My boyfriend and I are going to Japan from 3/9 to 3/23. As first-timers, we are incredibly excited to see everything. We have a detailed itinerary and I want to make sure that we aren’t crowding the days too much/not doing enough or even just missing out on things we must do. Since we are arriving and leaving from HND airport, we decided to split Tokyo up into 2 trips as well. Recommendations are very welcome! We are also trying to do an Ekki Stamp collecting on this trip. A good thing to note is that this is our first out-of-the-country trip together. We are fluent in English and Mandarin so reading the signs in Japan will likely be okay. We just graduated college and started our first job about 6 months ago, so we aren’t exactly flowing with money. We would want to enjoy our trip, without making too much of a dent in our wallet. We are trying to make the most use out of the Kansai Hiroshima 5 day pass hence the lots of traveling to nearby areas.
**Tokyo** \- Staying at Hotel MyStays Ochanomizu Conference Center
3/9
Arrive at HND airport around 7 pm, will spend this evening eating near hotel
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3/10
Sensoji Temple – morning
Akihabara – afternoon
Sensoji Temple – after dark
My boyfriend really wants to see the night view of Sensoji Temple as well as the day view since lots of his friends said that they look incredibly different.
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3/11
Originally we had the Ghibili Museum down for the morning, but the tickets were instantly sold out 🙁
So now we have a free morning.
Takeshita St for lunch
Shinjuku area for shopping, and Shinjuku Golden Gai for dinner
Kabukicho sight seeing
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3/12
This day, I wanted to get my hair done and buy a camera lens and do my big clothes shopping for the trip.
Tokyo Tower – evening
TeamLab Planets
Odaiba
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3/13
Hakone day trip, will buy the free pass
Ride last train from Hakone to Kyoto at 6:07 pm
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**Kyoto** \- Staying at Hotel Gran Ms Kyoto
3/14
I wanted to rent a kimono to wear during this day as we are visitng lots of shrines
Fushimi Inari Shrine –> I want to get there early around 8, but most kimono renting places do not open until 9, so we likely won’t get here until 10 am and it would already be packed.e
ninenzaka sannenzaka –> go to Donguri Kyowakoku (Ghibli Store) since I can’t go to the museum anymore
Kiyomizu-dera
return kimono
Eat near the hotel since apparently, this hotel is near the shopping district in Kyoto?
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3/15 (taking this day a little more relaxing since the day before was a lot of walking)
Kinkaku-ji
Arashiyama –> will see the monkeys, the kimono forest, walk through that bamboo forest, and lots of bridges
Glanta Store to make a ring -> I haven’t booked this yet, my boyfriend and I wanted to do something DIY-ish, doesn’t need to be ring making, if someone has a different store that they love or tried that would be great
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3/16 Uji + Nara Day trip
Uji
Byodo-in
Uji Park
Buy Matcha @ Nakamura Tokichi
Nara
Nara park –> for the deer! I really want to take a video with the deer that bow
Mount Wakakusa behind Nara park and watch sunset –> we made sure that this mountain would be open when we were planning since it was known to be closed from December to March
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3/17 Hiroshima/Miyajima, we are at a hotel in Miyajima
Kyoto to Miyajima
will be on the island until the last ferry back to Hiroshima
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3/18 **Osaka -** Dormy Inn Premium Osaka Kithama (they have a public bath so we can experience the onsen after a long day)
On our way to Osaka, we will stop in Himeji
Osaka Castle Park
Walk around shinsaibashisuji and Dotonbori -> should we ride the little boat or is that a tourist trap?
Find a good place to take a picture of the Tsutenkaku
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3/19 Kobe Day Trip
Kobe Animal Kingdom
Casual sighseeing around Kobe
Suma Seaside Park for sunset
we will splurge on kobe beef in Osaka and here as well
We are thinking Wakkuoqu (hopefully walk-in welcome)
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3/20 Kishi Day Trip
There’s a really cute Ekki station and stamps here that we would like to collect
We made sure that on this day, both of the cats would be working and we would be able to see them
Later in the evening we will be taking a flight back to Tokyo
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**Tokyo**
3/21
Mt Fuji Day trip
Would like to see Mt Fuji at the Arakura Fuji Sengen Shrine
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3/22
Shibuya Crossing
Shibuya shopping? Is this too much shopping
Shibuya Sky
Ueno Park for Cherry Blossom
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3/23
Our flight is around 9 pm at HND so we could do some stuff, but right now we don’t have anything planned for this day yet. Any suggestions would also be welcomed.
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I guess am I doing enough each day or is it too much? Anything I missed that would be devastating if I left Japan without seeing? Thanks so much in advance. Right now I have a lot of resturants saved on my google maps but I am also down for suggestions. If Kobe isn’t the best place to visit, what other areas that are included in the Kansai Hiroshima pass also worth going to?
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by yume99_