Japan has been one of the most visited destinations this year due to the Japanese Yen crashing, making it more affordable for many people to visit this dream destination. To be honest, Japan has never been high on my dream vacation list nor was I that excited to go if it wasn’t for my sister’s college graduation in Okinawa. However, it is my fiancé’s dream destination, so we extended the trip from a visit to attend the graduation to a 2-week dream vacation. Our itinerary was jampacked with activities and must visit places and was planned down to the minute, since we went during peak tourist season (April), it was only fitting.
The cities we visited
From LAX, we went straight to Tokyo but took on another flight immediately to Okinawa. We spent a total of 3 days where we attended my sister’s graduation and got to see the island a little bit. We then took a flight to Osaka where we spent a day indulging in street foods. The next morning, we took off to Kyoto, Japan’s cultural capital and spent 3 days there. After all of the cultural tours, we hopped on a bullet train to Fuji, my absolute favorite place in Japan, for reasons I’ll tell you about later. After 2 days in Fuji, we rented a car and drove over 3 hours into the countryside of Nagano to spend a night at traditional Japanese Ryokan with milky blue outdoor onsen in Matsumoto. No Japan trip is complete without a couple days in Tokyo, so we saved it for last. I would like to mention that traveling between all these cities and added to all the walking we did during the day was very tedious, but we wanted to see the most we could with the time we had. So, if you prefer a slow-paced relaxing vacation, maybe do half of what we did.
Transportation
One of our main concerns were how are we going to get to all these places in a foreign country where neither one of us speaks the language. We used Google maps as our main directions guide, but we had thought-out our entire trip ahead of time. In Okinawa, my sister drove us around and Japanese people drive on the right side!! It was wild adjusting to that reversed car situation lol. We took a flight back to Osaka but walked and took taxis all around the town. In Kyoto, we took a train to get us there, but it’s a very walker friendly city so we walked over 20,000 steps a day. Whew, the energy boosts you get on vacations vs everyday life are so crazy. We rented a car for the last day in Kyoto and our time in Fuji where my fiancé drove us. Make sure to get your international driving licenses as close to your travel date as possible. It’s a one-day process at your closest AAA office and was pretty cheap too. Trains are what most Japanese people use to get around and the only reason we rented out a car is to have complete flexibility over our schedule and timeline. One of the most important things to do as soon as you land in Tokyo is to buy a Suica card or a Pasmo passport (what we bought) so you can hop on any train that’s included and you can also use your balance at stores like 7 Eleven and more. Check out what trains you’d need to get to your destinations and buy the IC card that for that route/train group.
Accommodation
In Okinawa we stayed at my sister’s house, Yay for free stays!! In Osaka, we wanted to be as close to the Dotonbori Street as possible, so we stayed at Sotetsu Grand Fresa Osaka Namba hotel and the stay was great. A detailed review of all of our stays will come soon but this particular hotel was great due to its location, not the hotel itself. In Kyoto, we booked amazing Airbnbs that highlighted the history and culture of the city. One was a traditional Japanese Ryokan and the other was a more modern take on the traditional Inn. In Fuji, we stayed at a very cheap low budget hotel for one night but had amazing views of mount Fuji, Shoji Lake Hotel. When I say this hotel is cheap and old believe me. They don’t have an elevator or extra amenities, but we needed a close hotel to one of our main activities and this was one of the better options. We also stayed at La Vista Fuji, and it would forever be one of my favorite stays. In Tokyo, the highlight was The Prince Tokyo Tower hotel. Absolute luxury and elegance at its finest. Finally, for our last night we stayed at Shibuya Excel Hotel overlooking the Shibuya Crossing. A detailed review of our accommodations will come soon, I promise.
I plan on creating posts for every city that dives into all the things we saw, did and ate along with a detailed review of the stays we had. So, hold on tight, a lot of Japan content is coming!!
until then,
xoxo, Nattie
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