We visited Japan in 2013 and spent time in Tokyo and Kyoto. Tokyo is a fantastic place if you enjoy the hustle and bustle of a big city, it is always busy and there is an endless list of places to see and things to do.
Of all our travels, i can easily say that Japan has some of the friendliest people we have come across, although there is difficulty with language, they always try to help, even if it means a 15 minute conversation in sign language.
We stayed in Shinjuku, Tokyo, which provided easy access throughout the city and beyond via there exceptional train system. Access to all of the sights we wanted to see, including Disneyland was simple, i found the ticket machines in the train stations easy to use and if there was trouble there is always someone to help.
Tokyo delivers everything you would expect in a Japan visit, from large shopping centers, big restaurants, vending machines and of course little hole in the wall restaurants. Not to forget how photogenic the landscape areas are like the imperial palace. Tokyo still provides a mix of old and new and if you could only visit one city Tokyo would be high on my list.
We again employed the public transport system, in particular the Shinkasen to head down to Kyoto and it didn’t disappoint, quick, efficient and provided views of Mt Fuji.
Kyoto is obviously much smaller than Tokyo and provided a more relaxed time for the couple of nights we where there. We went to Kyoto to take in sights like the Kiyomizu-dera and enjoyed wandering around the town. There is some beautiful spots in Kyoto and the food was excellent.
The two and a half weeks we had certainly didn’t do Japan justice and we look forward to having the opportunity to travel back there in the future. I could quite happily spend weeks in Tokyo alone exploring.
Checking Off The List 