Not a RV trip of course, but this was our first international trip since Italy in Dec 2019/Jan 2020. Our son Sean & family planned a long-awaited trip to Japan and invited us to join them. They planned a 3-week trip but we only planned for a two-week stay.
We would overlap in Tokyo for 5 days then travel separately to Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka. I’ve been to Japan several times but this was my first trip without my Mom, who was Japanese. I was hoping to explore areas of Japan I’ve missed on our many earlier trips. It was a very different travel experience without her. But thanks to Google Maps & T-Mobile, navigating the Japanese mass transit system was pretty easy. Even with all the trains, buses, and taxis, we averaged ~20,000 or more steps each day.

Covid-19 is still on everyone’s mind in Japan and (almost) everyone wears masks, even outdoors. Japan is so densely populated and the trains/subways/metros/buses are packed so it’s very understandable. Carol and I, who have gone 3yrs Covid-free, both came down with it this trip. Fortunately, symptoms were mild and neither of us were severely sick.
If you plan on traveling internationally, especially to Japan, be sure to bring Covid tests. Getting tested there as a tourist can be expensive & complicated – there are a few locations offering PCR testing for foreigners or refer to this US Embassy info page. When we were there and asked a local pharmacy, they said they only provide testing for residents. So Covid testing for foreigners isn’t as easy – refer to these sites that provide info on tourist testing.

• TokyoPCR.com – https://tokyopcr.com/en/
• US Embassy List – https://jp.usembassy.gov/services/pcr-testing-facilities-in-japan/
• Timeout.com – https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/things-to-do/where-to-get-a-covid-19-pcr-test-and-travel-certificate-in-tokyo

11-16 May 2023: Tokyo

One of my biggest frustrations about traveling to Asia is crossing the International Date Line, so you immediately lose a day. Plus the flights are 11 or more hours long, so you are losing most of a second day. If you fly non-stop from SoCal at 1pm May 10th, you land in Narita Airport May 11th ~5pm. Going through customs, then traveling an hour to Tokyo from Narita, adds to the long travel day. You ‘gain’ a day coming back but a two-week trip to Japan is more like 10 days with all the travel involved.
But Japan is worth it and one of our favorite countries to visit. Going there with the grand-kids was refreshing plus Sean & Melissa planned full days of eclectic activities. We had very little to plan for the first five days of our trip.

• 11 May: Hotel Metropolitan Edmont Tokyo – this hotel is centrally located and near the Suidobashi & Iidabashi train stations. The room was spacious by Japanese standard with a balcony with a view to the area (see photo 1). The Tokyo Dome (photo 2) and Tokyo Dome City (photo 3) are within walking distance. Catch a baseball game at the Tokyo Dome or just visit the shops, restaurants, gardens, amusement park & playgrounds of Tokyo Dome City.
• 12 May: Tokyo
  • Gotokuji Temple: Toyko’s Maneki Neko ‘Lucky Cat’ Temple
  • Ghibli Museum 4:00PM
• 13 May: Tokyo
  • MINI PIG CAFE 11 AM
  • Baseball Game 2:00PM
  • Tokyo Dome City
• 14 May: Tokyo
  • Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens
  • Kanda Matsuri Festival
  • Sumo Tournament
  • Tokyo Skytree
• 15 May: Hakone Day Trip
  • Open Air Museum
  • Hakone Ropeway to Owakudani
  • Lake Ashi
• 16 May: Last Day in Tokyo
  • TeamLabs Tokyo- Art Exhibit 1:30-2 Entry
  • Shinkansen to Kyoto

16-19 May 2023: Kyoto

Sean & family’s plan was to stay in Tokyo till May 20th. Since our Japan trip was only two week, not three, we headed to Kyoto on May 16th. I’ve been to Kyoto a several times but this was my first visit without my Mom. Traveling so far has been pretty easy using Google directions to find our way. Having a Suica card in our iPhone wallet made riding the train and buses in Japan really easy. You place your iPhone on the IC reader and it automatically deducts the correct fare from your Suica card. It displays your balance so you can recharge your card whenever your balance gets low. We used T-Mobile’s $50 International Plan so our phones just worked normally. We did not need a mobile wifi device, Japanese e-sim card or eSim app like Airalo. Using something other than T-Mobile may have been cheaper. But having our regular phone numbers and iPhones working natively was worth the convenience.

• 16 May: Sakura Terrace The Gallery Hotel – the hotel is a short two-minute walk from the Kyoto train station. It was the perfect base location for our itinerary in Kyoto. The hotel was wonderful with nightly complimentary welcome drinks & a special guest dinner menu. Their breakfast buffet was the best we had in Japan. If we get back to Kyoto, we will definitely stay here again.
• 17 May: Kyoto
  • Fushimi Inari
• 18 May: Kyoto
  • Arashiyama Bamboo Grove
  • Iwatayama Monkey Park
  • Sagano Romantic Train

19-20 May 2023: Nara

When we came back to the USA from Thailand in 1970, we stopped in Japan. One of my favorite memories of our visit to Japan besides visiting our Japanese relatives Obaasan Misa (grandma), Obasan (Aunt) Kiyoko and Kazuko, was our visit to Nara. In the family photo album was a favorite photo of me surrounded by deer. I remembered being amongst them as they roamed freely around the city – wild but habituated to people. I made it a point to spend one night in Nara versus just a day trip. Being in Nara in the early morning is special, before the crowds arrive and the deer get aggressive for rice crackers (Osembe). A day trip or even one night isn’t really a long enough stay. Like Hakone, there is so much to experience besides the usual tourist spots. I would have love to have at least one more day to hike Mt. Kasuga Primeval Forest.

• 19 May: Nara Visitor’s Center & Inn – we stayed on the perimeter of Nara Park, in a huge (by Japanese standards) private room at the Nara Visitor’s Center & Inn. Kyoto and Nara have many traditional hotels (ryokans) but the location & amenities this place offered were hard to beat. They do not serve breakfast but provide cultural experiences and free luggage storage. There are several nearby coffee shops, including Starbucks, and restaurants for meals.
  • Nakatanidou Mochi Shop – a short must ‘must-see’ stop is a local mochi shop where every 20-30mins they pound mochi (sweet sticky rice) with wooden mallets. It’s quite the energetic show but only last a few minutes. The resulting rice cakes with sweet beans are the freshest you’ll ever find and delicious.
• 20 May:
  • Nara Park, Todai-ji Temple,
  • Kasuga Taisha Latern Shrine

20-23 May 2023: Osaka

Of the many times I visited Japan, I do not remember staying in Osaka. After Kyoto, we typically traveled south to Kagoshima where my Mom grew up. This trip, Osaka would be the furthest south we would travel.

• 20 May: Holiday Inn Osaka Namba – I decided this late in the trip we’d prefer a roomier hotel room than the typical Japanese hotel. Some are only 118-161 sq ft, so I booked a larger (269sqft) room at the Holiday Inn. We wanted to be walking distance to the river & Dontonburi and this hotel was one block away. Being a Holiday Inn, they provided a lot of American amenities (plus IHG points). But I’d have to say their breakfast buffet was a disappointment, worst we had in Japan. Still, it was great not being cramped in a small hotel room our last few days in Japan was relaxing.
  • Osaka Dotonburi
• 21 May:
  • Osaka Aquarium
  • Dontonburi Night Photography
• 22 May:
  • Osaka Castle
  • Tsutenkaku Hitachi Tower

23 May 2023: Osaka Shinkansen to Tokyo to Narita Airport

We considered traveling back to Tokyo for one night. But decided a long train ride from Osaka was less tedious than checking in and out of another hotel. It was a long busy day of travel but we had plenty of time to make our 5:20pm flight. It should be notable that although Japan has a great infrastructure of mass transit and taxis. You still can easily log more than 20000 steps in a day.