My trip to Japan: 17 days across Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka
Seventeen days, eleven cities, and the constant feeling that there was no way to take it all in. This was, broadly, the real trip that ended up becoming the itinerary we sell today.
Seventeen days. Eleven stops between big cities, mountain towns and an island where we decided to spend the night just to see how the atmosphere changed after dark. This was, broadly speaking, the trip that later became the itinerary you have in front of you on this site.
We started in Tokyo, three days to get used to the noise, the subway, crossing Shibuya among five hundred people without miraculously bumping into anyone. From there we jumped to Kamakura for a day, then to Mount Fuji, and from there began the part fewer people do on a first trip: Kanazawa, Shirakawa-go and Takayama. Then Kyoto, a day trip to Nara, Osaka, Hiroshima and Miyajima, and a long stretch back to Tokyo to close the loop.
Every time I thought I'd already seen "the beautiful Japan," something different would show up that made me realize I was barely scratching the surface.
It wasn't a relaxed trip, not even close. With that many cities in 17 days, there's packing almost every day, trains you absolutely cannot miss, and ten-hour days of nonstop walking. But it's exactly that intensity that makes me feel, looking back, that I made the most of every single day.
This series of posts is my way of telling how that trip really went. If you've already booked the route, welcome to the club of people who are going to walk a lot more than they think.
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