Second trip to Japan, early May 2026. Part 1

Hello everyone!

I've been to Japan this May (6-15 May, 2026), and this trip was much, much different than previous in late October, 2025. I went with my mom – that was her first trip to Japan.

Our plan was:

6 - 8 May: Tokyo
8-10 May: Kyoto
10-14 May: Kanazawa and Hirayu-onsen (12 May)
15 May, 8 AM: flight from Haneda Airport, Tokyo.

Our plan was to move between Tokyo, Kyoto & Kanazawa via bullet trains, except for trip to Hirayu-onsen – we decided to travel to Takayama via Hida Express.

6th May

We left Haneda Airport at 8 PM or so, and it took us around one hour to get to Asakusa, where our hotel was. Walked through Asakusa streets near Sensou-Ji.

I took shower in hotel and decided to call it a day.

7th May

I woke up early, and after morning routine I went to Akihabara metro station (cough Amiami Tower cough). It took me ~1 hour by foot. Weather was excellent – 20+ degrees Celsius – and thanks to the drinks in vending machines (unsweetened tea!!), I made it in exactly 1 hour 11 minutes.

Took some photos on my way, too:

I arrived early (9 AM) – all the stores were closed. There was Kanda Myojin Temple nearby (they sell the "data protection omamori", yeah!), and I had nothing else to do, so... Yeah. here you go.

After a short rest I went back to hotel (and bought Sonetto figurine in Amiami Tower on my way back).

At 12 AM me & my mom decided to visit Jimbocho metro station, and she insisted that we need to get there by foot.

I heard a lot about Jimbocho district, but I was not impressed. Probably because we were really tired and got there at 7 PM, and my expectations were kinda different. Anyway, I found an interesting art store called "Hanga-do" (版画堂) there, and bought, like, 8 paintings (including some ink paintings!!) – some old, some not, but very interesting, in my opinion – for 30 000 JPY.

We got to the hotel at 11 PM and got to bed.

8th May

We woke up early, and decided to visit Sumida park and take a look at the teaware store nearby.

We stumbled across Matsuchiyama Shoden temple – a peaceful Buddhist shrine with kinda unique way to take away misfortune and other bad things using radish as, well, a vessel.

The teaware store was (kinda – 10min walk or 650m away from the temple) nearby, we took a short rest and moved on.

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The store Kakinuma had great selection of teaware – natsume (vessel for matcha), various chawans (matcha bowl), other tea ceremony utensils. I bought two – one for me, and one for a friend.

Anyway, we got back at the hotel, got our luggage and went to Tokyo Station.

The photographs from the moving train are not worth sharing, so I'll just say that we checked in at the hotel (20min walk from Kyoto Station) in Kyoto and, took some rest & went for a walk at the late evening.

9th May

We woke up, ate a few snacks from 7/11 and decided to visit Okazaki Shrine & Heian-Jingu, but, well, we overestimated our abilities.

Kamo river & Shijo bridge:

Since we were near Book-off & Tower Records, we decided to buy some CDs (as a gift – don't know why, but CDs are really popular in Japan) and head to the Heian-Jingu.

Some takoyaki on our way there (they were really good!):

During short break we realized that we're not going to make it to the Heian-Jingu – it was getting late & dark. So we headed home via Higashiyama area.

We stumbled upon Zenkyo-an Temple at night, and it was mesmerizing experience – because of the lanterns, I guess?

10th May

Woke up early (again, yeah), and before heading out to train to Kanazawa (Kyoto - Tsuruga (7 minutes to change trains) - Kanazawa) at 14:30, we went to the Kyomizu-dera (via Otani cemetery).

(not going to show the cemetery, though)

Kyomizu-dera was not fully packed with tourists, but still, ther

I also bought some omamori (because I love how unique & interesting they are, plus the concept of a warding amulet is interesting in 2026 to me, at least).

Anyway, after Kyomizu-dera we went to the Yasaka Temple grounds, but decided to visit less popular places – Ryozen Kannon Temple with big Kannon statue & nearby temples (Reimei Shrine and Ryozen Gokoku Jinja).

After a quick walk through Yasaka jinja we got back to our hotel, took our luggage and went to Kyoto Station.

Kanazawa, in my opinion, was way more relaxed & peaceful than Kyoto and (of course) Tokyo. The azalea (Rhododendron shrub, if I am not mistaken?) shrubs were in full bloom, the city itself was quiet, and the air felt different (probably because Kanazawa is close to the ocean).

I also was delighted to see that some trees were supported by wooden logs:

Anyway, we got to our hotel and went to bed.

11th of May

I've never seen (and touched, for some reason) an ocean, so we went to the ocean beach.

Got there via bus from Kanazawa Station, but still had to walk, like, 25 minutes from bus stop.

To get back to Kanazawa Station, we walked even more (40 minutes...?) to the Unchinada station.

The train took us to the Kanazawa station. After that, we decided to walk by the river to the Higashiyama Chaya District.

The peanut cookie was covered in rice & barley syrup! We bought them there – Tawaraya Main Store.

Some more photos:

Higashiyama Chaya District was full with people, so we quickly walked to the Utatsuyama park nearby. That was worth it – the views, the overall tranquil, calm atmosphere (for the lack of the better word, sorry!).