hello! I have been looking into visiting Japan in February with my girlfriend. I have been working on a rough plan for: Tokyo, brief trip for the Snow Monkeys (since it would be peak season!), Osaka, one night in Hiroshima, Kyoto, Nara, and back to Tokyo.
I would also love suggestions for other things we’d enjoy in these areas!
suggestions I’m really interested in:
– Arcades. I have an obsession with crane games and I know Japan has no shortage of those 😅😅😅 please give suggestions if you know of good places to go outside of the major chains like Round1, GiGo, Taito Station, etc.
– Other nerdy stuff. Ghibli, pokemon, sanrio, Vocaloid. Gf loves Naruto, Evangelion, Genshin, League, and the Yakuza games
– Animals. **no exotic animal cafes** or anywhere else that exploits them. Rescues, ethical zoos and the like are what I would like to know about!!!! we also love cats and always love hanging out with them 🙂
– Vintage, antiques, and thrift.
– Plus size clothing (especially secondhand, if any). We are definitely not Japanese standard size, but love the styles.
This is my current **rough** itinerary. pls let me know if anything sounds unreasonable!
February 4th – 18th
4th – land in Tokyo
– Mostly rest. Maybe skytree city or Odaiba if not absolutely tired
5th – Nerima/Itabashi
– Suga Shrine (we love Your Name)
– Maybe Nerima art museum if not dying of jetlag
– Onigiri Bongo for lunch
– Ikebukuro, Sunshine City Mall
6th – Yokohama
– Gundam Base Yokohama
– Chinatown
– Shin-Yokohama Ramen museum
– otherwise free
7th – Akihabara
– Most of the day exploring Akihabara
– Maybe stop for unagi in Ueno
– Odaiba/Gundam Base Tokyo in the evening
8th – Nagano
– Want to visit the snow monkey onsen park since it is prime season, but I also am aware the nearest road is 1.2 miles away during winter so not sure if it’s reasonable as first time visitors?
– I’m thinking of two options:
—— Day tour. Round trip from Tokyo. Guided tour from Nagano including Miso factory and the Jigokudani park.
—— Stay one night in the ryokan right across from the park. Escape from civilization for the day and night, chill w monkeys in the snow
9th – Shibuya
– National Art Center
– Harajuku, Hachiko, crossing, usual tourist stuff lol
– Gonpachi Nishi-Azabu for dinner
10th – Osaka
– Shinkansen in morning
– Train cat cafe
– Osaka castle
– Southgate plaza
11th – Osaka
– Nipponbashi Denden town
– Dotonbori
– Concert at Namba hatch in afternoon
12th – Hiroshima
– Shinkansen in morning
– Peace memorial park and museum
– Miyajima, Itsukushima
– Thinking of guided tour of Miyajima, maybe one that also includes the peace park and museum.
– May stay at Ryokan on Miyajima for the night.
13th – Kyoto
– Shinkansen
– Fushimi Inari
– Shinkyogoku Shopping st after lunch
– Samurai Ninja Museum
– Nishiki market
14th – Nara/Kyoto
– Nara park in morning
– to Sannenzaka in afternoon
– Kiyomizu-dera
15th – Kyoto
– Arashiyama bamboo forest
– + monkey park
– Nijo castle
– Manga museum
16th – Kyoto
– Nyan-nyan ji cat temple
– Kinka-kuji
– *Maybe* Shinkansen back to Tokyo in the afternoon (the next morning if not)
17th – Tokyo
– Maybe Ueno zoo and/or National museum
– Asakusa, Nakamisedori St, Senso-ji
18th – Tokyo and departure
– free!
– fly out in evening 😔
thanks in advance! ☺️🩷
by ashweeuwu
4 comments
Re Nagano and snow monkeys, it is a decent walk from the bus stop so you will need to make sure you have appropriate shoes and grips. I haven’t stayed right at the park but I can recommend staying at Yudanaka or Shibu onsen which are nearby.
I was sad to learn about the animal cafes. I wanted to add them but after learning about how poorly they’re treated, we deleted them off our itinerary too.
If GF loves Yakuza, you better be taking an afternoon in Shinjuku to walk around the same streets of Kabukicho where the games are set, and shop at the Donki on the corner! Also check the current news on the Gundams, at least one of them is closed now (idk which one).
For a real thrifting/antique experience, look up which temples have flea markets on Sundays. I think most of them still go on in Feb, it’s not too cold. Otherwise, the Tokyo burb for top thrifting is Shimokitazawa, which you don’t have planned. There’s also good finds in Amerikamura in Osaka.
Rather than one-night to Nagano and then back to Tokyo before going to Osaka, why not go directly from Nagano to Osaka, via Shinano express trains to Nagoya? You’ll save yourself so much time and luggage hassle. You could even use luggage forwarding to send your stuff ahead of you to Osaka, and only take an overnight bag/backpacks to Nagano. The only hitch I suppose would be if the winter train schedule can be disrupted by snow in the mountains, you’d have to check.
Some of the plans you have for Kyoto might need to be shifted around depending on when things open/close, and it’s usually suggested to go to Nishiki, Kiyomizudera, and such as early in the morning as you can before all the tour groups show up. Kyoto is suffering from tourist overcrowding and it seems worst in the afternoons, and I wouldn’t count on February being a dead zone for tourists. It may not be wall to wall people up and down Sannenzaka in Feb but it sure won’t be a breeze either. Plan carefully.
I always recommend staying on Miyajima, you do get more time to explore and don’t have to rush out of Hiroshima. Just remember that the train and ferry, with walking time, is at least a 45min jaunt from Hiroshima Station, so idk if a guided tour is going to cover both locations.
Shimo-Kitazawa has a ton of second-hand stores. I wish I had the time to go browse them but I was late for my tattoo appointment.. 🙂 If you don’t mind crowds, Harajuku has a few as well. I don’t know what kind of style your gf likes, but my wife and I both love Punyus.