3 Weeks in Japan: Itinerary

Welcome to (or welcome back) to my blog!

I’ve decided I want to get back into blogging, it’s a nice way for me to reflect on past me… as well as update my friends and family on my comings and goings. But I’ll do another post about this at some point (soon)!

I was inspired by one of my Mum’s besties – who actually just got back from a trip around Japan with my her! Shout out to Liz! She has been blogging about her travels for years, we’re talking pen and paper. I love reading all about her adventures – especially when she teams up with my Mum, which is quite a lot. Just two iconic girlies travelling the world. Friendship goals.

Anyway, I just got back from my first time in Japan and I’ve been desperate to write down my stories for future me. It’s already feeling like a distant memory and I thought “hey, what a nice way to recap” – for myself and for anyone reading. Hello!

The plan is to make a series of blogs going through my Japan travel itinerary, as well as my must-visit places, adventures and, of course, my experience of vegetarian food in Japan! As well as anything else that pops into my head.

Why Japan?

I had actually planned to originally go alone, but I then asked Nile (my now ex) to join me. That sounds chaotic, right? Surprisingly not, and maybe that’s a story in itself. Quick answer:

The itinerary

I’d already made my mind up on a lot of places that I wanted to go to. Nile was pretty happy with this but also added a bunch of amazing suggestions, particularly from Atlas Obscura – note to self to do a whole blog on the wonders of this. It’s full of weird and wild places you can visit around the world. 11/10.

The beauty of me and Nile travelling together is he’s all logistics and I’m all about an intense deep dive of things to do. Nile would come over to plan and he’d be trying to sleep whilst I had my phone on full-brightness and was hyper-focused on each destination. Although, we found a great balance on this trip and even swapped roles in part. We really went to town on spreadsheets and route selecting which I’ll also share in a later post. I think I became a spreadsheet.

So, where did we go?!

For this intro, I’m going to go through a quick over view of our 3 week itinerary in Japan. I’ll follow this up with blog posts about each of the cities/places we went. I don’t think I could possibly do it all justice in anything less!

Big props to a bunch of people at my work who seemingly have all been to Japan recently and happily shared their tips. In particular, one woman who had lived there and I probably couldn’t have planned this trip without. Absolute oracle.

I’ve put our itinerary below, with a brief highlights description of what we did, as well as some piccies. I’ve not included our travel either side, because who wants to hear about us getting tipsy on the best beer we’ve ever tasted in Beijing airport?

3 Weeks in Japan: An itinerary:

Day 1-6: Tokyo

Vintage shopping in Japan’s Shimokitazawa region, GIANT DON QUIJOTE (I’ve not recovered), THAT drumming game in Akihabara, switching teams at baseball and a day trip to Nikko (See no evil, speak no evil hear no evil ft. Sleepy Cat)

Day 6-7: Hakone

Best Ryokan in Japan (IMO)

Day 7-8: Mt Fuji

Road trip around Mt Fuji ft a bed and breakfast full of 3 (three!) cats

Day 8-10: Nagano

My favourite city in Japan, snow monkeys and the best pudding in Japan

Day 10-11: Shirakawa-go

Staying in a rural farm village after hours, the best meal in Japan, frogs and Shibu in a pram

Day 11- 13: Takayama

Retro Museum – did anyone say original Street Fighter? (a Takayama must do), TEDDY. BEAR. ECO. VILLAGE, loads of vintage sweets and drunk on sake

Day 13-16: Kyoto

The best mochi in Japan, the many steps of Fushimi Inari are worth it, Liquid Cuisine at Kyoto’s coolest bar, the bamboo boy, the most beautiful Temple in Japan and a really fancy villa

Day 16-17: Hiroshima

Hiroshima was incredibly moving, yet despite so much tragedy, it is now a very peaceful place and somewhere I’d really recommend people to visit. We also got to try out Hiroshima style okonomiyaki

Day 17-18: Miyajima

Stunning views, SURPRISE DEER and the iconic O-Torii (Grand Torii Gate), oh and rain

Day 18-21: Osaka

The flashing lights, the infamous wheel, camera shopping, those deer at Nara Deer Park… and stunning views of Osaka

So, there we have it. A quick whistle-stop tour of our travels. Looking forward to sharing more! I don’t really know how to end a blog (or even write one in the first place)… so bye x