My husband and I just returned from our trip to Japan and absolutely loved it! I found these posts really helpful in my planning so I thought I'd offer a recap. Overall, we found this pace really manageable and did not burn out. We were careful to manage our energy with the heat and brought electrolyte drinks each day (nuun in an insulated water bottle) as well as took taxis instead of public transit when needed.
June 10 – landed ~3pm at NRT, did customs, took the Narita Express to Shinjuku and arrived at our hotel around 6pm. We did not have any energy to go to a restaurant so we just did 7-11 to get dinner and cash.
June 11 – Tokyo – we woke up early and went to the fish market. Sushi Dai was packed so we picked another sushi restaurant in the building and loved it! Then we had reservations for TeamLabs Planets – also loved it. We walked through Tsukiji outer market but were pretty exhausted by this point so we ended up resting for a while at a mall in Ginza and getting coffee at Glitch (yum!) We rallied and went to Meiji Shrine before a rest at our hotel and drinks at Bar Benfiddich (need reservations).
June 12 – Tokyo –> Hakone – took an 8:30ish Romancecar to Hakone, dropped our bags off at our Ryokan, and went off to do the ropeway. As geothermal fans, this was well worth it! We then relaxed in our private onsen before dinner
June 13 – Hakone –> Kyoto – Relaxed in the morning and then took a noon Shinkansen from Odawara to Kyoto. Checked into our hotel, did some laundry in the sink (we only packed one carry on size bag each), and had dinner at Kobe Beef Steak Mouriya Gion ($$$ but delicious, need reservations). We walked around a little bit in Gion afterwards but soon were ready for bed.
June 14 – Kyoto – This was our shrine/temple day. We started at Ryoan-ji (definitely our cup of tea but not as flashy as some of the others), went to the Golden Pavillion, had a coffee/cool down break, then went to Kiyomizu-dera and Kodai-ji. We freshened up at our hotel before dinner at Kodaiji Jugyuan (michelin star, need reservations). The experience was amazing! As a picky eater some of the food was hard for me but still would highly recommend. Then we took a nighttime stroll through Maruyama Park – was super cool to see the shrine lit up at night!
June 15 – Kyoto – We started our morning at Fushimi Inari Taisha. It was worth it to go all the way to the top! We did not feel like it was super crowded and were there from about 8:30-10:30. We ate an early lunch and then went to Nara for the afternoon – fed the deer and went to the temple. Also had an amazing coffee in an alley, I wish I could remember the name. We ate dinner back in Kyoto at Sushi Taka which is cash only and we waited in line for about ~30 min.
June 16 – Kyoto – Got some pastries at Flip Up!, went to Nijo Castle, got coffee (a common theme) at Weekenders, did a tea ceremony with kimonos (recommend!), walked through Nishiki Market, and went to the Pokemon Center. That night we went out to bars in the Gion area which was fun!
June 17 – Kyoto –> Tokyo – Our train wasn't until 1:20 so we went to Arashiyama via taxi and did the bamboo grove and monkey park. We didn't really have time for a shrine but were glad we went to the area anyway! We took the Shinkansen to Tokyo station but realized we could have gone to Shinagawa since our final destination was Shibuya. Oh well! That evening we did a champagne package at Shibuya Sky – well worth the money in our opinion! We did not get sunset but nighttime was actually perfect!
June 18 – Tokyo – This was our first rainy day and we spent it in Akihabara. We were there for about 5 hours in Radio Kaikan and Yodobashi Akiba. Afterwards we had dinner at Sushi Masashi (michelin star, need reservations)
June 19 – Tokyo – We spent the morning in Ueno at Toshogu shrine and then the Tokyo National Musueum. The museum was an impulsive decision and I wish we had given it more time but the parts we got to see were awesome! We had lunch reservations at Kirby Cafe and then went knife shopping and made a stop at Senso Ji in the Asakusa area. We could have thrown in more time at the Sky Tree but had different priorities! We went to a different Glitch location before heading back to Shibuya for dinner
June 20 – Tokyo – This day we had intentionally left blank in our planning to fill in with any items we hadn't gotten to. For us this meant the morning doing shopping in Shibuya (mostly the Nintendo Store!), a nice coffee at Torahebi, and then the afternoon at the Fukagawa Edo Museum and the East Imperial Gardens.
June 21 – Tokyo – Our last day! We did a little bit of shopping in the morning and one more coffee stop before heading to the airport. We took the Narita Express again because it was easy (definitely not the cheapest option). Managed to add just the right amount to our suica cards to use them up and spent the rest of our cash on treats to bring home for friends and coworkers
Overall reflections:
*This sub was accurate about convenience stores, iPhone suica card, the need for at least some cash, and the ease of buying train tickets (this last one stressed me out a lot, I bought the Romancecar in the US and then did one Shinkansen at the JR station when we arrived at the airport because I wanted a certain time but by the middle/end of the trip was just buying them at the vending machines)
*I was really glad to have planned out most of our days with a couple of things that were priorities and then ideas for things nearby and just gauge our energy and interest in the moment. I referenced the spreadsheet and saved google map locations I made daily!
*I put in effort to make reservations online as soon as things became available – the only thing we wanted that we didn't get was Studio Ghibli Museum
*We already want to go back!
Happy to answer any questions and thank you to the sub for all your valuable insight! Also, I am writing and posting this to stay awake from jet lag so typos and other errors are likely!
by notesfromthemargins