Hi Reddit, this is my rough draft of an itinerary for the May 11-27 of 2023. I’m gonna be traveling with a pretty big group of friends as well,coming from different states in America. Obviously nothing is set in stone yet so I’m open to any recommendations or changes. I tried to not make it too bloated since it’ll be all of our first times in Japan but I’m worried we’ll have too much free time.
May 11th- all day flight
May 12th-land in Osaka, transfer luggage, pick up travel cards and wifi, get to hotel, rest, get dinner and drinks in dotonbori
May 13th- explore amerikamura (food, shopping, parks, etc),dinner in dotonbori
May 14th- trip to Osaka castle, nakanoshima park,
May 15th-relax day
May 16th- Osaka aquarium, national museum of art(?), umeda sky
May 17th-wander around the city, chill day
May 18th (day trip to Kobe)- boruto theme park if its still open. If not then day trip to Kyoto and doo stuff there
May 19th(day trip to Kyoto)-kinkaku-ji, Kyoto manga museum, fushimi inari shrine,
May 20th (day trip to Nara)- deer park, feed deer
May 21st (staying in tokyo)-settle in, wander the city, see Shibuya crosswalk, Shibuya sky, more Shibuya stuff, harajuku
May 22nd- Shinjuku stuff, shopping probably, memory lane, gyoen park
May 23rd- wander around, chill out, odaiba I guess, or Pokemon cafe
May 24th (day trip to yokohama)- cup ramen museum
May 25th- akihabara, do nerd stuff, sunshine city, Ghibli museum
May 26th- tokyo national museum, sensoji temple, tokyo sky tree, get luggage together
May 27th- make sure everything is settled, Tokyo airport
SN: my friends and I aren’t too interested in the whole Kyoto experience (temples,shrines,etc) but we respect it so if anyone has good recommendations I’m more than open about changing things up, maybe adding another day.
Also, most of us are really into car culture so we were hoping to see the daikoku meets but I’ve only heard it’s way too complicated to get to as a foreigner. Are there any meets that are easier to get to?
Thanks
13 comments
Kyoto is pretty close to Osaka so it might be worth it to stop by for a day at least. I’d say the main pagoda is worth a visit. The atmosphere seems really different and interesting imo. https://kyoto.travel/en/shrine_temple/155.html
I have never been but you could check my itinerary. Might see something interesting.
Boruto theme park do you mean in Nijigen no mori ? From what I saw in video, some of the games seems to really be made for kids, so not sure how fun it is for adults.
Your Osaka part is really relax and I would at least try to have a couple more ideas, even if you do not do everything.
For the only day you have in Kyoto, you selected things in completely different parts of the city. I would say do either Kinkaku-ji or Fushimi Inari-taisha, then add things in the area closer to the manga museum, like Nijo-jo, Nishiki market, Gion, Yasaka shrine, and dependin on how the day goes, could go deeper in Higashiyama, like ninenzaka, kiyomizu-dera area.
Nara do not miss Todai-ji.
Instead of having a couple of free days in Osaka, I would at least add one day in Tokyo, because Akihabara, Ikebukuro and Ghibli are really not in the same area. I would really recommend to split that on two days.
Nara isn’t a day trip, it’s a 3 hour trip at best, imo. Splitting that day between Nara and Kyoto would be a much better idea.
I just winged it in Japan. I got a 3 week JR pass which I used almost every day. I usually booked hostels 2 or 3 days in advance.
Some beautiful places are Nikko, about 2 hours on the train north of Tokyo. If you have a car you could visit a few other nice places around the area too. You absolutely must climb Mount Nantai, the views over the lake below are amazing. (Make sure you take a bear bell on your bag, or if you’re in a group you’ll be fine.) There are also loads of Japanese macaques in this area too, they’re super wild so they’ll just run away are the presence of any human, but if you behave with respect you’ll get to watch them a bit.
It’s a shame you won’t go there in July or August, since Mount Fuji is a truly rewarding climb, and not really that challenging either. Again, that area is really nice. With a car you’ll definitely be able to drive around and see a lot.
If you’re into Ghibli you might want to consider going to the new theme park that is scheduled to open in Nov 2022. It’ll be much larger than the museum and I assume they’ll have lots of exclusive merch there.
There is more to do in Nara than just feeding the deer. Should at least checkout Todaiji if you are there the giant buddha is worth seeing. If not you can probably stop by as you transit between Kyoto and Osaka.
If you’re into art you can check out the art islands in Shikoku, but would be a couple days of worth of alternative activities.
Also note there are versions of both the Pokemon cafe and Cup Noodle Museum in Osaka.
Kyoto: Golden Temple; Nishiki Market; Fushimi Inari; meals in Gion district.
Can you fit in Hiroshima?
I did a very similar trip. I found that there just wasn’t enough time to visit all the places in Osaka so we went to the aquarium for a day and it was amazing.
Also, we didn’t take a relax day. There just wasn’t time.
Nara is really great. Go see the lanterns before dusk and wander around at dusk. It’s such a chilling experience walking through the forest up my the temple just before dark. Very fun. Deer are mean when you feed them. Be prepared.
Kobe: the botanical garden is cool. You take a gondola up the mountain. The earthquake area is memorable. We ate at Steakland. Very memorable and fun.
Kyoto: we spent a lot of time here. Take the sightseeing train. Walk up the mountain to see the monkeys. Wander around arashiyma and shop. Go to the temple and walk into the bamboo forest from there through their garden. There are hidden places all over the place there. It’s pretty cool.
Check out the Shinto shrines and spend a night walking, eating and drinking through gion.
Tokyo is easy to navigate. You must spend a day at the fish market wandering around the stalls, watching people and eating so many amazing things. Seriously, I ate the best grapes I have ever eaten there. It’s really fun. Everywhere you put on the itinerary for Tokyo is fun. We also went to ninja akasaka restaurant. You have to find it (like a ninja) and it’s like it’s own weird dinner show. We had a great time and thought it was hilarious. Drinks were good too. Food was ok.
There are a lot of hidden places in Tokyo. Whole communities built in the space under train and highway I overpass. Turn down an alley and feel like you entered another world. You will have a great time exploring. The trains are easy to navigate there too.
Outside Tokyo train travel is a little tricky. If Google maps says take the 7:03 train make sure you take it. Don’t take the 7:02 train or think you can take the 7:04 train. Don’t panic if you get on the wrong train. Just get off when you can (unless it’s very late) then get off of you see city lights.
So, if you are not interested in a typical Tokyo experience and you are interested in car culture, how come your itinerary is so typically oriented?
You should look at visiting Mazda Museum in Hiroshima (English-language tours were typically pre-booked at 10am), Toyota Kaikan Hall and Toyota Automobile Museum in Aichi, visit Suzuki’s and Yamaha’s museums in Hamamatsu, or Nissan Engine Museum in Yokohama. Maybe even rent a car and drive to Motegi to see Honda collection there.
15 May sees the biggest event of the Aoi Matsuri, one of Kyoto’s three major festivals.
This is not to be missed.
On 15 May, the Kurumazaki Shrine’s Mifune Festival
and the Matsuo Taisha Shrine’s Kanko Festival will also take place in the Arashiyama area.
The Nakanoshima area of Osaka, where the International Museum of Art is located, is home to several art galleries and museums.
Of these, the Nakanoshima Art Museum is the newest, having opened recently, but with a collection of over 5,700 objects.
There is currently a Modigliani exhibition on display from April to July.
From Osaka Castle to the Nakanoshima area is a 30-minute walk.
There is a rose garden on the way, and in May you can enjoy many roses.
I strongly recommend either staying in Kyoto and doing Osaka as the day trip or splitting your Kansai stay between the two cities. Skip Amerikamura and Osaka Castle (a concrete reconstruction), add Shinsekai and Kuromon Market (also consider walking between the two through DenDen Town), and do Himeji Castle (and its gardens) as a day trip for a much better overall castle experience. A morning in Himeji could also be combined with an afternoon/evening in Kobe (or Osaka) since the castle and gardens won’t take a whole day. Alternatively, Hikone is another very nice (though smaller) castle that could fit in as a stop between Kansai and Kanto.
By “Boruto theme park” I assume you’re talking about Nijigen no Mori, which is not really a “Boruto theme park,” although there is a part of it that is Naruto/Boruto themed. In any case, it’s on Awaji Island, which is close to Kobe and Himeji in relative terms, but would require at least a 2 hour round trip bus ride (longer if you’re coming from Osaka).
Kyoto simply cannot be done in any meaningful way in a single day, and frankly 2/3 of the things you’re going to are arguably not really worth your time even if you were giving it 3+ full days (3 days is what I would typically recommend as a starting point). Kyoto is not just temples and shrines, and if you cut the entire experience down to arguably the most overrated and crowded sight in the entire city that is also kind of a pain to get to (Kinkaku-ji), a glorified library (the Manga Museum), and Fushimi Inari (good, but go in the very early morning or around dusk for the best experience), all while skipping the two most famous districts in the city entirely (Higashiyama and Arashiyama) as well as all of downtown, I really don’t know what the point even is. Kyoto really shines when you give it time to explore on foot or bicycle, and you really couldn’t have picked a better time of year for that where weather is concerned. The famous temples and shrines are great, but so much of what makes the city special is the old shops and cafes, the seasonal events, the tiny nooks with hidden beauty or historical significance, and the day-to-day stuff that you will completely miss by hopping on a bus and rushing off to Kinkaku-ji. Pick an area and just explore. If you spend the day running around to just a couple of the most famous things, you’re going to have a bad time. Also, I highly recommend going to either Kobo-san Market at Toji on the 21st or Tenjin-san Market at Kitanotenmangu on the 25th. The Aoi Festival (one of Kyoto’s 3 largest festivals) is also held on the 15th.
That brings me to Nara…Nara is NOT just a place to see deer. They have their charm, but you could get about 95% of that experience just by going to feed the goats at a petting zoo in your home country. Nara has some of the most amazing places of historical importance and beauty in the in the entire country, which is why I typically consider it unskippable on any trip to Kansai. The main hall of Todai-ji alone is worth the trip, but Nigatsu-do and Kasuga Taisha should also be on your list at a minimum. If have time and motivation, Horyu-ji, Yakushi-ji, and Toshodai-ji are also extremely worth seeing, though they are outside of the Nara Park area and may not fit as neatly into a day trip.
Personally, I think Yokohama is very skippable–especially if you’re only going there for the Cup Ramen Museum. In many ways it feels more like an American City than a Japanese one, and I think your time would be better spent in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, or Kamakura.
How many friends are coming along? Bear in mind that a lot of Japanese eating places are quite small, so you should probably get comfortable with the idea of splitting into smaller groups sometimes. Not always of course, but you won’t always find somewhere that can seat 12 or whatever.
I’ve never been to a daikoku meet, but I have attended a D1 event. There was a trade/exhibition section in the grounds, and it had a lot of display cars from various auto parts companies, plus the nearby car park was full of modded cars too. I assume this would be a similar atmosphere.
You can also get drifting lessons. I’ve never done it myself, but the Trash Taste boys made a video on it and it seems like good fun. https://youtu.be/sCcv9uqSBU0
Yeah you got all the tourist stuff which is okay I guess but I don’t think you can fully appreciate the Japanese culture that is calm and beautiful like its traditional garden, tea ceremony, and historical places that are not as crowded. I would also recommend picking restaurants in advance, not just go somewhere to eat because you are hungry. Japan is super good with food and restaurants, and certain areas have much higher quality of food than the other. The food by itself is worth traveling in Japan. Also, I would recommend visiting the Imperial Palace in Tokyo while you are at it. You won’t see anything like that anywhere in the world. Very calm, clean, and beautiful.