Hello everyone,
I will be traveling to Japan with two of my best friends in a few weeks to celebrate our college graduation. We are going to be in Japan for 13 days, and couldn’t be more excited. I created a day by day itinerary, and I wanted to post it here, as I checked this subreddit just about every day. I put in a lot of time trying to make sure each day is feasible, but as this is my first time in Japan, I would love some expert eyes to take a look at it. Additionally, you’ll see that I haven’t gone into too much detail for the afternoons in Shibuya and Shinjuku – would love some ‘must dos’ but I purposefully left these a little more ambiguous because I enjoy exploring a new place without a plan, and I feel like these are two amazing places to do so.
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Let me know what you think and thanks in advance!
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**TOKYO:**
Day 1:
\- get to airbnb (probably around dinnertime) and explore neighborhood / grab dinner
Day 2:
\- Begin the day in Koenji, grab breakfast there, explore for a bit
\- Shibuya Day (plan sights/neighborhoods/restaurants in Shibuya)
\- Ebisu Yokocho food alley for dinner / drinks / karaoke
Day 3:
\- Begin day at Senso-ji and Nakamise
\- Shinjuku day (plan sights/neighborhoods/restaurants in Shinjuku)
\- Indie Concert at small venue in Shinjuku (found amazing information from this post: [https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/14sum76/how\_to\_access\_live\_music\_in\_japan\_and\_why\_it/](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/14sum76/how_to_access_live_music_in_japan_and_why_it/)
Day 4:
\- Morning Tsukiji Market: grab some breakfast here
\- afternoon exploring Akihabara and Ginza
\- Evening: Omakase dinner in Chou
\- After dinner we can train back to Shinjuku (25 min) and go to golden Gai
**OSAKA:**
Day 5:
\- take earliest train from Tokyo to Osaka
\- Shitenoji temple
\- Dotonbori for the afternoon / evening
Day 6:
\- Nakazakicho in the morning for breakfast / exploring
\- Gion corner (?)
\- Shinsekai for dinner / evening exploring
**KYOTO:**
Day 7:
\- Take early train from Osaka to Kyoto – arrive in the morning
\- Nijo Castle
\- Lunch at Nishiki Market
\- Pontocho for dinner
Day 8:
\- Ginkakuji in the morning
\- Explore Higashiyama for lunch / early afternoon
\- kiyomizudera temple (sunset?)
Day 9:
\- early morning and take the train (20 min) to Fushimi Inari, spend morning/early afternoon there
\- Daigoji Temple
\- Fushimi Sake District
note: is there a way for us to fit Kinkakuji in sometime during our stay in Kyoto – it looks incredible, but is about 40 minutes north of where we are staying
**NISEKO**
Day 10:
\- Fly from Osaka to Sapporo, get to Niseko mid afternoon
\- Explore Niseko for the rest of the day
Day 11:
\- Ski day!
Day 12:
\- take the long train ride back from Sapporo to Tokyo, take in the sights of the country
\- Airbnb in Tokyo
Day 13:
\- Airport home
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by thefiledoesntexist