If anyone wants to explore Tohoku,
omiya , utsunomiya, Nikko, Sendai, gunma, Yamagata, Aomori, Akita, nagano are good places for snow and even for spring trekking. Cooling in summer.
Nikko is a heritage and place where there’s red bridge for good marriage, other than the temples.
Very quiet place and with good onsen establishments along the way to the temples.
Utsukoshi and omiya has interesting food . Both have great Sakura viewing unknown to most.
Kyoto toei movie park has a building for anime exhibitions.
Traditionally, Kurayoshi City, 665 km from Tokyo, has been known for its “retro” white-walled storehouses. 1000 figurines .
Shinobi Village- attraction of Nijigen no Mori, an outdoor anime theme park on Awaji Island.
Ishinomaki Mangattan Museum
Yokote Masuda Manga Museum
Ikebukuro in Toshima-ku is popular as "Manga Town" because in the past, great Japanese cartoonists such as Tezuka Osamu, Ishinomori Shotaro and Akatsuka Fujio lived here. In the area connecting Shiinamachi Station, Higashinagasaki Station and Ochiaiminaminagasaki Station, there was an apartment house "Tokiwa-so" where young great future cartoonists lived, so there is a street called "Tokiwa-so Street", which has become a tourist spot.
This seemed to be an event annually:
Kyoto International Manga Anime Fair 2023
I know many are new to Japan and want to enjoy the best experience during their trips.
There are many places to visit and explore other than the normal tourist spots. Sometimes, it might not be as stressful as trying to get all the best reservations yet the blood pressure shot up as it was so hard .
The best places, best hotels, best attractions and best food might not just be in the list that 60% shared here .
Therefore wanting to introduce Japan more thoroughly, I will list the below for more to enjoy Japan.
If you are in Tokyo, please explore chiba, Narita ( it’s not only the airport), Kamakura, mitaka, hitachi, odaiba, omiya, Ikebukuro, Hachioji, Kichijoji, Kawasaki, Kawagoe, Asakusabashi,Yokohama.
If you enjoy walking around, ueno to Ameyoko walk to Asakusa ,Asakusabashi, there’s the oldest theme park very near to Sensoji in Asakusa. There are very small stores 2-3 streets away from Sensoji that sell unique hand craft items.
Walking from Meiji Shrine, Harajuku, Takeshita, Ometesando to Roppongi. There are museums and good restaurants without the need to make reservations.
You can even walk to Akihabara.
At Kawasaki
There’s Toshiba Science museum ,
Akachan Honpo (kid one stop mega store) ,
Kawasaki Aquarium
Yodobashi
Plenty of good food especially the underground link .
There’s an old huge shopping street area to explore too.
There’s Kiyose Sunflower Festival near Ikebukuro
Where to buy souvenirs:
Asakusabashi
Okashi no Machioka
Niko no Kashi
Tirol Chocolate
Gyumo
Flea markets
Food wise
Omoide Yokocho
Market of the Sun (kachidoki station - second Sat & Sun of the month)
Flea markets
Not forgetting there are really plenty of good food range from Japanese food, Japanese western to desert etc that do not need reservations.
If you are in Osaka, other than Kyoto, Nara, there’s Hyogo where nature parks are beautiful, wakayama, Mie, Himeji, Kobe, tomonoura. Mt Rokko, namba , umeda, Takarazuka, Arima Onsen, Shirahama.
A little further, there’s Hiroshima, Okayama, iwakuni, onomichi, miyajima, Shimanami.
Byodin
Uji
Hieizan
Enryakuji temple
Mt Koya
Toei movie park
Spain village ( theme park in mie)
Shoshazan
Enryoji temple
American mura, linking to namba , donbori , shonsainashi. There’s a super long walking underground city to explore.
Can actually walk from namba to Osaka castle with the museum and plenty of restaurants and cafe along the way.
Some of the interesting islands:
Island of rabbits :
Okinoshima
Island of cats:
Aoshima
Island of fox:
Zao fox village
Island of dogs:
Inujima
Island of battleship:
Hashima or also known as Gunkanjima
There are so much more to see and do other than what I have wrote and what are commonly known and shared.
The following to consider:
Not just keep warm but dry. Sweating will cause cold / flu and fall sick.
Winter jacket/ wool jacket , insulated jacket ( Uniqlo winter thin yet warm heat tech type)
Heat tech turtle neck inner layer ( protect neck, keeping warm and reduce coughing )
Sweater
Jean with winter layer/ inner fleece
Or thick water proof pant plus a heat tech tights( unisex)
A good pair of waterproof & anti slip boots
Cotton sock / synthetic socks ( wool will be too much and sweaty, no good to be sweating) if you’re wearing winter boots with thick layered. Sneakers and sport shoes will need thicker socks.
Ski glove with good grip
Scarf
Hand and body lotion as very dry. Use after bathing or washing hands. Not forgetting lip gloss/ lip palm and facial cream.
Temperature then in Tokyo is 0-10
Gala yuzawa is -10 to O .
Can consider Nagano , Tohoku : Aomori
Mt Gassan
Shizukushi
Hachimantai
Appi Kogen
I used Jr regional Pass when travelling over.
Instead of just go to gala yuzawa, can go to echigo-yuzawa. It’s the spa town where you can eat and then go wait at the bus stop with free foot spa beside . Bus Timing I remembered is every 30 mins .
Then return directly from gala yuzawa.
Choose a hotel that is clean yet cheap, might need walking distance from train station to keep it affordable. Can be in Tokyo or in Tohoku. If you can afford onsen, can consider staying in yuzawa itself .
Food in Tokyo is easy as there’re plenty of small restaurants ( yoshinoya / sukiya) , chain or self own store around.
Can grab bento and eat in bullet train on the way up.
Buy from supermarket / bento store . Can be as cheap as 300-500 yen with wide variety.
I know many are new to Japan and want to enjoy the best experience during their trips.
There are many places to visit and explore other than the normal tourist spots. Sometimes, it might not be as stressful as trying to get all the best reservations yet the blood pressure shot up as it was so hard .
The best places, best hotels, best attractions and best food might not just be in the list that 60% shared online.
Therefore wanting to introduce Japan more thoroughly, I will list the below for more to enjoy Japan.
If you are in Tokyo, please explore chiba, Narita ( it’s not only the airport), Kamakura, mitaka, hitachi, odaiba, omiya, Ikebukuro, Hachioji, Kichijoji, Kawasaki, Kawagoe, Asakusabashi,Yokohama.
If you enjoy walking around, ueno to Ameyoko walk to Asakusa ,Asakusabashi, there’s the oldest theme park very near to Sensoji in Asakusa. There are very small stores 2-3 streets away from Sensoji that sell unique hand craft items.
Walking from Meiji Shrine, Harajuku, Takeshita, Ometesando to Roppongi. There are museums and good restaurants without the need to make reservations.
You can even walk to Akihabara.
At Kawasaki
There’s Toshiba Science museum ,
Akachan Honpo (kid one stop mega store) ,
Kawasaki Aquarium
Yodobashi
Plenty of good food especially the underground link .
There’s an old huge shopping street area to explore too.
Where to buy souvenirs:
Asakusabashi
Okashi no Machioka
Niko no Kashi
Tirol Chocolate
Gyumo
Flea markets
Food wise
Omoide Yokocho
Market of the Sun (kachidoki station - second Sat & Sun of the month)
Flea markets
Not forgetting there are really plenty of good food range from Japanese food, Japanese western to desert etc that do not need reservations.
If you are in Osaka, other than Kyoto, Nara, there’s Hyogo where nature parks are beautiful, wakayama, Mie, Himeji, Kobe, tomonoura. Mt Rokko, namba , umeda, Takarazuka, Arima Onsen, Shirahama.
A little further, there’s Hiroshima, Okayama, iwakuni, onomichi.
Byodin
Uji
Hieizan
Enryakuji temple
Mt Koya
Toei movie park
Spain village ( theme park in mie)
Shoshazan
Enryoji temple
Porto Europe ( theme park in wakayama)
Wakayama Marina City ( theme park in wakayama)
American mura, linking to namba , donbori , shonsainashi.
Can actually from namba to Osaka castle with the museum and plenty of restaurants and cafe along the way.
If anyone wants to explore Tohoku, omiya , utsunomiya,
Nikko, Sendai, gunma, Yamagata, Aomori, Akita, nagano are good places for snow and even for spring trekking. Cooling in summer.
Nikko is a heritage place where there’s red bridge for good marriage, other than the temples.
Very quiet place and with good onsen establishments along the way to the temples.
Utsukoshi and omiya have interesting food . Both have great Sakura viewing unknown to most.
There are so much more to see and do other than what I have wrote and what are commonly known and shared.
