Over the kids’ spring break this year back in April we ventured over to Japan. This has been a huge bucket list trip for as long as I can remember. We thought about going last year but really wanted to do our research and plan the hot spots since there is simply so much to do and so many places to go. Although we scratched the surface, we still left so much on the table to explore in this amazing country. After all, there is only so much you can fit in a 10 day trip (darn school messes with our traveling life, lol). Thankfully, coming from Beijing, we did not have to deal with any sort of jet lag, so knowing that, we were able to hit the ground running upon arrival.
We knew we wanted to go over our kids spring break because again bucket list: The Sakuras! (Cherry Blossoms) as well as a Tokyo Giants baseball game. From there we talked about what we wanted to definitely see and do for our first trip to Japan. I also had to force myself to take a deep breath and remember I am traveling with my family, kids ages 10 & 11 yrs old. So while we would not have any vegging out beach or poolside, I knew I had to insert some fun for them beyond just strolling alleyways, shopping, and eating in hole in the wall places. Different trips for different seasons of life!
We obviously had to do Tokyo, and from there I more or less mapped out what day trips we could do from Tokyo as well as what other area of Japan would give us the most bang for our buck, and make everyone happy from young to old. Thankfully, there is a ton of information out there from some seriously amazing personal travel blogs to Facebook groups geared toward Japan specific travel to Chat GPT to Tripadvisor and Trip.com. These areas are where I started my search and I was so pleased with what I could find with my research ahead of time. Seriously so much out there I had to narrow down and remind myself I only had 10 days, lol! I don’t want to get too bogged down with the details of the trip as much as give you idea of hotspots and the vibe in general. There are other travel blogs out there with all sorts of helpful information I found. With a plethora of ideas, we ended up landing on the following: Tokyo for 4 days with 1 day trip to the Mt. Fuji area, Kyoto for 4 days with 1 day trip to Miajima Island & Hiroshima, and back to Tokyo for the last 2 days. I am going to break the rest of this post down by area. Let’s start with Tokyo shall we?!
We started our trip by flying nonstop into Tokyo’s Haneda airport from Beijing. Immigration was an absolute breeze, so happy about that. We also purchased a Suica card before leaving the airport, per a ton of recommendations to do so, which is awesome because it gives you easier in and out for the subway system, plus you can pay at many convenience stores and shops and if you still have money left, the airport upon departure, using this card. That said, we did taxi to the hotel because with kids and luggage we just didn’t want to dive into the deep end on the subway, so we eased into Tokyo this way, and happier for it! We quickly found that many Japanese do speak English….except for taxi drivers. That’s a tough part, and many local Japanese restaurants as well. But google translate is amazing and worked wonders, along with a few phrases and words we learned along the way.
Our first leg of Tokyo we stayed at a Marriott branded hotel, which we many times choose because of our loyalty program to them, and they typically have great options at various price points. We also have reached the point in our travels where 1 room just isn’t enough for a family of 4- especially throughout Asia where the rooms are much smaller than in western countries. We landed on the Prince Gallery Hotel, and it was absolutely lovely. A luxury branded hotel, we reserved 2 rooms side by side and it worked out perfect for us. The location was so great- turns out right down the way was a subway stop and a small mini mart (which really were everywhere in Japan). The Prince Gallery hotel is located at the very top floors of a massive office building, so the views were insane from every direction. Situated on the west side of the Imperial Palace grounds, it was a very central area within Tokyo to stay in, and we could bounce around in any direction without too much travel time.
With all my legwork, I had tons of recommendations to break Tokyo up by area, since it is so massive. That actually really helped in mapping out our days within a general smaller area. We arrived just after lunchtime and could not wait to get out the door to explore. So….we started by taking the subway over to the modern side of Tokyo, specifically the Shibuya area, and came out of the subway directly at the famous Shibuya Crossing, which is the busiest and most chaotic pedestrian scramble in the world. It was wild crossing that intersection. Later in the week we ended up ordering a Starbucks at the corner and saw all the madness happen from above which looked even more insane, lol. OK so that said, once you do it, it’s like ok let’s get the H out of here, so.many.people. The rest of the afternoon/evening we strolled around Shibuya, popped into an Onitsuka Tiger shop for a cool new pair of sneaks (IYKYK) and continued to wander on foot, finding ourselves moving from Shibuya a little northeast to a super fun area called Harajuko, which we immediately fell in love with. Very funky, artsy area with tons of little shops, creperies (yes please!), and more. A fun, albeit packed, street that we loved was Takeshita Street. Very cool pedestrian street packed with shops and eateries. ….just a FUN vibe, especially as the sun went down and the nighttime lights went on. We wandered along, ate some crepes, found a Brandy Mellville store (yep Ava was in heaven, boys went elsewhere, haha) and David found us a super cool hole in the wall restaurant for dinner- a very small Japanese steakhouse…..food cooked right before our eyes by the chef/waiter/owner based on the fresh cuts of meat he had purchased that day….just amazing. We couldn’t get enough. Perfect first day in Tokyo!
Our 2nd day actually took us out of Tokyo. After weeks of research, we found the perfect all day private tour to the Mt. Fuji area…..problem was they only had availability on what would be our first full day….so off we went (after a fabulous breakfast at the Prince Gallery!). I found a wonderful Japan based tour company called Magical Trip for this day (we actually ended up using them a couple more times throughout our trip). Our English speaking tour guide and accompanying driver met us at the hotel in a very comfortable van stocked with waters and off we went on a 1.5-2hour drive southwest of Tokyo to the Mt. Fuji area. The day could not have been more beautiful, we lucked out!
Taka, our guide, started us off with a visit to the Arakura Fuji Sengen Shrine, which was amazing. Taka taught us a little about the culture of shrines, how to enter them respectfully, washing our hands and faces, etc and then we climbed many man steps to a stunning 5 story pagoda with unparalleled views of Mt. Fuji. The clouds parted just right for our visit and it was magical. We even saw some stunning Sakura buds blooming right before our eyes. So cool. From here we went down the street to a local working Wasabi farm. This was AWESOME. Taka was very helpful with translating and the farmer could not have been more gracious. My kids loved him! He took us around his wasabi farm, we even put on boots and learned how to harvest the wasabi ourselves. He taught us how to clean the wasabi and then we got to learn how to make the paste (the traditional way with a shark fin block) and then the moment my wasabi obsessed son had been waiting for- we ate it! It was actually creamer this way, even my spice averse daughter thought it was great. The farm made fresh pickled wasabi and that was delicious!
From here Taka took us to a crazy local hole in the wall place for homemade udon noodle bowls. We sat on the floor, we ate the most amazing bowl of noodles with beef and egg I have ever had, and we rolled ourselves back into the van for more exploring. Our next stop took us to a local Sake brewery, where the kiddos got ice cream and David and I tried some delicious sake. From here we made a quick stop at the famous Oshino Hakkai small ponds, famous for being the freshest water made from Mt. Fuji eruptions. Finally, we ended our idyllic day at Fuji Senjen-jinja shrine. One of the oldest shrines in the area with access to a hiking path to Mt. Fuji where hikers would get blessings before beginning their journey to the top. There was even a pile of snow still there! On our way back to Tokyo, we stopped a a super fun “rest area” with the coolest shops for souvenirs and the cleanest public bathrooms I’ve ever seen, such a fun day!!
Once back in Tokyo, we wanted to crash, but alas, we mustered some energy and headed out to a nearby area for some dinner. One thing we quickly learned is that we should have made more dinner reservations during our trip….but that just felt so overwhelming, not wanting to plan out every second of the day. But, lesson learned, some days it would have been nice. Anyway, after being turned away many many times and walking up and down so many streets, we finally hit the jackpot with only a 30 minute wait for Japanese skewers where we got “Omakased”, hahaha. This was a fun place where we sat at the bar, and told the chef we bring the skewers until we say “omakase” (we give up, all done) but had to use a translate app to say- no internal organs please…kids loved that. Anyway, it was a super fun evening, we left STUFFED.
The following 2 days we meandered Tokyo. Unfortunately, it was raining on and off but we made the most of it! After a late and lazy breakfast, we ventured the other direction from our hotel to the more traditional side of Tokyo called Asakusa. We had previously made a reservation for a sushi making class later in the day so we just spent the whole day here. Even with all the rain, the famous Senso-ji temple was PACKED. It was fun to stroll around the stalls and respectfully admire the temple and those who worship there. We enjoyed some cherry blossoms through the rain, found a fun matcha coffee shop, and best of all, ventured into an enormous Uniqlo for some great finds and had our first experience with the great Don Quijote!! Such.a.blast!!
Our sushi class was fantastic, which I found via Viator.com– the hosts had great senses of humor, we learned some history, and how to make our own rolls plus the correct way to form the rice base for our nigiri. We even sampled some sake! After this we wandered across the bridge for nighttime views from the Tokyo Skytree– highest point in the city. The clouds parted enough that we were able to see quite the distance. What a fun, and FULL, day!
The next day we headed south of our hotel to the famous Ginza area. Total high end shopping…..but first we went to the TeamLab Planet exhibition. With kids, we knew this would be a hit and after dragging them around the city, least we could do is give them some fun interactive experiences. Morning was the perfect time- spent about 2.5 hours, which was plenty. Stunning visuals, insane interactive experiences….truly young and old will appreciate this one!! Afterwards, we decided we were ready for some western food.
We happened upon a great burger joint in Ginza- hit the spot! From there we wandered the shops and admired the high end finds. Truly out of this world shopping! On our way back, we headed toward the Imperial Palace and found more great Cherry Blossoms in blooms….truly the amount of pictures I took of the Sakura trees is hilarious, lol! OK our final stop…..heading back over to the Harajuko area and Takeshita Street where we had seen previously a Micro Pig Cafe where you pay to sit and let baby pigs hang out with you. Yea…..so we did that. LOLOL! It was really crazy but very cute. Glad we had that experience, it was so strange to let these baby pigs just cuddle on our laps. They played favorites.
Well here we are…..day 5 & headed to our next stop- Kyoto! I wavered back and forth for a while regarding purchasing a JR pass or just each leg individually. The JR pass is an awesome deal as long as the amount of times you would need the ride the high speed trains outweighs the total cost of all legs combined. For us, we were just using the Shinkansen (high speed train) to & from Kyoto to Tokyo and to & from Kyoto to Hiroshima. So it was actually smarter for us to pay each leg individually. That said, during the peak seasons of travel like we did, buy your seats ahead of time, no stress!! Also, now would be a great time to mention….as you probably hear and read everywhere when the subject of Japan comes up, pack LIGHT. Not only are you moving around on planes and trains and automobiles….but you can literally buy anything and everything you need in case you forgot something or packed for the wrong weather (that me!)….
So now that we have our train tickets, let’s talk about accommodations in Kyoto. For the 4 night stay we decided on a little immersion. Via Booking.com (another great hotel website we like here in Asia), we chose an authentic Japanese townhouse experience called the Kyoto Machiya Zeniyacho. The location was amazing, only a 10 minute taxi ride from the train station and centrally located within Kyoto to see all of the charm this city has to offer. This townhouse was stunning and had such amazing authentic Japanese history. 2 stories, 2 bedrooms, a huge bathroom plus a half bath, a little kitchenette, and an outdoor Japanese hot tub. We were welcomed by the property manager by a matcha tea ceremony, and daily had a Japanese style breakfast delivered and house cleaned. The beds were traditional….which is to say mattresses on the floor, haha…..but after our initial shock, we thought it was cool and quite comfortable!
Our first day was really just a half day and we took off running. Heading first over to the north east side of Kyoto to the famous (and VERY packed, yikes) pedestrian streets of Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka, which felt like we were strolling up and down hillside alleys in Europe! So crazy. We did not realize what we were walking into- it was PACKED. But thankfully we were all in good moods so after finding a super popular Japanese katsu curry house, we put our name on the list and wandered around. Cute little shops, boutiques, and scenery…and the people watching was on point. Many tourists and locals dressed in traditional Japanese kimonos taking pictures and experiencing an authentic way of life (however authentic it can be at this tourist hot spot, lol!). Lunch was divine! Truly phenomenal katsu curry….and a huge specialty of Kyoto- matcha green tea beer! Of course we had to try it. Delicious. After lunch and more window shopping and stopping for matcha ice cream cones, we found literally the most stunning Sakura I have ever seen- a hybrid of sorts- think weeping willow meets cherry blossoms. It was out of this world. I could not take enough pictures nor videos of the wind catching the branches as it swayed to and fro. I am that crazy lady fawning over a tree now I guess. lol! After this beautiful blue bird afternoon, we chilled for a bit in our townhouse before finding a local laundromat for a quick load and picking up pizza for the kids to chill for the night. Much needed!
Our 2nd day in Kyoto we hit up the Northwest side of Kyoto- starting at the famed bamboo forest canopy walk, we heard it would be smart to go early before the crowds and boy oh boy are we glad we did! The experience itself is fairly short, or I guess you could really make it into more of a half day thing, but after strolling through the main part, our kids felt they had seen enough, so we wandered across the Togetsu-kyo Bridge (famous wooden bridge spanning the Katsura River in front of of the Arashiyama Mountain) and up the many many many steps of the mountain (haha) to the top where they had a protected monkey forest! We loved seeing Kyoto from the top, having the monkeys jump and play literally at our feet, feed them, and the kids enjoyed some kid time with a cool mountain slide. Much needed outdoor fun time. From here we walked back down into the streets of the Arashiyama area and found a great noodle house for lunch- more udon!!
Another taxi ride took us to the famous Golden Pavilion. This was such a stunning architectural gem covered in pure gold. The grounds were breathtaking and although it was packed with so many tourists, it was quiet and serene. I would like to go again early when nobody was there. Such a nice way to experience Japan’s history, we loved our time here. After we had enough, we had a little cat nap in another taxi and we ended up back in the general neighborhood where we were staying for a little fun….. I found via Trip Advisor a cool 1 hour experience I knew Mac would love- a hands on Ninja class! It was seriously so cool- we all got dressed up in ninja attire, and our guide walked us through ninja techniques and we even all got to shoot real Japanese stars and blow darts at a target, it was so fun and cool to see and feel the history of the Japanese ninja culture. Dinner took us to an awesome Shabu Shabu restaurant (Japanese hot pot). DELICIOUS! We wish we weren’t so full we could have kept eating and eating- so yummy.
Our 3rd day in Kyoto started off at the Philosophers Walk, something I had my eye on for months. Here is where the Sakuras would take center stage….and boy oh boy did they ever! A cute cobblestone pathway along a little canal which is flanked on both sides by blooming cherry blossom trees. Absolutely stunning! We got matcha lattes and strolled for a couple hours. The kids totally indulged me since they knew this would be a huge highlight for me. We loved all the blossoms, all the people watching, and just the chill vibe of being in nature. Filled us up!
From here we headed to the Nishiki Market (again not far from our centrally location townhome) for lunch and meandering the stalls. We were all craving sushi and of course had the most delicious freshly caught and made nigiri for pennies!! So yummy and a fun way to do lunch, strolling and stopping for more snacks along the way.
After this, and in the same area, we had an already booked Matcha Tea Ceremony experience booked. This was so fun, and again basically a day that the kids and David totally indulged my whims. We got dressed in traditional Kimonos, we had ladies who even did Ava’s hair and mine, complete with stunning hair clips, traditional Japanese wooden shoes, and more! It was so cool. The matcha tea ceremony itself was like 30 minutes, and of course the tea was delicious, and also came with a plate of traditional japanese sweets. My kids have found they LOVE matcha, which I already loved so for me this is a win win! The booking allowed us to wander around the area and the Nishiki market in our kimonos….David and I thought super cool, kids were super embarrassed, LMAO! But we made them do a loop with lots of pictures before caving and letting them shed the attire. Such a fun way to spend a couple of hours. For dinner we stayed in the area and found a great Italian restaurant for some pasta and wine. Much needed after such a long day.
Day 4- our day trip to Miyajima Island and Hiroshima, of which we were all excited to experience! We decided on a day trip to minimize the amount of times were moved hotels/luggage/etc and totally doable with the high speed trains- only an hour and 15-20 minutes each way. We booked a private guide for the day via Magical Trip again and Kyoko, our guide, met us at the train station and walked us through the entire day, she was amazing. We started at Miajima Island and could not have asked for a prettier day! A quick ferry ride from the mainland and we arrived to the most beautiful island, famous for its “floating shrine” and wild deer roaming the streets! We loved hearing about the culture on the island from Kyoko and she found a wonderful little restaurant for us to do lunch…..and I could not believe it but the specialty on the island is eel….the kids watched the chef kill the eel, and make sashimi for us out of it. Yep….we ate it all. And it was so good. What is this life. After this we strolled toward the famous Itsukushima Shrine with the floating torii gate. Before we got there Kyoko had found, after I asked days prior, a wonderful shop that sold local artisan made matcha tea bowls and accessories. I will cherish these pieces always! We also learned that the greater Hiroshima area is known for its lemons!! In fact producing over 60% of Japan’s lemons. There were lemon slushies, lemon cocktails, lemon sweets….we were in heaven! The floating gate and shrine itself was magical and loved wandering around the shrine at the water’s edge while enjoying the crazy wild deer. What a great 3 hours spent!
Kyoko had booked us on a high speed boat over to Hiroshima after this for the rest of the afternoon. It was such a sobering yet beautiful time. I think what stood out the most to us was truly how peaceful and beautiful Hiroshima is. Just truly a very quiet and picturesque town, rich in history, especially for us Americans. The kids were very curious, asked tons of questions while we started at ground zero of the atomic bomb, and then continued to be in awe, and inquisitive, as we made our way to the memorial area and the museum in general. I was amazed at such graphic depictions and pieces from the attack. Near the end of our journey through the museum, we had all seen enough. I think some of those images are burned in the kids mind forever. But I was so proud of their respectfulness, their sympathy, and just interest in general. A wonderful day for all of us to experience and to hold onto. A train ride home took us back to Kyoto for our final night – we ordered in from a local place and packed and vegged out, chatting all about the families and the kids of Hiroshima’s past. Sobering.
Ok day 5 of Kyoto (day 9 of our trip)…..checking out and heading back up to Tokyo via the Shinkansen. For this final leg, we had 2 nights and chose to stay at a hotel in the center of the Shibuya area so we could experience more modern Tokyo! Via Booking.com, we chose the Cerulean Tower Tokyo hotel. It wasn’t a Marriott….but it was nice. 2 rooms again side by side and the location was amazing, blocks from the Shibuya pedestrian scramble crossing. after dropping our bags and having a quick lunch, we headed out for the afternoon/evening…..this was our final BIG event as a family- we scored tickets (via stubhub.com) to the Tokyo Giants baseball game!! We were so excited…..and it was the cultural event of the week! We went plenty early and wandered the area, scoring some great game day merch and finding our seats after wandering the stadium laughing about how much different the stadium food and treats were from American baseball games. The Giants played the Haneda Tigers and it was so fun. Sure our seats were basically in the nosebleeds but we sat around some great people. The beverage ladies were awesome, the fans so enthusiastic, and we just loved every moment of this sports event! Sadly, the Giants lost, but we still loved our experience!! (Really only rooted for the Giants per Mac’s recommendation since that’s where Ohtani played before coming to the MLB), lol.
Well here we are at day 10….our final full day in Tokyo. We started with 1 final tour- one of the largest and oldest wholesale fish markets in the world- Tsukiji Fish Market! We had a great guide with just us and 1 other couple and we roamed the very crowded and very cool market for a few hours. We got about 3 tastings at various stops, made some purchases of fresh Japanese snacks, and finished with lunch at a hole in the wall with freshly made right away sushi rolls and nigiri. Delicious!! After such a fun morning, we decided to head back to Shibuya to get a coffee and watch the Shibuya scramble from above, crazy, and for some final shopping stops. More Don Quijote, this time at their Mega flagship store (HUMONGOUS) for allllll the beauty things and Japanese Kit Kat treats……and another stop at Bic Camera superstore for all the Nintendo switch games Mac could get his hands on, lol! Our hands full….we headed back to the hotel to pack up before heading out for our final dinner. Concierge recommended a fun place nearby we could walk to. Situated at the top of a tall tower, we had Japanese BBQ skewers in a super lively and fun atmosphere. Our eyes bigger than our stomachs, we order a ton of skewers and appetizers to pass around and stuffed ourselves silly. Such a perfect ending to our 10 days in Japan!
Well, here we are on our final day. Up bright and early for our flight home to Beijing. Japan was truly unforgettable. Everyone needs to experience this magnificent cultural phenomenon. It was everything I hoped it would be plus more. We are already planning our next visit and wanting to go in the fall to see the leaves change the other direction and check out areas to the north of Tokyo. I think I could spend a months traveling this country and still leave wanting more. The people are stunning, inside and out, very friendly, wonderfully international yet loyal to their rich cultural past and present. The food was out of this world, as was the matcha green tea and the sake. The shopping….unparalleled. I can see the hype. We had the perfect blend of fun, education, culture, nature, and so much more. Our kids loved it and so did we. Japan we will be back for round 2, be ready!!
For now, thanks so much for reading and indulging me!
xoxo, Kimbra
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