We just spent 10 days in Japan! We went to Tokyo and Okinawa. We earned a trip with Young Living to visit their brand new farm in Okinawa, where they harvest shell ginger, so we added on a visit to Tokyo first! Our entire family came, kid’s were very excited to see Japan and my good friend Miko Bowen earned the trip too, and she brought her family as well, one of our favorite families to travel with. I took A LOT of photos, and decided to include them all in this post. This is a journal entry for me and hopefully helps you if you are planning a trip to Japan.
First off, we only took carry-on on luggage (all my travel favorite here) for the 10 day trip, so happy we did! International travel is much easier with carryon luggage for all the connecting flights. If you haven’t flown international you are required to pick up your luggage and drop it off again, then go through customs, between each connecting flight. When we flew home from Okinawa we went from Okinawa to Tokyo, then to LA, and lastly Utah. Three flights, and about 20 hours of travel. Not to mention when you arrive at your destination fitting all the luggage in a taxi can often be really tight.
I shared a list below of everything we did and top recommended things. All of us loved Tokyo, there was so much to see. Not many spoke English, and we don’t speak Japanese, but we managed to communicate with google translate. And everyone in Japan was SO kind. One of you said “Kindness is a universal language”.
Top Tips Traveling to Japan-
- Use google translate, but most of the time it wasn’t needed, we could communicate
- Maximize hotel concierge for booking rides, etc.
- It isn’t polite to walk and eat, find a place to stand or sit
- Don’t put cash in hands, look for the tray to place money
- Yen was needed in a lot of places, look for ATM’s or get it before you go
Tokyo Japan-
- We stayed at Sheraton Grade Tokyo Bay- we picked this because it has large rooms for our family of 5 to all stay in one room. It was about a 30 min taxi ride to Shibuya Crossing. Plus a Disney Hotel!
- Shibuya Scramble Crossing– fun to walk around, eat and shop.
- Tajima Ramen- lots of places to eat around Shibuya Crossing, but this Raman place was great.
- The Great Buddha in Kamakura- this was really neat to see and experience the Japanese culture, Kamakura is a beautiful smaller town area, hard to get a taxi back to Tokyo from here tho, so we rode the bus (which was harder than we thought to figure out!)
- Hasdera Temple- several temples and beautiful grounds to walk through, this also has a neat Cave, Benten Kutsu.
- Tokyo Disney by The Sea- we went from 3:00-9:00 and it was about $50 a ticket! We did about 6 rides, lines were pretty long. I think if we went all day we could have done way more rides and tried more food.
- Senso-Ji Temple- right by the Temple there is a lot to do, see and eat!
- Asakusa- make sure to ride a Rickshaw, shopping, read fortunes, eat, etc
- Ichiran Ramen in Asakusa- my favorite things we ate! only 4 people know the recipe!
- SkyTree- view of Tokyo, we went at night, would have loved to see the day and night.
- 7- Eleven- it was shocking how affordable and less expensive food is in Japan, 7-Eleven was our go-to for snacks and waters etc.
- Don Quixote- like a Target of Japan
- Earwan- for a foot massage, or thai massage.
- Mt Fuji– I wish we could have fit this in, but our time was short and this would take all day.
Okinawa Japan-
- We stayed at Hilton in Chatan, right by American Village- we were here with Young Living. The hotel was great for our family of 5, there was a pull out bed under the two full beds. And you are right by a lot of shopping, and restaurants in American Village.
- Sea Glass Beach- we hired a driver for the day for $270 (held our two families, 9 people), we scheduled the driver with our hotel concierge.
- Hiji Waterfall- is known to be the biggest waterfall in the main island of the Okinawa prefecture. This trail is maintained with stairs and bridges made of wood.
- Zanpa Beach- there aren’t a lot of places to swim in Okinawa, due to venomous animals in ocean. At Zanpa beach there was a netted off area to swim. Also had water toys from obstacle course to kayaks.
- Vongo & Anchor In America Village- best tacos!!
- American Casual, SOHO in American Village- I got a limited edition Jacket here.
- Had by Hand- the kids loved this soft serve ice cream, the raspberry crunch with strawberry sauce was their favorite
- Shuri Castle- Between 1429 and 1879, it was the palace of the Ryukyu Kingdom, beautiful grounds and views. 1945, during the Battle of Okinawa, it was almost completely destroyed. After the war, the castle was re-purposed as a university campus. In 2000, Shuri Castle was designated as a World Heritage Site.
- Gyokusendo Caves- stretches five kilometres from end to end, and boasts a host of spectacular rock formations. It’s been around for 300,000 years or so, but it wasn’t discovered by us humans until 1967.
- Prefectural Peace Memorial- where the Battle of Okinawa ended. 32 memorial monuments.
- Kokusai Dori Street- many local stores, eateries, street vendors, covered markets, and street performers.
- Southeast Botanical Gardens- Over 30000 specimens of 1300 species of tree and shrubs live in Southeast Botanical Gardens, along with rare and exotic plants and animals, colorful flowers.
- Akashi’s- lots recommend this for fried rice and ramen
- Churaumi Aquarium- several recommended this aquarium, reminds me of Sea World.
- ABC Stores- these are just wild to see, plus interesting to walk around. Pet store, groceries, clothes, really everything!!!
Shibuya Crossing-
Shibuya Scramble Crossing, wild to walk through this busy intersection!
Girls outfits HERE
Tajima Ramen, very good, our first meal in Tokyo! Our entire family of five ate for about $30!
Kamakura-
Outside of Hasdera Temple in Kamakura (girls outfits HERE)
Hasdera Temple
The Great Buddha in Kamakura, it was neat to see the culture and what others believe.
The girls at Great Buddha in Kamakura
The boys at Great Buddha in Kamakura
Riding the train from Kamakura
Disney by the Sea in Tokyo
Asakusa-
In Asakusa figuring out Yen to get our Rickshaw (right outside Senso-Ji Temple)
LOVED the Rickshaw ride! We did a 30 minute ride, you can pick how long you want to go. 30 minutes was plenty. It was about $30 for each Rickshaw. They told us about the area as they were running! It was impressive!
Outside the Senso-Ji Temple, loved this group of Japanese women.
Lot’s of shops and things to eat. My favorite was the strawberries, they also had mochi with bean paste.
Read our fortunes outside the Senso-Ji Temple, there were instructions in English.
There was a parade outside Senso-Ji Temple.
Ichiran Ramen in Asakusa- my favorite things we ate! only 4 people know the recipe! There was a long line outside the restaurant, waited about an hour, worth it! (Find my outfit HERE).
Sugared fruit by Senso-Ji Temple, the kids loved this.
I loved this sweet bread!!
When we were in Tokyo we walked about 8 miles a day! Just exploring, so much to see!
We had a couple hours before our scheduled apt at the SkyTree. So we walked to Earwan’s to see if we could get foot massages, and they managed to fit us all in! There are two locations right by each other. One of the best things we did, Finn even got one and he thought it was so fun.
Skytree view on cherry blossom street. Skytree is the tallest tower in the world, and the third tallest structure in the world!
View of Tokyo from the Skytree at night!
Okinawa Japan-
We then went to Okinawa, we staying in American Village, which was nice because there were so many restaurants and shops!
This was our dinner with Young Living, it was beautiful!
Visited the Young Living Shell Ginger Farm located in a National Park in Northern Okinawa. The region is also one of the planet’s Blue Zones!
We were the first to visit the farm and plant shell ginger! Neat experience for all of us!
We were so happy we had these jackets!
My outfit HERE
Loved traveling with the Bowen family!!
Outside the Shuri Castle, short 25 min taxi ride from American Village.
At Zanpa Beach. In Okinawa there aren’t a lot of places to swim, due to venomous animals in ocean, at Zanpa beach there was a netted off area to swim. Also had water toys from obstacle course to kayaks.
Sea Glass Beach, loved walking along this beach and collecting seagrass and shells.
One of my favorites was this hike, to Hiji Waterfall, about 2 miles. There are restrooms, and vending machine of drinks, plus places to hike. Hihi is known to be the biggest waterfall in the main island of the Okinawa prefecture. This trail is maintained with stairs and bridges made of wood.
Get all the details on our travel favorites from luggage, cosmetic bags and more HERE.
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