We had planned to go to Sumo in Osaka but ended up opting to go to Universal Studios - My bf was keen to go so I decided to let him have at least one day of the trip :P Universal was great. Easy to get to from Osaka station about 20-30 minutes. The queue to get in is ridiculous, it took us about 40 minutes to get in! Whereas in Disney, which was busier it only took a few seconds. However once we were in we were happier, we went to some of the rides and queued which took quite a while. They display queue times by the ride and times were starting to get to 80 minutes and over so we decided to go on rides as single riders. If you dont care about sitting next to your parter on the ride, I highly recommend doing this. We went on about 6 of the big rides, each one taking less than five minutes to queue in the single line (as opposed to the hundreds of other people who queued for over two hours) and most of the time we were in the same car anyway. We pretty much did all the rides we wanted to and were free to wander around in the park - excellent!
We spent the next night in Tokyo. We stayed the night at Keio Plaza after deciding we wanted some comfy beds for the last few nights. Keio is a really nice hotel, it is HUGE and right next to the Tokyo Metropolitan Govt Tower so is very easy to find. There is even an underground walkway directly from Shinjuku station that takes about five minutes. We stayed here on our last night as well and they upgraded us to a pricey room which was lovely.
View of Shinjuku from our room in Keio Plaza
Shinjuku at night
We also spent one of our last days going BACK to Yunishigawa Onsen past Nikko, because we had enjoyed it so much. It was great to go back there but would have probably been a better idea to have just booked two nights there in the first place to avoid the extra travel and also we had experienced the whole thing a few weeks before so there was nothing really that blew us away the second time. However it gave me a chance to grab a few more sweets to take back home, and they also upgraded us to a corner room which had even better views than our last room.
Our last day we took a quick train trip out to the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. Being a big fan of Miyazaki I loved this place. If you do watch any of his films it is worth the trip, just make sure you book entry tickets before you leave for Japan as you can only get them in advance. Photography was not allowed inside but believe me it is heaps of fun!
On our way back home we arrived at Narita allowing ample time to check in etc.. however I do regret not going to the airport earlier now. Narita is an excellent airport and the shops there are excellent. If you dont want to spend your holiday buying too many gifts to fit in your luggage, the airport is a great time to do it and the selection is pretty good! I didnt notice if the prices were higher? But thats because I almost missed my boarding because I was so tempted by the shops!
So to sum up the trip, Japan is just absolutely incredible. Three weeks is a long time, but there is so much to do there that it felt like we only touched the surface. My favourite places were Takayama, Shikoku, Nara & Yunishigawa Onsen, and the best food I ate would have to be in Takayama (try everything!). Travel was easy, people were friendly, everything was clean and I miss it already! I would definitely recommend doing research before going on a trip here, lots of places don't require research before going, but I think it helps for a place like Japan. I think if I didn't research as much, I would have missed out on a lot of amazing experiences.
I gave a few tips at the beginning, but thought of more to add while I was going;
- FOOD. In the cities, find any big department store and go to the basement to the food court. At first it might be a bit overwhelming with all the people, but you can grab a selection of amazing japanese food and eat it in your hotel room (or anywhere else you can find!) We ate from food courts quite a lot, and would just go nuts and buy insane amounts of food and desserts, but it was so much fun trying out all the foods, even if we got duds :) The cakes in those places are delicious as well. I got hooked on those strawberry shortcakes!
- TRAIN TICKETS. If you are buying tickets for the subway or trains, most machines have an 'english' button. You can buy a ticket for the lowest amount, and then when you get to your destination, go to a fare adjustment machine which are everywhere. Then you put in your ticket and it tells you how much you owe.
If you have a suica card you can just scan it at the gates and it automatically takes off the amount.
- COFFEE. Ok, there is not much good to be said about coffee over here. It is horrible. Starbucks unfortunately is the best you might get. Another alternative is the hot coffee drinks from vending machines - they were quite nice!
- GOOD SOBA. If you are near Higashi-Shinjuku station, there is a small Soba place right next to the entry. The Soba is excellent and cheap :) Yum! The worst Soba I had was in Gora/Hakone, ahh that tourist trap food :(
The haul once we unpacked...
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