Hello! I am planning a trip to Tokyo in September with my boyfriend, and this will be my first real international trip (and my first time flying on a plane since I was a child), so I am extremely nervous! I am also very nervous about asking for help, because it feels like a “just google it” or “you’re making others do your research for you” type thing, but I have been googling, reading these forums, and researching for hours every week, haha. I want to make sure I’m on the right track, and that I can continue to look into things that are relevant and within reason for me! (I also over-explain things, so thank you for your patience.)
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First, I would like general advice on my itinerary and where to stay. I am very nervous about September and the heat, especially with areas that have heavily outdoors focused things that I want to do. I know it’s probably best to stay within a 5min walk to a station, and most people advocate specifically the yamanote line, but others say any station is fine.
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This is my very loose, rough itinerary. The days can easily be swapped around, nothing is super set in stone, more just a general idea of what areas I really want to go to and what I really want to do.
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**Saturday – Day 0**: Arrive in Japan, not counting this as a real day at all. Tracking flights, I imagine I’ll arrive at the airport at \~4PM – 6PM, and I’ve read to expect \~1 hour at the airport for immigration, and then \~a 45min trip to the hotel, depending on where it’s at. So day 0 is just checking in at hotel, and grabbing any needed supplies at a nearby conbini & drug mart.
**Sunday – Day 1**: This is where I’m not sure what to do. I know we will likely be very jetlagged still, and will probably want something lowkey and relaxing??? But I don’t have any ideas. I do have a tattoo, so I wasn’t planning on any onsen stuff (and my boyfriend doesn’t want to do an onsen alone.) My tatt is smaller though, and probably easy to cover up, but I don’t know much about if there couples onsens or if that would even be a relaxing thing in the summer.
**Monday – Day 2**: Shibuya & Harajuku (This is one I’m nervous about because a lot of outdoors)
-Take a picture of (or with\~) Hachiko
\- Just wanna see Shibuya Scramble, really :’)
\-Yoyogi Park
\-Meiji Shrine
\-Meiji Shrine & Garden
\-Shopping & Exploring (There are specific stores I’d be interested in visiting.)
**Tuesday – Day 3**: Ikebukuro
\-Otome Road
\-Mejiro Garden?
\-Shopping & Exploring
**Wednesday – Day 4**: Shinjuku
\-Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden (Closed Mondays) 9AM – 5:30PM (Greenhouse 9:30am – 5PM)
-Shinjuku-dori Street for shopping?
\-Shopping & Exploring
**Thursday – Day 5:** Ryogoku
\-Sumo Tournament (This is a definite so long as I can get tickets, but I don’t imagine that being a problem? Was planning to use the buysumotickets site)
\-Not really sure yet what to expect with Sumo/how long to be there/whats around the area to be able to know if I can plan anything else around it
**Friday – Day 6:** Ueno (Maybe Akihabara as well???)
\-Ameyoko Shopping District
\-Ueno Park
\-Tokyo National Museum
\-Shopping & Exploring
**Saturday – Day 7**: This day is my flight back home. I’m hoping on a later flight, but I’m not sure what would be good/easy to the morning/afternoon before leaving.
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**Questions related to the itinerary:**
\- What would be something good to fill up that first full day? Am I overestimating how tired/stressed I may be on day 1, lol?
\- Is there anything here that doesn’t make sense?
\- What would be a good area for me to stay based on the things I want to do? I would love to be close to a park where I could go walk around if I had any leisure time and my boyfriend was resting in the hotel or something, but that’s not necessary at all. I’m very nervous about getting lost in the stations, so Shinjuku seems scary to me, and I was thinking Shibuya, but I don’t know how overwhelming that station is. I was also looking at Ebisu?
\- I love Tanuki a lot, are there any places for good merch, or picture taking, or experiences (ex. themed cafes) related to them near my destination areas? (I can probably google this some more)
\- My boyfriend is very into Japanese horror, and Japanese body horror art, and he loves some artists that I can’t remember the names of and he loves Junji Ito, is there anywhere cool to go in relation to this stuff?
\- Should I treat the sumo stuff as an all day experience, and just explore the area around (either there, or the area I’m staying in) a little bit, and get food and stuff, or is there reasonable time to make a stop elsewhere?
\-Semi-embarrassing question, but I just started playing Yakuza and I saw a super cute Kappa statue in Yokohama, but when I googled it all I got was stuff related to the game lol… Is there anything like that around?
\- Any general advice or opinions is welcome. I will definitely be doing more research, but I want to make sure what I am researching and planning will actually make sense!
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I have some general preparation and expectation questions and clarifications as well, but I still have plenty of time before the trip to look into those some more and ask later. Thank you for your time looking through/reading all of this!!! I am very very anxious, and want to make sure I’m not going to mess anything up. :’) I’ve been wanting to visit Japan since I was little, and I am 32 years old and finally able to make it happen.
by Ornery-Teaching-7802