Brickers’ Fall & Winter Japan Trip Report
Konnichiwa from Japan! During our trip, we made stops at Mount Fuji, Nagoya, Hiroshima, and Osaka before arriving in Kyoto. We’ve already posted photo-heavy installments of this trip report from Tokyo through Nagoya, and will have the other parts of the report soon. (Last updated January 24, 2018.)
This post basically just functions as a sticky index for the main page of the blog that you can bookmark or find previous installments of our Japan trip report easily. It’s also a good spot to post random questions you might have, recommendations for us, or things you’d like to know (or even see!) from Japan.
These trip reports feature a lot of random photos, anecdotes, and general info about our day-to-day experiences in Japan. If you’re planning a trip, these posts might be useful for building anticipation and getting a general idea for what we’ve done and enjoy in Japan, but we’ll have a slew of trip planning posts in addition to these reports. In those, we’ll offer additional tips, touring strategy, and information about key points of interest…
This trip report are written in a way that allows you to join us vicariously and also “learn” (that term is used very loosely) more about Japan. We’re guessing many of you are Disney fans, and as we’ve now said countless times, Tokyo’s parks are our two favorite in the world.
Well, the country of Japan is one of our favorites in the world (with Kyoto being our #1 or #2 city), so hopefully this will solidify Japan as a bucket list travel destination for you. We strongly encourage anyone with the time and resources to try taking a trip to Japan. You won’t regret visiting!
Here are the installments of our Japan Fall & Winter Trip Report that are posted thus far…
Hong Kong (Days 1 & 2) – We Ate a Lot in Hong Kong
Tokyo Day 1 – The Hello Kitty Theme Park is Awesome (No Joke!)
Tokyo Day 2 – Our First Railroad Museum & Michelin-Star Ramen
Tokyo Day 3 – We Did Lots in Shinjuku, but the Highlight Was Eating Where Tom Hanks Ate.
Mount Fuji Day 1 – Misadventures in Public Bathing
Mount Fuji Day 2 – Chureito Pagoda, Maple Corridor, and More Mount Fuji Fun!
Nagoya Days 1 – 3 – Another Railway Museum & Castle
Miyajima Island – So much more than just the floating torii!
Hiroshima – Ruminations on War, Peace…and Bicycles
“Living Like Locals” in Kyoto:
Kyoto Fall & Winter Part 1 – The Christmas Tree Hunt and Adventures in Grocery Shopping
Kyoto Fall & Winter Part 2 – Getting Lost in the Woods & Changing Priorities
Kyoto Fall & Winter Part 3 – Answering Reader Questions & Our Wild Boar Encounter
That concludes the Brickers’ Fall & Winter Japan Trip Report! Thanks for coming along with us for the ride. Hopefully you enjoyed the fall colors photos, our experiences traveling around the beautiful country of Japan, and our random anecdotes along the way!
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If you just can’t get enough trip report fun, “Like” the TravelCaffeine Facebook Fan Page to see more of our photos and video from the trip!
If you’re planning a visit, please check out our other posts about Japan. We also recommend the Lonely Planet Japan Guide to help plan.
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We would greatly appreciate it if you’d share any trip report posts that you like with your friends or via social media. We’ve been putting a lot of effort into TravelCaffeine recently, and your support is what helps the site grow. Plus, the more people we inspire to visit Japan, the better! We also love when readers leave comments on the trip reports…let’s us know people out there are reading! 
Hey Tom,
Big fan of your guides. Been using them for all our Disney travels and it has paid off tremendously.Which why I’m I’m turning to you, again, for our Tokyo trip this Dec – Jan 🙂
Curious though, do you have a daily breakdown of food expenditure somewhere and I just haven’t seen it yet? Kind’a like what you have for WDW Dining? Or how about a more concise list of places you’ve eaten there and their cost.
Thank you,
Romeo
P.S. Any A7iii pics yet?
I don’t have a daily breakdown of food expenditures, but here’s roughly what a few average per person meal costs will be:
7-11 or Lawson Breakfast or Lunch: $3-5
Ramen: $8-10
Conveyor Belt Sushi: $12-20
Other meals are going to vary so significantly that it’s not worth listing them. You could easily spend as little as $5 per meal, or as much as $300 if you wanted.
Tom, you mentioned in one of your posts using Google docs for your itineraries and then layering using google maps? How do you do that?
Thanks
Great trip report – would like to read the rest!!
Great trip post Tom! I’m hungry to see your full details on facebook. I also see your Hong Kong trip on 2017 year, have you ever experienced the Hong Kong Disneyland?
We’ve been to HKDL many, many times. Here’s our guide: http://www.disneytouristblog.com/hong-kong-disneyland-trip-planning-guide/
Loving this series.
Wow, we leave for Japan in 9 days and I got online to check your blog for some Tokyo Disney stuff and I read you are spending an entire month in Kyoto so it MUST be a special place! I 100% trust your judgement so I’m changing our trip to add 3 days in Kyoto. Lol, thanks a lot Tom!
Wow…that’s a pretty big last-minute itinerary change on the basis of us. You’re putting a lot of pressure on us, but given how much we love Kyoto, I doubt you’ll be disappointed!
Hi Tom and Sarah- just letting you guys know it was totally the right decision to make the change and come experience Kyoto. It’s like a breath of fresh air 🙂
That’s great to hear–we totally agree about Kyoto, and that’s part of why we love it so much. Totally different from the experience you have in Tokyo (and pretty much anywhere, for that matter).
Hopefully the crowds in Kyoto right now haven’t been too off-putting. Unfortunately, this is their peak season. (We’ve never experienced crowds even remotely this bad in Kyoto.)
Lol, well I know how you are a completionist and will cringe when I say this but we only left our hotel 1 day- were were there for 3 nights/4 days. The crowds were insane and I felt our hotel offered more of a true Kyoto experience than every place the crowds were swarming. We stayed at the Four Seasons and it was just built around an 800 year old garden complete with a koi pond and a teahouse. There were not many people there so it was extra lovely. On Saturday and Sundays at 6pm they have a Meiko come do a short performance in the lobby. Everyday at 5pm the Teahouse overlooking the pond turns into a champagne/sake bar- that was one of our favorite experiences in Japan and would highly recommend checking it out while you are there. If anything to experience something that is not advertised on Tripadvisor 😉
We were actually just at the Four Seasons two days ago—not staying there, just checking it out as part of our research. Didn’t have a chance to see the Maiko perform, though!
It looks like you are having an amazing trip! My husband, daughter (10), son (7) and I (from Southern CA) are currently in Tokyo & Kyoto as well until the end of next week. This is the last leg of our Asia Disney family vacation. We loved Hong Kong Disneyland, Shanghai Disneyland and the Great Wall of China. We just spent the last two days at Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea and we can’t wait to go back next week. Today we are off to the Robot Restaurant! Thank you for all of your blogs which helped us plan our once-in-a-lifetime trip! My husband emailed you but I am not sure if you received it. We hope you have happy and safe travels!
Here is our music video from Hong Kong.
https://www.facebook.com/david.brueggeman.1/videos/1524115484301926/
Here is our music video from Shanghai and Beijing.
https://www.facebook.com/david.brueggeman.1/videos/1529049577141850/
We are still working on the videos for Disneyland.
Hah, fun videos! That’s quite the whirlwind trip–hope you have a great time! (I don’t recall seeing any emails–but a lot has been buried while we’ve been traveling.)