10 places in Japan to feel like a kid again ✨
First off, I just want to say I’m very far from being any kind of expert on Japan; this was my first time there! If, like me, you love vintage and going off the beaten path, I suggest buying The Hello Sandwich Guide to Japan. Ebony has lived there for years and is an amazing curator. Some of the addresses in her book have sadly closed since it was published in 2021, but it still covers so many amazing places worth visiting. I even did a personalised tour with her in Tokyo as well, and it was so cool to see her neighbourhood (Shimokitazawa) from a local's perspective! You can also follow her instagram to see beautiful snaps of her life in Japan.
There were a few spots I visited during the trip that really spoke to my inner child, and I thought I’d share them here in case you happen to like the same things I do. Here are the 10 places in Japan that excited me the most, in no particular order:
Café Bon Bon, Nagoya (discovered via Hello Sandwich’s book)
Visiting kissaten (traditional cafes that have often remained unchanged since opening) was definitely my favourite thing to do in Japan. Combining coffee, toast and retro interiors, they’re pretty much a Venn diagram of everything I like.
Bon Bon in Nagoya (founded in the 1940s) is one of the best I visited during my trip. Amazing vintage interiors, super well-maintained, and pretty decent food. We ordered the morning set and also chose a chocolate éclair from their incredible selection of cakes. Our coffees came with a square of free chiffon cake! (Big fan of anywhere that will give me cake for free.)
Make sure you go next door to Bon Bon Cake, where you can get more cakes for takeaway, plus very good souvenirs! I got the cutest bear-shaped gift bag of all time! It came with, you guessed it, two bear-shaped cakes inside. I saved them to eat when I was back in London for my birthday, kept the bear box as a memento, and the bear cake wrappers went straight into my trip’s junk journal.
There are so many kissaten in Japan that even if you don’t get to visit Nagoya, you’re bound to find a cute one in your neighbourhood, just search kissaten on Google Maps. Believe me, it’ll be much more fun and memorable (not to mention cheaper) than going to a hipster “Brooklyn-style” cafe. Most of the kissaten I visited had morning sets (pictured) during breakfast hours, usually consisting of a thick toast, sometimes a little salad, and a boiled egg, plus a coffee. The idea is that the food is free when you order a coffee, and most of them were under 1000¥!
You can also pop into a kissaten in the afternoon for a hotto kohe (hot coffee, like a filter coffee) and a sweet treat (I suggest coffee jelly or custard puddings - can’t go wrong with those!). Most of the kissaten I visited also served main meal dishes like omurice and neapolitan spaghetti, but I don’t like ketchup, so I didn’t eat them xD
Just a heads up, a lot of kissaten still allow smoking indoors, so make sure to check beforehand if that bothers you. (Smoke bothers me, but my love for cheap toast and coffee is stronger.)
Retro Miscellaneous Goods Store, Kyoto
This is a super cute shop in Kyoto selling, as the name suggests, retro miscellaneous goods. So much cute vintage here, especially if you’re a fan of vintage kitschy stuff! I love 50s-70s vintage, and Japan’s Showa-era retro, an aesthetic that, while being Japanese, was heavily influenced by the influx of Western influences in Japan after WWII, fits my personal aesthetic perfectly. Even the store’s façade is adorable, as it used to be a cigarette shop!
When I came back from Japan, the first question a lot of people asked me was “omg, what did you buy while you were in Japan?”, which, to be honest, made me a little sad – I wish they’d ask me what my favourite place I visited was, or what was the best food I ate while I was there. I actually didn’t buy much during my trip (unless you count all the candy, chocolate and snacks I brought back), and when I did buy stuff, I tried to only buy things I knew I would never find back in London.
Stores like Retro Miscellaneous Goods fit my bill perfectly, because there I could find kitschy Showa-era vintage that doesn’t come by in the UK. I bought stickers, vintage paper dolls, vintage notebooks, and some vintage junk journal paper ephemera. I didn’t spend a lot, it added very little weight to my luggage, and just looking at everything in the shop made me feel like a kid again, just from being surrounded by so much cuteness! The owner was adorable, and even though she didn’t speak much English and I couldn’t speak any Japanese, we were both really excited to meet one another and exchange “oohs!”, “aahs!” and “kawaii!” while I browsed the shop.
Ghibli Park, near Nagoya
Going to Ghibli Park was the reason why we spent a few days in Nagoya! It’s really hard to get tickets to the park; we had to wake up at 4 am and stay in the digital line, hoping our turn would come before the days we were hoping for sold out. If you are a Ghibli fan, in my opinion, the faff of getting tickets is super worth it.
It’s not really an amusement park, as there are only a couple of rides per se – I went to the merry-go-round sitting on Kiki’s broom and sobbed uncontrollably the whole time (yes, will discuss this with my future therapist). The park focuses on a few movies and basically has recreations of the houses in those movies IRL. For me, it was pretty magical seeing things like the family home in Totoro and Kiki’s parents’ house IRL. The Grand Warehouse also has Arrietty’s miniature world in a non-miniature size (pictured), which was incredible! You can also buy bread from Kiki’s bakery, and everything I got there was beyond delicious. My favourite thing I got from Kiki’s Bakery, which unfortunately I didn’t get the name for, was a really soft, springy white bread with a dried flower on top, filled with pink mochi. So so good!!!
There is also a Ghibli Museum in Tokyo, for which you also need to digitally queue weeks in advance. I’m definitely saving this one for the next time I’m in Japan!
Future Train, Kyoto (discovered via The Clotheshorse instagram)
Amanda from the Clotheshorse podcast described their experience at Future Train on their instagram stories, and I was really curious to give it a go! This restaurant/experience was the closest thing to going to a novelty cafe that I did while in Japan.
We booked the 7-course meal, and it was definitely worth it! When we arrived, we were greeted by a lady wearing the cutest pink latex “train attendant” outfit, and she showed us the way to our train seat. They give you a train ticket and everything! The meal happens inside a deactivated train (painted pink, of course), and it starts with a crazy video experience about how the train will crash because we aren’t using our imaginations enough. Or at least that’s what I could gather, as everything was in Japanese, except when she said “imagination! imagination”, lol. Even though I couldn’t really understand anything, the video experience still gave me all the feelings, and, you guessed it, I cried.
Once the video experience was over, we were introduced to our conductor, a person wearing a bird costume (and a pink conductor uniform, of course). It was the best! The train attendant and the conductor kept popping up during our meal, either to explain what the next dish was or to continue role-playing as a train attendant/conductor, and they seemed so cute and happy that it made me feel really happy to be there, too. I’m not sure it’s something I’d do again, but I’d say it was definitely worth going once in my life!
Hattifnatt Koenji, Tokyo (I think this one also came from Hello Sandwich’s book!)
Out of all the places in this list, this is probably the second one that most obviously will make you feel like a child (number 1 is the candy shop listed further down)… The restaurant’s walls are completely covered in beautiful artwork that looks straight out of a children’s book, painted by the artist duo marini＊monteany (instagram). The latte art is like no latte art you’ll ever encounter in your life. And the food was amazing as well! We tried the taco rice, some sort of baked pasta dish, and had a delicious banana caramel tart for dessert. It was a very whimsical place and I felt very happy to be there.
三角公園, Tokyo
After having lunch at Hattifnatt, we walked around Koenji, exploring the area. We walked by this bar, and although it was closed, I couldn’t help but linger around until it opened so I could take a look inside. I’m so glad I did! The people working there were some of the nicest we encountered during our trip, and you can really tell how much effort they put into the bar - the food, the decor, everything was amazing.
We went on a Friday evening, and although there seemed to be lots of regulars coming in, we didn’t feel like we were bothering them by being there too (this is a feeling that we got at a lot of places in Japan, unfortunately, but understandably given the over-tourism). We went for the omakase, which is kind of like a chef’s selection of many small dishes, and although we didn’t really understand what half of them were, they were all delicious. The chef made sure to highlight how a lot of the food was from his region in Japan, and we also tried a sake made near the hometown of one of the waiters. It was overall a lovely experience, and I would love to go back and try other dishes.
Coffee & Wine Violon, Kyoto (discovered via the Hello Sandwich book as well!)
We happened to come here for a drink on Valentine’s Day, and although it was a Saturday night (around 9pm), we were the first and only customers at this bar! I really can’t understand how it wasn’t super crowded; maybe people flock there later on at night. It was manned by one gentleman only, and there was classical music playing. He had lots of coffee equipment, so the coffee there must be really good, too. But I wanted to go there specifically because of a drink that Ebony described in her book: A blue soda topped with a rose-shaped vanilla ice cream flower. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever eaten in my life! We had that and some wine, and only as we were leaving did some people arrive. It felt very precious to have the whole place to ourselves (and the very attentive waiter/owner/manager) for a bit.
Tower of the Sun, Osaka
This huge sculpture was designed by Taro Okamoto for the 1970 Osaka World Expo - in my head, it’s to the 70’ Expo what the Eiffel Tower is to the 1889 Universal Exhibition in Paris. The 70’ Expo was the first world expo held in Asia, and its motto was “Progress and Harmony for Mankind”, which seems like something I can stand by. I can’t really explain why I liked the tower so much, but to me it just feels like something that wouldn’t exist nowadays if there were a world fair (I have no idea if world fairs still happen).
Inside, you can see really cool sculptures (although sort of falling apart) representing the evolution of animal life on the planet, and learn more about the construction of the tower. It’s about an hour away on the train from Osaka, but as it’s located in a beautiful park, I think it’s definitely worth the trip. When we went in February, the ume trees were blooming, and a friend said that the National Museum of Ethnology there is amazing too, although I didn’t have a chance to go on this trip.
Koji Kinutani Tenku Art Museum, Osaka
I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this museum, as I’m usually not a fan of contemporary art (please don’t chastise me). However, Koji’s artwork really mesmerised me, and felt new and different. There were paintings, really cool 3D movies (something I usually hate), and moving sculptures. My favourite piece was a rotating statue from 2019 called “The morning sun, mt Fuji and two dragons, each gripping a ball - dharma - gate of non duality”. To be honest, he just seems like a crazy guy. In the signs about the museum, Koji says he wants his museum to be a symbol of Osaka, just like the Osaka castle. So a very humble man too!
Shibamata Haikara Yokocho, Tokyo
Now, yes, probably the least surprising place to feel like a kid… A candy shop <3 And toy museum, and a “A retro Showa-era tourist spot located near Shibamata Station and Taishakuten Temple”, according to their website. We bought so much cute retro candy here (purely for the packaging & without translating it), enjoying it in our outings for the rest of the trip, discovering what they were as we went. They also made great souvenirs. Nothing like food souvenirs!
The shop also has vintage pinball machines, and it was full of kids when we went around lunchtime on a Friday, running around and buying tons of candy. They had a stationery corner, and some of the products really were vintage! I bought a tiny showa polka-dotted bag with soap sheets, which are very useful for when you go to public toilets in Japan - although they are usually very clean and free, they don’t provide soap.
I hope someday I’ll go back to Japan to revisit these gems and to explore less touristy regions, which are bound to have many other retro gems! If you know of any other places I should add to my list of joyful places in Japan, please feel free to share :)
PS: If you vibed with this retro Japan guide, I dare say you might like the jewellery I make using vintage beads! I received lots of compliments on the ones I wore while I was in Japan 😌