hello! planning my first solo trip to japan next month – I think I finally have (mostly) finalized my itinerary. I'm a little stuck in regards to what I want to do in tokyo, so any suggestions/recommendations are welcome.
my plan is to mostly meander around the neighborhoods and see what I stumble across, but I also have a few specific temples/shrines/restaurants/stores that I'll help to guide me if I have the time or feel indecisive.
day 1: land in narita, take shinkansen to kyoto, check into hotel (I know, I know, I have researched and considered this decision heavily, it's what's going to work best for me!)
day 2: kiyomizu-dera, gion district, nishiki market
day 3: (assuming I'm still going to be waking up very early due to time zones) – fushimi inari early AM, then take a long chill train ride to philosopher's path, end around murin-an garden, meander back towards gion
day 4: train to osaka, start in america-mura neighborhood, namba yasaka shrine, denden town, shitenno-ji temple, isshin-ji temple, osaka castle maybe?? might be closed though. was considering either that or teamlabs, but not suuuper interested in either, if there is anything else worth checking out. back to kyoto.
day 5: nara! train to tenri station, walk yamanobe no michi trail up to nara park, todai-ji temple, back to kyoto. intend for this to be a slow chill day.
day 6: last full day in kyoto. train to arashiyama bamboo forest early AM (if I feel like it), slowly make my way to otagi nenbutsuji temple, train to uzumasa yasui ikedacho for the yokai festival!!!
day 7: tokyo bound! going to leave first thing in the morning, I think. drop luggage at hotel in shinjuku, putz around the neighborhood, end at hanazono shrine for tori no ichi festival.
day 8: ???
day 9: meiji-jingu, harajuku, ota memorial museum of art, shibuya
day 10: ??? last full day. plan on going to a jazz bar at night!
day 11: my flight doesn't leave narita until 6pm, so I'm not sure what to do here. leave my luggage in a coin locker in some neighborhood and explore? or should I just explore narita? I have a lil bit of anxiety regarding like, losing where my luggage is and missing my flight, the thought of just exploring narita is fine with me so I'm at least closer to the airport, but I also want to expend my time in tokyo.
things on my list I'm just not sure how to fit together: tsukiji outer market, ginza itoya, zojo-ji temple, denboin garden, ikebukuro, akihabara, kita-no-maru park, koenjikita, shiro-hige's cream puff factory (unfortunately I chose the ONE week the ghibli museum is closed). pretty open to nixing any of this, though. I tried adding more context to what I'm interested in and it auto deleted my post immediately so 🙂
by lucretias
