Tokyo:
- Nagi - ramen joint - Done!
- Golden Gai - six tiny alleys with more than 200 bars! - Done!
- Studio Ghibli museum
- Themed love hotel - saw some but have yet to be done in one.
- Owl cafe - as above, I guess.
- Vowz Bar - drinks served by monks!
- Akihabara - centre of otaku culture - Done!
- Bar on the 33rd floor of the Tokyo Tower with a crazy view - who cares about this place, we went to New York Bar.
- Jazz scene in Tokyo
- Shooting Bar - get blasted - Done!
- Vending machine pizza! - we got vending machine fried chicken.
- Sushi delivered through a chute (sushi trains are for suckers)
- Art in the bath houses
- Grandfather's - old records played by an old man in an old bar
- No Trunks - jazz bar
- Open air onsen - Done! Sat in an open air onsen along the Kumano Kodo and got my butt bitten by a vicious butt-biting fly of some kind. It was spectacular.
- Cat Temple
- 300 year old goldfish farm
- Imperial Palace - Done!
- Black hotspring onsen
- Clover's - gotta get pancakes
- Arcades! - Done!
- Sumo wrestling - apparently it's only on sometimes during the year but the wrestlers train year round so if we miss the tournaments, we can go and see a training session (dad says that the wrestlers like to bench press Western tourists to show off for photos). Also, the training centres are called stables rather than gyms! Experience of sitting ring side at a sumo tournament: "Ticket holders sit on cushions on the floor and are exposed to the risk of injury due to wrestlers flying into the spectators."
- Edo-Tokyo Museum - museum looking at the Edo period (1603 - 1863) - Done!
Kyoto:
- Onsen inn
- Fushimi Inari Shrine - mountain trails and thousands of Torii gates - Done!
- Nanzen Ji Temple
- Kiyomizu-dera - Buddhist temple from 760 (currently under construction so maybe not so great)
- Nijo Castle - Shogun's castle with nightingale floors! - Done, was disappointed to learn that the nightingale floors were really just regular old floorboards.
- Bamboo Grove
Nara:
It's pretty close to Kyoto so maybe a good day trip from there.
- Nara Park - full of lots of deer! They bow to ask for treats - Done!
- Kasuga Taisha - huge Shinto shrine
Osaka:
Elsewhere:
- Koyasan temple