Hi, we are two mid twenties male traveling to Japan on the 28th of this month.
We understand that this we are arriving during Golden week and theres going to be big crowds so we already booked our shinkansens during that period (on smart-ex).
Here is our itinerary and we have some questions also.
28 April :
Flight Canada – Tokyo
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29 April :
Arrival 15:30PM – Narita
Pickup Pocket Wifi
Shuttle Tokyo Station
(8 PM, Booked) Train Tokyo – Hiroshima
Check-in Hiroshima
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30 April :
Peace Dome,Museum(Booked),Explore
Hiroshima Toyo Baseball Game if theres any tickets left at lawson, if there are none left we will find something else to do
Miyajima is an option but probably going to be too busy because of golden week, not that worried about missing it
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1 Mai :
Shinkansen to Kobe
Kobe Tower, Kobe Animal Kingdom
Check-in Kobe (2 nights)
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2 Mai :
Nijigen no Mori (Booked)
Kobe Chinatown
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3 Mai :
Train to Osaka
Nintendo Osaka, Kuchu Teien Observatory, Osaka Castle
Check-in Osaka (5 nights)
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4 Mai :
Shinsaibashi Parco, Pokemon Cafe (Booked), Dotonbori
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5 Mai :
Osaka Aquarium (Maybe, probably gonna be packed), Tsutentaku Tower, Shinsekai Market
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6 Mai :
Universal Studios (Express passes, Booked)
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7 Mai :
Day Trip to Nara
Nara Park, Todaji Temple, Explore
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8 Mai :
Shinkansen Kyoto
Shoren-In & Chion-In, Maruyama Park & Kiyomizu-Dera, Fushimi-Inari
Check-in Kyoto (2 nights)
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9 Mai :
Tenryuji Temple, Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, Okochi-Sanso, Iwatayama Monkey Park
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10 Mai :
Pontocho Alley, Kyoto Tower
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11 Mai :
Shinkansen to Nagoya
Lego Land (Booked), Nagoya Tower, Nagoya Castle
Check-in Nagoya (1 night)
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12 Mai :
Shinkansen to Shin-Fuji
Explore around Fuji Central Park if weather is good
Shinkansen to Tokyo
Tokyo Tower
Check-in Capsule Hotel Tokyo (1 night)
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13 Mai :
Kirby Cafe (Bookings open on April 10), Tokyo Skytree (will book after kirby cafe confirmation), Pokemon Center, Explore
Check-in Tokyo (normal hotel, 5 nights)
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14 Mai :
Meiji-Jingu, Takeshita Street, Mega Donquijote, Adores Shibuya, Shibuya Crossing, Mugiwara Store,Shibuya Sky (will book after kirby cafe confirmation)
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15 Mai :
Yokohama Day Trip
Air Cabin, World Porters Mall, Cup Noodle Factory, Chinatown
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16 Mai :
Asakusa Sanctuary, Sumo Tournament (Booked, only gonna show up for the main event around 3:30 PM), Explore
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17 Mai :
Harry Potter Studio Tour (Booked), Akihabara
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18 Mai :
Pack,train to Narita, Return flight at 17:45PM
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We prefer to start in Hiroshima instead of splitting tokyo in two.
We looked into getting a flight to Osaka so the train ride is shorter but they were not any options from where we are from. Flights from tokyo to Hiroshima were also more expensive than the shinkansen and required a change of airport to Haneda. We’re more comfortable with trains anyway.
We have one night in tokyo in a capsule hotel just to experience it.
Here are our questions :
1. Our plane is scheduled to arrive at 3:30PM in Tokyo so to give us enough time I booked the latest Shinkansen to Hiroshima I could find at 8PM. Will we have time to get out of customs, pickup our Pocket Wifi and take the shuttle to Tokyo Station? Are there normally long wait time for those services?
2. On our first full day in Hiroshima, there is a Baseball game that we are interested in attending. However, it is sold out on https://www.japanballtickets.com. As we understand you can buy tickets if there are any available on machines in lawson stores. There is one next to our accomodation but we will probably arrive late around midnight, are those available at all hours and on match day?
3. Our accomodation in Osaka is an airbnb so we wont be able to ship our luggage there. The train from Kobe we plan on taking seems to be a normal train with no luggage compartment, is it okay for us to transport our luggage (both are a bit under 160cm total) on it ? Its during Golden Week, so there probably wont be much people going to work in the morning right? But then again there will be more tourists.. We dont mind standing.
4. Should we skip on Osaka Aquarium since its on Golden Week? Theres no express passes and we dont want to spend all day there. Is it worth it?
Sorry if my english is bad at times, my main language is French.
Thats about it, thank you all !
by Wingzaferston