Short-term Japan Travel Tips
Given that I value the following:
- Unstructured exploration
- Physical activity
- Live music
And I don’t particularly enjoy the following:
- Anime and Manga
- Museums
Additionally, I’ve only visited:
- Almost everywhere in Tokyo
- Almost everywhere in Kyoto
- Miyajima
- Hiroshama
- Amanohashidate
- Yamanashi
- All over Saitama
- Hakuba
This is mostly because I can’t afford a flight or the time-off to go to Kyushu or Sapporo.
I suggest doing the following, assuming you have somewhere between 1 to 2 weeks in Japan.
Which city should I visit?
Kyoto. Maybe that’s just because I’ve lived in Tokyo. Mostly I like how easy Kyoto is to traverse by bike. My favourite places in Kyoto are Fushimi Inari and Aroshiyama. Also, going to Osaka and Nara for a day trip is nice. Osaka, because it has a neat castle and you can rent a bike from the train station. Nara because you can rent bikes everywhere and you can see school girls being chased by deer. I also like the Buddha there, but my friends thought it was lame. It has a neat hill to bike up too.
I’m visiting Tokyo
It’s got nice parks. My parents really enjoyed going on a bike tour. A day trip to Nikko might be a bit excessive, but I enjoyed it. Akihabara is a spectacle and so are Maid Cafes and the Robot Cafe. Both are kind of tourist traps, but they’re entertaining tourist traps. Apparently, the Robot Cafe has started trying really hard to sell people stuff between scenes since I went three years ago, so maybe that’s a bit annoying to you?
Non city-specific advice
If you’re white, try and hitch-hike somewhere for lolz. Hiking in Japan is also recommended, if only to see the Japanese hiking uniform and hiking lunch. Also, see the travel tips in this blog post. Sumo wrestling is neat, but try to only get tickets for lower-tier. Higher-tier sumo wrestlers take forever to do anything. Finally, there are concerts every night in each city that will cater to whatever music taste you have.
What should I eat?
I can’t taste food. The combinis are nice and cheap?
