My first solo trip to Japan - Fantasy Springs Opening Day Trip Report

Disneyhanna

Disneyhanna

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Hi all! I love writing trip reports and took lots of notes on my recent two-week solo trip to Japan! I know this is a Tokyo Disney forum but I hope that the non-Disney parts of my trip are also interesting/helpful to those planning similar trips.

This trip was a bit "last minute" in that I did not start planning until mid February, so just over three months in advance. I am big on using credit card points/benefits so I will talk about that as well. I am a WDW annual passholder as well as a Disneyland magic key holder, and Tokyo Disney has always been a dream trip. After many years of dreaming, I finally decided to make it happen this year.

This was my first trip overseas and certainly my first big solo trip (have only done solo trips to US parks before) and overall it was a fabulous trip. I'm a big foodie and love to shop, and I'm also one to splurge a bit on hotels, so I'll be writing a lot about my experiences trying out eight different hotels across two weeks.

Kyoto Hotels:
  • Hyatt Place Kyoto (1 night)
  • Onyado Nono Kyoto Shichijo (2 nights)
  • Park Hyatt Kyoto (2 nights)

Tokyo Hotels:
  • Hyatt House Tokyo Shibuya (3 nights)
  • The Okura Tokyo (1 night)
  • Tokyo Disneyland Hotel (1 night)
  • Tokyo DisneySea Hotel MiraCosta (2 nights)
  • Hilton Tokyo Bay (1 night)

Table of Contents:
Please feel free to ask questions at any time, I learned so much during this trip (and still have a lot more to learn) and am already looking forward to planning my next trip to Japan :love:
 
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Disneyhanna said:
Hi all! I love writing trip reports and took lots of notes on my recent two-week solo trip to Japan! I know this is a Tokyo Disney forum but I hope that the non-Disney parts of my trip are also interesting/helpful to those planning similar trips.

This trip was a bit "last minute" in that I did not start planning until mid February, so just over three months in advance. I am big on using credit card points/benefits so I will talk about that as well. I am a WDW annual passholder as well as a Disneyland magic key holder, and Tokyo Disney has always been a dream trip. After many years of dreaming, I finally decided to make it happen this year.

This was my first trip overseas and certainly my first big solo trip (have only done solo trips to US parks before) and overall it was a fabulous trip. I'm a big foodie and love to shop, and I'm also one to splurge a bit on hotels, so I'll be writing a lot about my experiences trying out eight different hotels across two weeks.

Kyoto Hotels:
  • Hyatt Place Kyoto (1 night)
  • Onyado Nono Kyoto Shichijo (2 nights)
  • Park Hyatt Kyoto (2 nights)

Tokyo Hotels:
  • Hyatt House Tokyo Shibuya (3 nights)
  • The Okura Tokyo (1 night)
  • Tokyo Disneyland Hotel (1 night)
  • Tokyo DisneySea Hotel MiraCosta (2 nights)
  • Hilton Tokyo Bay (1 night)

Table of Contents:
  • 5/25-5/26: Travel Day
  • 5/27: Kyoto
  • 5/28: Kyoto
  • 5/29: Kyoto
  • 5/30: Kyoto
  • 5/31: Kyoto to Tokyo
  • 6/1: Tokyo
  • 6/2: Tokyo
  • 6/3: Tokyo
  • 6/4: Tokyo + Tokyo Disneyland
  • 6/5: Tokyo Disneyland
  • 6/6: Tokyo DisneySea (Fantasy Springs Opening Day)
  • 6/7: Tokyo DisneySea
  • 6/8: Travel Day
Please feel free to ask questions at any time, I learned so much during this trip (and still have a lot more to learn) and am already looking forward to planning my next trip to Japan :love:
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Following along.
 
5/25-5/26: Travel Day

I have terrible luck trying to host photos offsite so I will be attempting to upload directly here, downside is 10 photo limit per post and tiny resolution, but hopefully my photos won't randomly disappear :hyper:

The downside of planning your trip last minute is flight options are expensive, I ultimately decided to book direct flights from MSP to HND as I hate connecting flights and sitting in airports for hours. It was a couple hundred USD more than connecting through LAX, but you never know about delays, so it felt worth the cost to me. I had hoped I'd be able to snag last minute business class seats on ANA but those never appeared, so I was "stuck" with my direct flights in economy, oh well!

Luckily the nonstop flights out of MSP are at excellent times, an 11:25AM departure landing in HND at 2:20PM. I thought about booking a hotel near Shinagawa station and taking the first Shinkansen to Kyoto the next day, but after doing some research, I decided to plan to head to Kyoto right after my flight to help beat jet lag. I knew it would be an exhausting day regardless, but at least it would allow me to wake up that next day and get going right away.

MSP was super quiet for the Saturday of a holiday weekend, with no lines for bag tags, bag drop off, or precheck. My gate was close to the new Delta Sky Club so I had some breakfast there.

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While waiting for my flight, I loaded some more money onto my Apple Wallet Suica, I think I started with 5000¥.

We started boarding at 10:35 and I was already on the plane by 10:45 even with my lowly main cabin boarding status, wow having two aisles on those big jets must really speed things up. Or I am just used to boarding taking forever on flights to Orlando :rotfl2:

We waited on the tarmac for a while and didn't end up taking off until close to noon, but Delta pads their times so much we still landed ahead of schedule.

I bought compression socks at Duluth Trading Co for this trip, which I highly recommend! I've never worn compression socks before as I always thought they'd be uncomfortable, but they're not tight at all, and I think they really kept my feet from swelling. I rocked the socks + sandals combo for ultimate comfort since it was a 12 hour flight in economy :thumbsup2

We were served lunch around 1PM, I think the options were chicken, pork, pasta, and possibly some other vegetarian option. I chose the pasta which was quite good.

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I thought the potato salad was especially delicious, and I'm not a big potato salad person. The pasta was cheesy and hot, very much a crowd pleaser option. The sharp white cheddar was indeed sharp, I did not end up trying the brownie.

You also get free wine/beer in main cabin which was nice, they sure hooked me up!

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It was a daytime flight and very sunny, so everyone had their windows closed. It does feel a bit disorienting to be on a dark plane for so long! I nodded off a bit, which helped pass the time.

The flight attendants came by with warm cookies just before 7PM, these were delicious.

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I'm not big on watching movies/shows on flights, I prefer to just mindlessly scroll on the internet and luckily we had free wifi the entire flight. My main plan was to go through and delete photos on my phone to free up some space, I don't think I was very successful at this lol.

Finally around 11PM we were served some yogurt and breakfast calzones before landing. Options were Nutella and egg.

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I was starving at this point, I did not pack enough snacks (mostly candy, oops). Pretty sure I inhaled this! All the dairy was starting to hurt my stomach at this point, ha!

We landed at 11:40PM my time, or 1:40PM in Japan, ahead of schedule. Super smooth landing, I did not see Mt Fuji sadly! I thought flying over the ocean would be a bit scarier than it was, but I was totally fine with it.

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I was off the plane by 1:52PM, again, so fast! There weren't many kids on the flight, perhaps that helps. There were soooo many moving walkways, our gate must have been so far away. I made it to Immigration by 2:00 and had already done the QR code, so it was super quick and I was through by 2:06. It was really hot in that giant room!

Bags were already on the claim by the time I got there, there was a baggage handler straightening the bags out as they came onto the belt, welcome to Japan!

I headed to the restroom before grabbing my bags, my first exposure to bidets and in my sleep deprived state I was not ready to learn how to use one :rotfl:

I grabbed my bags at 2:15 and scanned my passport at customs and was done before 2:20. Super quick and easy. I did get a bit lost in the arrivals area, my main goals were to find an ATM to get some cash as well as find the Yamato counter to ship my bags to Kyoto. Finding the 7 Bank ATM was easy, a very short line and I got 30,000¥ for $191.31 USD. I had no idea where to find the Yamato counter, so I got pretty sweaty lugging my check bag and carry on around the airport.

Finally, I stumbled across the Yamato counter in terminal 3, if you take a right as soon as you leave the baggage claim / customs area and go down the hall you will pass a Bic Camera and then the Yamato counter (for delivery) is at the end of the hall. It wasn't far at all, I just went in the wrong direction at first.

I didn't wait at all at Yamato, but a small line did form behind me. The worker spoke decent English and it took maybe 5-10 minutes to do. He filled out the form for me and it ended up being 2470¥/$15.74 to ship my big check bag to Kyoto. I packed my carry on with essentials for the first couple days, so I shipped it to my last hotel in Kyoto so I wouldn't need to deal with transporting it between my first couple hotels. I will say, the worker seemed pretty concerned that I had no luggage cover. It's luggage, it's meant to get dirty, right? But I guess most people use covers there :hyper:

Finally, time to head to the Shinkansen! I used Google Maps the entire trip and it never failed me, though I definitely failed Google Maps a few times, lol.

I took the Keikyu line to Shinagawa, looking back it's funny how nervous I was about getting it right, when that was probably the simplest transfer possible to start the trip. The apple wallet Suica is so easy, literally just tap without unlocking your phone, definitely a must for iPhone users. I loved that it displayed a pop up on my lock screen of the trip in progress as well as the cost when a trip was over, so it was always obvious if I had tapped in/out properly.

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The rapid express train took about 10 minutes to go one stop to Shinagawa, and was not busy at all. I was surprisingly not tired despite it being around midnight back home, but I'm never asleep by midnight anyways I suppose!

The one thing about Google Maps directions is you can't always take it 100% literally. Sometimes the exits are labeled slightly differently on Google Maps vs the signage at the station, so just trust the time/colors more than anything.

I made it to Shinagawa without any trouble, the signage in the stations is so easy to follow, and Shinkansen signs are everywhere so it's very easy to find the right place.

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I watched a video before leaving on my trip on how to buy Shinkansen tickets at the station and I was glad I did. It's overall very easy to do on the ticket machines, but there's one step about the basic fare ticket that would have tripped me up had I not watched a how to video first, so I definitely recommend doing that.

Ticket was 14,170¥/$90.31 for one way from Shinagawa to Kyoto Station. The Nozomi trains are the fastest ones, and they go like every 10 minutes. I picked the 2nd soonest train to give myself time to buy a snack and find the platform. Window seats were gone, so if you really want the Fuji view you probably should book in advance. I bought a reserved seat in the ordinary car.

I had just enough time to buy a tuna mayo onigiri and bottled tea before heading to my platform, which was easy to find. I paid with Suica just to try it out, but after that I think I mostly stuck to paying with a credit card. The cashier asked me something in Japanese and I had no clue what she said, which continued the rest of the trip! But of course I know my arigato gozaimasu, which is really all you really need to get by just fine in tourist areas.

You get a couple tickets when you purchase physical tickets, I just put them both in the machine at the same time and hope for the best. I still don't completely understand how it works but it was easier than trying to buy the tickets ahead of time since I didn't know exactly when I would land.

When they say the trains are on time in Japan, they are not kidding! My 3:46PM train arrived at 3:45 and departed at 3:46 on the dot.

The ordinary car was very roomy, I put my underseat bag at my feet and my carry on up on the overhead rack. The rack is very large (much bigger than on regular trains/buses) and there is tons of leg room, you could probably fit a check bag at your feet.

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The shinkansen had free wifi but I found it a bit spotty so I just used my mobile data. I purchased the 15GB T-mobile international pass so I could get free calling, and it did well the entire trip for me. You do have to restart when you land, and I had to restart again on the shinkansen for it to kick in properly.

It was a two hour ride to Kyoto, it went quickly but all I could think about was showering and going to bed at this point. I did wish I had the window seat to enjoy the scenery a bit, too bad! I had my onigiri since I was so hungry and it was the most delicious thing I'd ever eaten in that moment. My biggest regret was not getting two!

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Phone did NOT eat first. :rotfl2:

I was really happy with my decision to head straight to Kyoto since I'm not sure what I would have done with that afternoon otherwise. I was too tired to enjoy anything, and this meant I could get up bright and early the next morning.

The shinkansen was very smooth, I expected it to feel like we were moving faster but it didn't feel nearly as fast as it was.

We had one stop at Nagoya and finally made it to Kyoto Station at 5:52. It was an easy transfer to the Karasuma line to my hotel, I was worried about messing up the tickets and Suica for the Karasuma line but whatever I did worked, it's not as hard as some people seem to make it out to be. I never had a single issue at the ticket gates my entire trip!

I made it to the station next to my hotel (Hyatt Place Kyoto) at 6:07 and was faced with a million flights of stairs, again, welcome to Japan! Funny enough, I started walking the wrong direction for a block, and then realized my hotel was only a few feet from the station exit in the opposite direction I went. It's under cover and everything, incredibly convenient.
 
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5/25-5/26: Travel Day (Continued)

Check in at the Hyatt Place Kyoto was very quick, no line at all. I think it's a pretty small hotel. Incredibly cheap on points, it was 8000 Hyatt points for a King or two twin room, or close to $200USD for one night. I used points of course! Front desk workers spoke excellent English, I have their lowest status (Discoverist) and was still upgraded and given 2PM check out (usually 12PM).

I was into my room by 6:15PM, ahead of when I hoped to be in Kyoto! Cool wooden room key.

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Quick room tour, King room was very spacious and impeccably clean.

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My room had a tub, I think it may have been an accessible room as I couldn't find other King rooms with tubs on the hotel website.

I stopped at the Family Mart right by the hotel, what I didn't realize from watching lots of videos about Japan before my trip is a lot of the konbinis are very small, much smaller than they look on camera!

I got another tuna mayo onigiri, grape ice cream I had seen before, and a 65" umbrella since the next two days were going to be rainy. All of this was 1028¥/$6.55, absolutely amazing!

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This onigiri was even better than the one I got at Shinagawa, I could not get enough of these on this trip if you cannot already tell!

The ice cream was delicious, tasted like grape jolly ranchers, very sweet. Hard to describe the texture, a bit like a sorbet and they squish like a grape!

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I fiddled around with the AC to get it working, the default in Japanese hotels seemed to be 25C or 77F. I cranked that down to 18.5C or 65F :rotfl2:

A lot of the hotels use motion activated hall lights so I spent a lot of time in my hotels not understanding how to turn off all the lights, when all I needed to do was wait a couple minutes lol.

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The shower water pressure at the HP was AMAZING, I think the best of all the hotels I stayed at. Almost all the hotels had night light settings which I loved, as I usually bring a night light with me to avoid running into things in the middle of the night.

I was into bed by 7:30PM, or 5:30AM back home :hyper:

It didn't take me long to fall asleep, I did wake up a couple times overnight, but the hotel was incredibly quiet.

The bed was a hard foam but the pillows and comforter were great, so I slept well.
 
Enjoying your report. I am taking notes as I will be in Tokyo next April. Assuming you are in the Twin Cities areas so hello neighbor!
 
mlaw said:
Enjoying your report. I am taking notes as I will be in Tokyo next April. Assuming you are in the Twin Cities areas so hello neighbor!
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Hi neighbor! :wave2: April will be such a great time to go to Tokyo!
 
What kind of bag did you carry around the city? I like to use a small one but with needing a hand cloth, a bag to carry trash I don’t think my small purse will fit the bill.
 
princesscinderella said:
What kind of bag did you carry around the city? I like to use a small one but with needing a hand cloth, a bag to carry trash I don’t think my small purse will fit the bill.
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Baggu medium crescent! It's like the popular Uniqlo moon bag but bigger and better, the wide strap is more comfortable. I cannot recommend this bag enough, it's a Mary Poppins bag. It's big enough for a UV umbrella, portable charger, passport, handheld fan, etc. If you don't have quite as much stuff as that the small size or uniqlo bag would probably work well too.

I also highly recommend a reusable bag that folds up, as I put my shopping bags in there throughout the day.
 
5/27: Kyoto (Arashiyama)

Thanks all for joining along! I have way too many pictures and notes so I'm probably going to just have a lot of posts, I can't help myself. :rotfl:

I woke up at 3:45 AM so I got about 8 hours of sleep, not bad! I spent about an hour on my phone since I don't think the trains go quite that early, and I got up and got ready around 5AM. I think the Hyatt Place had breakfast but not until 6 so I skipped it. Since I had late checkout, I figured I would be back to the hotel in time to pack my bags that afternoon.

I got a bit lost trying to find the correct entrance for the station on Google Maps, it was directly across the street but I wasn't very adept at reading the map yet. I missed the train I was "supposed" to take and the next one was about 15 minutes later, no big deal.

It was a quick transfer to Kyoto Station, where I caught the line that goes directly to Saga-Arashiyama Station. It's super convenient to stay near Kyoto Station for your Arashiyama and Fushimi Inari days!

The train was so much quieter compared to the afternoon prior where there was some polite chatter, but who wouldn't be quiet at 6AM on a Monday! At Kyoto Station, I came across a IC charge machine that took Apple Wallet (pretty sure there was a sign with a big Apple logo, otherwise just look for "charge" and a tap spot, many of the charging machines do not have the tap ability) so I decided to use some of my 10,000¥ to charge my Suica and get some smaller bills. You can charge as small as 500¥ or 1000¥ and then get back lots of 1000¥. I don't think it's an issue to use 10,000¥ anywhere but I wanted to carry smaller bills.

It did take me a bit to figure out how to do it as you have to click the receipt option before it lets you insert your cash, I felt so silly!

It was raining very lightly that day, I was glad to have my umbrella but it wasn't pouring or anything. I think the temp was mid 60s and I had considered another layer but I was so glad I didn't, it was soooo humid. I learned that in Japan, pretty much dress for 10F degrees warmer due to the humidity in the summer.

I missed my train again so I found some food. Another onigiri! This time I got salmon & red salt.

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When I went back to my platform it came 5 minutes ahead of schedule so I wasn't sure it was mine but I got on anyways. Google Maps generally tells you the trains before/after but it wasn't that, but the name and platform were right so I took it. A million people got off since it was Kyoto Station and the last stop, so luckily it was pretty empty when I got on!

Well, the train then sat there for a few minutes, so it ended up being on time in the end. It was maybe a 30 minute ride to Saga-Arashiyama, and a very scenic ride. It was nice to be awake enough to take in the scenery, and I love watching all of the hills approach as we got closer to Arashiyama.

The station is very small, and it was rather quiet when I arrived. Maybe there was a more direct route than I took but I just plugged the bamboo forest into Google Maps and followed the walking route. I didn't see anyone else along the way so I probably took the "scenic" route lol. It was less than 15 minutes and went through some neighborhoods, there aren't many sidewalks in parts of Kyoto so I sure hoped I was walking on the right side of the road, luckily there weren't many cars this early.

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After a short while I passed lots of shops and restaurants, so I knew I was in the right place. Saw my first Snoopy Chocolat, nothing was open this early.

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I arrived to the bamboo forest just after 7AM, a bit "late" according to some advice you'll see out there. Again, not sure if I came in the right entrance or not, but this is what it looked like!

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My first thought was "wow!" It seems people have mixed feelings about the bamboo forest. For me, it was so beautiful. A lot of people say it is "small" but again, I didn't feel that way. The bamboo was good protection from the gentle rain so it was barely drizzling in the forest.

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There weren't many people at all, I imagine because of the weather (which was silly, it was hardly raining). This meant my experience was so relaxing and calm, I am not a meditative person but I really enjoyed strolling through without any idea where I was headed. Perks of doing little to no research, I guess!

I kept pace with a few other tourists and we all exchanged taking photos for each other lol. Just look at how empty it was!

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I was a little nervous going into Kyoto as I heard so much about overcrowding right before this trip. Not sure if I hit the sweet spot or what, but I sure was grateful!

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We all kept taking pictures of each other at different parts of the forest lol, I met so many nice people and not a single American, though everyone spoke some English.

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Ft. my giant baggu bag lol. Basically a crossbody backpack in terms of size! My shoulder did get really tired by the end of the day but I like to carry lots of things with me.

I spent about 20 minutes along the main paths in the forest, before heading to a park area I saw at the end.

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Since I had no idea where I was going, I just kept wandering. No one was in this area, and there were a lot of different paths to explore. It was just unbelievably beautiful to me!

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There are lots of steps up and down in this area, though I found most could be avoided if you looked hard enough, there were alternative paths for just about everything. So if you don't want to go up steps, you can probably avoid them somehow!
 
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5/27: Kyoto (Arashiyama Continued)

I found a little spot where I sat down and had my onigiri out of the rain.

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This was the red salmon, it was okay but a bit dry, I stuck to tuna mayo the rest of the trip :rotfl:

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It was a bit after 8AM at this point and I kept following the paths in the park area, and came across a couple observation decks. I actually hiked up like 100 slippery stairs for this one and on the way out realized there was a long, gentle sloping path leading to the same place. So like I said...if you see stairs...there's probably another way :rotfl2:

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Wow, this was stunning! I feel fortunate to have stumbled across this area since I didn't know it was there. I imagine this is a very popular spot in the fall.

There were a couple observation areas with slightly different views. The rain and humidity made some beautiful steam above the river! It really did look like paradise!

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Had to get a picture of course!

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I spotted some early hydrangeas, I know June is hydrangea season so I was excited at the prospect of catching them in bloom on this trip.

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Tenryu-ji Zen Temple wasn't open when I passed it in the bamboo forest earlier, but on my way back, I realized it was opening in a couple minutes at 8:30. So, I waited around along with maybe a dozen other people to get in. They opened exactly at 8:30, and I think it was 500¥ to access the gardens.

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The gardens were magnificent, even though I doubt this was the peak time of year to see them.

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I spent less than a half an hour here overall, you could certainly spend more time but I was just passing through.

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5/27: Kyoto (Arashiyama Continued 2)

You could pay a bit more to go inside, I opted not to, but you could see inside most spots from the garden.

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I would definitely recommend Tenryu-ji if you are doing the bamboo forest!

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It was much more crowded in the bamboo forest by 9AM, everyone stopping and trying to get their photo with no one else in it without much luck, get there earlier if you want that. If it's a nice day, you probably do need to get there at 5-6 instead of 7 on a rainy day.

I headed off in search of the monkey park, which took me through what I imagine is the main "town" area of Arashiyama. Lots of tourist spots, and things were starting to open up at this point. I waited maybe 15 minutes to try Arabica coffee which I had heard of, and WOW, this was the most delicious latte I've ever had! I'm a decaf drinker due to unfortunate circumstances and it was still delicious. I had the Kyoto latte, I have no idea what that means. But the milk was perfectly steamed, just ever so slightly sweet.

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This is a popular spot and for good reason in my book! I know it's a chain but this is at the top of my list for best coffee I've ever had.

The view wasn't bad either! I ended up walking across this bridge, just on the other side is the monkey park.

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What a lovely walk this was, I feel like I barely scraped the surface of Arashiyama since I was only doing a half day. I didn't go into any shops, I'm sure I could have easily spent a full day wandering around.

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The fog added to the vibes, I think!

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I don't have any picture evidence but I did not realize what a hike it would be to get to the monkey park. There are some stone stairs and then a steep incline to get up to the park, overall it took me about 15 minutes but I was pouring sweat at the top. I could easily see it taking a half hour if you're not super active.

There was even a shortcut on the way down :rotfl:

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I think the stairs part of the hike (not these stairs lol) would have been a bit treacherous on a rainier day, so I would probably skip the monkey park if it's pouring rain unless there's another easier route up I missed.

The view at the top was worth it! No wonder I was sweating, I was up very high!

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The monkeys were a joy to watch, so many babies. I did not go inside to feed them and just enjoyed watching from afar.

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I stayed for maybe 15 minutes before heading down, I will say it was a very pleasant walk down compared to up, and it was entertaining watching people suffer on the way up (lots of "are we there yet?" faces) :hyper:

I think some guys were out fishing or something, very cool.

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I left Arashiyama around 11, it was much more crowded going through town so I definitely recommend going early for the bamboo forest/park and then enjoying the town area afterwards. I didn't want to miss my checkout time and I wanted to stop by Nishiki Market on my way back for lunch, so I said goodbye to Arashiyama! Overall I was there about 4 hours and I would say you need at least that much time. I could see why people who maybe just go to the bamboo forest and leave may be disappointed (especially if it's crowded) but there is SO much more than the bamboo forest to see. I will be back for sure.

The train was chattier at this hour, still very quiet but not dead silent like in the early morning. The AC also felt absolutely amazing :hyper:
 
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Disneyhanna said:
5/27: Kyoto (Arashiyama Continued 2)

You could pay a bit more to go inside, I opted not to, but you could see inside most spots from the garden.

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I would definitely recommend Tenryu-ji if you are doing the bamboo forest!

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It was much more crowded in the bamboo forest by 9AM, everyone stopping and trying to get their photo with no one else in it without much luck, get there earlier if you want that. If it's a nice day, you probably do need to get there at 5-6 instead of 7 on a rainy day.

I headed off in search of the monkey park, which took me through what I imagine is the main "town" area of Arashiyama. Lots of tourist spots, and things were starting to open up at this point. I waited maybe 15 minutes to try Arabica coffee which I had heard of, and WOW, this was the most delicious latte I've ever had! I'm a decaf drinker due to unfortunate circumstances and it was still delicious. I had the Kyoto latte, I have no idea what that means. But the milk was perfectly steamed, just ever so slightly sweet.

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This is a popular spot and for good reason in my book! I know it's a chain but this is at the top of my list for best coffee I've ever had.

The view wasn't bad either! I ended up walking across this bridge, just on the other side is the monkey park.

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What a lovely walk this was, I feel like I barely scraped the surface of Arashiyama since I was only doing a half day. I didn't go into any shops, I'm sure I could have easily spent a full day wandering around.

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The fog added to the vibes, I think!

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I don't have any picture evidence but I did not realize what a hike it would be to get to the monkey park. There are some stone stairs and then a steep incline to get up to the park, overall it took me about 15 minutes but I was pouring sweat at the top. I could easily see it taking a half hour if you're not super active.

There was even a shortcut on the way down :rotfl:

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I think the stairs part of the hike (not these stairs lol) would have been a bit treacherous on a rainier day, so I would probably skip the monkey park if it's pouring rain unless there's another easier route up I missed.

The view at the top was worth it! No wonder I was sweating, I was up very high!

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The monkeys were a joy to watch, so many babies. I did not go inside to feed them and just enjoyed watching from afar.

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I stayed for maybe 15 minutes before heading down, I will say it was a very pleasant walk down compared to up, and it was entertaining watching people suffer on the way up (lots of "are we there yet?" faces) :hyper:

I think some guys were out fishing or something, very cool.

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I left Arashiyama around 11, it was much more crowded going through town so I definitely recommend going early for the bamboo forest/park and then enjoying the town area afterwards. I didn't want to miss my checkout time and I wanted to stop by Nishiki Market on my way back for lunch, so I said goodbye to Arashiyama! Overall I was there about 4 hours and I would say you need at least that much time. I could see why people who maybe just go to the bamboo forest and leave may be disappointed (especially if it's crowded) but there is SO much more than the bamboo forest to see. I will be back for sure.

The train was chattier at this hour, still very quiet but not dead silent like in the early morning. The AC also felt absolutely amazing :hyper:
Click to expand...
Arashiyama is definitely one of my favorite places in Japan
 
Disneyhanna said:
Right?! I can’t believe people say skip it, overrated.
Click to expand...
The bamboo forest was busy when we went so we didn’t enjoy that but the other areas of Arashiyama are so pretty and I love that it’s away from the big cities. The scenic train ride was fun
 
Disneyhanna said:
5/25-5/26: Travel Day (Continued)

Check in at the Hyatt Place Kyoto was very quick, no line at all. I think it's a pretty small hotel. Incredibly cheap on points, it was 8000 Hyatt points for a King or two twin room, or close to $200USD for one night. I used points of course! Front desk workers spoke excellent English, I have their lowest status (Discoverist) and was still upgraded and given 2PM check out (usually 12PM).

I was into my room by 6:15PM, ahead of when I hoped to be in Kyoto! Cool wooden room key.

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Quick room tour, King room was very spacious and impeccably clean.

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My room had a tub, I think it may have been an accessible room as I couldn't find other King rooms with tubs on the hotel website.

I stopped at the Family Mart right by the hotel, what I didn't realize from watching lots of videos about Japan before my trip is a lot of the konbinis are very small, much smaller than they look on camera!

I got another tuna mayo onigiri, grape ice cream I had seen before, and a 65" umbrella since the next two days were going to be rainy. All of this was 1028¥/$6.55, absolutely amazing!

View attachment 868801

This onigiri was even better than the one I got at Shinagawa, I could not get enough of these on this trip if you cannot already tell!

The ice cream was delicious, tasted like grape jolly ranchers, very sweet. Hard to describe the texture, a bit like a sorbet and they squish like a grape!

View attachment 868804

I fiddled around with the AC to get it working, the default in Japanese hotels seemed to be 25C or 77F. I cranked that down to 18.5C or 65F :rotfl2:

A lot of the hotels use motion activated hall lights so I spent a lot of time in my hotels not understanding how to turn off all the lights, when all I needed to do was wait a couple minutes lol.

View attachment 868803

The shower water pressure at the HP was AMAZING, I think the best of all the hotels I stayed at. Almost all the hotels had night light settings which I loved, as I usually bring a night light with me to avoid running into things in the middle of the night.

I was into bed by 7:30PM, or 5:30AM back home :hyper:

It didn't take me long to fall asleep, I did wake up a couple times overnight, but the hotel was incredibly quiet.

The bed was a hard foam but the pillows and comforter were great, so I slept well.
Click to expand...
I have this hotel booked for our trip next May. Glad to know it’s comfortable and clean.
 
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I think it's definitely best to get a direct flight if possible, not having to worry about possibly going through customs again is definitely a huge perk of a direct flight. I'm glad you had a great trip!
 
5/27: Kyoto (Nishiki Market, Onyado Nono)

Nishiki market was just a couple blocks from the train station I got off at, it was raining gently again at this point.

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It was extremely crowded! This was honestly the most crowded experience I had in all of Japan. Not terrible, but definitely hold someone's hand while pushing through the crowd crowded. Given the rain, no surprise I guess.

I hadn't done any research on things I wanted to try other than I knew I wanted to find the popular furikake sold here. Lucky for me, it was one of the first places I encountered!

They were handing out samples and had a lot more samples in the shop, it was very popular.

IMG_4493.jpeg

I tried all the samples and since I love spicy food, I really enjoyed the different levels of spice. I liked their spiciest stuff of course, the spicy curry rice crackers were delicious. I bought several of the furikake packages since they were less than 600¥ and I can see myself going through this quickly. Most furikake I've had is more seaweed forward, but this was more sesame and chili forward. Addicting stuff!

I did an entire lap of the market, it goes on for a couple blocks, before deciding what to go back for. To be honest, I wasn't super impressed. A lot of stuff repeats, and it felt very much like a tourist trap (which I expected). It's also hard to walk through as it's a bunch of foreigners in groups trying to make up their minds and blocking the walkway.

Finally I decided to get some shrimp tempura, this was 500¥ for one large piece. They make it to order and it was good, but nothing outstanding or unique.

IMG_4495.jpeg

I had to try some tamagoyaki as well, for 600¥. I enjoyed this, I thought it tasted more like fish cake than egg but I like fish cakes. It is slightly sweet, if you've had egg tarts, it leans towards egg custard filling in terms of sweet.

IMG_4496.jpeg

They had a large seating area inside at this stall and I know most places in Japan are strict about outside food, but I started coughing while eating this and pulled out a bottle of water to take a sip. Immediately, a worker stormed by my table and flipped the menu sign to an English message that was like no outside food or drinks. They never said a word or made eye contact or anything, I totally understand, but I guess coughing all over is more acceptable!

After this, I found a warabimochi place and got some soybean warabimochi to go. I tried it back at my hotel and it was okay, turns out I'm not the biggest fan of soybean flour. It tastes a lot like PB2 powder if you've ever had that. The mochi was soft and chewy, but I think I just prefer fruit flavored mochi.

IMG_4500.jpeg

I never really got full, but decided I had enough of Nishiki Market and headed back to my hotel to check out. Overall thoughts on Nishiki Market were that I have no desire to go back. I'm sure there are some hidden gems but it wouldn't be worth the hassle for me personally, it was crowded and there was no good place to eat at most stalls. It's a very messy way to eat, plus napkins are not a thing anywhere (just these little almost plastic sheet things that absolutely do not pass for napkins :rotfl2: ). I think it would be a more fun environment with someone else than solo.

I made it back to the Hyatt Place and packed up, here was my view of the wall lol!

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My next hotel was near Kyoto Station so I decided to take the train. It wasn't too far of a walk from the station, maybe 7 minutes, but I don't think I'd want to go any further even with just a carry on. I saw multiple people lugging check bags on my walk to my hotel and that did not look fun.

I made it to the Onyado Nono Kyoto around 2:20 and my room was already ready (3pm check in), no line for check in. Front desk wasn't quite as fluent in English as at the Hyatt Place but it was no issue, they know their check-in script! You have to take off your shoes and put them in a shoe locker at the entrance, as the hotel has tatami mat floors. I LOVED this, they are so cushy on the feet. So definitely wear socks, though they provide socks as well.

I booked through Delta Stays to use a credit card benefit, I think it is through Expedia technically. Normally I don't like booking through 3rd parties like that but for two nights I risked it. I had no issues so that was a relief! It was only $250USD for two nights, including breakfast which I added on. This hotel has gone viral on social media for the breakfast, and for good reason (more on that later). It's a large hotel, but it didn't feel overly crowded. There is a very nice onsen that I did not take advantage of as I am not someone who enjoys relaxing or hot tubs or anything of that nature :rotfl2:

My room type was double bed for single use, it was actually very spacious. There's a little hallway where you can even close the door to the bedroom area.

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The sink was separate from the bidet/shower.

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I think this was one of my favorite bidets, some of them had quirks with the automatic features I can't even explain, but this one irritated me the least :hyper: Do you see that there are no towels, though?! Oops!

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The shower was a bit odd, not the biggest, but great water pressure!

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