Are We Finally Going? (A Pre-trip/Trip Report)

[Flossbolna]

Sorry for the delay. We got really busy on the trip, and I have honestly felt kind of lazy since we got back. I am blaming jet lag I will be updating again soon.

I was thinking about posting here to ask if you are ok! I can relate to the jet lag feeling lazy this week as well. I also miss Japan! We had a great time.

I am looking forward to reading more about your trip!

 

[soniam]

I was thinking about posting here to ask if you are ok! I can relate to the jet lag feeling lazy this week as well. I also miss Japan! We had a great time.

I am looking forward to reading more about your trip!

It was so great to meet you! I hope your trip went well.

 

[maleficent55]

It was so great to meet you! I hope your trip went well.

i too was wondering if you were ok. glad to hear you guys made it back safely. I can't wait to hear bout your Disney portion. give me a heads up so i can make a big 'ole bowl of popcorn before I settle in!

 

[soniam]

Fifth/Last Day in Osaka

We ventured out to Himeji today. We bought tickets online the night before for the shinkansen. We didn’t get the train we needed from Universal City, so we there was a chance we would be late for the shinkansen. Got to Osaka Station and all the trains were delayed. We still needed to get to Shin Osaka. Then the trains got really super delayed. We were trying to see if a different track would leave first. They were making announcements in Japanese only, and lots of people were standing around looking confused. A man came up to us, probably American but maybe Canadian, and suggested we head to the subway and which one we needed to get to Shin Osaka. He was so super helpful. Apparently, something went wrong, and trains were going to be delayed for hours. We hustled to the subway, which connects to Osaka Station. We finally made to Shin Osaka and on our train to Himeji. Things were so messed up, that there were still delays when we returned. Luckily, we knew how to use the subway instead.

Once at Himeji Station, you can get buses to the castle. It’s not a terrible walk, but our son was really getting tired from walking. At the bus stops, it looks like you can only pick up the bus at one stop; however, several buses stop at the castle. There was a sign saying this that we missed at first. We just bough tickets at the castle. They don’t normally allow food or beverages, but it was a hot day, so they were encouraging people to drink water, even inside the castle. It was definitely warm, but nothing like it is in Texas in the summer. However, the castle is open to the elements and not air conditioned. You have to remove your shoes and carry them. They provided bags, but we had our own. The entrance and exit are at different locations.

It can be dark in some of the castle, so it was hard to take pictures with my camera. I don’t think I brought my fast lens, just my telephoto. I only brought 2 lenses to Japan for my mirrorless camera. The 14-24mm f2.8 wide angle is very fast and good in low light; however, the wide angle can make it difficult to get pictures without people in them. It’s good for interiors though. I also brought my 24-200mm. It’s lowest f stop is 4, so it’s slower and not as good in low light. However, it’s a light weight lens and has good zoom capability. I brought the telephoto today; I should have brought the wide angle today. I only brought one lens when we were out and about most times, because they get heavy to lug around.

Himeji was beautiful. It was the best castle we saw in Japan. So many beautiful interiors and inner courtyards. Great views of roofs and the city. It was a bit crowded at the top most level, but the rest of the castle was large enough to avoid most people. It’s a one way route through the castle, because it’s not huge.

We found the tiny, not marked well bus stop across the street from the castle and headed back to the station. We picked up some 7-11 snacks for the ride back to Osaka. We had done some last laundry before we left and let it dry all day. Did last bit of packing, since this was our last day in Osaka. We got done packing and had some time. We headed to Dotonbori. We hadn’t been yet. We didn’t plan to eat, because we knew there wouldn’t be anything that our son would like. We just walked around and took it in. They had a Mega Donki with a ferris wheel.

 

[Flossbolna]

It was so great to meet you! I hope your trip went well.

Yes, it was fun seeing you. I kept looking out for you the following days, would have been nice to chat some more.

Our trip was wonderful and we can’t wait to go back! My husband got very interested in the Osaka 2025 Expo and is daydreaming about returning in the fall of 2025 for it. We absolutely loved Osaka and USJ, both new to us.

 

[DCLMP]

If your not into visiting Buddhist temples and shrines....sorry not my religion. Did you find enough other things to do?

 

[soniam]

If your not into visiting Buddhist temples and shrines....sorry not my religion. Did you find enough other things to do?

It's not my religion either, and we didn't participate in any of the procedures/ceremony involved, but I love the gardens and architecture. We didn't visit many shrines/temples in Tokyo or Osaka. Kyoto is pretty heavy with them. There's always a lot of parks around every place.

 

[soniam]

Unfortunately, we discovered tonight that we accidentally triggered our AT&T International Day Pass some days. It seems to be days that we texted and didn't use iMessage. We had eSims so that we had data, but we also kept our original numbers enabled so that we could receive texts/phone calls from our credit cards in case of fraud concerns/locking. We didn't have issues with receiving texts, only responding. If you ensure that your phone is using wifi, top left of iphone lock screen/control panel, then you can send texts/make calls, if you have wifi calling enabled, and it should use the data from your eSim. You can always have AT&T disable the international pass option, but you have to call them and convince them to do it. Other carriers handle this differently. If you want to send texts/messages between your traveling group, you can use an app, like What's App or Facebook Messenger. These will use the eSim and not your original cellular carrier.

 

[soniam]

First Day in Kyoto

We headed to Kyoto with all of our luggage, souvenirs, gifts, and the duffle bag full of Kit Kats from Donki. We decided to wait to buy tickets once we actually got to the train station. There were still delays getting to Shin Osaka from Osaka Station. Universal City to Osaka Station was fine though. So, we decided to take the fast train, Tokaido Sanyo, but not the shinkansen. The luggage was way more difficult to deal with now. We had bags on top of the luggage, which made it really hard to lift the luggage for escalators and for getting on and off the train. Ship your luggage if you can or go light! Luckily, we had already planned to ship the luggage from Kyoto to Tokyo Disney, so this was the last time we would have to do this. Using the fast train instead of the shinkansen was actually faster, since we didn’t have to go to another station.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have the oversized luggage spot for this train, and the seating area was smaller. We sat with our legs squeezed around our bags. Thank goodness this was only about a 30 minute trip. We got up a little before they announced the Kyoto stop, since we had to gather luggage. We were still standing near our seats with our bags when the train stopped. We headed to the door, and everyone was pouring into the train. We tried to get off, but people wouldn’t let us. We missed the stop It was such a short stop too. All we could do was wait to see where the next stop was. We stayed in the area between cars near the exit. The conductor came by and we showed him our tickets to explain that we missed our stop. He said it was an hour away to the next stop at Tsuruga, which was probably the end of the line. He graciously let us sit, since there were empty seats. Unfortunately, the luggage was just rolling and sliding around, so my husband stayed with the luggage. We didn’t have to pay for the extra stop, but we did have to buy a ticket to get back to Kyoto. We managed to get back. We were up with our bags at the exit 15 minutes before the stop So, get up and block the door before the train stops. Otherwise, just be pushy. We don’t travel by train in the US and are used to remaining seated on planes until they land. Lesson learned. We did go by a very beautiful lake called Biwa; it’s the largest lake in Japan. Oh well, another adventure to add to our post 9/11 (5 days after) Germany trip, Rome when the Pope died, and London catching the chunnel with a 3 year during a tube strike

They had visitor, ie English, specific cabs at Kyoto Station, so we grabbed that. Excellent service. We got a cab to our hotel, Mimaru Suites Kyoto Central. We loved the hotel. It was even better than the Mimaru Suites Tokyo Asakusa. The staff were incredibly friendly and helpful. They had sake and beer from 9am-9pm. It was conveniently located too. The hotel, not just the sake

We had hoped to get to Kyoto earlier, but that didn’t happen We actually thought we would get in before our 3pm checkin. Most of the shrines and temples closed early. The Nintendo Store was still open, so we headed there. We hadn’t been to one yet, and the Kyoto one is the newest and largest. The website discusses entry tickets, but we didn’t need it. I don’t know if it was because it later or if that was more of a covid or opening day protocol. It was on the top floor of a department store. Had to pick up some things for a friend. It’s not massive, but they had a lot of interesting merchandise. Our son tried to buy a game, but it was only for presale and wouldn’t be available until later at the beginning of July. For some reason, they didn’t do the tax free sales here. Lots of places did it for nonperishable items. This was one of the first that didn’t. It wasn’t a problem; we hadn’t expected it before arriving in Japan.

For dinner, we grabbed some fluffy pancakes and dessert from a coffee shop near the Takashiyama department store where the Nintendo Store was located. We dropped stuff back at the hotel and decided to visit Sennen-zaka and Ninen-zaka streets while it was dark and cooler. We had to take the bus, and it was packed, standing room only. The shops were all closed, and the street was pretty dead. Many places had signs about no photographs. It was still very beautiful, and I am glad we went. It would be a totally different experience later, when we visited one of the shrines.

 

[DCLMP]

It's not my religion either, and we didn't participate in any of the procedures/ceremony involved, but I love the gardens and architecture. We didn't visit many shrines/temples in Tokyo or Osaka. Kyoto is pretty heavy with them. There's always a lot of parks around every place.

I plan on doing Disney, Universal, Mt Fuji and Hiroshima after that I get overwhelmed with what to do. . We really like museums and history. Gardens sound nice. Even as a Christian visiting churches on our Europe trips got old after the first two.

My son loves History especially war history...maybe it's a guy thing. He also loves museums so I'm diligently researching, but it's definitely overwhelming, I'm even considering a cruise, but that seems more expensive and time consuming. For a land trip I'm looking at about a week in the Tokyo area, a week in the Kyoto and then a couple of nights at Universal and then flying home out of Osaka. I really don't want to switch hotels more than three times.

If I decide to do a cruise it would be Tokyo to Seoul also kind of intriguing. I'm normally pretty good at planning things but this one I'm finding pretty challenging.

 

[soniam]

I plan on doing Disney, Universal, Mt Fuji and Hiroshima after that I get overwhelmed with what to do. . We really like museums and history. Gardens sound nice. Even as a Christian visiting churches on our Europe trips got old after the first two.

My son loves History especially war history...maybe it's a guy thing. He also loves museums so I'm diligently researching, but it's definitely overwhelming, I'm even considering a cruise, but that seems more expensive and time consuming. For a land trip I'm looking at about a week in the Tokyo area, a week in the Kyoto and then a couple of nights at Universal and then flying home out of Osaka. I really don't want to switch hotels more than three times.

If I decide to do a cruise it would be Tokyo to Seoul also kind of intriguing. I'm normally pretty good at planning things but this one I'm finding pretty challenging.

Osaka Castle was more of a museum. Most of the history it explained was related to the true history behind the Shogun series. Himeji Castle was very cool. Tokyo Skytree was cool. Tokyo National Museum was boring. Nijojo Castle in Kyoto was kind of boring. If you visit one shrine in Kyoto, go to Fushimi Inari. It’s really beautiful with thousands of torii gates. Wonderful at night.

 

[Flossbolna]

I plan on doing Disney, Universal, Mt Fuji and Hiroshima after that I get overwhelmed with what to do. . We really like museums and history. Gardens sound nice. Even as a Christian visiting churches on our Europe trips got old after the first two.

My son loves History especially war history...maybe it's a guy thing. He also loves museums so I'm diligently researching, but it's definitely overwhelming, I'm even considering a cruise, but that seems more expensive and time consuming. For a land trip I'm looking at about a week in the Tokyo area, a week in the Kyoto and then a couple of nights at Universal and then flying home out of Osaka. I really don't want to switch hotels more than three times.

If I decide to do a cruise it would be Tokyo to Seoul also kind of intriguing. I'm normally pretty good at planning things but this one I'm finding pretty challenging.

We are like you with temples and shrines and didn’t visit too many. To be honest, we just like to wander around in Japan. We can spend hours in the shopping streets just looking at stuff, having fun discovering interesting merchandise (don’t need to buy, just window shopping).

Our take back from this last trip is that we fell in love with Osaka. It seemed so much more lively and real than Tokyo. We ended up staying at a brand new hotel (Caption by Hyatt) in the Nipponbashi area and that area was so much fun! Shops and restaurants everywhere. We really regretted not having more time to explore.

 

[nono]

I plan on doing Disney, Universal, Mt Fuji and Hiroshima after that I get overwhelmed with what to do. . We really like museums and history. Gardens sound nice. Even as a Christian visiting churches on our Europe trips got old after the first two.

My son loves History especially war history...maybe it's a guy thing. He also loves museums so I'm diligently researching, but it's definitely overwhelming, I'm even considering a cruise, but that seems more expensive and time consuming. For a land trip I'm looking at about a week in the Tokyo area, a week in the Kyoto and then a couple of nights at Universal and then flying home out of Osaka. I really don't want to switch hotels more than three times.

If I decide to do a cruise it would be Tokyo to Seoul also kind of intriguing. I'm normally pretty good at planning things but this one I'm finding pretty challenging.

There are so so so many museums and attractions in most cities that people don't even list on "Top 10 in (insert Japanese city/area here)" Lists. My advice is to go to an area on Google maps and zoom in. Pick a point on the map and then search for nearby museums. Even the most obscure place has at least 100 photos available in Google maps for you to get a feel for the place. Click/tap on the Thumbnail photo that shows up to see how many they have. (Just verified that the obscure Museum of Package Culture that we found on our last trip indeed has 297 photos available, while slightly less obscure Bank of Japan Currency Museum has over 2000). It really helps us round out days without doing a whole lot of commuting across town to see the "next thing" on the Top 10 list.

 

[DCLMP]

We are like you with temples and shrines and didn’t visit too many. To be honest, we just like to wander around in Japan. We can spend hours in the shopping streets just looking at stuff, having fun discovering interesting merchandise (don’t need to buy, just window shopping).

Our take back from this last trip is that we fell in love with Osaka. It seemed so much more lively and real than Tokyo. We ended up staying at a brand new hotel (Caption by Hyatt) in the Nipponbashi area and that area was so much fun! Shops and restaurants everywhere. We really regretted not having more time to explore.

OH My. I've been looking at the hotel and searching for reviews. I haven't been able to find much. What did you think? Did it have a gym? Laundry facility's? The price is really good whether you use cash or points.

 

[wanderlust7]

We ended up staying at a brand new hotel (Caption by Hyatt) in the Nipponbashi area and that area was so much fun! Shops and restaurants everywhere. We really regretted not having more time to explore.

I’d be interested in hearing more about the Caption too. I have point nights booked for next trip. How did you find the distance to the subway station? I like being in the middle of the hustle and bustle sometimes and feeling like everything is at my fingertips.

OH My. I've been looking at the hotel and searching for reviews. I haven't been able to find much. What did you think? Did it have a gym? Laundry facility's? The price is really good whether you use cash or points.

From Flyertalk reviews, there are a couple of laundry machines, but they don’t take payment methods that Americans typically have access to (no credit cards, Apple Pay, or Suica). The coin slot is taped over, unclear if it’d still work if you untaped it and put coins in. Doesn’t make sense to do this for an American branded hotel, so maybe it’ll eventually change.

 

[Flossbolna]

OH My. I've been looking at the hotel and searching for reviews. I haven't been able to find much. What did you think? Did it have a gym? Laundry facility's? The price is really good whether you use cash or points.

I’d be interested in hearing more about the Caption too. I have point nights booked for next trip. How did you find the distance to the subway station? I like being in the middle of the hustle and bustle sometimes and feeling like everything is at my fingertips.



From Flyertalk reviews, there are a couple of laundry machines, but they don’t take payment methods that Americans typically have access to (no credit cards, Apple Pay, or Suica). The coin slot is taped over, unclear if it’d still work if you untaped it and put coins in. Doesn’t make sense to do this for an American branded hotel, so maybe it’ll eventually change.

I don‘t want to hijack @soniam trip report. I was planning to write a post on my own with a few observations. But who knows when and if I will get around, so here a mini-review:

We really liked the hotel. The rooms are small though. If you ever have stayed at a Marriott Moxy, this is what they are emulating. But actually doing it much better. We had twin beds and they were 1.10 meters, not 80 cm like at the Moxy. There is a safe, one rack for clothes. A fridge, a waterkettle as well as water dispensers in every floor for both hot and cold water. Ice machine is in the lobby. The bathroom has a lovely rainshower. All in all it was definitely trying to be hip and economical but not loosing all comfort like the Moxy does.

There is a gym. Small, but well equipped. The laundry is not useable without access to an Asian payment system as @wanderlust7 said. Also, it’s only two machines and they wash and dry in the same machine. It says washing and drying takes 120 minutes. So I am afraid even with a payment method, availability might be a bit of an issue.

Check in is done by yourselve at a machine, but they have people there guiding you through it. However, some didn’t speak a lot of English.

It’s 10 minutes from Namba and 6 minutes from Nipponbashi. We took a taxi to Osaka station when we checked out and it was 20$.

We had dinner at a lovely pizza place behind the hotel. https://a-pizza.xyz/

Otherwise we didn’t have enough time there unfortunately. But we would definitely stay at the hotel again. Even though our rate was surprisingly not that cheap. And we weren’t able to book on points unfortunately.

 

[DCLMP]

Thanks for your review. I don't want to hijack the thread either.

Did either one of you notice if there are laundromats in Kyoto and Osaka. I'm wondering if a hotel laundry is even worth it since most of them seem to have only one or two machines.

 

[Disneyhanna]

Wow! That train ride to Kyoto sounds like an adventure. I dealt with a train delay at Osaka station but it was only 10-15 minutes, I can't imagine how much a long delay would mess up schedules. Then everyone packing on so you couldn't get off and had to go another hour...phew!!! Glad you made it in the end and looking forward to hearing more about your thoughts on Kyoto.

 

[Flossbolna]

Thanks for your review. I don't want to hijack the thread either.

Did either one of you notice if there are laundromats in Kyoto and Osaka. I'm wondering if a hotel laundry is even worth it since most of them seem to have only one or two machines.

Yes, there are laundromats. I ended up
using one in Kyoto. Actually the same one that we used 7 years ago as we were staying in the same hotel there as then. Was very easy and took one hour to wash AND dry. Found it on Google maps searching for laundromat in the area if the hotel.

 

[soniam]

Second Day in Kyoto

We caught a train and then a bus to Nara. We found that buses needed to be used a lot more in Kyoto than Tokyo or Osaka. The Nara city bus to the park was jammed full of people. They weren’t using the white glove to shove us in, but I would not have been surprised to see it We were mainly going to Nara for the shrines. I was torn about going, since it’s kind of out there and we didn’t really care about the deer. However, my neighbor lived in Japan for 8 years and lived in Nara for part of that. She said it was really wonderful. I know the deer are a huge hit. However, we have deer in Texas, and they are viewed as vermin or pests. They result in a lot of car and motorcycle accidents, and they eat your landscaping. It was pretty warm this day. Kyoto had the warmest weather we had experienced so far. It wasn’t terrible, especially if you are prepared and hydrate. Nara was jam packed with people. We should have gotten up earlier. The deer were the first things we encountered walking to the shrines. They were getting pretty aggressive with people who were feeding them or people with food. I ate my granola bar quickly and shewed them away.

We visited Todai-ji temple first. It has a giant Buddha and other large statues of Buddhist gods. It was also pretty crowded but really cool. We stopped for a snack and water before heading to the other shrine. Our son got ice cream. My husband got some fried cheese dumplings on a stick with a sweet sauce. They were really good.

Next was Kasuga-taisha shrine. This made it worth it to visit Nara. It was beautiful, probably one of the most beautiful temples/shrines we saw. It had a pretty stone zen garden in front. There were hallways lined with metal lanterns. There was an inside room that was dark and filled with beautiful lit lanterns. There were stone lanterns lining the exit path. It wasn’t terribly crowded either. Unfortunately, all of my photos are on my camera, and I haven’t had a chance to download and process them. I was glad we visited this one last; otherwise, Todai-ji would have been disappointing. It was just luck of the draw.

We headed back to the hotel, because we needed to do more laundry. Pretty much did small loads everyday, since the small loads dried better and we wanted to have the maximum amount of clean clothing when we left Kyoto. No more washing machines after that.

After eating, what I don’t recall, probably 7-11, we went to Fushimi Inari. I had read that it was really nice at night, and it’s open 24 hours. This time we could take the train. A lot of people were leaving when we got there just after sunset. We were tired and didn’t think we would walk too far. It was amazing!!! There weren’t very many people, and the lighting was beautiful. If you can only visit one shrine/temple in Kyoto, visit Fushimi Inari at night. We walked around the main gate/building and then through the first set of torii gates to a small shrine. I had separated from my husband and son at this point. Our son had kept walking and was counting torii I kept walking until I met up with them. It just kept getting more beautiful. There is a ton more that we didn’t walk through, because we were tired and it was late. I would love to go back and hike around more.