I travelled to Japan and ranked my top 4 places to visit – not Okinawa | Asia | Travel

I spent two beautiful weeks in Japan earlier this year, during cherry blossom season. It had been close to the top of my list of places to visit for many years, and so my excitement when landing in Tokyo went through the roof.

I had a plan to spend five nights in Tokyo, four in Kyoto, three in Okinawa and two in Osaka as I was moving on to South Korea afterwards.

Below, I have ranked the four best places that I visited during my trip, from bustling cities to unknown islands. Where would you like to go?

In at number four is Tokashiki Island, mainly due to the short time I spent here (only a day). This place was beautiful and totally not what you imagine when you think about Japan. I had travelled to Okinawa two nights prior, and after not being blown away by beaches on the island itself, I decided to get an hour-long ferry to the island of Tokashiki, in search of paradise. The beach did not disappoint, with stunning backdrops of dramatic cliffs and crystal-clear blue water; it was just what I needed after many, many days taking 20,000 steps or more!

Kyoto was such a culture shock; I have never seen so many beautiful buildings in one place. I spent four nights here, which felt pretty perfect. I stayed one night in a traditional ryokan; it was very peaceful, and I’d highly recommend anyone looking to go to Japan to do the same. I spent my days checking out different temples, eating at the local market and trying different matcha spots. However, this city felt the most touristy and could be quite hard to get around at busy times. If you headed to the outskirts, however, you would find even better food and total peace.

Up next is Osaka. This city had such a cool vibe, and although I was only staying here for two nights, you could easily spend so much more. It had the most young feel about it, while also still having the traditional vibe of Japan. The food here was some of the best I had, I enjoyed a wagyu steak ramen on my last evening and it was the best decision I could have made, making friends with the other people eating at the noodle bar and enjoying lemon sour highballs.

I really didn’t expect to love Tokyo as much as I did – I knew it would be amazing, but I ended up extending my stay there just because there were endless things to do. Each neighbourhood had its own vibe, similar to London but more extreme. I spent most of my time in Tokyo seeing the sights, eating late-night ramen, and drinking matcha. I’ll never be able to find a matcha half as good as I had in Japan. Shopping was also on the agenda more days than not; the retail and vintage scene in Tokyo is crazy. I haven’t experienced shopping like it; I would spend hours sifting through all the different designers and, of course, had to take home a couple of souvenirs.