2025 Japan journey across Tokyo, Kyoto, Sapporo, Fukuoka
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2025 Japan journey across Tokyo, Kyoto, Sapporo, Fukuoka
Natt
A hotel room with an epilepsy warning? An omakase course of tea-based cocktails? A ski lodge where you get to know every staff member? I can't say for sure these are hidden gems, but after months of seeing everyone and their moms go to Japan since COVID reopening, I can say these were some of my favorite spots that I seldom saw people visit.
Hi! I'm a Brooklyn-based tech journalist-turned-corporate comms editor. Early in my career I spent a stint as a luxury travel planner and writer specializing in Asia, and if I can toot my own horn, I'm often the friend everyone says "wth Natt, how do you find all these cool spots, drop that itin." (Fine, they don't say it like that, but you get the point).
Travel planning is a great hobby for me, and I am writing this as both a journal to remember my trip by and to share with friends, hence the overly familiar tone you might find below. If you discovered this on the Thatch platform, consider giving my guide a shot and hopefully you'll find it useful for an adventuresome visit to Japan!
This guide includes:
✈️ Pre and post-arrival pro-tips
🛌 Hotel, restaurant, and activity suggestions with some personal anecdotes (we vetted any Instagram vs realities!)
📍 Resources, databases, and things to make your journey more efficient and economical
It is not:
📆 A list of daily itineraries
❓ "Beginner's guide to Japan" i.e. how to book JR trains, basic etiquettes, how to transfer from airport to city
🔝 The absolute best of the bests - opinions here totally my own
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Introduction
This guide contains recommendations of places and activities my husband and I saw, experienced, and loved from our 12-day honeymoon stint in Japan in December 2023, a sakura visit in March 2024, and a ski-and-plum blossom trip in February 2025 (plus a few other recs from our previous trip in 2017).
We tried to include some basics, but if it's your very first time in Japan, I recommend watching a few YouTube videos to get an understanding of pre-arrival information to make your trip planning smooth!
Table of Contents
1) Before you go / Arrival Tips
2) Tokyo / Where to stay, and what to see, eat, and do
3) Kyoto / Where to stay, and what to see, eat, and do
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Natt
While studying abroad in Hong Kong, I met my husband and fell in love. With him, with exploration, with experiencing new places and trying to stay out of trouble. Since then I've found that I am my best self when I am far out in the world, whether it's staring out of a bus to the mountains of Taipei, waking up under the galaxy inside a remote cabin in Patagonia, being circled by hyenas at a Kenyan safari, or escaping a stalled car in the jungles of Croatia. Every time we retreat back to our Brooklyn home, there's always a good story to be told.
Travel makes me feel inspired, and I take pride every time someone asks me for a copy of my itinerary, which doesn't always include the best or the must-dos, but whatever brings me the most adventure. Maybe it'll inspire your journeys too.
What's included
Digital Map
Fully interactive, digital map for finding places nearby
90 places
90 hand-picked places with notes from the creator
1 photo
Beautiful, hi-res photos from the creator
8 links
8 links from the creator to go even deeper with more info
DESTINATION(S) COVERED
Fukuoka, Japan
Tokyo, Japan
Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
Kyoto, Japan
Nozawaonsen, Nagano, Japan
FOCUSES AND THEMES
Couples
Groups
Adventure
Design
Shopping
Foodie
Road Trip
Art
Romantic
Format
Guide
Guides typically include detailed information and how-to’s about a destination as well as suggested places to try.
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