JAPAN
MIKAYLA’S JAPAN RECOMMENDATIONS
Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Mt. Fuji
It must be said that my dear brother Colton planned almost the entirety of our Japan trip. I can only take credit for… honestly… the bar recommendations. Shows you where my priorities lie. That said, based on his meticulous planning, here’s what I found the most enjoyable, and some things we learned about the country that we couldn’t have known without visiting!
GENERAL/PLANNING TIPS
Helpful Hints to Make the Most of Your Trip
Accommodations
Unless you're going to Japan with a Japanese speaker, or have friends in town who speak the language, stay in a hotel—NOT an airbnb. The language barrier is real. You’ll have a hard time asking for directions, talking to cab drivers, or making dinner reservations. Older people (boomers and above) speak English because I’m sure they had to learn it in the post-war era, but once Japan started surpassing us technologically, they must have just said “Fuck the West” (mad respect), and finding someone of a younger generation who speaks conversational English is HARD. Therefore, staying at an international hotel chain is your best bet, as the Concierge there will definitely speak English, and can get you reservations, tell your cab drivers where you want to go, and help you navigate the city in other general ways.
Stay at (or at least visit!) a traditional Japanese ONSEN if you can. It’s like a spa and a hotel all in one, and a trip.
Travel Logistics
GO TO OSAKA ON A WEEKEND. GO TO OSAKA ON A WEEKEND. It is...so lit. People call it the “Vegas of Japan” and it definitely is, but even then, a lot of things (and bars) aren’t open on Mondays or Tuesdays.
Plan an extra day in either Osaka or Kyoto so that you can take a train to NARA for a day trip. Nara is only an hour train ride away from both cities, and the main attractions (the deer temple!) are totally doable in an afternoon.
If you’re planning on going to more than one city, get the JR Foreigner RAIL PASS. It is 1000% worth it—you get unlimited train rides on the JR Rail Line (like our Amtrak) for a set amount of money. You can ONLY get this pass in the US though, so make sure you pre-plan!
One last tip in terms of your routing (and this might be the most important advice I can impart):
Every major attraction is FILLED with tourists. Every single one. You cannot avoid them. Unless! You go before breakfast. We started getting to the most popular shrines/temples at around 6:30/7am and it made a world of a difference. By the time we were heading out at 8:30/9am, the crowds (tour busses!) were descending. So I would plan all your rail/intercity travel in the afternoons instead of mornings, so you can do activities first thing upon waking, then travel midday.
OSAKA
MY FAVORITE CITY IN THE WORLD AFTER PARIS (so far)
Small Bars
Japan, and in our experience Osaka in particular, has a “micro-bar” culture unlike anything I’ve ever encountered. Basically, any given building that looks like an apartment or an office building might not be either of those things, but instead is floor after floor of single-room food, beverage, and specialty establishments. For example, one building we walked into in Osaka had the following on a single floor: 1 fetish club, 1 metal bar, 1 hawaii-themed bar, 1 gaming room, 1 vinyl bar, 2 sushi restaurants, and 5 other doors that led to god-knows-what type of place. You could easily do a night-long bar crawl on a single floor of a single building, and would probably end up at some of the coolest and craziest places you’ve ever been, all in one evening. The following are a couple of the “micro-bars” (my word; we asked if they were called anything in Japan, but there is seemingly no English equivalent) that we discovered. My advice would be to start at my below recommendations, as they are tried and true, have a couple drinks, and then move along and try every (or any) door you want on the bar’s floor. And then when you’re done with those, go to the next floor.
Make sure that in any of these establishments, you try to talk to the bartender. Some of them speak English, and those that do will be able to offer incomparable insight into the city’s culture, and other hot spots. Tip in these bars. Apparently they make their living via a regular clientele who comes multiple nights a week. If you’re going to walk into someone’s “Cheers”, be respectful and generous.
GANJA ACID: 2nd floor of the building. I can’t even begin to describe it--the name is about all you need. It’s wild.
PINK ELEPHANT: 1st (basement) floor of the building. An amazing indie vinyl bar with some 80’s toys and games. They played like two full Strokes albums one time I was there so I love them.
MILK BAR: I think it’s the 3rd floor; can’t quite remember. It’s another vinyl bar, but this one is much brighter and features a lot of international acts from the 70s. Go.
Note:
These bars also exist in other cities, but nowhere seems to have as high of a concentration as Osaka. We did most of our poking in Osaka, but if you have the time, I’d urge you to just go into one of those buildings in another city and poke around. Once you’ve been in a few of these buildings, you’ll be able to distinguish them--all the buildings have the same style of neon signs attached to them. Golden Gai in Tokyo is made up of these kinds of bars; albeit in smaller buildings.
Street Meat
This is the place to get it. Osaka is about as close to the Kobe region as most people are going to get. This is one of the few places where you can get genuine Kobe beef without having to go to a crazy expensive steakhouse. There are tons of stalls in the main drag selling meat on skewers. That said, while it’s convenient and quick, it’s definitely not cheap. Think of it as an expensive pre-dinner “drink.” A meat drink.
Casinos
Osaka is known as the “Vegas of Japan.” There are a TON of casinos throughout the city, and their game of choice is Pachinko. Go play at least one game!
Vintage Shopping
There are AMAZING vintage/thrift stores here. They’ll feel pricey, but if you do the math, they’re akin to a trendy LA vintage store. If you’re trying to do some thrifting, this is the place to do it—Tokyo’s stores are even more expensive.
History & Culture
The old Imperial Palace is in Osaka, which is very cool and very nice. Otherwise, I’ll be honest with you, we didn’t do much in-city historical or cultural adventures. This was the place where we lived more modern, urban lives, as if I were visiting… well… Vegas. If Vegas weren’t a hellhole.
KYOTO
SO THIS IS WHAT THEY CALL ‘CROWDED’
Fushimi Inari Shrine
You ever seen pictures on someone’s Instagram of row after row of red/orange gates (arches), stretching on seemingly forever? Of course you have. That’s this place. And you know what? It holds up to the hype.
As you can guess from all your friends’ vacation pictures, this place is insanely popular. This is a perfect example of a place you should get to as early as possible. All Japanese shrines are open 24/7, so doing a sunrise hike here is ideal—you’ll have the whole mountain almost to yourself. Oh, did I mention it’s a mountain? Do the entire hike up, and then down. The whole thing takes about 3 hours, factoring in photo breaks. Wear good shoes! Then leave and go get a tasty breakfast.
Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
You’ve definitely seen this on friends’ Instagrams as well—a posed picture in the middle of a path lined by moody, impossibly tall bamboo trunks? That’s this place. And man, does it look amazing and ethereal in pictures! But looks can be deceiving… It’s a grove of trees at best; more akin to a small city park than a nature preserve. The only reasons people’s pictures make the forest seem endless is because there’s a bend in the singular path that runs through it. In reality, it’s about half the length of a football field.
Go ahead and skip this if you’re limited on time, especially since you need to get a train out of the city to reach it. It’s adjacent to a park that supposedly has wild monkeys (though they weren’t around when I was visiting), and a couple nice shrines (including Tenryu-ji Temple), but if you have to prioritize trip locations, feel free to knock this to low on your list.
Philosopher’s Walk
Did I cry at some point during this 5-mile long stroll? Yes, yes I did. But it was Day 10 of our trip, and Day 6 of pouring rain: the boots I had water-treated prior to our departure were soaked completely through; I had plastic grocery bags wrapped around my socks to try to keep at least some amount of water out; and the J.Crew rain jacket I’d bought specially for the trip wasn't up to gale-force precipitation, so the majority of my body was soaked too. Colton had—of course—come prepared, and he was going to do this walk without me come hell or high water (very, very high water). Needless to say, he was furious with me.
All that and I STILL remember the Philosopher’s Path as one of the best parts of Kyoto!
Hopefully you get the chance to do it on a clearer and warmer day.
Start at the south end of the Path, after you do EIKAN-DO ZENRIN-JI (below). The walk begins at the Kumano Nyakuoji-Jinja Shrine, and then winds along the river for about a mile, ending near the foot of the famous Silver Pavilion.
Eikan-Do Zenrin-Ji
A really, really beautiful (and large!) shrine/compound, that might not warrant a visit on its own, but in combination with a walk up the Philosophers Path, is a great way to start off an afternoon.
Kiyomizu-Dera
A super-famous, super crowded UNESCO World Heritage Site. The temple and surrounding grounds are beautiful, but apparently the real treasure of this location lies underneath it. I wasn’t able to find it in time for closure (we got there late!) but ask someone where to find the Womb Stone. You’ll have to go into a pitch-black tunnel to get to it, but the magical stone at the end is worth it. One of the few regrets of my trip was not finding it!
There’s also an AMAZING cemetery just adjacent to the temple grounds. It seems to go on forever.
L’Escamoteur
We were so tired from our daytime tourism that we rarely went out. But a friend recommended we go to L’Escamoteur, and we were glad we took her advice. It’s a Steampunk-themed bar (I know, I know, but it’s Japan so I let it fly), with some truly incredible craft cocktails.
Udon
A couple of Japan’s best Udon restaurants are in the center of Kyoto. I don’t remember their names. Do your research. Udon is delicious.
Cafe Bibliotic Hello!
A book/library-themed cafe with one of the best stews (traditional, western style) I’ve ever had in my life.
They have wifi and a seemingly limitless menu (not to menton collection of books), so this is a great place to post up for an afternoon if you need to recharge, reset, and relax.
TOKYO
I’M NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO DO THIS CITY JUSTICE
Nonbei Yokocho (Shibuya)
Known as “Drunkard’s Alley,” it’s a couple streets worth of bars and izakaya (skewers!) restaurants stacked on top of each other. Super close to the main Shibuya train station. Great as a one-stop nighttime shop.
Robot Restaurant (Shinjuku)
It is not—as I had expected—a restaurant staffed entirely by robots, but rather something else entirely. Think Medieval Times meets Power Rangers meets Hello Kitty… on acid. You watch a show while you drink. It’s called a restaurant, but I only remember eating popcorn. Eat somewhere else before or afterwards. It’s worth it. Make a reservation/buy tickets online prior!
Golden Gai (Shinjuku)
Remember those small bars in Osaka I raved about? This is Tokyo’s small bar mecca. Unlike the skyscrapers of Osaka, it’s a few city blocks of two-to-three story buildings, made up of bar upon bar upon dark alley upon bar. Plan to spend a night roaming around and trying all the doors you come across.
Burgers
By the time we got back to Tokyo, I never wanted to see a fermented/pickled food item again. I cried thinking about burgers. And then I got a burger, and I cried while eating it. The Japanese do burgers well, great even, with a host of different toppings and weird flavors. If you’re homesick, just Google map and go to your closest, highest-rated spot.
More to come…