Hi! This past June, I travelled to Japan with my amazing boyfriend, Jayson, for two weeks. It was breathtaking and fascinating! I literally had a word document for our sight-seeing plans, but we did not get to finish it. We wanted to take our time in each spot instead of rushing to enjoy each beauty. There were so much to see and we are definitely going back to explore more!
This was our itinerary for two weeks:
(Osaka – Kyoto – Hiroshima – Miyajima – Tokyo – Osaka)
Day 1: Honolulu, Hawaii to Kansai International Airport (KIX)
Upon arriving at KIX, we were picked up by Hotel Aston Plaza Kansai Airport. We decided to stay in a hotel close to the airport because we arrived in the evening and the hotel offered a free shuttle service from the airport. It saved us the stress of figuring out the train system upon our arrival.
Day 2: Osaka
The first official day was a bit of a shock as we did not know how the train system worked. We purchased JR Passes before arriving to Japan. We learned that the JR rail system is separate from the local trains so we had to pay extra when using the local train as it was not covered by our JR pass. The attendants were always so kind in assisting us figure out where to stop for our next destination. WE WERE SO CONFUSED!
A little side story – Jayson and I were walking to the wrong platform and the attendant chased after us to let us know and even walked us to the right one. So kind!
We visited the Umeda Sky Building (40-Story Tower), the Grand Front Osaka (a massive shopping mall), and the Museum of Oriental Ceramics.
At night, we explored Dotonbori (street-filled shops with food and shopping).
We wanted to try ALL the food! An abundance of takoyaki and yakitori food stalls. Oh, don’t forget shopping and ice cream. Food everywhere!
AND there was a giant ferris-wheel within Don-Quixote. Many of you might not know, but I am extremely terrified of heights. It was all worth it because of the magnificent city view!
Day 3: Kyoto
Unfortunately, we woke up late right before lunch so we were already behind schedule. It took us over an hour from Osaka to Kyoto as we still had to figure out how the train system worked.
Upon arriving in Kyoto, we visited the Heian Shrine (we were not able to go inside)
and we also did a Calligraphy class in an traditional Japanese home with Kasho, which I booked through AirBnb.
Our hotel was 20 minutes away from Kasho’s studio. It was worth the walk as we strolled through multiple temples. We stayed in a guest house that is 5 minutes away from the Kiyomizudera Temple! It was so awesome.
Here are photos of what we discovered along the way:
Starbucks! In a wooden Japanese house! The view out the window was amazing as you look out to Kyoto’s historic neighborhood . We were lucky enough as many of the stores were already closed, but Starbucks was still opened…
Day 4: Kyoto
We were to head out to Arashiyama, but we were falling behind on our plans. It was completely okay because we explored the traditional areas of Kyoto. It rained and the guest house was so generous to have umbrellas by the exit for us to borrow. There were so many temples to see that we were unable to see them all. Here are what we did visit:
Garden (left) 3-minute walk from the Guest House and a view of the To-Ji Temple (right) along the way.
Traditional Japanese setting is from left to right. We discovered a garden from our Guest House. We also passed by To-Ji Temple along the way, but were not able to visit inside, we were not sure if it was opened to the public, and if it was then we always passed by too early or too late for their opening.
Kiyomizu-dera Temple: Going into the temple requires an admission fee, but so worth it! You’ll see Kyoto’s city view along with the landscape of Mt. Otawa.
And a few temples I can’t remember the names of. Even more motivation to return!
Day 5: Arashiyama & more
We visited the Arashiyama Monkey Park, Bamboo Grove, and did canoeing! All with admission fees except for the bamboo grove.
We also went to see Fushimi-Inari Shrine, which is famous for its thousand torii gates. We did this hike/walk at night because it was open for 24 hours. It’s not difficult, but be prepared for all the stairs you will have to tackle.
Day 6: Hiroshima
We left Kyoto around 9 AM and arrived in Hiroshima around 1 PM with food stop overs in between train rides.
We did arrive earlier than we expected, but we were lost! Our phone map glitched on us and had us walk 2 miles from the station to our hotel instead of 0.3 miles (WITH TWO LUGGAGES & A BACKPACK). It was supposed to be a 10 minute walk to the hotel, but we ended up walking for 2 hours. We walked through bridges and the train tracks. We eventually called it shots to find a taxi service and thankfully there was a taxi station for a 10 minute walk from where we were when we realized we weren’t where we’re supposed to be and the hotel is nowhere to be found. HAHA 2 hours wasted, but Jayson & I can laugh about it now. We eventually got to our hotel and ate a buffet lunch in the restaurant at our hotel (we thought we deserved it).
We saw the Atomic Bomb Dome, Old Bank of Japan Hiroshima Branch, and all other sights around the area.
We also visited the Catholic Church that remained standing while the nuclear bombing were:
We missed the English mass because as stated above we just walked 2 hours to nowhere. The church was also under construction. Regardless, it was beautiful!
Day 7: Miyajima
Miyajima was a 45-minute boat ride from Hiroshima. This island was definitely breathtaking! It is also famous for their oysters! Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of their large oysters.`
Itsukushima Temple and the Shrine was in the middle of the ocean when we arrived past noon. Around 6 PM, the shrine was no longer surrounded by water so we were able to walk to it and watch the sunset next to it. Jayson was catching crab and shrimp (of course he returned them back to where they were).
We also did the ropeway because we were running out of time to hike Mt. Misen. Such a beautiful view!
We actually couldn’t finish the entire trail because the ropeway closed at 5 PM and we were on the mountain at 4:45 PM. We could have walked down, but it would have taken hours and we did not want to risk being stuck in an unfamiliar place in the dark.
We were fortunate to have seen the Reika-do Eternal Fire Hall, which has been burning for over one thousand years.
Days 8-11: Tokyo
Tokyo was different from Kyoto and Hiroshima. It was busy and crowded. We went to Harajuku, Shibuya, Chiba, Shinjuku, and Ginza
Harajuku adventures:
Gram in Harajuku: Fluffy pancakes! The softest pancakes I have ever had. It melts right in your mouth! Coming into the restaurant needed a reservation to order the pancakes.
We had crepes, ice cream, a boba drink, and the largest cotton candy I have ever seen! Too bad I was too excited about the cotton candy that I did not take any decent photos with it. I did take a boomerang for my instagram. Rainbow Sweets Harajuki makes it right in front of you so you will see the colors come to life.
Shibuya & Shinjuku Adventure:
We did not know much on where to go here so our only goal was to see the Hachiko Statute & walk the Shibuya crossing.
We walked around a bit and walked into stores to do some shopping.
(Sorry, Jayson’s head is blocking the sign. It does say Welcome to SHIBUYA!)
Chiba Adventure:
We went to Disneyland! Well, we actually explored the Disney Sea since it was recommended to us that Disneyland is just like all other Disneyland (I’ve been to California and Florida Disneylands) and nowhere else is there a Disney Sea.
AND YES, we wore matching shirts and the cliche Minnie and Mickey ears!
Days 12-13: Osaka
We travelled from Tokyo to Osaka. Fortunately, we were familiar enough with the train system that we were able to easily get from one end to another. We checked in The Singulari Hotel, one of Universal Studios’ official hotel. It was a 5-10 minute walk (depending on pace) to Universal Studios!
We checked in our hotel and headed out to Kaiyukan to visit the Osaka Aquarium!
We also purchased the ferris wheel ride! Our ferris wheel ride in Dotonbori was during the day so we saw only buildings, but this ferris wheel ride was taken at night so we saw the city lights up above.
We also decided to go back to Dotonbori! We were searching for the different flavored Kitkat that we saw on our last visit. We were fortunate enough to have reached Don Quijote as many of the stores were already closing. Let’s just say we got carried away with the snacks and chocolates.
We spent our last whole day in Universal Studios!
We rode rides, ate minion food (lol), and played carnival games (mostly Jayson who won me 3 stuff toys & worried how we were going to bring them home as we had previously bought Donald Duck from Disney Sea and a penguin from the Aquarium).
Day 14: HOME
Before heading to the airport, we visited to Abeno Harukas. The Digital Art Museum was closed.
Two weeks went by too quickly. Jayson and I literally asked each other if we should take another week off from work as we were heading to the airport, but we decided not to (I was ready to ask my boss for an extension of vacation lol). There were just so much to see even after planning each 14 days for many months ahead. Traveling through areas was easy because we were able to ask for directions and got help at the train station on which tickets to buy.
It was a rollercoaster of emotions. It’s frustrating trying to figure out everything all at once, but I was fortunate enough to have a travel partner so I was not frustrated on my own.
Hope you enjoyed my experience and is helpful for your future Japan travel!
Gutless Travel 