Knowing Tokyo and Osaka better

 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.