Hey Everyone! I (23M) recently had the opportunity of going for my dream trip to Japan. This has been my dream for the last 10+ years and I finally had the chance to go this year. Thought of sharing my solo travel experience with the world. This trip took place in the end of May/beginning of June 2026 and lasted 14 days.
Itinerary:
Days 1-2: Kyoto (Eastern half)
Day 3: Nara Day trip
Day 4: Uji Day trip
Day 5: Kyoto (Western half)
Day 6: Osaka Day trip
Days 7-8: Tokyo (Akihabara, Shinjuku, Central Tokyo)
Day 9: Hakone Day trip
Day 10: Tokyo (Shinagawa, Nagano and Koenji)
Day 11: Kamakura and Enoshima Island Day trip
Days 12-14: Tokyo (Shibuya, Asakusa)
Started off by landing in Tokyo, and spent the better half of the 1st day travelling to Kyoto (I did it this way because my flights had been booked months in advance and my itinerary was finalised much later on). The first evening was chill. I headed upto TeamLAB Biovortex and this was a life changing experience. It is a free roam expansive immersive art installation which lasts 2-3 hours based on your pacing. I purposely choose the evening time which gave me about 2.5 hours to explore till closing and lesser crowds. The whole trip felt like an out of body experience, this is absolutely a non miss. Came out to light drizzling and found myself in a local ramen shop eating a warm bowl of tonkotsu ramen to the light sounds of rain.
The next day was spent among the temples and shrines of eastern Kyoto. Ginkaku-ji, Kiyomizu-dera, Nanzen-ji, strolling down the Philosopher's Path. Got an egg sandwich and a smoothie, one of many, many more on this trip. The skies were gloomy, as they were on most of the trip, but rain was a rare sight. I discovered that the 7/11 pancakes were absolutely delicious and treated myself to some soup dumplings at Din Tai Fung.
Day 3. Met up with a friend who was also travelling to Japan and headed upto Nara Deer Park. The deer were aggressive and chased people around but adorable. We also saw the Todai-ji temple, the world's largest structure completely made of wood, and I finally found the famous Cremia Hokkaido milk ice cream. Undoubtedly my favourite dessert on this trip. Split up with my friend in Kyoto and climbed all the way to the top of the Fushimi Inari shrine in Kyoto, almost died but i made it up anyway. The views were most definitely worth it. Healed myself with a bowl of Ichiran Ramen, most definitely the best thing I ate in my entire trip.
The day after that I headed upto Uji City, the matcha capital of the world and the birthplace of Matcha, for a greenmaxxed morning. Pondered about life in Japan while sitting at the bank of the Uji river, and made friends with a Japanese couple running a humble coffee shop in Uji. Saw the temple on the 10 yen coin, and headed back to Kyoto. Had my first "drinking alone in a bar" experience in the evening. Went back to the hotel with a light buzz feeling good about life for the first time in a while.
The following morning, western Kyoto awaited me. Arashiyama was perhaps the most lush and vibrant area I saw in the whole country. The bamboo forest came with it's crowds, and I saw another shrine nestled among Japanese maple trees. After spending time in the nature, I headed to Gion, and was transported back to Edo-period Kyoto with the stone streets and wooden houses. I also saw the Golden Pavillion and ate some very pretty looking ice cream.
The next 2 days were spent in Osaka and travelling to Tokyo. Osaka was unforntunately a bit of a miss for me since I provisioned only one day and accidentally ate at a tourist trap restaurant with terrible food. Quite ironic to have bad food in a place called "Japan's Kitchen". However, the Osaka housing museum was a one-of-a-kind experience. It's a 1-1 recreation of Edo period Osaka, and it is incredible. Saw the sun setting from the Harukas Observation deck. Took the train to Tokyo the next morning, made it to a rainy Tokyo. Checked into my Matchbox hotel and spent the evening in the arcades of Akihabara.
Typhoon warning. Tokyo had been hit right in the middle of my trip. I tried to be brave and stepped out anyway but I was quickly humbled by the winds and sheets of rain and had to retreat into a coffee shop before I got fully drenched. Changed course and spent the evening in the Ueno Museum with the typhoon roaring outside. We are now at Day 9, and I headed to Hakone on a post typhoon sunny day. Arguably my favourite spot on the entire trip. The weather was cold, and it was the perfect day to be in a hot-spring town. Saw the famous torii gate by the water and headed up to Owakudani for the sulfur mines. Eventually the rotten egg smell got to me and I got lucky with an empty cable car all the way down to the Hakone Open Air Museum. Gained a few life hearts by visiting the natural foot baths before heading back to Tokyo.
Day 10 was spent in Shinjuku city. Saw the national gardena and red light distrct among other things. A normal day. The next day was spent without much of an itinerary or plan in mind, met up with a friend of a friend at the Tokyo City flea market and spent the day thrifting and visiting indie bars in various neighbourhoods unknown by tourists. The soullessness of Tokyo city had hit me by this day and I had realised this is not my favourite city, although I was still happy to be there.
Another day, another day trip, this time to Kamakura and Enoshima island. Rain was once again present, but it dissipated without hampering my plans too much. Enoshima island was shrouded in mist when I got there, and on my trek cutting through the island, the mist cleared and made way for views of the bay. Ending up on the other side of the island I went into Iwaya Caves. The lore says if you feel wind on your face and follow it into the caves you will reach Mt. Fuji, but they didn't let us try. Cowards. By the time i got to Kamakura the rain had picked up yet again so I had to head back to Tokyo.
And now we come to Day 13. Last full official day of the trip. Started strong with the usual, a smoothie and an egg sandwich, the last ones of this trip. The day was spent in Shibuya, where i scrambled (haha) across the crossing, to finish my never ending shopping list which I had ignored all this while. Paid my respects to the goodest boy that ever was at the Hachiko statue, before leaving Shibuya and heading to Asakusa for the last stop of the trip, Senso-ji temple. Got distracted and headed into Don-Quijote for hours. Came out of overstimulation hell and saw an empty Senso-ji temple in all it's might. Found a Vietnamese restaurant for some Banh-mi and headed back to the hotel, leaving the next morning.
I may have left Japan, but a part of me has remained there, waiting for my inevitable return to the land of the rising sun.