Tokyo & Kyoto: Our Babymoon

Hello all, 

We've just come back from a 10-day trip to Japan. It was my first time in this exciting country. If I must choose one word to describe: WOW :) While I was walking on the streets, I had this feeling that I needed to remember everything I saw. I hope I do. 

I wrote the above last year in July without finishing the rest of the blog, which feels like 100 years ago, because in between then and today, I gave birth to my son, who is 4 months old now. If I must choose one word to describe the experience: WOW :) The following are what I can remember from our trip in July 2025. 

Our trip to Japan was our babymoon, the last nice adventure we took as a couple before welcoming our baby boy into the world. There are mainly two types of babymoons, one where you relax and one where you explore. I chose the second one. The timing is also important. Pregnant couples usually travel around week 20 in the second trimester. That's why we were traveling to Japan in July, which isn't the best time to visit in my opinion, because of the heat. Yet, I don't regret our decision. It was an amazing trip. Recently, I have been thinking that there is no decision that I regret when it comes to doing things. Those that I regret usually relate to when I decide to not do something, but that's a different topic. 

If I weren't traveling for a babymoon, I'd pick another season to visit Tokyo and Kyoto. In fact, I want to visit these cities again in the fall. This time I'll bring my son with me and show him the places we've been when he was in my belly, and also the places I haven't been but wanted to. Top of my list will be the Ghibli Museum. Needless to say, I have to come back to try sushi too, which I couldn't have during my pregnancy. The weather was really hot in July, and at times it felt suffocating due to the high humidity. We managed it by going out very early in the morning, staying in museums and indoors during midday, and enjoying the evenings. The biggest advantage of visiting in summer was the absence of long queues in restaurants and events. I also let go of the idea of seeing all the landmarks and places on my list early on during our trip because it is literally impossible :)  

We started our trip in Tokyo. We stayed in Landabout Tokyo, which was a very nice city hotel. The cafe at the entrance has delicious drinks and food, making it great for a quick breakfast. The hotel was close to Ueno Park and was conveniently located on the best metro lines. I've never seen such a small hotel room, but we knew it was going to be like that. It wasn't a problem for us. 

Tokyo is divided into neighborhoods that have very distinct vibes. I divided each day to a different neighbourhood. Our pace was slower than usual because of my pregnancy, but we managed to see a lot of the usual suspects and some lesser-known areas. 

There is a Japan frenzy going on in the world right now, including among travellers from Turkey. This translates into identical Instagram photos. We did a good job finding a few hidden gems along the way. My favourite was Yakinikuya Tecchan, a Japanese-style grill restaurant. The marinated meat was excellent, and we enjoyed the bar counter-style dining.        

Tokyo has countless anime and character-centered cafes and stores. I rushed to a nearby Sanrio store after a 13-hour flight despite my husband's disbelieving eyes. Hello Kitty does not wait. I bought a stuffed toy for my son-to-be. Pochacco: Hello Kitty's dog friend. Another sanctuary for anime lovers is Akihabara. An electronic and anime heaven-slash-neighbourhood with an impossible amount of stores to get lost for days. This is so iconic and unique that a visitor must see this place. Of course, in my humble view, but this whole blog is MY humble view after all.  

Another cute and relatively calm neighbourhood is Daikanyama. It's close to Shibuya (to comprehend the crowdedness of this place, you can check out photos from the Shibuya Crossing, where millions of people cross every day), yet it has very different vibes. We stayed almost half a day in the Tsutaya Bookstore without rushing ourselves, following a nice breakfast at the Garden House Crafts, a cute bakery. The shaved ice from the small boutique store, No Ohagi, was delicious.    

We hit the jackpot with the only museum we visited: Nezu Museum. A beautiful collection of Japanese art, part of a private collection. The museum has a wonderful garden, which was great to cool down on a hot day, and is located on the Omotesando Avenue.     

An underrated and surprisingly good sushi restaurant was around the corner from our hotel. It was a blessing to avoid traveling for dinner and trying to show up for a pre-booked seat. Having said that, one of my next visits to Japan will be for dining and drinking.  

Our friends who are a few years younger than we are visited Japan before we did, and they said they didn't like the Ginza neighbourhood. When we enjoyed this pretty and a little upscale neighbourhood very much, it got me thinking that perhaps age impacts perception, and maybe I also wouldn't like it if I visited in my early thirties. We walked around in the evening and enjoyed a very good ramen in a restaurant that I cannot remember. I do remember the rooibos tea bags I bought from this restaurant, though. They were very good, and I cannot find them online. We visited the Uniqlo Flagship Store in Ginza and spent a considerable amount of time picking and trying on clothes, which ended with us leaving our basket to hurry to Teamlab Planets. It was worth seeing such an interesting experience-art (not sure if this is the right terminology). 

On our last day, we realised we had done enough in Tokyo, so we went for an adventure to Hakone, a lakeside town with Mountain Fuji views, one hour outside of Tokyo. Our first stop was Hakone Amasake-Chaya, a tea house from the 16th century. It is unbelievable that they kept the place almost the same for centuries. The house drink is called Amasake, which is a fermented, sweet, and hot drink. We couldn't fully enjoy our visit because when we were on the bus, we realised (and were shocked) that we should've left for Osaka on that day instead of wandering around. We quickly booked our Tokyo hotel for one more night and asked the hotel to keep the same room. We still continued enjoying our day, and I am very proud of my ever-righteous-capable husband for letting go of the mistake and focusing on the rest of our day :) Walking along the Old Tokaido Road felt very special, and we ended our day at the Hakone Open Air Museum, which included great sculptures spread across the property, including a Picasso exhibition. What is life without a little misadventure!      

Now, Osaka was out of the picture due to time limitations, so we travelled to our second and last city, Kyoto, from Tokyo via Shinkansen. The fast train was, by itself, an experience and a fun part of our trip. Japan knows how to build sturdy and crazy vehicles and things. One of the highlights in Kyoto was having Omakase because the wonderful chef agreed to change his course to accommodate my pregnancy diet restrictions. The other was visiting the Fushimi Inari Shrine and the thousand tori gates, but even more so was the relaxing cafe by a pond hidden in the Shrine. We argued about whether we need to visit each famous shrine and temple without reaching a common decision.  

A note to myself: Bring your son back to Tokyo Disneyland as soon as possible. 

Travel reads: "The Manga Guide to Japanese Food" by Hiroshi Nagashima & Lonely Planet Japan edition.