I visited three cities during my trip to Japan this past spring: Tokyo, Kyoto, and Kinosaki. I’ve been to Tokyo and Kyoto before, but Kinosaki was a new destination for me.
In terms of size, Tokyo is the largest city in the world with a population of 37 million people! Hard to imagine. Kyoto is a mid-sized city with a population of 1.4 million people. Then there is Kinosaki, a small town with a population of 3,500 people. It was a nice mix.
I would have to say the highlight of my trip this time around, outside of seeing the cherry blossoms of course, would be visiting Kinosaki. Not only because it was novel and new, but because I really enjoyed the slow pace of the town and it forced me to slow down and enjoy the moment. Which, if you’ve traveled abroad, you know is hard to do when you are go-go-go the entire time trying to see and do as much as you can. We all want to make the most of our time while on vacation.
Kyoto
Kyoto was my favorite place we visited during our last trip to Japan in 2022. I was really looking forward to going back and seeing some old and new spots.
My favorite shrine: Fushimi Inari
We visited the Arashiyama bamboo forest again
Nazen-ji temple
How beautiful is this garden?! Can’t get over it.
All the little details
I love a serene Japanese garden
Kyoto by night
Kiyomizu-dera temple
Had to get some ramen of course
Kinosaki
Kinosaki is a historic town near the west coast of Japan in Hyogo Prefecture. It’s known for its seven public hot springs or onsens as they are called in Japan. They are all tattoo-friendly, which was important since my brother and I both have tattoos. Some onsens in Japan do not allow people with tattoos to enter because they are historically considered a symbol of crime and associated with gangs.
It’s popular while in Kinosaki to go “onsen hopping” and try to hit as many of the seven public hot springs as you can. We visited two of the public onsens while we were there, plus the two that were in our hotel (one public and one private). So we hit four in total over two days. I’ve mentioned this before, but the public onsens are separated by gender, and you have to go in completely naked. There is a whole process that you need to look-up ahead of time, and it’s a little stressful to be honest. Our hotel was very helpful and had a step-by-step guide on how to enter the onsens properly. Like showering before you go in, bringing your own hand towel, etc.
Kinosaki has beautiful tree-lined canals that you can wander, great food, and shopping. It’s easily walkable. There are also several places around the area you can go for a day trip. It’s a great spot and I would highly recommend.
We stayed at the Nishimuraya Hotel Shogetsutei. Highly recommend, it was awesome and one of the nicest hotels I’ve ever stayed in.
I picked the tradiational Japanese style room for our stay, they also have western style rooms
It was spacious and really nice
We slept on futons on the floor
We rented the private onsen at the hotel for one hour during our stay. Joe and I were able to split the time and go in for 30 minutes each. It was nice to have the option for a private bath where I could fully relax. It was hard for me to fully relax in the public baths, if I’m being honest. I’m not used to public nudity. It wasn’t something I experienced while growing up, nor is it something I think many Americans experience.
If you dare, you can walk around town in the traditional “geta” wooden sandals. Joe tried them on, but it was a quick no way, and we changed into the more comfortable crocs lol.
Zen view from the hotel lobby
We saw people buy eggs and boil them in the hot springs water
Cute shopping street
Most people walk around town in the traditional “yukata” robes
Seafood stands everywhere
Picturesque tree-lined canals
Traditional style buildings
Entrance to one of the seven public onsens. They are all free by the way when you stay at one of the hotels in town. They give you a pass.
Us in our yukata robes with our to-go shower bags
One of the shrines in town
Probably my favorite meal while in Kinosaki, the best sushi I’ve ever had and it only costed something like $10-14
On our second day in town, we rented bikes and biked to the ocean. It was a 30-minute bike ride so not too bad.
I had never seen or heard of shrines being in the middle of the ocean like this, very cool
The coast line reminded me of the west coast in the US, very rocky with steep cliffs
We biked to Genbudo Park. A nature preserve with several caves and very cool volcanic rock formations. Joe kept thinking they were man-made and not natural due to how intricate they were.
Buddhist temple in town
Tokyo
View of Mount Fuji (active volcano) from the bullet train
View of Tokyo from the top of the Tokyo Skytree tower. Good for a 360-degree view of the city.
Tokyo streets are crowded
Shinjuku
Godzilla creeping in the background
teamLab Borderless digital art museum
Senso-ji Buddhist Temple
We visited the Studio Ghibli museum, which was great if you are a fan. You need to buy the tickets a month in advance because they always sell out. You can’t take pictures inside, so the best picture I got was of the stained glass window from outside the building.
