Solo trip to Japan - Recommendations

Hey all!
I am a 20-year-old female and I am going to be taking my first solo-trip (in general) to Japan in May. I have a week in Japan and have friends studying abroad in the Tokyo area so I believe I mainly want to stay around Tokyo and possibly take day trips out or at most a night or 2 away. I am looking at any and all recommendations for places to stay, things to do, day trips or night trips to take away from Tokyo, and general tips for solo travelers. Thanks

Hey,

In terms of recommendations for day trips, if you're wanting to stay in the Tokyo area I'd recommend Nikko and Mount Fuji. Further afield, Kyoto and Miyajima are definitely my top recommendations!

Hope that helps!

Hello!
I went to Japan last year and had a brilliant time. My top recommendation would be to visit Asakusa, from there you can spend the day walking around visiting Sensoji temple (Buddhist temple from the 7th century) with the Nakamise shopping street and the Kaminari gate. Not far from here you can visit Tokyo Skytree, I recommend especially towards the evening as it is so magical seeing all of the city lights of Tokyo and a great way to round off the day.

Outside of Tokyo I really recommend Kyoto, I spent 2 days there and wish I spent more as there wasn't enough time to do the things I planned. Closer to Tokyo there is Yokohama where it is maybe an hour away and is quite lively. Nara is also close and beautiful, there is a famous deer park which I also want to rave about. A tip for you travelling, I got lost multiple times a day in Japan with no exaggeration, so make sure you learn some basic phrases for where things are ( "LOCATION" wa doko desu ka - where is ***?) The locals are so sweet and will attempt to assist you as much as possible even if you don't understand each other. If you stay with airbnb a lot of them offer pocket wifi which is a life saver in these situations.

other than that, I hope you have a lovely time!!

I've never been to Japan before but aim to go to Tokyo in 2020 but based on the documentaries I've seen about the shinkansen train network they have, I'd strongly recommend riding on one of those trains at least once should you get the opportunity to do so.