This will be the first and likely only visit to Japan, or even a trip in general, that my wife and myself will ever get to take so we’re wanting to see a decent number of things, but not be incredibly stressed hopping from place to place constantly. I’ve tried to put together something that seems pretty decent, but the train travel is anxiety inducing. We’re a bit overweight but get around just fine. Shy and quiet nerds so things related to that and seeing some historical sites are going to be our bigger priorities.
General plan is leaving as early as possible any morning that we’ll be going to a new city. We have booked hotels, but they are all free cancellation til march, so this is still a bit of a work in progress.
I’ve listed a few things in each place we’d like to see, but we will do misc wandering with any extra time. Probably multiple arcades/claw-machine/anime stores where we can find them and assuming the wife hasn’t already taken up all our extra space with souvenirs at any given point.
Day 0. Arrive in Tokyo Haneda airport in afternoon 2pmish – IC cards/wifi/etc – chill and convenience stores – misc walking around if we’re up to it.
Day 1. Tokyo to Kamakura to Tokyo – 1.5hr each way – visiting Komachi-dori and the daibutsu/temples we can fit in the day. Not sure if we can get to the beach before sunrise. Back to Tokyo for misc and to sleep.
Day 2. Tokyo to Osaka – 3hr train – Osaka castle, Nakanoshima park – staying in Osaka (get the JR Kansai Hiroshima Area Pass??)
Day 4. Osaka – Umeda sky building, ferris wheel, sennichimae doguyasuji shopping area – staying in Osaka
Day 5. Osaka – Universal Studios Japan – tickets bought, hoping to get express tickets tonight – staying in Osaka
Day 6. Osaka – Day trip to Hiroshima – 1.5hr each way – historical areas and miyajima – staying in osaka
Day 7. Osaka – Day trip to Nara – 30m each way – Todaiji temple, Nara park, general walking viewing temples/shrines – staying in osaka
Day 8. Osaka to Kyoto – 30m train – Ginkakuji templs, Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kodai-ji – staying in Kyoto
Day 9. Kyoto – Nijo castle, Sannenzaka Ninenzaka district, nishiki market – staying in Kyoto
Day 10. Kyoto to Takayama – 3hr train (according to JR schedule for ‘fast’, up to 4-5hrs for others)- shinhotaka ropeway, old town – stay in Takayama (will not be doing onsens because wife is worried about being alone, and hard to find one that allows tattoos, AND good ones with private in room ones are full booked)
Day 11. Takayama to Tokyo – 5hrs – staying in Tokyo for rest of trip – misc wandering, maybe move a district to this day
Day 12. Saitama/Sendai for crane games/arcade – assuming more popular districts have more stingy machines (don’t think both in a day is doable without being hectic due to distances)
Day 13. Shinjuku, Shibuya, Nakano broadway, misc
Day 14. Ginza, Akihabara, misc
Day 15. Ueno park, temples, misc (maybe do a crane game day here, wife loves crane games)
Day 16. Tokyo to airport – depart 5pm – Still looking at how early we have to get there – sad time, going home
While this doesn’t seem too ambitious to me, maybe it is. Hoping some people can weigh in on general timelines and/or opinions on a specific place to check out. I’m sure some of these are tourist traps, but it is what it is. We’re trying to approach this with a “we want to see 1-3 things for sure and explore the rest of the time” sort of mentality. I fully realize we’ll never get to see everything we want to unless we win the lottery, but we’re incredibly lucky to even be in the position to do what little we are getting to do.
