The past few days might be the best ones for the entire year 2026
10 May 2026
Because... Japan. First time going with my parents after almost 24 years of living in this silly world, so I thought I'd document this in case future first-timers might need it.
Day 1 - Tokyo Touchdown
The trip started by arriving at Narita Airport. If I recall correctly, it was due to price considerations that we didn't choose Haneda Airport, but I think since I'd be going back from Haneda, it'd be nice to visit Narita anyway. The drawback of this choice was having to travel further to the city once we arrived (yes it's quite far).
The flight took about 7 hours, so in-flight lunch was provided as we took off at about 6AM GMT+7. I could finally get to see the Pokemon flight safety briefing in the flesh!
Once we found at the subway, we bought the IC cards for us to board the trains. I've checked earlier that there were many options such as Suica, Welcome Suica, and PASMO. We ended up with the Welcome Suica cards as their registration counter was the first on sight.
Tokyo's subway map isn't a joke. Singapore's MRT map has been merely a sandbox for me to navigate around on my own! Luckily, we managed to find a way to Shin-Okubo Station where our hotel was (Tokyo Plaza Hotel), and grabbed a quick Yoshinoya dinner. It was amazing knowing that I'd been benchmarking Yoshinoya food in Indonesia versus Singapore versus this.
Most of the trip navigations were successful thanks to Gemini, as it allows me to connect my prompts directly with Google Maps, like so.
Our itinerary to visit things around Shinjuku had to take a turn as we were completely exhausted from the flight, so we simply had some short walks around the hotel complex and explored Donki and other convenience stores to prep up things for tomorrow's breakfast. (fyi, it's Don Quixote here)
Day 2 - Fuji
Started the day with cup noodle breakfast, which was a very tasty pork both. We had ordered a day tour earlier before the trip to Mt. Fuji, so we had to get to the meeting point at Ginza Novo. It was a refreshing morning walk as the temperature there is much lower than that of Jakarta or Singapore (obviously!).
Our first stop was Gotemba Premium Outlets, and we were given only two hours in here. The choices there were to either explore the stores there (and probably have an early lunch), or to use the hot spring in the hotel. Me and my parents chose the former because we wanted to explore the stores anyway, as well as to see the mountain's peak from there. The whole place has only one level, but since it is located on the mountain grounds, it had staggering levels, which gives it an unique style.
After taking photos with the mountain, the sakura trees (which were thankfully still there since this is end-April, meaning they might be gone anytime soon), and the Pokemon store, we had an early lunch at Gyukatsu Motomura, which was extremely delicious.
The next stop from Gotemba was Oshino Hakkai, where we get to explore the ponds, the sakura groves, some street food, and some souvenirs to buy for my colleagues and friends. It was a very eye-pleasing place, and a very peaceful one as I took a lot of pictures with the sakura trees.
Our third stop was the Lawson Oshino Shibokusa, not the one near the Kawaguchi Lake. Unfortunately from this point onward, the mountain's summit had been covered by thick clouds, so I was glad we spammed we-fies whilst at Gotemba. For about 20-30 minutes, we just took pictures of Lawson itself, and then chilled ourselves up due to the very nice and cool weather.
The final stop was Oishi Park, which is just by the shore of the lake. You can take photos with the lake itself, but what I found more appealing was the very colorful flower garden, and the long queue for the matcha soft cream, which I also bought in the end.
The day didn't stop on our trip back to Ginza since we continued exploring Ginza afterwards. Eyes were already set on UNIQLO and GU, so we went there and found the infamous UNIQLO store with 12 floors! We didn't get to explore Ginza Six because it was quite late and we had to sleep earlier for tomorrow's train ride to Osaka, so before we went back we had dinner at Gusto Cafe (it was either this or Saizeriya, first come first served).
Day 3 - Osaka Touchdown
After checking out from the hotel, we went straight to Tokyo Station and entered the Shinkansen lines. The trip took about 2.5 hours. The Plusta bentos there were great, so you should definitely have some too for your en-route meal.
Once we arrived at Shin-Osaka Station, we went straight to our hotel (Hotel Livemax Namba) to check-in and unload the heavy stuff. What I found interesting along the way was that the people here are taking the right side when on an escalator, as opposed to essentially every other disciplined cities that does it on the left side. My friends living in Japan doesn't know why, my manager who goes to Japan often doesn't know why, so I think at this point no one knows why.
We spent the rest of the evening exploring Dotonbori, since it's close to our hotel at Sakuragawa. My bucket list of seeing the Glico sign can finally be crossed off! The Donki stores there were also very huge compared to the ones we see in Singapore.
We had dinner at Ichiran Ramen, but unknown to us beforehand it was the non-pork stall (fyi, it's not halal-certified either), so the meat was beef instead of the pork chashu I was imagining. Nonetheless, the broth and the unique service style was great.
Before going back home, we also explored the Shinsaibashi-suji Shopping Street before they closed at 8PM. I got to explore the Pokemon and Kirby centres at the Daimaru and Parco department stores there, while my parents got to explore the tax-free drug stores there to buy food souvenirs.
Day 4 - USJ
After having breakfast at Nakau nearby the hotel, we went straight to the Universal-City Station to enter USJ. It was very crowded there, but well-controlled. We had bought the express passes beforehand to get on some rides faster, and you should too.
I started by going to the Harry Potter section. My inner Harry Potter soul screamed as I see a very realistic view of Diagon Alley, Hogwarts Express, Buckbeak, Hogsmeade, Butterbeer, Ollivander's, ... ok I'll stop now :)
In this section, we went to the 4D attraction inside the Hogwarts Castle and then Ollivander's afterwards to see some wand choosing show. We decided not to go for the roller coaster ride, but we bought a cup of Butterbeer!
Next, we want to the Super Nintendo world, my most awaited section. Every single Mario character, both playable and unplayable, can be found there. While waiting for the attractions (since our express passes fixes the attraction timings), we went around the souvenir store. I liked the yellow cap with the red and green shrooms the most. I also got to try the Donkey-Kong-styled hotdogs there since I was hungry, they were delicious too.
While waiting for some of the scheduled rides, I got to explore other areas and attractions such as Jaws, Minion Village, and Wonderland. Our last attraction for the day was Detective Conan's 4D show, and then we had dinner at Saizeriya before going back to the hotel.
Day 5 - Rainy Kyoto
Such a bad day to rain, but we took the risk of not shifting the schedule anymore and went with going to Kyoto anyway.
Using the JR Rapid Express trains from Umeda/Osaka Station to Kyoto Station, our first stop was Fushimi Inari Taisha, where we found the famous Shinto shrine with all the prayer writings on its red pillars. I also tried the Omikuji for fun, which is a fortune-telling paper strips.
Since it's still raining, we decided to get some lunch at Nishiki Market. I kid you not, it's extremely crowded, though every food displayed the way was incredibly tempting, such as the giant tempuras and the neatly displayed assorted sushi set.
In the end, we ordered udon bowls because the non-stop rain made the entire weather cold. (with some tempuras by the side... texture, people!)
After lunch, we headed to Kiyomizu-dera temple, where we started to use the public buses (we've been using only the trains so far), and had to walk slightly further towards the inner district. Along the way, we got to see the viral mochi pounders in action, so this is another one finally off my bucket list.
The view in Kiyomizu-dera? Spectacular, even with the rain and fogs blocking some of the view. I could see a faint silhouette of the Kyoto Tower, so I spent some time taking panoramic pictures of the green sceneries.
Our last stop was TeamLab Biovertex Kyoto. We decided to go to the one in Kyoto instead of the one in Osaka or Tokyo, but I forgot the exact reason. I had no regrets going in, just look at all these pictures.
Our trip to Kyoto was a day trip, so we headed back to Osaka after TeamLab. I did take a shot of Kyoto Tower, seen below.
Day 6 - The Sightseeing
The first destination in the morning was the Detective Conan bronze statue, which is just by the back of Osaka Castle. After taking some pictures there, we started exploring Osaka Castle.
The castle area itself has a peach grove, a plum grove, a big hall to host some events, and some cultural buildings like the turrets and the gates. While I went inside the castle, my parents went around the souvenir shop. There were quite a lot of people crowding in front of the entrance, but overall a great place to visit and learn the history of Osaka. Won't spoil the rooftop view, that's for you to visit directly!
We went back to our hotel area to explore Namba, which is just near Dotonbori. It's less crowded than Dotonbori, but full of stalls here and there, too. We finally got to try out Tendon Tenya's tempura set, which was great for the price.
Knowing that this will be our last night at Osaka, we decided to get some sunset view from Harukas 300... well, not the roof view since it's paid, but just the main deck that's free for everyone! It's enough for me to capture some prominent spots in Osaka like the castle, Tsutenkaku, and Tennoji Park as well.
Before going back to the hotel, we decided to go to Tsutenkaku to explore Shinsekai's market area and get dinner at Kura Sushi. (to get the free merch from putting empty plates, hehe)
Day 7 - Back to Tokyo
After checking out from the hotel, we took the Shinkansen train again from Shin-Osaka to Tokyo Station. Same as last time, the train ride took 2.5 hours, so a lot of time for me to sightsee and to code some problems too.
I finally found this water jelly on one of the train station vending machines! It tastes rather sweet, but I enjoyed it.
This time our hotel (Hotaku Hotel) is at Akihabara, specifically at Iwamotocho, so we took the JR train to Akihabara and explored around first (indeed it's a paradise for the otakus!) and had lunch at Tendon Tenya there as well. We also tried hailing a taxi to the hotel because we were too exhausted to walk with the now-heavier luggages.
After putting our luggages, we went back to Tokyo Station and explored Kanda as we walked to the station. We finally found the Dragon Ball store we've been looking for, as well as visited the Pokemon and Takara Tomy store there.
There were also Kamen Rider and Mugiwara stores, but I didn't explore much since I don't follow their series, but here's what I eventually bought :)
From Tokyo Station, we went out to see the Marunochi Tokyo Station Square and took some pictures there.
After that, we went to Tokyo Tower to end the day. We didn't go all the way up the tower's sky deck, but I feel that the best shot of yourself with the tower is located far enough from the tower. Once you're on the tower's vicinity, it's more of admiring the mechanical structures and the geometry you can find.
As we returned to the hotel, I tried upsolving this ongoing coding competition called CAT 2026, which stands for Coding and Algorithms Tournament. I was in charge of the moderation of the free live workshops previously, so since I wasn't on the judge team, I got to try these questions as a non-participant. In case you haven't known, I have been coding on phone the entire trip because obviously I wasn't bring a laptop abroad. This is indeed a weird hobby of mine, I admit it.
Shameless promotion, but you can upsolve the preliminary round problems here and here.
Day 8 - Meeting a Friend
Sukiya was finally visited as our breakfast spot where I got to try the beef+unagi bowl, as this was the only budget option for unagi I could think of. There's always room for dessert, so a chocolate mousse it was.
We then spent the entire afternoon exploring Akihabara again: action figures, trading cards, electronics, anime, anime, anime. I think the store at Yodobashi Akiba was the best deal for me and my parents as it has all electronics, games, and clothing stores in one place. We got to try the tender pork loin at Matsuya for lunch, something other rice bowl stores don't really have.
After lunch, we went to St. Ignatius Church at Yotsuya to find an Indonesian mass, as well as to finally meet with my friend, Edward, who is now working there after studying at the same city.
We then explored a bit of Shinjuku area (pretty crowded, and I didn't get to take landscape pics), and then continued the chat at our Sushiro dinner. It's really refreshing to finally catch up after 2 years not meeting!
Day 9 - The Metropolitan
We went for a brunch at a ramen store near Kanda Station called Karashibi Miso Ramen: Kikanbo Kanda Honten. It is a ramen bowl with very unique style of broth, not to mention the juicy pork chunk. They open at 11AM, so come earlier or otherwise the queue gets very long!
Only after devouring this bowl did we realize that it's also available at Vivo City, so no regrets testing the waters here anyway!
The next stop was Shibuya, where I got to take pictures with the famous Hachiko bronze statue that is also next to the Shibuya crossing.
We visited IKEA Shibuya to see if the products were any different but I came mainly for the food. Eventually, I ordered one of their strawberry desserts and it tasted splendid.
After stopping by at IKEA, we continued strolling through the suburb and walked all the way to Harajuku to find some nice shoes by ON Store.
At this point, I realized that this was the moment where I had to make my last sunset in Tokyo matter, so we walked all the way from Shinjuku Station to Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, passing by the big buildings like the Mitsui Building and the Sumitomo Building (you might heard these names from the SMBC bank, stands for Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation).
Thankfully, it costs nothing to go all the way up the Metropolitan Tower (YES, IT'S FREE!) to view basically everything else in Tokyo: Tokyo Tower, Yoyogi Park, Mount Fuji, and many more. I recorded a timelapse of the sunset and also took a shot of the (double?) rainbow nearby.
I decided to not stay back to view the light show (they projected it to both towers), and head straight to the last stop of the trip: Tokyo Rainbow Bridge. If you can't walk far, I suggest just take the train to cross the bridge.
Apparently, different days/months means the bridge will display different colours of light (I should've Googled it earlier), so as I arrived and walked towards the Promenade this is what I got: all green.
Still curious if it would turn rainbow at some time, we then took a train to cross the circular flyover and cross the island to Odaiba (or Daiba). We took some pictures at AQUA CiTY Odaiba (mall was closed, but the water light show was still happening, and it's similar to Spectra in MBS?).
After that, we headed back home using the same train line to Shimbashi. From here, it's easier to go around the JR line again, but I decided to take the Shinjuku line to alight at Iwamotocho. Initially, I thought that despite the route being further route it has less walking distance. I was wrong: it's about the same since Shinjuku is such a big underground alley. Nonetheless, I got to see Shibuya crossing one last time and took a quick shot of it from the train. I thought this mattered because I only had the daylight shot of the crossing, and not the night one.
Just before going back to the hotel to pack our stuff, we had one last dinner at Matsuya. This time, we ordered different items we've never eaten before: chicken with garlic and chicken katsu. What a fruitful and productive trip it's been!
Day 10 - Sayonara
I guess that's all the fun stuff. As I approached Haneda Airport and ate Marugame's kake udon (to compare with the one at Indonesia), my mind was already starting to think of what to write in this article.
Haneda Airport is surprisingly smaller than Narita, as the boarding gate can be seen within a few minutes walk from the immigration counter. Understandably, this is mainly for domestic flights, thus the smaller size.
I took some pictures of the in-flight meal, since it might take a while to fly with ANA again. It's hard to have a long holiday these days, you see. Also, nice boarding pass that I got!
During take-off, I had exactly a minute to cherish the full view of Mount Fuji's snowy summit one last time before it got covered by the clouds.
