>>16354625 (OP)I literally just came back from Japan, not even a week ago, and I'd say just have a plan. Sadly you missed the awesome grand sumo tournament which I got to watch, that was the highlight of my trip. I also hiked the entire thousand tori gates which was cool as shit. For food try a variety of the restaurant types there that they don't offer in the US (izakaya, yakiniku/shabu shabu, udon/soba places, yakitori, cheap rice bowls). While you're there, take full advantage of the weak yen; seriously, the entire fucking country may as well be on sale. But don't fuck with the prostitution there it's all scams to trick stupid foreigners like (You), you will likely just get robbed.
>>16354657Also please forget everything anime and porn taught you, outside of language (and double check any japanese you may have picked up that you want to use). For instance I sometimes accidentally asked "Nani kore wa?" (the rude version) to a food vendor once instead of "Kore wa nani?" because I was so used to the way people speak in shounens.
Also check out Kyoto it's gemmy as fuck. Walk along the river at night often there's huge gatherings of people and even music.