I did it! Finally got around to write up my trip to Japan (and Seoul) last fall (2018). Hope this serves as a helpful resource when you plan your trip - especially if you're going for the spectacular fall foliage season! Here I’ll cover the must-try food, my kimono rental experience, and ryokan onsen you cannot miss.
Let’s get started!
Jump to...
🗼Tokyo🍂Nikko
⛩Kyoto
- 👘Kimono Rental
🍢Osaka
♨️Hakone
My Japan Trip Overview
October 2018
Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
24 LA -> Tokyo flying | 25 Tokyo -> Seoul @ Alex’s | 26 @ Alex’s | 27 @ Alex’s | |||
28 Seoul -> Nikko @ Shirakawa Yunokura | 29 @ Nanaeyae | 30 Nikko -> Tokyo @ Moxy | 31 @ Moxy | 1 @ Moxy | 2 @ Moxy | 3 Tokyo -> Kyoto @ Airbnb |
4 @ Airbnb | 5 Kyoto -> Osaka @ Red Roof | 6 Osaka -> Hakone @ Hakone Ginyu | 7 Hakone -> LA flying |
My Japan trip document
I usually write one for every trip that needs to be planned out 🤗 usually used to keep track of researched subjects and useful links & information. Detailed itinerary for what to do, eat and see, but used as a loose guide. The best thing to do while traveling is to be flexible! I found that best strategy while traveling is strong plans weakly held 😁anyways, see my plan here.
Custom Map
Here's an incomplete list of places I bookmarked during my research phase. Highly recommend starting a custom Google Map pre-trip to save your favorite places!
Skipping Seoul in this guide as we went for a weekend to visit a friend and we did nothing besides eating and drinking (I’m talking about 5 meals a day). I feel like I didn’t do Seoul right (or did I!?) and honestly cannot tell you where we went as our friend took us everywhere and planned everything… but here are some photos to drool over:
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🗼Tokyo
There are numerous travel guides on Tokyo online, it is one of the world’s top destinations after all 🤗. I’ll list some resources I found really helpful in Tokyo but also Japan in general, hope it’ll help you out as well!
General:
Buy sim cards (and more) - Klook I bought my JR rail pass here - Japan Rail Pass - If you’re debating getting it or not, this calculator is helpful. |
Currency app - xCurrency |
Food:
Japanese yelp - Tabelog Our Japanese friend’s Tokyo Guide: https://goo.gl/maps/fYyPHm4x5mD2 * Most nice places will require reservation well in advance. While some are available online, but 90% requires a phone number. It’s highly beneficial if you know people in Japan that can help you. Otherwise, you can try to use credit card concierge (Chase Saphire or Amex Platinum), or sites like Pocket Concierge (in my experience they always charge more). It is normal for Japanese people to book a month in advance! Plan accordingly, and try to never miss your reservations (without advance notice). |
Lunch Spots: 🍴Tamawarai [soba] ￥3,000～￥3,999 Seizan ⭐️⭐️ Ginza Toyoda ⭐️⭐️ Sosakumenkobo Nakiryu [ramen ⭐️] Ishibashi [eel ⭐️] Narikura [don kastu] ￥1,000～￥1,999 no reso Dinner Spots: 🍴Torishiki |
Tokyo Disney Sea
If you're an amusement park or Disney lover you have to visit Tokyo Disney Sea! It's the only Disney licensed park (as opposed to owned) and it's sometimes rated as the best Disney in the world.When planning the trip I purposely choose to go right before Halloween so we can experience festive decorations and activities. Disney Sea definitely did not disappoint. Parkgoers are all wearing costumes in the park, even the food was prepared for the occasion. I loved Disney Sea!!! Just prepare for lots of walking.
All the yummy Halloween themed snacks we got in the park:
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Tokyo Halloween Parade:
One of the biggest driving factors of our itinerary was to make it to Disney Tokyo Sea before Halloween ends and to attend the Shibuya crossing Halloween parade. It is one of the biggest party in Japan and it was truly wild. Everyone was dressed in costumes and having a great time - be it a little rowdy at times. Every single street (and side street) bars are filled to the rim, even tho it was a Wednesday night!
Some food from Tokyo:
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🍂Nikko
One of the places I wanted to visit the most was Nikko. It’s not as well known as some other cities in Japan but viewing fall foliage was important to me and Nikko was just in season for that. It’s also a popular onsen town! Exactly what I wanted!!
We flew into Tokyo but to optimize our time, we went straight for Nikko after we landed utilizing one of the super convenient travel passes called Nikko All Area Pass. It’s super convenient as it covers roundtrip tickets to Nikko, bus tickets in town and various attractions included. Read all about it here. We purchase Nikko pass and train ticket at the Tobu Tourist Information Center ASAKUSA since online purchase needs to be validated here anyways.
Useful tidbit from my travel plan:
We stayed at two onsens because I wanted to try different open-air hot springs. It was a bit of lugging around as Nikko is mostly cobblestones 😰and we did not find any public transportation options. We just walked and got to our destination ok 😬.
The two places we stayed at are Shirakawa Yunokura (TripAdvisor):
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And Nanaeyae (TripAdvisor):
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I read extensively on ryokan reviews and both of them are good choices! Both breakfast and dinner are included in the price for the night and you typically sleep in tatamis (unless a western room was booked). Once settled in, the public (shared with other guests) bath is open from early morning to late night for you to enjoy. Make sure to wash up with soap before entering the bath area and not to cover up any tattoos if applicable (many places won’t allow tattoos in public baths). Shirakawa also had private baths you can book for 1hr at a time to enjoy with family or as a couple. It was a very peaceful experience 🥰
To make the most out of our Nikko Pass we took the Sightseeing boats on Lake Chuzenjiko and walked around the lake. It was way too crowded for the Akechidaira Ropeway (all attraction in Nikko closes at 5 pm, we wouldn’t have made it back before the last bus). We definitely underestimated the popularity of Nikko among locals because we waited for the bus down the mountain for 2 hours 😱and it was very cold.
BUT!! This view!!
My original plan was to visit the heritage site AND lake Chuzenjiko in the same day, truth proved it took way longer than I originally planned to go up and down the mountain during peak fall foliage season… but the nice thing about trains is that you don’t have to purchase a set time ahead of time 😁so we pivoted to do Toshogu Shrine and Taiyuinbyo Shrine the next day before leaving in the afternoon.
Since the Kinugawa onsen area is a different direction from the heritage site, we took our luggage and left it in the coin lockers at the Tobbu Nikko station which was very convenient! You can find out more here. My alternative plan was to stay closer to the sites in our second onsen, but quality & price didn’t quite work out. Some options are Yumoto Itaya, Kai Nikko, and Hatago Nagomi (see more in my plan doc archive section!).
My original plan was to visit the heritage site AND lake Chuzenjiko in the same day, truth proved it took way longer than I originally planned to go up and down the mountain during peak fall foliage season… but the nice thing about trains is that you don’t have to purchase a set time ahead of time 😁so we pivoted to do Toshogu Shrine and Taiyuinbyo Shrine the next day before leaving in the afternoon.
Since the Kinugawa onsen area is a different direction from the heritage site, we took our luggage and left it in the coin lockers at the Tobbu Nikko station which was very convenient! You can find out more here. My alternative plan was to stay closer to the sites in our second onsen, but quality & price didn’t quite work out. Some options are Yumoto Itaya, Kai Nikko, and Hatago Nagomi (see more in my plan doc archive section!).
I realize my blogs are really long so stay tuned for Part 2 - Kyoto & Osaka!
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