2 week Japan Trip Report and Vlog! (Tokyo/Disney/Osaka/Kyoto)
- Thread starter Sarahboo
- Start date
Mechelle Walker
SkysDLimit32k
- Joined
- May 29, 2017
Looks like a fantastic trip!
Sarahboo
100% geek
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2007
Thanks, Mechelle!
I can't believe my trip report is coming to an end. I've had so much fun reliving the vacation even when it feels like I'm just talking to myself. I told Chris about it and he came in and read it and he was like "Oh man, what an amazing trip that was." I kind of got teary. It's amazing how many little things I had already forgotten until I went through my phone pictures and was reminded. I mean there's still 4 or 5 days of trip report left but leaving for Osaka really marked the end of our trip looming over us.
Now, if I recall we had packed 90% the night before so we just had to pack the clothes that were drying, take showers, pack our toiletries, and roll out.
We had some confusion the night before. When we were headed to Asakusa, it turned out the Yamanote line was closed a few stops from Shibuya and there were some people who were clearly headed to Tokyo Station to catch a Shinkansen with their luggage. Now, we had been watching the news and they kept mentioning the Yamanote line, but we had no idea what they were talking about. Then everyone got off at the Osaka stop and we were just like "That's weird, we're the only ones on the train!" Finally, a conductor came on the train and was like "You guys, the line is closed, you have to go back and connect on another line." Luckily we weren't on a schedule so it didn't cause us any problems.
HOWEVER, we didn't understand if it would re-open the next day or not. When we were asking at the JR office when we bought our tickets, we were having a hard time communicating this particular question even with Was it closed all weekend (we went to Osaka on a Sunday) or just on Saturday? If it was closed all weekend, we would need to catch Shinkansen at Tokyo station instead of Shinagawa. We ended up just getting tickets out of Tokyo station just in case, but it turned out the Yamanote line was open. At least we didn't have to transfer.
Chris was really nervous about making the train. We had reserved seats, but we also had our suitcases so we wanted to get on early enough to store our suitcases behind the back row. There is no security line or anything, so as long as you get there before the train leaves you're fine. We got there so early it was dumb, but we were really limited in how we could spend our time because we were lugging suitcases. We ended up going down into the basement and having a snack at the weirdest restaurant. It was an Oktoberfest themed Chinese restaurant. The food was fine and all, but it was probably the worst restaurant food we had on the whole trip. Then we went to a confine and purchased some Strong Zeros (this will come back to haunt me later), and then we bought Ekiben to eat on the train.
Look, Ekiben is magical. Why can't I buy all of this in America?
This is not my picture, but you need to see this store:
It is FULL of various bento boxes for the train ride. Some of them had a little string you pulled and then it SELF-HEATED. Ekiben is glorious and I had a hard time picking one because I wanted like 5.
After that we walked down to the train platform and we were still about 20 minutes early which doesn't SEEM early, but it means the train before ours was loading, then our train had to come, then they had to clean our train and flip the seats, so it was just unnecessarily early for us to be there. It did give us a chance to take turns using the restroom, and I FaceTimed my son so he could watch the bullet train pull into the station.
We were the first ones on the train, set our luggage behind the seats, and got situated.
Me getting situated:
You know, The Pacific Northwest is known for their salmon. But every bite of salmon I had in Japan was better than ours in the PNW, what kind of witchcraft is this?
But I also bought this. There's no such thing as too much food in Japan:
We made a well-intentioned tactical error. The train ride was three hours long, we were determined to enjoy ever last minute of our trip, so we each purchased one strong zero per hour. Now, at 9% ABV, that translates to about 6 drinks on the train ride. It seemed like a great idea at the time, and since you're sitting the whole time - you don't really realize how much alcohol you've consumed. WHY DOES STRONG ZERO TASTE LIKE JUICE?
This was a flavor I hadn't seen before, so I used Google Translate to help.
THE GIANT OF THE FLUTTERING FLY GLUCOSE:
Luckily for our boozy bellies, I recalled that I also purchased this salami cheese and I have no idea how we would have navigated Osaka without this to mitigate our Strong Zero incident.
And these helped too. I loved the Calbee snacks so much. In fact, I'm going to see if I can buy any imported.
LONG! LARGE!
So, we go to get off the train and realized that perhaps Strong Zero does not make you a Strong Hero. Osaka Station was no problem, we just transferred to the line that would take us to our Osaka AirBNB, but then we had problems. The stations in Osaka didn't have as much English as the stations in Tokyo and we were at a smaller stop that was quite old and hadn't been renovated in some time. We had to carry our luggage up like 3-4 flights of stairs, tipsier than we should have been, with no idea where we were headed. I went into action mode, but I was suddenly like "Yes, yes we did definitely overpack."
We had a GREAT location for an AirBNB. This is the place we stayed:
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/8620958?source_impression_id=p3_1580836974_4VQ6rmnyJIWUxa46
It was right on Dotonbori, and we were about 2 blocks from the heart of it. There was a Lawsons just a few buildings down, and it was so affordable. There is no TV, which I kind of missed because I liked watching Japanese TV while we were getting ready in the morning, but it was fine. I loved the location for the price, for sure. I'd stay there again. We had great AirBNB experiences.
We dropped our stuff off and headed out to explore!
I had this cocktail "Spirits of Japan" and I took a picture of it because I'd never had jam in a cocktail before and I had kind of forgotten about it until I went through my pictures but it kind of mixed into the rest of the cocktail and was just delicious.
I loved Dotonbori. I don't know why I don't have more pictures of it, but we were kind of just taking it all in.
Ok, and this is where our night went off the rails. This part of the trip was intended for us to relax more, take it slow, etc. Our lives at home are crazy. 4 kids who are all in activities, we own a real estate brokerage, my husband is also a business analyst, I'm a city councilor, my husband has a band, and I'm on a few different boards for non-profits. We have a tendency to GO GO GO, and we wanted to take a few days at a slower pace so we could come back a little refreshed.
We wandered down some alleys looking for an Izakaya that had a vibe. No vibe in particular, just a vibe. And did we ever find one. Of all the things we did on our whole trip, building a relationship with Yuki every night while in Osaka was my very favorite thing. People are the best part of travel and when you don't take time to connect with them you really miss out on the soul of each location. Akira was our friend in Tokyo, and Yuki became so special to us that we all cried when we left on the last night.
So, we're wandering down alleys, and Chris spots this guy listening to The Rolling Stones, in a bar that was probably 4x12.
He didn't speak very much English, but he loved music as much as we do, so we just named musicians to each other and then he played a song by them and we all sang it together. We were the only ones there for a long time, and then other people showed up.
There was a young couple from Osaka. She was divorced and had a tattoo which she said she loved talking to Americans about because Japanese people were critical, and he was a mortician.
Two kids from Japan and one from Mongolia:
This couple from Maryland (Yuki's bar is just to the right and we're standing in the alley):
This guy in the back is from Belgium and one of the Japanese kids is passed out on the bar so we're all taking pictures with him:
He woke up for approximately 2 minutes and took this picture with my phone. But notably are my very favorite Japanese junk snack there on the right in the orange bag. I loved those things.
Then the party really got started when Yuki's surfing friends came. They were all hippies (clearly still are) together and these three together were amazing:
We danced all night in the alley.
It's really interesting to me that bartenders can drink in Japan. Yuki was pouring two for himself for every one he poured me.
It was quite possibly one of the most fun nights of my life. Top Ten life experience is drinking highballs with people from all over the world, everyone singing "Yesterday" at the top of their lungs.
Music brings people together, man.
Eventually we wandered home. I was happy I could find it in my state considering that we were just down some random alley in a town we had never visited with a language we didn't speak and headed to a place for which I didn't know the address so I couldn't plug it in my phone. I did stop at Lawson's and get some food we didn't need because it sounded so good in the moment.
We now refer to this as "Being Yuki'd" What we didn't know (he told us later) is that Yuki started pouring us doubles and triples. There was a price to be paid in the morning.
I can't believe my trip report is coming to an end. I've had so much fun reliving the vacation even when it feels like I'm just talking to myself. I told Chris about it and he came in and read it and he was like "Oh man, what an amazing trip that was." I kind of got teary. It's amazing how many little things I had already forgotten until I went through my phone pictures and was reminded. I mean there's still 4 or 5 days of trip report left but leaving for Osaka really marked the end of our trip looming over us.
Now, if I recall we had packed 90% the night before so we just had to pack the clothes that were drying, take showers, pack our toiletries, and roll out.
We had some confusion the night before. When we were headed to Asakusa, it turned out the Yamanote line was closed a few stops from Shibuya and there were some people who were clearly headed to Tokyo Station to catch a Shinkansen with their luggage. Now, we had been watching the news and they kept mentioning the Yamanote line, but we had no idea what they were talking about. Then everyone got off at the Osaka stop and we were just like "That's weird, we're the only ones on the train!" Finally, a conductor came on the train and was like "You guys, the line is closed, you have to go back and connect on another line." Luckily we weren't on a schedule so it didn't cause us any problems.
HOWEVER, we didn't understand if it would re-open the next day or not. When we were asking at the JR office when we bought our tickets, we were having a hard time communicating this particular question even with Was it closed all weekend (we went to Osaka on a Sunday) or just on Saturday? If it was closed all weekend, we would need to catch Shinkansen at Tokyo station instead of Shinagawa. We ended up just getting tickets out of Tokyo station just in case, but it turned out the Yamanote line was open. At least we didn't have to transfer.
Chris was really nervous about making the train. We had reserved seats, but we also had our suitcases so we wanted to get on early enough to store our suitcases behind the back row. There is no security line or anything, so as long as you get there before the train leaves you're fine. We got there so early it was dumb, but we were really limited in how we could spend our time because we were lugging suitcases. We ended up going down into the basement and having a snack at the weirdest restaurant. It was an Oktoberfest themed Chinese restaurant. The food was fine and all, but it was probably the worst restaurant food we had on the whole trip. Then we went to a confine and purchased some Strong Zeros (this will come back to haunt me later), and then we bought Ekiben to eat on the train.
Look, Ekiben is magical. Why can't I buy all of this in America?
This is not my picture, but you need to see this store:
It is FULL of various bento boxes for the train ride. Some of them had a little string you pulled and then it SELF-HEATED. Ekiben is glorious and I had a hard time picking one because I wanted like 5.
After that we walked down to the train platform and we were still about 20 minutes early which doesn't SEEM early, but it means the train before ours was loading, then our train had to come, then they had to clean our train and flip the seats, so it was just unnecessarily early for us to be there. It did give us a chance to take turns using the restroom, and I FaceTimed my son so he could watch the bullet train pull into the station.
We were the first ones on the train, set our luggage behind the seats, and got situated.
Me getting situated:
You know, The Pacific Northwest is known for their salmon. But every bite of salmon I had in Japan was better than ours in the PNW, what kind of witchcraft is this?
But I also bought this. There's no such thing as too much food in Japan:
We made a well-intentioned tactical error. The train ride was three hours long, we were determined to enjoy ever last minute of our trip, so we each purchased one strong zero per hour. Now, at 9% ABV, that translates to about 6 drinks on the train ride. It seemed like a great idea at the time, and since you're sitting the whole time - you don't really realize how much alcohol you've consumed. WHY DOES STRONG ZERO TASTE LIKE JUICE?
This was a flavor I hadn't seen before, so I used Google Translate to help.
THE GIANT OF THE FLUTTERING FLY GLUCOSE:
Luckily for our boozy bellies, I recalled that I also purchased this salami cheese and I have no idea how we would have navigated Osaka without this to mitigate our Strong Zero incident.
And these helped too. I loved the Calbee snacks so much. In fact, I'm going to see if I can buy any imported.
LONG! LARGE!
So, we go to get off the train and realized that perhaps Strong Zero does not make you a Strong Hero. Osaka Station was no problem, we just transferred to the line that would take us to our Osaka AirBNB, but then we had problems. The stations in Osaka didn't have as much English as the stations in Tokyo and we were at a smaller stop that was quite old and hadn't been renovated in some time. We had to carry our luggage up like 3-4 flights of stairs, tipsier than we should have been, with no idea where we were headed. I went into action mode, but I was suddenly like "Yes, yes we did definitely overpack."
We had a GREAT location for an AirBNB. This is the place we stayed:
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/8620958?source_impression_id=p3_1580836974_4VQ6rmnyJIWUxa46
It was right on Dotonbori, and we were about 2 blocks from the heart of it. There was a Lawsons just a few buildings down, and it was so affordable. There is no TV, which I kind of missed because I liked watching Japanese TV while we were getting ready in the morning, but it was fine. I loved the location for the price, for sure. I'd stay there again. We had great AirBNB experiences.
We dropped our stuff off and headed out to explore!
I had this cocktail "Spirits of Japan" and I took a picture of it because I'd never had jam in a cocktail before and I had kind of forgotten about it until I went through my pictures but it kind of mixed into the rest of the cocktail and was just delicious.
I loved Dotonbori. I don't know why I don't have more pictures of it, but we were kind of just taking it all in.
Ok, and this is where our night went off the rails. This part of the trip was intended for us to relax more, take it slow, etc. Our lives at home are crazy. 4 kids who are all in activities, we own a real estate brokerage, my husband is also a business analyst, I'm a city councilor, my husband has a band, and I'm on a few different boards for non-profits. We have a tendency to GO GO GO, and we wanted to take a few days at a slower pace so we could come back a little refreshed.
We wandered down some alleys looking for an Izakaya that had a vibe. No vibe in particular, just a vibe. And did we ever find one. Of all the things we did on our whole trip, building a relationship with Yuki every night while in Osaka was my very favorite thing. People are the best part of travel and when you don't take time to connect with them you really miss out on the soul of each location. Akira was our friend in Tokyo, and Yuki became so special to us that we all cried when we left on the last night.
So, we're wandering down alleys, and Chris spots this guy listening to The Rolling Stones, in a bar that was probably 4x12.
He didn't speak very much English, but he loved music as much as we do, so we just named musicians to each other and then he played a song by them and we all sang it together. We were the only ones there for a long time, and then other people showed up.
There was a young couple from Osaka. She was divorced and had a tattoo which she said she loved talking to Americans about because Japanese people were critical, and he was a mortician.
Two kids from Japan and one from Mongolia:
This couple from Maryland (Yuki's bar is just to the right and we're standing in the alley):
This guy in the back is from Belgium and one of the Japanese kids is passed out on the bar so we're all taking pictures with him:
He woke up for approximately 2 minutes and took this picture with my phone. But notably are my very favorite Japanese junk snack there on the right in the orange bag. I loved those things.
Then the party really got started when Yuki's surfing friends came. They were all hippies (clearly still are) together and these three together were amazing:
We danced all night in the alley.
It's really interesting to me that bartenders can drink in Japan. Yuki was pouring two for himself for every one he poured me.
It was quite possibly one of the most fun nights of my life. Top Ten life experience is drinking highballs with people from all over the world, everyone singing "Yesterday" at the top of their lungs.
Music brings people together, man.
Eventually we wandered home. I was happy I could find it in my state considering that we were just down some random alley in a town we had never visited with a language we didn't speak and headed to a place for which I didn't know the address so I couldn't plug it in my phone. I did stop at Lawson's and get some food we didn't need because it sounded so good in the moment.
We now refer to this as "Being Yuki'd" What we didn't know (he told us later) is that Yuki started pouring us doubles and triples. There was a price to be paid in the morning.
MermaidLagoonResident
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 2, 2019
LovesTimone
Christmas Day 2017
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2009
You guys look like you were having quite a good time... It does sound kinda ominous when you say "there is a price to be paid the next day"??
I will say... I did think OMG I hope they can find where they are staying at and get there in one piece and safely...
I will say... I did think OMG I hope they can find where they are staying at and get there in one piece and safely...
Sarahboo
100% geek
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2007
Here are some questions I've not ever answered in here that I think might be helpful for traveling:
Did we get a JR pass?
We did not. I penciled it out on the JR site for a 7 day pass at the end of our trip, and we *maybe* would have saved $10-15 total, but we wouldn't be able to take the express Shinkansen trains, and we'd have to try to just use JR trains. It didn't really seem worth it.
A 14 day pass made no sense for us whatsoever. Jamming around Tokyo is pretty cheap. I think most trips were $2-3 each way and we liked the flexibility of taking whatever train made the most sense without worrying about which company operated the train.
What about Pocket wi-fi?
One of the advantages of using an AirBnB is that most of them come with pocket wi-fi. It was perfect. It meant we didn't have pocket wi-fi from the airport to the ABNB, or between ABNBs, or after we left our last one. However, we had great instructions from our hosts on how to get to the room that I printed out before leaving home, and the Shinkansen has wi-fi. We didn't have any trouble, and it was one less thing to worry about. Chris and I could both connect and we never ran out of wi-fi. The day we were at DisneySea, the battery did die on the way home - but that would happen with any of them. I carried the charging cord with me and I could charge it with our portable battery mid-day if needed.
How was customs and immigration?
If I had not spent approximately 3 days in the bathroom trying to figure out how to get the sounds I accidentally turned on to turn off, we would have been through customs faster. By the time we got down there we were basically the last people from our plane in line. This is another vote for using the restroom on the plane before descent. It was the first time I had been through immigration in a very very long time, and I was suddenly worried that I had a felony on my record that I didn't know about. Anyone else?
It was quick, they put a sticker in my passport, and we moved onto customs. Customs was even faster. They had a lot of lines open and they didn't even open any of our bags there, though I did see people with their bags open for inspection. We didn't really have anything to declare which may have helped.
There were some obnoxious Americans in customs who kept yelling at one of the customs agents that they needed to pick up their pocket wi-fi and he didn't understand what they were asking, so they just yelled louder. Finally I intervened and said "As soon as you go through customs, you can pick it up. Right now you just need to get your luggage cleared. Everything else is right through those doors." I kind of felt bad for the customs guy, and it was not the last time I was annoyed by tourists who's plan for overcoming the language barrier was to yell louder.
Why didn't you do a split stay?
Look, this is all about personal preference, but I just don't like moving mid-stay if I don't need to. Our train rides to Disney were an hour, but it didn't really bother me. I didn't sleep all that great while on vacation anyway, and I liked being settled in to one place. We got to know the people who lived in the building, we had a home bar to pop into at the end of the night where the regulars and Akira always asked how our day was and what we did, and our accommodations were comfortable. I really wanted a kitchen while we were traveling and we used the fridge a lot.
Another reason (let this be a warning to you if you want to split stay) is that I booked our flights first. I booked them at the very beginning of April for a November trip because they were pretty inexpensive (about $700 RT for a non-stop flight PDX-NAR). Then, when we started looking at crowd calendars we realized we'd rather go to Disney on a Tuesday and Wednesday than any other day. That meant that Disney was right smack in the middle of our time in Tokyo and we'd have to move twice not just once if we wanted to stay closer to Disney. Since we were only spending 2 days there, it just didn't seem worth the hassle. We decided we'd rather an hour train ride each way and being able to settle into one place for the length of our Tokyo stay than move twice or go to Disney on higher crowd days.
It wasn't that bad the way we did it and I don't think I'd change anything if I could go back in time.
What did you do about currency?
We took about $1500 in USD and I exchanged it right outside of customs. The exchange rate was better than doing it at our home airport or through our bank. Our bank had about the same exchange rate, but they charged fees on top of it, and we didn't have to pay fees at Narita. We also took our ATM cards, and got money out when we needed to. Here are some currency exchange tips:
Yen are larger than US dollars. Your American wallet won't hold the bills properly. Down below I'll show you what I used and recommend.
For some reason, our ATM cards only worked at 7-11 and not Lawsons or Family Mart. I didn't expect that, so imagine my sheer panic when my card didn't work at Lawsons and I thought I had done something horribly wrong and we had to spend 2 weeks in Japan with no cash.
Also, the 50,000 yen limit per day is per rolling 24 hours. When I realized that, I started taking money out in the morning if I knew we'd need more that day just in case we came across something amazing that we could only do or purchase with cash. Once we took out money on a morning and then not again until the next night, then our 24 hour period was all jacked up and I couldn't remember when more cash would be available to us.
We actually could have used less cash than I expected because more places took card than I anticipated. Unless you're buying popcorn or something at a little stand in Disney you'll be able to use a credit card or your Suica card. Actually, I think I may have used Suica to buy popcorn once when Chris had all of the cash on him and ran to get FP.
The main things you need cash for are: loading Suica, which is cash only - purchasing food from street vendors, everything when we went wine tasting, purchasing items from smaller shops, etc. Our plan was to use cash and it helped me track our spending, so we still used cash for most everything but we didn't need to. We did use our card for - some things at Disney, purchasing our shinkansen tickets, MariCar, stuff we bought at the airport, and some souvenirs in larger stores.
However, you should have cash on you at all times, and be mindful about when you take it out so you don't lose when your rolling 24 hours ends. When we were in Shinjukuand tried to buy our JR passes, my debit card declined and I FREAKED OUT (inside). I put them on another card, and then I ran to a 7-11 bank to see if it would happen again and it did. COMMENCE PANIC. Then I thought "We took cash out earlier today, I bet the tickets put us over the 50,000 yen limit." So I tried to take out 10,000 yen and it worked. WHEW!
From then on, I just took out the maximum when I needed cash so I wouldn't have to try and figure out what of my 50,000 per rolling 24 hours remained at that moment. If you take out cash multiple times in 24 hours it's hard to track what amount of money is available when.
Also funny - tourists must be super annoying when trying to figure out how to pay with cash and coin. A lot of times the vendor would just ask to see my money and then they would take the right amount out of my hand. Fine by me! I was super self-conscious about taking too long when I was paying and then I'd get all up in my head and forget what coin was what and it became a self-fulfilling prophecy at the beginning of the trip. By the end of the trip I was a coin master.
Did you carry a backpack everywhere?
We took two different bags for day use to Japan. I have a standard sized backpack that I really like as our carry-on and in case we wanted the extra space:
https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics...eywords=amazon+backpack&qid=1581097011&sr=8-4
Because we own a company and my job doesn't allow for a break (I mean, if things are in escrow, they're in escrow whether I want a vacation or not, am I right?), I had to work periodically while I was in Japan. That meant I needed my laptop on the trip so a laptop backpack was perfect for travel. I would use my laptop in the morning before we left and at night when we got home, but I didn't carry it with me all day.
That being said - everyone knows you walk A LOT in Japan. What I didn't anticipate (but should have) is how much STANDING you do in Japan - waiting in line, waiting for the train, standing on the train, waiting for food/drink, etc. My feet never bothered me once, but I did notice that when I wore this backpack, my hips hurt by the end of the day. I think you just tend fill whatever bag you have. When we were in DisneySea, I wore this ALL DAY LONG and as we bought things, they ended up in the bag and my lower back really hurt by the end of the day. Chris started wearing it some to help, but the damage was already done.
Also, when you're on the train or in a crowded place a regular backpack is obnoxious. Also, some stores are just really tight fits and I was worried I'd knock something over and break it.
After that we decided that I would wear our other crossbody bag which I bought for WDW a few years ago and it was PERFECT. It held my passport wallet that I'll show below, and our phones, wi-fi, chargers, gimbal, etc. but it wasn't so big that I could just keep putting stuff in it and overload it with weight:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015PTBCFW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1
And this passport wallet was amazing. We used in Mexico, and I'll use it for all future trips:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DC2D13C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Yen fit perfectly where the image has the plane tickets (does anyone even have plane tickets anymore?).
Anyway, if there are any other questions, I'm happy to answer!
Did we get a JR pass?
We did not. I penciled it out on the JR site for a 7 day pass at the end of our trip, and we *maybe* would have saved $10-15 total, but we wouldn't be able to take the express Shinkansen trains, and we'd have to try to just use JR trains. It didn't really seem worth it.
A 14 day pass made no sense for us whatsoever. Jamming around Tokyo is pretty cheap. I think most trips were $2-3 each way and we liked the flexibility of taking whatever train made the most sense without worrying about which company operated the train.
What about Pocket wi-fi?
One of the advantages of using an AirBnB is that most of them come with pocket wi-fi. It was perfect. It meant we didn't have pocket wi-fi from the airport to the ABNB, or between ABNBs, or after we left our last one. However, we had great instructions from our hosts on how to get to the room that I printed out before leaving home, and the Shinkansen has wi-fi. We didn't have any trouble, and it was one less thing to worry about. Chris and I could both connect and we never ran out of wi-fi. The day we were at DisneySea, the battery did die on the way home - but that would happen with any of them. I carried the charging cord with me and I could charge it with our portable battery mid-day if needed.
How was customs and immigration?
If I had not spent approximately 3 days in the bathroom trying to figure out how to get the sounds I accidentally turned on to turn off, we would have been through customs faster. By the time we got down there we were basically the last people from our plane in line. This is another vote for using the restroom on the plane before descent. It was the first time I had been through immigration in a very very long time, and I was suddenly worried that I had a felony on my record that I didn't know about. Anyone else?
It was quick, they put a sticker in my passport, and we moved onto customs. Customs was even faster. They had a lot of lines open and they didn't even open any of our bags there, though I did see people with their bags open for inspection. We didn't really have anything to declare which may have helped.
There were some obnoxious Americans in customs who kept yelling at one of the customs agents that they needed to pick up their pocket wi-fi and he didn't understand what they were asking, so they just yelled louder. Finally I intervened and said "As soon as you go through customs, you can pick it up. Right now you just need to get your luggage cleared. Everything else is right through those doors." I kind of felt bad for the customs guy, and it was not the last time I was annoyed by tourists who's plan for overcoming the language barrier was to yell louder.
Why didn't you do a split stay?
Look, this is all about personal preference, but I just don't like moving mid-stay if I don't need to. Our train rides to Disney were an hour, but it didn't really bother me. I didn't sleep all that great while on vacation anyway, and I liked being settled in to one place. We got to know the people who lived in the building, we had a home bar to pop into at the end of the night where the regulars and Akira always asked how our day was and what we did, and our accommodations were comfortable. I really wanted a kitchen while we were traveling and we used the fridge a lot.
Another reason (let this be a warning to you if you want to split stay) is that I booked our flights first. I booked them at the very beginning of April for a November trip because they were pretty inexpensive (about $700 RT for a non-stop flight PDX-NAR). Then, when we started looking at crowd calendars we realized we'd rather go to Disney on a Tuesday and Wednesday than any other day. That meant that Disney was right smack in the middle of our time in Tokyo and we'd have to move twice not just once if we wanted to stay closer to Disney. Since we were only spending 2 days there, it just didn't seem worth the hassle. We decided we'd rather an hour train ride each way and being able to settle into one place for the length of our Tokyo stay than move twice or go to Disney on higher crowd days.
It wasn't that bad the way we did it and I don't think I'd change anything if I could go back in time.
What did you do about currency?
We took about $1500 in USD and I exchanged it right outside of customs. The exchange rate was better than doing it at our home airport or through our bank. Our bank had about the same exchange rate, but they charged fees on top of it, and we didn't have to pay fees at Narita. We also took our ATM cards, and got money out when we needed to. Here are some currency exchange tips:
Yen are larger than US dollars. Your American wallet won't hold the bills properly. Down below I'll show you what I used and recommend.
For some reason, our ATM cards only worked at 7-11 and not Lawsons or Family Mart. I didn't expect that, so imagine my sheer panic when my card didn't work at Lawsons and I thought I had done something horribly wrong and we had to spend 2 weeks in Japan with no cash.
Also, the 50,000 yen limit per day is per rolling 24 hours. When I realized that, I started taking money out in the morning if I knew we'd need more that day just in case we came across something amazing that we could only do or purchase with cash. Once we took out money on a morning and then not again until the next night, then our 24 hour period was all jacked up and I couldn't remember when more cash would be available to us.
We actually could have used less cash than I expected because more places took card than I anticipated. Unless you're buying popcorn or something at a little stand in Disney you'll be able to use a credit card or your Suica card. Actually, I think I may have used Suica to buy popcorn once when Chris had all of the cash on him and ran to get FP.
The main things you need cash for are: loading Suica, which is cash only - purchasing food from street vendors, everything when we went wine tasting, purchasing items from smaller shops, etc. Our plan was to use cash and it helped me track our spending, so we still used cash for most everything but we didn't need to. We did use our card for - some things at Disney, purchasing our shinkansen tickets, MariCar, stuff we bought at the airport, and some souvenirs in larger stores.
However, you should have cash on you at all times, and be mindful about when you take it out so you don't lose when your rolling 24 hours ends. When we were in Shinjukuand tried to buy our JR passes, my debit card declined and I FREAKED OUT (inside). I put them on another card, and then I ran to a 7-11 bank to see if it would happen again and it did. COMMENCE PANIC. Then I thought "We took cash out earlier today, I bet the tickets put us over the 50,000 yen limit." So I tried to take out 10,000 yen and it worked. WHEW!
From then on, I just took out the maximum when I needed cash so I wouldn't have to try and figure out what of my 50,000 per rolling 24 hours remained at that moment. If you take out cash multiple times in 24 hours it's hard to track what amount of money is available when.
Also funny - tourists must be super annoying when trying to figure out how to pay with cash and coin. A lot of times the vendor would just ask to see my money and then they would take the right amount out of my hand. Fine by me! I was super self-conscious about taking too long when I was paying and then I'd get all up in my head and forget what coin was what and it became a self-fulfilling prophecy at the beginning of the trip. By the end of the trip I was a coin master.
Did you carry a backpack everywhere?
We took two different bags for day use to Japan. I have a standard sized backpack that I really like as our carry-on and in case we wanted the extra space:
https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics...eywords=amazon+backpack&qid=1581097011&sr=8-4
Because we own a company and my job doesn't allow for a break (I mean, if things are in escrow, they're in escrow whether I want a vacation or not, am I right?), I had to work periodically while I was in Japan. That meant I needed my laptop on the trip so a laptop backpack was perfect for travel. I would use my laptop in the morning before we left and at night when we got home, but I didn't carry it with me all day.
That being said - everyone knows you walk A LOT in Japan. What I didn't anticipate (but should have) is how much STANDING you do in Japan - waiting in line, waiting for the train, standing on the train, waiting for food/drink, etc. My feet never bothered me once, but I did notice that when I wore this backpack, my hips hurt by the end of the day. I think you just tend fill whatever bag you have. When we were in DisneySea, I wore this ALL DAY LONG and as we bought things, they ended up in the bag and my lower back really hurt by the end of the day. Chris started wearing it some to help, but the damage was already done.
Also, when you're on the train or in a crowded place a regular backpack is obnoxious. Also, some stores are just really tight fits and I was worried I'd knock something over and break it.
After that we decided that I would wear our other crossbody bag which I bought for WDW a few years ago and it was PERFECT. It held my passport wallet that I'll show below, and our phones, wi-fi, chargers, gimbal, etc. but it wasn't so big that I could just keep putting stuff in it and overload it with weight:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015PTBCFW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1
And this passport wallet was amazing. We used in Mexico, and I'll use it for all future trips:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DC2D13C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Yen fit perfectly where the image has the plane tickets (does anyone even have plane tickets anymore?).
Anyway, if there are any other questions, I'm happy to answer!
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Sarahboo
100% geek
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2007
Oh, it was ominous. We are not 20 anymore, and a hangover in your 40s is savage.
We did find our way home, my husband is SO LUCKY to have me, because if I wasn't there - he'd STILL be wandering around Osaka looking for our AirBNB.
At one point I got to the Lawsons that I remembered being very close to our building but I couldn't remember what our building looked like. So, I made my husband stand in front of the Lawsons until I found it because he WAS NOT HELPFUL.
I do this thing my husband calls "action mode" where I just focus and solve whatever problem I'm faced with but I tune everything else out and I DO NOT WANT HELP. So, I went into Action Mode and found our apartment. Once I found it though, I was pretty useless. We woke up on the wrong side of the bed with a half-eaten egg salad sandwich between us, our apartment door NOT SHUT, and the keys in the door.
Luckily, Japan is the safest country ever and only one other person could even get to the floor our apartment was on because you have to use a key fob in the elevator and it will only take you to the floor you're assigned where there were only 2 apartments. Also, we somehow retained the courtesy and memory to take our shoes off in the entryway even though we didn't close the door.
And that, my friends, is being Yuki'd.
Sarahboo
100% geek
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2007
One more thing I thought about:
What did you do for cell service?
I would love to go on vacation and not need a phone. BUT! Between the company and the fact that we had 4 kids and The World's Best Dog (tm) at home, we needed a phone. Chris and I use Verizon so we decided that we would get the travel pass for my phone only and tell everyone who could possibly need us to call me. Chris still used wi-fi on his phone.
The travel pass was $10 a day so about $140 for the trip, but worth it. We set it up before we went for the month, but it doesn't activate the $10 a day until you turn your phone on in Japan.
It gave me more than enough minutes and texts, and we talked to one of our kids or a client every day we were in Japan so I'm glad we had it!
It does come with some data, but be warned - when I was trying to use my phone data, for example Chris had the backpack with pocket wi-fi and we were not in range of each other, or we turned the pocket wi-fi off some times because we didn't want to drain the battery., the data was horrible. It basically never worked.
There was no point in us both using the travel pass for another $140 because clients call me, and so we had the convenience of travel pass, but only half the expense.
HOWEVER, you know who doesn't know you're in Japan? Spam calls, and telemarketers which I get a lot of because my cell number is all over the internet for business purposes. I ended up setting it so only our parents and my kids alerted our phones and everyone else was on sleep mode. It took one night of phone calls all night long for me to be like "Omg, I did not consider this. This is not going to work for me."
What did you do for cell service?
I would love to go on vacation and not need a phone. BUT! Between the company and the fact that we had 4 kids and The World's Best Dog (tm) at home, we needed a phone. Chris and I use Verizon so we decided that we would get the travel pass for my phone only and tell everyone who could possibly need us to call me. Chris still used wi-fi on his phone.
The travel pass was $10 a day so about $140 for the trip, but worth it. We set it up before we went for the month, but it doesn't activate the $10 a day until you turn your phone on in Japan.
It gave me more than enough minutes and texts, and we talked to one of our kids or a client every day we were in Japan so I'm glad we had it!
It does come with some data, but be warned - when I was trying to use my phone data, for example Chris had the backpack with pocket wi-fi and we were not in range of each other, or we turned the pocket wi-fi off some times because we didn't want to drain the battery., the data was horrible. It basically never worked.
There was no point in us both using the travel pass for another $140 because clients call me, and so we had the convenience of travel pass, but only half the expense.
HOWEVER, you know who doesn't know you're in Japan? Spam calls, and telemarketers which I get a lot of because my cell number is all over the internet for business purposes. I ended up setting it so only our parents and my kids alerted our phones and everyone else was on sleep mode. It took one night of phone calls all night long for me to be like "Omg, I did not consider this. This is not going to work for me."
Markolodeon
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 7, 2011
We did the same except with AT&T’s travel pass which for $10/day and was perfect. It gave us full access to all our normal data and minutes/calling and could be turned on and off as needed on a daily basis. We only activated this on one phone and tethered the other. Sure a little more expensive than renting a sim but in the grand scheme of a trip to Japan it was a very minor expense, plus super easy and we had data everywhere just like being back in the states.”
Linkura
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 13, 2017
So if I am using data for say, fast passes or to check the Internet if I'm in line or something, you would NOT recommend Verizon's Travel Pass?
Thanks so much for all of your detailed posts answering questions! So helpful!
Sarahboo
100% geek
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2007
Maybe other people had a better experience, but the data was useless to us 75% of the time. If we didn’t have pocket wi-fi we would have been so frustrated.
Linkura
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 13, 2017
Thank you so much, this is really helpful. I believe you said pocket wifi came with your Air BNB; do you know what company they used?
Haley R
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2017
We used japan WiFi buddy when we needed a pocket WiFi.
Sarahboo
100% geek
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2007
I think it’s just a local one they pay a monthly fee for and you use it while you’re staying there. I didn’t notice a name on it.
Sarahboo
100% geek
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2007
Ok, look. The next morning was rough. I am not in my 20s anymore, and I had no idea that my drinks were getting stronger as the night went on. In addition to leaving the door open with the keys in the lock, our blinds were wide open and there was a woman across the street standing on her balcony just watching us when we woke up. It was hysterical.
We took some Advil, drank some water and decided we would attempt ramen even though we both looked and felt like we were hit by a truck.
Here's a fun fact about Japan: a lot of places do not have AC. It wasn't a huge deal most of the time we were there because we were there in November, but I wondered what it felt like in some of the older buildings on the higher floors in the summer. So, we get to Ichiran around 11 (we finally got a full night's sleep, at least) and it was really warm inside. I didn't last long. I ate as much as I could stomach and then we decided to go back to the room. We stopped at Lawsons for room snacks and I feel in love with these:
They're like little balls of grape sherbet with an icy coating. So, you put one in your mouth and if you crush it in your mouth there's a little explosion of sherbet! They also had coffee flavor and orange. I tried the coffee and I didn't like it as much as the grape, but I never tried the orange.
Also, I loved all of the store fronts on our street. How charming is this? I think it was a bar or restaurant but we never went in.
On one hand I was like "I can't believe we got so hungover that we're losing most fo a day in Japan." but also, we really did want to take a day of rest and relaxation at some point. I'm not sure we would have done that if our bodies didn't force us to.
We hung out in our room for much of the afternoon and watched our favorite Japanese shows on Japanese Netflix. We didn't finish the new season of Ainori, and then when we got back home it wasn't released on US Netflix yet. It just released sometime in the last week here, so I can finally finish.
We wandered back out in the late afternoon and went to Kuromon Market. I LOVED THIS PLACE.
I had some of my very favorite - strawberry daifuku
We were starting to look human, while drinking this fresh melon juice and roasted sweet potato:
And we walked back down Dotonbori and grabbed some snacks and street food for dinner:
This guy was really feeling how I felt that day.
This really cracked us up. I wish I had been feeling up to it because we somehow went to Japan and experienced zero karaoke.
This was some street art/vandalism right by our apartment:
So, we mostly relaxed this day but we did wander around the area a bit and it was really nice not feeling like we had to do anything or go anywhere. It also meant that we would spend our day in Kyoto well rested and ready to go!
I am not in my 20s anymore, and I had no idea that my drinks were getting stronger as the night went on. In addition to leaving the door open with the keys in the lock, our blinds were wide open and there was a woman across the street standing on her balcony just watching us when we woke up. It was hysterical.We took some Advil, drank some water and decided we would attempt ramen even though we both looked and felt like we were hit by a truck.
Here's a fun fact about Japan: a lot of places do not have AC. It wasn't a huge deal most of the time we were there because we were there in November, but I wondered what it felt like in some of the older buildings on the higher floors in the summer. So, we get to Ichiran around 11 (we finally got a full night's sleep, at least) and it was really warm inside. I didn't last long. I ate as much as I could stomach and then we decided to go back to the room. We stopped at Lawsons for room snacks and I feel in love with these:
They're like little balls of grape sherbet with an icy coating. So, you put one in your mouth and if you crush it in your mouth there's a little explosion of sherbet! They also had coffee flavor and orange. I tried the coffee and I didn't like it as much as the grape, but I never tried the orange.
Also, I loved all of the store fronts on our street. How charming is this? I think it was a bar or restaurant but we never went in.
On one hand I was like "I can't believe we got so hungover that we're losing most fo a day in Japan." but also, we really did want to take a day of rest and relaxation at some point. I'm not sure we would have done that if our bodies didn't force us to.
We hung out in our room for much of the afternoon and watched our favorite Japanese shows on Japanese Netflix. We didn't finish the new season of Ainori, and then when we got back home it wasn't released on US Netflix yet. It just released sometime in the last week here, so I can finally finish.
We wandered back out in the late afternoon and went to Kuromon Market. I LOVED THIS PLACE.
I had some of my very favorite - strawberry daifuku
We were starting to look human, while drinking this fresh melon juice and roasted sweet potato:
And we walked back down Dotonbori and grabbed some snacks and street food for dinner:
This guy was really feeling how I felt that day.
This really cracked us up. I wish I had been feeling up to it because we somehow went to Japan and experienced zero karaoke.
This was some street art/vandalism right by our apartment:
So, we mostly relaxed this day but we did wander around the area a bit and it was really nice not feeling like we had to do anything or go anywhere. It also meant that we would spend our day in Kyoto well rested and ready to go!
LovesTimone
Christmas Day 2017
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2009
WOW you guys were so lucky that you did not get rob, or worse... Holy Moley... So glad you guy were okay... and nothing bad happened... not counting the hang over...
Sarahboo
100% geek
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2007
Yes, but I also think Japan is an incredibly safe country and I kept my wits about me until we got in the elevator up to our room. I don't think we would have drank as often (or as much) as we did if we weren't in such a safe country. That night was definitely the most compromised we've probably ever been, but again - I felt safer in Japan than I did in most US cities, so it was a calculated risk. We laugh about it now because nothing happened, and we are very responsible drinkers, so it was just such a random and hilarious thing to happen.
Not that I recommend it at all, we had no intention of drinking that much. It's an interesting part of drinking culture that people think they're doing you a favor by pouring really strong drinks, when I personally prefer to have more knowledge about how much I've consumed. I don't really consider it a favor because it's hard to be a responsible drinker if you have no idea how much you've consumed.
That being said- Yuki is just such a great human and I think it was part of his spirit of hospitality. He also said "Thank you." every time we ordered a drink, which I just found so charming and polite, you had the sense that he really valued the business.
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Sarahboo
100% geek
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2007
We woke up quite well rested the next day.
This morning we were headed to Kyoto. I was really excited to see Kyoto, and for some people it's worth half their trip in stays. Chris and I aren't the type that felt the need to go to all of the big tourist checklist points. I would have liked to have seen the temple up in the hills with the amazing view - Kiyomizu-dera - but it was totally under scrim for a pre-Olympics rehab so we skipped it. Our preference tends to be more off the beaten path with an equal focus on people, history/culture, pop-culture, unique experiences, food, and spontaneity. I think we did that pretty well on this trip.
I had planned most of the trip and knowing we'd have 1 (or 2 if we chose) days in Kyoto I was a little overwhelmed by trying to figure out what we wanted to do. I knew I didn't want to see Kyoto from a tour bus, but I didn't know how else to see it. It was SO NICE not having to plan anything and just letting Chris take the lead.
We hit the train station right at the beginning of rush hour again.
We almost got on the next train, but I panicked right before we stepped on and got out of the way and I don't even know why. Did anyone else ever do that? I think I did it twice on our trip for no apparent reason. We were standing by the trains right next to the stairs which are always the most packed, so we wandered down to one of the ends of the train and it was slightly less packed.
It was a pretty train ride to Kyoto, they're really quite close together and it was no big deal to stay in one and see the other.
We got off the train in Kyoto, grabbed some coffee, stopped at the information center to get our orientation and then headed out to Gion. They had just changed the rules making it illegal to take pictures Gion because tourists can be so aggressive. We decided not to film or take pics at all, but most other people were taking pictures there anyway. Walking down Gion really does feel like stepping back in time and I loved this whole area. At the end of the Gion district is a temple I don't see mentioned as often because it's not one of the most popular, but I thought it was beautiful and amazing. Because it wasn't a top destination, it wasn't crowded at all.
At the end of Gion is Kennin-ji Temple, the oldest Zen temple in Kyoto. We paid somewhere around 500 yen each for entrance, but you can walk much of the grounds without paying if you don't want to go inside the buildings. The art was just amazing, and the whole visit was really peaceful:
The gold screen to the left has a depiction of the God of Thunder and the God of Wind. We bought chopsticks and chopstick holders with this art.
I took a lot of panoramic pictures here and I'm having trouble uploading them, but that means the art will be a delightful surprise when you visit!
These are the twin dragons which you'll see again in a few pictures:
Now, if you want to walk over to one of the buildings and some sections, you're asked to put slippers on - watching my husband walk around in these was worth every penny. They didn't stay on his feet well so he just kind of shuffled around the temple :
This is the CEILING of one of the buildings. STUNNING.
This is the building with the ceiling painting:
Then we exited out the other side of Kennin-Ji and toward the Higashiyama District to see the pagoda. It was a pretty little walk.
Posting now because I'm certain I'll hit my photo limit at some point.
This morning we were headed to Kyoto. I was really excited to see Kyoto, and for some people it's worth half their trip in stays. Chris and I aren't the type that felt the need to go to all of the big tourist checklist points. I would have liked to have seen the temple up in the hills with the amazing view - Kiyomizu-dera - but it was totally under scrim for a pre-Olympics rehab so we skipped it. Our preference tends to be more off the beaten path with an equal focus on people, history/culture, pop-culture, unique experiences, food, and spontaneity. I think we did that pretty well on this trip.
I had planned most of the trip and knowing we'd have 1 (or 2 if we chose) days in Kyoto I was a little overwhelmed by trying to figure out what we wanted to do. I knew I didn't want to see Kyoto from a tour bus, but I didn't know how else to see it. It was SO NICE not having to plan anything and just letting Chris take the lead.
We hit the train station right at the beginning of rush hour again.
We almost got on the next train, but I panicked right before we stepped on and got out of the way and I don't even know why. Did anyone else ever do that? I think I did it twice on our trip for no apparent reason. We were standing by the trains right next to the stairs which are always the most packed, so we wandered down to one of the ends of the train and it was slightly less packed.
It was a pretty train ride to Kyoto, they're really quite close together and it was no big deal to stay in one and see the other.
We got off the train in Kyoto, grabbed some coffee, stopped at the information center to get our orientation and then headed out to Gion. They had just changed the rules making it illegal to take pictures Gion because tourists can be so aggressive. We decided not to film or take pics at all, but most other people were taking pictures there anyway. Walking down Gion really does feel like stepping back in time and I loved this whole area. At the end of the Gion district is a temple I don't see mentioned as often because it's not one of the most popular, but I thought it was beautiful and amazing. Because it wasn't a top destination, it wasn't crowded at all.
At the end of Gion is Kennin-ji Temple, the oldest Zen temple in Kyoto. We paid somewhere around 500 yen each for entrance, but you can walk much of the grounds without paying if you don't want to go inside the buildings. The art was just amazing, and the whole visit was really peaceful:
The gold screen to the left has a depiction of the God of Thunder and the God of Wind. We bought chopsticks and chopstick holders with this art.
I took a lot of panoramic pictures here and I'm having trouble uploading them, but that means the art will be a delightful surprise when you visit!
These are the twin dragons which you'll see again in a few pictures:
Now, if you want to walk over to one of the buildings and some sections, you're asked to put slippers on - watching my husband walk around in these was worth every penny. They didn't stay on his feet well so he just kind of shuffled around the temple
:
This is the CEILING of one of the buildings. STUNNING.
This is the building with the ceiling painting:
Then we exited out the other side of Kennin-Ji and toward the Higashiyama District to see the pagoda. It was a pretty little walk.
Posting now because I'm certain I'll hit my photo limit at some point.
Last edited:
Sarahboo
100% geek
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2007
So many Tanuki spottings!
When we got to the Pagoda, there was a ceremony going on that you could see through the doors of one of the buildings.
Ok, the pagoda was cool and all - and I thought this district of Kyoto was super cool. But there were SO MANY photo shoots going on with people who had rented kimonos that it was borderline obnoxious. Like, everywhere we turned we were in the way of someone getting a personal photo shoot done. It was kind of overwhelming.
Even this dog was getting in on the action.
I loved all of the little houses and storefronts.
This was the Starbucks there:
It was super crowded here, but we did a little shopping and walked around before heading to the giant buddha statue, Ryozen Kannon Statue, which is a WWII shrine. We paid at the entrance gate and they gave us some incense to place:
The grounds here are really beautiful.
You could walk up to little stairways to find shrines for different purposes.
But then I saw this sign and I was like "Nah, dawg, I'm good."
They also have this incredible Buddhist art, which you do not need to pay to see. It depicts Buddha's funeral and it spans the entire round room:
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