I’ll start by my trip to Japan and a useful guide for friends and family that are planning to visit and seek for tips (Will keep the importance of sabbatical for another article so, bear with me on this one).
To begin with, we visited Japan for approx 16 days in late October. We wanted to make sure that we won’t be suffering from jet lag the day of Halloween which apparently is a big thing in Japan and we wanted to make the most of the festivities.
Some may question: Isn’t the spring of cherry blossoms the best time to visit? Perhaps! However, autumn has its own charm✨, different colours, few tourists and delightful weather 🍂
>Before flying there, we did some serious prep:
- Watched loads of IG reels and sought advice from friends that went there this year (interestingly, we had more than five friends who either had already traveled or were in the process of traveling there simultaneously, mind-blowing, right? 🤯). Delved into blogs and watched youtube content that proved super helpful for trails and be-spoke traveling routes
- Booked free city tours in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka
- Secured booking JR train ticket (even though it might not work for every transportation in big cities)
- Downloaded google maps for the main cities we would visit
- Took a somewhat daring approach by booking last-minute cubicle hotels for the first 5 days (not recommended to go without having everything booked but hey, life is short for over-planning 🥴)
- Downloaded and started using time-shifter for avoiding jet lag 😵💫 #lifesaver
- Got an e-sim from RedTeaGO for data ensuring we stay connected throught our journey
- Watched several movies to set the mood like: seven samurai, Akira, My neighbor Totoro, the boy and the heron, Gozilla minus one, Attack on titan, lost in translation
- Checked visa requirements. Take a look at the website of the Japanese embassy at your home country. Should be all there.
- Practised basic bowing: Back training is highly suggested before visiting (just kidding)
I divided the trip highlights into 4 main categories to help you navigate better into tips:
🍥 Art
For those of you visiting Tokyo, I highly suggest you to visit some signature museums. We started with Tokyo National Museum, were we learnt about their thousand years (and counting) history.
Did some traditional old school UKIYO-E stamping, saw samurai outfits, royal kimonos 👘 and ceramics . It’s next to a shrine and a park so you will probably dedicate at least half day exploring this part.
Got to love palaces! Everything that has to do with them is epic. Mostly If you are used to western-like palaces that usually have a very specific architecture.
Palace landscaping choices have been extraordinary. Check out the Tokyo palace gardens as well as the Osaka one and you will remember my words.
Take a look at Akihabara — The electric town, a feast for all anime lovers where you can see all the manga heroes you love. Many people are dressing up and it’s a top spot for cosplay shopping.
Local craftsmanship is noteworthy, from katanas to hidden pottery labs in the outskirts of Tokyo (Kamakura). Chopsticks can be colourful with pokémon references while kimonos can be serious, posh and folkloric at the same time, many second hand or first hand to choose from in Kyoto.
For more shopping, take a look at local fashion brands, from Uniqlo and GU to local shops that we found on shopping malls like the one in Umeda station in Osaka. Effectively, shopping in Tokyo is much more fun but we didn’t fully experience it.
You can buy a notebook that opens like an origami or a fan 🪭 (that’s how I could best explain its style). There you can collect good luck wishes, prayers and stamps from shrines. Our most playful activity in this trip. It was a real quest of good wishes.
🌳 Nature
🗻Discover the countless trails in the outskirts of Tokyo and the foothills of Fuji. You can go there by train and spend the night in the small cities around the mountain.
We did an amazing one at Kamakura (Kanagawa) area as well as close to the lake of Hakone. Many trails to choose from.
Take a look at Fushimi Inari shrine, a religious landmark close to Kyoto with foxes as the main religious animal. It’s highly recommended to go there around 6am or late at night to avoid crowds (it’s open for 24h) and you can make very long walks around with Bamboo forest as a must do.
Nara, the shrines area with temples and deers. Very touristy and cute at the same time.
Hakone, a touristy spot close to Fuji. Definitely not on the highlights of the trip. Mini volcanoes were impressive but a tad crowded. It’s freezing, so take some warm clothes for your outdoor activities.
Highly suggested to try an Onsen a.k.a. a hot spring. There are many types all around the country. You can experience it either around Fuji or at a hotel. Our favorite one was definitely in APA hotel Osaka. Your skin will be extremely soft and renewed after that experience.
🍜 Food
What to keep in mind:
-Google maps suggestions are not a thing here. Do check the app tabelog, where any restaurant displayed that scores higher that 3.5 rating is a more than decent food experience.
-Train stations have the best food! Hard to believe right? Just go and choose your bento box and your whole trip will be upgraded.
-If you like top notch culinary experiences then go to Jpn easy site and book a Michelin restaurant through a concierge. You will be amazed!
-Immerse yourself to the food market of Osaka and food markets in general. Osaka is the gastronomic capital of Japan and a market that lives up to the expectations.
What we really loved:
Hard to say really, we didn’t miss western food or forks at all. Find below some all time favourite foods, but in all fairness everything was delicious!
Ramens in Tokyo. It was the yuzu (type of japanese lemon) season so some ramens were acidic and absolutely delicious. 🍜
Mochi, a desert made out of rice. We tried one of our favourites (in all fairness, the best one I had in my life) one day we just got out in the wrong train station, here. We also had some decent ones at the city food markets.
Okonomiyaki, Osaka’s specialty, go try it at a restaurant specialized in that. There is a chef show included in this.
Sake, little did I know how much I love this drink. Some like it hot 🔥 yeah, that’s me!
🚅 Tech
I’m feeling like this category overlaps with art, might squeeze it later but below are my points of view from the techie side of things:
-Bullet trains (Shinkansen), some say that they may break the sound barrier! Make sure you book an assigned seat at the train station before taking any. The space inside is better than first class on an airplane, the service outstanding and the maximum time we spent inside was 1.5h!
-Pachinko, apart from a Netflix movie, is one of the most common games you will find around the country. They are specific buildings or floors dedicated to those games. They are pretty unique displaying famous anime characters on them.
-I particularly enjoyed teamLab Planets which is mixing art with tech in immersive and interactive exhibitions. Make sure you will do an early booking.
-Another impressive fact was that we met many people working at the metro having a smart translator. They were just speaking to their device and we would have a translation in english in seconds. Just imagine a mini device that only specializes on what google translator does. Very handy!
-Rice cookers in Japan. A whole new level of perfection in the art of rice making. All the variety, sizes, styles of cookers here is fascinating. You have to visit a Yotabashi mall to fully experience it.
UX reflections: The user experience in the metro has been pretty different to what I’m used to in most European public transportation ticket validation systems.
There was a red arrow showing the direction you had to insert your ticket. In my mind red is usually associated with an error, so I admit that I got some confusion when I had to validate my metro ticket. 😵💫
Feel free to reach me out If you need more details or advice!
Enjoy and arigato gozaimasu! 🙇♀️
