Japan Trip Report

Trip Background
June 3, 2019 to June 18, 2019

This was a family trip with my wife and two sons who were 13 and 11 at the time.  Japan seemed like a natural choice to introduce the kids to Asia.  It’s arguably the most affluent, clean, and safe country in the Eastern Hemisphere with the most to offer in terms of history, culture, and food.  It had been on my list for years, and so we finally made it happen in 2019.  And ahead of the 2020 Olympics which will most likely make Japan of the heavier touristed sites going forward.

Logistics

We flew in and out of Tokyo’s Narita Airport which most people will do coming from the United States.  It was hard to find flights out of any other airport that could get us back home in less than 2 stops.  We purchased JR Rail Passes (which work just like Eurail passes) that gave us unlimited train travel on JR trains throughout Japan, including the famous Shinkansen bullet trains.  The passes work great and if you are going to ride the rails more than twice, you might want to look into it.  The savings can be significant.  Not to mention how it opens up your travel possibilities.  Google maps does an amazing job of telling you the train times including the platforms to go to.  Make sure you have access to your phone!  And the trains ALWAYS arrive on time.

Despite the temptation to see as much as possible when you can ride the rails for free, we kept our stops down to a manageable 4 stops to have a bit of slower travel.  We spent 5 nights in Tokyo, 2 nights in Hiroshima, 5 nights in Kyoto, and 3 nights in Matsumoto (in the Japanese Alps).   Outside of the trip up to Matsumoto, we pretty much followed the tourist trail.  There’s so much to do and see in those spots, we didn’t think we should miss them on our first trip.  But, Matsumoto also gave us a chance to escape the tourist hordes for a bit and that was a great way to experience a different side of Japan.

We did a mix of AirBnBs and hotels.  I would recommend AirBnBs as long as you see that prior English speakers stayed there and had a positive experience.  The hotels have small rooms and are expensive.

Impressions

I have never been to a country with nicer, friendlier, cleaner, and more orderly people.  It’s really unbelievable.  I love these people.

Language

Language can be an issue, but it’s nothing that can’t be worked out.  The people will try their best to help you and google translate can save the day.  But, this isn’t Europe.  The expectation should be when you meet someone that they won’t know any English.  The tourist sites are easy to navigate, but not all restaurants are English friendly.  And while they won’t kick you out, they may not be able to help either.  Look for English menus outside or online.  Or just be very adventurous.

Food

The food is simply amazing.  Not a surprise as Japanese cuisine has become mainstream throughout the world even beyond Sushi.  An important thing to understand is that eating out in Japan is more of a transaction than an experience.  You’re expected to sit down, eat, and leave.  There’s no sitting around sitting around and drinking in a restaurant for hours.  It’s not done and would be considered disrespectful.  Also, most restaurants specialize in one type of cuisine and don’t serve anything else. Except for chicken karaage (fried chicken bites) which you seemed to be able to get anywhere.  Popular cuisines include sushi (harder to find than you’d think), ramen, yakitori (grilled skewers), udon (thicker ramen), tonkatsu (fried chicken cutlets), okonomiyaki (pancakes), and teppanyaki (meats cooked on a griddle).  Another pleasant surprise for us was Japanese curry.

Nightlife

The Japanese love to drink.  But they drink very differently than we do in the US and in Europe.  They save their drinking for after dinner.  And they drink to get drunk.   They don’t sit out on terraces and drink like Europeans in the middle of the afternoon.   They crush sake and beer at a fast pace in small bars until the middle of the night.  In fact, it’s hard to find a bar open at 4pm to just have drinks.

Tips

Hit the biggest sights early

Don’t try to do it all in one week.

Go!  It’s amazing.

The Trip Report

Let’s get started!

Days 1 to 5 – Tokyo 

Days 6 to 7 – Hiroshima

Days 8 to 12 – Kyoto

Days 13 – 15 – Matsumoto