Hey all,
My friend and I are going to Japan (from USA) at the end of October into the start of November. We’re hoping to get some good pictures (both into photography) of the foliage as well as visit Japan for the first time. We’re both into gaming, anime, architecture, photography so if you have any suggestions for improvements or locations to visit please leave a comment!
Oct 24: Board flight in Boston
Oct 25: Land in Tokyo at Narita Airport around 16:15, claim bags, customs. Get picked up from airport and transported to hotel in Shinjuku for the night….Currently no plans for this night was thinking about just roaming Shinjuku and maybe checking out Golden Gai if we have the energy.
Oct 26: Leave hotel, grab breakfast, take Shinkasen to Osaka. We originally were considering the JR Pass however with the frequency of Nozomi line trains we are leaning more towards passing on the pass.
Once arriving in Osaka, we are checking into our hotel, grab some lunch and head over to Osaka Castle. From there a little bit of exploring the grounds before heading to the Umeda for the Pokémon Center and the Umeda Skytree ideally around sunset. (Sunset about 4:30pm). Following that we’ll head back to our hotel, drop off our things and explore/hangout in Amerika-mura for the evening. Any restaurant recommendations in the area?
Oct 27: Universal Studios Japan day – Super Mario World, Halloween Horror Nights then Shinsekai at night
Oct 28: Train to Kyoto, Fushimi Inari, Kiyomizu-dera, Hokan-ji, Nishiki Market, explore Higashiyama on bikes, back to Osaka for Hozenji Alley and Hozenji Temple then hotel
Oct 29: Train to Kyoto, Arashiyama, bamboo forest, Tenryu-ji, Toei Kyoto Studio, (Any other suggestions here?) back to Osaka, Dotonburi for exploring and dinner
Oct 30: Open day, either another day in Kyoto to explore if we feel we didn’t see enough or more time in Osaka (Open to suggestions)
Oct 31: Leave Osaka hotel and train to Kawaguchiko (Osaka->Tokyo->Kawaguchiko), ideally making it to Ryokan by 1pm. Explore around Kawaguchiko on foot and take photos then relax at ryokan and have a generally chill evening, highly doubt there are halloween festivities in that area.
Nov 1: Biking around Kawaguchiko and exploring, Arakurayama Sengen Park, maple corridor, lots of photography and exploring gardens and panoramic ropeway. Back to ryokan for onsen and meal.
Nov 2: Morning train back to Tokyo, check into hotel in Shibuya, explore Shibuya, maybe check out Mori Arts Center Gallery. Shinjuku at night.
Nov 3: Shibuya Parco (Capcom Store, Nintendo Store, Pokémon center) Shibuya Crossing, Meiji Jingu, Shibuya Sky in the evening.
Nov 4: Asakusa, Senso-ji in the morning to beat the crowds, Akihabara around midday, Ikebukuro in the evening. Then night in Shibuya again.
Nov 5: TeamLab Planets, (anything else worth checking out in Odaiba? Seems like there won’t be much else besides TeamLabs) Ginza in the afternoon, evening is open for anything!
Nov 6: Harajuku, shopping, (need suggestions!) Getting my photos taken in the evening by a local photographer.
Nov 7: Last day, packing up, grabbing anything last minute we mightve missed before leaving for Boston around 5pm.
Went pretty light for things to do in the Tokyo days because we’re primarily planning to explore however, all suggestions and ideas are appreciated.
Anything we missed in Kyoto that we need to see? Definitely want to try as much food as we can stomach.
1 comment
> Board flight in Boston
Hello, fellow Bostonian! Going by the arrival time in Japan, I’m guessing you’re on our direct JAL flight. I take that flight a lot, and it’s quite nice!
> We originally were considering the JR Pass
Since you aren’t even doing a full round trip between Kansai and Tokyo within 7 days, the JR Pass likely wouldn’t be worthwhile anyhow, so I wouldn’t worry about it.
> Leave Osaka hotel and train to Kawaguchiko (Osaka->Tokyo->Kawaguchiko), ideally making it to Ryokan by 1pm.
You could also consider doing this journey straight from Osaka, by taking a specific Hikari shinkansen to Mishima and then catching a bus from there to Kawaguchiko (see [here](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6905.html?aFROM=2157_6900)). It’s a tiny bit of a hassle, since you have to make the schedules line up, but it does save a lot of time in this case, as opposed to going all the way to Tokyo first and then to Kawaguchiko on the same day.
> Anything we missed in Kyoto that we need to see?
You don’t have either Kinkaku-ji or Ginkaku-ji, which are pretty major temples that people like to visit. You could also consider a trip to Nara or Uji on October 30 on your free day, if you find yourself looking for things to do.
Other than that, I think you have a solid itinerary, and you’ll likely have a great time.