Just hoping someone can sanity check my itinerary. My partner and I have never been to Japan and we're very excited! This sub has been a great resource. My partner is vegetarian, so we've been prebooking more restaurants than normal cause we can't really just go wherever.

Sept 24

• Land around 3-4
• 30-45 min to hotel – Hyatt Place Shibuya
• Check in, drop off stuff
• Shopping in shibuya
  • Daiso
  • Mega Don quixote
  • Shibuya parco
  • All of these have food courts with good food, but we could also just find something quick casual for our first night – figure we may be a bit jet lagged so probably best not to plan too much here / stay in the local area
• Probably shibuya Tokyo food show? OR izakaya masaka (vegan izakaya) in shibuya parco, line to get in can be long though

Sept 25

• more west side:
• 7/11 breakfast
• walk through yoyogi park to meiji jingu shrine
• enjoy meiji jingu shrine
• Vegan bistro jangara for lunch
• cat street
• nezu museum
• udatsu sushi for dinner, 6pm reservation
• maybe golden gai / piss alley for drinks if we’re awake

Sept 26

• Tsukiji in the morning- closed on wednesdays so do it here
  • People recommend getting here before 9 if possible, crowds get bad
  • matcha stand maruni
  • aristugu tokyo for knives
  • thick cut saba / katsuobushi?
  • maybe an uni bowl or fruit skewers or something
• Age san for trendy sandwiches if we’re still hungry, opens at 11am
• If we wanna wait in a super long line, we can try lining up for either location of Godaime Hanayama Udon
  • line is supposed to be worth it but idk if we have the patience, people start lining up before 10:30 for first seating at 11
  • northern location slightly less crowded
• Walk through imperial palace gardens if we have extra time, though people say its not that great (tour is def not worth it)
• Hail taxi to get to teamlabs borderless
  • Need to book tickets https://borderless-azabudai.ticket.teamlab.art/#/
  • https://imgur.com/a/teamlab-borderless-map-kObo0FP
• Faro (Japanese Italian) at 7pm in Ginza

Sept 27

• Happy pancake for breakfast – reserve 2 weeks in advance September 13, 2024
• Final walk around shibuya
• head to tokyo station around noon
  • can do t’s tantan (vegan ramen) INSIDE the station (paid area)
  • or Ekibenya Matsuri gransta if we want bento boxes to go on the shinkansen
• Shinkansen to kyoto – about 2 hours
  • Book in advance with smart ex to get discount
    • https://smart-ex.jp/en/index.php
• Check in at Park Hyatt Kyoto starts at 3pm

Kyoto

Sept 27

• Kyoto station around 3
• Taxi 10 min or Bus 20 min (206 city bus) to park hyatt
  • If taking bus, get off at kiyomizumichi, 8 stops
  • have 230 yen in change per person for bus, fare is paid when getting off bus
  • get on in rear door, off in front door
  • https://www2.city.kyoto.lg.jp/kotsu/webguide/en/bus/howtoride_bus.html
• enjoy the hotel spa/baths for a bit?
• Can also walk around the area, there are some famous pottery shops
• champagne hour 5-6pm
• Vegan ramen UZU for dinner – reservation at 7
• Walk across river for some cocktail bars (saved in map)

Sept 28

• Breakfast at hotel – starts at 7am
• walk to kiyomizu-dera shrine (opens at 6, we can do this before breakfast to beat the crowds if we want)
  • its a 10 min walk from hotel
• Pack up our suitcases and drop them off at the front desk to get them transferred to the Intercontinental Osaka
• Juu-go for lunch, soba near ginkaku-ji – reservation at 1pm. They cancel and charge us if we’re late so we’ve gotta be punctual!
• More temples:
  • Ginkaku-Ji, then take the Philosopher’s path south and walk to Nanzen-Ji, then further on to Heian Jingu
  • This is all walking distance from the hotel, but total path is around 1.5 hrs of walking, so we probably should just taxi to juu go and then walk back
• champagne hour 5-6pm at hotel
• Tousuiro Kiyamachi Ginza for dinner at 7pm

Sept 29

• Breakfast at hotel
• Checkout
• Fushimi inari shrine
  • apparently there are spiders that hang from the gates so be careful lol
    • https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichonephila_clavata they rarely bite people so nothing to worry about
  • We should go to vermillion cafe after fushimi inari shrine for early lunch if we’re hungry or just for coffee
• Head to the Nara line (right by fushimi inari)

Nara

Sept 29

• Get in to Nara around noon-1, its a one hour train
• If we want lunch, two options that look good but dont take reservations
  • (apparently lines move quick though)
  • kamaiki udon
  • okaru okonomiyaki
• Apparently the deer are less hungry around midday which is good cause they tend to swarm and can be agressive if you come early
• Can walk up mount wakakusa (more of a walk than a hike) to avoid the crowds
• go to the deer park and feed the deer
  • You can buy biscuits in the park and the deer will bow to you in order to be fed
  • Make sure to show empty hands after you give the deer the biscuits otherwise they’ll think you’re hiding food and will bonk you
• Head to Osaka
  • Take either the yamatoji line (direct to osaka station, so no transfer, but slower train by 10 min, 1 hr 10 min)
  • Or the Kintetsu line to the osaka loop (one transfer, 1 hr total), we’ll see how well we’re doing on transfers i guess

Osaka

Sept 29

• bags will be waiting for us at Intercontinental Osaka
• If we get back in time we could maybe even go to the aquarium? Closes at 8pm
• Okonomiyaki or something else casual for dinner

Sept 30

• 7/11 or cafe breakfast
• Osaka castle
• Kuromon market for lunch
• Find something to do in the in between
  • namba park? (also a shopping area, less crowded than the ones we’ll go to at night)
• Kaitenzushi Chojiro Hozenji
  • walk through dotombori and amerikamuri
    • walking route here https://nerdnomads.com/osaka-itinerary

Oct 1

• maybe some last minute souvenir and breakfast
• There’s a bus direct to the airport from osaka station
  • https://www.kate.co.jp/en/timetable/detail/UM, seems to be the best way to get there. 1800 yen per person
• Oct 1, 6:25pm flight