The Roadtrip Girl

I’m sure you’ve heard it from everyone who has traveled to Japan before but I loved the efficiency and cleanliness of Japan. In 10 days, we managed to fit in all the must-see attractions from Osaka to Tokyo so here is my comprehensive Japan travel plan!

Our Japan travel plan is a slightly different than most. We started in Osaka and ended up in Tokyo mainly because the flights worked out better for us. Here are all the spots we hit up worth mentioning on our 10 day trip:

Day 1 – 3: Osaka Itinerary

A lot of people preferred the other cities of Japan over Osaka, and maybe because of the funny way my brain works, I liked Osaka the most (I know, I’m such a rebel). We arrived in Osaka around 7pm and after checking in, we walked over to explore the night life of the Dōtonbori area. We had enough time to do a little souvenir shopping and grabbed a tomato soup-base ramen before most of the restaurants closed at 11pm. Pubs and bars remained opened and were buzzing with tipsy business men/women. After a long walk back to the hotel, we grabbed a warm can of cream of corn soup from the vending machine for 100 yen. Worth it!

While the Google Map above covers all the attractions we visited in Osaka, here are a few of my favourite places that I highly recommend:

• Dōtonbori/Kuromon Market/Shinsekai for street food
• Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan & Tempozan Giant Ferris Wheel – I grouped these together because they’re in the same area and there’s quite a bit to see and eat in the ‘mall’. And be sure to catch the sunset if you can by the mermaid statue!
• Osaka Castle – the castle was beautiful and their official souvenir stores were so cute and affordable. If I had known, I would’ve gotten all my souvenirs here.
• Umeda Sky Building – not only does the building offer a wonderful view of the city, the architecture of the building was truly unique.

Day 3 – 5: Kyoto Itinerary

A 45 minute subway ride will take you to Kyoto but try to travel light, especially during rush hour. Again, we arrived in Kyoto later at night and knowing that the Fushimi Inari Shrine was opened 24 hours we went for a late night visit. Seeing the shrine at night though, was a bit underwhelming. Carl went back early in the next day while I slept in =D. We stayed at STAY SHIJO KARASUMA which was one of our favourite hotels on this trip.

Here are a few of my favourite places that I highly recommend visiting in Kyoto:

• Arashiyama (Bamboo Forest) – of course, everyone who visits Kyoto visits the Bamboo forest. It’s a short walk crammed with people but still a different sight.
• Nishiki Market – I loved Nishiki Market and all the small food stalls. We must’ve eaten at 5-10 different places and with all the little snacks it probably made a full meal. Although that didn’t stop us from eating dinner an hour later.
• Hanamikoji-dori – I’m not sure how but we mistaken another area for Hanamikoji-dori so in the end we didn’t spend enough time here but I could’ve spent a whole day taking in the traditional buildings, small shrines and all the food (always with the food!).

Day 5 – 6: Hakone Itinerary

“All grown-ups were once children… but only few of them remember it.”

The Little Prince

If you only have 1 extra day, I wouldn’t go to Hakone only because it’s a bit of a trek. But we didn’t know and decided to rent 1 night at a private onsen. Instead of following the hotel’s directions (why? I have no idea), we decided to take a bus and ultimately got lost. Of course, we should’ve done what we were originally going to do, take a cab lol. Anyway, we got there at 7pm and missed dinner so we got instant ramen at the local store and spent the rest of the night soaking in our private onsen. If you have more time, follow the other things I would’ve done from my Google Maps. But still, there’s a few things to do in Hakone that I quite enjoyed:

• The Little Prince Museum – The only museum in the world dedicated to my favourite book, the Little Prince. This museum tells the story, not only of the Little Prince, but the author Saint-Exupéry. Although it’s presented as a children’s book, The Little Prince makes, ‘poignant observations about life and human nature’.
• Hakone Open Air Museum – The open air museum is exactly as it sounds, an outdoor museum displaying sculptures from artists like Henry Moore, Taro Okamoto, Yasuo Mizui and Churyo Sato with a special exhibit featuring Piccaso.

Day 6 – 10: Tokyo Itinerary

It turned out that Tokyo was my least favourite city from the whole trip. It was a typical shopping heavy city with a lot of people, like any metropolitan city in North America. However, there were still a few attractions we got to enjoy but admittedly, the list is quite short:

• teamLab Borderless – teamLabs uses a series of projections to create themes in each room. They’re interactive exhibits and worth the visit (especially for Instagram shots :P)
• Nakamise Shopping Street & Denbouin Street – both within walking distance of each other. They’re both markets will small food stalls, of course I ate everything I could get my hands on!
• Sushi Go-Round – Conveyor belt sushi restaurants are my favourite sushi places in Hong Kong so I had to try it in Japan as well. The fish at this sushi restaurant was super fresh and really delicious.

We’ll be sure to visit Japan again to spend more time in Osaka, Kyoto and Hakone! Hope you found this Japan travel plan helpful =)