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🇯🇵 Japan Recs
Tokyo
Food
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Rokurinsha (Tokyo Station)
- Known for tsukemen (dipping ramen)
- If you only take 1 recommendation, take this one. We go at least once a trip, maybe we are really biased.
- There are obviously so many ramen places in Tokyo but this one really stands out for us. It's located in the basement of Tokyo station, aka Tokyo ramen street, and this always has a much longer line than the other restaurants. Probably expect to wait anywhere between 20-40 mins.
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Uobei (Shibuya)
- Fun conveyor belt sushi, good for a cheap / fun lunch spot. Sushi is good, not great, but very affordable and worth the experience.
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Kaisen Donburi Tsujihan (many locations)
- This is a chain with several locations (we also went to one in Taiwan lol). It went viral on social media and as a result are quite popular/have lines, IMO is worth the hype. They serve the same things at their different locations so would recommend trying to go to a less popular one.
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Sushi Dai (at Toyosu market)
- Michelin starred sushi at very reasonable prices
- You do have to queue when they open to reserve a spot for that day - we went at 4am and then secured a res at 9am (I think I had checked Reddit for advice on timing/when to go)
Omakase
On both trips to Japan we only made one reservation go the entire trip, and it was for a "nice" omakase meal. A lot of the best spots don't allow reservations for foreigners so can be challenging, if you're staying at a hotel they can sometime make these reservations for you! These were both in the low hundreds ($200 - $300).
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- https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/tokyo-region/tokyo/restaurant/nishiazabu-sushi-shin
- We had our hotel make this reservation for us.
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- 📷 Instagram (@sushi__punch)
- Found this place on TikTok lol. It was good and a fun dinner (e.g. taking tequila shots with the chef), but probably not your most traditional omakase experience.
Non-Food
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- This is where the fish market moved to a few years ago. It's less touristy than Tsukiji but you can tour the active market (it happens at like 4am). The market itself is whatever since you're observing from an upper deck, but there are also some restaurants nearby (see Sushi Dai above).
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- This is the most famous fish market, where the fish market historically was. The actual fish market moved to Toyosu so now this is just a tourist spot with a bunch of food stalls. Def more touristy, and prices reflect that, but its a fun way to eat a bunch of street food / hit up a lot of small vendors. Get there early if you want to maximize the spots you can hit!
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- This is super popular art museum/installation. A little bit of a instagram photo trap but it was a cool experience / lots of interactive art.
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- This is a neighborhood in Tokyo that I loved for shopping — so many brands have a location here, would 100% recommend this for luxury/upscale shopping over Ginza. Also lots of vintage stores in the area.
- We had tried to go to QQQ vintage shops but the line was too long and we had a dinner res, unfortunately.
- If you are in the area, would check out Sunny Hills - this is Taiwanese pastry brand but the architecture of this building is super cool / good place to have a pineapple pastry and tea!
Hakone
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- If you're going to be in Hakone would recommend checking this out — a relatively large outdoor art / sculpture museum, kind of reminds me of Storm King!
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- Onsen that you can book by the hour — has public facilities as well as private onsens.
- Had to book in advance, IMO this was a good option to experience the onsen in a day trip to Hakone, versus staying at a ryokan.
Kyoto
Food
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- Casual sushi spot with great seared sushi. They have a normal sushi menu and you can ask them to sear any of it. Really enjoyed this spot.
Non-Food
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- Shrine with all the red gates. There is a small hike to see all the gates, but it's pretty cool. Very likely you've seen social media photos of it.
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- Very cool bamboo forest. Really enjoyed this one.