Tokyo and Kyoto

Went to both several years ago. Both are great. We enjoyed Kyoto more than Tokyo. Went to the old palace in Kyoto and to some temple up on a hill. Go to the fish auction in Tokyo if you can and watch dudes pay $100K for tuna. That's all I got. Oh and ride the bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo and you'll see Mt. Fuji.

Tokyo is a bigger and better version of Manhattan/NY to me. Like NY, Learn the subway system and you'll be golden to freely move about the city.

I lived in Japan for a couple of years. I always tell people the joy in Japan is to be like the anti-Japanese. That is, to not be TOO organized, to leave a little room for magic. Wander, eat at random yaki-toris, walk into random temples, get off at a different train stop, try things out of the vending machines, eat random candies and so forth. It's a very high-functioning country, they do a lot of things better than we do here, so enjoy those things.

I'm way more of a Kyoto guy than a Tokyo guy. My advice is visit as many temples, snacks, and small restaurants as possible. Also pick me up some "black-black" gum and drink pocari sweat.

Agree with above, Kyoto blew my mind, Tokyo was just another big city, cool but not as unique as Kyoto. In Kyoto hit up the golden temple, imperial palace, bamboo forest, nijo castle, ryoan ji (old zen temple). There are a ton of good restaurants along the Kamo river. If you google Hello Dolly, it's a Jazz bar on the river, along that walking street are a ton of awesome restaurants and bars. Whiskey is huge in Japan. There are a ton of awesome whiskey and high ball bars all over.

If you have extra time in Kyoto, take the bullet train down to hiroshima and check out the peace museum and the A-bomb dome, if you do this you can also quickly go to Miyajima island and check out some cool temples there.

No real big recommendations for Tokyo, I stayed in Akasaka Mitsuke which was a cool area to check out. It's too big to check out everything so pick a couple of areas you want to check out and just wander around eating street food and drinking. Go to karioki bars, enjoy the nightlife for sure.