Travels: Autumn in Japan!

By Skywing Knights // March 30, 2026

In October 2025, I FINALLY got to travel to Japan with one of my long time best friends, Shelby. We’d been planning this trip for 9 years!! Needless to say, I was ecstatic to go and experience Autumn in Japan again! We had two weeks in Japan and were treating it as though this would be her one and only time there. So we were going to make every second count. (Ironically, now she wants to go back again – I wonder why… 😉 ). We decided to split our time in half, with half of the time spent in Kansai and the other spent in Kanto. And boy, we didn’t waste any time while we were there!

Many people often ask me what the best things to do in Japan are if you only have two weeks. My answer is that it always depends on your interests. However, I thought I’d go ahead and share what we did during our 2 weeks in autumn in Japan so as to give you all an idea of what’s possible (if you’re willing to book it) through out your trip in Japan.

Travel Day Set 1

Day 0

Our “Day 0” was simply getting to our airBnB in Kyoto, but it took a long while to do that! We first took a flight from DC to San Francisco (6 hours), followed by a flight from San Francisco to Tokyo (12 hours). Once we arrived in Tokyo, we booked it for Tokyo Station, where we caught a Shinkansen straight to Kyoto Station (about 3 hours total). Finally, when we got to Kyoto, it took another 30 minutes to drag our stuff to our airBnB. Needless to say – we collapsed upon getting there! It was a very long day and took us from the morning of the Saturday we left to the evening of Sunday when we arrived!

Kyoto

Day 1

Kinkaku-Ji

Nijo Castle

Honno-Ji

Takase River Spot (Death Site of Sakuma Shozan)

Toei Eigamura

The next day, we got up early in the morning to make it first to Kinkaku-ji or the “Golden Pavilion”. If you don’t get there right at 9 AM, you might as well not go! It gets way too crowded otherwise. After, we booked it to Nijo Castle, the home of the Tokugawa Shogunate while in Kyoto during the Edo Period or Edo Jidai.

Next, we stopped for lunch at a Konbini or convenience store before making our way over to Honno-Ji, the temple where Oda Nobunaga committed seppuku. We then went to a spot along the Takase River, where Sakuma Shozan was murdered by Kawakami Gensai. Noticing a pattern yet? These lesser known spots were my idea. (I’m a bit of a history nut!). There wasn’t much to see, but they were interesting all the same!

Finally, we made our way to Toei Eigamura, a small theme park in Kyoto where Toei Film Studio will sometimes film historic dramas and movies. Though it was fun, I wouldn’t recommend it if you don’t speak Japanese. The English guidance there is limited.

Day 2

Hiyoshi Taisha

Cable Car Ride to Enraku Ji

Enraku Ji

Daigo Ji

While our first day was primarily set in the heart of Kyoto, our second day we went to some more out of the way locations. We started with going to Hiyoshi Taisha in Otsu (Shiga Prefecture), which was a filming location of a famous movie we both enjoyed. We then went to Enraku-ji via the longest cable car ride in Japan (no seriously, it holds that record – 10 whole minutes!). On the way, we stopped and I chatted with some students studying art and perspective. They were quite good with their English and I told them that I was impressed!

Enraku-ji was beautiful though! Enraku-ji is very rich in history and because it’s up on Mt. Hiei, both it and Hiyoshi Taisha are not invested with tourists. That makes it very quiet and peaceful. Finally, we made our way to Daigo-ji, a lovely temple in southern Kyoto that was really lovely in the fall time!

Day 3

Himeji Castle

Nara Park

Kasuga Taisha

Todaiji

Kofukuji

Ikedaya Inn Restaurant (Hana no Mai)

The next day, we took the Shinkansen to Himeji Castle so we could be there right when it opened at 9 AM. It was a bit of a dreary day, but frankly, I LOVED it. I loved that there weren’t as many people that came out. The last time I was there, it took an hour to get through to just entering the castle. But we breezed right through it this time! It was so much calmer and felt much more relaxed.

After, we took the train to Nara. While there, we visited Kasuga Taisha, Todaiji, and Kofukuji. We also saw the deer, which my roommate could have done without! And while the deer are known for being pushy sometimes, I learned that first hand (once again) as I proceeded to get bit twice on the butt by the deer. It was quite funny! Finally, we ended the day by going to the Izakaya Ikedaya Restaurant by Hana no Mai, which was over the original location of the Ikedaya Inn of the historic Ikedaya Inn incident. Needless to say, the history nut in me was quite fascinated by the experience throughout all of dinner!

Day 4

Kokedera

Sagano Romantic Train Ride

Hozugawa River Cruise

Togetsukyo

Arashiyama

Kimono Forest

Kyoto Biovortex Team Lab Planets

Day 4 was my roommate’s favorite day. We started by going to the “Moss Temple”, Kokedera, which we had to make reservations for far in advance. We started by writing sutras before touring the beautiful gardens. I adored the peacefulness and exclusivity of it.

We then went to the Arashiyama neighborhood of Kyoto, where we boarded the Sagano Romantic Train to follow the Hozugawa River north west. After the train, we made our way to the start of our Hozugawa River boat ride, from which we took about a 2 and a half hour boat ride down the Hozugawa. We had a little time after between then and our time for our next reservation, so we went to the Arashiyama bamboo forest and the Kimono Forest. I was not as big of a fan of the bamboo forest – there were just so many people there. But the Kimono Forest was pretty when it was all lit up!

Finally, we were lucky enough to get reservations for the newly opened teamLab Biovortex Kyoto exhibit. We could have spent HOURS in there! By that point though, my feet were literally killing me. So we were there for a shorter amount of time than I would have liked. However, we did hit up every exhibit and I’d absolutely love to go again, hopefully on a day when it was less crowded. (The lines were really long!)

Day 5

Kiyomizudera

Ginkaku Ji

Yasaka Jinja

Gion

Loft

We started to hit a wall on Day 5. We began the day by going to Kiyomizudera, which opened up early. The dress I wore that day was wonderful and I couldn’t get over how nice it was with the weather. It was already rather crowded when we got there, but we saw most of what was there and of course, we got our Goshuin too. (We were set on getting Goshuin from every shrine and temple we went to!)

We followed it up by going to Ginkaku-Ji and Yasaka Jinja. It was however, my roommate’s turn to start to fade, so we made our way to the Kusuri-ya, or Drug Store and after, went to Loft where there was a MHA Collaboration going on. I spent way too much there, lol. That was followed by WACCO crepes, where my roommate could sit and have her vegan/gluten-free crepes! The rest of the day, we went back to our airBnB and took it easy.

Day 6

Fushimi Inari Taisha

Sekigahara

Check in to “Capsule Hotel”

Our final day in Kyoto was a bit of a doozy! We started by bringing our things to Kyoto Station. Then we briefly made our way to Fushimi Inari Taisha, which was packed by the time we arrived. (And we got there around 9 AM!) I’ve always liked Fushimi Inari Taisha, but the crowds this time around made it not even worth going through it all. Instead, we arrived, saw the entry area, got our Goshuin, and left. After, we went back to Kyoto Station and shipped our luggage.

From Kyoto Station, we made our way to Sekigahara, which was something on my list that I really wanted to do. My roommate, bless her, was just along for the ride. Sekigahara station was bare of any lockers for our carry ons, so we had to bring them up the hill to the museum where there were lockers. In retrospect, next time, I’d make this a day trip. But the Sekigahara museum was SO COOL!! I loved the experience of walking through it and if we had the energy and time, I would have loved to bike through the area to see all of the historic landmarks scattered throughout the area.

Afterwards though, we made our way back to Tokyo, where we checked into our “Capsule Hotel”. I can’t say it was a ‘true’ capsule hotel, but it functioned similarly enough to one. We didn’t get our own rooms, but we got our own spaces and beds. And before we crashed for the night, we went to a vegan and gluten free restaurant where we both got a delicious meal. Overall, not a bad day traveling from Kyoto to Tokyo!

Tokyo

Day 7

Halloween in Ikebukuro

Sunshine City Aquarium

Sunshine City

Animate

Yuzawaya

&Team Concert

MeTokyo

Ootoya Restaurant

This was the day I was SO excited for. Something I’d wanted to do for ages but had never had the chance to do was go to Ikehallow, an event where you could cosplay in public in Japan within an area east of Ikebukuro Station. (This is something you just don’t do!). So early in the morning, we got ready to go (out of cosplay, not in cosplay, mind you), and took our suitcases to our next hotel. From there, we lined up for admission, after which, we went into the changing area. It was a rainy day, but I could have cared less. I was in my favorite neighborhood and nothing was going to stop me from having a good time! After changing, we went to the Aquarium, Sunshine City, and Animate just to name a few!

Around mid-day, my roommate headed out all on her own to Saitama to go to an &Team Concert. I  continued on to explore, going to Yuzawaya, I’m Donut, and MeTokyo and right at 6 PM, I ripped my wig off and headed back to the hotel briefly to brush my hair (I had been dressed as Rei Todoroki, so it was an easy switch back to a normal look). Finally, I went out to Ootoya, a restaurant doing a collab with Haikyu!! Great food, I would recommend it for sure.

Day 8

Meiji Shrine

Takeshita Doori

Capsule Lab

Omotesando Hills

Harry Potter Store

Team Lab Planets

Toyosu Manyo Club

 

The next day we got up bright and early to experience Harajuku in the morning. We started by visiting the Meiji Shrine, a favorite of mine, followed by Takeshita Doori, Omotesando, and the Harry Potter Store. We also got falafels for lunch and were able to look out over the entire area from our perch. Quite the sight!

Following this, we made our way to TeamLab Planets in Toyosu. I was pleasantly surprised that the exhibit had expanded since the last time I had been there and we easily spent about 4 hours there. By the end, our feet were crying once again, so we made our way to Toyosu Manyo Club, a spa and man-made onsen where we got massages and were able to look out over all of Tokyo. It was honestly the best way to end the day!

Day 9

Nikko

Kegon no Taki

Toshogu Shrine

Edo Wonderland

If possible, we got up even earlier in the morning the next day to go to Nara. After a 2 hour train ride, we arrived in the area and were told at the visitor center that it wouldn’t be possible to do everything on our list… and I was determined to prove them wrong. And WE DID. We took a bus first to Kegon no Taki (A massive and beautiful waterfall up in the mountains). Following that, we took a bus back to Toshogu Shrine, where the remains of Tokugawa Ieyasu are interred.

After this, we took a cab to Edo Wonderland and I am SO happy we made it here. It was very similar to Toei Eigamura, but in my opinion, it was much better. There were random street shows, it was peaceful at the time we went, and we even got trapped with a ton of others in a Ninja maze! It took us about a 30 minute walk to get back to the station, but it wasn’t too bad. I wish there had been more cabs though (And I never say that!). We got back to Tokyo rather late, but the long day was definitely worth it!

Day 10

Hikawa Shrine (featured in “Sailor Moon”)

Sengaku Ji Temple

Final Fantasy Cafe and Akiba

Gachapon Hall

Pikachu Sweets Cafe

Assist Wig

Our tenth day we hit a bit of a wall around noon, but that didn’t stop us from having a jam-packed morning! We first went to Hikawa Shrine, a shrine famous for being featured in Sailor Moon (and now I can FINALLY say that I’ve been there). It was small but quaint. After, we had some time before our lunch reservation, so we went to Sengaku-Ji Temple, the site of the graves of the 47 ronin.

The day was supposed to be our Akihabara day, so we started out at the Final Fantasy Cafe. I had been before, but I had never been in the Gold Saucer room, which we reserved. (How could we not? It’s the Gold Saucer!) I remembered loving the Final Fantasy Cafe before and this just reinforced it. Everything was delicious and beautifully themed. Plus, even my roomie could find gluten-free and dairy free options!

Afterwards though, my roomie was fading. We had originally planned to go to a maid cafe for dinner, so we made our way over there early to cancel our reservation before stopping by Gachapon Hall and then heading back to Ikebukuro. While my roomie rested, I went to the Pikachu Sweets cafe and Assist Wig to do some more shopping. Overall, while it wasn’t what we had planned, it was still a great day!

Day 11

Gokokuji

Yuzawaya

Otome Road

Sunshine 60 Tower

Shibuya PARCO

The next day, was our Ikebukuro day! We first went to Gokokuji in the morning, a temple nearby Ikebukuro that I had wanted to visit for ages (simply because I was curious!). It was a lovely temple and it worked out perfectly for us to go in the morning before anything opened. Then we trekked back to Ikebukuro and started our thorough shopping! We explored Yuzawaya, Otome Road, Sunshine City, Sunshine Doori, Animate, K Books – just about everything!

In the evening, we went up to Sunshine 60 to look out over all of Tokyo and Ikebukuro. I couldn’t get enough of it! Finally, we made our way to Shibuya PARCO (the only thing we did outside of Ikebukuro that day because we had planned to do it the day before but couldn’t). It was a quick trip and my roomie quickly learned the crazy that was Shibuya in the process. Shibuya is always busy – especially at night!!

Day 12

Asakusa

Kaminarimon

Nakamise Doori and the Surrounding Areas

Sensoji

Kappabashi Doori

Itoya

Kanadaya

Kuroshitsuji and Toho Collaborations

Day 12 was our day on the east side of Tokyo (Sort of!). We spent our morning in Asakusa, going through Kaminarimon, Nakamise Doori, and Sensouji. I also got to try the viral sweet potato ice cream at Imo Pippi! After, we made a brief stop in Kappabashi Doori (the kitchenware street). I truly wish I could have explored it more!

After Asakusa, we went to Ginza, where we stopped by Itoya, a high end stationary store, and Kanadaya, a restaurant with floating desserts – no really, they floated!! We finished our time in Ginza by going to a Toho Animation Collaboration and Kuroshitsuji Collaboration (the latter of which was a surprise to me!). Overall, not a bad day! And a good thing too, because by the late afternoon, it was starting to pour!

Day 13

Hanazono Shrine

Sekaido

Shinjuku’s 3D Cat

Kabukicho

Suga Shrine (featured in “Your Name”)

Saizeriya

Sunshine City

Shibuya PARCO and the Square Enix Store

On this day, we had originally wanted to go to Matsumoto Castle. However, the train we wanted was fully booked by the time we got to Shinjuku. So instead, we decided to explore the area for a bit before going back to rest in Ikebukuro. We first went to Hanazono Shrine, which was getting ready for an upcoming festival. After, we went to Sekaido, another stationary store, and one that I really enjoyed (it was much more affordable than Itoya!). We also saw the Animated 3D Cat and Kabukicho with the Godzilla head.

As we had a bit of time and had planned to do it tomorrow, we decided to go to Suga Shrine, the shrine with the staircase featured in “Your Name”. Previously when I had been, there had been next to no people there, but this time, perhaps because it was a weekend and we were going mid-day, but there were a lot of people, too much for my enjoyment. Still, we saw the steps and got our Goshuin, which was nice.

We then made our way back to Ikebukuro, where I went to Saizeriya and Sunshine City while my roomie went to a Vegan restaurant and back to the hotel to rest. In the evening, we went to the Square Enix store in Shibuya and back to the Shibuya PARCO so my roomie could buy a gift for one of her nephews. As you can see, we were really running on fumes at this point!

Travel Day Set 2

Day 14

Imperial Palace East Gardens

Milky Way Cafe

On our final day, we decided to go in the morning to the Imperial Palace East Gardens. We dropped our luggage off at the coat check at our hotel and made our way to the gardens. It was the first time that we encountered a security check outside of the airport – go figure! It was still really nice though and going in the morning was again, the right move as there were far less people around!

Once again, we split upon returning to Ikebukuro and I went to Milky Way – my tradition at this point for ending my time in Japan. We then reunited and took the bus back to Haneda airport where we boarded our flight and headed home. :'(

Overall Verdict

The more and more I think about it, the more I would err on the side that this was overall a good trip. Could it have been better? Probably. Like I said, we really were running on fumes by the end. I do wish we could have stuck to our original plans a bit more, especially during the second half of the trip. But in general, it was a fun adventure and I’m already looking forward to my next one. (I’m already planning it out!)

My favorite things hands down though were doing things that I hadn’t done before. I do love revisiting places, but the highlights are always things that are new to me. Would I do them all again? No, but I’d certainly do a number of them again! For example, I’d love to do Enraku-Ji and Hiyoshi Taisha again. That was a beautiful day trip. And exploring fun restaurants that I’d never been to like the Ikedaya Restaurant and the Gold Saucer room at the Final Fantasy Cafe really added that extra bit of spice to each day.

Things I would do to improve my time for my next trip would be to include more ‘restful’ activities in between things to give my body more time to recover after sprints of energy. Though I think I fared better than my roommate, there were definitely days where my feet were like “Nope! We’re done.” (By the way, be sure to check out my article on the best shoes to wear in Japan! I tested them all out on this trip and there were some clear winners!)

I also would have filmed more, not just taken pictures (shocker!). Perhaps it’s because I have so many pictures of Japan, but I just wish I had more videos. I also would have kept a list of ‘backup ideas’ on hand. I have so many, but it would have been nice to have something to refer to for when something didn’t pan out or I had unexpected downtime.

However, truly the best part was just spending the trip with one of my best friends in the world. Love you like a sister, my dear! Going with you made this trip so incredibly memorable!

That said, I hope that this gives you an idea of what is possible for your trip to Japan – especially if you’re willing to hustle and are a ‘go-go-go’ type of individual while on vacation. Best of luck on your own travels and trip planning!

Till next time my knightingales,

-Skywing