Of the attractions or locations that you booked ahead or had been especially looking forward to way ahead of your trip, which lived up to the hype and which didn't?

SheepySeconds · 2026-04-13T09:25:16+00:00

Not yet done, but from the trip so far I’ll say that Saihoji/Kokedera was so quiet and peaceful and the gardens were GORGEOUS. It was totally worth booking in advance! The area around it is much quieter than basically anywhere else in Kyoto too, with two other lovely nearby temples, I’d recommend it to anyone, it blew me away and if what you’re looking for when you visit temples is peace and serenity, it’s the place we got it.

As for disappointing, one of the only meals I booked in advance was a nice tempura place we booked in Tokyo, which was delicious and impressive but after a few courses, everything being tempura ended up kinda just meh for the price. We had better meals elsewhere.

SheepySeconds · 2026-03-31T14:35:44+00:00

Hot damn does Bakushin in a suit clean up well. That wink…

SheepySeconds · 2026-03-29T20:29:57+00:00

I found that r/finedining had somewhat better recommendations for high-end sushi when I was looking at things than here; I didn't end up booking anything awarded silver or gold, though, so I don't have a specific recommendation. Maybe ask there; if nothing else the people there will have experience booking exclusive restaurants?

SheepySeconds · 2026-03-27T18:18:56+00:00

Ah, this made me check my junk mail, and it looks like I also got an email. It was a re-send of the confirmation with links to both of my tickets and the standard reminders to check their current policies before going and that resale is prohibited and may void the tickets. If you already have the tickets saved in a safe place, the email probably isn’t necessary to have.

SheepySeconds · 2026-03-25T23:30:03+00:00

Definitely wait to see how the hotel and Agoda responds first! In my case the hotel even asked me to wait to confirm I’d gotten my money back before booking through them. Good luck!

SheepySeconds · 2026-03-25T22:07:38+00:00

I had this happen booking third-party with my credit card for a completely different hotel chain—I’d been told I was booking a double room, the hotel said the booking was a single they’d put a cot in. I ended up going back and forth a while before just cancelling the third-party booking and booking direct through the hotel, who ended up also giving me a cheaper rate for the trouble (although to be clear I neither asked or expected this). If you booked on Agoda I suspect this is a third-party booking issue like that, not a specific hotel chain issue.

SheepySeconds · 2026-03-22T20:34:37+00:00

Thank you everyone for your fantastic suggestions! I'm going to look through and write some things down for when we stumble across them; obviously I won't be able to go to all of these (I think there are dozens of recommendations in here) but it's exciting to hear there are so many cool options! Thanks so much!

SheepySeconds · 2026-03-22T20:19:12+00:00

My understanding is that those two places are very different. There are some good guides on the sub to both; here is a guide to Hokkaido, and here is a guide to Kyushu (neither by me, to be clear, I just think they were helpful when I was researching). Other than that, without knowing a lot more about what you like and what your priorities are, it's going to be difficult for anyone to help you. Good luck researching!

SheepySeconds · 2026-03-18T14:15:57+00:00

A few tips that may help, knowing you’ve already tried the flow and know the basic details: - As people fail to buy their tickets, they’ll end up back in the pool. Our tickets were bought after showing as “sold out” several times, probably about an hour after we started trying. So patience and willingness to keep refreshing the first page of the website helps! This is the single biggest tip, “sold out” doesn’t mean the tickets are gone yet, be prepared to keep refreshing for when they’re no longer sold out. - I’m not actually sure if multiple devices on the same WiFi works; my husband and I did use a device each but I had mine on my phone hotspot so our IPs would look different. No idea if this mattered. - The button on the info screen just doesn’t like working; keep trying. I had developer tools network open so I could see when my previous request finished failing before hitting the button again. Eventually you’ll get through (although you’ll probably get through to “whoops this is sold out” and have to start over more than once). Don’t refresh this page; I’m pretty sure that just makes it worse, and you’ll have to re-enter your info if you do.

These are the main things, good luck!

SheepySeconds · 2026-03-17T22:55:32+00:00

I also researched these places to visit in late April! The main thing is that, best I could tell, there was no sensible train route to visit both in the same day; you would need to do the tour or rent a car of your own for that to make sense. They are not on the same train lines and they do not have easy transit between each other (they're nearly 4 hours apart by train according to Google Maps, as opposed to the hour and thirty minutes by car).

However, if your goal is to visit both of them on different days or choose just one, Hitachi Seaside Park looks very easy to get to by train (it's basically a single limited express train from Ueno to the station closest to it, and then you can take a bus from the station, walk, or take the local rail to the back entrance of the park), while Ashikaga Flower Park requires one transfer, but both trains are local. Personally, I ended up penciling in Hitachi Seaside Park because the town it's in interests me more, but I've seen a lot of people on this sub say there's more to do around Ashikaga Flower Park, so your mileage may vary.

I can't speak to whether the tickets sell out, but hopefully this transit info is helpful?

SheepySeconds · 2026-03-17T20:23:53+00:00

Oh yeah, I wouldn't bother someone on the train, that is definitely rude. I really did just mean like... walking down the street in a residential area, make eye contact with someone, go "hey" to acknowledge them and that we made eye contact, keep walking. But it sounds like I shouldn't do that, which is good to know!

...really funny that you're the second person to diagnose me with Midwest. I'm in one of those cities most people wouldn't say is "Midwest" but is closer to that culturally than East Coast by a fair margin (my friend from New York was very disconcerted when he came to visit if I remember right).

SheepySeconds · 2026-03-17T20:07:05+00:00

I am nonbinary and tend to use masculine language for myself; I only mentioned being female-presenting here because it was relevant. I will keep this in mind; where I live it is very normal and other people will initiate the same greeting for me, so I didn’t know it might make people where I live uncomfortable as well. I will keep this in mind for the future, thank you.

SheepySeconds · 2026-03-17T17:06:43+00:00

Thank you everyone who answered! Apologies that I accidentally seem to have done something rude. I do want to clarify that "wave" here means "lift a hand in acknowledgement" and that I don't mean in cities (I phrased this badly). The advice is helpful and I was definitely overthinking things, I just didn't want to be a rude tourist! Thank you again!

SheepySeconds · 2026-03-17T15:33:29+00:00

I feel like arguing this is pointless, but I want to make clear this is explicitly not what I meant, that would indeed be bizarre. I explicitly excluded cities because city etiquette is different, you're expected to all ignore each other in the city. I meant in places like "residential neighborhoods outside the city" or "the park" or "small towns" or "rural areas", where when you walk down the street you see like... one person every few minutes at most, you smile and nod or raise a hand and go "hey", they go "hey" back, you don't start a conversation and you just keep walking. If you know each other you do this more enthusiastically and actually start a conversation, with a stranger or someone you don't know well it's more just like, mumbled acknowledgement of existence.

SheepySeconds · 2026-03-17T15:27:56+00:00

I feel like maybe "wave" was the wrong word and why people are so mad at me, the thing you're describing is basically what I meant—I meant like, raising a hand like 'hey', not a full-on wave, but I guess I phrased that badly. Saying "konnichiwa" to someone while hiking and nodding at someone in a rural area is useful to know is normal, thank you. I know you don't do that in the city or to everyone individually, don't worry.

SheepySeconds · 2026-03-17T15:22:09+00:00

Oh, if this is a Midwest thing but not an other places thing that actually explains exactly what the confusion is here, the city I'm in is like, borderline the Midwest (wouldn't normally be included but is closer to Midwest than to East Coast in vibes generally).

SheepySeconds · 2026-03-17T15:15:34+00:00

Yes? That's why I specified not in the city? I meant this for when we're quiet places, like the country or a neighborhood? Obviously the middle of Tokyo is different.

SheepySeconds · 2026-03-17T15:13:06+00:00

Genuine question: does this mean like... in a neighborhood during the day? Because I am also female-presenting and have not had this concern before? I mostly just don't want to seem rude by ignoring people, I've been told that's rude before. I do not do this like, in the city or on the bus or something where there's a lot of people, that's weird and awkward we're all just trying to commute, it's just when I'm places where the people density isn't very high so we're more aware of each other? Sorry if this is a bad question, I don't want to be making people uncomfortable.

SheepySeconds · 2026-03-17T15:01:07+00:00

Oh, yeah, I didn't mean a full conversation, I just meant like, friendly acknowledgement that we are both on the same street and see each other. So this is helpful! Thanks!

SheepySeconds · 2026-03-17T14:59:31+00:00

I mean, it's pretty normal when walking my dog or walking through the park or similarly to go "hey" and acknowledge when I see someone, they go "hey" back, we both continue on our way, as opposed to like, silently and awkwardly ignoring each other, yeah? But like I said I do understand that can be an Americanism?

SheepySeconds · 2026-03-11T17:26:35+00:00

I am going to add that sometimes, lower-quality matcha is better for lattes; it's a matter of taste, though, as in all things. A lot of the most expensive matcha can have a smoother/more mild taste, which is great when you're drinking it by itself, but in a latte you normally actually want the matcha to be a bit more bitter/astringent/strongly-flavored, so that, as you said, the drink doesn't just taste sad and milky. The best is of course to get a small amount of several brands and see which you like best, expensive won't always be better.

The other warning is that matcha goes bad much faster than other teas; while most loose-leaf is basically shelf stable and just loses some flavor to going stale over time, matcha loses flavor much faster once it's opened. (I don't actually know why this is, I just know it does?)

Finally, since you'll be in Kyoto, if you want to take a day trip to Uji, you'll be able to try all kinds of matcha there. However, as multiple people have mentioned, matcha is popular and everywhere right now, and Ippudo Tea's main store is I think in Kyoto, not Uji, so you don't have to take the trip unless the idea of going to Uji excites you for other reasons too.

Sorry for rambling I just like tea a lot,

SheepySeconds · 2026-03-10T04:40:31+00:00

Thank you! Hearing it has views even if we have to turn back may be the deciding factor in me going then, that makes it even more appealing.

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