rough itinerary monthlong trip/dates tbd –

5 comments

1. Your Asakusa day is very doable, and you’d probably have a ton of time left over. Most things there that you want are all super close to one another, so the hardest part of your day would be riding the train there and back. There are cool little lunch spots west of Kaminarimon on that west-east Kaminarimon road, but also around the corner towards the Tsukuba Express station. There’s a ramen place called Fuji Ramen. There’s also an unagi place that’s a little expensive but not super fancy in the same area. They have an English menu, but Japanese phrases helped a ton with getting what I needed. Small place. The staff was cool and made fun of the fact my hands were cramping trying to eat rice with chopsticks.

   On March 23, you can get off the Shinkansen at Ueno and then take the Yamanote line to Shinjuku without having to get another ticket or swipe your card again. I’m sure you’re getting a rail pass with all of this cross-country travel, but I still wanted to mention that.

   Also, it may not work for dinner plans, but there’s an AMAZING ramen place in Golden Gai called Nagi. It’s like a Golden Gai bar where it fits 8 people. It’s on the second floor up stairs that are 75 degree angle. You should check it out for lunch one day since you’ll be in the area for a week.

   March 24 you can go on Center Gai in Shibiya and check out stores and restaurants there while you’re in the area.

   Imperial Palace has tours you can book for free. They’re mostly in the morning and early afternoon. You get into an area that’s not open to the public with free access. Super cool. You can book on their site or wait in line on the day of the tour and hope there’s a spot open for a walk-up.

2. Considering you have family in Kumamoto, I am curious about how you selected the place you want to see.

   For the night after Aso, I would consider Kurokawa onsen, that is closer and really well rated. I’ve been to Beppu and while there is for sure a lot of onsen there, I was much more charmed by Kinosaki onsen, that is a small onsen resort town and personally it would be the kind of experience I would be seeking more than just a lot of onsen in a city.

   I’ve heard of Ibusuki and a bit curious on why you chose it. I’m personally considering Unzen onsen for my next trip.

   Depending on how early/late you leave Kumamoto for Hiroshima, I think you can do more than just the Peace park in these two days, you should easily be able to do Miyajima on one of these days.

   Kyoto there is plenty to see, just keep in mind that things are spread out around the city, so try to group thing by their geographic location, there is too many people who think they can hit 3 different area of Kyoto in a day, but I would say it’s generally a bad idea.

   Realistically speaking, you can also do something on your day between Kyoto and Tokyo, so depending on when you take the train would decide on if you see more of Tokyo or Kyoto.

   The Asakusa day is quite realistic, you can actually do that in an afternoon and do Ueno park in the morning.

   If you go to Odaiba, then you could also consider taking the Yurikamome line to Shidome and check Hama rikyu garden.

   If you plan on an Fuji day, I would make it as flexible as possible and go when the weather is good.

   While I’ve heard great things about Koya-san, this is absolutely not the only place you can do it. There is for sure location around Tokyo, personally I want to go to Mont Minobu, that is also around Mount Fuji, so a possibility to see if during these days. If you want to do snow monkey (might be a bit late for the snow) then can consider a temple stay at Zenko-ji, the big temple in Nagano city.

   I think that in your 5 solo days it’s realistic to take 2 for temple stay, one for Kamakura and one for a day trip to Kawaguchiko (if not done previously).

   Edit : obviously if not going in time for Sakura, there is a bunch of places that would drop. like chidorigafuchi, sumida park and in my opinion, Yoyogi park (unless you go during the weekend for people watching, or if you want to run, otherwise it’s just a park, not a garden).

3. Kyoto is my absolute favourite city! I would recommend an afternoon visit to Kiyomizu-dera then stroll through Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka at dusk (the lights are beautifully atmospheric) and end up at Yasaka-jinja. Get dinner around Ponto-cho at a quaint obanzai izakaya like Renkon-ya or Akagaki-ya.

   Then the following day you could visit the Philosopher’s Path en route to Ginkaku-ji (I think it’s more beautiful than Kinkaku-ji). If you enjoy hiking, take a short hike up Mt Daimon-ji [(info)](https://www.insidekyoto.com/mt-daimonji-yama-hike-ginkaku-ji-temple) as the path begins near this temple. It takes about an hour.

   The bus system in Kyoto has a good deal for unlimited bus rides at the cost of 700¥ per day.

   Koya-san is most conveniently accessed while you’re in Kansai. Take a train from Namba in about 90 mins. I’d recommend an overnight stay in one of the many temple lodgings.

4. We loved shinjuku gyoen!!! I would definitely go back

5. For Kyoto i’d recommend: Day 1: (order is only suggested an can be changed) start at Kawaramachi station -> Gion -> Yasaka shrine -> (on the way are more temples if you have enough time: kodai-ji, entoku-in, korin-in) -> Sannenzaka -> Kiyomizu-dera -> Yasaka-no-to Pagoda -> walk next to takase river until you are back where you started, there are two shopping streets next to each other: teramachi and shinkyogoku, walk north until Oike-dori and go back south. -> Nishiki market shopping street. You could eat lunch or dinner in this area, there are many restaurants. Also Pontocho is very close (izakaya district). You can do all by foot but you prolly need a full day, so if you just arrived maybe change to day 2.

   Day 2) Nijo-castle (take care of opening hours, if i remember correctly it closes at 4p.m.), Golden pavillon, Fushimi-Inari taisha (full hike takes about 2-3h)

   Day 3) Arashiyama: Togetsu bridge, Tenryu-ji, Nonomiya-jinja, bamboo forest, Jojakko-ji.

   I think it will be too early to see Sakura in Kyoto. Maybe you can see Sakura in Tokyo the last few days.

   Tokyo: would recommend to skip yoyogi park. Possible day trips: Kamakura, Yokohama, Nikko, Hakone.

   If you wanna go to Koyasan, have a rental car. Its roughly 2 hours from Kyoto or maybe even less from Osaka. You can also stay in a Temple in Koyasan.