We've finally made it to my last Japan recap! On our last full day we spent the morning with some adorable bowing deer in Nara and visiting Todai-ji Temple. If this were the beginning of the trip we would have made more of an effort to visit other areas of Nara, but as we were on day 13 (our last full day) we didn't have it in us to walk too much.
On our second day in Kyoto we spent the first couple hours of the day getting to and exploring Fushimi Inari Shrine, then we hopped back on the train to Osaka. We got on the train at Fushimi Inari Station and arrived at our first stop in Osaka at 11:03am!
Christian and I aren't into nightlife so we were there for the food, shopping and sights! I was on the hunt for my designer bag treat and Christian wanted to buy a bunch of vintage games. He also had a very specific snack in mind for our visit to Dotonbori Street. We walked 9.4 miles this day, phew!
Our last major stop was in Kyoto! We decided to stay here for 2 nights and do a half day in Osaka rather than staying in both spots. We had a day and a half to see the highlights of Kyoto and I think we did a pretty good job for being super tired at the tail end of the trip. I wish we had more time but there were so many places we wanted to try and see that sacrifices had to be made. If (when, if Christian has his way) we get back I'm sure we'll spend some more time in Kyoto before checking out other new spots.
Our next stop in Japan was Kanazawa. It's known for well-preserved Edo-era districts, Samurai and the fish market - Omicho Market. It's gaining more popularity amongst tourists but a lot of people pass it by for the major spots. We decided to spend 2 nights here in a traditional machiya house so we had time to take in the sights leisurely.
There was a nice mix of sightseeing and shopping during our 2 days of exploring, but we did way more walking than we planned, read on to find out why, ha ha. On our last night I did a face mask that we got from another hotel we stayed at and turned in early at 8:30pm. We were out of the house by 6:30 the next morning to take the train to Kyoto!
In Kanazawa, we broke our rule of staying near the train station to spend a couple of nights in a traditional Machiya House. The house was located in the central Hikoso-machi area, a former samurai neighborhood. It was a 17-minute walk by the most direct route, but Google Maps kept rerouting us through side streets, making it take longer. While we loved the house (and would still go back,) the walk with all our luggage was a bit of a pain, especially since we were starting to feel the effects of all the walking we’d been doing.
Let's begin the recap!
Something I was most excited to do in Japan was stay at a traditional ryokan. We decided the time to stay at one was in Nagano, more specifically Shibu Onsen. Shibu Onsen is a traditional hot spring town in the mountains. We chose this spot because of the beauty and it's proximity to Jigokudani Monkey Park. That was one of the first things Christian had on his must-do list. It was a bit of a trek coming out here from Tokyo but in the end it was worth it because we stopped in Kanazawa on our way to Kyoto. Plus we got to see what a smaller more rural area was like. It was fun seeing the scenery change while we were on the train.
This was another planned "break" in the middle of our trip. We knew our evening at the onsen would be relaxing and spent in a hot spring, relaxing in our room and eating a delicious Japanese meal. Two out of 3 were great, ha ha! The following day we would be hiking up to visit the bathing snow monkeys but the rest of the day would be traveling to our next location.
As mentioned in my Tokyo recap, I will be going through each day of the trip sharing where we went, what we ate and where we stayed! Our third location was Lake Kawaguchiko and Fujikawaguchiko. We wanted to see Mt. Fuji but didn't feel the need to get super close or climb any portion of it this trip. You can only hike when the trails are open in the Summer anyway. After some research we decided that viewing from Kawaguchiko was our best option.
Time for destination two on our Japan trip, Tokyo Disney Resort! Tokyo Disney is known by many as one of the best Disney parks in the world and after having finally been there myself, I agree! (I have been to 4 of the 6 parks around the world.) We spent 3 days (plus an evening) and 3 nights at the resort so we could pack as much in as possible. It still wasn't enough to see and do everything but we got to experience all of our must-dos. Be sure to check out my Tokyo Disney Resort trip planning guide if you haven't already!
As mentioned in my Tokyo recap, I will be going through each day of the trip sharing where we went, what we ate and where we stayed! This post will be slightly different because technically we were at Disney the whole time, ha ha. This is going to be a long post, so buckle up! Or just scroll down and look at the photos, ha ha.
Planning & Timing
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Travel is important to us so we save for a bunch of different trips at once and always have a Miscellaneous, Disney and Missouri fund (to visit Christian's family) |
Booking Flights
Itinerary Overview
- Day 1: Land in Tokyo at 3pm
- Day 2: Tokyo morning, Tokyo Disneyland afternoon
- Days 3-5: Tokyo Disneyland (my trip planning guide)
- Day 6: Tokyo morning, Mt. Fuji afternoon
- Day 7: Mt. Fuji morning, back to Tokyo afternoon
- Day 8: Tokyo morning, travel to Nagano afternoon
- Day 9: Snow Monkey Park morning, travel to Kanazawa
- Day 10: Kanazawa
- Day 11: Travel to Kyoto, visit the Nintendo Museum
- Day 12: Kyoto morning, Osaka afternoon/evening, back to Kyoto
- Day 13: Nara Deer Park morning, Kyoto afternoon, back to Tokyo early evening
- Day 14: Tokyo morning, flight home at 5pm
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My crazy itinerary spreadsheet |
Accommodations
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Left: Dome with view of Mt. Fuji; Right: Traditional Ryokan at Shibu Onsen |
- Night 1: Keio Presso Inn Tokyo Station Yaesu (5 minutes from Tokyo Station)
- Nights 5-7: Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku (5 minutes from Shinjuku Station)
- Night 13: Hotel Monte Hermana Tokyo (5 minutes from Tokyo Station)
- Night 2: Tokyo Disneyland Hotel - Beauty & the Beast Room (5 minute walk from Maihama Station, or take Monorail)
- Night 3 & 4: Tokyo DisneySea Fantasy Springs Hotel - Fantasy Chateau (Monorail to Maihama Station)
- Night 6: Retreat Camp Mahoroba Dome Tent (they offered a free shuttle to and from Kawaguchiko station)
- Night 8: Shibu Onsen Kokuya - Sakura Room with onsen (hotel offered free shuttle from Yudanaka Station and we took a cab back, but there are also buses)
- Nights 9 & 10: Kurohoro Machiya Holiday House (20 minutes from Kanazawa Station)
Train Travel
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The train was empty so we staged a silly photo |
I have a lot of posts planned to recap our two-week trip to Japan, but let’s start with an easy one—what I wore to stay warm and comfortable in the cold weather! After calculating our mileage when we got home, I realized we walked a total of 96 miles over the two weeks. By the end, our feet were definitely feeling it, but thanks to my comfortable supination insoles from PowerStep, I avoided serious pain. I've had these insoles in my boots for over a year now, and while the boots have always been comfortable, the insoles took them to the next level. To stay extra cozy, I also used a pair of Flat Socks fuzzy liner socks on top!
I tried to pack as light as possible since I knew we’d be bringing home a lot of souvenirs. The plan was for me to use my Day Owl backpack and a small carry-on, while Christian carried his brand-new Tortuga backpack (which he got specifically for this trip). We entered Japan with just these bags, determined to see how far we could get before needing extra luggage. We made it all the way back to our last night in Tokyo before buying a medium-sized suitcase from Don Quijote to check on the flight home. Before that, we had been using a giant Disney shopping bag for our purchases, which obviously wasn’t going to work for air travel. It was great for train travel because we didn't need to buy "oversized baggage" train tickets that are required if your bags do not fit in the overhead bins or by your feet.
Packing light meant re-wearing a lot of the same clothes, but honestly, it didn’t matter since I had my coat on almost the entire time. No one would have noticed if I repeated outfits every day (not that anyone would care!)
For clothing, I brought two pairs of jeans, comfortable pants that don't look like sweatpants I bought 2 days before we left (mainly for the flights, since hotels in Japan provide pajamas), and a handful of sweaters and layering shirts. For extra warmth I had a Disney hat, big Madewell scarf and gloves. I only packed one pair of boots, knowing they’d work in rain, snow, and cold. Looking back, I probably could have packed even less, but hey—a girl likes to have options! I also brought a simple sling bag that would fit my essentials on sightseeing days.
Here’s what you can look forward to in my upcoming Japan posts—assuming I can get myself in gear and actually tackle them! 😉
- Our Full Trip Itinerary
- A Deep Dive into Our Tokyo Disney Experience
- A Tokyo Disney Planning & Information Guide
- Our Stay in Shibu Onsen & Visiting the Snow Monkeys
Is there anything specific you’d like to hear more about? Let me know! In the meantime, you can check out my daily Instagram recap carousels for a peek at what we did.
On day two of our Salem trip we started bright and early again, arriving at our same parking place on Essex street at 8am. We did all the paid things on day two after deciding what we wanted to do on Saturday. We also repeated a lot of spots since I wanted some non-rainy shots too. We left to drive home a little after 1pm so it was a short day. Before we get to the schedule of the day here comes the outfit photos.

We took a stroll along the water and by the Salem Maritime National Historic Site. After about 45 minutes there we headed back to Town Hall, the Bewitched Statue and Allison's house on the way to walk some of the historic streets like Chestnut, Cambridge and Pickering. We made sure to walk by The Pickering House, one of the oldest home in Salem.
After our morning walk we headed back toward the water for our tour of The House of the Seven Gables at 10:30am. I haven’t read the book (whoops) but learning the history of the house and how it inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne was very interesting. After the tour we also walked through the house where Hawthorne was born.
Our next historical activity was walking through The Witch House, which is down the street from the Ropes Mansion. For this tour you have to buy your tickets at 8am. We were on right at 8am and ended up with tickets at 11:45. It was cutting it pretty close to our first tour of the day but we knew we'd be able to make it.
After all that history we headed to the Salem Common to have lunch at the food truck festival! We shared some birria tacos, Christian got a Mac Melt and we both had whoopie pies.
Before heading home we went back to Forest River Park so we could visit Salem in 1630: Pioneer Village. At only $5 it was a steal. It is a small village but there's a lot to explore within the houses. This is where they filmed the first scenes in Hocus Pocus where Thackery Binx lived.