So it has been four months since we have returned from our trip to Japan. I still feel very strongly that this is one of the absolute best trips I have been on. In this post, I will reflect on what it was that struck me about Japan, what we would have done differently and what it all means for future trips.
Basically every aspect of our trip to Japan was truly delightful. Every single meal we ate, regardless of the cost, was high quality and delicious. For the entire trip, we did not set foot in a car; it was extremely easy to get around on public transport. Similarly, amenities and attractions were located within walking distance of anywhere you happen to be.
There were some things that we did extremely well. While Emily certainly poked fun at me for it, we had a spreadsheet with a light plan for each day. While I definitely have the tendency of over-planning trips, Japan is a place that basically demands it. There is just so much to see and do that playing it too much by ear will lead to missing things. In fact, there were a couple of times that we could have done with a more detailed plan, especially around some of our inter-city travels.
Another thing that worked out perfectly was our packing strategy. We managed the whole trip in just two carry-on sized bags. My clothes, some of Jordan’s clothes, our tech/charging kit, toiletries and some souvenirs all fit in my Tom Bihn Aeronaut 30. The rest of Jordan’s clothes, along with Emily’s clothes and hair products plus many of the souvenirs we picked up were packed in her Taylormade 40 Litre bag. The big secret to making this work is the same thing you do at home every week or two, which is doing laundry. Our AirBnB in Kyoto had a washing machine in our unit. Because we were going to be home in the evenings due to the sleep demands of a 6 year old (and Emily), it was not taking any additional time out of our day to throw on a load of laundry.
The benefits of this Onebag approach were massive. First of all, it made it super easy to take the trains without disturbing everyone around us. Even better was the experience at the various train stations. Especially at our first stop in Tokyo, Asakusa station, we had to take multiple flights of stairs to get from the train platform to street level and there were no escalators (there was an elevator at a less convenient exit that we needed, but it would not have been ideal). We saw multiple people struggling with full-sized and carry-on wheelie bags. Our bags both had backpack modes that made carrying them up these stairs easy and painless. Another common feature of train stations in Japan are bag lockers. With our smaller bags, we were able to fit everything into a single medium-sized locker without any difficulty compared to people we saw barely fitting into the smaller number of large lockers.
Travelling around, both within cities and between cities, was incredibly simple and convenient. Of course, it’s very stereotypical to praise the speed, comfort, quality, frequency and network of the Japanese trains and that’s all very true in practice. A specific goal for the trip was to do the entire 10 days without setting foot in a car. This is fundamentally something that is nearly impossible to conceive of for a trip most places in North America and isn’t even simple in other transit-friendly places like Europe. However, this wasn’t true utopia as it might seem. Because of the privatized ownership model of the many, many different transit networks, it was never fully clear how stations, routing, fares and more would actually interact with each other. Fortunately, this was able to be mostly be papered over by the advanced capabilities of Google Maps, which would display different routes with the estimated costs and the fact that all fares can be paid by the same SUICA card.
But there were a couple of times that we were let down by this, especially in Kyoto, where we learned several small lessons in the effectiveness of buying a day pass to cover transit usage. We actually learned that lesson the wrong way in both directions! One day, we didn’t realize that our schedule (which was mildly in flux) would lead us to paying several one-way fares on the bus network and bypassing the cost of the full-day pass. We also then opted to do our night time activities by walking, which was great for the experience but contributed to the highest step count day we had which left a few sore legs the following day. That next day, we did get the full-day pass, but it actually didn’t cover the line that we took to go to the Onsen to help the aforementioned sore legs, so we ended up paying the surcharge.
At any rate, the quibbles of slightly confusing networks and opportunities for fare optimization (seriously, why wouldn’t the system just track your spend through the day and cap you at the full-day pass), it was still amazing to be able to do the entire trip without a car. This also let us avoid lugging around a Booster Seat for Jordan. Even with the small size of the Mini Booster that we have for her, this saved a lot of weight and space in our travel kit.
I am not exaggerating when I say that nearly every meal we had in Japan was great. Even if Emily and Jordan didn’t really like the food at the Onsen Hotel in Hakone, it was all very high quality and tasty. Having to eat out for basically every meal was unfortunate, but it ended up not being nearly as expensive as we thought it was going to be.
Many of our breakfasts ended up being from the Conbinis (convenience stores), and that various pastries we got were cheap and fine. Nothing compared to a proper bakery, but easily obtained and enough to get our days going. This was especially true when combined with great iced and hot coffees from bottles. Given my preferred styles of breakfasts, I would say that the breakfasts where we ended up eating out were some of the lower bang-for-your-buck meals we ended up getting.
Lunches and snacks were universally tasty and good value. I enjoyed getting Onigiri from the conbinis, to the point that Emily rolled her eyes every time I suggested it. There was also a little sushi roll I got one time that was not cut, so you just ate it like a hot dog and it was great. But we also found great food at small restaurants all over the place, and I think we successfully avoided all types of Western fast food the whole time we were there. Of note was the little restaurant we found after visiting the Kyoto Castle run by old ladies where we had the most delightful meal. We also loved most of the bento box meals we got from the train stations to eat on the Shinkansens.
Even for bigger and nicer dinner meals, we found the cost totally reasonable and were satisfied with everything. This is one area we could have certainly spent more, but I don’t think we missed out on anything by not spending more. The teppanyaki places we did (one grill your own in Kyoto and one from the chef in Tokyo) were both great, and the experience by spending more money wouldn’t have been that much more. Naturally, we also got a ton of sushi. Jordan’s favourite food is Salmon Nigiri, so we ended up getting a lot of it. And much like everything else, it was inexpensive and high quality, even at the cheap conveyor belt sushi shops. And legitimately, real wasabi is amazing compared to the horseradish we get in Canada.
Of course, travelling alone with Jordan meant that we never drank too much at any given time, but the alcohol situation was about as good as the food. Given my preference for IPAs, I didn’t really find any beers that I liked, but the whisky more than made up for it. The highlight was the Freedom Bar in Osaka and the shop that he sent me to the next day, but The Whisky Library in Kyoto was also super solid. We also enjoyed our experiences with sake, though Emily preferred to mix hers with fruit drinks.
Every person that we came across was extremely polite and welcoming. Of course, we mostly were interacting with service type people, but the culture of people wanting to be helpful was everywhere. Even with a language barrier, everyone was able to get through interactions with a combination of pointing and Google Translate. Most notable here was the old man outside of the Asakusa Temple who wanted to practice his English by having a conversation.
All in all, it was the best experience travelling that I have ever had. And I’ve travelled a lot, so that’s saying something. Even comparing to Edinburgh in 2019 during Fringe Fest right before Covid which probably held the top spot (maybe I’ll write a post about that some time, as that was a great trip with Emily, Jordan and my friend Susana from high school), Japan was just a next-level experience. As I said to Emily as we were leaving and everyone who asked me about it afterwards, I’m already mentally planning the next trip there. It was hard to even put this all into words, even though this post ended up being pretty long and probably could have been split up. No single aspect of the trip made it what it was, but it all came together into something amazing.
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