Hi everyone,
My partner and I are travelling to Japan for 18 days from late Dec 22 to early Jan 23. We are staying in Kansai, Kyushu, Nagoya and Tokyo area. Please find our planned itinerary below.
We are looking for some suggestions/critiques:
1. Any suggestions for places/activities during our stays at Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Tokyo? We are interested in experiences that are unique in Japan and big fans of food.
2. We plan some tight schedules in Kansai and Kyushu from Day 4 – 10. Wondering if the schedules are practical? We plan to travel around Kyushu mainly by car.
3. Our visit to Kyoto is in the New Year period. Will most of the places/shops/restaurants closed in Kyoto?
4. Any other suggestions/critiques are welcomed.
Thank you in advance!
|Actual day|Day|Location for the day|Staying in the night|Notes|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|23 December 2022|1|Home-Osaka|Osaka|Arriving Osaka in the early morning and check in Hotel in Umeda; Kita and Umeda; Dinner at Umeda then light show at Osaka Hikari-Renaissance|
|24 December 2022|2|Osaka|Osaka|Minami District and Dotombori in the day; Christmas light show at night at Midosuji Ave|
|25 December 2022|3|Osaka|Osaka|Universal Studios|
|26 December 2022|4|Osaka-Himeji|Arima Onsen|Go to Himeji Castle in the morning then to Arima Onsen in the afternoon for an over-night stay in hot spring hotel|
|27 December 2022|5|Arima-Fukuoka|Fukuoka|Early Shinkansen to Fukuoka at the Shin-Kobe station; check in hotel near Fukuoka train station; explore ramen in Fukuoka|
|28 December 2022|6|Fukuoka-Saga-Nagasaki|Nagasaki|Start car rental and driving from today to 1 Jan; check in hotel in Nagasaki city centre|
|29 December 2022|7|Nagasaki-Kumamoto|Kumamoto|Catch the ferry at the Port Shimabara; check in hotel in Kumamoto city centre|
|30 December 2022|8|Kumamoto-Aso|Kurokawa Onsen|Kusasenri and Mount Aso Farm Land|
|31 December 2022|9|Aso-Yufuin|Yufuin Onsen|Takachiho Gorge and Yufuin town in the day|
|1 January 2023|10|Yufuin-Kyoto|Kyoto|Morning flight 9am from Oita Airport to Osaka(Itami), then bus to Kyoto and check in hotel in Kiyomizu; Kiyomizudera Temple and surrounding East Hills streets in the afternoon|
|2 January 2023|11|Kyoto|Kyoto|Yasaka Shrine and Gion|
|3 January 2023|12|Kyoto|Kyoto|Uji Macha Day Trip and Gion at night|
|4 January 2023|13|Kyoto|Kyoto|Nijo Castle, Kinkakuji Temple and Fushimi Inari Taisha|
|5 January 2023|14|Kyoto-Nagoya|Nagoya|Morning Shinkansen to Nagoya|
|6 January 2023|15|Nagoya|Nagoya|Ghibli Park at Aichi|
|7 January 2023|16|Nagoya-Tokyo|Tokyo|Morning Shinkansen to Tokyo and check in hotel in Hibiya; Shibuya; Meiji Shrine|
|8 January 2023|17|Tokyo|Tokyo|Shopping day at Ginza; Night at Shinjuku|
|9 January 2023|18|Tokyo-Home|Tokyo|Departing from Haneda Airport – 3pm flight​|
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1 comment
As for question 1, I’d like to introduce some suggestion on food places.
-In Nagoya, I recommend to eat some Nagoya-meshi (Nagoya local food). The famous ones are Hitsumabushi (Grilled eel bowl and dashi stock) at Atsuta-Horaiken, Miso-nikomi Udon (Udon noodle with strong Nagoya style strong miso taste broth) at Yamamoto-ya, Taiwan ramen (Not relating to Taiwan. Nagoya original ramen with hot chili) at Misen, and a breakfast including Anko toast (Bread with sweet bean paste) at Konpan. Also, there are some other local specialities such as Miso-Katsu, Ankake-pasta etc.
-In Tokyo, I recommend Japanese style BBQ (A BBQ which is infuluenced by Korean cuisine but modified for Japanese style). There are tons of restauraunt in Tokyo and I’m confident you can get some really good information from other redditers (I’m not quite knowledgeble about this). Just for your information, I recommend some Ushigoro and Toraji as safer side suggestion (They are more like franchized restaurant but still really good for the price).