could watch them forever.
Day 11 - 13 Fukuoka & Karatsu
Day 11 Fukuoka
Two words: Food Stalls.
We stayed at a Nest Hotel again, which of course, was super lovely!
Day 12: Karatsu
We headed to a very sleepy little city of Karatsu to look for pottery and stay in a ryokan which is a traditional Japanese hotel, focusing on minimalism, hospitality and beauty. We had the most wonderful relaxing stay and had our Onsen experience (which you must do! it’s a traditional Japanese bath)
Our ryokan was called Yoyokaku, that you can read about here.
Day 13: Karatsu to Fukuoka then the rest of day on the train to Tokyo
There was no direct train from Karatsu to Tokyo, so once we checked out of our Ryokan we went back to Fukuoka which ended up being a good choice because Karatsu was pretty void of things to see, do and eat. So we went back for some shinkansen-themed conveyor belt sushi at Hakata Station.
We boarded the train to Tokyo, which after looking at that map up there, I realize now why it took so long!
Day 14-17 Tokyo
We stayed in the same hotel again, but on the last day we passed an APA in Arasuka and were like, shit. We should have stayed there. So stay there!
Day 14: Shibuya again
We had to buy gifts and eat at Kaikaya (make reservations here! get the tuna ribs!)
Also Kyle was low-key terrified as there was a Typhoon scheduled for the next day in Tokyo (oh wasn’t I thankful to be travelling with a meteorologist who booked a hotel for the whole time in Tokyo and made sure we were safe and not stuck when the trains stopped running, or like all those people who had to sit in the lobby waiting to check into their next hotel as it rained and rained and rained.) so we also purchased some flashlights et al at Don Quixote.
Day 15: Our hotel waiting out Typhoon Hagibis & it’s pal: a random earthquake
What a day. What a tiny room.
Day 16: Asakusa & Shinjuku
Head to Thunder Gate for some super touristy tourism, and then wander the giant neighbourhood for all the hipster goodness, with pour over coffee, artisan crafts, and the most inspiring decor that I rethought everything about my house because I want to live in a hipster Japanese cafe.
Shinjuku is the clubbing area and we met up with our friends who were also visiting, and did private room karaoke and had the best time singing Mariah Carey & Garth Brooks, and really struggling to figure out how the Japanese instructions worked to make the songs play correctly.
Day 17: The airport
Pretty sure this airport is very busy always, but the typhoon really put a super not fun wrinkle into it, with so many people trying to get crammed onto full flights and waiting for their cancelled flights to get them home. We got lucky and checked into our flight the 24 hours early and got seats! YASSS.
Now the thing you must do is get the cheese crackers in Duty Free. It’s apparently the only place to get them, and it’s worth. it.
I hope you’re reading this because you’re planning on going.
It’s the best.
Have fun.
I’m jealous already.
Ranking the countries I’ve visited is impossible. Each one makes me feel impossibly lucky and overwhelmed with gratitude just for the chance to have been there at all. I’m the luckiest.
That being said, why not try?
25 countries in order of experience.