~17 days in Japan

Hello, I just wanted to see about getting some thoughts on my plan. This will be my third time to Japan and done after visiting family in HK, with plans to visit Korea for 5 days after (so my arrival and departure are set; primarily the whole month of February for Japan). I am also more of an urban/city explorer person, so I am not necessarily as interested in temples and the likes. Also pardon that I am more a fluid traveler, so I never completely set things in stone, so I just generally plan for a day and try and hit as many things on the list as I can. Numbers in parenthesis indicates I will probably group them to visit on the same day.

Tokyo (~8 days):

Yokohama +/- Kamakura (day trip)

– Cup Noodle Museum
– Gundam Factory (?)
– Chinatown
– General area
– Ramen museum in Shin-Yokohama

Akihabara (planned for a day – not sure if the decline after COVID is vibrant as before. Previous trips I have spent a day by itself here and planned to do so again).

Ghibli museum / Nakano Broadway / Kichijoji (Ghibli ticket pending)

Odaiba

– Takoyaki museum
– Miniature world
– Gundam shop
– TeamLab Worlds
– Fish Market (if time)

Ikebukuro

– Mitsuyado Seimen Ikebukuro
– Sunshine City
– Animate

Ginza / Roppongi

– Ginza Six
– Art aquarium
– Pokemon café detour (if I can get ticket)
– Mohumohu Owl (?)
– TeamLab
– Hie Shrine
– Harry Potter Town
– Gori Gori Burger (?)
– Roppongi Hills

Shibuya (capsule hotel location)

– Shibuya Village Vanguard
– Shibuya Fukuras
– Nintendo Store / Parco
– Shibuya Center Street
– Butcher’s Kitchen
– Don Quihote

Others

– Harajuku / Takeashita Street / Kura Sushi (Harajuku)
– Shinjuku
– Kabukicho Tower
– Cafe capybara

Kyoto (early Shinkansen, if possible; 2 days):

– Arashiyama Bamboo Forest (1; hopeful to be able to leave luggage with front staff)
– Tenryu-ji Temple (1)
– Okochi-Sanso Villa (1)
– Kinkaku-ji (1)
– Kiyomizu-dera Temple / Matsubara-dori Street (2)
– Downtown / Nishiki Market (2)
– Fushimi-Inari-Taisha Shrine (2)

Osaka (early Shinkansen, if possible; capsule hotel in Namba; 5 days):

– Dotonbori (1)
– Shinsaibashi (1)
– Shinsekai / Tsutentaku Tower (2)
– Shitennoji Temple (2)
– Takashimaya Archives (2)
– Osaka community food court (2)
– Namba-Yasaka Shrine (3)
– Nipponbashi (3)
– Kuromon Market (3)
– Osaka Castle (4)
– Umeda / Kita (4)
– Osaka aquarium (4)
– Nara (5)

Shinkansen to Fukuoka to catch ship to SK

I think the main thing is trying to see if I miss any major things (particularly in the Kyoto/Osaka region). I know a lot of people put emphasis into Kyoto more into Osaka, however unless there was anything more than these, nothing much caught my interest (city/food > temples/nature). I briefly visited Kyoto last time to go to the Fushimi-Inari-Taisha Shrine, but I split off from the group on the next day to hit Osaka since I didn’t care for their plans of more shrine visits.

by AceSin