I’m headed to Japan in mid Oct-early Nov and would love to know if anyone has good reccomendations for things to see (aside from the typical touristy things like Ueno park), good restaurants, bars, etc! If there are any things to do during the fall that are must sees, please let me know as this is my first time there.
I will be part of a tour, but it seems like we have a decent amount of free time. The cities we are going to along with the plans are…
Tokyo (5 days) – Meiji Jingu Shrine, Hamarikyu Gardens, the waterbus, Asakusa area – this is part of the tour but I will be exploring for a few days beforehand
Nagano (1 day) – Zenko-ji temple, local hot springs (with the snow monkeys), a shojin-ryori breakfast
Matsumoto (1 day) – Black Crow samurai castle, exploring the suburbs
Takayama (2 days) – shopping and sake tasting, possibly Showakan museum, onsen at night, Jinya (only Edo Period gov’t house), Hida no Sato folk village, Hida beef for dinner (not sure where yet)
Kanazawa (1 day) – Nagamachi samurai quarter, Kenrokuen garden, Omicho Fish Market for dinner
Hiroshima (2 days) – Peace Park, Miyajima island (with Itsukushima Shrine and the friendly deer), okonomiyaki dinner (pancakes), maybe the Mazda plant?
Kurashiki (1 day) – Kibi plain (biking through the rice paddies/villages)
Kyoto (2 days) – Kiyomizu Temple, Gion geisha district, maybe the tea house distric/Golden Pavilian/Fushimi Inari (ten thousand red gates), may try to get to Osaka for a few hours?
back to Tokyo (1 day) – shop before leaving
Thanks!