JAPAN

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” -St. Augustine of Hippo

On our first day in Japan, we got confused on directions and the ticketing machine in Japanese, I think we really looked very confused because a Japanese woman suddenly approached us and helped us with the machine and even volunteered to help us get to our hotel since it was just near her workplace…

After leaving our luggages in our Hotel in Osaka we did not waste time and already headed to Kyoto’s Tenryu-ji Temple and Fushimi Inari Shrine. We already planned on visiting a lot of sites on our first day but our sore legs and feet won’t allow us. Haha! There’s really a lot of walking in Japan, and you should always choose comfy shoes. Riding taxi here is really expensive and is almost  unnecessary because its railway system is so efficient.

The weather forecast on the second day of our trip was rainy, and our original plan was to explore Osaka but decided to see Nagoya instead so we can maximize our use of the Japan Rail Pass. We visited The Osu Shopping District, Aeon Mall, and went to dinner at Kisoji where we ate Shabu-Shabu and Sushi. We stayed the night at Yokkaichi Miyako Hotel and was surprised on how big the hotel rooms are by Japanese standards but the bed was old.

On our third day we went to a Mitsui Outlet and went shopping, we were lucky that when we visited, there were a lot of discounted items.

Around 7 p.m. we were able to get back to Osaka via Shinkanesen and decided to have dinner at Dotonburi. We ate Okonomiyaki at Chibo, and ate sashimi at Sushizanmai which has a lot of good reviews at Tripadvisor.

Before going to Tokyo we went to Osaka Castle and visited a Don Quixote Shop.

This Miso Ramen we ate on a small restaurant near the Tanimachi Yonchome Station was by far the best I’ve eaten in Japan. It was just a small random restaurant that we bumped into.

We were able to explore:

Shinjuku, which also has a lot of shops and a duty free Matsumoto KiYoshi which is a Japanese drugstore which has a lot of items including supplements, and Japanese brand cosmetics.

Shibuya, has a lot of shops and restaurants but is very busy! Just look at my photo of the Shibuya Crossing pictured above.

Yoyogi Park, has a relaxing vibe if you like nature, you’ll like it here. It’s close from Harajuku Station.

Ginza, where you will find all the high end shops and less crazy than Shibuya. We tried the Kobe Beef from one of the restaurants here (Heijouen).

Hamamatsucho, where you can find Tokyo Tower and has lots of hole in the wall restaurants.

Chiba, to get here we rode a monorail (for the first time) it was so cool! haha!

Tokyo Disney Sea, was super fun except for the crazy lines, too bad we didn’t buy a Fast Pass.

This Japan Rail Pass definitely came in handy during our trip in Japan especially because we rode the Bullet Train (Shinkansen) to go to Nagoya and Tokyo and we used the Japan Railway many times during this trip. It was also very convenient because this served as our ticket (unlimited use for 7 days). The only drawback is the price this cost us 29,110 Yen per person, so I would only suggest that you buy this only if you’ll reach this amount by using the Japan Railways otherwise it’s not worth it.

JR  Pass can only be acquired outside of Japan, and is only available for tourists. We got ours through JTB Corp. it only took us a couple of minutes before we got our Exchange Order which we have to present at a Japan Railways Exchange Office at any major JR Stations to receive our JR Pass.

If you’re planning to visit Japan, don’t forget to rent a pocket wifi available at airports. You’ll be needing it a lot especially if you’re just visiting Japan without a guide.

When planning your trip/itinerary, HyperDia may come very useful as it is a transportation search engine where you can search for the timetable, routes, and ticket prices of all trains, flights and airport shuttle bus.