A Japan Adventure: My Two-Week Itinerary

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Even though Japan had always intrigued me, it had never been somewhere I’d really given too much thought. But when looking at options for a summer holiday to celebrate my husband’s birthday, Japan was top of the list for him, so just a few months later we were climbing out of Heathrow Airport on a 14-hour flight to Tokyo.

In this post I share what we got up to in each of the below locations, though our two-week itinerary was pretty full on, so if I skip over any details and you’d love to know more then take a look at my Instagram highlight and feel free to reach out with any questions.

Tokyo and Kamakura – 2 nights
Kanazawa – 2 nights
Kyoto – 3 nights
Osaka and Nara – 2 nights
Lake Kawaguchi (Mount Fuji) – 1 night
Tokyo – 3 nights 

Tokyo (part one)

After leaving London on Saturday morning, we eventually landed in Tokyo at 7am on the Sunday. Somehow we needed to find the energy to power through the entire day to get ahead of jet lag, but luckily in a city like Tokyo there’s no shortage of things to do to keep busy.

After checking into LANDABOUT Tokyo, located in the Ueno district, we set off into the city to explore Ueno Park, Sensō-ji Temple, and the district surrounding the Tokyo Skytree, before sitting down for dinner in an incredible little ramen spot called Hakata Ramen Ichiban.

By the time we slumped into bed, we’d been awake for 35 hours and walked almost 30,000 steps. It’s safe to say day one felt equal measures overwhelming and incredible.

Kamakura

Kicking off our second day, we had some breakfast in the hotel before taking an hour-long train down to Kamakura, a beachside city that has tons to offer.

We only had the day here but managed to see the giant Daibutsu, the gardens of Hasedera, the gorgeous grounds of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, and ate some tasty bao buns at Kamakura Tenshin on Komachi-dori Street. You can explore on foot, or there’s a local train that can take you around a few stops.

When we got back to Tokyo, we walked for three hours through the city just taking in the sights, and refuelled with some cheap and simple food in one of the train station restaurants called Kiraku Soba.

Kanazawa

We weren’t completely sure if we’d be able to leave Tokyo easily because of a looming typhoon that was due to arrive any day, but it was moving so slowly that for now our first bullet train remained scheduled.

We watched central Japan fly past the windows for almost three hours, eventually reaching the city of Kanazawa at midday and checking into our new hotel, SOKI Kanazawa. I thought this hotel had a pool but it was actually a Japanese Onsen, aka a naked bath, and that’s one tradition unfortunately I couldn’t bring myself to try.

The humidity in Kanazawa somehow felt even more suffocating than in Tokyo, but we pushed through to explore Omicho Market, Oyama Shrine, Kanazawa castle, the Kenroku-en gardens, and the Nagamachi district which is home to traditional samurai houses.

That night we found a real hidden gem noodle bar in a tiny underground spot called Aburaya, before wandering across the hall to an empty bar for a drink. That drink then evolved into electric darts, karaoke, and Japanese computer games with the owner of the bar.

The next morning we went down to breakfast, not realising that it was a traditional Japanese bento box. This is obviously something amazing to experience, but because we don’t eat much seafood, truthfully it was a bit of a challenge especially that early in the day. 

On our final full day in Kanazawa, we explored the machiya houses of the Nishi Chaya, Kazuemachi Chaya, and Higashi Chaya districts, ate tasty Tonkatsu for lunch, tried the famous gold leaf ice cream, and had a quiet dinner at an amazing ramen spot called Yuzuki Fine Ramen.

Kyoto

With the typhoon still at bay, luckily our second bullet train was also unaffected, so we took a couple of short trains down to Kyoto and checked into our new accommodation, a traditional Japanese Machiya house called Kanjakuan.

The walls of these houses are paper thin so you have to creep around like a mouse in the early and late hours, but it was such a fun experience and gave us a good opportunity to get some mid-holiday washing done.

We took a train over to Arashiyama and spent the afternoon winding our way through the monkey forest and bamboo forest, stopping off for a craft beer to escape the downpour that left us drenched from head to toe.

Back in Kyoto, we used Google Maps to find a random restaurant called Non-Chan that served Okomoniyaki, a local savoury pancake dish that became one of my favourite meals of the trip. Here we sat up at the grills and spoke with the chefs for hours, as both of them wanted to practice their English post-university studies. 

Day two in Kyoto was my husband’s birthday, so we started the day with the famous fluffy matcha pancakes at A Happy Pancake, and then ticked Nishiki Market, Pontocho Alley, the Gion Geisha district, Hōkan-ji Temple, Kiyomizu-dera, and the 1000s of tori gates at Fushimi Inari Taisha off our list.

It was a very full-on day, especially in that heat, but we were able to put our feet up for a few hours at dinner, where we devoured a 12-course Michelin Star menu at Muromachi Wakuden. Finding somewhere that offered a vegetarian option took a bit of research, but it was well worth it to experience local cuisine.

On our final full day in Kyoto, we had a slow start. It had been a rough night with the rain because of the typhoon, but we eventually made it out of the house to devour the crispiest Michelin Guide gyozas at Motoi, finished off with a few doughnuts at Koe.

In the afternoon we took a bus to visit the golden temple, Kinkaku-ji, and walked for hours through the city before settling on another bowl of ramen at Ichiryu Manbai Teramachi for dinner. I’d recommend pre-booking restaurants in Kyoto as they often have long lines and only seat so many people.

Osaka

Thankfully the typhoon kept its distance from our planned route so we could continue onto Osaka the next morning. Here we checked into our new hotel, Osaka Resol Trinity, which whilst beautiful was admittedly quite a way from the heart of the city. This was another hotel with an Onsen, again I didn’t have the courage to brave it.

It was however close to Osaka Castle which was our first stop, before heading down to see the crazy sights of Tsūtenkaku and Dotonburi. This part of our trip was all about food, beer, arcades, and walking endlessly through the busy city streets. For dinner, we ate more gyozas at Gyozaoh.

Nara

Close to Osaka is Nara, a city home to free-roaming deer who bow at your feet when you offer them crackers. Though let’s just say some were friendlier than others, and it wasn’t just the crackers that got nibbled.

In Nara you also have the Tōdai-ji temple that houses an enormous Buddha, and plenty of other stunning temples that surround it. We ate teriyaki chicken and rice at Todaiji Emado Chaya, explored a little further, and then ventured back to Osaka for more of those savoury pancakes at Kohaku.

Lake Kawaguchi

Next it was time to move on to a more rural stop. Taking a subway train, a bullet train to Mishima, and finally a pre-bookable bus to reach Lake Kawaguchi, we checked into our (very basic) hotel called HAOSTAY that had incredible views of Mount Fuji.

Sadly though, we had no idea where Mount Fuji was because the weather was so awful it was completely invisible. We attempted a walk around the lake but the rain was too heavy, so we went for a few drinks and had an early dinner at ラーメンふくちゃんRamen Fuku-chan instead.

The next morning the rain had passed, so we walked the lake in the hope the clouds would lift enough to show us even a small glimpse of the mountain. By the time we had to leave to go back to Tokyo, we could see just enough of its outline, with the top momentarily appearing as we sped away from the bus station. If you get to see it without any cloud, you’re super lucky!

Tokyo (part two)

Back in a new area of Tokyo for our final leg of the trip, we checked into our hotel, LOF Shimbashi. The location was great but I have big regrets about booking the smallest room in the building because by this point our luggage was bursting at the seams and we needed space to get organised.

We spent the rest of the day walking around the outskirts of the Imperial Palace and the Ginza district, ordering a beer with a view from the Floor 11 Pyonpyonsya GINZA UNA restaurant, and eating our way through all sorts of dishes at the Kura revolving sushi restaurant. This alone is a Japanese experience like no other.

The next day we took a train to Shinjuku, racking up steps and taking in the sights and lights of the city that is constantly buzzing. We ordered wagyu burgers at Shogun, strolled through the park of Meiji Jingu, and visited Takeashita Street and Harajuku.

Our last stop of the day was Shibuya Crossing. You’ve got to experience it on the ground, but I’d also recommend heading up high for the best views. We booked to have dinner and cocktails at BAO Ce La Vie which is 17 floors up and offers a more distant view of the crossing with just a few other skyscrapers around you.

On our final day of our two-week Japan adventure, we did some shopping in the Akihabara district, devoured more noodles at Ramen Thank Daimon, and took the train across Rainbow Bridge to see the Statue of Liberty (that is not a typo) and look back at the skyline in awe of the two weeks we’d just experienced.

Toasting to an amazing holiday, we sipped on beers underneath Tokyo Tower and booked a tower slot for sunset. Being that high up and watching the planes fly into Tokyo Haneda Airport as the sun melted over the miles of LEGO-like buildings was magical. 

I was 90% ramen at this point, but we ordered our last meals of the trip at a cosy spot close to our hotel and got some rest before our long flight home.

Learnings from Japan

  • I’ve never felt so safe in any country, especially walking around with my camera around my neck
  • Everyone was extremely polite, respectful, and welcoming towards us especially in shops, restaurants, and bars 
  • The hotel rooms are small in the cities, you don’t have much space to store your things so book a bigger room than usual
  • You might struggle to find restaurants open for breakfast before 10am, most seemed to open at 11am
  • You will find 7-Eleven, Lawson, and Family Mart convenience stores absolutely everywhere and you have to try all the good snacks you’ve no doubt seen on TikTok
  • In those stores you’ll find toilets, and you’ll also find plenty of public toilets around parks and busy areas 
  • You won’t see many bins, so discard rubbish in shops or your hotel 
  • You can’t smoke in public, so you’ll need to find designated smoking rooms or zones
  • It’s very easy to take the public transport around and between cities, you buy your train tickets at the station or via Klook and you pay for your bus tickets on board (usually at the end of the journey)
  • The weather in summer is extremely hot and humid
  • Card is accepted in a lot of places but we found cash to be easier and preferred, so take some currency and a travel money card, and if you need to get cash out do so from a convenience store instead of a bank
  • There isn’t a lot of free Wi-Fi on the go, so if you want internet I’d recommend a package with Ubigi which worked well for us
  • Flying from the UK we didn’t need a VISA to enter, but you do need to fill out a form either online or on the plane for the Embassy of Japan

Japan is without a doubt the most surreal and fascinating place I have visited. If you love your food, travel experiences that are completely unique, and getting lost in the culture of a place, then get those flights booked ASAP.

When planning, be sure to check out Abroad in Japan for endless useful content about travelling there. We heavily relied on those YouTube videos when planning our own trip.

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