Ready to discover THE ultimate Japan Tour – experience the best that Japan has to offer, revel in the culture and taste food you never knew existed. Feast your eyes on incredible temples and have a go at activities you would never have thought you would be doing ( like driving through the streets of Tokyo wearing a cartoon character onesie on a go-kart!) We spent an incredible 13 days travelling around Japan with The Dragon Trip. Read on to discover why we came back absolutely adoring Japan. Why Visit Japan? For years we have wanted to visit Japan, to discover the culture and experience first-hand a country that has piqued our interest. All you have to do is browse photographs of the varied landscapes and be amazed, from the wild mountains to the vibrant cityscapes. Japan has something for everyone, from single travellers, to couples and families with kids. When to visit Japan? We visited in November which was a fantastic time to visit. Although many travel guides will be aimed at focussing on the Cherry Blossom season in March-May, we found Autumn with all the trees turning golden and red hues simply fantastic, both for photos and the milder temperatures. The temperature on our trip was between 16-20 degrees which we find is the perfect weather for sightseeing and traveling around. The summer in Japan gets very hot and humid so if you are one for cooler weather then Autumn could be just the ticket for you. In November there is snow in certain parts of Japan and the temperature is much cooler so it’s worth checking your must-see list and working around your ideal temperatures. It can be expensive to travel during the Cherry Blossom season so it’s worth pre-booking accommodation etc if you wish to see the pink blossoms. Alternatively, book a space on The Japan Tour with The Dragon Trip and have all of your accommodation included already. Japan Tour Schedule We spent 13 days on tour with The Dragon Trip travelling around Japan using Bullet Trains to local buses. Visiting Tokyo, Kamakura, Hakone, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Osaka. We found this a perfect amount of time to see these locations and you can see below what we got up to at each location. The trip is jam-packed with activities so get ready to be inspired (and a little surprised at how much you can actually do on this tour). Tokyo Days 1- 4 We start the tour in Tokyo and meet our guide at the hostel in Shinjuku that we stay in for the first 4 nights of the trip. It’s here that we meet the rest of the tour group and get an idea of how the trip will play out. Before long we are out and about exploring the streets of Tokyo. Tokyo is such a vibrant city with so much to offer. There are so many different districts to visit with a completely different feel to each of them. Our accommodation was located in Shinjuku a perfect choice for a stay in Tokyo. We stayed in a hostel located down a quiet side street – it was a perfect base. What you may find in a lot of accommodations in Japan are “Handy” phones. These are free mobile phones connected to wifi that you can use to help sightsee and Google information during your trip. We had one of these in our room in Tokyo and loved the idea. Shinjuku is full of neon-bright lights, bars and shopping and the perfect base for a Tokyo adventure. Shinjuku’s railway station is the busiest in the world transiting up to 2 million passengers a day and is on the JR Yamanote line – if you are looking for accommodation in Tokyo stay close to this subway line. The red light district of Kabukicho takes some great photos too. Never have we been to a cleaner city! Did you know they don’t have bins on the street so you have to take your rubbish home with you? It’s also been said that this has reduced crime rates drastically! We spent 4 nights in Tokyo on the tour and another 4 nights on either side of the tour by ourselves. We still feel like there is so much more of Tokyo to experience just because we loved it so much, BUT we did put a dent in a majority of the attractions that you would want to see plus some extra stuff I don’t think would ever have done on our own thanks to being on The Dragon Trip Tour. Day 1 in Tokyo: Our tour started with a walk past some famous sights including Godzilla above the Toho cinema. Since the original movie was filmed by this company they placed a giant Godzilla head above the building as it looks down onto the city. Blink and you will miss it but it is one of those attractions that is worth walking by. We then passed Memory Lane, also known as “Piss Alley”. A narrow lane decorated each season in themes matching the weather lined with tiny bars and restaurants that might only fit about 6 people. We then visited the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, offering 360-degree views of the city, this was the perfect place to begin the tour to get our bearings on the city. It is free to come here and they are also open in the evening if you want to see the city lit up. The line can be pretty long to get in but it does move quickly. Tsukiji Outer Market is where it’s at if you want to eat fresh fish, it’s the largest fish market in Asia and they sell Whale meat! There is no stinky fish market smell here since everything gets sold out on the day, it’s that damn tasty. You must try the little octopus on a stick – they are so delicious. Our guide wanted to take us to get fresh tuna that gets blow-torched, but they were sold out. He surely knew the best secret spots. Senso – Ji Temple in Asakusa is an ancient Buddhist Temple. It was here that we had the opportunity to get our fortune. By donating 100 JPY you can then shake a big metal hexagonal box that contains wooden sticks inside. Each stick has characters that correspond to a wooden drawer. Inside your drawer is your fortune, be it The Best, Good or Bad. Care to guess what we got? I got The Best Fortune and Phil got a Bad Fortune. We like to think they cancel each other out. Batting Cage – one of Japan’s surprising favourite sports is Baseball – there have been competitions since the 1920’s but when Japan’s 1934 All-Star team beat the All-Star American team featuring legends of the game such as Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, Baseballs popularity in Japan Sky Rocketed! We visited a batting cage in Shinjuku – you get between 20-25 balls fired at you in either left or right-handed cages at various speeds (start with the 80 kph areas). All bats are supplied ready to go along with arcade machines and vending machines. A great experience to enjoy pre-night out or simply for a good laugh with your travel buddies. It is activities like this that made the start of our tour with The Dragon Trip so memorable. Day 2 in Tokyo: Sushi Making – if you want to learn how to make sushi, Japan is the place! We joined our chefs and hosts at their cookery school and under their watchful eye created our very own sushi meal. From the egg rolls to California rolls, we learnt the techniques from the pros. You can pick up the sushi-making kits from the markets in most Japanese towns if you want to impress your friends and family. It was such a unique experience, one that we would never have booked for ourselves normally when we travel. Akihabara and Maid Cafe – Tokyo’s ‘Electric Town’ is a must-see for anyone into technology, Manga and Anime (known as the Manga capital of the world). Some of Tokyo’s largest technology shops are in Akiba (the local name for the district) and also a huge range of Anime and Manga shops. It is known as ‘Electric Town’, because after the World War Two depression electric goods were brought into the black market here. One thing you must try is a Maid Cafe! Our tour took us to ‘Maidreamin’, a chain of maid cafes in Tokyo. We were apprehensive of what to expect but our guide Chipa told us to ‘go with the flow’, so we did. What an experience! Maid cafes sprung up as a sub-genre of Cosplay to cater for ‘Otaku’ which is a person who is into gaming, pop culture, Anime or Manga similar to Western geek style. These cafes allow people to socialise and spend time in a fun environment with cosplay maids serving them and performing songs and stage shows. Overall a great fun place to get a great ice-cream sundae and have a good laugh. Seat charge is 500 yen then they have a wide menu of ice creams and drinks – typically 680 yen for the cutest ice cream sundae you’ll ever see. You cannot take photos inside so there is just the ice cream sundae photo for you. There is no “toilet”, instead it is called a flower garden! Akiba area has lots of animal cafes with meerkats, hedgehogs, mini pigs, owls, cats, toy poodles and even sheep. Sometimes the animals are on show in the street to entice you to come in. Mari Car – Starting in Akiba (Akihabara) you zip through the streets of Tokyo in your very own go-kart dressed as a minion, chipmunk or Spiderman! What’s not to like? Our Mari-Car tour started at sundown so we got to experience all the lights of Tokyo’s central districts such as Ginza. Very easy to drive so suitable for everyone, Tokyo’s streets are very organised and you feel like a celebrity with everyone waving and taking photos as you zoom down the streets. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, as an optional extra on the tour, it was one we were so glad we participated in. Golden Gai + Karaoke – Shinjuku’s Golden Gais are a must-see! In the 1980’s the owners of these pint-sized bars fought the Yakuza to stop them from burning the area down to sell as real estate and as such this small area of Tokyo is unchanged. Tiny bars all squeezed in together with seating for approximately 8 clients each have their own theme and style – some bars will say if they are for locals or members only and typically have had the same patrons since the 1990s, others will be open for visitors. Expect to pay a cover charge in most between 500-1200 Yen, free ones will say on the door. We visited the Karaoke bar called ‘Champion’, with 500 yen drinks and 100 yen per song, it has a great atmosphere. Choose your song on the iPad, place a 100 yen coin on top and hand it back to the barman to get in the queue. Many expats and foreigners visit this bar for a good old sing song and a plum wine. Our guide Chipa was especially enthusiastic which ended up spreading to the group and I ended up singing Abba in front of a bar full of strangers. When in Japan! Day 3 in Tokyo: Tokyo Imperial Palace – Located on a huge stretch of parkland, the Imperial Palace is located on the former site of Edo Castle. It is the primary residence of the Emperor of Japan. When you look on a train map you will notice that they go around in a loop, this is because the Imperial Palace is in the middle and no trains pass through the area. The gardens are so beautifully manicured with the help of local volunteers. The stark...