First time solo trip - 2 weeks
Hi all, I have a trip planned from Sept 22-Oct 7. It will be my first trip to Japan and my first solo trip in general. Flights and hotels are booked, so I'm figuring out the finer details now. I'd appreciate any advice. I have some questions at the bottom of the post.
My plans are: hiking, retro game shopping, museums/cultural sites, and indulging in food. I don't mind walking long distances or wandering around to explore. I'm not a drinker or big on nightlife type things. I've been studying Japanese for a little while, though my conversation skills still aren't great. I don't drive so I will be relying on transit and walking for my whole trip.
I've heard retro game prices are insane in Tokyo, so my plan was to try and get most of that out of the way in Osaka (and Matsumoto) and only check the Tokyo stores if there's something specific I haven't been able to find.
Rough itinerary as follows:
Sept 22 - try to sleep on the plane
Sept 23 - land in Osaka, battle jetlag. Hotel is close to Tenmabashi Station.
Sept 24-27 - explore the city a bit on the first full day. looking at day trips to Kyoto, Himeji, Nara but don't have any specifics yet.
Sept 28 - depart Osaka to Magome-juku (via Nagoya and Nakatsugawa), hike to Tsumago-juku, spend one night at a ryokan
Sept 29-31 - hike from Tsumago to Nagiso, train to Matsumoto. Explore the town, see Matsumoto Castle, day trip to Kamikochi for more hiking. This segment of the trip is purposefully more chill so I'm not looking to pack it full of stuff.
Oct 1-6 - train from Matsumoto to Tokyo. Hotel is close to Ikebukuro Station. Looking at day trips to Mt. Takao and Mt. Mitake. Ghibli Museum if I can get tickets. I would like to hit up some arcades.
Oct 7- Depart Tokyo from Narita
Questions:
- I am concerned about the travel time from Osaka to Magome due to all the connections, is there a better way to get there than train > train > bus? Or should I not worry? I am from somewhere with horribly unreliable transit so I get nervous
- planning on forwarding luggage from Osaka to Matsumoto so I'll just have a backpack to deal with on the Nakasendo. I'm wondering if it's worth it from Matsumoto -> Tokyo? This seems to be a hotly debated topic in the sub currently. The suitcases I'll be bringing will literally just be for souvenirs/shopping, I'm going to fit all my necessities in a backpack. Also if a hotel accepts luggage being sent to them, is it a safe bet that they would also send it out for me?
- I'll want to get some bear spray before I go hiking. where would be the best place to buy that?
- can I get permethrin in Japan? What's the tick situation like in general?
- I was looking for activities in Tokyo, and I saw some on Viator that were manga drawing workshops with a professional manga artist. Any opinions on this type of thing? I'm not a total beginner to art, so I don't want a paint-by-numbers, but I thought some activity where I get to make something would be a fun way to spend a couple hours.
- The fee for being a solo traveler for these activities is a bit rough, some are double the price. Any suggestions for cultural activities/workshops that accommodate solo travelers? I don't mind joining a group of strangers.
- I was thinking of doing a tour for the Kyoto day trip so I could see a bunch of sights, but the available tours I've seen are 9 hours long and beholden to a pretty rigid schedule. How would you handle a day trip to Kyoto? I'm not even sure what exactly I want to see there other than the traditional architecture.
- is it worth going to an Izakaya if I don't drink alcohol?
- is there a PlayStation museum or any cool PlayStation themed attractions? I never was big on Nintendo or Pokemon, I grew up on the PS1/PS2 and I'm a classic 90s JRPG fan, so it would be cool to find things themed around that.
Thank you for any advice or recommendations!