Exploring Japan: Stein’s Travel Blog
WisconSteins visit Japan
Our family of three and a good family friend had the pleasure of spending two weeks in Japan in July 2024. We debated about the timing knowing that the best time to visit is during the cherry blossom season but school schedules dictated a summer holiday. It was hot and humid (if you go during July and August, plan your wardrobe and activities accordingly) but we were not deterred and spent most of our days outside walking, biking, and hiking.
Why Japan?
Our eight-year-old son loves Pokémon and sushi. We previously traveled to Europe twice and, now that he is older, we wanted a more adventurous trip. Japan seemed like an obvious choice. We divided vacation planning into three buckets:
- Which cities to visit and when: We weren’t sure about the culture shock of starting our vacation in Tokyo (the biggest metropolis in the world) and decided to fly into Osaka’s international airport instead. We knew Kyoto (and a more historic aspect to the vacation) would be important so we settled on a plan of 4 nights in Osaka, 4 nights in Kyoto, and 5 nights in Tokyo. We booked plane tickets and places to stay 3-4 months before the trip.
- Detailed outline: About two months before the trip, we mapped out one big activity to do each day. We used Viatour to pick one formal “tour” in each city and made sure that each of us got one “must do” activity on the schedule.
- Final ticket purchases: In the 2-4 weeks before leaving, we purchased tickets for a few of our planned activities (e.g. the Osaka aquarium) to reduce the time spent waiting in lines.
The Agenda
- Sunday: Arrive in Osaka and Settle In
- Monday: Osaka Walking Tour including the Osaka Castle and River Cruise
- Tuesday: Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan and Tempozan Ferris Wheel
- Wednesday: Day Trip to Kobe
- Thursday: Day Trip to Uji
- Friday: Kyoto Bike Tour and Zoo
- Saturday: Temple Morning, Geisha Evening
- Sunday: Unplanned Day (We slept in and did some shopping)
- Monday: Bullet Train to Tokyo and Shibuya Neighborhood
- Tuesday: Ueno Park, Zoo, and Art Museums
- Wednesday: Day Trip to Mount Fuji
- Thursday: Disney Sea
- Friday: Fish Market and Baseball
- Saturday: Return home
The Experience
Getting around: We spent a little time learning key phrases in Japanese like “hello” and “thank you” but otherwise crossed our fingers on language issues. We were pleased to find that most transportation-related signs and kiosks had an English option. Combined with wi-fi and mobile phones, we easily got around in public transportation. We avoided trains at rush hour, which made for comfortable travel. Our group of four is all physically capable so we planned to and did a lot of walking (the adults averaged over 20,000 steps per day). Sidewalks were plentiful so it would be stroller-friendly.
Food: We didn’t plan meals in advance and were able to find plenty of delicious (oishi) food. We were surprised at how little sushi we ate (maybe 4 meals, total, which were raw fish). Our kiddo really enjoyed the ramen and he set a personal goal to have ramen at least once per day. We had more hot pot than expected and tried Kobe beef in Kobe. We avoided Western food (we had McDonald’s once) but there were some options if your family has picky eaters. The prevalence of Lawson/Family Marts made grabbing a snack or something to drink easy.
Pools: If you travel with a kid in the USA, you ALWAYS book the hotel with a pool. That was a bit harder in Japan and, where we found it, you pay extra for use of the pool. They make up for the dearth of pools with amazing bathrooms. Bathrooms in the train stations were clean. Both our ryokan in Kyoto and the hotel in Tokyo had multi-headed showers and luxurious tubs, welcoming kids and grown-ups for a nice end-of-day soak.
Vacation Inside Our Vacation
Upon return from Japan, colleagues ask about the favorite part of our vacation and it’s a difficult choice. Japan has much to offer and we had many “little vacations” inside of one trip. We had some days immersed in nature – following a hiking trail in Kobe with a beautiful waterfall. We spent some days immersed in history – walking through a thousand-year-old temple and learning about famous samurai. We spent days in the city – singing karaoke and checking out views from the SkyTree. We watched a baseball game, went to two zoos and an aquarium, went to art and history museums, had a bath in the onsen, walked through a bamboo forest, and capped it off with a day at Disney.
Japan is a wonderful destination for a family vacation (or two) and we look forward to returning some day in the future to explore more.