Final post of our November 2025 trip to Japan. Thanks for reading.
Tokyo is an iconic city. “Quiet & sedate” are not the words that come to mind when we think of this city. Do you want to have a quiet and sedate time in Tokyo? If you do, I can tell you it is possible.
Also, remember one of the goals of this trip? Fall foliage. Could we experience fall foliage in Tokyo?
FOMO Beware. The choices we made meant that we didn’t do any of those Top 5, or even Top 20 must see things that vloggers recommend. (LOL.)
Where we stayed.
I decided that our last 3 nights we would spend in the Ginza neighborhood. The hotel I ended up choosing was close (walking distance close) to Tokyo station where the airport limo bus I’d scheduled would pick us up to take us to Narita Airport. It was also very close to the Ginza Station. The price was right, and it included breakfast.
The reviews warned that the rooms were tiny, and there were no views to speak of.
If you think of your hotel room like a cheap, no balcony cabin on a cruise ship, then you’ll be fine. Also, if you pack light, that avoids the problem of what to do with your luggage. The hotel was the Sotetsu Fresa Inn -Ginza. (Note that there are numerous Sotetsu Fresa Inns, so make sure you select the correct one.)
Speaking of our luggage. We’d used Yamato Luggage Forwarding services to send our 2 carry-on sized cases from Kyoto to Tokyo. When we arrived at our hotel to check in, there were our suitcases waiting for us. (Yay!)
The hotel room was small. And I can see if you have oversized, or large sized suitcases that it would become quite awkward. Tip: Pack light. You don’t need most of the stuff you pack.
After checking in. We had a nap, and then decided to explore our neighborhood. We found a street musician playing the sax.
The next morning (Sunday) after a hearty breakfast, we explored our neighborhood. It was quiet and sedate (because weekend.) I had to visit the ITOYA shop.
We found the parking garages fascinating.
We found streets with high-end shops, lined with trees.
We also discovered that over the weekend (Sunday?), Ginza closes down one of the main streets, and it turns into a pedestrian mall.
We found a delicious coffee shop, and had lattes and toasted sandwiches.
We decided to walk to the Hama-rikyu Gardens. It took us about 25 minutes of slow walking to get there.
The weather was perfect. And yes we could’ve taken a local bus or local train. But we wanted to walk.
In the gardens, we found a magical escape from the urban concrete jungle. Again, no tourists, only families and couples enjoying nature on a Sunday.
We spent a wonderful day enjoying this beautiful park.
That night we visited a Yakitori bistro.
It had a lively atmosphere.
Many museums are closed on Mondays. But we found a Kite Museum that was open and decided to head that way. (It was also on the way to the Nezu Shrine that I wanted to visit.)
On our way there, we explored this interesting bookstore.
The Kite Museum is small but interesting. The kites are works of art.
Did you know that in the 1900’s they used kites to photograph damage from the San Francisco earthquake?
Next it was on to the Nezu Shrine. We used Google Maps to navigate.
This shrine is located in a quiet residential neighborhood.
There were no crowds and no tourists.
We even had tori gates all to ourselves.
After the crush of the popular touristy spots in Kyoto, this place was an unexpected treat.
After exploring the shrine, we found the Mystery Cafe and ate lattes and grilled sandwiches. We loved the vibe of the neighborhood.
We’d sent our luggage onwards from our hotel to the Narita Airport through a luggage forwarding company called Airporter. Tip: Double check the hotel pick up address. And also double check timing- for example if you need your luggage before 4 pm on the day you depart, when do you need to send your luggage.
On our last day, a Tuesday (our flight departed at around 5:30 pm), it felt bittersweet to realize that our wonderful time in Japan was coming to an end. After a leisurely breakfast, we packed our overnight packs and then walked to the Tokyo Station where we were scheduled to meet our airport limo bus I’d reserved on Klook. We gave ourselves plenty of time.
There is a cute cafe quite close by and of course, while we waited for our bus, we had our lattes.
I had a grilled cheese sandwich and Kevin had delicious fruit and yoghurt.
We had an amazing time visiting Japan. It was such a wonderful experience. I can’t wait to return.
Thanks for joining me. Writing these posts is a wonderful way to relive the magic of Japan.
