While looking for possible destinations, Okinawa was the only choice at that time of the year in Japan. I wanted to avoid the main island and settled for Ishigaki, little known outside of Japan. The island is actually much closer to Taiwan than the main Japanese islands and hence also enjoys a different climate. Flying there took a good four hours but it was worth it the moment we stepped off the plane and were able to breathe the fresh ocean air.

We opted to rent a car in order to be more flexible and discover the island ourselves. While you probably would not need a car if you stayed in the town, we enjoyed the convenience of driving at our own pace.

From our cute 2-room accomodation Cafe & Stay Moana it was about a 10mins drive to the airport and 20mins to the city centre. The village of Shiraho was about a 2mins drive, great for yoga at Le Lotus Bleu.

The first day we toured the island at a casual pace. Lots of beautiful nature to see and plenty of cafes to stop at.

The restaurant above / below is Garden Pana.

Worthwhile mentioning was our dinner where we tried the famous Ishigaki beef:

The second day we took the short ferry over to Taketomi Island which was very unique due its houses as well as being car free. While we thoroughly enjoyed our visit, we just happened to be there the same day as one of the large AIDA cruise ships which spilled several hundred (if not more) tourists onto Ishigaki, many of which joined a tour to Taketomi.

Way to see it was already time to say goodbye and head back to the airport for our flight to Hong Kong and then back to Europe. While Ishigaki might not quite have as beautiful beaches or the beach vibe other destinations in Southeast Asia have, it is a very good location to unwind for a couple of days. And if you know where to go, it is also very easy to escape the masses.

We deliberately decided not to start off in Tokyo but explore the city in the middle of our trip once we’ve gotten a bit familiar with the country. So by the time we reached Tokyo, we had spent about a week in the country and seen Hiroshima, Osaka, Kyoto and Mt. Fuji.

Tokyo is huge so finding the right place to stay can be tricky. My approach with such overwhelming cities is to ask friends in what area they would stay and then just select accommodation that meets your budget and type. We ended up staying at the Super Hotel Lohas in Akasaka. A not too busy area, yet lots of restaurants and well connected via subway, so I would definitely stay here again. And while the room was tiny, that was not so much of an issue as we hardly spent any time in the room and appreciated that it was quiet and clean.

Rather than trying to recap our itinerary day by day, I’ll share some of our highlights. We used public transport extensively (Citymapper works great to figure out connections) and walked around 30’000 steps per day.

The rabbit cafe pictured above is just one of many types of cafes we came across where you can spend your free time. Cat cafes, dog cafes or maid cafes – whatever you fancy. For the later, head to Akihabara. The rabbit cafe we came across in hipster Shimo-Kitazawa.

Apparently up to 3’000 people cross during peak times simultaneously.

In our three days we covered a lot of ground. Our highlights were:

• Sunday afternoon in pedestrian-only Akihabara
• Neon lights at night in Shibuya (and Genki Sushi!)
• Hipster Shimo-Kitazawa
• Cherry Blossom at Ueno Park & Rikugien
• Dinner at Uoshin Nogizaka in Roppongi

You can’t go wrong with Tokyo, the city will keep you entertained as a tourist for days (if not weeks)!

Reason for us to add a stop to our itinerary. Not primarily for a selfie, but more so as we wanted to have a break from hectic cities in between.

This was also our only stop on the main island away from one of the countless Shinkansen stops. Closest we could get was Mishima and from there a bus (which is not included in the Rail Pass) took us in a little less than two hours to Fuji-Kawaguchiko, one of the main starting points for a visit to Mount Fuji. As we had no intention to climb or get near the volcano (we were still too early in the season anyways), we were just looking for some scenic hikes with Mount Fuji as an impressive backdrop.

Unfortunately the weather did not play game. It was cloudy and chilly when we arrived with no Mount Fuji in sight. On our second day it even snowed! This was a bit of a bummer and shortened our hike significantly. But all the more reason to enjoy the Onsen at Fuji Yurari Hot Spring.

As luck would have it, the day we were leaving, there was not a single cloud in the sky and we got to see the magnificent beauty of Mount Fuji.

Note to self: next time, plan a day trip from Tokyo (doable) and wait for the weather to clear. You can always do hiking somewhere else.

We combined our stay with Nara, the former capital of Japan in the 8th century. Its accessibility (less than an hour by train from Kyoto) put it on the tourist trail, so don’t expect to be there by yourself. But despite the countless tour groups, we enjoyed our time in Nara.

The main attraction is probably Tōdai-ji, a Buddhist temple complex inaugurated in the year 752. Not only is it one of the world’s largest wooden buildings but it also happens to house the world’s largest bronze Buddha statue.

After eating some superb tonkatsu at Tonkatsu Ganko Nara, we took the train back to Kyoto. What followed there were three awesome days of sightseeing; temples, temples and some more. And mixed in between some great food, cozy bars and chilling by the river.

While I managed the take the above photos without too much of a crowd, here’s proof that we weren’t by ourselves. And keep in mind, it wasn’t even peak season.

And mixed in between were mostly teenagers looking for a good post for The Gram:

And as mentioned, the food was exceptional as well. Every. Single. Meal.

We really, really enjoyed the Kyoto vibe and our time in the city. A small achievement I managed while there was to get my driver’s license translated. With some European licenses you need a Japanese translation in order to rent a car. And while not conveniently located for tourists and it taking an hour, I was glad to have this out of the way in order to rent a car in Ishigaki a few days later.

First built in the 14th century and over time expanded and modified multiple times, Himeji Castle has survived WWII and earthquakes. It is nowadays one of the most visited castles in Japan and was just recently renovated in 2015.

As you can see in the photos, the weather could have been better but at least temperatures were ok.

We continued our journey with the Shinkansen and reached Osaka just after noon. We stayed again near the JR Station although in Osaka one has to keep in mind that the areas of interest to tourists tend to be more south while the station is in the north. But riding the subway is no issue and gets you to the “hip” areas quickly.

We took the subway to Shin-Imamiya-Ekimae and walked around Shinsekai. The areas is famous for Kushikatsu, deep-fried skewered meat and vegetables.

A friend recommended to check out Kushikatsu Doteyaki Nadai Tsurukameya, so that’s where we had the first of several afternoon snacks.

It is a really enjoyable, bustling area to walk around. As we got further north, we’ve reached Uranamba with its countless Izakayas, Japanese-style pubs.

We stopped for Ramen at Ichiran, which was probably the best we’ve ever had. By then we had probably reached 30’000 steps and took a break for an hour at Lilo Coffee, a small cafe with some serious coffee!

Dinner turned out to be a funny story; I had never seen that many restaurants so densely. Yet we wandered around for over an hour since the choice was so overwhelming. Netflix effect.

Our itinerary had us connect in Beijing/China onto an Air China flight to Hiroshima. What I only realized after booking was that there would be a stop in Dalian. What I only realized upon trying to connect internationally in Beijing, was that we had to enter China due to the first leg being domestic. Great; trying to get a visa-on-arrival at 5am during rush hour, completely jet-lagged. To say the least, we were not thrilled. After waiting in several queues, we finally had our sticker and stamp in our passports and were on our way to the domestic terminal. Fast forward a few hours an we land in Dalian, a city with a population of around seven million. There we get off the plane and exit China once again. That was an unnecessary hassle an will cause me to more carefully check itineraries next time.

Around noon we finally landed in Hiroshima. A much smaller airport, it doesn’t see too many international flights per day and we were quickly on our way with the airport bus towards the city (a 45mins drive). Although jet lag was bad, we were determined to stay awake until the evening and soon set off to explore the city. There’s a 3-day tourist pass for 1’000 JPY that covers public transport and comes with a few minor discounts to attractions. Our first stop was the site and memorial for the first atomic bomb dropped in 1945. It is what Hiroshima is probably most known for in the Western world and even though the city has much more to offer, it still draws tourists from all over the world. It is a chilling site with a well done museum (part of it was still under construction) and a reminder how destructive humanity can be in times of war.

We had dinner at one of the famed Okonomiyaki places and immediately added it to our list of favorite dishes.

The next day we headed out to Miyajima, a small island south of Hiroshima, best known for the Itsukushima Floating Torii Gate. One of Japan’s most revered sites, it is part of shrine complex.

The island is easily accessible through a short train ride, followed by a 10min ferry.

We spent the afternoon walking around Shukkeien, the first of many Japanese gardens we would visit over the next days. But it is probably the first one you see that impresses you most.

In the evening we stumbled into a hidden local restaurant by chance and probably had one of our best meals during our entire trip (and there was a lot of competition). No English menu available, no English speakers, yet we managed with Google Translate an sign language.

In order to avoid starting our trip in one of the mega gateways of Japan (Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya), we set off in Hiroshima. From there we made our way overland through the tourist hotspots of Osaka, Kyoto, the Mount Fuji area and on to Tokyo. Since pretty much any Spring vacation needs a bit of beach time, we extended for a few days and flew down to the Yaeyama Islands to soak in the Okinawan spirit on Ishigaki.

It has been a fun two weeks and thanks to Japan’s great public transportation system not too hectic despite the few stops along the way.

Below is our itinerary:

Looking back, we’re pretty happy with the itinerary. Two weeks is way to short to see such a densely populated country with rich history and obviously only scratched the surface. However, given the time, we were happy with our choices. After last year’s spring vacation to Chengdu/Thailand/Singapore, we wanted to pace things a bit slower, especially since we covered most of the trip with public transport. Having multiple nights at all stops except Osaka was nice and we never felt that we spent too much time in a location. The only exception might be the Mount Fuji area where we got very unlucky with the weather and it actually snowed on the day we intended to go hiking.

Being end of March, it was still chilly apart from Ishigaki. We had to wear a jacket on most days and it was still too cold for wearing shorts. Just something to keep in mind should it matter to you.