My first trip to Japan

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In 2024 I took my first ever trip to Japan. I had started working a year before, and it was the first time I had enough money to seriously think about traveling there. It had always been a dream of mine ever since I discovered Japan back in 2016. The real issue was that in 2024 I didn’t have any friends with enough money to come with me, so I started considering going alone. After a lot of thought, I even bought a plane ticket! But when reality set in, I got a bit scared of going by myself and started thinking about asking someone to join me. Back then I was starting to date a college friend of mine, and I thought about asking him, but in the end I couldn’t bring myself to do it, since it was my very first relationship and it wasn’t even official yet. As it turns out, I’m still dating him now, and he told me he was a little disappointed that I didn’t ask him to come, though he understands it probably wasn’t the right moment. So, after a lot of consideration, I decided to ask my parents if they wanted to go, after all, I’ve always loved traveling with them. When I told them, they were so excited! And that’s how, a few months later, in May 2024, we went to Japan.

I was the one who planned the trip in broad strokes, which places we’d stay at and how we’d get around. My mom helped me with a lot of the bookings and with the day-by-day itinerary, and my dad booked a car for one leg of the trip and also arranged some excursions in a more mountainous area. Each of us handled a piece of it, and it ended up coming together beautifully.

This trip wasn’t the most conventional one, because I really wanted my parents to enjoy it, and that’s why we didn’t include Tokyo. My parents are true nature enthusiasts who love hiking, so big cities aren’t really their thing. I figured I’d have plenty of time to go back and visit Tokyo someday, so don’t be surprised when you see the route we ended up putting together.

In this post, I will do a quick recap of the whole trip. On top of that, I’m planning to write dedicated posts for every spot I really loved, as a kind of visit guide. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Our full itinerary looked like this:

Place	Prefecture	Days	Nights
Osaka	Osaka	1	1
Miyajima	Hiroshima	1	1
Himeji	Hyogo	1	—
Osaka	Osaka	—	1
Kamikochi	Nagano	1	—
Takayama	Gifu	3	3
Kyoto	Kyoto	5	5
Nara	Nara	2	2
Osaka	Osaka	2	1

In this trip I ended up visiting a total of 7 prefectures!

The flight arrived at and departed from Osaka, and we made this city our base. It was my first long-haul flight and it was a bit tough, but I was so excited about going to Japan that I didn’t mind. Even after landing, I still couldn’t believe I was actually in Japan. One important thing to keep in mind is that you cannot bring food into the country. We had saved some bananas from the flight because we felt bad about not having eaten them, but they stopped us at customs and told us we could be fined for bringing food in from outside the country. We had a mini heart attack, but the officers were very kind about it and we were able to leave after handing the bananas over.

We took a Hello Kitty train from the airport to the city center, and after checking in at our accommodation we headed out to buy dinner at a combini. Everything felt so surreal to me, I was finally there!

The next day we were leaving for Miyajima very early, so we wanted to collect the train tickets we had booked online back home, but the ticket machine wouldn’t let us. We went to speak to the station staff and they very kindly printed them out for us. Something worth knowing if you’ve booked train tickets in advance is that they can only be collected from the machine on the same day as your journey. However, on that day you can actually collect all your tickets at once. We didn’t know this the first time, which is why we had to ask at the station.

The following day we took a train and a ferry to get to Miyajima. We stayed there one night and were able to visit the shrines and the mountain. We would have loved to stay a little longer to see more of it. It was a truly beautiful place, the sea, the deer, and the torii rising from the water.

From Miyajima we headed back to Osaka with a stop in Himeji, where we visited the castle and the gardens. I really enjoyed all of it, but it was a hard day because my father was suffering from back pain and my mom and I were worried. He ended up carrying that pain throughout the whole trip and still managed to visit so many places and keep a brave face. It made me so sad to think he might be hurting the whole time… but we still managed to enjoy our visits together.

After Himeji we travelled all the way to Takayama, where we picked up a rental car and drove to a ryokan where we stayed for 3 nights. It was such a wonderful place! We slept on futons, had traditional breakfasts and dinners, and in the evenings we soaked alone in the onsen. From there we went on several excursions and discovered the bells people carry to scare bears away. We also visited Kamikochi and Takayama town itself. I really loved the mountains and the city, a very highly recommended stop!

Next came Kyoto, which, if I’m honest, didn’t quite live up to what I had imagined. Maybe my expectations were too high, but it’s still a beautiful place to visit. It has so much to see that no matter how many times you go, you could never do it all. We managed to visit the most famous spots and eat some wonderful food.

Our next destination was Nara! We loved it, so green, so full of shrines and deer. One morning the rain was so heavy that we couldn’t visit as much as we would have liked, but since we stayed the night we still managed to see quite a lot.

Finally, we returned to Osaka for one last night before flying home. I really loved the atmosphere at dusk and into the evening, with all the bright lights of the signs glowing by the river. We didn’t explore too much, just a few shōtengai (covered shopping streets) and the riverside. I wouldn’t say it was my favourite, but it’s definitely worth a visit!

On this first trip to Japan we bought so many things, from little pastries to clothes and beauty products. There was just so much that caught our eye. My mom and I even bought a yukata each. We ended up having to buy an extra bag just to fit everything. I’m a little embarrassed to admit it now, but it was all so new and exciting for us, and we bought far more than we had planned.

I will always remember this trip. It was the one that made me fall even deeper in love with Japan, and the one that made me want to go back. I hope these posts do it some justice!

Travel on Chasing Torii

My first trip to Japan