Japan🇯🇵

Japan is one of the top five countries that we have visited so far! It has been on our list for a very long time, and flights from Australia, can sometimes be really cheap, so we had to make the most of this. We went at the end of April to beginning of May and spent a month exploring the whole of Japan, however, we definitely could have stayed for longer. The country as a whole is so impressive, from the incredibly clean streets, the insane amount of delicious food options, Bullet trains, and overall the nicest people ever.

Best time to go
The best time to go is during blossom season, which on the mainland is at the end of March to beginning of May. We went at the end of April and we luckily saw the blossoms in Tokyo and at Mount Fuji. However, if you go up north to Hokkaido, the blossoms have yet to bloom and tend to do so in the middle of May, which we sadly were too early for. You can also go towards the end of the year, from September to November, where from July to September you are allowed to hike up to parts of Mount Fuji as the snow has yet to settle for winter. After September, there will be options to go skiing or snowboarding in Hokkaido, which I have heard is pretty insane to do. This blog will include the places we stopped at and our recommendations, with some places having their own separate blog:

1. Tokyo
2. Mount Fuji
3. Osaka and Nara
4. Kyoto
5. Nikko
6. Hirosaki Castle
7. Hokkaido
8. Okinawa
9. Nagasaki and Fukuoka
10. Miyajima and Hiroshima
11. Himeji Castle

What to do before getting there

• Buy JR Passes - Get your bullet train tickets, we bought ours online and got them delivered to our house in Australia. When you get to Tokyo you can then take the receipt to the train station to pick up your passes.
• International Driving License - You must have one if you want to hire a car or do the Mario go karting through Tokyo.
• Download Suica app - Japan travel and money app that links to your Apple Pay and can top up as you go. You can use this card for the metro and other purchases.
• Download Airolo - eSIM cards. We bought an e-SIM for this trip, as it was easy to have it already installed when we arrived. Only downside is as you don’t have a real number, you are not able to call Japanese numbers if you ever need to.
• Download Go Taxi App - Like Uber but for Japan and is cheap for travel.

Once you’ve landed

• Visa on arrival.
• Disembarkment Card.
• Customs Declaration.
• Don’t get a taxi from the airport unless it’s really late and you don’t want to figure out public transport. We annoyingly got in at 11pm, and the taxi we ended up getting cost an arm and leg for us!

Tokyo

Fly into Tokyo, the capital of Japan and spend a few days here to explore. Five days or more would be our recommendation, which gives you enough time to visit the different areas in Tokyo, eat all the amazing food and visit the incredible sights. My Tokyo Recommendations blog can be found here and my Food Spots in Tokyo blog can be found here.

Mount Fuji

Going to Mount Fuji, is one of the most popular things to do in Japan. You have to go and see the incredible views of the mountain and blossom as they bloom. You can either do a day trip from Tokyo or stay a night or two, which is what we did. Everything we did, is explained in my Mount Fuji blog here.

After Tokyo and Mount Fuji, if you are only going to Japan for a couple weeks, the route is normally to go to Osaka, Nara and Kyoto before back to Tokyo. This is why I have included these three places next. However, we travelled around Japan for a month, so our route after Tokyo was going to Nikko. I have then included our route from then on after Kyoto.

Osaka and Nara

Spend three to four days here, which also includes a full day at Universal Studios and a day trip to Nara if you prefer not to spend a night there. Our recommendations for Osaka and Nara will be in this blog here. I have also written a separate blog for our day out to Universal Studios here.

Kyoto

Spend three to four days in Kyoto as there is a lot to do here, and it was one of our favourite places. Everything we did and our recommendations, will have its own blog here (to be added)

Nikko

We got the train from Tokyo straight to Nikko and stayed at Sumica Nikko Guesthouse for one night. We then spent the whole day exploring Nikko before getting another train to Hirosaki.

Nikko Town
Explore Nikko town, they have a huge strip of new shops, bakeries and delicious foodie spots, that draw you in and you can’t help popping in and always coming out with a sweet treat!

Ryuzu Falls, Kegon Waterfall and Shinkyo Bridge
Get the bus to Ryuzu Falls and Kegon Waterfall before making your way back into town stopping off at the famous Shinkyo Bridge. Make sure to wrap up warm, as when we went in April, it was freezing!

Nikkō Tōshōgū Shrine
From Shinkyo Bridge, you can walk to Nikko’s World Heritage site of Shrines and Temples. There are a few different temples and shrines that you can walk around starting with Rin’nōji Houmotsuden Treasure House first. The shrine and architecture is gorgeous and we were lucky to see some of the blossom fully bloom next to it.

If you continue into the gardens, you can walk around the different paths to see the different Temples and Shrines. Nikko Toshogu Shrine charges a fee to enter the inner, highly decorated, and famous, central shrine complex, which is shown below. However, you can walk through parts of the surrounding grounds and view the Five-Storied Pagoda from the outside for free. The entrance price isn’t that expensive and it’s pretty cool seeing the architecture of the different Temples and Shrines and learn of their history.

Hirosaki Castle

A quick pit stop here to break up our journey to Hokkaido. Hirosaki Castle is a three-story castle known as one of Japan’s few remaining original castles from the Edo period. We only spent a couple hours walking around the grounds and were lucky enough to see the first blossoms blooming with a clear view of the surrounding mountain Mount Iwaki.

Hokkaido

For Hokkaido, we got a Shinkansen from Hirosaki. To explore this island, we decided to hire a car for the week. There are loads of places to hire a car in Hokkaido, we found a rental in Sapporo and organised one for a week. We then did a little road trip, stopping at different places and staying for a night at each one, ending back in Sapporo. A full itinerary of where we went will be here.

Okinawa

Our next stop was Okinawa and we flew from Hokkaido to Naha and spent a week island hopping. We went to two other islands and made the most of our time, relaxing, swimming and diving.

Naha Island
We spent three days exploring Naha, staying at Santiago Guesthouse. Below are some of the things we did whilst we were in Naha.

Shuri Castle
We got to this castle early, just as it was opening and were lucky enough to watch the daily morning performance of the Gate Opening Ceremony at the Houshinmon Gate. Performers are dressed in traditional Ryukyuan costumes and they re-enact the ancient ceremonies. After the ceremony has finished you are able to explore and walk around the whole grounds.

Okinawa Prefectural Museum and Art Gallery
We spent the morning exploring the museum and art gallery, learning about the history and art of Okinawa.

American Village
We got the bus from town in Naha to American Village, which took an hour a half as it was more north of the island. We decided to spend the whole day here, exploring the town. There are so many shops, boutiques, variety of food spots and gives off a colourful Miami vibe.

Sunset Beach
There is a gorgeous beach right next to American Village, which is where we spent the remaining of the afternoon. The sand is incredibly white and the water so blue, it was a lovely place for us to swim and relax. When the sun began to set we went to one of the restaurants around American Village for dinner and watched the sunset.

Okinawa Fukushuen Garden & Naha Kokusai Dori Shopping Plaza
The weather wasn’t amazing so we spent it walking around the shopping plazas and visiting the Fukushuen Garden. Fukushuen Garden represents the ten year relationship with Fuzhou in China, and features Chinese architecture, such as pavilions, ponds, waterfalls etc. A really gorgeous garden to walk around even with it not being sunny.

Zamami and Tokashiki Islands
It was quite easy to get the ferry to both of these islands and we spent a couple days here, making the most of the good weather. We spent the day at Furuzamami Beach on Zamami and Tokahiku Beach on Tokashiki Island. Ned decided to do a scuba dive here so he did this for a couple hours from Tokashiu Beach.

Fukuoka & Nagasaki

🏨Hostel Casa Noda, Nagasaki
🏨Webase Hakata Hostel, Fukouka

We then flew from Naha, Okinawa to Fukuoka and did a two day road trip down to Nagasaki and back. We stopped off at:

Obaru Beach, Sakurai Futamigaura and Kyushi
Driving from Fukuoka to Nagasaki, we stopped off briefly at each of these spots before heading into town. Obaru Beach had different swings, climbing frames and fun things to do with restaurants and food spots close by. Sakurai Rutamigaura is quite similar to Miyajima‘s torii gate, if you go when tide is high, it will give off the impression that the gate is floating, whereas when we went, the tide was out meaning we could walk around the bottom of the gate.

Nagasaki Peace Park, Ōura Church and Glover Garden
We then parked up in town and visited the Peace Park, Ōura Church and Glover Garden to watch the sunset over the city before going to our hostel. Perfect way to end the day!

Suwa Jinja Shrine
In the morning, we got up early and visited two shrines and temples before heading off. Pouring water over your hands in temples is a purifying ritual to cleanse your body for the day, so we made sure to do this before we left.

Sōfuku-Ji Shrine
We then stopped off at one more shrine, walking around the grounds and paying our respects before driving back to Fukuoka.

Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture & Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Museum🏛️
We spent the afternoon visiting the Museum of History and Culture and the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Museum. Here were learnt in more detail about World War II and the part Japan played in it. It was very emotional reading real life stories and encounters of the war and how it affected everyone in Nagasaki. We then headed back to Fukuoka to drop the car off.

Fukuoka

We only had one day here, so it was very rushed and we wished we had longer. We weren’t able to do everything, but here are a few things that you can do in Fukuoka:

• Fukuoka Tower
• Uminonakamichi Park
• Tochoji Temple
• Fukuoka Castle Ruins
• Nakasu Islands
• Yatai Food Stalls
• Canal City Shopping

Ohori Park
Had a lovely afternoon walk around Ohori Park and the lake to get our steps in after doing our road trip.

Snow Crab Set Menu
Whilst in Fukuoka, we went to this incredible restaurant, I can’t remember the name of it, but it was in the Nishinaksau area. We went with my family who treated us with a snow crab and sushi set meal, which was absolutely delicious. We had six dishes each, which included different seasoned snow crab, caviar, nigiri sushi with different fresh fish on top, sea urchin rolls, and then our own hot pot with raw crab legs, enoki mushrooms and vegetables. 

You don’t need to try a set menu, but we definitely recommend tasting their fresh seafood dishes. Around Fukuoka, in the main town, there are so many different restaurants and street food stalls to try from!

Miyajima and Hiroshima

To get to Miyajima you have to go to Hiroshima first and then catch the thirty minute ferry to the island. We spent one full day in both Miyajima and Hiroshima, with Miyajima being one of our favourite places. The things we did and our recommendations for both will be in this blog here.

Himeji Castle

We had a quick stop off at Himeji Castle on the way to Osaka! We spent a couple hours walking around the castle and its surrounding gardens. This castle is known for its incredible architecture and beautiful white exterior and was designed to be a defensive fortress, one that actually ended up surviving World War II.

(Osaka, Nara, Kyoto & Tokyo)

For our route, after Himeji Castle we went to Osaka, Nara, Kyoto and ended in Tokyo, all of which have their own blogs with recommendations, which are highlighted at the beginning!