Hello everyone!
Super excited to be traveling to Japan in less than a week! Traveling with my little sister as this is her birthday gift. I wanted to do one last itinerary check to see if I should squeeze something in or remove something altogether! Any insight is appreciated !
•Day 0: March 24th
Touch down 8pm in Narita. Pick up pikachu plush, suica card, pocket wifi and some konbini food then take the train to Ueno, get off, and take another train to our hotel in Shinjuku. If we have energy (ha) we will do some light exploring in our immediate neighborhood.
•Day 1: March 25th
Wake up whenever and head down to Shibuya to do some standard Shibuya stuff. We will check out the sights, do some shopping, find the cake in a can vending machine and then head back to Shinjuku to catch the sunset at the government building. Meals for the day will include: McDonald’s for brekkie, lunch in shibuya (TBD), and 7/11 for dinner. Overall this day is meant to be chill as we adjust to Tokyo and get over our jet lag.
•Day 2: March 26th
Breakfast will be looking for souflee pancakes either in Shinjuku or Asakusa. Afterwards head over to Sensoji Temple & Cafe Capyba. We then head over to the Tokyo skytree to check out the mall and grab KFC for lunch. Finally we head back to Shinjuku and grab some udon for dinner. Throughout the day we will keep an eye out for fruit sandos and other cool vending machines. I will be heading to a Jojo bar in Nakano for evening drinks.
•Day 3: March 27th
Breakfast will be an onigiri and a trip down to Harajuku to check out MiPig. We’ll go through and walk along Takeshita street to see all the shops. Lunch will be ramen. Afterwards we will head to Yoyogi park and explore/take pics of the beautiful cherry blossoms. Meiji Jingu is right there so we may want to check it out. If we have time we will take a trip up to Ikekubukuro mall for explore more. Dinner will be soba while dessert is Taiyaki.
•Day 4: March 28th
Our first travel day. We plan to leave our hotel in the morning and catch the Shinkansen to Kyoto. We’ll get Yoshinoya for breakfast. Goal is to arrive in Kyoto by mid-afternoon. After we check in we’ll explore the immediate area while looking for a solid place for Sukiyaki. For dessert we want to try some soft serve. A friend of mine should be joining us for dinner too. Overall chill day as the past few days were filled with walking.
•Day 5: March 29th
Typical Kyoto day. Get up bright and early to check out the bamboo forest and famous Fushimi Inari shrine. Head up to Gion district and wander. Check out the Nishiki market. Iunch is omurice and dinner is sushi. With dessert being a strawberry soft serve.
•Day 6: March 30th
Check out of hotel in Kyoto and head down to Nara for a day tirip. The goal is to check out the mochi pounders, feed the deer, and explore the local shrine. Once we finish up head over to Osaka and finish the day with some Sukiyaki (or something else if we find we didn’t like sukiyaki)
•Day 7: March 31st
Check out Costco for lunch. And the Dotonburi stalls for dinner. Locate a place that sells tanghulu. My friend is planning this day so I have no clue what it will end up looking like.
•Day 8: April 1st
Explore dotonburi and have fun at the local arcades! Food stalls will be our primary food with the hope that we find a place that serves quality wagyu for dinner. Dessert of the day is souflee pancake.
•Day 9: April 2nd
All day USJ!
•Day 10: April 3rd
Check out of Osaka, say bye to friend and head back To Tokyo. We’ll stop in Yokohama to check out the cup ramen museum and China town. Dinner is a bbq place near our hotel in the Tokyo dome area.
•Day 11: April 4th
Head over to Ueno to grab breakfast right before checking out the zoo. After that we head down to Gina’s to check out the flagship stores for muji, Uniqlo, and a Pokemon center. Dinner is American food in Ginaza.
•Day 12: April 5th
Check out of Tokyo hotel. Likely use luggage service to send our stuff to last hotel by airport. Head down to Roppongi for team labs exhibit. Grab some lunch in area and then head over to Tsuki fish market. Dessert of the day is dango. Finally head on train back to airport hotel.
•Day 13: April 6th
Catch our flight at 9am back to the states.
Any ideas on what restaurants to eat at, when to make reservations, any efficiencies or inefficiencies? Our first three days in Tokyo is slow compared to our last few days but that’s mainly due to giving us some time to adjust to Tokyo and get over the jet lag. Also our food itinerary isn’t strict. It’s mainly there to make sure we try all do those foods before we leave. So while we don’t have to have sushi on March 29th in Kyoto, ideally we have sushi before we leave Japan.
by Sounding_off
