Three Weeks in Japan
Back in 2018 my wife and I had a fantastic three week holiday in Japan. I thought I would share some tips and impressions of the places we visited in case this inspires you to check them out for yourself.
Contents
Itinerary
There are plenty of really good websites and blog posts out there that can give a better idea of all the possible places you can visit. Here, I will simply let you know what we did and how it went.
We opted to spend the 17 nights (not including travel) we had in August of 2018 as follows:
- 8 nights in Kyoto
- 2 nights in Kanazawa
- 7 nights in Tokyo
Essentially making a triangle around the centre of Honshu.
Transport
Around Japan
If you plan to see a lot of Japan it might be worth getting a Japan rail pass. You can get it for 1, 2 or 3 weeks and it will give you unlimited access to all JR trains in the country. Note that not every mode of transport is operated by JR (e.g. metro lines, busses etc.), but most of the Shinkansen (bullet trains) are. The passes aren’t cheap and are only worth the price if you plan to take several long distance trains. Fortunately there are several good guides out there to help you work out if it’s worth getting a rail pass or not. An important point to take into account is that you need to decide before you go to Japan because the rail passes can only be bought outside of Japan!
The Shinkansen trains require seat bookings in addition to the ticket. This incurs a small supplementary fee (even if you have a Japan rail pass). In principle this can be done online, but we found it easier to do this in the stations directly.
All the train stations we visited in Japan had an information desk and all the staff we interacted with spoke English. So we had no problem making sure we were getting on the right trains.
Around Kyoto
Kyoto has 2 metro lines (one going north-south and another going east-west), but there are also several JR lines that cover certain parts of the city (e.g. to Arashiyama). If you have a Japan rail pass then you will probably still need to take the metro or a bus to see everything.
You can get a daily bus pass from several shops and even in some hotels that will allow you unlimited bus travel for 24h. This is a pretty cheap and handy way to get around.
Overall it is very easy to get around and a lot of people in Kyoto speak English. I would recommend downloading the Kyoto region on Google maps so you can use it offline. Roaming charges are quite hefty for Japan.
Around Kanazawa
Kanazawa is small enough to walk to most places of interest.
Around Tokyo
As you might expect Tokyo has far more transport options available including a very extensive metro network. The coverage of JR lines is pretty comprehensive also, meaning that if you have a Japan rail pass you probably won’t need to pay for any additional transport in the city.
We found Tokyo pretty easy to navigate. The main trick being to distinguish metro stations from JR lines stations. As in Kyoto, most people we dealt with spoke at least some English.
Accommodation
Hotels in Japan are not cheap and there are not many alternatives available (e.g. AirBnB). We found that the best value for money were generally the business hotels. Every place we stayed in was exceptionally clean and the staff were always extremely polite and helpful.
In Kyoto we stayed in the Hotel M’s Est Shijo Karasuma. The hotel is very conveniently located right in the centre of the city. It was not too expensive, the rooms were small but very nice and extremely clean, and the staff was exceptionally friendly and helpful. They were even willing to make restaurant reservations for us in Japanese. The facilities we quite modern and the hotel even had a laundry room, which is essential for longer stays.
In Kanazawa we stayed in the KKR Hotel Kanazawa. Very conveniently located right next to the park and famous Kenroku-en gardens. This hotel was a bit less modern, but had a very nice lobby and polite staff.
In Tokyo we stayed in the Sotetsu Fresa Inn Ochanomizu Jimbocho. This hotel is located in the Chiyoda district of Tokyo. I quite liked this area as it had plenty of places to eat and easy access to transport, but was a bit more relaxed then other parts of the city. Unsurprisingly, Tokyo is a lot more expensive than some of the other places we visited, but the hotel was very clean, had good facilities and the staff were polite.
Food
This would require a whole blog to talk about, but here are a few places we liked. Note that most places do not accept cards so be sure to carry some cash.
Kyoto
- Menami for Obanzai, one of the best we tried.
- Katsukura Shijo Higashinotoin for Tonkatsu (breaded pork).
- Tully’s Cafe for a matcha milkshake (my wife’s favourite). There is one in the Nishiki market.
- 7-eleven and FamilyMart are convenience stores on every corner, they sell some funny Japanese snacks including Onigiri (rice balls). Also a good place to get cash out.
Kobe
- Tor Road Steak Aoyama for authentic Kobe beef, not cheap but it is worth it. The chef is also very entertaining.
- Kazamidori for Japanese cheesecake.
Kanazawa
- Hakuichi Café for gold leaf soft ice cream. More of an visual treat, but still a fun thing to try.
Tokyo
- Darumasan Itchome for the most amazing okonomiyaki! Great atmosphere and very friendly service.
- Ice Ouca for shaved ice shaped into cute animals.
Yokohama
- Pompadour for Yokohama’s famous curry bread.
Alergies
I suffer from a rather unfortunate allergy to seafood (mainly fish), something Japan is famous for. I was somewhat concerned beforehand that I would struggle finding things I could eat, but I found that restaurant staff were always patient and willing to talk to the chef in case of doubt. In the end I was able to try lots of new things and didn’t have any adverse reactions during the whole trip.
It is common to encounter restaurant staff that don’t speak English so I would recommend printing a card with your allergies in Japanese before you go. My wife did this for me and it seemed to work quite well.
Sights
There are so many things to see in Japan and this post will certainly not do them justice. Here I simply list some of the sights we enjoyed and would highly recommend.
Kyoto
- Imperial Palace
- Arashiyama (amazing area with a bamboo forest)
- Kinkaku-ji (golden temple)
- Kiyomizu-dera (temple complex on a hill, very cool)
- Fushimi-Inari (no.1 must see place, thousands of red gates)
Kanazawa
- Kenroku-en gardens (one of the three great gardens of Japan)
- Higashi Chaya District (well preserved traditional neighbourhood)
Tokyo
- Akihabara (manga, video games and electronics)
- Asakusa (Sensō-ji temple)
- Shinjuku (bright lights and gardens)
- Shibuya (iconic street corssing)
- Ebisu (great restaurants)
Day Trips
One of the main reasons for basing ourselves in the places we chose was to maximise the number of day trips we could do. This a good way to make the most of your JR pass!
From Kyoto
- Nara (old capital with lots of deer)
- Osaka (3rd largest city in Japan with a cool castle and funky canal area)
- Kobe (vibrant chinatown and best beef ever!)
From Tokyo
- Yokohama (port city with curry bread and baseball fever)
Language
Given that most of the places we visited were predominantly tourist attractions we didn’t encounter any major communication problems. Most of the people we interacted with spoke at least some English, and those that didn’t were very patient and did their best to understand what we were after.
Reading menus or packing is the biggest challenge. We downloaded the Japanese dictionary for Google translate and it worked pretty well. You can use the camera on your phone to translate text and it gives you a pretty good idea most of the time.