After landing at Tokyo Narita Airport in the morning, we headed straight to our hostel to drop off our bags. As we were staying near Shibuya, we lined that up as the first area to explore. Shibuya<\/strong> is a popular area to hang out, with lots of options for eating, drinking, and shopping – a great place to be introduced to the bustling streets of Tokyo! We had a fun experience joining the masses of people making their way over the famous Shibuya crossing, which is rumoured to be one of the busiest intersections in the world. We then found our first ramen of the trip in the pedestrianised area known as Center Gai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the evening, we had our first Katsu curry at a well-known Japanese chain called CoCo Ichibanya. Although it\u2019s a chain, it seemed very authentic and was delicious! You could choose all sorts of ingredients to have with the curry sauce and rice, including scrambled egg – yum. You also have to choose a level of spiciness – anything above a 3 out of 10 is quite brave for Western palates. (We found this out by naively choosing a spice level of 4.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n To soothe our taste buds, we headed to Nonbei Yokocho (aka Drunkard\u2019s Alley), which is an alleyway full of small bars. There are a few spots like this in Tokyo, the most famous being the Golden Gai, which I\u2019ll come onto later. In Nonbei Yokocho, we went to a trendy but tiny sake bar – and when I say tiny, I mean there was just a bar with 4 stools. The sake was served in a large shot glass within a wooden rice box, and was overpoured so that the liquid spilled out of the glass and into the rice box. As we drank, we topped up the glass with the contents of the rice box. It was a fun way to drink!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next morning, we set about exploring more of Tokyo, starting with Harajuku<\/strong> where we explored the famous Takeshita and Cat streets. Cat Street was the more chilled of the two, with low-rise, modern buildings housing shops from global brands. The street was bordered by a pedestrianised area that featured some nice-looking restaurants and the ever-popular bubble tea shops (you rarely saw one of these without a queue). Takeshita street was probably the busiest street we experienced in Tokyo, lined mainly by sweet treats and tourist tat. It was quite an intense experience for the senses, with music blaring, massive crowds, and strong scents of fried dough, but it\u2019s an experience worth having.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For a more peaceful vibe, we walked to Shinjuku via the Gyoen National Garden, a huge park with towering trees, lovely landscaping, and picturesque little bridges. After leaving the park and making our way into the centre of Shinjuku, we sought out an Izakaya, which is basically a Japanese pub serving food. Everything was in Japanese, so we put our faith in the staff to choose us some food – the dishes were puzzling but tasty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shinjuku<\/strong>, like Shibuya, is a lively area to spend the evening. We went to the Golden Gai, which is a larger version of Drunkards\u2019 Alley from the previous evening. We crawled around the small alleyway bars (again, none had capacity for more than 10 people), making friends with Japanese locals and other tourists alike. The stand-out bar was one that initially seemed full up, until they pointed us to a mini attic balcony area up a narrow staircase and overlooking the main bar. Sitting on the floor of this attic balcony, we called down to the bar for beers to be passed up to us whilst a local have us an education in Japanese pop music using the attic\u2019s aux cable. It was a great night! We don\u2019t know the name of the bar, but we do know that it was waterfall themed, so look out for a sign with a waterfall if you find yourself wandering down a Golden Gai alleyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The other thing to note is that, whilst tipping is frowned upon in Japan, a lot of bars have cover charges and these can be quite expensive in the Golden Gai, so keep an eye out for bars with no cover charge. The other Golden Gai bar experiences consisted of trying out the very popular yuzu sour drink, being affectionately nicknamed Jack Bauer from 24, and going to a bar that was \u2018Not suspicious\u2019 from the outside but became \u2018Very suspicious\u2019 after you had entered. The Golden Gai is a part of Tokyo nightlife not to be missed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our third day in Tokyo had a relatively late start (understandably) and we thought we\u2019d try out the Japanese burger chain Mos to cure our hangovers. It was okay, but I probably wouldn\u2019t recommend it. We continued our exploration of Tokyo\u2019s westerly neighborhoods with a walk to Shimokitazawa<\/strong>, a low-rise hipster village with trendy cafes, bars, restaurants, and clothing shops. It also has a few arcades, so we stopped off in one to shoot some hoops – as our trip continued, we realised that the basketball game was a very rare arcade game to have found. It\u2019s a cool area to wander round – it has a different, more chilled out atmosphere compared to the other neighborhoods we visited. We found some deliciously spicy ramen and located some craft beer bars to while away the evening, before heading back for a good night sleep ahead of our journey to Nikko – and using our Japan Rail passes for the first time!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Before launching Japan Rail Planner, we (the Japan Rail Planner co-founders) travelled around Japan using the Japan Rail Pass. It was an amazing trip and inspired us to make this website to help others plan their perfect trips to Japan. In this multi-part blog series, we’ll tell you all about our trip. We started in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","spay_email":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/japanrailplanner.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Japan-Rail-Trip.png?fit=1000%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":59,"url":"https:\/\/japanrailplanner.com\/blog\/japan-rail-route-templates\/","url_meta":{"origin":32,"position":0},"title":"Japan Rail Route Templates","date":"21st July 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Not sure where to go on your rail trip around Japan? Get your plan started with our customisable route templates. These routes aim to inspire your travel around Japan - you should research your trip thoroughly in addition to using these templates. Some of the routes are quite fast-paced so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Japan Travel Guides"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/japanrailplanner.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Classic-Japan-Rail-Route.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":503,"url":"https:\/\/japanrailplanner.com\/blog\/3-days-in-sendai-what-to-see-and-where-to-go\/","url_meta":{"origin":32,"position":1},"title":"3 Days in Sendai: What to See and Where to Go","date":"26th May 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Sendai is a beautiful city for tourists to visit when travelling around Japan on a Japan Rail Pass, but it offers more than just its natural beauty, such as its bays and mountain ranges. Only two hours away from Tokyo by bullet train, it boasts a wealth of activities for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Japan Travel Guides"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/japanrailplanner.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/kentaro-toma-rGXWety91bU-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":35,"url":"https:\/\/japanrailplanner.com\/blog\/our-japan-rail-trip-part-2-nikko\/","url_meta":{"origin":32,"position":2},"title":"Our Japan Rail Trip - Part 2: Nikko","date":"21st May 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Our journey to Nikko meant the first day of using our Japan Rail passes! We headed to Tokyo Station to quickly book a seat reservation then jumped on the JR Tohoku Shinkansen to Utsunomiya Station before transferring to the JR Nikko Line. The whole trip took less than 2 hours\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Japan Rail Adventures"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/japanrailplanner.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Japan-Trip-Nikko.png?fit=1000%2C300&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":371,"url":"https:\/\/japanrailplanner.com\/blog\/japan-is-back-open-for-travel-our-top-5-cities-in-japan-to-travel-to\/","url_meta":{"origin":32,"position":3},"title":"Japan is back open for travel! Our top 5 cities in Japan to travel to","date":"12th October 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Japan is back open for travel, and we could not be more excited! Japan is one of the world's oldest civilizations, and its history is rich and varied. The beautiful, varied landscape with mountains and breathtaking views, which the Japanese love, offers so many different things that tourists come from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Japan News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/japanrailplanner.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/hoang-dang-MDwYDCC2L4A-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":512,"url":"https:\/\/japanrailplanner.com\/blog\/the-3-best-tropical-islands-to-visit-in-japan\/","url_meta":{"origin":32,"position":4},"title":"The 3 Best Tropical Islands To Visit in Japan","date":"29th June 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Japan is a nation flourishing with natural wonders and beauty, and as such, visiting this special country is a goal for many. If you\u2019re looking to plan a wonderful trip to one of the most beautiful island countries in the world boasting a rich history and welcoming populace, look no\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Japan Travel Guides"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/japanrailplanner.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/vladimir-haltakov-2SV7Arl6Ndk-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":25,"url":"https:\/\/japanrailplanner.com\/blog\/what-is-the-japan-rail-pass-and-how-does-it-work\/","url_meta":{"origin":32,"position":5},"title":"What is the Japan Rail Pass and how does it work?","date":"18th April 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"So, you\u2019ve decided you want to go to Japan on holiday and discover there are are lots of places across the country you want to visit. 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