My Top 10 Highlights Of Our Trip To Japan

Guess what, everybody – WE FINALLY MADE IT TO JAPAN!!!

Four years after we were originally due to fly out, we finally landed in the one bucket-list destination that kept trying to get away from us!

It goes without saying that Japan lived up to every hype. It’s incredible in so many different ways to everywhere else I love.

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Japan is EVERYTHING I travel for – amazing traditional culture fused with quirky futuristic features, mindblowing cities, beautiful landscapes, unique transport that it’s famous for, fantastic food, friendly people. It’s the home of Nintendo and Pokemon and anime and Hello Kitty and so many things we grew up with. It has a shattering history, beautiful temples, intricate rules, iconic mountains, weird vending machines and some of the best food on the planet.

But it’s also everything against what I usually travel for – shopping, for example, is something I never really do when I travel. Japan? I wanted to go into so many unique shops, I wanted to buy so many souvenirs, and we had to dedicate a fair amount of time in the tax-free shop Don Quijote, purely to pick up a ton of KitKat bars and see all the madness.

Watching TV in a hotel? I never normally do this on holiday, but Japanese TV with their absolutely insane shows? It’s half of what made me want to visit Japan in the first place! And even when it comes to food, usually when I visit somewhere, there are a couple of local dishes I want to try, but I’m definitely not a foodie and it’s not always my main focus. In Japan we wanted to try more food than the number of meals we had. And speaking of food, I definitely didn’t expect to go into convenience stores every single day – but they really are as good as people say they are!

I wanted to experience as much as I could in Japan, which is difficult on a 2 week trip when there is just so much TO experience, and especially when it includes things I don’t even normally bother with on trips! Japan was EVERYTHING.

Towards the end of the trip, we asked each other what our highlights and favourite places had been – and my answer, legitimately, was “everything”. I couldn’t narrow it down; I could barely even eliminate anything from the list of everything we’d done.

Now that I’ve had some time to process the trip, I’ve decided on some definite highlights of our time in Japan – and here are ten of them (with a bonus at the end!).

This post contains affiliate links. Please note if you buy or book anything through my links, I may earn a little commission that helps keep this site running, at no extra cost to you. Thank you so much for your support!

Seeing Mount Fuji in real life

I had many, many things on my bucket list for Japan, and one of the main ones was to see Mount Fuji. The ultimate dream was to see it with the iconic view of the pagoda, but I’d be happy just seeing the mountain.

As we pulled out of Tokyo on the bullet train to Kyoto, my heart sank when all the mountains were in cloud. No matter – we’d be visiting near the end of the trip, and spending a night nearby to give ourselves two chances to see the elusive volcano.

On our way back, Fuji San rose out of the clouds for the briefest of moments, and I genuinely got so excited and emotional that I cried! By the time we were on a bus up to Kawaguchiko, it had gone again. I didn’t care. I had seen it!

But no, it got better. After checking in to our accommodation and recharging, it started to appear again! We headed up to the Chureito Pagoda in the late afternoon, by which time the clouds had dispersed so that just a wisp floated across the middle of the mountain. I was on cloud nine, if you excuse the pun!

Read more: A Semi-Helpful Guide To Mount Fuji & How To Visit From Osaka

Visiting Miyajima and seeing the magical torii gate in the water

The torii gate at Miyajima is one of those iconic images of Japan that entices people to go there in the first place.

In 2020, the gate was actually undergoing renovations, and we had scrapped it from our list as there was no point going to see a block of scaffolding. So one of the (few) advantages of delaying it by four years is that we managed to go after all and see this incredible sight!

What had started as quite an ambitious travel day ended with an entire afternoon chilling on Miyajima, which probably ended up being one of my favourite days of the trip* as it was the first chance we’d had to slow down.

* spoiler – every day was one of my favourite days of the trip!

Read more: An Overnight Trip To Hiroshima, Miyajima & Himeji From Osaka

Climbing the mountain at Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto

I have been dreaming of Fushimi Inari for years, with the iconic red torii gates snaking up a mountain. I never planned to do the whole climb, and was content with turning back at the first viewpoint. However I won’t lie – it was so busy, even when we arrived at 8am (I had joked about getting there at 6am, and no longer think that would be a joke!). So we decided to go further, just to get away from the crowds, and immediately found peace on the mountain.

Ultimately we ended up doing the entire walk, as the extra loop is only about a half hour round trip from the first viewpoint, so it’s not actually too hard a climb. I’m really glad we did it – not only did I feel accomplished, but it was really nice having the place a little more to ourselves and seeing the real nature of the surroundings!

Read more: Shrines, Temples & Geisha: How To Spend Two Days In Magical Kyoto, Japan

Seeing the cherry blossoms in Japan

Just before we arrived in Japan, news articles started popping up: the cherry blossoms in Tokyo were due to be in full bloom on the 25th March. Guess what day we were arriving? THE 25TH OF GOD DAMN MARCH!! I was BUZZING!

We arrived to the tail-end of terrible weather, and the update that due to the terrible weather, the cherry blossoms were now delayed by at least a week. Of course. It meant that we didn’t really see any at all in Tokyo until we returned at the end of the trip, and by the time we got to Kyoto it felt like we were hopelessly chasing them as they weren’t quite there apart from the odd tree.

Week two was much more successful on the cherry blossom front, and we saw absolutely loads in Himeji, Hiroshima, Miyajima, and finally back in Tokyo! It was one of the main reasons for planning our trip at this time of year (off-season would have been muuuuch cheaper!) so by that point I was relieved it had paid off, but also: CHERRY BLOSSOMS IN JAPAN!! The dream!

Read more: Five Days In The Bright Lights Of Tokyo

All of the food in Osaka

Oh god, where do I even start with Osaka? It’s a city we loved instantly, and far more than we thought we would. But what really sold Osaka was the food. It’s famous for being Japan’s kitchen, after all – in a country that’s already renowned for only having incredible food; nothing less. As our friend said before we went, even average food in Japan is very, very good.

So you can bet that the very, very good food is out of this world in Osaka!

We had some amazing meals as well as street food – including takoyaki, of course! We also had some absolutely delicious okonomiyaki, a local Osaka dish.

(Not going to lie – all the food in Japan was a highlight, and some of my favourite meals were in Kyoto and Tokyo, too!)

Read more: A Love Letter To Osaka, Japan: Why It’s Worth More Than A Day Trip

Feeling like we were in a video game at Super Nintendo World at Universal

One of our absolute highlights was our day spent at Universal Studios in Osaka! It was a day of unabashed fun, but our main reason for going to Universal was for Super Nintendo World!

Since opening in Japan, there is now also a second park in Hollywood, but while it may no longer be a Japan exclusive, where better to experience it than in the birthplace of Nintendo?!

This is easily the best theme park experience we’ve EVER had! It literally felt like we were walking around in a video game, and you couldn’t wipe the smiles off our faces!

Read more: Making The Most Of Universal Studios & Super Nintendo World In Japan

Feeding the polite deer in Nara

Nara is a great city, and full of cultural sites, including the main park which is home to a few shrines and temples. One of the star attractions of Nara, however, is its local residents.

The deer in Nara Park have learned to bow to ask for a cracker. It’s BRILLIANT. They bow, you bow, then you feed them a cracker!

Only in Japan!

Read more: Hanging Out With The Polite Deer In Nara, Japan

Being checked in to a hotel by robot dinosaurs

I had several places on my list to stay in Japan, and this was one of the main ones. Henn Na Hotel has a few hotels dotted around Japan, but their property in Tokyo Bay has a particularly unique feature – the receptionists are robot dinosaurs!!

This was EVEN BETTER than I thought it would be! I had a look of awe on my face for the entire check-in process (which I filmed!). It’s absolutely brilliant!

Book a night at the Henn Na Hotel Maihama Bay here!

Again, only in Japan!!

Read more: We Stayed In A Hotel With Robot Dinosaur Receptionists & It Was Brilliant!

One thing we didn’t get to do was eat at Pepper Parlor, because it was booked out when we tried to visit, yet I couldn’t find a way to book it online. However this is equally fantastic as the servers are robots who chat to you! We had to walk through the restaurant to get out, and even that was brilliant to witness.

Nerding out at Studio Ghibli stuff

I can’t really narrow down one specific highlight for Studio Ghibli-related things, so I’ve decided to mash them together into one themed highlight.

Our first Studio Ghibli “experience” was visiting Donguri Republic at Skytree, which is one of the best Studio Ghibli stores in Japan. Not only was the shop great, my main reason for wanting to visit this one in particular was the photo opportunity with Totoro!! AT THE BUS STOP!

There’s even a Catbus by the door. This made my life!

The second highlight was, of course, the Studio Ghibli museum. I have already drafted a post about our experience buying tickets for this, because it is a challenge. However it’s definitely worth it if you can go! The museum is much larger than I expected, and has tons of Miyazaki’s artwork, inspiration and physical animations. There’s even a little cinema room where they show a rotating exhibit of unseen short films. It’s a fantastic place for any Ghibli fan.

Nearby, there is a Ghibli-themed restaurant, Corn Barley, which was so much better than any of us expected. In fact, it was probably one of my favourite meals of the trip! Each course was themed around food from a film, and the restaurant was packed with collectible Ghibli wares, which was so cool. We were sat at a Kiki’s Delivery Service themed table, with a massive Jiji! I was properly geeking out.

Read more: Visiting the Studio Ghibli Museum in Tokyo + Tips For Buying Tickets

We also popped to Shirohige’s Totoro Cream Puff Factory, but sadly they’d sold out of the cream puffs! They do have other things though, and we picked up a few boxes of Totoro cookies!

A food & drink tour in Shinjuku, Tokyo

For Ash’s birthday, our friend had suggested booking a food & drink tour that he’d actually done a few years earlier with the same guide. I haven’t really done a tour like this before, and it ended up being a highlight of the trip!

We had a fantastic evening visiting izakayas and standing restaurants that we may never have gone to ourselves along Memory Lane (aka Piss Alley!), and were served adventurous dishes, shown how to pick up chopsticks correctly, given sake in the traditional way, and finally taken to a bar in the Golden Gai to end the night on some unique drinks, where we stayed out after to check out a few other bars.

We had such a good time on this tour – highly recommended! You can book it here (not an affiliate link).

Bonus: Watching our friends get engaged!

On the evening we headed up to the pagoda to see Mount Fuji, something else very exciting was in store. Our friend was planning to propose!! It was a really beautiful moment, and Ash & I got involved by documenting it for them (at his request). Ash filmed it and I took some photos! I won’t put any on here, but here’s a test shot I took about 30 seconds beforehand to make sure I had a good angle.

There are absolutely tons of other highlights I could include. I haven’t mentioned watching the sun go down by Osaka Castle. I haven’t mentioned the monkey park in Arashiyama, or taking a beautiful garden-themed train to get there. I haven’t mentioned Himeji, an incredible castle surrounded by cherry blossoms. I haven’t told you the story of how I got one of my dream shots in Kyoto. I haven’t talked about Hiroshima.

Needless to say, there is LOTS of Japan content incoming!

And let’s face it – you’ve had fair warning. It’s been a LONG time coming!

Read all about our trip to Japan here:
⭐ Our Perfect Two Week Itinerary For A First Time Visit To Japan
⭐ Five Days In The Bright Lights Of Tokyo
⭐ A Photo Guide To TeamLab Borderless: Is This Tokyo Attraction Worth Visiting In 2024?
⭐ Visiting the Studio Ghibli Museum in Tokyo + Tips For Buying Tickets
⭐ Shrines, Temples & Geisha: How To Spend Two Days In Magical Kyoto, Japan
⭐ A Love Letter To Osaka, Japan: Why It’s Worth More Than A Day Trip
⭐ Making The Most Of Universal Studios & Super Nintendo World In Japan
⭐ Hanging Out With The Polite Deer In Nara, Japan
⭐ An Overnight Trip To Hiroshima, Miyajima & Himeji From Osaka
⭐ A Semi-Helpful Guide To Mount Fuji & How To Visit From Osaka