Flying out end of March 2024, staying for 17 nights all over Japan. Any help would be appreciated as I’ve never been outside Europe!
We’re fast pace travellers that want to see as much as possible efficiently, but so far we had to skip museums and parks due to time/locations. Not sure if anything we planned could be left out or substituted for something else? Main interests: FOOD (especially sushi), Sakura blossoms, culture and collecting eki stamps from stations, temples etc.
Questions
* What’s one food place we have to try? / What’s one snack we have to bring back?
* We want to take advantage of the jetlag and schedule our days to be 7:00-22:00; would any temples, parks etc be closed that early? I’ve seen a lot of people recommend going to popular places before 6:30 but we don’t want to be skipping breakfast with all this walking!
* We’re getting the Osaka 2 day pass, are there any other passes we should consider?
* Should we plan any particular activities to be early in the morning/weekdays to avoid crowds?
**Day 1 (Tokyo)**
* Land at Haneda around 8:00, allow 2h for customs and bag collection, pick up welcome suica or pasmo passport
* Head to hotel in Ginza to drop off bags
* Tsujiki market for lunch
* Don Que to buy snacks, coin purse, stamp book, hand towels – any other essentials?
* Check-in and chill for a bit, have ramen near the hotel.
* Go to Roppongi hills or Azabudai Sky Lobby for sunset and Tokyo Tower on way back
**Day 2 (Tokyo)**
Really wanted to go to Mt Fuji but we don’t have enough days in Tokyo and jetlag might get to us.
* Spend a day in Shibuya / Harajuku shopping
* See Meguro River at night on the way back
**Day 3 (Tokyo)**
* Breakfast at Asakusa
* Senso-ji Shrine and go through market
* Go to Pokemon Centre Sky Tree
* Have lunch at Kura Sushi Asakusa
* Walk around Nakamise and Kappabashi streets
* Ginza shopping: Uniqlo, Gu, Loft, Zara etc
* Head to Ginza and explore a bit before going to Manten Sushi for dinner
**Day 4 (Tokyo)**
* Breakfast at Tsujiki market and head to Shinjuku national gardens for 9:00
* Lunch at Tsujihan
* Pokemon Cafe – we’ll probably have to skip this but we can visit the store next to it
* More shopping around the area
* Dinner sushi omakase
**Day 5 (Tokyo to Hiroshima)**
* Walk along Meguro river and arrive at Starbucks Reserve 7:30-8:00 for breakfast
* Check-out and forward luggage to Osaka
* Tokyo station, browse shops and get bento to have on the train to Hiroshima.
* Check-in, drop bags and go to the Memorial Museum – would 16:00 be too late?
* Have dinner, and explore Dome area
**Day 6 (Hiroshima – Miyajima)**
Some places might seem in the wrong order – this is so we can catch both low and high tides at Itsukushima Shrine
* Breakfast at hotel and head to Miyajima
* Walk through Omotesando street and get to Itsukushima in time for low tide
* Find somewhere for lunch and head to Mijayima Ropeway – would 2h be enough for there and back?
* Return to Itsukushima Shrine for high tide
* Daisho-in temple, Momijidani Park, Itsukushima Pavilion
* Have dinner and see Itsukushima at night before heading back
**Day 7 (Hiroshima to Osaka)**
* Have hotel breakfast and explore the area (or get a couple more hours of sleep)
* Get snacks to have on the train to Osaka.
* Have lunch at Izakaya Toyo (would cabin bags be an issue?) and head to hotel to check-in and drop bags
* Explore and eat! Dinner at Gyukatsu Motomura, dessert at Dotonburi (Melonpan, Rikuro’s cheesecake)
**Day 8 (Osaka – USJ)**
We are so excited for this day – we’ll invest in an express park as we never go to theme parks. We want to purchase that through the USJ website so we can select timeslots (Klook randomly assigns that), but we don’t have applepay – how can we purchase tickets?
We hope the Donkey Kong expansion is there but not too sure how it would work if we get an express pass?
* Spend the whole day at USJ
**Day 9 (Osaka)**
* Start using Osaka 1 day pass. Go to Temmabashi station to book Sakura cruise – I can’t find clear timelines on this so we’ll go there around 8:00
* Osaka Castle, Pokemon Centre and Sakura Cruise
* Book Tombori night cruise and have lunch at Kuromon market, Maccha House for dessert
* Namba Yasaka Shrine and Shinsekai
* Tendon or Kushikatsu for dinner
* Tombori night cruise
**Day 10 (Osaka to Koyasan)**
* Fluffy pancakes for breakfast
* Check out, all luggage to Kyoto, grab lunch at Dotonburi
* Head to Koyasan – would the Koyasan pass be worth it?
* Check-in and rest at the temple for a while, have dinner there
* Cemetery night tour
**Day 11 (Koyasan to Kyoto)**
* Buddhist service, fire ritual and breakfast at the temple
* Check-out and head to Kyoto, have lunch at Namba during a train change
* Check in at 15:00 and go around Higashiyama and Nineizaka streets
* Have dinner and see Kodaiji or Yasaka at night
**Day 12 (Kyoto – Arashiyama)**
* Be at the Bamboo Forest around 7:30, walk to Observation deck and go to Tenryuji Temple at 8:30
* Get Arabica coffee and walk from Togetsukyo Bridge to the Monkey park
* Have lunch (would 11:00 give us enough time?) and go to the station to rent bikes
* Jojakkoji, Gioji, Saga-Toriimoto Street, Otagi Nenbutsugi, Daikakuji – we’ll be locking our bikes outside
* Return station to drop off bikes and try the desserts nearby
* Return to central Kyoto and find somewhere for dinner
**Day 13 (Koyto – Nara)**
* Train to Nara and rent bikes
* Todaji Temple, Daibutsu-ike Pond, Isuien Garden and Nara Park to feed the deer
* Lunch and go through the Manyo Botanical Gardens
* Go to Natakanidou for the mochi pounding – hopefully we’ll catch it around 13:30
* Kofuku-ji Gojunoto Pagoda and return bikes
* Return to Kyoto and go to Men-Ya Inoichi for dinner
**Day 14 (Kyoto)**
* Nineizaka streets to Kiyomizu-dera, then return for breakfast at the traditional Starbucks
* Thinking of renting Kimono but not sure if it’s worth it / if our feet can handle it
* Kodaiji Temple, Yasaka-jinja Shrine, Heian-jingu Shrine
* Go to the Pokemon Centre, and have lunch at Nishiki market. Get some souvenirs
* Dinner and forward luggage to the Tokyo hotel to ensure it goes there on time
**Day 15 (Kyoto)**
* Head to Fushimi Inari Shrine – spend around 1-1.5h as we’re not fit enough to reach the top
* Lunch somewhere near the Kinkakuji Temple and then visit the temple
* Fluffy pancakes and go around Pontocho and Gion streets for souvenirs, matcha, coffee beans and tea to take back home
* Find yakiniku dinner
**Day 16 (Kyoto to Yokohama)**
* Check-out but leave bags at hotel
* Ginkakuji Temple and Philosopher’s Path (should we skip these?)
* Get lunch head to Yokohama
* Check-in, drop bags, and walk from Gundam Factory to the piers – if Gundam isn’t still there then just wonder around
* Chinatown for dinner, Cosmoworld for a couple rides
**Day 17 (Yokohama to Tokyo)**
* Grab breakfast and get early train to Tokyo
* Drop bags at Shinjuku hotel and explore Shinjuku – Godzilla, 3D Billboards, Shops
* Have last sushi of the trip – already sad about this
* Spend the whole afternoon shopping at Mega Don Qui and play at arcades
* Go back to hotel to check-in, see how much luggage space we have left
* Shabu Shabu for dinner
* Find Gashapon to get our last souvenirs and get rid of some coins, see Shinjuku at night and sleep early to be at airport by 6:00.
Thank you so much for reading this – I would be very grateful for any feedback!
by TheLegendOfDelta