After manifesting this trip for 2 years, My boyfriend and I finally went to Japan! To be honest we were heavily influenced to visit Japan (just as I'm going to influence you...) and we had an absolutely amazing time.
The opportunity to experience a culture so different from the United States, that still places so much pride on the arts, craftsmanship and it's history, and of course the food, we were so excited while planning.
In this blog post I’m going to share everything we did with tips for when you plan your trip PLUS my favorite souvenirs from the trip too!
Here’s Everything We Did in 2 Weeks In Tokyo, So many beautiful temples, shrines, colorful shops and fresh amazing food.
Tokyo Skytree, Japan's tallest structure and the world's tallest freestanding broadcasting tower, standing at 634 meters (2,080 feet). Took us 2 hours to get in and 2 hours to get out, plan accordingly, it’s worth the visit at night!
Meiji Shrine is a Shinto shrine in Shibuya, Tokyo, that is dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shōken. It is famous for its massive 70-hectare man-made forest containing 100,000 donated trees, massive gates and historic buildings.
Harajuku is packed with trendy boutiques, vintage clothing stores and sweet treats. It also had a great weekend market, great coffee shops and art shops!
Toyosu Market, this was a MUST in our trip to Japan, if you love sushi this is your sanctuary. This market has been the worlds home for THE fresh huge tuna auctions at 4am but if you don’t want to get up that early, you can enjoy hundreds of small standing food stands with fresh sushi, desserts, home goods and wagyu!
Shibuya, for shopping, surviving this famous street crossing and visiting the Hachiko Dog Statue. Shinjuku City, neon and amazing tiny restaurants tucked everywhere, great for late night eats and trendy bars in dark alleys where the cool kids hang out.
Day Trip to Kawagoe - historical Edo period Kitain Temple & Bell Tower, 1000 Rakan Statues (also called 1000 Buddhas), traditional shopping, arts, crafts and restaurants. Come early so you don’t miss morning markets like Candy Alley!
Day Trip to Kamakura - Hokoku-ji Bamboo Temple (Bamboo Forest), Komachi-dori Street for local shopping & food, local templates and the Great Buddha (Daibutsu), also check out the famous coastal train line.
We also spent 3 Days in Osaka, this is the place to Eat! I came for the indigo but stayed for the food. Enjoy walking through the tourist areas of Dotonbori, packed with shops and restaurants! Take your time through the covered walking strip of so many different shops of Tenjinbashisuji Shopping Street, stretching approximately 2.6 kilometers (1.6 miles) that will lead you down to Dotonbori!
Spend a morning visiting Osaka Castle, take your time through the gardens, especially viewing the large moats and construction of the grounds with ancient boulders. You can also enjoy the history exhibits in the castle, there are 5 floors of history of the castle and Japan.
Non-Location Specific things we enjoyed
7/11s they are an amazing experience of well priced convenience, delicious snacks, desserts and great fresh things for any meal during the day.
The underground metro stations are PACKED with shops, the larger metro stations reminded me of airports really, they are also wonderfully clean and well labeled. Proving that metros don’t need to be terrifying to use (looking at you USA). Go early when you visit a new larger station to give yourself time to explore!
Pro Tip: if you are planning a multi city trip, look out for luggage storage! (bottom images above) in the airports and in larger hotels. Here you can safely store your luggage and pick it up in a few days. This will save you from lugging around all of your souvenirs!
There is art everywhere, I loved seeing the architecture, painted storm drain covers and themed metro cars.
I feel like every area had a gigantic shopping mall, I enjoyed the kitchen goods and skin care items at great prices! Visit your favorite brands stores here, they have cool Japan specific merch!
The food did not disappoint in Japan. Every street had so many restaurants to choose from! We loved the local small ramen shops and found so many unique coffee shops. We used the Tabelog app to find local restaurant recommendations.
My Favorite Souvenirs from the Trip
Japan has an amazing culture of craft incense, look out for incense shops and picking some up from the temples and castles!
Japan has a wonderful culture around stationary! If you love paper, pens and other craft items you have to check out the Itoya Store! 8+ floors of paper and craft supplies!
We packed our bags with tons of stationary, incense and art items!
Gatchas -Gachapon (or gacha) in Japan are popular capsule toy vending machines that dispense small, random collectibles in plastic balls. The Name Gachapo comes from gacha (the sound of turning the crank) and pon (the sound of the capsule dropping).
If you love miniatures, like me, you’ll also be obsessed with these! I created a shadow box from mine from the trip!
Another bucket list on my list was finding naturally dyed Indigo, which Japan is famous for. In Osaka, I was able to visit the fabric district and meet the amazing dye maker Kijianabuki and purchase his dyed fabric from him!! this made my trip for me!
Tips for Your Visit
CASH: Grab cash regularly from the 7/11 ATMs, the 7/11s will have everything you need from quick breakfasts, snacks and toiletries. Withdraw an amount minus the smallest bill the machine will return to get a mix of bills. (example: $180 vs $200). Make sure to store your funds in an account with no foreign and ATM fees, I use Schwab.
METRO: Book your hotel near a metro station and get a SUICA card to easily get around, this will save you a ton of commuting time. Be ready for stairs in the metro or going a bit further for the elevators.
TALKING: Download Google translate and the Japanese package, most people do not speak English so be sure to learn thank you (Ari-ga-tou go-zai-masu) and excuse me (Su-mi-ma-sen).
Important Things to Have on Hand:
Charging battery pack, you may be using your phone a ton for metro and walking directions, translating, remembering all the places you want to go, currency conversion and taking photos!
Pickup a coin purse to keep your change, you’ll need it!
Socks, as some historic places may ask you to take your shoes off
Yes, there are no trash cans, I brough a roll of doggie poo bags to keep our trash till we got back to the hotel.
Some places will not have AC, we went in the spring for cooler weather and abit of cherry blossoms. We did not want to be doing 15K steps a day in hot weather. Make sure to bring real walking shoes.
It is clean and quiet, cleaner and quieter than you can imagine. So enjoy this and pack your headphones to respect the space.
Culturally every job is done with so much care from the amazing hospitality we received to seeing how we were helped in the subways or across the streets. Many people also have their own small personally run restaurants - you will feel this “care” in the interactions you have with people and it’s wonderful.
Let’s Talk About Cost
Here are some averages to expect to spend on your trip.
Flights - The prices vary a ton, we decided to splurge for the 15 hour trip and flew directly into Haneda, having a single layover stateside. I think the average is 2K USD round trip for flights.
Hotels - I was truly surprised by how many hotels there were, I booked through Booking so I could easily review everything in the areas, Expect to pay about $100-$150 USD a night unless you have more than 2 people, we had rates double for an additional person, this was a surprise to me vs the US.
Food - Food was so well priced and fresh in Japan, you will regularly find amazing filling meals for under $10 USD just about everywhere, and then even cheaper but also good in 7/11s.
Transportation - Taxis and the Metro are very well priced, I wanted a physical card instead of using the metro app, incase I had issues with my phone and the metro card was a great souvenir! So rely on the metro but don’t be afraid to grab a taxi if you need to. Over 3 weeks we spend about 70$ on our metro cards each.
Shopping - Pack a hefty budget for shopping! I checked an entire XXL suitcase with skincare, stationary, snacks and art. Some people even bring an empty suitcase with them on our trip, don’t worry many shops will have luggage you can buy.
Thanks for reading, you're going to have an AMAZING time in Japan! If you want to plan a HUGE trip like this yourself, Grab a copy of my Travel Prep Guide Here!
Happy Travels 💗 Lydia
