two weeks in japan. and its spreadsheet.

tokyo, hakone, kyoto, hiroshima, osaka (april–may 2025)

(originally posted on substack)

A Long Awaited Japan Trip

This trip had been sitting in the background for a long time. During the pandemic, Japan became a kind of dream. Hours of YouTube influence: Worth It food series, James May wandering around konbini stores, videos of traditional ink making obsessions.

And since last year or two, more and more friends around started going too. Maybe everyone had the same post-Covid pull toward, or just something different.

Planning was hard though. Choosing where to stay, when to move cities, which days to leave open. JRPass or not.

Now that it's over, I would like to share the notes, the links, the spreadsheet.

Let me overshare

Before the trip, I put together a spreadsheet to organize each city's musts to guide me while on the go (basically asking chatgpt to compile all the guides). But I also added tabs for special recommendations that I found on discord or youtube.

After coming back, I updated it with what we actually ended up doing, plus links and notes. Thought it might be helpful for friends planning a trip.

View the spreadsheet (don't miss the tabs)

art is easy in this country, even with a phone camera

Some "nobody asked but" advices

• Avoid Golden Week if you can. Not a dealbreaker, but it made everything more hectic.
• Buy ceremonial matcha.
• Try Iyoshi Cola.
• Skip teamLab. SKIP.
• Book a facial for no reason. It was unexpectedly grounding and gentle.
• No need to pack pajamas. This was a surprise to me. Every hotel gave a sleepwear. Not sure about the airbnbs.
• Eat all the ramen.
• Wear good shoes. Temples = stairs + long walks.
• Pack light. You'll be carrying your luggage more often than you think. Stairs, stations, and tight spaces. A carry-on and a backpack were enough for me. This one is personal, but I saw plenty of people struggling even with mid-sized suitcases.
• Pack your anti-histamine. It's a different universe but pollens do exist.

All aside, i think the most important nobody asked but advice is actually not to follow any guidance. All the blogs, guides, posts suggests to do more or less the same things. And trying to follow all, starts to feel like a checklist instead of feeling the experience.

Reflections

It was so worth it.

But it was also exhausting. Being a tourist for two full weeks is intense. Switching hotels, following all the navigating, eating out all the time, walking 25k steps a day, absorbing beauty constantly. Japan is visually overwhelming in the best way. A 16-meter Buddha here, thousands of red torii gates there. It's a lot.

If I were planning a first trip again, I'd probably keep it to 7–10 days. I'd skip the JR Pass and extra cities, and just focus on Tokyo and maybe Kyoto. Leave the rest for next time.

Still though, the tiredness didn't take away any joy. It was a spectacular trip. I'm grateful for every moment.