I made this itinerary for me and about 5 more people. It will take place in the first half of september.While constructing this trip I had in mind to expose them to a full japanese experience.
Day 1 after a long flight from Europe to Osaka it’ll take us a while shake off the jetlag. So for today the only thing planned is exploring Dotonbori
Day 2 Himeji castle, stroll around Himeji castle park, visit the history museum near the castle and end the day with dinner and at an izakaya in Shinsekai
Day 3 Kuromon market, katsuo ji temple, shop around osaka and end the day in Hozenji Yokocho
Day 4 pitstop in Hakone, hike the mountain, eat the healing eggs, some pictures at the shrine then relax at an open air osen
Day 5 Tokyo explore Shinjuku and barhop at Golden Gai
Day 6 Gotokuji Temple, thrift shop in Harajuku&Shibuya, see a live performance at the Sometime jazz bar
Day 7 Akihabara arcades at a game center & anime shopping, end the day with a karaoke night
Day 8 let my friends decides between all the museums and atractions in tokyo and see the aki basho in the evening
Day 9 Ryokan Sekizenkan in Gunma prefecture
Day 10 arrive at kyoto at around 6pm check in go to kichi kichi omurice, stroll around kamo river then dinner and drinks at ponto cho
Day 11 Arashiyama walk around and breakfast at Saga Torimoto preserved street, explore Adashino Nenbutsuji and the bamboo grove, take the romantic train ride then boat around and get some snacks from the boat traders. Walk over the bridge and go to tenryuji temple. Return to kyoto
Day 12 chill day at the sea in Amanohashidate. Bike around the sandbar and sample local food maybe visit Ine Funaya
Day 13 Kyoto visit streak at temples: Kyomizu-dera, Sannenzaka, Maruya-koen park, Temple Chion-in& Shoren-in Temple, wander around Nishiki market, end the day in Gion and Downtown Kyoto
Day 14 Kobe grab some snacks at Nankin-Machi, take the rope to Nunobiki Herb Garden, visit Kitano-cho, stroll around Kobe harborland and do some last minute shopping end the trip with a Kobe beef dinner
Take train to osaka to take the ariplane back to Europe.
I have some questions tho.
Firstly, is it to many days in osaka? I chose 3 because I heard nightlife is the best there. Is it worth to just condense the activities in 2 days and have one more day to spend in tokyo?
Secondly, can I find any better place to experience the japanese jazz feeling other than the Sometime club? Looking for a intimate experience smoking some nice japanese tobacco with the locals and listening to Jazz or Jazz fusion tunes
Another thing I wanted to ask, is it worth going to Sekyzenkan Ryokan or is it to far off the path. What other luxurious onsen should I see then? (Close to my path)
by Dogue420
3 comments
My suggestion for your day 6: Skip Gotokuji and don’t try thrift shopping in Harajuku or Shibuya. For the latter, you’ll find plenty of ‘curated’ ‘vintage’ clothing, but few bargains.
For the former, Gotokuji is both out of the way and not very interesting. I live in the area and, as it happens, just took a walk by Gotokuji not an hour ago and didn’t even bother stopping in, even though I stopped at two other prettier, more interesting shrines/temples in the area. (Gotokuji is famous outside of Japan for its association with *manekineko* (the beckoning cat), but the extent of the cat theming, as it were, at the temple is a few shelves of cat statues left on shelves by visitors. Sometimes the shelves are cleared off, too.)
Instead, spend the entire day in the rough neighborhood of Sometime. The area is called Kichijoji and has a large park to the south of the station (with a pretty shrine in it, along with a small zoo, a sculpture museum, an aquarium, and a rowing pond). North of the station (where Sometime is) is a large shopping complex, in the middle of which are a couple of other large religious sites. A couple of train stations to the east is the Koenji area, which is apparently a better destination for thrift shopping.
Sometime is a good jazz club, although it has moved from where I used to visit it.
If you do smoke, there is a fairly good tobacconist in Kichijoji, although when I smoked pipes I didn’t find a great variety of pipe tobacco there.
**Addendum:** bear in mind that Tokyo can be *very* hot in September. (Think 35 degrees and humid.)
Koenji, there is a little junk shop next to the fire station you could spend hours in. Big enough for 2 people, opens around 11am. Don’t be put off by the rack of old points at the entrance! Heaps of amazing little trinkets to be found!
I think you should skip the Kuromon Market.
Search Twitter with the word [ 黒門市場 注意 ]. Many Japanese warn of the crazy high prices.
Osaka has many takoyaki bars, sushi counters, cheesecakes, steamed buns,,,,, delicious and reasonably priced food waiting for you.
The department Hankyu Umeda is expensive but has luxury and more sophisticated souvenirs than Tokyo.
If you are looking for subculture junk shops in Tokyo, how about Nakano Broadway?
I also like Jimbocho, the best used-book street in Japan.